Select Board Meeting Minutes 12/1/21

Minutes of the meeting of 12/1/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

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

Select Board Members absent: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Susan Cooper, Kevin West, Tom Sawyer, Paula Hartstein, Heather Bellow, Jon Levin, Frank Abbott, Jeff Zimmerman, Ellen Coburn, Mary Makuc, Janet Jensen

Also present: Mickey Jervas, Peter Murkett, Don Coburn, Gerry Clarin

6pm: Old Business

1. Town Administrator
   1. A motion was made to approve the amended minutes of 11/17/21.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
2. Access to counsel draft policy: Town Counsel has approved the draft version.  The Board reviewed concerns expressed by the Building Commissioner.  A motion was made to approve the policy with the addition that the Building Commissioner may contact counsel directly without preauthorization from the Board but must notify the Board subsequently, fix 2 typos and add “Chair shall maintain confidentiality of all confidential requests to contact counsel”.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
3. FY23 Cost of living adjustment: The Board recognizes that the cost of living has increased and that there should be a basic understanding of the impact to Monterey and being informed for budget discussions.  Justin was concerned about what guidance to give departments such as the library (which he noted his father is the Director of) with regard to how wages impact the overall budget.  Steve knows that it is frustrating to have to prepare the budgets without guidance on suggested COLA’s but agrees with the Finance Committee that it should be done after the operational requests have been made and discussed. Steve also suggested that Justin review past COLA adjustments.

New Business

1. Update from Jon Levin on public records requests:
   1. John Weingold: Jon reported that he has reviewed the guidance and laws on collection of fees and the public records guide states that the Records Access Officer (RAO) has the discretion to require payment in advance for documents, so the Board’s recognition of their prior policy to require payment before records are researched or produced is legal. Jon has sent a revised notice to Mr. Weingold advising that unless and until he provides the fee payment the records will not be collected for him.  Hillel inquired about the extension and what happens if Mr. Weingold responds 1 day prior to the end of the extension.  Jon believes if Mr. Weingold waited until the last minute we would have very valid grounds to request relief for the town or further extend the timeline to respond.
   2. Requests for documents made of Terry Walker: Jon will continue to work with Terry on these requests to determine what has been fulfilled and what is left to complete, if anything.
   3. Nancy Tomasovich:  Nancy has filed an appeal with the Supervisor of Public Records stating it was her belief since she filed an Open Meeting Law (OML) request it was not within the purview of the RAO and therefore Jon had no business responding.  Jon has responded to the Supervisor of Records that while Nancy stated in the body of her request it was an OML request she is essentially requesting, by definition a public record and therefore it was appropriate for the RAO to respond.  We now await the decision of the State Supervisor.
   4. Jon stated that reports will not be necessary from this point further on a regular basis.
2. Town Administrator Items:
   1. Human Resource Director update: Melissa let the Board know that 10 resumes were received in this third round and the 5 towns are hoping to interview 6 candidates next Thursday.
   2. Meeting schedule for December:  It was agreed the Board will not meet on the 22^nd of December.
3. A motion was made to approve the amended minutes of 11/24/21.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
4. Review and appoint interested parties for the renewable energy committee:  the Board received 14 letters of interest for the remaining 4 open seats.  Peter Murkett, the one person already appointed, has reviewed all the letters and is requesting time to have a meeting to consult with all the parties interested to make a decision together about the level of participation and accountability everyone can offer.  The Board reminded Peter that whether or not someone ends up being an appointed voting member the meetings will still all be open and anyone can attend and provide valuable input.  This will be tabled until Peter can have a meeting to consult with all the parties interested to make a decision together about the level of participation and accountability.
5. Appointments to the Town Charter Committee:  The Board received 5 letters of interest for the remaining 3 open seats.  Discussion ensued about how to choose the 3 people which included limiting it to voters only, putting names in a hat or evaluating everyone’s backgrounds, etc.  Don Coburn withdrew his name from the letters of interest as his opinion would currently be that nothing should be changed until the nonsense in town is remedied otherwise too many things are going to be done for political reasons.  Mickey wrote a letter expressing essentially the same opinion as Don and suggested suspending the formation of the committee until the environment in Monterey is less hostile and serious allegations have been resolved.  Justin agreed with suspending further appointments to the committee.  Steve was uncomfortable since town meeting asked the Board to create the committee and asked to be allowed to do a little research before making a final decision since this was an edict from town meeting.  Steve was reminded that the edict from town meeting did not have a time requirement to it and those present felt that the voters would understand if current circumstances would not allow the committee to fully be engaged and present.  Susan Cooper commented that the concept of adding a charter in her opinion was to undermine democracy by changing the form of government. Susan argued that the composition of the committee and ability to deliberate in the current climate would not lend to doing it in a thoughtful and insightful manner.  It was agreed to table this until next week.
6. Open Meeting Law Complaint against John Weingold: Steve noted that he filed this complaint and it was his first OML complaint he has filed in his 6 years of serving.  He decided to file since the offense by John F. Weingold, Esq. since Mr. Weingold’s accusations seemed very hypocritical.  Steve read the complaint into record as well as the section from the OML discussing what types of email communications are allowed.  Justin stated that as discussed last week, when the Board receives a complaint naming a specific individual, especially when the actions alleged to be in violation of the OML only were the actions of one member, that individual should be responsible for responding to the complaint.
7. Posting YouTube videos prior to September 22:  Steve did some research since the last meeting.  He reported that since he is a member of an actor’s union there may potentially be a requirement that the Board sign a signatory agreement before posting any future videos.  He is waiting on a response.  This will be tabled to the next meeting.
8. Publicly viewable profane sign update:  Justin has rethought his initial decision to visit the homeowner.  Justin thinks the law on freedom of speech is great as there is little on censorship and as much as we might not like to see profanity, maybe we should respect the person’s 1^st Amendment right.  Steve stated that it was ‘unneighborly’ to post signs that would upset others, but he agreed with Justin. It was agreed that the Board will not pursue this any further.
9. Electronic voting for Town Meeting:  Melissa received some quick pricing estimates that ran $4k - $10k depending on the number of clickers needed and if the town wants to rent or buy.  Melissa will spend more time researching pricing and options and bring this to a future meeting.  Melissa was also asked to find out if other towns in Berkshire County use this technology.  Justin noted that the suggestion to look into electronic voting was made by the Moderator.  Hillel expressed concerns about this type of technology and whether it could be breached. Gerry reminded the board that any rental fees would need to be doubled, since there are usually 2 town meetings a year.
10. Cyber security training/information technology audit: Steve noted that someone has been using the town’s contact form to contact several departments here using his name but a fake email asking for 4 - $100 gift cards.  Justin suggested doing trainings for the employees to be able to better recognize spam and dangerous emails; Melissa noted the tools we have available and that we tried to do this last year and employees wouldn’t cooperate. Melissa has applied for a cybersecurity grant which we should hear back about this month.
11. Review mail and any correspondence to be sent/signed:
    1. Michele Miller’s November 24 communication to the Select Board request to contact Town counsel with regard to the confusing and contradictory claims she is being inundated with in OML complaints from Jon Sylbert.  A motion was made to allow Michele Miller to contact counsel since the request came prior to the new counsel contact policy being enacted.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
12. Comments & questions from the public
    1. When asked about the status of the investigation, Steve reported he received an email from the investigator yesterday which was forwarded to town counsel for review but he was not comfortable discussing it until it was properly posted on the agenda as he doesn’t want to fall victim to another “gotcha moment” and OML violation being filed.  The Board will meet on Monday the 6^th at 6pm instead of on the 8^th.
    2. Hillel commented that he read Justin’s article in the Monterey News and felt he did a brilliant job although he wasn’t sure who Justin was comparing each movie character to in Monterey; Justin replied it was just a movie review.
    3. Paula Hartstein wanted to say that sometimes during these meetings things become less than professional with snarky comments and she hopes the Board can keep a modicum of civility with a respectful tone of voice moving forward.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:20pm

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. Draft counsel policy
2. Email from Building Commissioner regarding contacting counsel
3. Mickey Jervas letter
4. Letters of interest for the renewable energy working group and the charter committee.
5. OML complaint
6. Michele Miller’s November 24 communication