Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/10/12
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Scott Jenssen, Chairperson, Muriel Lazzarini and Wayne Burkhart
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Susan Gallant for the Monterey News, Members of the Gould Farm Harvest Barn, Senator Downing, Representative Pignatelli, Katherine Hagel of the Berkshire Record, Robert Lazzarini, Donald Torrico, Daniel Moriarity, Steve Pullen, Stanley Ross, representatives from Tri Town Paving, W.E. Williams, Lane and LB Corp and Roger Tryon
At 9am the Board unveiled the Monterey Flag to everyone present and presented a copy to Senator Downing and Representative Pignatelli to be raised at the Great Hall in Boston. Scott gave a brief history on the Town seal which we chose to put on our flag and Smitty and Ben both gave a brief summary of the history of how the flags came to be hung in the Great Hall. Wayne thanked Melissa Noe for all her hard work during the whole process of creating a town flag and organizing today’s presentation. The Board thanked Muriel for organizing the coffee and pastries for the presentation.
At 10am the Board made a motion to waive the reading of the legal notice for the Beartown Mtn Rd paving bid and opened the following sealed bids:
- Tri Town Paving - $67.95 per ton
- LB Corporation - $70.10 per ton
- Lane Corporation - $76 per ton, $85 per ton and $145 per ton (different types quoted)
- W.E. Williams Paving - $67.23 per ton and aprons at $130 per ton
Maynard reviewed the bids submitted and recommended accepting Tri Town Paving’s bid as the lowest. A motion was made to accept Tri Town’s bid, which was seconded and unanimously approved. M. Forbes will notify them.
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ to review the following:
1. M. Forbes confirmed that he did let the company from Canaan into the Monterey School Building to look at the duct work and present an estimate for cleaning them.
2. The crew has primarily been working on Beartown in preparation for the upcoming paving.
3. Maynard met with one interested party over the weekend to bid on painting the town hall in the spring and has one more interested party meeting him later this week.
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. Revised warrants from last week were presented to be signed from last week.
2. The Board reviewed with Steve and members of the Finance Committee the budget overages and suggested transfers provided by Accountant at the 8/27 meeting. Steve provided explanations for the overages. Steve commented that it is almost a moot point for voters to vote on each line item when new regulations allow you to move a specific percentage from accounts that were under budget to accounts that went over budget. He (Steve) stated that the reserve funds should be used for unexpected budget items. All were approved.
3. Steve asked the Board what they’d like to do with special article monies that have not been spent such as the dog park money that is only approved to be used at the WMH property. A motion was made to return the approved funds back to the general funds, which was seconded and unanimously approved. It was agreed that any future proposal would need to go back to town meeting regardless because the money approved a few years back was for a specific location and it has been determined that it cannot be constructed there. The money for the bylaw consultant will be carried over as will the building department software money.
4. Steve brought in a $275 bill from Wildflowers for the Memorial Day wreaths. Since the books have not been closed from FY12 yet he will pay it from those funds (carried over funds).
5. Steve noted that he was stopped by Jonathan Sylbert (former Select Board member) who was very upset at the suggestion made by Steve (noted in Select Board minutes and in the Monterey News) to cover the $18k needed for the Town Clerk’s health insurance from the Reserve Fund. Steve did not feel this was an issue but wanted to give the Board a head’s up in case Jon contacted them about it.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 8.27.12 were approved as written.
2. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Email from Mayra Rodriguez and Doreen Beller with their suggestion that the funds privately raised for Montereyfest cover the fireworks ($6,000). The total expenses (minus fireworks) for Montereyfest totaled $5,200 ($200 over what was approved at town meeting) and the town will pay the agreed upon $5,000. The Board agreed with this.
b. Invitation from the Association of Town Finance Committees to attend their 2012 Annual Meeting.
c. Information on the MMA Fall 2012 Local Government Legislative Breakfast Meetings.
d. Information from MEMA announcing the availability of the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding.
3. Roger Tryon submitted a letter of interest to be appointed in the interim as the Tree Warden until the election in May. Muriel asked that before any appointment be made that everyone review the job description to make sure that everyone is on the same page. A copy of the DRAFT description created by Shaylan Burkhart (the previous Tree Warden) and Maynard Forbes was given to Roger. It was also agreed as a gesture of good faith to pay M. Forbes for one month (Aug) of covering the duties of Tree Warden for that time frame. Roger had a question about the one item in the job description regarding it being the Tree Warden’s responsibility to respond to downed trees (day or night) that do not involve power lines. The Highway Department will respond if the Tree Warden is out of town. A motion was made to appoint Roger Tryon as the interim Tree Warden, the motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
4. Warrants were signed.
5. Muriel told the Board that she was approached by someone on whether or not she could have the old, broken sandwich board out front. The Board did not have an issue with this and Muriel will contact her.
6. Muriel thanked Melissa Noe for creating a Facebook page for the Town Hall (with the Board’s permission). Those interested can “like” us by searching for “Town of Monterey Town Hall”. Events and up to date town information will be posted there as well as on the website.
7. Muriel updated the Board on the most recent ECAC meeting (last week) and the next meeting scheduled for September 21st.
8. Muriel noted that the Superintendant Search Committee appears to have excluded New Marlborough and Monterey from separate meetings to discuss any thoughts, concerns, suggestions or issues we might have in searching for a new Superintendant.
9. Muriel asked M. Noe to remind the Building Commissioner on the requested information for finishing/updating the basement.
10. The elementary school task force has requested a meeting with the Board sometime this month in the evening. A few dates were discussed and M .Noe will forward them along to M. Enoch.
11. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. M. Noe reminded the Board that she will be attending an ABCC seminar at the Lenox Town Hall this afternoon.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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