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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-14-2001 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING – AUGUST 14, 2001, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Francis Casullo, Town Attorney Also present: Colleen D. Pierson, Richard Case, Mark Gunn, Liz Brennan, Arthur Dawson, Erika Busch, Steven Reich, Kristy Morehouse. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Randall, to approve the minutes of the July 10, 2001 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 188-218 of the in the amount of $12,695.73 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 129-144 of the in the amount of $159,231.38 were presented for audit. (#129 and 130 moved to Capital Project – Highway Equipment and renumbered 1 and 2.) MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 209-213 of the in the amount of $6,747.30 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to enter into Executive Session with the Board and Attorney Casullo for purposes of possible litigation at 7:33 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Town Board Meeting Page 2 of 12 August 14, 2001 MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to resume regular meeting at 7:55 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLUTION #50 – RELEASE LIEN ON JOHN ANDERSON PROPERTY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Town Attorney, Francis Casullo, to do necessary paperwork to release the lien on the John Anderson property, located at 101 Brown Road in the Town of Groton, but still hold the judgment in effect. RESOLUTION #51 – COMMENCEMENT OF LEGAL ACTION ON COIT PROPERTY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Town Attorney, Francis Casullo, to commence a legal action in the New York State Supreme Court pursuant to the Unsafe Buildings Law (Local Law #1 of 1978) relative to The Coit property, located at 924 Lick Street in the Town of Groton, since the notice requirement of said law cannot be accomplished without court intervention. Supervisor Morey invited Privilege of the Floor. No one wished to speak. Monthly Reports: Liz Brennan, Bookkeeper – You’ve got your reports with the updated revenue and expenditures and the cash balances to date. There is one small transfer that needs to be made. RESOLUTION #52 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorizes the following transfer of funds: Highway Fund – Town Wide From: Workmen’s Comp. DA9040.8……………………. $42.30 To: Health Insurance D9060.8………………………… $42.30 Town Board Meeting Page 3 of 12 August 14, 2001 Liz Brennan – Did you have any questions? Councilman Sovocool – I have no questions. Supervisor Morey – Note to everyone: coming in September, we’ll be planning some budget meetings and we can present it to Colleen in October. So, budget time is coming up. Clerk Pierson – When do we get our expenditure sheets? st Supervisor Morey – It will be September 1. Clerk Pierson – What? Supervisor Morey – End of August, first of September. Why, Colleen? Clerk Pierson – There just isn’t enough time to go through what you need. We could all do it on a separate sheet of paper, I guess, but that’s cutting it pretty close. Supervisor Morey – When would you like them? Clerk Pierson – Now. I think we really should have them. Other town’s have theirs. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Mark D. Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer – Life Safety Inspections for July are not current. There is one that I scheduled two months in a row and again upon arriving nobody is there, can’t get into the apartments, and the property owner is not being very cooperative. So, that is something that I am going to have to continue to work on. The building permits were down for 2001. We’ve got 6 and last year we had 10. There were no new homes last month but they are piling up this month. th As everybody can see on the agenda, my resignation went in, supposed to be effective July 10. I spoke with Glenn, and I rescinded it and have hung in for a couple of weeks. It’s getting to the point where contractors and homeowners are dancing circles around me. They think I’m not down here, so they’re running rampant with whatever they think they can get away with. Contractors are not calling me for inspections and they’re calling two days after footers go in and they’ve already got foundation walls on and so on and so forth. I spoke with George Senter. George is willing to step in at any point in time and take over. I know there has been some applications brought in and I wanted to address the Board on keeping a close eye on the applications. To the person who thinks they’re qualified for the job, number 1, in the State of New York to do the job you have to have New York State Codes Courses 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and part 448. Now, a lot of people could put in their applications saying oh yeah, I’ve got these and st I’ve got the certificates for them, but as of January 1 they are not using the New York State Uniform Code anymore, they are going to the International Building Code. That takes effect st January 1. I, and George Senter have already gone to two sessions mandated by the State. You have take them in order to enforce this Code in January you have to take these two sets of courses that we already took. In October or November there is another set where they are actually going to hand out the New York version of the International Codes with all the enhancements. That is another mandated course that you have to take in order to do the job. So, Town Board Meeting Page 4 of 12 August 14, 2001 st the real catcher here is starting January 1 ,when the new code takes over, New York State has not developed a training program for the new code. So, somebody that puts in an application and has a lot of experience in some kind of life safety or something like that, is not going to be trained for quite some time. They haven’t even begun to set up a training course yet. And then, whoever takes it, there is a test that they have to pass. So, to actually get somebody to take the job over, they really need to be qualified now. To get somebody that looks like they might be able to do the job, it could be two years or it could be six months, but there is no plan for any kind of training right now that the State has to offer. That’s just something to look at. My recommendation is to have George take over for a few months and see if anybody comes up with some decent credentials to do the job, that has some kind of training. They’ve at least have to have those last training courses for the International Codes. Those training course were only given to current Code Enforcement Officers. So, you won’t even get an application from somebody saying that they have been trained in the International Codes because they haven’t trained them yet; there’s no training program. They only offered those two training programs to current Code Enforcement Officers. You have got to really look on paper close because even somebody who’s got years of experience….George Totman retired from Lansing; he wasn’t going to do it anymore; he didn’t go to these courses. But he’s certified in New York State Building Codes. But if you look at somebody’s application that has 15, 20, 30 years of experience but they don’t have something to say that they took those International Building Codes courses, they were given at TC3 and were 4 or 5 days for each one, and if you didn’t take them, you can’t do the job, flat out. So, come January first, that’s one of the things they have to do. So, that’s where I stand. Councilman Randall – What are you going to do if we don’t accept your resignation? Mark Gunn – Looks like you’ve got a new job. Councilman Randall – No, no, no. When are you going to resign then? Mark Gunn – Like I said, I’m looking, George said he would step in any time. I was hoping I could hang on and do it even more but I’m not getting out of my classes until 4:00 now. By the time I’m getting here, these contractors, I mean, I’ve got a house up on Pleasant Valley and he never called me for one inspection. The first thing I saw was a hole in the ground. I stopped up there last Monday morning at 6 o’clock and I’ve got a two-story house with vinyl siding on it. He never called me, for one thing, and it took him a week and a half. So, that’s what’s happening. And his words to me were, “what are you doing here? I thought you quit.” So, that’s what’s happening. I used to be able to get out of work at 2 0’clock and run around and check these things without anybody even calling me and I haven’t been able to do that lately and they are using that against me. They are just going and doing what they want to do. Councilman Randall – So, is it now? You didn’t really answer my question. th Mark Gunn – Yes, as soon as possible. It was actually for the 10, but I knew it wasn’t going th to happen on the 10. So, I kind of rescinded it and said I would hang on. It is getting worse for me because the property owners are throwing things up without building permits. st Supervisor Morey – Okay. September 1 then? Mark Gunn – That’s fine. Town Board Meeting Page 5 of 12 August 14, 2001 Supervisor Morey – Okay. You’re going to be at the Planning Board meeting Thursday, aren’t you? st Mark Gunn – Yes. Is there any possible way you can do it before September 1? That’s two more weeks from now. Supervisor Morey – What do you want? Mark Gunn – I’ll stay on till September if I really have to. But I did speak with George and he said he would come right in and take over just with a couple of days notice from me. My thing is that two more weeks I’m going to have another house completely framed before I even know it’s there. That’s not fair to the Town and…………. Supervisor Morey – We want to be fair to you too, Mark. You’ve been doing a fantastic job in your tenure and I know you’ve extended it just for the Town. But it’s really up to you. You’re nd going to take the last week of August off, right? So, let’s make it the 22. All right. RESOLUTION #53 – ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF MARK GUNN MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby accept with regrets the resignation of Mark D. Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer for the Town of Groton, effective August 23, 2001. Supervisor Morey – I just want to take a moment to say that, Mark, you have integrity beyond any comprehension I’ve ever had of working with a person; you take everything to heart; you think that you’re going to live in the house and that’s why you make sure that the Codes are in compliance; and we can’t thank you enough for all your help and also for extending your resignation too. Mark’s also, not only starting a new job, but he’s also going to be going to college at the same time. And he commutes to Brooktondale everyday, which is a little bit farther than Lansing and it’s getting kind of impossible to bring up a young family, do a job, go to school, and do a part time job. But, so, we want to thank you very much. Clerk Pierson – I’d like to thank Mark also. He never pushed it on our office at all. He brought his work in and when April got to it, she did it and he never complained. They got along very well, April and Mark, working together. We will miss him. Mark Gunn – Thanks. I’ll miss you too. Town Board Meeting Page 6 of 12 August 14, 2001 RESOLUTION #54 – APPOINT GEORGE SENTER AS INTERIM CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby appoint George R. Senter, Sr. as interim Code Enforcement Office for the Town of Groton. Supervisor Morey – And tomorrow I’ll share the applications that we have received for the Code Enforcement Officer as well as the vacancy for the Planning Board. Also, Tyke, it’s your turn to show up at the Planning Board this week and of course I’ll be there with you. Richard C. Case, Highway Superintendent - For the past 2 weeks the Highway Department has been dedicated to paving. At this time all the base material has been applied as a true and leveling course on Sovocool Hill Road from the Village line to Smith Road and Durfee Road from Sovocool Hill Road to Cobb Street. By the end of this week the finished top should be in place. Our department has been assisted by the Town of Dryden, Town of Danby, Town of Locke Highway Departments as well as our Village D.P.W. These municipalities have my thanks for their cooperation. Our summer Youth Program has provided 3 employees to the Highway Department, Will Casolara, Dustin Stevens and Kevin Senter. They have performed a variety of jobs and have proved to be most helpful. I have received the New York State D. O .T .2001 Bridge Inspection Report for Elm Street Ext., 1 of the bridges on Old Stage Road and the bridge on Davis Road. All have been found to be in good general condition with some minor maintenance needed. I also received a letter from Peter Messmer, Tompkins County Highway Manager, updating us on the upcoming snow and ice contract payment. The payment will be increased by 37% for the year of 2002. The Municipal Auction is being hosted by the Town of Lansing on September 8, 2001. With your permission, I would like to place the Town's 1980 Ford 1 Ton Dumptruck in that auction, with the proceeds being placed in the equipment account. I would also request permission to use up to $15,000 to purchase any truck or piece of equipment that would benefit the Town Highway Department's operation. RESOLUTION #55 – AUTHORIZE SALE OF 1980 FORD ONE-TON TRUCK MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Richard Case, Highway Superintendent, to sell the 1980 Ford One-Ton Truck at the Municipal Auction being held in the Town of Lansing on September 8, 2001. Town Board Meeting Page 7 of 12 August 14, 2001 RESOLUTION #56 – AUTHORIZE PURCHASE OF UP TO $15,000 AT MUNICIPAL AUCTION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Richard Case, Highway Superintendent to spend up to $15,000 at the Municipal Auction being held in the Town of Lansing on September 8, 2001 for the purchase of a vehicle, or other equipment for the Highway Department. Councilman Clark – Does that truck have anything on it? Does it have a box on it? Richard Case – I just go to the auction. It’s similar to what we would do, Sheldon, is a line of credit and I have to have approval. I’ve got no specific piece of equipment….. Councilman Clark – No, the 1980 Ford, that’s got a box on it? Richard Case – Oh, yes, that’s got a dump box on it. Supervisor Morey – Questions for Rick? Richard Case – I’ve got one other thing. On July 24th, the Town Highway Department took delivery of the Cat M315 Rubber - tired excavator that was bid this spring. Syracuse Supply provided, at no cost, a 3-hour safety program geared toward the operation and maintenance of this piece of equipment. The excavator has been placed in service and has shown to be a valuable addition in our day-to-day operation. I parked it out here so everybody could get a good look at what we were working with. Supervisor Morey – I noticed it wasn’t washed though, or waxed. Councilman Clark – Are the guys happy with it? Richard Case – Yup. It’s smaller than the one we’ve been renting, that they gave us to use for two months. But it’s a pleasant surprise that the hydraulics and everything, Pete seems to think are equal. It’s a little smaller house, so operating in the road and for clearances of vehicles going by and that type of thing are a benefit. So far we’re real pleased with it. Supervisor Morey – Any other questions? Councilman Scheffler – Considering the Municipal Auction, I generally attend for my own business to buy whatever comes up. But I have no interest in what the Town of Groton is selling and I won’t bid on anything that the Town of Groton sells at the auction. Supervisor Morey – Okay. I have a letter here Rosemarie Tucker. Did you clean up the debris in Peruville? Town Board Meeting Page 8 of 12 August 14, 2001 th Richard Case – Yes. They’re having a, on the 24, the Groton Historical Society and the Dryden Historical Society are having a tour of that cemetery and give some of the history, I believe of the military people but also some of the local ancestry. Supervisor Morey – Peruville? All right, great. Next is Colleen. Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Submitted her monthly Town Clerk’s report for the Board’s review. Supervisor Morey – She had classes today for other town clerks. Clerk Pierson – Not only town clerks. They were from schools, and fire departments that are doing records managements. We had them all here for this session. It’s required by law now that we do those things and before you get into it you have to be certified. So, April and I are getting that. We went to Norwich last week, here this week, and we have two more classes. Supervisor Morey – It was nice that you could invite them here. Clerk Pierson – Yes. We have a nice large facility to do it in. There is one thing, though, that I would like to bring up. That’s our financial report, auditor’s report. That’s supposed to be done within 60 days after the close of our business year. Councilman Sovocool – That’s right. Clerk Pierson – And we haven’t done it yet and I’d like to know what the holdup is. Supervisor Morey – Well he, Rick Beals has not gotten to us. I talked to him on the phone and st he apologizes up and down and as of August 1 he still, ah, ……. (?) talk to him since August st 1, Colleen. Clerk Pierson – You know, that’s what we look at too when we do our budget. Supervisor Morey – I realize that. I’ve already yelled at him a couple times and he apologizes and he just can’t do it. But that’s the people the Board chooses to audit my books. Clerk Pierson – Maybe you should think about someone different next year. Councilman Sovocool – It’s been this long and if he’s not going to do it we’ll look around. Supervisor Morey – I agree with you a hundred percent. But every time I bring something up to change on the Board they get a little upset with me, so, and basically it’s the Board’s choice, not mine to audit my books. You can choose an independent auditor or you can do it yourself and the Board in the past has always chose to do an independent auditor, which is fine. That choice was Rick Beals when I was elected. Councilman Sovocool – He’s always been pretty good. Supervisor Morey – Well…… Town Board Meeting Page 9 of 12 August 14, 2001 Clerk Pierson – He was very slow last year too. Supervisor Morey – He was very slow last year. It was end of September, October, as I recall. Clerk Pierson – That’s not helping us at all. Supervisor Morey – Um-hmm, I realize that. Clerk Pierson – Okay. That’s all. Supervisor Morey – Next is the Town Court, Dewey? Justice Dawson – Actually, the only thing I want to do is ask for pre-approval for attending a thrd conference and training session in Syracuse September 29 to October 3. It’s the same one we go to every year. Last year it was in the Neville and this year it’s in Syracuse. Just asking, I don’t know if you do a motion or how you guys handle that, but it’s a common, every year thing. RESOLUTION #57 – PERMISSION FOR JUSTICE DAWSON TO ATTEND NYSMA CONFERENCE & TRAINING SESSION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby grant permission for Town Justice Arthur Dawson to attend the New York State Magistrates Association Conference and Training Session to be held September 29, 2001 – October 3, 2001 at Syracuse, NY. Supervisor Morey – Anything else? Justice Dawson – One other question I have for you guys and then you can ask me anything, I guess. I’m just curious as to the status on the window. Supervisor Morey – Well, it appears that the Supervisor is getting hit all the time. Maybe we should ask the director of the building, no. Anyways, where we are right now is we got the window; we got the shade. We don’t have the connection between the fire alarm and the shade. And where I get this connection is from a company in Ithaca and the gentleman is on vacation for two weeks. So, until he comes back…. Justice Dawson – Which two weeks? Supervisor Morey – Yeah. This week and last week. Justice Dawson – So, he wasn’t on vacation, like the last month and a half or anything? And he won’t be on vacation…. Town Board Meeting Page 10 of 12 August 14, 2001 Supervisor Morey – No, but the ADT representative had to get the information from George nd Senter and the State Code people. And that only came to me 2 week of August, so…. Justice Dawson – So, are we looking at a completion date of this year. Supervisor Morey – I’d like to. You can talk to the same people I’ve been talking to. Gene Wilcox Building Supplies in Ithaca, Mike Fahey of ADT, George Senter, and I can’t remember who does the window. Justice Dawson – Okay, well, one thing I don’t want to do is I don’t want to revisit the ground that you visit and there’s a couple of reasons for that. Number one is if you guys are doing it, then you’re doing it and as well it should be. As far as me talking, I’d just as soon talk to you as them. But I don’t think it’s good for other people to see, you know hundreds of people ask of them about something they were doing in the Town. I’d like everybody to look at us as a united front to get this thing done and I would never do anything that would even give the impression that I’m undermining the Board or you. That’s why I don’t want to contact anybody. Anybody got any questions regarding the Court? On our web site, we did a new thing this month. We put up a quiz and changed the menu system a little bit on the web site. So, if any of you ever get to visit there and want to see, we have a quiz there that is made out mostly for magistrates around the state. We’re still at www.grotoncourt.com . Thank you. Supervisor Morey – I also have another resolution to make. Peg Palmer has requested this. RESOLUTION #58 – AUTHORIZE LUNCH & MILEAGE EXPENSES FOR MARGARET PALMER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the paying of expenses for mileage and lunch to Margaret Palmer, Court Clerk, while attending, on August 24, 2001 at 10AM, at the Owego Town Court, a User Group Meeting to instruct courts on the new windows software presented by Service Education Inc. vendors for the Courtroom Program. land Heffron & Arthur Dawson, Town Justices Ar– Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. Supervisor Morey – Moving on to discussion of raising senior citizens’ and disability residents’ tax exemption. I was informed by Colleen that we don’t really have to take action until March th 29? st Clerk Pierson – March 31 is the cut-off date and it won’t go into effect until 2002 because you would have had to meet this year’s deadline. You have to skip a year. I have some additional figures on that for you. It is out of the tax roll and tells how many exemptions we have for senior Town Board Meeting Page 11 of 12 August 14, 2001 citizens, how many for county disability and a whole list of exemptions that people are getting from the county. So I will have that for you and try to get a packet together. Supervisor Morey – And of course Fran handed out these two pamphlets and a list of all the counties throughout New York State that do the exemption. We can freely talk about it at a later point. Number 7 is review M&T Investment letter, just to let you know that the investments that the Town has. Are there any questions? Last month we made a resolution to accept 10% of the sales tax reimbursement and I just want to make clarification of the resolution that the 10% sales tax will be used for operational expenses. I think what we did was make it for the Town Hall and Highway Garage repairs and maintenance. But I want to just clarify that it will be for operational expenses and I would like to make that clarification. RESOLUTION #59– TAKE UP TO 10% OF SALES TAX REVENUES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. WHEREAS, a Resolution #48, dated July 10, 2001, was passed by the Town Board of the Town of Groton; and WHEREAS, The Town Board of the Town of Groton wishes to clarify said Resolution #48; and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton receives a County Sales Tax Credit from Tompkins County on an annual basis; and WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Groton believes that a portion of said sales tax credit could be used by the Town to pay for operational expenses; therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton take a cash payment of up to ten percent (10%) of its Sales Tax Credit from Tompkins County for the year 2001. Correspondence and Announcements: st Municipal Officials Association Meeting, August 21 at the Lehigh Valley House. Update on McLean Road and Bridge Project – completion fall of 2002. Groton Old Home Days – August 16, 17 & 18. Flea Market in Town Garage Town Board Meeting Page 12 of 12 August 14, 2001 Correspondence and Announcements continued: Letter from A. Kevin Crawford, Counsel for Association of Towns relating to legal procedure to return to a County Board of Supervisors. Copy of Petition for Small Claims Assessment Review on property located at 1300 Spring Street Extension, James and Carolann Darling requesting assessment be changed from $220,000 to $160,000. Letter from Time Warner Cable. New stop sign and light at intersection of Route 38 and Route 34B effective 10 AM today. th Planning Board Meeting, Thursday, August 16. Letter from Robert Dempsey Agency concerning protection of assets. th Groton Business Association Meeting tomorrow, August 15, at noon, at the Elm Tree Inn in McLean. Speaker is Ronald Borrows, proprietor of Business Support Group in Cortland and speaking about non-profit agencies. Draft copy of Groton Pamphlet. Supervisor Morey will be out of Town August 22, 23 & 24. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:36 PM. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk