Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/2/15
Meeting Opened at: 8:40am
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, Chief Backhaus, Barbara Gauthier, Donald Clawson, Patrick Gonzalez, Shawn Tryon, Maryellen Brown, Mary Makuc, Monica Webb and Ray Tryon
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board discussed the Special Town Meeting held last Thursday and the process in appointing/electing the new Clerk until the next election as well as the fact that only one Finance Committee member was present. The Board also discussed Kenn’s opinion that the ZBA was over reaching their authority. Wayne agreed it was a bit muddled but felt that the process followed allowed everyone their say.
2. At the request of the Council on Aging a motion was made to appoint Julio Rodriguez for a 3 year term. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3. Anonymous letters: The Board agreed that the policy going forward will be that M. Noe will notify the Board when an unsigned/anonymous letter is received the letter will be filed in an anonymous folder which can be viewed by the Select Board at their leisure. The Board agreed that these letters will no longer be reviewed at a public meeting. The Board also agrees that not much weight will be given to unsigned/anonymous letters however if after having read it may discuss it further with the appropriate department.
4. Monica Webb came in to request a joint meeting with the Select Board and Finance Committee to discuss the Wired West Bond. She also mentioned that the Board should’ve received 2 suggested templates for letters to be sent to the residents that the Board needs to approve as well as a package of maps that need to be reviewed and confirmed (this was done later in the meeting). Monica suggested that the maps sent to the Town should be reviewed by the Assessors. It was noted that the town’s confirmation on the maps is due this Friday and the Board did not feel this was an ample amount of time to review something this large.
5. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter from Mary Makuc regarding the inaccessibility of the firehouse at last week’s special town meeting.
b. Letter from Carol Edelman regarding the condition of the roads this season.
c. Letter of resignation from Brendan Fletcher from the position of town election employee.
6. The Board agreed to express their intent to join the Southern Berkshire County Regional Household Hazardous Waste Collection program for FY16.
7. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
8. Warrants were signed.
The board met with Chief of Police, Gareth Backhaus to review the following:
1. Weekly report was reviewed.
2. The Board reviewed Patrick Gonzalez’s resume in consideration for a part time officer position. The Chief explained that the Department has been running into issues covering shifts due to the fact that several of the current part timers are limited to the number of shifts they can work due to other engagements. A motion was made to appoint Patrick Gonzalez for a 1 year probationary period. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. Patrick is aware that any field training will be unpaid.
3. The Board discussed the recent issue they were made aware of that any person working for multiple departments that works more than 40 hours per week is entitled to overtime. After conferring with the Fair Labor Division for the State of MA as well as the U.S. Department of Labor it was confirmed that we have one individual whose multiple jobs as a highway laborer and part time police officer might apply (other individuals who hold multiple positions, one being the fire department are exempt because the position of fire member is a sporadic an occasional position as defined in regulation 29CFR Section 553.30). Kenn proposed that an argument could be made that we look at Don Hopkins position as a part time officer as sporadic because he does not work the same police shift every week and sometimes there
are weeks he doesn’t work. The Chief added that Don’s position with the Police Department in the winter is even less. The Chief will keep this information in mind when preparing future schedules.
4. The Board discussed the recent breakout on the warrant of police expenses from part time wages and that they are pleased with this. Discussion ensued about how a situation could be handled if one line were to go over and the other did not; it was confirmed that monies could be transferred if need be from one account to the other.
The board met with Don Clawson of the Finance Committee, Shawn Tryon, Maryellen Brown and Barbara Gauthier to review the following with regards to the FY16 proposed budget:
1. Shawn provided the additional information requested by the Board with regards to renovating the current transfer station in its current location instead of creating a new transfer station in a different location. This proposal would cost just under $200,000 versus $350,000 to build a new transfer station. Shawn still stands by his recommendation that the new transfer station is the correct choice as it will solve a lot of the existing problems we have with its present location. Shawn stated that keeping the transfer station where it is limits the highway department’s future growth and the hauling trucks have difficulty accessing the dumpsters. Shawn also feels that the cost to maintain the current facility even after it’s been upgraded will be higher than maintaining a new
facility. Barbara informed the Board that there is $5,500 that was carried forward from the 2011 town meeting for the transfer station redesign that can be used toward the expense of having the area drilled and an official engineered plan drawn up. A motion was made to give Shawn permission to go forward with the drilling and engineered plan. The motion was seconded. Discussion ensued. The motion was approved unanimously. Shawn asked if the Board wanted to hire Berkshire Geo-Technologies to do the engineered plan required. Kenn agreed that it would be ok to use them however since they have done previous work on this project and are familiar with it he would hope that they would come in lower than the expected $7,100 quote and Scott and Wayne concurred.
2. Shawn is looking to purchase a large leaf blower ($13,000) and use the money from the highway maintenance budget to remove the debris from the ditches and sides of the roads. There is a possibility that when there is a dusting on the roads it may come in handy then as well. The Board felt comfortable with Shawn making the decision of how to spend his budget as long as he has the money to do so.
3. Shawn discussed the issue brought to his attention with regards to the handicap access to the firehouse and the letter written by Mary Makuc with regards to this matter and her unsuccessful attempt to attend the Special Town Meeting on Thursday. Shawn is working on a solution.
4. Scott made a motion that all the areas where snow has piled up in the center of town be removed and cleared up and that this become a part of our winter policy for keeping the town accessible. The motion was seconded. Discussion ensued and Kenn added that this activity doesn’t preclude private plowing; this will be an as needed task to keep things accessible. The motion passed unanimously.
5. Special Town Meeting: The vote on the truck per our town bylaws Article 1 Section 3 (Any motion to raise and/or appropriate money by issuing bonds or notes of the Town shall be voted upon by secret written ballot. The provisions of this bylaw shall not apply to notes issued in anticipation for the current year.) was supposed to be by secret ballot and was not. If you are just going to raise and appropriate it is just a majority vote. Barbara also noted that if the Treasurer borrows this money right away rather than waiting until after July 1st the payments for this truck would have to go into the FY16 budget. Since a mistake was made this article will be placed on the special town meeting warrant prior to annual town meeting to be done by secret ballot. Since
this mistake limits Shawn’s ability to order the truck sooner rather than later since the approval wasn’t done properly he stated that his maintenance budget will need to be increased because this new truck will not be ready until this time next year. Wayne felt that since the article passed on Thursday (although not correctly) that there would be no reason that it shouldn’t pass in May.
6. The Board asked Shawn the status of using the $32,000 remaining for an addition to the Highway Garage to cover the fuel pumps (approved in 2011). Shawn stated that this is on hold until it is determined what will happen with the transfer station.
7. Maryellen Brown came in to discuss the state monies we received that have been sent (on the 12th of January) however the Treasurer is stating we haven’t received it yet (copy of payment confirmation provided). Maryellen stated that she has left a message with the Treasurer about this but hasn’t heard back. Barbara stated that these monies always come in as a direct deposit. Maryellen learned this morning from the Accountant that the money did in fact come in but it isn’t showing in the COA’s budget because the Treasurer didn’t know where to put it. Maryellen is concerned that there isn’t enough access to the Treasurer to do town business with her only being available 1.5 hours a week. Maryellen did offer her assistance (free of charge)
to help Bethany with reconciling her bank accounts and accounts with the Accountant more frequently. Scott offered to speak to Bethany about this possibility as well as the fact that all inquiries should be responded to in a timely fashion.
8. Barbara suggested that the Finance Committee and the Select Board really need to take a closer look at the proposed budget and make some cuts as the budget as it stands right now is $90,000 over the levy limit. It was discussed that since the town isn’t experiencing a large growth it is inevitable that some time in the near future an override is going to be needed. Barbara suggested that the amount to be appropriated to the retiree stabilization fund needs to be increased to at least $15 - $20k because the cost for retirees is more annually than we are putting in; Don agreed as did the Board. A suggestion was made to alter the requested amounts for highway maintenance, highway capital, salt and sand and to reconsider adding a 4th highway person/transfer station attendant until
after it’s decided what the future of the facility is.
9. Barbara also suggested to get rid of the fire facilities rental newly created line item and keep it as compensation and stay out of what the firemen choose to do with this money which is not taxed. The Board agreed and also level funded the training and education.
10. It was also suggested that replacing the roof on the town hall could wait another year. It was also suggested that the repairs to the Monterey School could be lowered to $10k instead of the proposed $30k.
11. Library wages: It was discussed that the Library Director position should not be increased to 20 hours per week which will make this position eligible for health insurance and retiree health insurance once vested until we can meet with the Trustees to discuss this further. Kenn suggested that Mark Makuc and/or the chair of the Trustees should be invited to a future meeting to discuss their request and the impact that it has on the town.
12. It was noted that there is still $12k available in a special revenue account which could be used toward the repairs of the library dam. Since there wasn’t enough available leftover from this FEMA money to repair the dam it was suggested that the Army Corp of Engineers should be contacted to see if there is any help they can offer in getting the remainder of the funds necessary.
13. The Chief has requested that instead of his original request to give the part timers a $1/hour raise he feels that $2/hour is more in line with other towns. It was suggested by the Board that when discussions begin with regards to salary increases that the Chief and Sergeant should be a set dollar amount of $500 - $750 instead of a percentage increase seeing as they were given substantial salary increases over the last 2 years.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:06pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. MaryMakucHPletter
2. StateCOAPymtConf
3. CarolEdelmanLtrRoads
4. BFletcherResignation
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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