Montachusett Regional Planning Commission

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Sep 30 2024 10:19 am MONTACHUSETT REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION (MRPC) REMOTE MEETING ONLY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024, 7:00 PM MRPC MEETING MATERIALS: September 5, 2024 MRPC Meeting Material MINUTES 1. Open Meeting, Introductions and Announcements Vice Chairman K. Munroe called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. This meeting will be recorded to ensure we have an accurate record of our discussion. If anyone has any concerns about being recorded, please let us know. This meeting is held under Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, signed by Governor Healey on March 29, 2023, allowing local and regional governments to hold public meetings remotely or in a hybrid fashion. All votes will be taken by roll call. Roll Call Followed: A. Pease – present A. Labonte – present B. Yocum – present D. Thornton – present E. Newman - present G. Tillotson – present K. Munroe – present M. Bohart – present P. Cunningham – present (with technical difficulties) R. Bialecki – present R. Swartz - present 2. MRPC Minutes – August 8, 2024 – Approval of Commissioners Requested R. Bialecki moved to approve the August 8, 2024 minutes as presented. Motion was seconded. 1  Roll Call Vote Followed: A. Pease – yes B. Yocum – yes E. Newman – abstain G. Tillotson – yes K. Munroe – yes M. Bohart – abstain R. Bialecki – yes R. Swartz - yes 3. Cash Schedule – August 2024 – Acceptance of Commissioners Requested R. Swartz presented the August 2024 cash schedule. The opening balance for August 1, 2024, $456,845.98, total receipts, and transfers for the month $191,972.93, total cash on hand before this warrant $648,818.91, less the amount of this warrant $183,229.79, left a balance after the warrant of $465,589.12. K. Munroe stated earlier this week he asked G. Eaton if there was a reason this information is presented this way and G. Eaton did advise that there is a statutory requirement stating yes, we do. R. Swartz moved to accept the cash schedule as presented subject to audit. Motion was seconded. Roll Call Vote Followed: A. Pease – yes B. Yocum – yes E. Newman – yes G. Tillotson – yes K. Munroe – yes M. Bohart – yes R. Bialecki – yes R. Swartz - yes 4. Guest Announcements and Questions There were no guest announcements or questions. 5. Administrative Matters 5.1 Department of Health Public Meeting – Closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center – Information Only G. Eaton reviewed the First Responder Trip Times document found in the meeting folder. This document was created by Zachary Kay, Regional Planner after MRPC was contacted by the Mayor of Leominster requesting we provide some data regarding the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. G. Eaton pointed out the shaded area on page2 which shows where Nashoba Valley Medical Center covered and where the other hospitals are located. 2 5.2 Proposal for compensation increase for Kayla Kress, GIS & IT Analyst – Action Requested REPORT: Jason Stanton, GIS and IT Director, and Holly Ford, Administrative and Human Resources Director met recently with Glenn Eaton, Executive Director concerning the contributions of Kayla Kress, GIS & IT Analyst to MRPC. Ms. Kress joined MRPC as an Intern in January 2017. Ms. Kress showed very high-level skills and Ms. Kress was promoted as MRPC’s services and revenue increased, and the position of GIS Technician was open in July 2017. Ms. Kress was promoted to GIS Analyst in July 2019 and November 2020; Ms. Kress was promoted to GIS & IT Analyst. Ms. Kress was promoted to this position where she showed great aplomb not only in her GIS work, but also in IT support. Ms. Kress has become a superior resource to the GIS & IT Director. Her roll in IT has continued to grow and she has been spending increasingly more time providing internal support as issues arise. The responsibilities for Ms. Kress have broadened beyond GIS & IT; she has been providing support to the Planning & Development department, completing reporting tasks related to the Green Communities Program as well as proving significant MBTA communities’ compliance modeling expertise. As she has taken on more responsibilities outside of her current job description, management recommends that Ms. Kress receive some additional compensation above her current pay grade. Management has completed some market research and collected current salaries of the other regional planning agencies/ councils of government in Massachusetts. The new salary proposed for Ms. Kress is in line with our salary research. R. Bialecki asked if she was provided with an updated job description. G. Eaton stated her job description needs to be updated to include all she is currently doing. M. Bohart asked if her new role would include overseeing staff? G. Eaton responded, no but we do try to have all mid-level jobs include that they have the obligation to oversee interns as needed. J. Stanton added that in the past, K. Kress is usually the one that is directly working with interns in their department. Kayla also does training for new employees regarding GIS. Kayla usually takes charge of getting new employees up to speed, making sure that they understand the standards that we use and how we do things. Kayla has grown into helping with some of the heavy reporting type of tasks and analysis for the Planning and Development department. She is currently training Z. Kay, a new planner on how to do some of these tasks as well. Jason pointed out Kayla’s increased workload in the IT department. Kayla was already starting to do some IT tasks before she was handed the role of IT analyst. B. Yocum added that she has worked with Kayla in the past and she was great to work with. She was always helpful and available to answer questions. RESOLUTION: BE IT RESOLVED that the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission endorses management’s recommendation to increase to annual salary of Kayla Kress, GIS & IT Analyst from $68,465.25 to $78,000.00 per year, effective September 1, 2024, for the reasons above provided to the Commissioners at this evening’s meeting. R. Bialecki moved to approve the resolution as presented. Motion was seconded. 3 Roll Call Vote Followed: A. Pease – yes B. Yocum – yes E. Newman – yes G. Tillotson – yes K. Munroe – yes M. Bohart – yes R. Bialecki – yes R. Swartz – yes B. Yocum requested to go back to 5.1 before moving on as she had additional questions regarding the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. B. Yocum stated she had in the last month with both family and friends, had three visits to Nashoba Valley Medical Center, two for stitches and one for six broken ribs. The closing of this hospital is going to be huge for this area. B. Yocum asked where do we go from here? What will be done? Is it going to become sold off and become affordable housing? G. Eaton replied that the governor’s office did make a statement that they’re working to find an operator, but that operator wasn’t found before the closure of this hospital or Carney Hospital in Dorchester. G. Tillotson agreed with B. Yocum. G. Tillotson stated that while vacationing someone approached him to ask him about this subject. G. Tillotson stated that two ambulances are being stationed at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in the event of someone showing up with an emergency that needs to be transported. Ayer police along with Groton and other communities are doing their best to pick the right hospital for people when they are dispatched to a call. G. Tillotson mentioned there was a quick blurb on local TV saying that there may be someone who might keep it open as an emergency only location but there is no one else speaking about that. B. Yocum thought that would be a great idea. G. Tillotson said he just came from a meeting where they were discussing what the economic ramifications are for this area. This will be a great loss for Devens as well. G. Tillotson added that everyone’s experience when visiting Nashoba Valley Medical Center is that you felt like you were loved and being well taken care of. They got you through the process quickly. B. Yocum asked what is going to happen to the site? G. Tillotson said the site is only zoned for medical care and the zoning is not going to change. G. Tillotson shared a link to a Facebook group where people keep others up to date on the status (https://www.ayer.ma.us/home/pages/nashoba-valley-medical-center-information). R. Bialecki confirmed that she heard the same about UMass trying to set up some sort of urgent care medical site. The problem is that Steward Healthcare is privately owned. Boston Medical Center is looking at the same option for Carney Hospital. Steward has to agree to it but they are still looking for someone to purchase those properties to help get them out of the bankruptcy. A similar thing happened when they closed the North Adams Hospital. They were closer to an hour away from Pittsfield where the closest medical care was. They did open an emergency department first and then they grew it from there. Berkshire health then took it on as a full hospital site. This process moves very slowly. The big concern is that people die in the interim. R. Bialecki continued by saying it might be worth sending a letter to the president of UMass Medical Center on behalf of this commission saying we want this to happen for all the reasons outlined in your report, all of the economic reasons, the job loss, saving lives, all of the medical care. Having a lot of community pressure helps. G. Eaton stated we could do that if that is what we are asked to do. We would cc the Governor’s office, DPH and our legislative delegation as well. G. Tillotson added that Ayer’s town website is offering a resource guide. There are letters from the Board of Selectmen, Chiefs of Police, Fire Chiefs and others. He stated other towns around the area have all done similar letters including Devens Enterprise. Neal Angus wrote a great letter not too long ago that outlines this. 4  Vice Chairman K. Munroe asked for a motion to specifically authorize G. Eaton to write a letter using the positions as stated by the Commission at this meeting and at previous meetings and to sign it on the Commission’s behalf? R. Bialecki made a motion for G. Eaton to write a letter containing the concerns stated in this meeting as well as in the past. The motion was seconded. P. Cunningham resolved his technical issue and was able to join in. Roll Call Vote Followed: A. Pease – yes B. Yocum – yes E. Newman – yes G. Tillotson – yes K. Munroe – yes M. Bohart – yes P. Cunningham - yes R. Bialecki – yes R. Swartz – yes 5.3 Proposal for promotion of Christopher McNamara from Fiscal Assistant to Fiscal Manager and corresponding increase in compensation – Action Requested REPORT: Linda Quinlivan, Fiscal Director, Holly Ford, Administrative and Human Resources Director met recently with Glenn Eaton, Executive Director concerning Mr. Christopher McNamara’s contributions to the MRPC. Mr. McNamara has been with the agency since May 2021. Mr. McNamara was hired as an Intern and was promoted to Fiscal Assistant in September 2021. Mr. McNamara has become an invaluable asset in the Administrative and Fiscal Department. He has become familiar with all the operations and responsibilities and efficiently handles his assigned duties. Mr. McNamara came to the MRPC with banking and auditing experience which has been an enormous help to the agency throughout each fiscal year ensuring that MRPC complies with audit requirements and prepares for and assists with the management of each annual audit. He has encyclopedic knowledge of the budget, the process and both the receivables and payables. Mr. McNamara has taken on responsibilities outside of his current job description. He also fills in for our Fiscal Director when Ms. Quinlivan is out of the office. Management recommends that Mr. McNamara be promoted to the position of Fiscal Manager and receive a corresponding increase in compensation. Management has completed some market research and collected current salaries of the other regional planning agencies/ councils of government in Massachusetts. The new salary proposed for Mr. McNamara is in line with our salary research. RESOLUTION: BE IT RESOLVED that the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission endorses management’s 5  recommendation to promote Christopher McNamara, Fiscal Assistant to Fiscal Manager and provide a corresponding increase of his annual salary of $52,713.11 to $60,000.00 per year, effective September 1, 2024 for the reasons above provided to the Commissioners at this evening’s meeting. R. Swartz moved to accept the resolution as presented. The motion was seconded. Roll Call Vote Followed: A. Pease – yes B. Yocum – yes E. Newman – yes G. Tillotson – yes K. Munroe – yes M. Bohart – yes P. Cunningham - yes R. Bialecki – yes R. Swartz – yes P. Cunningham asked to comment on 5.1 as he was late for the meeting due to technical difficulties. Vice Chairman approved his request. P. Cunningham commended MRPC for the document they prepared for the public hearing. He appreciated the effort and the information being made available by staff. Vice-chairman K. Munroe reminded everyone that G. Eaton is available to talk to anyone that had information they would like to see in the letter to UMass and to the administration. 5.4 Other Administrative Matters No other administrative matters were discussed. 6. Department Updates Status of all ongoing projects can be found by clicking on the link, below: https://mrmapper.mrpc.org/webapps/v2.27/CurrentProjects/ MRPC staff will be prepared to answer questions about any contract with any local, state, and federal entity. Commissioners are welcome to ask questions about projects in their respective communities. G. Eaton said the above link is on the agenda all of the time and that all departments are required to update the status of the contracts on a quarterly basis. G. Eaton reviewed how to use MrMapper. We will have this information updated and we will ask if anyone has questions regarding any of the contracts no less than each quarter. B. Yocum asked if this is available to anyone wanting to look at our website and if so, how would they find it on the website? G. Eaton confirmed that it is available to the public and it is accessible on the homepage as soon as you access it. B. Yocum asked if will ever have its own tab rather than be a pop-up? J. Stanton explained that is always going to be a link and not a tab. We are now including it on the agenda, the detailed agenda and the meeting minutes to help make it easy to find and access. E. Newman asked for more information on how to get more information. Do they reach out to the contact person listed? J. Stanton confirmed that is correct. G. Eaton stated MrMapper is a way to give brief updates. It will never contain all information regarding a contract. People can always reach out to the contact person via phone or email if they need more information. 6 6.1 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) No updates at this time 6.2 Planning & Development 6.2.1 Town Planner Services – Information Only K. Chapman announced that MRPC has signed a contract with the town of Lunenburg to provide planning services. This will be 15 hours per week until they hire a planner. We understand that they are close to hiring a planner so this will be for about three or four weeks, but it gave us ideas about what to include in future contracts. Harvard had inquired about this service as well. Hubbardston inquired in the past as well as others. If this program works out well, it could be possible that we hire someone to specifically work for two or three communities. 6.2.2 Recent Grants Awarded – Information Only K. Chapman shared information about the following grants that were recently awarded. • Westminster – we are doing an updated master plan and zoning bylaw. • Leominster – we have a contract with Mass Housing Partnership to finish up their MBTA Communities Assistance. • Sterling – We have an MHP contract to finish their MBTA Communities. • We recently received the MVP Action grant to study the Leominster flooding. • Townsend has become another Digital Equity Municipal Planning Community, and that contract is about to kick off. • Lunenburg – Planning Services. • EDA – the Economic Development Administration Planning grant year three of three was finally awarded. • A small project in collaboration with MAPC to do a flood service survey statewide. The total of all these contacts is just under $747,000. P. Cunningham stated Groton is interested in a Brownfields grant. K. Chapman confirmed that MRPC received a Brownfields grant in October of 2023. The grant runs from October 2023 through September 2027. The grant is for a total of $500,000. $453,00 is to be used for phase one and phase two, assessments and reuse planning. The Montachusett-Brownfields Group will hold a meeting soon to look at nominating some new properties. MRPC recently met with Groton about one of their properties. B. Yocum asked about the planning services MRPC is currently offering. K. Chapman said she would be happy to have a meeting to discuss Shirley’s needs. She also stated the hourly rate of this service is $93.00 per hour and that communities need to keep this in mind when considering this service. K. Munroe mentioned that Hubbardston had been looking for a part-time planner for a long time and one of the challenges they faced is that they only needed someone for about 10 hours per week. Two days before MRPC let they know this service was a possibility, they found someone but knowing it was a possibility is a really good example of one of the fractionated services that could be particularly valuable especially if it got to the point of where it was a specific program of the organization. G. Eaton added 7  that the difference between and RPA and a community is that our overhead rate is calculated within our billing rate. 6.3 Transit & Transportation B. Doherty mentioned a study that is out for public comment regarding the Northern Tier Passenger Rail Study. https://www.mass.gov/doc/draft-northern-tier-passenger-rail-study-report/download This is a feasibility study that was conducted by MassDOT. It’s currently off public comment until October 12th. MRPC worked in the working group to this study the last few years, so we sort of served as almost an advisory role in the train station department. It looks at extending passenger rail service through the Fitchburg line from Fitchburg to North Adams. This existed back in the 50’s. As previously mentioned, it is up for public comment. We will have a presentation on this at our next MPO meeting on the 18th. We don’t know if we’ll make an official comment on the study during the comment period but we’re encouraging everyone to look into it and make a comment. 7. New Business Open session - This time is reserved for topics that the chair did not reasonably anticipate would be discussed. 8. Adjournment - The date of the next MRPC meeting – October 3, 2024, 7:00 p.m. B. Yocum moved to adjourn the meeting. Motion was seconded. Meeting was adjourned at 8:08 pm. This meeting will be recorded by the GoToMeeting app and will be made available for viewing at https://www.youtube.com/user/MontachusettRegion/videos. This notice is subject to change with reasonable notice provided to all. Meeting Attendance Name M/A Representing Appointment Date Present Absent Arpano, Abby A Ashburnham 12.2023 X Vacant M Ashburnham X Leab, Doug A Ashby 7.2023 X Pease, Alan M Ashby 7.2001 X Bialecki, Rebecca A Athol 7.2020. X Norton, Kathy M Athol 11.2023 X Copeland, Shaun A Ayer 7.2020. X Tillotson, Geoff M Ayer 7.2022 X Vacant A Clinton X 8 Duffy, Phil M Clinton 12.2011 X Angus, Neil N/V DREZ 7.2023 X Bohart, Mary Jo A Fitchburg 7.2021 X Butland, Alyne M Fitchburg 7.2020. X Labonte, Amber A Gardner 1.2024 X Swartz, Robert M Gardner 7.2019 X Burke, Russell A Groton 7.2022 X Cunningham, Peter M Groton 7.2016 X Minar, Kara A Harvard 7.2021 X Vacant M Harvard X Kresge, Mark A Hubbardston 7.2023 X Munroe, Kristofer M Hubbardston 7.2023 X Dolan, Kelly A Lancaster 7.2023 X Streeter, Frank M Lancaster 7.2023 X Vacant A Leominster X Valliere, Dean M Leominster 7.2019 X Vacant A Lunenburg X Reid, Amanda M Lunenburg 7.2022 X Poodry, Deb A Petersham 7.2024 X Vacant M Petersham X Jackson, Melanie A Phillipston 7.2022 X Telepciak, John M Phillipston 7.2001 X Barclay, James A Royalston 7.2017 X Nartowicz, Kyle M Royalston 7.2022 X 9  Oelfke, Bill A Shirley 7.2020. X Yocum, Barbara M Shirley 8.2017 X Newman, Kirsten A Sterling 7.2023 X Newman, Eric M Sterling 8.2024 X Toth, Timothy A Templeton 7.2023 X Rich, Dennis M Templeton 7.2017 X Sexton-Diranian, Chaz A Townsend 7.2022 X Shifrin, Laura M Townsend 7.2019 X Vacant A Westminster X Ferris, Michael M Westminster 7.2025 X Beauvais, Andrew A Winchendon 7.2025 X Corbosiero, Guy M Winchendon 7.2011 X Guests: D. Thornton, Harvard Representative Staff: G. Eaton, H. Ford, K. Chapman, L. Quinlivan, B. Doherty, J. Stanton, T. Murphy DOCUMENTS/EXHIBITS DISTRIBUTED FOR THE MEETING August 8, 2024 MRPC Meeting Minutes September 5, 2024 MRPC Meeting Agenda September 5, 2024 MRPC Meeting Agenda with Details MRPC Grant Opportunities Spreadsheet Eco Dev – Devens Letter Cronin Devens Economic Development Conference Committee Letter Economic Development Bill Language page 145 and 146 First Responder Trip Times 10