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Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/17/08
Meeting Opened at: 4:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Jon Sylbert
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Stanley Ross (Assessor), Michael Storch (Finance Committee and Employee Compensation Committee Member), Jeremia Pollard (Town Counsel) and Cynthia Hoogs (Planning Board Co-Chair)
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
- M. Forbes provided the Board with a profile of the proposed project on Fairview Rd which would include using trap rock, adding pipe and additional basins. The proposed cost for this project is approximately $53,000 (the stone and the trap rock making up a good portion of the estimate). The Board will review the information given.
- There was about 20-30 yards of gravel brought to the Town Beach parking area.
- The outside lights at the town hall that are on the timer are now working but the ones that go on from an electric eye aren’t currently working. M. Forbes is working on this.
- The elevator had stopped working for a few days, after calling the company it just needed to be reset.
- There was an incident today on Harmon Rd; a Highway truck, with its flashing strobe lights on,~was parked in the road, when a car came up the hill and attempted to go around the truck and drove off the road.
- M. Forbes is going to check in with Mark Amstead on the status of the hand rail on the front porch.
- The Board relayed the request of L. Klein on Fairview that “blind driveway” signs be placed near his driveway to make motorists aware of his driveway. The Board was not inclined to have a lot of signs placed in town and discussed with M. Forbes that if traffic on the road was going the posted 25mph there would be an adequate sight line to see the upcoming driveway and that a sign wasn’t necessary. The Board decided to place small “blind driveway” signs at the requested areas.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
- M. Noe informed the Board of her difficulty in obtaining the minutes for March 13 & 27th from the Planning Board and the minutes from Feb – Oct from the Parks Committee. Town Counsel was present during this discussion and stated that all boards and committees must keep minutes of their meetings and they must be provided when requested, if they aren’t a complaint must be filed to the Secretary of the Commonwealth to investigate. The Select Board is going to write a memo to all boards and committees reminding them of the Open Meeting Law Guidelines that requires that minutes be taken at all meetings.
- M. Noe informed the Board of several typos and mistakes she has found in the Town Bylaws and Town Zoning Bylaws and also pointed out to the Board some antiquated bylaws in the Town Bylaws as well as some missing amendments to some bylaws.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
- Town warrants were signed for this week and next.
- Linda Thorpe, Assistant Town Clerk came in to give the Board a copy of a bill owed to Bilmar Veterinary for animals brought there by Nora Hayes, ACO back from August. The bill was sent to the ACO several times but has not been paid. The Board will make sure the Town Accountant pays it. Linda also gave a bill for Raymond Tryon’s services to set up on Election Day to the Board, in the past this has been paid out of the Select Board’s expenses, the Board will check with the Town Accountant on this.
- The Board discussed the letter from Brown Oil stating that we hadn’t signed the lock in contract yet. Town Counsel reviewed the letter and stated that the terms should’ve been stated (# of gallons, price and term) on the letter prior to being signed by the Board. The Board instructed M. Noe to ask M. Forbes about this tomorrow.
- Town Counsel was asked about clerical errors in the Town Zoning Bylaws and whether they could be corrected without going to a town meeting (i.e. sections in our bylaws have list that go a, b, 1, c and should be a, b, c, d…). Town Counsel stated that there is a statute that allows the changes to be made without a town meeting vote and asked that an email reminder be sent to him tomorrow to follow up on.
- Jeremia Pollard advised the Board to go into Executive Session for next week’s meeting with Foresight regarding the final results of the survey performed of the town beach and the surrounding properties. The Board thought that Foresight’s findings should be discussed in an open meeting but if deliberations about what to do with the information given is going to be discussed then the Board can then make a motion to go into Executive Session.
- Cynthia Hoogs came in to inform the Board of John Sellew’s resignation from the Planning Board which has been filed with the Town Clerk. The Select Board believes that a copy of the resignation should also be on file with the Planning Board. Cynthia also came in to discuss with the Board that the current secretary of the Planning Board is interested in maintaining her paid Secretary position but also acting as an appointed planning board member to fill the vacancy created by John Sellew. Both Bridget Krans and Cynthia have spoken with the Ethics Commission and they stated that if the Select Board designates Bridget’s status and the rest of the Planning Board members as Special Municipal Employees, Bridget will then be allowed to serve in both positions. The Board has instructed M. Noe to research the
documents necessary to fulfill the appointment.
- Cynthia also requested that the Board plan to hold a Special Town Meeting; the Planning Board is holding a public hearing on December 11th to discuss the proposed amendments to the driveway bylaws and will need to bring the change to a special town meeting vote within 6 months. Cynthia is requesting that it be held in March to allow time for any other bylaw changes, additions or amendments that may come up. Jon Sylbert stated he would prefer that when the meeting is held it be closed to any warrant items having to do with appropriations.
- Wayne Burkhart asked Cynthia about the minutes from two March meeting that have been requested for the Town website and she stated that she has them on audio tape but has yet to transcribe them. The Select Board asked if their secretary was hourly and if she might do them with the use of one of the tape recorder machines available at the Town Hall. Cynthia also discussed the difficulties with the Planning Board having a quorum present at their bi monthly meetings. W. Burkhart stated that when the Board doesn’t have a quorum they can still meet but can not take any action on any issues and minutes should still be taken. The Board the discussed the idea to shrink the Planning Board back down to a 5 member board (then 3 would make a quorum). Cynthia stated that the absences that are resulting in a
quorum not being met have been due to everyone on the Board not one member specifically. The Board is going to ask Town Counsel how the Town would go about reducing the size of the Planning Board.
- Jon Sylbert stated that the new school committee is meeting tonight and will be reorganizing and reviewing the DESE grant. The Board wrote a letter to the SBRSD in support of applying for the grant as a 10 entity applicant (each of the eight towns and the 2 school committees). A committee will then need to be formed to hire a consultant and determine the scope.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:24pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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