Monterey Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 1/4/16
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: Jill Pajka for the Monterey News, Adam Chait and Maryellen Brown
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. Adam Chait came in to discuss broadband technology with the Board. Adam reiterated that he was here as a resident technology person and was not representing his business Fiber Connect of which he is the CEO. Adam hoped to provide the Board with a better education about fiber and broadband technology in general, in order to help them with decisions that they need to make. The Board requested that Adam (in his role as CEO of Fiber Connect) come back at a later date with a proposal and costs for 100% build out of the town.
2. Maryellen Brown came in to express her concern over a Select Board member not taking her call. Steve explained that there was an apparent miscommunication with the Town Clerk and that he did not purposely avoid her call. Steve apologized if his actions caused Mary Ellen any upset and vowed to be more attentive to her. Mary Ellen accepted his apology and stated that she had other issues that she wanted to discuss including the minutes pertaining to the Jaffe gun range. She wanted it clear that she is a direct abutter to the Jaffe gun range and she has no complaints whatsoever about the noise. She also expressed that she hopes that the Select Board will push as hard as they can and are able to make sure a kindergarten program is kept in Monterey and not focus on an early k
program.
3. Steve reminded the Board that a follow-up with the Chief was still necessary to make sure that the old cruiser (when not in use by the part timers) is kept out in front of town hall. M. Noe will schedule him to come in later this month.
4. Michael Germain has sent an email inquiring if the Lake Garfield tax district article item will be placed on the special town meeting warrant for Feb; Steve felt that this was something that should be on the annual warrant. Scott and Kenn didn’t have any issues with it being on the special warrant but stated that Michael should come into a meeting with the exact article wording as well as a complete timeline of items necessary for approving the district.
5. Steve is working on the language for the grant writer article for the special town meeting which he will bring in as soon as it’s done. Kenn suggested he call the DOR as there may be existing language.
6. Thursday, February 18th has been suggested for the special town meeting and was approved. M. Noe will confirm Mark and Jen’s availability.
7. Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Notification from the MMA that we are being recognized with an award for winning the municipal website award for towns below 5,000 in population. The Board acknowledged that this award is due to Melissa’s hard work with the website. M. Noe or Steve will go out to accept the award.
b. 45th edition of Municipal Financial Data from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. (copy available at town hall to view)
c. Notice from Cornerstone that our carrier will be changing to X5 OpCo LLC.
d. Notification from the SBRSD that the school committee passed a proposed amendment to the 3/11/15 budget.
e. Alan Salamon’s resignation from the Planning Board effective 12/31/15.
f. Roofing contract from Fairview Contractors. Contract was signed and will be sent to the Accountant tomorrow for the first payment due.
g. Email from Richard Jaffe on Hupi Rd regarding the recent Monterey News article and Select Board minutes pertaining to gun noise. He would like the Monterey News to acknowledge that there are other gun ranges in town besides his any time that there is an article regarding gun ranges in town.
h. Clarification was received from counsel on how to proceed with adding an article to the warrant if the Board chooses to recall an elected official. The Board will hold this information and decide at a later date if they would like to proceed.
8. Email regarding the FY17 budget and items that should be changed on the warrant with regards to the budget. The new Town Accountant has suggested that the following changes be made:
a. Line 141 – Change name from Principal Assessor to Assessing Consultant. Paul advises that because this is a contracted position and it is paid more than $35k this should be going out to bid per Chapter 30B and this position should have a contract which clearly spells out the salary, duties, etc and any benefits such as reimbursement for mileage
b. Lines 171, 243, 245 and 246 should all be dropped to $1 and going forward there should be a separate article on the warrant that authorizes the town to use the funds thru a revolving account (fees collected are what pays the inspectors, legal notices, etc).
c. Line 422 – add a Hwy Overtime with a suggested $25k which allows for clearer tracking of overtime authorized in the summer, spring and fall months.
d. Split out Parks (line 630) so that the payroll for the lifeguards is separate. This was $17k however if we are going to have Berkshire South handle all of this for us (which is what the Parks is going to propose) it will be $26k for FY17.
e. Debt Service (line 700) – this is where all the loan & interest payments should be rather than having them as special articles.
9. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
10. The minutes from 12/14/15 were discussed with regards to whether or not something should be condensed, Steve agreed that some superfluous language could be omitted, but that the Board as a whole should have a discussion about the underlying factors that led up to the disagreement. Steve suggested that a meeting be scheduled with counsel in executive session to hash out the differences that are occurring right now. Scott was in favor of this and apologized to Kenn for comments that he made and promised that until the end of his term he would work as harmoniously as possible to get the budget done and get us through town meeting; Kenn stated that he had no interest in any mediation or executive sessions.
11. Warrants were signed.
The board met with Town Accountant, Paul Lisi and Town Treasurer, Sue Funk to review the following:
1. The Schedule A for FY15 should be completed by the end of January (this is typically done in August but the previous Accountant did not do it).
2. The Board discussed the email received from Adelson and Company notifying the Board that after a meeting with the Treasurer and Accountant they have determined that the Town is not prepared to proceed with an audit due to the condition of its financial records, specifically that the town’s cash has not been reconciled to date and the Schedule A for FY15 was not completed. Paul states that once the Board accepts Adelson backing out the town can then hire Scanlon (a formal letter should be on its way from Adelson). Scanlon will be asked to come in with his proposal.
3. The Board discussed the letter from the Treasurer and Accountant outlining the additional hours they have worked above and beyond what is normal due to the disarray of the office when they were hired. Total owed is $3,100 to the Treasurer and $3,325 to the Accountant which is available in the reserve fund and would require approval from the Finance Committee to transfer. (attached) A motion was made to accept the proposal which was seconded and unanimously approved, this will be forwarded to the Finance Committee for approval to transfer the funds from the reserve fund.
4. The Board asked about elected officials that receive stipends quarterly, twice a year or annually just need to submit something to the Accountant and Treasurer notifying them how frequently they would like to be paid. M. Noe will send out a notification to those that this affects.
5. 90% of the Treasurer receipts have been entered and they are about 2 weeks away from being completely caught up. The Board agreed to the suggestion that M. Noe will create and send to all departments on a monthly basis their expense reports beginning February 1st.
6. Sue was notified that the Finance Committee has decided that they would like the 5 year loan option at the lowest interest rate on the new truck, M. Noe will get her something in writing tomorrow.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:49pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
1. Websiteaward
2. Carrierchange
3. Salamonresignation
4. AcctTreashoursowed
5. Jaffeemail
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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