Town of Aquinnah

BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MEETING
June 4, 2019
MINUTES

Attendance: Gary Haley, Juli Vanderhoop, Jim Newman (by phone). Jeff Madison (Town Administrator).
Simon Bolin, Richard Skidmore, Elise LeBovit, Angela Cywinski, Martina Thornton, paul Manning, Randhi Belain

At 4:03 p.m. the meeting was called to order by Chairperson Juli Vanderhoop

Minutes were deferred to next meeting.

Summer Officer(s)
Chief Belain introduced Don Scranton who will be working with his department during the Summer season. Office Scranton completes the roster for Summer officers. According to Chief Belain Tyler Moreis will fill in as a Special Officer as required during the season.

County Manager
(Report taken under advisement pending review by FinCom)
Martina Thornton, County Manager, presented a draft contract that she hopes to have signed by each town. The contract if signed by all towns will provide structure that she feels is necessary for the County Budget in light of the 5% administrative fee added to the County budget in FY ’20. Town Administrator pointed out that Aquinnah had approved the budgets as requested including the 5% fee and now it is up to the County to do their work to administer funds. Ms. Thornton’s concern is that managers of the various programs may use funds as appropriated by the Town’s as program funds rather than sharing with the County. The Board felt the need to discuss the Contract with the FinCom and deferred action.

Animal Control Officer Appointment
(deferred action pending receipt of Personnel Board Recommendation)
The Board was told by the Town Administrator that the Personnel Board Chairman had met with the three applicants but had not had the opportunity to finalize their choice. They hope to have a recommendation before the next Selectmen’s meeting.

Board of Assessor Appointments
(Gary Haley and Elaine Vanderhoop appointed)
Jim made a motion that the Board appoint Gary Haley to the position vacated by by the resignation of Marsha Shufrint, Juli seconded the motion. The vote was 2-0 with Gary abstaining. Gary made a motion that the Board appoint Elaine Vanderhoop to the Board to fill the three year term of Elise LeBovit whose term expired this year. Jim seconded the motion. The vote was 3-0 in favor of the motion

Report on Motion Hearing in Federal District Court
Town Administrator reported that he had spoken with Town Counsel who attended the hearing in Boston on May 31 wherein the Court heard the Town’s motion to decide on whether the Tribe is required to seek permits from the Town and Martha’s Vineyard Commission for construction f the Class II bingo facility on Tribal land. According to Counsel the hearing went well and he is mildly confident that the judge understood the Town’s position on their motion. The Selectmen asked for a meeting with Town Counsel to get a first hand report. Town Administrator said he would set up a morning meeting for next week.

Assessor Outsourcing
(Accepted bid received from Regional Resource Group, Inc.)
Elise reiterated her statement that she would stay on as assessor through the end of June. Juli read a letter received by the Selectmen from the former Town Assessors. The letter sent to Regional Resource Group, Inc. (“RRG”) indicated that the Board of Assessors rejected the bid for outsourcing services. After reading the letter into the record, Juli asked for a motion accepting the RRG proposal. Gary made a motion to accept the three year contract as presented and to proceed to contract for the services outlined in the proposal. Jim seconded the motion and the motion was approved by a vote of 3-0.

Police Chief Contract
(Approved sending a letter opening negotiations)
Town Administrator pointed out that Randhi’s contract with the Town expires on June 30, 2019. By terms of the contract notice must be given to him one year in advance of expiration to open negotiations on a new contract. That was not done last year so the contract automatically renews for another year. The Selectmen voted unanimously to give Randhi notice that of their desire to open negotiations on a new contract.
Correspondence
Town Administrator gave notice of a meeting on the Census being held on June 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the West Tisbury Library. He urged anyone interested to attend.

Other Business
Hillary Dreyer from the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival requested that her organization be permitted to show a film inside Aquinnah Circle at an unspecified date. Her request was enthusiastically received with Juli asking, “Can you do it on two nights?” Randhi gave notice that the Police Department’s Public Safety Day and the Artisan’s Festival will be held on July 20 so it should not be on done on those dates. Ms. Dreyer indicated that the Film Festival preferred to have the showing on a weekday night and suggested that may alleviate any conflict. It was agreed that she would provide notice of the exact date to the Board when a firm date has been determined.

Richard Skidmore requested the Board’s permission to install wi-fi service at the Lighthouse. The Board approved his request.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:35 p.m.