Select Board Meeting Minutes 3/2/22

Minutes of the meeting of 3/2/22

Meeting Opened at: 12pm

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

Select Board Members absent: John Weingold

Also present: Don Coburn, Steve Snyder

Also present remotely: Emily Johnson (signed in as Frank Upton), Terry Walker

1. Steve made a general motion of support for the People of Ukraine prior to beginning the meeting.  Justin concurred.
2. Town Administrator Items:
   1. Melissa let the Board know that the contact from the Collins Center just returned from vacation.  Melissa plans to have information regarding the proposals for Employee Handbooks for next week’s meeting.
   2. Melissa reported that her inquiry of surrounding town administrators, that no one had a cell phone and personal email use policy to share. Melissa was given permission to contact counsel for any templates/recommendations they have on the matter.  Justin just wants to make the expectations clear in a concrete way for all involved parties.
3. A motion was made to approve the amended minutes of 2/23/22.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
4. The Board reviewed and discussed a draft response to the February 18 and January 31 Open Meeting Law Complaints filed by Jon Sylbert.  This was tabled until the end of the meeting.
5. The Board reviewed the February 24 Transfer Station Committee report with regard to their recommendation for future staffing.  They are recommending to hire 2 part time staff at $20 per hour (although they recognize this may be difficult to achieve) at up to 18 hours per week.  They will continue to work on a help wanted posting and the rest of the items to be addressed concerning the transfer station operations.  A motion was made to accept the recommendation of the transfer station committee, post the ad and to give it a month to see what kind of response we get.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.  Steve noted that he appreciates the job of the committee to date and has come around to the significance of this committee. 
6. Justin asked the Board to consider appointing a Salary Commission. Steve didn’t think anything formal needed to be established as the Town Administrator works on this regularly and noted that the problem with these types of committees in a small town is that there are always going to be people that are somehow connected to someone being paid by the town and it would be difficult to find truly neutral participants.  Steve additionally noted that the Board is currently in the process of hiring a Human Resource Manager who would assume some of these duties and which would negate the need for a Salary committee, if empaneled.  Don spoke in support of a proposed Salary Commission.
7. The Board discussed the February 24 request from the Lake Garfield Working Group for $50k as a special article for the continuing efforts of lake research and milfoil mitigation. Steve noted that a previous Selectboard put him on the Lake Garfield Working Group (LGWG) however he has not attended nor participated in any recent meetings of the LGWG to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest and potential “gotchas” in the current environment. Don Coburn expressed concern that this request is almost double from prior years and they don’t provide an explanation as to why they are requesting more.  Justin has listened to some of the LGWG meetings and it’s his understanding that the survey this year discovered that the program has not been as successful as year’s past and they want to perform mechanical harvesting in addition to the diver assisted suction harvesting. Justin inquired why we have a LGWG if we aren’t going to take their recommendations or work with them. Steve and Justin both would like more information on why the request has increased. It was noted that at last night’s joint meeting the Finance Committee unanimously denied the request and put in $0 as the amount for FY23.  Steve Snyder came into the meeting and was asked to explain the request.  Steve S. said it has to do with the report from the Lake Scientist and New England Aquatics that suggested another optional, additional approach to addressing the milfoil remediation.  The LGWG does not feel that the $30k is controlling the issue effectively as New England Aquatics has reported that the work had seemed promising but after 10/22/21 Lake Scientist Ken Wagner reported that after 5 years of efforts we are not making the progress initially anticipated. A request will be made of the LGWG to breakdown how they anticipate the funds being allocated.
8. Review mail & correspondence to be sent:
   1. Don Coburn email concerning Clerk’s resume at time of hire. Don explained this is an important topic to be considered in his opinion, but that it should be done in an executive session.  Justin has a few problems with discussing this, 1. Items with employees and departments are continually put on the agenda without asking for attendance or even a response by those employees and departments. He thought that if an employee is to be discussed at the meeting, they should be invited to the meeting and given a chance to respond. 2. His understanding of resumes is different than Don’s, he never assumed it is supposed to list everything you have done and everywhere you have worked, and therefore he doesn’t feel it is an issue worth taking up.  Steve was not comfortable discussing the matter given the current investigation as it may be tangentially related. Justin inquired why some items are added to the agenda and not others, why sometimes there are initials or not, and who added this item to the agenda if both he and Steve did not think it was worth taking up at this time? Melissa said that she added it to the agenda at the request of Don Coburn.  Justin explained that he used to think it was the Board’s responsibility to take up every communication to the Board in a public meeting, but the MMA Selectman’s Handbook clearly states that Select Boards only are compelled to take up communications at a public meeting if they would like to. He thinks that only communications which a Board member would like to take up should be on the agenda, and he would like to see come consistency here.
9. The Board discussed the points made at last night’s joint meeting with the Finance Committee and reviewed the following line items.
   1. Justin and Steve both concur with lowering the grant monies to $5k
   2. Justin and Steve both agree to present the new Administrative Staff as a part time position with no benefits
   3. Justin and Steve both agree that the Town Clerk wages will be level funded until the Clerk provides the information requested from the Finance Committee. The Town Clerk Staff will be left as requested for now but the Board would like to see the answers to the additional information requested.
   4. Steve suggests approving the new staffing proposal from the current Police Chief as it is entirely separate topic from who will become the next Chief (as was discussed at last night’s meeting). The proposal is necessary based on the upcoming police reforms by the State.  Justin asked Melissa to confirm that the part time officer expenses includes Bridge training for all our current employees; she confirmed it did.  Justin concurred with Steve’s suggestion.
   5. Steve suggested lowering the tree warden expenses by $1k.  Melissa will follow up with the current tree warden to confirm if he will be seeking reelection.  If he is not, she suggested level funding this line.
   6. Steve stated that he would like more concrete examples from Finance Committee member Jon Sylbert to back up his claims of “Over-budgeting”.
   7. The next joint meeting will be next Wed at 5pm.
   8. COLA: Steve proposes 4% for FY23 and splits the difference from going back to the usual 2% and higher proposals that may have a negative impact on taxpayers.  Justin agrees and feels 3 ½ – 4% is a good middle ground.  A motion was made to recommend to the Finance Committee a 4% Cost of Living Adjustment given the rate of inflation.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
10. Justin inquired about the missing loan certification document we all received an email about this morning.  Melissa explained that this was an online form that the Town Clerk needs to fill out in order to finalize the truck loan.
11. Comments & questions from the public: none
12. A motion was made to go into executive session to continue review and possibly approve executive session minutes from 10/4 and 2/23.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.  Roll call was taken: Steve, yes and Justin, yes.  The Board stated that they will not return to open session.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 2:20pm

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. February 24 Transfer Station Committee report
2. Don Coburn email concerning Clerk’s resume at time of hire
3. Reports on Lake Garfield status: New England Aquatic Services 10/8/21 letter ; New England Aquatic Services 10/8/21 report ; Water Resource Services Inc. 10/22/21