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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-2015 Town Board Meeting Minutes ApprovedTown of Virgil Regular Meeting 02/12/2015 1 TOWN OF VIRGIL REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 12TH 2015 PRESENT: Supervisor John Kaminski, Board Members Dale Taylor, Eric Snow, Jereme Stiles and Matthew Dennison Town Clerk/Collector Alane Van Donsel, Brian Withy W20perators, David Coish Yaws Environmental, Craig Umbehauer ( Did not Sign Attendance Sheet) John Morse Highway Superintendent, Rick Horner Asst. Highway Superintendant, Highway Dept., Ron Stanley Highway Dept., Demont Lang Highway Dept., Wes Kryger Greek Peak, Bob & Christine Applegate, Jeff Hall. 7:00 PM – TOWN HALL MEETING: During the Town Hall portion of the meeting Randy Deal, who is a potential candidate for the assessor position presented. Deal has been appointed the Assessor for the Town’s of Homer and the City of Cortland. Deal said that if he is appointed assessor his office will be housed in the town of Homer. Deal said that he hired a data collector. He said that the office has two computers that he can use, but that they are both out of date. He is hoping to update the computers. He said that the county’s IT office will give him support. He stated that the Town of Homer has some money set aside in their budget for at least one computer. He spoke about Fran who he says does all the key punching and that she has twenty three years of experience. Board Member Dale Taylor said that the Town of Virgil will be paying Deal ten dollars per parcel and out of that ten dollars, Fran, Stephanie and Deal will be paid. Member Taylor reported that he had been riding with the highway men, snow plowing. He said he was very impressed with the men. He said the men are up and ready to go at four AM. He learned a lot about intersections. He said that Virgil has a very good group of men, very conscientious about the equipment. He stated that the Town should be proud of what they do. He went on to say that they men were there at six AM on Sunday and they get up at two or two thirty AM at times. And when they say they are going to leave you better not be a minute late, because they will be gone. He wanted to thank them for what they do. 7:30 PM – THE REGULAR MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER Supervisor Kaminski called the meeting to order, followed by the salute to the flag. RESOLUTION# 14-036 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft of Board Meeting Organizational Minutes dated January 08th, 2015: Member Taylor moved to approve the minutes of the January 8th 2015 Organizational Board Meeting as presented. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. Draft of Board Regular Meeting Minutes dated January 8th, 2015: Board member Taylor moved to approve the minutes of the January 8th 2015 Board Meeting as presented. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. RESOLUTION# 14-037 AUTHORIZATION TO PAY BILLS GENERAL FUND: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the General Fund audited vouchers numbered 20-47 in the amount of $41,718.47. The motion was seconded by Member Snow . Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. HIGHWAY FUND: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Highway Fund audited vouchers numbered 1027- 1057 in the amount of $37,942.90. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Snow, Stiles and Denniston Kaminski. Nays-None. SEWER DISTRICT #1: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Sewer District #1 audited vouchers numbered 2011-2022 in the amount of $ 7,371.09. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. ADMENDMENT TO SEWER DISTRICT #1: Member Taylor mentioned that he did not feel the Town should pay Fiscal Advisors and Marketing, because Moody’s was removing the Town from their credit rating list. Taylor felt that the Town should look into why they were billing us before this bill was paid. Member Stiles motioned to amend the Resolution omitting voucher number 2021 Fiscal Advisors & Marketing’s voucher in the amount of $250.00 approving $ 7,121.09. for the Sewer District #1. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. WATER DISTRICT #1: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Water District #1 audited vouchers numbered 3008-3013, omitting voucher #3013 Fiscal Advisors & Marketing in the amount of $250.00, approving $4846.01. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles and Denniston Kaminski. Nays-None. MONTHLY REPORTS SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Supervisor’s Monthly Report in short form for January 2015. Member Snow seconded the motion. Member Taylor asked if the board was going to receive a report in Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 02/12/2015 2 long form next month. Supervisor Kaminski said yes. Town Clerk Van Donsel wanted the board to know that the Town literally just received the bank statements that day, so she didn’t believe that the bookkeeper could close out the books without the statements. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. TOWN CLERK’S MONTHLY REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Town Clerk’s Monthly Report for January 2015. The motion was seconded by Member Snow . Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None. TAX COLLECTION REPORT: It was reported by the Town Clerk/ Tax Collector Van Donsel that a total collection of as of February 12th, 2015 was $2,590,009.76. She reported that all Town entities have been paid and a check was cut to the County Treasurer for a portion of taxes due. It was noted that 76.23% of the 2015 taxes have been collected to date. Member Taylor asked if that was comparable to last year at this time. Van Donsel wasn’t sure without having the data in front of her, but she could certainly look that up. . SEWER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: David Coish of Yaws Environmental Process Control, Inc. submitted a written report. He reported that the WWTP is running well within it’s parameters. Some of the ongoing work includes, preventive maintenance, snow clean up and indoor maintenance. Coish stated that the Grease bugs were working well and said that he would like to order more to get them through the cold weather months. Coish said that he will be out of town the next couple of weeks, but that he is leaving the plant in good hands. He said that John McGrath will be supervising. Member Stiles mentioned that the Town got another bill from FEHER Trash removal. He said that the Town’s Attorney Pay Snyder will have to contact them again. WATER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: Brian Withy from W2Operators reported that every hydrant except two have been shoveled out and all have a visible path to them. He wants to make sure they have visible markers added before next year. Member Stiles asked is water shutoffs are located also. Withy said that in the spring he plans on getting 3/8 inch poles and is going to make it a point to have them all marked. Member Taylor asked him if they found the hydrants way up on Amelia, he said they were covered in thick chunks of ice. Withy said that with the GPS maps and metal detectors, they were able to find them. Withy said that they had one meter freeze. He said that the fire department used 120,000 gallons of water to fight the fire on 392. Everything worked perfectly and it was good to know that that everything was working well, even with that much water used. He said the tank never fell below 25 feet. ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER’S REPORT: There was no report submitted by Lindsay Anderson of Country Acres Pet Services from Homer, NY. Member Taylor said that the board would like to see a report monthly and he was concerned because there was not report last month either. Town Clerk Van Donsel said that it may be that if there is no shelter action in the Town a report isn’t submitted. Taylor said he would like to see something. Van Donsel said that she would contact the shelter and express the board’s desire. CODE ENFORCEMENT AND ZONING OFFICERS REPORT: A written codes report was submitted by Code and Zoning Officer Craig Umbehauer. Looking at the report Member Taylor wanted it noted that his residential PV is a lot less than everyone else because he is renting his and not purchasing it. Member Stiles asked what the Con-Gas drive thru was all about. Umbehauer said that it’s for a drive thru for the new gas station on Webb Rd. They want to put in a Coffeemania drive thru. Member Snow asked what was going on with the Stevens situation. Umbehauer said that it’s going to court on June 2nd. Motion was made by Member Stiles to accept the Code and Zoning Officer’s report for January 2015 as presented. Seconded by Member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None. COUNTY LEGISLATOR’S REPORT: A written report was submitted by County Legislator Sandy Price. Legislature Price was unable to attend the meeting. In her report Price noted that the 4th quarter sales tax revenue was up again. She said that is $412,242.07 more than the same time last year. Member Taylor stated that being a former business owner that he feels that the sales tax isn’t going to go down. He said the price of gas is going down, but that people will find other ways to spend money. VIRGIL YOUTH COMMISSION REPORT: There was no Virgil Youth Commission Report. HOPE LAKE OPERATIONS REPORT: Wes Kryger stated that he owes the Town some financials. HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENTS REPORT: Superintendent John Morse submitted a written report. In his report he stated that the highway men have been plowing, sanding and pushing banks all month long. Member Taylor questioned Morse about a complaint that someone saw a town truck plowing the Rod and Gun Club. Morse said that he might stop in there to stoke the fire and that he might push snow up to the door, but he does not plow the parking lot. He said that Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 02/12/2015 3 he has his own truck that plows that. Supervisor Kaminski asked how the sand and salt are holding up? Morse said that the Town is getting really close to their allotment and that the town may go over. Kaminski asked what will happen if they run short. Morse said that sometimes other towns do not use all theirs and we may be able to get some from them, it’s going to be really close. Member Taylor asked about using brine. Member Stiles said that Brine only works if it’s a certain temperature. Kaminski said that it just lowers the freezing temperature. Morse said that when its snows it’s pretty much worthless. OLD BUSINESS CREDIT CARD COLLECTION FOR TOWN CLERKS OFFICE: The Town Clerk Alane Van Donsel reported that she has been looking into different credit card companies. One is Williamson Law Company; however Williamson law charges for equipment as well as charges a yearly fee. She didn’t feel it was fair to residents to have to pay for this service. The other company that she looked into was The Satellite biz. Our Attorney Patrick Snyder said that their contract had too much fine print and he didn’t feel comfortable recommending them. The third company is GovPayNet. Attorney Snyder looked at the contract and also looked them up on line and he felt that they were a reputable company. Van Donsel said that she called references and they got very good reviews. She said that the company was started by a Sherriff that saw a need for municipalities to collect payments with credit cards. The company has an A+ rating with the better business bureau. Member Taylor asked the cost. Van Donsel said there is no cost to the town, the patron is the one who pays the cost and that they will be made aware of the cost before it is charged to their card. For taxes it will be 3.5% on all other service fees there is a sliding scale fee depending on the cost of transaction from $1.50 to $11.00 on purchases from .01 cent to $200.00 dollars. Member Stiles said that he would prefer to wait until the Attorney was present before they vote. Van Donsel asked if they could approve based on our attorney’s approval. She said that patrons are asking all the time if we accept credit cards and debit cards. She said that she would like to get it started being able to allow patrons to pay for smaller purchases. Van Donsel said that the Town would not be able to collect credit card payments for taxes until next year. Member Stiles asked about security. Van Donsel said that the credit card company would assume responsibility if something should happen. Nothing is housed on our server it’s all done on line. Stiles said he would like to table it until the Town’s Lawyer was present. Supervisor Kaminski said it is tabled. UPDATE ON CREEK RECLAMATION: Supervisor Kaminski said that all the preliminary paperwork has been done on the creek reclamation. Kaminski is hoping that by next month’s meeting the board can go out to bid. Member Stiles asked if the engineer is planning on putting in a bridge or not and he wanted to know if it was going to be inspected? Kaminski said that it’s not going to be a public bridge. He said that if it was going to be a public bridge, it would jam us up and cost a lot. Highway Superintendent John Morse said that the Town has to make sure that they put up a sign stating that he bridge is not for public use. RESOLUTION#15-039 HIRE ENGINEER FOR TOWN HALL EXPANSION: Supervisor Kaminski stated that he called Chuck Weeks from Weeks Engineering and he will honor the original quote from November 11th, 2014 of $3800.00 to work on blue prints for the Town Hall expansion. He said these will be preliminary drawings and once the drawings are done, there will be an opportunity the public and the Town board to make changes. Kaminski said that this is just a starting point. Member Taylor asked if they will still need to hire a Professional Architect. Kaminski said that once the drawings are done, then they will go out to bid. Member Stiles asked where the money will be coming from. Kaminski said that it will be coming from the building reserve fund. Stiles asked if the board needs to have public approval. Kaminski said that the engineer will be at the next board meeting if there are any questions. Stiles said that he didn’t want to see it over designed. Member Taylor made a motion to accept the professional services from Weeks Engineering not to exceed $3800.00 to design drawings for an expansion to the Town Hall. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. AUDIT UPDATE-COMPTROLLER: Supervisor Kaminski said that the Comptroller is done with the Audit of the Town Clerk and Town Supervisors books and that the audit will not be official for two to three months. He said that the Town Board accounted for every dime of the Town’s money and that there were no problems with the book keeping. He said there were some efficiencies that the can be made with policies and procedures. Member Stiles asked if the board will sit down with the auditors as a whole and discuss their findings. Kaminski said that the Comptroller used to sit down with entire boards, but they have changed that policy due to concerns with the open meetings law. AUDIT UPDATE- CIASCHI, DIETERSHAGAN, LITTLE, MIKELSON & CO. LLP: Supervisor Kaminski said that he called an audit of the Town Clerks checking account because there is a surplus of money in the account stemming back from when Bonnie Hand was Clerk. He said that the auditor said that Bonnie collected money that wasn’t turned over to the Town. He said it might have been due to her illness. He said once the board gets a copy of the report he they will order the clerk to turn all the excess money minus $200.00 over to the Town. Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 02/12/2015 4 RESOLUTION#15-040 APPOINT TOWN ASSESSOR: Member Taylor motioned to appoint Randy Deal as the Town Assessor for the Town of Virgil to finish out the Term of David Briggs at the rate of pay of $10.00 per partial with the Town of Virgil having 1795 parcels. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. It was stated that the Town may have to chip in some extra money for logistics. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. RESOULTION#15-041 AUDIT TOWN CLERK’S BOOKS: The Town board audited and signed the Town Clerks 2014 general checking account as well as the 2014 DECALS checking account. NEW BUSINESS RESOLUTION#15-042 HOGAN DRUG AND ALCHOHOL TESTING CONTRACT: Supervisor Kaminski said that they won’t come during the winter. They usually come during April to December and they call ahead and tell Supervisor John Morse who’s going to be tested. Morse said no one else knows who’s going to be tested. Member Stiles made the motion to accept Hogan Drug and Alcohol Testing’s bid with a onetime fee of $250.00 and $150.00 annual administration fee of $150.00 totaling $400.00. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Discussion continued noting that here are fees per tests, $70.00 per drug test, $50.00 per alcohol test and fees for post accident tests. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. CLASSES FOR CODE & ZONING ENFORCER- CRAIG UMBEHAUER: Code and Zoning Officer Craig Umbehauer stated that the board already approved his class when they voted on the vouchers. He said that these classes will take care of all his requirements for the year in a twenty four hour period. RESOLUTION#15-043 PLANNING BOARD APPOINTMENT: A motion was made by Member Taylor to appoint Jeff HalL to the Zoning Board of Appeals as an alternate. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. It was noted that Mr. Hall will have to take a five hour training class. 4THQUARTER SALE TAX REPORT: It was noted earlier that the 4th quarter sales tax was up again. RESOLUTION#15-044 BUDGET AMENDMENTS: Member Taylor moved to accept the Virgil Town’s Bookkeeper Gina Nourse recommendations to amend the 2014 budget as presented. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. TRANSFER RECOMMENDATIONS: Town’s Bookkeeper Gina Nourse recommended the following transfers be made: From the General Fund To Building Reserve Fund $75,000.00 From General Fund to Transfer Station Fund $10,000.00 From Highway Fund to Equipment Reserve Fund $31,000.00 Water District to Repair Reserve $30,000.00 Some board members had questions for bookkeeper Nourse, so the item was t abled. RESOLUTION#15-045 WATER AND SEWER OVERCHARGE- 17G: Supervisor Kaminski stated that it was determined that there was an incorrect water meeting read for 17G last quarter. Brian Withey of W2Operators said that it had to do mainly with the fact that he had to do the entire meter reading manually as the there was a glitch with the hand held meter. He said that the bill was less than previous and they thought that the meter was running backwards since the previous quarter. When the resident received the bill he said it was impossible. He is seeking a credit to his bill. Member Stiles motioned to credit Mr. Greenlaw $47.50 on his water bill and $47.50 on his sewer bill. The motion was seconded by Member Taylor. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None. RESOLUTION #15-046 ONLINE BANKING FOR TOWN’S BOOKKEEPER AND TOWN CLERK: Supervisor Kaminski said that the Town’s Bookkeeper and Town Clerk were interested in being able to look at the towns banking accounts online. He said that it is a tool that they can use to look at data in real time. He said it would be for accounts that are through First National Bank of Dryden. Member Stiles asked who would have the passwords and he was wondering if they can have viewer only status. Kaminski said that they would not be able to move any money. He said that the only time that money can be moved is if he, the Town’s Supervisor and chief fiscal officer, gives written permission. Member Taylor motioned to allow the Town’s Bookkeeper and Town Clerk and Town Supervisor access to online banking in viewer mode only with the First National Bank of Dryden. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Votes: Ayes Members Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. RESOULTION#14-047 EXTENSION OF REAL PROPERTY TAX COLLECTION Supervisor Kaminski stated that the Town has received a letter from the County giving town’s the option to extend tax collection from April 1st to June 1st. A Motion Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 02/12/2015 5 was made by Member Taylor to accept Cortland County Real Property extension of Time Law # 938 from the First of April to the 1st of June. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Votes: Ayes Members Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. TRANSFER STATION ID’S: Supervisor Kaminski stated that the Town is having a hard time getting all residents to pay for the ID’s. He mentioned that there is a trash business in Town that has some customers who haven’t paid. John Morse said that the Town Clerk and Sam Morse are working together to get the residents in to pay. Morse said that Bo Nelson does check ID’s sometime, but he is very busy and inundated when he works. He could start turning people away if they don’t have a valid ID. Craig Umbehauer asked if there was a sign up there stating that they need a valid ID. There were different ideas tossed back and forth. Morse thought that the board should set up a policy. Kaminski said that perhaps the board needs to get involved and go up there on a nice day in March and check ID’s. Matt Denniston mentioned that it would be a good I=idea if the Town clerk was in the office on that day, so residents can come right down and get their ID’s. Van Donsel said she will make sure she is in that office on that day. VIRGIL NEWSLETTER: Town Clerk Van Donsel mentioned that Pete Hans Sr. had stopped into the Town Hall and requested that the Town starts up a Town Newsletter again. He actually had a copy of a News letter from 2006 that he keeps with important information in it. Van Donsel said that she met with Christine Applegate and Judith Hope-Klessig and discussed options for a news letter. The committee talked about having an online news letter and perhaps printing off around 100 plus or minus copies for people who don’t have computers. They talked about putting some at the school and well as having them at the Town hall for folks. The board agreed that that would be a good idea. Some further discussion took place regarding accountability and fuel usage. Supervisor Kaminski said that this was an area that the Comptroller suggested could use more accountability. Kaminski said that the diesel fuel and gasoline have separate meters, but that there needs to be better track from the highway as well as the fire department. Right now there are locks on the doors and inside there are pumps, but there is talk about getting locks with codes, so that it would keep track of who goes in and out of the building. Each person would have their own code. The person using the fuel would still have to write it down on a chart, but it would be easier to trace back if someone forgets to write it down. This system would not be the best fix, but it would be the most economical fix costing around two thousand dollars. It was mentioned that there are other systems out there that could cost upwards of twenty five thousand dollars. It was felt that this would give more accountability. Kaminski questioned what if the door is propped open? Morse said then the last person to key in would be held responsible if fuel used was not recorded. It was proposed that cameras be installed. Morse said you can get a camera system that sends an E-mail every time a picture is taken; Morse said he was going to look into that. Morse said that the bookkeeping has gotten much better. Supervisors Kaminski said that the Town should get prices an all options and how they work. Ron Stanly announced that he plans on retiring in the spring; Supervisor Kaminski said that he has to put it in writing. With no further business to discuss, Member Stiles moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 P.M., Member Snow seconded the Motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. Respectfully Submitted by, Alane Van Donsel, Virgil Town Clerk