Select Board Meeting Minutes 10/1/2020

Minutes of the meeting of 10/1/20

Meeting Opened at: 5pm

Select Board Members Present: Donald Coburn, Chair, Steven Weisz

Select Board Members Present Remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Michele Miller, Rebecca Wolin, Mark Webber, Mary McGurn, Mickey Jervas, Sara Hunter, Jeff Lazarus, Peter Chait, Adam Chait, Linda Vermeulen, Jon Sylbert, Richard Vinette, George McGurn

Items discussed:

1. Roll call was taken.  Steve, present. Don, present. John present.
2. Don informed the audience that if anyone intends to record the meeting they need to inform the Board.  No one responded.
3. The finance committee took a roll call.  Rebecca, present. Michele, present.  Jon absent.
4. David Eisenthal of Unibank reviewed the library and proposed truck borrowing options.  [The board experienced several internet connectivity issues during this conversation.]  Also discussed was the additional monies raised at the annual town meeting to pay down the principal on the library note.
   1. A motion was made by Don to make a principal payment of $71,600 and interest payment of $28,674 to the library.  Rebecca argued that a motion was not necessary as this was already approved at town meeting.  David Eisenthal of Unibank countered that town meeting makes the monies available for the Select Board and Treasurer to decide/vote on whether they will use them or not.  John, yes.  Steve, yes.  Don, yes.  The motion passed unanimously.
   2. The maturity date of the library note was discussed next.  David Eisenthal recommends November 2021 as that would coincide with the borrowing necessary for the 2 trucks if they are approved at the special town meeting and it allows the town more time to prepare for a general obligation bond.  A motion was made to have the note mature in November 2021.  The motion was seconded.  John, yes.  Steve, yes.  Don, yes.  The motion passed unanimously.
   3. The treasurer confirmed that she has the $550 issuance fee in her budget for this year or we can borrow a small amount of new money.  Rebecca inquired if the fee could be paid from free cash; this is an option.  A motion was made to add the $550 fee to be paid from free cash at the upcoming special town meeting.  John, no.  Steve, yes.  Don, yes.  The motion passed 2 – 1.
   4. Discussion ensued on how to pay for the two trucks if they are approved at the special town meeting.  David will model financing options for the October 7^th meeting (split between borrowing and stabilization and all borrowing).  Jon Sylbert joined the meeting and stated that he was not in favor of putting the two trucks on a special town meeting and that this should wait until May as he fears a low turnout. Don reminded Jon that the Finance Committee was in full support in June of waiting until fall to vote on the trucks and the longer we wait the more expensive the trucks will become (the trucks are going to increase by 6% 3 days after the special town meeting).  Jon requested that the Finance Committee reconsider their vote to add 2 trucks to the special town meeting, Michele said she votes for 2 trucks.  Jon asked Michele to make a motion to purchase the 2 trucks with the financing to be determined at the next meeting.  She said she would only if the Finance Committee portion of the meeting was adjourned immediately after the vote, Rebecca said no and Jon said it was irrelevant.  Michele then left the meeting.  At Jon Sylbert’s request, Rebecca made a motion to see if the Finance Committee was going to agree to purchase  2 trucks with financing at the special town meeting.  Jon seconded the motion.  Jon, no. Rebecca, no.  The Chair of the Select Board asked M. Noe to mute Rebecca and Jon S as they continued to interrupt the Board’s meeting and not allow the Board to continue with their agenda items. 
5. Jeff Lazarus of Egremont’s Technology Committee provided a brief overview of the overarching goal of finalizing the agreement between the towns and Fiber Connect.  Discussion ensued about the terms involving the requested bond and lien.  Jeff will gather all of tonight’s comments and synthesize them into one document along with Adam Chait’s input.
6. The Board opened the meeting to public comments.
   1. Mary McGurn stated that George McGurn had to leave early to attend a school committee meeting but thanked the Board for their time.
   2. Jon Sylbert inquired about ownership and are the towns looking to be protected against any sale of Fiber Connect that might impact the service.  Jeff Lazarus answered yes.
   3. Rebecca asked what happens to the 4%.  She was having issues with her connectivity and could not be clearly understood.  Adam Chait thought he understood the question and stated that FC submitted the 96% and that there are some areas of town that are served by other towns and that is part of the 4%.  FC will make every effort to reach those people if they are able to.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:41pm

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. Email from Unibank subject line “Equipment Financing”
2. Email from Don subject line “Coburn response to Egremont's redraft of the lien language”