Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/7/11
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, Steve Pullen (Town Accountant) and Brian Domina (BRPC)
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly report for 2/28-3/6/11 which included:
Calls:
1. Assisted a citizen on Abravenal Lane.
2. Disabled MV on Main Rd reported; car couldn’t be found.
3. Assisted with a medical call at Gould Farm.
4. Suspicious activity reported on Blue Hill Rd; investigated and found nothing out of the ordinary.
5. Assisted with a medical on Main Rd.
6. Well being check on Beartown Mtn Rd.
False Alarms:
1. Hupi Rd.
Traffic stops: 3
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. Warrants were signed for last week and this week. The warrants for last week were left on the other desk and weren’t seen by the Board.
a. Scott questioned the 4hours paid for training on the 26th to 2 firemen. He wondered why only 2 people attended a training. Steve wasn’t sure but thought it might’ve been an off-site training.
2. Steve stated that the winter snow money has been depleted and requested that the Board declare a snow emergency. A motion was made to declare a snow emergency which was seconded and unanimously approved. This will allow the town to continue to spend money on snow removal, materials, etc. even though the budgeted amount has been spent. The overages will be put on a special town meeting warrant prior to the annual town meeting.
3. Steve provided the Board with updated budget reports and noted that the Fire Department only has about $10k remaining. Nothing will be paid once they’ve reached their budgeted amount.
4. The Board instructed M. Noe to start a special town meeting warrant for 9am prior to the annual town meeting. Right now there will need to be an article for the Bally Gally overrun, the snow and ice overrun and fire department overrun. Numbers will come from Steve and Maynard. The money needed to cover the overruns should be taken from Free Cash.
5. Steve reviewed the budget comparison report from last year with the Board and stated he’s not sure what numbers should go in this year’s report. The Board and Steve discussed what information should be included. He will work on this and bring an updated report next week.
6. It was confirmed that no money has been taken from Stabilization in the last 2 years. The Board feels that putting the various requested items such as equipment and vehicles on the warrant from Stabilization which requires a 2/3 vote will allow the townspeople to determine if it’s really needed/wanted right now.
7. There aren’t any debt exclusions from the school this year; we are done paying them off.
8. There are currently only 2 outstanding loans in town (highway vehicles and the salt shed).
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 2.28.11 were approved as written.
2. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
3. At the request of the Board of Assessors a motion was made to appoint Jacob Krans to the Board of Assessors to fill Bob Gauthier’s seat until the May election at which time Mr. Krans will be on the ballot. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
4. The Board agreed to delete the audio recordings of Select Board meetings after 90 days providing the hard copy has been approved and posted.
5. The Board wrote and signed a request to the Conservation Commission requesting a 3 year extension (as is allowed) for DEP file #230-0242 regarding the drawdown of Lake Garfield. Documents will be given to the Con Comm at their 3/8/11 meeting.
6. Brian Domina of Berkshire Regional Planning Commission came to review the DRAFT copy of the Monterey Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan.
a. This is part of an almost county wide process. There are 19 communities partnered with BRPC to prepare for any natural hazards. BRPC applied to FEMA to help with the process which started in 2009.
b. Brain has met with Maynard Forbes and Chief Backhaus in August of 2010 and input the information received to formulate the DRAFT.
c. Most of the information on the dams is from the Office of Dam Safety.
d. Next steps are to make any edits and changes the Board wants and comments will be received through March 31st. After the changes are made the plan with be sent to MEMA and subsequently FEMA for their approval which is conditional on local adoption by the Select Boards.
e. There are 4 things that the plan is supposed to do:
i. Identify natural hazards that we are likely to face in Monterey.
ii. Determines Monterey’s relative risk of the natural hazard actually occurring based on historical data.
iii. Identify all the existing protective measures already in place and
iv. Recommend additional mitigation actions.
f. Flooding is the focus of the plan because it is a frequent occurrence and it’s predictable where it is going to flood. Jon was concerned that Hatchery Rd was considered a natural hazard area but River Rd (Monterey’s side of the road) was not. Brian said that in his discussions with Maynard this wasn’t brought up as an issue. Flood prone areas in Monterey include Lake Buel (the biggest one), Fairview Rd, Curtis Rd (bridge on the Konkapot is inadequate), Wellman Rd (bridge over Rawson Brook), Harmon Rd (the culvert is inadequate to handle large flows) and Sandisfield Rd (there are areas with beavers that have the potential to cause problems). Critical buildings, structures and facilities were discussed and updated.
g. The Board noted that the bridge on River Rd listed as structurally deficient is not (it was just redone a few years ago) and should be updated but there are 2 structurally deficient bridges and a dam on Beartown Mtn Rd.
h. Brian suggested that Monterey adopt FEMA’s model bylaw on a floodplain district bylaw. A lot of towns have a floodplain overlay district. We are part of the National Flood Insurance Program. The Board asked M. Noe to research this. Brian will send M. Noe some samples as well.
i. Brian will be back next spring to have the Board adopt the final version.
7. The Board asked M. Noe to find out from Maynard the EPA’s timeline for the town to come into compliance with the Transfer Station. They wanted to know if there was a “permit” like there was for the salt shed.
8. A letter was written to the Town Clerk requesting that she have a small amount of town zoning bylaws printed to have on hand for officials and townspeople that request them.
9. Scott informed the other members of the Board that the Monterey General Store will be closing its doors this month.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 9:07pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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