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Select Board Meeting Amended Minutes 12/21/16
Select Board
Amended Minutes of the meeting of 12/21/16

Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman

Also in attendance: Willie Morales, Shawn Tryon, Barbara Palmer, Cliff Weiss, BJ Johnson, Ray Tryon

Kenn inquired about the agenda item for an executive session.  Steve stated that he called it to discuss a complaint against Kenn Basler.  Kenn waived his right to executive session and opted for an open session. Steve informed the board that he will be recording the meeting.

Steve explained that the reason for his complaint was there was a pattern of Kenn usurping the rest of the board, overreaching and making decisions by himself. With regards to the broadband committee, Steve stated emphatically that he did not resign. Kenn said that he was under the impression from conversations with Willie that Steve was stepping down from the Broadband committee and apologized if there was a misunderstanding, and made it clear that he was mistaken and Steve is still an active member of the Broadband Committee. Steve informed Kenn that he is reserving the right to file a grievance, however he will hold off in light of an apology and if no future violations of this type be incurred against any board members.

Role of Town Administrator: Steve suggested that to avoid problems in the future, with the hiring of a Town Administrator there be no more “liaisons” to departments and all information should be filtered through Willie.   Willie agreed and explained that DLS recognizes the Town Administrator as the Chief Executive Officer and going forward there shouldn’t be any Board members individually speaking to state officials, department heads, etc; this should be the role of the Town Administrator.  On another note Willie acknowledged that the Town Administrator position was not adequately planned for (lack of office space, a budget for expenses, role in town hall, etc).  A motion was made to accept the DLS recommendations to have the Town Administrator “Prepare and monitor the operating and capital budgets. Oversee day-to-day operations and coordinate interdepartmental activities, facilitate the flow of information between elected officials, employees and citizens, develop and present financial policy recommendations to the Select Board for adoption, administer the town’s personnel policies and negotiate contracts, oversee information technology operations, prepare all town meeting warrants and enact the goals and policies set forth by the Select Board”.  The motion was seconded.  Discussion ensued to clarify that this adoption include the managing of all projects no matter where they are in their stage of completion.  Carol agreed that the Board needs to work more closely with Willie and each other.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Updates from Willie:
  • Water Resources Contract (Friends of Lake Garfield Grant): Willie is working with Dr. Wagner & Michael Germain to revise areas of the contract that need to be edited to protect the interest of the town.
  • Scanlon & Associates: Willie has spoken with Tom Scanlon who stated that they were never made aware of the early spring request for an audit; they are going to try to get here for April of 2017.
  • Police Dept Audit: After interviewing several current and past part time employees Willie feels it is warranted to have an outside consultant review the police department and noted that Sergeant Johnson was in favor of a professional law enforcement entity not an outside consultant.  Willie suggested that if we need to we can request at a special town meeting to use free cash for this study.  This document and research will aid in any future decisions made about the department.
  • IT Audit is schedule for the 30th of December.
  • Accountant and Treasurer: All references have been fully investigated and both candidates come highly recommended.  We are just waiting on their CORI results.
  • WMH/Community Center:  A solicitation will be put together to finish the work to get a Certificate of Occupancy.
  • Transfer Station: Shawn and Willie have been working on the compactor purchase and have determined that Valley was the lowest bidder. They will be getting the grant paperwork completed.
  • Willie is reviewing the many drafts of a Monterey RFP received and working on the tweaks that need to be made.
  • Wall that heals: there is a traveling 3 day memorial it costs $7,500 which Sergeant Johnson has said he can raise from donations but has not as of today.  Willie does not recommend executing the contract without the donations as the Town could end up being liable for the $7,500 (due by the 27th).  The Board didn’t feel that they could make a decision with only today to think about it and had questions about permits that may be necessary.  They all agreed that if Mike could show proof of the donations in full received, permitting questions answered and any other pertinent facts prior to the deadline they would be more than happy to sign the contract.
  • Office space:  Willie asked that this be tabled until he meets with the Finance Committee at their Friday meeting to discuss available finances.  He stated that using free cash is an available option that Willie is suggesting is an unexpected expenditure and therefore would not require town meeting approval; the Board asked for a written opinion on this as they were under the impression that free cash could only be used is approved at town meeting.  Kenn said the biggest issue is where we can create a space that makes the most sense and all of the options hinge on multiple things happening and along those lines suggested that in the meantime the Select Board meet to start going through the boxes in the storage room to determine or at least prepare boxes for possible disposal.
  • Willie will be doing a walk-through of the Monterey School with Shawn and Maryellen and will present a more thorough report after this has been done.
  • The Board asked for clarification with regards to the Treasurer position, the ballot question (which is the final step in changing it to appointed) and the need to have a person on the ballot should the question not pass.
Barbara Palmer and Rob Hoogs of the Bidwell House Museum came in to discuss the following:
  • Upcoming restoration project which has a large price tag.
  • Board’s ideas of how they can better serve the community and make the museum’s presence a bigger one in the community.
  • They requested a letter of support from the Board for the grant they are applying for.  The Board would be happy to provide this.
  • They requested that the Board reconsider their decision to not waive the building permit fees and consider non-profit’s requests on a case by case basis.  The Board’s dilemma is that 65% of the land in Monterey do not pay real estate taxes (the Bidwell House is a part of that), the tax rate is going up this year, there is no new growth and the Board really needs to figure how to get the necessary funds in in a fair way that still allows us to provide the town for fire, police, highway services, etc.  The Board also stated that they must treat all non-profits equally and if they waive permit fees for one, they must do it for all.  Kenn made a motion to cut the fees in half to meet the museum half way for this particular project.  The motion was not seconded.  Willie stated that the Board must consider the best interests of the town and the approach is equal for all the non-profits.  
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
  • Municipal Lighting Plant: The MLP is confusing in the differing legal opinions we are receiving.  One path is that the Select Board is the MLP and the other is to set up a Board.  The Board needs clarity on whether or not the 2nd option has to be separate from the town and will ask Koppelman & Paige for an opinion.  Willie interprets the MLP law to allow for the Board to be the MLP.  Monterey voted an MLP but never voted the structure.
  • Mail was reviewed that included:
  • Invitation from the Towns of Sheffield and New Marlborough to attend a joint meeting to discuss sharing equipment and services in the areas of IT, financial services, highway departments, police departments, fire departments, emergency services, personnel and HR services.  One of the Board members will attend.
  • Letter from the Town of Egremont with regards to the school committee’s proposal to close the Egremont School.  It was suggested that the Board write a letter of support for keeping it open.
  • Grant writers: It was suggested to pay Terry Walker as an employee when grant writing and to hire Dennis as a contractor to her.  There was some concern about the number of hours put in by Terry; Willie stated there will be a threshold of 6 hours per week for grant writing and 10 for the Clerk’s office.
  • Town Clerk office: The Board requested that if any physical changes are going to be made to an office the request should be made directly through the Town Administrator.
  • Town Clerk position: Discussion ensued about the position and requesting to change from elected to appointed.
  • The Board thanked M. Noe for all of the hard work she put in to organizing and setting up yesterday’s holiday lunch.
  • Select Board corner: it will be about the new financial team.  M. Noe will send out a draft for approval.
  • Kenn is drafting up an article addressing the tax increase.
  • Warrants were signed.
  • Minutes from 12/14 & 12/16/16 were approved.
  • 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: 11:45am

Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk