LONGMEADOW – At the Longmeadow Select Board’s meeting on Sept. 17, the group discussed a series topics including the recent Columbia Gas explosions in Eastern Mass, the Town Mangers report, the DPW Asbestos Change order, the signing of the Fall Town Meeting warrant and more.

Columbia Gas Explosions

Select Board Chair Mark Gold started off the meeting during Select Board comments to share his thoughts on the Columbia Gas explosions that took place in Eastern Massachusetts on Sept. 13. Lawrence, Andover and North Andover experienced these explosions, with as many as 39 homes affected and 70 fires, gas leaks or explosions reported. According to Columbia Gas, a total of 8,600 were without service until safety teams could ensure that their homes and businesses were leak-free.

“I think when we look at what happened in Lawrence, North Andover and Andover relative to what we saw in downtown Springfield about a year or two ago, and what’s going on in the town of Longmeadow with the repair of gas leaks, I’ve personally come to the conclusion as somebody who has spent 35 years in a major chemical company, someplace where safety is overwhelmingly discussed, that I’m not sure Columbia Gas is being able to operate their systems in a manner that the town of Longmeadow would like them to,” Gold said. Gold referenced the gas explosion that occurred in Springfield in 2012, where a Columbia Gas of Massachusetts service line exploded injuring 21 and destroying a building that formerly housed the Scores strip club in Springfield.

“I’ve added to the agenda and we will be discussing later with the Select Board members the potential of putting a moratorium on Columbia Gas construction in the town of Longmeadow until they’ve demonstrated their ability to deliver gas to us in a safe and reasonable manner,” Gold explained.

Later on in the meeting following the discussion of the Fall Town Meeting warrant, Gold read off a paragraph regarding Columbia Gas that he hoped would make it onto the warrant. In his reading, Gold suggested that the Longmeadow administrative offices that report to the Select Board not issue any permits to Columbia Gas unless they’d met a series of three qualifications that would hold Columbia Gas accountable for the damages that had occurred and that they would be prevented from occurring in the future in Longmeadow. Gold clarified that this would not be a vote in the moment, but a discussion with the Select Board and would be brought up again at the Oct. 1 Select Board meeting.

Crane responded to Gold that he shared the same concerns, but he also had concerns that this was legal to do. He stated he believed Gold’s intent was “right on” but he didn’t believe this could be done blanket from a legal or work standpoint.

“We can administratively say we’re not going to approve anymore trench permits until we sat and until we’ve given the Merrimack Valley situation a little time to play out, it’s still very new, and we need time to look at where is our resurfacing program going, where are we going to be doing projects. As you know, the gas company more than anyone else has to go before us before we do a road project, and that’s not going to change, even with what happened,” Crane said. “I want to manage expectations and not overreact to what happened, but I do think we should tell them no more trench permits for four weeks, six weeks, and see what we learn in Merrimack Valley.”

Select Board Vice Chair Marie Angelides stated that she wanted the Select Board to write a letter stating that they’re requesting public forums be held in Western?Massachusetts so the towns are better informed.

“I don’t think we’re getting full information and I think we should be demanding more information of what they’re doing in town and also I’d like a letter to come from the Select Board saying we want public forums out here, not just in Boston,” Angelides said.

Crane came back, responding once again to Gold, stating that he believed Gold’s proposal was “way outside the Select Board’s lane” to question Columbia Gas’ management.

“I’m not on the same page about sending them a message and saying we need to take a step back and re-evaluate how we’re doing things. I think where you’re going with this though is going to drag the Select Board down a rabbit hole completely unnecessarily when it’s just a reaction,” Crane said.

Crane said moving forward Columbia Gas will not be issued any new trench permits or building permits until there is a greater sense of what’s been going on. Crane said he would come back to the Board with more information on this and Angelides stated she would work on the letter she had mentioned.

Town Managers Report

Town Manager Stephen Crane updated the Select Board, sharing that a number of the Capital Projects that were funded are moving forward. He said that the Storrs Library windows were planning on being delivered on Sept. 25. Additionally, Crane said townspeople would be seeing more roadwork as well with the paving program for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) underway.

“We are experiencing some project delays associated with the availability of traffic signal equipment but we haven’t received the formal notice from the contractor of what’s delayed, how long it’s going to be delayed and when finished,” Crane shared.

Moving on, Crane noted that on Sept. 18 the Select Board would be meeting with representatives of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) to discuss the potential for a regional health district. He shared that there are 16 regional health districts in Massachusetts, however none of them are located near Longmeadow. Both Crane and Longmeadow Board of Health Director Beverly Hirschhorn have been apart of an analysis that PVPC has been conducting to take a look at the benefits of the town being apart of a regional district. Crane said the process is “at it’s infant stages right now” but as he knows more, he will share it with the Board.

Angelides asked Crane about the towns regional dispatch system, stating that she heard there has been movement regarding possible other towns joining forces with the towns looming regional dispatch system.  Crane replied, stating there hasn’t been any direct communications with him about this, but he has said throughout this process that he was sure other towns would want to join Longmeadow when the dispatch was up and running.

Street Light Audit Directive Study

Gold explained that the Energy Subcommittee made a recommendation to the Select Board requesting that Crane identify, solicit and execute an audit of the towns street lights for the potential purpose of buying the town’s street lights down the road. He shared that vendors have given recommendations as to what would be required, and Crane shared a report of the action.

“The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, which is basically the Boston area’s version of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission got a contract to provide statewide assistance to municipalities regarding everything streetlights,” Crane said. He shared they have preselected vendors who can do the audit. He also noted that this would be funded by the Green Communities Grant that the town still has.

The Select Board told Crane to review the five vendors that were preselected and hire one to do the audit.

DPW Asbestos Change Order

While this was an item under new business on the agenda, Gold started off the DPW Asbestos Change Order discussion by stating the Select Board would not be taking action on this item. This agenda item is in reference to the costs associated with the removal of asbestos containing materials that was discovered at the site of what will be the town’s new DPW building.

Crane explained, “We received late in the week last week the estimates for the two primary options which is haul all of the [asbestos] material, which I think is around 10,000 tons to Ohio like we initially talked about. Then there was an estimate for hauling all of it to our former municipal solid waste landfill off of Birnie Rd. Tina Lane.” He continued, sharing that the estimates they received did not include the cost for prepping the site for receiving the material or for the cost of capping.

“The cost to go to Ohio was $4.2 million based on the estimate we received, and the cost to take it down to dispose of it locally was about $1.9 million and the cap would be about another $600,000 above that. So, $4.2 to haul it offsite, $2.5 to dispose of it locally including a cap that we’re, like we said, we were supposed to be doing. I think disposing as much of it as possible locally is going to be a better option for us,” Crane told the Select Board.

Crane explained to the Select Board that due to their receiving the cost late in the week, the engineers wanted time to look at the costs and see if there were any more avenues they could explore to lower the costs of handling and hauling. He also noted that there is money in the Capital Bond Bill, roughly $5.5 million to provide capping for up to three landfills. However, Crane said, bond bill money is funds that the governor has to do the “actual borrowing” to have the funds released, and that “rarely” happens with bond bills.

“We have engaged the governor’s staff as well as our legislative delegation on this subject,” he added that they’ve elevated the request to the governor’s office and that the funds would help offset the cost of the process. At the next Select Board meeting on Oct. 1 the Board plans to re–discuss this topic.
    
Fall Town Meeting Warrant

Gold read off the articles to appear on the agenda at the Fall Town Meeting and the Board individually approved the articles to go on the Fall Town Meeting warrant. To listen to explanations of each warrant article, go to Longmeadow TV’s broadcast of the meeting at the following link, https://youtu.be/unUbSmjBSdY and tune into 1:22:50.

To watch other discussed topics at the Sept. 17 Select Board meeting including Complete Streets Crosswalks, the Big Y Street Opening and Select Board goals, go to Longmeadow TV’s YouTube page, “Longmeadow TV.”