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Select Board Meeting Minutes 8/4/21

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Minutes of the meeting of 8/4/21

Meeting Opened at: 6pm

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

Also present: Jon Sylbert, Jeremy Rawitz, Shawn Tryon

Also present remotely: Hillel & Janet Maximon, Mickey Jervas, Susan Cooper, Don Coburn, Dennis Lynch, Emily Johnson, Mary Makuc, Kyle Pierce, Lisanne Finston, Scott Margol, Nancy Tomasovich

Items discussed:

  1. Permanent Conservation Agent Appointment: This item was tabled as Ms. Stucklen, our current agent has submitted her resignation effective August 20th as she has accepted a full-time teaching position.
  2. Library Trustee appointment: A motion was made to appoint Nancy Kleban until the next election.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  3. Discuss use of professional investigator for HR issue: Steve informed those present that for privacy sake no one’s name or details of the complaint will be mentioned.  It was confirmed that a complaint was filed with the police department and the Police Chief and Sergeant have determined that this is not a criminal matter and therefore does not fall under their jurisdiction.  Justin made a motion to table the discussion of using a professional investigator because this was the first he was hearing of the idea, and desired time to consider the options.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  4. Town Clerk’s request to change office hours:  Steve noted that the goal is and always will be to have all offices in town hall provide adequate access for the public.  Justin made a motion to accept the Town Clerk’s request for new hours.  John questioned if the Board really controls the clerk’s hours, Steve said yes that this was one of the main reasons that the position was changed from elected to appointed. The proposed hours, including 5.75 hours to be used at the Clerk’s discretion was discussed. Justin stated he was not concerned with the additional discretionary, non-office hours proposed. When he worked as Town Clerk staff, he was aware of a lot of work that can be done outside of office hours. He also noted that the Clerk has shown willingness to arrange times to meet with anyone who cannot meet during her regular office hours, if need be. The motion was seconded.  Steve added he would be in favor as long as the public’s access was not negatively impacted. Hillel Maximon asked if the Clerk reports to the Select Board or the Town Administrator.  Steve clarified that since she is an appointed town employee she reports to the Select Board for hiring and firing but is supervised by the Town Administrator.  The motion was passed unanimously.
  5. John made a motion to change the order of the agenda and move to item 9 and leave 5-8 to the end of the meeting.  Steve explained that the Town Administrator items are normal town business that need to be taken care of first.  The motion was not seconded and therefore failed.
  6. Town Administrator items
    1. All boards meeting (date and agenda): Since the Open Meeting division is not doing in person trainings Melissa requested ideas for a proposed date and agenda.  Melissa was asked to look at previous agenda topics.
    2. 2nd homeowner’s agenda items: The Board provided a list of topics to be posted on the agenda.
    3. A motion was made to accept the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission’s 604b agreement to administer the grant written by Dennis Lynch.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    4. The Board approved an hourly rate increase to $20.50 for highway 3 after successfully completing his CDL-A class.
    5. Update on road mapping software: Melissa Noe reported that the BETA Pavement Management software is up and running and will be ready to use during the FY23 budget season. John W. expressed concerns that this program is only tracking/managing paved roads.  Melissa will get a quote to add the gravel roads.
    6. Clarification on responsibilities: As this was answered in item 4, it was tabled.
    7. Legal Services Proposals: Proposals were received from; Hannon Lerner, PC $17,000/year for a retainer fee arrangement and $180/hour for an hourly fee arrangement, Leonard Kopelman $200/hour for an hourly fee arrangement and no proposal submitted for a retainer fee arrangement as he does not do retainers and a letter from KP Law withdrawing the proposal submitted in July of 2020.  Justin stated that he spoke with KP law and they are now willing to interview with the Board and discuss a retainer fee after clarifying the Town’s expectations. Justin made a motion for him to coordinate interviews with the 3 attorney’s for an upcoming meeting.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
    8. Weather station/camera proposals: A motion was made to accept the proposal received from Vaisala, Inc.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    9. HR Director update and Draft Inter-Municipal Agreement:  Melissa requested that if the Board has any suggested edits to the draft IMA they send them to her as soon as possible.  A 2nd draft will be coming that ads a hiring and firing section.  The 5 Town Administrators working on hiring the shared HR Director have extended the application deadline due to the MMA posting our ad late.  Interviews will be scheduled for the end of the month.  Jeremy Rawitz asked who the HR Director would report to; it was clarified that the HR Director will report to the Town Administrator in each of the 5 towns.  Jeremy had concerns about how this would work if the complaint was against the Town Administrator and the Board noted that in that case they would have access to the Select Board.
    10. Community Center trees: Melissa reported that the Tree Warden has inspected the 3 large trees next to the Community Center and has determined that they should be removed sooner rather than later as he feels they are likely to come down with all these strong storms we have been experiencing.  Melissa noted that with the RFP in progress for the lighting proposal it should be done before releasing that so bidder’s will be able to see the project without the trees and submit a responsive bid.  M. Noe noted that Mary has said they do not have the money in their budget and believes the tree warden or highway should pay for this. A motion was made to use the tree warden’s budget to pay for these trees and if he needs additional funds at the end of the year the Finance Committee will cover the funds through the reserve fund.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  7. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 7/13/21.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-0 (Justin did not vote as he was not present at the meeting).   A motion was made to approve the minutes of 7/21/21 with edits received from Justin.  The motion was seconded and approved 2-0 (John said he wasn’t voting as he didn’t read the edits).
  8. Fire department lease renewal: Justin recused himself from this item left the room. John wants to table this item.  Steve wants to have a discussion on it since the lease expired and the Fire Chief is present.  John said he is concerned that he doesn’t have legal information on how the lease as its written impacts the town. Steve noted that the contract has been reviewed by counsel in the past. A motion was made to accept the lease.  The motion was not seconded and therefore the item failed.
  9. Police Chief contract renewal:  The only differences from last year’s contract and the new one is the date and salary.  Steve noted that this has been reviewed by counsel in previous years.  A motion was made to approve the contract.  The motion was seconded.  John W. inquired about a mandatory Chief retirement age and what Chief Backhaus’ age is currently.  The motion passed unanimously.
  10. Justin Makuc’s response to 7/21 Open Meeting Law (OML) complaint:  Justin read his proposed response in its entirety.  Steve commented that Mr. Makuc received an OML complaint by someone in this room and inquired “what are we doing?” Steve feels that when individuals in this town have an issue with the way something is done it should be dealt with internally when possible, why does it need to go all the way to the AG’s office? He suggested that the person who filed the complaint should dismiss it.  A motion was made to approve the response as written.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  11. Email communication of 6/17/21 from J. Sylbert: Jon Sylbert read a letter he prepared and informed the board that he would send it and any supporting documents later concerning Jon’s actions as a Finance Committee member and individual surrounding requests for 990’s and 3abc’s from various non-profits in town.  Jon took issue with an email he considered private being shared; M. Noe clarified later in the discussion that any emails sent to her are public and she shared it with the Board as part of her responsibility of keeping the Board advised of any possible situations.  A motion was made to have the Fire Company provide the documents and perform an audit as agreed to in 2019 and March 2020.  Justin recused himself.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  Shawn did provide a copy of the 2020 – 990 filing to Jon S during the meeting but later took it back after it was suggested he should provide it to the Chair of the Finance Committee instead.
  12. Draft Financial Policies: John W would like to have a joint meeting on the financial policies for the town.  M. Noe provided the Board in writing with a list of those policies that have been approved to date and those that are currently in progress.  With regard to the request for a joint meeting M. Noe reported that she did reach out to the Chair of the Fin Comm as was requested at the last meeting and the Chair has asked that any requests for a joint meeting be made through a formal, written request, with an agenda and include any specific topics and documents to be discussed.
  13. Finance committee issues: John W asked to table this issue.
  14. Discuss Owl camera for remote meetings: John W proposed purchasing an Owl camera for $1k to have better video coverage at meetings.  He stated that Sheffield and Gt. Barrington use it.  M. Noe was asked to do research on this and bring it to the next meeting.
  15. SB Hearing schedule prior grant writing issues investigation: John feels that a hearing is warranted to determine why Terry had submitted her resignation as grant writer.  Steve noted that this issue falls under the same category as item 3 and the Board needs to decide if they are going to investigate internally or hire an outside professional.
  16. Select board minutes: John W. wants to hire someone to take minutes for the Board.  He acknowledged we do not have a budget appropriated for such a position and it would have to be discussed for the FY23 agenda.
  17. Date/Time next meeting: It was confirmed (after some earlier confusion) that the next meeting will be on the 18th at 6pm. Justin suggested changing the frequency to weekly meetings.  Steve stated that there really isn’t a lot to discuss weekly in the summer and suggested talking about going weekly in September.  All agreed to revisit the discussion in September.
  18. Agenda format; using initials:  A motion was made to discontinue putting initials next to agenda items.  The motion was seconded.  Steve and Melissa both explained that this was being done as several members were adding items to the agenda and then forgetting once the meeting came around. Justin suggested that initials just be put on the Board’s copy of the agenda and omitted from the publicly posted agenda.  All agreed to the proposed solution.  Steve motioned to include initials on the private agendas for select board eyes only, and omit initials on the publically posted agenda.  John seconded the motion.  It was approved unanimously.
  19. Review mail and any correspondence to be sent/signed
    1. Email from Baily Boyd and Associates asking if Monterey would like to participate in the FY21 joint application with Egremont for the Community Development Block Grant.  All agreed this was a fantastic program and approved the request to be a part of this application round.
  20. Continue review of Select Board Roles, Polices & Procedures draft: This item was tabled.
  21. Comments & questions from the public: None

 

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 8:40pm

 

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. M. Stucklen resignation letter
  2. BRPC 604b agreement
  3. Legal services proposals
  4. Weather station/camera proposal
  5. Draft Inter-municipal agreement
  6. M. Noe notes to the board on agenda items
Video / Audio