Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/31/08
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: Nick Fredsall, Electrical Inspector, Linda Thorpe, Valerie Spriggs, SBRSD Superintendent, Deborah Mielke, Brian Puntin and Julio and Pat Rodriguez
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. Salt Shed: The Board is going to call Dave Gray of the EPA. M. Forbes provided the Board with a letter written to the Town in June of 1986 stating that the request to for a chemical building was being forwarded to the Boston DPW office. The letter was written by Dean Amidon, District Highway Engineer to Donald Amstead, Monterey Highway Superintendent. Boston replied that Monterey’s salt usage was too low to warrant funding a salt shed.
2. The Board reviewed the Highway Department’s request for two new trucks and the amount to be borrowed. M. Forbes is researching the trade in values of the trucks to be replaced and will report back to the Board with these estimated figures. M. Forbes will provide M. Noe with the wording for the warrant asking permission to trade in those vehicles being replaced.
3. The contract for the Transfer Station will be going out to bid in May. M. Forbes will be coming in next week to go over the procedures, cost and other misc items for the Transfer Station in FY09.
4. M. Forbes provided the Board with a doctor’s note allowing him to return to work with restrictions.
5. M. Forbes and J. Sylbert will speak with Dennis Soucy, the Transfer Attendant about his recent outburst at the Town Hall concerning the Transfer Station hours for the Easter holiday. Dennis will be reminded that he is to address all concerns with the Transfer Station Manager, M. Forbes.
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. Nick Fredsall, Electrical Inspector was asked to come in to address a recent complaint received about his not responding to inspection requests in a reasonable amount of time. Nick stated that it is very expensive to drive out to Monterey so he tries to group the inspections and sometimes that means responding later than 3days from the request. Nick suggested that the Town raise the inspection fee from $40/per visit to $50/per visit (this will be discussed at a later date). Nick was asked to provide the Select Board with the number of inspections performed for the last 2 years.
2. D. Torrico stated that he did a drive thru inspection at the KSAMass property (former Seven Stones) and found that several of the cabins have had work started on them without permits. D. Torrico issued 5 stop work orders and has asked the owners/contractor to come in.
The board met with Fire Chief, Ray Tryon and reviewed the following items:
1. R. Tryon wanted to confirm the wording for the warrant article for the new turnout gear (PPE) the Fire Department would like to purchase.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. False alarm at Heron Pond Park.
2. Two abandoned 911 calls on Wellman Rd.
3. Assisted with a medical call.
4. The cruiser had some repairs last week; it stopped starting when in park.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. The warrants were signed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 3.24.08 were approved as written.
2. The Board reviewed copies of the 6th grade essays provided to the Board from the school from the recent essay contest.
3. The Board discussed the letter to be written to the Access Board regarding placing porta potties at the Lake Buel boat ramp. The Board will discuss this with Chief Backhaus at next week’s meeting.
4. The Board discussed the special article for a survey to be performed of the Town Beach area to determine the actual property lines and ownership. The Select Board suggested having the Boat Ramp Committee review the proposal and present it at the Town Meeting. A letter was written and will be sent to all the members of the committee along with a copy of Foresight’s estimate.
5. Valerie Spriggs, SBRSD Superintendent came in to discuss the following with the Board (Linda Thorpe and Deborah Mielke were also present for the discussion):
a. Discussion ensued about the ballots that are needed for the upcoming Town Meetings regarding changing the school committee members from appointed to elected. Town Counsel will be contacted to advise the Board on who’s responsibility it is to print the ballots for the citizen petition.
b. The letter from the School Committee to the Town requesting that the Town place an article on their Town Meeting warrant to close the Monterey School due to a low projection of student enrollment for kindergarteners in Monterey (3 children are on the census) was discussed. The Select Board mentioned that they were concerned with the lack of PR from the district promoting enrollment to the Monterey School. V. Spriggs stated that the Monterey School has not sustained enrollment that can be justified as worth continuing as the other off campus schools have (New Marlborough and Egremont).
c. The Select Board voiced its concern with the School Committee not following through on requests made by Monterey to amend the district agreement. V. Spriggs stated that she was not here today to talk politics; she was here to express her concern at the dangerously low enrollment numbers for the Monterey School. The Select Board asked what happened with the option of making Monterey a K-1 to increase the enrollment and why no one has looked into going back to the way it had been with the kindergarten being in Monterey and New Marlborough starting at 1st grade, rather than having a kindergarten at both schools.
d. Deborah Mielke, Monterey’s School Committee member stated that there are several School Committee members, that given the economics would be happy to have the Monterey School shut down as the estimated cost savings would benefit the other towns. She also stated that the parents in Monterey state that they want to keep the school open but then choice their own kids out. There is a larger issue that needs to be addressed.
e. L. Thorpe added that she has heard first hand that the Mill River School discourages parents from sending their kids to Monterey stating that the transition the following year would be difficult for the kids. Linda felt if the district used the suggestion discussed earlier and went back to Monterey as the kindergarten and New Marlborough starting at 1st grade this would resolve that issue.
f. J. Sylbert asked if a program would still be cut at Undermountain if the Monterey School were to be closed. V. Spriggs confirmed that this would be the case and that this would offer some savings in personnel. V. Spriggs believes that the savings would be approximately $120,000. The Board questioned the amount.
g. V. Spriggs agreed to take on the media and publicize open enrollment for the Monterey School. V. Spriggs also confirmed that she has a contractual obligation to notify the teachers by a specific date whether they will be pink slipped or not due to cutbacks and/or campus closings/restructuring.
h. The Board reviewed their options and decided to place the article on the warrant asking permission to close the Monterey School and to let the voters discuss the issue.
6. Julio Rodriguez of the Friends of Lake Garfield Association presented a letter to the Board requesting the allocation of $2,500 towards Lakefest expenses and the health of the Lake. The Board confirmed that this has already been placed on the Town Meeting Warrant. Pat and Julio Rodriguez also notified the Board that Lakefest will be held on August 16, 2008 and currently there will not be fireworks as it is not in the budget. An article will be placed in the Monterey News soliciting donations for the Fireworks (approximately $6,000).
7. Pat and Julio Rodriguez and Brian Puntin came in to ask about the status of a Boat Ramp at Lake Garfield. The Board informed them of the planned survey of the property lines of the Town Beach and surrounding property, a copy and letter is going to be sent to the Public Boat Ramp Committee Members. Regarding the upcoming boating season; the Board is going to contact the new owners of Kinne’s Grove to come in and discuss the possibility of using their ramp for the upcoming boating season.
8. Kyle Pierce came in to present the Board with a citizen petition for the Town Meeting Warrant requesting $10,000 to help fund some engineering studies to prevent the flooding (this is a citizen petition and Kyle confirmed that the outlet is located in New Marlborough).
9. The Board approved using the cover design of the 1969 annual report as the cover for this year’s report as a dedication to Anne Makuc who was the designer of the 1969 town report cover which won an award.
10. Mail was reviewed.
11. The Board signed the amended signature pages of the Western Massachusetts Intergovernmental Emergency Mutual Aid Agreement as requested by the Board of Health.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:10pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
| 
