Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 12/11/06
Meeting Opened at: 8:34am
Select Board Members Present: Michael Storch, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Jonathan Sylbert
Also in attendance for the meeting: Laurily Epstein for the Monterey News
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. Last Tuesday while the highway department was out sanding there was a wire hanging low (8 feet off the ground) at 143 Hupi Rd that was hit by the town truck. The power company has filed a claim with the town’s insurance company. M. Forbes told our insurance company not to pay it as it was a low hanging wire that should be the electric company’s responsibility.
2. There was a storm on Thursday night and a little too much salt was put down as the forecast had predicted 3-5 inches, which did not occur.
3. The thumb was mounted on the new backhoe.
4. Engine 7 – the generator (which had 25 hours on it) on the fire truck had to be sent out. The loader was used to lift it off the truck.
5. The Montgomery’s want to put a culvert under their main entrance and the lower driveway on Fairview Rd, which was approved by the Highway Department. M. Forbes recommended waiting until spring to see what happens. They are happy with the work done.
6. M. Storch asked M. Forbes about the status of the changes to the back door to make it an exit only. M. Forbes thinks it was the electricians that forgot to lock it while they were here working on the generator. M. Storch stated that if it should happen again there will be no questions, the lock on the door will need to be changed.
7. 4 loads of concrete were poured last week at the River Rd. state bridge project.
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. Issued building permits were reviewed.
2. 6 inspections were performed on the morning of 12/11/06.
3. M. Leonard met with D. Torrico and Town Counsel about the section of the bylaws he refers to when denying a permit and referring someone to the ZBA. D. Torrico suggested hiring R. Hoogs to coordinate a meeting with the ZBA and Planning Board to discuss current case law and explanations like the Town of Lee just did. The meeting proved to be helpful and educational. M. Storch will speak with the chairs of both the Planning Board and the ZBA to determine their interest.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. 2 calls for loose cows on Rt 23; the owner has fixed the fence.
2. MVA at intersection of Tyringham and Main Rd related to the snow storm.
3. Wire down on Hupi Rd, National Grid was called.
4. 911 call – no one home; believe it was a bad telephone line.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. The board gave M. Noe the recommendation for the shredder and gave her permission to order the large capacity shredder but the stipulations for use need to be posted on it. The board also recommended not using it to destroy CD’s and to purchase a small $30 one for the Tax Collector to use to destroy her backup CD’s. M. Noe purchased the large shredder and will speak to the Tax Collector about the smaller shredder purchase.
2. M. Noe was given permission to leave early on Friday to drop off the donations for the Holiday Elf Program to BCAC.
3. The board approved paying for ½ of the spring semester classes for M. Noe, which are the final 2 classes needed to complete the computer program/degree.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. B. Gauthier distributed copy of her job description for next week’s Select Board evening meeting.
2. B. Gauthier presented the board with an update on their current expense report balance.
3. The board asked B. Gauthier to check with the Treasurer to be sure that she’s been getting the rental checks on time for Bally Gally.
4. Tomorrow, Tuesday, there will be an accounting software presentation.
5. The board asked the accountant’s opinion of billing the homeowner the actual cost of a fire department false alarm. The accountant agreed if it’s always the same people with repeated alarm problems.
6. The warrants were signed.
7. Status of payments made to Andrus Electric were reviewed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. M. Storch asked B. Gauthier from the Board of Assessors about the status of integrating the building department software. B. Gauthier will call Patriot software and will get back to the board.
2. The board reviewed a copy of the cigarette sale violation letter sent to the Monterey General Store from the Board of Health.
3. The board signed the holiday cards for the town employees and asked M. Noe to distribute them.
4. J. Sylbert reviewed the School Committee meeting he attended last week about the status of the Monterey School.
5. The minutes from 12.4.06 were approved as written.
6. The board signed the renewal certificate for the ABCC.
7. W. Burkhart had a conversation with S. Ross about the land swap between Gould Farm and the Town. Right now the consensus is that nothing needs to be done with regards to a land swap but a “working relationship” needs to be developed. Any input from the Town would be appreciated.
8. Michael Johnson of Brett Rd came in to discuss getting more involved with the Town. He also gave an update about the National Peace Day.
9. John Makuc came in to update the board on the status of the Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS). At this point, Monterey is partnered with Gt. Barrington and New Marlborough. There is a representative from each Board of Health meeting each month to solidify the plan. J. Makuc also spoke about the Mutual Aid agreement, at last year’s town meeting it was voted on to allow the Board of Health to enter into an agreement. J. Makuc spoke about the other agreements out there and the complexity of the different ones out there. An article needs to be put on the warrant that all boards and departments can enter into a mutual aid
agreement. J. Makuc will work on getting the verbiage for the warrant.
10. Jules Dahlman came into discuss Heron Pond and the fact that the water level remains very high and the possibility of an overflow is very high and remains a public safety hazard. He feels the Town is obligated to take some of action even though the property and pond is privately owned. A letter was sent to the owner, Nancy Kalodner, last year when the dam overflowed. The board was told at that time by a local trapper that there were possibly 12-16 beaver families on the property. The owner wanted to know the exact number and she agreed to ½ of them being removed. She stipulated that anyone that came onto her property to remove the
beavers would need to carry liability insurance. At that time the trapper she was going to hire to remove the beaver was not insured. The Town contacted their insurance carrier and was informed that he would not be covered under the Town’s Insurance as he was not an employee of the town. W. Burkhart suggested that Mr. Dahlman do some research that may put his fears at rest or quite possibly enhance them. Mr. Dahlman was given the Monterey Health agent, Peter Kolodziej’s number to speak with.
11. A letter was written in response to the education committee’s letter to the board.
12. The board received a stack of essays from the State Essay Contest from the 6th graders in our district. The topic was “What would I do if I were elected leader of our community”
13. The board discussed an ongoing personnel problem. A list of 14 people to be interviewed was developed to be given to the Berkshire Mediation Group to begin a mediation process. A memo will be sent to those on the list.
The meeting adjourned at: 12:01pm
Melissa Noe
Inter-Departmental Secretary
Town of Monterey
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