Planning Board Meeting
Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
A meeting of the Planning Board
Meeting time may be delayed due to preceding Special Town Meeting and travel time between Town Office and Highway Garage
Meeting of Planning Board
Members: (Quorum)
- Present: Betsy Corner, Member, at 7:38 PM
- Present: Sara Wik, Member, at 7:38 PM
- Present: Jonathan Lagreze, Vice Chair, at 7:40pm
- Present: Robert Slowinski, Chair, at 7:38 PM
- Present: Loren Feinstein, Secretary, at 7:38 PM
- Present: Don Kahn, Member, at 7:38 PM
- Present: Gregory Olchowski, Member, at 7:38 PM
Also Present:
- Eileen Sauvageau 60A Foundry Village Rd.
Final Minutes
Meeting opened: 7:38 PM
Meeting closed: 8:42 PM
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Meeting Preliminaries
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Meeting Opened / Attendance Taken (see above).
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Minutes Approved: Wed, Jan 8 - Planning Board Meeting
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Open Meeting Law Complaint
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Open meeting law complaint - Acknowledgment and review of Open Meeting Law complaint dated January 13, 2020 from Eileen Sauvageau and discussion of response to complaint; votes may be taken.
MOTION, moved by Gregory Olchowski, seconded by Sara Wik: To discuss the open meeting law complaint.
Pass: Aye: Betsy Corner, Sara Wik, Jonathan Lagreze, Robert Slowinski, Loren Feinstein, Don Kahn, Gregory Olchowski.
Sara Wik directly asked Johnathan Lagreze if he would commit to not sending emails to a quorum of Planning Board members going forward, so as to not violate Open Meeting Law.
Johnathan Lagreze acknowledged that he would do so. He also spoke of his awareness of Open Meeting Law and having attending training sessions. He also made the claim that his actions were not incongruous with the anti-corruption intention underlying the law. He clearly expressed his feeling that the complaint and "the Town's" use of the Open Meeting Law has been to suppress open communication rather than open it up, in his view.
Betsy Corner expressed that she feels that Johnathan has been asked before and has acknowledged the intention to not share procedural or meeting content with the board via emails outside of the meetings.
Don Kahn suggests that communications between meetings may be necessary at times, and any emails to the Planning Board could potentially be posted on the Town website available to the public. He also suggest the possibility of adding a public forum to the Town website. He expressed that he feels that more communication is good and less communication is bad.
Loren Feinstein expressed concern about posting emails to the Town website because it may be confusing to the public readership as to whether it is personal opinion or official Planning Board statement.
Gregory and Don shared that they agree with Loren's concern, and Don suggests that all communications should clearly state that they are personal opinion and not official.
Bobby expressed his desire not to have to post all emails or curate them personally as to which emails should be posted to the Town website, according to relevance and applicability to the Town's website content posting policy.
Betsy requested fewer to no communications outside of the regularly scheduled meetings, at least for some time to help clear the air. She also expressed that communication methods and preferences are different for each person, and that they are not the same for all members of the board.
Gregory Olchowski expressed his feeling that there has been too much communication outside of scheduled meetings by Johnathan. He does not want to experience nor create the sense that there is an ongoing meeting outside of the scheduled public meetings.
Eileen also expressed her concern that Johnathan sent the email in question as a representative of the Planning Board, which she feels he did without board approval.
Bobby summarized that the origin of the complaint is that Johnathan expressed a personal concern and invited the Planning Board into a discussion of official business outside of the public meetings. Eileen confirmed that was the root of the complaint.
Johnathan expressed that in the email in question he was intending to invite discussion at the next Planning Board meeting, not via email outside of the scheduled meeting. Eileen said that was not made clear in the email, and that is part of the concern which raised the complaint.
Betsy expressed the benefit in the past and hopefully the revitalization of committees as a good method for obtaining more input, research, and public opinion on complex and contentious topics, without the confusion or dilution of purpose through extensive emailing or posting to the town website.MOTION, moved by Jonathan Lagreze, seconded by Sara Wik: To accept and put forth the letter prepared by Town Counsel and signed by Bobby Slowinski.
Pass: Aye: Betsy Corner, Sara Wik, Jonathan Lagreze, Robert Slowinski, Loren Feinstein, Don Kahn, Gregory Olchowski.
Eileen expressed her feeling that there was a worthwhile discussion spurred by the complaint in question, and that she is pleased to hear the ensuing discussion of how to improve general communication within the Planning Board and between its members and the public and officials outside of the board.
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8:35: New Board Membership - Proposal for new potential board members to replace potentially resigning members.
General Discussion...
Betsy and Don expressed the likelihood of near future resignation from the Planning Board due to extenuating circumstances not related to topics discussed at this meeting. They will both seek appropriate replacement candidates to the best of their ability. -
8:41: Proposed upcoming meeting planning - Suggested routine meting scheduling.
General Discussion...
Generally accepted to continue to attempt to schedule our regular Planning Board meetings on the evening of the first Wednesday of each month.
Gregory suggested establishing a secondary fall-back date, in case a quorum cannot make the initial proposed date.
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Old Business
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Recreational Marijuana Town Meeting Articles - Discussion of Town Meeting articles re: zoning bylaw amendments, Use Regulations Schedule, Table of Contents, Medical Marijuana Treatment Center, Marijuana Establishment, Outdoor Cultivation.
General Discussion...
The chance to move this amendment has passed, therefore this is determined to no longer be relevant.
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Meeting Wrap-up
- Next Meetings:
- Wed, Feb 5, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
- Wed, Mar 4, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
- Wed, Apr 1, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
- Wed, May 6, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- CANCELLED -- Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
- Thu, Jun 11, at 7:00 PM "Planning Board meeting" -- Town Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd
- Next Meetings:
Minutes prepared by Secretary
Minutes approved on Wednesday, Feb 5, 2020