Select Board Meeting Minutes 1/10/24

Minutes of the meeting of 1/10/24

Meeting Opened at: 5:30pm

Select Board Members Present: Susan Cooper and Frank Abbott

Select Board Members not present: Justin Makuc

Also present: Shawn Tryon, Del Martin, Kevin West, Rico Simeone, Jeff Zimmerman, Roger MacDonald, Ilene Marcus, Peter Murkett

Also present remotely: Stuart Litwin, Kenn Basler 

Items discussed:

1. Call to order 5:30pm
2. Members and representatives for the Fire Company were present to discuss their FY25 operational budget request as well as the request and proposed conditions for the facilities rent and lease renewal. Kevin West summarized that the fire company (which is a separate entity from the town) owns the land and building at 411 Main Rd and leases the building to the town to house the staff, vehicles and equipment of the Fire Department. Kevin explained that the Fire Company is underfunded and the voluntary contributions from residents are no longer keeping pace with costs, nor are they enough to keep the same level of service. He said that the firefighters are burned out and admittedly are not fundraisers.  He explained that regionalization is underway, and Monterey has been the driving force for moving this forward as much as possible. Since 2015 fundraising has been consistent but low, the steak roast is a great event but only raises about $10,000. In recent years the appeals letter goes out to about 800 households and about 1/3 respond with a donation ranging from $5 - $5,000. Three quarters of people that respond give less than $100. About 30 households give over $200. If 100% of donors gave $250 each the fire company would be fully funded and would have monies to save, invest and improve and tonight’s proposal would be unnecessary. If every household gave $150 each year it would be adequate funding that would pay for operations. In 2023, the overall number of contributions declined nearly 40% versus pre-pandemic levels.

The building is 42 years old and needs repairs. The current replacement cost on a 7,800 sq ft building comes out to an estimated $6 million (numbers were based on the current emergency services project in Lee).

Today’s proposal will focus on how we can arrive at a rational lease which will cover repairs, improvements, administrative, bookkeeping and funding to an emergency “kitty”. The Fire Company has approached this from several directions and it comes out to a range of $149,000 - $159,000/year from the town.

Ilene Marcus thanked the fire company for a very well thought out and researched presentation. From her perspective the budget for FY25 is looking like it will be about $5.8 million and this proposal would be about 25% of the entire budget excluding the school and she personally does not think the town can support this kind of increase. Jeff Zimmerman also expressed concern that part of the challenge is that residents have all just received a large tax bill increase and this may not be received favorably. Jeff supports putting whatever amount is agreed upon by all but this is a situation where public education is going to be extremely important. The Fire Company understands that the request is large and there is a need to educate the residents about the reality of the situation.

Regionalization is already underway through mutual aid. Another option being discussed is creating a fire district which would be a legal agreement in the town which would have its own tax assessment which would pay for all fire expenses, Chief Tryon says that this would be a must if total regionalization were to become a reality.

Frank listed off some items that should be in the new lease agreement that will provide long term support.

Roger agreed that the challenges are understood but this upcoming FY is proving to look very difficult and he would like to see some give and take from the fire company as this is big money. Roger also spoke about the need for the MFC to continue to do fund raising. Jeff said that everyone agrees about the importance of this request which is not just for FY25 but for all the years to follow. Susan asked what the downside would be to not having a fire company and making it all town owned and managed. Frank said that the fire company team does their job very well and it is not broken so we should not try and “fix” that, we need to address the monetary issues. Frank said that the Board needs to help the company set up a system so they can be successful.

Roger and Frank have offered to continue to work with the team at the fire company to draft and structure a lease. Ilene strongly suggested that the fire company needs to present an all-in budget that lays out all the costs (including volunteer time) so that everyone has a realistic picture of how much it costs to operate the fire company. It was also suggested that it would be more strategic to phase in all of these substantial requests to make it easier for the residents to get behind.

Peter Murkett said that the 2^nd most expensive thing in the proposal for fire company renovations is heating and he suggested that the solar panels that the Renewable Energy Working Group are proposing would really help with lowering that.

1. Comments & questions from the public: none
2. Adjournment

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:43pm

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. Fire Company project list