Selectmen Meeting Roundup: National Grid, Volunteer Efforts

At Tuesday night's board of selectmen meeting, selectmen recognized the volunteer efforts of Invensys and Sodexo for projects supporting .

"These are jobs that would never gotten done because we don’t have the man power," said Debbie Giardino of the Foxborough recreation department. 

During citizen’s input, Foxborough resident Debbie Stewart asked town manager Kevin Paicos if there has been any movement on National Grid's part to get back to the town with action or answers.

"The short answer is no," Paicos responded. "I did have a conversation with Marcy Reed. We never spoke in person but I reminded them that there spokesperson indicted there was no reason they couldn’t undertake more tree cutting in the next couple weeks, but I haven’t heard back."

Paicos noted that he has little faith in anything-productive happening.

"If anything positive happens in this area is because we do it. Sad to say, that’s the truth."

with National Grid at Attleboro High School on Dec. 1 at 7:00pm. Along with comments or complaints about Tropical Storm Irene, the DPU will also accept comments about the October snow storm at the hearing.

In other board action, selectmen held a public hearing for a liquor violation at the Piccadilly Pub in Foxborough. This was the pub's first violation. The liquor violation involved a bartender serving an underage male during a Foxborough police department compliance check. The board motioned to accept the establishment’s offer of serving a 1-day suspension, suspended for one year and payment of any costs occurred by the town.

Selectmen voted to recommend articles 6 and 7 on the special town meeting warrant. Click here to view the special town meeting warrant.

The tax classification hearing was moved to the Dec. 6 selectmen meeting.

Selectmen discussed the MIAA fee waiver request in length at Tuesday's meeting. The board voted 4-1 to once again waive the town's share in ticket sales from the High School Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium in December. Board member Lorraine Brue was the lone vote against it. 

The board has voted in favor of waiving the fee for the last several years, but looked at the option this year in retaining the town's approximately $45,000 in annual revenue from the Super Bowl event. 

"This is about the kids," said selectman Mark Sullivan passionately. "These are memories and I can't put a dollar on it."

The last agenda item was on the On Friday, Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office introduced new regulations under the Open Meeting Law that authorize remote participation in meetings under certain circumstances.

A vote by selectmen in favor of adopting the rule, would allow all boards and committees in town to participate through the remote participation rule as well.

Selectmen plan to meet in the coming months with other boards and committees in town to gain their insight on remote participation.