Select Board Meeting Minutes 6/13/23
Minutes of the Select Board meeting 6/13/23
Meeting Date: Wednesday June 13, 2023
Meeting Opened at 6:00 pm
Select Board members present: Justin Makuc, Frank Abbott, Susan Cooper
Also Present: Melissa Noe (Town Administrator), Laurie McArthur (Select Board Secretary), Mickey Jervas, Courteny Morehouse, Mari Enoch, Karen Slade
Also Present Remotely: Caller 1
Call to Order 6:00pm
- Courteny Morehouse of Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, update on RT23 Culvert project/MVP grant
Courteny provided an update on the Route 23 culvert project in the center of Town. Courteny said that they have been meeting with the engineer and are at the end of the first fiscal year. Courteny said that the hydrologic and hydraulic study was completed to provide an idea of the amount of water, the volume, and the force of that volume flowing through the culvert.
Courteny said they look at different storm occurrence intervals, to include the 25 year storm and the 100 year storm to compare various scenarios that could strongly impact the culvert. Courteny discussed how the amount of precipitation increases based on the size of the storm, along with the peak event of a storm. She said that there is a 97 percent increase for a 25 year storm and a 162 percent increase for a 100 year storm. Courteny discussed performance of the culvert based on the height of the water. The current street is approximately 15 ft wide and that would increase to 25 ft wide. The expanded width would go in both directions.
Courtney said that the culvert will be wider and essentially become an arch bridge with the possibility of a pedestrian bridge on one side. Courteny discussed the geotechnical study, which outlined the stability of the bridge, and will include a shallow structure that fits underneath and is comprised of gravel and crushed rock. Susan inquired about the concrete wall. Courteny said it drills down four feet and is then backfilled with the sub stream. Courteny presented a map displaying the arch bridge, and said that they are trying to determine the height of the road.
Courteny reported that there is no current cost update for the construction of the new culvert since the previous estimate of 2.1 million. Courteny said that they were exploring closing half of the road at a time to work on it. Justin inquired about the need to keep traffic flowing through the center of town, and Courteny said that as of now they may not be able to keep traffic flowing or accommodate larger vehicles if they were to look for an alternate route. Justin confirmed that in phase two they would receive a 100 percent design, and Courteny confirmed this. Justin asked when they would need answers regarding pedestrian walkways and detours. Courteny said that when the costs come in, then the Select Board would need to make some decisions. Courteny recommended gathering community input for the current plan. Susan recommended having the associated costs when inquiring if individuals would like to have the pedestrian walkway. Frank asked about the timeline. Courteny said the entire project ends in June 2024, when all of the materials are gathered then they would go through Mass DOT and then they would proceed with applying for the grant.
Courteny said that the grant funding covers ninety percent of the cost, and therefore, the Town of Monterey would be asked to cover the remaining ten percent.Courteny said that they could also look for alternative funding to help cover the cost of that ten percent.Courtney said they could apply for the grant in the spring of 2024.
- Sign truck loan paperwork
Justin said that this is a six-month note to bring this note into alignment with the other loans. At that time in November the Town will make a $40,000 principal payment. Melissa explained that the annual Town Meeting warrant was tied to the next fiscal year unless specified that it would be used in the current fiscal year. Frank suggested seeing if they could utilize the free cash now or wait until July 1st. Justin inquired about trying to take out a note for $120,000 as opposed to the original $160,000. Melissa clarified that the money was in the operating budget in the debt service category and could not be used at this time.
Justin said that he would like to use the money set aside to put towards the truck. Susan clarified that come July 1, 2023 the Select Board would like to put the $40,000 towards the truck so they would only have to take out a loan for $120,000 rather than for $160,000. Justin said that they would sign the paperwork tonight for a loan in the amount of $160,000. Susan asked about making an early payment. Melissa reported per Sara Hunter that they were unable to pre-pay on the loan note. Justin moved to approve the $160,000 six month BAN for the highway truck. Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Appointments:
- Tree Warden: Kevin West (until next election)
Susan made a motion to nominate Kevin West at Tree Warden for a term until the next election in May 2024. Justin seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
Melissa informed Kevin that he would need to be sworn in by the Town Clerk prior to starting any duties.
- Conservation Commission: reappoint Tim Lovett (3 months)
Susan moved to reappoint Tim Lovett to the Conservation Commission for a duration of three months.Frank seconded.
Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Cultural Council: reappoint Dorene Beller (3 years)
Frank moved to reappoint Dorene Beller to the Cultural Council for a term of three years. Justin seconded
Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Firefighter: Kolby Bleau (indefinite)
Susan nominated Kolby Bleau for an indefinite appointment as a Firefighter for the Town of Monterey.Frank seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Transfer Station Attendant appointment: Sheldon Langley (indefinite)
Frank Nominated Sheldon Langley for an indefinite appointment as a Transfer Station Attendant. Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Town Administrator items:
- Internal transfers
Melissa reported that there was a transfer request of $200 from the Tax Collectors office out of the Tax Collector expenses.
Melissa reported that there was a transfer request of $10,281.71 from snow and ice to snow and ice overtime.
Melissa reported that there was a transfer request of $258.47 from fire department uniforms to fire department other.
Justin moved to approve the transfers as read out by Melissa on the form. Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Vacation carry forward requests
Justin made a motion to approve the vacation carry forward requests as proposed.Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Recall vote
Melissa said that if the Board want to follow up on the recall special act vote they will have to put it before Town Meeting again. Melissa read the regulations regarding a recall vote.
Justin asked if they would like to add this to the next warrant, and if so, would the Select Board like to put in what was approved, or would the Select Board like to review it and put forth its own version. Susan discussed concerns with individuals being elected for a position and not doing the job they were elected for. Justin said they will add this to the long term list as a possibility for adding to the warrant.
- VADAR (accounting software) contract renewal
Justin asked if the Select Board had any questions about the VADAR. Justin made a motion to renew the VADAR accounting software. Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Notary insurance policy renewal
Justin moved to renew the notary insurance policy. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Review decision to eliminate physical computer server
Justin suggested consulting with the new IT consultant on costs and consider cyber security. Justin said that there is an additional cost to host the tax collector software, and the assessor’s office pointed out that there will be an additional charge of approximately $6500 per year to host their software not locally.
Frank said that if they are going to host a server, then they need to know the service agreement, and will the security updates be on it. Justin said that if the software was not hosted locally then there would be heightened security. Frank discussed security concerns and said he spoke with Melissa about servicing and hours of availability for technical assistance.
Justin said that as they look at IT consultants and move forward, the assessor’s office would prefer to keep their work on the current server for this year.
- Size waiver for Fire Company steak roast signs
Justin reported that Shawn Tryon informed him that they put signs
Justin read the regulations for displaying signs for the
Susan made a motion to give the Fire Company a size waiver for the steak roast signs.Frank seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
- Draft Elected and Appointed Officials Guide
This item will be tabled. Justin said that he was unsure if they are able to ask public officials not to be rude. Melissa said they suggested that all boards have a time limit to speak regarding public comment. Justin suggested adding the three minute limit to the comments and questions from the public category. Justin asked about this in regard to public meetings. Susan discussed two issues, the first being getting elected officials to act civilly when interacting with fellow members or the public, and secondly how the boards deal with members of the public. Justin inquired about elected vs appointed individuals acting disrespectfully towards others, along with members of the public acting disrespectfully. Susan said that she believed they could discuss this with appointed individuals but was unsure about elected individuals.
This will continue to be discussed in the future.
- Unanticipated business
Justin met with Melissa regarding the appointment list.Justin asked about the Transfer Station committee.Susan said they have not met in a while and there was the question to keep the committee or dissolve the committee.Susan will work on this and will hold a meeting.Susan said that she would like to meet with Jim and Melissa regarding this issue.
Justin said that the Conservation Commission previously appointed an agent, and the Select Board agreed that the Conservation Commission appoints the agent and not the Select Board.Justin asked if the Select Board should be the one to appoint or should Conservation Commission be the one to appoint the agent.Susan said she agreed with Justin that the Conservation Commission should be the one to appoint their agent.
- Comments & questions from the public
Mickey said that she received word that the court voted in favor of Hume and the RV’s. Justin inquired about the cost, and Melissa reported that the cost came in lower than initially anticipated. Frank said that in conversation with Ilene from the Finance Committee she suggested that a relationship should be developed with Hume.
Justin said that since Pilot was only voluntary he expressed uncertainty of how to approach this, but agreed that it may be a conversation to be had. Susan said that this will likely take multiple conversations. Susan expressed concerns that there will be problems with the road if there are multiple RV’s driving up and down the road.
Susan requested to know who would be reviewing her emails and what information might be needed for the litigation case.Justin said that if he needs documents for the document collection he will be reaching out to the particular individual.
- Approve minutes of 6/6/23
The Select Board reviewed the minutes from the Select Board meeting on 6/6/23. Susan made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Justin seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes.
Justin made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Susan seconded. Call a vote: Susan-yes, Justin-yes, Frank-yes. Meeting adjourned at 7:28pm.
Documents used at the meeting
- RT23 Culvert project update
- Truck loan paperwork
- VADAR contract renewal
- Notary insurance policy
- Transfer request from Tax Collectors office
- Transfer request from Snow and Ice
- Transfer request from the Fire Department
- Email from Representative Pignatelli re: Recall Special Act