Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Working Meeting Minutes
June 1, 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 9:00AM.
1.0 Minutes from May 16th working meeting: Williams said he had a few comments and points to make concerning the minutes. He thinks there was discussion at Town Meeting but no charge was given to the Planning Board regarding the building projects. He had several edits to the minutes to more accurately reflect the discussion. Schwartz will make the requested edits. Dulac asked about the 91 cents that the school bond added to the tax rate on Crandall's financial sheet. Crandall pointed out it was a comparison of the impact of a $3M and $3.5M bond. The rate started there but has decreased over the life of the bond; it is 33 cents in the last year of the bond. Williams commented that the 33 cents is part of the school budget and is voted on at the School Meeting, the BoS has no authority to take the money. Schwartz said you would have to go to the School Board and speak with them well ahead of the annual meeting about other town needs and holding their budget flat.
Dulac commented that the reports are complete on the Town Hall and Safety building and the needs are justified by the reports, he sees the amount asked for as justified. Williams thinks those reports include wants, such as the upstairs of the Town Hall, for maybe 3 plays a year. Dulac thinks that 50% of the building is not usable because of the lack of access, the infrastructure is a no-brainer, he sees the elevator as a need. Kluk said that private functions could still be held upstairs but not public events. Dulac said that Williams said the BoS won't accept the $3.5M amount but they could be moved slightly. Williams sees the possibility of a small amount of movement but doesn't think we can get to the $3M. Dulac asked if we are talking about 3 buildings? Williams said yes; the Schoolhouse, the Town Hall and Safety building are the priorities; by and large the other town buildings are fine. Dulac asked Hatch what two buildings he was talking about in the minutes, that he felt needed work? Hatch said he was talking about doing the Town Hall and Safety buildings together in one warrant article. He is very supportive of doing work on the Schoolhouse and considers it an energy sieve that is costing the town a lot of money. Crandall said this would all be hashed out if we decide to proceed, there can be many options that we consider. Dulac asked about the money available for planning, Williams had mentioned $15K for the Safety building and $20K or so for the Town Hall, how does that get spent? Williams said that the BoS are agents to expend the Safety funds but we aren’t sure of the Town Hall funds at this point.
Hatch mentioned the assembly time on the minutes should read 6:30pm, Schwartz will correct this. He mentioned the $8K a month figure that Crandall cited as the cost of delaying the building projects. He said that number is huge, about $100K a year. Crandall said this represents opportunity costs not hard costs, it reflects inflation in construction costs, etc. He mentioned that the May 6th minutes were sent out and he looked at them first, he noticed the comment about amnesia and the fact that our minutes are quite detailed. He mentioned that we met on April 29th with the BoS and there are no minutes of that meeting. Williams said there was a draft done and it was passed to the BoS so they are in the office somewhere. Hatch asked Williams about the email he sent about Crandall's behavior around the business permit, he felt ready to quit because of the rudeness and hypocritical attitude of the BoS. Williams said that by law, the RSAs say that the minutes only need to be reasonably available within the 5-day period, they don't need to be sent out or posted. Dulac thinks this exemplifies what we are feeling and this is a trust issue, the ballgame has changed when the BoS decided not to work along with us. He said Hatch's comments reflect the frustration we feel with the BoS. There are ways to do things that are ok or not ok. Are we going to do this or not? Crandall asked for the motion to approve the minutes, Kluk made a motion to, approve with the mentioned changes, Crandall seconded and all voted in favor. Schwartz will make the corrections and post the minutes.
May 23rd working meeting minutes:
Kluk made a motion to approve with the addition of the absent members, Dulac seconded and all voted in favor. Schwartz will add the names and post the minutes.
2.0 Vote to Proceed:
Crandall asked how we want to proceed? He said that he and Schwartz visited the BoS and told them we were caught in a roundabout; he thinks we need to vote to proceed. Kluk said we have had time to think about things and she made a motion to proceed and for the PB to continue to plan for the town buildings with no deadline at this point in time. Schwartz seconded the motion. Discussion followed. Dulac thinks this is so hard because of the BoS, we need answers from them. He will go, along but he has real concerns and needs answers. Kluk said this vote doesn't mean we can't stop if things aren't moving forward. Dulac asked if the BoS have preconceived notions? Terani said we should fell free to go to the BoS with questions and get answers. Williams asked what we are voting on and why? Kluk said if we vote to move ahead we work on this project, if not we move on to the LUO and everything else we need to accomplish this year. Williams said we are here so we seem ready to work on this. Kluk said after the last meeting there was some question about whether we move forward. Dulac said we decided to sleep on it and make our decision at this meeting. Crandall said we should decide what we want to do as a board. Williams said our choice is to work alone and try to get BoS buy in or work with them along the way. Williams asked for an update on the Crandall/Schwartz meeting on the 19th. Crandall told them we were struggling because of their decision not to join us. Schwartz mentioned the specifics on the buildings that the BoS talked about. She asked them to not do anything without keeping us in the loop on anything they were looking into or considering for the building projects, Marshall assured her that they would. Williams said they are meeting with Anthony Costello tomorrow at 2pm about his thoughts on relocating the F/R barn away from the wetland. Costello sent a document to Tom Marshall and they set a meeting with him. Dulac said we should have been cc'd on that email and included in the meeting. Crandall said we are going to hold a brainstorming session and come up with options to share with the BoS, then we may see some hope or shut it down. Williams said his caution is that we need to move quickly to, come up with ideas and open communications with the BoS. Kluk asked if Williams would keep us in the loop with the BoS. Schwartz said that as ex-officio it is his job to communicate between the boards. Dulac thinks we need to set up a communication system and he has a set of questions for the BoS.
Crandall called for a vote on the motion. Three voted yes with Dulac and Williams abstaining, Schwartz asked how the others would have voted, Terani said he would vote yes and Hatch would have voted no because of the fuzziness and passive/aggressive behavior, he doesn't mind being educated but he feels we should face the facts that the BoS is not conducive to a third party working on this. Terani asked if the meeting had the same voting rules as a regular PB meeting.
Crandall said we should meet with the BoS first and Kluk wants an agenda for that meeting. Dulac has questions to ask them; Is the BoS willing to accept our plan without restrictions, if there are restrictions - what are they? Kluk said that they already said $3.5M is a no go and other things. Terani wants to ask for no dictating of process, or nothing will get done. Kluk sees us having a brainstorming session to come up with 6 potential solutions including multi-year financials. Schwartz wants to come up with options for the buildings then mix and match funding and schedule. Dulac said we need to know what the users can live with and if $3.5M isn't acceptable to the BoS, what is? Hatch said that the sunsetting of the school bond is an opportunity to bond something new. Schwartz suggested the School Board and the BoS need to talk about the bond. Dulac suggested asking the BoS about what cuts and adds they are willing to go along with, we decided it was too early for this question. Dulac wants to ask their top threshold for cost, $3M, $3.2M, or more, Crandall added over what time period. Hatch thinks the BoS has no appetite for being pinned down, they like vagaries. Kluk said they are willing to work with concrete ideas, they are working with Anthony. Williams said that Kluk made the comment that we can ask a question and if we get the wrong answer do we quit or keep going. Williams says he hears the PB's frustration about the BoS not joining us, the second piece is the number of questions we have to ask and get answers for and the third piece is coming up with options, this will take energy and time. We should come up, with the list of questions we need to ask to show us we should move forward. Dulac thinks we will be able to tell what they will accept or not. Kluk said if we don't move forward doing something nothing will happen, we could hit a brick wall and decide to stop later. Crandall said we would involve the public. Dulac asked Terani for potential questions for the BoS, Terani wanted to think about it before answering. Crandall asked do we go with a list or free form it? Dulac wants to ask if we come up with a plan by September 30th will they back it? Williams said he thinks it is possible. Kluk wants to ask if the BoS would explain to us what their vision of the wants are for the projects, what they want off the table. Hatch noted that the most recent attempt to speak with the town employees was in 2010 and the employees have changed, the Board of Assessors is gone. He maintains it is rude for us to assume that the Schoolhouse is OK. Kluk wants to look at the buildings and talk to the users. Crandall asked if we could exchange questions by email or do we come up with them now? Dulac wants to ask if the BoS is willing to write a warrant article that is flexible so the amount can be adjusted up or down on the floor. Hatch said that maybe they learned their lesson and will be moving something better forward but wants to know if it is predetermined what they will do. He doesn't feel the PB effort is worth it and wants to work on LUO issues. Dulac asked us to sit quietly for a few minutes to think of more questions for the BoS. Crandall thinks we should ask if they would go, along with multi-year financing. Kluk thinks we should ask how the BoS envision the PB moving things forward. It was decided that Crandall and Dulac would visit the BoS tomorrow at 11am and bring us answers on Tuesday night. Williams will email Schwartz the list he was typing and she will compile the list and send it to everyone.
We decided we would talk about brainstorming on Tuesday night. Crandall touched on an issue the BoS passed to us concerning a liquor license. Ryan Curran wants to serve beer and wine by the glass at the food counter. Kluk researched the issue and it is a big decision for the town. We will discuss it at our meeting on Tuesday and Kluk and Crandall will meet with the BoS about it tomorrow at 1pm.
3.0 Adjournment: Time: 11:10 am
Dulac motioned, Kluk seconded, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz