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Select Board Meeting Minutes 2/17/21 (9am)

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 2/17/21

Meeting Opened at: 9am

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Dennis Lynch, Rebecca Wolin

Housekeeping items addressed:  The public was informed that if they intend to record the meeting they must let the chair know.

  1. Grant proposal from D. Lynch: Dennis provided a summary of his proposal to write a culvert replacement grant to help with the costs for the RT23 culvert replacement.  Dennis’ proposal that it will take 65 hours is a maximum number of hours and he anticipates it should take less.  John inquired why the stream crossing standard requirements weren’t attached to the proposal as only projects that will meet the standards will be approved.  Dennis offered to email them to him.  A motion was made to approve the proposal.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  2. FY22 transfer sticker fees: Steve argued that waste elimination fees are only going to continue to rise especially with the number of residents that have moved permanently to town that used to be part time.  Monterey charges one of the lowest fees in Berkshire County for use of the transfer station.  Steve recommended raising the fees by $15 with a discount ($5) for early payment and one for seniors and vets (10%).  M. Noe reported that the online system that we currently have may not have a way to verify if someone was a vet or senior.  Don proposed an alternative proposal of $75, $65 if you pay early.  John wanted counsel consulted to see if it was legal to offer discounts.  A motion was made to make the FY22 transfer fee $75 with a $10 discount if paid for before July 1 online only.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  3. Town Administrator negotiations: The Board members were sent a copy of a draft contract and job description which are a result of the approved discussions between Don and Melissa.  Members will review the documents to be discussed and approved next Wednesday the 24th at 5pm.
  4. Letter to Town Administrator applicants: The Board discussed the proposed text to send to the applicants that applied for the Town Administrator position.
  5. Administrative Assistant items
    1. FY21 insurance risk analysis summary
    2. CDBG request for letter of support
  6. Approving the minutes of 2/8 and 2/10 was discussed.  John stated that he had amendments to make.  It was explained that the procedure for doing this was to either use the track changes feature in Word and send the edits back to M. Noe or come into town hall and make edits on the hard copy.  John will do that for next week’s meeting.
  7. Review mail and correspondence to be sent/signed: None
  8. Review of operating budget, special articles and recommendations: Steve mentioned that historically both boards work together to perfect a budget to move forward operationally.  Steve stated that this process falls apart when a board member is willfully ignorant and doesn’t want to do the job.  Steve considered it childish of John to boycott the meetings.
  9. FY22 budget items:
    1. Special Articles:
      1. Proposed stabilization fund appropriation is currently at $0 as we have a balance of $546,955.
      2. Bridges roads and culvert recommendation to start putting away $75k to cover our share of the approx. $750k cost in 2 -3 years.  Steve suggested lowering this to $50k for right now based on Jon S’s recommendation.  Ultimately it was suggested to use a figure of $20k for now.
      3. FD stabilization saving for the fire truck in 4 years.  Discussion ensued about the purpose of this account and ultimately it was agreed to use a figure of $35k for now.
      4. FD Capital: inclined to approve the $30k
      5. Ambulance services: This will be held until we receive an official request from the ambulance squad.
      6. Cruiser: Steve would like to come in and review the long term planning for town vehicles
      7. Speed signs at the beach: The chief has conceded that we could start with one sign.  Steve would like to see the entire budget first before making a final decision as he would prefer to have both signs go up at the same time.
      8. Replace Kenworth: Don supports the request. Steve thinks that when we met with Shawn there really wasn’t a lot of discussion/opposition about it.  Steve would like to see where the budget is at before making a final decision.
      9. COA Outreach worker: Ilene is amenable to starting out with ½ the request if necessary.
      10. Community Center lighting: All agreed that more information is needed.
      11. School consolidation: This needs to be given to town meeting to decide and the boards shouldn’t try to undercut it.  Steve still feels that the amounts should’ve been proportional to the size of the town rather than $15k for each town
    2. COLA: Steve recommends that we use 2% as the recommended amount to pay town employees and Don is inclined at the moment to agree.
  10. Comments & questions from the public: None

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:28am

 

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. Grant proposal from Dennis Lynch
  2. DRAFT Town Administrator Contract
  3. DRAFT Town Administrator Job Description
  4. DRAFT FY22 budget