Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/2/07
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Michael Storch, Chairperson (left at 10:30am), Wayne Burkhart 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. M. Forbes requested the board’s permission to hire summer/seasonal help due to the amount of road repair work that is needed, this person could do the mowing allowing the highway members to continue working with the machinery. The money for this person would come out of the highway maintenance budget. M. Forbes stated that previous superintendents had hired summer help as well. The board supported his request and approved M. Forbes hiring the person he feels most suitable.
3. M. Forbes confirmed that the Transfer Station does not accept tires or batteries.
4. Complaint by a resident on Corashire Rd about a tree near the road in a drainage ditch that is blocking the residents view when he leaves his driveway. The Tree Warden approved removing the pine and the highway department will remove it and the stump as well to work on the drainage ditch.
5. Normal routine service will be performed on the Chevy.
6. Damaged stop sign on the corner of Routes 23 & 57 will be replaced.
7. There has been a rash of signs and orange cones stolen recently.
8. M. Forbes will get an update on the River Rd bridge project and report back to the board next week.
9. Burning season ends at the end of April.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Abandoned 911 calls on Bidwell Rd., Tyringham Rd and Main Rd.
2. Assisted the Fire Department with 2 calls.
3. False Alarm on Sylvan Rd.
4. Assisted Gt. Barrington with an OUI arrest.
5. License plate for the radar trailer was picked up from the RMV.
6. Tuesday night is the first “bye-bye birdie drill” for the EMS.
7. Pedestrian crosswalk signs will be put back out this week.
9:30 – 10:23am: Finance Committee Warrant/Budget Review
In attendance: D. Mielke, Finance Committee Chair, D. Moriarity, Finance Committee Member, M. Makuc of the Monterey Library, R. Tryon, Fire Chief
1. There was a question as to whether the Brien Center and Berkshire Mental Health were one in the same or if they were separate line items. M. Noe called the Brien Center and spoke with Brenda who confirmed that they are part of Berkshire Mental Health Services.
2. The additional funds requested by the Monterey Library was reviewed and approved by the Select Board and Finance Committee.
3. Ray Tryon came in to speak about the amount of paperwork required for the Emergency Services Department to get reimbursed when and if an emergency were to occur in Monterey. B. Gauthier was called by D. Mielke about an Emergency Planning line item that we had last year, she confirmed that it does still exist and stated that you cannot keep adding to it as you cannot plan for an emergency that hasn’t happened. If the Select Board declares an emergency then the accountant would be allowed to take funds out of the town’s savings.
4. The Select Board and Finance Committee all agreed on the budget portion of the warrant and closed it from any further changes or additions.
5. M. Storch requested that D. Moriarity prepare an outline of the Finance Committee’s presentation to be given at town meeting and supply it to the board.
6. The Finance Committee confirmed that snacks and beverages will be provided at the Informational Town Meeting on Friday, April 27, 2007 at 7pm.
7. Signs will be posted at the Monterey General Store and Post Office announcing the time and location of the Informational Meeting.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. The board reviewed the renewal letter and sticker application for FY08 transfer station stickers and approved them to be mailed out in May to all names on file that provided a mailing address on last year’s sticker application.
10:45 – 11:14am Leo Mahoney, Station Manager of CTSB
The board asked Mr. Mahoney to come in to discuss the station taping the weekly Select Board meetings and the Annual Town Meeting. Mr. Mahoney stated that they currently serve 5 towns and the cameramen that are no longer volunteers they are paid positions. Financially CTSB isn’t in a position to pay additional cameramen to cover the weekly meetings but they are willing to lend us their equipment and train someone to use it. The station agreed to cover our Annual Town Meeting for this year and will air it on their government channel and provide a DVD to the Town Hall. J. Sylbert will contact M. Makuc, Town Moderator to see if he has any concerns with the meeting being taped and he will contact R. Tryon, Fire Chief to find out if the room would be set up the night before the meeting.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 3.26.07 were approved as written.
2. The response from the Town Clerk with regards to the board’s request for certain “Plymouth Plantation” copies of the old books currently stored by town government to be donated and moved to the Monterey Library. The Town Clerk denied the request until the town builds an additional archives room. The board noted again that the Supervisor of Records has told the town both in writing and verbally that the current archives room located in the Town Hall is suitable for a town our size. It was also noted by the Board that for 15 years or more these books were located at the Town Clerk’s home and had not been catalogued,
cleaned or stored properly until they were moved to the Town Hall at the Board’s request and then catalogued and cleaned by the Select Board records liasion.
3. The Town Clerk responded and verified all but 2 names on the Citizen Petition for article 24 on this year’s town meeting warrant. She noted that the Board should take note of M.G.L Chapter 41 § 97.
4. The draft town meeting warrant will be sent to Town Counsel for review today.
5. K. Basler of the Monterey General Store came into let the Board know that he is writing a letter to the Board and the Berkshire Eagle requesting a retraction/correction from their recent article that stated beer and wine are served during their Friday Night Music Series. The paper will be printing a correction that beer and wine are not served at the Monterey General Store.
6. M. Leonard stepped out of her seat as reporter for the Monterey News and into her seat as Chairperson of the Planning Board regarding the Roadside Store’s request for a larger sign than the Agricultural Residential section of the bylaws allows. They would like a 10-foot sign that can be seen from both directions and it would be placed in the parking lot. M. Leonard asked the board’s opinion on whether Roadside would need to apply for a special permit or a variance. The board was unable to advise M. Leonard and suggested she call P. Murkett, Chairperson of the ZBA as well as D. Torrico, Building Commissioner.
7. The 11am citizen petition deadline passed without any further submissions.
8. Ray. Tryon came in and the board spoke with him about the request to tape the town meeting and asked Ray. Tryon when they set up for the meeting. Ray. Tryon stated that they set it up in the morning so the microphones would not be able to get set up the night before.
9. Ray. Tryon informed the board that he met with a grant writer on Thursday (along with several other towns) who charges $2600 for his services per grant applied for from each town plus 5% of what he brings to the town from the grant. He has a 68% success rate and does not guarantee anything. The board and R. Tryon both agreed to not use this particular person’s services as it seemed like an exorbitant amount of money with no guarantee. The fire department has a specific grant in mind that they would like to apply for.
10. Ray. Tryon asked about the status of the Berkshire Mediation Services report and J. Sylbert stated that Jina Ford of Berkshire Mediation Services will be providing a report directly to the Select Board once she returns from out of town, approximately in mid-April.
11. M. Leonard of the Monterey News informed the board that she will not be at next week’s Select Board meeting. She also let the board know that the May Monterey News will be released early, prior to the annual town meeting.
12. The board reminded everyone that Monday, April 16th is a holiday and the town hall will be closed and there will not be any meetings.
The meeting adjourned at: 12:00pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe
Inter-Departmental Secretary
Town of Monterey
cc: Website
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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