Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/23/12
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Maggie Leonard for the Monterey News, Donald Torrico and Muriel Lazzarini
The board reviewed Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ weekly report for the weeks ending 4/7, 4/14 and 4/21 which included:
1. Checking roads & beaver ponds.
2. Grade Gould, Swann, Harmon, Hupi, Griswold, Art School. Chestnut Hill, Cronk and New Marlboro roads.
3. Roll all dirt roads that were graded.
4. Hauling airport mix from Otis.
5. Change the Kenworth & Oshkosh over to summer operation and repair dump body and lights on Kenworth
6. Cracksealing on Blue Hill, Main and Gould Roads
7. Beaver pond cleaned out on Fairview.
8. Take loader to Del Martins to replace condenser and recharge
9. Load cover repaired on 2005 – 550
10. Painted the sign posts at the Town Hall
11. Pot holes patched on Wellman and New Marlboro Roads.
12. Fixed signs on Tyringham, Main, Pixley and Mt Hunger Roads
13. “Stop Ahead” signs on roads were painted
14. Snow fence was removed from Chestnut Hill and “Closed for Winter” signs were taken down.
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. Steve provided a copy of an article (attached acctarticle.pdf) that he will be submitting to the Monterey News regarding the tax rate which has the blessings of the Assessors.
2. Updated levy limit worksheets were provided. Our total budget is only going up 1% from last year; a pretty negligible amount.
3. Steve stated that right now he is aware of 2 department’s budgets that will be over for FY12 and will need transfers from the reserve fund; the Tax Collector’s account went over due to the Assessor’s Office not having the tax rate set/approved in time and the Planning Board due to additional funds needed for advertising and printing with regards to the proposed revisions to the zoning bylaws.
4. There is approximately $28997.79 that will return to free cash from this year’s salt & sand account.
5. Discussions continued to find a working solution to assist the Inter-Departmental Secretary when funds are needed in a timely fashion and can not the week’s time frame or more for a check to be issued. A large part of this problem has been caused because of changes made at the post office which include the Postmaster not being allowed to place orders for postage but once a month and the amount of postage she’s allowed to have on hand being lowered dramatically. M. Noe spoke with TD Banknorth and the Department of Revenue, both of which recommended a pre-loaded debit card which Steve would be in favor of since the pre-loaded amount would be approved in advance by the Select Board. The Board will speak with Pat about this solution.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Donald Torrico, Building Commissioner came in to discuss the new building permitting software the town is getting. The initial $5,000 investment was approved at last year’s town meeting and there are additional monies being requested in this year’s budget for annual fees associated with the software. This new software will allow everyone to apply for permits online and pay by credit card and it will free up the Inspector from paperwork allowing him to work more in the field. A large sum of the purchase fees are being covered under the Community Innovation grant. The new software should be implemented prior to the new fiscal year. Don will write up something for the Board to help answer any questions at the informational and town meetings.
2. Wayne expressed his opinions regarding the school facility committee. He feels that it is clear that the SBRSD has extra facility capacity in four sites and that the capital and maintenance requirements are too great for the district to continue with the current arrangement. He also feels that the present Monterey school facility owned by the Town but maintained by the School District is not seen as viable without many improvements and corrections. Therefore, since there is a considerable sentiment for maintaining a school presence in Monterey for certain levels of child education, this committee will study and recommend to the Town of Monterey a considered plan for the possible provision, by the Town, of a facility to house a class or classes of instruction to be carried out as part of the
educational program of the SBRSD.
3. The minutes from 4/17/12 were approved as written.
4. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. “Jamie’s Court” proposal: Attorney Carnese (one of the supporters of the project) sent a letter stating that $17,000 in funds has been raised for the project (which is down to $13,000 after fees were assessed). The supporters of the project feel dejected as they feel that no liaison from the town has been assigned/on board to help get the project done. The last minutes of the Select Board (on 7/12/10) stated that the supporters were dropping the idea of a 2nd court and were offering to instead repave the existing court providing that parking was no longer allowed on the court. The proposal submitted today was for the 2nd court. The Board stated that if this project were to occur it would require being put out to bid and paying
prevailing wages. The Board will ask Josh Allentuck, Chair of the Parks Committee to come in to discuss where the Parks Commission stands on this proposal. The Board feels that they would be the appropriate liaison to move forward with it if they are in support of it.
b. Document entitled “The School District With a Greater Future for All Students” from Linda Higgins of SBRSD (attached sowtaskforce.pdf)
c. Invitation to the Berkshire County Selectmen’s Association dinner.
d. Letter from MacKenzie Clark of Environment Massachusetts updating the Board on changes made to S 220: An Act Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in the Commonwealth
5. Warrants were signed.
6. The ad-hoc committee task force that the School Committee is creating was discussed as well as what their responsibilities will be. The committee is requesting that the Select Board provide 3 names of people not already appointed or elected to a position in any town for the ad-hoc committee.
7. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. Remaining time off request for FY12 was approved.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:10am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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