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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-1997 MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1997 AT 7:30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Donald N. Palmer, Councilman Daniel J. Carey, Councilman Fran Casullo, Attorney Also present: Liz Brennan, Leland Cornelius, George Senter, Marvin Smith, Rick Beals, Peg Palmer, George Totman, Doug Brown Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten, that the minutes of April 15 and 22, 1997 be approved as submitted. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson. Claim Nos. 57 to 76 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $22,301.80 and Claim Nos. 80 to 116 of the General Fund in the amount of $22,517.20 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson. Claim Nos. 94 to 99 of the Special Grant Fund (HUD) in the amount of $5,241.62 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman VanBenschoten, seconded by Councilman Carey, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson. RICK BEALS - NOLIS & BEALS - CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS - Handed out three reports pertaining to the audit report for the Town of Groton for the year ending December 31, 1996 -- Report on Audit of Financial Statements, Management Letter and the Justice Court Audit. Mr. Beals went over the highlights of the single audit report with the Board. A single audit report was required since we received HUD monies in excess of $25,000. Mr. Beals felt that the Town is addressing the drastic fund balance decreases and didn't feel that it was decreasing at nearly the rate it was before. The fund balances now are at a sufficient level where the Town is in no danger of becoming insolvent. The Town has raised additional property taxes in trying to address the additional revenue side of the thing. Mr. Beals also reported on the Town Justice Court audit. LIZ BRENNAN - BOOKKEEPER - Handed out April Reports. We need a budget amendment for recycling services. There was one last payroll and that was for $39.00. We get money back from the County on this. We are going to set it up as Estimated Revenue -Recycling Services for County for $39.00 and Appropriation, Recycling, Personal Services for $39.00. We also have a transfer from Gen. Fund Contingency $538.43 to Central Garage for $472.85 and to Police, Contractual for $65.58. RESOLUTION NO. 28 - AUTHORIZATION TO AMEND BUDGET Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the amendment to the 1997 Town Budget as follows: Estimated Revenue 1 Recycling Services for County A2376 ............$39.00 Appropriations Recycling, Personal Service A8160.1 ............$39.00 RESOLUTION NO. 29 - AUTHORIZATION TO TRANSFER FUNDS Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Carey Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the transfer of funds as follows: General Fund (Townwide) From: Contingency A1990.4 ..........................$538.43 To: Central Garage A1640.4 .......................$472.85 Police, Contractual A3120.4 .................$ 65.58 MARGARET PALMER - COURT CLERK - The Town and Village of Groton have received their grant for updating the Court Automation System. They sent the Agreement and they will be sending the money to only one of the Municipalities because it's easier for them to work with only one instead of two entities, and they sent it to the Village of Groton. Mayor Toolan signed the Agreement and the money will be sent to the Village. Whenever the Village gets it set up, the Town will need to send over their money for the equipment. The grant was for $1620 something, whatever we requested. There were over 400 proposals sent out and 168 received and accepted 30. GEORGE TOTMAN - COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE - Nothing to say unless you have some questions. GEORGE SENTER - CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - Year-to-Date Building Permits issued: 1996 20 1 House 2 Mobile Homes 17 other 1997 20 1 House 7 Mobile Homes 12 others Annual tour yielded 31 letters written for unlicensed vehicles. This is a little bit better than last year. Letters are also sent for rubbish. Councilman Sovocool asked if George received a letter from Emeno? Yes, I did. I referred that to Fran Casullo who wrote a letter saying that it is a neighbor nuisance problem. It is nothing that the Town is responsible for. LELAND CORNELIUS - HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - We have a proposal for gas tanks. We have to have permits and contact with DEC. We have a proposal from C.T. Male, the same people we had for grease traps. They have three days to remove tanks. I figure it should take only one. The tests run out in June. One is a 10,000 gallon tank and the other a 2000 gallon. Proposal is for $5700.00. This includes taking samples after we get them out. Then we have to get them steam cleaned and have them cut up and hauled away. This is in addition to the proposal. C.T. Male takes care of the DEC permits. Councilman Carey said there are people looking for used tanks. Let them buy it, remove it and cut it up themselves. (Consensus of Board was to reduce number of days to remove tanks). We have $5000 in our Engineering Account. Councilman Palmer had a question for Corny. I was asked the other day, it appears to be there is some scrap metal and scrap aluminum and so on on Town property. Could that be disposed of and sold? Leland received a letter from Ted Marchell of Groton Memorials indicating an interest in purchasing the Town's 1954 Chevrolet dump truck. We have two other guys interested in it. I'd like to take that stuff down to that Municipal Auction in Lansing. We have three old trucks and one tractor that we got insurance money for after the building collapsed. Town Attorney suggested we wait until next month and let Corny list items to go and Board can act on a resolution at this time. Councilman Palmer said that the rest of the scrap metal could be gotten rid of, the stuff that is up in the 2 gravel bank. Corny asked how this could be done? Fran Casullo suggested it be a resolution. RESOLUTION NO. 30 - AUTHORIZATION TO DISPOSE OF SCRAP METAL Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Highway Superintendent, Leland Cornelius, to dispose of various scrap material on Town property in a way that he best sees fit. COLLEEN D. PIERSON - TOWN CLERK/TAX COLLECTOR - Town Clerk's Monthly Report and Tax Collector's Monthly Report were submitted for review. ARLAND HEFFRON & ALTON ALEXANDER - TOWN JUSTICES - Monthly Reports were submitted for review. Supervisor Robinson - Discuss the issue of possible discontinuance of sales tax on clothing and footwear. Do you have any comment George? Only the fact that the County is studying it. At this particular point they are waiting to see what happens at the State level. It will cost the County about $400,000 right now. There is three other counties near us that have applied to the State to do that. The Association of Counties have recommended that it would not be a wise move to have a few counties do it and some not do it. The State might decide to do it themselves because they are getting a lot of pressure from down state. Other than that, the County is on hold right now. Supervisor Robinson asked if there were any comments? George Senter - I think if you do something like this, the money has to come from somewhere, property tax increase, etc. To me it appears as a blessing for the businesses and not the residents. I'm not too sure I like it. That money has to be raised somewhere, somebody has got to pay it. Peg Palmer - What does the local board have to do with it? Supervisor Robinson - Nothing, to my concern right now, I don't think. Palmer & Robinson talking at the same time. Could not transcribe. Probably our sales tax would be less and we take the sales tax to lower our Town taxes. He's saying $400,000. Part of that money is going to lower our tax money that we get back from the county. Peg Palmer - I guess I was under the impression that it was what taxes that we earned here. I didn't realize that we earned a percentage of the county tax. Supervisor Robinson: We do. That's how come... We don't take a county sales tax .....interrupted. Peg Palmer - I realize that, but I didn't realize it was a percentage of the county tax that we received. Supervisor Robinson - We don't have that much here that we would. Peg Palmer - That's ...My point is that we don't sell that much clothing and shoes in Groton and I didn't realize that our sales tax was a percentage of the county tax. George Senter and Peg Palmer were discussing sales tax. Not audible for transcription. Supervisor Robinson - This is on discussion of recycling. I have several petitions here stating that they are not for it. I have a few letters that say they are for it. The nays out weight the ayes. Anyway, it depends upon what Dryden has to say and I have the feeling in talking with them that they are not too keen on it. They are meeting tonight so we will just have to wait to find out, but I don't think they are having any pressure to change so I think that will be the end of it. 3 Supervisor Robinson - Discuss Highway Services - Intermunicipal Cooperation Agreement. Do you have anything to say about that Mr. Cornelius? No, we don't have any agreement. We already exchange work with Dryden. They are just talking about coming up with agreements. Supervisor Robinson said that the Highway Superintendents have over the years been more cooperative than the other municipalities have and they have been doing it for years and years and haven't had any problem. Leland said that the meeting he attended in Ithaca was run by Barbara Blanchard from the city. Supervisor Robinson - Discuss establishing fees that may be paid by the Town to residents who serve as jurors at Town Court proceedings. As of now there is nothing that they are supposed to pay unless they ask. We should have a fee. Attorney Casullo said he did a little bit of research. In Section 1307 of the Uniform Justice Court Act. Basically it says the fee and mileage of jurors shall be as provided by or charged to the municipality, in this case, the Town. Basically, the County .............. When you get to thinking about it, you don't have this budgeted in your budget anyway. You are almost half way through the year now. This might be something you want to bring up at budget time when you are going to be factoring in how much money you want to be giving people for their services as well as their mileage. We probably would have to do a local law to set up the fees and the mileage. Where is the money coming from? The County operates under the Judiciary Law and they pay $27.50 per day. That's by statute. Towns and Villages are on their own. Atty. Casullo said that he did not think anyone could walk in and say they wanted it. Fees and mileage of jurors shall be as provided by and charged upon the municipality. If you say you are not doing it, then you don't get it. Clerk Pierson asked if other towns were doing this. George Totman said he thought that Dryden was doing it. He didn't feel that Groton should be doing this when for the last two years we have increased our taxes 14 or 15%. Peg Palmer said that Dryden has a line item in their budget of $5000 to cover all court expenses. We've discussed it, and we shall proceed. Supervisor Robinson - Appoint Town Constable. That has not been done. I have a letter that was sent to Mr. Dawson accepting his resignation. I have two people that I've asked. One has got a job now and it is impossible for him to do it. The other one wanted to know if he is qualified. Peg Palmer said that they are needed whenever they have a trial. Who sets the time for a trial? Peg Palmer said the Judge does. Peg said that if there is a Town Constable he would be used for serving papers also. Supervisor Robinson said we are in the process of going through the list. If you know of anybody that you think might be interested, let me know. Peg Palmer - Can I make a comment on that? When I was talking to the Town of Dryden, I understood that they abolished their Town Constable position because of the difficulty in keeping them certified with firearms and meeting the state regulations that are required of a Town Constable. The details I don't have, but that's what I was told. You can't just get anybody off the street to be a Town Constable. That's the impression I got from them. Councilman Sovocool - That's not the impression I got. Peg Palmer - If you have a Town Constable's position, they have to meet certain state regulations also. Firearms also. Councilman VanBenschoten - Yes, to carry a gun you're saying? Councilman Sovocool - If you want to carry a gun, but they don't have to carry a gun. Peg Palmer - Well, it's part of the description. Dryden now hires court officers................ Clerk Pierson - Does Dryden have a job description for their court officers? Peg Palmer - I don't know. They hire court officers for court night. They use off duty police officers. 4 Supervisor Robinson - We could use them here too, couldn't we. Peg Palmer - Yes, if you could find an off duty police officer that would do it. Councilman VanBenschoten - I checked with Moravia, Teresa, and they don't have any Constable nor do they have anything in the budget for it. Supervisor Robinson - The next thing is that we had sent out two letters to people on the Planning Board and Appeals Board. I received all letters back but one that they were willing to work as appointed. Having read the minutes of the meeting, the reason that they were sent out to all members was so that there was no discrimination and no picking anyone out so everybody got one. Do you understand that George? (George - I guess. I thought that they were just going to the ones that had an attendance problem and not going to school. That's what their problem was.) That's probably what their problem was but so there was no body picked out in particular we sent it to everybody. All but one will be continuing. That one is going before the teacher. So, we will have an opening on the Planning Board. Cecil Twigg and his wife were in a serious automobile accident in Virginia. Cecil is in very serious condition and was airlifted to Washington and Velma is very serious in a hospital in Virginia. She just underwent a very serious operation today. Cecil is not in a deep coma, but is in and out of it. He was able to wiggle his toe today. He does have a fractured skull and many other injuries. We offer our prayers for Cecil and Velma Twigg. Supervisor Robinson attended a meeting today on retirement which included new bookkeeping and all their formulas and everything. It hasn't changed too much, but if anybody is interested in retiring they have to start early on. Don't let it wait. Supervisor Robinson - I attended another meeting on a search committee for integration of the whole of Tompkins County. They are looking for the cooperation of all the towns and city to help with integrating all people in the communities -- black, Indians, whites, foreigners, or whatever. This is a committee of a group of people who are going to bring it before the Board of Reps. who already have given them the money for this purpose. Beverly Livesay, I think, is heading up this committee. Colleen D. Pierson - Reported on the Franchise Fee tax credit that Time Warner Cable TV deducted from our tax bills. This amounts to $20.00 which the Supervisor owes the Tax Collector and the towns warrant would be adjusted accordingly. This credit is pursuant to Section 626 of the Real Property Tax Law. We will have to keep this in mind when we do our budget for next year as I'm sure that Time Warner will be taking their credit. RESOLUTION NO. 31 - AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO PAY $20.00 TO TAX COLLECTOR FOR TIME WARNER FRANCHISE CREDIT Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Supervisor to pay the Tax Collector the sum of $20.00 for the Time Warner Franchise Fee Credit that was deducted by Time Warner from the 1997 Town and County Tax Bill with the Town's Warrant being adjusted accordingly. Councilman Palmer - Attended Teleconference Session about two weeks ago and it got him thinking about in our situation here where Liz had been out sick for a period of time. Do we have backup for Liz to handle payroll if she is not here? Supervisor Robinson said that she thought it could be done. Councilman Palmer said that was one of the concerns that came out of that. There was a Town where a similar situation occurred and they weren't able to process the payroll. No one was capable of doing it, or new how to go about 5 doing it. My concern was that we make sure that we have it covered some way. Supervisor Robinson assured Councilman Palmer that there were several individuals that had the same software. Councilman Sovocool said that he would not be able to make his Grievance Day commitment. Councilman VanBenschoten said that he would fill in both slots. There being no further business, Mr. Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten, at 9:10PM. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk 6