Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/7/08
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: Michael Storch, Daniel Moriarity and Maryellen Brown of the Finance Committee, Linda Thorpe, Leroy Thorpe, Raymond Tryon, Diana Piepho, Scott Jervas, Janet Laudenslager, John and Kathy Siok, Richard and Rosalind Kaufman, and Max Aflalo
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. The new 4500 truck had to be towed away for repairs; cause of problems unknown at this time.
2. Steven’s Lake Road; during the last storm a lot of that private road washed out and the homeowner’s association is placing blame on the Town. M. Forbes and R. Tryon have performed a site inspection and stated that this road has no proper ditches and does not appear to have been maintained properly over the years and both recommended that the association needs to perform some upgrades and drainage improvements to their road. Members of the homeowner’s association are coming in at 11:30 today to discuss the problem, M. Forbes will be present.
3. M. Forbes presented a more accurate number for the new Mack truck that is going on the warrant to be replaced this year ($175,000 up from $160,000). The total amount requested for the 2 replacement trucks will be $207,000. Plans are to sell the old Mack will be outright and the small pickup will be traded in. M. Forbes estimates the Town will receive approximately $10-15k for the sale of the Mack truck.
4. Brett Rd: The State has informed M. Forbes that on the section of Brett Rd. from Swann Lodge to Swann Rd there are a significant amount of red pine trees (more than 200 in the Town right of way) that are infected with some kind of bug and will die within the next year, the State is going to run additional tests to be sure but if it’s confirmed that they are infected they will need to be taken down ASAP, M. Forbes will keep the Board informed.
5. Transfer Station: M. Forbes gave a copy of the DRAFT Request for Proposal for the renewal of the Transfer Station services. M. Forbes suggested raising the annual sticker fee from $35 to $50 (2 stickers per household) and eliminate the additional fees the Town currently collects for dumping large household items and to eliminate the attendant from collecting money.
6. M. Forbes is looking into the cost of a glass partition for the Inter-Departmental Secretary’s office to control the heating and cooling issues.
The board met with Building Inspector, Donald Torrico and reviewed the following items:
1. D. Torrico presented an analysis of the electrical inspection department costs. The average cost per inspection that the inspector has been making over the last 2 ½ years averaged $20/an inspection. D. Torrico suggested raising this to $30/an inspection and W. Burkhart and J. Sylbert both agreed that the inspector’s proposed salary for FY09 should be raised to $3150.00 (S. Jenssen recused himself from this conversation). The Finance Committee was made aware of the change when the came in to today’s meeting.
2. The Board and D. Torrico discussed the current cost per mile reimbursement and decided to stay at the current reimbursement of $0.40/per mile.
3. D. Torrico just completed reviewing the documents submitted for the proposed work on the cabins at the KSAMass properties (formerly known as Seven Stones) and noted that there are some problems with the paperwork; D. Torrico has a call into the contractor to discuss before any permits will be issued. The contractor has also proposed some code compliance alternatives which will need to be reviewed and approved by D. Torrico and then sent to the State. No building permits have been issued to date. D. Torrico noted that paperwork was found from 2001, signed by the former Building Commissioner, Walter Potash, that showed he did sign off on a
certificate of inspection for work that was currently being questioned that final paperwork could not be found for.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Chief Backhaus gave the Board the contact information for Jack Sheppard at the Access Board to write a letter requesting that a porta potty be placed at the boat ramp at Lake Buel (near the actual ramp). This letter was written and mailed today.
2. Missing person reported.
3. A complaint of tools being stolen from Blue Heron’s Landing.
4. Annual salamander crossing on Rt 57; complaints received about people standing in the road with flashlights.
5. Abandoned 911 call; building secure on arrival, no one present.
6. 2 complaints about loose dogs; Main Rd and Pixley Rd., both dogs were returned to their owners.
7. Assisted with a DUI arrest in Gt. Barrington.
8. Complaint of a prowler on Art School Rd., complainant provided a license plate number, police are investigating.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. The Board reviewed Town Counsel’s response regarding group health insurance and part time employees’ eligibility. Town Counsel stated that the Select Board has the discretion to exclude elected officials/employees from the group health insurance benefits, even if they had been approved to receive it in the past, that do not work a posted, fixed and regular 20 hours a week. He provided several case laws in support of his recommendation and noted that this would not be a town meeting article and the Select Board has the authorization to make the following change. The Board was informed that if they were to remove any part time
elected employees currently receiving group health insurance through the Town for not meeting the hours worked requirement, that the elected employee could be offered the option of paying the full cost of the Town’s health insurance plan out of pocket for a limited number of months.
2. The Board signed the warrants.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. D. Moriarity and M. Brown of the Finance Committee came in to discuss the following:
a. FY09 Budget final numbers.
b. The Town Clerk submitted a bill to the Finance Committee for personal attorney expenses from the recent Open Meeting Law complaint filed. The Board has sent a letter with a copy of the bill and supporting documents to Town Counsel to review and advise the Board if they are responsible to pay it.
c. B. Gauthier presented a FY08-FY09 budget comparison.
d. A special article in the amount of $42,500 was submitted by the Cemetery Committee to extend the Corashire Cemetery. L. Thorpe came in to answer questions that the Board had.
e. B. Gauthier asked the Board about the status of the Salt Shed; the Board decided that they are not going to go forward with it this year.
f. B. Gauthier asked if the Board wanted to use stabilization funds to lower the tax rate. The current estimated budget increase would raise the tax rate approximately $0.11; the Town currently has $523,000 in stabilization and $203,000 in free cash, based on those figures the Board decided to remove the $14,500 special article request for an audit (it will be placed on the FY10 warrant) and not use stabilization funds to lower the tax rate.
g. The Town Clerk requested that the Town Clerk Expenses account be level funded instead of decreased by $1,102 as originally requested.
h. B. Gauthier informed the Finance Committee that there will be a debt exclusion on the Town Meeting Warrant.
i. The Board reviewed Town Counsel’s recommendations and the article to be added regarding the new trenching regulations.
2. The Finance Committee discussed the objectives of their informational meeting to be held on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 7pm at the Monterey Firehouse. The Board reminded the Finance Committee to submit a use request form to Ray Tryon.
3. The Board signed the Special Town Meeting warrant and called the Town Clerk to witness the signatures and distribute to the Constable. The Clerk spoke with J. Sylbert on the phone who verbally approved their signing the special town meeting warrant without her being present to witness. Ray Tryon will deliver the copies to the Town Clerk.
4. Diana Piepho of the Parks Commission and Scott Jervas came in to speak about a proposal to move the current basketball court and build a new one in memory of a local resident that passed away and how they should proceed. The Board informed them that they would first need to speak with the Conservation Commission as it’s near a wetland and then explained the process to follow. Scott Jervas believes that they will be able to raise private funds to cover the costs.
5. The Board approved the minutes of 3.31.08 with amendments.
6. John and Kathy Siok, Richard and Rosalind Kaufman, Janet Laudenslager and Max Aflalo along with Maynard Forbes, Director of Operations and Raymond Tryon, Fire Chief were present to discuss the following:
a. The roles and responsibilities of the Town and the Steven’s Lake Homeowner’s Association with the drainage from Rt. 23 down to Steven’s Lake Road to prevent any future damage. The Association is currently seeking bids to correct the problem.
b. The Board informed the Association that the Town would be perfectly happy to advise and review how best to fix and maintain their roads to hopefully prevent this problem in the future and advised the Association to contact M. Forbes with any questions.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:25pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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