Conway

  • Town of Conway Massachusetts
  • 32 Main Street
  • 413-369-4235
  • Contact Us

Selectboard and Finance Committee

Monday, March 6, 2023, 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm
Town Hall
A meeting of the Select Board

Meeting of Select Board

Members: (Quorum)

  • Absent: Christopher Waldo

Also Present:

  • Shawn Weaver
  • Gemma Vanderheld
  • Alan Singer
  • John Craine
  • Roy Cohen
  • Laurie Lucier
  • Rhyanna McLeester
  • Véronique Blanchard and Adam Reed.

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 6:00 PM

Meeting closed: 7:11 PM

  1. Meeting Preliminaries

  2. Warrants

    • - None

  3. Meetings Attended by Select Board Members

    • General Discussion...
      Phil attended a meeting of the Community Preservation Committee.

  4. Public Comments. None

  5. Unfinished Business. None.

  6. New Business

    • - Budgets to review: 132-Reserve Fund, 231-Ambulance, 543-Veterans, 820-State Assessments.

      General Discussion...
      Finance Committee was called to order at 6:32 and adjourned at 7:04. The following budgets were discussed.

      820 - State Assessments. These are fixed costs that the town has no control over. The current estimate is $33,742.

      231 - Ambulance. There are some general increases, as with other departments, in the areas of maintenance and software bringing the budget to $55,615. Of that amount, $25,000 is put into Article 2 and the rest comes out of Ambulance Receipts. The current concern is the existing ambulance. Money is being saved for a future purchase. The hope is that the current vehicle will last another 2 to 3 years. However, these are a 2 to 3 year wait and decisions should be made soon. Further updates will be coming in the near future.

      132 - Reserve fund. This is the standard amount of $40,000 which has been in place since 2018.

      543 - Veterans. The budget has seen a decrease to $9,474. The street flag volunteers are asking for an extra $500 for some new flags that will be used on Main Street. This is in addition to the annual $300 used for flags for the veteran's graves in town.

      1. FY24-6.pdf
    • - Discussion and possible vote on obligation of remaining ARPA funds.

      General Discussion...
      Discussion on ARPA was tabled until the next meeting.

    • - Shawn Weaver of NorthEast IT to present cyber assessment report.

      General Discussion...
      Northeast IT conducted a cyber security assessment for the town. This was paid for by a MIIA Risk Management grant and the results were informative. The Town of Conway has one the most secure systems compared to other small towns in the area. Under Roy Cohen's leadership, we have programs such as Microsoft 365, DUO and Sentinel One that are keeping our files and emails safe. There are a few patches and software updates that are needed, but overall we obtained a high security score. This helps with insurance that the town carries and the ability to obtain future grants for technology upgrades.

  7. Items Not Anticipated 48 Hours in Advance of the Meeting

    • None.

  8. Town Administrator update

  9. Selectboard member comments/concerns

    • General Discussion...
      Erica reminded the board that a second public hearing on the Transfer Station should be scheduled. This will be addressed at the next meeting.

  10. Mail

    • - DCR wood bank. Updated model BOH regulations for private wells

      General Discussion...
      There is a grant that will be discussed that the town could apply for that will enable us to begin work on opening a wood bank for our citizens. The discussion will be on Wednesday March 15 at 10:00 a.m. We will also be reaching out to other towns to discuss how they set up their programs so we can adopt the best practices.

      There is a Board of Health regulation that could be adopted by the town regarding private wells. This would place the burden of testing the well on the seller of the home. The town is not required to adopt this plan.

  11. Announcements

    • None

  12. Meeting Wrap-up

The listing of matters is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.

Minutes approved on Monday, Mar 13, 2023

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