Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 4/6/15
Meeting Opened at: 8:30am
Select Board Members Present: Wayne Burkhart, Chairperson, and Kenn Basler
Scott Jenssen remotely from 9 – 9:15am:
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: David Irland for the Monterey News, Jamie Cahillane, Shawn Tryon, Donald Clawson, Ray Tryon and Jennifer Brown
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Kenn reported that he spoke with Betsy Andrus from the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce to set up weekly updates for the RT 23 construction similar to what they have done in Gt. Barrington. Betsy will set up to attend a future Select Board meeting to discuss this.
2. Scott called in remotely to discuss a suggestion that was to come from the Town Hall Structure Committee however it was learned that they were unprepared to come today and will be coming next Monday instead. The proposal which is to add an article to the town meeting warrant to see if the town will accept hiring a Town Administrator was briefly discussed with Kenn being in favor of placing the article on just to see if the citizenry will approve it without a budget; Scott concurred. Wayne felt it was a bit early in the research to put it to the voters now but conceded that he will only be on the Board for a little while longer. Wayne would like to wait until a full report from the Town Hall Structure Advisory Committee to see how they came up with the recommendation for a Town Administrator
before rushing into anything. Kenn noted that by bringing this to the town for acceptance now does not mean we would definitely move forward with hiring a Town Administrator it would just give us the option if approved. Scott added that the need for an Administrator will in no way eliminate any positions within town, it would be in addition to.
3. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Tax title property: Another email update was received from the Treasurer requesting guidance from the Board. A motion was made to proceed with the foreclosure which was seconded and approved.
b. Email from Michael Banner requesting to be paid for mowing the Community Center property approximately 16 times for the season at $125/mow. There was concern if the property needed to be mowed 4 times a month since it is still a building project and not a functioning community center. It was suggested that we could pay for this service through the Senior Tax Work off Abatement program but first it was decided that there needed to be more discussion on who, how and when this should be done and for how much. It was also suggested that this should be set up through the Highway Department and their budget on a yearly basis. The Board is going to speak with Michael Banner after town meeting and state that they will pay for 2 mowings per month for 4 months and this will come
out of the Highway Maintenance budget (which Shawn has agreed to) providing the Board increases his budget by $1000 which is what it will cost.
c. Quarterly report from the Monterey Community Center.
d. Letter from the Town of New Marlborough advising us that both their Board of Selectmen and Finance Committee have voted unanimously to not recommend approval of the SBRSD FY16 annual budget (operating, transportation and capital) to their voters at their annual town meeting.
4. The Friday, May 8th special town meeting warrant was re-signed with the correct time of 7pm. Ray Tryon signed it and will post in the appropriate places in town.
5. Don suggested that if there is indeed going to be an issue with owing more money than was budgeted for health insurance due to new employees and family plan changes that instead of using $170,000 of free cash to lower the levy limit we only use $100,000 and save the $70,000 for any unplanned situations that arise. Doing this however would put us $52,000 over our levy limit and there isn’t any room left to cut in our budget to bring that down. After much discussion it was agreed to pay for the cruiser with stabilization funds, lower the amount to $130,000 of free cash to lower the tax levy leaving us $190,000 in free cash for emergencies which would now leave us $21,619 over our levy limit.
6. The minutes from 3/30/15 were approved as written.
7. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
8. Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed.
9. Warrants were signed.
The board met with Director of Operations, Shawn Tryon and Jamie Cahillane of CET to review the following:
1. Kenn reported that the Master Garbologist is willing to negotiate a one year contract and is willing to remove the attendant if Monterey wants to hire their own.
2. Jamie Cahillan of CET came in to go over the MRF recycling contract that needs to be renewed. It is a 5 year contract; we have been a member for 20 years. Jamie recommended renewal. Single stream versus dual stream disposal methods.
3. The proposed new design is being designed for dual stream but could be changed after the fact to single stream. Updated site and foundation plans were reviewed.
4. Final plans and estimates will be reviewed at next Monday’s meeting with the Finance Committee.
5. One estimate from Fairview Roofing was received for ½ the roof to be done with architectural shingles for $23,000. Shawn recommended that for an additional $37,000 we could have a steel roof put on with the proper gutters which would have a 50 – 70 year warranty. The Board will take this all under consideration.
6. Shawn has heard from the Army Corp of Engineers and they have said no to offering grant monies to Monterey for the dam. If the library was in imminent danger of falling into the river their might be more of a chance to receive monies.
The board met with Town Clerk, Jennifer Brown to review the following:
Jen is having communication issues with the Treasurer:
- Election workers and registrars used to be paid as vendors but Bethany has stated that they now need to fill out a new employee packet which is overwhelming her staff and they are resigning. The workers also have issues with checking “exempt” as they are being instructed on the W4. Jen suggested that there needs to be a friendly procedure created with regards to this new payment procedure and paychecks should never be withheld while this is all being worked out as was done last time. Election workers also do not want any deferred comp taken from their paychecks and this should be confirmed in the policy/procedure. Jen suggested that a new employee paperwork packet should be made up that is specific to the election workers and registrars that includes an explanation as to why these forms now are
required to be filled out and how this will impact the worker.
- The Board met with the Clerk to discuss communication issues she is having with the Treasurer. It was decided that Scott would meet with the Treasurer and if necessary with the Treasurer and Clerk to clarify and correct the problems.
Jen had someone come in last week to see how they would work out as an assistant and it went well so Jenn will have her return. She also stated that she will be using some of the monies available to hire someone to help her move items in her office and the vault. The Board was pleased.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:20am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. WMHCommCtrReport
2. NMltr
3. MowingEmail
4. TaxTitleEmail
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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