Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/1/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- The Board discussed the resignation of the Town Administrator. Kenn stated that he had private discussions with the Town Administrator prior the receipt of the resignation letter. Steve informed Kenn that he considers that an overreach of office, as the Board was not aware of these private meetings. Kenn disagreed with this characterization. The Board accepted the resignation letter. A letter will be sent to all employees as well as the resume review committee advising them of the resignation and directing them to contact the Board with any questions they may have or any assistance they may need on projects they had been working on with the Town Administrator.
- The Board discussed the issues brought to their attention with the Accountant. Kenn reported that prior to the Town Administrator resigning he spoke with the Accountant and will be submitting her resignation this week. The Board gave Kenn permission to reach out to the other applicant that had applied for the position and see if she has any interest in coming in to discuss an interim position so that vendor warrants are still regularly done.
- The Board signed the letter of intent to participate in the FY18 Southern Berkshire Regional Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Program.
- Carol reported that she had a productive meeting with the Treasurer to resolve an issue she had with payroll.
- The Board discussed the advertisement in the paper announcing that the school district was accepting registration for the Monterey School.
- Tomorrow’s special town meeting:
a. Article 1 – transferring funds to cover renovations at town hall this is a transfer from a previously approved special article and will not add anything to the tax rate.
b. Article 2 – transferring funds to create a town administrator expense line item which will not add anything to the tax rate. The Board intends to reopen the search for a new Town Administrator and an expense line item will be necessary.
c. Article 3 – transferring funds from free cash for the contingency fund for the CDBG grant. Alice Boyd will be present to answer any questions but the Board will speak to the need for the program.
d. Article 4 – changing the town clerk position from elected to appointed. The Board reviewed all of the pros to changing this position but also discussed the anticipated pushback. Carol offered to take the lead on this issue.
- The Board will draft a letter to the Finance Committee answering their questions from earlier this month with regards to insurance and the administrative positions in town.
- An invoice was received from Ken Wagner for the 604b grant; M. Noe was asked to follow up on this and the process for getting it paid.
- Carol inquired about the progress on putting something out to bid to make the repairs at the Monterey School. M. Noe will follow up with Shawn.
- The Board discussed the office space to be built for the next Town Administrator. It was put out to bid, three contractors came but later decided they did not want to bid. We have one other contractor submitting a bid this week but Kenn asked if the Board would have any issues with Scott Jenssen being asked to submit a bid providing there weren’t any issues relative to the 1 year ethics requirement; Carol and Steve did not have any issues if Town Counsel was ok with it.
- The contractor at the community center will be requesting a final certificate of occupancy. A requested budget for moving forward and running the building has not yet been received; Steve will follow up.
- The Board asked M. Noe to schedule the grant writers to come in for an update on grants being worked on.
- Steve will follow up with the Lake Garfield Working Group to check on the next meeting date as well as the request for monies we have been made aware of.
- Steve reported on the meeting he sat in on between Hume and Berkshire Geo-technologies regarding preliminary discussions for a new access road off of RT 23, redesigning Chestnut Hill and/or possibly acquiring land nearby to create new access. The Hume Board of Directors will need to review and approve any changes to be made before anything is presented to the town.
- Minutes from 2/17, 2/22 and 2/27/17 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: 10:45am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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