East Longmeadow Community Preservation Committee

Minutes September 5, 2007

Present: Present Mary Ellen Goodrow At Large (Newly elected Treasurer), Mike Perkins DPW, Bill Fonseca At Large, Bill Speight Historical Commission, Timothy Seeley At-Large (Chairman),

Absent: George Kingston Conservation Clerk/Secretary, Micheal Salvon Vice -Chairman, Recreation, Housing Authority, member not yet appointed, Louis Calabrease, previous Planning Board representative unsure if he has been reappointed.

Chairman Seeley opened the meeting at 7 pm.

First Item Passing out of information on Photo Contest and announcement of date of committee and board ethics training.

Information passed out in regards to photo contest by Mr. Seeley, however Selectmen’s office did not provide date of ethics training Mr. Seeley stated he would follow up on this.

Second Item Elect a Committee Treasurer

Committee voted to unanimously elect Mrs. Goodrow as committee Treasurer.

Third Item Should the town meeting warrant have the funds for the movement of the depot as coming from the historic resources sub account or the main general undesignated account?

It was voted four to one that the committee agreed with the edit made by appropriations and selectmen to the initial draft of the article sent by the chair which had the funding for the movement of the depot coming from the historic resources account to have funds come from main general undesignated account.

Fourth Item Should I schedule us to meet at town meeting on October fifteenth in addition to a normal October meeting? Committee unanimously voted that having an official meeting on the 15th was unnecessary as they could not see any decisions we would have to make in regards to the articles on the warrant at the town meeting itself. Normal October Meeting was scheduled for Wednesday October 3rd.

Fifth Item Mrs. Carol Johnston (former committee member from housing authority) to provide us with a view of as to where long term where CPA money is likely to make a real difference in terms of the housing authority after the preexisting ADA goals of said Authority have been accomplished.

Mrs. Johnston explained in great detail that the Housing Authority gets all of its funds from the state and as such has been until the introduction of the CPA completely independent of the normal town government. She stated that the current HA board had at first thought that adding ADA compliant handicapped doors to the common rooms at all three of the Housing Authority owned and operated locations in addition to enlarging the kitchen at Village Green, (these are the aforementioned preexisting ADA goals) but now is unsure if these requests would pass muster with the state…. She also stated that the town is currently at 7.7 percent as to affordable housing with the regulatory minimum at 10% and that the last affordable housing built in town was in 1994 at the Benton Estates Project and other than that there was Brownstone Gardens which received federal funds to operate and the three aforementioned Housing Authority locations. Mrs. Johnston also stated that with revenues at the state level not expected to see much in the way of growth over the next few years chances for a Housing Authority project that would close the 2.3 percent gap were unlikely.

Sixth Item What should our transformed website include when the new town website is launched? The Chair offered examples like posting previous open space and recreation reports, minutes/agendas and links to statewide resources on the act. Mr. Fonseca was the only one to comment on this he felt that updated minutes and agendas were all that was needed for now and the new completed open space and recreation report when finished.

Respectfully submitted,
George Kingston, Clerk