Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 9/10/15
Meeting Opened at: 4:25pm
Select Board Members Present: Scott Jenssen, Chairperson, Kenn Basler and Steve Weisz
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Barbara Gauthier
The board met with Barbara Gauthier, Municipal Financial Consultant to review the following:
1. Barbara provided a list of immediate recommendations to the Board that should be addressed prior to Bethany and Brendan leaving as well as items to consider in filling the positions. (list attached)
2. She recommended that the payroll responsibilities should go back to the Accountant.
3. Dealing with the vacancy of the Treasurer, the Board should consider moving very quickly on filling this position as well as verifying and signing off on balances with Bethany and getting someone in town hall as a signer on the bank accounts. The Board attempted to contact Bethany to see if she could attend tonight’s meeting but she was not available.
4. The Board discussed the options of filling the Treasurer vacancy. The option of hiring someone from outside of Monterey was discussed but Scott and Barbara did not feel this was a good solution as they would only be able to be in the position until May at which point a Monterey resident would need to run for the position. Barbara suggested that Jen Brown should be appointed as the Treasurer as she is interested and has Treasurer experience and Maryellen Brown has offered to run payroll and vendor warrants in the interim until an Accountant is hired. Appointing Jen as the Treasurer tonight would allow for normal operations to keep moving (signing checks, bank deposits, etc). Discussion ensued. Kenn felt that other Treasurers in other towns needed to be looked at and he will not vote
in favor of appointing Jen as the Treasurer. Kenn proposed getting Bethany and Brendan to stay for one more week, hold interviews for both positions on Monday and make a decision then. Counsel was called to see if there was any recourse if the Treasurer left the town in a lurch. It was agreed that Scott would talk to Bethany about staying one more week and Kenn would call Brendan and Kenn will also come in and work with Melissa tomorrow to schedule interviews for Monday. Another suggestion made was to hire Barbara for 1 week as the temporary Treasurer should Bethany not agree to stay on for one additional week. Barbara declined but said she would come in to review the accounts and balances with Bethany to sign off on them.
5. The Board is under the impression that Bethany and Brendan have both agreed to close the FY15 books before their last days and felt they should be held to that; others present felt that Brendan and Bethany are already out the door. Barbara will begin looking at the numbers tomorrow and will report back to the Board with her findings.
6. Steve reported that the Council on Aging has reported that monies given to the Treasurer in August have still not been deposited.
7. The Board composed a letter to the Postmaster informing her that the Treasurer has resigned and that box for the Treasurer should be closed and all mail should forward to box 308 (the town’s main mailbox).
8. Barbara feels that one of the most important things to make sure of is that the books have been closed for FY15 and free cash has been certified. Barbara can’t offer any suggestions until she sees a current trial balance report (one was requested but the report provided was from 2014).
9. The Board along with Barbara ventured into the Treasurer/Accountant’s office to see the status of the office as well as to run the reports necessary to give a better educated opinion on the state of the accounts. There was concern about the mountains of paperwork throughout the office and general disarray.
10. Kenn stated that the Treasurer and Accountant in Egremont are both interested in working for Monterey. The Treasurer there has stated she was responsible for cleaning up the mess left by the previous Treasurer. He feels that even if this solution is only for 6-8 months it would still benefit the town as she has already been in a similar situation.
11. The Board gave Barbara permission to access the Accounting and Treasurer’s office and to look through the files and piles of papers.
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter from the Town of Sheffield notifying us of a meeting on Tuesday, October 20th at 10:30am to discuss sharing the purchase of a hot box, paver, roller and trailer for next year. This letter will be forwarded to Shawn Tryon.
b. Letter from the Bidwell House expressing their appreciation to the town boards and departments that were so helpful to the success of the museum’s 25th anniversary gala.
c. Notification from the Berkshire Trail Riders regarding their annual ride which will pass through Monterey on September 20th.
2. Police Chief’s report was reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 5:56pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. Bidwellltr
2. BGrecommendations
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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