Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 11/29/17
Meeting Opened at: 3pm
Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chairperson, Carol Edelman and Kenneth Basler
Also in attendance: BJ Johnson, Gareth Backhaus, Shawn Tryon, Justin Cole, George Cain, Jon Sylbert
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- The Board met with Shawn Tryon, Director of Operations to discuss a few items on his proposed FY19 budget:
a. It was agreed to wait another year to propose hiring an additional part time employee. The Board did agree to add a line item for a temporary winter employee at $1500 to perform shoveling and assist with other winter operations.
b. Discussion ensued about lowering highway overtime (not winter) to $1,500 from $2,500. It was agreed with the understanding that if we have a major weather event we may need additional funds.
c. Request for a new loader with a boom mower. Shawn did meet with the Highway Superintendent of Egremont about the possibility of sharing their mower and our mini excavator. After evaluating everything the size of their machine doesn’t meet the needs for Monterey but Shawn is open to the idea in the future when applicable. Currently we rent a boom mower at $10k/month for at least 2 months. Shawn is proposing to purchase a boom mower attachment for approximately $80k which would attach to the new loader at $155,000. We expect to get approximately $45k for our trade. It was agreed to have a special article for $171k of the purchase price and use $20k from highway operations which would’ve been spent on a rental.
d. Curtis Rd Bridge: Shawn does not recommend using any Chapter 90 funds as there will be more restrictions to using those funds and may cost us more than the $275k estimate received, we will have $90k in stabilization and $85k left from the monies approved last year leaving us with a balance left to raise of $100k, $25k of which will come from highway capital and the other $75k will be raised and appropriated as a special article.
- The Board reviewed the Chief’s requested expense budget and after discussion all agreed to a $1,000 increase instead of the $3,258 originally requested.
- The Board met with Justin Cole for an update on the status of the Treasurer and Accountant offices:
a. The misc cash they have been working on trying to reconcile but didn’t have supporting documentation has been 80% figured out.
b. Monthly reports should go out the end of next week.
c. There is a family interested in purchasing back a property that was taken and is not town owned; Justin stated that this would need to go out to auction for any interested parties to bid on.
d. Free cash certification is being worked on.
e. GASB45 actuarial report is still in progress. They are working with the retirement agency to get accurate data on our current retirees. There is a conference call scheduled for next week.
- At the request of the Town Clerk the Board appointed Michal Strawbridge and Rebecca Wolin as registrars for one year.
- The Board met with the town grant writers to discuss current projects and the plans for next year. Terry informed us that we did not get the MassWorks Grant. Terry is working on 2 other grants for the fire department and 1 for the assessors. Dennis has been successful in getting 2 grants. Dennis outlined future grants we can apply for. The Board thanked both Terry and Dennis for the work they have done to date and let them know that for next year they are looking to lower the budget to $10k for time spent working on grants.
- The Board met with the Finance Committee to review the preliminary proposed FY19 budget:
a. The Finance Committee is concerned about the large stipend being paid to the elected Board of Assessors. They explained that 10+ years ago their stipend was raised substantially to address an issue they were having which has been resolved for some time. They are requesting to lower this to $1,500/each and are recommending follow the DLS’ recommendation to change the positions to appointed and come up with a succession plan for which they will allocate $7k to bring someone on to be trained by our current Principal Assessor. The Select Board supports these changes.
b. The Board discussed their decision to lower the proposed amount for the Town Administrator line item to $1 due to the fact that we are better managed than we were this time last year and continually moving forward in a positive direction. The Finance Committee felt the number should be left at $35k, then a motion made to lower it at town meeting. Discussion will continue at a later date on this topic.
- The Board agreed to give the full time employees Tuesday, December 26th off as a holiday gift.
- The Board discussed our current insurance policies and agreed to leave the school policy just purchased as is for this year; and to keep the auto deductibles where they are as the savings to change would be minimal but will be reevaluated for FY19. They also agreed to not add liability insurance on the 1 foreclosed property.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 11/15 & 11/27 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: 6:35pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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