Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/25/13
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, Gareth Backhaus, Brendan Fletcher, Richard Tryon and Donald Clawson
The board met with Town Accountant, Brendan Fletcher to review the following items:
1. Brendan reported that he logged several hours last week trying to close the books so that a tax rate could be set. He stated that the Accountant in Lenox has been helpful but informed Brendan that he walked into the same situation in Lenox and it took him several weeks at 40hrs/week to close the books. The Board asked if it would help to have someone help him such as an Accountant from a surrounding town, someone from Softright or possibly one of the firms advertised in The Beacon. The Board asked M. Noe to contact Barbara Gauthier and see if she would be willing to help. Brendan said that he feels he can do it but it’s a lot of work and there are a lot of pieces of information he needs that he has not had any experience with yet. The amount of work required to get this
completed is going to take a significant amount of time.
The board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to review the following:
1. Lockouts at Deerwood Cir. and post office
2. Mutual aid call in New Marlborough for a domestic.
3. The department is still following up on calls regarding the missing person from Gould Farm.
4. Trees across Main Rd, Hupi Rd and Tyringham Rd (2)
5. False alarms on Hupi Rd and Woodland Ave.
6. Neighbor complaint on Beartown, this issue has been cleared up.
7. Disabled MV on Pixley Rd.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Special Town Meeting:
a. The Board asked M. Noe to confirm that Maynard will be at the meeting to answer any questions regarding the easement article.
b. Muriel informed the rest of the Board that she has had more email communications with Jon Sylbert regarding the firemen’s retiree tax abatement amendment and it appears that he is now in agreement with the Board’s interpretation and reasons for cleaning the article up.
c. The COA article will need to be amended on the town meeting floor as the former Accountant, Barbara Gauthier called and stated that you cannot transfer money on town meeting floor from the reserve fund; it has to be from free cash.
d. Muriel will make sure that someone from the Library Trustees will be at the meeting to answer any questions on the 2 library articles.
2. At 9:30am Donald Clawson, Principal Assessor came in for the classification hearing and stated that the Assessor’s are recommending one tax rate. The Board accepted the one tax rate and signed the necessary paperwork.
3. Don confirmed that he and Mari the Tax Collector have decided that they are going to go forward with the preliminary bills since it is going to take longer than they had hoped for the Accountant and Treasurer to close the books. He noted that next year is the 9yr reevaluation and it is very likely that this will happen again as the state will require that every property be reevaluated and all personal property be inspected. This reevaluation will include the value of the cell tower with which Don has no experience. The Board of Assessors will need extra outside help with all of this next year and will be increasing their budget. Don informed the Board that the town’s value is currently $502million.
4. School survey:
a. The Board reviewed the revised intro paragraph for the school survey and a motion was made to approve the final version. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
b. A motion was made to approve the final set of 7 questions. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
c. The Board instructed M. Noe to send this out right away and to print copies for the Town Meeting.
5. Richard Tryon came in to state that next spring he feels the town will be facing many dead ash trees around town and wants to know what the town is going to do about taking them down. He felt that the Board should be putting aside money to take care of these trees. The Board will get in touch with the Tree Warden to make him aware of the issue and to request an inventory of how many trees will need attention. Dick also expressed concerns about the costs of the fire department responses. He felt that too often more firemen respond to a call than are needed. He thinks that the first four that respond should be the ones paid. He also complained about the Highway Department using salt on the roads the other night – the Board stated that there was ice and the salt was needed.
The Board will follow up with the Highway Department to be sure that the computers are working properly as it did seem to some that more salt was spread than was necessary. Dick still stands firm with the belief that they turn off the computers which are responsible for regulating the amount of salt distributed.
6. The minutes from 11.18.13 were approved as written.
7. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Lois Storch’s resignation from the Library Trustees due to extensive winter travel plans.
b. Invitation to a program at the Stockbridge Library on 11/24.
8. The Board approved the special event permit for the Bidwell House on November 30th.
9. Warrants were signed.
10. The Board agreed to not meet on the 23rd of December.
11. Executive Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:15am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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