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Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 12/14/16
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Willie Morales, Paul Lisi, Roy Carwile, Steve Snyder, Shawn Tryon, Don Clawson, BJ Johnson, Cliff Weiss, Ray Tryon
At 9:02am Willie Morales recommended going into Executive Session with regards to MGL Chapter 30A Section 19(a)1 to discuss a personnel performance issue. Roll call was taken by the Chair. All Select Board members were present as was Town Administrator, Willie Morales and Paul Lisi. A motion was made by to go into executive session, seconded, and approved unanimously. The Board agreed that they would return to an open session. Open session was resumed at 9:20am.
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- The Board reviewed the updated school age children numbers provided by the Town Clerk.
- A motion was made to accept the Treasurer, Sue Funk’s resignation. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Discussion ensued about whether to pay her thru the end of the week considering she left without giving 2 weeks’ notice. Willie stated that Sue is an extremely coachable candidate that can do this job but he feels the situation with the Accountant upset her and this led to her abrupt resignation. A motion was made to pay her through the end of the week which was seconded and unanimously approved.
- Willie hopes that all department heads feel comfortable coming to the Board and Administrator with any problems or concerns so that they may be dealt with right away and not grow into something larger. Steve noted that the Board and Administrator need to come up with a procedure and notify all departments of who they should be directly reporting to. Kenn suggested that next week a half hour be set aside to discuss roles, policies, etc. with regards to this.
- Shawn Tryon came in to report:
- The fencing is being installed at the new transfer station.
- This weekend’s storm is calling for rain, snow and ice. If it comes to a point that the crew cannot keep up with it they will send out a message through the reverse 911 system. The Board suggested sending one prior to the storm as well to have people prepare for their travels.
- Roy Carwile of the Lake Garfield Working Group came in to report on their most recent meeting and the discussion regarding the selection of a contractor for the 604b grant that the FLG applied for and the town has matched funds for. There is hesitancy on the group to use Ken Wagner who is being recommended by the FLG. They later learned that grant was written so integrally involving Ken Wagner that there is not an option to pursue other contractors without being completely rewritten. This is a nutrient loading study and has no relation to milfoil, herbicides or the application of chemical treatments. Carol noted that she was not a Selectman when this grant was received and approved and also did not support the matching funds requested at the special town meeting and is not in favor of proceeding with this study. A motion was made to accept the grant as is and complete the necessary paperwork. The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0 with Carol abstaining.
- IT Audit: Willie will be speaking with them this week. He attempted to call last week but they were slow to respond.
- Willie reported on his meeting with Jon Sylbert of the Finance Committee this morning. Willie will be reviewing the last 3 years of budgets and then will meet with all of the department heads prior to them submitting their budget requests to the Finance Committee and Select Board for review.
- Treasurer and Accountant resignations:
- Willie has received some resumes (positions were posted on the town website). The Board discussed whether or not they should also be placed in the Berkshire Eagle which was $457 for 1 day.
- It was agreed that if we can find persons to fill the positions in the interim we should and that they will also be considered permanently once the position has been posted in the Shopper’s Guide and a healthy amount of resumes have been received.
- Don Clawson will assist Willie in reviewing the candidate resumes.
- In the interim the Board agreed if Willie finds it appropriate that M. Noe can process payroll as she is familiar with the Harper’s software.
- Turkey gift cards: Willie pointed out that while the town has been giving them for a while and most likely would not get in trouble for continuing it is not a state permitted use of town funds (refer to City & Town publication from February 2006). In light of this new information the Board agreed to no longer give out the turkey gift cards. Willie suggested that in lieu of the gift cards if the Board felt inclined to give the full time employees Friday, December 23rd off in addition to the actual holiday without having to use their earned time. A motion was made to give the full time employees a floating holiday on Friday, December 23rd with the understanding that the highway crew may take another day if the weather is inclement and they have to work.
- Going forward the Board is going to use the first hour of every meeting to meet with the Administrative Assistant to review administrative items that need to be taken care of and to also meet with the Town Administrator to deal with items that have arisen.
- Audit: A report of the cash audit done back in the summer was received and it has also been learned that we are not on the schedule for the next audit until spring (much later than expected). There appeared to be a reticence on the Accountant and Treasurer’s part to relay information regarding the audit. Willie will be in touch with Scanlon & Associates and will report back to the Board.
- The Board discussed the Bidwell House’s request to waive the building permit fees for their current project. Kenn’s position is that we do not waive fees for any other non-profits in town and therefore the Bidwell House should have to pay any fees incurred. Carol and Steve agreed.
- The Board reviewed the estimate of $445 from Dave Gilmore to build shelving in the new swap shed. The Board approved the purchase. M. Noe will let Dave know where we have town accounts.
- Broadband update: The committee met yesterday to review the draft RFP for Monterey which should be ready for the Board’s review later this week. It has been determined that the Select Board should be appointed as additional members of our MLP in addition to one Broadband Committee member. This will be on the agenda for next week.
- Old Beartown Rd – Don inquired if the town had read the court documents and covenants placed on the road by the state. The Board was unaware of them but asked M. Noe to research this. According to Don the covenants state very clearly that the residents are responsible for the road.
- The Board signed a letter with regards to the parking at the library.
- Mail was reviewed which included:
- Correspondence from Chris Blair with regards to broadband.
- Kenn reported that the highway department has received a letter from MassDOT that they will be posting the Curtis Bridge that it will no longer be able to handle large trucks (creating a major issue for the highway trucks and the rerouting of traffic). Kenn and Willie will be working with DOT on this going forward. Steve suggested that we should start looking at upgrading and improving Gould Rd and its connection to River Rd to accommodate the traffic increase it may be seeing.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 11/30 and 12/7/16 were approved as written.
- Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
- Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:30am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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