Cheshire Conservation Commission Chosen
CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Selectmen appointed the membership of the newly formed Conservation Commission Tuesday night.
The Board of Selectmen chose Raymond Kelleen, Leah Kruszyna and Selectwoman Carol Francesconi to serve on the commission after reviewing letters of interest from those who wanted to serve.
"I have no problem with any of these people,” Selectman Paul Astorino said. “They are all very qualified.”
Kelleen has served on the conservation commission when it was under the jurisdiction of the Board of Selectmen and Kruszyna has a background in conservation.
The Board of Selectmen previously acted as the commission but town meeting approved forming a separate group to handle conservation issues. The commission consisting of the Selectmen was disbanded and the new one brings more qualified representatives to the role.
The Conservation Commission has authority over natural resources, specifically with wetlands and waterway protections.
After town meeting successfully voted to allow a new committee to be formed, the Selectmen started soliciting interest.The new bylaw states that one member must always be a Selectman so they have the ability to sign off on cases during Tuesday meetings.
Members will be appointed every year and other interested residents may get to serve in time.
In other business, Town Administrator Mark Webber said the Cheshire Elementary School Playground Group has asked the town to release the $10,000 grant from the Barrett fund to install additional playground equipment.
“They have been busy and they want their money,” Webber said.
The groups successfully captured the grant earlier this year after applying after making initial improvements to the playground. They have also collected $5,700 in donations and with the grant funding, they plan to purchase a set costing $17,378 playground module to add on to the current unit.
Webber said they have asked Adams Community Bank to fund the remaining balance of $1,600.The new equipment should be installed in August.
Astorino said new security cameras will be installed to monitor the new equipment, which has been subject to vandalism in the past.
“Those will go in place and we will have security,” Astorino said.
Also on Tuesday, Planning Board member Peter Traub asked the Selectmen if Harbormaster Paul Maloney received any compensation for his position.
Department of Public Works Director Peter LeFebvre responded saying the position is volunteer and the only thing Maloney gets is to “drive the cool boat.”
Traub said Maloney does a great job and plans to ask if the Cheshire Lake Association get together and provide him with something he wanted.
“He is doing a tremendous job…in the past he has been out maybe five or six times,” he said. “This year he has been out sometimes twice a day, especially around the holiday.”
LeFebvre also said he has almost finished specifications on the new DPW truck that was approved at town meeting last month.
“I got the truck part pretty well done, and I am waiting for something to come in on the body and we should be all set,” he said.
This truck can only be purchased if the town approves a debt exclusion on July 11.
Webber said the town will have received $1,936 participation credit from Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association to be applied to the fiscal year 2017 property and casualty annual premium. He said the town received this because he attended a meeting.
“It’s kind of one of those things where you get a medal for just showing up,” Webber said.
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