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News/Events - Meeting Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob DeLorenzo, Chairperson; Lisa Fenton, Vice Chair; Karen Connolly; Maura Curran; Kevin Dolan; Mark Sandham; Scott Roberts; Constantine Constantinides; Anthony Antoniello.

1. Chairperson Bob DeLorenzo called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM at Scituate Town Library.

2. Mr. Antoniello made a MOTION to accept the agenda as written, Mr. Roberts SECONDED the motion, all voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously.

3. Acceptance of Minutes. Mr. Roberts had a question about an item on the November 5, 2009 Minutes and he will investigate. Ms. Connolly made a MOTION to accept the Minutes of the December 17, 2009 as written, Ms. Fenton SECONDED the motion, all voted in favor and the motion passed unanimously.

4. BUDGET REVIEW.
241 Inspections. Neil Duggan presented the budget.
• Building permits: There are no new large-scale building projects taking place at this time, which has brought revenues down. 500-600 permits were issued this fiscal year.
• Expenses are flat, and have been for two years.
• Mr. Antoniello asked about Town Counsel as mentioned in the budget overview. Mr. Duggan said there has been no litigation in his department in his 15 years there.
• Mr. Constantinides asked about reinspection fees; and zoning violations (which often wind up in court) and sign violations (no fine on first complaint).
• Ms. Fenton asked about involvement on the Zoning Bylaw Committee.
• Mr. Sandham and Mr. Dolan asked about fees. Mr. Duggan said that he will look at what other towns are charging and await the results of the survey but that the fees will likely go up, possibly as much as 20 percent. These increases are not included in the FY12 forecast.
• Ms. Vinchesi said that if the Town is designated “green community” status it will be eligible for a number of additional grants.

176 ZBA. Mr. Duggan represented this department. There were no questions.

210 Police. Police Chief Brian Stewart presented the budget.
• Budget has been level funded for a number of years.
• Increased calls for service expected next year. The SPD has been called on to do more with fewer officers.
• There has been an18% increase in breaking and entering, and theft, much of which is tied to drug activity; these incidents are costly to follow up and investigate.
• K-9, Traffic Enforcement Officer, DARE: beneficial to retain these.
• K-9 program has been very successful and the Town has reciprocity with other Towns with K-9 programs.
• There are two personnel vacancies at the moment and they are funded.
• Ms. Connolly asked about the possibility of joining a regional dispatch system that Hingham, Norwell, Cohasset and Hull are trying to form. Mr. Stewart said that would mean not having a person manning the police station overnight and using a video surveillance system instead. Only Hingham and Cohasset locally have signed on for the program so far. He said there are more questions than there are answers about it right now.
• Ms. Curran asked about a school resource officer. He said that currently there are no grants available for school resource officers but they are watching for something to become available, the grant usually pays for two or three years and then the Town pays after that.
• Ms. Curran asked about the two biggest traffic concerns in Town: Mr. Stewart said that speed is a big concern and that Officer Thompson as Traffic Enforcement Officer also can respond to other matters. Also the older schools were not built for current traffic and efforts are being made to make the traffic patterns there safer.
• Ms. Curran asked about beach parking. Mr. Stewart says that it is heavily enforced and that the fine went up to $40 a few years ago.
• Mr. Sandham asked about the speed trailer. Mr. Stewart said that it was partially paid for by a grant. The machine collects data as well. He said it is a good deterrent.
• Mr. Sandham said the DARE program is excellent and Mr. Stewart said that it is more than drug awareness, it is also about making good choices. Ms. Fenton said that it also provides a positive connection with law enforcement.
• Insurance restitution numbers: the Town recoups some of injured officers’ salaries if they are injured when not on duty.
• Parking ticket fines: this is what has been collected, Mr. Stewart said it is one of the highest collection rates in the State.
• Mr. Roberts asked about cuts in Support Services (Mr. Stewart said that enforcement efforts at the Spit will continue but they will be handled differently) and seasonal officers.
• Ms. Vinchesi said that some things have been reallocated within the budget. The reallocations in line items will be provided to the Advisory Committee.
• Underage alcohol enforcement grant is not being offered again.
• Community policing grant is also is not available and it was really helpful.
• Mr. DeLorenzo asked about regionalization. Mr. Stewart said that the community belongs to Shorepac where communities work together for drug enforcement and other purposes.

Animal Shelter: Kim Stewart presented the budget.
• The Scituate Animal Shelter provides a number of services to the Town.
• 120 volunteers assist.
• Trash removal, snow plowing, landscaping costs were added to the Police budget rather than the DPW budget.
• The Town receives $26,000 worth of services for about $6900 (see above bullet).

Line 220: Fire. Fire Chief Rick Judge reviewed the budget.
• Main challenge: to maintain level of service with current budget.
• Scituate is a storm-ready community which saves residents on their flood insurance.
• No major injuries in the past year.
• One of the firefighters has been working as a mechanic for the SFD and this has been very successful.
• SAFE program is successful – children’s deaths due to fire is down 60% since the program has been instituted. It has been cut a bit this year and they will make some reallocations to keep the program funded.
• A replacement engine is badly needed in Humarock. Next year the ladder truck is due to be replaced at c. $950,000. The life of such a truck is 25 years.
• Ambulances: Two are owned by the Town, one is co-owned with other communities. Charge is Medicare plus 50%.
• Mr. Antoniello said that hydrant maintenance and repair is the responsibility of the Water Department of the DPW.
• Permits: smoke alarms and CO alarms. These are needed to complete a home sale. Also oil burner removal. Permit fees are very low. Mr. Judge is looking at comparable rates in other towns and he will bring a recommendation for an increase to the Selectmen.
• 911 dispatchers are not EMT-trained due to liability issues.
• Ms. Fenton asked about the cost to the Town for medical aid calls; Mr. Judge said the trucks are owned by the Town and the firefighters are on duty so there is no additional cost.
• Mr. Dolan asked about the age of the fleet. Mr. Judge said the mechanic is being certified and the fleet is kept in good condition although it is old.
• Ms. Curran asked about personnel vs. replacements needed for the fleet. Ms. Vinchesi said the two unmanned positions have been eliminated. She said she does not have a sense that the department is overstaffed. It is hard to compare staffing with other towns; Humarock needs 8 people because of the distance.
• Call personnel are volunteers who get paid when they come in. Most towns are slowly phasing them out.
• Ms. Connolly noted that firefighters are trained EMTs, Ms. Vinchesi said it is a condition of employment due to ALS status.
• Mr. DeLorenzo noted that 91% of the budget is salary.
• Mr. Judge said that Scituate has fewer officers than other nearby towns; in Scituate a captain is in charge at the scene where in some other towns there is a Lieutenant on every truck.

Line 171 Conservation. Vinny Kalishes presented the budget.
• Wetlands rules and regulations are being rewritten incorporating stormwater bylaws.
• Scituate has been chosen as a coastal inundation community.
• Hurricane reader weather station at First Cliff is paid for by insurance companies.
• CRS.
• Projects include: Peggotty Beach Management Plan; Driftway Trail; Teke Sherman Park; Musquashicut Pond/Estuary.
• Ms. Connolly noticed that filing fees are down, this is due to reduction in building permits.
• Mr. Sandham asked about grants. Mr. Kalishes said that FEMA has available funds and there may be some for wildlife. Restoration of wetlands grants have been used and grants were used for the Driftway Trail.
• Ms. Fenton asked about the Old Oaken Bucket grant and the Herring River grant. These are reimbursement grants from the State.

5. CAPITAL UPDATE/M. Curran: No spending target or priorities have been established at this point.

6. SCHOOL UPDATE/K. Connolly: Bill Johnston and Jamie Strobino, School Committee.
• Budget gap = $1.5 million. School Committee members are visiting the PTOs to present the budget. On January 30 they will hold a public session to go through cuts that need to be made and then will bring the budget to the Advisory Committee two weeks later.
• Mr. DeLorenzo mentioned a Globe article on special education costs.
• Special ed circuit breaker reimbursement has been reduced to 38% from 75% (actual c. 68%)

7. OLD BUSINESS. There was no old business.

8. NEW BUSINESS. See (3) above.

9. ADJOURNMENT. By unanimous vote, the meeting was adjourned at 9:42 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Martin