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Selectmen At Odds Over Many Articles On Fall Town Meeting Warrant [with video]

Article 2 on the Oct. 21 Fall Town Meeting Warrant seeking additional funds for the FY14 budget continues to cause controversy among members of the Board of Selectmen, and a concern that this article may take significant time for discussion. This would be presented to voters as an amendment and the changes would be voted line item by line item.

At issue in the article is a proposed increase of one hour - from 19 hours per week to 20 hours per week - for both the Groton Youth Librarian, and the Assistant Town Clerk. Selectman Josh Degen said he is "vehemently opposed to the Youth Librarian and the Assistant Town Clerk increase," which would allow both positions to be eligible for a full benefits package that includes vacation time, sick time and health insurance. Colleague Jack Petropoulos was also opposed to the change.

The article also includes a line item for Police Dept. overtime, which has been under budgeted for several years. There are 20 articles in total for voter action.

Resident Rule Loving told the Board, regarding Article 2, that he would like to see the actual cost to the taxpayer for these changes and how many other 19-hour per week jobs existed in the town. He recommended that the Board form a task force consisting of the Human Resource Director, a Finance Committee member, and the Personnel Board to look at a policy for these types of positions and suggested that with retirement and attrition, the replacement jobs would be 30 hours per week, capping any part-time positions to 15 hours per week. Petropoulos agreed that he would like to see the total cost to the town.

He asked the Board for the correct wording for his suggestion as he would like to present this at Town Meeting.

There are currently five, 19-hour employees in the town.

Selectman Chairman Peter Cunningham commented that Loving's view was more global, and the primary job for the town was public service, noting, "The suggestion is a good one and we will look at it going forward."

In Article 5, Selectman Degen recommended that $100,000 be taken from Free Cash to offset the tax rate, "giving something back to the taxpayers." This would leave a balance of $200,000 in Free Cash for the town. Colleague Stuart Schulman suggested that the amount for each taxpayer is small and would be a token. Selectman Petropoulos stated, "There is pressure on us to be frugal." A decision on this was deferred to next week's meeting.

The Board supported a $58,000 request to replace two police cruisers, one new and one replacement for the cruiser destroyed in an accident; the sum of $50,000 for the Parks Department for maintenance; support for joining the Central Mass. Mosquito Control Project; approved three articles that would allow for the design for different types of fire protection for the Lost Lake area including extensions of water mains, underground fire cisterns.

Selectman Petropoulos noted his concern that fire protection measures were focused on this area rather than the entire town. Schulman noted that it was "just design at this time. Maybe we should phase this in." Cost for the designs totals $103K with actual implementation estimated at $1.3M. Town Manager Mark Haddad suggested that all studies could be done at once, and implementation could be staggered.

Chairman Cunningham pointed out that the Lost Lake area was dense and that there was risk to adjacent structures in case of a fire. Degen noted that Fire Chief Bosselait told them that a cistern would not have helped firefighting efforts at the Boathouse Road fire, at a home located on Lost Lake.

There are four articles relating to the future of historic Squannacook Hall in West Groton. The first of these seeks to rezone the property from Public Use (P) to Residential-Agricultural (RA); the second seeks funds to install a septic system; the third is a Concept Plan to create four units multifamily housing within the structure; the fourth is to actually authorize the sale or lease of the building.

Two Planning Board sponsored articles to change "by right" construction or additions in Business zoned areas from 10,000 sq. ft. and under to 2500 sq. ft. and under drew a split support among Board members. Selectman Anna Eliot and Degen were opposed to the article, Cunningham was in favor while Schulman and Petropoulos deferred to next week. Eliot also abstained on a proposal to move the permit granting authority from the Zoning Board to the Planning Board.

In another personnel article (Article 20), the Selectmen will ask voters to adopt a recommendation from the Bylaw Review Committee in conjunction with the Personnel Board, defining responsibilities of the Personnel Board to act in an advisory capacity to Selectmen and to employees. This will bring the Personnel Board in line with the terms of the Town Charter. Petropoulos said he wanted the composition of the Personnel Board as it initially was intended and not to open its membership to town officials or town employees.

Groton Herald

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