Select Board Meeting Minutes 6/16/21

Minutes of the meeting of 6/16/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

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

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Susan Cooper, Michael Johnson, Mary Stucklen,

Items discussed:

1. Town Administrator items
   1. M. Noe announce that Monterey received $75k for a Community Compact Efficiency & Regionalization grant she wrote for a shared HR director with 4 local towns.  M. Noe was asked to speak at the Lt. Gov’s award ceremony earlier this month.
   2. The Board reviewed a revised alternative compliance fuel efficient vehicle policy draft for Green Communities grant as provided by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. A motion was made to approve the revised alternative compliance fuel efficient vehicle policy.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
   3. The Board approved the following internal transfer requests; $938.71 from snow & ice to fuel, $280 from select board expenses to CART and $209.06 from snow & ice to public lighting.
   4. The Board discussed the new state holiday Juneteenth which all agreed was long overdue and whether or not to provide the day prior off to full time employees.  It was noted and discussed that the town’s current policy is that only full time employees are given paid holidays.  After much discussion a motion was made to add the holiday to the employee handbook and give Juneteenth (or the day it is being legally recognized if it falls on a weekend, in this case Friday the 18^th) off to all full time employees.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
   5. M. Noe informed the Board that the company that provides our transfer station software has apologized for the application renewal mistake (listing several different renewal prices) and will be providing us with a 30% discount off our annual software support fee.  Mickey Jervas asked for her complaint to be heard; she was upset that people that aren’t online to have to pay more to purchase their stickers in person.  Steve explained that when the prices were set for this year the Board did this as a way to incentivize folks to apply online but the Board will certainly look at a better option for FY23.  Justin agreed that the decision made by the Board may not be a good one and he isn’t condoning it, but it was made lawfully and he is in favor of supporting it until next year.  Members of the audience also inquired about the ability to purchase stickers at the transfer station next year.  The Board will explore all options to make the process as seamless as possible for next year.  John Weingold made a motion that everyone should get the discount no matter what.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  Justin added that he doesn’t feel anyone should get the discount just because they don’t want to pay online.  He made a motion that if someone received and was confused by the earlier, mistaken literature, they are eligible for the discount with proof.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
   6. The Board discussed the February 2015 vote by the Board at the time to make the town website the secondary alternate posting location and that there intentions may have been to keep the primary location as the bulletin board outside.  Lack of access to the internet, vehicles, etc were discussed and ultimately it was decided to keep the website as the primary posting location, which was achieved without a motion or vote because the AG’s office already considers the website the primary posting location.  Boards and committees are responsible for making sure that their meeting postings are submitted to the Town Administrator in enough time (taking in account any time off) to post to the website 48 hours in advance not including weekends or holidays.
   7. M. Noe updated the Board that currently our website platform does not support uploading media files so she cannot post the meeting videos.  She will continue to research this.
2. Special event beer and wine permit application for Stacey Kelleher for 7/2/21 at the Community Center.  A motion was made to approve the application as submitted.  The motion was seconded.  Mike Johnson commented that he did not think alcohol was allowed on town property.  It was noted that the applicant submitted the required certificate of liquor liability insurance with the town named as additional insured.  The motion was approved 2-1 with John voting no. 
3. Highway Planning Commission appointments: After the continued town meeting on the 12^th Jon Sylbert, Steve Weisz, Melissa Noe and Shawn Tryon all discussed future ways to better understand costs for maintaining roads in Monterey.  It was agreed to propose appointing the 4 aforementioned folks to the Highway Planning Commission. John Weingold had an issue with any government employees being appointed to the committee and accused Steve of violating the Open Meeting Law by having that conversation with Mr. Sylbert.  Steve responded that the committee needs to include people from the town who actually work and submit bills and know the roads. Susan Cooper stated that it seems like sound and sensible to discuss items to add to a future agenda at public events and this particular situation is not an OML violation as John suggests.  Susan went on to say the sensible people to have on the committee are the people most involved and familiar with the roads and finances to craft a plan.  Justin wants to see some citizen involvement and not just town employees on the committee.  It was agreed to table the matter to a future meeting.  The next meeting will discuss the purpose/scope of the committee as the bylaw doesn’t specify any actual purpose beyond, “The Town voted to have the Select Board appoint a Highway Planning Commission.”
4. A motion was made to appoint Lauren Behrman to the Planning Board until the next election.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously
5. FY22 appointments/reappointments
   1. LGWG: JM says he is under the understanding that Alice Berke is not an active member and he wouldn’t want to reappoint if she is inactive.  Steve explained that typically the way someone is replaced the Chair should send a letter to appoint, reappoint on not appoint.  Suggested to reach out to chair to ask if he is satisfied with current list or if he’d like to add/subtract anyone.  JM abstain on appointment of Mary Makuc. All other unanimous.
   2. Records access officer & Records liason for Select Board: Hold placed by John Weingold.  Pursuant to job description TA cannot hold any other positions.  It was noted that the intention of that was that the TA cannot hold any other paid positions and these are not paid positions.  Motion to approve, JM would like to postpone.  Don Coburn stated that John had no idea what he was talking about and the Board may add duties as they see fit.
   3. Town Counsel: JW would like the Board to consider retaining new town counsel as per the proposal he sent to both selectmen for FY20 and FY21.  SW said to be extremely clear that any information send from one board member to another and he believes this is a violation of the OML and any information should be sent to the TA to disseminate or add to the agenda and that is not transparent.  JM doesn’t agree with SW’s understanding of the OML.
   4. Harbormaster: JM has not heard that the Chief has done a bad job and it intermingles with his full time job nicely but someone at the Parks Commission suggested that appointing someone that lives on each lake be appointed.  A motion was made and unanimously approved to appoint Gareth Backhaus.
   5. Registrar of Voters: JM put holds on Katrina Fitzpatrick and Rebecca Wolin. He thinks it would be better to have folks not holding for elected positions or that just ran for positions.  JM will do some outreach to see if others are interested.  Not good practice, Katrina’s father is on the ballot.  Rebecca Wolin explained what Registrars do and that there really is no conflict.  JM appreciated the explanation and moved to make the 3 appointments.  JW voted yes on all but Katrina.  Others unanimous.
   6. A motion was made to appoint Kade Budak and Stephanie Sloane to the Historical District Study Committee for1 year.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
   7. The following officers were all reappointed for a 1 year term; Chief Backhaus, Shaun Courtney, Nathan Sermini, Keith Avalle, Ian Mangosan and Sabrina Wilson.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.Steve asked why Sgt. Fahey wasn’t listed and M. Noe let the Board know his appointment is for 3 years and is not due for reappointment currently.
   8. A motion was made to appoint Don Fitzgerald as the Alternate Building Commission for 2 years.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  A motion was made to appoint Warren David Harrison and James Kern as Alternate Inspectors of Wires for 2 years.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
   9. Justin Makuc was appointed unanimously to the one year term of BRTA Advisory Board.
   10. The following other appointments were unanimously made for the terms noted:

1. It was agreed to schedule an OML training for the next all boards meeting.
2. The following employees have requested to carry over FY21 vacation time; Brian Fahey, 5 days, Gareth Backhaus, 5 days, Melissa Noe, 11.8875 days and Shawn Tryon 5.875 days.  John had issues with Melissa’s request and questioned the time already taken but did not provide specifics.  Steve noted that the Board appreciates their employees and has always granted/honored these requests in the past.  A motion was made to approve the requests.  The motion was seconded and passed 2 – 1 with John voting no.
3. A motion was made to approve the executive session minutes of 5/26/21.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.  A motion was made to approve the minutes of 6/2/21.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.  A motion was made to approve the emergency minutes of 6/1/21.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-0 with Steve abstaining as he was not present for the meeting.  A motion was made to approve the minutes of 5/26/21.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
4. Review mail and correspondence to be sent/signed
   1. The Board discussed Jeff Zimmerman’s request to be on the Bylaw review committee. All agreed that the bylaw first needs to be approved by the AG’s office before making any appointments.
   2. John Weingold noted that Jon Sylbert sent an email detailing his opinions about tonight’s agenda items.
5. A motion was made to approve the temporary steak roast sign.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
6. M. Noe informed the Board that Tryon Construction will be performing work under the supervision of the highway foreman on Wellman and Eaton Roads.
7. The remaining agenda items were tabled until the next meeting (#’s 10-23) which will be June 30 at 6pm.
8. Comments & questions from the public: none

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:39pm

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. revised alternative compliance fuel efficient vehicle policy draft
2. internal transfers
3. appointments list