Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 7/18/16
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Emily Johnson, Richard Jaffe, Shawn Tryon, Hy Rosen, Owen Higgins from the Berkshire Eagle, Stan Ross, Julio Rodriguez, Ray Tryon, Eugene Bounous, Gabe Salomon
The Board met with Director of Operations, Shawn Tryon to discuss the following:
1. Chapter 90 project request paperwork for paving 30,361 ft of New Marlboro, Corashire, Tyringham, River and Hupi Rds in August/September was signed by the Board and will now be submitted to the state for approval and then it will go out to bid.
2. Kenn, M. Noe and Shawn are going to meet with the Accountant tonight regarding some discrepancies from years past and Chapter 90 funds.
3. Steve inquired about upgrading Gould Rd near the section of the new transfer station. Shawn doesn’t anticipate any changes in traffic and stated a few sections are going to be improved which should be sufficient.
4. Discussion ensued about the possibility of oil and stoning Fairview Rd. The road in its current condition requires a lot of continuous manpower and materials to maintain. Shawn will put some costs together and report back on this at a future meeting.
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
1. Richard Jaffe and Hy Rosen came in about the following:
a. The Act for the new tax district – Kenn has all the documents and the Clerk will stamp it on Wednesday and it will be mailed again to Smitty’s office. Future discussions by the Board will be had about concerns with the wording of the Act itself.
b. Lake Garfield Town Working Group – it was agreed to add a member of the Parks Commission to the makeup. Steve reported that the 4 members of the Conservation Commission present at Tuesday’s meeting felt overextended and weren’t interested in serving at this point but there is one member that is out of town and he may be interested.
c. The Board noted that they were unable to open the scope of work email with regards to the grant received sent from Mike Germain.
2. A motion was made to approve the mission statement for the Lake Garfield Working Group. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3. Encumbrances – There are 4 more that need to be submitted for carry forward. The only one we will not carry forward is the $4,000 for the town hall roof as that project has been completed.
4. Steve requested certified copies of a few town meeting warrants from the Clerk last week and expressed the urgency in getting these for the MBI/Broadband project, as of this morning they have not yet been received. Kenn inquired about starting the pole survey immediately; Steve noted that this costs anywhere between $150 – 400 per pole and thus will cost a great deal of money. He stated that the Broadband Committee is actively working with MBI to receive that money from the State allocation (instead of from taxpayers). The Selectboard is aware that there is a private company that is currently doing the “make ready work” (pole survey) on 370 poles. The Board is concerned that this private company’s fiber lines (while legally allowed to do so) may take up limited pole space for a Town
fiber network and if they do, the town may have to pay for new poles to be installed at about $4,000/pole. The Broadband Committee will have an article updating the town on its progress in the August Monterey News.
5. Organizers of the event to be held on 126 Tyringham Rd on July 30th came in to discuss the details. The intention is to have a few bands play in a wholesome, family way (no age limit). Maximum 100 people to be allowed in, parking will be onsite (30 acre property), no drugs or alcohol will be allowed, food will be catered, music will start at 3pm and the Board encouraged them to end at 10pm so as not to have any noise complaints with the Police Department. They were informed that there cannot be any parking on Tyringham Rd. There will be a lifeguard on duty with medical training and their homeowner insurance company has been notified. They were given the necessary application to be filled out for the proper permits. Carol recommended they familiarize themselves to the “social host” laws.
6. Administrative Assistant’s report was reviewed. Time off request was approved.
7. The Board received a list of possible grants from Terry Walker, one of the grant writers hired which was reviewed. Based on her area of expertise it was suggested that she be paired up with Shawn to seek funds that may be available; Terry and Shawn will be invited to next week’s meeting.
8. The Board unanimously approved the following new policy with regards to contacting town counsel which will be distributed to all departments, committees and boards. Only department heads and board chairpersons may contact Town Counsel. Regarding questions from public boards, a majority of the board shall approve the question to be asked of Town Counsel. If there is a legal question that affects another board, then the department head or board chairperson will notify that board prior to forwarding any request for a legal opinion. Employees of the town may request legal opinions, but must do so through the Board of Selectmen, who may forward a request to Town Counsel. The Board in its discretion determines that an opinion is warranted.
9. DOR has assigned us a contact person and plan to come in within the next 2 weeks to perform the procedural audit. Kenn will be the contact person in organizing the interviews.
10. Cell tower update – the representative had a very positive meeting with the Conservation Commission last week and they will now be begin to pull a permit with the building department. Eugene Bounous was present and stated that he is not happy with the company that has purchased his lease with the cell tower company and that they have not been doing the required maintenance to the drainage system. It was clarified the owner of the cell tower on the Bounous property was different than the owner of the new tower.
11. Eugene Bounous came in to complain about the debris left by National Grid near the Hayloft Gallery. Kenn will look into the matter.
12. Town Administrator – the Board reviewed the drafts of the job description and help wanted ad. The drafts were approved and the help wanted ad will be placed on the MMA website, the Berkshire Managers listserv, Shopper’s Guide town website and quotes for local papers will be reviewed next week (Berkshire Eagle and Berkshire Record). The Board discussed that there may be a need to seek additional funds at the special town meeting planned for September for the salary if we do not get qualified applicants. Carol noted that the same position in Sandisfield is offering $33,000.
The Board met with Police Chief, Gareth Backhaus to discuss the following:
1. Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed and time off request approved.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:21am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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