HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg Mtg. Minutes 1/6/1936W
Meetl.ng of the Board of'Trustees of the Village of.Cayuga
Heights, held on January 6; 1936
PRESENT: A'.J.Heinicke, Mayor.
1.
2.
. 3.
H. E. 'Baxter, Trustee
G.I..Dale,'Trustee
C.H.-Webster, Trustee:
A.W. Crowley,,Trustee .
Carl_Crandsll, Engineer
Cedric H. Guise ,:Treasurer.
r.
The minutes of,:the meeting. on'November..19.,.'1935.. .
were read and approved, with the; exception,of. item 2, post.
IT. WAS VOTED to correct the minutes of November. 19,
1935, so as to .show, the adoption of the.following: resolution:
WHEREAS the Village Board of.Cayuga
Heights,.acting as Assessors of.the.said
Village according to a,zesolution: previously
edopted,.have.prepared ' an assessment roll
for 1936 and filed ..it' in duplicate,with.the
Clerk.of the Villagq'prior to November 1,
1938 and
WHEREAS the Clerk caused a notice to be
,published in the official newspaper of the
Village and posted in five . conspicuous places .
in the ,Village before.Novembar 8,.1935,.a
notice that the 1935 assessment roll was filed
at his residence, 110 Corson Place, Cayuga;
Heights, New York, where it might be seen until"
November 19, 1935 and
WHEREAS .= the said 19th day of November
a grievance.day was held and the.said Board .met`
from 7 P. h--;. until ll .F. b:. on the said-day.
Several persons appearing and changes being made
as disclosed in the minutes of.the said Board,:
now therefore be.it
RESOLVED that.the said assessment/ :roll "as now
prepared and'verified with the. - assessor's: oath :..
be now,completed; "verified and ordered' with
the Clerk:. -
The following bills paid on the ,authority of the Mayor
were approved:
ams
GENERAL:
tie V1lage Handbook Co. 3.00
Ithaca Fire Dept.,,contribution. 100,.00 -
Ithaca Journal, publishing notice to taxpayers 2..48w
S. L. Sheldon, 9 B 11 prints of'mag 11.34E
Carl Crandall, preparation of map 100.00
LIGHT:
New York State Electric and Gas Corp. (to Nov. 31) 82.00
SANITATION:
Charles 11osher, December garbage 150.00v
WATER:
Department Public Works City of Ithaca, labor and
material repairing break in water main,
Overlook Road 42.99.
INTEREST:
Ithaca Savings Bank, interest on Highland Avenue bonds 212.50`"
1. The Treasurer reported that he had sent the following letter
to all those persons.who were delinquent in their..eharges:
December 6, 1935
Notice to owners of property in the Village
of Cayuga Heights:
At the Novemeber meeting of!the. Board of
Trustees of the.Village of Cayuga .,Heights, the r
Treasurer was instructed to notify,all property .
owners now delinquent in:oharges owing to the Village,
that at the January meeting scheduled for Mond "ay,.
January 6, those properties against which unpaid charges ..
remain at that time will.be ordered advertised for sale. .
a
HIGHWAY:
11"r—ank T#askins, 58 hours at 87. 1/2 cents
.28 hours at 50 cents.
James Collins, 84 hours at 40 cents
33.60
Nelke Co., replacement 10 street name plates '
18.91, -
C.J. Rumsey, 1/2' doz. 3/8 x 3 Cge. bolts, 1 1 /2,doz.
stove bolts
.30-
Robinson and Carpenter, 6 ft. 8" S. pipe
1.80
Moran.and.Gleason, services as per contract ...
875.001 -
James Collins, 40 hours at 40 cents
16.00
Driscoll Bros., 6 10" stovepipe
2.70
Frank Haskins, 91 hours, 11 days at,8.00
.1 day, 3 hours
79.63-
C. J. Rumsey and Co,, 2 doz. 5/16 x 3 Mach. bolts,
1 5/16 x 7 Mach. bolts
.4,4
Frank Haskins, 46 hours.at 87 1/2 cents
40.25
Carl Crandall, Nov..and Dec. services'
" 10.00
GENERAL:
tie V1lage Handbook Co. 3.00
Ithaca Fire Dept.,,contribution. 100,.00 -
Ithaca Journal, publishing notice to taxpayers 2..48w
S. L. Sheldon, 9 B 11 prints of'mag 11.34E
Carl Crandall, preparation of map 100.00
LIGHT:
New York State Electric and Gas Corp. (to Nov. 31) 82.00
SANITATION:
Charles 11osher, December garbage 150.00v
WATER:
Department Public Works City of Ithaca, labor and
material repairing break in water main,
Overlook Road 42.99.
INTEREST:
Ithaca Savings Bank, interest on Highland Avenue bonds 212.50`"
1. The Treasurer reported that he had sent the following letter
to all those persons.who were delinquent in their..eharges:
December 6, 1935
Notice to owners of property in the Village
of Cayuga Heights:
At the Novemeber meeting of!the. Board of
Trustees of the.Village of Cayuga .,Heights, the r
Treasurer was instructed to notify,all property .
owners now delinquent in:oharges owing to the Village,
that at the January meeting scheduled for Mond "ay,.
January 6, those properties against which unpaid charges ..
remain at that time will.be ordered advertised for sale. .
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The undersigned wishes to point out that as Collector and
Treasurer he is only an appointee of:- the -Board and has no
power to make adjustments.
Your account due follows:
Charge_ Interest` Total
Property` taxes
Sewer taxes
Sewer assessments
Mowing charges
Checks should be made out and sent "to:
C. H..Ghise, Collector
207 Iroquois Road
Ithaca, New York
The Treasurer then submitted his report on all property
r
owners now delinquent in charges. He distributed the following
list of accounts which are outstanding January 12 1936:
Baldridge and Dell 105.94
A. M. MacGachen - 376:72 '
B. C. Perkins 160.46
.Tuttle Apartments 255.01
J. Dell, Jr: and C..H. Blood 309.75
Strawberry Lane Corporation and W. M. Barger 14658
C. L. Durham 64.35
Pi Kappa Phi 98:86
Mary B. Waite 100031
George A. Walters 162.12
C. H. Blood 73.15
J. "Papish 12.00
C. V. P. Young 4.00
G. N. Lauman 3.00
2,117.18
He made detailed comment on each of.the accounts listed supra.
The Mayor then presented a portion of the communication
from the Clerk relating to the above matter:
... It will not be necessary at this meeting of the.
Board to.determine what portion of unpaid taxes.shall
be collected by the sale of taxes as.provided.by.
Section 126 -d"of the Village Law. We may make suoh..:.-
determination before the 7th.of February, and our next"
meeting is scheduled for February 3. At this meeting,
I would direct the Treasurer by resolution'to return
his tax roll and an account of the taxes remaining due,
containing a description of the lands upon which the
taxes were unpaid as the same place upon the tax list,
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together with the amount of taxes so 'assessed and
interest thereon. The Treasurer.should make oath
before a notary public that the taxes listed in such
an account remain unpaid and that after diligent effort
he has not been able to collect the same. This is
provided by Section 126 -a'of the Village Law. He should
return this before the next meeting of the Board which
is scheduled for February 3, 1936 at which time a
resolution can be adopted under'Section 126 -d...
IT WAS VOTED to direct the.Treasurer to present to the
Board the list of delinquent tax payers at its next meeting in
accordance with the provisions of the.law.
5. The Mayor then brought up the question of overdue certificates
of indebtedness held by the Ithaca Savings Bank. The following
communication addressed by the Clerk to the Mayor outlining the
difficulty and suggesting possible solutions was read:
' January 6, 1936 "
The purpose of this letter is to bring
before the Board in detail the -very troublesome
question of our certificates of indebtedness. At
the last meeting of the Board the bond committee,
you [the Mayor], Trustee Webster, Treasurer Guise
and myself.[the Clerk], was instructed to confer
with Mr. Truman K; Powers, Esq. of the office of
Allan H. Treman, Esq., attorney for the Ithaca
Savings Bank, the payee of our several certificates
of indebtedness now overdue. The occasion of this
was an inference in a letter from Mr. Powers that
a simple procedure would be possible to validate
a bond issue to take up the certificates of
indebtedness. At this conference Mr. Powers was
quite indefinite as to the simple procedure. Three
possible solutions to our dilemma were suggested.
1) An action for a declaratory judgment
under Section of the C. P. A. for a
declaratory judgment which will declare
our rights and liabilities under the$
previous certificates of indebtedness.
2) An act of.the Legislature validating the;
proceedings.
3) Special proceedings under Article 2a of the
General Municipal Law to legalize proceedings
relating to the issuance and sale of bonds.
The type of procedure mentioned in paragraph 3 (supra)
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was, I think I am safe in saying, the method that
Mr. Powers had in mind. There is considerable doubt
in my mind whether it is applicable in this, partioular
situation. Strictly construed it applies to technically
formal errors in the actual bond issue itself. Our
problem is.much deeper than that. I can.see grave objection
to.an act of the legislature both on policy grounds and on
grounds of strictly legal character. It might even be
that there would be a-question of constitutionality on
such an act which could only be determined by proceedings
In the courts. My own guess is now,,as it has always been,
that the best method with which I am yet familiar is an ;
action for a declaratory judgment under the Civil Practice
Act. I confess that I have not considered all of the
possibilities, and .there may be other possible courses of
action. I cannot emphasize too strongly that this
proceeding should not be undertaken without careful legal
advice. We are in this diffinulty solely because of our
careless and amateurish business methods up to this point.
My best advice, and it was concurred in by Mr. Powers,
was and.is that the Village should obtain the services of
• skilled law firm whose specialty is municipal law. Such
• firm cannot be obtained in my opinion outside of large
metropolitan centers. In fact I am informed that there are
only three firms in all of the city of New York that
specialize in this type of case: I do not think that we
should consider obtaining anyone in this matter outside of
these three firms. These firms would take all of our records
and go over them, would take the benefit of expert accounting
and go over the records of the bank, and as a result of this
work would be able to present to the Board a course of,action
which if carried through would definitely and finally clear
up our present difficulties, It might well be-that after
careful study of our situation it-would be their conclusion
that everything that has been done up to this point is
legal, though irregular. The point of irregularity which I
made and.which was confirmed by the opinion of the bond
counsel in New York City.is by no means absolutely certain.
All that I can say is that after such study as I have been
able to give it is my opinion.that our proceedings are
illegal. I am firmly of the opinion that for the credit
of the Village and the peace of mind of the members of the
Board the matter should be cleared up as soon as possible.
It "'is inconceivable to me that the matter can be left
dragging on and on until sometime when we are forced under
even graver difficulties to conclude the affair. I, there-
fore, advise
1).That the Board should,adopt a resolution authorizing
the Mayor and the Clerk to retain counsel in the
City of New York who would examine our records and '
the bank's books, and who would report to us their
findings and recommendations.
2) That the Village should appoint pro tempore a resident
of the Village who is a lawyer and who would work in
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conjunction with the New York bond attorneys and
give to the Board a frank opinion on the merits of
the procedure they recommend.
With this in view the bond committee of the Board of Trustees
directed me to inquire on my next trip to New York from friends
who were engaged in practice in large Wall Street offices the
available firms who specialize in such matters. I am informed that
there are three such firms;
1)Hawkins,Delafield and Longfellow, Esquires
49
Wall
Street
2)Reed, Hoyt and Washburn, Esquires
49
Wall
Street
3)Thomson, Wood and Hoffman, Esquires
2
Wall
Street
I am informed that the first two of these firms would be more desirable
in the event of litigation resulting from our proceedings as they-have
well established general litigation departments. My personal.
'reaction is to consider the firm of Hawkins, Delefield end Longfellow
our best bet. This firm I am informed has acted as attorneys for
the cities of Binghamton and Elmira in bond matters arising in
'the administration of these municipal corporations. They are, thus„
more or less familiar with the local setup. In the event that you
1 approve this course of action I should suggest that you authorize
the Mayor and the Clerk to confer sometime with this firm in
New York City in order to ascertain the expense that would be
involved to the Village in the matter as near as it may be
ascertained before examination of the problem and to authorize
them to retain on behalf of the Village this firm for the
purpose of clearing up the difficulties. I may say that it will
be impossible to obtain exactly any idea as to the amount of
expense that would be involved. No reputable firm of attorneys
will state the cost of their services until they know what is
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involved. ',+e are asking at the present time for a diagnosis.
There may well be a great deal of difficulty. There may be very
little. Personally I suspect .a lot.
I should then consider the appointment of some village
lawyer to whom the firm could report its recommendations and who
could report to the Village the desirability of the prognosis
made by our attorneys. I.would be willing to act in this
capacity myself if you found my services desirable....
It seemed to be the consensus of opinion that no immediate action is
necessary, and after some discussion of the Clerk's letter Mr. Dale
moved and Mr. Baxter seconded the motion that the Village pay $2500
on the sewer certificates. This was voted.
6. The Engineer reported with regard to his activities:
a. The helper, Mr. Collins, was laid off about the, „first.,of December.
Haskins and the truck are working only as needed on sanding roads. The
Engineer reported that he felt Haskin's time since the 15th of December
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ought to be charged to 5f instead of 5b, and that 5b could be cleared
up and what is ldit charged to 5f.
b. The snow plough has been out only`once:;The Engineer estimated
that $80 or:$90 would be needed for sanding,through, the second half
of December 'and' Jan'd&r"y, . the balance of this ?fi'sc ail ' year. "Although $150
was spent last winter,,the Engineer estimates,that�$200 will just about
cover the expense;of,this` winter. One,reasori for�tlie-additional expense
of sanding to the Village is the fact that the School Board has adopted
the policy of trucking pupils down`th.e Devon`Road and the stretch just
above Highland;'and so that that pie oe of the highway has to be,'kept
pretty well sanded.
c. The Engineer further reported that approximately two - thirds,
of the lights have been installed. Most of the new poles are on
Hanshaw Road. There was some delay in .,installation on Hanshaw Road
because of Professor Weld's and Mr. Blood's objection to'the placing
of poles in such a way as to interfere with their view.. The Engineer
anticipates that by the time of the* next meeting all lights will be
in place. '
d. The Engineer in further enumerating his activities'brought up
the matter of revision of the map. All properties in the Village have
been checked in the`d�egd books in the County Clerk's,Off.ce and<<changes
made on the map•. House numbers are also included. The sewer layout
is also shown.on the new map, together with various.elevations. Nine.
prints-have, been made of the map; one.has been given to the City Water
Department, one to the City Fire Department; one to the City, Sewer
Department; the Village Clerk,'the Mayo r,.the Treasurer,. Village`Fore
man and.two for the.Engineer. Each.lot is. designated by two numbers,
the title number.and the house number.' The Mayor suggested the'
desirability of'having.,a,.system of numbering for assessment purposes
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(parcel numbers). The Engineer commented that he had already done.
so in on his own copies and the copy supplied_to the Clerk. It,is the
opinion of the Engineer that the map as now revised should save time
as well as avoiding mistakes.
e. The matter of the sandbank property was then taken up by the
Engineer. Mr. Newman and Mrs. Reynolds!proposed sometime ago-to convey
that property to the Village, and thereupon the Engineer made a map
and submitted it to.Mr. Newman. Now Mr. Newman has decided that he would
like to save out- w piece in the middle of it for a period-of years
in order to take out more sand and gravel for•use on some of his
roads The Engfffber.has already told Mr. Newman that hey doubted the
Village would approve of such a proposition but that he would bring
it to the attention of the Board. After some discussion, it was
voted•that unless Mr. Newman would be willing to deed it outright, he
might better keep the "entire property.
f. The Engineer reported then on another matter which concerns Mr.
Newman. In,order to improve water pressure several years ago 'the Village
contributed several thousand dollars, parties concerned a certain sum,
Mr. Newman $2. 1.000, as well as owners of the Village,. thus making up
about $17,000. An agreement was signed "in October 1932 which laid down
the status of the water system. In the case of outside parties if
they wanted to connect they would have to make two payments, one.to
Mr. Newman to cover the cost of the main and one to the Village which
would represent a contribution for part of the expense of putting in
new improvements. It provided that of those outside payments.'half went
to Mr. Newman and half to the Village." But now the'EIIgineer has.been'
informed that Mr.- Newman has sold several people on Hanshaw Roadtthe_ right
tosattach to-his main.. In one instance on the,Villaga assessment a.person
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has been listed for 610o. Mr.'Newman: has charged him $300 for
tieing.in on the main, and this person cannot see why he should
have to pay Mr.'Ne'vmian'as well as'the Village. Property owners
are given the',right to connect with the'system,,th6 Engineer
explained,, by obtaining a permit. from' the' City to, attach to the
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main.
IT WAS VOTED that Mr. Newman should negotiat6'with Mr. Newman
with regard to'the water problem
The Engineer reported that the light,in front of.Professor G.-,W.
Herrick's home, 219 Kelvin Plade'', has been shifted from 60';to.the_'
north so that it.will light BrookLane and,Keloin'Pleoe.. He drew a
sketch on the blackboard to illustrate the�present,looation.
The Mayor then presented the question of disposing,of.the '
small piece of land at the.corner of Parkway. and „ Oak. Hill .Road.-
The fraternity would be perfectly willing to acquire.the'land if
the Village would either sell it.to them.;.or give it to them. There
seems to -be no particular advantage to the _Village to hold.this land.
Mr. Powell who has recently represented the fraternity in, their,-..,
assessment complaint has asked the Mayor.for.an, expression of opinion
from the Board. The Engineer commented.on.the fact that the.Village
has already spent a considerable sum of money, putting the curb, along
the street. It seemed to the Board to be a good idea to,get this,
particular piece of property on the'private assessment roll.. No.formal
action will be taken.at present, but if.the fraternity.chooses to
make an offer, the Board-.will consider the matter further.:..
9. The Mayor reported that the appointment'of Dr. Crum :as bf..'
September 73 1935 was illegal because.it was made ten days too:early,
according to a letter received from Dr.,V.A...Volkenburgh, Assistant
District,State Health Officer under date.of December 169 1935, The
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letter folldws:
December 16, 1935
Mr: John W. MacDonald, Clerk
Village of Cayuga Heights
Ithaca, New York
Dear Mr. MacDonald: •„
I beg to acknowledge receipt on December 16th`6f'
notification form for the appointment of Dr.
Crum as Health Officer of the Village of Cayuga.Heights
with date of appointment as of September 7, 1935 for the
regular term ending September 16, 1939.
I am herewith returning said official notification
of appointment. Since the original date of appointment
was September 16, 1915, this appointment must b mate
o tiimm subbs uent to S tember 16th since it �ias een
ie�� ilieg l fF an avuo�itment to be made in advance
of the e�4 rat on dat8.
' It will be necessary therefore, providing the
appointment was made prior to expiration of term that the
Board meet and if so desired, appoint Dr. Crum again in
order that his appointment may be legal. I am sorry
for this inconvenience but I feel sure you would wish
to be certain that the appointment was legal in all
respects.
A blank notification form is enclosed for reporting the
appointment when consummated.
Yours very truly,.
(signed) V. A. VanVolkenburgh,(M. D.
Ass +t. Dist. State Health Officer
IT 14VAS VOTED that Dr. Crum be appointed health officer
for the statutory term.
10 The meeting adjourned 9:35 P. M.
T-T,