Monterey Select Board
Amended Minutes of the meeting of 4/4/16
Meeting Opened at: 8:45am
Select Board Members Present: Scott Jenssen, Chairperson, Kenn Basler and Steve Weisz
Also in attendance for parts of the meeting: Stephen Moore for the Monterey News, Roy Carwile, Carol Edelman, Adam Chait, Barbara Gauthier, Stanley Ross, BJ Johnson, Ray Tryon and Don Clawson
Miscellaneous Select Board Items Reviewed:
1. The Board listened to the voicemail from the legal department at the DOR with regards to the current way we have the grant writer position set up for compensation. DOR stated that while it is legal they do not recommend it or endorse it. Kenn suggested going forward with the way it was approved with the understanding that there has been pushback and use it as an experimental year before making a decision to add a salary/stipend to the budget. During this time it was also suggested to reach out to other towns to see how they pay their grant writers. Scott and Steve concurred.
2. Scott noted that he spoke with Town Counsel over the weekend and Jeremia has concerns about $35,000 being placed on the warrant for a Town Administrator and suggested dropping it to $1 because a) it is a low ball figure and b) the process to find a TA could take up to 9 months and the full $35,000 proposed wouldn’t be needed. It was rebutted that if $35,000 is a low ball figure it may in fact cover hiring a TA for the 3 months.
3. It was agreed that any discussions about the future of the Monterey School building and our involvement in the district would be placed on hold until the new Select Board member is voted in.
4. Kenn has spoken with the Town Clerk and she is going to give a final figure to the Board this week of the estimated fees she collects so that it can be added into her salary versus her being paid separately for them as is being done with the Tax Collector.
5. Based on an email from the Town Clerk which states that a consistent 20 hours a week is not necessary to run the Clerk’s Office the Board made a motion that a policy change will be made that this position is not a 20 hour per week position and is no longer eligible for benefits. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
6. Steve gave the Board an update on the WiredWest meeting held this Saturday. Steve will draft a resolution for next Monday’s meeting for the Board to sign.
7. With regards to the creation of a committee to review the Broadband proposals an article will go in next month’s Monterey News and it was decided that anyone chosen on the committee should not have any fiscal or fiduciary interests.
8. Kenn will be working with Shawn over the next year with regards to the current boat the Firehouse owns and what is actually needed.
9. Fire Inspector position – The Town of Gt. Barrington is interested in sharing this position if we can work it out, M. Noe will get more information. It was suggested that for this year we keep this position as a stipend and Shawn will keep a tally of how many inspections are performed and it will be reevaluated next year as to whether or not it will remain a stipend or go to a percentage of the fees.
10. The WMH has submitted a citizen petition from the Community Center requesting $40,000 from the town to complete the work.
11. Memorial Day: Scott asked M. Noe to get the letters ready, start ordering the food, schedule the ice cream truck, order the wreaths and schedule the band.
12. The Board met with the Finance Committee to review the following:
a. According to the Schedule A we aren’t earning a large amount of interest on the $660k we have in stabilization and it was discussed whether we should be putting such a large amount as is proposed since it may not be a necessity this year. Barbara doesn’t recommend putting $150,000 this year when we are so far over our levy limit with the budget as proposed. The Finance Committee feels that by putting such a large amount in we will actually be controlling our debt service as we will be able to purchase capital items with stabilization funds.
b. The Finance Committee met on Saturday and are now making some major suggested changes:
i. Fire truck – borrow the entire amount instead of using any of stabilization.
ii. The Finance Committee voted to not accept the school budget as proposed because it has been in such flux and it is still open to change and additional cost savings from the school. The Select Board is also in agreement and will suggest the voter’s level fund the budget at town meeting.
iii. The Finance Committee is requesting that $1,500 be added in to the budget to cover hiring a clerk to attend their meetings and take minutes. The Board will discuss this further next week.
c. It was suggested to drop the Highway Capital budget by $10,000. This did not pass.
d. Regarding Town Counsel’s suggestion above to lower the TA line item it was agreed to lower it to $1 and have a special town meeting once the right person is found and ask to transfer the necessary salary and benefit monies needed from free cash.
e. Kenn had concerns that a $25,000 line item was created for fuel that was supposed to be a combination of fuel for the Highway, Fire and Police but it appears that $4,700 was lowered from only the Police Department’s budget (even though they estimated $12,000) and it doesn’t appear that anything was taken from the other 2 departments.
f. It was agreed that we would not be rescinding the vote taken at the February special to use $4,100 from free cash for the Parks Commission and instead use reserve funds as was suggested. The decision to use free cash will remain
g. Shawn’s estimates and recommendations for the transfer station bids were reviewed. The final estimate is $332,625 with leasing of the compactors.
h. It was suggested that the amount to request for an override would be $500,000 but Kenn felt that it should be $300,000. After discussion a motion was made to place a ballot question on the May 10, 2016 election ballot to exempt the payments on the bond for the purchase of a fire truck from the annual tax limitation, pursuant to G.L. c59, §21C(k). The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. It was also unanimously voted on to request a $500,000 override on same election ballot as approximately $130,000 of it would be used to cover this year’s proposed budget.
i. A “rehearsal” meeting with the Finance Committee was scheduled for April 25th at 10am to review the warrant.
j. The Finance Committee’s informational meeting will be held at 10am on Saturday, April 30th at the town hall.
k. It was agreed to use $38,000 out of free cash to lower the tax rate.
13. The Board has instructed M. Noe to request that the Treasurer get loan figures for the fire truck for the full $650,000 for terms up to 8 years as well as loan figures for the transfer station for terms of 5 - 7 years.
14. It was agreed that since there really wasn’t enough notice last week that the changing of the transfer station’s hours will not begin until May 1st.
15. Shawn has recommended that the low bidders LB and MD Amstead be accepted for the transfer station and that the bid bond be waived as the businesses being used are established.
16. Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
17. Warrants were signed.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:32am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
Documents received at this meeting:
- grantwriteremails
- clerkemailhours
These are attached to the hard copy of the minutes located at town hall.
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