Print
Share page with AddThis

Select Board Meeting Minutes 8/18/21

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 8/18/21

Meeting Opened at: 6:01pm

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

absent: John Weingold

Also remotely: Don Coburn, Susan Cooper, Nancy Tomasovich, Pauline Banducci

Items discussed:

  1. Town Administrator items
    1. All boards meeting: suggested date and agenda: This item was tabled as Melissa Noe is still waiting on a call back from a possible presenter.
    2. HR Director draft Inter-Municipal Agreement: This item was tabled as the 5 towns are still waiting on additional language from KP Law.
    3. Earth removal permit application: A motion was made to approve the 1 year renewal of Tryon Construction’s renewal application.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
    4. FY20 audit: Draft copies of the audit were provided to the Board and they signed the required representation letter.  A final copy of the clean audit will be forthcoming.
    5. West Rd restitution:  M. Noe informed the Board that the District Attorney’s office has been non-responsive on our requests made through counsel for restitution for the bomb incident on West Rd.  Town Counsel said that we could pursue this in small claims court; the Board asked M. Noe to find out how much that would cost before making any decisions.
    6. CDBG single audit:  M. Noe informed that Board that because we went over the $750k threshold with the CDBG monies it required the town have a single audit review in addition to our yearly. The cost for this was $1k which was not budgeted for FY20.  Bailey Boyd & Associates has generously offered to pay the $1k as Monterey and the Town Administrator have been great to work with and they didn’t want Monterey’s interest in future funding to be affected.  The Board graciously accepted the offer.
    7. Green Communities update: M. Noe updated the Board of yet another setback with the contractor’s performing the audits for Monterey.  The most recent one acting as General Contractor quit and we have been forced to begin all over again.
    8. Accounting update:  M. Noe just received a copy of the new contract which will be directly with Eric Kinsherf rather than through the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.  She will distribute copies tomorrow.
    9. Certificate of Achievement to Officer Courtney:  The Board acknowledge Officer Courtney’s time with Monterey, signed the Certificate of Achievement and wished him well in his future endeavors.
    10. Gt. Barrington Lockup MOU:  A motion was made to approve the FY22 Memorandum of Understanding for use of the Gt. Barrington lockup facilities.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  2. A motion was made to appoint Nathan Reynolds as a Probationary Firefighter.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  3. A motion was made to appoint Tyler Collins as a Firefighter.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  4. A motion was made to appoint Jim Hunt as a Firefighter.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  5. Temporary Gould Farm Sign Request:  A motion was made to approve the request to place a 32” x 48” temporary sign announcing the Gould Farm 5k at the intersection of 23 & 57/183 until September 26.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  6. Discuss use of professional investigator for HR issue:  The Board has 2 options; they can hire an outside investigator or perform the investigation themselves in executive session.  Steve expressed that engaging an outside investigator/human resource professional is the best way as they are unbiased and impartial and specialize in these types of complaints. Justin doesn’t think dealing with disciplinary measures is easy for anyone but thinks the Board should be the ones to investigate and if for any reason they feel an outside investigator becomes necessary he would be open to reconsidering.  Justin feels that managing employees is the job of the Selectman. Steve countered that the Board is generally policy making and does not get involved especially when the charges are as serious as they are in this instance and because this instance involves multiple people. Susan Cooper noted that if the complaint has anything to do with harassment a professional should be called in to be sure it is handled correctly and legally and to make sure the town isn’t exposed to any potential litigation.  Don Coburn offered his services for free to see if the situation can be mediated as well as offered the suggestion to reach out to the Massachusetts Office of Collaboration as was suggested in the Collins Center Report for these such instances.  Melissa Noe was asked to follow up with the Massachusetts Office of Collaboration as suggested by Don Coburn which was a recommendation in the Collins Center report.
  7. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 8/4/21 with edits.  The motion was seconded and approved 2 – 0.
  8. Fire department lease renewal:  This motion was tabled as there wasn’t a quorum available since Justin must recuse himself.
  9. Recap of 2nd homeowner’s meeting:  Justin and Steve attended, John did not attend and did not let anyone know that he would not be attending.  There was about 12 people in attendance.  Steve provided a recap on the issues discussed.
  10. Select Board Duties: Steve stressed again that the most important duty of a selectman is to show up, not only because of the information the Board gives to the people but the information provided from the people to the board.
  11. Finance committee issues (JW):  As John was not present and no one knew what the issue may be he is referring to this will be removed.
  12. Discuss Owl camera for remote meetings (JW): The TA will price out equipment needed in addition to the Owl camera and then the Board will need to figure out how to pay for it.
  13. Review mail and any correspondence to be sent/signed:
    1. Special event permit application for Bidwell House Summer Party.  Justin stated he needed to recuse himself as he was being paid to work the event.  As there was not a quorum to vote on this item, it will be added to tomorrow night’s agenda.
  14. Continue review of Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft: This item was tabled.
  15. Comments & questions from the public: none

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:58pm

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. Earth removal permit application
  2. Audit documents
  3. Gt. Barrington lockup MOU
  4. Bidwell House special event application
  5. Fire Company draft lease
Video / Audio