Dukes County Commission
Minutes
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
5 p.m.
Dukes County Administration Building
9 Airport Road, Edgartown, MA
Commissioner Present: Carlene Gatting, Tristan Israel, Melinda Loberg, Tom Hallahan.
County Staff present: Russell H. Smith – County Manager, Martina Thornton – Ex. Assistant to County Manager, Noreen Mavro Flanders – County Treasurer, Carol Grant – Assistant Treasurer, T.J. Hegarty – IPM Director.
*Others: Joanie Ames from MVTV
1. Meeting was called to order at 5:00 PM
2. County Manager’s review
Carlene/Melinda moved to appoint the Personnel Committee members for the year 2011(same as last year): Tom, Melinda and Lenny and charge them with coordination of the evaluation process of the County Manager. Discussion: Tom said that last year the evaluating committee was Melinda, Les and Lenny, so this would be changing it and adding to the responsibilities of the Personnel Committee; and does the Administrative Code need to be changed to do it. Melinda said that it is in keeping with the frame of work of the Personnel Committee and the change will be good. Carlene said the Administrative Code does not need to be changed to do this. So voted. All in favor.
Melinda asked for an input regarding the evaluation forms. Carlene suggested changing the form to reflect the same 1-5 rating scale as used for the county employees as it is more descriptive.
3. Manager’s Report
Courthouse
Russell presented the commissioners with list of projects at the Courthouse. The ones with mark are done. The list includes the most important projects and is not complete.
RFP for Courthouse windows repair were published in the paper. The specs were written so there are 3 different approaches, which should help save on cost. Tristan asked for a timeline of this project at the next meeting.
Carlene asked about repair of the electrical system and why it is not on the list. Russell said it will be included – the service needs to be upgraded from 200Amp to 400 Amp plus some interior wiring done.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program – Review of recommendations
- Incorporate the mosquito testing into the regular work schedule in summer 2010. Mr. Hegarty did start testing last summer within the regular working hours and results were sent to the Boards of Health.
- For summer 2011 either incorporate the mosquito testing into regular work hours or hire additional help. We do not plan additional funds in the budget for extra help. Mr. Hegarty will have to do within his regular work hours and reject some private work in needed and he understands that.
- Expand the services and add an additional employee if feasible. We do not plan to hire additional help due to budget restrictions. Mr. Hegarty is soliciting additional private accounts.
- County Manager to work with Boards of Health (BOH) to consolidate some of their services. Four BOH agents agreed to support the County in applying for a regional grant from the Mass. Dept. of Public Health.
- Clarify that the IPM Director is a Dept. Head and revise the job description. It was done by the Personnel Committee (Russell, Dianne Powers, Sheriff McCormack, Jo Ann Murphy, Martina) that was reviewing job descriptions. Once rating of all job descriptions done next Wednesday we will see how it will be placed on the new scale.
Carlene asked if there is money in the budget to support the pay increases. Russell said that the system will be evaluated to make sure that only the employees truly deserve raises are included or other employees will be redlined. At the next meeting Russell will make presentation on the results. Melinda said she would like to look at the result on March 4th Personnel Committee meeting. T.J. Hegarty commented that the revision of job descriptions is part of the process to make sure that after the switch to 75-25 on health insurance the county employees will stay in parity with the towns. He also said that he did the mosquito testing on weekends last year as there was no time to do it during regular work hours. If he needs to reject private accounts, it will result in loss of revenue. Right now the revenue
projections for next year are the same as last year, which is not realistic. He questioned if the BOH were consulted in this decision to restrict the IPM program by 25%. He disagreed that the county employees were made whole when the 75-25 switch accrued and not brought up to parity with towns. Melinda said that the towns were not inclined to give pay raises to county employees until the health insurance split was adjusted. We created a new scale close to the town’s scales and made people whole for one year, which would give us time to finish the process by reviewing job descriptions and make a final placement on the new scale.
T.J. said there was no money voted by the towns for the mosquito program, it started from extra money in the BOH budgets couple of years ago. He is meeting on February 17th regarding the testing as the circumstances off island changed. The Arborvitae Board will test only 10 pools for free, which is one day of testing at 10 sites. If we want to test for 6 weeks in would cost about $1,250 in up front fee. T.J. will report at the February 18th meeting. Melinda asked if we explored the possibility of an intern. Russell said no as there is no will to expand county employees. Tristan said it could be a student.
4. Old Business – We will include the “Action List” as our old business list from now on and questions can be raised on any issue that is on the list. Carlene asked if the gutters and trim for the Courthouse moved forward. Russell said that he is planning on going to the Edgartown Historic Commission at the same time he goes to present the window replacement, which will happen once we decide on the contractor. We just advertised the RFP and they have two weeks to apply. Carlene asked if the windows will be in by this summer. Russell said yes. Noreen said that she is concerned about no trim and no gutters on the Courthouse and the water running down. Russell said that it is only the old part of the building that needs gutters and there is a drip edge. The trim is done. Tristan asked for a list
of project needed at the Courthouse and the projected cost – some capital expense plan. Russell said that the seats at the Courtroom will be redone for $1000 and the ripped painting went off island for repair. Carlene asked if the peeling paint on the trim will be repainted. Carlene also asked for ideas where the money for all the repairs will come from. Noreen said we could go to the Trial Court to see if DCAM would give us some money to do it, same as when we did the roof. Involve our state representatives too.
*T.J. Hegarty left.
Tristan asked for a maintenance plan for the front of the administrative building to be done (pruning, weeding, and raking leaves). Carol said that the trim needs to be painted too.
Carlene asked about the shoveling of walkways by the Courthouse and by the Administration Building.
5. New Business
Noreen provided the Commissioners with quarterly up-to-date reports.
Melinda suggested sending thank-you letters to Chris Knowles and Laura L. Barbera for their service in the county appointed positions. Also Peter Hefler resigned as our representative to Cape Light Compact. Russell said that Peter Cabana expressed interest in being County representative but needs to first find out how it will effect his position as representative of Tisbury. Martina said that the appointment will be done in 3 weeks with exception of the Health Council, which will be done in March.
Tom asked about actual revenues this year. Noreen said that the report does not reflect the revenue from the Registry of Deeds for January. The parking tickets processing revenue is hard to project as this is our first year. Some revenue comes later like the alarm fees.
Carlene asked where we stand with the auditor’s management letter. Noreen said that the FY2010 Audit is about done and they will produce new Management Letter that will reflect the still outstanding issues.
Tristan thanked Chuck for sending the weather report updates.
Russell said that on February 17th the Bureau of Energy Management is coming to Oak Bluffs Library to have a public meeting regarding the wind development process in the federal “area of mutual interest” south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The County Advisory Board meeting is on February 11th at 2.30pm, the Task Force (“Steering Committee”) meeting in on February 3rd at 4pm.
Adjournment:
Melinda/Carlene moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:10 p.m. All in favor.
Respectfully Submitted by:
______________________________
JOSEPH E. SOLLITTO JR., Clerk of the Courts
Documents presented at the meeting and part of the official records:
- Agenda
- Report on implementation of recommendation regarding the IPM Program
- Quarterly revenue and expense report
- Progress and Intentions for the Dukes County Courthouse
- Action List
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