Posted on 22 September 2011.
By: Maria Moore
Following is a report of the Public Comment section at the beginning of the Board of Selectmen’s agenda for the August 23 meeting. For the complete and official minutes of that meeting, please visit the Meetings and Agendas section of the Town’s website. The minutes of the Selectmen’s meetings are not submitted to the Town Clerk until they have been approved during the following month’s meeting. For questions regarding the unapproved minutes please see Christine Hayward in the First Selectman’s Office.
The August 23 Board of Selectmen Meeting, with two of the three Selectmen at the meeting – present were First Selectman Dan Jerram and Selectman Tom Klebart – began with a half-hour executive session, during which about two dozen members of the public waited patiently in the hallway or in the Town Hall employees’ staff room. The large public turnout – usually there are no more than a couple of residents at the meetings – was due to the Brodie Park South issue, especially the planned cutting down of trees and the cutting of the lower branches of trees around the area currently being used for football practice; see our September 1 report on the Brodie South Study Committee meeting where these issues were addressed.
By: Maria Moore
Once the public was allowed into the meeting, First Selectman Dan Jerram passed around a letter and some photos addressing the Brodie Park South maintenance program which he said he had undertaken last summer after the Town’s highway crew expressed their concern at the condition of the trees which had been overtaken by bittersweet and grapevines; download a copy of that letter: Dan Jerram letter re. maintenance of trees at Brodie South (71).
The First Selectman said that Don Birden, the member of the crew that takes care of “South Brodie,” has taken great care in the improvements that have taken place. He said the town has an employee on the crew who is a licensed forester and he is happy with the work that is being done. “The approach is working and the trees are being saved.” Dan Jerram said. He then opened the floor to the public.
A neighbor of the park said she disagreed with him. She said that she too had spoken with a forester and added: “I am sure there are other ways to save the trees than to cut the bottom branches and change the form of the trees.” She said the trees don’t look as good now that the branches don’t reach the ground and that lots of people are shocked at what they see. “You can cut the vines from the base.” She suggested. She also disagreed with the First Selectman’s statement that only 4-5 feet of the lower branches had been cut. “I’m 5 feet 4 and I stood under those branches and you could fit another me underneath.” She then read a letter from a retired forester, who registered his concern at the occurrences at Brodie South and who said: “…I respectfully request and urge the town of New Hartford to limit pruning to dead trees or branches and make every effort to keep Brodie Park South green and beautiful…” Read a copy of the letter posted on NHPlus on August 23, the day of the meeting. The resident said that the members of the Brodie South Committee were asking to stop the tree cutting activity until they conclude their study. “Why not utilize the Committee where people have volunteered to do the task?” She asked. The resident also said that she and others would volunteer to form groups to go in and cut the vines at no cost to the town.
Another resident commented: “If we have someone on staff to take care of the trees and the vines on the trees have been left to a point where there’s damage to the trees I would ask ‘Where have you been?’ ” “I would say there has been a lack of appropriate management.” The First Selectman answered. The resident then went on to suggest that the town set up a schedule of maintenance of trees in all parks and that they hire someone who is an expert in trees who would as a routine trim the trees and identify those to be cut.
A resident asked Dan Eddy, Chairman of the Brodie South Committee and a member of the Rec Commission, how tree maintenance was handled at Brodie North (where Berkshire Hall is located). Dan Eddy said that Brodie North has been managed by cutting dead and dangerous trees. Dan Jerram said that they still have had trees falling and that one had recently fallen on the Nurse’s cabin at Brodie North; he went on to say that there are some large spruces north of the parking lot at Brodie South that would have to be cut. Dan Eddy clarified that Dennis Minor, the Rec Director, alerts the selectmen about work that needs to be done. Asked who authorizes the tree-cutting, Dan Jerram said that there are four appointed tree wardens: himself, fellow Selectman Bruce Gresczyk, George Phillips and Brenda Schauffler; he said that he gave the direction for Brodie South and he said he believed it was working. Asked if there is an arborist on staff, Dan Jerram said that Brenda had taken some classes but he didn’t know the specifics.
Dan Eddy said that when Rec had worked on Callahan Park, on the banks of the Farmington River, they had been required by the Planning & Zoning Commission that they have a licensed individual come out and mark the invasives.
Dan Jerram went on to say that there were a number of dead trees at Brodie South that were scheduled to be taken down and that a couple of the spruces couldn’t be saved. Regarding the cutting of the lower branches he said it helped Don with the mowing. Dan Jerram said that there were more trees along the second practice field where the vines were so bad that the trees (on the other side of the trees from the football goalposts) would also need work. A resident said again that the vines can be removed without cutting the lower branches. Selectman Tom Klebart said that the nature of the Norway spruces is to have that lower canopy and he questioned whether one would want to have that canopy removed. “It’s a forest natural habitat and you’ve destroyed that.” A resident said, adding: “Your success is not what’s necessarily best for the park or the people. There are other options for handling these trees and there are other experts out there that could do this without removing that canopy and keeping things as nature intended them to be in their natural form and letting nature take its course and allow natural occurrences.” “Letting nature take its course is what caused this problem!” The First Selectman responded. Tom Klebart interrupted the exchange of differing opinions between the First Selectman and the resident by said: “The question is how to best maintain those trees while keeping their canopy.” The same resident agreed with Tom Klebart, saying: “We have volunteers willing to work on this. Why not confer with experts that are free and have them tell us how to do this without removing the base of the trees without changing the whole look of the park and the landscape?” The First Selectman said he appreciated the input and would take her suggestions under consideration.
Christine Hayward, the First Selectman’s assistant, volunteered her opinion on using volunteers: “I know there are a lot of volunteers out there that are willing to volunteer to cut vines, who are willing to work. I meet with the insurance company all the time and looking at our insurance coverage, whenever we have volunteers out there we have to know who’s working on things, who’s supervising them, and the insurance company says that when you put tools that could be dangerous in the hands of volunteers then you’re looking at a liable situation… That’s how our insurance company feels: Our insurance company goes crazy at that type of thing. Paul Mahoney and the boy scouts did a great job up there but once you start expanding and include well-meaning individuals who want to help, the insurance company gets a little nervous about that.”
The same resident responded: “Don’t you have the same liability when you open up the chain and let people onto the fields? They are not town employees. The chain is opened and there are 12 to 17 cars parked in the park and there are other trucks that go into the interior and they’re not town trucks.” “They’re not cutting trees.” Christine said. “Isn’t the town liable for anything they do and for any accidents they have?” The resident responded. “We’re talking about volunteers under the Conservation Commission and the Open Space Commission that know what they’re doing.” Dan Jerram’s response to this was: “I spent 8 years on the Conservation Commission.” Selectman Tom Klebart said: “I suggest we have the town crew do the work, but get a second opinion about what they should be doing.”
Another resident, who was a past chairperson of the Rec Commission, said that historically the town has had a very passive way of looking at the park. “We need to have the most people possible using that area because the more people use it, the more they’re invested in it.” She continued: “I don’t want this to become one group against another group. I am opposed to what is being done with the trees,” she said, going on to say that the natural environment such as is found at Brodie South is exactly why a lot of people move into New Hartford. “The question becomes when you’re mowing back for one specific group…” “We are not mowing back for any specific groups.” The First Selectman cut in. “We’ve mowed that area without having to get too close to the trees since I was Recreation Chairman.” The resident said. “Why do we suddenly need to change that because of a little bit of taller grass?” She said the area was being used right now by wildlife, the Boy Scouts, the schools, the people who walk there. “Let’s keep it for the most use, and not just say it’s for one particular group and discount it for use by bird lovers and nature lovers.”
Jack Casey, who is a Democratic candidate for the Board of Selectmen in the upcoming November election, said that it appeared to him that the lines of the pruning of the trees is aligned with the lines of the football field. “We never used to have lines in the field before and now we have lines,” Jack said. “If we’re going to talk about the maintenance of the park and of the trees, then maybe that should be part of our conversation. A lot of people here that I’ve talked to tonight are concerned about that we’re going too fast. I’m not saying it’s OK: We’ve improved the maintenance of the property because we now have football players there, which is great. It’s great that we were able – like we said, 30 years prior to cutting the trees, the trees were never cut. You’ve said yourself that it took years of neglect for these vines to overtake the trees. I just want to point out that there may be a connection between the maintenance of the park and the use of the property.” Jack Casey ended his input.
“They are separate issues.” Dan Jerram said. “And we have issues. We have growing pains: We’ve done dissertations on the sports usage, enrollment and the bottom line is we don’t have a place for them (football) to go. We’d like nothing more than to have a non-controversial place for them to go, but the bottom line is that we don’t. The tree issue has been going on since I’ve been here. This meeting has arisen quickly out of an issue that’s been out there for 18 months. The trees that are recovering now were pruned last summer. On average we’ve pruned one or two trees every other month. This is not a new thing.”
“But we’ve not pruned the trees in the previous 29 1/2 years?” Jack Casey asked. “No.” Dan Jerram responded. “I guess what I’m saying Dan,” Jack continued, “It’s OK to improve the property because of the additional use and that seems to be what’s happened. We’re taking better care of the property because we now have many of our fellow residents using the property.” “We have twice the population that we had 30 years ago.” Dan Jerram intervened. “And the constant is that we don’t have enough sports fields. Someone was told by the town that these trees were coming down.” Jack continued, pointing to a tree in the photo. “That tree may be coming down.” Dan Jerram said. “It’s marked to be pruned, evaluated and possibly removed. There are two spruce trees that have been marked with both colored tape.” “The person I spoke to articulated that all the trees were coming down, that’s probably why we have such a large constituency base here tonight. Is it true we have a committee to study additional sports fields in town? Jack asked. “Yes, but we have no guarantee of funding, we have no zoning approval. To have an honest discussion away from the trees to the sports use of South Brodie, we have a very nice group working with the Brodie South Task Force (Committee) that are trying to really design a program that will outline how we use South Brodie in the future and I think the Football folks have been very generous to be willing participants. We’d love to have a different home but we have no money and no zoning approvals so we have an uncertain future. We have really a make-do economy, make do with what you have. The possibility of going to our Board of Finance and say: “We’ve found an appropriate piece of land we need some amount of money, and then to go to P&Z and then for those neighborhoods to agree…” “I agree with what you say, but one thing I disagree.” Jack interjected. “Football is up there, that’s a constant event. For some of the people here, they’re wondering if they’re going to have the same use of the property that they have now. The football people – they have the use of the property now.” “Everybody has use of the property now.” Dan Jerram said. “Everybody is wanting the findings of the report, Football is wanting that information too, and everybody is wanting a plan but we all know that we have economy issues, money issues, and even if we get beyond those, we still have other elected officials on Planning & Zoning that would have to agree. The honest discussion is – we came here to talk about trees, but we have to talk about Football – the discussion is: If Football is an honest, interim use, how long is interim? I can’t tell you that. With no money, and nobody donating property and even if they did, with no zoning approvals, we all know that we have an uphill battle.”
Tom Klebart said: “Jack brings up a good point of why there are so many people here. What I heard when I came back from vacation a couple of weeks ago, everyone was saying the whole stand of trees were coming down.” Dan Jerram responded: “If you look at the stand of trees, a lot of the trees are coming down.” “What I heard is that the stand of trees were coming down to accommodate Football which I find is not the case.”
Jack then said: “The last thing I want to say is that I understand it’s hard economic times, but everybody here pays taxes, I pay my taxes. Let’s be careful what we say that we don’t have any money. We do have the money, we did purchase the property…” “I’m talking about an additional field if you talk about moving that group somewhere else.” Dan Jerram responded.
Our reporter, Maria Moore, then asked if the selectmen had received anything from the Brodie South Committee that had met the previous Thursday evening (see our September 1 report of that meeting). “I was at that meeting and they were going to send you an email asking you to stop all action at Brodie South while they are doing their evaluation. Have you received that?” “I have received that…” Dan Jerram began. “That’s your own appointed group that iss asking you…” “That was not appointed by this group.” She was corrected by the First Selectman. “They are doing the work of the town. Excuse me.” Dan Jerram picked up again: “They are not appointed by the Board of Selectmen, they are a a sub-Committee of the Rec Commission, and you’re starting to expand the scope beyond the realm of whatever they started to do, the future uses. The town has a responsibility to remove dead trees, to remove safety and liability issues.” Our reporter, answered: “Dead trees, yes. To prune them from the bottom, from the ground up which will ruin these trees forever more, no matter what else happens at that area…” Dan Jerram interjected: “That’s a subjective opinion. When we talk about future uses, we talk about active and passive, whether football would stay or not and how we would use the field, they were going to make a recommendation. I don’t think the scope from Rec included a tree by tree analysis.”
Rick Berneike, the Youth Sports representative on the Brodie South Committee, then said: “May I clarify that as a member of that Committee? Our concern was based on the rumor that a large stand of Norway spruces were going to be removed. That was our concern and that was the basis of our statement that if and until a plan of development came about for that property, the decision should be held off until that happens.” Dan Jerram asked: “So you would admit your group rendered a judgement on inaccurate information?” “That is correct.” Rick answered.
The resident who was a former chairperson of Rec then said that the town had originally gone before Planning & Zoning to approve how that acreage was to be used and it had been made part of the town plan, and she asked: “If we’re having a use that’s not part of that approved use, have you gone back before Zoning and said that we have a change of use?” Dan Jerram responded: “I wouldn’t differentiate between an organized soccer team and a football team.” The resident said they didn’t have permanent goal posts and risers. “I think we’re really digressing…” Dan Jerram said but the resident insisted: “I don’t think I’m digressing. The part of going before Planning & Zoning is a perfect opportunity for the Town to put forth the change of use and for every person to voice their concern and have the Town as a whole eventually make the decision on how that property gets used. I think that’s what a lot of people are concerned about, is how is that property going to be used and whether or not – maybe you don’t agree with us – but there’s a lot of people who think those trees in their natural state is the way it should be and we should be given a voice, the appropriate voice, to say so.” The First Selectman then asked if anyone else had input.
Another resident asked that the town get a second opinion from a professional arborist: “There are vines growing in there but it would be good if you could take the vines out without cutting off the branches. I don’t know if there is a way but let’s get an expert in there to see what he has to say.”
Our reporter, Maria Moore, then asked: “You mentioned there’s an arborist on the town crew..” “A forester” she was corrected. “Is that Mr. Birden himself (the town crew member who is in charge of cutting and pruning the trees)?” She ended her question. “No, that’s Steve (the forester on the town crew).” “I didn’t think so.’ She continued. “Has he been asked for his opinion on what is happening there?” “Yes,he has.” Dan Jerram responded. “OK, and was his input taken into consideration?” “Yes, I did ask him specifically what he thought of the pruning job that’s been done and he believes it’s benefiting the trees.” Dan Jerram responded. “I’d like to hear that from Steve himself.” She went on. “In the meantime, when you appoint tree wardens – and you mentioned four – how many of you have any real training? I know Brenda (Schauffler) attended a course. Does anyone else have any training as a tree warden?” “I don’t believe so – I don’t know, I can’t speak for the others.” Dan Jerram responded. “Shouldn’t that be required if you want to be a tree warden, shouldn’t you put yourself through a training course so that you do understand the different aspects of taking care of trees?” “There are no minimum requirements to my knowledge.” Dan Jerram responded. “There should be, there should be.” She responded.
A long-time resident of the town said that at the time the Brodie property was purchased: “Anita (Baxter the First Selectwoman at the time) showed us on a billboard that townspeople took on an extra payment of $150 per year for 20 to 30 years and for the duration that was our park. That being said, the Town voted to purchase the park under duress of higher taxes. If I’m correct, what you’re saying is you have to be open and notorious… ” “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said?” Dan Jerram asked. “Open and notorious with what is happening with the trees and Football and Recreation.” “Open and…?” Dan Jerram asked, puzzled. “Open and notorious.” The resident repeated. “What do you mean by that?” He was asked. “Being open and notorious with what’s going on at the park. Because the people voted for that, it’s the people’s choice what goes on in the park, not yours. Your job is to guide the people and give that information of “here people of New Hartford, this is what’s going on, here’s the parameters that you have to work by” and let the people decide what goes on with the trees, Football and things of that nature.” The resident stopped and asked of Dan Jerram: “Why do you think it’s funny? You’re smiling.” “Dan Jerram, who had been smiling at the resident’s input, said: “I don’t think that you have surveyed the entire population just as this room can’t speak for the entire population.” “What happened when we voted for the park? We surveyed the park and everybody voted for it.” “Would you recommend a referendum for the trees?” Dan Jerram asked. “Absolutely, not for the trees. Keep it open for what’s going on. A lot of people don’t know this meeting is going on and they didn’t know the last meeting was going on and all of a sudden you go to one meeting and you find out all these other things that are going on. I just wish the Town would let everybody know what was going on. I have full confidence in the people of New Hartford and you should too.” The resident said. “I do.” Dan Jerram said. “And your job is to guide them, not to say “This is the way you’re going.” ” “I’d like to think that I do that. Great care has been taken over the long term to see that the trees have been taken care of, when many selectmen before me have chosen to ignore that responsibility. And I think that now maintenance of our parks is improving. We have problems, there is no doubt about it,but when I was on vacation, when there was uncertainty we told the guys not to cut, and we marked very carefully every single tree. Not that this was an imminent movement, this was a long-time, deliberative process here. It’s been going on since last summer and many people have complimented us on the work.” Dan Jerram said. The resident responded: “I think what we’re talking about there’s possibly correlation with Football, whichever is true or not. I’m trying to get down to the crux of the matter, is that what most people are concerned about, is that they are able to have input as they did in purchasing the park and hopefully you will note that, that that in itself, people voting to buy that park is a separate entity and now they have the right to decide what’s going on as the town grows and as you feel there’s no room for Football otherwise than at Brodie Park. Maybe other people have ideas. I’m just giving my opinion. Hopefully you’ll encourage answers for that.”
Dan Jerram said: “I think it’s important for us to recognize that we have a very deliberate approach. We don’t do things quickly on some of these larger issues and I think Don has been careful and slow and I think it’s unfortunate that through some level of lack of appropriate information people get upset and nervous. I think we have two separate issues of concern here: we have concern about Football and those folks are taxpayers, too, and we know that we have a glaring lack of improved field space suitable with parking and all those amenities, those uses are best left to our Land Use folks, I wouldn’t want to speak for them. But for practice we need to have more space, we need to have a plan for the future. Maria somewhere on her website has the video of the dissertation I gave of the numbers of how many play sports every day, they’d love to be down at Brown’s Corner every day… We have a lack of appropriate funds to move forward. Now we have new sports coming along – now we have spring soccer and fall soccer and spring baseball and fall baseball, and lacrosse is next and football…We have a filet mignon appetite and a cheeseburger budget… We have a group of people, the Board of Finance, who watch over our finances and guide us through these cautious times, you watch the job market, and the economy. People are hurting out there and I don’t think there’s the willingness to appropriate a large amount of money. Again, that would presume that even if we did have that ability and have those folks on board, then we’d still have to jump through hoops and go before our Land Use people, and that would presume that the folks in the new neighborhood would say OK.”
Another resident then gave her input regarding the trees. She said: “I’d like to hear from experts on both sides on how to take care of maintaining the trees. My problem is, if there are multiple ways of maintaining the trees, I think we need to go with the least obtrusive way of doing so because once you take down a limb 8 to 10 feet off the ground, they’re never going to come back. Why not start out as unintrusive as possible to do what needs to be done. Rather than having people chopping things down, have them go down there and cut the base of the vine and then go back and pull out the vine. We try to maintain the trees on our own property and cutting something, especially something that’s healthy or can be healthy, is a last resort. I hope that if you take nothing else from this evening you will take that to heart and know that no more should there be people taking the most aggressive means possible to take care of what’s wrong with a tree. We need to protect them and we need to do what is least invasive. You know, if you break your toe, you don’t have your foot removed. You don’t do that.” Dan Jerram responded: “I don’t think they’ve taken the most extreme route.”
The public input time was just about up, and anothe resident came in with his opinion: “I have to agree that when 5 feet or 10 feet is taken off a tree, that is not the least invasive approach. The point I want to make is I’ve been here for 13-14 years and the use of that area, Brodie Park South, is a thorn in the side of every resident and I’d like to see the issue put to bed through referendum what that land will be used for. Then the problem is solved for now and for future generations.” “I don’t know if that’s appropriate.” Dan Jerram responded. “That would usurp the authority of the elected Land Use officials. While you may be talking about referendum to permanently protect something, I don’t know that the Town is ready to do that. We don’t have a recommendation from the Task Force. I think there’s been some talk and we’ve had some discussions about possibly protecting some or all. I don’t know where the Selectmen stand on that, I don’t know what the Task Force will make a recommendation on, but then again, we also have growth issues, we have growing pains. Just like the people in this room have a right to an opinion of what is appropriate use, the people who aren’t here tonight who may have different opinions, also have a right.”
“Will you stop until you get recommendations?” A resident asked. “I’m going to consider tonight’s discussion and I’m going to have to think about it a little bit….” “There’s no rush, no recommendation have been made.” The resident said. “And we haven’t been rushing.” Dan Jerram said. “I hear different things.” The resident said. “Earlier in the evening you said you’re going to take some trees down as an aside.” “We are going to take some trees down. The trees that are marked for removal.” Dan Jerram’s cell phone rang and while he took the call, Tom Klebart said: “There are some trees that are dead and will have to come down.” “I agree, but there are a lot of trees that are not. And again, what’s the rush? You don’t have a recommendation, you don’t have a plan, you don’t know if football is going to stay there so what is the point?”
Another resident then said: “Let me tell you how it could all be solved. I coached baseball for 14 years and I have tried to get it to safety. Can you tell me one other town that has a facility like ours with a town that supports it without lights? You could solve hundreds of problems with lights. Steve Wabrek was willing to donate his time and part materials to put lights down at Brown’s Corner. Every coach coaching baseball knows, there are so many times when the game goes just 15 minutes too long, and you’re holding your breath while a little girl is trying to catch a high pop. You could have softball, men’s leagues, you could clear out the schedule and I have suggested from the beginning that with a facility like we have at Brown’s Corner – but the Babe Ruth field, east to west, is the perfect spot for it and you’ve got to be able to move the soccer field around. Then you’ve got Brodie Park South and Brodie Park North, and a facility like Brown’s Corner, and we also have Antolini (school). How many people are in this town?” “6,970.” Dan Jerram responded. The resident continued: “I’ll treat you out to dinner if you can show me one other town that has a facility like we have (Brown’s Corner) with a small populace and now with these economic conditions we’re actually considering a facility at Brodie Park, a new facility that would be like a cash cow because if a football field is going into Brodie Park, that would mean – I want to be sure the whole town knows that – a regulation size field, and that would mean restrooms, lights, emergency vehicles, parking. So the whole Brodie Park South, if football goes in, is wiped out.” “You’ve really taken a leap far beyond where we are.” Dan Jerram said. “I don’t think anyone’s proposing a stadium. If anyone’s told you we’re putting up a Meadowlands…” The resident interrupted: “Could you think about the lights, Mr. Jerram? Just to help out at Brown’s Corner.” “That could be a touchy issue.” Dan Jerram responded. “It’s $10,000, I think it would well be worth the money.” The resident said.
Another resident brought the focus back to the trees at Brodie South, saying: “You stated that it was a slow process and that Don has been working on the trees for many years…” “Many months” the First Selectman responded. “Since there is no urgency, why not put it on hold and get the outside expert opinion that’s free to the town and you’ll please everybody.” “At least for the spruces.” Another resident called out. “Actually, for anything that’s there. They may be dead but I don’t see them posing a threat.” “They will be removed.” Dan Jerram said. “Well, hold off on the other one and utilize the resources we have available.” the resident insisted. “I’m going to consider tonight, and I’m going to think about it and I’m going to consider my position. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have to act in the best interest of the town and that is the 25 people that have gathered here and people that haven’t had the opportunity to be heard.” With that, Dan Jerram called on the last person to speak in the Public Comment section. The speaker was a long-time farmer in town, and he said: “My comment probably isn’t worth tiddly-squat. I worked at Brodie Park probably 30 years ago. As a farmer I used to mow the golf course and I used to help the camp by mowing the field area. The trees I saw – I don’t know who took the photos – the majority of those trees are not healthy, they should come down, one way or the other. I’ve spent my whole life in the woods cutting firewood cutting back edges of lots and personally I like my trees cut about 10 feet high so you can drive in underneath them with the tractor. Nothing to do with the playground, it makes it a lot easier, a lot safer to work. You can cut those bittersweet down at the base of the tree, but if you pull the bittersweet you’ll tear limbs off that tree. And I think the Town is absolutely foolish if it lets people go in there and donating their time because somebody’s going to get hurt, guaranteed.”
Selectman Tom Klebart said: “I go back to my original suggestion to have another arborist take a look at it and then have the town crew do the work.” “It’s a good point,” Dan Jerram said. “Please consider it.” “I always do.”
The members of the public who had gathered to express their concerns regarding Brodie Park South left the meeting, and the selectmen continued on with their long agenda which has become a standard occurrence since they changed their meetings from twice a month to now meeting only once a month.
[This report is being written live in detail as some have requested us to do; Friday, Sept. 23]
Trees in the foreground that are tagged for maintenance. Photo: Maria Moore
Pine trees that have been tagged for cutting or to have lower branches cut. Photo: Maria Moore
___________________
Following is the agenda for the Board of Selectmen Meeting on August reported on above:
Board of Selectmen
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
7:00 PM
Town Hall
AGENDA
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS AN EXECUTIVE SESSION AT THE TOP OF THIS AGENDA, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE SESSION WILL LAST FOR ONE-HALF HOUR AND THAT THE MEETING WILL BE OPENED TO THE PUBLIC AT 7:30 PM.
1.) Minutes – July 26, 2011
2.) Executive Session – Re: MSW contract
3.)Operations Updates ( i.e. Road work, Road Grader, Field House Roof, Trees, and others)
4.) CRRA contract discussion
5.)Update re: Bill Case request for Boundary Line Agreement
6.) Update re: Volunteer Tax Abatement
7.) Stormwater Survey – West Hill Lake
8.) Discussion of items and possible dates for Town Meeting
9.) Proclamation re: Constitution Week
10.)Proclamation re: United Way
11.) Appointments/Resignations – Boards and Commissions
12.) Request for Tax Refunds
13.) Opportunity for Public Comment on agenda items
14.) Correspondence
15.)Any Other Business to Come Before this Board
Respectfully Submitted,
Christine Hayward, Administrative Assistant
Janet’s concern at the use of Brodie South for active sports activity deepened today when she learned from members of the town’s Highway Department – who were at Brodie South cutting the lower branches of the pine trees around the open field area – that they have been instructed by First Selectman Dan Jerram to cut down the stand of pine trees behind the goal posts which separate the two open fields now being used for football practice. The crew members have also been instructed to mow the meadow area adjacent to the fields throughout the summer rather than just once every September, as has been the case up until now.
