(note – this covers 3 of the agenda items covered during the session. A summary of an update from the Police Chief and discussion of Hendries demolition to follow.)
In short, the Selectmen’ meeting covered the following: a Citizens Speak in which neighbors of Governor’s Road lamented the decision by the Mayor of Quincy to terminate their hopes for a safe street, a discussion with Mary McNamara of the screening committee regarding the search for a new Town Administrator, and recommendations from Rick Neely, Chair of the Government Review Committee on steps that the Board may want to take sooner than later.
At the last meeting of the Board of Selectmen they agreed with road closures on Governor’s and Plymouth. This was done in concert with the city of Quincy. However, once in place the irate commuters complained and the Mayor of Quincy had the closure lifted. According to the residents who spoke it gave them a brief taste of what life o a quiet suburban street could be like. Bill White, a resident of Plymouth street, said the street was transformed for hte period during which the street closures were in place. He thanked the selectmen for their work and encouraged them to keep working for a 6 week trial that could gauge the long term impact. Not all residents who spoke endorsed the closure. Mary Madden asked why Milton residents shouldn’t be allowed t use Milton streets and Carol Potter questioned where the number of cars using Governor’s Road daily (2500) came from. (It comes from a traffic engineer’s report). Regardless, she said there was no limit on the number of cars that could use a street. She complained that a two minute ride to Home Depot now took 20 minutes. Another resident, Jeanie Burns complained that safety was the issue, not only for the children on the street, but also the adults. She counted a story, choking up briefly, of a pregnant woman who was confronted by an angry motorist wielding a bat. Joe Lynch, Director of the DPW, and Chief Wells also appeared before the board. They expressed their disappointment with Mayor Koch’s decision but they did not offer any specific plans for how to address the issue. Quincy will be holding a meeting at the Elks on Quarry Street on October 25th ( a time was not known). Member Sweeney requested that a letter be sent to the Mayor stating that Milton officials would like to attend and listen.Chief Wells promised “We won’t give up.”
Mary McNamara, member of hte Town Administrator’s Screening Committee made three suggestions: that the selectmen revise the charge of the committee. Namely, extend the timeline. The recommendation is to have the committee work for up to 60 days from the deadline for applications. The deadline is November 30th – so their charge could extend to January 30th. The selectmen made a motion and passed adopting that change. They also approved the job posting and advertisement that will appear in the Globe, the town web site, and MAA web site. Lastly, McNamara submitted a revised job description authored by another member of the committee, Leroy Walker. The description exapnds the authority of the Town Administrator. McNamara said she did not expect a vote on the description and advised the board to wait. They agreed to take the description under advisement and the intent is to be able to raise the issue with potential candidates after the November deadline that the positions responsibilities could expand. Any change would need to go through a number of steps including approval by town meting. The actual text of what Mr. Walker proposed was not discussed.
Rick Neely, chair of the government review committee, also had recommendations for the selectmen. He made three: a) that the selectmen take advantage of free review of municipal finances and it operations from the Department of Revenue. He cited Arlington as a town that recently took advantage of the service. You can find their report here. Mr. Neely stated that the town had a very complex and decentralized business processes. The recommendation is to look at how they could be become more centralized and efficient. This effort would go hand in hand with his second recommendation which would be to hire a consultant to review overall IT (Information Technology) operations. The financial study by the DOR would be free, the consultant would not. The selectmen agreed to move forward with the former and have Annmarie Fagan, the interim Town Administrator, explore what the cost of the a comprehensive IT review might cost.
Lastly, Neely recommended a renewed look at PILOT (also referred to as PILT), payment in lieu of taxes. Milton has a number of large non-profit institutions (Curry College, Milton Academy, Milton Hospital). At issue is their contribution to the town in terms of property taxes and wether they are paying a sufficient amount in terms of the services they receive. Neely acknowledged that it is a difficult issue as it is voluntary on the part of the non-profit and typically needs to be negotiated at the board level. After some discussion, the board unanimously agreed to convene a committee of three to look at the issue: the contributions the non-profits are making, whether they are paying a reasonable amount for services, and return with recommendations.