Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/28/08
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: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Michele Miller, Peter Murkett, Michael Storch, Kathleen Wasiuk, Dennis Sears, Muriel Lazzarini, Laurily Epstein, Deborah Mielke and Richard Tryon
The board met with Fire Chief, Ray Tryon and reviewed the following items:
1. Ray reported that the forest fire risk is over thanks to the rain received today.
2. The Town had one fire on Mt Wilcox caused by a downed wire.
3. The Board asked R. Tryon purely on the basis of economics, at what point economically does it become better to have the less traveled roads return to dirt versus repaving. R. Tryon stated that you wouldn’t want to let the pavement go; one benefit is that in hilly spots it holds the road together. R. Tryon stated that gravel for gravel roads will also increase in price as it takes fuel to run the grinder. It is Ray’s opinion that once a road is paved he would not go back to a dirt road.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Unattended death; Police are still trying to locate a next of kin.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. M. Noe asked the Board to confirm that they would like a complaint filed at the Southern Berkshire District Court for unpaid false alarm fines for residences located on Main Rd and Steven’s Lake Way: The Board confirmed that a complaint should be filed as was stated in the letters sent to those residences.
2. M. Noe informed the Board that a road block was encountered with trying to schedule an all boards meeting with the Open Meeting Law as the topic to be presented. The AGO, Bob Ritchie has taken a new job and they do not have a replacement yet. The office stated that the Town can contact the Assistant District Attorney, Joseph Pieropan to discuss an alternate presenter. M. Noe asked if she should proceed and contact that office, the Board confirmed she should.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. The warrants were signed.
2. B. Gauthier noted that at Town Meeting an amendment will be made to line #176 (ZBA expenses) from $1200 to $2100, when the Finance Committee changed the amount the numbers were transposed.
3. B. Gauthier and the Board reviewed the warrant articles for Saturday’s meeting that may have questions from the public.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board issued the following apology letter to the Mandelbaums (new owners of the former Kinne’s Grove) and cc’d the Monterey News: We would like to apologize for the misinformation received concerning your property and would like to assure you that no one will be at their gate looking to get onto the lake. We intend to print a correction in the news in conjunction with the news editor, Will Marsh, as well as make the correction at our next Select Board meeting on Monday, April 28th.
2. Dennis Sears of Sheffield and organizer of the Citizen Petition to change the school committee members from appointed to elected came in to discuss the following with the Board:
a. Over 500 signatures were received on the citizen petition to change school committee positions from appointed to elected.
b. To offer his assistance at Monterey’s Town Meeting to answer questions regarding the above petition and warrant article. If approved, the elections will be for four year terms.
c. The Board gave Dennis the Moderator’s phone number to contact regarding speaking at the Town Meeting.
3. Michele Miller complimented the beautiful flowers planted by the Emmonses on the bank across the street from the Town Hall.
4. Michele Miller questioned the Highway Department’s use of sand on Harmon Rd when the temperatures were in the 40’s-50’s. She was also concerned about the use of the truck with the blower to blow the leaves off the road; she felt with the rising fuel costs that it might not be the most fiscally appropriate use of that particular truck at this particular time. The Board will discuss these issues with M. Forbes when he returns next week.
5. Peter Murkett asked about getting the pile of sand covered that is behind the salt shed and the status of the new salt shed. J. Sylbert gave a brief summary of the permit to pollute process and the EPA’s involvement and the response to our request for help of our local representative. J. Sylbert stated that he was unable to leave a message at the EPA voicemail box as it was full.
6. Peter Murkett, Michele Miller, Kathleen Wasiuk, Muriel Lazzarini, and Laurily Epstein came in to discuss the following: (Chief Backhaus was asked to join the meeting at this time as the topic of conversation involves a Monterey Officer)
a. The above mentioned residents were concerned with a recent situation that occurred involving a Police Officer and his actions with an employee of the Monterey General Store. Those present expressed their concerns with the Select Board’s decision to allow this Officer to remain employed.
b. Peter Murkett voiced his concerns with prosecuting someone unjustly, that you are innocent until proven guilty and if the investigative processes with this situation have proven that no laws were broken and charges are not being pressed then the public needs to trust the officials’ decisions that have been made.
c. M. Lazzarini and L. Epstein stated that they have spoken with Kenn Basler of the Monterey General Store to hear first hand the events that happened (it was noted that Kenn was not a witness to the event in question). M. Lazzarini passed along compliments from Kenn Basler about the way Chief Backhaus handled the entire investigation process. Some of the residents present did not feel a 5 day suspension without pay was an appropriate consequence for this particular situation to a person in uniform. Some did not feel it appropriate to keep this Officer on duty as they felt it lowers the integrity of the Department. The female residents
present found it discomforting that an authority figure in town used such bad judgment and questioned their safety with this Officer should they be involved in an incident that he responds to.
d. M. Lazzarini stated that when she spoke with Kenn he commented that this was not a one time incident between this particular officer and store employee. Kenn told Muriel that he has spoken to this Officer on several occasions regarding his comments made and actions while in the store.
e. Some of the residents present felt that since the actions have been acknowledged by the Officer, victim, Chief and Select Board, they want to know how the Select Board is going to handle the situation beyond the 5 day suspension.
f. Chief Backhaus stated that the victim and Officer have both given statements and based on those interviews it is clear that K. Basler and the general public may not be aware of the actual events that occurred and are basing their current conclusions on hearsay. The victim has stated that she does not want to press charges and the only reason she made K. Basler and the Police aware of the situation was so that the Officer would be asked to not come in the store going forward.
g. Some of the residents present voiced their concerns it didn’t matter if this was an ongoing situation that led up to the situation in question, all felt that this Officer could not be trusted because he did not show use of good judgment in a position of authority.
h. The residents and Board all agreed that this is a very sensitive manner. The Board agreed that once the uniform is put on there is a zero tolerance policy and the details of the situation (which are not public) don’t matter, however with that said the Board has to make their decisions based on the evidence presented from the investigation and procedures and processes set forth in the Town’s Sexual Harassment and Personnel policies.
i. Chief Backhaus confirmed that in addition to the five day unpaid suspension, the Officer has been placed on a six month probation. L. Epstein wanted to make sure that the Board was aware that since the Board has acknowledged that a situation did occur if another situation were to occur involving this Officer; the Town could be held liable. The Chief noted that this Officer’s shifts will be restricted to night shifts for the mean time. Chief Backhaus also commented that the Officer in question writes a large number of citations and during hearings held regarding those citations there have never been any complaints received about
questionable or inappropriate behavior.
j. The residents present asked if there would be a requirement for additional training involving these types of situations and the Chief confirmed that this was a requirement.
k. It was also asked how the Board was going to reestablish the Town’s trust in this Officer. During the probationary period, should there be any complaints that can be verified, the Officer will be terminated immediately.
l. The reappointment of this Officer was brought into question by the residents present and the Board confirmed that they always have an option to not reappoint any position within the Town based on job performance and that these decisions are made after the elections, prior to July 1.
7. Richard Tryon came in to discuss the following with the Board:
a. The new trenching law to go into effect January 2009. Mr. Tryon wanted to know if there would be a hearing of some sort to notify the public of what this means for them. He has several concerns about what the process would be in getting a permit to dig a trench and the timeframes involved in the inspection process.
b. Mr. Tryon wanted to express his concerns with continuing to pave roads with the rising costs of asphalt and gas. He feels that dirt roads are cheaper to maintain (the Board did not agree with this).
8. The Board approved the minutes from 4.7.08 and 4.14.08 as written.
9. The Board reviewed their mail.
10. The Board reviewed Town Counsel’s response regarding the Town Clerk’s request that the Board pay for attorney fees incurred. A copy of Town Counsel’s response will be sent to B. Swann and cc’d to her attorney
11. J. Sylbert and S. Jenssen signed and approved the Earth Removal Permit for Tryon Construction. W. Burkhart recused himself as he works for Gould Farm and the site where Tryon Construction’s gravel bed is located is owned by and located at Gould Farm.
12. A thank you letter was written to John Sheppard of the Department of Fish and Game, Office of Fishing and Boating Access for placement of a porta potty at the Lake Buel Boat Ramp from May 15th – September 15th.
13. Deborah Mielke, Monterey’s School Committee Representative came in to discuss the following with the Board:
a. The next School Committee meeting will be held at the Monterey School this Thursday and adult sized chairs and tables will be needed and light refreshments would be appreciated.
b. There have been several qualified applications received for the open Interim Superintendent’s position and she’s confident a decision will be made soon.
c. J. Sylbert stated that he called Valerie Spriggs last week and made an offer that if Monterey were given a first grade for the upcoming school year then there would be a better chance of having the school closed the following year. J. Sylbert stated that it is the district’s responsibility to increase the enrollment not Monterey’s.
d. D. Mielke also asked to comment on the above situation concerning the Officer and store employee (she walked in during that conversation and had been unaware of the situation that occurred). She felt that the last shift she would want an Officer on would be the night shift (referring to the Chief’s comments that this Officer’s shifts would be reduced and limited to only night shifts).
14. A letter will be sent to Stephanie Grotz asking if she is interested in organizing the Memorial Day parade. Dean Amidon had suggested using Stephanie at a previous meeting since she had done such a good job organizing the 150th anniversary.
15. The Board reviewed the letter to the Editor in the Berkshire Eagle entitled “A new approach to Lenox budget”.
16. The Board returned the ACO’s phone call; a message was left as there was no answer. Nora stated in her voicemail to the Board that she has questions about the changes that the Board made to her FY09 budget request.
17. The Board called Kenn Basler of the Monterey General Store to ask if he could provide some water, coffee and snacks for this Thursday’s School Committee meeting at the Monterey School. Kenn confirmed that he would. He was also asked if he would be willing to handle the Memorial Day food, preparation and serving of the food. Kenn agreed to handle this as well.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:51am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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