Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 7/15/13
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, Jean Sonner, Joanne Conti, Lisamarie D’Orazio, Winston Wilson, Maynard Forbes and Eugene Bounous
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ to review the following:
1. Caterpillar grader – Maynard brought in the paperwork for the Board to sign to place the order for the grader after the corrected vote at Friday’s special town meeting.
2. Maynard informed the Board that Peter Leprevost has put in his retirement papers effective September 27th of this year. Maynard has a job description ready to be advertised but would like the ECAC to come up with a starting figure for the position.
3. Maynard stated he brought in bills today only to learn that the Accountant will not be in. Muriel was told that bills will be processed on Wednesday and she will sign the warrant on Wednesday and then the checks will be issued. Maynard stated that he has also never been notified of the last day to submit FY13 bills before the books will be closed. Maynard is concerned that all departments are not being notified of this crucial information. He also stated that he submitted a bill for partial payment to the painters (1 week ago today) and the check has not been issued and he has no one to inquire with as to why.
The board interviewed the following applicants for the Accountant position:
1. Jean Sonner, the Board thanked Jean for reapplying and explained the situation that brought us to looking for another accountant again. Jean stated her availability is flexible and she will email her references to M. Noe.
2. Joanne Conti, the Board thanked Joanne for reapplying and explained the situation that brought us to looking for another accountant again. Joanne stated that she can be very flexible with her availability. Joanne will email her references to M. Noe.
3. Lisamarie D’Orazio, the Board thanked Lisa for reapplying and explained the situation that brought us to looking for another accountant again. The Board felt that the only issue here might be that Lisa is unavailable on Mondays but she is available on Thursdays and Fridays. Lisa also informed the Board that she does have a planned vacation coming up. Lisa provided a list of references and is available immediately.
4. The Board discussed how they were going to pay the trainer (Maryellen) and the new person at the same time. It was noted that while paying both at the same time we can put the overage on the special town meeting held prior to the town meeting to transfer from reserves or we could use the temporary town employee line item as well. The Board will get the Finance Committee’s thoughts on the matter.
5. Muriel spoke with Pat and will speak with Bethany this week about her schedule as the Board is requesting to have the payroll warrants ready by Tuesday mornings instead of Tuesday evenings/Wednesday mornings which would require the Treasurer to come in on Mondays.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Winston Wilson, Tree Warden came in to discuss some of his concerns with the position and the number of hours being put into the position. The Board suggested he keep a log for this year to determine if the salary needs to be modified to adequately reflect the amount of time being dedicated to the position.
2. Eugene Bounous of 31 Main Rd came in to complain about the stop work order placed on the work being done on his property with regards to the stormwater management plan for the cell tower project. Eugene was directed to the Building Commissioner/Zoning Enforcement Officer. Eugene states he has never seen the stormwater management plans that are noted in the ZBA special permit documents. Don Torrico came up later to state that the stop work order has been lifted since the contractor is returning to the original design that was approved by the ZBA.
3. Muriel gave a summary of the Special Town Meeting. All the articles passed and one item was tabled due to the fact that the original request to change the voting day to the Tuesday after town meeting was never sent to the AG’s office for approval. The Clerk’s office has since sent this in for approval and if we want to change the date back we can put the article on the ATM warrant in May.
4. Insurance: The Board will let Bethany know that while the Select Board will be assuming the insurance responsibilities there is going to be a time lapse in assuming it as a whole. The Board is still waiting to hear from MIIA regarding who our new rep will be. M. Noe is concerned about who will be handling the billing of retirees for their portion of the premium. The Board also wants to confirm that the Treasurer will still be handling the Berkshire County Retirement portion.
5. The minutes from 7.8.13 were approved as written.
6. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Berkshire County Retirement System Training – this training was emailed to Bethany and the Board feels it is important to have Bethany attend. Muriel will follow up.
b. It was confirmed that probationary and junior fire department members are not paid.
c. The Board received and reviewed the additional information on fracking they requested and each select person as an individual is going to sign the requested materials.
d. The Board was given copies of the AG’s comments re: Monterey Annual Town Meeting of May 5, 2012 Case #6492 article #4 and Article #26 which contained several comments. The Board asked M. Noe to email them each a copy to review at their leisure.
7. Warrants were signed.
8. The Board compiled more questions and requests for the Fire Department.
9. Scott will be unable to attend the Select Board’s 2nd Homeowner’s Meeting.
10. The Board discussed the upcoming school meetings regarding the community schools.
11. Wayne gave an update on two meetings he’s attended one regarding the railroad proposal and one regarding Berkshire regional planning.
12. Muriel stated that the information requested by Emily Johnson, Town Clerk of Linda Thorpe and Barbara Swann has been received and there may be more requests as time goes on. The Clerk is scheduling a time for the impact printer to be picked up.
13. Muriel stated that after the special town meeting several people expressed their support in what the Board is doing to try and get the Clerks’ office running properly again.
14. Muriel provided some of the information we were requesting regarding pay rates at the library for the auditor suggested pay rate schedule to be created.
15. Muriel stated she was very pleased at the timeliness in getting the accepted handbooks distributed to the Fire Dept, Library, Town Hall employees and other paid positions. The next round of handbooks will have a table of contents and will come in a report book cover.
16. Roger Tryon shared his concerns with Scott about the use of on duty/detail officers for Tree Warden work. The policy for this will be discussed with the Chief when he next appears before the Board.
17. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:56am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
| 
