Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-2002 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 12, 2002, 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, Liz Brennan, George Senter, Arthur Dawson, Wayne Snyder, Rick Neville, Sr., Chris Dempsey MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the January 8, 2002 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 9-44 of the in the amount of $11,845.67 were presented for audit. (Item #44 approved by Resolution #25 this date.) MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 2-26 of the in the amount of $25,636.27 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 225-228 of the in the amount of $11,943.15 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman , seconded by Councilman , to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Town Board Meeting Page 2 of 20 February 12, 2002 Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor Wayne Snyder – I live at 89 Sharpsteen Road in Groton. This has been going on since spring. I’ve had the Sheriffs Department called and the State Troopers numerous times. They’re getting pretty sick of me calling. I called them twice the other day and they didn’t even come. It’s loud music over at the Harris’s, 74 Sharpsteen Road. I’ve tried to talk to Ron and Mimi about having the kids just tone down a little bit. I’m a thousand feet off the road and the blast makes my pictures fall off the walls, off the shelves and you can actually sit on my couch and you are moving like this (demonstrates) the base is so bad. I get no response when I talk to Ron or Mimi about it. They tell me that their boys have their rights and that’s the name of the game and they hang up the phone on me. The Troopers and the Sheriff’s Department say there’s nothing they can do because there’s no ordinance. They keep telling the Sheriff’s Department, Ron and Mimi, that a garage is being built that is sound-proof over on Pleasant Valley Road and it will be done in a couple of weeks. Well, this has been going on for at least four months. I find out, through the grapevine, that there’s no garage being built. I’ve had enough. I’ve owned the property for probably 14 years and my wife and I are ready to pack up and move out. I just can’t see these 17-year-old kids just walking all over me. I went over one night and got a little irate because I was trying to do a big bid. I run a business out of the house, as well as my wife. I couldn’t concentrate to do it so I went over there. On my way over I called the Sheriff’s Department on my cell phone to say I was going over. I parked my truck at the end of the driveway and they all came out single file and informed me that they are all minors and I couldn’t do anything to them and that was that. I told them to step out in the road and at least give me a chance. So, the Sheriff’s Department came and they’re real upset with me. He told me to go home and he would be over in awhile. He must have really talked to them because I didn’t hear anything for three weeks. I mean, I heard it, but it was bearable, where I could deal with it. They practice 7 days a week. It was fine. The last two weeks, going on three weeks, it’s right back to par one again. It’s unreal. Something has got to be done. It just gets in your head. They play sometimes from 11 in the morning to 7 o’clock at night. Other times it from 2 in the afternoon or right after they get out of school till 7 o’clock at night. It’s not that they play late at night, it’s just so many hours that they play at a time. I invite any one of you to come up to my house and just sit in my living room and just try to relax. You can’t do it. I’m just here to see if anything can be done. I did go around the road and a few people did sign a petition saying it was bothering them and they’ve had enough. Some of the people said they had to work with the Harris’s so they didn’t want to stir up a bee’s nest by getting in on this. It doesn’t have to be an ordinance just set for them. It could be set for the whole Town of Groton as well as barking dogs, motorcycles, loud music. Somebody spoke up and said that if we set an ordinance and somebody has a party for a reception or a wedding reception and they played loud music and somebody yelled they could call the police and they’d have to turn down their music. Well, if somebody can’t put up with a party for a one-day thing, something is wrong. I could deal with a one-day wedding reception or graduation party or birthday party or whatever. But when it has to go on 7 days a week and Sundays, really, that’s a real bad day. This Sunday I tried to sit down and watch the NASCAR race. I couldn’t even watch it. It drove me crazy. I could sit in the chair in my living room and it would almost make you want to bawl sometimes because there’s nothing I can do about it. And I guess that’s how it is. Supervisor Morey – It’s too bad when you have to change the laws for the whole Town just to correct a couple kids. George, what is the procedure? George Senter, Code Enforcement Officer – We have no noise ordinance. Town Board Meeting Page 3 of 20 February 12, 2002 Supervisor Morey – I know that. What’s the procedure for getting one in? I know the Village has one. George Senter – You’d have to give it to the Planning Board and they’d present it to the Town Board. You have to have a public hearing, Fran, right? Attorney Casullo – To have a noise ordinance I don’t think you’d give it to the Planning Board because a noise ordinance would be much the same as the parking ordinance that we’re doing tonight. But it would take you a couple of months. I have to draft it, introduce it to you guys; you have to have a public hearing. The one thing is that I respectfully disagree with the Sheriff’s Department and the State Police that when you call them up, now you say they don’t even come over, coming from a former prosecutor, I respectfully disagree that they can’t come over there and in no uncertain terms tell them to knock it off. Wayne Snyder – Well on several different occasions that I had actually walked out to the end of my driveway, after I called the Sheriff’s Department or the State Troopers, and saw them pull in the driveway. The kids knock off the music and as soon as Trooper pulls out of the driveway, it turns right back up again. One Trooper told me one night that I could get them for disorderly conduct but the next time I called the Sheriff’s Department and they told me that I couldn’t because there was no noise ordinance so I couldn’t get them. Supervisor Morey – What about harassment? Attorney Casullo – Well, I also think that you could have a civil suit of civil nuisance against the kids too. But if the Board wants me to look into putting together a noise ordinance, in order to have to do so the only thing I’d like to tell this gentleman is that it’s not going to be a real quick solution to your problem. Wayne Snyder – Right, so there’s nothing that can be done. The Sheriff’s Department read me the harassment over the phone one night and they said that they changed the law on harassment or something. I told them that I called you several times and they keep playing loud music, this is harassment and they’re telling me that it’s not. Attorney Casullo – I just keep going back to the same thing. If the Sheriff’s Department and the Troopers wanted to put an end to it, they could put an end to it. Granted, even though we don’t have a noise ordinance, you know……. George Senter – If you have a noise ordinance, the Sheriff’s Department is going to have to enforce it anyways. I can’t do that. Wayne Snyder – Right, they said if you had a noise ordinance, then they could enforce it, but they can’t do anything until there is one. Justice Dawson – I think, without looking real quick, it’s been awhile since I was on the road, but I know that when I was a Deputy a lot of times you’d get complaints, especially in apartment complexes, where people would raise a lot of noise and you could get them for disturbing the peace even though they were in their own property. I think that disorderly conduct, there’s no disturbing the peace section; it’s disorderly conduct. And I think disorderly conduct would apply. I think that given the circumstances as they’re stated here that harassment, I don’t think Town Board Meeting Page 4 of 20 February 12, 2002 would apply, but I think the disorderly conduct would. What I would suggest to Mr. Snyder is that tomorrow, during the day, call the Sheriff’s Department and ask to speak to Sheriff Meskill himself. Tell him exactly what’s going on, that you came to the Town Board meeting, that there was quite a discussion about it and that you feel, as do some of the people there, that this is a disorderly conduct situation. Even though they are minors, their parents are responsible for them. I think he will be pretty upset when he finds out that you’ve called and nobody has come out. I’ll be honest with you though, and I want to tell you this up front too, that sometimes when people call a lot they get tired of hearing from them and they say, oh, no, not this guy again. But from what you’re saying here tonight it sounds like it’s a legitimate thing and you can tell the Sheriff that next time it happens he’s welcome to have the officer come right to your house before he goes to Harris’s. Wayne Snyder – They have done that. The Troopers came one night, and it was kind of funny because he pulled down the driveway and I hadn’t told him the address where it was coming from and he said, Mr. Snyder you don’t have to tell me where it’s coming from because it about blew the windows out of my patrol car. Justice Dawson – I think, you know, I hate to have anybody go over a cop’s head, because I was a cop myself, but I think that’s what you need to do. I think you need to get hold of the Sheriff himself and tell him what’s going on and go from there. George Senter – Would a letter from the Town Board or the Town Attorney have any impact to help? Wayne Snyder – I like the area and I’ve got my business established here and I’m doing good, my wife’s doing good, and I really don’t want to sell. Like my wife says, we have a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this place and a lot of money and I don’t want to sell. Then after we sell, they’ll go someplace else and play and bother somebody else. If they would just turn down, that’s all I would ask. But they won’t even do that. Ron says my boys have their rights. Well, what about everybody else’s rights on the road? Supervisor Morey – Colleen, you have a comment? Clerk Pierson – Yes, I just want to say that Mr. Snyder, what he’s telling you is really the truth. I live way up on the corner and I can hear them. My daughter lives next to Mr. Snyder and she says it’s unbearable. She has gone over and talked to them and they just shoo her off. George Senter – These people need some help. This is ridiculous. Supervisor Morey – What are we going to do? You’re going to call Meskill tomorrow? Wayne Snyder – Right. I have talked to him before. And the day I talked to him he said he was going to drive out himself and I never heard anything back from him, so I don’t know what happened. Supervisor Morey – Okay, what time does it happen, from 2-7? Wayne Snyder – 2-7, it’s different all the time. Like today, they didn’t play at all. Yesterday they played. Sunday it was an all day thing. It’s mainly when they get out of school at night. Town Board Meeting Page 5 of 20 February 12, 2002 And Ron Harris always says that the boys always quit at 7 o’clock. Well it started at 7 o’clock and now it’s kind of leaning into quarter after 7, 7:30, quarter of 8, 8 o’clock, and it keeps getting longer and longer. So, it’s hard to say, exactly when. Usually it’s 7 days a week. Supervisor Morey – Okay, let us know if Meskill helps you out on that. Wayne Snyder – Okay. So, we’re going to try to see about an ordinance for the Town? Supervisor Morey – I don’t really want to spend the money to do that since this is going to take two months. But let us know what Meskill is going to do for you and we’ll start from there. Wayne Snyder – All right. Thank you very much. Supervisor Morey – Thank you. Anyone else? Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper – I have some transfers from the 2001 budget. I’m at a point where I’m trying to close the books. RESOLUTION #16 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS, GENERAL FUND TOWN WIDE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds for the 2001 Budget, General Fund Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4…………………………….. $3,225.13 To: Justices, Contractual A1110.4…………………….. 170.70 Supervisor, Bookkeeper, Pers A1220.12………….. 1,027.01 Attorney, Misc. Contractual A1420.41……………. 568.05 Deputy Clerk, A5010.12…………………………… 681.64 Municipal Assoc. Dues A1920.4…………………… 654.00 Highway Clerk, A5010.12……………………………… 94.22 Cemeteries A8810.4……………………………………. 29.51 Town Board Meeting Page 6 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #17 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS, GENERAL FUND PART TOWN MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds for the 2001 Budget, General Fund Part Town: From: Contingency B1990.4……………………………… $220.58 To: Zoning Officer, Pers B8010.1………………………. 220.58 RESOLUTION #18 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS, HIGHWAY FUND TOWN WIDE 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 for the 2001 Budget, Highway Fund Town Wide: From: Retirement DA9010.8……………………………. $4,268.94 To: Health Insurance DA9060.8……………………….. 1,355.08 Machinery, Pers DA5130.1…………………………. 2,913.86 RESOLUTION #19 – ENCUMBER FUNDS FROM 2001 TO FISCAL YEAR 2002 MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following funds from the 2001 Budget be encumbered to the fiscal year 2002: General Fund Town Wide: Dog Enumeration A3510.41………………………………. $ 1,000.00 Highway Fund Town Wide: Bridge Work DA5120.4……………………………………. 3,000.00 Machinery, Equip – Tractor DA5130.2……………………. 30,282.00 Machinery, Equip – ½ Ton Pickup DA5130.2………………18,500.00 Highway Fund Part Town: Road, Bridge Work DB5110.4……………………………….10,000.00 Town Board Meeting Page 7 of 20 February 12, 2002 Supervisor Morey – We’re finally closing our 2001 books. Liz Brennan – The books are getting closed. The annual report, hopefully we’ll be starting right along here. Supervisor Morey – You’ll have it next time. Liz Brennan – By next Board meeting I should have the annual report and then I’ll be catching up with 2002 books. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Liz? If not, thank you. George R. Senter, Sr., Code/Fire Enforcement Officer – We had 2 building permits issued in January, one for a chimney and one for a garage. We also issued 3 Certificates of Occupancy. January is normally a slow month. Usually in winter I catch up on the Life Safety Inspections and we’re all the way through those to February. I turned in an annual report for 2001 and I hope you had a chance to look at it. If you did and you have any questions I’d try to answer them. I tried to give you a comparison of 3 years so you could see what’s happening over a period of time. I also included what my responsibilities are. It tells you the junk car status since I’ve been hear, the Life Safety Inspection status and what’s going on with the International Building Codes. Supervisor Morey – Do you have all the booklets and magazines that you need for updating of the laws, don’t you? George Senter – Yes. I have talked to the Fire Chief, Lester Coit, and one of my main reference books is the NFPA Standards and I use them more than anybody; more than the firemen, I’m sure. He agreed to buy them if the Town and the Village would kick in a third of the cost. The cost is around $1,000. It’s a very important set of books for this office regardless of who is there, me or someone else. I would keep them over to the Village so everyone would have access to them. That’s where the fire trucks are. So, what I guess what Lester is asking is, and there’s probably money in the zoning budget for that. Clerk Pierson – In your department there is. George Senter – We can get it on a CD, it’s a little bit cheaper. But I know the firemen don’t have access to a computer to kick this stuff up. I have one here but I don’t have one over there. I just put the updates in the one out here. Supervisor Morey – Any discussion on this, sharing the cost of the booklet? Town Board Meeting Page 8 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #20 – SHARE COST OF NFPA STANDARDS WITH VILLAGE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby agree to pay one third of the cost of purchasing a set of the National Fire Protection Association Standards in conjunction with the Village of Groton and the Groton Fire Department. Supervisor Morey – One nice thing that George did in the last Planning Board is the Planning Board used to just invited people in and have a public meeting or public hearing after the fact and now there’s a procedure that we will be having a public meeting when the people come in to tell us what they’re doing or if they want variances and things like that. George Senter – What he’s saying is, you have a Planning Board meeting for site plan review, instead of someone coming in and having an intermediate type hearing, they will come in for a public hearing the first time. I think that will save work in Colleen’s office also as long as they get the information in within a respectable amount of time so April can get it in the paper and have it advertised. It’s bad enough to make a person have two meetings when you can do it all in one thing. It’s now 60 days for a person to go into business and you can do it in 30 days or less. Clerk Pierson – I think she said it would be 14 days before the meeting that the info had to be in our office. We can get bogged down with all that stuff. George Senter – Absolutely. That’s a lot of paperwork that she has to get together. This way it saves a lot of time. Supervisor Morey – Appreciate you pointing it out to, George. Rick? Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – At present time the Highway Department is dedicated to winter road maintenance. Snow removal equipment in general is holding up well. Preventive maintenance and repairs are on schedule. The previously approved tractor and pick-up truck have been ordered on New York State bids and the orders have been confirmed by the vendors. Equipment has been inventoried and their equity has been reevaluated for insurance purposes. With the up and down temperatures, it brings the pothole season in. Having the new one-ton truck has given the Highway Department a vehicle to address this problem without moving any snow removal equipment from another vehicle. It’s very handy and we appreciate it. At this point in time the snow and rain damage has been minimal. The high winds have produced some sign damage which has been addressed. Town Board Meeting Page 9 of 20 February 12, 2002 The payroll certification for highway employees has been filed with Tompkins County Personnel for 2002. Liz has drawn up a beneficiary form for the highway employees’ unexpended sick leave if they were to pass away. Many of the employees have signed this form and they are now on file. I submitted and received the renewal for the Federal Communications Commission Radio Station License, which is our, I call it the business radio, the tower and units that we have in the vehicles. This license will not expire until February 11, 2012. We received New York State Department of Transportation 2001 Bridge Report. Walpole Road Bridge is in good condition. Cemetery Lane has been yellow-flagged for some structural problems. At this time there has been no weight limit adjustment to that and I would expect that we would hear from the County if they are going to change anything. At this time I would like to request a 50-cent an hour raise for our newest employee, Mark Kirchgraber. Mark has proven to be an asset to the Highway Department and his attitude and th work habits are surely appreciated. I’d like to make that effective the 18 of this month. Supervisor Morey – Is this a promotion or is this just the 6 month…..? Richard Case – This is, well, I can’t remember the last raise I gave him. I know I was anticipating in the contract that things would come up $10.00, which it didn’t, so this will get him above the $10.00 an hour range. RESOLUTION #21 – APPROVE 50-CENT PER HOUR RAISE FOR MARK KIRCHGRABER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve a 50-cent per hour raise for Mark Kirchgraber, effective February 18, 2002. Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – I’d like authorization to attend the New York State Town Clerks Annual Conference, April 21-24 in Saratoga Springs for April and myself. Town Board Meeting Page 10 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #22 – AUTHORIZE TOWN CLERK AND DEPUTY TO ATTEND ANNUAL CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk, and April L. Scheffler, Deputy Clerk, to attend the Annual New York State Town Clerks Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York on April 21-24, 2002. Clerk Pierson – Voting machines, we have one of them that was down and in need of repairs th badly. So, I scheduled that for Tuesday, February 19, at 9 o’clock in the morning. I’m not sure of the cost on it but it will be basically about the same as it has been. We just have to have it. I submitted the Town Clerk’s and Tax Collector’s reports which I think you have there. I’d like to thank April for doing an excellent job organizing and collecting taxes while I was ill. Nancy Rotunda and Norma Neville also did an outstanding job assisting April with the tax collection and I thank them very much for doing that. Dog enumeration, we’re all ready to go. We have the brochures ready, dog laws ready and all run off. We anticipate an additional 400 unlicensed dogs. We currently have 1051 dogs licensed. 37 unlicensed dogs that were vaccinated at the clinic were sent notices to come and license their dogs. These dogs represent half of all the dogs that were at the clinic. Half of them are unlicensed when they come in there for their shots. So, we really need to do something here pretty quick. Our last enumeration was done by the SPCA for $2400 and that was approximately 6 years ago. It’s very difficult to find anyone to do the enumeration. However, I was able to locate an individual who was interested and I’m quite sure will do a good job. That individual, Tom Scheffler, has offered to do an enumeration according to our guidelines for a total fee of $2500. I would need a motion for that. RESOLUTION #23 – APPOINT TOM SCHEFFLER AS DOG ENUMERATOR MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby appoint Tom Scheffler as Dog Enumerator for the Town of Groton for the fee of $2500. Clerk Pierson – The next thing is that the bailiff position that we created has taken place and we can fill that whenever we need it according to the Tompkins County Personnel Office. Remember we talked about that at one time; instead of constable just see if we could get a bailiff? And we did. So it’s there if we ever need it. Supervisor Morey – Okay, great. Town Board Meeting Page 11 of 20 February 12, 2002 Clerk Pierson – Code/Fire Enforcement Officer, the resolution that you passed last month has also been taken care of with County Personnel. I hated to do that but they had to have something on the books. I knew I did that probably 15 years ago. This is probably something for Fran, the Historical Society, the written contract? Attorney Casullo – I prepared a contract the other day. Apparently you donate $1000 and your auditors are saying that it ought to be in contract form. So, I wrote up a contract…….. Supervisor Morey – You have one, okay, because I called Rosemarie and told her to….okay. Clerk Pierson – Well, she called me. Attorney Casullo – Well, I looked at it. I’ll let you look at it and if you feel comfortable with it, you can sign it. Clerk Pierson – It doesn’t have to be much, just something to go on file. Attorney Casullo – Probably need a resolution from the Board, if you’re satisfied with it, authorizing you to sign an agreement between Town of Groton and the Historical Society and that you are giving them $1000 and what they are supposed to be doing to maintain and promote the history of the Town. RESOLUTION #24 – AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO SIGN CONTRACT WITH HISTORICAL SOCIETY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Town of Groton Supervisor, Glenn E. Morey, to sign the contract between the Town of Groton and the Groton Historical Society in the amount of $1,000. Supervisor Morey - Again, thank you very much for a successful tax season. You all did a great job. Even though you were sick, you came back, too early I think. April did a great job carrying on when you weren’t here. Attorney Casullo – The only thing that just came up, I bet if the auditors wanted an agreement with the Historical Society, they’re going to want an agreement with this gentleman for $2500 for the dog enumeration. He could be like an independent contractor. Do you know what he’s going to be doing exactly? Clerk Pierson – Yes, out counting the dogs, going house to house. If he doesn’t catch them there the first time, he goes around a second time…. Town Board Meeting Page 12 of 20 February 12, 2002 Attorney Casullo – I figure if they want one for the Historical Society, they’re going to be wanting one for this. Maybe I can just write up a simple one. Supervisor Morey – Yeah, great. Dewey? Arland Heffron and Arthur Dawson, Town Justices – Presented their monthly report for the Board’s review. Justice Dawson – I’m not much of a reporter, really. The Magistrates had their dinner Monday night. Glenn was there and we were well represented from Groton. You might make note that Peggy went for training and she and I have passwords so that we are able to access Westlaw.com, Nexis-Lexis.com and Loislaw.com on line to do research for when we have to make case decisions and stuff like that. That’s through the State so it didn’t cost us anything. Westlaw and Nexis-Lexis are pretty good I guess. We have some resources there. At some point in time I may come before the Board to see about getting some kind of approval for an Internet connection because we are doing more and more stuff on line. More and more resources are on line and available like that. Quite frankly, right now the connection that we have is being paid for by the Village. I think the Village is paying half. I don’t know if we are from the Town or not. That, and I am supplementing it by paying a connection fee myself each month through an internet service provider. So, some point in time we may be coming before you. If you guys have any questions. I was sorry to hear that situation up on Sharpsteen Road. Maybe that will get corrected, I hope. Supervisor Morey – Will you tell the Board what office you’re elected to and what office Peg is elected to? Justice Dawson – Okay. I think we mentioned this the last time we did a real report. Peg is the second vice-president of New York State Court Clerks Magistrates Association. She’s in charge of all the training for all the court clerks in the state. She has a lot of responsibility in regards to that which she does in addition to her clerking jobs here. As a matter of fact, the State Clerks, some of the judges at the County level, whenever a new clerk takes the job they tell the new clerk to get hold of Peggy to find out what’s going on. But she does know her stuff and she’s very good at the Court Clerking job. I’m vice-president of the County Magistrates Association. Supervisor Morey – Oh, very good. Thanks, Dewey. Don? Councilman Scheffler – In the last month our Recreation Committee has met 4 times. We got a lot of applications in and we reviewed the applications and have done some interviews and we’re in the process of narrowing down to hire a Recreational Coordinator for the Town and Village. I want to commend the Town and the Village for the people who were appointed at large. They are a great asset to the committee, a lot of talent, and I appreciate it. Supervisor Morey – Great, great. All righty. Anything else? Any questions for Don? I’m sure he’s going to have a big report for next month too. Town Board Meeting Page 13 of 20 February 12, 2002 Councilman Scheffler – Next month we should know more. Supervisor Morey – Chris Dempsey, on insurance premiums, come on up. Chris Dempsey – Before I pass this out, I’d like to speak about the recreation subject. One of the great things about the insurance company you’re now present with, whether people know it or not, and Glenn was really involved in it and maybe they used to have it, but right now the Groton Little League carries no general liability. The Groton Soccer Association claims they have but I’ve never seen anything to that effect. And Pee Wee Football carries no general liability. One of the things that will happen when you get your youth director situation up and going, because these groups will have to speak to the Recreation Coordinator and he will speak back to the Board, the general liability will flow from this policy. At this point in time, to my knowledge, obviously things change, there’s no additional charge. Now one of the things that they found in the municipal areas, Homer contacted me and Dryden, is that they couldn’t find an insurance company to do this. Selective has been willing to do it. Also, Selective was willing to take on the skateboard part, which I hate. Supervisor Morey – Recreational park? Chris Dempsey – Whatever. I don’t like it. But those are the kind of risks that they’ve taken on without any additional charge and I’m quite happy about that situation. Now I’ll give you each one of these happy little folders and you can throw out the insurance stuff when you go home and put something in it that you really care about. I want to start on page 6 in your folder. Basically, what that shows is that they started out trying to give us a 10% rate increase. Now, the difference between where we started last year, which was a little over $31,000 and how we got so high is because you bought some new equipment. We bought some stuff. So, basically, they tried to get us with a 10% rate increase and the best I could do was talk them down to 7. I really talked hard and that’s the best I could do is 7. Nationally, or statewide they’ve been getting 15% was their average. So, some were getting more. You obviously were on the lower end of that. Part of the reason was because we don’t have police and all of that stuff. On page 1 you can see what we did I gave you what the 2001 quote was, which was $31,573 and if we had the exact same rate then it would be $35,239. In other words, what we added this year brought the rate to $35, 239. So, if we’d just stuck with everything being the same, the rate would have brought us up to around a $2,000 rate increase. What the renewal quote represents is that Mr. Case was able to make some changes in what was covered to bring the rate down from that $37,000 – 38,000 mark down to the $35,500 that you see here, which is the quote that we are submitting today. Mr. Dempsey went on to explain that page 2 was an outline of what the Town was insured for and the description of each general line. Page 3 and 4 was a list of equipment and the amount each is insured for. Page 5 was a list of Town buildings and their total valuation. Town Board Meeting Page 14 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #25 – ACCEPT NEW INSURANCE RATES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby accept the new insurance rates for the Year 2002 as presented by Chris Dempsey of Dempsey Insurance Company. MOVEDExecutive by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool to enter into Session with the Board, Attorney Casullo, and Richard Case at 8:00 PM for the purpose of the Coit matter litigation, Diversified Technologies threatened litigation, DEC threatened litigation relative to the Town’s mine on Spring Street Extension and a personnel matter. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark to return to regular session at 8:15 PM REOLUTION #26 – AUTHORIZE GLENN MOREY TO SIGN DEC CONSENT ORDER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Glenn Morey, Town Supervisor to sign the Department of Environmental Conservation Consent Order relative to the Spring Street Extension Mine and pay the required fine of $2000.00. RESOUTION #27 – AUTHORIZE ATTORNEY CASULLO TO PROTECT TOWN’S INTERESTS IN RELATION TO DIVERSIFIED FUND MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize Francis Casullo, Town Attorney, to legally do whatever necessary to protect the Town of Groton’s interest in relation to the Diversified Technologies Fund. Supervisor Morey – Now I’d like to have Tyke talk about his training at the Town Officials School. Town Board Meeting Page 15 of 20 February 12, 2002 Councilman Randall – I don’t really have a lot to share but usually when you send a new guy to one of these things the Supervisor kind of expects trouble when you get back. The only thing that I really saw and I think the Board really ought to consider is one of the supervisors I met there just ran for election, took over a spot from an incumbent who had been there for 10 years and they voted his pay as being zero. I thought maybe we should consider that next time. Actually, I’d like to thank the Town Board for the opportunity to attend the New Town Officials School in Rochester. I realize that I’m not a newly elected official but to be honest, I benefited from the experience from having been in the field for two years and then attended this type of training. It gave me a whole different perspective than a lot of the guys. A lot of them I talked to were new to the position; they came in and they were just overwhelmed with the knowledge and variety of information that you have to have to serve in this position. So, to be quite honest, I got a lot more out of it than I would have two years ago when I first came on because I wouldn’t have known half the terminology and stuff. So, it was well worth your money. I guess I came away from the training with a renewed sense of pride and understanding for the Town of Groton. I think all of us in this room can be proud that we are part of a municipality that has proved over and over again that it truly serves the people of Groton and serves them well when compared to other municipalities. I heard horror story after horror story of things that can happen when people put their personal agendas ahead of fiscal responsibility. Our town has done it right for a long, long time and still is doing right. I’m proud to be a part of that and I just thank everybody for their hard work and dedication. Supervisor Morey – I’m glad you took some time to go to the school because it is very important to learn as much as we can in doing our jobs. Thanks, Tyke. RESOLUTION #28 – REVISE RESOLUTION #89 OF DECEMBER 11, 2001 APPROVAL OF 2002 HIGHWAY NEGOTIATIONS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby revise Resolution #89 of December 11, 2001, Approval of 2002 Highway Negotiations, to read as follows: RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton Highway Employees be granted the following for the year 2002: 1)$50.00 yearly clothing allowance. Maximum 2) 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. (See 2002 Town of Groton Highway Association Agreement, Item 8, SICK LEAVE, second paragraph.) Town Board Meeting Page 16 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #29 – APPROVE HIGHWAY CONTRACT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve the contract between the Town of Groton and the Town of Groton Highway Association. RESOLUTION #30 – APPROVE CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR OF PLANNING BOARD MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Randall Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the appointment of Monica Carey as Chair of the Town of Groton Planning Board and Bradley Albro as the Vice-Chair. RESOLUTION # 31 – AUTHORIZATION TO SIGN AUDITOR’S LETTER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Glenn E. Morey, Town Supervisor, to sign the Auditor’s Letter for Kirby, Beals & Maier which retains them to audit the 2001 Financial Statements of the Town of Groton for the fee of approximately $4,400.00 RESOLUTION #32 – AUTHORIZATION TO SIGN AGREEMENT FOR RECREATIONAL PARTNERSHIP MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Glenn E. Morey, Town Supervisor, to sign the Recreational Partnership Agreement between the Town of Groton and the County of Tompkins designating the Town of Groton’s cost as $414.00. Councilman Randall – Just exactly what does that money get us? I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. Town Board Meeting Page 17 of 20 February 12, 2002 Supervisor Morey – What happens is the County gives out money for recreational programs throughout the County and the majority of the money went to the City of Ithaca. Since it was unfair for none of the other towns and communities in the area to not accept the money for their recreation committee, they started this Recreation Partnership where it gives our children, or our kids in the area, the same low cost of going to day-care camp. And what they serve is about 101 children in the Town of Groton area. And these recreation programs are sailing, baseball, basketball, during the summer months. Councilman Sovocool – Now, where? These are all located in Ithaca? Supervisor Morey – In Ithaca. Councilman Sovocool – So, they have to provide their own transportation. Supervisor Morey – Yes, we do. But right now, as it stands out, we have no recreational programs of this level in the Town of Groton, or the Village of Groton. So, it costs us $400 a year to allow the kids in the Town of Groton to get the decreased fees that they have to pay for these programs. Councilman Randall – Once we get the Recreation Coordinator, if that takes off, would it still be in our best interest to…..? Supervisor Morey – That’s what we’re going to have to look at. The Recreation Coordinator will be doing it for all ages, different things, so, and Don will outline what this person is going to do. But yes, it’s very true. And also, the Groton Youth Commission as I sit on as Chairman, we’ll be investigating this year of how we can serve the youth of McLean, which we’ve never had to because they go to Dryden schools and not Groton schools. So, that’s coming up to. Councilman Scheffler – One thing too in this, if we did want to get out of this, they are requesting a 15-month notice. That’s something we have to think about. We have programs up and running…….. Supervisor Morey – Right. Don, if it was a $10,000 bill or a $1,500 bill it would be my concern too, but since the low cost that we do right now and we really have a big benefit because our fee is the lowest in the County, I’m not really concerned about that. But yes, I agree with you. Councilman Scheffler – It’s not a big deal. It’s just something to think about. RESOLUTION #33 – INTRODUCE PROPOSED PARKING ORDINANCE INTO MINUTES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board desires to introduce an Ordinance Regulating Parking on Highways in the Town of Groton, County of Tompkins, State of New York and requests that said proposed Ordinance be read into the minutes. Town Board Meeting Page 18 of 20 February 12, 2002 The propose Parking Ordinance was then read by Attorney Casullo. AN ORDINANCE REGULATING PARKING ON HIGHWAYS IN THE TOWN OF GROTON For the purpose of enhancing vehicular safety and to facilitate the removal of snow and ice with regard to highways within the Town of Groton, the Town Board does ordain as follows: Section 1: Definitions: The words and phrases used in this Ordinance shall for the purpose of this Ordinance have the meanings respectively given to them by Article 1 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York. Section 2: Prohibited Parking: The parking of vehicles is hereby prohibited on all town highways within the Town of Groton between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. from November 1 to May 1 of each year. Section 3: Removal of Vehicles: When any vehicle is parked or abandoned on any town highway within the Town during the dates and hours prohibited by this Ordinance, said vehicle may be removed by or at the discretion of the Town Highway Superintendent, his or her designee, or any law enforcement agency. Section 4: Storage and Related Charges: Upon the removal of any vehicle in violation of this Ordinance, the Town Highway Superintendent may make arrangements to store such vehicle at the expense of the owner. The owner may redeem the vehicle upon payment of all expenses related to the removal and storage of the vehicle. Section 5: Notice of Removal: The Town Highway Superintendent shall report the removal and storage location of any vehicle removed, as provided for in this Ordinance, to the Tompkins County Sheriff and it shall be the duty of the Town Highway Superintendent to ascertain, to the extent possible, the owner of the vehicle and notify him/her of the removal and storage location and the amount to redeem the vehicle. Section 6: Penalties: The owner of any vehicle parked in violation of this Ordinance shall be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine of not more than $50.00 for a first offense and a fine of not more than $100.00 for any second or subsequent offense. Section 7: McLean Parking Ordinance: This. Ordinance shall not in anyway repeal or amend the Parking Ordinance adopted by the Town of Groton on February 15, 1971 relative to the parking of vehicles on certain streets in the Hamlet of McLean. However, all other town highways within the Hamlet of McLean not mentioned in the 1971 Parking Ordinance are subject to this Ordinance. Section 8: Effective Date: This Ordinance shall take effect after its adoption and upon its publication as required by the Town Law. Town Board Meeting Page 19 of 20 February 12, 2002 RESOLUTION #34 – SET HEARING DATE FOR PROPOSED PARKING ORDINANCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby set a Public Hearing on the proposed Ordinance Regulating Parking on Highways in the Town of Groton to be held at the Groton Town Hall, 101 th Conger Boulevard, Groton, New York, on the 12 day of March 2002 at 8 PM. Announcements and Correspondence: Notes from the McLean Community Council meeting. Letter - Authorization to disperse the Small Cities Grants Funds. Community Meeting with Agriculture Businesses Supervisor Morey – I asked Don Scheffler and Sheldon to give me lists of farmers throughout the Town of Groton. And what I’d like to do is set up a meeting with coffee and donuts at 10 o’clock in the morning or something like that. We’ll come up with a time to invite them in and ask them whether we’re doing nice. I really don’t know whether we’re doing a good job for the farmers. I know it’s the most important business in the Town of Groton and I want to hear what they have to say, their concerns, what we could do better for them. If it’s just having a seminar once or twice a year to get some Cooperative Extension or DEC or State Agricultural people in here for them to give a seminar, we’d be more than happy to do that. Are the roads good quality for them? That type of thing. We came up with 44 names and Sheldon, I have 3 names here I couldn’t tell what their addresses are. So, there will be 48 and the letter will go out as soon as we sit down and talk about it, hopefully the end of February. The last week of February or something like that or the first week of March. And just say that you are cordially invited to come have coffee and donuts with the Board to hear your concerns or tell us what you want. It’ll go out to every single one of them. Any questions on that? I’d also like to call to your attention that next month we’re going to start sitting down and reviewing the tax exemptions, minimum wages, things like that. So, I want to make sure we get that on the docket for next month so we can talk intelligently about it when we talk about it, so. Comprehensive Plan, I’ve been talking about this for a couple of years to get this started. We finally did get started on this, or we will be starting this. Hopefully, it will be the last Thursday of the month at 7:30. I’ll get the letter out to the members. And what the members are is Tyke has offered to be Chairman, Monica Carey and Mary Glouster from the Planning Board will serve on it, Lyle Raymond and John Pachai from the ZBA, and community at large, Julie Graham and Tyke gave me a name that I haven’t got in touch with yet. So, we should have a full committee. And I’ll get a letter out to these people. Town Board Meeting Page 20 of 20 February 12, 2002 There is a County Youth Bureau vacancy. If anybody knows anybody who cares about the youth in the Town and County, please give me the name. We really do need this because the representation we’ve had in the past have gotten a lot of large grants for the Town for our Youth Commission. Councilman Randall – When do they meet? Supervisor Morey – At night. Clerk Pierson – Are they here? rd Supervisor Morey – No, they’d be in Ithaca. I think it’s Wednesday, like the 3 Wednesday. Another thing, Colleen, last year just after we did a budget you gave me some information about the person who does the employee agreements and they put them in the 3-ring binder and benefits. Clerk Pierson – General Codes? Supervisor Morey – Yeah, can you get hold of him and get a quote again? Because I’d like to move ahead and do that too. That’s also in the budget that we had. What comes in is a little green 3-ring binder that will say Town of Groton Employee Benefits or something that we can hand out to the employees. And I think it was very inexpensive, like $1,500. The next Board meeting is Tuesday, March 12, 2002 at 7:30 PM. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to adjourn the present meeting until Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 7:30 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk