Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/10/08
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Jonathan Sylbert, Chairperson and Wayne Burkhart
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maryellen Brown, Dan Moriarity, Raymond Tryon, Monica Webb, Deborah Mielke, Karen Schreefter, Jim Lovejoy, Select Board member in Mt. Washington and Stanley Ross
The board met with Maryellen Brown and Dan Moriarity of the Finance Committee, and Barbara Gauthier, Town Accountant to review the following items:
1. Review FY09 department budget requests.
a. D. Moriarity stated that he did not use last year’s Excel format, he changed it based on documents provided by the Town Accountant. The Boards decided to fill in the blanks of the missing budget requests first and then reviewed the submitted requests. A few corrections were made to the spreadsheet provided.
b. B. Gauthier informed the Boards that there will be a special article for $14,500.00 for an audit to be performed in FY09. The Boards reviewed the other proposed special articles and governmental expenses. The Highway Department will have a total of $185,000.00 in requested special articles.
c. Raymond Tryon came in while the Boards were meeting and he was asked where his budget requests were. R. Tryon stated that he was supposed to be called by D. Moriarity when the Boards were meeting but to date had not. While here he gave the Boards his budget requests. The Boards also discussed the special article that R. Tryon would like to place on the warrant (Turnout Gear $35,000.00).
d. The Board asked M. Noe to give the old Finance Committee laptop (that had been turned over to the Town as the Committee stated they didn’t need it as they all had their own computers) to the Finance Committee members to use during the budget process and then be returned to use as an upgraded computer for the Building Department or Select Board.
e. The Select Board informed the Finance Committee that they made a decision across the Board that all elected and appointed salaries will receive a 3% increase. The Finance Committee suggested using the New England CPI which was 3.75% (this will be discussed further at next week’s meeting).
f. Deborah Mielke, School Committee member brought in a memo regarding the FY09 SBRSD budget.
2. D. Moriarity questioned why there wasn’t a memo sent around letting all the Committees and Boards know that they had to start following the Open Meeting Law and Meeting Posting Guidelines. The Board informed him that this is a state law and has always needed to be followed.
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. D. Torrico informed the Board of a conflict due to his brother (also a contractor) performing work at a home in Monterey. The regulations state that only a Building Commissioner can sign applications and permits. Our current Local Inspector, Alternate, Gary Danko, is only allowed to perform inspections. D. Torrico came in to ask the Board to appoint Thomas Race to a newly created position, Alternate Inspector of Buildings/Building Commissioner for a 2 year term. A motion was made to appoint Mr. Race, it was seconded and unanimously approved. A letter of appointment will be sent out.
2. B. Gauthier asked where the Wiring Inspector’s budget request was; D. Torrico will look into it.
3. D. Torrico informed the Board that he’s projecting several building projects over the summer based on recent contractor visits and inquiries.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Reports given back to Feb 11:
a. Cars off the road on New Marlboro Rd (pulled out by New Marlborough Highway Dept.), Harmon Rd, Brett Rd,
b. Abandoned 911 calls on Swann Rd, Cronk Rd, Mt. Laurel Way, Gould Rd (x3).
c. False Alarms: Main Rd and Mt Hunger
d. Assisted GBPD on several calls.
e. Tyringham Rd – trees on wires, taken down by National Grid, report of vandalism made (Police Dept is investigating)
f. Assisted Fire Dept with a medical call.
g. Loose cows on Benedict Pond – One cow became stuck in the pond and was rescued by Highway Department and Police Department.
h. Loose dog on Mt Hunger – gone when officer arrived.
i. Summons served on Main Rd.
j. Water/road/tree problems over the March 8th weekend.
k. Several house checks.
l. Lockout on Bidwell Rd.
m. DMV on Elephant Rock Rd due to the road having washed out.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. M. Noe informed the Board of the response received from Bob Ritchie of the Attorney General’s office regarding hosting a refresher course for all boards and committees in Monterey regarding the Open Meeting Law. The AGO’s office requests that at least 30 people be in attendance and they suggested inviting other towns to accomplish this. The Board suggested setting a meeting time for an evening in May (a Monday at 6:30pm).
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board approved the minutes from 3.3.08 as written.
2. The Broadband Committee came in to update the Board on the recent hearing held in Boston and meetings that they have held. The best case scenario for Verizon putting in DSL in the underserved communities is by 2010. The possibility of Verizon being taxed on the poles in each Town was also discussed (as reported in the Berkshire Eagle – Monterey would receive $1,500.00). The available technologies and their pros and cons were discussed. The Board stated that the next step is speaking with the Planning Board about revising the telecommunications bylaws. The Board asked for a more united and more specific figure from the
Committee of what amount of local monies would be needed along with any funds from the State and Berkshire Connect. The Committee is going to meet again to discuss their future steps.
3.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:17pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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