Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 2/10/14
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, Brendan Fletcher, Dan Moriarity, Stanley Ross, Donald Clawson and Mark Makuc
The board met with Town Accountant, Brendan Fletcher to review the following:
1. Brendan has a call into Eric Kinsherf and is awaiting an answer regarding closing of the books.
2. He had received an email from Maynard regarding some mistakes with payments to Ormsbee’s Garage; Brendan has taken care of this.
3. Brendan is still looking into the paving money inquiry the Board had.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board reviewed the items to be discussed at the upcoming multi-board meeting: master plan review, Charrette System, BRPC help, WMH, Bidwell House, library and school. Muriel intends to ask each of the representatives for each of these building to refrain from requesting any money for any projects for FY15 until the Town can work on a master plan for all of these projects.
2. Monterey Fire Company: Muriel noted that when she signed the warrants there were documents for a building use agreement left on the table and she wasn’t sure if these needed to be signed and given to someone specific as there weren’t any instructions on them. Wayne thought they looked like a draft agreement. The Board will wait until next week to find out who left them.
3. An email was sent to the Treasurer and cc’d to the Board inquiring where the on-call pay was for the firemen which was submitted in time for payroll. The Treasurer did respond to Maynard letting him know that this was her mistake and she was correcting it.
4. The electrician did fix the compactor on Friday but it stopped working on Saturday but a temporary solution has been put into place.
5. Recap of SBRSD meeting the Board attended last week. The documents handed out at that meeting were discussed. There will be 2 more meetings regarding the budget. The Board is going to ask that the Business Manager and Superintendent attend the Select Board meeting on the 24th.
6. The Board signed a letter for the Bidwell House to assist them in applying for a grant.
7. The Board met with Dan Moriarity and Stanley Ross of the Finance Committee to discuss the following:
a. The FY15 figures for the SBRSD capital & operating were updated with the figures provided at last week’s meeting.
b. Muriel and Stan updated Dan and the rest of the Select Board on their suggestions for the budget which were discussed at the Fin Comm’s meeting on Thursday which included paying for the new cruiser and the highway 4500 truck from stabilization.
c. Muriel confirmed with Maynard that the reason for the increase in the Bally Gally budget is because he is anticipating more repairs than last year.
d. There was concern about the Septic Loan program. A payment has not been made this FY. It was suggested that perhaps we could take the money from the stabilization account designated for this purpose and pay it off. Muriel will follow up with Bethany on this.
e. The Board and Fin Comm agreed that the request for a fire truck on the capital expenditures spreadsheet should be moved from FY16 to FY18.
f. There may be another special article request submitted by the Town Clerk for a service that will come in and catalogue and organize the town records located in the records room. She will be presenting this to the Board on Monday. Stan suggested that instead of this being a special article it should be added to the Town Clerk’s expense line item.
g. Stan inquired as to what the Town’s involvement will be in the 501(c) 3 status of the WMH once it is turned over to the Town to operate. Muriel explained that after 2 years it will be turned over to the Town, someone will need to be hired to handle scheduling, etc. Muriel was unsure if the non-profit would disband as they would no longer be involved in the operations of the building.
h. Assistant Town Treasurer line item: Bethany has not yet requested that this be kept on the warrant. Scott noted that the agreement was that this stipend for an assistant was only for one year. Muriel and Stan were concerned that Bethany was not yet in a position to perform this job by herself yet. If we were to continue this position it was questioned whether the current arrangement could work with Pat Mielke being in Florida and only available by phone. It was suggested that the title of this line item be changed so that it is just a line item which could pay for help when needed from someone such as Eric Kinsherf who is currently assisting the Accountant. It was also suggested that someone should be familiar with the position of the Accountant and Treasurer’s positions to handle their positions/responsibilities when they are away. The Board will keep the $3,000 in the budget but will change the line item title from Assistant Treasurer to Accountant/Treasurer
Assistance/Temporary Help which will be shared by the Accountant and Treasurer for Assistance from a source chosen by the Select Board. Don Clawson will check with the Bureau of Accounts to determine if the Accountant can hold multiple positions as he recalls that there was something in the laws stating that the Accountant could not.
i. The Board and Fin Comm agreed that the request by the Town Clerk for an additional $2,000 salary is certainly warranted considering the extra hours she has put in trying to get this office back in shape and the great job she has done with Linda Hunt’s help. It was suggested that since she will be assuming more of the load and will most likely not need as many hours help from Linda that the Assistant Town Clerk line item be lowered by $2,000 (she is paid $20/hour, this is not a stipend).
j. The Board and Finance Committee discussed the letter written by Jon Sylbert in the February Monterey News and questioned why some transfers which were done under this Board are wrong when they were also done at Jon’s suggestion while he was on the Board
k. Concern and frustration was expressed by all that the Treasurer and Accountant have yet to reconcile their numbers and close the books for FY13.
8. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Notification from DEP that we’ve received $1,482.83 for our recyclable materials delivered to the MRF for the first half of FY14.
b. Invitation to the MMA spring legislative breakfast. Muriel and Wayne will be attending.
c. The Board and Finance Committee unanimously agreed to level fund the compensation for the firemen for training and education.
9. Mark Makuc complained to the Board about the non-responsiveness from the Treasurer and Accountant. He stated he’s sent them both emails about issues he’s found on several occasions and cannot get answers from them without chasing them down.
10. Warrants were signed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:40am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
via audio recording
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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