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Select Board Amended Meeting Minutes 5/5/21

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 5/5/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chair, Justin Makuc

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Lin Saberski, Susan Cooper, Mike Johnson, Michael Zisser, Jeremy Rawitz, Nancy Tomasovich

Items discussed:

  1. Due to a technical difficulty with gotomeeting tonight’s meeting could not be recorded.
  2. Steve welcomed Justin Makuc to his first Board meeting.  John seconded the sentiment.
  3. Steve asked that we call this the year of the fresh start to try and begin as good as possible.  He requested that a respectful working relationship be established and that everyone try to work together to accomplish as much as possible.
  4. Board organization: Steve explained that a formal vote for the chair position needs to be taken.  Historically the honor is given to the Selectperson in their 3rd and final year.  John said he first had questions about how Steve planned to run the meetings prior to nominating him as chair.
    1. Adding items to the agenda: Steve stated that he is not his predecessor and believes that the chair has just as equal weight as the other members as long as everyone works together reasonably.  Steve has no issues with other members adding items to the agenda but agreed that the policy created last year was due to the out of control requests from one member to add 30-40 items per meeting which could have been taken care of by meeting with staff at town hall.
    2. Changing the meetings to evening only: John wants to eliminate the 9am meetings as he feels they are ridiculous.  Steve explained that the purpose of the 9am meetings is to be able to deal with town issues in an efficient manner with regards to departments such as highway and police.  The Police Chief and Director of Operations can be readily available during the day when they are not always available at night.  Having to wait until an evening meeting often causes delays when we have to work around employee’s home schedules.  John suggested noon instead of 9am.  Justin stated that he can make anytime happen.  A motion was made to schedule the board meetings for the next month at 6pm and to reevaluate whether to continue at that time after that month. Justin seconded the motion.  Discussion ensued.  A few members of the public weighed in stated they would prefer even meetings.  The motion passed unanimously.
    3. Public Comments: John wanted to make sure that public comments would be considered prior to a vote being taken. A motion was made to allow public comments for consideration prior to every vote being taken. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
    4. John also took issues with the prior chair and how he set emergency meetings and thinks that they should be voted on by at least 2/3.  Steve explained that this did occur especially when an emergency meeting was necessary.
    5. John wants documents to be dispersed 2 days prior to the meetings.  Steve explained that if it is something of a draft nature that isn’t going to be voted on, this wouldn’t apply as it would be discussed at the next meeting but agreed to do our best to make this request happen.
    6. John also asked for a guarantee that there wouldn’t be any more open meeting law (OML) violations.  Steve said he didn’t think anyone wants to violate the OML.
    7. John asked for defined rules with regard to the Town Administrator adding items to the agenda.  Steve explained that it is part of the Town Administrator’s job to create the agenda.  Steve also explained that the Town Administrator is the most aware of the items that the board needs to discuss.  John was reminded that things could run more smoothly if John answered the emails and calls made by the Town Administrator and made an effort to work with her.  Susan Cooper added that to honor John’s request and avoid OML violations agendas would then have to be set at the meeting prior to allow discussion or the Board has to allow the Town Administrator to act as the clearinghouse for adding items. 

Steve then threw his hat in the ring to serve as chair.A motion was made by John to appoint Steve as the chair.The motion was seconded and approved 2-0 as Steve abstained.

  1. At the recommendation of Chief Backhaus a motion was made to appoint Santi Messina to a one year probationary period. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  2. Election Worker Appointments: At the request of the Town Clerk, John Higgins, Ilene Marcus and Pauline Banducci were all appointed to a one year term as election workers.  A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved.
  3. Town hall flag: Steve added this item to the agenda as he feels the town hall flag looks shabby and would like to order another new one before Memorial Day.  A motion made to purchase a new flag using funds from the Memorial Day line item.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  4. Finance Committee Mailing: Steve requested this item be added to the agenda.  He wanted it noted that there was an oddly disturbing campaign mailing that was inappropriately sent out using the return address of the Finance Committee.  He wanted it noted that in his opinion campaign mailings should be based on your accomplishments and not derogatory statements about your opponent.  John didn’t feel this was an appropriate subject for the Board.
  5. Finance Committee Outreach:  Steve added this item.  He feels that last year’s budget process was not the best for 15 different reasons.  He requested permission for the other members to reach out to the new chair of the Finance Committee to begin a dialogue now rather than when we are under a time constraint so that we can have a much smoother budget process.  No decision making would happen and anything discussed would be brought before both boards.  John feels it is a government by committee not individual outreach.  Steve noted that he had an informal discussion with Jon Sylbert after town meeting to see if he was open to this and Jon S seemed to be receptive to the idea.  John said this might be more of a job for the Town Administrator than the Board.  Justin thinks dialogue between the boards is great but he is not in favor of one person doing this in case they unintentionally say something that misrepresents the Board.  Justin is open to more frequent and earlier joint meetings.
  6. Town meeting attendance: Steve added this item to make it clear that this is a 3 member board which should have equal representation and all should be at town meetings regardless of whether it is raining, snowing, etc.  It is important for all to be in attendance and be represented.
  7. Return to in person meetings: Steve noted that there is no specific language in the MA guidelines or Governor’s orders about government buildings.  This is still a fluid situation and the Commonwealth will be rolling back a lot of their guidelines and eliminating them as of August 1.  All agreed that as soon as we can do so safely we should reopen to in person meetings.  An air purifier and additional fans for airflow have been purchased and any current guidelines will be followed.  John states they he feels meetings will still have to be recorded; video and audio. Discussion will need to be had to determine if remote access should continue. Justin thought a hybrid option could be incorporated and Steve asked that he work with Melissa to see what would be necessary to make it happen.
  8. Town Administrator items
    1. Direct deposit policy & employee handbook update: John asked why the Board was being asked to consider this and he was reminded that it is because the Select Board is the policy making authority.  A motion was made to accept the policy as read.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
    2. Internal transfers:  $61.78 is being requested from 01-120-5112 (Administrative Assistant) to 01-122-5130-000000-4 (Administrative Overtime) and $282.23 from 01-423-5130(Snow & Ice OT) to 01-422-5130-000000-4 (Highway OT).  A motion made to approve both requests.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    3. Parks sign: John had no edits/comments.  Discussion ensued about Steve’s suggestion to change play at your own risk to use park & equipment at own risk.  Justin says that he would rather not see a sign but if we have to have one then use what the insurance would like to see.  Motion to place sign at Greene Park.  Seconded and approved unanimously.
    4. Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft was distributed to be reviewed and discussed at the next meeting.
    5. Police Department Records Access Officer. Appoint Gareth.  Unanimous
    6. Clerk adjusted office hour request (Tues 2-8, Wed 9-6, Th 9-12).  A motion made to allow the Clerk to change her office hours as requested.  The motion was seconded.  Steve was concerned about not having any hours on Saturday; the Clerk has offered to come in by appointment on a Saturday if necessary.  The motion passed unanimously.
    7. Debt schedule: M. Noe informed the Board the she has been working on a debt schedule with the Treasurer and will get them a copy as soon as it is completed.
    8. Tree Management rebid recommendation:  M. Noe informed the Board that the Tree Warden and Director of Operations are recommending that the Board accept the low bid submitted by John Field Tree Service.  A motion was made to accept the recommendation of John Field Tree Service.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
    9. Massworks project/grant:  The Board was asked to approve the Director of Operations request to file a Massworks grant to address the accessibility and safety issues on 1.2 miles of Beartown Mountain Rd.  The Board approved.  The Board also approved the up to 100 hours requested by Terry Walker to write the grant with the Director of Operations and Town Administrator assisting with the necessary research.
    10. Highway 4: The Director of Operations is recommending that Randon Ziegler be moved from Highway 4 to Highway 3 and be given a $0.50/hr raise for successfully obtaining his hydraulics license.  The Board unanimously approved.  Randon is currently at class to get his CDL license as well.
    11. FRCOG Authorized signatory form: The Board was asked to approve assigning Shawn Tryon as the authorized signatory for the Franklin Regional Council of Government’s procurement contracts.  The Board approved unanimously.
  9. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 4/21/21 with the edits as read aloud.  The motion was seconded and passed 2 – 0 with Justin abstaining as he was not a board member for that meeting: none
  10. Review mail and correspondence to be sent/signed
  11. Comments & questions from the public:
    1. Mickey thanked the Board for a wonderful meeting where a lot of work was accomplished and everyone got along.
    2. Nancy Tomasovich welcomed Justin and said it was refreshing to allow the public to speak before votes were taken.
    3. Mike Johnson asked the Board to reach out to the Lake Garfield Working Group about their missing minutes.  M. Noe explained that the chair of that group is working on trying to recreate the minutes that were lost from one of the members personal computers.
  12. Next meeting will be on May 12 or 19th depending on Finance Committee’s schedule. The agenda with the Finance Committee will be to discuss priorities of both boards and a mutual working relationship.  It is everybody’s budget and Steve will not get into this push pull again this year.  Justin agreed that both bodies should be involved in the budget process.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7:25pm

 

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Town Administrator

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. Direct deposit policy draft
  2. Internal transfers
  3. Parks sign draft
  4. Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft