Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/13/07
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Jonathan Sylbert, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance: Deborah Mielke of the Monterey News
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
2. Paving on Sandisfield Rd will begin tomorrow. 4000ft of Sandisfield Rd was reclaimed last week.
3. The new furnace being installed at the Town Hall will be completed today.
The board met with Fire Chief, Ray Tryon and reviewed the following items:
1. The Cusik house to be burned was discussed. Ray Tryon stated “that if the persons haven’t complained in writing then the complaint doesn’t exist in his eyes”. Ray also stated that if this were to happen the abutters would be notified prior and they would have a chance to object. Ray stated to burn the house flat the Firehouse has to get a permit from DEP first. He stated that if the Fire Department were to just set small fires inside for training purposes a permit would not be needed.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Disabled MV at Corashire and Main.
2. Dog bite on Hupi Rd.
3. Complaint of gunfire on Hupi Rd; police investigated and found the person has a legally set up firing range.
4. 3 calls for wires down.
5. False alarm on Bidwell Rd. Two additional false alarms were received but cancelled.
6. A spill into Lake Garfield was reported and a sample was taken and given to the Board of Health.
7. A request was made for additional Police Officers at Lakefest next year.
8. M. Storch reported that there were several boats exceeding the speed limit on the Lake. The Chief suggested putting a “No Wake Zone” sign in the Lake near the buoys.
9. The Chief came into discuss the recent applicants for the Full Time Officer position and give his recommendation.
9:30-10:30am: Terry Smith of the Office of Fishing and Boating Access
Also Present: Marty Chernoff, Brian Puntin, Rodney Palmer, Pat. Edelstein, Pat Rodriguez, Representative Smitty Pignatelli, Chief Backhaus, Leroy Thorpe, Stanley Ross, John Makuc, Richard Sheridan and Michael Storch
Items discussed: The map that the Public Boat Ramp Committee came up with was reviewed. Several residents feel that the boat ramp should remain where it is and the beach should be moved. J. Sylbert explained to Mr. Smith why the Board decided to put together a Public Boat Ramp Committee and the predicament that the Town is facing right now with the sale of Kinne’s Grove that was formerly used for access to the Lake.
Terry Smith gave a history of his department and their function. He stated that there would need to be at least 10 car top spaces and at least 15 trailer spaces and the slope of the ramp would need to be easily developed and feasible. His department would certainly be able to provide the Engineers. He stated that the documents his department has shows that the Town Beach was supposed to be located across the street from where it is currently.
R. Palmer stated that the cheapest way would be to move the beach across the street where it was supposed to be and keep the boat ramp where it is but the smarter way would be to use the bigger part of the Lake.
Smitty Pignatelli stated that the Town first needs to decide on the site and then his office and Terry’s office would be there to help out the Town with getting the process started.
10:30-11:38am MaryEllen Brown of the Finance Committee
J. Sylbert spoke with Jeff Wolfson of the Department of Education last week and updated the Board and MaryEllen of their discussion with regards to the school budget. The Board began writing the Special Town Meeting Warrant to be held at 7pm on Friday, September 7th at the Firehouse.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Several residents on the lake are concerned about the burning of a house by the Fire Department off of Rt 23.
2. John Makuc of the Monterey Board of Health came in to discuss emergency dispensing sites in the case of an emergency and the use of volunteers and whether or not they would be covered under the town’s liability insurance. The Berkshire County Board of Health Association is working with all the surrounding towns to set up these sites.
3. John Makuc of the Monterey Board of Health also came in to discuss the current ACO procedures with the board. There have been several times in the last few weeks that the ACO could not be found. G. Backhaus stated that last Monday there was a dog bite and he called all of her numbers with no response; information was given to S. Enoch (Board of Health Chairperson) to pass along to the ACO. The Board asked what should be expected of the ACO. G. Backhaus explained that there are all sorts of calls ranging from disturbance calls, bites and rabid animals. Rabid animals the police department would respond to as time would be of the
essence in putting the animal down before any other animals or humans came into contact with it however the ACO would need to handle the paperwork that goes along with a rabid animal. The police would also handle any deceased animals in the road. Animal complaints (i.e. viscous dogs (police would assist), dog bites, nuisance dogs) would need to be handled by the ACO. A pager through County Dispatch will be given to the ACO and any calls that come in will be paged out to her and the Police Department simultaneously and she will need to call into dispatch to acknowledge the call. The ACO will need to call dispatch back within 15 minutes or they will repage, if no answer then, the police will respond to the call. All calls need to be responded to within 8 hours except dog bites that need to be responded to immediately.
4. The minutes from 8.6.07 were approved as written.
5. W. Burkhart spoke with the Town Clerk about the Meeting Notice/Open Meeting Law issue and plans to speak with her more on the issue.
The meeting adjourned at: 12:10pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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