Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-11-2001 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 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, George R. Senter, Sr., Liz Brennan, Arthur Dawson, Joseph Graham. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 304-360 of the in the amount of $17,801.17 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 200-219 of the in the amount of $50,999.35 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Randall, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 221-223 of the in the amount of $9,850.48 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. There was no response. Town Board Meeting Page 2 of 21 December 11, 2001 Monthly Reports: Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – I just wanted to let you know where we stand on the Maurice Coit matter. I appeared before Judge Relihan, Supreme Court of Tompkins County, on th the 16. No one really showed up and he agreed with everything that I wanted. I’ve prepared an th order for his signature, which he signed on November 28 of this year and is now entered in the Court and is filed. What we need to do at this point is the building has now been declared to be a public nuisance and we need to move forward with either demolishing it or burning it and moving along those lines. I’ve talked a little bit with Glenn earlier and I thought that since I am almost sure that this building probably has asbestos you have to be very careful of what you do especially if you just demolish it and start carrying it away and it contains asbestos. The State can really get on to you for that. So, we have to be very careful of what we do but we have to move forward. We can’t let months go by. We have to move forward and demolish this building. I thought that it might be wise to get an environmental engineer involved to do an environmental sight review of the property to let us know exactly what we have on our hands. But Glenn indicated that he might want to contact the Fire Department first and find out what information they would have about this and see what they think about it and go from there. But I think we need to move forward with this. We need to get the building down but we need to do it safely and within the State and Federal law if possible. We’ve got to get moving on that and I don’t know what the Board’s pleasure is on that. Supervisor Morey – I told Fran that I would get back to him on Thursday to find out what’s going to happen. I’ll get hold of the Board and let them know. Because the Groton Fire Department does have Haz-Mat people certified there. I know they’ve taken down other houses recently and so I have to figure out what their regulations are first before we go spending money on the consultant. Attorney Casullo – Just so you know what will happen, any expense that the Town incurs is just going to be added on to the tax levy of this property. I’m going to honest with you. Do I think we’re going to get anything back? Probably not, but we had to do it. I mean, it just had to be done and we will go from there. I’ll let George know about it. Unless you have any questions, I’m going to wait to hear back from Glenn about what the Fire Department might have to say about it. But just so you know, we have to keep moving on this. We can’t let 6, 7, 8 months go by without doing anything. We’ve got to move forward and get this building down. The other issue is Rick asked me to prepare a draft parking ordinance, which I did. It’s certainly up to the Board to mark it up or do whatever they want. Let me just explain to you what is involved in passing an ordinance. The Board, once they figure out what they want to do, by resolution will propose an ordinance. Usually with a resolution you read the ordinance in full. Then what would happen, if it is passed, you have to place notice of a public hearing in your official newspaper and you have to do that at least 10 days before the meeting. Then you have the public hearing and then after the public hearing, if you want to make some changes you can. Or if you want to pass the ordinance as it stands after the public hearing, you can. Then we have to publish an abstract of the ordinance in the paper and then it becomes effective. Also, Glenn knows this, and Colleen and Louie knows this, the reason I put that next to the last section there, I think it’s section 7, is in 1971 the Town did adopt an ordinance regulating parking on 2 streets in the Hamlet of McLean, Stevens Road and Church Street. If you want to amend or repeal that ordinance you have to do it by another ordinance. So, that’s something that you may want to keep in mind if you are looking at this parking ordinance. The only reason I said that it doesn’t Town Board Meeting Page 3 of 21 December 11, 2001 in any way repeal or amend it is because I didn’t know what you wanted to do. That’s up to the Board. Supervisor Morey – Since Rick is here, why don’t we just talk a little bit about the ordinance. I just got this about 4 o’clock this afternoon so I know the Board is just reading it too. Are you prepared to talk about it a little bit? First of all, thanks for making it so simple too, Fran. Rick, when it says penalties, and I guess this might be for Fran, who administers those penalties? Are we allowed to do that or do the Police Officers or …….? Attorney Casullo – It’s my understanding that it goes on record and the Board then lets the Sheriff’s Department know that we have an ordinance and they can site them for a parking ordinance. Supervisor Morey – Okay, so we have to call. Attorney Casullo – I don’t know, has anyone ever been in violation of this Hamlet of McLean parking ordinance? Clerk Pierson – I’m not aware of any. Attorney Casullo – I can look into that and find out exactly how it would be enforced. But I think that’s the way it’s done. Supervisor Morey – So, if we extended the McLean parking ordinance for the whole Town how much more work would we do? Attorney Casullo – Well to be honest with you, the McLean parking ordinance doesn’t say much. Clerk Pierson – No, it doesn’t. Attorney Casullo – First of all it basically tells you no person or persons shall park or stand their motor vehicle, it talks about snowmobiles and any kind, and it talks about the two roads. And then it says any person convicted of any violation of any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a violation, fined $10.00 for the first offense, $15.00 for the second, $25.00 for the thirds and each subsequent violation. It doesn’t tell you about storage fees if you’ve got to get a tow-truck. It doesn’t mention anything like that at all. George Senter – Is this for a specific time of year, like the winter months? stst Supervisor Morey – Yeah, it’s November 1 through May 1 each year. Attorney Casullo – That one is the standard November through May. This one is all year round. Councilman Sovocool – That was all year because the fire trucks used to pull out onto Stevens Road, right? Clerk Pierson – Yes. Town Board Meeting Page 4 of 21 December 11, 2001 Attorney Casullo – I don’t even know, to be honest with you, if this is outdated. It very well could be. Councilman Sovocool – I remember doing it but I don’t…………… Supervisor Morey – Rick, where did this request come from? Richard Case – It’s just something that I’ve noticed that the other towns and villages have these ordinances and it gives us something to stand on when I go to the door and ask these people to move their cars. I’ve got some avenue to take to get them to move them. Supervisor Morey – Have people refused to move their cars? Richard Case – Yes. Supervisor Morey – And what areas in the Town does this happen the most? Richard Case – Well, the biggest problem is Lafayette Road, and I can’t think of the people’s name. But not only is this a plowing issue, it’s a safety issue. I worry about them parking a car on the blacktopped surface and if somebody comes up through they’re going to drive right into the back of it. So, it isn’t just the plowing part of it, it’s anything that’s within the right-of-way that we try to maintain ….(not using microphone)… We certainly haven’t had a great deal of problem but every year there’s a few and there’s more people moving into the country and they hear it’s going to snow so they park out on the road. Now, there just isn’t room enough to put a 19’ plow safely up through these sections of the road that they park on. Supervisor Morey – Another question is we don’t really have liability if the plow hits the car, do we, in the act of moving snow? Richard Case – Well, that’s for the Court. Supervisor Morey – Mailboxes, garage doors,………… Richard Case – Mailboxes are within our right-of-way. We have a policy that if I feel the driver is negligent and hits it, we’ll fix it. But if it’s something that can’t be avoided, that mailbox is in our right-of-way. Supervisor Morey – Would the car be in the right-of-way then, Fran? Attorney Casullo – Well, I think if the car is there and it’s abandoned, I think there would be a lot more a question of fact. But I think there would be times when there’s a blinding snowstorm and a plow hits a car that was just there in the middle of the road I think the Town’s going to have some liability towards that car. I mean, the car shouldn’t be there but it would have to be a question of fact. I think there may be instances where a town may not be liability but a number of towns and villages do have these parking ordinances. I guess it makes things easier for the highway superintendents to handle it. Councilman Randall – I was going to say, I, in the winter if we’re going to get a lot, I probably park in the right-of-way at the end of my driveway. What’s the right-of-way, 25 feet? What is it? Town Board Meeting Page 5 of 21 December 11, 2001 Councilman Sovocool – From the centerline of the road. Councilman Randall – See, I’m definitely in violation of that sometimes. If you’d drop your wing and clean my driveway out it wouldn’t be a problem. Richard Case – We’re trying to maintain from the centerline 17 to 19 feet so they don’t have to cross over the centerline. They can stay in the lane and operate safely. It isn’t a big problem; it’s just something that I would like to see on the books to protect us. Last year we had a car that was in violation of parking the wrong way………(not using microphone)…… We work around them but there’s nothing really……….we do have sections in V&T to take care of it but we have to get a deputy out there to take care of it and sometimes they want something a little more to stand behind them. Supervisor Morey – And they usually advertise in the paper every year between November to remind the people that there is a parking ordinance and that’s really the only additional expense that I can think of. Louie, have you got any questions? Councilman Sovocool – I’m in favor of it. Councilman Scheffler – I think we should do it. Councilman Randall – I just worry that when you create something like this that because you create it then you create a bigger problem, that’s all. Enforcement. People have a tendency when you tell them they can’t do something and put it on a piece of paper then they don’t do it. I’m worried about that, I guess. Justice Dawson – Actually I can see Rick getting a lot of phone calls from sheriffs and troopers at night because it says at his discretion. So, if you’re going to remove it pursuant to this law you’d have to have him saying it, not necessarily the police officer. Supervisor Morey – Joe, do you see any problems with this? Joe Graham – Yes, there’s problems with it. Some people will park directly in front of their driveway in a snowstorm so you can’t put snow in it and leave it there. And it is a hazard to get around them. If I meet a school bus full of kids where a car’s parked, normally I’m in a position where I can stop, but conditions at some points you can’t see them. Richard Case – This is between 10 o’clock at night and 7 in the morning. This is normally times, when if we have windy conditions, that’s when the wind goes down and we will go out and try to move the snow back. If the cars are there then we have problem. We may not see them. Joe Graham – There’s people who will do this occasionally, and there’s probably a good reason. But there are people who do it all winter long. Councilman Clark – I’m in favor of it. Councilman Scheffler – How about in section 3 we add “or any police agency”? So, Rick can ask or if a Sheriff comes along and decides it’s unsafe, he can use it too. Town Board Meeting Page 6 of 21 December 11, 2001 Justice Dawson – This is a little bit broader than the V&T sections, so I think that if you want the cops to remove the vehicles out there, I think you almost have got to give them the authority. Isn’t that right, Fran? Attorney Casullo – I’m just not too sure, and I’d have to do some research, but I’m not too sure if the police want that broader authority. I’m not too sure if Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department wants that broader authority. Justice Dawson - ………… I’d say almost 10 years ago. Because there was a change in the V&T Law at that time to allow the highway superintendents to remove vehicles that were in the way of snow removal. But it was kind of a cumbersome section of law to deal with. Something like this is a lot easier. I know that from just going back on my own experiences as a deputy I would have loved to have something like this that I could have fallen back on. Plus, I don’t know how the fines generate back to the Town if they write this instead of the V&T. Someone asks if the Town gets more money. Justice Dawson – The Town gets more money because the fines under the V&T Law are a lot less. Attorney Casullo – I don’t know. I see what you are saying, Don, but I would have to do some research to see if we could add in there “police officer” or “law enforcement official”. Supervisor Morey – I think what we’re doing is aiding Rick in keeping the cars off the road in snow emergency situations and I don’t think we really have to get involved with, ah, that would be the last choice of calling the police to either remove it or……… Richard Case – We’re not going to change our policies………… We knock on doors and ask people to move these things. A lot of times it’s just move them across the road so we can clear that off. But it’s becoming more….there’s a couple situations where these people just ignore it. Supervisor Morey – Okay. So, first of all we have to set a date for a parking ordinance. Attorney Casullo – First of all, I think you have to resolve that this is what you want. Colleen, do you think we should read it all? Clerk Pierson – I’ll have it in the record. Attorney Casullo – I could read it. Someone has to make the resolution that this is the ordinance that you want to adopt. Supervisor Morey – Do you want time to think about it? Attorney Casullo – Oh, yeah, if you want time to think about it, I mean, I could do more research, but it’s up to the Board. Councilman Clark – I’m certainly interested in what Don said, as long as we’re going to do it. Supervisor Morey – We might as well do it right. Why don’t we do it this way: let’s get all our facts together by the January meeting and set a parking ordinance for February. Town Board Meeting Page 7 of 21 December 11, 2001 Attorney Casullo – I guess what’s being asked is that you want me, in section 3, to say that “may be removed by the Town Highway Superintendent and/or local law enforcement agency”? Let me do that research. And while we’re at it, what do you want me to do in way of this 1971 parking ordinance, just leave it as-is? Councilman Clark – What did it say? Attorney Casullo – No person or persons shall park or stand their motor vehicle, motor cycle, truck or snowmobile at any time of the day or night in the following streets or areas in the Hamlet of McLean, Town of Groton, County of Tompkins, State of New York, to wit: a)Either side of Stevens Road, also known as County Road 104, for a distance of 170’ northerly from the intersection of Stevens Road, County Road 104, and a public highway known as School Street. b)West side of Church Street, known as County Road 107, northerly for an additional 110’. c) The areas between the east line of Stevens Road on the west, west line of Church Street on the east, north line of School Street and McLean-Cortland Road on the south and the south line of property now or formerly owned and known by Barry’s Store on the north. Supervisor Morey – But that’s year ‘round. Attorney Casullo – Yes. It’s been there for 30 years. It’s up to you…… Joe Graham – At that time was when the fire station was set up to have everything come out on Stevens Road and we did have an area there where we could go straight across. Now all we have coming out of there is the rescue truck and that can make a swing either way on Stevens. As a matter of fact, there’s parking there all the time now in that area that Fran’s just listed. I don’t want to speak for the fire department but I wouldn’t foresee a problem as long as what’s in front of the fire station is kept open. Councilman Sovocool – That’s the law anyways. Joe Graham – Yeah. But when we had………we couldn’t make that swing. Councilman Sovocool – I know you couldn’t back then. It’s probably outdated, really. Attorney Casullo – We can keep it on the books. It’s up to the Board. Councilman Sovocool – I personally think we could probably do away with it. Joe Graham – That’s my feeling. I’d hate to have it come up and bite you sometime. Attorney Casullo – You can always keep it on the books and it’s just there. Councilman Scheffler – Keep it on the books and then if they need it, they can use it. And if it’s not a problem, people have been parking there right along and they will continue to. Councilman Randall – I agree with that. Just leave it there. Councilman Clark – Okay. Town Board Meeting Page 8 of 21 December 11, 2001 Supervisor Morey – All right, we’ll keep it as is. Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper – Hello everyone. You’ve got your revenues and expenditures and the cash report. I do have some transfers. And I also want to report that we’ve got the rates for the Blue Cross/ Blue Shield and it’s gone up quite a bit. For the individuals, per pay, they were paying $32.16; now it’s up to $36.90. A two-person family was $64.33; now it’s $73.81. And three or more in the family was $81.70 and now it’s $91.74. This will be in effect by next payroll in December and I’m sending notices out to everybody who is on the insurance so they are aware of it. RESOLUTION #84 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds: General Fund – Town Wide From: Contingency A1990.4……………………… $525.97 To: Justices, Contractual A1110.4……………... 113.25 Supervisor, Contractual A1220.4…………. 176.79 Auditing, Contractual A1320.4………….. 200.00 Highway Clerk, A5010.12………………. 35.93 RESOLUTION # 85 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds: Highway Fund – Town Wide: From: Retirement DA9010.8…………………….. $1,262.10 To: Health Insurance DA9060.8……………… 1,262.10 Town Board Meeting Page 9 of 21 December 11, 2001 RESOLUTION # 86 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey Abstain – Randall RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds: Highway Fund – Town Wide: From: Service for Other Govts., Cont. DA5148.4…$29,595.00 To: Machinery, Equipment DA5130.2………….. 29,595.00 Supervisor Morey – Any other questions for Liz? George R. Senter, Sr., Code Enforcement Officer – I’ll give you run-down of the building permits issued for November. We issued 12; 1 was for a house; 3 for manufactured houses, which are mobile homes and one of those was an Elder Cottage; and 8 were for other things. We also issued 6 Certificates of Occupancy for the same time period, so we are catching up on some of those too. We had half a dozen letters on junk automobiles, trash and crap like that. Houghtlings, out on West Groton Road, they got rid of theirs. Brenda Moffit called me and said one of hers is going to go to Ward. Vliets on Bird Cemetery Road cleaned their mess up. And there was a place on Lick Street, right behind Diversified Electronics, that all of a sudden had 4 or 5 used Agway vans pop up and they’re gone. Hilker’s property is cleaned up. I talked to Harold Ayres about his. He has two left. He had four and is going to get rid of one of them so he will be in compliance. I went to a FEMA meeting last week. They have some new local laws that I gave a copy to Colleen and you may want to have Fran look at to include in our local law for floodplains. It’s just an update on……….in 1986. They’re looking at all the flood areas and if there were any questions on a particular area. Like, on Lafayette Road we have Roger Short’s property and he’s in the flood zone and he’s got to be 25 feet above Fall Creek. So, it’s things like that that they are going to look at. I mentioned that to them. We discussed a lot of places. I got everybody a copy. You don’t have to incorporate this into our floodplain law, but it’s just something that you ought to look at. Just an update of what we had before. Councilman Randall – Have they changed anything, because the flood map was dated 1984. Has any of that changed? Do they have a new one on file? George Senter – This is what they are doing right now. They’re looking at it. Councilman Randall – Because that may have changed quite a bit, in some areas. George Senter – The Corp of Engineers did all that. The Town has no BFE’s, Base Flood Elevations, anywhere. The Village shows Base Flood Elevations, and Floodways and everything Town Board Meeting Page 10 of 21 December 11, 2001 but the Town doesn’t show it. I’m not too sure about Dryden. I know it has to be an impact in Freeville because of Virgil Creek Dam. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - At the present time all snowplow and sanding equipment is mounted and ready to go. De-icing materials are manufactured and mixed. The salt shed received some repair and is presently full. All of this is easily said, but to achieve this took diligent work on behalf of all the Highway employees. With the winter weather holding off, the Highway Department has been able to continue ditching, clearing right-of-way, and replacing pipes. A great deal of time has been dedicated to cutting trees and brush on Bossard Road, Devlen Road and East Brown Road. I took advantage of borrowing Tompkins County Highway Department’s bulldozer to clear right-of-way on Salt Road. Joe is currently addressing some of the gravel banks' ongoing reclamation with this bulldozer before we return it. My thanks go to the Tompkins County Highway Department. November is the month that I am obligated to file with New York State Dept. of Transportation, the Town's road inventory. This was done and is recorded that the Town of Groton owns 53.45 centerline miles of roadway. All summer projects were recorded and duly noted. After several months of waiting, we took delivery of the one-ton dump truck that was purchased on New York State bid. You will recall, this is the truck to replace the one-ton truck that we sold at the Lansing Municipal Auction this year. After all the paperwork is in place and the shop has gone over a few items, it will be placed in service. In preparation for closing the books for the year 2001, I have some requests that need resolutions. 1. Due to lack of time and funds, to complete the guide rail on Old Stage Road bridge, I would like to re-encumber $3,000 from the bridge account, 5120.4, and $10,000 from the DB5110.4 account. I think that with these funds and what we have budgeted for 2002 will allow the completion of this project. 2. I request that the remainder of the County plow money, account 5148.4, for the year 2001 be encumbered and be placed in the 5130.2 machinery account. With this money, I would like permission to purchase from New York State bid 1 -TL90 New Holland 2- wheel drive mowing tractor. This is to replace the 1990 Ford mowing tractor we presently own (2350 hours). 3. I am requesting encumbering the unused portionof the 5130.2 machinery account and permission to purchase, from NewYork State bid, one new 1/2 ton pick up truck for an estimated $17, 094. This is to replace the 1994 Ford pick up that has 120,000 miles on it. I am making these requests now to get the ball rolling. As we saw with the 1-ton dump truck, the state bid equipment takes time to receive. Supervisor Morey – What are you going to do with the old lawnmower? Town Board Meeting Page 11 of 21 December 11, 2001 Richard Case – I intend to, if we go through with this tractor, this is just the tractor purchase price, put that out to bid and see if we get money enough to replace the mowing equipment that will be attached to this new mower. Supervisor Morey – And if we don’t? Richard Case – If we don’t we’ll use the old mowing equipment we’ve got right now. Supervisor Morey – All right. What about the truck, the 120,000 mile Ford truck, or is it a Chevy? Richard Case – This is the one Jerry’s been driving. He would inherit my truck and I’d get the new one. Councilman Sovocool – What would happen to the old one? Richard Case – Until auction time, it would be here to use. Supervisor Morey – So, we will get rid of it at auction time? Richard Case – Yup. Councilman Scheffler – The way things are going it would be auction time before you get the truck anyway. Richard Case – Well, that’s why I want to get these things moving so we don’t end up short again. Does that answer your questions, Tyke? Councilman Randall – Yeah, I knew what it was about. It’s just that voting on it to pass it without talking about it, that’s all. Richard Case – That Town money, I know Louie and Don were here when we took on the extra mileage for the County. That’s revenue that the Highway Department generates. Supervisor Morey – Yeah, I apologize for that too, Tyke, because I knew about it too beforehand and I knew it was going through. And stuff that we know prior to the meeting, I guess we shouldn’t………. Councilman Randall – I just didn’t know if everybody else knew that. I did know, but……. Supervisor Morey – That’s exactly why I like people coming down here spending time talking. Councilman Scheffler – On this tractor, do you have to put that out to bid? Richard Case – No, it would be State bid. Councilman Scheffler – That’s why you know what it is already. Richard Case – Both of these pieces will be State bid. Town Board Meeting Page 12 of 21 December 11, 2001 Councilman Scheffler – You and I talked about it today on the horsepower rating, and I did some checking on it and it takes about 80 horse to run what we were……..so we’re in the ballpark… Richard Case – So, we are in the ballpark for that. It was 97 horse PTO power. Councilman Scheffler – Rick and I were just brainstorming on the generator and possibly buying a PTO generator that could be run off a tractor instead of one with an engine on it. Supervisor Morey – The only trouble is they don’t last very long for an extended period of time. Councilman Scheffler – If you buy one heavy enough it will. But that’s just something that we were bashing around. It would be something to look at. If you’re buying a tractor, make sure it’s big enough. RESOLUTION #87 – ENCUMBER FUNDS FOR PURCHASE OF MOWING TRACTOR MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize that the remainder of the County plow money, account 5148.4, for the year 2001 be encumbered and be placed in the 5130.2 machinery account for the purchase from New York State bid a TL90 New Holland 2-wheel drive mowing tractor for the approximate amount of $29,595.00. RESOLUTION #88 – ENCUMBER FUNDS FOR PURCHASE OF ½ TON PICK-UP MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize that the remainder of the 5130.2 machinery account be encumbered for the purchase, from NewYork State bid, of a new 1/2 ton pick-up truck for an estimated $17, 094. Supervisor Morey – Timber, are they done? Have they scraped it off? Last I heard they had to get the ruts out and take that firewood away. Richard Case – They’ve been out there and back-dragged everything off. There’s still a few logs and he was reluctant to let the truckers go up in there because it was wet. I think they’ve done a nice clean job. Other than the wood still being there, I don’t know where that lies in the contract, with the tops and stuff. Is there a time period in that contract that they have to get the tops out? Town Board Meeting Page 13 of 21 December 11, 2001 Councilman Clark – They aren’t taking the tops out. Councilman Scheffler – The tops he said leave where they lay. It will make the woods grow better. Richard Case – Okay. But they do have some logs that are the trimmings or whatever that they are still moving out. Supervisor Morey – Okay, we also owe them the bid bond back and we also have to pay Demeree, but I don’t want to pay them back until everything is finished. So, you are going to have to let me know when they do grade out…….. Any other questions for Rick? Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk – Submitted her monthly report for the Board’s review. One thing I want to mention: Fran drew up a local law pertaining to the indemnification of town officers and employees and nothing’s been done on that and that was done in July. He wanted to know if you still wanted to go through with that or what, for next year. It’s a local law. You probably remember getting a copy of that. Supervisor Morey – We can do it next year, look at it. Clerk Pierson – Well, February is a good time. I talked to a couple of people about the dog enumeration and I’m not sure that this time of year is a good time to do it because I really don’t need that work in January with tax collection. So, I think I am going to put it off until next spring. I don’t know how that affects the encumbered amount. Liz Brennan – Do you want the encumbrance to move over? Clerk Pierson – We will be doing it for sure next year. It’s just so late that we don’t need that extra work. I anticipate 400 to 500 dogs that aren’t licensed out there. But we need to get something done. I really need to get on them too about holding to our contract. They have not been doing us a good job. Councilman Sovocool – The SPCA? Clerk Pierson – Yeah. They sent us a note apologizing that they hadn’t done this or done that. They’ve had a big turnover of personnel. But I’m sorry, you know, we’ve paid our contract and I think they ought to be taking care of it. I’m not so sure that they will probably get their money right away in January. They’re going to get December’s but I said, you know, that they would have to take care of this, and they assured me that they would. I’ll keep on them. I guess that’s it. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Colleen? Dewey, anything for the Court? Justice Dawson – The last two years we have put grant applications in. The first year we didn’t get anything and then last year we got the new computer. We also submitted another application this year. We submitted a request for $679.00 to get a new monitor, tape recorder, and external zip drive for storage of our backup and stuff like that and anti-virus software. We got notice last Town Board Meeting Page 14 of 21 December 11, 2001 week that we got approval. Instead of $679.00, they gave us $830.00. They figured that we were going too low on the cost of the monitor. But this is a joint application that went in with the Town and the Village Court. When we got the computer it came back to the Town and this time all the money is going to go back to the Village. I guess they just alternate it. We are going to be purchasing this stuff after the first of the year. But we did save some money for the Town by doing the grant again this year. Supervisor Morey – Congratulations on your award of the grant. Justice Dawson – Also, I don’t know if all of you know of the situation with Judge Heffron, but he was in intensive care for a couple of weeks at the Veterans’ Hospital. He’s home now and he’s pretty well convinced to take the month of December off and try to get his strength back up. So, we’re covering, between Bob Walpole and myself, we’re covering all the Courts and the Court days. We’re looking forward to having him come back. Supervisor Morey – Arland does look great, being home, compared to what he looked like in the hospital. He’s in good spirits and he’s very alert and he’d like everybody to come up and see him if they have any spare time to stop and say hello to him. Arland Heffron and Arthur Dawson, Town Justices – Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. Supervisor Morey – Moving on to the resolution on action on the employee contract for fiscal 2002. Basically, we don’t have the written contract. We’ll have that in January. RESOLUTION #89 - APPROVAL OF 2002 HIGHWAY NEGOTIATIONS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town of Groton Highway Employees be granted the following for the year 2002: 1)$50.00 yearly clothing allowance. 2)Minimum starting pay will be $9.00 per hour. 3)$.62 per hour raise across the board. 4)In the event of the death of an employee any unpaid sick leave will be paid to their designated beneficiary. (Clause to be written up by Attorney Casullo for an addition to the contract.) Town Board Meeting Page 15 of 21 December 11, 2001 Supervisor Morey – We’re happy to have Joe Graham here for the Community Committee from McLean to talk to us a little bit about what the committee has been going through for the last couple of months. Joe Graham – Thanks for having me over here tonight. As you know the Dryden School Board has voted to close both the Freeville and McLean schools. They seem to think this a done-deal and all that, but we had a meeting jointly with people from Freeville for what they are calling the Community Based School Committee. Apparently they have to go through what is called a SEQRA process to close these schools, which requires that they notify all agencies involved, including the town boards, the village boards. Unfortunately McLean is a hamlet, so we don’t have to be notified. What happens is they ask these communities to sign off saying that it’s okay to close these schools. The research that we have done from the census figures in 1990 show that a community of less than 500, such as Freeville or McLean, without a school the average property values are $1,200 less than communities with a school. This is whether there was one and closed or has never been one. If the Town doesn’t sign off on this, the Town will make their report to the State sighting concerns of why the school shouldn’t be closed and has to list economic, social and environmental impacts and so on. The people in McLean are as against closing that school as the ones in Freeville, although they haven’t been quite as vocal about it. The people in Freeville have done quite a lot of homework on this issue. My personal feeling, I will leave out of this, but basically you have the information that I have and I would appreciate it when you do get notified by the Dryden School Board of this that you could let me know and maybe even have a public hearing so people can come and voice their views on this. Supervisor Morey – It’s a great idea. Next time you have a joint meeting can you invite us too? Joe Graham – Well, that’s another thing I’ve got noted here on the bottom of the page. The McLean Community Council is going to meet January 9, 2002, at 7:30 PM, at the McLean Fire Station, and we’d welcome any or all of you to come and join us. Supervisor Morey – That would be great. I’d love to come. Any questions for Joe? Councilman Randall – I just have one. I guess I’m trying to figure out how you gathered a consensus for, or is it truly representative of the whole of McLean and Freeville, saying that they don’t want it or is that just a kind of man-on-the-street thing? Joe Graham – Well, we’ve had meetings on this and Freeville’s had several meetings for the Community Based School Committee. We turned a petition in to the Dryden School Board with one side or the other of 1,100 signatures against the decision the Board made. The night that they reconsidered their decision there was a group there that turned in a petition with 56 signatures saying that they agreed with what the school did. Councilman Randall – And that was from McLean and Freeville, or what? Joe Graham – That was mainly from the Village of Dryden. As I understand from going to the meetings that there are people in the Village of Dryden who are not happy with this either basically because of the traffic concerns and the size of the school they want to build there. Councilman Sovocool – The 1,100, that was McLean and Freeville together? Town Board Meeting Page 16 of 21 December 11, 2001 Joe Graham – And Dryden and the whole school district. They had petitions out in the post offices. They set up in front of Clark’s store to gather these signatures and explain their positions. Some of the petitions that were left unattended came up missing at different times. Councilman Randall – And what percentage of the population does that represent? Joe Graham – People who vote in Dryden I believe, if I heard the figure right, averages 800 to 900 that turn out to vote at a school board election type situation. Referendums and so on, of course, you get more. That’s the other thing they will have to do to close these schools is to pass a referendum. The feeling I’ve gotten from the people I’ve talked to, I don’t see it happening, but time will tell. This is just one step that we can take to try to get our feeling across to the State when the Board makes their report to the State, that everything isn’t roses on this project. I think a hearing would be your way of knowing what the feelings are. Supervisor Morey – Oh, yeah, it would be great. Good idea. Any other questions for Joe? If not we will move on to a discussion with Duane Randall. Councilman Randall – Glenn asked me, last month, to look into the Disaster Preparedness Plan that the Town of Groton has and we basically have a generic version sent down by the State in 1993 and we basically just put in our name. The Village did the same thing. And so he asked me to look into it and I’m kind of killing two birds with one stone. I had a project that I had to do for school so I’m making use of that also. What we are looking at is coming up with a comprehensive plan that brings everybody that’s involve with this kind of a situation to the table together so that we’re all on the same page. The way I’ve been going about it is number one is doing personal interviews. I’ve talked to Rick; I’ve talked to Lester Coit; picking brains. I have quite a few more of them to do. I’ve called other townships to see what they’ve had. I’ve talked to Don Barber in Caroline. Pretty much everybody has the same plan. They just adopted the State one and it’s very vague. It doesn’t really tell you anything. The more I dug into it the more I found out that there is a real need for consistency across the board and there’s also a real need for communication. There is a huge gap out there between all these involved parties, with the County and the local municipalities. In the case of a real disaster we’d be stumbling over each other in some ways. We’ve dealt with it as a community in the past with flooding and things like that, but if we ever had anything that was more widespread this is just a plan to know where everybody fits in and where we fit in as a board and our representation of the people of Groton. I like to look at it from the standpoint of we evaluated the threat to the Town, picked out the things that are most likely going to happen, and that was done not only through research with the National Weather Service, but also past historic events that have happened here. So, that’s where we compared from, where we drew our information from. Also from the Federal Government; also from the State th Government, just to find out just exactly what’s out there. And with the September 11 events happening it’s very much in people’s minds right now and I think it’s a really good time to review it. The outline I gave you is nowhere near complete. I know it looks like a lot of pages, but it’s actually very simplistic in a lot of ways. There’s just a lot of information there that is copulated into one place instead of all over the place. So, that’s what I’m trying to do. The other thing that we’re doing with it is trying to put together some mock disasters possibly in the future to cover some of these things, like a tanker spill or something like that so that we could mobilize this and see if it really works and where we need to make changes. We could sit here and talk about it on paper forever but until it happens we don’t know if we’re really prepared totally for that or not. That’s where it’s at. I still have a lot of brains to pick. There’s a lot of other places to Town Board Meeting Page 17 of 21 December 11, 2001 look for information that have the expertise that I don’t have and put it in one place as a comprehensive plan and go from there. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Tyke? Tyke, this is just an outline, are you going to finish the report afterwards? Councilman Randall – Actually, what’s going to happen, I have a report due Friday, but that report will not be probably the finished product. Why I gave you this tonight is I would like all of you look at it and go through it and jot down things that you see that don’t need to be there, things you see that you should put there. I will have a report to turn in for the class but I would rather have a more comprehensive one for the January meeting. RESOLUTION #90 – APPOINT ANTHONY ZARACHOWICZ TO EMC COMMITTEE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby appoint Anthony Zarachowicz to represent the Town of Groton on the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council Committee. Announcements: Applications for Association of Towns Meeting in NYC. th Teleconference: Elected Officials Presentation at Cooperative Extension, December 17 at 5:15 PM. th Groton Businessmen Association Holiday Party at American Legion, December 13 at 5 PM. GBA is doing second version of Groton Brochure. Councilmen Randall and Scheffler express interest in being included. th Planning Board meeting December 20. Information from George Senter on Flood Damage Protection – Board will review for next month. th Holiday luncheon for Town Employees, December 19 at noon at the Groton Hotel. Town Board Meeting Page 18 of 21 December 11, 2001 RESOLUTION #91 – TOWN TO PAY 25% OF RETIREES’ HEALTH INSURANCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby agree to pay 25% of the health insurance premium for retirees. Supervisor Morey – Basically it was only $772.00 that we’re talking about for this year and I wanted to get started on this type of thing because I know that a lot of people are going to be doing it and I just don’t want the people from the Town to ever be worried about this situation. I wanted to make a bold step in the right direction. Councilman Scheffler – Would you like a report on the Recreation Committee? We’ve met twice. We’ve come out with the ad for the Recreation Coordinator in the paper today. I think February we’re going to try to hire somebody if we get applicants that meet our approval. We are working on a questionnaire that the school is going to mail out in January to see what the people of the Town would like to see in a recreation program. We’ve also talked about maybe doing a winter carnival, a family sledding party, with a hotdog barbeque or something, just to get things started. We’ve looked at some sights that the Town owns and are privately owned and haven’t really settled on anything yet. But we’ve been looking at where we could do it and if it’s going to be feasible or not. We need snow. Supervisor Morey – Don, I’m going to put you on the agenda for every month, is that all right? I think it’s a very worthwhile and critical thing that we need to be on top of. Clerk Pierson – I’ve got a couple of questions on this retirees’ health insurance. What determines when they retire, after 5 years here, 10 years, 20 years or 1? You could have a person walk in and work for you for 5 years. Are you going to pay their retirement, 25% of their retirement? Supervisor Morey – No. Clerk Pierson – Well, you’ve got to have something in writing, I would think, about what this covers and who it covers. Does it cover past retirees of the Town, or from now on? You must have discussed this, I don’t know. Supervisor Morey – It was past retirees and I guess we’ll have to use 20 years and above. That’s what we were talking about. Clerk Pierson – Well, you have to have something in writing. Supervisor Morey – All right let’s review that again. Clerk Pierson – So, past retirees. Town Board Meeting Page 19 of 21 December 11, 2001 Supervisor Morey – What was the other question, length of service? What else? Clerk Pierson – When it starts. Now if you’re talking about former retirees, are you going to go back and pick up Slim Cargill and all those? They haven’t been here in years, but…….. Supervisor Morey – But we don’t pay for the insurance, do we? Clerk Pierson – Well, are you going to pick up, like Teresa? Who else? Councilman Sovocool – Walpole. But they don’t have insurance through here, do they? Clerk Pierson – You mean now they don’t? So you’re only going to do those who carry the insurance? Councilman Sovocool – Carry the insurance, right. Clerk Pierson – Do you have any questions on that, Rick? Richard Case – Well, you’re writing me out because I’ll never make 20 years. Supervisor Morey – Well this is where we’re starting out, okay? All right? Colleen’s been very interested in doing this in the last couple of years. Colleen’s talked about it. Teresa’s talked about it. We discussed it with Liz to find out if we could afford it and for the first time. After discussing what it was we found out that there was really one retiree on the plan right now. I wanted to get something started. I talked with the Board while we were doing the budget and I had favorable remarks there. And I forgot to make it part of the resolution when we did the budget. So, I just want to start someplace and that’s what it is. You’ve got some excellent questions and we where going to do 20 years and above. Councilman Scheffler – Is that 20 years of employment or 20 years on the insurance program? Supervisor Morey – 20 years of employment. Councilman Scheffler – Because someone could work 19 years and then go on the insurance program and we would pick them up if they retired. Is that what you’re saying? Supervisor Morey – I guess that’s the way it stands right now but I wouldn’t want that to happen. So, you’re saying 20 years on the health plan as well as employment? Councilman Scheffler – I’m not necessarily saying that. Whoever is on the health plan when they retire, is that what…….? Clerk Pierson – I think it would have to be based on their employment. Richard Case – That’s something else that Colleen and I were talking about. I’d like to see it include, such in Corney’s position, all the sudden Dorothy’s out in the cold and he certainly served his time. If you remember the budget workshop, I brought this up. We have benefits for the hourly people and they’re allowed to accumulate their sick time and the elected officials have nothing. That also, to my knowledge, affects retirement. Town Board Meeting Page 20 of 21 December 11, 2001 Supervisor Morey – Okay, but you have additional benefits besides the sick time that you do have. Clerk Pierson – Like what? Supervisor Morey – I mean if you’re sick, you still get paid regardless of whether you have it or not. You don’t have to show up at all and you still get paid, same as Rick. Clerk Pierson – But, you know, one hand washes the other. We may get paid for when we’re sick but I don’t get paid for sitting here tonight and neither does Rick. It’s part of our job, really, but if you have someone else come in and sit down you are paying them an hourly rate. Richard Case – This is what I was including……. If Corney had passed away while he was working would Dottie even be allowed to stay in the system? Supervisor Morey – Right, Rick that is on my mind, as you probably all know. But what I wanted to do is be able to start something this year. The thing is we have to start at some point in time and move on to this because I know what is going to happen in the next couple of years. And Colleen came up with some fantastic ideas of time usage. But we’ve got to move someplace and it’s unheard of doing this in the past, that’s for sure, so we’re looking into something right now. And the Board was kind enough to say yeah it sounds like a great idea, let’s start out something. So, it’s on my mind and we’ve got to take small steps before we take giant leaps, all right? We don’t want to have this insurance coverage be 50% of our total budget either. This thing is not very much. We had a good year, so we’re allowed to do something like this now and that’s why it is. So I’d like to amend my resolution. RESOLUTION #92 – AMEND RESOLUTION ON RETIREES’ HEALTH BENEFITS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby amend Resolution #91 of this date and does hereby agree to pay 25% of retirees’ health insurance benefit with at least 20 years of employment and is enrolled in the health insurance plan at the time of retirement or, in the case of someone who has already retired with 20 years of service, is currently enrolled in the health insurance plan. Supervisor Morey – Hopefully we have all the questions answered. Clerk Pierson – I think, if you don’t mind, I want to finish my little project that I had started and take a look at what other towns have, just to give you something to look at and next year decide on it. It’s almost finalized. Supervisor Morey – I agree with you. Town Board Meeting Page 21 of 21 December 11, 2001 There being no other business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk