Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/15/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Kenn Basler, Chairperson, Steve Weisz (arrived at 9:32am) and Carol Edelman
Also in attendance: Barbara Gauthier
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- The Board voted to include the following in the Monterey Building Department applications for permits; any non-profit organization doing a historical renovation in Monterey may request to have the fees associated with the building permit waived. It is up to the discretion of the Building Commissioner to determine the historical nature of the project.
- The Board drafted a letter to the Town Administrator Resume Review Committee requesting a meeting to discuss any recommendations they have for reopening the Town Administrator search.
- The Board drafted a response to the media regarding their inquiries regarding the resignation of the Town Administrator.
- Registrars: A letter will be drafted to the Republican and Democratic Committees requesting 3 names from each be submitted to the Select Board to be appointed as registrars. The Clerk in their role as Clerk is automatically a registrar despite where they reside.
- The Board discussed some ongoing issues with regards to the Town Clerk’s responses to questions made regarding procedures.
- Warrants were signed.
- Mail was reviewed which included:
a. Letter from Elliot and Friderika Small, Phyliss Cash. Kirk and Connie Garber, Michael and Evelyn Solomon and Bob Treado regarding their concerns if Fiber Connect is chosen as the town’s broadband provider. The Board has no jurisdiction over private road disputes and noted that the MLP will do due diligence in selecting a broadband provider.
b. Response from counsel regarding the Finance Committee’s role in the budget process. Counsel confirmed that their role is purely advisory (they have no legislative authority) and recommendations are just that, not mandatory and if there are differing recommendations it is usually noted on the warrant.
c. Stella Bodnar’s resignation as an election worker as she is relocating to another state.
- The Board signed a response to Jon Sylbert of the Finance Committee regarding his request for the pertinent data collected in making the decisions regarding the health insurance benefits.
- Cell tower: Kenn reported that he has reached out to Verizon who was unaware of any requests for a tower. Kenn is working on getting the proper person at Verizon to come to an upcoming meeting to discuss a way forward with all the involved parties. Kenn will turn the information over to Steve to follow up on.
- The Board reviewed the topics to be discussed with Senator Hinds and Representative Pignatelli on Monday; the topics will be sent to both ahead of time.
- Lake Garfield Working Group update: Steve reported that the LGWG is seeking a response to the letter sent to the Board requesting funding to put out an invitation to bid for milfoil mitigation via suction harvesting with hand pulling. The Board has not yet decided whether to put this item on the proposed budget and is looking into having the grant writers work on this and additionally create a fund to collect donations to pay for this. This would be an ongoing request for funds as maintenance would be required after the initial mitigation is performed.
- FY18 proposed budget:
a. The Board will consider placing a special article for up to $50,000 on the warrant to cover the suggestion made by the Lake Garfield Working Group.
b. The Board discussed what the reserve fund is generally used for.
Kc. enn had concerns about the software fees we have to pay.
d. Kenn suggested putting monies back in for an Assistant Town Clerk since it is uncertain if the ballot question to change this position to appointed will pass and it may be necessary to have some help available. He proposed adding $1000 in the budget. Steve felt that we should use the temporary employee line item instead. Discussion ensued and it was agreed to raise that line item to $3000 and keep the assistant clerk item at $0.
e. Kenn requested more detailed information on the computers that have been upgraded with line item 197.
f. Broadband services: If the town enters into a contract with a provider for broadband the 2 contracts we are looking at will either be charging $0 or a minimal fee. This item will be kept status quo right now and lowered on the floor if necessary.
g. Grant writers: The Board will be meeting with Dennis Lynch and Terry Walker next week to discuss their progress.
h. Community Center Operations: Barbara suggested adding this as a special article this year instead of a line item. FWMH has issued a budget request of $8,000 that does not include staffing. Steve explained that staffing will be done by volunteers. They are also requesting that the remaining funds left in this year’s special article (approx. $2,500) be rolled over to be used on some exterior work. The Community Center also intends to charge program fees which will be put toward the bills.
i. Kenn asked for an update on what has been spent for fire department calls to date.
j. Building Inspector Salary: Kenn is looking into changing this to a revolving fund and would like to discuss changing this; we are still researching this option. Doing this will take away from our estimated receipts on the tax recap sheet and will provide less transparency in the salary being paid. This discussion will be continued next week.
k. Fire Inspector: It was decided last year that this should be changed to a revolving fund this year. Kenn will follow up with Shawn to determine how much in fees has been collected.
l. Tree Warden: The Board would like a 5 year plan from the Tree Warden and requested an updated expense report for how much has been spent to date.
m. School operating, transportation and capital; this will be moved from our operating line items and will be a special article this year. The school committee voted on Thursday to eliminate a few teacher positions and put the programs at the Egremont School on hiatus for a year.
n. Stabilization; the Board discussed whether to continue putting such a large amount in. Barbara recommended lowering this from the proposed $150,000 to $75,000, especially considering we are putting $30,000 into a separate stabilization for bridges, roads and culverts. Carol and Kenn agreed; Steve suggested $100,000.
o. It was suggested and will be discussed further next week to use free cash or stabilization to pay for the highway truck, town hall driveway and 2 fire department special articles.
p. It was also suggested to request permission to transfer the remaining funds approved at the October special for a broadband consultant and lake scientist to a new line item for the milfoil mitigation at a special meeting just prior to the annual. This will be discussed further next week.
- Town Accountant: The help wanted ad will be in the Shopper’s Guide this week and has been posted on the website. M. Noe has been asked to reach out to 4-5 surrounding towns to see if their current part time accountants would be interested in coming in on an interim basis and/or applying for the position. M. Noe has also been asked to follow up with accounting firms that can perform this function for municipalities. It was also suggested to reach out to the local universities that offer graduate municipal accounting programs.
- Maggie Leonard came in to get an update on the ZBA’s request to speak with counsel with regards to their questions on the Hume proposal and their religious use. The Board agreed to meet at Hume with Maggie next Tuesday to discuss the ongoing issues that have been brought to the Board.
- Minutes from 3/8/17 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: 11:40am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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