Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/18/14
Meeting Opened at: 4pm
Select Board Members Present: Muriel Lazzarini, Chairperson, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Bethany Mielke, Don Clawson and Stanley Ross
The board met with Town Treasurer, Bethany Mielke to review the following:
1. FY15 expenses budget request increase: The Board understands that the additional $2,000 requested is to cover sharing of paper and ink with the Accountant and schooling. The Board inquired how much the classes are; one of the classes is a 3 day class which is $631 and then there is another one in UMASS which she could commute to which would be a savings to the Town as a hotel stay wouldn’t be necessary. Bethany will find out and get back to the Board. She noted that this expense used to be split between 3 towns as the previous Treasurer worked for several towns. The paper and ink and sharing it is not a new expense and Bethany in reviewing her requests thinks that it may have been a typo on her part. It was agreed to amend her expense budget request to $3130 which is a $600
increase.
2. Muriel stated that at the end of last year there was $11,330 in the Retiree Stabilization Fund, another $3,000 was appropriated at town meeting. Muriel inquired as to why the new total isn’t $14,330 and instead is listed as $14,168 on the trial balance report.
3. Muriel asked when funds are added to the accounts after they are voted on at town meeting. Stan stated that this occurs in June.
4. Trial Balance Report: Muriel noted that the columns aren’t labeled and asked if this could be fixed in the report.
5. Muriel inquired what the Betterment Title V line item was that had $15,000+ in it on the Trial Balance Report. No one was sure what this was but Stan suggested that it was actually a receivable but no one knew where the money went to.
6. Town Reserve Fund: At the special town meeting in December a correction was made to the COA account for a $2,800 error and the transfer on the warrant was instructed to come from the reserve fund and Muriel inquired if this has been done; Bethany will look and get back to the Board.
7. The Board inquired as to what the status of the loan for the grader is. Bethany stated that she is waiting on exact numbers from Maynard and then they will go out to bid to see who will provide the loan at the best rate. This payment will need to go on this year’s warrant if the loan is finalized prior to July 1, the beginning of FY15. The Board suggested looking into a 7 year loan instead of a 5 year loan to try to lower the payment.
8. The Board addressed a concern with the vendor checks that are being sent out. The current window envelopes show the amount that the check is for through the window and the Board is concerned that this could be encouraging theft. They requested that Bethany find a different envelope or another solution to this issue as soon as possible so that the amounts no longer show through.
9. Muriel informed Bethany that the FY15 budget has been expanded from Assistant Treasurer to Accountant/Treasurer Assistance/Temporary Help and that the person(s) that will fill this position will be internally to cover any absences that the Treasurer or Accountant have. The person that backs up the Treasurer will only handle payroll, not the other duties. This will be an hourly position and the Select Board has chosen Mari Enoch to be Bethany’s backup and Donald Clawson to be the backup for Brendan.
10. Muriel informed Bethany that several departments have come to the Board with concerns about the promptness of Bethany’s responses to their inquiries. Bethany agreed that she will work on this.
11. Bethany stated that payroll is going really well and the e-signatures for the warrants are being received in a timely manner from the Board. She stated that she has sent out direct deposit forms to all of the employees that aren’t currently on it to try to lower the cost of the checks but it hasn’t gone over as well as she had hoped. Bethany feels that things are going well and she is enjoying it but there are still a lot of things that she needs to learn.
12. The Board inquired about a possible over/under payment that is occurring with employee’s withholding in the amount of $6,800. The Board will get more information on this and will forward it to Bethany and the Board.
13. The Finance Committee inquired if Bethany is up to date on this year’s bank reconciliations. Bethany stated that she is working on it but she is correcting an error that she had made in the system first that is affecting the reconciliations. She stated she is about 4 months behind. The Finance Committee stated that this is important and needs to be finished as soon as possible as it affects the reports that Brendan supplies to everyone.
14. Don stated that he is concerned with the “seat time” of this office and feels that Bethany needs to be more available to the other departments. He felt that this also needs to be addressed and corrected with the Accountant as well. He stated that the other departments are complaining as they aren’t able to reach Bethany and get answers in a timely fashion. They requested that she have posted hours so that the other departments know when she is available. She stated that she is usually here Monday and Tuesday evenings and some Wednesday evenings.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board updated Stan who had to leave Monday’s meeting early that there still has not been any decisions made on employee salaries for FY15.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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