Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/31/09
Meeting Opened at: 4:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Scott Jenssen, Chairperson, Jon Sylbert and Wayne Burkhart
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Will Marsh for the Monterey News
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Report reviewed which included the following incidents:
a. Assisting funeral traffic.
b. Permanent speed sign is to be installed at the Monterey School; coordinating with the Highway Department to dig a trench for the electrical.
c. Disabled MV (tractor trailer unit) on Blue Hill Rd.
d. Tree down on Wellman Rd; when Police arrived a Gould Farm work had cut it up and moved it.
e. Missing swimmer call; Police and Fire responded, she was found.
f. Complaint of a large truck that backed up and knocked over the Hayloft sign.
g. False alarms on Brett Rd, Main Rd,
h. MVA on Chestnut Hill
i. Disabled MV at intersection of Tyringham and Main; tow truck called.
j. MVA on Beartown Mtn Rd.
k. Suspicious vehicle call.
l. Report of a loose sailboat on east end of Garfield; later a call was received about a missing sailboat; owner and boat were reunited.
m. Responded to a link to life call.
n. Complaints about shots fired received from one home on Tyringham Rd and two homes on Elephant Rock Rd. The Officer responding thought it was fireworks because one of the complainants stated they saw a large white flash in the air but was unable to find the origin. One of the Select Board members thought it was gunshots as he heard them at his house too during the time it happened.
o. Elephant Rock Rd: report of a dog bite; when Police arrived on scene the owner was on the phone with the ACO who stated she would handle it.
p. Responded to a lockout.
q. There is a new dispatcher on the midnight to 8am shift who after being unable to reach an officer on the radio called the Egremont Police to respond to a loose horse on Tyringham Rd which belongs to L. Thorpe. The dispatch supervisor has been notified and the correction to the situation is being worked on.
r. Tree fell on wires on Main Rd; it was a 14 inch tree near Steven’s Lake and Brett Rd which caused a power and phone outage in Monterey. Chief Backhaus stated that the phones went out because the Verizon equipment is outdated and the necessary battery backups are not there.
2. A new Police Chief contract for FY10 was signed and filed.
3. The Chief is having some difficulties getting in touch with Verizon about installing an emergency phone on the outside of the Town Hall.
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 minutes from 8/24/09 were approved as written.
2. The minutes from the 2nd homeowner’s meeting were approved as written.
3. Warrants were signed.
4. The following appointments were made at the recommendation of the Town Clerk:
Election Clerk |
1 year |
Linda |
Thorpe (U ) |
Election Clerk, Deputy |
1 year |
John |
Bodnar (R ) |
Election Inspector |
1 year |
Ruth |
Champigny (D) |
Election Inspector |
1 year |
Virginia |
Funk (D) |
Election Inspector |
1 year |
Barbara |
Tryon (R ) |
Election Inspector, Deputy |
1 year |
Estella |
Bodnar (U ) |
Election Warden |
1 year |
Raymond |
Tryon (D) |
Election Warden, Deputy |
1 year |
Joel |
Schick (D) |
Registrars of Voters |
3 years |
Linda |
Thorpe (U ) |
Registrars of Voters |
3 years |
Sally |
Pullen (D) |
Registrars of Voters, Assistant |
3 years |
Dean |
Amidon ( R) |
Registrars of Voters, Assistant |
3 years |
Patricia |
Amstead (D) |
5. Town Counsel called in a confidential conversation to advise the Board on their options regarding the recent request for a meeting to discuss private drainage issues on the property of a Steven’s Lake Homeowner.
6. M. Noe reported to the Board her conversations with Town Counsel regarding the questions the Board had about whether or not any construction projects at the Wilson McLaughlin House would need to go through the public bidding process or not. Town Counsel stated that because the Wilson McLaughlin House Committee is a Select Board appointed committee and because there are terms in the lease that state that the Select Board does have control over projects anything done there would be subject to MGL Chapter 30B and the public bidding process. If they did not use these procedures the AG’s office would consider this bid avoidance. J. Sylbert asked M. Noe to have Town Counsel put this all in writing, as prior town counsel approved the lease and to also acknowledge that the current lease is then
illegal/invalid because it implies in it that the WMH can hire their own contractors without putting it out to bid.
7. The Board discussed Maynard’s estimate to weed whack the weeds around the guardrails and decided that they’d prefer hiring 2 guys to weed whack vs using a chemical solution like Round up. Since Maynard didn’t provide actual figures on the two options the Board requested more information from Maynard.
8. Each board member took a copy of the employee reviews to fill in their comments on to be complied together at a later date.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:40pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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