Select Board Meeting Minutes 1/15/2020

Minutes of the meeting of 1/15/20

Meeting Opened at: 9am

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

Also in attendance: Dennis Lynch, Shawn Tryon, George Cain, Mary McGurn, Chris Blair, Dennis Downing, Steve Moore

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

1. Code of Ethics proposed policy – we are still waiting on a response from town counsel.  This will be postponed to the next meeting.
2. Department weekly reports: The Board reviewed suggested topics to be included in the weekly reports.  The Board asked that the list be given to the Building Inspector, Town Clerk and Grant Writer to see if they have anything to add.
3. The Conservation Commission has recommended that Nancy Tomasovich be appointed for a 3 year term.  A motion was made to appoint Nancy Tomasovich which was seconded and unanimously approved.
4. The Fire Chief has recommended that Charity Loy be appointed as a firefighter.  A motion was made to appoint Charity Loy as a firefighter which was seconded and unanimously approved.
5. The Town Clerk has recommended that Katrina Fitzpatrick be appointed as an election worker, registrar and census worker.  A motion was made to appoint Katrina Fitzpatrick as an election worker, registrar and census worker which was seconded and unanimously approved.
6. The Board briefly discussed the timeline for the draft Collins Center report to be finalized and released.
7. Establishment of a Salary Commission pursuant to the relevant by-law consisting of the Select Board, the then chair of the Finance Committee and the Administrative Assistant.  This item was placed on the agenda by Don after it was brought to his attention that we didn’t have a salary committee as our bylaw states we should.  After discussing the current town bylaws it was determined that several of our town bylaws are antiquated and what would be more productive would be forming a bylaw review committee.  All agreed and discussion ensued about the makeup of the committee.  It was recommended that it should consist of those that understand the mechanics of town government.  Don made a motion to create a Bylaw Review Committee and appoint Steve Weisz as the Chair.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  It was suggested that Steve put an article in the February Monterey News looking for interested parties to join the committee.  For budgeting purposes 2% cost of living will be used as a placeholder until the next joint Finance and Select Board meeting when this can be discussed further.  The creation of a salary committee for this year was determined to be unnecessary.
8. Community Center Policies: Mary Makuc inquired via email about drafting an official policy asserting that a child will not be alone with an adult at the MCC if it is not his parent or guardian.  Mary will be asked to draft a proposed policy for the Board to review.
9. The Board met with Dennis Lynch and Shawn Tryon to discuss the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant we received for the RT 23 culvert, dam and discharge behind the Lake Garfield dam behind the library.  Dennis reported that while we were approved for the grant it was at a much lower amount and for a smaller scope than we applied for.  We will receive $57,893 (1/2 of what we applied for) and it will only be for expansion of the RT 23 culvert.  The town’s match would now be approximately $19k and change.  Kenn suggested that we find out how much an engineering study would be for the dam and the town could pay for that separate from the grant and town match.  Don inquired about any organizations we could apply to about removing the dam as studies show now that dams no longer are effective as they once were.  Dennis was asked to get a quote from the engineer on the cost of a study to determine the cost to fix the dam as well as a rough estimate of removing it with alternate options for fire prevention so that this could be presented to the voters in May.  Dennis was given permission to research all of this for no more than 5 hours.  Dennis is recommending entering into agreements with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to administer the grant as well as an agreement with the engineer to do the work, the Board will take this under review.  The Board thanked Dennis for all his work on the project.
10. The Board met with Director of Operations, Shawn Tryon to discuss the conditions of Beartown Mtn and Fairview Roads.  Don expressed his concern about the condition of these roads due to the warmer weather we have experienced and inquired about what we could do.  Shawn explained that there are options but they are all costly and ultimately the roads should be paved.  Shawn will put together some numbers and solutions for the Board to consider.
11. Broadband:  Adam Chait of Fiber Connect was unable to make today’s meeting so it will be rescheduled for next Wed at 9:30am.
12. Administrative Assistant items:
    1. Baystate Municipal Accounting invoices – M. Noe was advised to continue holding these until further directed.
    2. Public records request – M. Noe informed the Board of a public records request received to look through all the files in the basement.  Town Counsel’s opinion was sought on the matter and the requestee will be informed that they will need to pay to have someone be present in the basement to do this.
    3. Time off requests from the Town Clerk and Administrative Assistant were approved.
13. Warrants were signed.
14. Minutes from 1/2/20 were approved.
15. Mail was reviewed.

At 11:25am the Board discussed the need to go into Executive Session as per MGL c30A, Section 21 #6.  All agreed.  Roll call was taken.  Present: Chair, Kenn Basler, Don Coburn and Steve Weisz.  The Board agreed they would not return to open session.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:25am

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.