Select Board Meeting Minutes 5/11/22

Minutes of the meeting of 5/11/22

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

Select Board Members Present: Susan Cooper

Select Board Members present remotely: Justin Makuc

Also present: Don Coburn, Ellen Coburn, Frank Abbott, Hillel Maximon, Mickey Jervas, Chris Andrews, Tom (Valley), Peter Murkett, Michele Miller, Maureen Regan

Also present remotely: Paula Hartstein, Janet Jensen, Rob Hoogs, Stephanie Sloane, Shawn Tryon, Jon Levin, Dennis Lynch, Steve Moore, Frank Kern, Dennis Downing, Erica Stern, Mary Makuc, Michael Banner, Deborah Slater, Jim Hunt, Pam Johnson, Tom Sawyer, Barbara Dahlman, Peter Grealish

New Business

1. Organization of Board: Justin apologized for not being able to be in person today because he has Covid. Justin stated he is willing to serve as chair if it would please the Board. He feels he has stayed on top of Town business during the past year and is prepared to work with everyone and to encourage everyone working together effectively.  A motion was made by Susan to nominate Justin as the Select Board Chair for the year.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
   1. Justin made a motion to waive the reading of the letter submitted by Ellen Coburn. Ellen was in favor of this as well.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
   2. Susan Cooper presented a proposed draft Select Board job description which she read aloud. Justin would like to take a week or two to make any edits he may have. He would also like to incorporate this into a more comprehensive code of ethics.  Susan is in favor of that but envisioned this proposal as more about duties and sees ethics as how you go about those duties. Justin will work on incorporating this draft into a code of ethics for the next meeting.
2. Michele Miller, acting Chair had asked to read aloud a letter delete in anticipation of the next Finance Committee meeting. Justin moved to remove this from the agenda and either repost to a future meeting as a letter from Michele personally or from the whole finance committee after a vote to do so.  Michele noted that it is coming from her as a citizen and would still like to enter the opinions as she believes they are relevant to the statements just made by Justin and Susan. Susan was willing to let Michelle read the letter as her own opinion, but understood Justin's view that it should not represent the opinion of the Finance Committee as a whole, and moreover that it might make more sense to allow both the Select Bord and the Finance Committee to move forward with their own codes of conduct.  Justin suggested scheduling a joint meeting between the Finance Committee and the Select Board and this was immediately scheduled for Monday, May 16.
3. Town Administrator Items:
   1. Transfer station bid recommendation: Justin thought it looked good. Susan noted that the Transfer Station Committee also discussed it today and they support the recommendation.  A motion was made to accept the recommendation of the Director of Operations and Town Administrator to accept the bid from Valley.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
   2. Grant proposal:  A motion was made to approve the request submitted by the Town Administrator to write a grant for an engineering and feasibility study for the future uses and upgrades to town hall.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 - 0
   3. A motion was made to approve the notary public insurance renewal.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
   4. KP Law bill: The bill from KP law for a total of $7,003 rather than the $1,417 agreed upon retainer was discussed. Justin was granted permission to reach out to KP in writing for clarity on why some of the items did not fall directly under our original agreement covered under the retainer and general counsel services.
4. Town Counsel proposals: Interviews have been scheduled for next week.  Susan suggested that the Board should be prepared with a specific set of questions. Justin suggested that all the Board members should speak with any town employees that would typically deal with counsel on a regular basis. Jon Levin (who is an attorney) thought it might be helpful to explain the various fee arrangements; essentially an attorney can bill on an hourly rate billing for their time on a fixed hourly rate or they may charge a fixed fee.  He explained that a retainer is paid generally against an hourly rate.  He thinks the Board should understand that they should be seeking an hourly rate or fixed fee arrangement.
5. Employee handbook proposals: Justin said that we currently have three proposals in hand and inquired if the Board is interested in scheduling interviews. Susan asked for an update on the shared HR Director first. Melissa Noe let the Board know that interviews have been scheduled for May 26th. Susan asked if our handbooks would be any different than the four other towns; they would essentially be the same but tailored slightly to fit each town. Justin felt that going with one of the existing proposals it might get done more quickly.  Susan thinks we should allow the shared HR process to go forward but she is happy to participate in interviews to assess options open to the town for HR resources Interviews related to the Employee handbook proposals will be scheduled for an upcoming evening meeting.
6. Justin asked the Board to consider adopting a 10 point plan based on recommendations made by the Greene Report. Susan will review it and this will be added to a future agenda. Susan would like to see a process in place for an annual review of all employees.  Don Coburn thought it would be helpful if the document were put on the homepage to solicit input.  Susan asked for input from the Town Administrator and other department heads to see if they felt anything needed to be addressed in this draft document or in the future handbook.
7. Greene & Hafer bill ($5,140 more than approved): Last week Steve Weisz had reached out to Greene and Hafer about how the project was more expensive than estimated, and the Board discussed the response from Greene. Greene stated:

“I could not have predicted the onslaught of unsolicited information provided by several individuals who unnecessarily involved themselves in the investigation. I made a good faith estimate on the time required for my team to complete a quality and professional report for the Town.  I would expect that the Town would respect such efforts and properly compensate us for the time and efforts asserted while dealing with uncontrolled residents.”

Susan was not impressed with their answer and feels that previous board members were very clear in what the town would pay and does not believe we have an obligation to pay it.Susan suggested sharing the bills and correspondence with the Finance Committee. Susan is inclined to decline to pay them as they were made aware of the amount of monies approved. Justin is concerned that while the total amount approved was certainly made clear he is not sure that a cap was set, and the Town may be obliged to cover the total cost of the project. Don Coburn stated it really is not a Finance Committee issue unless the Board is going to ask them to approve the additional funds, it is a legal issue and whether they were legally entitled to bill us more. Justin tends to agree with Don but he is inclined to pay the bill and realizes that will require Finance Committee approval. Susan thinks that G&H overstepped their authority and they did not have to expend the time. Michele Miller thanked them both for their perspective and expressed that she personally feels the Board has to involve the Finance Committee as they will not get additional monies without doing so. Michele also stated it was irresponsible for Attorney Greene to have moved forward without communicating with the Board first. Jon Levin said the Board is mixing apples and oranges and the first step should be to determine what our obligation is relative to the provider and the agreement, and was it performed properly by both sides. To Susan’s earlier statements it does not matter what the town’s intent was if the contract did not limit the amount, the town is now responsible. Justin offered to reach out to current counsel for their opinion, Susan concurred. Don Coburn suggested holding it for new counsel instead of using current counsel as we are currently in dispute with them about a bill they recently sent. Justin will ask them to only proceed with an opinion if it falls under the normal retainer.

1. Justin proposed consideration to adopt a revised Select Board Rules of Order.  Susan would like to take the week to consider it and offer any edits she may have.
2. Review mail & correspondence to be sent:
   1. Open Meeting Law 2022-91 determination: The State has determined that the Board had failed to approve several sets of executive session minutes in a timely fashion but acknowledged that this has since been remedied, and this matter is resolved. The Board will make a more concerted effort to approve Executive Session minutes in the proper timeframe going forward. The State also found that Mr. Weingold violated the Open Meeting Law with a November 17 email, subject: “See attached boycott/work stoppage,” and provided instructions for what the Board must do to comply. Justin asked that a copy of the email please be appended to this set of minutes to satisfy the requirement.
3. Comments & questions from the public
   1. Don Coburn stated it has been a delightful meeting from beginning to end and he congratulated both. He also suggested that the salary the Board’s salary was initially set for twice a month meeting schedule and they should consider returning to that schedule.
4. Approve minutes of 5/9/22 – this was tabled as the minutes were not yet finished.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7:17pm

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. Ellen Coburn letter signed and submitted by group of residents
2. Select Board job description
3. Transfer station bid recommendation
4. Grant proposal
5. Notary public insurance renewal
6. KP Law bill
7. Town Counsel proposals
8. Employee handbook proposals
9. Proposed 10 point plan
10. Greene & Hafer bills
11. Proposed revised Select Board Rules of Order
12. Open Meeting Law 2022-91 determination
    1. November 17 email from John Weingold, subject: “See attached boycott/work stoppage”