Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 02/13/12
Meeting Opened at: 9:05am
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News, Officer Johnson and Maynard Forbes
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ to review the following:
1. Maynard reported that 800-900tons of salt has been used which is about half of what was used compared to last year. Rain and sleet/ice storms use up a lot of salt so even though there hasn’t been a lot of snow; the salt is still needed to keep the roads safe.
2. Weekly reports were provided and reviewed from the weeks ending 2/4 & 2/11/12.
3. Maynard stated that the revenues of the Transfer Station are now about ¼ of the budget and it used to be about 1/3. He suggested raising the yearly permit fee from $40 to help offset the cost in operating which has gone up to about $100k. The Board asked M. Noe to find the minutes from the last few years when fees were last discussed. The Board also felt the Finance Committee should be a part of this decision. The Board asked M. Noe to survey surrounding towns to see what their fees are.
4. Within the next few weeks we should receive some design studies on the remodel of the transfer station.
5. Wayne invited Maynard to the regional Select Board meeting on Wednesday. One of the agenda items to discuss will be sharing resources of the highway departments amongst the towns. Maynard is not available to attend on Wednesday but stated that he couldn’t see sharing anything unless it was for an emergency situation in one town as most towns need the same equipment at the same time of year. The only piece of equipment he could think of that could be shared would be a roadside mower. Maggie noted that she could foresee issues with sharing if one town takes good care of an item and another town doesn’t; who would be responsible for the repairs, etc.
The board reviewed Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus’ weekly report for 1/30 – 2/9/12 which included:
Calls:
1. Assisted with a lockout on Mt Hunger Rd
2. Building checks on Beartown Mtn Rd (2) and Art School Rd (2)
3. MVA on Main Rd
4. Assisted with a medical emergency on Beartown Mtn Rd
5. Suspicious activity reported on Blue Hill Rd; police investigated and found nothing out of the ordinary
6. Walk in complaint received about burning on Harmon Rd; party had a valid burn permit
7. Assisted a citizen at Beartown State Forest
8. Assisted with a lockout on Hupi Rd
9. Assisted a citizen on Pixley Rd
10. Well being check on Hupi Rd
False Alarms:
1. Main Rd
2. North Cove
3. Sackman Way
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The minutes from 2.6.12 were approved as written.
2. The Board discussed the disrepair and neglect of the Monterey School and options to raise capital to fix it. Scott asked if anyone knew why the school that used to be in the center of Sheffield behind the library was closed; Wayne stated what he recalled. Scott wanted to know if there was a savings to the towns when that was closed. The Board stated they want to keep the outlying schools open but also want to have all the information to help each town make the decisions that are best for their respective towns. Scott felt that there were other options out there that would help keep the outlying schools open and not be so burdensome to each of the towns financially.
3. Scott Jenssen stated that he will not be here for this Memorial Day’s festivities and stated that since Officer Johnson is very enthusiastic and good at organizing if he wouldn’t mind assuming some of the responsibilities for this year’s festivities that Scott usually handles (picking up the wreaths, setting up the PA system at the various locations, etc). Scott asked M. Noe to contact Wildflowers about getting wreaths this year since Dolby’s has gone out of business. He also asked M. Noe to call All State Flag & Banner about ordering more 12” x 18” flags on a stick.
4. Wayne reviewed his conversation with Pat Mielke, Treasurer regarding the Board’s request to open a credit card with M. Noe as a signer to make town purchases when a check is not an option or readily available due to vacation time taken by the Accountant and Treasurer offices or other unforeseeable events. Pat stated she would not open a credit card as it is a big hassle and felt that no other towns do this. M. Noe asked the Board for guidance on how she should now handle situations going forward when she needs to purchase something where we do not have an account or a check is not available. The Board did not feel it was a trust issue and wasn’t sure what Pat’s issues were entirely with this. The Board felt that if it was something the Board wanted and requested she
should respect their decision. Scott will call and speak with Pat on the matter.
5. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. The Board signed the contract with VTH for the upgrade of the website which was approved at a previous meeting.
b. A letter was received from the AG to Mr. Sylbert with the Board cc’d. The letter referred Jon to MGL c.30A, § 23(b) and 940 CMR 29.05(6) and stated that currently they had no record of his complaint and accordingly will presume that the action taken by the public body was sufficient and they are closing the file unless they receive a request for further review from Jon by April 3, 2012.
c. The Board signed the letter of intent to continue participation in the HHW Steering Committee for FY13. The assessment went down $531 from last year; the spreadsheet will be given to the Finance Committee.
d. The DRAFT FY13 Budget dated February 2, 2012 for the SBRSD.
e. The response to Rene Wood, Chair of the Sheffield Select Board from Michael Singleton answering the 14 questions proposed by Rene and the surrounding towns Select Board Chairpersons.
f. Thank you note from Mackenzie Clark of Environment Massachusetts.
g. A letter from DEP on behalf of Waste Management Recycle America Alliance (WMRA) extending their appreciation to Monterey with a check for $3,533.13 for recyclable material delivered to the MRF for the first half of FY12.
h. TIP list, email received and reviewed.
6. Warrants were signed.
7. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. Wayne asked M. Noe to compile the salaries of the Monterey employees and elected positions for his regional Select Board meeting on the 15th in Tolland.
b. M. Noe asked how to proceed regarding the individual town reports not received. The Board composed a letter to Jon Sylbert, Linda Higgins, Deborah Mielke and Linda Thorpe requesting that they submit their FY11 reports to M. Noe no later than February 29th so that the files may be sent to the printer on March 1st to be printed in time for the informational and annual town meetings. If not received by then the department’s page will read “Report not submitted”.
8. The Board agreed to move up the day to finalize the town warrant to March 26th from April 2nd due to one member of the Board being out of town. Any articles to be submitted would need to be into the Select Board prior to this.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:05am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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