Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/30/13
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Muriel Lazzarini, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Susan Gallant for the Monterey News, Jerry Green, Chris Blair, Robert Lazzarini, Anthony Corsi of National Grid Engineering, Stanley Ross, Daniel Moriarty, Bethany Mielke, Brendan Fletcher and Mark Makuc
At 9am the Board opened the joint pole hearing from National Grid and Verizon. Anthony Corsi of National Grid stated that this plan was engineered by someone else and this is an attempt to beef up the pole lines, make them more secure to hopefully lessen the amount of outages we have here. Scott asked what new products will be on the poles and Anthony gave a brief summary and stated that we have an antiquated system here. Maynard Forbes stated that there are 9 poles going in and there are 9 double poles in town that need to be taken care of first. Maynard provided a comprehensive list of approximately 30 double poles that need to be removed throughout Town. Muriel wanted confirmation that the old poles for this project are removed at the time the new poles are put in. This project will occur
within 60 – 90 days. The joint pole petition was approved with the conditions that the double poles in town be taken care of A.S.A.P and that the old poles for this project are removed when the new poles are installed.
At 10am the Board met with Stanley Ross, Daniel Moriarty, Bethany Mielke, Brendan Fletcher, Donald Clawson and Robert Lazzarini regarding coordination between the Treasurer and Accountant’s offices at the request of the Finance Committee and Assessor’s Office.
- Stanley and Don stated that the Town is facing an issue at the moment with setting the tax rate for the year because the Town’s books from FY13 have not yet been closed and/or reconciled. Bethany is hoping to have the books closed and reconciled within one week. Don stated that this process is usually completed in the end of August beginning of September but there was some leeway given this year due to having a new Treasurer and new Accountant. Once the books are closed the Accountant will need to provide the Finance Committee with updated reports on accounts that overspent in FY13 and how the overages will be handled.
- Items that need to be shared on a monthly basis between the Treasurer and Accountant were reviewed such as bank reconciliations, reports, monthly deductions, posting and validating of warrants, etc.
- Stan will work with Brendan this week to go over the accounts that went over in FY13 and will provide a list to the Select Board next week.
- Don spoke to Steve the former Accountant who has stated that on the Accountant’s computer there should be a file he created that should help the Accountant with the forms he is responsible for.
- Stanley suggested the Select Board may want to think about arranging some training for Brendan thru the auditor’s; a quote for services is in the works right now.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Jerry Green of Beartown Mtn Rd came in to show pictures of the hanging branch on Beartown Mtn Rd that he says he has asked to have removed for the last 3 months. Jerry Green felt that if this isn’t taken care of immediately and falls and hurts someone that the town will be liable. The Board stated that the Tree Warden is waiting on other jobs that require a bucket truck before coming to remove it as renting bucket trucks are by the day not the hour. The Board will let Winston know that there may be more branches on the tree that need to be taken care of as well.
2. Chris Blair of the Conservation Commission came in to discuss the Lake Garfield drawdown. At the last Conservation Committee meeting two members of the Lake Buel Prudential Committee came in to discuss the impact of the Lake Garfield drawdown on Lake Buel. Chris stated that there is a lot of flexibility in the Order of Conditions (OOC) issued for the drawdown. The Lake Buel Prudential Committee is requesting a better, more open line of communication with the Town regarding the opening and closing of the dam when there are extreme weather conditions that will impact Lake Buel. Chris asked what the Board suggests in how to open these lines of communication. It was noted that there are a lot more issues in Lake Buel that are contributing to their flooding than just the drawdown of Lake
Garfield. Chris stated that there is flexibility in the OOC with the start and end dates with the drawdown based on the weather. The Board will follow up with Maynard Forbes.
3. Muriel suggested that the amended wording for the health insurance eligibility section of the handbook and the group life insurance retiree benefit be looked at by the ECAC at their meeting on Thursday for review. Muriel is also going to suggest that the probationary period be updated as well as there have been several different timeframes have recently been used in the most recently filled vacant positions.
4. IRS Audit status: A payment of almost $5,000 was made to the IRS until this situation is resolved to prevent any further penalties being incurred. If it is determined that there is no mistake or error on the town’s part the money will be returned to the town. However, if it is found that there has been a mistake we will need to add the additional funds owed to the town meeting warrant.
5. The Board accepted M. Forbes’s recommendation to keep the rent the same at Bally Gally and approved the lease renewal agreement to be sent to the tenants to sign.
6. The Board reviewed the DOR’s legal opinion on the senior work-off tax abatement being offered for to the volunteer committees and boards for duties outside of regular meetings. The following suggested wording was accepted by the Board: Eligible seniors may earn abatements thru the Senior Work –Off Tax Abatement program for substantive, productive work performed outside regular meeting for the following committees: Conservation Commission, Cultural Council, Employee Compensation Advisory Committee, Veteran’s Memorial Committee and the WMH Committee. What constitutes substantive, productive work for each committee should be defined and approved by the committee chair and Select Board.
7. Muriel reported on the recent school committee meeting and Monterey’s presentation on the proposal for a new community school.
8. Muriel attended a MMA legislative breakfast in Becket on Friday and reported on the discussions/presentations that took place mostly regarding Chapter 90 funds, grants and the OPEB bill.
9. Scott spoke with someone at the State regarding the Mercury found in Lake Garfield. The State performs random testing and the advisory is a low advisory at this time. The State stated that all of the lakes in the area are finding higher levels of Mercury.
10. Muriel thanked Maynard Forbes and M. Noe for the retirement lunch for Pete LePrevost last week.
11. The minutes from 9.23.13 were approved as amended.
12. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Information from the Friends of Lake Garfield on the continued management of the lake.
13. Warrants were signed.
14. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. Time off request approved.
b. Wayne asked for an update on the new online burial permit webinar M. Noe participated in last week. M. Noe stated that it was difficult to follow not having issued a burial permit yet but she is working with the Vitals Department to arrange more specific new user training. The online permitting is projected to go live in 2014. Coincidentally a burial permit was issued on Thursday which the funeral home helped walk M. Noe thru.
c. Muriel requested an update on the conference she attended on Friday. M. Noe provided copies of the documentation handed out and reported that unfortunately the conference was not as informative as she had hoped and that the presenter’s chose to read all of the material provided, word for word as their presentation.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:55am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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