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Select Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Minutes of the meeting of 5/8/19

Meeting Opened at: 8am

Select Board Members Present: Kenneth Basler, Chairperson, Donald Coburn and Steven Weisz

Also in attendance: Larry Klein, BJ Johnson, Adam Chait, Peter Chait, George Cain, Mary McGurn, Barbara Cohen, Shawn Tryon, Julio Rodriguez

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

  • Steve was welcomed back to the Board.  Steve suggested that the board start fresh and lead by example.
  • Steve made a motion to nominate Kenn Basler as Chair.  The motion was seconded by Don and approved unanimously.
  • The Board had a preliminary discussion for this morning’s conference call with MBI regarding the proposed action plan (draft available on the town website on the Broadband Committee’s department page).  BJ provided a breakdown on the 51% requirement from MBI (Massachusetts Broadband Institute) and why this would be impossible for Monterey to meet with our large 2nd homeowner population and why we should request it be reduced back to 40%.  Discussion also ensued about payment options that Monterey would like to see that works for a town our size.  Discussion ensued about possibly using a 3rd party to negotiate going forward.

At 9am the Board had a conference call with Peter Larkin and Michael Baldino of MBI for what MBI termed “a soft launch of MBI’s engagement with us, action plan and next steps”.  MBI is strongly urging us to combine forces with the Town of Egremont to move forward since we are both using the same provider.  MBI with provide us with a list of vetted attorneys and project managers.  MBI is only proposing a payment in arrears approach.  MBI suggests the next steps be 1. Get a fully executed action plan and 2. Have a joint meeting with Egremont and project launch.  A joint meeting will be scheduled with Egremont for after their town elections.

At 9:30am the Board continued the pole petition hearings requested by Fiber Connect originally heard on April 24th.  Four of the originally submitted applications have been revised after site visits with the Director of Operations.  A motion was made by Kenn to approve all of the petitions as submitted.  The motion was seconded by Steve and unanimously approved.

Misc. items continued

  • A motion was made by Kenn to switch the town’s internet services to Fiber Connect which offers a much higher speed at a lower cost.  The motion was seconded by Steve.  Discussion ensued.  Don was not in favor.  Steve was in favor as long as there wasn’t any procurement bidding procedures that need to be followed.  M. Noe said she would check into it.  Fiber Connect confirmed that they currently provide fiber to the Gt. Barrington Town Hall.  The motion did not pass.  A motion was then made by Kenn to revisit this topic at the next meeting.  The motion was seconded by Don and unanimously approved.
  • Fiber Connect requested to begin negotiations related to Monterey and their proposal to our RFP.  Don felt it would be better if Monterey spoke to Egremont first.  Steve felt that negotiating in parallel wouldn’t be harmful.  A meeting with Egremont will be set up for 1 – 2 weeks with another meeting to follow with Fiber Connect.
  • Steve requested permission from the Board to have a meeting with Adam Chait to get up to speed on what has been happening in the last year with fiber.  The Board granted permission.
  • Letter from Bailey Boyd and Associates regarding changes to the Community Development Block Grant program reimbursements by the DHCD requesting towns have monies in escrow to cover drawdowns.  Alice will be asked to come to the next meeting to discuss this as the Board has concerns about this request and whether it was a requirement.
  • Arbitrator/mediator request – Kenn suggested not moving forward with the request since one member of the Board is unwilling to participate and therefore it wouldn’t be productive.  Steve suggested that since we are a newly made up Board that everything be dropped and all parties move forward.
  • Don summarized the formal complaint he filed against Melissa Noe for what he felt was an act of insubordination by not producing a document he requested in a timeframe he felt was appropriate.  After reviewing all of the facts which included that M. Noe was on vacation when the request came in --- it was concluded that no act of insubordination was committed by Melissa Noe.  Melissa Noe did ask that the Board clarify what is an appropriate time for her to respond to any requests for documents, etc; the answer given by Kenn and Steve was 24 hours.  M. Noe also inquired if she is still granted the right to prioritize projects and requests as she best sees fit based on her 14 years’ experience here; Steve and Kenn both concurred that this was reasonable.  Don disagreed.
  • Procurement Officer:  Kenn made a motion to appoint Melissa Noe as the procurement officer for the town as she reported that she has successfully completed the classes necessary. Steve seconded the motion.  Discussion ensued.  Don asserted that the town cannot make this appointment as the town has not accepted Chapter 30B, he also went on to say that the town needs a bylaw created and argued that this duty should not be taken from the other departments currently handling this without discussion with them and that we haven’t had a procurement officer appointed since 1847.  Kenn and Melissa both tried to explain that Chapter 30B is not a MGL towns have a choice to accept, it applies to all municipalities regardless and that there have been other appointments in the past of various people as the procurement officer, Melissa included.  Don pointed out that the law does not require use of a procurement officer, and that no one had inquired of the other employees in town hall whether they agreed with make the admin. Asst. the procurement officer.  The board unanimously agreed to ask counsel if a by-law was required to accept Chapter 30B and create the position of procurement officer.  No decision was made on soliciting the input of the other employees.  The issue was unanimously carried to the next meeting.
  • The Board was made aware that Scott Jenssen has resigned from the Planning Board.
  • Community Center lighting update: Andrus Electric has agreed to change out the lights at no cost to a lower kelvin to soften the lights.
  • Memorial Day: Julio inquired who will be bringing the sound equipment to the Veteran’s Memorial for the 11am ceremony; the Police Chief will.  After consideration, it was decided not to have a parade this year and rather focus the efforts on the 11am ceremony at the Veteran’s Memorial Park.  This decision applied to this year’s parade.  The Board was open to having parades in the future.
  • Collins Center proposal: It was suggested that this be postponed to the joint Select Board and Fin Comm meeting to make sure that the scope of work is agreed upon by everyone.
  • Terry Walker, Grant writer requested permission to work on a VW Mitigation Grant that could be used toward 80% of highway equipment as long as the truck being replaced that doesn’t meet the emissions requirements providing we destroy that truck.  Terry was given permission to proceed.
  • Shawn informed the Board that the 2 trees in front of town hall that have been on the schedule to be removed for about 2 years are being taken down tomorrow.  Some sort of flowering tree will be planted in its place in the future.
  • Warrants were signed.
  • Minutes from 4/24 (2 sets) and 5/1/19 were unanimously approved.
  • Mail was reviewed.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:04am

 

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

 

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

Minutes Book

Town Clerk