Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/23/17
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chairperson, Carol Edelman and Kenneth Basler
Also in attendance: Peter Chait, Chief Backhaus, Justin Cole, Mary Makuc, Steve Snyder, Greg Carnese
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- Curtis Rd Bridge – We have a set of plans for a repair but there are concerns that it may be more costly than originally thought because certain items cannot be done in house as we’d hoped. In pursuing TIP funds we learned that information regarding our ineligibility was not relayed to the Board by our prior Town Administrator.
- Mattress program – this has been a roaring success to date. The container we are using is proving too small to be cost effective to the company coming from Rhode Island that is picking them up; Kenn will look into the cost for increasing the size to a 40 yard container.
- The Board met with Chief Backhaus to continue discussions on the open full time officer position, dates to prescreen resumes received, when to hold interviews and comparisons to others’ town salaries. It was also discussed whether the position could be filled with multiple part timers rather than 1 full time person. The Chief felt that this option has too much turnover as officers are looking for full time positions, and full time establishes a more connected relationship with the town.
- The Board and the Chief also held discussions about recent noise complaints (different parties/locations) on the lake. The parties involved have been spoken with.
- M. Noe reported that she is working with AT&T to get aircards for the police and highway departments.
- The Board met with Baystate Municipal Accounting Group to discuss :
a. Work is continuing on the payroll and Smart plan reconciliation items which include employees that should’ve been contributing and haven’t been.
b. July reports went out a little late; starting in August there shouldn’t be any difficulties in getting the reports out within 7 days after the last warrant has been signed and posted.
c. Baystate is still working on correcting FY17 for special revenue fund, grants and items like this. Closing of the books for FY17 is a few months away due to several issues encountered on the Treasurer side of things (entire months of cash receipts are missing).
d. GASB45 study proposal ($2,475) – Justin will need to know by the end of the month for scheduling purposes if the Board agrees to move forward. This is one item that was noted in our audit. The Board discussed and will review where the monies will come from and make a final decision next week.
e. The Board commended the work to date, and requested that prior to any big changes being made that conversations are had with the departments involved and the Select Board.
f. Kenn informed Justin that we may have an upcoming situation where land was taken and previous owners are now interested in purchasing it back. It has not been on the tax rolls for the last 2 years so there will be more communication necessary with other departments prior to releasing any numbers. Justin explained that since it has already been taken this will actually be more of an assessor issue.
- The Board met with Mary Makuc of the Community Center to continue discussions on the special event application process.
- Steve Snyder and Greg Carnese representing the Lake Garfield Working Group came in to present their recommendation with regards to diver assisted suction harvesting and long term remediation of milfoil. Steve Snyder will get a scope of services to M. Noe to properly seek quotes on.
- The Board approved the article for the September Select Board Corner.
- Carol updated the Board on the School Committee Meeting last Thursday which included a discussion of the Monterey School. Total enrollment for the Southern Berkshire Regional School District is 688 (down from 715 last year) of which 84 (down from 90 last year) are going to the New Marlborough Central school.
- September 28th there will be a conference to address small and rural towns and how they interact with the Complete Streets Program. Cliff Weiss has offered to attend if Kenn or Terry is unavailable.
- There will also be a Community Development Block Grant meeting on September 7th that a representative from the town must attend; Steve will attend.
- The Board also discussed who will attend the municipal actions on marijuana legalization on August 31st. It was agreed that it is important for a member of the Planning Board to attend.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 8/16/17 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: 12pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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