Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/16/13
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, Maynard Forbes, Maryellen Brown, Robert Lazzarini, Maria Rundle, Mari Enoch, Stanley Ross, Jerry Green and Brendan Fletcher
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ to review the following:
1. Maynard received 8 applications for the skilled operator position and was able to narrow it down to 2 qualified applicants. Maynard recommended that the Select Board hire Donald Hopkins to fill the vacancy that will be created by the retirement of Peter LePrevost. Don has already been interviewed for the part time police officer position he holds and he’s also an Assessor. Don lives in town and has several other skills that will come in handy. Maynard recommended starting Don at $20/hr to compensate for the additional skills he has (plumbing, carpentry, etc.). The Board agreed to hire Donald Hopkins to fill Pete’s position starting on September 30, 2013. This decision was based on Maynard’s recommendations and review of his resume.
2. Adding a fourth highway member – Maynard wasn’t prepared to discuss this today but if the Board is willing to look into this seriously he will prepare the data and costs to review with the Board. Maynard will make a list of all the increased duties that have recently been added to his department as well as a list of duties that the Highway may be responsible for in the future. He will also determine the cost of adding an entry level position as well as any savings that would benefit other departments or commissions in town by having more in-town labor rather than contracting out needed work.
3. Abandoning/discontinuing roads: According to Town Counsel there are 2 options abandoning or discontinuing and he is still looking into this. He will get back to the Board with the information as soon as possible. Maynard reviewed the few roads that would be eligible for either of these options. He also reviewed two roadways that could be “gifted” to the state.
4. Contracts and MOU’s – Maynard felt the contracts shouldn’t be one-sided like the New Marlborough one was, the contracts should protect both parties.
5. Sylvan/Point Rds – Maynard stated that the power company is responsible for the poles, not the Town. M. Noe let the Board know that the Fire Chief is working with the Garfield Point Rd committee and he will forward along any information when he gets it. Maynard also confirmed that they will continue to plow the town owned portion of Sylvan Rd.
6. Maynard didn’t have any objections to the Board’s proposal for transfer station stickers for FY15 that was discussed at the August 26, 2013 meeting.
7. Basement: Maynard stated that the Highway Department can dig out around the walls of the foundation but we will need to find someone to seal/waterproof. The Highway Department is looking at putting in a different type of door to Don Torrico’s office that would allow for better airflow. Muriel presented the possibility of first installing air conditioners in the basement for both the building inspector and the IT closet to see if the mold and humidity problems can be solved before spending a larger sum of money on a foundation project.
8. WMH property: they requested another mowing before they hold their Octoberfest celebration. Maynard stated that they just mowed but he will go take a look.
9. Maynard provided the finished plan for the RT 23 paving project. We are waiting on approved funding from the State after the legislation votes on it next month. Maynard has contacted Representative Pignatelli’s and Senator Downing offices requesting support for our project. Senator Downing sent a letter to Peter Niles but neither would send their support to the legislation. Maynard suggested the Board write a letter to Boston – he will provide the address & text.
10. Community Innovation Challenge grant – Maynard is reviewing this but he doesn’t think we have anything that meets the criteria.
11. BRPC meeting regarding utility issues – Muriel forwarded the information to Maynard to respond if he has anything to add.
12. Muriel read a letter of commendation for Maynard from the Baystate Roads Program regarding his road scholar achievement. Muriel congratulated Maynard on this accomplishment. Muriel recommended that the Board consider adding another $1,000 to his salary for this achievement as is done when the Tax Collector, Town Clerk and Treasurer receive their certification. This will be discussed at another time.
13. Maynard said that there is now a place for up to 3 cars to park at the end of Beartown Mountian Rd that will not interfere with the plow trucks being able to turn around. There is signage there.
14. The new grader will be delivered sometime in November.
The board met with Assistant Town Accountant, Maryellen Brown to review the following items:
1 Maryellen wanted the Board to be aware that while working with Sergeant Johnson on some Council on Aging budget items it was learned that in 2011 there was a double post which shows $1,750 coming in 4 times and it only came in twice. Steve, the Accountant at the time told the Council on Aging that they had available more than they really did and because of this Cynthia Weber, a Council on Aging member at the time recommended that we give a larger amount to the SBETC to help them during the financial crisis they were having. Now the account is overdrawn by $2,800. There has to be some way to bring the account back to zero and Maryellen suggested doing this at the 9am special town meeting held prior to the Annual Town Meeting.
2. Maryellen stated that there was an article in the Monterey News from Wendy Jensen of the Cultural Council stating that they have around $4,000 to give out in grants and Maryellen noted that she cannot find this money anywhere. Maryellen will follow up with the Treasurer and give a financial update to the Cultural Council.
3. Maryellen explained her opinion regarding the Finance Committee’s recommendation to put away $21,000 each year to build up a retiree stabilization fund, she feels that the residents would be being taxed twice if we were to do this as the current funds are also raised in the Health Insurance line item. She suggested starting with $5,000 each year and working up to the larger sum of $21,000. Maryellen stated we have a healthy general stabilization fund and suggested putting $5,000 less each year in that and put it in the retiree stabilization fund. The Board also confirmed that we could have the health insurance line item lowered and transfer the retiree costs from the retiree stabilization fund to the health insurance line item each year at town meeting to cover the retiree benefit.
Wayne felt that the $21,000 recommendation was taking into account future retirees and saving for the larger future expense. Maryellen didn’t have any issues with putting monies away but she didn’t agree with building it up so quickly.
4. Muriel asked Maryellen to explain to the rest of the Board the status of the septic loan program. The Treasurer states that we owe $29,519 still to the loan title. At the 2013 town meeting we voted to close the program (which means that no one new can apply for the program), not pay it off. According to Maryellen there is approximately $40,000 earmarked for the septic repair program which will now go to the general fund since the program was closed. One is a special revenue account and one is a long term debt, they do not net each other. If we want to pay it off we will need an article to transfer from free cash or we can continue to make the final few years of payments of $5,000 at annual town meeting.
The board met with Town Accountant, Brendan Fletcher to review the following items:
1. While going through the paperwork in the office he found a warrant from early August that didn’t have any signatures. The Board reviewed it and signed them.
2. There is an issue with one Parks Department invoice submitted that didn’t have enough information and Brendan will follow up with the Parks Department chairperson.
Maria Rundle, Monterey School Committee Representative and Mari Enoch came in at the request of the Board to discuss the following regarding the Monterey Community School:
a. The special meeting to discuss the vision of the Monterey School Committee will be Thursday, September 26th. This meeting was suggested by Vito Valentini. David Hastings will also attend this meeting.
b. Muriel reviewed her notes for the meeting and supporting the Monterey program and welcomed any comments on them. The proposed program would include a 4 year old pre-k, kindergarten and 1st grade. Mari felt that a 4 year old kindergarten would be a better option than a 4 year old pre-k as the two programs require very different things and that there should only be a 1st grade if the numbers warrant it.
c. Both Maria and Mari felt that any proposed program should be able to be run with one teacher.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Jerry Green came in regarding a hanging tree on Beartown Mtn Road being held in place by the trees it is leaning against that has been there for about 3 months. He called Sergeant Johnson who referred him to the Tree Warden Winston Wilson. Winston told him on 2 separate occasions that he would get to it as soon as he could but it still has not been taken care of. Jerry stated that it is on the Schwartz property and he has spoken to the neighbor as well who stated they would take care of it. The Board will ask the Director of Operations to follow up with the Tree Warden to see if he needs help.
2. Senior Work-Off Tax Abatement: the Board reviewed the list of committees that could be eligible and discussed coming up with a process for approving these. The Board felt that these eligible committees should be made aware of the program and that at the authorization of the committee eligible members that meet the criteria and perform duties outside of regular meetings. M .Noe will work on a description for approval.
3. The WMH is requesting more Monterey flags to sell at their Octoberfest festivities. The Board agreed to give more flags to the WMH committee to sell and to let them keep the funds.
4. WiredWest testimony – the Board will work on the letter for next week.
5. The Board would like to send a thank you letter to Bridget Krans for her time on the Planning Board.
6. Muriel did speak with Linda Thorpe and she is working on getting the documents requested together and to town hall.
7. The minutes from 9/16/13 were approved with one minor amendment.
8. A motion was made to reappoint Jeremia thru June 30, 2014. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Muriel suggested looking at other municipal attorneys for FY15 and what fees they charge and what kind of services you get for those fees. Scott and Wayne did not have any issues with our current counsel.
9. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Update from Koppelman and Paige (thru another town) regarding an amendment to Chapter 30B which now states that the solicitation of three (3) quotes is only required for the procurement of goods and services estimated to cost $10,000 or more but less than $25,000. As a result of this amendment which became effective with the Governor’s approval of the budget, municipalities may use “sound business practices” for the procurement of good and services under $10,000
b. Approval from the Attorney General’s office re: Monterey Annual Town Meeting of May 7, 2011 – Case #6883 Warrant Articles #30 and #31 (general).
c. Upcoming event at Mt Everett. Chris Herren, former NBA player and legend from Fall River, MA will be speaking about the destructive power of substance abuse on September 23 at 12:30.
10. Warrants were signed.
11. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. Days off requests were approved.
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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