Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/9/09
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, Raymond Tryon (Fire Chief), Representative from LB Corporation, Nora Hayes (ACO), John Makuc (BOH), Robert Annelli (BOH), Stephen Enoch (BOH), Maryellen Brown (Fin Comm), Daniel Moriarity (Fin Comm), Charles Ferris and Linda Thorpe (Asst. Town Clerk)
4:00pm: Bid Opening; Sale of 1993 Mack and related equipment, the legal notice was read. The following sealed bid was received and a minimum bid was set at $12,000:
- LB Corporation: $17,257.00
A deposit was not included but the Select Board made a motion to accept the bid as long as payment in full was provided in the form of a cashier’s check at the time of pickup. The motion was approved unanimously.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Weekly report back to 2/5/09:
a. Lockout at Blue Heron.
b. Abandoned motor vehicle on Beartown Mtn Rd
c. Lifting assistance on Main Rd (2)
d. False alarms at: Mt Hunger Rd, Beartown Mtn Rd (2) and Woodland Dr
e. Served summons on Hupi Rd
f. MVA mutual aid in Gt. Barrington
g. Medical assistance on Pixley Rd and New Marlboro Rd
h. OUI arrest on Pixley Rd
i. Assist Fire Department with a chimney fire on Main Rd
j. DMV on Fairview Rd
k. Abandoned 911 call on Main Rd
l. Loose cows on Blue Hill Rd.
m. MVA on Main Rd.
2. A resident on Art School Rd has been calling dispatch nightly between 2 and 4am to complain that she would like to file a complaint against National Grid and Verizon.
3. G. Backhaus stated that the shelter plan being requested by a group of residents in Town is being worked on through the Southern Berkshire Emergency Planning Committee. An emergency shelter would most likely be in a regional location and not somewhere in town.
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. The Board went over the FY10 budget requests for the Highway Department that the Board and Finance Committee had questions on at last week’s meeting:
a. Supplies and Fuel; a large part of the increase is fuel but it also includes plows, snow tires, etc. Bills are submitted for everything purchased and what isn’t used goes back into the general fund.
b. The Board informed M. Forbes that the salt and sand was raised to $200,000.
c. “Overtime” line has been changed to “Winter Overtime”
d. Machinery & Tools; this account is almost depleted for this FY. M. Forbes thinks that the reason for this is that the newer trucks cost more for parts and labor than they used to.
e. Highway Capital; it’s been the same for the last 6 years but needs to be raised. This money is combined with the Chapter 90 money. Most of the money allocated for FY10 will be used for Beartown Mtn Rd.
f. Fire Department Expenses; The Board stated that they do not get actual bills to support what the Fire Department is charging. M. Forbes stated that the agreement was to pay a flat amount not the actual bill amount on utilities for example. The town is subsidizing only a part of utilities. This was raised back up to the requested $32,000.
g. Fire Department Compensation; The Board wanted to know if there was a COLA increase included. M. Forbes stated that 3% was included for COLA and the rest of the increase was for an additional member. Currently the members get paid $25/hr for calls and $16/hr for training. R. Tryon would like all of the COLA to increase the training to $20/hr for training and keep the calls at $25/hr. This was raised back to the requested $60,000.
2. On February 17th the Lake Garfield dam was closed down completely.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
2. M. Noe’s time off request was approved.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes of 3.2.09 were approved as written.
2. The revised letter to the Conservation Commission regarding the Levkoff violation was signed. This will be hand delivered to the Con Comm at their meeting tonight.
3. A response was sent to Mr. Curnin of Egremont regarding individual property owners that are not registered voters in town and their rights to speak at Town Meeting. The Board stated that property owners/taxpayers not registered to vote in Monterey may be allowed to speak at Town Meeting at the Moderator’s discretion.
4. W. Burkhart spoke to the Parks Committee and they’ve stated that they are looking at phone options for the beach and that Verizon will not put a residential or business line at the beach.
5. The Parks Committee has requested that a strong stance be taken by the Harbormaster and/or Deputy Harbormaster that swimming beyond the ropes is not allowed. The Board suggested hanging a new sign that per order of the Harbormaster swimming beyond the ropes and designated areas is not allowed.
6. Nora Hayes came in to speak with the Board about her January 27th letter requesting a copy of the town’s designated emergency shelter and plan. As noted in #3 above under the Police department, this is being worked on. Nora asked about a warming place for people that don’t have heat; like the Town Hall. She also asked why the Fire Department wasn’t designated as the emergency shelter and the Board stated it’s because that’s where the Emergency Communications are run from. The Board suggested having an Emergency Committee meeting to discuss these concerns.
7. The Board called the Tryon’s to write a dedication to Henry Wolfer for the FY08 Town Report.
8. A motion was made to appoint Linda Hebert to the empty seat on the Council on Aging for a 3 year term. This was seconded and unanimously approved.
9. The Board asked the members of the Board of Health to come in to discuss the Animal Control Officer/Dog Officer position and budgeted line items. The Board stated that they are under the impression that the Police Department is interested in the position if the ACO position became vacant since that department picks up a large number of the stray dogs called in. The Board of Health agreed that there are some communication issues between the departments when concerning the ACO but there haven’t been any major issues. Regarding the problem with Marge Gulick, this has been resolved and Bilmar’s will accept dogs from the Monterey Police or ACO only. D. Moriarity asked how many animals are being picked up in a year; no one had a firm number on this that was present at the meeting. Both departments have been asked for a number of stray dogs being picked up. The Board noted that to date, Nora still hasn’t submitted her budget requests. Robert Annelli stated that he has been told
that the Police Department is willing to assume the Dog Officer/ACO duties for ½ of the current budget. Robert felt that the amount of money spent on this position and who handles it should be left to the voters as it’s their money being spent. Both Boards agreed that the ACO, Police, Select Board and Board of Health need to all meet to discuss the job description, responsibilities and duties and budget.
10. Charles Ferris came in to request that the town look into having a dog park with a 4 foot fence and a gate or 2. Mr. Ferris suggested the Edith Wilson property or a spot behind the ballpark. He called Berkshire Fence for an estimate and its roughly $16-$18/linear foot for a chain link fence with 2 gates. Linda Thorpe stated that she has an email address for some folks that were working on putting this together in Gt. Barrington. She also suggested contacting Bridget Krans on the Parks Committee whose father played a part in the Gt. Barrington proposal. The Board suggested that they have 2 ways of approaching this:
1. through the Parks Department budget or
2. as a special article on the Town Meeting warrant.
D, Moriarity stated that he was personally in favor of having one in town as it encourages play and socializing of dogs.
11. The Finance Committee and Select Board asked Linda Thorpe (the nominee for the upcoming seat at Town Clerk) to come in to discuss the Town Clerk Department budget line items for FY10:
a. The Board read last week’s minutes to Linda to let her know the changes that the Board and Finance Committee were recommending.
b. Linda clarified that line #163 is used for postage.
c. The Board and Finance Committee reviewed with Linda the thinking behind the proposed changes. L. Thorpe stated that when the CVR (Commonwealth Vital Records) was instituted in 95 that was the reason that the Street List line item was changed to Board of Registrars Clerk in 96, she stated that this was due to an increase in work to tally the census. The Board questioned why other towns (except Sheffield) do not have a separate line item or position for Board of Registrar’s Clerk. Linda stated that she’s not sure how long it takes to input all of the street listing/census information that is compiled yearly as Barbara Swann currently handles this. She will know better after next year when she will be responsible for this task if elected.
d. Linda is going to take all of the information given with her to digest and will come back to discuss this further with the Board.
12. M. Brown brought up the money collected for dump stickers and how it shows up in the estimated receipts; she feels that it should be a direct subsidy. She also noticed that W. Stockbridge pays $77,000 for their transfer station and she questioned why Monterey is paying $99,000. She suggested soliciting Eco-Waste as a bidder.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:10pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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