Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/26/13
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, Emily Johnson, Stanley Ross and Donald Clawson
The board met with Stanley Ross and Donald Clawson of the Finance Committee to review the following:
1. Other post-employment benefits (OPEB) and the actuarial study received from Pat Mielke, former Treasurer (copies of the report may be requested thru the Executive Secretary). Stan explained that the retiree health insurance benefit is an unfunded mandate. Don and Stan reviewed the actuarial report and stated that thru 2056 the town will pay approximately $900,000+/- total in post-employment benefits for the current set of 7 employees and 1 retiree. Present value of benefits is approximately $400,000 (if we wanted to fund the benefits program right now in totality this would be the bottom line to be deposited in the fund). These figures will change with new employees, deaths, etc. The Finance Committee based on their review of the report recommends that the assumptions in the report
be rerun every 5 years and that we should be raising about $20,981 each year for the retiree stabilization fund. Employees have to be vested for 10 years before being eligible for this post employment benefit. Prior to Steve Pullen leaving he stated there was approximately $14,000+ in the fund.
2. The Board is still waiting for a response from the Accountant on whether or not there is a different type of account to put the OPEB monies into that doesn’t require a 2/3 vote to transfer from.
3. Retired Firemen Tax Abatement: currently 2 people are this but in the future the Board is concerned that there could be several firemen receiving a large combined total in abatements and would like to plan accordingly. The bylaw currently allows any retired member of the Monterey Volunteer Fire Department to receive at least 70% of a tax exemption provided that said individual has reached his or her 60th~birthday prior to the fiscal year for which an exemption is being sought, and has served as a member of the Department for not less than 15 years immediately preceding his or her retirement. ~If retiring after 20 years of service, the retiree shall receive 80% of such allowable exemption, and after 30 years of service, shall receive 90% of such allowable exemption (up to $1,500/yr). Don
felt that planning for this wasn’t necessary as he didn’t feel that the number of people that would be eligible would be large enough to make a significant impact on the town.
4. Stan stated that when the Schedule A was submitted to the State the additional $14,000 approved for the WMH at town meeting was never added in but there was $15,000 from something else that was so there is a $1,000 difference in the numbers submitted. The Accountant is currently working with the State on fixing this.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Emily Johnson, Town Clerk came in to let the Board know that after leaving the meeting last week she and Linda Hunt spoke to the State and only 1 marriage has been filed properly with the State since 2009 and it is estimated that there actually around 40+/- that should’ve been filed. Emily confirmed that while Debbie Mielke was sitting as town clerk she did start filing some delayed certificates when she realized there was an issue which is what Linda and Emily are working on right now. Emily confirmed that it appears we will have the same problem with death certificates but Emily and Linda will work on that once they get the marriage licenses all fixed and up to date. The Board inquired if this will cause any issues for the couples that filed their marriage licenses here and Emily
confirmed that it could delay things with Social Security or insurance filings, etc. Emily stressed that the OmniForm software that the town purchased that Barbara Swann still has would really come in handy in processing the delayed marriage certificates that need to be taken care of and requested that the Board assist her in getting it returned. Emily stated that Linda Hunt was in talks with the appropriate State office to see if there could be an easier method of correcting this problem for our town rather than filing so many delayed marriage certificates that require six pages each of documentation.
2. The Board continued the discussion on the FY15 Transfer Station Stickers and reviewed the surrounding town survey of transfer stations and their fees(see below) and decided on the following fee schedule for FY15, but also wanted input from the Director of Operations and Police Chief: 2 household stickers will remain at $60 (requires a license plate number and must be affixed to the vehicle), temporary stickers without a license plate which are valid for one month will remain at $20 per month and we will be adding an extended family rate which will be $15 for additional stickers above the 2 household stickers and they will require a license plate number and will be required to be affixed to the vehicle. It was stressed again that residents that rent their houses on a weekly or monthly basis
should consider having household trash pickup rather than having their renters use the transfer station.
3. Stanley Ross informed the Board that one member of the Finance Committee has been unable to participate and he plans to speak with him about his upcoming availability..
4. The minutes from 8.19.13 were approved as amended.
5. The Board continued to review Attorney Collin’s response on contracts and memorandums of understanding. Muriel asked M. Noe to remind Maynard about asking for samples of contracts for Highway Members from other towns. Muriel is going to follow up with Attorney Collins to find out the feasibility of creating a bylaw that would keep an employees health benefits at the same split as what they were hired to help in preventing future deleterious motions to cut benefits at town meeting.
6. The Board discussed whether or not to respond to Barbara Swann and Linda Thorpe regarding the OmniForm software the town purchased that Barbara still has at her house and copies of town records that Linda Thorpe still has at her home with regards to the Clerk’s Office. The Board is going to wait on the State’s response to item #1 above before making a decision on whether or not to pursue the software issue with Barbara and sent the following attached response to Linda Thorpe with regards to the records she still has at her house that the Town Clerk is requesting. LThorperecordsreq8.13.pdf
7. Mowing at the WMH property: The Board reviewed Maynard’s response to mow at the WMH property. He explained that the highway department has never been responsible for mowing the fields up there as all they have are lawn mowers. It was noted that in the past Bob Heath had been doing the mowing as a volunteer. Maynard requested that a plan for the maintenance of the property be provided to him. He noted that the Town needs to start looking at this issue; who will snowplow, mow, maintain, clean, etc. His department cannot keep getting jobs and responsibilities added without more help. Maynard also noted that he was able to find someone that will mow there this week (Thurs or Fri). The town of Monterey, as lessor, is responsible for the maintenance of the property.
8. Beaver trapping at Brewer Pond: The Board reviewed Maynard’s response with regards to Alice Berke’s request that the beaver trapping stop at Brewer Pond. Maynard provided pictures and stated that last year when the Town opened the gate on 10/15/12 to drain Lake Garfield as per the Conservation Commission Order of Conditions; the lake was down 4 or 5 feet and then started coming back up. In December they found the beavers had plugged up the outlet at the dam and it was under water. They had to borrow a boat, chop thru ice to get to the underwater outlet and have someone clean out the plugged up pipe (which is 3 foot in diameter) from above. This took 3 days, 4 men, $200 to replace the oars that were broken and was extremely dangerous. This pipe is underwater when the lake is full and
when they drain it, it becomes exposed and that’s when the beavers can plug it up, which they did. If it were to be plugged, the Town would have flooding of some homes around the lake among other problems. He explained that the Town cannot put up a beaver deceiver fence as it is under water and cannot be kept clean and would be a hazard. The Town will most likely be setting a trap again this year to prevent the beavers from blocking it again. The Board asked M. Noe to summarize Maynard’s response to Alice and to let her know that this will most likely be occurring again this coming year.
9. A motion was made to appoint Fiona DeRis to the ECAC for a one year term. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
10. Parks Commission: The Board requested that the Parks Department discuss the town beach access at their next meeting with the understanding that the State requires 150 feet between the ramp and any swimming areas and to consider Scott’s suggestion of having an additional lifeguard on duty to handle the larger number of people at the public beach.
11. Wayne suggested that the Board review and consider paying stipends to the Chairs of several of our unpaid committees and Boards as a lot of them are requiring a lot more time and effort than they once did.
12. Muriel summarized the most recent School Committee meeting and the Eagle’s interpretation of the meeting in this morning’s paper.
13. Scott updated the Board on the progress of getting estimates for the proposed Monterey Education Center.
14. The Board is still trying to work on trying to sign the warrants digitally until they can be signed at the next meeting.
15. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Email from J. Sylbert regarding the most recent ECAC minutes as well as a response on the email to the Board from M. Noe which she will be presenting to the ECAC at their next meeting. (attached) The Board congratulated M. Noe on the research she did on the actual cost of employee health benefits to a taxpayer and felt that this was the exact type of information the Board needs at town meeting to defend the current benefits package. M. Noe did note that there is one typo in her calculations regarding the total budget and this was noted on the document. M. Noe also requested that a mission statement be created for the ECAC; the Board suggested that this item be added to the next ECAC meeting agenda to discuss as the scope of their research and items to advise the Board on has
grown with each meeting. mNoeresptoJSylbert8.13.pdf
b. Maynard forwarded an email to the Board from Bethann Steiner of Senator Downing’s Office to Peter Niles at MassDOT urging them to consider the RT 23 reconstruction project as a shovel ready project to be started on in the spring using State funds. The Board wanted to thank Maynard for all the hard work he has done in getting this project to it’s shovel ready state and for all of the paperwork he has filed in trying to get state and grant monies.
16. Warrants were signed.
17. Reminder that next Monday (9/2) is a holiday and the Board will not be meeting.
18. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Sticker Fee Comparison:
Town |
Sticker Price |
# of Stickers allowed |
Cost for Additional Stickers |
Charge for Bulky Waste? |
Require License #? |
Comments |
Monterey |
$60 |
2 |
$60 for 2 more |
no |
yes |
temporary stickers with no license plate # can be purchased for $20 each after purchasing your 2 stickers for the household. They are good for one month |
Tyringham |
$70 if not purchased by 7/31 goes up to $80 |
1 |
sticker price |
yes |
no |
Town Admin reviews the 911 address list with our attendant to see if everyone using the transfer station has purchased a sticker, the ones who use it and have not purchased sticker get a bill |
Otis |
$50 residential $300 commercial |
2 |
$20 each |
yes |
no |
renters can purchase a weekly sticker for $6/week |
Stockbridge |
$25 each |
|
$25 each |
yes |
|
|
Alford |
$40 < age 62 $35 > age 62 |
2 |
|
yes |
no |
they use an assessor's list to confirm residence |
Becket |
$40 < age 65 $20 > age 65 |
1 |
$3 |
yes |
|
No permit = $1 per 30gallon bag of trash |
Egremont |
included in taxes |
1 per car per household |
incl in taxes |
yes |
no |
|
Sheffield |
$175 and $120 for a qualified senior |
1 |
$10 for 2nd sticker |
no |
yes |
renters use landlord's plate number, price is same as a resident |
| 
