Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/26/12
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, Alan Salamon of the Planning Board, Don Torrico, Zoning Enforcement Officer, Laury Epstein, Steve Pullen, Chief Backhaus and Bruce Augusti of MEMA
The board met with Alan Salamon of the Planning Board and the Zoning Enforcement Officer to discuss the following:
Interest and/or need for a flood control ordinance or bylaw; Alan Salamon of the Planning Board was present to find out what, if anything has been done to date to create a floodplain overlay district in the town and what if anything the Select Board would like the Planning Board to do. The Select Board explained that the reason this topic has come about is due to the flooding issues at the homes on Lake Buel.
The packet of information from BRPC that address this issue (from Feb. 2011) was reviewed. Don Torrico stated that the town already has protection with regards to building standards. This proposed bylaw/ordinance may allow for federal monies to be allocated if homes in flood prone areas were destroyed or damaged, however it would also prevent any new construction in those areas.
Alan stated that Brian Domina of BRPC (who sent the information above) is attending the December 13th Planning Board meeting and Alan will follow up with him then.
Don informed Alan of the DLTA grant available (deadline to apply is within the next 2 weeks) that may assist Monterey with future bylaw projects. Alan will look into this.
The board met with Town Accountant, Steven Pullen to review the following items:
1. Fire Dept overage on the thermal imaging equipment. Steve stated that this is going to be financed and that hasn’t happened yet so he had to pay it and will reimburse that line item once the loan has been signed.
2. Steve noted that he hasn’t received certified town meeting minutes which are preventing the Treasurer from obtaining a loan. The Board composed a letter to the Town Clerk requesting a certified copy be provided to the Accountant, Treasurer and Inter-Departmental Secretary as they are urgently needed.
3. On the warrants: it was questioned why the Assistant Assessor is not on the salary warrant. Steve stated it is because he is not an employee he is a contractor. The Board found this interesting as it creates another whole category of types of employees.
4. Postage: Steve stated that he has straightened out the issue with the past due issue today. The problem was due to 2 different payment addresses; one goes to Postage by Phone and the other goes to a Pitney Bowes Reserve Account.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Don Torrico reported that he received a complaint about an abutter blocking a private way. The complainant has contacted the Police and the Zoning Enforcement Officer has informed the complainant that private roads/ways do not fall under the jurisdiction of the town and are a civil matter.
2. Laury Epstein came in because of an article in the Record regarding buying energy from a wind turbine to be constructed in Otis. She stated she is a long time opponent of wind. The Board stated that the article in the Record was very misleading. All the Board has received to date is an email inquiring if we would be interested in purchasing energy from the project and Monterey responded that they would be interested in receiving more information. No further information has been received to date but the Board will notify Laury if and when a meeting occurs with Otis on the subject.
3. The Chief and Bruce Augusti of MEMA came in to have some paperwork signed and notarized which will allow the Police Department to receive grant monies that were applied for.
4. The minutes from 11.19.12 were approved as written.
5. The Board requested that M. Noe ask the Finance Committee to attend next week’s meeting to update the Board on their meetings with the Fire Chief and Director of Operations with regards to future capital expenses and the possibility of adding the construction of a new Monterey School building.
6. The Treasurer provided the Board with a letter of thanks for a donation to the Berkshire Taconic Foundation – the Board was unaware of ever approving a donation and asked M. Noe to inquire of the Treasurer who authorized it.
7. The Board asked M. Noe to have Chief Backhaus attend a future meeting to discuss with the Board what they should know and what the townspeople should know with regards to an emergency plan for Monterey should a disaster occur.
8. Scott asked M. Noe to look into finding a more appropriate spot for the 2 historical items currently located in the meeting room.
9. Warrants were signed.
a. There were questions as to why some names were listed twice under election expenses. It was thought it was because the persons being paid performed two different jobs for the election.
10. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. Issue with 2 overdue bills that have been submitted several times to the Accountant. (one is addressed above)
b. Issue with direct deposit occurring late over the week of Thanksgiving. The Board is sending a memo to the Treasurer requesting the phone and email address for the Assistant Treasurer as this issue arose while the Treasurer was on vacation.
c. Day off request was approved.
d. M. Noe inquired as to how she is to respond to the several inquiries regarding the Town Clerk’s weekly office hours. The last office hours provided to be posted were from October 9th and since then regular, posted office hours have not been available. The Board composed a letter to the Clerk requesting that she return to providing the Board via M. Noe her weekly office hours to be posted as was previously agreed upon. They also noted that having this information readily available is extremely helpful to the Board and the town.
11. Muriel pointed out that after reviewing some of the documents provided by the school at last weeks meeting she noted that some of the figures on the spreadsheets do not add up correctly albeit they are small differences but they are incorrectly calculated nonetheless.
12. The Board instructed M. Noe to purchase the turkey gift cards for the upcoming holiday for the same employees as last year.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:47am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Inter-Departmental Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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