Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 3/7/18
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chairperson, Carol Edelman and Kenneth Basler
Also in attendance: Shawn Tryon, Chris Tryon, John Szablowski, BJ Johnson,
At 9am the Board opened the bids received for the Curtis Rd Bridge Repair:
- Tryon Construction: $268,300
- New England Infrastructure, Inc: $289,000
- Northern Construction Service, LLC: $456,555
The Board confirmed that the contractor is responsible for any necessary permitting (i.e. Con Comm). It was agreed that the Board will review the bids received and will make the final decision.
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- The Board met with Shawn Tryon, Director of Operations to discuss the following:
a. The Board reviewed the bridge bids received with Shawn. It was agreed that if the low bid from Tryon is accepted a letter from Counsel would be needed to clarify project management as Shawn is a direct relation. Shawn noted that any questions with regard to the engineered plans would go to Gill Engineering and any costs to be incurred from him would need to be determined ahead of time.
b. Transfer Station:
i. Easter is Sunday, April 1st, the transfer station will be closed but will open for the same hours on Monday the 2nd. Notifications will be sent out via phone and email.
ii. Shawn and Melissa met with Beth and Dave to discuss their requests one of which included their wanting a larger office. It was explained that a larger office is not in the budget any time soon but gave them options to make the office more efficient and a better use of space. The Board agreed.
iii. The Board asked Shawn to convey to the transfer station attendants their happiness with the way they have been managing things as our costs for hauling and recycling have been reduced by close to $20,000.
iv. The Board discussed the FY19 transfer sticker fee – Carol, Steve and Shawn all felt that the price should remain at $70 but Kenn argued that the sticker price should be lowered to show that all our efforts are making a difference. It was agreed to table this discussion and that the Town Accountant will be consulted to determine how lowering the sticker price would affect our finances.
v. Fall/Winter hours: It was agreed to keep the winter Sunday hours till 4:30pm, the sign will be corrected at the transfer station.
vi. Sticker design – it was agreed that the colors should remain bright and visible. Shawn and Melissa will get some samples from other towns and present something to the Board for approval.
vii. Road management, culvert mapping and tree inventory program: This would include surveying all the roads with a needs assessment, capital plan and a scale of roads from 1 – 10. Shawn is looking for the Board’s approval to use Chapter 90 funds for this service and the necessary equipment to continue the inventory tracking on our own. Estimated cost would be between $14-26k. The Board approved.
c. Today’s storm is going to require extra contractors and Shawn has several lined up to work.
- BJ Johnson came in to report that Gould Farm is working with Bailey Boyd on the Community Development Block Grant.
- FY19 Budget:
a. A definitive answer was received from the Library and Unibank for what our FY19 payment will be and the budget was modified to reflect $20,000
b. We are still waiting on final numbers from the school; they are still in negotiations for teacher’s salary increases.
c. Bj expressed his opinions on how much he feels should be put into stabilization for FY19 and going forward.
d. It was agreed to borrow for the purchase of the loader with attachment and using free cash for the fire department hose. It was also agreed to use free cash to fund stabilization.
e. Right now the projected increase to the budget is 1%, if the Town Administrator salary and expenses are removed the proposed budget will be -1% from FY18.
- The Planning Board has been made aware of a request to institute a marijuana moratorium and all pertinent information has been given to them to pursue.
- Carol and Steve attended the meeting yesterday to determine if the CART services (transliteration) for the hearing impaired would work at the firehouse. A proposal will be sent for this year’s town meeting.
- Carol attended the renewable energy summit at Berkshire Community College. She reported that it was a very informative meeting and she met with someone from DOER about becoming a green community. A future meeting will be scheduled.
- Future planning for announcements – people have not been getting their mailed copies of the Monterey News in the first week of each month creating issues for anything happening prior to the 15th of the month.
- Town Clerk’s weekly report and time off request was approved.
- The Board approved the following article to be placed on the town meeting warrant: To see if the Town will vote to amend Section 18 Quarterly Meeting of the Town Bylaws to read: To direct the Select Board to establish an All Boards Meeting held at least once a year, which will be announced in advance and open to the public, consisting of at least one representative from each Town Committee, Board and Department to coordinate current and future Town needs and activities.
- Monterey School Discussion: last night the Board held a meeting to discuss the future of the Monterey program. After hearing what those present were saying Steve and Kenn felt it was clear that a dialogue should be kept open about what could happen in Monterey separate from the physical building. Carol disagreed especially after having attended multiple school meetings and reviewing the district numbers which continue to decline. At last night’s meeting it was agreed to discuss writing a letter to the school committee requesting that they remove the articles from the town warrants, Carol stated she will not sign it. A motion was made to draft a letter to the school committee requesting that the article to close the Monterey program be removed from the warrants for this year. The motion was seconded
by Kenn and opposed by Carol. Kenn made another motion that if the school committee is willing to remove the article Monterey will take over all of the maintenance of the building.
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 2/26/18 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: 12:pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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