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Select Board Meeting Minutes 6/30/21

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 6/30/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

Select Board Members Present: Steve Weisz, Chair

Select Board Members present remotely: John Weingold (abruptly left meeting at 7pm and did not answer calls to return, he returned at 7:20pm and abruptly left again at 7:30pm), Justin Makuc

Also present remotely: Susan Cooper, Tom Sawyer, Mickey Jervas, Don Coburn, Nancy Tomasovich, Mary Makuc

Audience present: Shawn Tryon

  1. Town Administrator items
    1. Internal transfer requests:
      1. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $535 from library wages to library maintenance.  Justin Makuc recused himself from the vote.  The motion passed 2-0.  John was reminded that he will need to physically come into town hall to sign this.
      2. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $769.70 from Snow & Ice (S&I) to Fuel.  The motion was seconded.  John Weingold questioned why we would have to do another transfer to fuel when we did one at the last meeting.  M. Noe explained that the gas tanks are filled every 1-2 weeks.  The motion passed unanimously.
      3. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $180 from library wages to library general.  Justin Makuc recused himself from the vote.  The motion passed 2-0.
      4. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $10 from S&I to public lighting.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
      5. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $1851.80 from select board expenses to legal expenses.  The motion was seconded.  The motion passed 2 – 1 with John voting no because he didn’t feel there was enough explanation on the invoices provided to all board members.
      6. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $126.76 from S&I to public lighting.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
      7. A motion was made to approve the transfer of $329.76 from S&I to public lighting.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
    2. Shared HR update and revised job description:  M. Noe provided the board with an update; Gt. Barrington has agreed to be the lead town, a draft of the inter-municipal agreement should be available in the next 2 – 3 weeks, the help wanted ad will be posted on July 12 and resumes will be due by August 2nd.  Someone questioned where the funds were coming from to pay for this position and M. Noe reminded everyone that she wrote a successful grant through the Efficiency and Regionalization program to cover the 1st year’s costs.  M. Noe provided the Board with a final copy of the draft job description edited by all 5 towns.  A motion was made to approve the job description.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-1 with John stating he had no opinion.
    3. A motion was made to approve the July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022 VADAR systems contract renewal.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
    4. A motion was made to approve the Berkshire County Dispatch renewal contract.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
    5. A draft of the proposed meeting agenda posting policy was distributed and discussed. A motion was made to approve the draft.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-1 with John voting no as he believes the town clerk is supposed to post agendas not the town administrator.
    6. Special article carry forwards: A motion was made to approve the following special articles to be carried forward; town hall fencing $5k, 2 highway freightliner $460k, highway garage siding $29,854.86, RT23/Main Enhance Flood $20k, Monterey School expenses $5,771.58 and Eurasian Lake Garfield $2000.80.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
    7. A motion was made to not carry forward the following special articles $750 broadband agreement and $35,646.94 for broadband consulting and return it to free cash.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
    8. M. Noe informed the Board that the PVPC Regional Accounting Program through which we have our accounting service contract has been put out for a rebid while the PVPC updates and improves its process.  The current contract has been extended through 7/31/21.
  2. Clerk office coverage; Steve explained that there was a situation last week while the Clerk was on vacation and a resident was in need of a death certificate.  Steve spoke with Clerk personally and Terry has suggested a temporary solution to make arrangements with another town clerk to fill in should a situation such as this arise.  A longer term solution would be to place an ad for town clerk staff/assistant town clerk that is interested in eventually becoming the Clerk when Terry retires.  John didn’t think a town clerk from another town could legally sign documents.  Justin thinks that most of the things a Clerk does, including a death certificate, are important but can wait a week until staff returns from time off. Justin thinks that staffing the office every time the clerk is out of office is not crucial and that notice that the clerk is gone and will be back is sufficient. Steve proposed circulating a job description for an assistant and for all members to speak with Terry individually in the meantime.  The Board can take the discussion up again at the next meeting.  John felt the board shouldn’t be involved as the Clerk appoints an Assistant Town Clerk under MGL Chapter 41 Section 19.
  3. A motion was made to appoint Brian Dillon as a probationary firefighter.  The motion was seconded.  John took issue with people from other towns serving as he states that the fire company’s articles of organization and/or charter state that only Monterey residents can be firefighters.  Steve stated that if we had to rely on that then there would be 3 firefighters as the town doesn’t have young people anymore.  Don explained that the articles of organization do not apply as they are for the fire company and the appointment being made is for the fire department.  The motion passed 2 – 1 with John voting no.
  4. Simplifying agenda items (specificity):  Justin explained that he received an email from Don Coburn concerned that the agenda items contain personal opinions on the topics rather than merely stating the topics.  Justin thinks the Chair should take it into his own powers to simplify items as he sees fit prior to the agenda being posted. Steve also suggested that he should be allowed to arrange them in the order of urgency, which the board also agreed to.
  5. Justin Makuc’s ethics determination and possible exemptions: This item was tabled as John Weingold was not present at this time and Justin is unable to vote on the matter.
  6. Highway Planning Commission: M. Noe provided the board with a copy of research she did which shows that the highway planning commission town bylaw (as well as the salary commission town bylaw) are in fact not actually bylaws. In 1979 article 22 of town meeting read, “To see if the town will vote to appoint any committee or officers and give them or any officer of the Town instructions, authority or indemnity thought best, or take any other action relative thereto.”  A motion at that 1979 town meeting was made and seconded to have the Selectmen appoint a highway planning commission and a salary commission.  Town Counsel has confirmed that they are not bylaws and that the town was not voting on a bylaw at that 1979 meeting as the article would’ve had to be clear that the action undertaken was to create a town bylaw and it was not.
  7. FY22 appointments/reappointments:
    1. A motion was made to reappoint Steve Weisz, Greg Carnese, Steve Snyder, Alice Berke and Michael Germain for 1 year terms to the Lake Garfield Working Group.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
    2. A motion was made to reappoint Melissa Noe as the Records Access Officer and Records Liaison Officer for the Select Board, each for one year terms.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
    3. Justin placed a hold on the reappointment of Town Counsel as he would like to look into negotiating with new town counsel after talking to residents and doing his own research.  Steve advised Justin that in his 6 years there has been a lot of legal activity and we are lucky to have direct access to the lawyer hired.  KP Law may be good for large towns but there is no guarantee that Monterey will be able to speak with a partner and the billing is likely to double or triple.  Steve suggested getting proposals from multiple law firms.  Justin is of the understanding that current counsel is not the timeliest in responding.  John returned at 7:20pm.  Steve stated that no one has any idea how much a different counsel would cost and Steve wants to see an apples to apples comparison.  The proposals that John sent to not contain a retainer agreement which is how we currently pay counsel.  Susan agrees that we need to have a proposal that is clear and complete.  John made a motion to appoint KP Law as official town counsel. The motion wasn’t seconded.
  8. The minutes of 6/16/21 were tabled to the next meeting.
  9. Review mail and any correspondence to be sent/signed: none.
  10. Master plan: Tom Sawyer of the Planning Board was present.  The last master plan was done in 2002.  Steve believes that most of it may still be relevant but could use some updating including use of the 11 acres behind the firehouse.  John left the meeting abruptly again at 7:30pm.  Tom stated that the Planning Board has discussed this and reviewed the existing plan.  The Planning Board is willing to take on this task.  Tom noted that the cost estimates he has received have been around $30k.  The Town Administrator will do some basic research to see if there are any grants available to assist.
  11. A motion was made to table agenda items 11 – 22.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  12. Comments & questions from the public: Don Coburn informed those present in the interest of transparency that Board member, John Weingold filed a civil complaint in the superior court of Berkshire County seeking over $300k in damages from the town. He wanted to know what the town will be doing about this. Steve stated that this item isn’t on the agenda and the filing has not been served the Board will not be placing it on the agenda until all parties are officially served.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 7:47pm

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. Internal transfers
  2. Shared HR revised draft job description
  3. VADAR contract
  4. Berkshire County Dispatch contract renewal
  5. Meeting agenda posting policy - DRAFT
  6. Special article carry forwards
  7. Highway Planning Commission research
  8. FY22 appointments/reappointments
Video / Audio