Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/28/14
Meeting Opened at: 9:05am
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, Maynard Forbes, Gareth Backhaus, Brendan Fletcher, Ray Tryon and Kenn Basler
The board met with Director of Operations, Maynard Forbes to review the following:
1. The correct number for the snow and sand transfer at the 9:15am special town meeting is $73,802. This will need to be amended on the floor.
2. The RT 23 project is scheduled to go out to bid on May 18th with work to start in July or August.
3. Muriel asked for updates on the following projects: 1.) Jaime’s Court; Maynard is unsure of the status of this as they are still trying to raise the $5,000 they are short, 2.) Sylvan Rd; Maynard will have this done before June 20th and 3.) Library Dam; depends on weather, when water level gets down work will begin which will most likely be in July or August.
4. Monterey will be receiving about $30,000 in pothole money from the State and discussed with the Board which projects they feel should be tackled first. Maynard recommended that it should be used to bring in gravel to repair Beartown Mtn Rd.
5. The new grader has been delivered and has already begun working on several projects around town.
The board met with Chief of Police, Gareth Backhaus to review the following:
1. Report of a lost purse within the area of the store. Please contact the Police Department with any information.
2. False alarms: Mt Hunger Rd, Main Rd, Harmon Rd, Corashire Rd, Beartown Mtn Rd (2) and Sandisfield Rd (2)
3. Pure tone noise complaint on Art School Rd. x 2
4. MVA in front of John’s Garage.
5. Report of a hole in front of the drain near the church; highway department was notified.
6. Continued “harassment” complaint on Blue Hill Rd.
7. Abandoned 911 calls on Gould Rd (2) due to poor phone lines.
8. Assisted with a stuck vehicle on Beartown Mtn Rd.
9. Town of Otis reported a drunk pedestrian walking toward Monterey; person could not be found.
10. Assisted GBPD with a missing person case.
11. Lockout at the boat ramp.
12. An update was given on the missing person reported from Gould Farm last year.
13. Assisted State Police with suspicious activity reported in a New Marlborough home on Hatchery Rd.
14. Report of loose dog on Mt Hunger Rd; returned to owner.
15. Lime Rock Lane reported a suspicious motor vehicle.
16. Assisted FD with a brush fire on Main Rd.
17. Well being check on Curtis Rd.
18. Assisted NMPD.
19. Assisted with a medical call on Gould Rd.
20. Report of tagging on signs near the Swann Lodge. The police are investigating.
21. Report of littering from a moving vehicle; The company was notified.
22. BRPC unified work project planning application; Muriel wanted Gareth to be aware of this program.
23. Muriel requested a breakdown of line item 210 expenses (which was provided at the informational meeting) for the annual town meeting.
The board met with Town Accountant, Brendan Fletcher to review the following:
1. Brendan inquired if there was anything he needed to prepare for town meeting. The Board suggested that backup for the budget would be helpful.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board discussed preparation for the annual town meeting:
a. Line 132 and article 10 will need to be amended. Article 10 will need to be decreased to $8,000 and line 132 will need to be increased to $22,000 A total of $30,000 is needed in the Reserve Fund according to Barbara Gauthier at last week’s Thursday night meeting.
b. $73,802 is the correct number for Article 1 on the 9:15am special town meeting warrant.
c. Line item 124 – temporary employee; at last Thursday’s meeting there was discussion to increase this line item to accommodate additional assistance for the Treasurer’s Office in addition to the Accountant. The Board agreed to amend this line to $3,000. It was noted that the meeting held last Thursday will be the last bailout for the Treasurer and she needs to step up to the plate and get things done going forward.
d. Stabilization fund: it was suggested to use stabilization funds for the purchase of the defibrillators. Discussion ensued.
e. Discussion ensued about how to address changing any figures of the FY15 budget on town meeting floor will affect the town dollar for dollar.
f. The Board asked M. Noe to provide them with figures of what giving 2% to the rest of the paid employees (elected and appointed) except the Treasurer and Accountant positions would be. Muriel does not favor adding this to the budget and feels that the difficult decisions with regards to raises have been had already but wants to have the numbers should the conversation be raised at town meeting as it was at the informational meeting.
g. The Board requested copies of the opinions from counsel regarding health insurance contributions and town meeting that were discussed at the last Monday Select Board meeting.
2. Mike Johnson came in to update the Board on the Memorial Day festivities on May 26th:
a. Mike has found a bagpiper to do the service at 11am and the parade at 1pm.
b. Gould Farm and Hume are interested in putting a float in the parade.
c. Mike is still working on the relocation on the flagpole in front of the town hall.
d. M. Noe was asked to contact the Mr. Ding a Ling ice cream truck’s availability.
e. Mike is still looking for someone to cook the food and he will speak with M. Noe about ordering the food.
f. M. Noe will prepare the letters to send out next week looking for participation.
g. Mike will speak with Steve Pullen about being the emcee for the parade, if he won’t Mike has someone else that might be interested.
3. Muriel has been notified via email that Montereyfest will continue this year and they have raised all the funds on their own. Scott had concerns that without town funding this may become a “private” party rather than a town oriented function. The Board wished them well and thanked them for their efforts and for the enjoyment that this event brings to our residents.
4. Muriel felt it was interesting that the DLS has new innovations for the Assessors and our Assessing Department will be attending a seminar on this on Friday. She brought this up because some of the items that may need to be implemented will be requested in next year’s budget.
5. The minutes from 4.14 & 4.24.14 were approved as written.
6. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. A memo from the Library Trustees regarding the unanswered request for all of the employees to sign the handbook acknowledgement receipt and the sexual harassment receipt was received. The library feels that since the handbook has some corrections still to be made to it (even though the current version has been accepted and distributed) that they would prefer to wait until the changes have been made.
b. Proposal from MIIA with our FY15 rates for our property, liability and worker’s compensation coverage’s. The Board accepted them.
7. Executive Secretary’s weekly report was reviewed.
a. Muriel thanked Melissa for working with Cornerstone and getting them to agree to give us a 2 month credit for the online access issues we had.
b. M .Noe inquired of the Board what they would like to be done with the Verizon DSL line. Currently we are paying for the DSL line ($100/month) which isn’t being used because we have the fiber line however it did come in handy to use as a backup when the fiber went down. The Board would like to think about this further.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:05am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Executive Secretary
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
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