Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/23/09
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: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News and Alan Salamon (Planning Board)
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes to review the following items:
1. Fairview Rd; the last heavy rainstorm caused some flooding. The Highway crew investigated and there appears to be a pipe and basin on the Montgomery’s property that is washing gravel down under their middle driveway on the other side of the stone wall towards the road. J. Sylbert will speak with the Montgomery’s regarding the situation.
2. Started cutting brush on New Marlboro Rd and Sandisfield Rd.
3. There was a driveway logging violation on Eaton Rd. A letter was sent to all individuals involved.
4. Lake Garfield dam was registered as per new regulations.
5. There was another logging violation on Beartown Mtn Rd just past Brace Rd. Letters were sent to all individuals involved.
6. An email received regarding grant money that is available from the DOER was discussed; M. Forbes is going to make some calls tomorrow to determine if Monterey can still meet the deadline.
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. There weren’t any minutes to approve as last week’s meeting was cancelled due to a lack of agenda items and available Board members.
2. The Select Board received several feedback maps from the U.S. Census Bureau to review. W. Burkhart will follow up with the Town Clerk and Assessors on this.
3. The Board met with Alan Salamon of the Planning Board to discuss the following with regards to a master plan:
a. Status or lack of a town master plan.
b. The Planning Board would like to create a dialog with the Select Board on their ideas for a master plan and share the responsibilities of creating one.
c. The Planning Board’s understanding is that every town is mandated by the State to have a master plan however there doesn’t appear to be any significant penalties if a town doesn’t have one. 18 of the 32 towns in Berkshire County do not have a master plan and of the towns that have one 4 of them are over 20 years old.
d. In 2006, $5,000 was allocated to create a master plan with assistance from the BRPC but the work would need to be done by the Planning Board, to date only $600 has been spent and nothing has been done. The current Planning Board has come to the conclusion that they are not qualified to create a master plan without assistance. To have someone do the master plan for the town may cost at a minimum of $30,000 which the town doesn’t have. The Planning Board feels that a master plan isn’t really necessary and that changing/updating the zoning bylaws and subdivision bylaws would be more useful to the town. The Select Board agreed.
e. Wayne suggested getting back in touch with the BRPC for guidance. Alan agreed to attend a meeting with Wayne.
4. A copy of the current Town Accountant job description was provided to each member to review and add or make corrections to. The Board added that the Accountant must also be available at the annual town meeting and any special town meetings held. The Board will meet with Barbara Gauthier next Monday to review the resumes submitted and schedule interviews with those qualified in December.
5. The new charter school proposal and upcoming meeting regarding the possibility of it was discussed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:08pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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