Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/8/11
Meeting Opened at: 5:03pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen and Jonathan Sylbert
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly report for the week ending 8/6/11 which included:
1. Checking roads & beaver ponds. Clean out Sandisfield road with excavator twice.
2. Fill in cut on Main Rd with gravel.
3. Pick up trees on Chestnut Hill and Main Rd
4. OshKosh: brakes and service in NY
5. Haul airport mix from Otis
6. Mow intersections
7. Clean out ditches and replace hay bales on Fairview Rd.
8. Repair damaged section of pavement on Sandisfield Rd and repave
9. Chapter 90 request for Beartown Mtn project plans
10. Radio upgrades and reprogramming: garage, loader & grader
11. Met with Allstates Asphalt regarding reclamation of RT 23
12. Review cell tower plans with regards to driveways, respond to ZBA (at the request of ZBA)
13. Checking for stickers and compliance at the Transfer Station
14. Insurance review for Pat Mielke, send to MIIA
15. The Board received a letter from Gail Heath thanking the road crew for assisting her with a tree that came down during a storm near her property. She stated the work done was exceptional and she was very pleased with the manner in which everything was handled. A copy was given to Maynard.
16. The balloon float test for 31 Main Rd which was done this morning was discussed.
17. A preliminary sketch of the proposed redesigned Transfer Station was reviewed with the Board. Scott noted that yesterday there were several cars stopped and blocking the flow of traffic. Scott asked the attendant to have people move their cars if they are done disposing of their trash and just want to shop the swap shack. Maynard stated he spent some time there on Wednesday and notice the same thing and he asked several people to move as well. The proposed layout would eliminate this problem. Once the ideas are finalized, an Engineer will draw up plans (money for this was approved at town meeting). CET will also be consulted for their opinions and suggestions.
18. Bids for the paving of RT 23 will be opened on the 22nd.
19. The Board signed the Chapter 90 request forms for Beartown Mtn Rd. The project will include replacing the culvert near the dam and repairing the drainage. Blacktop/repaving will be done next summer. Currently Monterey has approximately $400k in Chapter 90 funds.
20. The Board asked who was performing the weed whacking near the guardrails. Maynard stated that a contract was signed with Rick Mielke to do the weed whacking around the guardrails.
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly report for 8/1-8/7/11 which included:
Calls:
1. Person reported an erratic driver on RT 23 complaining of medical issues; police searched from the town hall to the Otis town line as well as Tyringham Rd and RT 57 and did not find the vehicle.
2. Loose dog at John’s garage. Dog was returned to the owner.
3. Assisted with a medical call on Main Rd.
4. Summons served on Hupi Rd.
5. Assisted a citizen with a stolen outboard motor police report.
6. Caller reporting a lost wedding band at the Lake Garfield beach. Flyers were posted.
7. Received a call requesting assistance with an injured animal on Hupi Rd; owner called back and cancelled the request.
8. Call complaining of a vehicle parked on Blue Hill Rd creating a hazard; police found the owners who were walking their dog and agreed to move the vehicle.
9. Suspicious activity reported on Hupi Rd; police responded and the vehicle left as requested.
10. Escorted a party to the hospital with severe abdominal pain.
False Alarms:
Mt Hunger Rd
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 8.1.11 were approved as written.
2. The Board reviewed the article in the Berkshire Eagle from Sunday 7/31 which contained unfavorable comments from the Superintendent of SBRSD about the Monterey School. Jon noted that the comments were made over a year ago and he felt the article itself was nonsensical.
3. The Board reviewed the benefits comparison M. Noe compiled at their request which included the following towns: Tyringham, Sheffield, Otis, Stockbridge, New Marlborough and Egremont. M. Noe was asked to compile sick, personal and vacation time offered, holidays given, health and dental insurance splits and providers and co-pays for insurance.
a. It was noted that of the 7 towns all but 2 (Monterey and Otis) do not offer dental however all the other towns have a larger town/employee split than Monterey does.
b. Scott suggested that the employees should be consulted to review the compilation and see what it is the employees would like to see and what they would want to negotiate on for instance would the employees want to be offered dental insurance and in exchange be willing to pay more in the insurance split.
c. Jon wanted to be as uniform as possible with the surrounding towns. He suggested proposing that we go to 75/25 on the insurance like all the other towns and then offer dental at 75/25 like the surrounding towns. Sick time offered between the towns was across the board from 3 days to 15 days per year. Jon reviewed all the items to find a consistent number and make a proposal from there. Wayne noted that the Board signed a contract/document with MIIA to grandfather our current health plan and co-pays. It would have to be determined how any changes would affect the town and employee dollar wise.
d. The Board agreed in keeping the personal time offered, holidays given and vacation time offered as is as it is in line with the surrounding towns.
e. The Board is going to review this more next week and asked that M. Noe get the following additional information for them:
i. Clarify the sick time policy for all the towns, whether they can be cashed in at retirement and whether you can accumulate them over the years and
ii. Which of the towns listed are unionized?
f. Scott questioned why we would want to try to save the town $1000 if the burden on the employees to save that was going to be considerable and felt that we should reward the 7 full time loyal employees and that Monterey was certain in a better position than other towns. Jon felt we should change the current co-pays and splits to be more in line with other towns or at least as a starting point in negotiations and then if the town wanted to vote to keep them as is then so be it.
4. Warrants were signed for two weeks as the Treasurer will be away.
5. The Board discussed whether or not they wanted to create a mailing list policy. Charitable and non-profit uses, the Board felt the list should be available at no cost but anything other than that should be reviewed on a case by case basis by the Board.
6. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed which included the following questions:
a. A copy of an email from M. Noe to P. Mielke requesting that she let the Board and M. Noe know if she will or will not be handling the town’s liability insurance (in January she gave all these responsibilities to the Select Board but just last week assumed some of the responsibilities again). No response has been received from Pat yet. The Board will wait until Pat responds.
b. COA budget & bylaw: The newly appointed member Mike Johnson has some ideas for more senior events and would like to use some of the funds available (per S. Pullen approximately $6k in state money and $200 in town money). Since interest in becoming a member of the Council on Aging has been low to non-existent a suggestion was made to amend the current Council on Aging bylaw at the next town meeting so that there will no longer be a restriction on the number of terms one can be appointed for, to go from 5 members to 3 and to not require that you be a Monterey citizen to be appointed. In reviewing the bylaw Jon interpreted the line “appointed by the Select Board for a term not to exceed 4 years” as a single term can not exceed 4 years but you could be reappointed
multiple times. He felt that you could make the 5 member positions for a 1 year term, 2 year term, etc. as long as it didn’t exceed 4 years.
c. Flag contest: We’ve had inquiries if the submissions are limited to Monterey residents only? The Board agreed that you did not have to be a Monterey resident to submit and you could submit multiple entries. The Board briefly discussed how we would organize the voting.
d. Scott let the Board know that he spent a few hours trying to fix the a/c issue in the Inter-Departmental Secretary’s office and could not fix the problem. It still vibrates the desk she works on tremendously and felt that purchasing a desk that is not attached to the wall would help in resolving some of the issues. He agreed that the current situation is obnoxious. The Board agreed to let M. Noe purchase the desk and to let them know what account this purchase would come from (town hall, Select Board expenses, etc). Scott also mentioned that the entire town hall is very hot and not all the offices have a/c.
e. The Board reviewed M. Noe’s suggestion to install a mailbox on town hall property thus eliminating the need to separate p.o. boxes for different departments each having a separate box and also allow for dropoffs from contractors and such when the town hall isn’t open. They asked for more information.
7. The Board requested that M. Noe schedule for an executive session refresher with Jon Campetti of Foresight and Town Counsel regarding the beach property.
8. The Board reviewed the email communications with M. Noe and the AG’s office regarding the non-submission of the approved amended bylaws from the annual town meeting to the AG’s office and the amended approved bylaws from 2010. W. Burkhart is going to follow up with the Town Clerk on Wednesday.
9. The Board reviewed an email complaint from someone stating they have repeatedly requested public documents from the Town Clerk’s office and have not received them nor has that department contacted them. There was a similar complaint that was made in person today regarding a couple that left a request with the Town Clerk’s office to get a marriage license over one month ago and have not received any type of response. W. Burkhart is also going to follow up with the Town Clerk about this on Wednesday during her office hours.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:50pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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