Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 6/1/15
Meeting Opened at: 4:15pm
Select Board Members Present: Scott Jenssen, Chairperson, Kenn Basler and Steve Weisz
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Jacob Edelman for the Monterey News, Shawn Tryon, Kelly Tryon, Barbara Gauthier, Roger Tryon, Richard Tryon and George Cain
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Kelly Tryon, Chair of the Parks Commission came in to:
a. Request that the $55.25 building permit fee be waived since the installation of the fence is a town project. The Board approved waiving the fee.
b. A request has been made to place a memorial bench at the beach for a gentleman that passed away there (paid for by the family of the deceased). The Parks Commission has approved the request as did the Select Board.
c. June 28th will be the official unveiling of Jamie’s Court.
d. The Parks Department has asked to Police Department to get involved with policing the private canoes stored near the beach which is not allowed. The Parks Department will be discussing a storage facility which can be rented out.
2. Michael Germain, Chair of the Friends of Lake Garfield came in to discuss the following:
a. Montereyfest will be held on August 22nd.
b. Boat ramp monitor for Lake Garfield; Michael believes that grants may be available for the hiring of a monitor. Kenn also suggested that this would be a perfect opportunity for the seniors in town to take advantage of the senior work off tax abatement. Kelly had concerns about this being focused on the boat ramp at the beach when there are several other access points into the Lake. This will be presented to the Parks Commission as a whole on Wednesday.
c. Kelly did notify Michael that if any of the full time lifeguards are hired for Montereyfest the Friends of Lake Garfield will be responsible for paying the overtime rate.
d. Kelly reported that she has had several complaints about dead fish and dead snakes along the lake edges. She didn’t feel that this fell under the Parks Commissions purview and Michael noted that this is probably from the fishermen.
e. Michael reported that an Order of Conditions has been granted by the Conservation Commission to deal with the milfoil. Michael has put out bids for suction harvesting. Michael stated that the contractors that do this are quite expensive and he suggested that the town or Friends of Lake Garfield purchase the equipment. The Board wasn’t interested in the Town purchasing the equipment. There were concerns that if the eradication project was estimated to cost $30,000 and the town was paying for $15,000 of it and $15,000 was from the Friends of Lake Garfield if FLG spent their $15,000 on purchasing the equipment then wouldn’t we be getting less services than was originally proposed. Michael will come back with more information. The Board was concerned
that what was present to the voters at town meeting didn’t involve the purchase of equipment.
3. Barbara Gauthier came in to discuss the following:
a. Hiring a payroll company: Scott felt that this conversation shouldn’t be had without the Treasurer present because it is currently part of her duties. Barbara disagreed because it was the Select Board that transferred these duties to the Treasurer which was previously handled by the Accountant for 20 years. Currently problems that are occurring with payroll aren’t being dealt with in a timely manner due to the Treasurer’s unavailability during business hours as well as difficulty with the software company. Barbara will call our software company with regards to concerns she has. Steve agrees that a payroll company is necessary especially since a lot more responsibilities and challenges are going to be added to the Treasurer‘s plate with the bonds we
need to acquire. Barbara stated that the money we currently pay the current software company for the payroll module could be used to hire a payroll company. The Board unanimously agreed to transferring payroll to a payroll service. It was noted that the Finance Committee also supports transferring payroll to an outside company. Scott will meet with Bethany to explain that this is being moved because more responsibilities are going to be placed on her and the Board feels that she would be more productive if she didn’t have to worry about payroll; Scott will also inform Bethany that this changewill not affect her current salary.
b. The Auditor Selection Committee will be meeting this Wednesday which will consist of Barbara Gauthier, Kenneth Basler, Donald Clawson and William Johnson.
4. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter from Stephen Moore regarding the transfer station fees to be instituted on July 1.
b. Copy of a simplified license application for 16 Seven Arts Rd.
c. Email from Monica Webb, WiredWest Chair regarding a potential executive session to be scheduled with Adam Chait.
5. Thank you letters were signed and will be mailed to the Memorial Day participants.
6. Kenn is working on a draft letter to be sent to the DLS to get them in to do a similar assessment/audit of the financial office like they did for the Town of New Marlborough.
7. Steve reported that he spoke with the Treasurer last week and asked if she would be willing to have a sit down to discuss general policies and procedures with the Town Clerk, Accountant and a Select Board member as well as increasing her availability during business hours once she is out for the summer from school.
8. Kenn suggested that the Board should discuss the Memorial Day festivities and getting more help to organize things for next year. Hume did a fantastic job of doing all the cooking.
9. The Board briefly discussed the suggestion to add one 7pm Select Board meeting a month. Scott was not in favor of this.
10. The engineering firm has finished all work on evaluating the culvert on RT 23. Starting this Friday we should have more detailed schedules regarding where work will be performed on RT 23. Kenn suggested that a letter with a detailed update of the RT 23 project as well as the transfer station will be composed and mailed out to all the residents.
11. Steve is working on getting a credit card system to accept credit cards at the Transfer Station and at town hall. He has contacted Unibank who currently handles accepting payments for taxes and building permit fees.
12. Steve reported on his conversations with Hume with regards to renewing their interest in having a cell tower constructed on their property.
13. Steve is going to meet with the Assessors to learn more about the PILOT program.
14. Steve reported that letters were sent to Hume and Bettina Schwartz informing them that he is the liaison for activities there. Additional letters will be sent to the other Chestnut Hill residents.
15. The Board will speak to the Chief about getting speed limit signs on Chestnut Hill and the Police about speed enforcement.
16. Kenn is working on the sustainable recovery grants with Shawn and CET for signage and equipment.
17. Steve Weisz will be the BRTA Advisory Board representative.
18. Scott was concerned with why some of the flags were removed from the Veteran’s Memorial. Steve will follow up with Mike Johnson about this.
19. Shawn Tryon and Kenn have had discussions about what kind of Administrative items M. Noe could be helping him with and when that is decided the items she can help with will need to be clearly stated and put out there so M. Noe’s role is understood and not perceived as something else.
20. Steve reported on the conference call he sat in on with the DOER and Colonial Power in getting our plan accepted. Steve will work on a summary to be put in the next Monterey News.
21. M. Noe was asked to remind the organizers of Montereyfest to make sure they have all the proper permits (tents, food service, insurance, etc).
22. Steve suggested that the Board should consider re-instituting regular teambuilding meetings/lunches/gatherings which would have a positive effect on morale and promote a more positive/cohesive work environment. Kenn suggested starting off with something simple.
23. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
24. Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed.
25. Warrants were signed.
The board met with Director of Operations, Shawn Tryon to review the following:
1. New Marlboro Rd Bridge:
a. It was noted that if the bridge isn’t fixed by winter the Monterey Fire Department will be unable to service that side of Monterey and will have to have New Marlborough respond to calls there. Everyone present felt that using Wallace Hall Rd as a detour road in the winter is a safety issue.
b. Shawn has reached out to most all of the abutters that will be affected by this informing them of the situation.
c. The Town is exploring all options (including asking for help from FEMA and MEMA and looking into renting a temporary bridge) for getting this bridge fixed/replaced as soon as possible. If the state does need to be involved this may end up being a lengthy and costly project.
2. Mowing roadside intersections: Shawn stated that this takes up a large chunk of the highway department’s time and he is researching having a local contractor mow them and pay for it out of the highway maintenance budget if it is ok with the Board. Kelly wondered why there isn’t one budget for all the mowing needs of the town rather than having separate Cemetery, Library, Parks and Highway mowing line items. The Board agreed that they should be consolidated and bid out to one contractor in an effort to possibly save money by having it be one job sent out to bid rather than multiple contracts.
3. The Chevy pickup is in the shop having the brakes fixed.
4. Shawn and Kenn hope to have a proposal from the Master Garbologist this week. The compactor that was broken this weekend has been repaired.
5. Two people have shown interest in the Transfer Station Manager position.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7:04pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. SMooreltr
2. WiredWestexecsessltr
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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