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Date: 6/30/2020
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Select Board met for a regularly scheduled meeting on June 23 to reorganize its positions, approve DPW projects, and discuss the town’s reopening process.
The first order of business at the meeting was to rearrange the roles on the board after the Town Election on June 9. As a result, the board unanimously approved to make Doug Moglin the chair, Joe Deedy the vice chair and Russ Fox the clerk.
State Sen. John Velis also jumped into the call to introduce himself to the board as part of his introductions with the 11 towns and cities under his jurisdiction. He said, “What I’ve been up to since I’ve been sworn in is going to the 11 cities and towns and checking in with government officials and residents. It’s a real honor to represent Southwick right now, and I want everyone on the board to view me as an ally.”
During the meeting, the select board also approved a motion from Lt. Robert Landis to update the Police Department’s current use of force policy. Moglin read the changes and said, “It puts forth a duty to intervene by any officer when another officer is acting contrary to law or Southwick Police policy.”
After the select board approved the Department of Public Work’s projects for the 2021 fiscal year, Department of Public Works director Randy Brown explained some of the projects the department is currently working on. “We’ve got projects that we talked about last year, Depot Street is complete, and the sidewalks are done. We will be starting on Nicholson Road this week; we’ve got the road laid out and they’ve got some construction equipment on site. I’m told as soon as they are done there, they will move to Tammy Lane and Jeffrey Circle,” he said.
As part of its regular business the board also approved motions for a proposed adult-use marijuana establishment application, a temporary drive-in movie theater, and to issue a common victualler’s license for BK Concessions for the use of a mobile food cart.
After residents approved the bond issue for the $1.1 million Fire Department roof and masonry project at the Annual Town Meeting, the select board awarded the bid to Silktown Roofing. Town Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart said that Silktown Roofing has a good track record with work in the past. He said, “They have all the experience and we are in the process of putting the contract together for the chair to sign.”
Fox then gave an update on the reopening process at Town Hall and said that some of its functions are slowly getting back to normal with social distancing guidelines. “The Town Hall has begun the process of opening up, people now have access to the town clerk and assessor’s office. I think this is the beginning so now people can freely go in there to conduct some of their business,” he said,
Stinehart added that residents will be required to wear masks in Town Hall, staff will also be wearing masks and sanitizing everything, and there will be social distancing signs up to show residents the way.
Moglin also added that the board is looking at ways to begin to start hosting the town’s board and committee meetings in Town Hall in some capacity in the next month. He said, “Joe, Russ, Karl, and I have been working on the last couple of technical pieces to be able to hopefully have at least some if not all of this board and other boards and commissions be able to start to meet again in Town Hall in the next several weeks as we work that out.”
The board also agreed on its summer meeting schedule with meetings every other Tuesday, except for Monday, Aug. 31, as a result of the state primary on Sept. 1.
The Southwick Select Board next meets on July 7.