Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/28/11
Meeting Opened at: 6:05pm
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, Gareth Backhaus, Daniel Moriarity and Maynard Forbes
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly report for the week ending 11/26/11 which included:
1. Unplugging beaver dams on Harmon Rd
2. River Rd project
3. Repair lights and fenders on Kenworth sander
4. Clean ditches on Curtis and Gould
5. Take down the flags along Main Rd downtown
6. Clean off basins, water runs in preparation for rainstorm
7. Pick up the 4500 in Cheshire, CT
8. Meet with Select Board
9. MEMA PDA for snowstorm
10. Prep for MASS DOT hearing
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 11/14/11 were approved with amendments.
2. Warrants were signed.
3. Dan Moriarity had sent an email to the Board requesting a letter of qualification from the town which requests designation under a FEMA statute called “Increased Cost of Compliance”. The Board felt this may be something that fell under the Assessor’s bailiwick and asked M. Noe to forward it to them.
4. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
5. Jon noted that a lot of departments have still not turned in their town reports to Melissa to go to the printer. He stated that in trying to write his report he noted that there are 6 sets of executive session minutes. He made a motion to release all of those for public viewing that happened during FY11. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
Gareth and Maynard met with the Board and Dan (Finance Committee member) to continue discussions on the full time employee benefits package. The Board had time to review the employee’s proposal cost estimate which they felt was very helpful (attached). Emppropcostest.pdf
Maynard started by reviewing last week’s meeting and progress made. A lot of the discussion centered on the health insurance town/employee split and the consensus was that we would not use the 50/50 split of any premium increases as it would be too difficult to calculate each year but that we would talk more about the split at future meetings.
Currently of the proposed items the ones that would cost money would be a proposed sick time payout, longevity pay, COLA’s, merit/performance raises, on call pay and clothing allowances. Regarding the proposal to give a clothing and boot allowance to the Highway Department (proposed at $400/per person/per year); this would add $1,600 to the highway department budget. All 3 Select Board members agreed to add this benefit into the FY13 budget if an entire compensation package is agreed upon.
Regarding on-call pay for the officers that are on call for the midnight to 8am shift ($100/week to the officer on call) and highway members for the winter months (Nov – Mar at $150/month per member). This proposal would cost the town $5,200 year for the police department and $3,000/year for the highway department. The Board wanted to know how many other towns offered this prior to making a decision as this was a fairly large expense to the town. The Board agreed that when the Chief is on call he should be paid something as being salary shouldn’t extend to multiple shifts. Dan felt that this was a necessary item for the Police Department to ensure that all shifts are covered and should be added into their operating budget. It was noted that the full time officer and highway
members are paid overtime but the Chief and Director of Operations are not paid OT.
Regarding the proposal to the current sick time policy; The Board was not in favor of offering the option to cash out unused time on a yearly basis or at retirement but did feel that enough time should be able to be banked in case of a long term illness. The Board discussed changing the maximum days that can be accumulated from 90 to 120 and are agreeable to this if a whole package is agreed upon.
Regarding the proposal to offer longevity bonuses which is something that the SBRSD does; the Board wanted to consider this further. The cost to the town for this proposal for the upcoming fiscal year would be $6,800. Maynard suggested removing this off the table and in exchange leave the health insurance at the current split as the cost for the longevity proposal is close to what changing the insurance to 85/15 would cost; it was agreed that would be a wash. Dan, Wayne and Scott agreed that keeping the insurance at 90/10 and dropping the idea of adding longevity bonus was a fair bargaining agreement but Jon felt that the fundamental issue was that a competitive benefits package needs to be presented for these jobs in South County. It was suggested that a way to present it to the town to justify
staying with the current split was that other items were offered in other towns but not Monterey that would’ve increased the cost to the town and it was decided to not add those things and rather just keep the current split for health insurance as is. Maynard explained that the town used to be at a 75/25 plan and had an excellent and very expensive PPO plan then so the Town came to the employees and asked to go to an HMO which was cheaper and in exchange agreed to go to a 90/10 split which was voted on and accepted at the May 5, 2001 town meeting.
Scott suggested agreeing to the boot/clothing allowance, on-call pay and going to 85/15 as proposed by the employees which would equal each other out and Jon noted that this is good for everyone except administrative as they don’t wear boots/uniforms or work overtime shifts.
The Board talked about the proposal made a few years ago to add a part time person to the highway department that would plow in the winter and mow the parks and cemeteries in the summer which would cost the town a lot less that what the town is currently pay to outsource these things and it was noted that it never made to town meeting because the Cemetery Commission didn’t want to give up control of mowing their areas.
Maynard noted that a lot of the townspeople aren’t aware of how much the 7 employees have saved the town; for example his department has received over a ½ million dollars in grants and reimbursements just this year.
Everyone agreed to meet again next week to continue the discussions regarding salaries and raises. Having salary ranges for the positions was briefly discussed and it was noted that if this were to happen and positions were to cap out, longevity bonuses then would be a good idea because employees that had been on the job long enough to have capped out would still receive a yearly longevity bonus.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:05pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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