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Select Board Meeting Minutes 11/20/19

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Minutes of the meeting of 11/20/19

Meeting Opened at: 9am

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

Also in attendance: Janet Jensen, Chris Blair, Mark Sebastino, Terry Walker

The Board began the meeting with a moment of silence to acknowledge the passing of longtime resident, Fire Chief and town official, Ray Tryon.

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

  1. Library deck rail insurance claim and final payment to Allegrone; A motion was made to accept the recommendation of the library construction project manager, P3, to approve a payment to Allegrone Construction in the amount of $126,245.64 and withhold $10,000 to cover the value of any adjustments needed to be made to the deck elevations in 2020.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  A motion was made to accept the insurance payment on the library deck railing claim.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  2. The Board continued their review of the draft code of ethics policy.  Additional edits were made.  The Board will send to counsel for final review before adoption of the policy.
  3. Chris Blair inquired if any word had been received on the Massachusetts Broadband Institute accepting Fiber Connect as a vendor to receive payment during construction rather than in arrears.  The Board has not received any updates.
  4. The Board reviewed and signed the end of service letter to Baystate Municipal Accounting Group (BMAG) with regard to providing accounting services.  BMAG will process the last vendor warrant through their office on December 2nd, after that their responsibilities will be limited to assisting the new accountant during the transition, return of all Monterey materials and completion of all reports, reconciliations, etc as previously discussed.
  5. Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) contract renewal:  Kenn reported on the informational session held with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) last Thursday.  This contract renewal will cost Monterey approximately $7k-8k more for recycling next year.  The vendor that won the bid was the lowest of the 3 submitted to the MRF.  This contract for recycling is the only option available to Monterey.  DEP also advised that we could save money by crushing our bottles and cans, Monterey will look into what else would be required to start doing this.  A motion was made to accept the contract with the MRF beginning July 1, 2020.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  6. The Board reviewed the legal updates received from counsel and has nothing further to add at this time.
  7. Budgeting: Kenn and Melissa shared their concern that at this time last year a joint effort was already in effect and meetings with department heads to discuss their next year’s budget requests were in progress.  At the joint Fin Comm meeting on the 4th the Board would like to work out a schedule for joint budget development.
  8. The Board acknowledged and welcomed the new program the Monterey Police Department has instituted through a grant to allow people to dispose of unused or expired prescription medications.  For more information please contact the Monterey Police Department at 413-528-3211.
  9. The Board met with Mark Sebastino of the US Census to discuss the upcoming 2020 Census which will begin on April 1.  Mark will provide M. Noe with various written materials we can use in newsletters and online.  Mark reviewed the mission of the census and timeline with the Board.  The Board committed to putting something in the Monterey News each month about the census itself and how to apply to be a census taker if interested.
  10. Cell tower update: Steve reported that the tower has been constructed, the utilities still need to be installed and mounted.  Access should be available by Christmas.
  11. The Board asked M. Noe to work on the information sheet for the upcoming special town meeting.
  12. Minutes from 11/6/19 were approved.
  13. Mail was reviewed.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:40am

 

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 referred to in the minutes are available by request at town hall.