By Pattie Pacella, Neighb News Correspondent
At its meeting on Tuesday, 7/16/19, the Acushnet Selectboard discussed comparison communities, led by Selectboard member Kevin Gaspar.
He stated that he used the information sent to the board by Town Admnistrator Brian Noble and produced a bit more data from surrounding communities for a total of eight communities that he felt were close for comparison to Acushnet.
Mr. Gaspar has complained in the past that the wage and classification study, which will result in salary changes for town employees, uses data from communities that are not comparable to Acushnet.
Mr. Gaspar chose four communities from Bristol County, and four from Plymouth County. Board Member David Desroches followed up with twelve of his own communities. And Chairperson Roger Cabral stated he, too, had a list of comparable communities.
Board members decided that at their next meeting they would start to delve into the data to break down the information.
In another matter, Police Chief Michael Alves asked the board to sign the contract for the tri-town polic radio contract, which includes Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and Acushnet. Chief Alves stated that all three towns were equally sharing the bill of $135,000. He said it was an item that was appropriated in May 2018 and the Police Department is moving forward on the build out for the three towns now.
In another matter, the board met with Kathy Silva from the Department of Public Works to discuss bulky item pickup day. Board members noted they had appropriated funds for a bulky day for Acushnet residents and were enthusiastic to put that into place. Ms. Silva stated she did speak to their new trash collector, Waste Management, and they stated they would not be able to provide that service until Spring of 2020. She did, however state that effective August 1, residents can call or go on their website to arrange a pick up of a bulky item at a cost of $28.00 per item.
Mr. Desroches asked how the transition was going with the new trash service provider, and Ms. Silva replied that it was going well. She did say that the town overall was still throwing unrecycleable things in the recycle bins, but they were getting better at it. She reminded board members and the public not to recycle plastic recycle bags, and no plastic utensils.
The Selectboard approved the Lion’s Club Special Liquor License for the Apple Peach Festival, which will be held September 7th and 8th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Selectboard also approved the recent hiring of Karen Amarello as Assistant Treasurer/Collector. Ms. Amarello had already been an employee of the Town of Acushnet and applied for the position internally. The Selectboard congratulated her on her new appointment.
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