Town of Aquinnah

MINUTES
BOARD OF SELECTMEN - MEETING
OCTOBER 17, 2017

The meeting was held in the Town Hall as a meeting of the Planning Board Plan Review Committee was scheduled at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Town Office Bldg.

Attending: Jim Newman (Chairman), Juli Vanderhoop, Gary Haley, Nancy Benoit AND Jim, Sibel Suman, Kathy Newman, Richard Skidmore, Wendy Swolinski, Sarah Saltonstall, Jim Glavin, Mike Hebert, Derrill Bazzy, Simon Bolin (Fire Chief), Randhi Belain (Police Chief)

Selectman Newman called the meeting to order at 5:34 p.m.

The Selectmen approved, by acclamation, minutes of the Selectmen’s meeting held on October 3, 2017.

Mike Hebert, Chairman of the Aquinnah Housing Committee (“AHC”), gave a history of the affordable housing project to be located at 801 State Road. He explained the decision of the AHC to forgo the self-build model in favor of a pre-build, “turnkey” model. There was discussion, led by Derrill, on behalf of Island Housing Trust, of Forty Thousand Dollars ($40,000.00), Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) per lot as described in the RFP. It was agreed that the land could be conveyed and the payment made “at the time the successful bidder [IHT] leases the Resident Homesite to an affordable housing recipient”as called for in Section II of the RFP. It was also made clear by the AHC that Aquinnah residents would receive priority in selection of owners. At the end of the discussion Julie moved that the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen be authorized, upon recommendation of legal counsel, to sign a deed conveying Assessor’s Map 9, Parcel 146, (referred to as 45 State Road and 801 State Road in various documents exchanged between the Town and Island Housing Trust) to the Island Housing Trust. Gary seconded the motion. The vote was 3 in favor, 0 opposed.

Derrill led a discussion on the plans to develop the Manning property at Lighthouse Park. Those plans included relocating a section of Helen’s House to the same level as the old restaurant. This would be funded through use of Community Preservation Funds. A sketch developed by South Mountain Company was presented for consideration. Julie moved, Jim seconded a motion to approve the conceptual plan as presented. The motion was approve unanimously.

Jim Glavin, Chairman of the Board of Health (“BOH”), made a presentation on BOH’s hiring of a new assistant. There was discussion on title of the person hired. Sibel pointed out that the term “health agent” carried an assumption of the person having a special skill set. Jim Glavin commented that he was not aware of the specified designation. There was a difference of opinion resulting from the semantics of using the term “health agent.” Jim Newman expressed the necessity that the BOH understand that the Selectmen were concerned about, and committed to, trying to cut costs. This included saving money by limiting the hours of the person hired by the BOH. Jim Glavin agreed with Selectman Newman’s sentiment and that he was “on board” with it. He agreed that the BOH would strive to keep the hours below the threshold of 20 hours that would require payment of benefits and retirement.

The Selectmen voted to appoint Adam Wilson as the town liaison under the Best Practice grant.

There was a discussion of Map 6, Parcel 24 that was recently purchased by the M.V. Land Bank. The property, located near the Lighthouse, was part of an illegal tax taking and Atty. Coppolla was asking for an Agreement for Judgment, an action by the Selectmen that Atty. Rappaport deemed unnecessary. No action was taken.

The Selectmen approved the estimate by Ace Locksmith for changing locks at the Town Offices.

The Selectmen approved installation by Comcast of new phones at the Town Office building. It was agreed that hard lines with Verizon would remain for the Police and Fire Department and fax line.

There was a discussion of an increase in the rate for use of Lighthouse Park for marriages. After lengthy debate it was agreed to increase the rate to $600.00 for the first hour and $500 for each additional hour; use of the Lighthouse was increased to $300.00 per hour. Gary made the motion to approve the new fee structure, Julie seconded and the vote was 3 in favor, 0 opposed.

Chief Belain brought up an issue with the parking lot at the Cliffs. He indicated on days when the lot was full, in order to keep traffic moving safely, he required 2 officers to control traffic resulting from cars waiting in line to get a space in the lot. It was decided to revisit this issue prior to next season.

THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED BY CONSENSUS AT 7:05 P.M.