Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 12/3/07
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Jonathan Sylbert, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Michael Storch, Monica Webb, Will Marsh, Karen Schreefter, Jeremia Pollard, Town Counsel, Peter Murkett
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Lockout on Beartown.
2. Complaint of someone taking water out of placePlaceTypeLake PlaceNameBuel with a large truck.
3. Tree across addressStreetMain Rd.
4. Assisted fire dept. on Hupi Rd.
5. Several calls from a resident on addressStreetArt School Rd. about a transformer that is humming and keeping them awake. The owner is threatening to call the Police Department every night until it is solved. The Chief is going to contact National Grid for assistance.
6. The Chief asked for the names of the residents that haven’t paid their false alarm fines and he will follow up personally with the residents as to why this hasn’t been taken care of.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. Warrants were signed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board approved the 11.26.07 minutes as written.
2. The Board asked M. Noe to purchase the annual holiday turkey/gift cards for the following Town Employees: Building Commissioner, Police Officers, Highway Crew, Interdepartmental Secretary and Town Accountant.
3. The Board voted unanimously to approve the Monterey General Store’s alcoholic beverages license renewal. The paperwork will be sent in to the ABCC.
4. The Board reviewed the Thorn’s response regarding the Town purchasing a parcel of their land for a public boat ramp: “This letter is the official response of the owners of Bracken Brae Farm, 495 Main Rd Monterey, MA, Thomas B Thorn, et al, to your letter dated August 27, 2007. We have discussed the consideration of selling to the town a parcel of our westerly acreage fronting Lake Garfield, for the purposes of the town building a public boat ramp and parking lot. We are declining your offer, but with thanks for the consideration. Because this offer was unsolicited, we feel giving reason for this refusal is
unnecessary.” Signed by Elizabeth Thorn.
5. The Board confirmed that they will meet on Monday, December 31st. As a reminder the Board will not meet on Monday, December 24th (the Town Hall will be closed as well).
6. The members of the Broadband Committee came in to present the following:
a. Adam Goodman resigned due to a conflict of interest with his business.
b. Virgil Stucker may also be resigning because he does not have the time available to commit to the committee.
c. Will Marsh presented a copy of the article that the Broadband Committee is putting in the Monterey News.
d. All of the members have reviewed the email sent out by Berkshire Connect with regards to getting all placeWestern Mass. residents high speed internet access.
e. The committee members met with surrounding towns regarding their attempts at obtaining high speed access.
f. The Town will put a notice on the Town website that any interested residents that would like to be on the Broadband Committee to replace the two members lost should contact the Broadband Committee via email (broadbandcommittee@verizon.net )
g. Anyone interested in obtaining further information from Verizon should contact Brian Moran at the local Verizon office in Gt. Barrington and Michael Storch suggested also contacting the public relations office for Verizon in CityplaceSpringfield.
h. The committee asked if it was okay to use the Transfer Station mailing list to send out letters with a survey from Berkshire Connect. The Select Board approved and instructed that the costs be deducted from the Select Board expenses.
7. The Board read the letter received from Janet Cathcart notifying the Board that she is resigning from her elected seat on the Monterey Planning Board as of December 14, 2007.
8. Jeremia Pollard, Town Counsel came in to review and advise on the following:
a. Wilson McLaughlin House will petition, Lucy Prashkar of the Taconic Foundation did contact Jeremia and he has sent a letter that there is no objection to the petition and is waiting on a court date for a hearing.
b. Bed and Breakfast issue: Jeremia is conflicted out of the case due to a previous consultation 2 years ago with the parties involved. The Town wither has to retain outside counsel or the Building Inspector and Health agent can proceed on their own for a show cause. Don Torrico was asked to sit in for this discussion. Don Torrico felt that he and Peter Kolodziej would be able to go forward without legal representation.
c. The Select Board has formally decided to get from Jeremia the parameters of opening an investigation.
i. Proceeding under Chapter 41, The Board can open an investigation to consider the discipline or dismissal of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual. The board is not required to hold the investigations in an executive session and the person being investigated can not demand that it be held in executive session (they can however request it be public if the Board announced it as an Executive Session).
ii. Section 23B does not tell you how to formulate the report but does state if you open an investigation, the results must be published in a report that gets printed in the Town Report. This would be an investigation of a department, not a person, if a person of the department is singled out then you refer to the Executive Session process to hear complaints brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual. Evidence collected in an investigation could be used if the Town were to start the process of removal, which currently is not the objective.
iii. The Select Board writes the report. The investigation into someone’s professional acts would be protected under the legislative function and the Board would absolutely be immune to any liability issues. The most cautious road would involve subpoenaing witnesses and holding the investigation/interviews in Executive Session. The person being investigated would need to be notified for each executive session sent out and would have the option to attend or not.
iv. Town Counsel will work on the form for summons and the Select Board will come up with a list of those to be subpoenaed. These would normally be delivered by the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office and if the person does not appear it would be a contempt issue. Town Counsel will research if the summons can be delivered by the Town Constable instead. Town Counsel could be present to advise the Select Board but the Select Board would run the meeting.
v. Changing an elected position to an appointed position would require a Town Meeting vote and would require it be a ballot question.
vi. Amending the personnel policy for accepted holidays (to reflect what is currently being given to employees) would need to go to Town Meeting to update our current holiday policy to accept MGL Chapter 4 Section 7, designated holidays.
vii. Jeremia advised that the Board have the property in question next to the placePlaceTypeTown PlaceTypeBeach be surveyed to put the ongoing issue to rest. A special article would not be necessary but would be advisable.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:53pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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