Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/11/14
Meeting Opened at: 4pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen and Kenn Basler
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Jacob Edelman for the Monterey News, Anthony Corsi of National Grid, Stanley Ross, Shawn Tryon, Karen Allen, Warren Thomson and Mickey Jervas
At 4pm the Board held a joint pole hearing for National Grid and Verizon for 19 new poles on Sandisfield Rd for the purpose of bringing electricity to 198 Sandisfield Rd. There is a 2nd option to come down Cronk Rd which would be half the distance and half the poles but Anthony needs more information from other engineers. Karen Allen was adamantly against any more poles coming down Cronk Rd. The petition today was only for poles on Sandisfield Rd. Warren Thomson on Sandisfield Rd stated that half of the poles will be going on his property and after speaking with National Grid he is ok with the work they will be doing. Shawn asked if there would be any upgrading of the lines on Sandisfield Rd, there will not. The hearing will be continued until September 8th at 4pm.
The board met with Director of Operations, Shawn Tryon to review the following:
1. Shawn reported that they are doing a lot of work on unplugging catch basins and preparing drainage for the upcoming storms.
2. The crew is out working on touching up some of the rough spots on the dirt roads.
3. Shawn is having some computer issues and is working with Dell to resolve them. Shawn asked permission to purchase an iPad (or similar notebook) to keep in the truck for note keeping; the Board approved.
4. Gas usage reports the Board is requesting: At this point weekly reports are not an option and it will cost some money to upgrade this. The petroleum company that creates the reports only comes twice a year right now. Shawn will look into how much it will cost to be able to generate the reports himself. The pumps are out of date so keeping a log as requested by the Board isn’t an option. Currently each vehicle has a card they swipe when they fill up and the report only states what card was swiped and how much gas they used.
5. M. Noe informed the Board and Shawn that the Town Manager in New Marlborough called and requested that the Board and/or Shawn attend a joint meeting on Sept 12th at 10:30am to discuss sharing services/equipment.
6. Scott proposed an idea about an updated shed for the Transfer Station attendant. Shawn stated that the power for the compactors are located in that shed so he would have to look further into that. Shawn asked if the redesign of the transfer station was going to be put on this year’s town meeting warrant before we spend any money on just one of the sheds. Shawn felt there is a liability with the way the transfer station is currently set up.
7. Wayne asked about the possibility of taking early collections for the rigid plastic collection in Otis and transporting the early collections to Otis for our residents. Shawn felt that right now the crew has a lot on their plates and can’t take this on this year but will take to Jamie at CET about maybe hosting our own event here.
8. Kenn asked about the lack of signage at the Transfer Station and keeping the shed clean. Shawn felt that to keep it tidy and keep items out of there that shouldn’t be in there would require hiring someone to police it. Kenn also stated that there was an incident last week where a contractor was bringing the trash from a project in Gt. Barrington. This is very costly to Monterey. Shawn stated that accepting the bulky waste is better than not because then you are less likely to end up with the waste on the side of the road.
At 4:30pm the Board opened the bid opening for RT 57 paving. The following bids were received:
- Tri-Town Paving: $75.02/ton
- Lane Construction: $94/ton and $190/ton
- DelSignore: $73.97/ton
- LB Corp: $75.90/ton
Shawn will review the bids and advise the Board of his recommendation next week.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Treasurer informed the Board that she will be attending classes at UMASS for the rest of the week.
2. Barbara Gauthier asked M. Noe to have the Board to confirm that she still has permission to assist Brendan with the books. The Board unanimously agreed that she should continue until she feels that Brendan is up to speed and the books are in good shape.
3. The Board discussed the booth we have available at Summerfest in GT on the 23rd from 3 – 9pm. The Bidwell House is interested in participating as is the library and our School Committee representative. Scott will lend his pop-up tent for the event and Kenn will lend some tables. Kenn stated that the library will take the first shift and do the set up. It was agreed that all parties interested should plan on manning the booth for at least 2 hours.
4. Mickey Jervas came in to congratulate the Board on their decision to appoint Shawn as the new Director of Operations as she’s already seen many positive things happening and he seems very enthusiastic. She also came to complain about the last 5 out of 7 times she has went to the Transfer Station there have been several cars parked in front of the containers just talking and perusing blocking the ability for others to throw trash away. She suggested that an “unloading only” sign be placed there to encourage traffic flow.
5. M. Noe provided the Board with sample evaluation forms from surrounding towns in the area as well as the evaluation form that the Town used in the past for review in their decision making process on whether or not to institute evaluations.
6. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Town Counsel sent an email in response to a Board member’s question regarding MGL Chapter 41 Section 23c stating that this statue does require a town meeting vote. Kenn stated that he was the one that asked the question because 2 residents had raised a question regarding the Select Board’s authority to appoint an Executive Secretary or Town Manager. Kenn states that the Board didn’t have the authority to change M. Noe’s title from Inter-Departmental Secretary to Executive Secretary. Wayne stated that this was pretty much a red herring and that when they made this title change they did not change any of the duties M. Noe performs and questioned whether or not Kenn had anything better to do than focus on such trivial matters. Kenn made a motion that
since the Board didn’t have the authority to change the title that they should change it back to Inter-Departmental Secretary and stop all contract talks as she would no longer be entitled to a contract. Scott felt this line that Kenn was going down was inappropriate and that he should rescind his motion. M. Noe did provide a copy of the statute that allows M. Noe a contract despite her title. Opinions from Attorney Collins were also provided that showed he determined that the functions of M. Noe’s job make her eligible. Kenn rescinded the motion and discussion ensued about the inappropriateness of Kenn’s suggestions. Questions were raised about Town Counsel’s opinion that offering a contract would change the at will status of the position and wanted more information on that. The Board was reminded that by entering into the 2 other contracts in town the at will status of those positions were changed and this
situation is no different. Kenn stated that they are and would not supply any more justification as to why they were. The Board agreed to ask Town Counsel to come in to discuss the at will status questions that were raised by Board.
7. Kenn updated the Board on his conversations with the concerned citizens near the Hume camp. Camp Hume wanted to change the date of the meeting when they learned Kenn was coming. Kenn suggested that it was more important to have the meeting early and withdrew from their meeting.
8. Executive Secretary’s weekly report was reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:40pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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