Select Board Meeting Minutes 3/12/2020

Minutes of the meeting of 3/12/20

Meeting Opened at: 4:30pm

Select Board Members Present: Kenneth Basler, Chair, Donald Coburn, Steven Weisz

Also in attendance: George Cain, Jon Sylbert, Rebecca Wolin, Hillel Maximon,

The Board met with the Finance Committee to review the following FY21 budget items and other misc items:

1. A motion was made to adopt a policy that all communications to the accountant or treasurer must be sent to Melissa Noe to answer or get the answer to, no communications will be answered directly by the accountant or treasurer.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
2. Health insurance: The Finance Committee has voted to leave the insurance as is for this year and recommends instituting a plan to move all employees to 75/25 over the next 5 years for internal and external equities; there is no plan at the moment to compensating the employees for the decrease in their benefits.  The Board agreed that once a Town Administrator is hired, health insurance as a whole will be examined.  Jon argued that if that is to be the case he would say that raises should be handled the same and that the compensation as a whole should be addressed.  Kenn proposed to take the information provided by the Finance Committee and meet with the employees to discuss their proposal and continue this discussion to a later date.
3. Assistant town clerk: The name is being changed to town clerk staff.  The finance committee is recommending to approve the assistant for a full year instead of through November which the Town Clerk has agreed she would like it.  A motion was made to add it back in which was seconded and approved unanimously.
4. Borrowing options: Due to concerns associated with the Coronavirus and possible ramifications to the economy, there are concerns about the original vote to use stabilization funds to purchase the trucks instead of borrowing the funds along with the library.  The bank has also stated that we will get more interested parties and more favorable rates if we borrow for the library and truck together.  It was agreed to look at other options such as going out 13-15 yrs and have Unibank present to us what is the best scenario to get the best rates.  Rebecca stated that if it was decided to borrow for the trucks instead of using stabilization she would change her vote and recommend that the town wait a year on purchasing the trucks.
5. Use of stabilization and free cash: The finance committee suggested waiting until the entire budget has been determined to decide how much free cash should be used.
6. COLA (cost of living) & raises: The finance committee has voted 2-1 at a separate meeting to not offer any COLA or raises to elected officials/stipend positions.  The Board has unanimously approved 3.5% to all paid positions.  The finance committee voted unanimously at a separate meeting to give a 2% COLA.  George suggested finding a compromise between the two votes.  Jon said he would come on Board with the 3.5% if the 5 year plan on the insurance splits is put into place for FY21.  Don argued that raises should not be determined based on where the rest of the budget is; employees should not be paying for it.
7. Lake Garfield Working Group request for $30k to continue addressing the milfoil.  The Select Board has already voted to place it on the warrant as a special article.  It was agreed to put it on as a special article.
8. The library has requested that the 2 line items on the budget “library general” and “library maintenance” should be combined into one line item.  All agreed that for transparency it will be kept as 2 separate line items but “library general” will be renamed “library operations”.  It was also stated that any maintenance should include maintenance on the building.
9. Southern Berkshire Volunteer Ambulance Service request for funds.  It was agreed that before approving any funds we will need to first review their most recent audit to review their operations.
10. Sick bank special article: The Board is proposing a special article with $10k to cover any unexpected sick scenarios that may arise especially considering the recent concerns with Coronavirus and possible quarantines.  This would also cover any unexpected long medical absences that would allow the town to hire someone else to be temporarily.  Other options such as advancing days that haven’t yet been earned.  Temporary employee line items were discussed and whether there should be one that all departments could use.  The accountant recommends they be separate for transparency.  The police budget would not need a separate line item as they have the part time officers’ line item which would cover any absences.
11. Fire company overnight proposal:  The finance committee has concerns about the ladder truck being used for medicals when the rescue vehicle should be.  Don argued that how the fire company determines what truck to use is not a budget issue it is a policy issue and not relevant to whether there proposal is approved.  George raised a concern that the scheduling of firemen should also be instituted during the day but on a volunteer basis.  The Board countered that if this were instituted during the day as well the proposal will be more.  The select board has approved the proposal of 5 days and if the finance committee wants something different the Board suggested that they meet with the fire company to discuss revising it further.  Jon will support the 5 night proposal but George and Rebecca would like to discuss it further.
12. Fire company capital request:  The fire company has again requested $30k for the capital improvements that have been made to date (total of approximately $240k of which we have paid $90k).  All agreed that in order to receive any future monies for future projects there should be detailed terms, how money is being spent and if it is being spent appropriately and the fire company should disclose their financials and their plans for those monies and have an audit.
13. George suggested that with the Osh Kosh a minimum of $50k should be set for trade in or sale of and if we do not get that then the truck should be kept.  The Board will take this into consideration.
14. The next joint meeting will be Friday, March 20^th at 4:30pm.

Other misc items discussed:

1. Highway positions: The Board approved Shawn’s proposal and new hourly rates for the foreman, highway 2 and highway 3 positions.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7pm

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

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Town Clerk

Any documents referred to in the minutes are available by request at town hall.