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Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 2/17/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Willie Morales, Adam Chait, Shawn Tryon, Ray Tryon, Maggie Leonard
Town Administrator Items Reviewed:
- The Board reviewed the latest budget requests that have come in. Willie stated that right now there is only an increase to the budget of 1%. There are 4 more meetings set up for next Friday.
- Willie is looking into a call received threatening a lawsuit if we don’t stop drawdown as the caller claims we are creating an ice hazard and affecting the fish. The Board noted that this has been done for years and is approved by all the necessary agencies.
- The opinion regarding the creation of a revolving fund with the Bally Gally rent monies.
- There are concerns regarding cemetery records including but not limited to plots, maps, files, etc. Willie will follow up on this.
- Grant writer update: Dennis has had a meeting with the USDA regarding the library dam and will be meeting with Willie soon to update him and Terry will be coming in today to give a progress report on the MassWorks grant for the Curtis Rd bridge.
- Willie will draft a letter to the Fin Comm responding to their questions regarding health insurance and the administrative positions in town which was already addressed at a previous meeting.
Director of Operations Items Reviewed:
- Monterey School Building: Willie, Shawn and Don Torrico cannot move forward until they know what the long term plan is for the building (school, town use or sell). The bathroom floor has been ripped up but it has been determined that if the building is going to continue to be used for a school/municipal purpose then the other bathroom floor needs to be repaired as well. Kenn at the moment feels that it isn’t worth continuing to put good money after bad considering the large decrease in children in the district and suggested that prior to any decisions being made a meeting be held with Maryellen Brown. Steve reminded the Board that the Town has voted to raise and appropriate funds to make these repairs. Willie and Shawn will put out a bid for the downstairs bathroom floor. Ray thought a new water line may
also need to be put in.
- Shawn requested permission to use interim plow help (temporary employee) for a minimum of 2 weeks in March to cover while one of his employees is out for a procedure. Permission was granted.
- Shawn will be out next Thurs – Sun of next week.
- The Board asked for the message box in front of town hall to be removed when they have a moment.
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- Don Torrico stated that there has been a large increase in building permits being applied for.
- Carol reported on the Lake Garfield Working Group meeting that took place on Monday. They are working on a proposal for suction harvesting and hand weed pulling to be made to the Selectmen. There is an existing OOC for this issued by the Conservation Commission however they will be requesting funding for this estimated to cost between $30-50k. Carol suggested that maybe our grant writers could work on finding a grant to cover this.
- Steve is working with Maggie on organizing a meeting with the Chief, Hume and Chestnut Hill residents.
- Carol, Kenn and Willie will be attending the upcoming legislative breakfast.
- The Board discussed the CDBG grant program and stressed that the application process is confidential. Applications are processed through Boyd Associates and the Selectboard does not see any of this, nor are they a part of the approval process.
- The Board reviewed the FY18 proposed SBRSD budget discussed at a school committee meeting last night which is a 7.95% increase to Monterey.
- Cell tower update: Willie and Steve will be hitting the ground running contacting the carriers once the RFP process is over for broadband. Steve has also reached out to State Representative Smitty Pignatelli and State Senator Adam Hinds.
- M. Noe was asked to schedule Adam Hinds and Smitty Pignatelli to come to a future meeting.
- Carol inquired about the agenda item “Community Compact” and wanted to know why it continues to be on it. The Board has not yet signed the current community compact for this year as they haven’t decided what the focus should be.
- The Board will discuss health insurance for employees at next week’s meeting but the consensus seemed to be that no one was in favor of making any changes to the current employees. They were in favor of adjusting the town/employee split for any new employees hired.
- Minutes from 2/8/17 were approved.
- Mail was reviewed which included:
- Letter from Karen Allen regarding the increase of traffic.
- 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: 10:45am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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