Select Board Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of 4/3/19

Meeting Opened at: 9am

Select Board Members Present: Carol Edelman, Chairperson, Kenneth Basler and Donald Coburn

Also in attendance: Jon Sylbert, Shawn Tryon, George Cain, Rebecca Wolin, Dennis Lynch, Mickey Jervas

The Board met with the Finance Committee to discuss the following items:

• Agenda for the informational meeting on April 26^th; representatives from the school will be present to answer questions on the proposed assessment change. A representative from the Dept. of Energy Resources will also be available to answer questions about the proposed Green Communities grant and how it will impact future building project.
• Rebecca requested further clarification for the unemployment budget account increase for FY20.  M. Noe will follow up with Baystate Municipal Accounting later this afternoon.  The additional amount due for the current FY will be added to the town meeting warrant ($6,907).
• Fire Dept: Counsel and the Treasurer have both confirmed that the firemen are employees and receive W2’s.  Discussion ensued about adding compensation back to the budget for training in addition to the monies for capital improvements.  A motion was made to add $30k for fire department training and add a special article to come from free cash in the amount of $30k for capital improvements.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the Finance Committee. 
• A motion was made to pay the full $140k for the proposed new highway truck from stabilization.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the Finance Committee.
• The Select Board and Finance Committee unanimously agreed they are in support of all the special articles as proposed.
• A motion was made to approve the budget in its entirety as presented today.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the Finance Committee.  A motion was made to approve the budget as presented today.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved by the Select Board.
• Articles will be placed on the town meeting warrant to rescind the unused portion that the Treasurer did not borrow for the broadband project on the 2015 warrant and the portion of the fire truck from the 2016 warrant.
• Carol informed all present that Monterey will be receiving a $12k refund from the school district for the current year’s assessment.

Miscellaneous Items Reviewed:

• Fire Dept lease: the lease has expired but the option to continue month to month has been exercised until a new lease can be written, reviewed and signed.  Discussion ensued about how much participation/authority the Select Board would have in construction matters such as paint colors, design, etc. as Don felt that the Board owes it to the town to have a say with respect to any projects.  This discussion will be continued at a later date when the Fire Company finalizes their proposal and the new lease.
• Mickey Jervas asked the Board to sign a library change order request.  The Board approved the request.
• Dennis Lynch proposed to prepare the Municipal Preparedness Vulnerability Yearly Progress Report at no cost to Monterey.  The Board accepted the proposal.  Dennis also asked permission to apply for the MVP Action Grant to implement priority adaptation actions.
• Dennis proposed preparing and submitting a grant application to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection under Section 319 at a cost not to exceed $1,125.  The Board unanimously approved the request to proceed with the grant application to address the dam behind the library.  Dennis also proposed submitting a 2^nd application to pay for 75% of the tree trimming that needs to be done.  The Board approved this proposal as well.
• No bids were received for the town’s hauling contract. This is not a service that is required to be bid out.  We will renegotiate the existing contract with our current vendor.
• Shawn requested that following the purchase of new highway truck proposed on the warrant, the old truck be donated to the fire department to use as a brush truck rather than trading it in or selling it; and to trade in or sell at auction the 2000 F550.  The Board approved the request.
• Shawn and Kenn gave a summary of the informational meeting held last night for the residents of Blue Hill Rd.  It was a very productive conversation/presentation.  Portions of the project will begin later this month.
• The Board reviewed and signed the contract with Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to update our Hazard Mitigation Plan.  This will be paid for through MEMA and DLTA grant monies received.
• The Board reviewed and signed the updated Berkshire County Law Enforcement Council Mutual Aid Agreement which contains an option for a use of force investigative team put together by BLEC.
• The Board approved the Town Clerk’s request to attend the annual Town Clerk Conference providing she has enough her in budget to pay for it.
• Minutes from 3/6, and 3/27/19 were approved.  Discussion ensued about the minutes from 3/7.  Don made a motion to instruct M. Noe to go back and listen to the tape again and include information that he felt was substantial and was not included that was said by himself and Shawn Tryon.  Discussion ensued.  M. Noe asked for clarification if she is now supposed to be putting in the dialogue of the entire meeting rather than a summary.  Carol noted that when she approved this set of minutes weeks ago it seemed to be a reasonable summary;  Kenn agreed but asked for time to review his notes.  The motion failed.  A new motion was made to have M. Noe listen to the tape again and clarify any situations/motions that may be substantive if they were missed initially in the first set of minutes.  The motion was not seconded and failed.  Going forward the process will continue  that the minutes are initially written by M. Noe, and if a Board member feels they are incorrect they can send in edits for the Board to approve as a whole.
• The Board signed the annual town meeting warrant and approved the informational letter to be included.

A motion was made and unanimously approved to adjourn the meeting at: 12:05pm

Submitted by:

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant

Approved by:

Monterey Select Board

cc: Website (www.montereyma.gov)

Select Board Members

Minutes Book

Town Clerk