Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/14/11
Meeting Opened at: 7:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, acting Chairperson and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Sue Protheroe for the Monterey News, Dan Moriarity, Finance Committee, and Robert Lazzarini, Board of Appeals
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly reports for the weeks ending 3/5 & 3/12/11 which included:
1. A request from Maynard to increase the special article for Bally Gally repairs to $11,400 to rebuild the chimney from the roof up. The estimate if for $8,400 (the job will be put out to bid) and the remainder will cover other repairs that may come up throughout the year. The chimney is still having a water problem identified by Eric Pedersen as water coming down thru the bricks, behind the seal that was put on the chimney. Maynard also noted that at the special town meeting prior to the annual we will need to transfer $10,663.05 from free cash to the Highway Maintenance account to replace what was used for repairs to the Bally Gally roof and ceiling.
2. Checking roads: Salting and sanding the week ending March 5th as well as the week ending March 12th.
3. Repair Osh Kosh rear lights, rear lights on Kenworth.
4. Check water runs and ditches.
5. Met with Superior Springs regarding the Osh Kosh springs repair. Parts were ordered and truck was taken in for repairs to be made.
6. Patch potholes on Main Rd.
7. Attended the Highway Superintendent’s board meeting.
8. Rt 23 project is at 25% design being held up by DOT.
9. Gravel and stone hauled to the following roads to repair damages from washouts; Mt. Hunger, Hupi, Griswold, Fairview, Cronk, Brett and Harmon.
10. Reviewed new STRAP grant program.
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly report for 3/7 – 3/13/11 which included:
Calls:
1. Responded to a 911 complaint on Blue Hill Rd; complaint taken.
2. Responded to a 911 call on Abravenal Lane.
3. Received a call regarding a motorist traveling through Monterey to the Pike who was afraid she would run out of gas. Officer searched Main Rd and Tyringham Rd (the routes the caller was taking) and could not locate the vehicle.
4. MVA on Main Rd. State Police were on scene when Officer arrived. Vehicle was towed.
5. Assisted with a medical call on Gould Rd.
6. House check on Main Rd.
Traffic stops: 2
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. Warrants were signed.
2. Steve updated the calculations on the budget comparison sheet he creates for the Board. He emailed a copy to Jon. He stated that there are still a few numbers he’s missing. By and large it appears that the excess levy capacity will go up from $216k to $274k. (This sheet is available for viewing through the Town Accountant’s office)
3. Steve questioned the school capital number on the proposed FY12 budget, he has some more investigating to do and will get back to the Board.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board met with Mick Garrold from MIIA to talk about our increase to the health insurance policy. Dan Moriarity of the Finance Committee was also present.
a. Mick confirmed that there was not going to be a 20% increase and he wasn’t sure where that number came from. (Side note: the $119,000 figure for health and life insurance was provided as an estimate from the Town Treasurer via email on 1/25/11.
b. MIIA’s medical increases on a whole ranged from 6-16.5%, with the average being around 11%.
c. Mick stated that he was informed by Michael Storch that the town was going to be accepting proposals from all on all lines of insurance and he wanted to know when the bid openings were going to be. (Side note: Mick has been told numerous times that the town did not put the insurance out to bid and that this was not required by law). Mick also stated that he was told not to do anything regarding insurance until he returned from vacation which will be after the warrant is finished.
d. Mick stated that we’ll have to respond to the new legislation by 2014 which would eliminate the co-pays on certain visits. This mandate states there can’t be any hurdles with managed care and barriers to preventive care must be reduced. He offered us a chance to do that now with an attestation. This would be about a 2/10’s of an increase on the renewal.
e. Everyone agreed that no changes were going to be made to the current health insurance plan or the town/employee contributions.
f. Dan stated that Wheeler & Taylor was going to put together a proposal for health insurance but based on our needs they couldn’t be competitive or come close to what we were getting right now.
g. Mick stated that if the plan stays this same the increase to the town would be 9.9% or 9.7% if we do not do the option in item “d”. The Board confirmed that the town is not going to make any changes to the current plan or co-pays. There are 7 employees currently on the plan.
h. Scott asked if only full time employees can join the plan or if anyone was eligible. It was voted on a few years ago by the Select Board that only full-time employees were eligible.
i. Wayne asked about the bonds and insurance line item. Mick stated he knew we were accepting a proposal from another company and he wouldn’t give his proposal until he received a letter of the bid opening. He stated that we were offered an early renewal with a 10% discount in November but the Board didn’t accept it. (Side note: This proposal was sent to the Town Treasurer and was not given to the Select Board until their 12/13/10 meeting, from minutes, “A 2 year guarantee proposal offer from MIIA for FY12 & FY13. ~The offer includes a rate change of 0% for FY12 and a rate increase of no more than 2.5% for FY13 for the property and liability and worker’s compensation coverage. ~The Board put this item on hold so that other insurance companies that
had showed interested in giving a quote the opportunity to; one of which was Scott Rote from Wheeler & Taylor.” Dan asked if there was any flexibility in still offering the 10% if we signed up. Mick stated he wanted a written notice of the date and time of the “bid openings” before he would offer anything on our property and casualty renewal. Wayne noted that there has also been a change in who was handling the property and casualty insurance; the Town Treasurer used to do it but decided she did not want to anymore and now the Select Board handles it.
j. Mick will wait until he hears from the board on a bid date before responding further. The Fin Comm and Select Board will discuss this further and have Mick come back in. Stan and Dan will have a meeting prior to meeting with the Select Board.
2. The Board reviewed the correspondence from Town Counsel that Jonathan Levin can not be appointed as originally thought as the ZBA alternate since he is only a resident and not a registered voter. There are certain boards and committees that you can be appointed to and not be a registered voter but the ZBA is not one of them. We are waiting on Mr. Levin’s response as to if he will register to vote in Monterey to alleviate the problem. Right now this means that the hearing on the 22nd with the town as the applicant will only have 4 members sitting on it and will require a unanimous vote.
3. Robert Lazzarini came in to discuss the following with the Board:
a. ZBA finances, there is currently a $2,100 budget for ZBA expenses. 90% or more of that money goes for postage to send certified, return receipt notices to all abutters when a hearing is requested and advertising for each hearing. The $300 filing fee goes into the general fund.
b. The ZBA feels that they need their own legal counsel separate from town counsel, especially in cases like the one being held on the 22nd when the applicant is the town and town counsel represents them, not the ZBA. Mark Bobrowski, an attorney that deals specifically with municipal law has been asked to represent the ZBA. For cases held this year his fees and the purchase of a much needed filing cabinet will cause the ZBA to go over approximately $1,000 of the approved $2,100 they have available. Due to this Bob would like the ZBA expense line item (#176) to be increased to $3,600. The Select Board suggested making it an even $4,000 and Dan agreed.
c. Bylaw Revisions; Bob asked if the annual town meeting warrant was being worked on right now and if the article was on there for the $11,000 needed to start the process. It was confirmed it was.
4. Sample flood plain bylaws were provided by Brian Domina of BRPC for several surrounding towns. This will be held to review when all Board members are present. Copies were given to Dan so he could contact Brian with any additional information on Lake Buel and the efforts there to minimize/eliminate flooding.
5. Dan stated that the efforts by the Lake Buel Prudential Committee were able to manage Lake Buel level and minimized the flooding considerably in Monterey. Now they’ll be going downstream with a trapper to pinpoint where the back flow is occurring. Dan requested that $4,000 (which would match what is offered to Lake Garfield) be added to dam inspection and maintenance (#430 which is used for the dam at Lake Garfield) to further maintain Lake Buel, the Board suggested maybe doing it as a special article, procedurally. Dan will talk about this with the Finance Committee at their next meeting and get back to the Board. The outlet to be maintained is actually in New Marlborough but the damage suffered from it is in Monterey.
6. It was noted that until another Electrical Inspector is hired, all requests for inspections should be made through the Building Commissioner by calling 528-1443 x118.
7. The minutes from 3.7.11 were approved as written.
8. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:40pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
| 
