Selectboard meeting of January 5, 2010.

The Holland Blog did not get the usual e-mail from Kristin LaPlante with the agenda to the meeting, sorry!

Replacement of Broken Safety Light in Front of Holland Elementary School.

According to James Wettlaufer, Kristin LaPlante worked on getting a grant to replace the broken security light in front of HES driving eastbound which has not been working for around 10 years. A “Concerned Citizen” sent a letter to the Holland Blog which was published on this blog on March 20, 2009 under the title Broken Light Safety Issue. Within 60 days the town will get grant money to fix the light and remove the safety hazard. The new light will be powered by a solar panel. According to Wettlaufer, the old sign was not reparable. Wettlaufer allegedly got this response from three independent companies.

Selectboard signed a Special Election Warrant.
The special election will be held on January 19, 2010 from 07:00 hours to 20:00 hours at the town hall. The special election are necessary to enable the voters “to cast their votes for the candidates for the following Office: Senator in Congress for the Commonwealth.” The elected senator will replace the interim senator who replaced Senator Edward Kennedy after senator Kennedy passed away. Governor Deval Patrick named Paul G. Kirk as interim senator. Scott Brown is the candidate for the Republican party, and Martha Coakley the candidate for the Democrats.

Highway Department and snow removal.
The Highway Department has already spent the funds allotted for snow removal and asked the selectboard for permission to spend money they don’t have. Wettlaufer made a motion to allow the HWD to deficit spend on the snow and ice account for FY 2010. Johnson seconded the motion.All were in favor to accept the motion.

Donation of the Norcross Foundation
The town received an unrestricted Municipal gift of $5,000.00 from the Norcross Foundation. The selectboard will mail the Norcross Foundation a thank you letter.

Appointments:
The selectboard appointed Ralph Martone, living at 23 Shore Drive, to the Zoning Board of Appeals. His term will end in June of 2012.

Re-surfacing Brimfield Road.
State and Federal funds will be used to re-surfacing Brimfield Road. The selectboard signed a ? in the amount of $71,800 as a First step towards completing the re-surfacing of Brimfield Road for engineering. A lot of money to “engineer” resurfacing of an existing road.. Wettlaufer asked Johnson in connection with the $71,800 expense, “Most of this is already done, correct?” “aren’t they just updating what was already put together?” Johnson, “yeah.”

Budget requirements for the veterans agent.
The agent for the veterans requested a meeting to be held at 19:00 hours on Tuesday January 19 2010 in Monson, to discuss the budget requirements for the veterans. The issue was tabled as the date conflicts with the special election scheduled for the same day.

Earl Johnson explained the process how warrants for town expenditures are handled, “It goes trough the treasurer first, comes to us, back to the accountant, back to the treasurer ... so there is a three-way check.” That is comforting to know, fair question; does it really work in our town? How was it possible that all the bills for the “Gleason gun-store” slipped through all these checks for years??

Upcoming meetings:
Town Hall, Tuesday February 3, 2010, at 19:00 hours at the town hall, public hearing on the “Tri-Town Community Development Block Grant application.”

Town Hall, Tuesday February 3, 2010, at 19:30 hours, the regular tri-town meeting.

Town Hall, Tuesday January 26, 2010, at 18:00 hours, selectboard meeting.

January 13, 2010, Peter Frei