Dukes County Commission Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
5 p.m.
Edgartown Town Hall
Call to Order
Chairman Leonard Jason, Jr. called the County Commissioners’ meeting to order at 5:10p.m. Commissioners John Alley, Melinda Loberg, Tristan Israel, Carlene Gatting and Tom Hallahan were present.
Also in attendance were County Manager Russell Smith, Executive Assistant Martina Thornton, County Treasurer Noreen Mavro-Flanders and Tom Mayhew of MVTV.
Minutes
John/Melinda moved to approve the minutes of September 30, 2009. So Voted. All in favor.
Chairman’s Report
Lenny reported that he attended the Task Force meeting at Mass Maritime regarding the offshore wind project in federal waters. It was interesting but no further meeting was scheduled.
Manager’s Report
The County Fuel Bid for heating oil was accepted and signed by all participating entities. The new bid is tied to the Boston rack price and the price is set weekly unlike last year when the price was fixed.
The temporary drawbridge in Vineyard Haven will be functional by this Christmas.
FY2010 Budget – Noreen Mavro Flanders, Treasurer
The County budgeted for $50K reimbursement to come from the Sheriff for his retirees’ health insurance for the 1st half of FY2010 but the County Government Finance Review Board would not approve it. Chapter 102 of the Acts of 2009 Section 6 (an amendment to the Sheriff’s Bill) is requiring the County to pay to the Commonwealth 51.25% of the Maintenance Of Effort (MOE) to reimburse the Commonwealth for the Sheriff’s share of the second half of the FY 10 retirement assessment. In Dukes County, that would be about $100K more than the expense that the state wants refunded. This was corrected by Chapter 166 of the Acts of 2009 Section 39. We would like to use some of the $100K left to cover the Sheriff’s retiree’s health insurance for the 1st half of FY2010. Half of the MOE is $265,122. Of that
$167,500 would be paid to the Commonwealth to repay the retirement payment for the Sheriff’s office for the second half of FY2010. If this proposed budget gets approved by County Commissioners, we will send it to the County Government Finance Review Board for approval.
John/Melinda moved to approve the draft#12 FY2010 budget. Discussion: Tom asked if the change was in Chapter 166 Section 39. Noreen said yes. So voted. In favor: Tom, John, Melinda, and Lenny. Carlene abstained.
Old Business
Russell reported that the Courthouse walls were re-plastered after the water damage and need to be painted next.
The study on delivery of public services on the island is underway. We do have breakdowns from all the towns except from Edgartown. It shows what services they provide, how much it costs them and how many man-hours they use to provide these services.
Carlene asked about the operational audit. Noreen said that we received a letter from the MA DOR informing us that we are on a waiting list with projected start of the audit in May.
Melinda informed other commissioners that the next health insurance sub-committee meeting is scheduled for Friday December 11th at 9am to go over the gathered information and that they would like to present it to the Commission at their first meeting in January.
Tom asked about the results of the flu clinic and if H1N1 flu clinic is planned. Matt Poole, the health agent for the Town of Edgartown was present to give overview of the success of the island-wide flu clinic on November 11th and explained the distribution of vaccines for the H1N1 flu.
MV/DC Fishermen’s Association asked for Warren Dotty and Tom Osmers to be appointed as joined Associate Commissioners for Fisheries. The Commissioners had no objections and the Chairman Lenny Jason made the appointment.
Russell informed the Commissioners that Kathryn Mancuso, the Associate Commissioner for Elderly is no longer on the island.
Adjournment:
John/Carlene moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:26 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by:
______________________________
JOSEPH E. SOLLITTO JR., Clerk of the Courts
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