Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 2/5/07
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Michael Storch, Chairperson, and Jonathan Sylbert
Also in attendance for the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
2. Plowed, sanded and salted a few times last week.
3. On Friday, there was a minor vehicle accident with one of the town trucks.
4. Salt shed cost breakdown was distributed to the Board.
5. There have been some requests locally to burn brush.
6. M. Forbes further explained the State’s intentions with regards to putting a gate at the turn-around on Beartown Mtn Rd in Monterey, Lee and Gt. Barrington.
7. M. Forbes was asked to get Gennari Heating back here to look at the Town Hall heat again.
8. M. Forbes spoke with M.D. Amstead about finishing the Town Hall meeting room and he was told that it was too cold to do this right now since the door will need to be removed
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. D. Torrico came to discuss the deletion of an entire paragraph of events that occurred at the 1/22/07 Select Board meeting and to formally request that the paragraph be put back into the minutes. The Board discussed the reasons why it was pulled out of the minutes. J. Sylbert made a motion to put the paragraph back into this week’s minutes and M. Storch stated that because W. Burkhart isn’t here today that it wouldn’t be fair to put it back in without his knowledge. The board will discuss this when the entire board is available, for now a copy of the draft minutes with the paragraph still in it is available by request to the
Inter-Departmental Secretary.
2. D. Torrico also requested that the board clarify a discussion that was overheard during the 1.29.07 Select Board meeting, specifically one derogatory comment made by one Board member that appeared to have been directed toward the Building Commissioner based on the context of the discussion. It was noted that this comment was made and the board will discuss this next week when all members are present.
3. D. Torrico also noted a discussion that he had with the members of the Zoning Board of Appeals with regards to denied building permits and how to make the process easier. The Board of Appeals and Building Commissioner agreed that referring the applicant to the Planning Board prior to submitting a ZBA application might be helpful. M. Leonard agreed and commented that she was actually surprised that to date more people don’t come to the Planning Board prior to applying for a Special Permit or Variance.
4. The District State Building Inspector, Gordon Bailey will be coming to the Select Board meeting next week at 8:30am to discuss the functions of a building department.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Disabled MV on Sandisfield Rd that was towed.
2. Reported larceny off of Williams Lane.
3. Lockout on Hupi Rd and at the Post Office.
4. Vehicle parked at the Town Beach for an extended period of time.
5. Complaint regarding an abusive tenant; Police assisted the tenant with removing their things.
6. Fender bender at Highway Garage.
7. Assisted with a MVA in New Marlborough.
8. Complaint on Pixley Rd about a log truck that almost caused an accident.
9. 2 false alarms at a property on Wellman Rd; the Police will be speaking with the Caretaker.
10. The radio for the Town Office is being repaired; G. Backhaus will check on the status of when it will be returned.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. M. Noe let the Board know that she would be in late on February 13th due to an eye doctor appointment.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. B. Gauthier presented the board with a preliminary capital expense worksheet that shows capital expenses for the upcoming FY through FY2025.
2. B. Gauthier notified the Select Board that she has removed all the Accountant’s documents from the Archives room in the Town Hall and has received permission to discard the documents allowed by the Secretary of State. She also wanted the board to know that the Archives room is currently ¾ empty. B. Gauthier informed the board that she will not be putting anything back in the vault.
3. Vendor Warrants were signed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. D. Mielke of the Finance Committee came into discuss the error on the letter sent to the boards stating that the budget requests were due back on 2/14/07 rather than the 1/29/07 date it should have stated so this will push back the current timeline to review all of the departments requests. D. Mielke stated that the Town Clerk informed her that she would be putting in a request (which has yet to be received) for $90k dollars to build an additional archives room (a proposed modular home) on the Edith Wilson property plus an unknown amount for a safe to be placed in this proposed modular home. D. Mielke informed the Town Clerk that this would need to
go to the Town to be voted on, that the Finance Committee is unable to approve this on their own. The Select Board reviewed the letter received from the Supervisor of Public Records, Alan Cote that confirms that the current archives room meets the standards required by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Archives Division and that another room/building is not necessary.
2. Roger Tryon dropped off a letter to the Board stating the locations for his annual April plantings as the Tree Warden in the follow town right of way’s or setbacks (which is private property):
a. Fairview Rd at the home of Barry and Kathy Carson
b. Parade grounds intersection of Fairview and Beartown Rd
c. Home of Libby Wolfs on Beartown Rd
d. Home of the Sheridan’s on Main Rd
e. Lake Garfield beach (with permission of the Parks Commission)
f. Between the store and Post Office
g. By the flagpole at the Town Hall and at the property of Tracy Mendel. He is also requesting the highway department’s assistance with this property. This request will be reviewed next week when all of the Select Borad is present and the Director of Operations can review the list.
3. C. Weber came into ask the Board to sign a request for the Council on Aging for them to receive $2600.
4. S. Ross of the Board of Assessors came in to let the Board know about the appeal filed with the ATB board by Mr. Shulklapper. S. Ross noted that as of today there has been $300k worth of new growth since July 1.
5. M. Leonard switched seats from Monterey News reporter to Planning Board chair to let the Board know that the Planning board will not be meeting on 2/22 and will instead meet on 2/15. She also requested as much information as possible from the board with regard to the Monterey School for the meeting on 2/13 at 7pm.
6. The Select Board discussed with the Planning Board the possibility of holding a special town meeting in June for zoning and town bylaw amendments only.
The meeting adjourned at: 12:01pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe
Inter-Departmental Secretary
Town of Monterey
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