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Select Board Meeting Minutes 8/5/2020

Meeting date: 
Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Minutes of the meeting of 8/5/20

Meeting Opened at: 4pm

Select Board Members Present: Donald Coburn, Chair, Steven Weisz

Employees present: Terry Walker

Select Board Members Present Remotely: John Weingold

Also present remotely: Adam Chait, Katherine Tryon, Chris Blair, Steph Dubray, Jim Coburn

Items discussed:

  1. COVID-19 updates:  Don expressed concern that there has not been a consistent following of the rules from the state with regard to social distancing and wearing masks.  Don Coburn made a motion to have M. Noe contact the Parks and Board of Health advising that the Board and citizens have noticed the rules for use of the beach have not been followed and they ought to consider taking enforcement and providing information at the very least on the weekends and to also check the porta potty for supplies more regularly.  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
  2. At the request of the Fire Chief a motion was made to appoint Chris Isner as a probationary firefighter.  The motion was seconded.  John questioned why the firefighter appointments were made with no expiration date, M. Noe will follow up with town counsel.  The motion passed 2 – 0 with John abstaining until he is provided with more information on why certain positions do not have appointment expiration dates.
  3. Tree Warden: Don informed the Board that a resident had questioned whether or not it was legal for the elected Tree Warden to also hold a position on the highway department.  Counsel was consulted originally but later withdrew his response as he stated the correct institution to issue a determination for this is the State Ethics Commission.  The Tree Warden has contacted the Ethics Commission and received a verbal opinion (which he gave to M. Noe) that as long as the Select Board designates the Tree Warden position as a “special municipal employee” the person currently in the position may continue to hold both positions and his firefighter position without issue.  Steve praised the work of the Tree Warden and made a motion to designate the Tree Warden position as a “special municipal employee”.  Discussion ensued.  John wanted to wait for the written determination (verbal determination already given to employee) from the Ethics Commission.  Katherine Tryon, resident, expressed that the person currently in both positions could have a conflict and in actuality could not do his job properly as the Tree Warden if he succumbs to the whim of his boss the Director of Operations and what he wants to see done with the trees.  Don explained that the only time the highway department is involved in tree work is if there is an imminent threat to the road or safety of the residents, the Tree Warden uses his judgement on whether trees are sick or well and need to be taken down in advance.  The motion was seconded. Steve voted yes, Don voted yes and John voted no.
  4. Town Administrator: Steve reported that he had a brief discussion with Mark Webber the former West Stockbridge Town Administrator and most recently the interim Town Administrator of Stockbridge.  Mark expressed interest in assisting Monterey in a consultant capacity to assist us in crafting a job description and finding a permanent solution.  Steve suggested inviting Mark to the next meeting to have a conversation about this.  Discussion ensued.  A motion was made to hold a meeting on the 11th at 5:30pm with the only agenda items being the meeting with Mark, review of the Ethics Commission’s written determination and the Broadband contracts.  Steve will contact Mr. Webber.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
  5. Kyle Pierce of the Council on Aging asked to speak to the Board about having their own website.  It was suggested that the person responsible for helping them with their website come in and meet with M. Noe to discuss what the needs are and how we can accomplish those goals without spending money on an additional site.  Kyle also inquired about using volunteers in Monterey to drive residents to doctor appointments.  The Council on Aging requested the Board’s permission to look into this; the Board approved.
  6. The Board unanimously approved the Director of Operations Chapter 90 request to resurface Sandisfield Rd.  The forms were signed by Steve and Don, John will come in tomorrow to sign.
  7. Administrative Assistant items:
    1. M. Noe explained that in order to be more efficient the Accountant has requested we purchase an additional user license for our accounting software.  The Board unanimously agreed to the purchase.
    2. M. Noe requested permission to attend 3 classes this fall to meet the requirement to keep her Massachusetts Supplies and Service Procurement Certification.  The classes total $895.  A motion was made to approve the request which was seconded and unanimously approved.
    3. M. Noe responded to John’s previous inquiry about vacation carryovers, specifically for highway member 4.  She explained that in a full time employee’s first year they are earning time however when the fiscal year ends our payroll program requires those earned days to be carried forward so as not to lose them.
    4. M. Noe provided the following response from Town Counsel regarding John’s previous inquiry about Town Bylaw Article XIV. Town Data Processing Center and MGL Chapter 41 Section 23D: “The bylaw was adopted in 1991.  We would have to dig out the town meeting notes to see what the legislative intent was at that time, but I doubt it was for the purpose of establishing a website, because the Town's website didn't exist back then.  In any event, there's no money budgeted for a coordinator, so if that's something that the majority of the board wants to proceed with, there will need to be a source of funding.”  M. Noe explained that she also got a copy of the annual town meeting minutes to see if that clarified what the intent was at the time, it did not all it said was that the majority voted yes and there was one “no” vote.  M. Noe went on to further state that while speaking with counsel on another matter he added verbally that he suggests that at the next town meeting we revoke this bylaw as the purpose of a data processing center is obsolete and that if the town still feels a bylaw is necessary create one that is couched in modernity as this one is not.
    5. Executive session minute update:  M. Noe reported that on two occasions now a member of the Finance Committee and newest member of the Select Board have mentioned that executive session minutes haven’t been released and should’ve been.  Please find a list of those minutes that are still unapproved/unreleased: The following executive session minutes were all to meet with counsel and the attorney-client privilege is a common law privilege and stands regardless of the public records law and are not released.  The case is Suffolk Const. Co., Inc. v. Division of Capital Assett Management, 449 Mass. 444 (2007).  Obviously, per Jeremia his meetings with the Board of Selectmen are subject to the attorney-client privilege. 2/6/12, 3/28/16, 4/13/09, 4/30/20, 7/9/12, 9/26/19, 10/17/11, 10/18/17, 6/25/19 and 7/1/19. Counsel was not present at 5/23/11 however the members sitting at the time are no longer Board members (Jon Sylbert, Wayne Burkhart and Scott Jenssen).  Jeremia has said we can release these in draft format if the Board would like. The minutes from 10/2/19 (2 sets) counsel was also not present at however it has to do with the possible purchase of property and the matter is not resolved yet so they cannot be released.  M. Noe asked how to proceed; no guidance was provided.
    6. M. Noe requested permission to research and purchase an intercom system that would allow residents to contact offices directly from outside of town hall to complete town hall business while we remain closed to the public.  The Board unanimously approved the research and purchase and suggested that M. Noe seek the guidance of the Police Chief on the matter.
    7. M. Noe at the request of the employees and herself requested guidance from the Board on the use of personal cell phones and employees doing business via text as well as to where the separation of personal texts about work and actual work texts is drawn.  She asked for guidance on if town phones should be purchased for employees and which employees.  The Board asked if she could see how other towns are addressing this issue and will continue the discussion at a later date.
    8. M. Noe reminded the Board that the Bally Gally lease will be coming up for renewal and inquired if the rent would be staying the same or increasing.  The Board unanimously agreed to keep the rent the same.
    9. M. Noe reported that the Accountant would like to move the bill submittal deadline up from 3pm on Thursday to 3pm on Wednesday allowing more time to resolve any issues that come up before the warrant is printed.  The Board asked that M. Noe first send a memo to all departments to see if there were any concerns with this proposed change first.
    10. The Board approved the memo to be distributed to all committees and departments requesting their FY20 town reports.
  8. John voiced several complaints about the town website and made a motion that we find an IT expert and look into getting a better website.  The motion failed.
  9. A motion was made to approve the minutes of 7/15/20 (2 sets) and 7/29/20.  The motion was seconded and passed 2 – 1 with John voting no.
  10. The Board discussed the letter from Attorney Oggiani notifying the Board that the estate of Gail Scherrer, currently under Chapter 61A is being sold and as a result the town has the first option to purchase.  The Board unanimously declined to pursue the purchase of this property.
  11. John Weingold presented a draft Code of Ethics for the Board to consider.  John was given a copy of the previously drafted code of ethics and opinion from Counsel which stated that he did not recommend adopting this policy as he was concerned that the Board is attempting to regulate areas that are pervasively governed by state law.  He also had concerns with restrictions on speech that could be problematic.  Steve and Don both agreed that the policy was not necessary as ethics are already covered by state statute.
  12. John has suggested that a historical commission be appointed to look into the school building designation as a historical district. Don thought this was a great idea and explained that we have difficulty finding people interested in joining committees and board and suggested that if John felt passionate about this to bring interested parties to the Board for appointment.  Steve explained that he will need to recuse himself from any conversation having to do with the school building itself as he is a potential buyer of the property if it is ever sold.
  13. Kayak removal, notice, policy, permits and racks: John stated that a neighbor complained to him that multiple permits were issued by the Parks Commission to the same family; he wanted to know what their policies were.  Don reminded John that the Parks Commission is elected and that this falls under their jurisdiction.  It was suggested to invite the Parks Commission to a future meeting to discuss this further.
  14. All Boards Meeting: John asked why the Board was not holding these regularly (the amended bylaw calls for a meeting once a year).  A motion was made to send out an invite for a meeting in October.
  15. New business: Steve inquired about hosting the annual 2nd homeowner’s meeting which has typically been held in August.  Steve suggested holding it virtually this year on Saturday, September 12th, John questioned why it had to be at 10am.  Steve explained that it has been tradition to hold it at 10am on a Saturday for quite some time.  It was agreed to post the meeting for the 12th of September at 10am.
  16. Don reported that he met with Chris Blair on Monday and updated him on all of the recent broadband items so the ad hoc group would be up to date.
  17. Don asked if John had any apologies he wanted to make to Terry and Melissa for accusing them of election fraud in his “In my View” article.  John stated that this wasn’t on the agenda and didn’t want to apologize or talk about anything not on the agenda.
  18. Terry Walker, Town Clerk came in to discuss the following:
    1. New office hours: Terry proposed 2 options for her new expanded hours.  Discussion ensued about the 2 options. Steve reminded everyone that in the past it was decided that the Board would prefer that office hours weren’t held on Mondays due to the large number of holidays that fall then.  Don and Steve felt that the best option was Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday which Terry was willing to do.  John inquired how the schedule works with elections, Terry explained that she is paid separately for elections.  A motion was made to accept option 2 (Tuesday & Thursday 3 – 8:30pm and Saturday 8am – 3pm), which was seconded and unanimously approved.
    2. Grant research:  Terry requested to research grants up to 2 hours each week without having to first submit a formal proposal.  Steve explained that the grant proposal request form to be approved was instituted to get a better grasp on what kind of time was going into specific grants to justify the program.  Discussion ensued about whether or not the town was already notified about available grants and whether this research has produced any grants we’ve been awarded (no).  A motion was made to approve this request up to 2 hours per week for 3 months and that Terry must submit a log of what grants she has researched.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
    3. Terry’s plan for using town hall for the state primary election was approved.  Don and Steve both signed the 2020 State election warrant and John will be in tomorrow to sign.
  19. The Board discussed the draft contract between Monterey and Fiber Connect.  Concerns and suggested edits were reviewed.  This will be continued to the next meeting.

 

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 6:48pm

 

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

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. MIIA email on insurance coverage for volunteers
  2. Chapter 90 project request forms
  3. Monterey Town Bylaws Article XIV. Town Data Processing Center and MGL Chapter 41 Section 23D summary
  4. Executive session minutes update
  5. Letter regarding estate of Gail Scherrer
  6. Proposed code of ethics drafted by J. Weingold
  7. Previously unapproved draft of code of ethics and town counsel’s opinion on matter
  8. Draft agreement between the town and Fiber Connect