Planning Bd., ConCom to combine resources for new printer

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

LYNNFIELD — A top priority in the FY’16 budget for the Planning Board and Conservation Commission is to purchase a new printer that both departments can share in a combined capital budget request.

Planning Board secretary Kathy Randele and Conservation administrator Betty Adelson share an office as well as office supplies in their tight quarters on the lower level of Town Hall. Their combined printer-copier-scanner is five years old and in need of repair but it is not on a maintenance program, Randele said at the recent budget summit of the town’s department heads.

“The cost to do any repairs is really significant,” Randele said, explaining that they’d like to lease a machine instead. To hold them over, she said the DPW gave them an old color printer. However, it eats through ink due to the photographs Adelson needs to print. They also incurred the expense of replacing the drum in the former DPW printer. Randele has been reviewing options with the town’s technology specialist, Joe Piazza.

Updating the town’s zoning map is the only other large expense Randele said the Planning Board anticipates in FY’16. The last update was done by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) but she said it took them two years. For this update, they have access to some GIS data via the Assessing Department, she said. They are determining the cost now. The fact that only some maps are digitized will affect that cost, Randele said.

There are also four new members on this five-member board who need to attend additional seminars on zoning and rules and regulations at a cost of about $60 per person, she said.

ConCom to train new members

Adelson said the current fiscal year budget for the Conservation Commission (ConCom) is “pretty much on target except for seminar registration” fees.

“The good news is I have two brand new members and two waiting in the wings to join us but the problem is we have to go to some training at seminars,” Adelson said. She is holding off on some expenses now to have funds available for these seminars in February or March.

“We’ve had a lot of town projects going on this year. The fields were a huge success but that took a lot of time for the board as far as permitting the high school. We just finished the Middle School (fields) permit,” Adelson said.

Other matters the ConCom has addressed or will continue to address include: Replacement of “decrepit” open space signage, such as at Partridge Island, with some assistance from the Rotary Club; ongoing repairs to the boardwalk at Partridge Island, with help from Rotary; reconfiguration of the Recycling Center at the DPW yard to move it farther away from wetlands; King Rail golf course returning for a stormwater permit for the parking lot; negotiating a possible land swap of some Conservation land behind the former Big Dog; breeching beaver dams as needed in conjunction with trappings done by the Health Department.

Health Agent

Health Agent Kristin McRae said that her department continues to provide a myriad of services under the umbrella of public health. She is the only full-time employee. There is part-time office support 12 hours per week, an on-call sanitarian eight hours per week, one nurse one day per week and a back-up on-call sanitarian.

The FY’16 budget will be similar to last year’s, McRae said. “We do collect permit fees and licenses,” she said, which helps to offset expenses “pretty well given all the responsibilities.”

McRae has one capital budget request for a new desk station in the reception area large enough to open up an entire plan sheet. She is responsible for reviewing septic design plans under Title V as well as the installations and subsequent inspections, including certificates of compliance.

The number of restaurants in town continues to rise, McRae said, at 64 and counting thanks to MarketStreet, up from 40. Each restaurant requires multiple inspections prior to opening. Ongoing routine and situational inspections are also conducted by her office throughout the year. They’re also called upon to handle animal bite quarantines, inspections of semi-private pools and tanning salons, tobacco sale enforcement, 21E reports, housing complaints, recreational camps, mosquito control, farm inspections and beaver removal.