Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Working Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
April 12, 2016
0.0 Assembly: 9:00AM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Kluk, Dulac, Schwartz and Williams
0.2 Alternates present: Hatch and Terani
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Russell
0.4 Visitors: None
Crandall opened the meeting at 9:15AM.
1.0 Minutes: April 5th meeting, No changes requested, Hatch motioned to approve the minutes as written, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
2.0 Reports on Meeting with Selectmen on April 7th:
Crandall, Kluk and Schwartz met with the Selectmen on Thursday, April 7th, as suggested by Williams and decided by the board at our meeting last week. Terani suggested making a list of the take-aways from Town Meeting. Crandall and Kluk said they were discussed at the last meeting. Crandall feels we are 6 weeks ahead of where he thought we would be at this point. His take-away from the meeting is that he is a problem with Marshall and the rest of the Select Board; he feels there is an elite list of problem people. He went in to the meeting hoping that they would turn over the issue of the town buildings to us or be open minded but doesn’t think they are willing to work with us. He feels they are not willing to go with the $3M option, and Williams felt the annex to Town Hall is more of a want that he was not willing to fund, he expects private funding. Williams felt that it is a want and is appropriate for private funding, if we have other ideas we should do a petition article or wait for a new Select Board. Crandall explained the $3M option to everyone. He feels the Selectmen are glad to work with us as a marketing force for whatever plan they come up with but if they have plans no one has seen them. He said Marshall seemed to be upset with the Fire Department and is favoring adding a bay to the existing station and calling it done. Kluk said that was merely a reaction to the FD members speaking against the proposed building. He said we had an hour meeting with them and he isn’t sure they are open to other ideas but we should try to cooperate. He said that if they are entrenched and there is no cooperation, do we want to continue or move to a petition article.
Kluk had a different take-away from the meeting, the Pollyanna version. She said that the Board of Selectmen is willing to work with us. They put a few conditions on it, such as: the PB should become fully briefed on the Select Board’s reasons for last year’s decisions, the PB should have no attitude of equal money for both projects, they want a willingness for ideas and compromise, they are looking for phasing and using local contractors. They feel the plan is not the plan anymore, needs have changed and they want us to encompass more buildings. They are comfortable moving something forward. The Selectmen know they didn’t do enough outreach and feel the need to do this is critical. They want a recommendation plan in writing with documentation and they want a mission statement jointly prepared, with no acronym. Schwartz agreed with Kluk’s version of the meeting and felt the Selectmen are willing to work with us. She knows there are hurt feelings and a sense of betrayal for some but thinks we can get beyond that and work together.
Hatch commented that it was a change of plan to have Crandall attend and Crandall said he could not make a night meeting but when it became a day meeting he could and should attend. He asked Williams which was the meeting he attended. Williams said that he attended the Kluk/Schwartz version of the meeting. He said there is personal stuff we need to get past. He said he heard a consistent message from the public that a $3M-$3.5M “full monty” version is not OK, if the mission is to go for that with no compromise we shouldn’t bother, just go with a petition article. They want and open conversation and feel we can work together; they want to find a solution that works for the town. He thinks we should work to find a mission statement the Selectmen can embrace and have a meeting to get everything on the table, find common ground and opportunities. He appreciates Crandall’s thoughts and realizes that the dynamics can change from setting to setting. He agreed that the selectmen comments quoted by Crandall had been made. We need to move the Selectmen to a place they can support. Schwartz said that we would eventually spend that $3M and probably more getting everything done.
Dulac likes what he is hearing this morning but questions why Crandall’s take-away is so different. He feels a petition article for something like this won’t work and is not the way to go. He said everybody has a favorite building but we have to get over that and do what is good for the town. The big question is whether we are going to work on the issue and butt heads and get nothing done or get away from that and move forward. He knows there is lots of history and feeling but we need to let them go.
3.0 Do We Proceed and How:
Hatch doesn’t want the same old/same old. He talks to people that know the history of the town and some people will just say “no” no matter what because of a couple hundred dollars in added taxes. He says no to a petition article. He thinks with time and effort we have a great opportunity, with private donations, volunteer effort, looking at needs, not wants, coming up with new ideas and perceptions to accomplish something.
Kluk said that extra taxes hit everyone, some waterfront properties have high taxes now and they only go up.
Williams said that the Selectmen see people on Thursdays and they complain about paying their taxes, we need to be here for everybody. A couple of hundred can make a difference in their lives. Williams said that tax averages over the state show we are in a good place and even with these projects we will be OK even though they will go higher. Dulac said that when they built a school in Wentworth the discussions were the same as we are having, it is hard to change perceptions; we have to make it reasonable and have direct involvement. Do outreach to the town with a preliminary plan and get input, explain what it would do for the town. He thinks it is key to involve the contractors in town and line up locals to do elements of the projects. He suggests getting people involved, even the part time residents. Crandall mentioned that there are many groups in town but two major factions. He thinks that the Meeting House and Safety groups haven’t been voting for each other and if they did it would get you there. He said if you shut out one project it won’t pass. Kluk said there are more than two groups but Crandall said that the two groups get you to a yes vote.
Terani said the best way to lose is to not show your plan, you have to compromise.
4.0 Mission Statement:
Dulac asked if we should be doing the mission statement without the Selectmen. Williams said that the Selectmen were OK with the PB crafting a statement and bringing it to them, and then they might tweak it making it a joint statement. He said they are happy to have the PB bring some structure to the table and he feels we can get there. The Select Board will have input after we do a version, we can get the Select Board to buy in and we have a chance of success. Crandall said buy in is great but we don’t need approval. Williams said we are in it together. Hatch wants to take the Planning Board out of the mission statement and encourage public involvement with strong wording. Crandall wants to sell it to the public. Williams said we want to be careful not to create another committee; he wants peripheral involvement, not part of the group. Kluk said we could ask people to do some focused contributions. Dulac wants to do a planning session; lay things out on a table and ask for input. Hatch said aside from the mission statement we need to open up for an action plan with public input. Dulac said we are putting too much vision in the mission statement and looking years out, the mission statement should be tightly focused. Kluk said that would be a charge, not a mission statement. Hatch said the first paragraph is out side of a mission. Williams said that it should be a joint objective to drive an action plan. He wanted clarification on Dulac’s idea to bring in the public from the start. Dulac said no we should meet with the Selectmen and then engage the community. We discussed what should be in the statement; Hatch likes bullet points and wants to keep it to a paragraph. Crandall asked Hatch and Dulac to draft something and share it with the board. Terani warned us from history, he was on the Municipal Task Force and as soon as they left the office people immediately started to interfere, we need to stick to our objective. Williams said it is a different Select Board now. Dulac and Hatch will get together in the next few days and draft the statement. Williams felt the next step is to set a joint meeting with the Selectmen; he doesn’t think it is a requirement to have the statement done first.
5.0 Meeting date for next joint working meeting:
We set Monday, April 25th at 9AM to noon at Camp Morgan Lodge for the joint meeting. We will need easels and large pads for brainstorming. We will let the Select Board lay out their history and thoughts. Williams said that among the Selectmen there is a sense of ideas and vision but there are disparate thoughts, they get the needs for both projects and there is no argument there. We will strive to keep the meeting clear, informative and simple. After the Selectmen educate us on what they were thinking we can then move onto a larger discussion. Kluk asked how we can get away from personalities and who will police the meeting. Williams said we should use the common ground rule and we should all check our baggage at the door and forget about personal hurts so as not to hurt or consume the process. Williams will check with Deb on the availability of CM lodge for that day.
NOTE: After the meeting, it was found that several people couldn’t make the April 25 date so we have tentatively rescheduled for Monday, May 2nd at 9AM to noon at Camp Morgan Lodge. Schwartz will advise soon if the new date works for everyone.
6.0 Adjournment: Time: 10:47 pm
Motioned by Hatch, seconded by Crandall, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted, Nan Schwartz