Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 7/11/11
Meeting Opened at: 5:00pm
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, Kathryn Roberts and Robert Hoogs
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly report for the weeks ending 7/2 & 7/9/11 which included:
1. Checking roads and beaver ponds.
2. Cleaning out plugged culverts on Brett Rd and Sandisfield Rd.
3. Back door at garage replaced.
4. Managing crack sealers.
5. Drainage project on Main Rd., subdrains
6. Solicit bids for chimney repair at Bally Galley. Maynard has received one bid so far and he’s expecting a 2nd one this week and he’s looking for another mason to get a 3rd estimate from. A suggestion was made to eliminate the chimney and fireplace to eliminate this problem entirely. The precise, end solution will be left up to Maynard to make the executive decision on.
7. Cleaning up transfer station.
8. Repair electric line at transfer station.
9. Fill in cut with gravel by John’s Garage.
10. Future Transfer Station layout was discussed; Maynard explained what he is planning to do which includes elevating it so that all the containers would be on a lower level and items would be dropped into the containers. Maynard will bring a preliminary drawing in for the Board to review at his next visit.
11. The crew is almost done with the drainage on RT 23 and the reclamation will most likely start in the beginning of August.
12. The driveway project for the WM House will most likely start the end of this week/beginning of next week.
13. Maggie Leonard asked if we could find out when New Marlborough will be re-opening River Rd./Fish Hatchery Rd.
14. Scott asked about getting the loggers that worked on Beartown Mtn Rd to fix the damage they did to the road. Maynard will contact John Fields about this.
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. There is about $10,000 worth of overages right now from FY11.
2. An issue that came up today: paying town counsel for additional legal work done due to an appeal filed against a decision made by the ZBA. The funds were taken from the town counsel expenses line item but there were some questions on whether or not it should come from the ZBA expenses.
3. There should be approximately $190,000 going back to the general fund from FY11 and free cash should remain at about $400,000.
The board met with Chief Backhaus to review the following items:
1. Chief Backhaus wanted to clarify that in his weekly reports the traffic stops noted are actually citations given, traffic stops average about 20/per week.
2. 2 calls for the same lost dog on Fairview Rd. Dog was found each time.
3. 2 abandoned 911 calls.
4. Bear reported on Chestnut Hill Rd.
5. Fireworks complaint on Wellman Rd.
6. Disturbance on Main Rd from a previous restraining order.
7. Barking dog complaint on Tyringham Rd; the owner was spoken to about this.
8. Disturbance on Pixley Rd; one party was asked to leave due to a restraining order.
9. Chief Backhaus brought in a copy of the CEMP plan to talk about an emergency shelter for Monterey. On a temporary basis the emergency shelter will be the town hall. If there was a declared emergency the information that residents would need to know would be announced. If there were a regional disaster the schools would open as additional shelter locations.
10. Scott asked about if the hot dog vendor was limited to where he can sell in town. Chief Backhaus was under the impression that he applied for the State Hawker’s Permit which would dictate where he couldn’t go. No one had any issues with him setting up at the beach or town park.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 6.27.11 were approved as written.
2. Warrants were signed.
3. As requested by Don Torrico, Jim Kern was appointed as the alternate wiring inspector for a 2 year term.
4. As requested by Joe Baker, Christine Goldfinger was appointed to the Wilson McLaughlin House Committee for a 1 year term.
5. Kathryn Roberts and Robert Hoogs came in to talk about the Bidwell House’s garden party on August 13th which will be at a private residence on Mt Hunger Rd. They anticipate having some traffic issues and wanted to try to head off issues before they happened. They plan to have a shuttle from the Bidwell House to the garden party location. They ideally would like someone to direct traffic at the corner of Tyringham and Mt Hunger for approximately 2 hours (this will be a member of the Bidwell House). The Chief suggested putting up “no parking” signs. The Bidwell House plans to notify the residents on Mt Hunger Rd of the event. They anticipate 200 – 250 people attending the event. They are in the process of filing all of the proper permit
applications for alcohol and tents. Kathryn stated that in the past that Monterey has done the “I Love Monterey Day” which hasn’t occurred in several years, the township #1 day is becoming an annual event and was wondering if the town might be able to help with the operating costs (the Tyringham Cultural Council and the Monterey Cultural Council both give money for this event). The Board stated that they could add the $500 back into the “I Love Monterey Day” line item and contribute toward this event. Scott stated he’d like to use that money for another parade that is less military like which is held on Memorial Day. The other Board members felt that the Memorial Day parade could certainly be made more fun with floats and such.
6. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
7. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. A quarterly report from the Friends of Wilson McLaughlin House. Jon noted that this report lacked the most relevant piece of information which is what they plan to do with the building and what they’ve done with their fundraising. A letter will be sent to the committee requesting a concrete schedule of their plans for the building and the financing of the building. Jon feels that the town has signed a lease with the WMH committee to raise money to renovate the building into a municipal use and if the money can’t be raised then there isn’t a need for a lease. Wayne noted that he does not support Jon’s views and opinions of the situation.
b. Letter from the New Marlborough Board of Selectmen to Dr. Singleton and the school committee chairperson requesting a meeting to be attended by the Sheffield Select Board, New Marlborough Select Board, Dr. Singleton and the school committee chairperson for the purpose of exploring the possibility of working towards an agreement to resolve the present impasse of establishing a mutually agreeable budget for the FY12 Operating & Transportation budget.
c. A letter to the Commissioner of the MA Dept of Elementary & Secondary Education from Dr. Singleton notifying him that the local appropriating authorities have not approved the proposed FY12 operating budget and that the July 1, 2011 date as required by 603 CMR 41:05.1 will not be met.
d. A letter to Dr. Singleton from the Associate Commissioner of the MA Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education authorizing the SBRSD to continue its operations and to spend up to $1,101,374 in each month of fiscal year 2012 until our district’s FY12 budget has been adopted or until December 1, 2011, whichever comes first.
e. A letter to the Monterey Select Board from Herb Abelow in response to the above mentioned letter from the New Marlborough Select Board. Herb does not feel it is appropriate to meet with any of the district’s towns to the exclusion of any other towns pertaining to matters of interest to all and respectfully declines the requested meeting and suggests a meeting of representative of the five towns’ boards on July 21st at 6pm.
f. The 2011-2012 Operating and Transportation Budget Recertified Assessment and Payment Schedule.
g. A notice of a Chapter 91simplified license renewal at 4 Point Rd.
8. Scott asked if the Board was going to be able to tell the attendees at the upcoming 2nd homeowner’s meeting regarding what is being done on the town’s end of things with regards to the abandoned house on Sylvan Rd which has a hole in the roof and raccoons possibly living in the house as this issue comes up every year. The Board asked M. Noe to get an update from the Building Inspector.
9. Monterey flag contest: The Board discussed whether we should use the existing seal as the flag or hold a flag contest. The Board will get more information on the specifics of this and if the Board should organize it or the Cultural Council. The conversation will be continued until next week.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:17pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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