Select Board Meeting Minutes 4/1/2020

Minutes of the remote meeting of 4/1/20

Meeting Opened at: 3:30pm

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

Also in attendance remotely: Rebecca Wolin, George Cain. Jon Sylbert

The following items were discussed:

1. Records access officer update: Kenn met with the Clerk and she is on board with sharing the duties with Melissa Noe and has rescinded her resignation.  Both Melissa and Terry will be official records access officers for the town.
2. Annual meetings and elections:  Kenn made a motion to postpone the town elections and to meet with the local election official to determine a new date pursuant to section 1 of Chapter 45 of the Acts of 2020 and because of the state of emergency declared by the governor pursuant to executive order 591, Declaration of a State of Emergency to Respond to COVID-19, the municipal town election (or caucus) scheduled for May 5, 2020 is hereby postponed.  Discussion ensued and it was suggested to have Kenn speak with Terry about using a date in June (the 30^th and mid-June were both suggested).  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  Kenn will also meet with the moderator about the town meeting once the legislation has been finalized.
3. COVID-19 updates:
   1. The Board discussed concerns of realtors showing houses and holding open houses.  Currently they have to fall within the 10 person guideline and the Commonwealth is currently allowing open houses.  All agreed to a memo requesting that realtors use common sense and refrain from holding open houses until the stay at home order has been lifted.
   2. Playground and basketball court usage: Discussion ensued about whether they should remain open.  Kenn will seek guidance from our health agent and will send out what he advises to everyone.
   3. All agreed that all town buildings will remain closed to the public until further notice.
   4. The Southern Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Commission is requesting that each town appoint one person to coordinate PPE for all the departments in their town. This will help them to allocate PPE to those towns/departments that need it and avoid multiple requests for the same equipment from the same towns. This will also ensure that the proper equipment reaches the people who need it most. They want to avoid a situation where a department/town is warehousing supplies that they are not realistically going to need or use.  Shawn is recommending that he be appointed that person, and Gareth agreed.  A motion was made to appoint Shawn Tryon.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
4. Memorial Day parade:  Kenn did not have a chance to speak with Mary Makuc, who was the parade coordinator last year, about whether to cancel the parade with Mary to get back to Kenn after conferring with her committee, and; he will do so this week.
5. Minutes of 3/12, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20 & 3/25/20 were approved.
6. Town administrator job description, review of Collins Center report recommendations and process for moving forward in recruitment: The Board expressed concerns about how to interview and organize a committee right now with the social distancing guidelines and shelter in place order.  It was suggested to put advertising the position on hold for right now and use this time to perfect the job description, whether it will be permanent or interim and the help wanted ad.
7. Administrative Assistant Items:
   1. Cell phone reimbursement policy for the Director of Operations:  Currently the town pays him $50/month toward his personal cell phone for business usage.  Shawn as a first responder is eligible for a discounted cell phone which he took advantage of and it is now billed to the town (like the building insp.)  Accounting has requested the policy for Shawn be updated to reflect that the town will pay up to $50 of the cell phone bill directly and that Shawn is responsible for anything over.  The Board agreed to the policy amendment.
   2. Payroll checks:  Our payroll company Harper’s is now able to mail paychecks directly to the employees rather than having them mailed here and then distributed/mailed from here.  By doing this it eliminates multiple hands touching them and they will be mailed out one day sooner to the employees.  This also addresses when M. Noe is out of the office and unable to distribute the checks.
8. The Board met with the Finance Committee to discuss the following FY21 budget items:
   1. Melissa and Rebecca will have a call tomorrow to straighten out the small discrepancies between the proposed budgets from the Select Board and Finance Committee.
   2. Jon had concerns about the summary sent out on March 26^th showing that the Select Board was proposing using free cash and stabilization to purchase the 2 trucks, he did not recall that proposal.  It was noted that it was a motion made by Don that was approved 2-1.
   3. The next joint meeting will be at 4pm on Tuesday, April 7^th.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 4:50pm

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

Minutes Book

Town Clerk

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