Members speak out on Bay Path project;

streetlight shutoffs may be delayed; mutual aid OK’d

Janet Stoica
Patriot Correspondent

DUDLEY -- After including him on their agenda for Monday night’s meeting, the Dudley Board of Selectmen wondered where Steven Maher was.  Mr. Maher is a critic of the Bay Path High School Renovation Project and has spoken out about the project on several occasions, including sending a letter to the Board requesting that they read his letter aloud at their meeting, as well as wanting the Board to post his letter on the website.  Chairman Jonathan Ruda stated that the Board has not taken an official position on the Bay Path Project, nor will they be posting the letter on their website. The letter was then entered into the meeting record.

Selectman Steven Sullivan then spoke out about the letter, saying that Mr. Maher’s comment about Dudley’s streetlight shutdown-- along with his sarcasm-- come through. “He has chastised us about streetlights and then tries to compare the Town’s $11,000 streetlight budget shortfall to the Bay Path Project. He obviously has an axe to grind against Bay Path and/or John Lafleche, Superintendent of Bay Path. We will let the townspeople decide on how the Bay Path Project should be handled when they come out to vote.”

Selectman John Marsi declared “Streetlights and Bay Path are two separate issues.  What’s wrong with letting the public vote on this? I wish Mr. Maher were here.”

Selectman Peter Fox then spoke up and stated he was disappointed that Mr. Maher didn’t show up. “He asked to be put on the agenda and just didn’t show. Furthermore, the individual improvement projects he writes about in his letter would take too long. As a private citizen, I support the Bay Path Project.”

Selectman Paul Joseph then stated that “Name calling and casting aspersions are unnecessary. Repairs at Bay Path have to be done and won’t go away. Costs will not go down and renovations have never been done before. As a private citizen, I approve this project.”

District wide voting on the Bay Path project will take place on October 4.

In other matters, selectmen introduced the newest non-voting Student Representative for the coming school year, Ms. Alie Bates. Alie is also the President of the Shepherd Hill Regional High School Student Council.

Minutes of the September 10 regular board meeting were then unanimously accepted as well as those of the Executive Board minutes from 1/14/08; 1/12/09; 1/26/09; 5/8/12; 6/4/12; and 7/30/12. Chairman Ruda then requested Town Administrator Jankowski to include the Executive Board minutes from 8/6/12. When questioned about minutes from meetings of four years ago just now being released, Chairman Ruda stated that “sections of the minutes had to be completed first before being released.”

The Board also accepted with regret the resignation of Peter Nowosadko from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

John Christian, a member of the Dudley Sportsmens Club then came before the Board asking about the lack of silt fences from a recent road construction project on Dudley-Southbridge Road. He stated that the Sportsmens Club had recently stocked $1,000 worth of trout in their pond and the construction’s lack of silt fences had caused silt run-off into their pond. Dan Gion, Highway Superintendent indicated the unfortunate run-off situation was due to high rain water levels in the construction area from the heavy rainstorm that occurred last Tuesday. Mr. Gion indicated that every effort had been made to remedy the situation but a new drain pipe had collapsed, worsening the water flow.

Aaron Lieske, local Eagle Scout, brought his mapping project of the headstones in the Corbin Cemetery to the Board, demonstrating with graphs the names recovered from the historic section of the Cemetery. Mr. Lieski brought out the fact that 144 hours had been spent by him and his associates carefully tracing out names & dates on old markers and marking each grave site accordingly on those maps they presented to the Town. He estimated that 95% of the historic markers had been identified. After much praise and thanks from Board members, it was decided that Mr. Lieski should advise and deliver to Town Clerk Ora Finn all of his project materials for safekeeping in the Town vault.

A 5K Run/Walk Race to be held on November 3, 2012 was then updated by Mr. Matt Orsini. The race was entitled “Making our Mark” and currently has 65 entrants. which is nearing their goal of 100. The local Knights of Columbus has taken on sponsorship and Mr. Orsini advised the Board that they would greatly appreciate volunteers for all aspects of the race.

Additionally, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Statewide Public Safety Mutual Aid Law which Fire Chief Kochanowski endorsed as having no disadvantages and was also non-binding. The mutual aid involves town-owned equipment to be shared reciprocally between towns.

The Board also approved a Center Road parking waiver request for the Dudley Grange’s upcoming Apple Festival to be held on Sat., 10/13/12, from 1-8pm as well as a Board of Health request to use the Clarinda Wood Fund in the amount of $841.50 for Harrington Memorial Hospital health services for August 2012.

Selectman Joseph then requested a Charter Cable TV survey be put together by Deb Thibaudeau, Town Accountant; Michelle Jervis, Administrative Secretary; and Town Administrator, Peter Jankowski. Mr. Joseph felt that obtaining local citizens’ feedback on the quality of the Charter TV signal would be beneficial and should include comments on transmission delays, audio loss, channel loss, etc. He requested that the survey be posted on the Town website for all townspeople to review and complete.

The upcoming streetlight shutoff situation was then elaborated on by Selectman Joseph as he was not able to attend the previous Selectmen’s meeting when the Board voted to go forward with the Town Meeting vote to begin shutdown of selected streetlights. Mr. Joseph stated that he had heard from senior citizens about their fears of shutoffs in their neighborhoods. After much discussion by all Board members, it was determined that the Board would meet with the Financial Advisory committee to review all options before final streetlight shutoffs. The Board then reviewed Town Administrator Jankowski’s request for guidance on departmental budget approvals.