Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/22/08
Meeting Opened at: 4:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen and Jon Sylbert
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Laurily Epstein and Leroy Thorpe (Parks Commission)
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. M. Noe gave the Board a copy of an article in last week’s paper regarding the Town of Sheffield and some incentives they are looking into from National Grid and asked whether or not the Board would like M. Noe to look into this option for Monterey as well. The Board agreed that it would be worthwhile to look into.
2. M. Noe’s time off request was approved.
3. Follow up on last week’s discussions about the request made to the Town Clerk to put the bylaws on the website. M. Noe informed the Board of her conversation with Bill Letsky of Virtual Town Hall; it was confirmed that the Town Clerk has had access since 2007 to the clerk’s page on the Town website and that the changing from a .org extension to a .gov extension had nothing to do with the ability/inability to post documents. Mr. Letsky stated that the last time she logged into her access page was August of 2007. W. Burkhart will convey this to B. Swann and ask that she post the Town Zoning and Town Bylaws to her page
on the website.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 9.15.08 were approved as amended.
2. Laurily Epstein came in to ask the Board the process for creating a zoning bylaw to restrict the sizes of new houses, anything larger than the size set by the Town would be subject to very strict environmental standards. The Board advised Laurily that she would need to meet with the Planning Board and suggested that she try to find a bylaw from another Town that already has accepted it to use as a starting point. This would need to go to a Town Meeting vote. Laurily stated that while she respects the current Planning Board members their recent meeting history, attendance and success rate has been spotty. S. Jenssen stated that the
Conservation Commission is also very interested in moving something like this forward. W. Burkhart directed Laurily to also try the Regional Planning Commission. It was also suggested that Laurily contact the Town Clerk for the process of getting a bylaw amendment on the warrant by citizen petition.
3. Mail was reviewed.
4. W. Burkhart stated that he has spoken with the Montgomery’s on Fairview Rd regarding the drainage issues they have and their concerns about the elevation getting higher and higher. They state that when the Town did use the drain out below their lower driveway and cleared gravel from it that the Town didn’t haul it away they just left it there. The Montgomery’s are going to put their concerns in a letter. The Board will discuss this further next week when M. Forbes is present.
5. The Board discussed the ZBA’s letter requesting that an alternate member be appointed from a list of 4 people they recommended; Richard Piepho, Anne-Marie Enoch, Eric Pedersen and John Sellew. The Board also reviewed Town Counsel’s response dated June 21, 2008 regarding how and when to make this alternate appointment when a vacancy has been created. He stated that if the chair of the ZBA assigns a case to an alternate and both of the alternates are unable to serve then this determines a vacancy. The ZBA’s letter did not state that there is a scheduling issue for a specific hearing and that an actual vacancy has been created. Town Counsel was contacted via phone with additional questions. According to Chapter 892 of the Acts of 1977, “There shall be two alternate members of the board of appeals of the town of Monterey who shall be appointed by the board of selectmen for terms of five years. Approved December 30, 1977.” A letter was sent to Cynthia Weber, Chair of the
ZBA stating that according to Town Counsel, “absence does not necessarily constitute a vacancy… If the chair assigns a task to an alternate and he or she is not available to serve, the vacancy issue will become apparent.” The Board will be happy to appoint an alternate at such time.
6. While on the phone with Town Counsel the Board also confirmed that the risks associated with appointing an employee as a member of the Employee Compensation Committee fall on the employee even if they have submitted a conflict of interest disclosure form to the appointing authority and Town Clerk (it is agreed unanimously by the Board and Counsel that there would be a definite conflict of interest). S. Jenssen was concerned about his appointment to this committee and noted that the Selectmen section of the conflict of interest law (section 21A) states that, “As a Selectman, you generally cannot be appointed to any position – paid or unpaid – that is both appointed by the Board of Selectmen and is under the supervision of the Board of Selectmen…” However, the law permits town officials to hold multiple appointed positions as as long as they are all unpaid. Regarding the appointment of appointed employees to the Employee Compensation Committee, even with a disclosure being
submitted, the Board and Town Counsel both feel that the employees are putting themselves at an unnecessary risk. The Board and current members of the committee feel that consulting employees is just as effective. The Board will speak with G. Backhaus and M. Forbes about this next week.
7. Leroy Thorpe came in to question a business sign (for a private business) that has been hung from a Town sign without permission located across the street from the Town Hall. The Board will pass this along to the Zoning Enforcement Officer to look into the matter and W. Burkhart, who is familiar with the owner of the sign will also call her personally.
8. S. Jenssen asked M. Noe to call Foresight Land Services again for an update on the town beach survey.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:02pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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