Select Board Meeting Minutes 8/7/19

Minutes of the meeting of 8/7/19

Meeting Opened at: 5:30pm

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

Also in attendance: Berkshire Record reporter, Eric Weiss, Dave Fierro, Beverly Cooper, George Cain, Jon Sylbert, Rebecca Wolin, Peter Chait, Terry Walker, Alice Boyd, Dawn Lemon, Mary McGurn, Ben Krupka, Mike Germain

The Board met with Eric Weiss of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to review their Regional Municipal Accounting Services Program.

The Board met with Dave Fierro of Hilltown Accounting Services LLC and Beverly Cooper to discuss Treasurer and Accountant services they each can offer.

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

1. MBI Action Plan:    Don made a motion to sign the action plan which was seconded by Kenn and approved unanimously.  Kenn signed for the town.
2. Kenn reported that he spoke with the Building Inspector about his assessment of the Monterey School Building.  It was recommended that the building should be added to the other properties and sold at auction.  A motion was made to add the Monterey School Building to the auction list.  The motion was seconded and approved, Steve recused himself from the vote.
3. The Board received an email from the auctioneers notifying them that our approach to trying to sell the properties does not meet their collaborative approach. If our Building Inspector is able to provide more information on the buildability of the parcels to make them more appealing to prospective buyers they will reconsider.  The Board agreed that Kenn would speak with the Building Inspector and have him provide the requested information to the auctioneer.
4. Jon Sylbert reported on the school district regionalization meeting he attended last week.  A draft letter was provided to the Board to approve which will be sent by the regionalization committee.  Kenn made a motion to accept it as written.  The motion was seconded by Steve and unanimously approved.
5. The Board met with the Finance Committee to discuss the following:
   1. Accounts payable section of draft finance policies and procedures manual: The Finance Committee reviewed sections of the chapter and discussed enforcement of non-payment of bills on accounts that have no remaining funds.  The Select Board and the Finance Committee all unanimously approved this section.
   2. Don requested that a policy be adopted that no bill be rejected without it first coming before the Select Board to avoid creating bad relations with providers.    Discussion ensued and all present from the Board and Finance Committee agreed what Melissa did fell within her responsibilities and the issue was that the contractor was not approved to be hired by the Select Board and that it was not procured properly as there had been no communication with the Board or M. Noe.  
   3. Rebecca questioned why the Collins Center Study was delayed.  Discussion ensued about the value of postponing the study.  Rebecca and Jon were both very disappointed and felt it was a bad decision to delay the study.  Don explained that the delay was on his motion, agreed to by the other members of the Select Board, because it made no sense to have a study of the government when two major portions of it, accountant and treasurer, might well be changed.  Kenn said he would contact the Collins Center tomorrow to see about moving the date back up.  No vote was taken on that proposal.
   4. Jon and Rebecca both asked for an explanation on why the Board would be considering hiring a new accountant and/or treasurer but were not afforded an answer because the issue has only been discussed in executive session and with counsel.  Jon questioned the legality of the executive session because the chair of the Finance Committee had been allowed to attend.  Don noted that this was done with approval of counsel.
   5. Michael Germain asked for Board to grant the Lake Garfield Working Group (LGWG) more authority to approve bills and put out bids.  It was agreed to discuss this matter at the next joint meeting on September 4^th.  It was also suggested that Dennis Lynch and members of the LGWG also attend.
   6. Administration of grants: The question arose of who administers the grants once they are received, since this is not assigned to one particular person this topic will be discussed again at a later date.
6. Alice Boyd of Bailey, Boyd and Associates and TRI came in to hold the public hearing for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) as well as provide an update on the program.
7. Select Board and Administrative Assistant roles: Kenn suggested rescheduling this discussion to 9am next Wed as he anticipates this will be a lengthy discussion.  The board agreed unanimously.
8. Temporary Town Administrator: Kenn expanded on Don’s comments of last and this week concerning the interviews the Town of Stockbridge held for an interim Town Administrator and suggested after giving it some thought that it might be a good idea to reach out to the applicant that was not hired to talk about coming in in a consultant role to assist the Board in determining what may be missing as well as to mentor our Administrative Assistant and prepare us for the Collins Center study.  Don said that this was an excellent idea and suggested that Kenn reach out to the gentleman and see if he would be interested in meeting with the Board and discussing it further, Steve and Kenn agreed. 
9. Attorney Pollard sent over a request received from the Attorney General’s Office requesting permission to extend the 90 day review period by 60 days pursuant to MGL Chapter 40 §32 with regard to Article 25 of this year’s annual town meeting warrant.  The Board agreed to the extension.
10. The Accountant questioned whether or not the rent bills should be paid to the Fire Company seeing as a new lease has not been signed.  The Board agreed that they should because the previous lease becomes month to month until a new lease is signed.  Discussion ensued about Don’s work on a suggested new lease and why copies for review were only sent to Kenn and Shawn and not Steve and Melissa as well. Don explained that he had copied Kenn on his email to Shawn just to show that action had been taken.  Steve took issue with this explanation and asked that all future emails include all Board members.
11. M. Noe inquired about the Green Communities grant, a representative from the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission needs to know who will be administering it on the town level.  M. Noe will get more information on what this entails.
12. Kenn reported that he spoke with the Parks Commission Chair about the basketball court flooring continuing to be a safety issue.  Requests have been made by some of the regular players to remove the current flooring and paint the asphalt underneath.   Kenn reported that Greg Carnese, an attorney involved in the original purchase of the flooring, asked for permission to reach out to town counsel to see if he could pursue legal action to address the issues.  Kenn said he and the Parks Commission chair approved that suggestion.  Don argued that Kenn should have first sought permission from the entire Board prior to making this suggestion or taking any other action.  Kenn said that no decision was made and that the basketball court falls under the Parks Commission’s jurisdiction and that any decisions would be made by their Commission.
13. Warrants were signed.
14. Minutes from 7/17/19 were approved.
15. Mail was reviewed.

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

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

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