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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-06-1995 & 11-20-1995MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1995 @ 7:00 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald E. Cummings, Councilman Carl E. Haynes, Councilman Francis Casullo, Attorney Others present: Leland Cornelius, Lee Shurtleff, Carol Marks, Joan Fitch. Other Interested Parties (As attached to Public Hearing minutes.) Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, that the minutes of October 16 and 19 be approved as mailed. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. Claim Nos. 261 to 282 of General Fund in the amount of $5,934.16 and Claim Nos. 168 to 180 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $10,101.04 were presented for audit. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. Claim Nos. 19 to 22 of the HUD Special Grant #1 in the amount of $47,351.94 were presented for audit. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. LIZ BRENNAN - BOOKKEEPER - Absent - Supervisor Robinson said that we needed to transfer $800 from Contingency to printing. RESOLUTION NO. 56 - AUTHORIZATION TO TRANSFER FUNDS Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfers: FROM: Contingency A1990.4 $800.00 TO: Central Printing & Mail A1670.4 $800.00 GEORGE SENTER - CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - Absent - Clerk Colleen Pierson read report. Building Permits issued year -to -date. 1994 825 Houses 12 Mobile Homes 65 Other 1995 9710 Houses 22 Mobile Homes 65 Other Life Safety Inspections are current through October. 1 LELAND CORNELIUS, HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - Nothing other than the Loader. COLLEEN D. PIERSON, TOWN CLERK - Monthly report was review by Board. Would like the Board's authorization to attend the New York State Town Clerk's Association Regional Meeting in Batavia on December 3rd and 4th. As a Director of this Association, most of the fees are absorbed by the Association. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings, that Town Clerk, Colleen Pierson, be authorized to attend the Regional Meeting of the New York State Town Clerk's Association in Batavia. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. TOWN JUSTICE REPORTS - Reports were reviewed by the Town Board Members. 7:30 P.M. - BID OPENING FOR WHEEL LOADER Bid #1 - George & Swede Sales & Service, Inc. 7155 Big Tree Road Pavilion, NY 14525 Model HL750 Hyundai - $48,977 Bid #2 - Rupp Rental & Sales Corp 720 East Franklin Street Endicott, NY 13760 Samsung SL 150 - $84,819 Bid #3 - SC Hansen, Inc. 110 Ithaca Road Horseheads, NY 14845 Case Model 721B - $44,311 Bid #4 - Five Star Equipment, Inc. 1653 NY Route 11 Kirkwood, NY John Deere Model 624G - $50,560 Bid #5 - Syracuse Supply 2909 Vestal Road Vestal, NY Cat 938F - $58,252 Highway Superintendent and Attorney Casullo will go over bids at a later date. 7:45 P.M. - HEARING - DOG ORDINANCE - INCREASE IN FEES See minutes of Public Hearings. 8:00 P.M. - 1996 PRELIMINARY BUDGET HEARING See minutes of Public Hearings 8:30 P.M. - 1996 GROTON FIRE DEPARTMENT HEARING See minutes of Public Hearings Board Meeting recessed at 9:15PM. 2 Board Meeting reconvened at 9:35PM. Supervisor Robinson said that the Town had received over one million thirty thousand dollars worth of HUD grants for the years 1994, 1995 and 1996. They are still available for Town outside Village residents. We are also applying for additional monies through Better Housing to be used with matching funds from Town residents. Town received notification of Transportation NYSDOT Transportation Enhancement Program Project Solicitation. Everyone is Tompkins County is urged to submit project proposals to the ITCTC. Also a copy of the Tompkins County Greenway Coalition report entitled BUILDING GREENWAYS FOR TOMPKINS COUNTY: AN ACTION PLAN is filed in the Town Clerks Office and is available to members of the public. We have been notified that the bridge in Peruville next to the former store has had a weight limit of 16 tons put on it. The Walpole Road bridge is finished. Spring Street Bridge has also had a 20 ton limit put on it by the County. The limits put on the Peruville bridge probably was to control salt trucks from using this as a short cut. We have advisory boards that need to have people appointed to. Lee Shurtleff said that he and Willis Sheldon are already appointed to the Fire, Disaster and EMS Advisory Board. We have the Tompkins County Youth Board and we have the Environmental Management Council. Elizabeth Brenner has been our appointment to the EMC and Steve Gallow has been appointed to the youth. The third one is the Fire and Disaster Advisory Board. Supervisor Robinson would like to serve on the Office of Aging Advisory Board. George Totman thought that McLean made their appointments around the first of the year. RESOLUTION NO. 57 - APPOINTMENTS TO COUNTY ADVISORY BOARDS Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby appoint the following to County Advisory Boards: Appoint LEE SHURTLEFF and WILLIS SHELDON to the Fire, Disaster and EMS Advisory Board for a term of two years; Appoint STEVEN GALLOW to the Tompkins County Youth Advisory Board for a term of three years; Appoint ELIZABETH BRAUNER to the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council for a term of two years; and Appoint TERESA ROBINSON to the Office of Aging Advisory Board for a term of two years. Supervisor Robinson wished to make a special thank you to Tracy Smith of the Tompkins County Planning Department who has moved on to a new job down south. 3 She has been in the Circuit Rider Program and helped us with a lot of our planning working with our Planning Board who were very happy with Tracy and we all thank her very much and wish her the best in her new job. Attorney Casullo and Board Members discussed draft of Policy for Alcohol and Controlled Substance Testing for the Town of Groton. Policy will be sent to Gregory & Howe for their review and also copies will be given to each highway employee for their review and or comments. All CDL drivers and Superintendent will be attending a school in this regard on November 28th in Ithaca. It was decided to postpone taking action on the policy until the December board meeting and let the representative and highway employees review policy prior to approval by Board. Supervisor Robinson has had senior citizens ask about increasing their aged exemption. They would like us to increase this income limit. The school, village and town currently have the same income limit. Town Clerk felt that the exemption was currently at the maximum allowed. Supervisor Robinson said that no information had been received from Diversified Technologies. Discussed increasing dog fees. Consensus of the Board was that the fee should be increased so that dog owners are paying cost of administering the dog program. The people here tonight were complaining about the SPCA. I think this is an issue we can take up next year before signing our contract. Without the $2.50 per dog increase, we will continue to have non -dog owners paying for contract which isn't right. Clerk suggested we have a dog enumeration as soon as possible so as to get all dogs licensed which would help to increase dog revenues for the Town. RESOLUTION NO. 58 - AMEND ORDINANCE RELATING TO OWNING OR HARBORING AN UNLICENSED DOG Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton does hereby amend Ordinance Relating to Owning or Harboring an Unlicensed Dog to provide for increased fees and duly adopted the following ordinance: LEGAL NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 130 of the Town Law of the State of New York that the Town Board of the Town of Groton , New York, has on the 6th day of November, 1995, adopted the following ordinance: ORDINANCE RELATING TO OWNING OR HARBORING AN UNLICENSED DOG 1. LICENSE: Any person a resident of the Town of Groton who owns or harbors a dog six months of age or older shall immediately make application for a dog license.No license shall be required for any dog which is under the age of six months and which is not 4 at large. 2.FEE: The license fee shall be as follows payable to the Town Clerk or the Town of Groton (a) For each neutered male or spayed female - $10.00. (b) For each unneutered male or unspayed female - $15.00. 3.VIOLATIONS: 1. It shall be a violation for any owner who fails to license any dog and pay the license fee as provided in Section 1 and Section 2 of this ordinance. 2. The violation shall be punishable upon conviction by a fine not to exceed ten dollars ($10.00). Effective date of Ordinance is January 1, 1996. The Ordinance adopted January 7, 1991, is hereby amended. Board discussed information on loader. Councilman VanBenschoten said that it would cost $2000 /month to lease a loader. Board discussed setting another date to take a look at budget prior to adopting. This must be done no later than November 20, 1995. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten, at 10:15PM, to adjourn meeting until Monday, November 20, 1995, at 7:00 P.M. until we get information on loader and consider if we can reduce budget any more. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1995 AT 7:00 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald E. Cummings, Councilman Carl E. Haynes, Councilman Fran Casullo, Attorney Absent: Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Also present: Daniel Carey, Don Palmer, Peg Palmer, Leland Cornelius, Tom Frisinger - Five Star Equipment, Chris Veurdi - WHCU Radio, Betty Sperger, John McGraw, Victona Spagnoli - Cortland Standard, Bob Walpole, Mark Robinson 5 This is a continuation of our November 6, 1995 Board Meeting. The Tompkins County Municipal Official's Association is co- sponsoring a series of upcoming training sessions for newly elected and experienced local government officials. A Primer for Newly Elected Town and County Officials will be held on Nov. 30 at 7:00 -9:00 PM at the Tompkins County Board Room. A Teleconference for Newly Elected Town Officials will be held December 11 at 6:45 -9:30 PM at Cornell Cooperative Ext. Education Center. A Teleconference on Providing Leadership to Local Government in a Changing Political and Fiscal Landscape will be held on December 12 from 6:45 - 9:00 PM at Cornell Cooperative Extension Education Center. Pre - registration is requested. Daniel Carey and Don Palmer plan to attend the session on December 11th. Discussed Planning Boards recommendation on noise ordinance. A portion of the minutes of the Planning Board were given to the Town Board for their review. Other towns around us do not have a noise ordinance mainly because of the fact that it's almost impossible to enforce. Planning Boards recommendation to the Town Board was that they think it would be an insurmountable thing to ask a part -time Zoning Officer to handle -- George doesn't work full time, he works part time. The Planning Board suggested that the Town Board look up the Penal Law, Section 240 -20. Under that Penal Law, people have a right to call the police and have somebody arrested if they're willing to sign a complaint that they're making an unreasonable noise. Betty Sperger - I think Mr. Totman is all wet about calling the police, because it doesn't work. We've already tried that. That's not a solution. Does that mean the Town Board just drops it now? Fran Casullo - I can draft a noise ordinance if that is what you want. I wouldn't go with the disorderly conduct which is under the Penal Law. It's basically more of a civil type of matter when people are making too much noise. You are going under the criminal statute and I just think you would be a lot better spelling out what you feel would be an unacceptable noise level instead of going under 240 -20 of the Penal Law which really to me doesn't really spell it out all that much. It just says makes unreasonable noise. Most Towns that want to regular noise usually do it through a noise ordinance and stay out of the penal or criminal law area. The police agency enforces ordinance. They usually use their own discretion when contacting person. I can have something ready for your next meeting. As a courtesy, we can let the Planning Board look at it, but the final say will be the Town Board. Town Board Members, Town Attorney and Highway Superintendent discussed bids received for the loader. Bids in the running are the Cat, John Deere and the Hyunde. The John Deere would be the best value for your dollar and the closest for which you specified for. John Deere and Hyunda also submitted a lease proposal. The lease for the Hyunda would be more expensive to lease out. With the Hyunde you would end up paying an extra $2,477. They are giving you a trade in of $47,550 leaving a difference of $48,977. Quaranteed total cost of repairs is $4500.00. The key here is they are giving a $51,000 repurchase price at the end of seven years. John Deere would sell it to you for $98,560, essentially about $2000 more than Hyunde. They would be giving you $48,000 as a trade in. There difference would be $50,560. At that point the Hyundi would be about $1000 cheaper. The John Deere would give you a quaranteed total cost of repairs of about $6000. It's about $1500 more for the John Deere than for the Hyundi. The John Deere is going to give you $59,000 for a guaranteed purchase at the end of seven years which is $8,000 more than the repurchase price for the Hyundi. There is where you have the big swing. When you get done adding up the numbers, it turns out that you would be saving, because you have such a high repurchase price, you would be saving $2520 with the John Deere. John Deere is closer to the specs. Hyunde lease is for 60 months at a cost of $968.88 or the 84 month plan would cost you $730.60 per month. To lease would cost you more plus you have no guaranteed repurchase price. John Deere came in with a lease of the same amount as if you were buying it. There is no significant advantage in leasing. Councilman Haynes - Comparing lease with purchase, I go along with purchase. The bid is $10,000 lower than we originally had estimated in the budget. In this years budget we had $36,000 and we've got the reserve fund that has about the same amount of money. I think we need a permissive referendum in order to removed funds from the reserve fund. Board Members and members of the public discussed how to finance loader and not increase taxes any more. RESOLUTION NO. 59 - ACCEPT BID FOR JOHN DEERE LOADER Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton purchase a John Deere Model 624G loader from Five Star Equipment, Inc. for a total sales price of $56,480.00. The funds to be used by the Town of Groton for the purchase of the loader is as follows: 1.The sum of $25,280 is to come from the machinery account as stated in the current budget; 2.The sum of $25,280 is to come from the capital reserve account and all legal action that may be necessary to use funds from this account including a permissive referendum will be undertaken if required; 3.The sum of $5,920 will be paid over a period of time to Five Star Equipment, Inc., pursuant to an agreement mutually acceptable to Five Star Equipment, Inc. and the Town of Groton. The acceptance of the bid of Five Star Equipment, Inc., by the Town of Groton for the purchase of the John Deer Model 624G loader is expressly conditioned upon the Town of Groton being able to use monies out of the capital reserve account. In the event that the Town of Groton cannot use monies from the capital reserve account, the acceptance of the Five Star Equipment, Inc. bid, as well as another bid is hereby rejected. Mark Robinson made the motion from the floor that the Town Board adopt the 7 1996 preliminary budget as presented at the hearing. This was seconded by Robert Walpole from the floor. RESOLUTION NO. 60 - ADOPT 1996 TOWN BUDGET Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. Haynes Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby adopt the 1996 Preliminary Budget as the 1996 Town Budget. At 8:20 PM, Councilman Haynes moved to go into executive session to discuss a legal matter. Seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Unanimous. Board Meeting reconvened at 8:20PM. Moved by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, to schedule a public hearing on December 11, 1995, at 8:OOPM for the purpose of discussing amending Section 3 (Violations) of the Ordinance relating to owning and harboring an unlicensed dog. Ayes - Sovocool, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson. There being no further business, Mr. Haynes moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Mr. Cummings, at 8:40PM. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk 8