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Select Board Meeting Minutes 7/17/19

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Minutes of the meeting of 7/17/19

Meeting Opened at: 9am         

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

Also in attendance: George Cain, Gareth Backhaus, Terry Walker, Mark Makuc, Mickey Jervas, Derek Geser

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

  1. Don reported that he will not be moving forward on any further broadband conversations with MBI until Fiber Connect has submitted all the documents MBI has requested.  Kenn had nothing new to report.
  2. Light duty policy: The town currently has a policy that reads, “A doctor’s note is required after three (3) consecutive workdays of sick leave in order for the employee to receive sick pay and to be allowed to return to work.” A motion was made by Kenn to keep the policy as is and that no additional wording was necessary to address light duty as we do not offer light duty.  The motion was seconded by Steve and approved unanimously.
  3. VADAR financial software systems contract renewal: A motion was made by Kenn to sign the contract renewal which was seconded by Don and approved unanimously.
  4. Monterey School Building: The Director of Operations has made the Board aware that the foundation is deteriorating and the Board should consider acting on moving forward with a plan for the building.  Kenn suggested adding the property to the list of properties to be sold at the upcoming auction, everyone thought that was a good idea.
  5. Don inquired of Finance Committee member George Cain about some sub account balances of the highway department.  George explained that the sub accounts are sub lines of a main account and it is within the purview of the department head to transfer within them as long as it doesn’t go over the figure approved at town meeting for the full account.  Kenn suggested that Don in the future ask the Director of Operations directly as he would know the status of his accounts the best.
  6. A motion was made by Kenn to appoint Randon Ziegler to the Highway 4 position.  The motion was seconded by Don and approved unanimously.
  7. The Board discussed the yearly confirmation letters to be given to employees along with a copy of each job description that were given to the Board last week to review.  Additional wording will be added about scheduling meetings with the employees to review their goals for FY20.  A small clarification was made to the Transfer Station Attendant job description.
  8. Collins Center: Don said he was not at all happy that the kick off meeting was not scheduled until mid-August when the agreement states it could take place in July 2019.  He said that M. Noe should not have changed the July date without first checking with the Select Board.  Don then explained that he just realized that having the study start now would be premature because the Select Board is considering hiring a new accountant and a new treasurer.   Don made a motion to put the Collins Contract off for the time being until matters in the Accountant and Treasurer office settle and suggested that we proceed to start a committee to begin the search for a Town Administrator.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  A motion was made by Steve to continue forward with what was approved at town meeting which was to proceed with the Collins Center Study to determine if a Town Administrator is necessary.  Kenn seconded the motion.  Discussion ensued with Don pressing the argument that a final decision should be made on the accountant and treasurer before the study started.  Kenn suggested that there be a two month delay to which Steve agreed and withdrew his motion.   Kenn made a motion to proceed with the Collins Center Study but push off the kick off meeting to no longer than 2 months from now until after the Accountant and Treasurer situation is resolved.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  9. Town Clerk and Grant Writer, Terry Walker came in to discuss the following with the Board:
    1. Terry reported that the Community Compact grant she was asked to look into has already ended.  She is researching whether there are grants available to purchase security cameras for town buildings.  Continuing work on the VW grant has been put on hold.  Don expressed his displeasure with individual Board members suggesting grants for Terry to research.  Terry asked what the process for researching and requesting permission for writing grants should be; discussion ensued but no formal policy was made.  Terry will work with the Administrative Assistant on a letter to send to all departments asking if there is anything they are in need of and if there are grants they are aware of.  Terry will report back in August.
    2. The new schedule for the Town Clerk’s office beginning in August will be Tuesdays 4 – 7pm, Wednesdays 10am – 5pm and Saturday 8am – 1pm.
    3. Assistant Town Clerk: Terry has confirmed that Gary (the current assistant) has no interest in becoming the Town Clerk once Terry retires.  Terry informed the Board that her initial plan to retire in 5 years has been pushed out to 7 to give her enough time to properly train a new Town Clerk for a smooth transition.  Gary will be used for covering the office when Terry is unable to make it in due to illness or continuing education.
    4. Terry informed the Board that going forward the hours may need to be increased for the Clerk’s office as 15 isn’t enough since the position is now hourly instead of salary.  The Board said that Terry should put together a proposal and to present it when budget request meetings begin for FY21.
    5. Organizing/cataloguing the records from the downstairs and upstairs storage rooms to one location in the upstairs Clerk storage room:  Terry informed the Board that she is allergic to mold so she cannot work with the materials down there to sort them and requested plastic totes.  The Board will speak with the Highway Department to see if there are other alternatives to moving the boxes and/or if Gary is able to begin working on them.
    6. Terry will work on creating a job description for the Assistant Town Clerk to review at the next meeting she attends (to be scheduled).
  10. Dan Palotta, Mark Makuc and Mickey Jervas all came in to discuss a change order for the library.  Kenn congratulated and thanked those present on completing the library project on time and under cost.  The change order was reviewed, approved and signed.  Steve expressed his thanks, and Don also thanked them and suggested that the Library Trustees should consider naming the library after Mark.  Mark disagreed.
  11. Derek Geser, Town Accountant came in to discuss the following:
    1. A concerning matter was brought to the Board’s attention regarding some internal appropriation transfers that were made at the Finance Committee’s meeting on Monday.  The forms they submitted as approved had two Select Board member’s signatures on them. The signatures of Selectboard members Kenn & Steve which appeared to be photocopies of signatures taken from previous documents. (Dons signature did not appear on any of these documents). Both Kenn and Steve stated that they never actually signed these documents, and that this use of their signatures was inappropriate and troubling. The Finance Committee will be asked to attend the next meeting to explain.  Internal transfers require both Finance Committee and Select Board approvals.  Kenn and Steve had no issues with the transfers requested; Don did not comment.
    2. Receivables are being wrapped up as are the reconciliations.
  12. The Board met with the Police Chief to discuss officer training.  The Chief confirmed that all training attended by the officers is paid for by the department including their time as well as any course fees.
  13. The Board discussed the email received from Ken Wagner regarding an invoice for services for Lake Garfield that he was engaged to perform by the Friends of Lake Garfield yet was sending a bill to the town.  Don said M. Noe acted outside of her authority when she informed Mr. Wagner that we could not pay the bill he submitted as the town hadn’t appropriated monies for it without first bringing the issue to the Select Board.  He also noted that her email description to Ken Wagner of the action taken on this matter by the Select Board was inaccurate because there had been no representation that the Friends of Lake Garfield would pay all the costs of the application.  The only representation was that the friends would pay the expert's fee, which did not include the application fee to the state agency, Natural Heritage. Without discussion, Steve and Kenn both disagreed with Don’s assessment of M. Noe's email reply and actions and agreed it was well within her job responsibilities to respond as she had.  After discussing the invoice further Steve reported that he had spoken with Mike Germain of the Friends of Lake Garfield and they will be paying all but the $300 Natural Heritage filing fee.  A motion was made by Don to pay the $300 fee from the DPW budget immediately.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  A subsequent motion was made by Don that we inform Mr. Wagner he will need to submit a separate invoice for the $300 filing fee which we will then pay after approved at the next special town meeting as this is a FY19 bill not received before the deadline.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  14. Since he lives on Bidwell Road, Steve recused himself from the following conversation. Don suggested that instead of spending $3,000 for a survey of Bidwell Rd, which had been previously authorized by a majority of the Board, that the town hold off on performing the Bidwell Road survey and first send a letter asking the affected parties to attend the August 7th meeting to discuss an amicable resolution of this safety issue raised by the Fire Chief and Director of Operations.
  15. Warrants were signed.
  16. Don brought up a concern he had with regard to the guardrails that were replaced on the Curtis Rd bridge.  Don  was concerned because the Select Board had approved replacing broken railing on the bridge and instead Don believes the railings were extended about 60 feet from the ends of the bridge at a cost of $16,000 plus.  Don asked Kenn (since he had taken on the task of supervising that project as a liaison of the board) if he had made that decision or approved it without discussing the issue with the Select Board.  Ken said he was not involved in the decision. Shawn Tryon, Director of Operations was contacted during the meeting and he confirmed that he was the one that made the decision because the company was unable to tie into the old ones that were junk and too low; he also said that the deciding factor to order longer railings was a safety issue.
  17. After several comments and accusations made by Don throughout the meeting about his perceptions of M. Noe’s performance and claims that she is a liar and untrustworthy (which were not supported by the other Board members), Don said that he had lost confidence in M. Noe's judgment and honesty and made a motion to dismiss her with 30 days’ notice.  The motion was not seconded and failed.
  18. A motion was made to approve the minutes from 6/25, 7/1 and 7/10.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.  A motion was made to approve the minutes of 6/5/19 with the written amendments made by Steve.  The motion was seconded.  The motion was approved 2 to 1 with Don voting not to approve.
  1. Mail was reviewed which included letters declining appointments by Frank D’Amato to the Veteran’s Memorial Committee and Mary Makuc as the ADA Coordinator.  The Board also received a letter of resignation from Ian Jenkins as the Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate.  M. Noe was asked to get a legal opinion on how we would be allowed to appoint non-registered voters to vacant elected positions until the next election is held.
  2. M. Noe updated the Board on the quotes received to date for Treasurer and Accountant services.  The companies that have provided quotes for services will be asked to come to a Select Board meeting on July 31st.

 Don noted that he had not been advised of the results of the monthly management meetings, a regular procedure which had been in place for well over a year.  He also noted that he had not received any notices regarding the months he should have been attending those meetings, as it is a job that is rotated among the three selectman.  M. Noe stated that the meetings had not been occurring as of late and Kenn confirmed that was so.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 11:41am

 

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

 

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

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Town Clerk