Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 5/7/07
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Jonathan Sylbert, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. There was a complaint made about the debris in front of Rawson Brook. The Highway Department has always been against going on private property even though the situation may affect a town road. M. Forbes states that if the trees aren’t removed there will eventually be damage to the road. W. Burkhart feels that it is the town’s responsibility to clean up the obstructions (logs) in Rawson Brook to prevent any damage in the future to a town road. M. Forbes stated that if the highway department were to do this it would set a bad precedent for future similar situations. The board is going to ask town counsel to write a
letter to the Conservation Commission and the homeowner requesting permission to remove the trees from the river to prevent any road damage. The homeowner should sign a release holding the town harmless.
2. Weekly report was reviewed.
3. Grating of the roads has begun.
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. D. Torrico spoke with Town Counsel last week and has come to the conclusion that a meeting will need to be held about the building on Mt Hunger Rd. The building department was under the assumption that this had gone under the subdivision control laws (this project was started prior to the current building commissioner) and learned last week from M. Leonard, Planning Board chair that it had not, it was under the common driveway bylaw. C. Blair of the Conservation Commission was asked if the board reviews how the frontage was created when they review a building project. The Conservation Commission stated that they are not determining whether a
lot is a building lot or not. The subdivision control laws were reviewed by all present.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. G. Backhaus requested that the Select Board post a notice to hold an executive session on Monday, May 14, 2007 at 10am. A certified letter will be sent to those involved.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Select Boards first order of business was to welcome the new Select Board member, Scott Jenssen.
2. Their second order of business was to vote on the new chairperson. A motion was made by Wayne Burkhart to make Jonathan Sylbert the chair and Scott Jenssen seconded the motion.
3. L. Thorpe asked if the board was going to continue to send the letters to the elected officials asking them to come in to be sworn in or if they wanted the Town Clerk’s office to do it.
4. C. Blair of the Conservation Commission came in at the board’s request to discuss the floating raft issue. The Harbormaster, G. Backhaus was called in to discuss the matter further. G. Backhaus mentioned that if the town were to allow floating docks/rafts, the town would need to set guidelines concerning how far the dock could be from the homeowner’s lakefront property and the homeowner would have to have the dock covered under their homeowner’s insurance should it ever get hit. The board is going to request D. Amidon, the Deputy Harbormaster to come in to discuss and work on possible regulations.
5. The board reviewed their mail.
6. The board approved the 4/30/07 minutes as amended.
7. The board discussed formally structuring annual performance reviews for all employees and setting a procedure for it prior to making any appointments/re-appointments.
8. The board discussed their meeting frequency and whether or not they are going to continue to hold the 7pm 3rd Monday of the month meetings due to their low attendance. The board suggested only holding them when there is an item to discuss. The 5/21/07 evening meeting has been cancelled. W. Burkhart made a motion that was seconded by S. Jenssen and unanimously agreed upon to not hold regular evening meetings on the 3rd Monday of each month but to be available to hold an evening meeting on a 3rd Monday of the month with a week’s notice to properly post the meeting, for anyone that can not make it during
their regular weekly meetings during the day or for any other boards or committees that need the Select Board’s assistance. A new meeting notice will be given to the Town Clerk’s office.
9. J. Sylbert clarified that the beach at Lake Garfield falls under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department and would like to discuss a public boat ramp further with them.
10. S. Jenssen asked the board how they would go about increasing the DSL service in Monterey and getting cell towers in Monterey. Crispin Tresp of WiSpring will be coming in to revisit wireless service in Monterey on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 10am. Regarding cell towers, J. Sylbert suggested requesting the Planning Board (which writes the town bylaws) to contact the state regarding Mt. Wilcox and it’s potential to be used for a cell tower.
11. The board will hold an annual 2nd Homeowner’s meeting at the Firehouse on Saturday, July 7, 2007 at 9:30am – 10:30am. A meeting notice will be given to the Town Clerk’s office.
12. The board discussed the report from the Berkshire Mediation Services report and how to proceed. J. Sylbert suggested that the board review the report and allow S. Jenssen to get up to speed on the issues at hand and then discuss whether or not they want to request more information from Berkshire Mediation Services.
13. The warrants were signed.
14. J. Sylbert thanked the town report committee for their efforts and asked if we could get them done by December for future years.
15. The elevator inspection bill was paid after Town Counsel informed the Town Accountant that he could not find anything that supported municipalities being exempt.
The meeting adjourned at: 12:10pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Town of Monterey
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