Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-10-1998 MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1998 AT 7:30 PM Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Daniel J. Carey, Councilman Donald N. Palmer, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Francis Casullo, Attorney Also present: Jeff Lewis, George Senter, Rick Case, Liz Brennan, George Totman, Margaret Palmer, Arland Heffron, Joe Graham, Francis Ciccoricco, April Scheffler "Town Law Manuals" were handed out to Board Members by Teresa Robinson. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- On the bills, can I have a motion? Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Sovocool to authorize the payment of claim numbers 32 through 56 of the General Accounts in the amount of $8,188.97 and claim numbers 26 through 44 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $17,204.91 as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- The privilege of the floor, Margaret Palmer, Court Clerk. MARGARET PALMER- I'm here this evening to inquire of the Town Board what the recycling policy of the Town is. In September of 1992, I believe it was, the State of New York, it became law in the State of New York to recycle all materials that could be recycled. The policy of reduce, reuse, and recycle went into effect. At that time containers were distributed around the Town Building to collect recyclable material. In the Court Room we have a shredder so that the sensitive, confidential documents for recycling could be shredded. Over time, I've watched the cleaners remove the bags from the waste baskets and empty the recycle box into the bag. Where does this now go? Is the garbage recycled with the recyclables or the recyclables discarded with the garbage? In the kitchen wastebasket is often found coffee grounds, cardboard, paper board, foil, all mixed together. Again, is the garbage being recycled with the recyclables or are the recyclables being discarded with the garbage? This past week I inquired out in the Highway Department about to put some recyclable booklets in so it could be picked up last week for recycling. I was told the Town no longer put recyclables out by the curb. Everything was put in the dumpster and Doug hauled it away. Besides being environmentally unsound, I believe this policy is illegal. During the snow storm, the end of December and also in February, I know there were difficulties with Superior picking up the recyclables on time because of the snow. But is this a reason to completely discontinue putting out recyclables? So again, I ask the Town Board, what is the Town's policy about recycling, and who, if anybody oversees it? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- To my knowledge we were recycling. I stuff all my paper, I don't put any garbage in it, and I don't mix aluminum or anything else in it. What I'm saying is, my understanding was that it was being recycled. MARGARET PALMER- Where? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Supposed to be in the back room. MARGARET PALMER- They don't come in the back room to pick up recyclables. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- No, I know it has to be carried out, but that isn't my job and I haven't done it. MARGARET PALMER- And it's not my job, and I haven't done it. That's what I'm asking the Town Board: who oversees the recycling of our recyclables? COUNCILMAN CAREY- Is there a pile of stuff in the back room now that needs to be recycled? MARGARET PALMER- I don't know. I don't have a key to the back room. I've never, in all the time that I've had my shredding machine, seen a bag of shredded paper out on the curb to be picked up. So I have no idea where that goes. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I was down here this past Thursday afternoon and I parked out where I parked tonight, on the curb. And there was a box.....that was Tuesday, after the meeting....there was a box next to the curb full of law material or something.... MARGARET PALMER- They were booklets that I wanted to discard. Yes. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I looked at them and decided they must be recyclables. MARGARET PALMER- They were. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Are they still there? MARGARET PALMER- No, they were picked up Wednesday morning. I found a box. I called down to the Solid Waste, and they said, yes, they were still picking up here. So, I got a box and I put the stuff in it and put it out on the curb to see if they did pick-up on Wednesday. If they weren't going to get picked up on Wednesday, the County should get after Superior for not picking up our recyclables. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Every other Wednesday they pick up. MARGARET PALMER- Right, and last Wednesday was the pick up. And I put the box out there to see if they would pick it up, and they did pick it up on Wednesday. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Do we put cardboard out? MARGARET PALMER- Not any more. It's put in the dumpster. That's what I was told last Tuesday. CLERK PIERSON- I don't know who's decision that was. We always put cardboard out by the road and it was picked up as recyclables. MARGARET PALMER- They aren't doing it anymore, they're putting it..... CLERK PIERSON- They aren't doing it? Who's they? MARGARET PALMER- Who ever was putting the cardboard out before. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Who was doing it Teresa, who..... Several people talking at once. CLERK PIERSON- The Highway said that if we brought boxes out there, they could cut them down to the size that are the limits of the recyclables. And I believe it was Bob Bogardus who did that job...... MARGARET PALMER- Bob told me Tuesday, they no longer do that. They put it in the dumpster and Doug hauls it away with no problems. That's what I was told last Tuesday. That's why I'm asking the Town Board........I don't think it's the Highway Department's, the guys in barn job...to do it...... Several people talking at once. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We have a janitress and a janitor, and they're picking them up, and they have to put them in the suitable boxes or what ever it is that they're supposed to be in. MARGARET PALMER- And they're supposed to be putting them out on the curb Tuesday night so it gets picked up Wednesday morning? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I would assume that's part of the job. MARGARET PALMER- You're assuming it's the cleaner. What I'm asking, is it the cleaner that's supposed to be doing it? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I am saying that I would assume that is part of the cleaner's job. MARGARET PALMER- We aren't supposed to be assuming. We're suppose to know. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Who supervises the cleaning staff? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Colleen, most of the time. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Do you, Colleen? CLERK PIERSON- Yes, I do. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Alright. I think we should go on record, stating that the Town Board supports recycling and it should be a part of the responsibility of the cleaning crew to assemble the recycling and have it out on the designated date for curb pick up. End of issue. CLERK PIERSON- They have been picking up the recyclables and carrying them out to the Highway Department and also the cardboard boxes. No problem. I think where the problem has come from is we switched, carriers of trash, garbage, dumpsters, and now Brown will take everything and it's easier to throw it in. MARGARET PALMER- But he doesn't recycle. CLERK PIERSON- I know, but he'll take anything....so what's going in the garbage he should say, no you have to keep that out of there. I wasn't aware of what was happening. I will speak to them. RESOLUTION NO. 13 -TOWN BOARDS SUPPORT OF RECYCLING Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded By Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby shows its support for recycling, and that it will be the responsibility of the janitorial service to assemble the recyclables and have them placed on the curb on the designated date for pick up. MARGARET PALMER- That means next week all of our recyclables should be out on the curb to be picked up. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON - Arland... JUDGE HEFFRON- I'm here for two purposes tonight. One is to show some appreciation. The second is to show some clarification. If you remember the night that you had a budget hearing, I requested an increase, and at that time no action was taken on it. Subsequently, when the organizational meeting took place on January 6, the Board approved the increase. I think there has been some misunderstanding and some controversy as to the legality of that. If you look under Town Law, section 111, "proposed salaries of Town Justices, Tax Collectors and Receivers, a Town Attorney, a Town Engineer, and Appointed Town Clerk, and an Appointed Town Superintendent are not required to be specified in notice of a Public Hearing." You don't have to put it in there. Town Law provides that these "salaries may be fixed from time to time" and "the Town Board may increase or decrease these salaries throughout the year as it chooses, subject to limitations discussed below" which includes a referendum for all except those offices.....in other words there's only three officers, the supervisor, the town board members, and the highway superintendent, and the town clerk, if she's elected (if she's appointed, she doesn't qualify). So, things went on, and there was some question between the payroll department and the Supervisor as to whether we were on solid ground. And more or less by Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 4 mutual agreement, we asked the Town Attorney to get an official ruling from the State Comptroller. That ruling came through, and I have copies of it here. Town Law Article 27, Subdivision 1: If the Town Justice is not a member of the Town Board, the Board can increase his salary after the adoption of the budget without adopting a local law, providing the funds are available. Maybe that will clarify the situation for some of you who have been wondering yet whether the increase was legally done or not. But it was, and we had a ruling from the State Comptroller's indicating that. I appreciate Teresa's being thorough on it, because I didn't want her to go wrong on it any more than she did. We had some rather lengthy discussions on it along with the Town Attorney. It all worked out for the best, and we know we're on solid ground. Any questions? Okay. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Anybody in the public? JEFF LEWIS- Yes. I'm Jeff Lewis and I just want to let the Board know that I'm interested in the position of Code Enforcer, and that I will be applying for the position. I just want to make you aware of that. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Anybody else? Okay, Liz? LIZ BRENNAN, BOOKKEEPER- I have handed out a variety of stuff for you. You've got the annual update document that's been filed in the State Comptroller's Office. You can look through that. The audit has started. He'll probably be working for a few weeks, and he'll also be doing the Court records. I've include a listing of the revenues and expenditures to date, for this year. I've also given you a listing of Diversified's payments, so that will help you with the correspondence that you will probably be talking about later. And you have an accounting for the fuel tank project. Now, in this year's budget, we have $10,000 in garage, but we didn't really separate out for the fuel tanks. If you want to have a separate accounting, we would need a transfer to put some money into the fuel tanks, $535.01, right now. The additional expenditures will be for two fire extinguishers, the signs, a roof vent, and to truck away the contaminated soil. But that should stay under the $10,000 budget amount for this year. I'll also need a resolution to transfer funds from the Contingency to the Justice Fund for the salary of $1000. CLERK PIERSON- That was done in January. We already transferred it. LIZ BRENNAN- Okay. Do you have any other questions? COUNCILMAN CAREY- Liz, I'd like to thank you for gathering the information on the fuel tanks. I'm sure that took some research to gather all that. And I just want to make sure that I was reading the report correctly. On the annual report you indicate that as of the end of December we have spent $36,750 on that project. The number to the left of that, is that what the budgeted amount was? $14,300? It's on page nine of the report. LIZ BRENNAN- No, that's the previous year. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Okay, so this is a culmination of two years? LIZ BRENNAN- Right. It's showing what last year's amounts were. Because this is the annual report, it's showing what we had listed for last year, and this is this year's.............(a discussion takes place between Liz Brennan and several Board Members.) COUNCILMAN PALMER- So we have spent $37,000 so far on the project then? LIZ BRENNAN- Right. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Do you recall what the original estimate on that project was? I know we went well over it..... LIZ BRENNAN- I think when we first started we weren't sure, we were hoping it was going to be around $25,000. And it did go a little bit over, and then it was little things. We had to do the electric, the roof.......... COUNCILMAN CAREY- Well, what it amounts to is a little over $25,000. You've got the pumps and you've got the equipment. You can't very well run a big fuel operation like that out there without a roof over it. With the amount of Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 5 fuel you're talking about that this town handles, you have to have a roof over a structure like that. And the rest of these cost all entail that roof. COUNCILMAN PALMER- And if we end up having to cart that dirt away, then that is still an additional cost that we don't know yet until we know the results of the testing? LIZ BRENNAN- Right, and we're planning on doing that right along. We're hoping that it's going to be under $10,000. Rick is working very hard to keep it under $10,000. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Thank you Liz. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I make a motion that we transfer from garage to ...... LIZ BRENNAN- Do you want me to separate it out. I mean I can leave it into garage, I can move any amount that we've spend this year and just take it out of the garage, and not have a separate minnie account from the garage account. We separated it out last year so we could see just what we would be spending on fuel tanks. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I guess I would be interested, as long as there is some way we can track the entire project, whether it's easier to set up a separate account or track it externally, doesn't matter..... LIZ BRENNAN- Okay, then I will need that transfer. RESOLUTION NO.14 - TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM GARAGE A1640.4 TO GARAGE, FUEL TANKS A1640.41 Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer Ayes, Sovocool, Palmer, Carey, Scheffler, Robinson. RESOLVED, that the Town Board approves a transfer of funds from Garage A1640.4 to Garage, Fuel Tanks A1640.41 in the amount of $535.01. LIZ BRENNAN- And when you have a chance to go over the annual report, if you have any questions, give me a call. Good night. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Thank you. Code Enforcement? GEORGE SENTER- Rick can go next, if you want him to, while that subject is foremost in your mind. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Okay, thank you. Rick. RICHARD CASE, HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT- First of all, I received this in the mail. I wanted everybody to know that we did, as a town, participate in the disaster that was up north. We supplied a chainsaw to the Fire Coordinator's Office up there and it came back in excellent condition, probably better than when we gave it to them. They took it and had it tuned up and we got it back. We did participate. We've got that material out back still in regards to your fuel tank project. I have looked through what records that I've got and I didn't find anything that was solid enough to tell me where you were starting from and where you were shooting at being at the end of the deal. We still have, I'm estimating, a hundred ton or better of contaminated soil on the end of the building. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Is it contaminated? We got a report back? RICHARD CASE- Yes, sir. It is contaminated from the lead gasoline that was in it. I've made arrangements to have it disposed of at the Seneca Meadows Landfill. What I'm trying to do, rather than have it taken with the environmental agencies that do this for hire, I'm going to try to borrow the Village's 364 Permit, which would allow us to carry contaminated material, and we'll do it ourselves. The cost right now at the landfill is $25 a ton. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 6 Having a little knowledge of the trucking industry, I can guarantee you it would cost another $25 or more to have it moved by permitted people. So, maybe by the next Board Meeting, I can hopefully tell you that it's done. We...... $10,000 that Liz is talking about is basically what he had estimated to take care of that.........I feel pretty confident it will be disposed of.... COUNCILMAN CAREY- So you're saying $50 a ton? RICHARD CASE- No, $25, plus our cost, which nobody ever sees our cost. That's what I'm trying to get done, is handling it ourselves. It's an extensive process to go through to get our own 364 Permit. The technician at Seneca Meadows said that it would be allowable for us to use the Village's permit, but they have just filed for that new permit. Until we get that in our hands......that and I would prefer that it was a little drier because there's quite a little moisture in that stuff and we're paying by the ton. It's going to disappear. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- What about the liability of hauling it ourselves? RICHARD CASE- From what I saw on the insurance that Dempsey gave us the other day, we're insured to the max. Our liability insurance from what I saw is as high as we can expect it to be. This is not hazardous. Don't confuse the two. It's contaminated. It's got a high lead content on the analysis sheet. I guarantee you we could walk across the street anywhere and find just a tad........but we have to take care of it. Just for your own information, if you haul six large truck tires, that is considered a contaminous source. It's not hazardous, but you have to have this 364 to transport them. I want to make this disappear as much as anybody, but I want to do it right. We've gone this far, we don't need to be in trouble, like the Town of Dryden had a lot of it blow back up at them. They moved it out of the way and it came back and bit them. So, we'll do it once, and we'll do it right, and it'll be out of our hair.In further report, at this time the Highway Department did a ....... of its machinery and manpower in the process of snow and ice removal. Thanks to Frank Ciccoricco, the February snowfall was 11.3" with a total of 69.3" for the year to date. Milder weather has meant that the surface temperature of the roads has been above freezing during the day and below freezing at night time. Because of this we are experiencing a great deal of pot hole problems. Deterioration is occurring to the surface of gravel roads, particularly at plow turn-arounds, and high traffic areas. We've been successful thus far using cold mix hand patching and spot crusher-run patching with the grader, loader, and excavators. We have some minor inconveniences, but no major problems thus far. Through the sale of scrap steel we have produced another $574 this month to be appropriated to the Highway Department at a later time. While regular road maintenance, snow removal, and ice control has taken place, preventive maintenance and equipment repairs have been underway as well. In an attempt to prepare for the summer road maintenance and construction projects, our mechanic has been given the goal in providing us with the use of a roller. We haven't made much progress with a 1965, 3-wheeled static roller currently owned by the Town. The roller, if resurrected, could possibly be used on gravel projects currently scheduled. However, this type of roller has been out of production for many years, and repairing it could become costly. The Town also owns a 1975 tandem 8 - 12 ton static roller, which also needs repair done in order to be used, extensive repairs. Through my research, I found that it too has been out of production for many years. There are new replacement parts available at a cost of $7000. To use these parts, more costly alterations would need to be made to the roller itself. Because the tools, the hydraulic knowledge needed to make these alterations, the process would not be done in house. I estimate the cost of such repairs to be between $12,000 and $16,000. The market value of this roller in good operating condition is $5,000 to $8,000. Repairing this piece of equipment I don't feel would be cost effective. The hydraulic pump is burnt right out of it. We have an option of renting a roller. Rental rates are estimated between $4000 and $5000 a month. At this time I can forecast the need of a roller for five months this coming work season. If the equipment was rented for this amount of time it would be a cost of $20,000 to $25,000. To purchase a roller that would be suitable for our upcoming projects we would have an estimated cost of $60,000 to $80,000. That's an unknown number, but from what I saw in some of the marketing papers, that's Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 7 the neighborhood we would be in. Using numbers supplied by current marketing advertisements, it would be more cost effective for us to purchase this equipment rather than rent it. The machine would pay for itself in three to four years. The turn over rate of this equipment would be six to eight years. To rent the machine for the amount of time of six years we would be into the $150,000 range. At the end of those six years, we would have no more equity than we currently have. The rollers presently owned by the Town, estimated values, the tandem roller, $3- 8000 in good running condition, and this one doesn't run. The three - wheel roller, between $800 and $1200 at best. The third option with these rollers is to scrap them out, and that's roughly, at the moment, $40 per ton - $400. My recommendation is more research and a motion be made to purchase a used vibratory drum roller with the assurance that it's capable of compaction of 12 - 15 standing ton. It must have a drum width of at least 65 inches to be suitable for the initial breakdown of a ten foot wide road, which would be done in two cycles. Other specs should be taken into consideration, including the diesel power and amplitude control. Over all, I believe that purchasing a used roller that is in good condition would be the most cost effective way for the Town to go. Questions? COUNCILMAN CAREY- How much is a used roller? RICHARD CASE- I'm guessing, I haven't gone out and gathered any information, just what I'm getting from marketing papers. I'm saying $60-80,000. I may be able to get it done for less than that, but I haven't been on the road..... COUNCILMAN CAREY- You think you can fix the one we've got for $12,000? RICHARD CASE- The one we've got to fix, the tandem roller that we could use for asphalt as well as on the gravel jobs, I'm going to guess would be closer to the $16,000 figure. And there's no guarantees when you're dealing with older stuff. What happened is the hydraulic pump got burned out. They have updated. We could put in a new hydraulic pump, but we'd have to put in a new bell housing and stuff to bolt this all together, so there's additional costs. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- How's the rest of the roller, as far as condition? RICHARD CASE- It's iron...... JOHN PACHAI- You were saying that the cost of repair of the tandem roller was $12-16,000, probably closer to $16,000. You said market value of that roller in working condition was $16-18,000. RICHARD CASE- Market value of that roller is between $5-8000, when you get it done. JOHN PACHAI- Okay, so feasibly, I'm just wondering what the difference is between the market value of that roller at $5-8000 and the cost of a used similar roller at $60-80,000, if we were to go out and buy it. That's what I'm wondering, what the difference is, between the used roller that you would be buying and the used roller if in fact you were to repair the one that we have. RICHARD CASE- The used roller would be a vibratory roller. There's a difference between static weight and vibratory rollers. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- You use the static now, or vibratory? RICHARD CASE- We don't have vibratory rollers. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- But you'd like to. RICHARD CASE- Yes. It's a safer machine. In answer to some of your questions, the vibratory roller, the center of gravity is all lower to the ground. You don't have the worry of putting them off in the ditch and getting somebody hurt. I think you've probably seen them on all your State projects and that's what this would be, something that's New York State certified for their work. The operator sets about this high (he demonstrates with his hand). With the static rollers that we have, Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 8 the operator's feet are this high. So, when you have something like that go off the shoulder of the road, and it happens, that's what they're out there to do is roll the shoulders, and a lot of times you're creating an unsafe condition also. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Did you have any other conditions for buying this in cooperation or anything? RICHARD CASE- I've been made aware that the Village would be interested in possibly co-owning this with us. I haven't explored that because I haven't got the dollar value involved yet. But they also do not have a machine big enough to do their paving projects, so it possibly could be shared with them. At present time, I don't know if everybody is aware of it, we do co-own a wood chipper and that's what we now use for both municipalities. We have all gained from that. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Are you aware of another village and town that co-own a roller? I would say that you only have so many days to work on a road, and you're both going to want to use it the same day. RICHARD CASE- That's what Teresa and I talked about today, and that's why I want to start now. In the next month or two all the paving people will be in the process of gathering up their equipment and once they start, when it comes to the paving season, from May 1 to November, you've got to take what they give you. And the rental rates, they tell you pretty much what you're going to pay. I think it's been the policy here, when they needed a roller, they rented it by the day. I don't know what those rental rates were........We're going to use it more this year than we've ever used it before. We've got about four miles of gravel road that we're going to rework this year. We're going to do it properly, which means it needs to be compacted. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Where's the gravel road? RICHARD CASE- Stauber; then a mile of road on Cemetery Lane in McLean; a section on Lick Street about three tenths of a mile, right in the middle, Jacobs Ladder; Brown Road, there's a section of that; and Town Line Road by Mike Pollack's. So, we've got in the neighborhood of five miles of road to do. Why I feel we need to get this underway, also, is I still haven't got a permit for the gravel bank up here. We've got five years in that gravel bank. There should be some considerable thought taken, that once this gravel bank is going, you're losing one big asset. Then we'll be starting to buy materials. Just in our de-icing sand, I'm guessing you're going to be looking in the neighborhood of $40,000 a year. Right now we produce that ourselves. I've got a five year plan to get this stuff taken care of, with the possibility that the gravel bank may not be able to stay operating, and I'm trying to work in that window. COUNCILMAN CAREY- How soon can you lock in a rental rate? RICHARD CASE- I could lock in a rental rate probably next week. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Being out of season, could you get a better rate now? RICHARD CASE- I could rent it for a month now. That's what I'm saying, when the machines are there you can rent for the month. Once they start getting put out, you're going to end it getting for the day or the week, and then the rates will jump up. It's possible, and I'm not familiar with the renting processes and stuff, that arrangements could be made that rental rates be applied towards the purchase of equipment. This happens in the private industry. How this works in government, I don't know. That probably has to be approved by you, I would assume. Is that right? ATTORNEY CASULLO- Yes. You can do that. It has to be a part of the bid, in the event that you were renting it... RICHARD CASE- I just hate to see us renting a machine for $20-25,000 and in the long run you have the use of it, but for another $20,000 I might be able to come up with a machine that would take care of us. We have in the machine fund, at this time, and I was going to try and get through this year without Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 9 touching this because we're beginning to get some interest on it, right at the present time we have $103,000 in the equipment fund. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I'd like to make a motion to empower Rick to go ahead and research this a little bit more..... RICHARD CASE- I'm going to have to advertise, I believe, which would not obligate us to any thing. But I need to get the ball rolling. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Well, do we want to buy or do we want to rent, or do we want to wait and..... COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- I think we ought to look at all the options........what each one is going to cost. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Yes. I don't think we want to make a decision right now. RICHARD CASE- I believe Fran, I have to put this out to bid? Then I could start pulling some numbers and drawing a set of specs and advertise. Then I could be gathering some numbers and be talking a number for a piece of machinery. I'm giving you a pretty broad area, $60-80,000, I understand that. But I don't want you scared when I come in here and say this is what it's going to cost. If you let me loose in the iron fields I may find it for $20- 40,000. I'm giving you the big numbers so you're not scared when I come up with it. These are real live numbers. This is what's going on out in the real world. I'm not inflating them out of context. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Where's the paper that Rick passed around? I'd like to give it back to him. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I'd might just add that I was down here last weekend Rick took me out and showed me some of the work they're doing on the equipment. He's trying to save the Town a few bucks by fixing up some of the plows and repairing some of the weak spots in some of the equipment that hasn't been repaired in a couple of years and trying to stretch it out, get a little more life out of it. I'm all for that. RICHARD CASE- Well, the roller is the only thing we don't have. The rest of the stuff we're bandaiding together. There's some other weak spots in this chain, but we don't have a roller. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I'd like to commend Rick for a very thorough report, very well thought through and obviously looking a lot of different directions. I think that's good to bring to the board, and I appreciate it very much. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Do we need to give him the go ahead to start researching and looking into it and maybe by the next meeting have some figures for us so that we can possibly decide which way to go? ATTORNEY CASULLO- I think what Rick's looking for is a resolution authorizing him to essentially price shop and get some numbers, whether it's used or new, so he can get their go ahead. He just feels he wants the go ahead from the Town Board to let him loose a little bit, so to speak, to get some numbers for you so he can come back to the April meeting much more educated on the issue and tell you where you stand and what you can do, different options that you have. RICHARD CASE- I'd like to advertise for a used machine. I'll set some specifications and see what we can bring in...... COUNCILMAN CAREY- I'll move to give Rick the authority to go ahead and research this, or get some bids, or advertise to see what's out there. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- And also check on any long term leases or any other avenue that you can come up with. ATTORNEY CASULLO- By advertising, you just put "wanted roller". It doesn't mean you have to buy it, just see what's coming in. RICHARD CASE- It won't put us in a position where we're obligated to do anything. I don't think we want to be there yet. I just want to see what's Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 10 out there and I can squeeze out. RESOLUTION NO. 15 - AUTHORIZE HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TO LET BIDS FOR VIBRATORY ROLLER Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer. Ayes, Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. RESOLVES, That the Town Board does hereby give to Richard Case, Superintendent of Highways, the authority to advertise for a used vibratory roller, to research price quotes and investigate long term lease options. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- George Senter? GEORGE SENTER- I have a short report. I'll go through the numbers for you. Building permits issued through February of last year was nine, and that was five mobile homes, one of which was a replacement, and four others, meaning ag buildings and sheds and such. Building permits issued through February of this year was three, and that was one mobile home and two others. So, we've had a slow start this year compared to what we had last year. Life Safety Inspections are all current through February, and I will do the final ones for March this coming Friday. So they will be current through March also. This is my last meeting of the Town Board that I will attend as your Code Enforcement Officer, and I appreciate all the support that you have given me through the time that I've been your Code Enforcement Officer. It's a tenuous job. It has it's good points and it's bad points, as you know. But I really appreciate your professional approach to the situations that we got involved in. I've been here since 1992, well I started earlier than that in '91 with Gary Wood.... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We appreciate your work very much, and sticking with us through all the thick and thin of it. GEORGE SENTER- Well, when you think you're right, you just have to do the right thing. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- That's right, and we appreciate it. GEORGE SENTER- Thank you. COUNCILMAN CAREY- George, I have one question on property up on the corner of Lick Street and Old Stage Road, where that trailer burned.... GEORGE SENTER- I gave them a letter, saying I want them moved out by the end of March. If they don't do that we'll take them to court, or somebody will. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Groton Businessmen Association is March 18 at 11:45, at Mineral Springs Restaurant. The topic is going to be Equalization In Tompkins County and the Year 2000 Evaluation. So if anybody's interested.......... COUNCILMAN CAREY- I'd like to make a resolution concerning Owasco Watershed, which the Town of Groton is located in. They're looking for an affirmative from the Town of Groton that we're willing to participate with the Town of Locke and the Town of Moravia in doing work on the Inlet from Owasco Lake up through. The three municipalities would work together on this to clean up the Inlet. I'd like to make a motion that we're willing to participate with Locke and Moravia. It's a matter of there's a lot to do as far as trying to get funding from the State or Federal Government or whatever to get this project going. But it's something that needs to be done to try to alleviate the flooding that we experience out here and the flooding that they experience down closer to the lake. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 11 COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- They just want us to work with them to get funding. They don't want actual work out of us, or...... COUNCILMAN CAREY- What the Town needs to do is say that it's willing to work with other municipalities to get this work done. That's what it amounts to. RESOLUTION NO.16 - AFFIRMATION OF WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE IN OWASCO LAKE WATERSHED PROJECT Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes, Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson RESOLVES, that the Town of Groton affirms their willingness to participate with the Town of Locke and the Town of Moravia in the effort to procure funding for the preservation of the Owasco Lake Inlet. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Can I ask to go into executive session for personnel? ATTORNEY CASULLO- For personnel? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Yes. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Yes, you can go in for personnel, if you want. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, I do. Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Council Sovocool, that the Town Board enter into Executive Session with Francis Ciccoricco for the purpose of discussing personnel matters at 8:52 PM. Ayes, Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. At 9:02 PM, it was moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Carey to reconvene into regular session. Ayes, Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I don't know whether you want to make that a resolution, what we talked about in there......I don't know what you want to do.... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- How do you want to word it....... appoint.......(several Board Members speaking at once... at least two Board Members saying "don't appoint...") ATTORNEY CASULLO- My feeling is this, you have put a moratorium on the construction or installation of cellular towers, that's a given. At this point, it's been charged to the Planning Board to come up with a local law or an ordinance regarding where cellular towers are going to be allowed in the town. I think once you get the proposed local law from the Planning Board, at that point, you will leave it open, that if you deem it necessary for technical advice, to seek that advice from somebody who's knowledgeable in the field. Does that sound good enough? Does that sound okay? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Okay. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I don't even think you need to put it into a motion. I think it's all just understood that way. I really don't know what else to say. COUNCILMAN CAREY- We never made a motion before to, ah.... ATTORNEY CASULLO- I don't think you need a motion just for that. As long as you put it in the records like that, I think we're okay for that. I don't really want to get too hung up on it. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Okay. Is there any other business? Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 12 ATTORNEY CASULLO- Yes. I want to talk briefly about that letter that I handed out to you. First of all, I apologize, I received it yesterday afternoon........so I didn't have much time to get it to you. Don, just to put you up to speed on this thing, this letter involves Diversified Technologies. Back in 1990 they received some Federal Community Development money through the Town that was about $125,000, probably more, that they received at that time. They were supposed to pay it back within five years. It hasn't been paid back. We're now into year seven and it looks like there's been a total of $31,000 paid. We have asked Thoma Development Consultants in Cortland to try to work with Diversified in putting together 1) establishing what is owed, and 2) putting together a payment plan, and 3) ...............That's where we stand. Bernie Thoma wrote me this letter that I received yesterday basically indicating that we claim, or Bernie felt they owe $138,586.32. They claim they owe $135,809.80 because there is about 5 payments, they claim, they weren't credited for. My response to that was, quite simply, I'd like to bring this sheet to Bernie that itemizes all the payments that we believe we received by them. If it comes to $138.586.32 then that's the number. If there were five payments that were somehow missed here, and it ends up at $135,809.80, that's okay too. But I just would like to double check with Bernie and make sure we have all these payments. If it's true.....that's fine, but if not then we'll use the $138,586 figure. As far as I'm concerned, I'm more concerned about what begins on the third paragraph of that first page of the letter in which they're asking for a forgiveness of principal down to $122,030.40. My feeling is this, that's about a $13,000 forgiveness. I'm not too sure if the Town is in the business of forgiving $13,000, especially given their payment history. That's certainly up to the Town to make that decision. I'm just not too sure that the Town should really be doing something like that. What I need to know from you is a couple things: 1)Give me some guidance on how you want to handle that discrepancy in the actual dollar amounts. If they can show it's 135 fine, if we can show it's the 138 that's fine too. And then let me know whether or not you plan on forgiving some of this principal, down to $122,000, because what I'd like to do is give Bernie some guidance so you can finally get this thing moving. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- I'd get moving. I don't see forgiving it, not with the way they've been paying it. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I agree. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I agree too. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I know it's hard for, Don, because you're new, and that's why I'm trying to bring you somewhat up to speed on this. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- And I would check and make sure that they did in fact make that payment. They're making it to the bank, aren't they Teresa? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Yes, they are. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Then the bank should have a record of what they paid in. ATTORNEY CASULLO- ......pages are right from the bank records, so there shouldn't be a discrepancy. I would just need a motion telling me that 1) you're going to have me check into the discrepancy, and however it turns out I'll inform you, but we'll go with either one of those two numbers, and 2) that you're not going to forgive a portion of the principal to bring it down to $122,000, and 3) do you accept the fact that they are going to begin making interest only payments of around $300 a month beginning in April, with a $1000 payment beginning January 1, for a five year period with a balloon payment at the end of that five year period? COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- We did this once and they haven't complied with it. I would say no. ATTORNEY CASULLO- What do you want to do? COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Say...I don't know. What can you get? Can you get blood out of a stone? Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 13 ATTORNEY CASULLO- Well, I think the one difference as opposed to what happened in 1991 and 92 and 93, is this: What had happened was that no one was watching them and what Bernie would be doing is watching these people. Also, we would have a new security agreement in place. In case payment wasn't made, we're secured again. Some how some of this money should start coming back to the Town. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We have had a number of requests that we haven't been able to fulfill. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Once we start getting some of this money, you can send out some of this money for these other requests. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Why do we have to wait until January 1, 1999? ATTORNEY CASULLO- You tell me if you want principal to start. If you want principal to start April 1, you tell me. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- I think it should be started. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- They haven't been paying and this is ridiculous. ATTORNEY CASULLO- So, you want me to go back to Bernie and say we'll square out that discrepancy between $135,000 and the $138,000, we're not going to forgive the principal payments, and as far as you're concerned, you want the $1000 payment to begin in April. Right? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Yes. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Yes. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Yes. We went through this before. I don't see any sense in going through it again. I think we.... COUNCILMAN CAREY- I'd totally delete that sixty month balloon payment arrangement. Just start paying immediately on it. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I don't know, maybe you could leave that balloon in there........ ATTORNEY CASULLO- Well, let me get this back to Bernie, and then we'll negotiate the thing out. I guess I probably need a resolution authorizing me to do that. RESOLUTION NO. 17 - AUTHORIZING ATTORNEY CASULLO TO NEGOTIATE PAYMENTS BY DIVERSIFIED. Moved by councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Carey. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. RESOLVED, The Town Board does hereby authorize Attorney Fran Casullo to retain the services of Thoma Development Consultants to determine the actual amount owed to the Town of Groton by Diversified Technologies, inform Diversified Technologies that the Town will not forgive any principal payments, and that the Town expects regular monthly payments of $1000 to begin April, 1998. COUNCILMAN CAREY- One question. What Don said about the sixty months.....are we going to negotiate that balloon payment? ATTORNEY CASULLO- I'm going to talk to Bernie about that. The balloon payment...my math isn't the greatest, but wouldn't that be almost a $100,000 balloon payment? Doing it off the top of my head, $1000 a month for five years, I think that would be real close to the mid 90's. COUNCILMAN CAREY- That's a lot of money. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 14 ATTORNEY CASULLO- Yes. And I'll tell him that you expressed your concern about a balloon payment. I'll talk to him about it. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- George, do you have something to say? What's going on down in Ithaca? GEORGE TOTMAN, CHAIRMAN, PLANNING BOARD- Well, they've got trouble on the Commons. Really, there isn't an awful lot happening right now. The only big thing happening right now is a big to-do over either replacing the library, or building more floors on it, or moving it to another place. There's a price tag of $13-15,000,000 on it now, and there's a lot of controversy over whether they should put the County in that kind of debt for a library. The only major problem right now is that the roof leaks. That seems to be the biggest controversy down there right now. They have a lot more activity in the library now because they have more computers and there's a lot of people who go in and get on the internet. There's less usage of books. Their goal is to double the staff and increase the size. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- You are on the Highway? GEORGE TOTMAN- I am not on the Highway this year, I was taken off in January and put in Public Safety.......what I did was request the minutes of the Highway meetings so that I could keep abreast of what was happening, and that's why I have these to give to you. George Totman handed out information showing the County's plans to resurface the McLean - Cortland Road in the Town of Groton. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Why are they waiting till 1999? GEORGE TOTMAN- Everything in the County is done on a five year program, so it depends on when they started. But this, as I understand it, is moved up because the availability of this "Iced Tea Money". SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- It certainly needs it anyway. The traffic is tremendous. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Are you familiar with what the assessment bureau is doing? They want to raise the equalization rate for the Town of Groton. Do you know what they're trying to do with that? GEORGE TOTMAN- I haven't heard that. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- That's what this meeting is with the Groton Business Association is going to be on this, and Mr. Witcher is going to be there to explain it. GEORGE TOTMAN- What Steve Witcher is doing, is going around the whole county and explaining their new program. Instead of coming out with the regular tax maps that we've been getting, they're putting everything on the computers. I think Groton is already done. Lansing won't get done until September. When they get it completed, everything in the whole county in tax parcels will be in the computers where you can just pull up a map on the computer. They are going to give each town the software so that if you have a problem with a tax parcel number, they can put your number in there and print out a page showing your property, what the buildings are on it, actual pictures of the property, what it last sold for and that sort of thing. I assumed when I saw this that that is what he'd be talking about. He's also into re-evaluation, supposedly two years from now doing a complete county re-evaluation. Other than that I haven't heard of anything happening to Groton. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- That's what he's going to be talking about, re- evaluation and equalization rate. GEORGE TOTMAN- Did you hear about something different happening in Groton? COUNCILMAN CAREY- I heard that the equalization rate was going to go from 92% to 101% and that the whole county was going to be on one equalization rate. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 15 SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- It is. COUNCILMAN CAREY- It is now? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- No, it's going to be. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Okay, that's what I heard. John, you have something to add? JOHN PACHAI- Yes, I used that software today at the assessor's office and it's slick, very nice. You punch in the persons name and all the property that they own comes up. You punch in a tax number and you get all the information. As George was saying, I guess they don't have a lot of pictures on there yet, but they do have rough outline drawings of the houses. It works well. The other thing that I picked up down there, it seemed to me what I was being told by the gentleman who handles Groton, he indicated that he expects that when they're done in 1999 that the property values in Groton will actually be taking a bit of a drop. In other words, excuse me, I mean the assessed values may be less than they are now on a lot of parcels to reflect the change in the market. I'm not quoting him, I'm just saying what I felt he was implying. I went down there to see if I could get the assessment on my house on South Main Street reduced and he said that it probably will be by the end of 1999. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I received in the mail a deferred compensation proposal. I understand they sent out one letter to everybody, and somebody must have sent it back in because they sent us a whole bunch of material. It has to do with retirement plans. So if anyone is interested I have the information. COUNCILMAN PALMER- That program, just in general terms, is a salary reduction program. You can take money out of your salary and put it into a retirement plan. So the employees have the option of enrolling and putting their money into a retirement plan and it reduces their taxable income. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- Or can they pay medical bills with it? The county has a program where if you know you're going to have say $6000 in medical bills this year and you have to pay for it, you have it taken out of your pay.... COUNCILMAN PALMER- That's a different program than the differed comp though. It works the same way, it's the same concept, but this one is strictly for retirement. The Village has it already. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- So, anyway, we have information on it. Is there anything else? Motion was made by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer, that since no one had yet read the February minutes they would table them until the next meeting. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. COUNCILMAN CAREY- The meeting with the Village, is that still on for Thursday? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Yes. COUNCILMAN PALMER- What is the status with filling the Code Enforcement Officer position? TERESA ROBINSON- They got the first ad in the Shopper. But we have to advertise in the Ithaca Journal, and Cortland, and Syracuse, and around different areas. I don't think we can do it just local. COUNCILMAN PALMER- How does the process work? Once you get applications..... TERESA ROBINSON- Well, as the applications come in, they will have to be gone over and checked out. COUNCILMAN PALMER- And who does that, the Board as a group or..... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We'll go as a group... Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 16 COUNCILMAN PALMER- What's the time frame we should be looking at to fill that position? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, the thing about it is that he's going to be through at the end of March, George is. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- You've already got ads in the paper? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- They just put the first one in. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- I was going to say, because you've had that since the first of March or before. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- First of February... COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- February, yes... COUNCILMAN PALMER- What happens during the period of time after he resigns if the position isn't filled. What's our status as a board or as a town? ATTORNEY CASULLO- We'll have to look at it. I was sort of hoping you'd have a pretty good change over, but it doesn't look like you'll have that. I know you can appoint an interim Code Enforcement Officer. In fact their Supervisor can even be Code Enforcement Officer, theoretically you can. But you can appoint an interim Code Enforcement Officer until you have taken the steps to hire a permanent...... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We'll see how many people send in their applications. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Do we have a formal job description and requirements and everything for this? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We have, yes we have criteria.... CLERK PIERSON- I sent for them from the County. We have to go by those. I gave Teresa copies of them. The applications are at my office and I have included one of those for Zoning and one for CEO right in the folder when they pick it up. That gives them an idea of what the qualifications are. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Wouldn't you want probably, like if you made your end date....when is your next Board Meeting? (April 14) Wouldn't you want your cut- off date for the receiving of resumes some time during the later part of March. Then you could use the later part of March to like the 10th or 12th of April for you to review the resumes and interviews and then on the 14th make your appointment. CLERK PIERSON- It would be nice. It would have been nice after we got the resignation, if we had put the ad in the paper. You know we've it had since the 1st of January. I was just notified a couple of weeks ago to put it in the paper, so we may not have one right away. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I think now you have the fact that that's happened so don't you think that's the time table you want to work off of? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I think that's a good idea. CLERK PIERSON- Well, we put in the paper, an immediate opening, right Dan, we mentioned immediate...... ATTORNEY CASULLO- I know Dan called me, and that's the first I knew that it wasn't in the paper yet. He called me last week. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Before I left, I asked that it be put in the paper. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Well, at this point we have to take care of it. You have a time table you want to work off of. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 17 CLERK PIERSON- It's fine with me. I really don't have anything to do with it. It's up to the Town Board. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I know you don't. I just brought that out as a Town Board Member suggestion. I don't know what other time table is better. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Put in the last line in the job notice that they have to apply by April 1, or March 31......... A discussion was held between the Board Members as to what date to have as a deadline. April 3 was agreed upon. CLERK PIERSON- I'll put it in again. We ran it in the Shopper, but it didn't have a deadline on the end. If you want it in the Syracuse papers and all those papers we'll do that and put the deadline on the end. How many times do you want to run it, once? ATTORNEY CASULLO- You've got to run it more than once. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Run till March 31. CLERK PIERSON- You're going to pay some pretty big bucks to run in Syracuse and........run it right straight through. ATTORNEY CASULLO- You're going to run it right straight through, every day? COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- Not every day. Three days or five days, they usually have a 3 or 5 day rate. I think we have to run it more than one day but two weeks I........ CLERK PIERSON- Okay, three consecutive days? ATTORNEY CASULLO- And you want to have your cut off date for receiving applications as March 31? Is that what you want to do? That would essentially leave you with about two weeks to make the decision before your board meeting. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Depending on how many people you have, might end up having to give more... ATTORNEY CASULLO- The bottom line that you could always do, you could always ask George if he would stay on a week or two more until.......he can't do that? CLERK PIERSON- He said he wouldn't. Because it involves his retirement. He's all done the 27th. ATTORNEY CASULLO- So he's done technically the 27th? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We may be able to borrow somebody for a week or two. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- I don't know if it would be a big problem if it goes unfilled for a week or two will it? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Not this time of year, but I wouldn't want it to go very long. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I don't think you want to go much longer than a week or two weeks without it filled. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- At least appoint someone temporarily. COUNCILMAN CAREY You think we should make the cut off date sooner then? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I think the 31st. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- I think that's good. Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 18 ATTORNEY CASULLO- So, you figure if you get it in by the 18th they'll have just shy of two weeks to know about it. And then you'll have about a week to make the decision. And as we get toward the end of the month we'll figure out what we have to do.... COUNCILMAN CAREY- Where's the salary set? COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- That's another question. Is there a starting area? What does it start out at? CLERK PIERSON- $16,834 is what George makes. That's the two combined. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Part time positions combined? CLERK PIERSON- Correct. We break that down when it goes to the County...........because the Zoning Officer is part time and the other is part time too. It's split, not half and half but.... COUNCILMAN PALMER- Could we get a copy of the job description that we're using for this? CLERK PIERSON- Sure. ATTORNEY CASULLO- And that's going to be the salary that you're going to be using? I think you need to agree that that's going to be the salary before people apply. Is that the salary that you are going to want to give a successful candidate? COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- I think it depends on qualifications, doesn't it? COUNCILMAN CAREY- You want to set that as the max? COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- If he's qualified. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I wouldn't advertise a salary in the paper. I think you look at the credentials of the people and talk with them and if they're interested then you talk salary at that point. But you ought to have a good idea of the range that you're talking about, and that could be the top end of the range depending on qualifications. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- Put it on a range depending on experience. COUNCILMAN CAREY- $13,000 to $16,864 is the range. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Sounds good. That's plus milage too. ATTORNEY CASULLO- The key thing is though that by the April meeting you're going to have to be ready to appoint somebody to the position. I think by that time you're going to be running over two weeks without having your own Code Enforcement Officer. If you go and get an interim one, but I'm not too sure...... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I'll be it if George will advise. CLERK PIERSON- I think that's a conflict of interest, being Supervisor and Code Enforcement Officer. ATTORNEY CASULLO- A lot of towns do that when they hire out companies to act as their code enforcement wing or their technical advice. Technically you can't have a company be a code enforcement officer or a zoning officer so they make the secretary or some times they make the town clerk or the town assessor the code enforcement officer, and then they hire a corporation to act as their technical advice and their enforcement......that's how it works. Summerhill does that. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Who's their Code Enforcement Officer? ATTORNEY CASULLO- They use Life Safety Consultants. But what happens, I know Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 19 because we represent Summerhill, the Supervisor has to sign the summonses and complaints as the Code Enforcement Officer. I talked with the people in Albany about this because another town is thinking about doing that type of thing........ SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Is there any other business? CLERK PIERSON- I have a couple things to discuss, if I may. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Just a second. Is anyone interested in the Municipal Officials Meeting that's going to be in Dryden, on Tuesday, March 31? It's going to be at A-1 Restaurant. Anybody interested? Topics are County Highway Department and Intermunicipal Cooperation, County Indemnity Clause, One Percent Sales Tax Dispersement, Intermunicipal Cable Franchise Negotiations, and Representatives to Association of Towns Resolution Committee. Anybody interested? Okay, Colleen? CLERK PIERSON- One quick thing, I'll comment that I think the Town Board ought to accept George Senter's resignation formally, which we have not done. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Accept it formally? COUNCILMAN CAREY- Was there any kind of formal communication on this? CLERK PIERSON- Yes there was. COUNCILMAN CAREY- We haven't seen it have we? COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- He told us about it. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Yeah, we should see that. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Oh, you want to see it? COUNCILMAN CAREY- Yes. End of tape. Next tape resumes: ATTORNEY CASULLO- ......make a motion, something like that, to accept his resignation and appreciate his services.... RESOLUTION NO. 18 - ACCEPTANCE OF GEORGE R. SENTER, JR.'S RESIGNATION Moved by Supervisor Robinson, seconded By Councilman Carey. Ayes, Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. RESOLVED, That the Town Board does hereby accept the resignation of George R. Senter, Jr. Furthermore, the Town Board wishes to express its appreciation for all of his hard work and the service that he has given to the Town over the years that he has served as Code Enforcement Officer. There being no further business, Councilman Carey moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, at 10:15. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk Town Board Meeting, March 10, 1998, Pg 20