Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 2/27/12
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Scott Jenssen (left at 11am)
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News, Stanley Ross (Finance Committee), Kathy Tryon, Wendy Tryon, Emilie Jarrett (Richmond and West Stockbridge town nurse), Stephen Enoch (Board of Health), John Makuc (Board of Health), Daniel Moriarity and Robert Annelli (Board of Health)
The Board met with the Finance Committee to review the following for the FY13 budget:
1. Town Nurse proposal: The Finance Committee discussed this at their last meeting and reviewed the minutes and letters from the Board of Health which stated that the proposal is good if there is a need for it in Monterey and they (the BOH) felt that there should be a needs assessment study done prior to creating a new position that may not be utilized, necessary or needed. The Finance Committee recommended putting an article on the warrant to fund a needs assessment study. Kathy Tryon asked what the BOH would be looking at in a needs assessment; the BOH felt they would be looking for what needs aren’t being met currently if any. The BOH stated that some of the items in Kathy’s proposal are already being handled under our contract with the Visiting Nurse Association
(services and equipment) and added that they (the VNA) may be able to expand their current services for a smaller amount of money if there is a need for it. The BOH felt there were too many unknowns presently and that they need to investigate more thoroughly. Stanley Ross inquired as to if there was a need for the services oultined in Kathy’s town nurse proposal could we expand our current VNA services – the BOH felt that yes this would be one option to look into. Emilie Jarrett, the town nurse of the public health organization for West Stockbridge and Richmond summarized why they decided to create a public health organization there instead of remaining with the VNA. Emilie stated in the towns she covers this service is for people that don’t have health insurance or when the VNA services don’t cover the follow up services that are needed. Emilie agreed that this service is more of a “prevention unit”. Bob asked
how many hours she works for both Richmond and West Stockbridge; 20hrs for a combined population of 3000 (which is 3x larger than Monterey). Kathy stated that Emilie only covers the elderly population and that her proposal for Monterey is for a cross spectrum from birth to death. Bob stated that he’s spoken to some residents since Kathy made her proposal to the BOH in Nov/Dec and one thought that was expressed to him more than once was that people wouldn’t go to a town nurse because of the “gossip system” in Monterey. Stephen reiterated that the BOH feels it is a good idea but prior to creating any new position more research and a needs assessment need to be done and public opinions and thoughts need to be solicited. Kathy stated for the record that to remove any conflict of interest she is removing herself from being an applicant should the position be created. The Select Board agreed that this should be studied further prior
to presenting anything to the town or putting any monetary items on the warrant. It was agreed by the BOH, Finance Committee and Select Board that it was too close to town meeting and too premature to put anything on the warrant for the position itself this year. It was noted that in West Stockbridge and Richmond they accept donations in addition to the money allocated at town meeting to help fund their program. Everyone agreed that the next step lies in the hands of the Board of Health. The BOH will next meet on March 5th to begin creating questions for a needs assessment study.
2. The Finance Committee has revisited the issue of increases to the full time employees and part time employees and plan to discuss this further before making any final recommendations. The Board reminded the Finance Committee that they are still waiting on information from Town Counsel on the employee’s proposal before making their recommendation or decision on any employee salary increases.
3. The Board and Finance Committee discussed the Fire Department’s special article requesting a new thermal imager for approximately $210,000. Some felt that this might not be a necessary piece of equipment at this point in time. At the 3/12/12 Select Board meeting it was noted that this should have read that the Fire Department will have a special article requesting a new rescue vehicle (not thermal imager) for approximately $210,000.
4. The Finance Committee and Select Board would like more data on putting in a special article line item for central a/c for the town hall
5. The Finance Committee is anticipating that there will be a new town clerk seeing as Linda Thorpe has stated she is not running again so they are recommending that the salary for that position be lower since the person running has no experience and should be compensated accordingly. They are also adding a line item in for an Assistant Town Clerk for $2,000.
6. Wayne revisited the suggestion to make the budget portion “smaller” by making it by department versus listing out each individual line item of each department. Stan stated that as a resident he is against changing the current presentation of the budget. Dan agreed that he would not be in favor of changing the way the budget is presented.
7. Stan suggested using the stabilization fund money to pay for the proposed new rescue vehicle instead of financing it. Steve recommended financing it as a debt exclusion and felt that stabilization funds should be used for “rainy days”.
8. According to reports provided by the Town Accountant most spending for FY12 is right online with what was requested.
9. The Treasurer has requested a tax lien program for approximately $4,000 and then a yearly maintenance fee. The Finance Committee will examine this further as they are unsure if there are that many tax takings in Monterey to justify the additional software purchase.
10. There is $4,100 added into the Building Inspector’s expenses for the regional building software that we are purchasing ($5,000 was approved for this at last year’s town meeting). The software is GIS integrated and will eliminate all paper applications. It will also allow work to be done in the field on the software.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 2/13/12 were approved as written.
2. The Board briefly discussed tonight’s School Committee meeting and agreed that they will both be present.
3. The Board asked for an update on obtaining a town credit card. Scott stated that he received an email from the Treasurer stating she did not want to apply for one, he has asked her to email him or attend a public meeting to explain why but has not heard back. Scott had asked M. Noe to inquire with Town Counsel on this and he stated that it shouldn’t be a big issue and the Board should be able to request this directly from the bank. M. Noe is working with the bank right now to see if this is an option and should have more information by next Monday’s meeting. M. Noe did let the Board know that the Director of Operations and the Tax Collector both showed great interest in having a town credit card available to make purchases much easier of things like postage, parts and other
items where an account is not held by the town.
4. Dan Moriarity inquired as a citizen of Monterey regarding the flooding conditions of Lake Buel for the Select Board to establish a committee so that the Monterey residents affected by the flooding from Lake Buel can move forward. He stated that as a team of one working on the issue he is being stonewalled by the Town of New Marlborough on what they are doing for flood remediation. He would like this committee formed to increase the communication with the Town of New Marlborough and the State. He stated the Lake Buel Prudential Committee has stated at meetings that they are strictly for recreational purposes and can not/will not get involved in the matter. Scott was not present for this conversation so Wayne suggested continuing this to a later date.
5. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. A response from the Attorney General’s office stating that they have received Jonathan Sylbert’s OML complaint and they are reviewing it and will notify all involved of their determination following their office’s review.
b. A thank you letter from Senator Downing for the Board’s support of legislation to expand the cap for net metering programs including S.1664 and H.1776
c. Notification from the MMA of a meeting on energy related issues.
d. Email from Cheryl Zellman in support of keeping the Monterey School open.
e. Letter from the New Marlborough Select Board to the School Committee requesting that they defer the deision on whether or not the New Marlborough Central School should be closed for one year so that more information can be sought.
6. Warrants were signed.
7. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:00pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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