Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/16/09
Meeting Opened at: 4:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Stanley Ross (Assessor) and Barbara Swann (Town Clerk)
The board met with Fire Chief, Ray Tryon and reviewed the following items:
1. R. Tryon asked to see a draft copy of the FY10 budget and wanted to clarify why there was a requested increase in the compensation line item in case they had any additional questions after speaking with Maynard about this last week. He stated that as of today the Fire Department has had as many calls as they had for the entire FY08 and they are requesting more in anticipation of a large number of calls in FY10.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Special Town Meeting Warrant scheduled for April 2, 2009 at 7pm at the Monterey Firehouse was signed by the Board and given to Barbara Swann, Town Clerk to put her stamp on. She refused to take the copies to be printed that are sent to the residents as per the Town Bylaws which has always been a function of the Town Clerk’s office. M. Noe will call Kwik Print and the Post Office tomorrow to find out what is required from her to do this.
2. Brian Puntin’s (Planning Board and Boat Ramp Committee member) email response regarding the land grant he was looking into to help with the purchase of land for the boat ramp was reviewed. The deadline for the grant was March 12, 2009. Other options were discussed as well. Town Counsel will be meeting with the Board in Executive Session next Monday from 4 – 4:30pm.
3. Stanley Ross (Assessor) came in to talk about the Monterey General Store’s fundraising efforts (approx. $47,000 to date through sale of scrip and loans). The Assessors have voted amongst themselves and agreed to present to the Select Board the option of reducing the Monterey General Store’s real estate taxes for “xx” amount of time (to be determined) to give the store a break to help it to stay in town and thrive. Stan believes this would need to go to a town meeting vote but the Assessors wanted to bring it before the Board of Selectmen first to see if they had any objections. The Assessors are still looking into the details of it and will get back to the Board with the process. The Board questioned how you would justify this to other businesses that may question
why they aren’t getting the same break. R. Tryon and S. Ross stated that this would be a good faith gesture in helping the “gem” of the town survive and continue to meet the town’s needs.
4. The FY10 transfer station fee recommendations were given to the Select Board to discuss:
a. The Board discussed the pros and cons of raising the fees for the 2 stickers issued per household. A motion was made to increase the annual sticker fee (for 2 stickers with plate numbers) from $35.00 to $40.00. The motion was seconded and passed.
b. A motion was made to raise the temporary sticker price (for residents that rent their homes and the renters/owners do not have a license plate number) from $10.00 to $20.00 and to make the length of time it is valid for from one fiscal year to monthly. The motion was seconded and passed.
5. W. Burkhart provided a suggested warrant article item for the Annual Town Meeting warrant that would allow a member of a town board to miss a single session of an adjudicatory hearing, including but not limited to hearings conducted by the Board of Selectmen, Conservation Commission, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, without disqualification from voting on the matter that is the subject of the hearing. Placing this on the warrant will be discussed at next week’s meeting when J. Sylbert returns.
6. The Board signed a letter to Jack Shepard of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game at the request of Chief Backhaus requesting that a porta potty be placed at the Lake Buel boat ramp for the 2009 boating season.
7. The Board asked M. Noe to have L. Thorpe come to next week’s meeting to finish the Town Clerk office budget discussion. The Finance Committee will be at this meeting to finalize the FY10 budget with the Board.
8. The minutes from 3/9/09 were approved as written.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:09pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
| 
