Select Board Meeting Minutes 6/5/19

Minutes of the meeting of 6/5/19

Meeting Opened at: 9am

Select Board Members Present: Kenneth Basler, Chairperson, Donald Coburn and Steven Weisz

Also in attendance: Dennis Lynch, Ben Krupka, Hillel Maximon, BJ Johnson, Mary McGurn, Julio Rodriguez, Ray Tryon

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

• Don questioned what the $3,000 expense account for the Administrative Assistant is used for.  M. Noe explained that it is for continuing education for procurement to keep the certification, other continuing education classes relevant to her position and travel expenses.
• Procurement Officer Appointment: Don had concerns with the title of Procurement Officer and felt that based on the answers received from the IG’s office and Town Counsel that each department head should be appointed as a procurement officer.  It was explained that the title of procurement officer does not grant that person any authority over any employee it is a responsibility of the person appointed to assist in properly procuring items either through sound business practices and/or the invitation to bid or request for proposal process, it is a protection for the town. Steve made a motion to appoint Melissa Noe as the Procurement Officer with all the appropriate titles and interests with respect to a Procurement Officer under MGL.  The motion was seconded by Kenn.  The motion passed 2 – 1 with Don voting against the appointment. 
• At the recommendation of the Fire Chief a motion was made to appoint Tom Ryan as a firefighter to the Monterey Fire Dept.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
• At the request of the Town Clerk a motion was made to appoint Kevin Fitzpatrick to a 3 year term as the Election Warden, Raymond Tryon to a 1 year term as Election Warden, Carol Edelman to a 1 year term as an Election Worker, Evelyn Vallianos to a 1 year term as an Election Worker, Amy Boardman to a 1 year term as an Election Worker, Zachary Kenyon to a 1 year term as an Election Worker, Jon LeBlanc to a 1 year term as an Election Worker and Melissa Noe to a 1 year term as an Election Worker.  The motion was seconded and unanimously passed.  It was noted that the Clerk is looking for additional election workers and anyone interested should contact Terry Walker, Town Clerk.
• BRTA advisory board appointment:   A motion was made to appoint Steve Weisz as the Monterey representative to the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority’s Advisory Board. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
• Communications between Town Officials & Town Employees; Steve expressed his concern regarding a recent email communication he was copied on and stated that the Board really needs to lead by example.  He went on to say that our employee handbook has a section on harassment that states that employees are entitled to a work environment that is comfortable and free from intimidation, hostility or other offenses.  Steve expressed that this type of behavior will not be tolerated any longer and any harassing communications he is made aware of he will be reading it into the record of the Select Board meeting.  He went on to read the following email dated May 15, 2019 from Don Coburn to Melissa Noe, “Melissa, I wish you would not give legal advice, especially in public and when you don’t know what you are talking about.  I don’t particularly like being contradicted in public by someone who works below me, but I especially don’t like when the person is both smug, sure and dead wrong.  Look up quorum in the open meetings law, which quite clearly contradicts what you said today.”  Steve stressed that no one here works below anyone and we all work together and that the information Melissa provided at the meeting was accurate.  Going forward Steve suggested that it was ok to respectfully disagree with someone but not harass anyone.
• A motion was made to approve the highway help wanted.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  This will be put in an upcoming local newspaper and on our website.
• Collins Center contract; Don asked that the Exhibit A: Scope of services f be amended  for task 1 to state that the first meeting will be with the entire Select Board and Administrative Assistant and not just the Chairperson and Administrative Assistant.  Everyone agreed and the contract was signed.
• A motion was made to not accept the states proposal to front funds for the CDBG payments but rather go to a 2 times per month drawdown.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
• Broadband Update: Egremont had originally responded that they weren’t interested in holding a joint meeting with us, Kenn followed up with the Chair of the Select Board and members of their Broadband Committee and they have since changed their mind (one hesitation had been that they are a bit further ahead in the process than we are) and now feel that working together could be beneficial.  Egremont has proposed a joint meeting next week to begin discussions; all are available to attend.  Discussion ensued about next steps, negotiation schedules and goals.  A meeting will also be set with Fiber Connect to start negotiations.
• Select Board meeting times: Don stated that of the 19 towns in Southern Berkshire, 11 of them meet at 7pm, 1 meets at 7 and noon and the others range between 5 – 7pm.  Don made a motion to start the meetings at 7pm on the 2 regular meeting days per month.  Steve made an amendment to the motion to keep the 1^st Wednesday of the month at 9am and move the 3^rd meeting of the month to 6:30pm to meet with the Fin Comm followed by the regular meeting at 7pm and to try this for 6 months to see if the public attendance increases.  The amended motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  This will begin in July.
• School meetings update: While Carol was on the Board she was the Select Board representative at several meetings.  Another Board member will need to volunteer to attend these meetings.  Additional information will be sought on the upcoming meetings and progress to date.  Don expressed interest in being the representative, and the SB so appointed him.   M. Noe will get him the information she was given by Carol.
• Town hall parking lot:  Steve explained that when the parking lot was repaved, there was supposed to be some plantings to avoid parking on the neighbor’s property and avoid parking on the edge of pavement which will cause it to deteriorate more quickly.  Shawn will be asked to prepare a proposal for bushes, barriers or another viable option.
• Meeting room floor: Steve is concerned that the finish is being worn and that in order to protect and rebuild it we should get a proposal to sand and refinish the original grange flooring.  M. Noe will research some options.
• Dennis Lynch as a member of the Lake Garfield Working Group came in to propose the town file a NOI for harvesting through Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting of nuisance aquatic vegetation in Lake Garfield.  The NOI is identical to the previous NOI filed several years ago.  It was prepared by Lake Scientist Ken Wagner and the Friends of Lake Garfield will be paying for his services.  The Board approved the submittal.
• A motion was made to appoint Steve Weisz to the Lake Garfield Working Group.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  It was noted that the LGWG needs to be very clear on how information is shared and approved and that the Select Board must be involved when any official decisions need to be made as the committee is only advisory.
• Flag outside town hall; Shawn and M. Noe are working on ordering a new one.
• Julio expressed that he felt that the ceremony at 11am went very well and he tanked all the police officers for their help in orchestrating.  He also stated that the parade was a success considering the short amount of time the committee had to plan.  He suggested that preparations for next year should begin in March.
• CPR training – Kenn requested permission to have a conversation with the Fire Chief to look into offering CPR classes to the general public and staff.  The Board granted permission.
• Kenn also requested permission to have M. Noe set up a retirement counseling session for all of our employees in the Berkshire County Retirement System.  Everyone agreed this was a good idea and to proceed.
• Monterey School Building –Ultimately the school district has confirmed that we own the building and have advised us that we can move forward accordingly without anything additional or oppositional from them.  The future of the building will be put on an upcoming agenda.
• The Board unanimously approve FY19 vacation carryover requests for 5 of the full time employees.
• The Board discussed the voluntary Census Bureau’s New Construction Program.  It was agreed to participate and to designate the Principal Assessor as the contact to provide the residential address list for construction in progress during or after March 1, 2018 with completion expected by April 1, 2020.
• A motion was made to approve the minutes of 5/15/19.  The motion was seconded by Steve and approved by Steve and Don (Kenn was not present for that meeting and did not vote).  A motion was made by Steve to approve the minutes of 5/8/19.  Kenn seconded the motion.  The motion passed 2 – 1 with Don voting not to approve.
• The Board completed some housekeeping and cleared items from the agenda items” that have already been taken care of or no longer need to be addressed.
• Mail was reviewed.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 10:59am

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

Minutes Book

Town Clerk