Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/17/14
Meeting Opened at: 4pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen and Kenn Basler
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Ray Tryon, Barbara Gauthier, Robert Lazzarini, Muriel Lazzarini, Norma Champigny, Bethany Mielke, Larry Klein, Richard Tryon, Susan Gallant, Emily Johnson and Steve Weisz
Copies of the sample Collins Group report done for the Town of Sherborn were distributed as well as a democratic study of small town management from a past Monterey News (10 – 20 years ago) written by Mel Dyer-Bennett provided by Ray Tryon (both documents are available at town hall).
Discussion ensued about what the makeup of this committee should be. Kenn felt that the current makeup is a fairly select group and he feels that the committee should be representative of all the views in town.
Kenn stated that what he would like to see happen is for the committee to set goals and the makeup of the committee should be expanded to make sure it is a broad enough committee. It was agreed that we have an organization/structure here at town hall but that not all the offices are working together.
It was suggested that a chart of organization should first be created by the Select Board so that everyone would be clear on how the Board feels the town runs. The Board felt this was a good idea but did not officially decide to do this at this time.
It was made clear by the Board that Melissa is here to work for the Board and acts as their messenger in many situations. Discussion ensued about the 2 classes of workers that make up town hall; elected and appointed and the fact that there are policies in place for all employees but the elected officials do not necessarily follow these policies that appointed employees do. It was the general consensus that the Board for lack of a better phrase does not have control over the elected officials as they do appointed employees. Steve Weisz suggested that whether or not the position is elected or appointed parameters for every job should be set and if it is elected and the person interested in running cannot because the hours are not convenient or they lack the experience necessary then they shouldn’t run for the position.
It was pointed out that we are in the situation that we are because negative interactions that the Board was made aware of were not taken care of properly. No one was concerned about job duties not being done what’s happening in the town hall is a personality conflict and disrespect of other offices. One thing that needs to be done is to start dealing with conflicts when they occur instead of letting them fester to the point where someone quits, these types of things aren’t going to be found by looking at job descriptions.
Discussion ensued about changing some elected positions to appointed: Wayne is against this as is Ray, Kenn feels we need to move in a direction to seriously consider changing some positions from elected to appointed because some of the positions that are currently elected require a vast amount of knowledge and Monterey has a very small pool to choose from. It was added that the pool of applicants to draw from is also shrinking as families are moving out and more 2nd homeowners are moving in which are unable to run for the elected positions and those families that do live here full time and are eligible are of an aging population.
It was argued by a few that the most sensible step here would be to hire a group like the Collins Group to come in and do a professional study of the structure of town hall as they wouldn’t have any prejudices. After the study were completed the committee formed could then review it and make recommendations based on the report to the Board. After much discussion it was decided to first start with the internal committee and if need be using someone like the Collins Group would be the 2nd approach.
New additions to the committee will be Scott, Steve Weisz, Larry Klein and Susan Gallant.
Meetings will be on Mondays at 4pm. Bethany was chosen as the Clerk and Larry as the Chair.
The Committee will send out an email to the Police Department, Highway Department, Fire Department, Accountant, Tax Collector, Administrative Assistant, Treasurer, Assessors, Town Clerk, Building Department and Select Board requesting a description of each department’s responsibilities as they see them, including what that person does and who they interact with. Everyone will also be asked to include any obstacles they’ve come up against that have made the job difficult, as well as what has made the job easier to do.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:26pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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