Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 8/8/18
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Carol Edelman, Chairperson, Kenneth Basler and Donald Coburn
Also in attendance: Peter Chait, Gareth Backhaus, Shawn Tryon
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- Fiber Connect internet and phone proposal: Carol recused herself from the conversation. Kenn made a motion to move forward with the proposal submitted. Don agreed on the condition that the equipment be provided at no charge. The motion was approved and Fiber Connect will be notified.
- The Board reviewed the letter to be sent to the school committee with regard to the Monterey School building. Kenn has had lengthy conversations with our school committee representative who is supportive of the letter. We are going to send this and request that this be placed on the school committee’s Aug. 16th agenda.
- Jamie’s Court update: the company has sent us the information to repair the court to keep the tiles fastened together. Kenn proposed that we reach out to the group of basketball players to all pitch in and make the fix together one Saturday (similar to what we do to set up the ice rink), everyone agreed.
- Community Center hiring/interviewing procedure: The Board recommended that the Community Center volunteers prescreen and hold initial interviews as is done with other departments and then make recommendations to the Select Board for 2nd interviews and appointment recommendations.
- Leave/time off requests: A new form has been created to streamline the process for leave/time off requests. Kenn is concerned about the current policy of requesting time off 14 days in advance; he thinks the lead time should be farther out (30 days) and permission should be required for time off that is less than 3 consecutive days but extends over a long weekend. Discussion ensued and it was agreed to make the lead time 30 days with the understanding that some situations may allow flexibility. This change will also require updating the employee handbook policy. A motion was made to make the change discussed from 14 to 30 days and require approval for any time taken that extends over a long weekend. The motion passed unanimously.
- Mullin rule: Don recommended that we present an article at the next town meeting to accept this rule which would allow a board member who may have missed a meeting/hearing to vote, provided that certain conditions as established by said statute are met. This will be reviewed by counsel and added to the next town meeting warrant.
- Highway Updates:
a. Curtis Rd Bridge update: Shawn Tryon reported that the contractor will be working with the Police tomorrow to start the setup which may involve shutting the road down temporarily. After that the bridge will be down to one lane until completed (approximately 3 months). He also reported that there may be a substantial cost increase over the original estimate due to an error in engineering plans even though the town had brought this concern to the engineer’s attention. The revised estimate will be given to the Board for approval first.
b. The new highway member will be starting on Monday.
c. There will not be any paving this summer/fall due to a late spring, staffing issues and other unexpected items. Plans are to put work to bid for early spring next year.
d. Terry is finishing up the MassWorks Grant application for Blue Hill Rd which is due this week.
e. Don passed along concerns that were brought to him about the dirt used on the ball field – Don was advised that this falls under the Parks Commission jurisdiction and any concerns should be directed to them.
f. The Board and Shawn reviewed the suggested swap shack intake guidelines which will now be presented to the transfer station attendants for any comments.
g. Fiber Connect underground utility request: Carol recused herself from this conversation. This item is on hold, Fiber Connect may be withdrawing their request.
- The Board met with the Police Chief to discuss the following:
a. Visibility – The Board asked the Chief in to have a general discussion on police visibility. The Chief explained that immediate visibility of the police department as a whole is during “peak periods” and having a cruiser available in certain areas. Kenn inquired about visibility of the Chief and what he sees his role as. The Chief stated that there is a large amount of paperwork to be done on a daily basis and he tries to balance that with being out in the community in a car. Kenn encouraged the police to attend special events held in Monterey (such as the Fire Co steak roast) especially the Chief. Carol agreed that she would also like to see more of a presence of officers in towns, especially on the weekends.
b. The Chief reported that he has taken the non-functioning radar sign near the school down and sent it out for repair.
- Kenn reported that the bids for the library have come in more than $400k above the original estimates and monies allocated. There is a meeting tomorrow night to review the bids and plans to see if there is anything that can be cut to bring the bid down, and to discuss additional fundraising or asking the town for more money. Kenn asked that the Fire Company prepare a schedule for the library of the construction timeframe for being ready to move the library there temporarily.
- Finance Committee/LGWG/FLG – an email was received from the Finance Committee stating that the Lake Garfield Working Group and the Friends of Lake Garfield are requesting to attend our August joint meeting with the Finance Committee. The Board feels it would be more productive to have those groups meet with the Finance Committee first before any joint meetings are held; the Finance Committee will be notified of this decision.
- M. Noe provided the Board with a sample PILOT agreement from another MA town to review and consider for future conversations/negotiations with Hume and Gould Farm.
- Green Communities – the BRPC has notified us that a grant written on our behalf was accepted allowing the BRPC to be paid to assist us in obtaining a green community status should we decide to proceed with seeking this designation. The BPRC is requesting a kick-off meeting to discuss all the particulars, Carol suggests early September.
- Hazard mitigation grant available – The Board would like Dennis Lynch and Shawn to follow up on this as it seems to be a follow up to the MVP grant Dennis has been working on.
- 2nd homeowner’s meeting – The meeting is this Saturday at 10am; the Board discussed the usual format of the meeting. The Board also discussed possibly having one Selectperson available once a month in town hall on Saturdays, no final decisions were made.
- Don requested that the Chairperson limit public participation to the public comments portion of the meeting.
- Don discussed the email from our insurance counsel regarding the Johnson lawsuit that is being sent to a former board member and which Don is not being copied on. Don is concerned that the former board member should no longer be copied on these communications as the communications might be privileged, and sending them to someone who is no longer on the Board makes it a public document and could create problems. M. Noe will follow up with the MIIA attorney as well as town counsel.
- The Board discussed starting performance reviews for the Director of Operations, Administrative Assistant and Police Chief. Each board member will fill out their own evaluation form for the above mentioned employees which will then be given to the Administrative Assistant to compile into one document.
- Kenn Basler was appointed to be the alternate to the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission for FY19.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 8/1/18 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: 11am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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