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Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/8/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Pat Solomon, Julio Rodriguez, Shawn Tryon, Mark Makuc, Maryellen Brown, Dennis Sears, David Hastings, Chris Regan,
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- Town Accountant: Keys have been returned but an official letter of resignation has not yet been received. We have reached out to someone that has extensive experience with the accounting program to see if she would be interested in filling in on an interim basis in addition to providing software training to Monterey and New Marlborough. A short term solution has been agreed upon to catch up on accounting work. This will include paying the Treasurer $25/hour for any extra time to assist with this. It was also suggested to pay Barbara Gauthier to come in and assist with the budget process. The help wanted ad was approved and will be advertised immediately.
- Town Administrator vacancy: Kenn has spoken with most of the original resume review committee and suggested having them come in to talk to the Board about the process. Kenn will work on setting up an evening meeting for this. Steve suggested that the next committee include a few town employees on it.
- Monterey school building: The Board discussed with Shawn Tryon their intent for repairs with the $20k we have ($10k from Monterey and $10k from SBRSD). Shawn feels that at a minimum both bathroom floors need to be fixed but after consulting with contractors doesn’t believe $20k will be enough and recommends that if the building isn’t going to be used right away to wait on making any temporary repairs. Shawn reported that there is rotted out concrete near one of the doors, insulation needs to be put in the walls, the front steps need to be signed off on by a commercial engineer and other issues may be found once things are opened up. It was agreed to put it out to bid to repair the one bathroom floor and plumbing; worst case scenario if there isn’t a school program the building might be used for storage
during the library renovation. Shawn and M. Noe will work on the bid.
- Transfer Station update: Shawn is working with Valley on getting the new compactor here. We are shooting for a mid-April opening.
- Highway and Fire capital requests: Shawn is working with Don C. and M. Noe and will have final numbers this week.
- Fire Dept: The new truck is fixed and back at the garage.
- UniBank has offered to come out and meet with the Board, Finance Committee, Treasurer and Library Trustees to review the bonding requirements necessary for the library grant.
- Shared services meeting in Sheffield tomorrow: Steve will attend.
- Massachusetts Municipal Association legislative breakfast on Friday in Lenox: Carol and Kenn will attend.
- New office bid: We have received a bid of just under $5k (excludes painting) and the article to transfer the money was approved at the special. Everyone was in favor of moving forward as soon as possible; the contractor will be notified once the room is cleared out.
- Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter from the Lake Garfield Working Group recommending the Board put out a RFP for milfoil mitigation via suction harvesting with hand pulling. Carol suggested that we look into setting up a way residents could donate toward this project, perhaps to supplement. M. Noe was asked to look into this. Dennis Lynch will also be asked to look into available grants to help pay for this.
- Community Center: Steve met with Joe Baker to discuss a proposed operating budget. There were questions on who would handle the snowplowing, shoveling and lawn maintenance. Shawn stated that the mowing would need to be a contracted service, the highway plows but someone will need to be hired to shovel there in addition to the town hall. The Friends of Wilson McLaughlin House will be asked to come back to meet with the Board and Steve and Shawn will try to attend their meeting tomorrow.
- The Board will put an article in the April Monterey News clarifying that since the articles to change the Treasurer and Clerk positions from elected to appointed passed at special town meetings, the next and final step to make this official will be a ballot question for each at the annual elections.
- Procurement: M. Noe’s certification has lapsed. Discussion ensued about whether to “borrow” someone from another town (if possible) or send someone to the classes.
- Don C. was asked to come in to discuss the Finance Committee’s plan to get together with the Board to review the proposed budget. They plan to meet with the Board after their meeting on the 20th of March.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 3/1/17 were approved.
- Administrative Assistant’s weekly report was reviewed.
- Police Chief’s weekly report was reviewed.
At 10am the Board met with Superintendent David Hastings and Business Manager Chris Regan to discuss the proposed school budget and assessment calculations. Since the last school hearings the budget has been brought down by $290k and the hopes are to use $500k of E&D; the budget will be reviewed by the school committee tomorrow. The budget to be proposed tomorrow will be an increase of approximately 4.8% or $70k to Monterey. The Board expressed their concerns with the teacher contracts that have been negotiated and suggested that the future, the district needs to plan long range and factor in declining enrollment. A Monterey Kindergarten program has not been included in this budget and Hastings reported that at the open enrollment no families requested Monterey. Hastings described the
school building as dangerous and isolated. The school will remove materials left in the building and were updated on the repair status.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:50am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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