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Select Board Meeting Minutes 1/20/21 (9am)

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 1/20/21

Meeting Opened at: 9am

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Kim Wetherall, Peter Close, Margo Drohan, Shawn Tryon, Jeremy Rawitz

Roll call was taken.  Steve and Don present at town hall.  John Weingold present remotely.

Don explained that since it was unclear how long would be necessary for the Conservation Commission agenda item he would be moving that discussion to later in the meeting to allow for the regular business items to be completed.

Items discussed:

  1. CDBG Loan subordinate request: A motion was made to grant the loan subordination request through the Community Development Block Grant program.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  2. Grant proposal from Terry Walker: Terry put in a request to write a Massworks grant but did not have a specific project in mind (requested guidance from selectmen and Director of Ops).  As the grant and its guidelines have not been officially announced yet the Board did not feel it made fiscal sense to pay for research until we know there will be funds available to apply for.  A motion was made to table the request. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  3. Shared Human Resource position: All members of the Board were provided with sample job descriptions for a possible future shared human resource position.  M. Noe and Don will be attending a zoom meeting this afternoon with Egremont and Gt. Barrington to discuss options for sharing.
  4. Request from 8 town regional school planning board for meeting to discuss budget request: The 8 town planning board is looking for each town to contribute $15k and would like to make a presentation to the Board and Finance Committee.  A motion was made to extend an invitation to present at a convenient date.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  5. Proposed town bylaws revisions; Drafts were distributed for future review and discussion. 
  6. Fiber Connect / MBI contract updates: Don reported that Michael Baldino has stated they are very close.
  7. Internet assistance for Monterey Residents:  Steve requested permission from the Board to make some basic inquires to some of the other non-profits that help the underserved in a general fashion to determine if they might be able to help in administering or providing funds for Fiber Connect Services.  John stated that the new stimulus package has monies up to $50/month as well as to help replace Chinese equipment. The Board unanimously agreed to let Steve make some inquiries.
  8. Grant request from Fire Chief: Shawn requested permission to hire AJ Jusino for $1k to work on the AFG (assistance to firefighter grants) grant for the replacement of the air packs (SCBA).  AJ has a proven track record and specializes in fire department grants.  A motion was made to hire AJ Jusino to write the AFG grant at a cost of $1k and to authorize Shawn to retain him.  The article for the SCBA will still need to be on the town meeting warrant however if the grant is awarded the funds would go to free cash.  John had concerns about the number of times we have applied for this grant and been unsuccessful.  Shawn reported that in house grant writers have applied twice and have been unsuccessful.  Steve felt it was worthwhile to try someone with a proven track record.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  9. Administrative Assistant items
    1. Green Communities update: The next designation round opens July 1.  We should have our energy audit report at the end of this week at which time we will be able to draft an energy reduction plan.
  10. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 1/6.  The motion was seconded. John no, Steve & Don, yes. The motion passed 2-1.  A motion was made to approve the minutes of 1/13.  The motion was seconded. John no as he doesn’t think they are accurate but was not prepared to discuss changes today, Steve & Don, yes.  The motion passed 2-1.
  11. Review mail and correspondence to be sent/signed: none
    1. Don reported that the town received an email regarding the 154 deposits for Wired West that have not requested a refund that have now been turned over to the Commonwealth.  Don will inquire if a list of names are available to publish in the next Monterey News.  A copy of the email was sent on the google email group.
  12. Steve inquired if there was an update on creating a direct deposit policy.  M. Noe reported that the Treasurer was going to reach out again to the DOR attorney of the day for guidance.
  13. At this point the Conservation Commission was asked to take a roll call for the joint meeting.  Nancy Tomasovich, Jeremy Rawitz and Margo Drohan were all present remotely.  Don summarized that the town is faced with some complex issues and some feelings of potential conflict that need to be addressed.  Don reminded everyone that today is not the time to discuss any particular personnel issues.  After much discussion and several motions (noted below with votes) it was agreed to allow Jeremy and Don work together with Melissa Noe and the Accountant to determine if the agent position is a contractor/consultant or employee.
    1. The Accountant and Counsel have both determined that the job description per IRS regulations is that the position is an employee and not an independent contractor.  Nancy and Jeremy are not satisfied with these responses and would like to investigate this further.  A motion was made to allow Don to represent the Board and meet with the Chair of the Conservation Commission to determine whether the agent position was a contractor/consultant or an employee.  The motion was seconded.  Discussion ensued and a motion was them made by John to make him the representative instead of Don.  The motion failed 2 – 1 with Don and Steve voting no.  The original motion made by Don then passed 2 – 1 with John voting no.
    2. Items that will need to be discussed and determined at a future date were discussed such as who is the appointing authority of the agent and does the employee handbook apply when dealing with matters of discipline.
  14. Open Meeting Law Complaints filed by John Weingold: Don read his proposed response into record for Steve to approve.  A motion was made to the aforementioned letter to the Attorney General.  The motion was seconded.  Steve had additional comments denying the accusations.  Steve gave John the opportunity to withdraw his complaint by this Friday or he’d file a complaint with the state bar and will consider a case for libel or slander.  John did not comment.  The motion passed 2 – 0 to send Don’s response.
  15. Comments & questions from the public:
    1. Kim asked to let the town know that she’s been very honored to serve Monterey in her time as agent.  She asked for direction on how to move forward with her position.  The Board confirmed that nothing has changed with respect to her and her duties.

 

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:30am

 

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. Counsel’s opinion
  2. Draft changes to Conservation Commission Agent job description
  3. Don’s response to OML complaint filed by John Weingold