Select Board Meeting Minutes 5/19/21

Minutes of the meeting of 5/19/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Jeff Zimmerman, Don Coburn, Michael Johnson, Susan Cooper, Jon Sylbert, Adam Chait, Ellen Whitbeck

Items discussed:

1. Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft: Justin felt that this document will prove especially helpful for himself and other new members.  The Board reviewed the edits made and shared a copy on the screen for all to view.  John had issues with some of the items being copied from other towns that he feels do not apply to Monterey specifically ones he feels try to remove powers from the Finance Committee.  John also took issue with the items concerning contacting town counsel. It was noted that the current policy was created by town counsel due to the large number of calls he was receiving for legal opinions on matters that had not been voted on by the Board to seek opinions on. Susan Cooper suggested that if every person on every board had the ability to call counsel he wouldn’t have enough time and wouldn’t be paid enough and maybe it should just be the Chairs of each board should only have access.  Open government, transparency, discussions to contact counsel should be discussed and voted on by the Board.  John stated he doesn’t think any of these will be enforced anyway so there isn’t a purpose to removing some of the items.  John made a motion after one hour to table this until the next meeting.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
2. Return to in person meetings; the Board reviewed a draft reopening plan.  Discussion ensued about the Select Board returning to in person meetings.  John and Justin feel that we should return to in person but we should still offer the option to allow remote attendance.  Since the Massachusetts’ state of emergency ends on June 15^th, Steve made a motion to return to in person meetings on July 7^th.  Hybrid options were discussed and the Board will continue to think about this.  The motion was seconded.  Justin requested to amend the motion to hybrid instead of in person.  Discussion ensued to clarify that the July 7^th date is just to confirm that the Board will return to town hall for meeting on July 7.  The motion passed unanimously.  Justin suggested tabling this document tonight and having a meeting next Wed at 6pm to complete the document.  Everyone agreed.
3. Discussion about a 5 member board: Justin added this to the agenda in preparation of the June 12^th continued town meeting. Steve suggested that the other members speak to the other larger towns that have 5 member Boards to get their opinions.  His discussions with towns that have 5 member boards doesn’t achieve what you think it might and often makes it more difficult.  John feels that the benefits would be that 2 members could talk to each other without having it be an OML violation, there is more accessibility to the Board, more experience and world views.  He feels with a 3 member board there is more of an opportunity for one member to influence the other members.  Steve stated that Monterey is a town of under 1,000 residents. Of towns that are 3,000 in population or less only 3 have 5 member boards and they are all on the Cape.  Of towns that are under 1,000 in population there are 0 towns that have a 5 member Board.  Steve pointed out that most all of the Open Meeting Law Complaints filed by John alleged 2 members talking to each other, a 5 person board would legalize possible collusion between board members.  The public was allowed to speak. Jeff Zimmerman thought that the dynamic of a 5 person group is less likely to devolve into a dynamic where a two on one voting bloc is formed, and discussion is futile. It was noted that most elected office races have been unopposed in years past.  Justin was asked by John if he placed this on tonight’s agenda to have a motion made to support or not support this petition at town meeting.  Justin stated that was not his intention but he is possibly open to doing this for all the petitions for the June 12^th meeting.
4. Conservation Commission disciplinary letter submitted and Conservation Commission complaint received with regard to the disciplinary letter.  Justin made a motion to table this item until a written opinion is received from Counsel if it is appropriate.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
5. MGL Chapter 41 Section 56, Warrants; discuss adopting, “designate any 1 of its members to approve all bills, drafts, orders and payrolls; provided, however, that the member shall make available to the board, committee or other department head, at the first meeting following such action, a record of such actions”. John Weingold added this to the agenda as he thinks it might be good to have in place as going to town hall every two weeks just seems non-efficient.  Steve stated that efficiency is not the goal, transparency and accountability is, and it is important to have multiple sets of eyes on the warrant.  Steve continued stating that error spotting is also important. He cited examples that Kenn, Don Coburn and he have found errors in the past that the other board members did not.  Steve continued by mentioning that the last thing which is very essential about signing the warrant, is it makes you come into town hall and while you are there, you talk to the Town Administrator, Police Chief, Clerk and any other staff that is there to be involved and understand what is going on, on a day to day basis in town.  John is concerned about Justin’s situation and that was the other reason he brought this up, he doesn’t think he should not be signing warrants that his family members are being paid on and thinks he should get a formal opinion from the Ethics Commission.  Susan pointed out that having one person sign would create more of the problem John seems concerned about. No vote taken.
6. Policies & Procedures to discuss putting in writing, Town Accountant, Town Attorney and Warrants:  John stated he put this on the agenda because he was not aware that there were existing policies (it was pointed out that there is a binder located in the Town Administrator’s office).  M. Noe will resend the current policies to everyone.
7. Due to the late hour Steve made a motion to table items 9-11 on the agenda to the next meeting.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
8. Town Administrator items
   1. Debt schedule – M. Noe distributed a copy of the draft debt schedule.
   2. Notary services insurance proposal: The Board reviewed the proposal from MIIA to add coverage to provide notary services to the public.  A motion was made to accept the proposal. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
   3. The Board signed a letter of support for TRI (The Resource Inc).
   4. M. Noe provided an update on the shared Human Resources Manager: 2 of the towns involved are finishing up on the Inter-Municipal Agreement, a final draft of the job description should be available for review tomorrow and the regional grant M. Noe applied for is looking promising.
9. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 5/5/21 with the noted edits.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
10. Review mail and correspondence to be sent/signed; none
11. Comments & questions from the public: Ellen Whitbeck had a concern about the transfer station sticker discount only being offered online.  Steve recommended that Ellen Whitbeck be allowed to pay via check and still be afforded the online discount because of her unique situation, but Justin and John did not like the idea of making an exception to the rile.. It was brought up that there was a mistake made in some of the communications about the transfer station stickers, and Justin made a motion to refund anyone who had been confused by the error. The motion was seconded and passed by a 2-1 vote. Justin yes, John yes, Steve no. After further discussion about the communication errors, Justin and Steve agreed that the transfer station sticker topic should be the first item on the next meeting’s agenda after there was more time to consider all of the relevant materials. Immediately after, John motioned to adjourn the meeting, Steve seconded 2-1 vote. Justin yes, John yes, Steve no.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:23pm

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. Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft
2. Draft reopening plan
3. TRI letter of support
4. Draft debt schedule