There was no selectmen’s meeting this week because of Thanksgiving. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Dec. 2, 2008 at 7 p.m. in the Multi-Service Center, when they will hold a public hearing to determine if a year-round common victualler all alcoholic beverages license issued to The Clermont Group, d/b/a Webster Hall, Tony Blaize manager, 207 Main Street should be modified, suspended, revoked or canceled based on a violation of M.G.L. Chapter 138.

    A committee to review the town’s charter will be formed, in accordance with the charter itself, in January. Selectmen are seeking interested candidates/volunteers to serve on the committee. Applications are available through the town’s web site or at the Selectmen’s Office in Town Hall.

    Selectmen have approved a common victualler’s license for Hearthstone Associated doing business as COSI, 2421 Cranberry Highway (in the Wareham Crossing Mall) According to the manager she has been open since mid-October and was not aware she needed a common victualler license to operate. The establishment has 72 seats and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

    Selectmen approved a 25 mile per hour speed limit for French Avenue in Rose Point. A check of the traffic/speed monitoring on that road by the Wareham Police Department showed 276 vehicle trips over a five-day period, approximately 55 trips per day, with an average speed of 17.6 miles per hour. The 25 MPH posting was the recommendation of Chief Thomas A. Joyce. The study was requested by Selectman Chairman James Potter based on a complaint for excessive speed. The short street, which ends in a cul-de-sac, reportedly has six homes.

    The town’s tax classification hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2, according to TA John Sanguinet. At that hearing selectmen need to decide whether to tax commercial and residential properties at the same rate or split the rate with one classification or another paying at a higher rate. Wareham selectmen have traditionally kept the rate the same, Selectman Jane Donahue asked the TA to look into any new legislation which would/could offer exemptions for smaller businesses. Selectman Brenda Eckstrom also asked the TA to look into this year’s cranberry crop yield per acre. Under Chapter 61A of the state laws which growers utilize to pay lower taxes, the rate growers are charged can be based on the yield, she said. She said that traditionally growers have been charged at the lowest rate allowed under the law, but with this years’ reported bumper crop, there might e a possibility to raise that rate. The assessors will meet with the Prudential Committee of the Wareham Fire District on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. for another classification hearing.

    Plymouth County Commissioners are offering assistance to communities to reduce costs in the areas of electricity, solid waste disposal and public safety dispatching. TA John Sanguinet said he will be discussing those issues with Chief Thomas A. Joyce and Municipal Maintenance Director Mark Gifford.

    Selectmen will hold a public hearing on the name change for Wankinco Avenue in Swifts Beach on Dec. 2 at 7:30. The name was changed to Oceanside after a hearing before the Planning Board in order to address public safety concerns with the Wankinco and Wankinquoah street names. The streets are on opposite sides of Swifts Beach Road.

    TA John Sanguinet said he anticipates naming a new Council on Aging director by mid-December. He said he is putting together an interview team and will be working from the four candidates offered for consideration by the COA Board of Directors. The interview team will consist of the selectmen’s liaison to the COA, a member of the COA, a COA director from another community and Sanguinet. The COA has been without a director since the resignation of Debra Bell.

    Jan Smith-Rushton, the director of the senior day care program for the Council on Aging, has submitted her resignation effective Dec. 1, TA John Sanguinet announced.

    The FY10 budget review has started, and TA John Sanguinet said that with lean economic times continuing into FY10 he will request department heads level fund budgets. "Reductions will be made as we go along," he said. Selectman Jane Donahue asked him to establish a uniform format for department heads to respond with their requests so that everyone is literally working from the same page.

    At the request of TA John Sanguinet selectmen will be reviewing the job description for the Community and Economic Development Agency director’s position. The slot became vacant with the resignation of Marilyn Whalley who is a candidate for the town planner position in Raynham. Selectman Bruce Sauvageau said the town needs "a visionary" in that position. Selectman Jane Donahue said the town is "falling short in economic development" and the importance of it for a director needs to be stressed.