HomeMy Public PortalAboutBikeways Committee -- 2016-10-26 Minutes (2) Brewster Bikeways Committee Meeting—Wed, October 26,2016,4PM Town Hall..
Attendees: Jack Clarke, Susan Riseman, George Bausch, Hal Minis, Patrick Ellis, Ryan Bennett, Eric Levy,
Rick Scannevin.
1. Minutes from September 12th Meeting were distributed by Jack Clarke by email. Jack made a
motion to accept the Minutes, motion was seconded and unanimously voted to approve.
Jack will follow up by filing the minutes with the Town Clerk's office.
2. Open Meeting Law Violation—Jack asked if everyone received his response to the Complaint
and then read his response to the group. A few days prior to the meeting,Jack had circulated
via email the Complaint filed by Richard Koch,Chief of Brewster Police. Brief discussion of the
content of the complaint and appropriateness of the response in meeting all criteria. Jack made
a motion to accept the response he drafted. The motion was seconded and all unanimously
voted to accept the motion. Jack will file with the Chief of Police,the Town Clerk, Board of
Selectman and Attorney General's office, prior to the deadline.
Jack read the section of the Open Meeting Law pertaining to deliberation and the group
engaged in a discussion regarding better understanding of the content. Some members of the
committee also elaborated on the appropriate way to handle emails.
3. Bikeways Committee future. Jack shared with the group his concern that the Chief had
mentioned the Bikeways Committee might be eliminated. One of the group members said that
the all Committees will be under review in 2017 by the BOS to determine purpose and overlap
of functions, among other criteria.
Discussion points were around the Bikeways Committee purpose, composition and who should
be able to vote.
Some felt it would be a good idea to revisit the purpose and restructure. Generally it was felt
that the Bikeways Committee holds a unique position in the town and should continue to exist,
because of the multitude of cyclists and paths in this town that create an important feature of
the community. Other towns have Bikeways Committees that play a significant role in
promoting safety. It was mentioned that we spent a great deal of time and energy on
developing a Bikeways Strategy that the BOS approved, and that should continue to focus on
bike safety and education. Perhaps having more members on the committee including more
citizens would help more of the charge done and to focus on education and engaging more of
the community.
It was mentioned that the charge should be broadened, and to work on engaging the Chamber
of Commerce and the public schools. George mentioned that the police department has done
quite a bit of education and provided some presentations in the schools and private sector on
safe cycling and use of bike lights. Jack said that there had been a disconnect with BPD's bicycle
activities with Ocean Edge and the Bikeways Committee, as the Committee had not been
informed, having done outreach there as well.
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It was suggested that we should have at least three town officials as members—DPW, Planning
and Police Dept representative(s), as we currently have, plus 6 citizens.
Jack mentioned that he is now in his third term as chair, and had grown tired of the
clerical/administrative aspects of the position. While overall he said he enjoyed serving the
town, he had been seeking a suitable replacement for over a year. The group said they would
like him to stay on and that they would help with some of these tasks. Ryan Bennett offered to
take over some of the ministerial responsibilities of the group (notes, filing appropriate
documents). Susan will continue with the minutes, and others can assist as necessary.
4. General.
- Agendas. It was suggested that all future Agendas include Old Business and New Business
going forward, and items that are not anticipated.
- The group congratulated Patrick on a great job on Underpass Road.
- There was a suggestion that we work on getting more porta potties, and in particular to
start with 147 and the Rail Trail. This item will be added to future Agendas.
- Next meeting will be Thursday, December 1'2016. Going forward we will try to hold
meetings at 3PM and see how it works for a few months.
There was a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded. All voted in favor of
adjournment at approximately 5:10 pm.
Minutes taken by Susan Riseman.