Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/3/18
Meeting Opened at: 9am
Select Board Members Present: Carol Edelman, Chairperson, Kenneth Basler and Donald Coburn
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- Warrants were signed.
- Minutes from 9/26/18 were approved.
- Mail was reviewed.
a. An email received from Mike Germain with a copy of the letter of agreement with the state on the boat ramp was reviewed and discussed. Kenn’s understanding of the DCR’s view on our boat ramp and its proximity to the town beach differed some from what Mike reported. Kenn is meeting with DCR on Tuesday to begin discussions about the location and the Amidon property.
- The Board discussed whether a selectperson should be attending the Lake Garfield Working Groups meetings as a representative; Carol noted that she has been regularly attending (although there were scheduling conflicts for the last 2 meetings). Don does not feel that selectmen should be sitting on any other committee or board that would later be presenting to the Board. The Board will discuss this further at a future meeting.
- The Board agreed to put the PILOT discussions off to a future meeting. Carol is waiting for more information from Senator Hinds and Kenn feels we need to do a lot more research. Kenn is going to request a copy of the annual reports for Hume and Gould Farm.
- Revised library contract addendum: Kenn has been working with Mickey Jervas and town counsel to come up with a modified addendum to the library construction contract which Kenn provided to the Board for review. A motion was made to adopt the changes on the document approved by town counsel in lieu of the previous addendum attached to the contract. The motion was unanimously approved.
- The Board discussed the Finance Committee’s positive response to the FY20 budget process. M. Noe will begin scheduling department meetings with one selectperson and one finance committee member for late October/early November.
- Curtis Rd Bridge update: The templates have come in, steel should be here on Friday. The engineer and construction company are working on alternate solutions to bend the steel. The river is currently flooded and they are waiting for the river to go down to start back up.
- Jamie’s basketball Court update: The group working on the court is about ¾ of the way done; the weather has not been cooperative. They are hoping to finish this weekend.
- Broadband: the RFP was finished last night; Kenn will provide a copy to Don for review. Counsel is also reviewing it.
- Aggregation update: Kenn will write up a piece for the November Monterey News.
- Carol provided an update on the Green Communities. Berkshire Regional Planning is going to work directly with the Planning Board to schedule meetings to begin the process and review our bylaws to determine which bylaws might need adjustment if we proceed with seeking green community designation.
- Administrative Assistant items:
a. Floating holiday – The Board unanimously approved to give full time employees an “extra” day off to be used on a day approved by their supervisor [in lieu of turkey gift cards the town used to provide].
b. Departmental holiday lunch – The Board agreed to host another holiday lunch for employees, committee and board members in Dec. Melissa will work on the location and event details.
- The Board discussed the upcoming meeting with Baystate Municipal Accounting and items they would like on the agenda for October 25th.
- Departmental weekly reports were reviewed.
- Kenn reported that the mattress recycling company cannot accept futons at the transfer station; residents will be informed and we will find out the cost to dispose of these.
- Kenn stated that there will be a meeting tonight with representatives of the five towns regarding RT 57. Kenn is planning to attend.
- Kenn reported on a meeting with the Plumbing and Gas Inspector. The inspector is requesting to be paid more per inspection and get reimbursed for expenses. His argument is that the other towns he works for pay him more than we do. We currently charge $60 per inspection of which $50 goes to the inspector and $10 is for administrative costs (insurance, software, administrative, etc). The inspector does have an expense line item with $100 that he has not consistently submitted any expenses for over the years. The Building Inspector also noted that he has been receiving complaints about the Electrical Inspector not showing up in a timely fashion on jobsites as well as not submitting his timesheets on a monthly basis as he is supposed to. The Board feels that the Building Commissioner as the head of the
department should come up with a proposal for the Board to consider.
- The Board opened the one proposal received for 2018 Grant Administration of CDBG grant from Bailey Boyd Associates. After carefully reviewing it and properly rating the proposal it was agreed that it would be highly advantageous to accept the proposal received from Bailey Boyd Associates. A motion was made to accept the BBA proposal, which was unanimously approved.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:40am
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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