Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 6/7/10
Meeting Opened at: 4:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Jonathan Sylbert, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart, and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Susan Bachelder, Raymond Tryon (Fire Chief), David Scribner reporter for the Berkshire Record, Sarah Hudson, Charles Flynn (School Committee member), Herb Abelow (School Committee Chair), Dr. Michael Singleton (SBRSD Superintendent), Dean and Fran Amidon, Stephen & Anne Marie Enoch, John Makuc, Mary Makuc, Frannie Huberman, Barbara & Jules Dahlman, Gige O’Connell, Linda Thorpe (Town Clerk), Deborah Mielke (Monterey School Committee member) and Kenneth Basler
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Call on Hupi Rd for a complaint of stolen items from a divorce case.
2. Assisted Fire Department with a medical call.
3. Call to the boat launch to assist a previous domestic case with exchanging some property.
4. Well being check on Corashire Rd.
5. Chestnut Hill; restraining order issued in Sheffield, had to assist with a situation.
6. Hikers on A.T. needed assistance.
7. Suspicious person reported on Main Rd.
8. Report of ATV’s running up and down Hupi Rd.; guilty parties were found and informed of the laws.
9. Medical call at the boat ramp.
10. Lockout at the boat launch.
11. Lost property at town beach on Memorial Day weekend; Canon camera. Call police with information.
12. Complaint of dump trucks on short Hupi.
13. False alarms on Bidwell Rd., Hupi Rd, Beartown Mtn and at the library.
14. Orange canoe lost on Lake Garfield; call police department with information.
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
2. Time off request was approved.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 5.24.10 were approved as written.
2. Warrants were signed for multiple weeks. One item was not approved for payment until it can be confirmed whether or not a FY11 item can be paid for in advance with FY10 funds.
3. The Board appointed Wayne Burkhart as the representative for Monterey on the BRTA advisory board.
4. The Board approved supporting two bills in the House of Representatives: H.4374 and H.726
5. The Board approved the extension agreement with CET for the collection of hazardous waste.
6. Raymond Tryon came in to discuss the following:
a. He suggests the Board appoint a committee to run the parade and Memorial Day festivities. He suggests Steven Pullen should be a member (which Steve is agreeable to).
b. Ray asked why he’s on the Veteran’s Committee and the Historical Committee. He stated that he was officially resigning from both posts.
c. He provided a list of firefighters and EMT’s to appoint. The Board will do this later this month.
7. S. Jenssen stated that the Historical Society has asked for two items to be placed in the Town Hall; the items are in glass cases.
8. Sarah Hudson delivered some information on cell towers and their effect on your health. She stated she was the delivery person and didn’t have a position one way or the other.
9. Susan Bachelder (resident of Egremont, landowner in Monterey) came in to voice her concern over the request from SBRSD to close the Monterey School and to verify that she would be able to ask questions while Michael Singleton and Herb Abelow were here even though she’s registered to vote in Egremont. The Board agreed that anyone is allowed to speak at their meetings.
10. Linda Thorpe provided 5-6 year projections for school age children to the Board based on births in Monterey (see numbers below).
11. Dr. Michael Singleton and Herb Abelow came in to discuss the following:
a. Monterey School Building and its physical condition.
b. Michael has recommended to the school committee that the Monterey School be closed due to low enrollment, the present teacher’s retirement and the physical condition. He states that the cost to run a program there is approx. $100-140k/year and with so few children going there it becomes an expensive operation. He feels that money could be used in other ways district wide vs. solely at this location for such few children.
c. Building conditions: He was concerned about where the children could go for recess when weather conditions didn’t allow them to go outside. He stated that the 2nd floor is unusable. He referred to the EDM report that was done in October of 2006. This report noted everything they felt needed to be addressed in the building such as the entranceways, the roof, the floor, bathrooms, 2nd floor, foundation, basement, whether or not certain aspects of the building met today’s building code, the furnace and lack of fire retardant walls around it. The cost to fix these items in 2006 was estimated to be around $440k. Some items have been addressed (about $10k worth) but not all of them.
d. He stated that the estimated value of the building today is $169k according to the Monterey Assessors. He stated that we are required under MGL to make the building ADA compliant if you do any repairs or upgrades that equal or are greater than 30% of the property fair value.
e. He’s concerned about the health, safety and welfare of the children due to it’s proximity to the highway and lack of parking, the lack of a suitable play area and financial issues to fix the building.
f. He stated that the school district is not required to run a program in that building but they are required to run a program in Monterey. He asked if there were another location here that wouldn’t be such a financial issue for the district that would have the items needed. The district wants to be problem solvers so he is asking the Board for their help and guidance.
g. Jon noted the birth numbers of residents in town that would have children of school age as follows:
1. 10 this school year, 6 for 2011, 7 for 2012, 8 for 2013, 6 for 2014, 2 for 2015 and 3 for 2016.
h. Scott noted that Dr. Singleton’s concerns were all valid and felt that the town should consider other options or possibly taking the current building down and putting up another. Dr. Singleton noted that portable classrooms could be provided as an alternate location for the 2010-11 school year.
i. Jon asked for confirmation that a new teacher in Monterey would be at a lower pay scale than what Mrs. Anderson was making. Dr. Singleton confirmed it would be lower but it might not be as low or as much of a savings as you might think.
j. Herb Abelow clarified that the $440k estimate included ADA upgrades. He stated that he understands the benefits of a small classroom but the costs to upgrade or host a program here is not financially sound for the number of kids enrolled there.
k. Wayne stated that he understood and respected the positions that the administration is in and why they are making the recommendations they are. Wayne felt that bigger isn’t always better.
l. Susan Bachelder asked what is the direction you wish to take the district if you are thinking of closing Monterey and how do you plan to spend the available $400k available in capital money?
m. Mary Makuc stated she could help get an ADA waiver in the position she holds. She also stated that there hasn’t been a special needs student there in years. She felt that the kids should be asked about how they feel about the current playground. She felt that in the past Monterey supported the district disproportionately and she also noted that the live birth numbers didn’t reflect the children and families that have moved or will move to Monterey. She asked how much money would be brought in to the district from choiced in students from Otis? Jon stated its $5k per child.
n. Charles Flynn provided information from research done on closing small school houses. He felt that the EDM report should be looked at as a to-do list in order to continue to provide an education in Monterey.
o. Frannie Huberman stated she was happy that she had 2 children graduate from Monterey knowing how to read within their first 6 months there. She also stated that the value of the short bus ride is something that should be taken into account. The bus ride to New Marlborough is about 1 hour and to Mt. Everett is about 1 hr and 15minutes and that is too long for 5 and 6 year olds.
p. Mari stated that parents have fought each year to make it a K-1 and the district refuses to continuously make it a K-1 each year. She stated that the kids love that playground. She asked why only $10k was spent from 2006 – 2010 to keep it from falling into disrepair. She also stated that she would be embarrassed to ask Monterey to close the school when nothing has been done on the administration’s end to keep it from falling into its current condition.
q. Barbara Dahlman asked where the students would go if there weren’t a school in Monterey.
r. Deborah Mielke stated that after speaking with her daughter about the potential closing of the school who attended here 20 years ago; her gut reaction was you can’t close the school it’s what made her who she was. Deborah felt that the attachment to the school is actually to the teacher who taught there for the last 37 years not the building. She felt a school was needed in Monterey but it wasn’t worth it to sink money into the current building and something needs to be done in between. She felt that the meeting room that the Select Board uses was a perfect solution for a classroom while they decided what should be done.
s. John Makuc stated he went to the Monterey School prior to the teacher that is leaving and he felt it was just as special when Gige O’Connell taught there. Scott agreed as a former graduate who had a teacher other than Mrs. Anderson or Gige.
t. Linda Thorpe stated that if the right person were found to take over teaching there it would keep the feel that former students have left feeling. She stated that she worked there for 11 years and the districts solutions to maintain the building were disgusting. For example a broken tile was not fixed, the teacher was told to throw a rug over it.
u. Gige O’Connell mentioned the original school agreement and why there were schools in each of the towns that belonged to the district.
v. Jon noted that there is a restated agreement being worked on which contains amendments that open up discussions such as these. He noted that 2 towns still have to vote on this. He stated that the town will be obligated in May to put the article on the warrant to consider closing the Monterey School. He felt that the program is an important discussion but it wasn’t an immediate discussion. The immediate decisions to be made are with regards to the building. The Building Inspector has not come to the Town with any issues and they believe it would pass inspection. The Board of Health has not brought up any concerns. The only concerns brought to the Board were some minor concerns from the Director of Operations. He felt the questions to be
addressed were the timing of decisions and expenditures of funds. He also felt the long-term future of the program needs to be discussed at some point.
w. Dr. Singleton tried to respond to some of the questions:
i. Maintenance of the building being poor: no one would argue this, it hasn’t been what it should have been or what anyone would agree was stellar. He felt this was because no one knew what the future of the building was going to be and how much longer there would be a program there. He provided a copy of the last Certificate of Inspection (a temporary one) which was dated 2000 and there hasn’t been another one in 10 years. Jon stated that there have been others. Herb noted that the purpose of the EDM report was to learn the extent of future capital expenditures for all of the school buildings in the district. He stated that a lot has been done district wide over the last 2 years regarding building and grounds. Linda noted that the average number of
students was 15-18 during the time frame that the building was neglected and there shouldn’t have been any low enrollment concerns or programs being stopped.
ii. Mary Makuc stated she heard there was a waiting list in New Marlborough and she felt that some could be reallocated to Monterey.
iii. Jon provided a copy of a letter that was received from Jacob and Bridget Krans written to the School Committee.
iv. Dr. Singleton stated that the playground issue is a judgment call and as Superintendent he does not feel it is adequate or fine and everyone will have to agree to disagree on that issue.
v. If the Monterey School closes, Dr. Singleton stated the children would most likely go to New Marlborough and would have an opportunity to go to Sheffield if they wanted.
vi. He agreed that he’s concerned about a long bus ride for small children and understands the community value of the school.
vii. Dr. Singleton stated that he wasn’t here today to talk about closing the school they were here to discuss their obligation to run a program in another location in Monterey.
viii. Dean Amidon suggested that the meeting be adjourned so that the same issues were not rehashed over and over again.
ix. Scott asked for a list of the minimum building standards so that the Board could determine if there was another suitable building in the community. Jon questioned if a water hookup or septic would be required for a mobile classroom.
x. David Scribner asked if anyone was saying that there would not be a program in the current building? Jon didn’t know whose decision that was and if that was being stated yet. Herb Abelow felt it was the school committee’s decision as long as they could provide another location to run the program.
xi. Gige noted that the disabilities act problems have been addressed over the years and adaptations were made.
xii. Jon thanked everyone for coming and stated he would wait to hear from the committee on renting a mobile classroom and the Board would investigate a location for it.
12. Maggie Leonard, Co-Chair of the Planning Board came in to speak with the Board about the Commonwealth Capital Application.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:15pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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