Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/23/15
Meeting Opened at: 8:42am
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, Scott Jenssen and Kenn Basler
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: David Irland for the Monterey News, Barbara Gauthier, Larry Klein, Stanley Ross, Daniel Moriarity, Julio Rodriguez, Don Clawson and Ray Tryon
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Turnovers to the Treasurer: Recently the Treasurer has requested a change to the procedure for turning over monies. Past audit reports have recommended that Polices and Procedures should be instituted for Monterey. Kenn suggested that the Administrative Assistant, Treasurer, Town Clerk and Accountant should form a mini-committee to review examples of other towns policies and procedures and come up with a set that works for Monterey.
2. Kenn updated the Board on his conversations with the Army Corp of Engineers; there is money available to assist with the repair of the library dam. A letter has been drafted to start the process which was signed and will be sent out today. The Finance Committee has recommended that the $40,000 should be removed from the budget for this year until we get a firm number on how much we can get from the Army Corp of Engineers and what balance the town may owe. It was agreed to remove the $40,000 for the repair of the library dam for now.
3. The Board continued their discussion on whether or not articles should be placed on the town meeting warrant to change the Treasurer, Tax Collector and Town Clerk positions from elected to appointed. Scott reported that at last week’s Town Hall Structure Advisory Committee meeting Joe Kellogg, former Town Administrator recommended that these positions should be appointed to open up the pool of applicants. With all the turmoil the town has had this year Kenn has spoken to several residents in town that have all suggested that this may not be the best year to put this forward as it might seem like a negative rather than a positive transition. The Board agreed as this will allow the Board to educate the residents throughout next year and consider it for next year’s town meeting warrant.
4. The Board continued their discussion on whether or not a statement should be released to the public about the Police Department. After reviewing Town Counsel’s opinion on the matter Kenn has suggested that if the Board agrees the letter should only be distributed to the Monterey News to clarify what took place for the Police Department and the Select Board, identifies some of the issues and lays out a plan for the future and the Police Department working with the Select Board and the Town. Wayne noted his objections to specific parts of the letter which were amended. Kenn noted that this statement was drafted with the Police Chief’s assistance.
5. The Finance Committee came in to discuss the following and to review the decisions made at their meeting on Friday with regards to their recommendation that some warrant article items not be approved due to lack of information:
a. The Finance Committee stated that they will only support approval of the proposed new transfer station article if the Board is going to be fully prepared with drawings, estimates, etc to fully inform the voters of the necessity of this project. The Board agreed that they will know by the end of this week whether all of the information the Finance Committee is requesting will be available in time to properly inform the voters. If this information is not available in time for the printing of the town meeting warrant the Board will remove this article for the time being. Kenn noted that the upgrading of the transfer station has been pushed down the road for the last 20 years and we are now at the end of the road and there is a real safety issue that exists now. Don felt that
this proposal should wait because it is a major sum of money for a long commitment and therefore it shouldn’t be crammed in with 25 other items on the annual town meeting warrant and should be presented on its own at a special town meeting.
b. Proposed WiredWest proposed article: Stan noted that as of Saturday only 17% of Monterey has pre-registered for the services and 40% enrollment is required to be a part of the project. Stan is concerned that since there is currently such a low enrollment this may not be the time to present this article to the town. Scott argued that he would bet that this 17% is probably comprised of mostly full time residents because the 2nd homeowners are not aware of this yet and once they are the enrollment will increase dramatically. Larry stated that if Monterey doesn’t approve this article there will be no build-out in Monterey and it is crucial that the Select Board and Finance Committee be united on this. Kenn became very upset with the Finance Committee’s
non-approval of this article for what they say is a lack of information as there have been several meetings put on by WiredWest that the Finance Committee has chosen not to attend. Stan argued that the $1.9 million being presented right now is still an estimate and may not be sufficient for the total build-out; Larry countered that there is contingency monies built into that estimate. The Finance Committee was also concerned about surety bonds and the written contract for work. Don has a real issue with asking the people of Monterey to pay for the services if they choose to connect and then also ask them to pay for it again for a set period of time through their taxes; he felt it was a discretionary service however the payout for the bond is not. Julio noted that when WiredWest comes to town there is going to be a cost savings to residents who choose to sign up for the services. Stan clarified that he is firmly for broadband in this town and that his
concern with this bond proposal is strictly financial regarding the obligations approving it will bring to the town.
c. After discussion it was agreed to raise and appropriate the funds to purchase the new cruiser instead of using stabilization monies.
d. The Bally Gally repair request of $3,800 was lowered to $1,500. Kenn will follow up with Shawn on this.
e. Town Hall roof: this request was initially pulled off the warrant as the Board felt it could wait one more year however recently the shingles have been falling off and it was decided that it may be important to put it back on once an estimate is received.
f. Barbara reported that currently the only account over is winter overtime by $2,000 and that the salt & sand still has $10,000 available and $11,000 in supplies and fuel. This means that a special town meeting to transfer funds from free cash to the salt & sand account will not be necessary as we can transfer from supplies & fuel if the salt & sand does go over.
g. The Finance Committee will be holding their informational meeting to discuss the proposed FY16 budget on Saturday, April 25th at 10am at the town hall.
h. Kenn suggested that $25,000 be taken from the transfer station line item and instead hire a part time employee for $25,000/yr so that we could have control over the employee. It was noted that doing this could affect the current services we have with the Master Garbologist. Kenn said his research shows that our construction debris has increased by 3 dumpsters per month since September which correlates with the Town of New Marlborough limiting the amount of debris that can be dumped there. The Board will also be continuing their discussions on reinstituting fees for bulky waste. Everyone agreed that there needs to be better policing at the transfer station and control of costs. Kenn noted that he has personally witnessed people using our station that did not have a
permit and feels that having a town employee versus a contracted employee would help with the policing of this. Kenn will speak with Shawn to have a discussion with the Master Garbologist.
i. The Finance Committee does not have any issues with the proposed across the board 2% increase for all paid employees (including elected officials).
j. The Constable explained that he doubled his salary for Constable because he feels if the Town is willing to pay a detail rate for an officer to be present at the elections then the Constable should be paid more as his is the only position necessary (and required by law) to be at the elections. Kenn will make sure that a conversation is had with the Chief making him aware that the Board doesn’t want a paid detail officer at the elections going forward.
6. The Board continued their discussion on holding a separate special town meeting to discuss the WiredWest article instead of having it on the annual town meeting warrant so that more time can be devoted to just this issue. Wayne is not in favor of this and feels it should be handled at the annual town meeting. Dates that the Town Clerk and Moderator were available were discussed. Due to time constraints and concern that the WiredWest article will need a large amount of time to be fully discussed a separate special town meeting for the WiredWest article will tentatively be held on Saturday, May 9th at 9am.
7. The minutes from 3/16/15 were approved with amendments.
8. Barbara Gauthier came in to discuss the following:
a. Staples bill the Town Clerk received with a past due amount as well as late fees and interest: in researching the issue it goes back to a check sent in September that Staples cashed but said they haven’t received. Scott will speak to the Treasurer about this.
9. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter of support for the WiredWest article from Joan & Terry Myers.
b. Notification of a special permit request for 10 Sylvan Rd: the town is an abutter.
c. Email from Michele and Marc Bergman supporting the WiredWest article.
10. Scott asked that it be noted that he has personally apologized to Adam Chait for the way he spoke to him with regards to his high speed internet proposal.
11. Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed.
12. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
13. Warrants were signed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:17pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. MyersLtr
2. AbutterNotification
3. Bergmanemail
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
| 
