Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/24/14
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, David Driscoll, Dan Moriarity, Gareth Backhaus, Maynard Forbes, Barbara Gauthier and Don Clawson
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes to review the following:
1. Status of salt & sand account: we won’t be receiving anymore deliveries for this year.
2. Maynard has found about $8,000 worth of erroneous charges to his highway accounts. He has given these to Brendan to investigate and correct.
3. Paper compactor status: Master Garbologist is going to repair ours with some used parts they have, the cost should be minimal. Repairs should begin this week.
4. The Board confirmed that the trade in value for the grader was $20,000. The new grader should be delivered in the next 2 weeks. The total cost will be around $260,000.
5. The Board inquired if there will be any parts that can be transferred from the 4500 we currently have to the new one he will be requesting at town meeting; Maynard said that we won’t as the old one is a Chevy and the new one will be a Ford.
6. Mr. Driscoll’s property at 402 Main Rd; Maynard has not made a site visit yet as he told Mr. Driscoll 2 weeks ago that he would be making a site visit when the snow melts. He stated that there isn’t much the Town will be able to do as the Town does not get involved in fixing drainage on private property that has existed for over 75 years. Maynard reminded the Board of a similar situation that occurred down near Steven’s Lake and the Town was unable to do anything as the issue took place on private property and wasn’t the result of anything new that the Town did. Mr. Driscoll didn’t feel it was fair that the property owner has to deal with the water issue and feels that the Town could control the speed of the water to prevent damage to his land. Mr. Driscoll
provided pictures to the Board and Maynard. He also complained about the snow being piled in front of the culvert. It cannot be determined if anything can be done to mitigate the problem until Maynard can make a site visit. Maynard stated that the Town cannot go on personal property and make any kind of fixes/improvements. We do not get involved in diverting water or managing water on private property.
7. Weekly reports were given.
8. Jamie’s Court: Maynard met with the representatives of this project over the weekend. They have about $15,000 and are short about $5,000; Maynard will not begin any work until he knows where the extra $5,000 is coming from. The group organizing the project is going to try to raise the additional funds needed. Maynard told them that if they have all the funding in place he could start in June.
The board met with Chief of Police, Gareth Backhaus to review the following:
1. Complaint about parking on both sides of Fox Hill from people using the ice rink. The Police are working on this.
2. Complaint about snow being pushed onto another property owner’s property; this has been resolved.
3. Mutual aid call for the Stockbridge Police.
4. “Harassment” complaint on Blue Hill Rd.
5. Assisted with a section 12 on Gould Rd.
6. Assisted with medical call on Blue Hill Rd.
7. We’ve had several complaints about an IRS phone scam. More information regarding this scam and other know scams can be found on the Police Department page on the Town’s website.
8. Uninsured, unregistered motor vehicle stop; car was towed.
9. Assistance provided to a fallen hiker on Diane’s Trails.
10. The Police Department has received grant money for the reverse 911 system and they are working with the company now to get it installed.
11. The Police Department has also received a Federal grant for new bulletproof vests. The Federal grant will pay for 50% and the Department is hoping that the State will pay for the other 50% (approximately $3,000).
12. Gareth provided the Board with a summary of the week long program he attended last week (free of charge) which dealt with responding to mental health calls. Sergeant Johnson attended this course last year and Gareth hopes to send the part timers if it is offered again next year.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Muriel informed Gareth and Maynard that the budget is looking grim and she wanted them to be aware.
2. Update on the withholding issue brought up at the meeting with the Treasurer last week: Barbara Gauthier informed the Board that if they refer to the last auditors report it said the payroll account showed a deficit amount of about the amount in question. It has now risen to $7,222. In other words it looks like we are paying out more than what we are collecting from the employees.~ Barbara looked up what the account balance was for the year ending June 30th, 2012 and it shows $7,049.~ She stated that the issue isn’t just occurring now it goes back to before Bethany became Treasurer.
3. M. Noe informed the Board that she has also asked Bethany to look into the amount being submitted for employee contributions for health insurance each month. The amount should be somewhere around $2,000 including the retirees’ monthly contributions but only $1,200 is being submitted toward the health insurance bill.
4. Regarding the retiree stabilization balance question the Board had at last week’s meeting: Bethany has found that the money was never posted to the general ledger or transferred and she has asked if Barbara Gauthier can assist in helping to resolve this mistake.
5. Town reserve fund: The Board had inquiries on this account and Bethany has responded that the Treasurer is not in charge of the reserve fund so she was unable to help answer these questions. The Board will follow up with Barbara Gauthier to see if she can shed any light on this.
6. Wayne attended the Monterey2020 meeting on Saturday and stated that there was a large crowd in attendance. Discussion ensued over whether they should be allowed to continue using the town hall to have their meetings since it is not a town sanctioned committee. Muriel felt strongly that they should not be able to use it and their meetings should be held elsewhere but Scott & Wayne agreed that it was ok.
7. Town Facility Task Force: Wayne doesn’t feel this is the time to start this committee as the library isn’t ready and neither is the WMH. Muriel felt that it was important to begin as soon as possible and to focus firstly on the school. Wayne feels that the Select Board does need to focus on the future of the school and program in Monterey and whether or not the current building can be saved. The Board agreed that the survey they sent out only proved that the taxpayers of Monterey do not want to fund the building/program themselves; it did not show that Monterey doesn’t want a program in Monterey.
8. M. Noe contacted the Ethics Commission last week after Scott asked her to look into whether or not it was a conflict of interest for the employees to serve on the Employee Compensation Advisory Committee. The Ethics Commission stated it is but if the employees file a “Disclosure of election or appointment to an uncompensated position as required by 930 CMR 6.02(3)” form and a “Disclosure by non-elected municipal employee of financial interest and determination by appointing authority as required by G.L. c. 268A, §19” form which the Board must make a determination on it is ok. M. Noe has submitted her forms and has advised Gareth and Maynard that they also need to do the same.
9. A correction was made from last week’s minutes that there are 5 members already on the Historical Commission so there isn’t an open seat at the moment. The Historical Committee is having a meeting this morning to vote a Chairperson and discuss their focus.
10. The Board continued their discussions on the FY15 budget:
a. Muriel commented on the email (attached) Melissa sent to the Board regarding Muriel’s comparison at last week’s meeting of the salaries of the Sergeant and the Executive Secretary. She clarified that she never intended to use this argument at town meeting but felt that it was a valid comparison. She stated that she may not have chosen the very best example and apologized for this. intjobcompemail3.14.pdf
b. Muriel noted that according to a recent email from the Division of Local Services Monterey has the 10th lowest tax rate in the state. Towns that have lower tax rates than ours that are in our area are Hancock, which has an large ski resort, Alford (which does not), Mt Washington (which also does not) and Rowe which has a nuclear power plant. Otherwise all the others are located on Martha’s Vineyard.
c. The Board thanked Melissa for updating the figures on the cost of a 90/10 split for 6 employees and 80/20 for 1 versus changing it to a 75/25 split for everyone. The difference for one year works out to be $20,600 (approximately $0.04 on the tax rate). The Board feels it is a good policy to keep the splits as they are now for our current employees as the ones that are currently receiving the 90/10 split have all been employees of the Town for long periods of time and the town benefits from their experience and efficiency.
d. Barbara Gauthier was asked to come in to help explain our current financial situation. The current proposed budget as it stands right now is $12,953 over our limit and she suggested that the budget really needs to be pared down. Once we know what our certified free cash is this situation may not be as dire. She also explained that the error for the COA will need to be corrected again at the special town meeting prior to annual town meeting because when it was done at the December special town meeting we did not have free cash certified to spend. She also informed the Board that the State is making us reverse all of the reserve fund transfers the Finance Committee made last month since, according to the State, they were not made in a timely manner.
e. One suggestion that was made was to cut the newly created line item for $3,000 which would provide assistance to the Treasurer and/or Accountant should they need to take a day off. It was argued that if assistance is needed in the Treasurer or Accountant’s office to cover time off, since time off benefits are not offered to part time employees (elected or appointed) the person helping should be paid directly from that position’s salary and that a new position should not be created. The Board agreed and has removed this line item.
f. Don Clawson spoke with Mark Makuc about why there was an increase to the library’s budget. The increase is mandated by the state to remain a certified library; it requires that the library raise its budget 2.5% every year and goes as far as to state what things the money must be spent on.
g. The Board decided to lower the Assistant Town Clerk budget to $5,000. The Board feels that Emily still needs the professional assistance but that she will have to use it more sparingly in FY15.
h. It was suggested that the training and education budget line for the Fire Department should be lowered to $25,000 from the requested $30,000. The Board agreed unanimously.
i. The Board needs to decide if they will put the transfer for the overages we are expecting to the salt & snow accounts on the special town meeting warrant prior to the annual which we are expecting to be around $60,000 (we will have the actual figure for next Monday). It was noted that this is the one account that is allowed to go over and doesn’t require town meeting approval.
j. The Board decreased the increase requested for Machinery and Tools from $3,500 to $1,000.
k. It was suggested to lower the parks clean up line item by $500 which Wayne was against. The line item was left alone and will remain level funded from last year since they had only $315 remaining in their budget at the end of last year.
l. It was also suggested to raise the Memorial Day line item by $200 instead of the originally requested $500. The Board agreed unanimously.
m. Don stated that he feels strongly that if a 2% COLA is going to be given to the full time employees and the Town Clerk that it should also be given to the Tax Collector, Building Inspector and the Assessor’s Clerk, Dan concurred. Wayne felt that the Building Inspector and Assessor’s Clerk were contracted positions and that we didn’t have to include them. It was noted that if these positions were to be included then the Sanitary Inspector also needs to be added to the mix, Wayne disagreed and felt that this position was also contracted and not an employee. Wayne suggested that the Town Clerk not be included, as it’s an elected position and should not fall under cost of living increases as elected positions are not of the same class as a full time
employee. This discussion will continue next week.
n. Betterment Title V questions the Board had at last week’s meeting with the Treasurer: Pat Mielke the former Treasurer has stated that the amount on the general ledger is incorrect as it hasn’t been updated in several years. There is only one other person on the loan program. Pat has left documents for Barbara Gauthier with hopes that she can clear up the general ledger issue.
o. The Board has received word from the AG that they cannot accept the amendments made to the bylaw with regards to the fire department tax abatements because it is inconsistent with the Special Act. Town Counsel will provide information on how to resolve this matter.
p. The Board discussed the emails regarding monies given to the Montereyfest organizers by a previous Accountant. The entire $5,200 approved at annual town meeting was given to the Montereyfest organizers without receipts. There was money left over which the organizers put into a special bank account. M. Noe is working with the organizers to get all of the receipts as well as the leftover money returned to the Town. She will go over the receipts to make sure sales tax wasn’t paid and will report back to the Board next week. The organizers of Montereyfest have also been notified that the budget is tight and that the Board will not be putting any monetary requests on the warrant for Montereyfest 2014.
11. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Copy of the letter sent to the school committee by New Marlborough requesting that the educational program in Monterey be moved to New Marlborough and the program in Egremont moved to Sheffield.
12. The minutes from 3.17 & 3.18 were approved as written
13. Executive Secretary’s weekly report was reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:45am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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