Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/13/10
Meeting Opened at: 7:00pm
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
The board met with Inter-Departmental Secretary, Melissa Noe to review the following items:
1. Weekly reports were reviewed.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 8.23.10 were approved as written and the 8.30.10 minutes were approved as amended.
2. Discussion ensued about whether or not a vote was made at the 8.30.10 meeting to change the meeting time from 4 – 6pm to 7 – 9pm to accommodate Jon’s schedule. Scott and Wayne do not recall a vote being taken and were under the impression that the employees were going to be spoken with first to see how comfortable they were with a change like that prior to changing the time.
Jon stated that he spoke to Maynard and Melissa but not Gareth as he is out of town. M. Noe was asked her feelings about the requested time change and she stated that going to 7 – 9pm was not convenient for her for the following reasons: a.) Monday mornings is when the Building Commissioner is in the building and if she were to come in at 11am instead of 8am then she would lose that face to face communication with that department, b.) The Conservation Commission already has that room booked on the second Monday of each month and this change would mean they would have to find a new meeting time, c.) She was concerned about leaving the town hall at 9pm or later especially during inclement weather seeing as there is no cell service or 24 hour emergency patrols on her route home and d.) She would
be unable to do a split shift on Mondays as twice a month she records minutes for the Board of Health on Monday evenings and this would not allow her enough time to go home, prepare dinner, eat it and return for the Select Board meeting.
Jon stated that all the other towns have evening meetings and we should too and having meetings from 4 – 6 limits the people who can run for the office. Wayne did not feel that Jon’s arguments were the telling ones as some people aren’t available to come in at 7pm, no one time is going to be convenient for everyone. Jon stated that he went through the Berkshire Eagle’s our towns guide and most Berkshire towns meet at 7pm and state he wasn’t arguing that any one time was the better time. Wayne also stated that tape recording the minutes if M. Noe is unavailable to attend in the evening would be appropriate so that she could review and type them from the recording the following day.
Scott asked what would happen if Melissa would be unable to attend the evening meetings. Wayne and Scott both agreed that if this were the case Melissa should be able to transcribe the minutes from an audio recording so that she wouldn’t lose any bit of her salary or hours by replacing her as the Select Board Secretary.
Scott noted that he doesn’t like the 7 – 9pm time but would go along with it if everyone else wanted it moved and if Melissa were guaranteed to not lose any salary or hours.
Jon was not in favor of recording the meetings and would not agree to have Melissa transcribe them from a tape. He also felt that the SB secretary needed to be present for other reasons. Jon stated that it was unfortunate that it was becoming a conflict between 2 people’s preferences and stated this wasn’t a personal appeal. Scott and Wayne both argued “who cares what other towns did” and our meetings have been successful. Scott stated that when he ran for the Board it was from 8:30am – noon and that was very convenient for him, he wasn’t all that comfortable when it changed to 4 – 6pm and he doesn’t like going to 7 – 9 pm.
After more discussion, a motion was made by Scott Jenssen to move the meetings to 7 – 9pm every Monday with the meetings being tape recorded and M. Noe will transcribe the minutes from the recording during the week. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. It was agreed that M. Noe’s hours would change beginning the week of 9/20 to Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4pm. Everyone agreed that M. Noe would still be able to perform her duties as Select Board Secretary from the recorded meetings (it was noted that this is how it is done for the Conservation Commission and it works very well).
A motion was made by Wayne Burkhart to meet weekly on every Monday except for the 2nd Monday of each month since the Conservation Commission uses the room at that time. The motion was seconded by Scott Jenssen. The motion was discussed and there was a concern about holidays that fell on the first Mondays which would mean that the Board might not meet twice in one month. Wayne retracted the motion and Scott retracted the second. It was agreed that they would meet every Monday at 7pm and if the meeting room wasn’t available then they would meet in the Inter-Departmental Secretary’s office.
3. Warrants were signed.
4. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Egremont’s amendment to the SBRSD amendment which is the original wording with regards to “3a” (closing a satellite school). This article will have to be put on our town meeting warrant.
5. Wayne will be attending the BRPC meeting on Thursday but there aren’t any real issues affecting Monterey that will be discussed.
6. The Board will respond to Karen Shreefter’s complaint regarding a dog that was barking for over 2 hours. Complaints such as these will need to go to the Police Department as a disturbing the peace complaint (anything before 6am and after 10pm) since there isn’t a noise ordinance or bylaw in Monterey.
7. Jonathan wanted to formalize a request to the Finance Committee to come in and review the warrants on a weekly basis. Wayne thought it was the reports the Board wanted the Finance Committee to review more frequently and did not feel that involving the Finance Committee with the warrants was appropriate. Jon suggested then that the expense reports should be printed more frequently for the Finance Committee to review to be sure that departments are on point. The Board will request that Steve Pullen create and distribute the Revenue Report and the Expense Report on a monthly basis FY to date to the Select Board and Finance Committee. This way if a board or department has expended 50% or more before January, it can be brought to their attention.
8. Scott asked if Robert Lazzarini has spoken to anyone else about the consultant he has who could critique our bylaws, review our suggested changes and recommend changes that need to be made to make them more understandable and to conform with state laws. He’s looking for $1000 to match the $1000 grant he’s hoping to obtain. Wayne and Jon were aware of this and stated he needs to meet with the Planning Board. The Board unanimously agreed that it was a good idea and felt that they could split the cost since the town bylaws (which are the Select Board’s) would be reviewed too.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:38pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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