MINUTES OF THE SELECTMEN’S MEETING

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

PRESENT: Terry H. Finnegan (Chairman), Donal P. Anderson (Vice-Chair), Hilary P. Wilson (Clerk), Arthur P. Boyle, Jr. (Selectman), Willard J. Boulter, III (Selectman), Edwin J. Thorne (Town Administrator), Diane Tobin (Executive Assistant), John Mattson (Comcast Cable), Lewis Stone, Steve Annear (Pembroke Mariner/Reporter), Becca Manning (Pembroke Express), Ned Colby (Patriot Ledger), Deborah Wall, Fire Chief James Neenan, James Hayden (Cable Advisory Comm.).

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cub Scout Pack 105 – Christie Frisbee and the cub scouts from Pack 105 were granted permission to conduct popcorn sales from October 1 through October 31 during after-school hours until dusk and on weekends from 11:00 a.m. until dusk.

Veteran’s Services – The Veteran’s Services office expressed thanks to Mr. Wallace St. John for his donation of a two-star, gold star banner for the town hall memorial room and a banner to be displayed in honor of 1^st Lt. Brian McPhilips and PFC Matthew Bean.

COMMUNICATOR NOTIFICATION SYSTEM: Fire Chief Jim Neenan along with James Muscato and Nicole Callahan of the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Dept. were present to explain the Communicator Notification System. Chief Neenan told the Selectmen that anyone who has a phone service with a private company, an unpublished number or use only a cell phone and no landline, would not be in the communicator system unless they call the Sheriff’s Office, Fire Dept., or Selectmen’s Office to list their number. Blocked numbers are not recognized by the system and can’t go through. During the water emergency, there were four lines down in the system and they relied on some calls to be sent out from the parent company in Tenn. Some residents who did not recognize the Tenn. exchange on their caller ID may not have picked up the call.

The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Dept. does not charge the Town of Pembroke for this service. Mr. Muscato explained that this episode was the first time there was a problem with the lines. A recent test of the service showed no failures to connect. Ms. Callahan advised that the system puts out approximately 1000 calls every 15 minutes and it would take approximately 4 hours to complete all calls in Pembroke. The system also enables calls to be made only to specific areas of town that may be affected by the message going out.

Mrs. Finnegan requested that a Communicator link be placed on the town website along with the Sheriff’s Dept. telephone number for residents to call to register their telephone number.

CABLE ADVISORY UPDATE: Jim Hayden gave the Selectmen a synopsis of the committee’s last meeting with Comcast. They continue to meet weekly. He said the public hearing turnouts were well attended and helpful comments were offered. He feels they are moving closer to a suitable and viable contract with Comcast.

SIGN PERMITS: The Selectmen voted to approve a temporary sign permit for KoKo Fit Club at 117 Old Church Street as per application and sketch submitted. They also voted to approve a permanent sign for Country Curtains at 15 Columbia Road conditional upon the approval of the Historic District Commission.

MINUTES OF THE SELECTMEN’S MEETING

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 – PAGE TWO

TOWN MEETING WARRANT ARTICLES: Mr. Wilson moved, seconded by Mr. Boyle, to open the warrant to add one more article to create another stabilization fund for retirees compensation. Voted unanimously in favor. Mr. Wilson moved, seconded by Mr. Anderson, to close the warrant and it was unanimously voted in favor.

Chairman Finnegan read each article and set aside #4, 7, 9 and 10 for questioning. Mr. Wilson moved, seconded by Mr. Anderson to move favorable action recommendation on all of the other articles. So voted.

Article 4: Hilary was concerned and the board agreed to add that a majority of the Selectmen shall approve payroll warrant in the absence of the Town Administrator.

Article 7: It was agreed to reduce the amount requested to $750,000.

Article 9 and 10: It was agreed to remove these articles from the warrant.

Mr. Wilson moved, seconded by Mr. Boyle, to move articles 4 and 7 as amended with favorable action recommendation. Voted unanimously in favor.

BUILDING DEPT. FEE SCHEDULE: Mr. Boulter moved, seconded by Mr. Anderson, to accept the new schedule of fees for the building department as presented. So voted.

Town Hall Third Floor: Brian VanRiper was present to discuss the impact of expansion to the town hall third floor on the Center Task Force plans. He told the board that the third floor was not to be renovated in the task force plans but would be left up to future plans. The original plan was to convert the town hall to a police station and use the third floor for storage of records. He feels that the proposed plan for expansion of the third floor at this time may be a misdirection of funds. He also cautioned that once you exceed a certain threshold of renovation costs, you have to upgrade the whole building to code. He suggested that Mr. Thorne should talk to Gene Raymond who was the design consultant on the Center project. Mr. Van Riper will try to find copies of the Center Task Force plan and budget for Mr. Thorne. Mr. Wilson requested a copy of these plans also.

Town Planner: The Planning Board will try to schedule a meeting in October with the Selectmen.

Passports: The application has been submitted.

Capital Plan: Chairman Finnegan expressed her hope to bring before the spring town meeting, the idea of earmarking capital money every year, particularly cell tower revenue and passport revenue.

New Telephone System: Installation will begin this week and training sessions will be conducted on Thursday and Friday.

New England Village Easement: Mr. Thorne is working on getting the meets and bounds.

PAC TV: Mr. Thorne is talking to Atty. Hewigg about drawing up papers for the studio committee to be called Pembroke Community Television.

Skateboard Park: Interested parties will attend next week’s meeting.

MINUTES OF THE SELECTMEN’S MEETING

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 – PAGE THREE

TOWN ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT:

The next joint meeting of Selectmen will be hosted by Norwell on October 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Norwell Town Hall. Mrs. Finnegan noted that she cannot attend on a Thursday evening but would like to speak to another member who attends. Mr. Boyle suggested that any questions be sent by email.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mr. Anderson moved, seconded by Mr. Wilson, to go into executive session to discuss personnel issues and pending litigation, and upon conclusion no further public business to be discussed.

Roll Call Vote: Wilson, yes – Boyle, yes – Anderson, yes – Boulter, yes – Finnegan, yes

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.