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Select Board Meeting Minutes 2/27/24

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Meeting date: 
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Minutes of the Select Board Meeting of 2/27/24

Meeting Opened at: 5:30pm

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

Also present: Melissa Noe, Town Administrator, Dennis Lynch, Roger MacDonald

Also present remotely: Kenn Basler, Don Coburn, Jeff Zimmerman, Ilene Marcus

Items discussed:

  1. Call to order 5:30pm
  2. Grant proposal from Dennis Lynch: Dennis is looking to apply for a challenge grant through AARP. No match is required. He is looking to apply for funding for digital equity to extend the purpose of the previously applied for grant for services through the library. The proposal was unanimously approved.
  3. Justin reported that he spoke with Michael Germain of the Lake Garfield Working Group last night and they agreed to lower the milfoil request down to $30k from $50k for FY25. Justin also spoke with Michael about the Lake Garfield tax district and this might be the year to put this on the Town Meeting Warrant. Justin will be working on this.
  4. Discuss Town Administrator interview process: Mary Aicardi of the Collins Center has informed the Board that four applications were received for the Town Administrator position and the Collins Center will be reaching out to all of the candidates for initial phone interviews this week, with the plan to propose no more than three candidates as finalists for interview by the Select Board. She has requested that the Board provide dates and times for interviews; the Board has chosen Monday the 4th at 2:00pm and Thursday the 7th at 5:30pm as possible dates. Don Coburn requested that the final applicants’ information be posted on the home page so that the public could review to send possible questions to the Board. The Board will consult with Counsel and the Collins Center to find out if the applicants’ names need to be posted on the agenda.
  5. Town Administrator Items:
    1. The Town Clerk has made a request for 4 additional appointments for Tuesday’s election. A motion was made to appoint Martin Brunk, Danielle Joffe, Stacey Wallach and Jennifer Kay as elections workers or a term of one year.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    2. The Animal Inspector has requested an alternate Animal Inspector appointment. A motion was made to appoint Tom Mensi as the Alternate Animal Inspector for a one year term.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    3. Letter of recommendation request from Fiber Connect: The Board agreed to sign the letter with minor modifications.
  6. The Director of Operations request to contact counsel regarding West Road was approved.
  7. 6:30pm: Joint meeting with the Finance Committee to discuss FY25 budget:
    1. Annual audit: last week it was agreed that the Finance Committee was going to meet to look into this further. Susan is in favor of encumbering or transferring the $17,500 we will have left over from this year instead of raising the monies again. This will be voted on next week.
    2. Human resource consulting: Frank reported that the Town Administrator had $7k in the budget for training and $1k for employee recognition and motivation leaving 6 hours per month for human resources. Frank recommended taking the training out but leaving in the $1k for recognition/motivation. It was agreed to lower this line to $11k.
    3. IT: Roger reported that he reached out to Adam Chait of Fiber Connect to see if they would be interested in being our provider. The Town Administrator is applying for a grant that could get us around $5k.  Justin asked if the committee has reached back out to John Shannon, Roger will do that.
    4. Conservation Commission: Susan recommended level funding the expenses. Frank noted that there are not any other towns that compensate their committee members and felt that adding that in may open Pandora’s Box; Roger and Ilene agreed. Roger suggested based on other towns that we should consider changing our membership from seven to five. It was agreed to level fund the expenses. Justin strongly supports that a stipend for members should be considered. Jeff asked what Con Comm is doing to build their succession plan.
    5. Cemetery: Ilene spoke with Michael Banner and he thinks there may be some tree issues he might need to address and Ilene suggested he speak to highway to see if there was anything they could do to help. Michael said that they could cut up to $5k from their budget if needed but it was agreed that it should be kept in there if tree work is necessary. Justin did not get more information on this item, and will have to come back to it next week.
    6. Lifeguard payroll: Justin spoke with the Parks Commission and the number has been lowered to the less expensive option.
    7. Community Center: Justin left RJ a message today to discuss the fee structure and if they will be open to lowering their budget.
    8. Debt service: Susan met with the Town Administrator and both are suggesting keeping the required payments in the operating budget and putting any additional pay downs to the principal as special articles so that we can use free cash (saving about $100k from the operating budget). Roger and Frank agreed. It was agreed to keep minimums in the operating and additional principal as special articles.
    9. Justin would like to pay for the $95k truck with free cash and suggested that the Board could consider using any excess free cash to lower the tax rate.
    10. Justin reported that the Lake Garfield Working Group has agreed to lower their request to $30k. Ilene inquired as to what the Friends of Lake Garfield are contributing. If the tax district is proposed and approved, this expense would become part of their assessment.
    11. Cultural Council: It was agreed to level fund this request.
    12. Southern Berkshire Ambulance: Susan and the Board are working on implementing a better assessment method. The SBA treasurer stated that this year and the 36% increase was an oddity as their call volume went down by 300+/-.
    13. Town hall repairs and maintenance: Frank and Roger both agree that the floor desperately needs to be fixed but they are recommending taking it out of the budget. Justin does not think there is anything wrong with the floors and would prefer to see the money spent toward one of the trucks.
    14. Justin suggested that everyone take the week to think about how they would like to see free cash spent.
    15. Grant writers: We have one very zealous grant writer who has written many successful grants for the Town and Susan suggested that it might be worth raising that line by $5k. Frank countered with $2,500, and all agreed this was a good investment.
    16. ZBA: agreed to lower to $100
    17. Police expenses: Justin inquired about the increases which are attributed to increase in uniforms and continuing education.
    18. Building Inspector Expenses: Justin inquired about the increases in this budget which are due to software increases.
    19. Tree Warden: Susan suggested level funding the expenses. All agreed.
    20. Highway Capital: Justin asked if Melissa would speak to Jim to see he would be agreeable to level fund the road maintenance line.
    21. Library General and Maintenance: Justin asked about the large increase to maintenance. A large portion of the increase is due to higher electricity rates.
    22. Susan threw out the idea of considering a revolving fund for the transfer station sticker monies to cover operational costs starting in FY26. The downside is the fees would no longer go into free cash. Justin does not see any advantage to this. Susan thinks it will give greater clarity on the costs and income coming in and will be instrumental if we do end up moving to a pay as you throw system.
  8. Approve minutes of 2/13/24 and 2/20/24:
    1. A motion was made to approve the amended minutes of 2/13/24.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    2. The minutes of 2/20 will be addressed next week.
  9. Unanticipated business:
    1. Susan reported that she has had further conversations with the treasurer of the ambulance service and he will be sending five years of financials for the Board to review. Susan drafted two letters; one to our representatives regarding the emergency services crisis and staffing situations and one to the other towns the ambulance serves with regard to the assessment method. Justin has emailed counsel regarding what might happen if the Board tries to negotiate a lower assessment from the ambulance, and provided the Board with her response. Susan will incorporate the suggestions to the letter to the other Board chairs.  The Board signed the letter to Smitty and Senator Marks.
  10. Comments & questions from the public: none

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:10pm

 

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
  2. Fiber Connect letter of reference
  3. Memo from Collins Center re:TA search
  4. Ambulance/EMS services letter to Smitty Pignatelli and Senator Mark
  5. Counsel’s opinion on the ambulance
  6. Grant proposal request from Dennis Lynch