Select Board
Minutes of the meeting of 10/25/18
Meeting Opened at: 4pm
Select Board Members Present: Carol Edelman, Chairperson, Kenneth Basler and Donald Coburn
Also in attendance: Justin Cole, Peter Chait, Stanley Ross
Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:
- A motion was made by Kenn to appoint Larry Klein as the temporary Chief Procurement Officer for a 6 month term. Carol recused herself from this vote/conversation. The motion passed. Kenn and Don reviewed the proposed timelines to be set in the RFP. A motion was made to proceed with the issuance of the RFP which passed.
- Kenn made a motion to rescind the order to enter into arbitration made on 9/20/18 with Baystate Municipal Accounting (BMA) in order to allow the Board to continue conversations with BMA, and move forward in a productive manner in the best interest of the town. The motion passed unanimously.
- Justin provided information for the state bid for financial services. Justin proposed entering into a 1 ½ year agreement beginning November 1 through the state contract, and reviewed the pricing and how the state contract determines what a town will pay for specific service based on size and budget. Don argued that we already had a current contract through June 30, 2019; discussion ensued and the BMA contract was reviewed. Don conceded that he was incorrect in his assertion that we have a valid contract as the contract does state that both parties have to accept the extension which BMA has not to date. A motion was made to apply through the Hampshire Council of Governments to enter into the state contract for the remainder of FY19 beginning November 1 and through all of FY20. The motion was seconded
and passed unanimously. It was confirmed that by agreeing to this option the monies BMA was seeking for additional work performed to clean up the books would be zeroed out and the issue would be considered resolved. The new contract will now be with the Hampshire Council of Governments.
- Status of properties to be auctioned: Justin will provide a list of properties to the Board to review and vote on as surplus to be auctioned off by their next meeting.
- Firetruck borrowing issue: DOR has advised Justin that the easiest and cleanest way to address the borrowing issue from 2 years ago [the treasurer at the time took a loan out for only $598k when it should’ve been for $650k] is to raise it on this year’s tax rate; the other options available would require going to a special town meeting and posting it within the next week so this could be addressed prior to the tax rate being set. The Board acknowledged for the record that this error will be added to the FY19 calculation of the tax rate. Justin noted that we will need to rescind the amount of money that was not properly borrowed at a future town meeting.
- Carol reported that Lauren Gaherty of BRPC will be coming to a Planning Board meeting on November 8th to continue the Green Community initiative directly with them.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 4:55pm
Submitted by:
Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant
Approved by:
Monterey Select Board
Select Board Members
Minutes Book
Town Clerk
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