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Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 1/18/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Willie Morales, Carolyn Thomas-Davis
Town Administrator items:
- The broadband services pre-bidder’s conference went well last Friday.
- The 1st financial review/FY18 budget proposal has been scheduled with the Police Department
- Master Garbologist has agreed to rent us his compactor and allow Valley to hook up to it for $300/month
- The credit card set up for the transfer station is still in progress
- Willie has received a proposed budget from the FWMH for the operations of the Community Center which will be reviewed with the financial team.
- Budget/Warrant – Roles of Finance Committee and Select Board: Willie confirmed that the Finance Committee makes recommendations of items to be placed on the annual town meeting warrants and the Select Board signs off on it. The Finance Committee is advisory only.
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- A rough draft of a special town meeting warrant has been prepared. The Board has tentatively set a date for Thursday, March 2nd at 7pm. M. Noe will confirm the availability of the Moderator and Town Clerk.
- Kenn attended the Finance Committee this Saturday to present the items that the Board plans to present at the special town meeting:
- The Finance Committee approved requesting to transfer the remaining monies from the special article to paint the town hall to a new line item for town hall renovations ($7,102 – will not affect the tax rate).
- The Finance Committee is against paying for a study of the Police Department and feels that the Police Chief needs to work more closely with Willie to resolve any ongoing concerns. Willie reiterated that the Finance Committee has an advisory function with respect to the town’s budget. Operational concerns such as human resources/personnel issues do not fall within the scope of the finance committee’s function. Willie feels that the validity of this study will assist Chief in moving the department forward in a positive manner and he agrees that the Chief should be involved in the selection of a firm to conduct said study. Considering that the Police Department is one of the highest salaried departments the Board thinks that this study could be necessary. All parties were in agreement that waiting until the
May meeting to possibly request the funds would be best. In the interim, Willie will continue to work with the Chief to meet the personnel needs of the police department. However this may not be the appropriate time to request these funds as it may be a controversial article. The Selectboard was in agreement that the most important article to address right now is the change from elected Clerk to an appointed Clerk. If the Clerk position is approved at town meeting to be switched from elected to appointed, then Willie would recommend that the position be reviewed to consider a salaried compensation instead of an hourly compensation.
- The Finance Committee supports the transfer of remaining funds (approx. $12k) from the Town Administrator salary to create a Town Administrator expenses line item ($1,500 - will not increase taxes).
- Community Development Block Grant – The Finance Committee would like more information and will be meeting with Alice Boyd who made the proposal.
- The Finance Committee plans to meet every other Monday at 4pm during the budget season.
- Kenn asked that an official answer be sought on whether or not a revolving fund can be set up at a special town meeting so we can get a jump on the Bally Gally revolving fund with the new legislation passed in November.
- Mail was reviewed which included:
- 2 anonymous letters were received which per policy will not be acknowledged. The Select Board reminds everyone that may have a complaint or concern that their letters must be signed in order to be acted upon.
- Letter from the New Marlborough Fire and Rescue commending our fire department on their timely response to a January structure fire in their town.
- Quarterly report from the Wilson McLaughlin House.
- Carolyn (new Town Accountant) brought to the Board’s attention that a few vendors have been charging us tax (although it is not being paid). She has spoken with those department heads involved and they are working to resolve this going forward.
- Carolyn also noted that the check to DelSignore for the Chapter 90 project will go out a little later than the rest of the checks as the Treasurer needs to transfer funds.
- Minutes from 1/11/17 (2) were approved.
- Sgt, Michael Johnson has requested that the December 21, 2016 meeting minutes be amended to read that he was in favor of a professional law enforcement entity performing a study of the Police Department not an outside consultant. The Board approved the amendment.
- Steve spoke to Shawn about providing some preliminary numbers to upgrade the far end of Gould Rd (a.k.a. Lover’s Lane). Willie requested that going forward all conversations should go through the department head and subject matter expert (Shawn) who would then communicate with Willie who will ultimately communicate the information to the board of selectmen.
- Monterey School Building: Willie is confident that we will get a certificate of occupancy and Shawn is working on a punch list so we can get estimates. Kenn and Carol are going to meet with the School Business Administrator, along with School Committee member Maryellen Brown, to discuss the calculations for each town; last year’s school budget alone added $0.27 to our tax rate.
- Select Board Corner: Kenn suggests the topic be broadband and the new FAQ section on the website.
- Carol inquired about when the next Lake Garfield Working Group meeting will be; Steve said it will be in February but has not yet been posted.
- Carol inquired about the progress on grants: Terry Walker is working with Shawn and keeping Willie up to date. Dennis Lynch is looking to write a grant on the dam behind the library and has inquired about FEMA funds designated for the dam. It has been suggested that the dam should be added to our capital plan. Carol asked for notes with regard to the progress being made with the grant writers to be given at the annual when the topic arises.
- 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: 10:40am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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