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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-1994MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1994 AT 7:30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald E. Cummings, Councilman Carl E. Haynes, Councilman Jack Fitzgerald, Attorney Absent: Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Also present: Leland Cornelius, Liz Brennan, Betty Sperger, Elsie DeCamp, Bob Bernhardt, Orlando Houghtaling Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, that the minutes of January 10th be approved as mailed. Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. Claim Nos. 2 to 23 of the Highway Department in the amount of $24,032.90, and Claim Nos. 8 to 40 of the General Fund in the amount of $116,908.50 were presented for audit. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. LIZ BRENNAN - BOOKKEEPER - I'm still working on the annual report. I have some transfers on the 93 budget that need to be made. I need a transfer from Machinery .4 - $12,900.53. It's going to Machinery .1 - $8,067.93; Services to Other Govts .1 - $119.19; Services to Other Govts .4 - $4,670.35; and to Social Security .8 - $43.06. And also in this years Highway Fund from Snow Removal .4 - $8,000.00 to Snow Removal (sick time) .12 - $8,000.00. This is to cover one of the highway employees who is retiring. Also, in the Highway Fund we had appropriated in the 1994 budget that we would have $200,000.00 ...... well, we're short on that. We should amend the budget .........(Recorder would not pick up -- speaking too softly). I recommend we amend the 1994 Highway Fund Townwide Budget to increase Appropriated Fund Balance DA599 by $38,919.72 by decreasing Machinery (Equipment) DA5130.2 by $38,919.72. Liz explained to Board that .4 is contractual covering parts, etc. and .1 is salary. Services to other governments is when they are working for the County. We needed money for salary and to pay for salt. We had a lot more overtime during the end of the year and the beginning of January. 1 RESOLUTION NO. 9 - APPROVE 1993 TRANSFERS IN HIGHWAY FUND Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfers: From: Machinery DA5130.4 $12,900.53 To:Machinery DA5130.1 8,067.93 To:Services to Other Govts DA5148.1 119.19 To:Services to Other Govts DA5148.4 4,670.35 To:Social Security DA9030.8 43.06 Discussed 1994 transfers. Liz said they don't get paid for accumulated vacation but they get paid for accrued sick time up to 720 hours. Ken Marks will retire the end of February. Sick time and vacation comes out of snow removal. There are different line items. Mr. Haynes asked if the auditors didn't require us to have this money set aside. Liz said it is in long term debt which we've noted somewhere but the actual money is not a line item in our operating budget so money isn't set aside for that. It's just noted in the accounting records that we would have to come up with the money. They're thinking of changing it and making it a line item in the Budget. RESOLUTION NO. 10 - APPROVE TRANSFERS IN 1994 HIGHWAY FUND Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the following transfers for 1994: From:Snow Removal DA5142.4 $8,000.00 To:Snow Removal (sick time) DA5142.12 8,000.00 Discussed proposed amendment to 1994 budget. Mr. Haynes said basically we were estimating that we had a $200,000 fund balance and we really wound up with $161,000, so therefore the amount of appropriated 1994 fund balance was basically $39,000 short. What we're having to do is decrease that budget by $39,000. Liz said we have a choice -- increase revenues and in that fund is the money we get from the county for roads and interest on savings account but there is no revenues so we really have to look at appropriations. Mr. Haynes asked if this amounts to a bottom line change in our budget since we decreased both the revenue and expenditure side of the budget. Liz agreed. Liz said 2 you could increase the budget if you had additional revenues coming in. She said it is recommended to decrease it because you don't want to be short at the end. Liz said it appears that we're going to be short on fund balance -- not that we're out of fund balance but it's not as much as we said we were going to have. RESOLUTION NO. 11 - AMEND 1994 BUDGET Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize to amend the 1994 Highway Fund Townwide Budget to increase Appropriated Fund Balance DA599 to $38,919.72 by decreasing Machinery (Equipment) DA5130.2 by $38,919.72. Liz said that by the next Board Meeting she would have a copy of the annual report ready for Board Members. Mr. Haynes asked if we would have the audit to. Liz said the audits are usually scheduled in March. Town Clerk asked if we had a contract for audit. Usually the auditors send up a contract for Board approval before doing an audit. Supervisor Robinson said no, we don't have any thing. Since no one has any correspondence from the auditors, the Board asked Supervisor Robinson to contact them for a quote. GEORGE SENTER - CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - There is not much to report on building permits. Year -to -date building permits issued: January 1993 - 3 misc. - No houses or mobile homes January 1994 - 2 misc. - No houses or mobile homes I have three life safety inspections left to do in February - Peruville Church, McLean Church and McLean Post Office. I denied Sherry O'Brien's renewal for his Motor Vehicle Repair Shop because he is not complying with stipulations set by the Planning Board. I also found out from Mike Competello that half of the area where Sherry parks his cars belongs to Competello. I understand also that the pickup Corney intends to purchase does not require a trade in. I would like the Board to consider keeping it around for use by the Code Enforcement Officer. We could put a logo on the side to identify vehicle as the Town of Groton Zoning Officer. LELAND CORNELIUS - HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - I have a couple resolutions here. One is to buy bituminous on State Bid and the other is to buy bituminous, culvert pipe, calcium, etc. on County Bid. 3 RESOLUTION NO. 12 - AUTHORIZE HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TO PURCHASE ON STATE BID Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Highway Superintendent to purchase oil and related products from State Contract Bids as appropriate. RESOLUTION NO. 13 - AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN COOPERATIVE PURCHASING OF HIGHWAY SERVICES WITH TOMPKINS COUNTY Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson WHEREAS. the Office of the State Comptroller has ruled that counties may no longer extend their bids for public work (services) to political subdivisions, and WHEREAS, General Municipal Law Section 119 -0 provides for municipalities entering into cooperative purchasing agreements to jointly bid needed services, and WHEREAS, General Municipal Law, Article 5 -G, Section 119 -0 states that "any agreement entered into hereunder shall be approved by each participating municipal corporation or district by a majority vote of its governing body," now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton be hereby authorized to participate with Tompkins County in the cooperative purchasing of various highway services. Mr. Cornelius said he finally received State Contract prices for pickup trucks. It is a Ford. Base price is 9,192.00. He would like to have automatic transmission, non -spin differential and a V -8 engine. This is an additional cost of $1,629.00. He would also like to have a better seat put in the truck. Total Genesee Ford price is $10,821.00. Northtown Dodge price was $11,097.00. Walter's Chevrolet price was $13,900.00. The latter two were with trade. If you sell our old truck, you have to take bids. The best way is to take it down to auction. They sell real good in Lansing. 4 RESOLUTION NO. 14 - ACCEPT STATE BID PRICE FOR 1994 PICKUP Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby accept State Bid on new 1994 Ford Pickup in the amount of $10,821.00. Board reviewed Town Clerk's Monthly Report, Tax Collector's Report and Town Justice Reports. BETTY SPERGER - Has Diversified started paying on their loan? Supervisor Robinson said that they have been negotiating. Mrs. Sperger asked how long can they negotiate, for the next ten years? We are negotiating now, since February 1st. Mrs. Sperger asked how about the sound system. Supervisor Robinson said, "I haven't done anything. I've had other important things to do. " ................ Mr. Haynes asked Atty. Fitzgerald what the status was of the contract we have with Diversified. Atty. advised that they are in default -- solution is foreclosure. The people who sold it to them have the lean ahead of us. Equipment is second mortgage and we suspect the value of this is not what they owe us. The only thing we would be doing is putting them out of business. The practical thing to do is ride it out. This was a HUD grant from the Federal Government to create jobs in the community. Mr. Sovocool asked if they are paying the interest at all? Supervisor Robinson said they have paid minimal, very little. Our Agreement for the 1st year in which they would pay interest only was up February 1st. We are negotiating now, this means Diversified, Town Board and the Bank. (Town Board, Bob Bernhardt, and Town Attorney discussed status of Diversified's non - payment of grant monies.) The Board asked Attorney Fitzgerald to write a letter requesting a financial statement and pointing out the obvious to them and requesting that we set up a realistic payment plan and have them attend our next Board Meeting. Supervisor Robinson received three quotations for the Town's insurance program. (1)Dempsey Insurance Agency 102 Main Street Groton, NY 13073 Total Quotation - $35,454.31 (Optional - one million umbrella - $1,968.00) (2)Cotterill Agency 78 North Street Dryden, NY 13053 Total Quotation - $31,154.00 plus $3380.00 = $34,534.00 (Public Officials - $3380.00) k, (3)Lawrence United Corporation 4005 West Road Cortland, NY 13045 Total Quotation - $35,923.64 Board Members reviewed three insurance proposals. Doug Cotterill briefly explained his quotation. He explained that he did not include a quote for Public Officials since he uses the same broker /companies as Lawrence Group and they only release the quote to one agent. This quote enhances the Town's coverage in several areas. For instance, deductibles are $500 instead of $1,000 in current policy and also includes rental reimbursement which we do not have now. There is also a Public Employee Blanket Bond in addition to the Position Bond. It also includes an Umbrella with a limit of $1,000,000. Board asked Chris Dempsey to come in to answer a couple questions on his insurance quotation. Basically what we are proposing is the same as current policy with a two million liability coverage on the general liabilities with three million aggregate. Covering of the Officials is through the Crime and Bond item. Equipment is the same as we have now. This is a strait two million dollar policy. Presently you have a million dollar policy with a million dollar umbrella. Board Members discussed the three insurance proposals later in the evening. All three proposals were within less than $1000.00. Our insurance has been out of town for the past two years. It would be appropriate to keep it local for this year. RESOLUTION NO. 15 - ACCEPT INSURANCE QUOTATION FROM DEMPSEY INSURANCE AGENCY Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton does hereby accept the Insurance Quotation submitted by Dempsey Insurance Agency of Groton, NY, in the amount of $35,454.31. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings, to authorize the following to attend the Annual Association of Towns Conference in NYC on February 20 - 23: Teresa Robinson, George Totman, Arland Heffron, Alton Alexander, Mary Decker, Monica Carey and John Pachai. Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. Supervisor Robinson said the American Community Cablevision Franchise is up on July 10, 1994. She would like to have the Board pass a resolution to be sent to the NYS Commission on Television in Albany. We have three options: 1) The Town of Groton in Tompkins County is familiar with requirements of the Cable Act of 1992 concerning cable television rates, and, on (date) resolved to undertake rate regulation itself in compliance with federal law as n implemented by the Federal Communications Commission. 2) The Town of Groton in Tompkins County is familiar with the requirements of the Cable Act of 1992 concerning cable television rates, and, on (date), resolved to have the NY State Commission on Cable Television undertake rate regulation for said municipality in compliance with federal law as implemented by the Federal Communications Commission. 3) The Town of Groton in Tompkins County is familiar with the requirements of the Cable Act of 1992, concerning cable television rates, and, on (date), resolved not to regulate rates at this time for reasons set forth in the attached statement. What I would like to have you pass is option No. 2 above. They will help us when it comes time to negotiate a new Franchise. In other words we are asking the State to help us by way of resolution. RESOLUTION NO. 15 - APPROVAL TO HAVE NY STATE COMMISSION ON CABLE TELEVISION UNDERTAKE RATE REGULATION Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton in Tompkins County is familiar with the requirements of the Cable Act of 1992 concerning cable television rates, and, on February 14, 1994, resolved to have the NY State Commission on Cable Television undertake rate regulation for said municipality in compliance with federal law as implemented by the Federal Communications Commission. The above resolution will be forwarded to the NYS Commission on Cable Television, Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower, Albany, NY 12223. Attorney Fitzgerald had reviewed sample of proposed local law governing Planning Board and Appeals Board Members. He did not know the background of this, but Subsection 9 provides for the removal of office for attendance and also must attend training as required by the Town Board. No. 1 - It is very difficult to get these people in the first place. No. 2 - I don't know how serious your problem is here. No. 3 - In reading the local law from Dryden, I see a serious problem with the Town Attorney imprinting himself on the Board which I don't think is a good thing. Town Clerk explained that that local law was only to be used as a guide in drafting our Local Law pertaining to attendance and seminars. Attorney Fitzgerald suggested that we get a hold of George Totman and get his input. Supervisor Robinson said the Town's Health Insurance Policy has gone up considerably. She would like to look into this but it is something that you can't jump into. In checking it out, there are several possibilities including other carriers. I'd also like to talk it over with the members and the fellows since they are paying for it. It also is important what you want......... The deductible for single coverage is $50.00 and for family $150.00. Mr. Haynes suggested we increase the deductible to $1000.00 with the Town making up the difference. This would have to be checked out and may not 7 work since we have a very small group. He suggested that we look around at other carriers. Possibilities include contacting the Association of Towns to see what they have, contacting the County to see what coverage they have and if we could join their group, and also check with Blue Cross /Blue Shield to see what other plans they have. Consensus of Board was that we have different carriers come in to discuss various policies with Board. Supervisor Robinson stated that Orlando Houghteling is the President of the Youth Commission now. He is very active and very interested in it. One of the things that we've done is gone into a pilot plan to take all the money and have it go to the Village. The reason is that the Village handles Youth Programs for the Park and all that so the moneys that the Town gets will go through there. We're trying to cut down on paper work and a lot of pushing money from here and there. One of the other things that we're going to do is we're going to coordinate our Youth Commission with other Commissions, hopefully, right, and we're looking into the possibility of going with BOCES and TC3. Orlando indicated that what we do is contract with Family and Childrens' Service through the County for a coordinator, people to help the Youth Workers in specific areas, and also they hire the Youth Workers and those type of things. BOCES also has that type of program. The County does not want to contract with Family and Childrens' Services, for what reason, we're not sure. That is discontinuing July 1st. So, we're going to have to do something. We've also looked at possibly hiring the youth through the Village, as a possibility, and getting some coordination from one or the other organizations also. This all came about in November when the County said they were not going to contract any more, so we had to start looking for options. We have a meeting Thursday with BOCES at 4:00 P.M. It is a presentation to see what they can offer. Supervisor Robinson said that we and the County Youth Board have an agreement that the monies that the County is going to get will come through them to the Village and any payment that we make to them will be made to the Village. This will cut down on all this paper work. I have to have a resolution stating this so that ...............like the letter I just showed you. So, I'd like to have a resolution stating that so when you paid the money out to the Village for the Youth Commission it would be promised ........ Board asked how much do we pay? Supervisor Robinson said we pay roughly $12,000 or what ever we get from the County. RESOLUTION NO. 16 - GROTON YOUTH COMMISSION PILOT PROGRAM Moved by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Mr. Haynes Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby agree to participate in Tompkins Counties pilot program for the Groton Youth Commission with the Village of Groton administering funds for the Town of Groton in order to reduce paperwork and reimbursement delays associated with the Division for Youth Funds. Supervisor Robinson would like to be re- appointed to the Tompkins County Hospital Corporation Board. 8 RESOLUTION NO. 17 - APPOINTMENT TO TOMPKINS COUNTY HOSPITAL CORPORATION nnnun Moved by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the re- appointment of Teresa Robinson as a representative to the Tompkins County Hospital Corporation Board for a term of two years. Supervisor Robinson reminded Board Members of the Recognition Dinner being held for Phil Shurtleff at the Legion on Friday, February 18th at 6:30 P.M. There being no further business, Mr. Sovocool moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Mr. Cummings, at 10:10 P.M. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk 1