Select Board Meeting Minutes 2/9/22

Minutes of the meeting of 2/9/22

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present: Hillel Maximon, Mickey Jervas

Also present remotely: Martin Mraz, Susan Cooper, Caleb Stone, Carol Clarin, Adam Chait, Todd Rhoda, Shawn Tryon, Emily Johnson

Steve welcomed John back and asked where he had been for the last few months.  John stated he was out of the country.

Steve started the meeting by complimenting how well the meeting went yesterday with the Finance Committee, it was very professional.  He thanked Finance Committee Chair, Michele Miller for running it so well.

John Maher from Charter/Spectrum emails: Justin reported that Charter has stated that in order for them to do any business in Monterey would require franchise licensing.  Justin then reached out to Michael Baldino to find out more about franchising.  Michael Baldino, Director and General Counsel, Massachusetts Broadband Institute is looking into this and will get back to the Board.

Adam Chait of Fiber Connect came on at 6:07pm. The Board explained they are trying to determine how much it would cost to have Fiber Connect provide services to 8 of the 9 homes that are excluded from the Fiber Connect contract with the Town (one home is on another town border and will be getting service from there). Adam stated that the home on Tyringham Rd has about 15 poles to get to that house, it might not require a lot of make ready but he won’t know until he applies to the utilities.  On Corashire/River Rd there are a lot more poles which would require him coming down 57 and through Hartsville.  The alternative is to set poles on Corashire and River Roads, continuing South down from the existing pole line, and could happen sooner and be cheaper but requires easements and pole set.  The last home is on Sandisfield Road, across from Cronk Rd, which would require a pole line across Sandisfield (which lacks power).  Steve asked for a generalized cost breakdown for each road; Adam stated he did provide this on January 6^th but they are estimates and final figures would not be available until he applied to the utilities.  Steve asked for a brief update on the current work.  Verizon has pushed make ready estimates north of $1.3 million and Fiber Connect is now trying to reduce the make ready by scheduling a walk around.  Buildout is at 60% complete as per attachment A of the agreement (133 homes remain).  Beartown and New Marlboro Roads have become a little complicated and that is where the majority of the 133 are located. Supply chain issues have also been behind the delays. Adam is hopeful that the work should be completed in 2022. 

Hillel Maximon said that in a recent press conference the Governor stated that all the towns have coverage and Hillel thinks this is obviously a communication issue.  Hillel wanted to know if the Governor were made aware of his error could he help with moving things along.  Adam has not heard from any of our state offices offering assistance.

Caleb Stone of Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance (SBVA) was present to request $17,979 toward the purchase of a new ambulance from the American Rescue Plan Act monies to replace their aging fleet.  Our town is the last for Caleb to meet with. Their current budget will not require any subsidies from any of the towns for operations. Justin inquired if a copy of the audit from their new auditors is available.  Caleb stated it should be available shortly and he will make it available to the town.  The service intends to be much more transparent that in the past with all the member towns.  Steve asked if the other towns have committed to the full requests.  Caleb reported that Alford and Egremont have agreed if all the other towns agree to the full amounts.  Sheffield and Gt. Barrington still need to vote (sometime this week or next) and Mt Washington has not responded.  Steve would like to wait on making a final decision until Sheffield and Gt. Barrington have voted and added that a lot of departments are requesting monies from this source.  Justin inquired about municipal representation on the SBVA board and what it would look like.  Caleb reported that nothing is final at the moment.  John Weingold asked the status of the uncollected bills and if any progress has been made on collections. Caleb reported some progress has been made but unfortunately most are unable to pay and will have to be written off as bad debt.  John asked about the number of calls to Monterey over the last 3 years; Caleb will send it to Melissa.  Caleb said that in 2021 there were 76 calls to Monterey. Justin inquired about the name change and if it has been official; the official name is SBVAS Inc. and there is a dba as SBA, this will be finalized soon.  Steve requested that Caleb let us know what all the towns decide, to send us a copy of the latest audit and then the Board will continue the discussion.

Old Business

Review transfer station committee interested parties and discuss making appointments; Ilene Marcus, Susan Cooper, Dave Gilmore and Kenn Basler

Steve’s understanding when this committee was discussed was that the goal was to try and get people outside of the operational side of things, he’s saying this because while he thinks Dave Gilmore has a lot of information to give, however his presence on the committee is not what he had in mind and he recommends appointing the other 3 interested parties.  Justin agreed as long as Dave can attend meetings and give input and avoid any potential conflict as he is a paid employee of the transfer station.  John thought it was an insult to ask him to attend meeting but not be able to vote. Justin agreed that it wouldn’t be right to not appoint Dave.  Discussion ensued about increasing the committee from 3 to 4 or 5 members. Susan pointed out that the vote itself is immaterial, it is the recommendations that matter. A motion was made to appoint Ilene Marcus, Susan Cooper, Dave Gilmore and Kenn Basler to the Transfer Station Committee through June 30, 2022. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

New Business

1. Town Administrator Items:
   1. A motion was made to accept the edited Cash Receipts policy.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. 
   2. Permission was unanimously granted to contact counsel about Other Post-Employment Benefits article wording for warrant (to comply with audit recommendations).
   3. Melissa provided two updates from counsel. One stated that counsel finds the use of the shared HR manger funds toward updating the handbook an allowable expenditure if the accountant is comfortable with it and the other is in response to the Conservation Commission’s request to give over $38k to the Monterey Preservation Land Trust.  The latter opinion will be discussed further at a future meeting when it can be placed on the agenda and has time to be reviewed.
2. A motion was made to appoint Chris Aidun, Peter Grealish, Rob Hoogs and John Prusinsky to the Renewable Energy Working Group through June 30, 2022.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-0, John abstained as he was not at the last meeting.
3. At the request of the Fire Chief a motion was made to appoint Felix Carrol as a firefighter.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-1 with John voting no. Justin raised the issue of making appointments without end dates. Melissa will seek an opinion from Town Counsel as to whether this practice is legal, whether is it recommended, and how to proceed regarding appointments with no end date.
4. Chris Blair’s letter requesting special municipal employee status for the Conservation Commission was read into record. Justin’s reading of the laws referred to by Chris indicated that members of the Conservation Commission are already allowed to apply for building permits for themselves or for others, without the desired special municipal employee designation. Justin did not think it necessary to designate the Conservation Commission as special municipal employees if they only wanted to be able to apply for building permits. Steve suggested getting an opinion from counsel on if it was required and if the designation is for the position or the individual.  Justin will follow up with Chris Blair, and see if Chris still wants to seek the designation of special municipal employee.
5. The Open Meeting Law Complaint filed by Jon Sylbert and draft response were read into record. Justin thought it would prudent to send the draft response to counsel and seek guidance.  Steve argued that we have already received advice from counsel.  Since the gist of the complaint seems to be that the minutes weren’t approved rather than a request for a copy of them, Justin suggested to approve the minutes at the next meeting and respond then as the Board has until 2/17/22.  Hillel noted that these constant complaints and actions by this particular individual are pathetic.  Hillel asked if there was a way to stop someone from this constant harassment.  Steve told him there was not. Steve was given permission to contact counsel to confirm whether the parties involved in some of the executive sessions need to be given the opportunity to attend while the minutes are discussed.
6. A motion was made to approve the amended minutes of 2/2/22.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-0 with John abstaining as he was not present for the meeting.
7. Justin was asked how his conversation with the Town Clerk went about adhering to her posted schedule.  Justin reported that the Clerk sent an email some time ago stating she would be working by appointment only but the Board never responded or recognized the email.  The Clerk will be reached out to again.  Melissa inquired about the optics of not addressing this ongoing issue and pointed out that if any other employee were not coming in for their posted schedules they would be written up. Steve reiterated the need for all town employees to be available for their posted hours, for the public’s sake.
8. Comments & questions from the public:
   1. Melissa Noe asked Justin is he was going to respond to her email, and he said that he received it.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:01pm

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. Charter and Baldino emails
2. Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance American Rescue Plan Act request
3. Amended cash receipts policy
4. Special municipal employee status request from Chris Blair
5. Open meeting law complaint filed by Jon Sylbert