Select Board Meeting Minutes 11/10/21

Minutes of the meeting of 11/10/21

Meeting Opened at: 6:02pm

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold (left at the meeting at 6:06pm, returned at and left again at 6:42pm)

Also present: Barbara Dahlman, Don Coburn, Debbie Slater, Mickey Jervas, Shawn Tryon, Gerry Clarin

Also present remotely: Laura Mensi, Susan Cooper, Hy Rosen, Paula Hartstein, Tom Sawyer, Nancy Tomasovich, Steve Moore, James Scales, Hillel Maximon, Jon Levin, Peter Grealish, Jim Hunt, Ellen Coburn, Heather Bellow, Frank Upton, Peter Murkett, Mary Makuc, Rebecca Wolin, Karin Jackson

Old Business

1. Point of Order made by John Weingold: John stated that the meeting was only posted as a remote meeting and since there were 2 selectmen at town hall he asserted it was illegal.  Steve made a motion to amend the location to include the town hall.  Justin felt that it was wrong to amend the location on the agenda during the meeting, it should be posted ahead of time to let voters know where to attend the meeting.  It was agreed to have Justin move to another location within Town Hall and participate remotely to keep the meeting remote.  The audience stated that one of the reasons they show up is that it is very difficult to hear remotely.  John asserted that he did not have to participate as he feels it is an illegally posted meeting.  Susan Cooper stated that the meetings are always hosted in town hall in addition to remote and how the Board has been handling it for months and questioned whether John was stating that all meetings he’s been attending for months have been illegal?  Justin then left the meeting room and logged on remotely.  It was noted that John W left the meeting at 6:06pm and returned at 6:07pm.  Don Coburn noted that there is not requirement that it be noted where the Board members will be seated, the meeting is being held remotely as stated on the agenda.  Steve stated for the record that if any member of the Board still feels it is an illegal meeting but chooses to still participate then they are culpable and agreeing to participate in an illegal meeting.
2. John made a motion to remove Steve Weisz as chair as he is violating the Open Meeting Law (OML). Justin stated that he did not feel it was a violation of the OML as he is now participating remotely. There was no second therefore the motion failed.  John then made accusations about Melissa Noe’s competence due to the lack of the location of Town Hall on the agenda posting.  John made another motion to remove Steve Weisz as the chair.  The motion was not seconded for the second time and failed again.
3. Town Administrator Items:
   1. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 8/14 (2^nd homeowners meeting). The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0 as John was not present at this meeting.  The remaining minutes to be approved were tabled to the next meeting.
   2. Public records on website – Justin did clarify that the Select Board will be attaching documents to their minutes as a Select Board policy, but as for a policy requiring all boards and committees to do the same, not everyone has responded to the survey so it will be tabled until the next meeting.
   3. ARPA draft survey:  John made a point of order: The OML discourages acronyms used on agendas so that the public can know in advance what will be discussed more easily. Suggested edits were reviewed and Melissa will work on those for next week.
   4. Agenda posting survey results – As not everyone has responded this will be tabled until the next meeting.  Justin feels that even if the Chairs do not want to post their own meetings direct to the website, other solutions should be looked at as a backup to the Town Administrator so that there is never an extended period of time when meetings cannot be posted.
   5. Grant administration draft policy – Justin read the draft and feels that in general it seems to be a good policy but he would like to table it until he can get input from Town grant writers Dennis Lynch and Terry Walker. The motion to table was passed 2 – 0, John refused to answer.
   6. Change of office hours: Justin would be in favor of the Town Administrator leaving early or coming in late one day in lieu of taking off a full day on Fridays.  Steve is ok with trying it out as was done when the Town Clerk has asked for the same courtesy. Melissa agreed to leave early on Fridays.  A motion was made to approve the request.  The motion was seconded and passed 2 – 0.  John stated the meeting was illegal and would be abstaining from all votes.  Susan Cooper commented that she found it interesting that John will interject when it suites him but not to vote and it was suggested to John that he either participates or leaves.  John Weingold then left the meeting at 6:42pm.
4. Continue review of Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft: Justin made final edits and would be happy to approve with those edits, but after reading the Selectman’s handbook he questioned why an additional policy; it is shorter and more succinct and some relate to just Monterey.  Justin suggested we should just rely on the Selectman’s handbook produced by the Massachusetts Municipal Association.  Steve is heartened he came to this conclusion but every once in a while there seems to be a push to add additional items however in the past previous counsel has stated we are covered by current laws.  A motion was made to permanently table this draft which was seconded and approved 2 – 0.  A motion was made to post the MMA select board handbook on our website.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
5. Access to counsel draft policy:  Counsel has revised the draft document substantially.  A motion was made to accept the policy as rewritten by town counsel. The motion failed. Justin wanted to resend the significantly amended version of the documents to department heads and board chairs for further comment before adopting the policy.  The draft copy was read into record at the request of the audience.  A motion was then made to approve the policy and distribute to board and committee chairs again which can later be amended.    The motion failed.  It will be redistributed but Steve disagrees with not approving the policy now as he was trying to avoid any more disruption with counsel as they have expressed that if the current “policy” isn’t changed they will be resigning.
6. Highway Planning Commission: Justin summarized his meeting with Shawn, Jim and Melissa to discuss the idea of creating a highway planning commission, and let the Board know that the consensus was to not create a Highway Planning Commission right now.  It will be revisited next summer.

New Business

1. Town Administrator Items:
   1. FY23 & 24 insurance renewal proposal rate guarantee: MIIA does a great job, this proposal is a minimal impact on taxpayers (0% for FY23 and up to 2.5% for FY24 on our property, casualty and worker’s comp).  A motion was made to approve and accept the proposal.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
2. Leaking of confidential documents to the press:  Steve stated that a dozen or more documents were leaked to the press and they might open the town or town officers individually to liability as they relate to confidential matters currently under investigation.  Steve met with the Chief of Police who will be contacting the Eagle to get the evidence back if there is an investigation.  Steve also reached out to town counsel as the town has been exposed to a great deal of liability now.  Steve stated for the record that it was not him and he would sign an affidavit to that effect.  Justin feels it warrants an investigation and the way it is presented may be too simplistic and there may be other people involved inadvertently.  Justin stated he has not been leaking confidential documents to the press.  Nancy accused Melissa of being the one that leaked the documents although it was pointed out by multiple people that Melissa was not privy to some of the documents included in the leaked package to the press.  Justin objected saying that he felt it was a misrepresentation of facts.  It was noted that Melissa Noe has filed a formal complaint with regard to this as well and it will be attached to the minutes.
3. A motion was made to skip the remaining Town Administrator items and move to the vote to send the items required to the legislature.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
4. A motion was made to send the requested special act approved 63-11 at the special town meeting and letter to the Town’s legislative delegation.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
5. Investigation and timeline: The board voted to engage the services of an investigator and the town approved the $10k on Saturday.  Since that time the investigator the town had decided to hire has declined to work for Monterey.  Justin noted that 3 candidates were interviewed and he made a motion to ask Corrine Hood Greene to investigate as she has a lot of experience in the types of matters we are dealing with and can offer suggestions going forward.  Steve is concerned that her fee is double the others and since we have a fixed amount of money to spend and these complaints are very extensive we will end up with ½ the amount of investigation time as we would with the other firm.  The scope is getting larger every single day and Steve’s concerned that the money appropriated will not be enough.  Justin stated that money cannot be the issue and we need to get on this sooner than later.  Steve seconded the motion.  The motion passed 2 – 0.  Corrine will be brought in for an executive session on next week.
6. Peter Murkett’s request to lead a photovoltaic working group:  This group is proposed to consist of not more than 6 people and will research the potential for renewable energy projects in all aspects – cost, funding, maintenance, environmental, economic, and aesthetic impact, etc. – and report back to the Select Board.  Steve pointed out it should be an odd number of people so the number was amended to 5. Peter asked if he approves the members.  He was told that it is a public group so anyone can join. It was suggested he come up with an ad-hoc group first and then come to the Board with a request to appoint all interested. Peter decided that he would rather have a formal public working group. A motion was made to create a Monterey Renewable Energy Working Group and appoint Peter Murkett as one of the 5 voting members for a one year term.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
7. There will be a Veteran’s Day Observance tomorrow at 10:30am at the library.
8. Highway Foreman position recommendation: Jim Hunt the new Director of Operations as of Saturday, is recommending hiring Pete Wilson at an hourly rate of $26.33 and to match his 3 weeks of vacation time he receives with the town he currently works for.  A motion was made to appoint Pete Wilson at an hourly rate of $26.33 and to offer 3 weeks of vacation time.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
9. Town Administrator Items continued:
   1. Public records requests by John Weingold:  Steve did not understand several of the requests.  Including one that didn’t seem to fall within the realm of time and space.  Due to the history of the person making the requests, Melissa asked the Board as her immediate supervisors to allow her to send an estimate to the requestor or send to counsel for advice on how to respond.  Melissa stated she feels that if she responds it will be a lose lose either way.  Justin would not commit to assisting Melissa and was focused only on consistency of the RAO in responding to public records requests and continued to refer to one she made in September, which Melissa noted is not relevant or even similar.  Members of the audience agreed with Melissa and all that spoke felt that Justin should support Melissa’s request for help as she is fearful of retaliation.  Steve noted that he will be consulting counsel on how to answer due to the difficulty with some of the requests (proving a negative).  A motion was made to allow the Rao to contact town counsel about John Weingold’s requests providing the 2 requests made of the Town Clerk were also included.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  After much back and forth Jon Levin offered to be appointed as a RAO to deal with these 2 requests and to review the 2 that Justin continued to refer to.  A motion was made to appoint Jon Levin as a RAO.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.  Jon will also address the request for executive session minutes made by Nancy Tomasovich.
10. Lake Garfield Working Group (LGWG) Appointment: A motion was made to appoint Trevor Hurst to the LGWG for one year.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
11. Appointments to the Town Charter Committee - Rebecca Wolin and Donald Coburn:  Justin wanted to know if the Board was going to limit the size of this committee.  The annual town meeting did not specify a specific number of people.  Justin made a motion to adjourn because it was 9:15pm and it’s been 3 hours and 15 minutes, none of the rest of the business was urgent and it’s a larger issue he feels capable of dealing with at the moment.  Justin was questioned why he was suddenly reluctant to make the appointments since he was the one that added the agenda item to add Rebecca Wolin but doesn’t seem to want to deal with it now that Don Coburn has been added as an additionally interested party.  After much back and forth it was agreed to wait until next week to make any additional appointments.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 9:15pm

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. ARPA draft survey
2. Grant administration draft policy
3. Select Board Roles, Policies & Procedures draft
4. Access to Counsel draft policy
5. Highway planning commission recap
6. MIIA insurance renewal proposal
7. Complaint by Melissa Noe
8. John Weingold public records requests
9. Nancy Tomasovich public records request