Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 1/9/12
Meeting Opened at: 6:00pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News, Michael Storch (Finance Committee), Daniel Moriarty (Finance Committee), Officer Johnson, Chief Backhaus, Maynard Forbes and Melissa Noe
The meeting opened with Wayne distributing copies to everyone present of a letter written by Jon Sylbert (jonletterJan2012.pdf) which he requested be read aloud at the start of the meeting or have it distributed to and read by those in attendance. Wayne summarized that Jon submitted an open meeting law complaint with the Attorney General’s office stating that on January 4th Wayne and Scott unintentionally deliberated and expressed their opinion, outside of open session, to negotiate
with town employees in executive session. The complaint was signed by Jon and dated 1/9/12.
Scott stated that he wanted to go on record and state that with regards to Jon’s complaint, the only thing Scott was asked on the phone by Melissa Noe was if he was ok with having an executive session posted on the 1/9/12 agenda, period. Wayne concurred. M. Noe stated that the email she sent clarified this, that she asked both Wayne and Scott in separate telephone calls whether or not they were ok with an executive session on 1/9 with non-union employees to discuss collective bargaining. M. Noe stated in her email that once negotiations were done and agreed upon, executive session minutes would then become public.
Wayne asked M. Noe to pull out the Open Meeting Law so that he could review the section that states for what reasons executive sessions can be held. It was confirmed that one of the reasons an executive session may be called is for collective bargaining with non-union personnel.
The employees stated that they do not want to continue our negotiations until Jon is back at the table. It was noted that Jon has never given his insight as to what his side of all this was and what he’d like to see as a compensation package but that he has had an agenda and fought this every step of the way. Be that as it may, it was noted by the employees that they disagree with everything in the letter submitted by Jon tonight and that he is totally wrong but all agree that it is important that he be part of the process otherwise he will fight us as he stated in his letter. The employees requested that tonight’s meeting be postponed for 2 weeks (1/23) so that Jon can be at the desk and be a part of this and if he doesn’t want to be a part of the process then he should
resign.
Melissa Noe stated that the emails she sent which prompted Jon’s letter and OML complaint, was just her doing her job which was confirmed by both Scott and Wayne and they both stated that the response by Melissa was both professional and within her job duties. She asked that it be on the record that the situation has now become personal and that Jon’s reactions and comments/accusations have caused her coworkers to become upset with her because they feel that she caused his reaction and now he’ll fight us every step of the way and she worries that professional relationships have been tarnished because of this perception. Wayne and Scott both stated that they could quite thoroughly support Melissa’s communications throughout this. More discussion ensued and everyone felt that the
problem was Jon and he needs to be back at the table to discuss this with everyone.
It was noted that most surrounding towns negotiate benefits and salaries in executive session and just because Jon wrote something in a letter, does not mean it’s true. Maynard noted that Jon stated at the last meeting we had that it was against the law for negotiations to be in executive session and as noted above from reviewing the Open Meeting Law, that isn’t true.
Wayne noted in response to some comments in Jon’s letter that while negotiations may take place in executive session, it has not closed up all public discussion as once an agreement is reached with the Select Board, Finance Committee and the employees, the information will be discussed publically in at least one or more public meetings prior to town meeting.
Michael asked the employees to explain why they are requesting the negotiations to occur in executive session rather than in a public meeting. The employees explained that the original reason for requesting the negotiations be in executive session was because up to now we were discussing this one week at a time and we’ve gone through a lot of different ideas which get printed in the Monterey News and some of those ideas are scrapped at a later meeting but because it went into the News it paints a confusing picture to the public. The employees feel it’s more productive to hash everything out in executive session and come to an agreement which then is released publically. The final outcome of any negotiations will be public.
It was agreed by everyone to postpone tonight’s negotiations until Monday, January 23rd at 6:05pm. The Board voted (even though they did not feel it was required to vote to put something on the agenda) to have the agenda for January 23rd read as follows: 6pm – 6:05pm open meeting and at 6:05 it would read “Vote to go into Executive Session: Employees, Finance Committee; collective bargaining/contract negotiations with nonunion personnel”. Maynard felt that it was important to note that Jon was being given another opportunity to be here for the negotiations and if he feels that the democratic process is in error, then there is something wrong here and it’s not fair to the employees or the town.
Michael questioned whether or not the meetings the employees had were public and it was noted that they are not a public board/body or committee and therefore the OML doesn’t apply to them. Melissa Noe did read into record from the OML what constitutes a public body, which is the group that the OML applies to.
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly reports for the weeks ending 12/24 & 12/31/11 and 1/7/12 which included:
1. Checking beaver dams
2. Checking Lake Garfield dam inlet
3. Return boat to D. Amidon
4. Salting roads during the week ending 12/24.
5. Take the 2005 – 550 for repair on transmission mounts
6. Putting sanders and plows on trucks
7. Salting and sanding the week ending 12/31.
8. Patching potholes.
9. Cleaning and washing trucks.
10. Paperwork for River Rd project, FEMA/MEMA contracts and NRCS maintenance and operations.
11. Sanding and salting the week ending 1/7/12.
12. Pickup taken to Cheshire for repairs.
13. Take care of a problem on Beartown due to a homes water pipe breaking.
14. Guardrails on Main Rd
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly reports for 12/19/11 – 1/9/12 which included:
Calls:
1. Lost dog found on Mt Hunger Rd; the surrounding area was canvassed and no one claimed ownership. It was also listed on WSBS. Dog brought to Marge Gulick’s.
2. Lost dog found on Swann Rd; returned to owners.
3. Assisted a citizen with paperwork.
4. Disabled MV on Main Rd.
5. Harassment complaint on Blue Hill; police found nothing to substantiate claim.
6. MVA on Sandisfield Rd; car was towed.
7. Assisted a citizen on Beartown Mtn Rd; pipe burst and water was running into the street
False Alarms:
Art School
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 12.19.11 were approved as written.
2. Warrants were signed.
3. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
4. The Board discussed an email sent by Jon on 1/3/12 stating that he talked to town counsel about his comments given on collective bargaining being able to be done in Executive Sessions and that he (Town Counsel) felt he was misrepresented. Jon stated that he and Town Counsel have agreed that communications with town counsel moving forward should be with the board directly. Melissa Noe requested to know at which meeting this vote was taken by the Board to change the current procedure and it was concluded that there was no such meeting where this was brought up. Scott and Wayne discussed this and voted on and agreed to update a memo from 2007 sent regarding contacting town counsel reminding everyone that the only people that should be contacting Town Counsel regarding town issues should be the
Chairperson of any town board or any Department Head. The Board included in the memo a list of people approved to contact Town Counsel: From the Select Board: All Select Board members and Melissa Noe, Police Department – Chief Backhaus, Highway Department – Maynard Forbes, Board of Assessors – Stanley Ross, Planning Board – Maggie Leonard, Board of Appeals – Fred Chapman and Melissa Noe, Board of Health – John Makuc and Melissa Noe, Conservation Commission – Rick Andrus and Melissa Noe, Building Department – Don Torrico and Melissa Noe, Fire Department – Shawn Tryon and Maynard Forbes, Parks Department – Josh Allentuck and Melissa Noe and the Finance Committee – Michael Storch and Melissa Noe. As Chairpersons rotate, the list will be updated.
5. Shawn Tryon, Fire Chief came in to discuss the following:
a. Purchasing a new rescue vehicle for the Fire Department. The Department has outgrown Rescue 5 which is currently used for medical type calls and is 11 years old. The new vehicle’s primary use would be medical (not for transporting) but it would have the Jaws of Life on it. Ice/water rescue equipment would be added to this vehicle as well. Rescue 5 would most likely be sold to the highest bidder. Rough numbers for this purchase is $200,000. Rescue 5, according to our capital plan schedule should’ve been replaced last year. The Finance Committee is in favor of using money from our Stabilization Account to purchase this outright rather than having a loan on it.
b. The Board asked where the Fire Department stood as far as spending their compensation monies. They are in the black right now and have spent $7,000 less than was spent at this time last year.
c. The 25 year old air bag for the jaws needs to be replaced as does the spreader and ram. This will cost approximately $25,000.
d. Shawn stated that the 1996 fire engine is scheduled to be replaced in 2016 on paper however; he’s proposing that the town consider purchasing its replacement a year or two earlier and stretch out the 2003 tanker further into the future. Each of these vehicles runs about $600,000. Shawn stated that the 1996 engine is starting to show signs that the same motor problem we had years back may be happening again.
e. Shawn provided the Board with documents from MEMA about a state wide mutual aid law. He recommended the Board join and sign the documents. The Board agreed to hold this and discuss it when a full Board was available. They’d also like to speak to Chief Backhaus and get his recommendation. There are 2 laws that were enacted; one for police/fire and one for highway departments.
f. Shawn expressed to the Board how important the dam across the street is to the fire department and the town as a water supply for the fire department. The Board asked Shawn to put his concerns in writing so the Board can have it on file, he agreed.
6. The Board read a memo from Herb Abelow, Chair of the Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee dated January 6, 2012 stating that there will be a public hearing on January 23, 2012 at 6:30pm at the Monterey Town Hall to discuss the advisability of closing the three outlying elementary buildings. It was noted that there hadn’t been a request made to be placed on the agenda or to use the meeting room for this date and time and that the Select Board already has a scheduled meeting that night from 6 – 8pm with a scheduled agenda item from 6 -7pm. The Board asked M. Noe to contact the SBRSD tomorrow morning and reschedule.
7. The Board discussed the flag submissions. It was agreed that everyone liked the idea of using the town seal on an official Monterey Flag but no one was comfortable with giving credit in full to the person that submitted that design when the seal is actually Edith Wilson’s artwork. The Board asked M. Noe to contact the applicant that submitted that design and see if they were comfortable with sharing credit as well as making some modifications to the design submitted.
8. The Board instructed M. Noe to send out the 3rd & final reminder that town reports are due as has been done in the past.
9. Monica Webb came in to request that the Board sign paperwork for a Community Innovation Challenge Grant administered by the Commonwealth Executive Office for Administration and Finance. It could provide significant incentives and financial support to the proposed WiredWest network. WiredWest will be using BRPC as the administrative/fiscal agent on behalf of WiredWest and its member towns, to comply with the grant guidelines.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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