Select Board Meeting Minutes 2/20/24

Minutes of the meeting of 2/20/24

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

Select Board Members Present: Justin Makuc, Chair, Susan Cooper and Frank Abbott

Also present: Melissa Noe (Town Administrator), Roger MacDonald

Also present remotely: Ilene Marcus

Items discussed:

1. Call to order 6:00pm
2. Meeting schedule going forward: The Board discussed vacations that will prevent a full meeting of the Board during the weeks of March 18^th and 25^th. The meeting for March 5^th cannot be held due to the elections taking place in Town Hall, and will be held on March 6^th instead. Justin and Melissa will work on finalizing the budget and Warrant between March 12^th and April 2^nd, when it can hopefully be approved by the Board. The Board agreed to the following meeting schedule:

(Some 6:00pm meetings may be adjusted to 5:30pm, depending on the agenda and any joint meetings.)

•           Tuesday February 27th 6:00pm

•           Wednesday March 6th 6:00pm

•           Tuesday March 12th 6:00pm

•           Tuesday April 2nd 6:00pm

•           Tuesday April 9th 6:00pm

•           Tuesday April 16th 6:00pm

•           Tuesday April 23rd 6:00pm

•           Tuesday April 30th 6:00pm

1. Election Worker appointments: Gary Shaw, Evelyn Vallianos, Rebecca Wolin, Aldeth Lewin, John Higgins, C. Linda Howitt, Cheryl Zellman and Tracey Brennan: A motion was made to appoint Gary Shaw, Evelyn Vallianos, Rebecca Wolin, John Higgins, C. Linda Howitt, Cheryl Zellman and Tracey Brennan as election workers for one year terms.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. A motion was made to appoint Aldeth Lewin as the Election Warden for a three year term. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
2. Town Administrator Items
   1. Highway surplus items: The Board approved posting four surplus plows on Municibid.
3. 6:30pm: Joint meeting with the Finance Committee to discuss the proposed FY25 budget:
   1. Human Resources consulting: Justin feels this line can possibly be decreased.
   2. Con Comm stipends has been added as a placeholder so the Board can begin discussing if members should be offered a stipend.
   3. Lifeguard services: Justin does not feel that this is the year to add additional services. He suggested going with the lowest option.
   4. Debt service: Justin would like to see the principal amounts increased, Susan agrees. Justin suggested increasing the highway truck principal to level fund with last year.
   5. Health insurance: Currently there is a cushion for a family plan for a full year, and Justin suggested lowering that cushion to a single or couples plan. The cushion can be helpful in the case of employee turnover, in case an employee who does not use the health insurance starts receiving it, or if an employee upgrades from a single to couple plan or couple to family plan. There is currently only one position/employee eligible for health insurance that does not receive the benefit. It was agreed to lower it to a singles plan for a full year.
   6. Frank provided an update on the fire company lease negotiations. It has been agreed that the lease will be for one year to move things along. The apron needs to be fixed immediately. We are still waiting on numbers for the flooring in the bays.
   7. The Board would like to have the fire company come in to discuss the compensation proposal.
   8. IT expenses: Roger explained that this is the reality of supporting all of the features we need moving forward.
   9. Community Center: Roger is concerned that the Community Center is “catching up” on their actual needs. The Finance Committee also inquired about their fee structure, who is required to pay a fee and how much has been collected from fees.
   10. Cultural Council: Roger inquired as to how much they have spent to date since they only spent $653 in FY23.
   11. Conservation Commission: Roger felt that historically they did not spend all that was allocated yet they are requesting $100 more this year.
   12. Clerk: The Finance Committee questioned whether the new Clerk needed to take two different certifications (New England and Massachusetts) in one year or if it could be spread out over multiple years.
   13. Justin noted that a preliminary COLA was set of 4% and inquired whether we should stick with it or not. Discussion ensued about our wages and the fact that they are still not as competitive as they could be. Ilene proposed that we do not make any changes to the number this year.
   14. Audit monies: The Select Board and Ilene felt that the money should still be raised to keep the budget stable. The Finance Committee will work on a best practice based on what other towns do, regarding whether to audit annually or less frequently.
   15. Cemetery: Historically the cemetery has not spent all of their budget.
   16. Ilene is concerned about the electricity costs of the Library.
   17. Tree warden: Roger realizes that there is a proposed plan for cutting and planting but he does not agree with raising the amount a set amount each year. Susan explained that the Tree Warden did a thorough inventory of the ash tree mitigation and anything not done in FY25 is just being kicked down the road.
   18. Milfoil: Justin will explore whether it should it be an operational line item, and if it can go back down to $30k.
   19. Ambulance: Susan is working on a letter to try to get the other towns to agree to a different apportionment based on what other ambulance companies in the area do.
   20. Next meetings are February 27 and March 6 to begin at 5:30pm. In the meantime, Justin will send around a list of which Board members will take the lead on each budget line to be looked at closer.
4. Unanticipated business: Mary Aicardi of the Collins Center provided an update to Susan that three resumes have been received regarding the Town Administrator recruitment.
5. Comments & questions from the public: none

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:19pm

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 budget