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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8-8-2000 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING – AUGUST 8, 2000, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard E. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Francis Casullo, Town Attorney Absent: Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Also present: Colleen D. Pierson, Richard Case, Mark Gunn, Liz Brennan, Gordon Hoy, Marie Hoy, George Totman, Bill Vonderchek, Bruce Johnson, Chris Nolan, Tina Wright, William Henkel, Juanita Griffin, Nancy Zahler MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the July 11, 2000 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 202 - 229of the in the amount of $9,804.09 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 107 – 126 of the in the amount of $16,905.25 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers186 – 187 of the in the amount of $1,980.40 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 2 August 8, 2000 Bill Vonderchek – I live at 244 Cortland-McLean Road in the Town of Groton. I’ve been trying to get something done about an old, falling down barn over there. My first complaint was over a year ago. Then I finally got hold of Mark Gunn and he couldn’t do anything. He had me call the town attorney and he was going to do something last month. And nothing has been done yet. Every time there is a heavy wind pieces of that old barn blow off. I’ve got a dent in the back of my brand new van from a piece that blew off it in the last wind storm that we had. There’s pieces of roofing and roofing nails and all that kind of crap blowing off. It should have been torn down years ago. It’s owned by Bob Totman. I rent land from him for my mobile home. The only reason it isn’t down is because there is a miserable old man who fights everything. You can’t even get in the building anymore. It’s falling down in pieces. I want something done about it. I’m getting tired of picking up nails and pieces of that building every time there’s a windstorm. Supervisor Morey – So this garage is on the property you rent? Bill Vonderchek – It’s right next to the driveway where I park. Bob Totman owns it and he wants to tear it down but he can’t because Old Man Cornell wants to be miserable about it. Attorney Casullo – This is the one we talked about. Bill Vonderchek – I want something done. I’m getting tired of this. You know, it’s been over a year since I said something the first time. Mark told me to go to Mr. Casullo, which I did, and he told me he was going to get something done last month, and I haven’t heard anything. Supervisor Morey – Well, there appears to be a contract between Cornell and Totman. Bill Vonderchek – Cornell got life use of it. Supervisor Morey – Right. And supposedly, Cornell is supposed to maintain it. And Cornell says that he doesn’t have to maintain it, the property owner has to maintain it. Bill Vonderchek – Well, something’s got to be done. This is crazy. It’s getting worse and worse. I know all the neighbors got together a few years back and tried to get something done about it. Attorney Casullo – I think, to be honest with you, somebody, whoever it is, whoever has the life use or the owner, has the responsibility to maintain the property and if they’re not doing it, your action could very well be against them. Bill Vonderchek – Well, Bob wants to do it. He wants to tear it down, but he’s not allowed to go on the property even. Attorney Casullo – Well, I think he owns the property. I think there’s things that he can do as the owner of the property to protect the value of his property. The question we have is if the Town gets involved in every one of these neighbor’s disputes, we could be involved in about 5 or 10 of these things a year. I think what needs to be done, is the owner of the property needs to get with Mr. Cornell, who has the life use and say that enough is enough. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 3 August 8, 2000 Bill Vonderchek – He’s tried to. Attorney Casullo – Well, I think that he needs to take a little stronger action, maybe through legal means. But the owner of the property has the right to protect the value of the property. Bill Vonderchek – It went to court before and finally it just got to cost so much that Bob gave up. Attorney Casullo – Well, that’s exactly what my point is. Bill Vonderchek – But something has got to be done. I’m the innocent third party here. I’m the one getting my car damaged and having to pick up nails and pieces of the building every time there’s a windstorm. And Bob’s the one who told me, “If you can get something done about it, do it.” And I want something done about it. And it’s up to you guys to make sure, to see that something’s done, I think. Supervisor Morey – Mr. Vonderchek, we can. We can go back to Totman and go after him, because he’s the property owner. Bill Vonderchek – He’s ready to tear it down. He’s been ready for years. Attorney Casullo – We can only go back to the property owner. We would be going after the property owner who’s got to go after this gentleman who has the life use. We can only go after the property owner, whoever pays the taxes on that property. Supervisor Morey - Mark, have we sent a letter? Mark Gunn – Yes. I sent out a letter, probably last fall some time or early spring. I got the same deal, where I talked to Mr. Vonderchek a few times about it, and I keep hearing about this contract and I have no way to get hold of this contract, not that I have any sort of legal right to be deciding who’s got legal use or legal right to the property. Bill Vonderchek – It was in a will. Mark Gunn – Yes. I can chase this thing down. And I have yet to hear from Mr. Totman. I’ve spoken with this gentleman (Vonderchek). But going back through some other records, it was brought up a few years ago, the same issue, and it was ended there because you couldn’t get the two parties together to get any kind of information out of anybody. It seems that the property owner says, yeah, you can get it out of here, but I don’t see him here making a stand for his own property. I have yet to even hear from him. Bill Vonderchek – He says if somebody would give him the authority, he would tear it down. But, by law, the court said he couldn’t even set foot on that property by that barn. And we’ve got a little kid living in the next trailer now, and there’s a big open pit in that building, and, you know, it’s a hazard. Mark Gunn – From where I can see, there’s nothing I can do except wait for a court order that says that this guy is responsible so that I can go after him. I don’t have anything like that to say. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 4 August 8, 2000 Supervisor Morey – We’re in the middle too. We’re tied, legally, by what we can and what we can’t do. Attorney Casullo – I agree with Mark and the Board. I think it is incumbent upon the owner to at least express his displeasure with Mark and get Mark some of the information that Mark may need or require just so he can examine it. This has gone on for years and no one has supplied us with the information yet we’ve been told that there was a court case that they did do, but they stopped it because it was too expensive. But that’s where it is. It’s a civil nuisance. But, I mean, we can’t pursue anything if the property owner doesn’t come here and give us the information. We went through this when George Senter was here and I think Mark came back out with the file. We went through the same thing. Bill Vonderchek – So, in other words, I’m going to continue fixing my car and stuff because these two don’t want to get together? Bob wants to but Cornell won’t. I know Cornell won’t. Supervisor Morey – Can you get ahold of Bob and tell him to get us the information requested? Bill Vonderchek – Yeah, I’ll tell him. It just seems crazy you can’t condemn the thing. Can’t the Board condemn a dangerous building? Attorney Casullo – Yes, but again that would be against the property owner. Bill Vonderchek – Well, if you give him the authority he’ll tear it down. He’ll have it down in a day. Supervisor Morey – Sorry. Anybody else? Bill Henkel – As I promised, I’d be back, Mr. Morey, about the property next to me. My name is Bill Henkel and I live at 193 Groton City Road and the property next to me is the Mike and Marianne Reagan property. I’ve noticed that they did move some stuff out of there, but the pace is awful slow. As I told you before, I’d like to see the rubble cleaned up and the basement filled in. I’m a little puzzled why they haven’t been cited or whatever you want to call it. Mark said last month that they weren’t in violation of any building codes. The way I read the book, I believe section 309, Rubbish and Junk would cover the stuff they have laying on their property. I’d like to see a timely fashion in which this stuff is going to be removed. He told me he was going to have a burn. I’d like to know when the burn is going to be, so I could get around the hazard and protect my property. And you also mentioned that he was going to have someone to come in and fill in, he was waiting for someone to get there who was behind schedule. Well, how long is that going to take? I mean this has gone on for another month. This has been going on for a year and a half now. I don’t like to take up your time and everybody else’s time, but it…., you know, I’m tired of the mess next to me. I’d like to see Mark go out there and put a little pressure on them to get it cleaned up. You go past it all the time (indicating Councilman Clark). You know what I’m talking about. Supervisor Morey – But it has been improved hasn’t it Sheldon, with a brand new house? Councilman Clark – Yeah, I can’t say that it hasn’t been improved. But it’s unsightly; I know it is, when everybody else in that whole area tries their best. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 5 August 8, 2000 Bill Henkel – Yeah, I mean the guy across the street, he’s cleaned his act up pretty good. He’s putting a barn up now to put his stuff into. When we moved in there it was a nice clean neighborhood and it no longer is. Supervisor Morey – Mark, can you stop and see the Reagans and see what the new schedule is? Mark Gunn – Yes. Supervisor Morey – Okay, I appreciate that. Bill Henkel – I appreciate it Mark. I’ll give you a call on it just so I know what the schedule is. Thank you very much. Supervisor Morey – Thank you, Mr. Henkel. Anybody else? We’ll be moving on to the monthly reports. Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper – You’ve got your reports with the revenues and expenditures. I do have some transfers this month. In addition we need to amend the budget to show for the additional revenues from the youth summer jobs program, $284.00. That will allow each one of the three summer help youth that we have to work about 110 hours each. RESOLUTION #57 - BUDGET TRANSFERS AND AMENDMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following budget transfers: General Fund - Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4 …………………………… $4,453.44 To: Personnel, Contractual A1430.4 ……………….... $ 73.38 Buildings, Alarm System A1620.41 ……………. $ 4,380.06 Highway Fund – Town Wide: From: Bridges, Contractual DA5120.4 ………………… $5,376.10 To: Bridges, Personal Services DA5120.1 …………... $5,376.10 AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that the Town Board hereby amend the Year 2000 Budget to reflect: Additional revenue for Youth (Summer Jobs) B23050 in the amount of $284.00 And increase expenditures for Youth B4130.1 in the amount of $284.00 Groton Town Board Meeting Page 6 August 8, 2000 Liz Brennan – Do you have any questions? The Board did not have questions. Mark D. Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer – I wish Tyke was here, because I got him the report that he requested. I just laid out a simple format for the building permits for 2000 compared to 1999. That’s pretty self-explanatory. Life Safety Inspections are current. I inspected the Banas greenhouse up in Pleasant Valley and Sue Camin bed and breakfast down on Lafayette and both of them passed. I am currently still working on the Ed McKane case. I spoke with Mr. Casullo about this before the meeting and the Court has once again put this off for another month. Every month I come in here and I’m dealing with Ed McKane and the Court says, well, I’m going to give you another 30 days. I have been coming down here to Court for this constantly. I don’t know what more I can do if I don’t have a Court that is going to look at the violation at hand instead of worrying whether this gentleman is going to pay his Court fine of $90.00. That seems to be more the issue when I wind up in Court than the issue of why he has been there for the last year and a half. My hands are tied with this and I’ve got people all the way up and down that whole road that call me, people that I’ve given violations to and everybody points a finger and says I’m not doing it until Mr. McKane does it. Well, Mr. McKane didn’t finish. Last month in Court I told the Judge that not only did he not finish the job, he has also put up a fence against local ordinance. It’s over 6 foot tall. That went completely unnoticed and he was given another 30 days to try to get something done. So, if I can’t make a guy clean up 30 years worth of trash in his backyard, I’m certainly not going to get somebody to clean up the remnants of an old house. My tickets are going unnoticed. I don’t even know if I am going to write any more until I get a Court that is going to put a stop to it once and for all. I did write some zoning violation letters. One was to a Janice Miles for a junk mobile home that rd she had replaced and still sat there. I gave her up until August 23 to remove that. I wrote a letter to Mr. William Bartlett concerning the partially constructed home that was first put up by the Reese construction company probably back in ’92 or ’93 and still isn’t done yet. I’ve yet to hear from him. I wrote him that letter a couple of weeks ago. And I did get a letter out to a Marie Palmer concerning a subdivision that needed to be taken care of on some property on Lafayette Road. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Mark? Councilman Scheffler – What can we do? st Supervisor Morey – We’ll find out after the 31 of August. Councilman Scheffler – What do you do if you never get a Court date? Attorney Casullo – We’re not saying he doesn’t get a Court date. Councilman Sovocool – They let him off every time for another 30 days, which is doing no good to bring him to Court. Supervisor Morey – What Judge is it, Arland? Groton Town Board Meeting Page 7 August 8, 2000 Mark Gunn – Arland. The gentleman sits there and gets completely belligerent with the Judge and my case goes right out the window. The whole night I just sit there with my hands folded and my issues go out the window to the issues that this guy is bringing up. He brings up everything under the sun except for what is the case at hand. And I have been going through this for over a year now. Like I said, he’s not dumb, and know there’s a fence there, and the fence doesn’t even meet the ordinance. So, I can’t ticket him for that because I haven’t even gotten the first thing taken care of yet. Supervisor Morey – Okay, thanks Mark. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – At this time the Highway Department is manufacturing Item #4 gravel and de-icing sand in the Town’s gravel bank on Spring Street. The second phase of roadside mowing is now underway. With the need for boom repairs on our Town’s excavator and a large amount of material needing to be moved in the following two projects, I rented an excavator for the past two weeks. A drainage problem on Cobb Street near Carl Scheffler’s farm has been addressed. Extensions to an existing concrete sluice have been replaced. A second sluice pipe at the same location had deteriorated and was replaced with a new and larger pipe. Gabion baskets were placed at both ends of the sluice pipes. The ditches in the immediate area of the sluice pipes were lined with oversized stone from our gravel bank. After completion of the Cobb Street project we moved to Cemetery Lane to install a 10 foot, 36 inch pipe extension on an existing narrow crossover pipe. This second project also had gabion baskets installed on the downstream side of the pipe for shoulder stabilization. Several yards of material were removed from the ditches on Cemetery Lane in an ongoing right-of-way reclamation project on this section of road. The Town of Dryden has my thanks for allowing us to borrow their lowboy tractor and trailer for the transportation of the excavator, saving additional costs. The summer youth workers are scaling snowplows and wings and are proving to be very helpful with other daily tasks. This weekend is the Farm Days at the Carey Farm on Lick Street. The sign department is in the process of fabricating safety markers to handle the expected traffic. The annual municipal auction takes place September 9, at the Town of Lansing Highway Department. With the Board’s permission I would like to place in that auction a 1987 Ford pickup (shop truck) and a 1956 Cat D6 bulldozer. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 8 August 8, 2000 RESOLUTION #58 - AUTHORIZE SALE OF TRUCK AND BULLDOZER AT AUCTION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Highway Superintendent, Richard Case, to place in an auction to be held September 9, 2000 at the Town of Lansing Highway Department the 1987 Ford pickup and 1956 Cat D6 bulldozer. Richard Case – I would also, with the Board’s permission, like to have the option to bid up to $10,000 on a truck or other piece of equipment that would be beneficial to the Highway Department. If you remember last year we put in the budget $12,000 for this because we went to look at a truck……. Supervisor Morey – And we do have the right to accept or reject any and all bids, correct? Richard Case – Well, this won’t be a bid. This is like you giving me a line of credit to go to the auction up to that number. It will be municipal equipment at the auction. Supervisor Morey – And what are you looking for? Richard Case – Well, we’re looking for possibly a single axle dump truck to replace the two Brockways that we’re using under the two ditching machines. And if we come across something that would be helpful in the snow fighting end of our operation, for sanding or plowing, and possibly even a shoulder machine, that there would be some attachment that could be put to our grader-loader. Supervisor Morey – This is from the equipment account? Richard Case – This is from the equipment account, 5310.2. If you recall that discussion in the budget workshop…. Supervisor Morey – Is there a motion? RESOLUTION #59 – AUTHORIZE UP TO $10,000 TO BE SPENT AT MUNICIPAL AUCTION MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize a line of credit of up to $10,000 to the Highway Superintendent, Richard Case, for the possible purchase of equipment at the Municipal Auction to be held September 9, 2000 at the Town of Lansing Highway Department. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 9 August 8, 2000 Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Presented her monthly report to the Board for its review. Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – Had no report to make. Supervisor Morey – We did get a letter from Lick Street and we did get a letter from the insurance company. Attorney Casullo – Right. Arland Heffron & Arthur Dawson, Town Justices – Monthly reports were presented for the Board’s review. Supervisor Morey – I’d like to introduce Dr. Bruce Johnson. He’s from the Tompkins County Unique Natural Environmental Management Council. He’s going to do a presentation on the Areas of the Town of Groton. Dr. Johnson – I’m actually the Environmental Council representative from Freeville and I’m a member of the Unique Natural Area…… I’m handing out a map of the Unique Natural Areas of the Town and a general brochure that describes the Unique Natural Areas, and then also an example of what a Unique Natural Area description is for the Malloryville Bog. I also brought for the Town, a Unique Natural Inventory itself, and I will explain more about this, for you guys to keep in your office. And there’s a map of all the County areas too. Dr. Johnson distributed his materials and then presented a slide show that explained the program and showed many of the Unique Natural Areas. The Board found the presentation very interesting and thanked Dr. Johnson for coming to the meeting. Nancy ZahlerTompkins County Youth Bureau from the spoke to the Board about the Tompkins County Recreation Partnership . She explained a new proposal on how the partnership is being restructured and looking for two indications of support: 1) About whether the Town would be interested in budgeting the funds to continue to pay a contribution according to a new formula; and 2) appointing a member to the board. She spoke about an increase in fees to individual participants and also an increase in available scholarships so that no low-income children would miss out on the opportunity to participate. The bottom line: City of Ithaca to pay ¼ of cost, Town of Ithaca to pay ¼ of cost, Tompkins County pay ¼ of cost, and remaining ¼ shared among the smaller municipalities. Groton’s share: currently paying $662.00 and next year $434.00. Town of Groton would also have a voting seat on the board. The smaller municipalities would each have one seat on the board with the City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, and Tompkins County each having two seats. The proposal has not been finalized and suggestions are still being accepted. Consensus of the Board was that they agreed with the concept of the proposal. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 10 August 8, 2000 RESOLUTION #60 - DECISION TO JOIN MUNICIPAL GROUP SELF-INSURANCE PROGRAM MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. WHEREAS , the Authorized Representative of the Town of Groton desires to secure the Town of Groton’s obligation to provide workers’ compensation benefits through participation in a group self-insurance program of which the Town of Groton will be a member, The Authorized Representative of the Town of Groton, duly convened in regular session, does hereby resolve, pursuant to, and in accordance with the provisions of Section 50 of the New York State Workers Compensation Law and other applicable provisions of law and regulations there under, as follows: Section 1. The Authorized Representative (hereinafter “Representative”) of the Town of Groton does hereby resolve to secure the Town of Groton’s obligation to provide workers’ compensation benefits through participation in a group self-insurance plan of which the Town of Groton will be a member; Section 2. The Representative of the Town of Groton does hereby resolve to become a member of Public Employer Risk Management Association, Inc., a workers’ compensation group self- insurance program for local governments and other public employers and instrumentalities of the State of New York. Section 3. In order to effect the Town of Groton’s membership in said group self-insurance program, the authorized officer of the Town of Groton is hereby authorized to execute and enter into the Public Employer Risk Management Association Workers’ Compensation Program Agreement, annexed hereto as Exhibit A, on behalf of the Town of Groton. Section 4. This Resolution shall take effect immediately. Juanita Griffin, Town Historian – I have been trying to work at this historian job for about six months now, and I haven’t ever made a report to you. I don’t know what you expect from me. These are things that I am going to need direction. I don’t have anything in writing about what I’ve been doing. I have done a lot of genealogy that’s come in the mail and telephone calls. People seem to be trying to trace all their roots this summer. People in the community have been helpful and of course I work with the cemetery already, which is helpful. So, I’ve done a lot of that. I’ve been working with the Groton Bridge Company on some of their background and things that they had done right down to the fact that they built barns. I had a nice tour of a barn in Dryden. So, if you have a chance to give me some ideas of what you expect, I would like to know what your records are, are they in chronological order, are they stored well. Do I need to be doing anything on that? Are they available to people, and all that sort of thing? These are Groton Town Board Meeting Page 11 August 8, 2000 things that I would like to know. Another thing that I’m working on is that Tompkins County also now has a historian and she had called a meeting of all the local historians. We have gotten together and are planning on doing it every month now, which has gone on for two months. She has got a lot of things that she’s getting going, one of which is a sheet that she’d like to have back, if you could fill out, asking information on what you would expect of me and so on. I also th have one to fill out and will be working on it. The 15 of August is our next meeting and we’ll be trying to get this all compiled on what different people do and what’s expected of them. The Dewitt Historical Society features a town. I’m not sure how long they keep the display up, it might be more than a month, but at least a month. And Groton is going to be chosen, probably in two months, that we are going to be asked to do that. I don’t know if it’s okay for me to just go ahead and do it without talking to you first. My ideas on what we could feature would be the bank, because I am immersed in all of that background on how they were established and Mrs. Marsh being the first United States, I guess, bank president. Ed Moran has written four books. That certainly would be a good one to feature. And Les Graves is immersed in the schools and the church. I haven’t talked to Les yet, but Ed is going to help. I’m sure Les would……… If you have any other ideas on what you would like to have featured for Groton, let me know. I’m wondering if there is any money available for travel expense and classes. There are a couple coming up that sounded like they would be great to get some information that would be helpful to me. I don’t think that it would cost more than $100 at the very most. The Tompkins County group of historians has been meeting in different places throughout the towns. Would it be possible for them to host it here? Clerk Pierson – At the Town Hall? Juanita Griffin – Yes. I don’t know what month…….. I guess that’s all I wanted to say. Clerk Pierson – In answer, yes, there is money budgeted for your travel expenses, postage or whatever you would happen to need. Also, the previous town historians have come into my office to get paper for copying and things like that. It’s all supplied out of my office. Yes, my books are all open to the public. We’re working on the archives right now with my summer youth worker and you’re welcome any time to come in and see that. We continually work on these projects as we get time. Juanita Griffin – There was a fire at one time. Did records get lost in that? Clerk Pierson – A very few did. We have most of them. We have them back to the 1800’s, like newspapers, assessment books, chattel mortgages, all those things were filed here at that time instead of the County and they’re all here yet. I’m having them redone and restored actually to preserve them for our archives out back. Any time you want to come over and take a look at what we have. You probably receive things from me in the mail for genealogy, of course, I have one right here. That’s more or less how it works. If the Board has anything else they would like to add to that. Supervisor Morey – There is no job description. Clerk Pierson – No, we just work together. If you have questions you can come in here and see if I have the info for you or whatever. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 12 August 8, 2000 Juanita Griffin – Well, I’m open for suggestions. I would like to be of assistance to you. I have been very fortunate to receive a book from the library that I have at home. For instance in this book Percy Howell had 91 acres and his assessment was $2400. So if you need any of the figures from this book, it was 1930, it was Mr. Jackson’s…….. Supervisor Morey – You are more than welcome to have a meeting here at any time you want to. Contact Colleen just to make sure that another conflict isn’t there. And for the exhibit, I think that’s a great idea. I think you’ve got some top knowledge people. Juanita Griffin – They’ve got quite a lot to offer. Clerk Pierson – Ed Moran’s is very interesting. I’ve read all of his books so far. There’s a lot of info in there. Supervisor Morey – Yes, he’s spoken at the library before and the schools and the boy scouts. Clerk Pierson – You receive that publication from Dewitt? We receive it here also, and I post it. Supervisor Morey – Well, thank you very much. Robert Demeree, Consultant of Tree Foresting – Sheldon asked me to appear before this body to discuss a possible management of your Town property which has some pretty good forest land on it and possible product of a timber sale with whatever cruise……. I’m here to answer your questions and give a description on what would happen if you decided to seed and information on the…… Supervisor Morey – How big is the lot? Robert Demeree – Probably there is like 45 acres and I would say a little more than half of it is forest. 25 to 30 acres is forested. I’m thinking that about 20 acres of that has valuable mature timber on it right now. And around the periphery of this is some nice younger timber with good potential in the future. Supervisor Morey – What kind of trees are there? Robert Demeree – Mostly sugar maple, some cherry, beech, basswood, but mostly sugar maple which is extremely valuable. Councilman Clark – You cruised the property and outlined the boundaries for us? Robert Demeree – No, I just made an inspection and what I found was some nice, valuable timber. And I did find, your boundary lines aren’t very good. In fact, I might suggest you have your property surveyed, or at least a couple of lines, because I couldn’t find anything on the west, couldn’t find anything at all, I mean on the south and they are sketchy on the west. It could cause a problem. Most of the timber is located in the northern section and the boundary lines are there, and I think I could easily conduct the timber sale without the boundary lines being surveyed with part of the proceeds can be used for a survey. But I would suggest that unless you have somebody here that knows the boundary lines, I couldn’t find any evidence of old fences. I have your tax map, I have your photographs, but I couldn’t find any evidence on the ground. I Groton Town Board Meeting Page 13 August 8, 2000 know where you land is, but exactly where your boundary is, I’m not certain, I’m a forester. So, I’m not certain. Generally, I can locate forest properties by the old fences and old stone walls, but there were none present here. So, the boundary lines are a little sketchy. But I did not cruise, all I did was make an inspection. An inspection is one and a cruise is another and a timber sale preparation is another. Councilman Clark – Can you explain that to the Board and what…. Robert Demeree – Yes. A cruise, if you want a total value of what the trees were, the species, and the value, that’s a cruise. That’s a timber cruise. If you want a timber sale, I would go in and mark the trees that should be sold. Should be sold. That’s important. There’s a big difference between trees that should be sold and trees that could be sold. You can sell trees down to 12 inches on the stump and they have value, you can sell them, but I strongly don’t recommend it. I recommend you save those smaller trees and let them grow. If you do that, you won’t ever have to worry about another timber sale. What I suggest is the trees that should be sold are the trees that are mature, the trees that at 20 inches in diameter breast high or over; trees that are mature; trees that are defective; trees that need to be removed for thinning purposes to give proper spacing. These are the trees that would be marked and would be counted and tallied, the value would be estimated and that would be reported to the Board. If you decided to proceed we could set up to solicit bids. Councilman Clark – Say we did go ahead and have a timber sale now, when next could we look for another sale? Robert Demeree – I would say if you cut only your 20 inches, you’d look for another sale in the next 12 to 15 years on that soil. Your soil is quite good. Your trees have good growth. Your quality of timber is quite good. So, I would say 12 to 15 years. Councilman Clark – What can we look at for fees to have you cruise the property? Robert Demeree – You mean prepare the timber sale? If you do a timber sale and sell it, I normally charge 12% of the gross sale price but in lieu of my close association with Mr. Clark, and my esteem for the good people in Groton, I would reduce that in this case to 10%. So, it would be 10% of the gross sale price and for that I will do everything. I will mark the trees, estimate the volume, prepare a notice of sale, which I have a sample of if you would like to see it, solicit bids. If there is an acceptable bid, and I have no doubt there will be, then I would prepare the timber sale contract, a contractual agreement between the successful bidder and the Town. I’d get the Town paid in advance, before any trees are harvested. Once the timber sale is started, I supervise the sale, I meet with the loggers when we start the sale, lay out the skid roads and landings, tell them exactly what they’ve got to do and how they’re going to do it, inspect the sale periodically and make sure they’re doing a good job, not stealing anything, and then when the sale is closed out, make sure it is all smoothed out and graded and any erosion problems are addressed. Supervisor Morey – I thought you wanted to bid on the sale also. Robert Demeree – No, I don’t buy timber, I sell it. I don’t work for a sawmill. The people who bid on timber are sawmills, and logging contractors. Supervisor Morey – And how much money are we looking at? Groton Town Board Meeting Page 14 August 8, 2000 Robert Demeree – I would think, a conservative sale would yield, and don’t hold me to this figure until I have more information, around $20,000. Now that is not the total value of your timber. The total value of your timber is almost twice that including your smaller trees. But I recommend strongly that you don’t sell these smaller trees, let them grow and move into the 20 inch range. And those are the trees that have the value. The smaller trees don’t have any value. If you cut them, you won’t have anything for 35 to 40 years. But they do have value and they are being cut on a lot of properties every day. Councilman Sovocool – I would think it would be a good idea to go ahead with it, 20 inches anyway, nothing smaller. Councilman Scheffler – I agree to taking it down to 20 inch, nothing more. Robert Demeree – This is 20 inches diameter breast high, that’s 22 inches on the stump. Some people cut down to 14 inches on the stump. Forget that. You’ve got 14 inches on the stump, that’s everything. These are 20 inches in diameter breast high. That’s leaving 18’s and 19’s …. And 12 to 15 years, you’ll be able to do it again. And your next sale, what I would do with this sale is not only take your mature, valuable trees, I’d make sure they cut your cull trees, trees with no value and trees that are defective trees so in effect, the sale would be an improvement. We’d be cutting all the poor quality trees and leaving really good trees so your next sale, who knows, the price of hardwood and softwood is just going up and up and up. What I’m telling you is that you have a valuable resource there that deserves taking care of. Richard Case – Could I make a comment? I think Bob is very modest when he says he is just a forester. He also brought to light that we have a mining permit…..(not using microphone). Robert Demeree – The only problem I see is I may have a problem with boundary lines, but I don’t think so. The worst case scenario is if I have any doubt about it, I won’t mark any trees close to it. I would recommend that the Town have it surveyed. Councilman Clark – By being able to cut right to our boundary lines might pay for the survey. Robert Demeree – It might. In fact, you may want to have the survey first. It might take some weeks to get the survey, but the nice things about trees is there isn’t any great rush. Attorney Casullo expressed his opinion that the land should be surveyed. Supervisor Morey – Indemnification? Are you going to indemnify the Town? Robert Demeree – Yes. I have a million dollar liability policy and a product liability insurance. And anybody who you sold timber with, part of the deal is they would have to provide the proper insurance. I don’t even deal with the perspective bidders unless they have the proper insurance. Supervisor Morey – Are you going to put this in a formal proposal? Robert Demeree – Yes, if you want. Supervisor Morey – If you can, please. Some further discussion took place. Mr. Demeree will have proposal ready for next month’s meeting. Supervisor Morey asked Richard Case to get some prices on a surveyor. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 15 August 8, 2000 Richard Case – I’d like to add something to that. We also own the property on the other side. In the future we are going to have to build a salt structure. If you are going to survey one side of the road, I would just like to do the other side of the road also, so it’s all done at once. So, we don’t start placing a building or talking…………. Supervisor Morey – That’s fine, can you get some bids on that? Richard Case – Yes. Councilman Scheffler – I have a question. We are, in effect, hiring this guy. Do we have to have two bids? Supervisor Morey – Well, we’re going to be doing number 9 in a couple of minutes, so we might not have to. Number 9, let’s review the Procurement Policy that I asked you all to look over. I have some suggestions. Section 3., the first sentence says “ The following method of purchase will be used when required by this policy in order to achieve the highest savings: All purchases under $250,” I’d like to change that to $2,500, “must have verbal approval from the Supervisor, or Town Clerk or Highway Superintendent of the Town of Groton.” This coincides with our th emergency purchase for Rick of $2,500. When we added that on in January 11, it had no rhyme or reason for our purchasing policies. Down underneath, the estimated amount of purchase contract: The original was$250 - $2,999. I’d like to change that to 0 - $2,500 and the method would be most responsible vendor, not 2 verbal quotes and Board approval. Then the second rating would be $2,500 - $4,999, and change the method to two verbal quotes with Board approval. Then the next range would be $5,000 - $19,999 and it would be 3 written/fax quotes or request for proposals with Board approval. Then we switch to page two and it says estimated amount of public works contract method, we change it to the same page as page one, 0 - $2,500, most responsible vendor. The next range will be $2,500 - $4,999, two verbal quotes and Board approval. This is minimum requirements. Then the next range would be $5,000 - $19,999 and three written quotes or requests for proposals with Board approval. We would delete “the Highway Superintendent shall be allowed to make purchases up to $2,500 without requiring Town Board approval” because we already have dealt with that on the first page. Moving on to page three, Section 6d. it states “goods or services under $250.” We change that to $2,500. Comments please. Clerk Pierson – So, that means that anyone here can purchase up to these amounts without approval? Supervisor Morey – No, all purchases under $2,500 must be verbally approved through the Supervisor, Town Clerk, and Highway Superintendent, page 1, number 3. Clerk Pierson – Okay. I don’t have a problem with it. Councilman Sovocool – I don’t have a problem. Councilman Scheffler – It stands to reason that we wouldn’t want to see it go any higher than that. Purchases have gone up and you have to be able to do business without having to wait a month or two all the time. Same with Rick with the tools, that’s why we raised it and $2,500 can get an emergency purchase for just about anything that we’d need. Supervisor Morey – I think this coincides with the intent we tried to help Rick out with too. But we saddled Colleen. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 16 August 8, 2000 Clerk Pierson – What’s that? Supervisor Morey – We gave Rick the right, but not you, so…. Clerk Pierson – Well, I’d hate to think of myself going out and spending $2,500 on something without anyone here knowing about it. That’s saying that I can. It’s a lot of leeway. Councilman Sovocool – But you have to have Glenn and…. Clerk Pierson – No, I don’t. Councilman Sovocool – You can yourself? Clerk Pierson – That’s right. Rick can, I can and Glenn can. Councilman Scheffler – I think it would be nice to know what’s coming, but you need to be able to go out and buy things, but $2,500 at once, actually no, that’s each purchase, so it could be a lot spent. Clerk Pierson – Not that I’m going to do that. Councilman Scheffler – But the potential is there. Supervisor Morey – But how realistic is it that somebody is going to do that besides Rick. You’re talking about the Town Clerk. You’re talking about me. And I wouldn’t do it because there’s nothing that I can do. Councilman Scheffler – Most of the time we’re going to know anyway because things are planned ahead of time. Emergency purchases of things you’re going to have to have to work tomorrow, then it should be allowed I think. Councilman Clark – I could take it. Richard Case – I told you back in January that I can live with whatever you give me. I do make that decision in an emergency situation anyway. But I can work with that. I think it should be more. $2,500 today ……(not using microphone). Councilman Scheffler – The nature of your business is more expensive….. Supervisor Morey – Fran, do you see anything. Attorney Casullo – No, if that’s what you want to do. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 17 August 8, 2000 RESOLUTION #61 - CHANGES TO PROCURMENT POLICY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board hereby authorizes changes to Section 3 of the Procurement Policy for the Town of Groton and that Section 3 will hereafter read as follows: 3. The following method of purchase will be used when required by this policy in order to achieve the highest savings: All purchases under $2500 must have verbal approval form the Supervisor, or Town Clerk, or Highway Superintendent of the Town of Groton. Estimated Amount of Purchase Contract Method $0 - $2,500 Most responsible vendor $2,500 - $4,999 2 verbal quotes. Board approval $5,000 - $19,999 3 written/fax quotes or request for proposals. Board approval. Estimated Amount of Public Works Contract Method $0 - $2,500 Most responsible vendor $2,500 - $4,999 2 verbal quotes. Board approval $5,000 - $19,999 3 written quotes or requests for proposals. Board approval. (Delete the following: “*The Highway Superintendent shall be allowed to make purchases up to $2,500.00 without requiring town Board approval.” A good faith effort shall be made to obtain the required number of proposals or quotations. If the purchaser is unable to obtain the required number of proposals or quotations, the purchaser will document the attempt made at obtaining the proposals. In no event shall the failure to obtain the proposals be a bar to the procurement. AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that the first sentence of Section 6d. shall read: d. Goods or services under $2,500. Groton Town Board Meeting Page 18 August 8, 2000 Supervisor Morey – In your packet this month, the Tompkins County Intermunicipal Cable, cable right-of-ways. We don’t have to take any action on that. I just want to remind you that you should read that because it is going around the County after several years of trying to be written. Also, I want you to review the sales tax report that we’ve gotten. It was handed out to you also. And also, the report of the M & T Securities that we’ve had. We should be getting that every quarter. So, you’ll be reviewing that every quarter. Also, the NYSEG Solutions natural gas supply, they will be going out to bid. The contract has been extended to October. As soon as the Consortium does put that out to bid, we’ll probably join that this year. Clerk Pierson – Did you ever figure out how much we actually saved? Supervisor Morey – It’s very hard to find out. They’re saying 10%. But last year wasn’t that cold of a winter. Number 14, approve dues for Association of Town, it’s going to be $700 this year. What do you think? We don’t have to take any action right now, but just note that it’s going to be $700 for next year, for the budget. So, just review that and not approve them. I’m starting a folder for all these requests for money for budget time, too. Colleen, help me out with this. Number 17 is declare old copiers and computers surplus and/or obsolete. Rick, do you have a computer back there that you use. Do we have one for Rick? Clerk Pierson – I don’t have one. His software, I believe, is in Liz’s computer, right? He had an old computer out back and I don’t know where that is. Richard Case – We had one out back…….(not using microphone). Supervisor Morey – Okay, there’s no fairly new one… Clerk Pierson – We have just one that we can upgrade and that’s a pentium. Bill Cassolara has been here twice to help us get that up and going. But the others don’t have enough memory on them to run anything. They don’t have enough memory to run Rick’s program. I have six computers to get rid of that can’t be upgraded for anything that you would want to use it for. You have to keep in mind that they were all for DOS, not windows and all that requires a lot of memory. Supervisor Morey – Okay. And we do have two copiers in the jury room back here. Clerk Pierson – They are two that are obsolete. They can’t be fixed because there are no parts to fix them. Supervisor Morey – Rick, can you, ah, there’s no Gateways at all back there? Groton Town Board Meeting Page 19 August 8, 2000 Clerk Pierson – Yes, there’s one. There’s one in Mark’s office that has a CD. There’s no other that will hold the 98 Windows. They may if you spend a lot of equipment on them, but it’s not worth it. It’s about $100 for the memory alone, without the other programs. Bill’s recommendation was that you can buy a computer for $500 or less now, and you might better go that route rather than update these and not have them work next year. Did you talk to Bill about that? Richard Case – As a matter of fact, I ran into him this afternoon, and he said that the school year is starting and that he has priced them….. right now $500 - $800 range………. RESOLUTION #62 - DECLARE OLD COPIERS AND COMPUTERS OBSOLETE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby declare the following equipment to be obsolete and may be disposed of: Copiers: 1) Panasonic – Model FP-1300 – Formerly in Justice Office – Fixed Asset #00297 2) Panasonic – Model FP-1520 – Formerly in Kitchenette – Fixed Asset #00180 - Serial #LDG25315720 Computers: 1) IBM Personal System/2 – Model 50Z – Fixed Asset # None - Serial #72-7631483 – Plus IBM Keyboard & Monitor – Model 8513001 2) IBM Personal System/2 – Model 30 286 – Fixed Asset #00289 – Plus IBM Keyboard & Monitor – Model 8513001 3) Micro CMO System Tower – MMI Corp. 00012077 – Fixed Asset # None – Plus Acer America Corp. Monitor- Serial #SN M781111 2325 & Keyboard 4) Gateway 2000 - Model 4DX2-66 – Formerly Clerk’s Counter Computer – Fixed Asset #00106 – Serial #30355805 – Plus Gateway Monitor & Keyboard & Panasonic – Model 1184 – Fixed Asset #00141 5) Gateway 2000 - Model 4S X 33 – Formerly Clerk’s Station II – Fixed Asset #00110 – Serial #2247144 – Plus Gateway Monitor & Keyboard & IBM Proprinter II XL – No Fixed Asset # or Serial # 6) Twin Head Superset – Model 590/25C – Formerly Court Clerk’s– Serial #S2- G016853 – Plus Samsung Monitor – Model CVM4967 – Serial #HSNB703660 – Fixed Asset #00300 & Keyboard Groton Town Board Meeting Page 20 August 8, 2000 RESOLUTION # 63 - APPOINT MONICA CAREY AS ACTING CHAIRMAN OF PLANNING BOARD MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby appoint Monica Carey as acting chairman of the Town of Groton Planning Board until December 31, 2000 with Van Travis remaining as vice- chairman. Announcements: The Dutch doors, Tyke is not here so I can’t bring that up, but I guess the contractor is very busy. And with our purchasing policy as adopted, he can go on and have that taken care of. You did get an invitation for the retirement party for Norma Neville. I hope everybody can attend for that. You did get a newspaper article from Colleen about the abandoned graveyard maintenance and I have to talked Rick about it and we are maintaining them. You also got a list of the SEQRA training and the ZBA and the Planning Board did get copies of that. The Farm City Days at the Carey farms are this weekend. The ads have been placed in the Shopper and they have been very nice, I think. I will be giving a welcome speech from 11 o’clock to 11:30. I hope everybody shows up just for that. We also have to set a meeting schedule for budget review. Tyke’s not here either, but I wanted to run at least Sheldon and Tyke through some of the budgets, what the numbers mean, things like that. We’re not going to decide anything because it’s going to come in September. But we th really should set it, because we’re not going to see each other until the 12. th Clerk Pierson – Yes, I have to have it by October 5. th Supervisor Morey – Okay, when can we make it? Do you want to have the first one the 29 of August? Clerk Pierson – To work on the budget? Supervisor Morey – Just to start. Clerk Pierson – Well, no one has any expenditure sheets to do their figuring. Supervisor Morey – So, when’s the best time? Groton Town Board Meeting Page 21 August 8, 2000 Clerk Pierson – I’d say we should get our sheets, well, anytime, if Liz would give them to us, and then schedule our meetings. We need a little time to work on it and get it all together. I wouldn’t think until September. The subject was discussed further and it was decided to set dates for the budget work sessions at th the next Board meeting, September 12. Councilman Clark – I’d like to ask a question about, is there anything we can do to assist or help Mark? We sit here and demand that he give us performance. Is there anything we can do to help him? Attorney Casullo – I think, Sheldon,…..(not using microphone)…… If you’re going to set a court date, then you’ve got to act, and I think why Mark’s frustrated and he called me, is that we had this thing down for July. I told the Judge, whenever you want to have a hearing just tell me, I’m ready to go. But he’s got to say enough is enough and this is what we’re going to do, and st that’s the bottom line. I think I will call the Judge, or send him a letter, that on August 31 I want some action. Councilman Clark – Do we have any authority with the Judge? Attorney Casullo – No, it’s his court. Councilman Scheffler – Would it help if we all came and sat in the front row? Can we use the other Judge? Several people talking at once. Supervisor Morey – I’d take a motion for adjournment. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler at 9:15 P.M. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk