Preview of Selectmen’s Meeting for Monday, May 18 from Town Administrator Fred Turkington:
The Board of Selectmen will meet on Monday evening (May 18th) in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room in Town Building.
Representatives of the Dudley Chateau will appear before selectmen at approximately 7:25 p.m. to seek approval of a change in manager of the establishment and to present documentation to allow the establishment to reopen. Under terms of a suspension for numerous violations of liquor laws, the Board required a management plan that would assure proper training of servers, a responsible manager on duty, availability of food service required by the license, and adherence to fire and building codes. Owners were also required to provide evidence of liquor liability insurance to at least the limits that can be required by state law. Since the suspension in February, the kitchen at Dudley Chateau has been renovated and managers have decided not to seek an extension of the entertainment license that would have permitted live bands to perform each month. Instead, entertainment will be limited to a guitar player or juke box system.
The Board will also discuss a draft letter to state legislators representing Wayland and to the legislative leadership seeking prompt action of the municipal relief package. A specfial joint legislative committee issued a report recommending many of the reforms suggested by the Governor, but omit other key provisions and offer unacceptable versions of some others. Selectmen are seeking legislative codification of an ATB case ending the archiac exemption from personal property taxes that telecommunications companies have enjoyed and now on appeal. The revenue from taxes on poles, wires, and equipment would mean an additional $225,000 to Wayland. The Board also advocates for the local option to levy an additional percentage to the state meals tax and room occupancy tax. Under the legislative proposal, Wayland stands to receive approximately $125,000 in new revenue. At a time when local aid distributed to municipalities is being reduced due a deterioriating revenue collection picture at the state level, these new sources help fill the gap.
Selectmen also seek real reform of unfunded state mandates and impediments to creative ways to reduce costs, such as collaboration with other municipalities. Perhaps the most onerous burden is the requirement for cities and towns to collectively bargain health insurance plan design with employee unions. Citizens are rightfully outraged at the disparity between private and public plan provisions for co-pays, deductibles and premium cost-sharing levels. While the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) unilaterally sets these provisions for state employees to control the growth in health insurance costs, municipalities must reach agreement with employees in contract negotiations. The special commission proposal repeats the mistake of the Governor’s plan by giving unions veto power over plan design changes needed to achieve the savings to duplicate the cost of the GIC plans. It would introduce binding arbitration for this subject of collective bargaining, a process repudiated by voters as part of Proposition 2 ½ in 1980 and confer special bargaining rights not offered to state employees. Unelected and unaccountable arbitrators would have the ability to impose health insurance decisions on communities and employees. If savings comparabled to GIC rates were not achieved through this process, municipalities would be penalized with reductions in state aid. The reform proposed by the legislature is simply a political compromise that is worse than no reform at all. Real reform would eliminate the double standard that exists between state and municipal bargaining on this benefit.
The Board will also address the proposed draconian cuts in state aid levels contemplated in the Senate version of the FY10 state budget. Wayland would receive more than $600,000 less than the already reduced aid level proposed by both the Governor and the House leadership in their budget proposals. Buried in the Senate plan is a proposal to reduce the minimum grant for school construction from 40% to 31%. Selectmen intend to address these items with legislators and will encourage the Finance and School Committees to join them in the advocacy effort.
The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.
Fred Turkington
Town Administrator
