By Pattie Pacella, Neighb News Correspondent
At its meeting on 6/5, the Acushnet Selectboard heard from Christopher Oliver, Director of Technology & Information Systems from the School Department about IT Policies that he is writing for the Town.
Mr. Oliver stated he was reviewing the second reading of the Town’s Policies that included a General Information Policy, an Asset Management Policy, a Social Media Policy an IT Resource Policy, and an Access Control Policy.
He said he hoped the policies would be adopted by the Board and implemented throughout the Town. He agreed to do a six month follow up with the Board on how the Policies are working. The Selectboard agreed to adopt the IT Policies, saying it was long overdue.
The Board also heard from Aleksandra Strapczynski of HRS Consulting who gave a presentation of their Wage & Classification Study Results. Ms. Strapczynski stated that their company did a compensation analysis and classification plan with a new salary structure for Acushnet non-union jobs. She said that Acushnet had nothing like it in place so it was the first step in the right direction.
Selectboard member Kevin Gaspar stated they just received the report the day before and although he has started to review it, they really needed more time to absorb it.
He asked Ms. Strapczynski how many other communities her company has worked with in Mass.
She told him they have worked with almost all towns and cities in Massachusetts.
The Board members decided to review the information and agreed that it definitely points them in the right direction.
In other business, Mr. Gaspar asked that Dan Menard of the Department of Public Works be brought to their next meeting to discuss Eversource and the mess that they are creating when they open up streets and do not repave properly.
Town Administrator Brian Noble agreed to add Mr. Menard to the next meeting’s agenda.
In his report, Mr. Noble briefly spoke about the choking of the vegetation at the Lake Street ponds. He told the board that the ponds actually are owned by the City of New Bedford and the city was in favor of Acushnet providing the service and paying for the remediation of the pond vegetation, however it seemed New Bedford wanted to maintain ownership of the ponds.
Mr. Noble said he was not happy that New Bedford did not seem like they wanted to help with the vegetation issue. He said he would look into grants that could help pay for it, but needed to clarify who would be applying for them.
In other business, the Selectboard read a letter from Roger Mason who sent a bill to the town for damage to his vehicle stating that it was from a huge pothole on Peckham Street. The bill was in the amount of $551.24.
Mr. Gaspar stated there was no police report attached to the bill and because he is in the business of repairing vehicles he was not sure how valid the bill was by reviewing it. He said that pothole damage to any vehicle is very hard to prove. He said he spoke to the Board of Public Works and there was no report from them, either. The Board voted to deny paying the bill.
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