Select Board Meeting Minutes 2/10/21
Minutes of the meeting of 2/10/21
Meeting Opened at: 5pm
Select Board Members Present: Donald Coburn, Chair, Steve Weisz
Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold
Also present remotely: Lucy Prashker, Michele Miller, Rebecca Wolin, Peter Taylor, Jon Sylbert, Mickey Jervas
Roll call for the Select Board was taken: John present remotely. Steven and Don present at town hall.
Roll call taken for the Finance Committee: Michele Miller present remotely. Jon Sylbert present remotely and Rebecca Wolin present remotely.
5pm: Joint budget meeting with the Finance Committee; General budget discussion
Lucy Prashkar and Peter Taylor of the 8 town regional school district planning board came to request a warrant article in the amount of $15k for project management, administrative support, outside consultants and outside legal counsel. The committee is applying for a grant which may lower this assessment.
5:30pm: Joint budget meeting with the Finance Committee; General budget discussion with Melissa Noe and the Select Board:
- Grant writers recommendation to lower to $6k for FY22 was discussed. To date only $862.50 has been spent and the argument was made that we do not need to pay anyone to research available grants as most department heads receive regular emails of grants that are available. Steve suggested lowering it to only $7,500 for FY22.
- Other expenses: Rebecca argued that she wants the Select Board to use zoom instead of gotomeeting. M. Noe pointed out that the cost for gotomeeting is much less expensive than zoom ($134/yr vs the $550 it would cost for 1 license for zoom, plus $150 for each additional license needed). The Board agreed to take her request under advisement.
- Computer software and supplies: Rebecca argued that in this day and age it was ridiculous to keep the policy of replacing 1/3 of the computers in town hall annually and shared that where she works they just update the ram and memory as needed for a couple hundred dollars. The Board agreed to have M. Noe follow up with our IT person.
- Both the Finance Committee and the Select Board agreed to remove the line item for $752 for Berkshire Mental Health as the last time they invoiced for this money was back in FY15.
- Both the Finance Committee and the Select Board agreed to remove the line item for $1,500 for Berkshire South as the last time they invoiced for this money was back in FY15. Rebecca stated (as she works for Berkshire South) that the program the money was being used for no longer exists.
- Discussion ensued about the $71k placeholder for the library loan. Clarification will be sought from the Treasurer on whether this amount is interest only or if it includes an additional principle payment.
- Jon S. then presented all with his summary findings on the proposed FY22 budget. Everyone agreed that they would like to have time to review the information provided by Jon prior to discussing the proposed special articles. The boards will meet again next Wednesday.
Finance Committee unanimously adjourned at 6:28pm
Administrative
- A motion was made to approve the minutes of the January 20th morning meeting. The motion was seconded. Steve, yes. John, passed as he said he did not read the agenda or the minutes. Don, yes.
- A motion was made to approve the minutes of the 2/3/21 meeting. The motion was seconded. Steve, yes. John, passed as he said he did not read the agenda or the minutes. Don, yes.
- A motion was made to approve the minutes of the 2/8/21 meeting. The motion was seconded. Steve, yes. John, passed as he said he did not read the agenda or the minutes. Don, yes.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:35pm
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.
- Select Board budget summary
- Jon Sylbert budget summary findings