Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/27/08
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, Robert Lazzarini (Board of Appeals member), Maynard Forbes (Director of Operations), Raymond Tryon (Fire Chief) and Eric and Holly Montgomery of Fairview Rd
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
- Warrants were signed.
- The Board asked several questions regarding the 2008 Revenue Report:
- Why the Wiring Inspector never collected any money on his expense line; B. Gauthier stated that he did not receive any expense money because he didn’t submit a mileage reimbursement form for travel within Monterey.
- Where is revenue from speeding tickets reported?: this appears under District Court Fines.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
- M. Noe reviewed a few of the items learned at the educational conference she attended last week through Virtual Town Hall (our website host). A letter is being sent to the Town Clerk from the Select Board regarding the Town Bylaws and Town Zoning Bylaws and getting them online; the Select Board will be instructing M. Noe to enter them on the town website as html documents with a notation that they are not an official copy and that an official copy can be obtained through the Town Clerk’s office (as recommended by VTH as an alternative to a pdf file which will also allow people to search and print a single chapter vs the entire book).
- M. Noe brought to the Select Board’s attention copies of the Levy ZBA final documents with specific attention paid to the dates on the Notice of Decision (signed by the ZBA Clerk on 9/13/08 but filed with the Town Clerk on 9/9/08). It was questioned what the date would be for the appeals period to begin and how an abutter would know that. The Board instructed M. Noe to contact Town Counsel to find out if the different dates present any legal ramifications as it is currently written.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
- The minutes from 10.20.08 were approved as written.
- A 2nd request was written to Gige O’Connell (member of the Wilson McLaughlin House Committee) for a copy of the inventory list of the gifts given to the Town by Edith Wilson as well as a copy of the written appraisal and the location of the items not currently located in the Town Hall. The initial request was written on September 15th. The Board cc’d the letter to Joe Baker and Lew Scheffey.
- Robert Lazzarini (Board of Appeals member) came in to discuss the following with the Board:
- School Board elections: He would like to hear the candidates talk and wanted to confirm that the opportunity will be this Thursday at Mt Everett. J. Sylbert confirmed that this was true and stated that during the pasta dinner people will be allowed to submit written questions for the candidates. J. Sylbert also confirmed that both the Monterey News and Sheffield Times will be releasing their November issues early with profiles of the candidates so that an informed decision can be made at the polls.
- The ZBA’s request to appoint an alternate; he would like to know who the Select Board is going to appoint. R. Lazzarini stated that the ZBA had voted 3-2 (2 feeling comfortable that they could hold out until Susan Cooper returned without appointing a different alternate). The Select Board reviewed the 4 applicants and their town government experience (Eric Pedersen, Richard Piepho, Mari Enoch and John Sellew, in no particular order) that applied for the position. Wayne stated that he spoke with Cynthia Weber today and she suggested that the alternate picked should be someone that has Planning Board experience and is familiar with the town history of building projects. Scott Jenssen made a motion to appoint an alternate to satisfy the ZBA’s request; the motion was seconded by Wayne Burkhart and passed
unanimously. The Board agreed that they would like to interview the 4 applicants prior to making an appointment. M. Noe will schedule 15 minute blocks with each of the applicants for a future meeting. S. Jenssen asked that the ZBA provide the Board with a small job description.
- The Board discussed with M. Forbes the status of Brace Rd. M. Forbes stated that 2 “Road Closed” signs have been put up and both have recently been stolen. He will revisit the site this week.
5:30 – 6:30 Fairview Rd Meeting Update:
The Board discussed the history of Fairview Rd and the potential drainage solutions that were done in the past with the hope of being able to keep the road dirt and to keep the road on the road and not in our streams and in the catch basins. The Board explained that this summer Fairview Rd washed out several times and the Board then asked M. Forbes for a status on the road and for an estimate on how much money has been spent on time and material this year to maintain the road. The Board stressed that what was done in the past was weather dependant (during good weather it worked great) but unfortunately it wasn’t a long term solution. M. Forbes has made his recommendations to the Board on how to solve the problem in his opinion.
The Montgomery’s asked what the cost was to fix the initial drainage problem; M. Forbes stated it was about $32k. To date this year $14,800 has been spent repairing the road.
The Board spoke about the possibility of oil & stoning the road. The Montgomery’s are concerned that if Fairview Rd is oil & stoned that people will increase their speed (which is already high) and it will make the road more dangerous. The Board wanted to make it clear that they aren’t advocating for oil & stone but they do want all the options to be presented and the best option for the townspeople to be chosen.
Adding a few more cross-culverts or parallel culverts was also suggested. The different materials such as airport mix, clay etc. was also put out on the table as alternatives. Holly asked about how the Town would address the safety issues that would increase if the road were oil & stoned.
The Board agreed that the problem wasn’t going to be solved tonight. J. Sylbert mentioned that a large amount of gravel is being lost on the flat part near the Montgomery’s bottom driveway which goes down 23 and dumps into the river. E. Montgomery stated that a lot of the washout being seen in the last 2 months has happened because the last drop drain wasn’t working. Another concern of the Montgomery’s if the road is paved is the use of salt and its effects on the trees that give them a privacy screen from Rt 23. The Board stated that the effect of salt on the trees is not known (there are theories) and it’s a tradeoff to have safe, passable roads.
The Board agreed that the decision of how to solve the problem will not be based on money alone. The Board wants to review the best option to get the most water off the road and the least amount of silt. A tentative proposal was made to make a stab at a number of the options made available tonight prior to making a final decision. The Board felt that a meeting on Fairview Rd with the Montgomery’s and M. Forbes to discuss a plan to alleviate the problem intermediately.
The Board agreed to meet on at the Montgomery’s lower driveway at 3:30pm on Thursday, October 30th. The Select Board requested that the Montgomery’s and M. Forbes attend.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:35pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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