All Boards Meeting Minutes 10/29/2020

Minutes of the meeting of 10/29/20

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

Select Board Members Present Remotely: Donald Coburn, Chair, Steve Weisz, John Weingold

Also present remotely: Rebecca Wolin, Kyle Pierce, Mark Makuc, Shawn Tryon, Maggie Barkin, Susan Cooper, Don Torrico, Mary Makuc, Mickey Jervas, Gareth Backhaus, Michele Miller, Tom Sawyer, Laurie Shaw, Peter Close, Dennis Lynch, Scott Steibel, John Higgins, Jon Sylbert, Jon Levin, Mari Enoch, Jeremy Rawitz, Janet Jensen

Housekeeping items addressed:  As there was a healthy group of people in attendance everyone was asked to be respectful and to keep their microphones muted if they weren’t speaking to avoid any background noise.

Don explained that the purpose of tonight’s meeting was to discuss Adequacy of Administration and Select Board Support for all town boards.  Everyone in attendance introduced themselves.

Items discussed:

1. Format of email addresses for the select board on the website.  It is currently set up as a contact us form which is cc’d to all 3 selectpersons.  This is to prevent spam as it requires an authentication that it is a person sending and not a robot.  Discussion ensued about why individual emails were not listed, Jon Levin pointed out that communications with the board from residents should not be to 1 selectperson but rather to the Board as a whole.
2. Lack of people willing to serve on commissions and boards.  The Conservation Commission has 3 open seats, the Zoning Board of Appeals is looking for 2 alternates and the Planning Board also has vacancies.  Ideas were discussed on how to get the information out there about the boards and committees seeking additional members and what their responsibilities are.  It was suggested to pay volunteers on committees and board through the senior work off tax abatement program.  M. Noe thought we had looked into this before and that wasn’t allowed but will double check tomorrow.
3. The platform for remote select board meetings was discussed.  It was suggested that the Board consider using zoom.  The Board will look into this.
4. It was suggested that links to the video recordings of al remote meetings should be added to the website.  The Board will consider this at a future meeting.
5. The Finance Committee and the Cultural Council would like to have access to the town website to be able to edit their pages, post minutes and agendas directly.  M. Noe confirmed we have this capability.  The Board will discuss this at a future meeting.
6. It was suggested that the all boards meetings be held more than once a year.  The Board agreed.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7pm

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

Minutes Book

Town Clerk

Any documents used in the meeting are listed below and are available by request at town hall.

1. none