November 18, 2024
Members present: Mark Fiorentino, Mark Neumann, Frederick Moffa, Margaret Chapple, Kelly Rome.
Also present: Town Manager Mike Walsh, Town Clerk Scott Nolan, Finance Director Kimi Cheng, Student Liaison Ben LaVigne.
Baygrape Tax Appeal Settlement
Walsh said that the town is working to resolve a revaluation-related tax appeal brought by Baygrape Assoc. llc, a nursing home at 350 Salmon Brook Street. During revaluation, Baygrape was assigned a fair market value of $5,152,700, or an assessed value of $3,606,890, which was disputed by Baygrape. Walsh proposed that in order to settle the dispute and avoid the cost and uncertainty of a trial, the Town of Granby reduce the fair market value of the property to $4,900,000 with $3,430,000 in assessed value or a reduction of $176,890 in assessed value.
The board unanimously approved this settlement.
Editor’s note: The nursing home is known locally as MeadowBrook of Granby
December 2, 2024
Members present: Mark Fiorentino, Mark Neumann, Frederick Moffa, Margaret Chapple, Kelly Rome.
Also present: Town Manager Mike Walsh, Town Clerk Scott Nolan, Finance Director Kimi Cheng, Student Liaison Ben LaVigne.
Finance Job Descriptions
Walsh said that the town continues to update job descriptions to reflect new job responsibilities, or to bring the job descriptions into better compliance with current labor law. Over the last few months, the board has approved amended job descriptions for the Granby Municipal Employees Association and Public Works Union as some of the bargaining unit positions were directly impacted by the reorganization of departments. Now Walsh is requesting approval for five job descriptions covering duties performed within the finance department. The board unanimously approved the five updated descriptions.
January 6, 2025
Present: Mark Fiorentino, Mark Neumann, Frederick Moffa, Margaret Chapple, Kelly Rome. Town Manager Mike Walsh, Town Clerk Scott Nolan, Finance Director Kimi Cheng, Director of Human Services Sandra Yost, Lost Acres Fire Chief John Horr, Jr., Police Chief Scott Sansom, student liaisons Ben LaVigne and Zainab Zafar.
Park and Recreation Study Appropriation Request
At the Oct. 21 BOS meeting, the selectmen approved adding a $25,000 ARPA allocation to pay for an analysis of the Salmon Brook and Ahrens parks with respect to future facility improvements.
A Request for Proposal was been issued to identify a vendor to create a planning vision for the parks for 2030, 2040 and 2050. The town received two qualified respondents and has selected GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. with a local office in Springfield to proceed with the analysis at a cost of $39,500.
The town asks for an appropriation of $14,500 from the Parks and Recreation Special Revenue Fund to add to the ARPA allocation so the firm’s work can begin. Walsh explained that the fund has sufficient monies to cover this appropriation, with a balance of $560,297 as of June 30. The board unanimously approved the request.
Radio Communication’s System agreement approval
The voters of the Town of Granby favorably approved the allocation of capital monies set aside to allow the town to execute a contract with Marcus Communications for the emergency radio system under consideration since 2018. With funding in place, the contract negotiation between the town and Marcus Communications was completed by Horr. The contract was reviewed by Attorney Joseph Fortner from the firm of Halloran and Sage.
The board approved the agreement between the Town of Granby and Marcus Communications in the amount of $3,977,306.22 and directed Walsh to execute all documents necessary to facilitate the agreement. The board also directed Walsh to extend the Jan. 30, 2024 consulting agreement with Federal Engineering at the same terms and conditions of the original agreement with a not-to-exceed amount of $50,000 in order to continue relying upon its technical expertise and experience as the town begins to replace the town-wide emergency communications system, with an anticipated completion date of May 2026.