Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/17/11
Meeting Opened at: 6:00pm
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, Jeremia Pollard, Town Counsel, Kathie Tryon, Maynard Forbes, Chief Backhaus, Shawn Tryon and Wendy Tryon
At 6pm the Board discussed the need to go into Executive Session to discuss real estate and all options pertaining thereto which could include potential litigation with Town Counsel. Roll call was taken by the Chair. All Select Board members were present. A motion was made by to go into executive session, seconded, and approved unanimously. The Board agreed that they would return to an open session. Open session resumed at 6:30pm.
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly reports for the weeks ending 10/8 & 10/15 which included:
1. Flood damage repair on Wellman Rd (gravel & grade).
2. Cut trees on Main & Curtis Rds
3. Fix sign at 23 & 57
4. Remove beaver dams on Brett & Fairview
5. Repair hydraulic valve on 4500
6. Assist police with loose pigs on River Rd
7. Pave aprons on Main Rd
8. Repair washout on Pixley Rd/Brook Lane, clean out culvert and put stone on slope
9. Clean out ditch and rpair basin on Sandisfield Rd
10. Install conveyor on Kenworth
11. Sweep Sandisfield Rd
12. Haul gravel and spread on Main Rd shoulders
13. Maynard brought in papers for the Board to sign to fix River Rd. as well as an estimate for fixing the damage done by the hurricane. A motion was made to sign the agreement with NRCS. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly report for 9/27 – 10/16/11 which included:
Calls:
1. Suspicious activity on Art School Rd. The fuse at the intersection of Tyringham and Art School Rd had popped and National Grid was notified of the problem.
2. Tree across Curtis Rd – Tree Warden took care of this.
3. Suspicious phone call activity on Beartown Mtn Rd.
4. Assisted a citizen on Blue Hill Rd. Citizen was referred to the AG, Martha Coakley.
5. Assisted a citizen on Main Rd. When police arrived the scene turned into a domestic issue, one party was taken into custody.
6. Well being check on Beartown Mtn Rd.
7. Loose cow on Main Rd x 4
8. Complaint of a loose pig digging up a yard. Highway Department helped return the pig to the rightful owner on Abravenel Lane.
9. Suspicious activity on Beartown Mtn Rd – shot’s fired near roadway. Police investigated but did not find anything.
10. Lost dog on Lake Ave. Returned to rightful owner on Pine St.
11. Disable MV on Hupi Rd – tow truck called.
12. Suspicious activity reported on Beartown Mtn Rd – complaint of shots being fired. Police investigated but did not find anything.
13. Loose cows at Blue Hil and Benedict Pond Rd.
14. Loose pigs on Main Rd – returned to homeowner on Abravenel Lane. Homeowner was informed that something needs to be done as this is the 4th time the pigs have gotten loose.
15. Lost/stolen purse reported.
16. Suspicious activity reported on Blue Hill Rd. Police investigated and found nothing.
17. Suspicious activity on Main Rd.
18. Assisted with a motor vehicle lockout at the Town Hall; upon calling this in it was determined the registration had expired, the Officer allowed the party to renew online at the station.
19. Missing kayak reported on Tyringham Rd.
False Alarms:
1. Town Hall
2. Gould Rd
3. Bidwell Rd
4. Hupi Rd
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 10.3.11 were approved as written.
2. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Quarterly report from the Friends of Wilson McLaughlin.
b. Invitation to a Berkshire United Way breakfast on November 3rd.
c. Invitation to the Berkshire County Selectmen’s Association dinner.
d. Notice from MIIA summarizing credits earned ($9,000) over and above the already discounted rates.
3. Warrants were signed.
4. The Board agreed not to raise the rent at Bally Gally for one year (12/1/11 – 11/30/12). A new lease agreement will be mailed to the tenants to sign.
5. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed:
a. Day off request was approved.
b. The Board discussed the town report dedication and the fact that there were several people that have passed in Monterey. The Board agreed there were 4 people that should be in the dedication and discussed who should be the person to write it/them. The Board will think about this and revisit it in a few weeks.
c. Town bylaws from 2009-2011 not sent to AG’s office. Wayne spoke to Linda on Wednesday and she is going to provide the Board with the bylaw reports/approvals from the AG.
6. The 7 full time employees requested that the meeting with the Finance Committee, Select Board and employees to discuss proposed changes to the benefits package be held at 8am or 4pm on a weekday. The Board discussed the request and they felt that they wanted to keep the meeting at their normal 6pm time. M. Noe will arrange the meeting.
7. Kathie Tryon came in to propose a Town Nurse for Monterey. Also present for this discussion was Shawn Tryon, Wendy Tryon and Chief Backhaus. She felt that as health care costs increase and services decrease there is more of a need for services in the community. She provided the Board with a benefit sheet and formal proposal to review. Her proposal suggests hiring a town nurse with expenses for a total budget of $51,018 ($31,200 for 20hrs per week with the remainder for various expenses). Wayne asked if any part of her proposal would replace what our current agent, Peter Kolodziej does. Wendy felt that most of what Peter does has to do with sanitation and Kathie did not pursue any of those options in her proposal. Kathie stated that this would replace some of the services
we use from the Berkshire VNA (which costs the town $2,107/year) and she stated it would save a bit on emergency services but the nurse wouldn’t respond to emergency calls, the nurse would hopefully prevent as many of these calls from happening. Chief Tryon stated there are approximately 5-10 medical calls a year which costs the town approximately $2000 if there were 10 calls. Wayne asked if Kathie found any other means of financial support such as grants rather than the town funding it all. Kathie spoke to the Assessors and determined that if she asked for a $75,000 budget a homeowner with an assessed property of $300,00 would see another approximately $3 added to their tax bill which she felt was a cheap supplemental health option for the town. There is a working model in Richmond/West Stockbridge. If approved this is something that would need to go to a town meeting vote as a special article for the first year. The Board suggested that
the next step would be to talk to the Board of Health to see if they support they idea and if they do then to the Finance Committee to see if they would support the new position as well.
8. Regarding health insurance and the proposal from Michael made to keep the split at 90/10 for current employees but to have them split 50/50 the increase to the town each year; Jon stated that at the last school meeting they were given copies of all the contracts from 2007 and since 2009 the teachers have been picking up the increase at a 50/50 split on top of their 80/20 split. He also stated that a number of people at this meeting felt that there needed to be equality with benefits and raises between teachers and municipal employees; several selectmen present had stated they didn’t want to pay the teachers higher salary increases than they were giving the town employees or vice versa.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:00pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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