Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 12/8/14
Meeting Opened at: 4pm
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen (arrived at 4:20pm) and Kenn Basler
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: David Irland for the Monterey News, Ray Tryon, Kelly Tryon, Rudy Gero, Stanley Ross, Mickey Jervas, Emily Johnson, Bethany Mielke and Susan Gallant
The board met with Treasurer, Bethany Mielke to review the following:
1. Bethany reported that she reached out to the other Treasurer’s as recommended regarding hiring a payroll company and the general consensus she got was that for a town of our size it would not be a justified cost (approx. $3000 - $4000 year) and would just add one more piece to the puzzle. Stan of the Finance Committee disagreed and felt that this would be a good option for the town as the payroll company would be responsible for everything. The Board will take this under advisement in making their decision. Kenn added that he felt that because this was one of the easier tasks the Treasurer does (according to her) he feels that this would be one of the easier tasks to pass along to a payroll service to allow the Treasurer to spend what limited time she has on more important
items.
2. Bethany reported that she has one more item to provide the Assessors tonight and she will be done with all that they need to get the tax rate set from her end.
The board met with Parks Commission Chair, Kelly Tryon to review the following:
1. The Parks Commission will need to be reimbursed $4000 for the overrun on Jamie’s Court this year that they paid for and then there should be enough to cover the rest of the park expenditures necessary for this year.
2. Kelly let the Board know that the Parks Commission will be asking for a 10% increase to their budget for FY16 (about $3500). The Board asked that the Parks Commission be sure to provide as much detail as possible to justify this request.
3. Kelly is proposing that $10,000 be allocated to finish the paving of Jamie’s Court as well as an unknown number for finish grading, seeding and mulching, etc around the b-ball court. Jamie’s Court will be paying for the surfacing. She is working on a final number and will get back to the Board as soon as she knows. Temporarily she is suggesting that concrete bumpers be placed around the court for about $500 to keep the cars off the surface until it can be decided how the Board would like it to be protected permanently (fencing, benches or landscaping). Kenn asked that Kelly sit down with Shawn Tryon to see where all this fits in with what the Highway Department will be doing for work and then prepare a plan for the Board.
At 4:30 the Assessors and the Select Board held a classification hearing as advertised. The Board of Assessors is recommending that the Select Board accept one tax rate for all classifications. A motion was made to accept one tax rate. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Our excess levy capacity right now is approx. $124,000; this number will be finalized once free cash gets certified.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Rudy Gero came in to speak with the Board about the attached letter. The Board will take the letter under advisement.
2. Emily Johnson, Town Clerk provided the Board with a list of people (attached) that have yet to come and be sworn in and/or take the ethics test and she was wondering if the Board could do anything to assist in getting this taken care of. M. Noe will draft a letter to be sent to all on the list.
Mickey Jervas inquired about the road salt workshop that was scheduled for tomorrow at 7am which has been cancelled and will be rescheduled. She stated that she is a very strong advocate for the way Monterey keeps our roads safe and clear.
Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Colonial Power Group. The consultant agreement was reviewed. A motion was made to sign the consultant agreement. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. The Board also reviewed the Aggregation Plan prepared for Monterey by Colonial. A motion was made to accept the aggregation plan. The motion was seconded and unanimously passed. (documents attached)
b. EDM structural report was reviewed (attached). The Board discussed how to approach the monies needed to fix the urgent items at the school.
5. Wayne reported that at last week’s school finance sub-committee meeting they reviewed the EDM study and would like to speak further with the Board. A meeting will be scheduled with David Hastings as was requested by him earlier in the month. The Board was reminded that if more than 30% of the value of the school house is done in repairs that they will need to bring the building into compliance with ADA requirements.
6. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
7. Kenn commented that the little blurb in the Monterey News regarding Verizon being active on the cell tower as of the end of December was absolutely false.
8. Police Chief’s report was reviewed.
9. The Board continued their discussions on the FY16 budget requests and capital expenses presented to date.
10. Susan Gallant came in to discuss the way the minutes are currently being recorded for the Select Board and she wanted to know what precipitated the change in the minutes; she feels they are less detailed than they used to be and felt the recent changes to the minutes are violating the Open Meeting Law guidelines. The Board stated that the minutes haven’t changed other than less adjectives are being used and the Board has tried to make them less personal but overall the Board feels that the minutes overall represent accurately what has transpired at the meetings.
11. The Board reviewed the results of the Town Hall Services Survey (attached). The results of the survey will be discussed further at a future meeting.
12. Warrants were signed.
13. The minutes from the last 2 weeks were discussed and Scott stated he had an issue with the statement made that if Shawn wanted to purchase his men turkeys that it should come out of his highway budget. Scott stated that he did not ok that and he had told Shawn that the money would have to come out of his personal pocket.
14. Kenn reported that the new clothing and book containers have been delivered to the transfer station.
15. The Board stated that they need to speak with Shawn Tryon about the procedures for requesting time off.
16. Kenn stated that with regards to the Board’s request for the numbers of all the highway crew’s men that Shawn felt that the only number the Board should have/use would be his and that it would be his responsibility to call his men.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:53pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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