Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 1/4/10
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: Laurily Epstein for the Monterey News, Steven Pullen, Daniel Moriarity and Michael Storch
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. There were a number of trees down last week.
2. The Chief is concerned that our utility companies aren’t doing as good of a job as they used to in responding to outages. Outage repairs from the electric and phone companies are taking a lot longer than they used to. The main offices and orders come from Boston now instead of the local offices as it was in the past. S. Jenssen stated that we need to write a letter to Verizon demanding that they reinstall the payphone that was removed from the store that was Verizon owned. According to the general store owner he was told Verizon removed it because they weren’t making any money on it and told Kenn that they would reinstall it at a cost of $75/month to Kenn. On a separate note, J. Allentuck came in to the town hall today to inform the Select Board that there is now a
covered emergency phone located at the town beach (this phone can call 911 and make local calls only) and the Board reminded everyone that the new phone installed on the outside of the town hall will contact the Police Department directly. M. Noe has calls into the payphone division of Verizon and the State Department of Telecommunications regarding reinstalling the payphone at the store. Michael Storch offered to look into pay phone companies other than Verizon. Chief Backhaus suggested that both Smitty and Ben Downing should be asked to look into the response times and help to determine an explanation for why they are longer than they used to be.
3. Walk-in complaining of credit card fraud (ongoing situation).
4. False alarm: Swann Rd.
5. Assisted the fire dept. on Mt Hunger Rd and Tyringham Rd.
6. Walk-in advised the Chief of a potential domestic situation that could take place. The party has relocated here from another town and has been experiencing some situations she feels could need police assistance.
7. Two calls from concerned people regarding the fact that their power was out for over 3 hours.
8. Abandoned 911 call: Gould Rd (misdial, caller meant to dial 411)
9. Complaint about a Verizon truck that parked in the middle of Laurel Hill Rd, blocking traffic.
10. Assisted G.B. with a MVA.
11. MVA on Mt Hunger Rd.
12. Well being check on Mt Hunger Rd.
13. S. Jenssen asked if there was a location that fits the criteria in Monterey for an emergency shelter; Chief Backhaus stated that the only spot right now would be Mt. Everett. D. Moriarity asked about using Eagleton School; Chief Backhaus noted that Eagleton is not an option because it is located in Gt. Barrington and not in our district.
The board met with Town Accountant, Barbara Gauthier to review the following items:
1. Warrants were signed.
2. B. Gauthier stated that the state owned land money that was cut has been reinstated.
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 12.21.09 were approved as written.
2. The Board accepted the resignation of Bridget Krans from the Parks Department.
3. The Board met with D. Moriarity and M. Storch of the Finance Committee to discuss the following:
a. D. Moriarity requested that the Select Board amend the dates of the FY11 budget schedule. He’d like to send out the forms to all departments on the 15th of January instead of today as originally planned and to change the date they are due back to the Finance Committee from January 25th to February 1st. The Board agreed.
b. The Board has not yet received a resignation from Maryellen.
c. M. Storch will be available to help with the budget process until the end of February at which time he plans to resign from the Finance Committee.
4. Steven Pullen met with the Board to accept the offer as the part time accountant and discussed the following details of the position:
a. Town Counsel stated that S. Pullen will have to resign from the Cemetery Committee (MGL prevents the Town Accountant from serving in any other position that receives or spends money).
b. A 6 month probationary appointment will be made on May 1st and then if the Board is satisfied he will be appointed to a three year term. The annual salary will be $14,000.
c. The training stipend will be $400 and training will occur in April.
d. The Board recommended that S. Pullen may want to attend the upcoming Select Board meetings concerning setting the FY11 budget. Steven agreed and stated that he also plans to sit in on the Finance Committee meetings.
5. Mail was reviewed.
6. W. Burkhart stated that he went to a subcommittee school meeting and once there found it was cancelled.
7. W. Burkhart is going to attend a Planning Board meeting to discuss the money available through BRPC.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:27pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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