Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/5/15
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: Jill Pajka for the Monterey News, Larry Klein, Richard and Pat Edelstein, Stanley Ross, Donald Clawson, Michael Germain, Cheryl Zellman, Dick Tryon, Richard Jaffe, Mark Gordon and Pat Solomon
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board asked Larry Klein, WiredWest Alternate Delegate to come in to provide an update regarding WiredWest. He stated that his report is based on the meetings he has attended and reports he has seen. Right now MBI is responsible for the design but WiredWest has raised a strong voice through our legislators that WiredWest needs to be heard throughout the design process. Larry provided a report for the Board to review (attached). The timeline is sometime in the spring of 2018 to have the first town turned on and then 18 months after that to have the last town on. Steve inquired why there hasn’t been any other meetings regarding the reorganization since the first one in June; Larry wasn’t sure but stated he would find out. Larry and Monica will be here for the MBI
meeting on the 19th.
2. Larry suggested that with the way the world it is today it should be considered for everyone’s safety in the building to install cameras in the town hall to show who is coming in and attending meetings.
3. Richard Tryon stated he was here to support getting the money back from the school for the over assessment made. The Board stated that they are going to begin discussions with the Finance Committee later tonight and once a decision has been made they would make some sort of statement. Dick also felt that someone was responsible for this mistake and this person should be fired and someone competent should be hired. Steve was not in favor of “loaning” the money to the district for the amount we were overassessed.
4. Richard Jaffe took the place of Michael Germain of the Friends of Lake Garfield to propose starting a separate tax district for the Lake Garfield community to finance the health and welfare of Lake Garfield. The maintenance district would be similar to the one Goose Pond in Otis and Lake Buel have. The first step was to get permission from the Board to move forward and contact the legislators and start the process. It was questioned whether or not a town meeting was necessary; Lake Buel’s tax district did have a town meeting vote. Creating this district would affect approximately 35-37% of Monterey’s tax base (200 homes); Scott had an issue with someone being taxed that only has deeded rights and would discuss this further once the process moves along. The initial rate
would be approximately $0.30 per thousand (or approximately $142/yr for a house assessed at 500,000), someone in the audience disagreed with this and felt that the increase could be as much as 10%. Discussion ensued about who owns the lake and who is responsible for maintaining it. The state owns the lake however they have taken no responsibility for maintaining the lake. There was concern about creating a private tax district on a public lake as well as how the public beach would be addressed. A motion was made to grant support to the Friends of Lake Garfield for this proposal to move forward. The motion was seconded with the caveat that all documents drafted by the Friends of Lake Garfield must be reviewed by the Select Board prior to being submitted. The motion passed unanimously.
5. The Board met with Stanley Ross and Don Clawson of the Finance Committee regarding the assessment error made by the SBRSD. The options were discussed. Steve proposed that a meeting with Egremont should be first on Monterey’s list since they are in the same position being over-assessed. Steve feels that Monterey should be credited back their over-assessment now and the towns that were under-assessed should be required to go to town meeting to request the additional funds. Don suggested that the BOA or DOR legal departments should be contacted to find out how this situation should/could be handled (Scott will do this as well as call Egremont). Stan was not in favor of “loaning” the money as the school committee has proposed. Scott was not in favor of asking for
the money back as he didn’t feel that the school would be able to find the amount under-assessed to cut from their budget thus killing the district. Steve felt that since the school already found $216,000 to cut from the budget they could certainly look closer at their budget and find more. Don stated that if we are given the money back the town cannot spend it on something else, it will go to free cash and he noted that the taxpayers have already been taxed on this.
6. Maria Rundle came in at the Board’s request to discuss the following:
a. Maria stated that the school committee has researched the legal aspects of this assessment error and their proposal was what was suggested by the state.
b. Maria stated that the school committee doesn’t feel that New Marlborough and Sheffield were going to go to town meeting to request the additional funds for the under assessed amount.
c. Maria’s feeling was that the Monterey School program shouldn’t be used as leverage with regards to the mis-assessment.
d. Monterey/School Committee Agreement with regards to fixing the Monterey School building: Maria explained that legally the school committee could not enter into an agreement with one Board of a town of a regional school district however with that said the school committee is honoring the work that needs to be done and assure the select board that the agreement is valid but the vote wasn’t.
e. Scott has been unable to get under the building to assess the issues under the bathroom floor to provide an estimate. Discussion ensued about the state of the building and whether or not putting any money into it is worth it. The Building Inspector has deemed the building safe. It was suggested that a vote to make sure there will be a program next year should happen before any work is done on the building. Pre-k is out of the question due to state building requirements.
f. After thinking further about the mis-assessment issue Scott suggested that Monterey hold off on deciding what to do about our over-assessment until the district comes up with a program for Monterey for next year. Maria suggested that if Monterey did this she feels that the other towns would just vote to close the program.
7. Scott asked for more information on justifying the rent increase at Bally Gally. Steve stated that it was to cover the $2,100 average in repairs each year. It was also noted that their rent hasn’t been increased since moving in several years ago. Scott felt that the repairs have always been met with surplus and that the rent has covered the repairs. Kenn agreed and felt that it may be the norm to raise the rent in the private sector but not here and Kenn made a motion to rescind the recent rent increase vote and return back to the $1,000/month. Scott seconded the motion. The motion passed 2 to 1 with Steve not in favor.
8. Con Comm/Tax Abatement: The Conservation Commission was requesting that the Board approve site visits and continuing education as eligible items to claim under the Seniot Tax Work Off Abatement Program. Discussion ensued and it was determined that this would be a small token for those eligible taking on the enormous burdens that are asked of volunteers on the various boards and commissions. The Board approved this unanimously.
9. Kenn suggested that the 1st 15 minutes of each meeting be set aside for town officials to be able to come in and discuss whatever they want. It was noted that per the OML the agenda has to list who would be coming in and what topics they would be discussing so that the general public could attend if they wanted. The department heads will be notified that if they have something they would like to meet with the Board about the time slot available will be from 4:15 – 4:30 however they will need to let M. Noe know by the Wednesday morning prior that they will be coming and to discuss what.
10. The Board would like to start meeting with departments and the Finance Committee to begin discussions on their FY17 proposed budgets. The Board discussed that there needs to be more oversight on the department budgets and how the money is being spent.
11. The culvert work on RT 23 is scheduled to begin on the 16th and then immediately after that work will begin on the New Marlboro Rd bridge.
12. Kenn has confirmed that the rumor going around that there is a problem with our Chapter 90 money is untrue and that everything that has been submitted has been approved.
13. Salt has been ordered and sand is in the process of being ordered.
14. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Notification from the Office of the Governor that we have been awarded a $500 Sustainable Materials Recovery Program grant.
b. Email from Richard Jaffe regarding a proposed noise ordinance.
15. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
16. Warrants were signed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7:20pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. WiredWestreport
2. Jaffeemail
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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