Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/30/09
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, Holly and Eric Montgomery, Diana Piepho (Parks Committee) and Steve Jervas
The board met with the Director of Highways, Maynard Forbes and reviewed the following items:
1. Budget cuts made at last week’s Select Board and Finance Committee meeting were discussed:
a. Tree cutting: M. Forbes explained that he had asked for more for FY10 because there are more trees to be cut, it costs more and right now it’s coming out of his maintenance budget, so the question is how does he handle this, does he stop cutting trees? The Board asked whether or not the Tree Warden money could be used for cutting. M. Forbes stated that he submitted a detailed plan to the Finance Committee with suggestions on how the new Tree Warden could assist with tree cutting and the associated costs which included creating a job description and responsibilities and adding a tree warden salary. No one on the Select Board has seen this proposal; M. Forbes will send them a copy.
2. J. Sylbert compared Monterey to other towns whose main roads are handled by the state. These factors and costs need to be considered to let the residents know what it is they are paying for and why the amounts are so high so they can make an educated decision if they want to continue with a “clear roads” policy. Information will need to be available to let residents know if the town wants to change the “clear road” policy, what that means. M. Forbes mentioned that one factor contributing to the high cost of a “clear roads” policy is that the first school bus starts at 6:30am on Beartown Mtn. Rd and before this road can be done the main paved roads need to be done which involves a lot of overtime and attributes to the high cost of maintaining a “clear road” policy. M. Forbes suggested the following to lower the cost of winter maintenance:
a. Build a salt shed; savings could be as much as $20000 per year from a lot less waste and less salt to mix in with the sand.
b. Fix the roads like Beartown that are so uneven, they cannot be plowed off. Roads that have been resurfaced need about 30% less salt.
3. Weekly reports were reviewed.
4. A public records request for copies of the engineered study for the 40mph speed limit on Pixley Rd was shown to M. Forbes. M. Forbes stated that Mass Highway did the study back in the 70’s and he might need to contact the District 1 Mass Highway Office for copies. Chief Backhaus stated he has copies, an estimate for the public records search will be sent to Mr. Dulchinos.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. False alarms: Woodland Dr (2), Main Rd (1), Mt Hunger Rd (1) and Swann Rd (3).
2. MVA with a rollover on Main Rd.
3. Chief Backhaus stated for the record that his MVA’s drastically reduced when the town adopted the “clear road” policy.
4. 2 loose dogs picked up and returned to their owner on Rockwell Rd.
5. Illegal dumping of trash in front of the transfer station; the Chief is contacting the owner.
6. Responded to a prowler complaint on Art School Rd; no one was found when the Officer performed his search.
7. Report of a lost/stolen canoe on Sackman Rd.
8. A permanent speed sign will soon be installed on Rt 23 on the way into the Monterey village coming from Otis.
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. Warrants were signed.
2. The minutes from 3.23.09 were approved as amended.
3. A motion was made and seconded to close the warrant to any citizen petition submissions for the annual town meeting warrant.
4. A motion was made and seconded to add the quorum saving amendment to the annual town meeting warrant.
5. Holly and Eric Montgomery, residents of Fairview Rd came in to inform the Board that they’d like to get moving on their culverts and they had scheduling questions regarding the town’s work to be done on the drains and the leveling of the road in front of there house. The Board will inquire with M. Forbes on his timeline.
6. Barbara Gauthier could not attend tonight’s meeting but asked M. Noe to relay the following to the Board:
a. She asked that they gather all of their budget questions/answers for the informational meeting to review with her at next week’s meeting as she will be out of town on the 13th and the 20th is a holiday.
b. She asked if the Select Board would consider putting an article on the annual town meeting warrant asking the residents if they want the Select Board or Boat Ramp Committee to continue to go forward with finding and purchasing land and/or pursuing grants for the purchase of land to have a public boat ramp installed at Lake Garfield. The Board did not want to do this at this time.
7. Diana Piepho and Steve Jervas came in to let the Board know that the committee organizing and collecting funds for a 2nd basketball court to be built in remembrance of Mr. Bogdanoff on town property have raised about $12,000 to date and are ready to begin the process. The Board stated that the next step would be for the committee to send a design proposal and location, including the square footage of the impermeable surface and drainage plan to the Select Board and then they could take a preliminary proposal to the Conservation Commission. Diana believes that the committee’s plan is to use the existing basketball court as additional parking but to leave the existing hoops there for overflow. W. Burkhart questioned whether or not this needed to go to a town vote or not. J.
Sylbert asked Diana about the broken bolt on the basketball hoop on the left.
8. The Board reviewed correspondence from residents on West Rd that are in opposition of the proposed development. W. Burkhart will respond via email to the one resident requesting a response.
9. A memo was written to the Town Clerk’s office regarding the budget changes made for FY10 and how this will affect their office.
10. Mail was reviewed.
11. The Board agreed to add an amendment based on recommendations from the Employee Compensation Committee on the annual town meeting warrant to change full time employee vacation time as follows from the current vacation policy of 2 weeks at 2 years and 3 weeks at 6 years to 1 week after 1 year (for when new employees are hired), 2 weeks after 2 years, 3 weeks after 5 years and 4 weeks after 11 years.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:06pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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