Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/7/13
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, Sergeant Johnson, Emily Johnson, Brendan Fletcher, Stanley Ross, Donald Clawson and Robert Lazzarini
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes’ to review the following:
1. Weekly reports were reviewed.
2. New Marlboro Rd paving is complete; the lines will be repainted in the spring.
3. Cronk Rd and Chestnut Hill have been re-graveled.
4. Osh Kosh has been sent to the dealer; needed springs but the dealer is having difficulty locating the parts and it may be 10 – 12 weeks before we get them, other options are being looked at.
5. RT 23 update; there is still some uncertainty on whether or not we will receive funding from the state. Ours is one of three projects being sent to Boston for District 1 and if it gets passed the project will begin in the spring.
6. Maynard provided a cost analysis to add a 4th highway member and what additional equipment would be needed. Currently we pay $46,475 to outside contractors to mow, if a 4th highway member was added they would take over the mowing as well as other maintenance items in town; Maynard estimates that it would cost the town in the end $21,677/yr and it would benefit the town in the winter having an extra person to plow. See attached analysis. Maynard reminded the Board that they will also need to consider adding funds and potential manpower to the budget to operate and maintain the WMH when and if the community center opens.
7. Maynard went up to the WMH property today and someone has mowed the property for the upcoming event. 4thhwyanaylsis0.pdf
8. Abandoning/decommissioning roads discussion continued from last month: Town Counsel does not recommend decommissioning roads. Maynard provided the process to abandon a road which would require the Select Board holding hearings and then placing signs on the abandoned road stating “travel at your own risk” as they would no longer be maintained by the town. Maynard is going to make a list of suggested roads to be abandoned that aren’t used and n one lives on. If they become abandoned a landowner would still be able to build on it.
9. Lake Garfield drawdown: Chris Blair of the Conservation Commission came in last week and informed the Board that the Order of Conditions is flexible in the dates you can start and end drawdown. Maynard stated that drawdown has almost no impact on Lake Buel. He stated that the dam had been closed last year when the hurricane hit and the Prudential Committee was complaining about the water filling Lake Buel when in fact it was actually runoff from the storm. Going forward the town will recommend that boater’s on Lake Garfield should take their boats out of the lake no later than October 1st as drawdown may begin as early as October 1st depending on weather conditions. He will let the Prudential Committee know when the dam is opened.
10. Maynard left a message for Winston Wilson about the branch on Beartown Mtn Rd and M. Noe stated that she informed Winston in person last week of Jerry Green’s visit and Winston said he would call Jerry himself. Maynard and Scott noted that it is questionable whether or not this branch is on town property or private property.
11. The Board asked M. Forbes his opinion on selling Bally Gally; he would be in favor of it. Originally this house was supposed to be for the caretaker of the property but if it is sold the money would go to the scholarship fund.
The board met with Town Accountant, Brendan Fletcher and Finance Committee members Donald Clawson and Stanley Ross to review the following items:
1. Rollovers from FY13 budget to FY14 budget that weren’t processed and that are affecting the Accountant and Assessors departments:
a. There are several simple items that can be closed out and returned to the reserve fund.
b. Mark Makuc, Library Director came in last week because the town’s books and his books were $6,000 off. There were incorrect items posted to his account like $2,000 toward the total audit bill and $4,000 for FY14 items that were posted to the wrong year. These were corrected.
c. In the future all departments need to put the proper account numbers on their schedule of bills payable. Brendan will be sending a memo to all departments notifying them of this new requirement. The Board suggested that Brendan shouldn’t accept anything submitted that isn’t done properly.
d. The Board reviewed expense reports distributed and had questions on several line items that went over. Overall we are in good shape and the final balance is on the positive side. Expense reports will now be distributed regularly to all departments on a monthly basis.
e. It was discussed whether or not an assistant should be hired for Brendan until the department gets caught up correcting all of the mistakes from before he started as was done for the Treasurer and Town Clerk’s offices. The Finance Committee is going to speak with Maryellen about her willingness to help and how many hours she feels it would take to get the office caught up. Stan suggested that the same stipend ($3,000) that was offered to the Assistant Treasurer be offered to an Assistant Accountant for their availability for the rest of the FY.
f. Stan stated that there are some accounts like the Tree Warden’s expenses from last year that weren’t spent and Stan thought it could be rolled over into the next FY instead of going to free cash and that another new budget shouldn’t have been approved. The Board questioned whether this could be done, it was their assumption that monies not spent in one FY are rolled into free cash for the next FY and not rolled over into that department’s budget for the next FY.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. David Hastings, Superintendent of SBRSD came in to discuss the individual town’s priorities for the district to determine where we are and what direction we are going in. The Board stated that PR for our schools really needs to be ramped up. Scott and Muriel also suggested that the building is so large and the district should consider renting out some of the rooms. Wayne felt that building a district feeling versus one outlying school against the other was important. David noted that there may be some confusion on where the funds are coming from to build a Monterey Community School and stated that he has heard opposition to it if Monterey was requesting the district to pay for it. The Board intends to request the funds from the Monterey citizenry. It does feel that the
School Committee should take into consideration the monies that were not spent on the upkeep/maintenance of the current building. The Board felt that the district has forgotten about the trades/vocational aspect of attending school and should focus on revitalizing these programs.
2. Next Monday is a holiday, the town hall is closed and there aren’t any meetings.
3. The attached memo regarding the Senior tax work-off abatement will be distributed to the chairs of the Conservation Commission, Cultural Council, Veteran’s Memorial Committee and WMH Committee. Senior WorkOff Tax Abatement 10.13.doc
4. Mileage reimbursement: currently the rate is at the current rate as set by the federal Government Services Administration (GSA). As of April 2012 the rate is 55.5¢., it has been raised recently by the GSA and one employee has submitted a reimbursement request with the new rate which has not officially been accepted by the Board yet. The Board is going to find out how often this rate is changed to correspond with our handbook. Wayne also suggested that the Monterey School Committee representative should be reimbursed for her travel to all the various meetings she’s required to attend. It was questioned what line item this would come from as there isn’t a line item for that this year – it will be considered for next year.
5. The minutes from 9.30.13 were approved with one correction.
6. ECAC meeting update:
a. All members were present.
b. Vacation and sick leave tracking module to be added to the accounting software – the committee has recommended adding this as this used to be tracked by Barbara Gauthier when she was Accountant but when Steve Pullen became accountant he refused to do it. This module would track time off taken and would appear on everyone’s paycheck. The ECAC is recommending adding this module which will cost an additional $500/year in support (this will be added to the $6232.09 we already pay). Softright will only charge $250 for support for the remainder of this fiscal year and $250 for 2 hours of remote training for the Treasurer. A motion was made to add this module which was seconded and unanimously approved.
c. PPO policy: The ECAC recommends adding the 3 policies offered by MIIA and allow the employee to choose which one they feel best fits their needs. The ECAC also recommends requiring the employee that chooses a PPO plan instead of the HMO to pay the difference in the plan costs from what the town currently pays. For example if the town currently pays $1,000/mo toward an HMO policy and the PPO policy costs $1,200, the employee will be responsible for the additional $200/mo. There are some follow-up questions for MIIA; the discussion will be continued at the next meeting.
d. The 2 subcommittees will be meeting to work on correcting/updating a few items in the handbook and begin working on the wages and benefits for FY15.
7. Muriel spoke more with Attorney Collins regarding the issue of setting contribution rates for health insurance. The case they are working on which was discussed at an earlier meeting should be decided sometime in early 2014. He is working on a continuity proposal which would limit coverage for retirees to what they were on when they retired.
8. There was discussion regarding the articles on the 2006 ATM warrant having to do with retirees and Chapter 32B of MGL. The Town Clerk’s office and the Executive Secretary are investigating; the discussion will continue at the next meeting.
9. Muriel inquired if Wayne had followed up with Rudy Gero on his transfer station committee concerns. M. Noe noted that she spoke to Rudy and the appointment he was referring to is Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) Advisory Board Representative. Wayne will speak to Rudy about this and inform him that this appointment requires attending meetings, usually in Springfield, regarding our recycling efforts through the MRF.
10. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Notice of filing, public hearing, procedural conference and request for comments from the Department of Public Utilities.
11. Warrants were signed.
12. Inter-Departmental Secretary’s weekly report reviewed.
a. M. Noe passed along a message from the Parks Committee that they are working on a letter to send to the camps stipulating that any camps coming to the town beach must bring a certified lifeguard with them if their numbers are greater than 20. They have not yet addressed the parking issue or enlargement of the alternate parking area. The Board was concerned that requiring a camp to bring their own lifeguard might increase the town’s liability and asked her to check with Town Counsel.
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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