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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-11-2003 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2003, 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 James Baranello, Town Attorney Also present: April Scheffler, George Senter, Liz Brennan, Chris Dempsey, Tom Guihan, John Norman, Rosemarie Tucker, Janice Haines, several members of the press. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve Organizational portion of the minutes of the January 14, 2003 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve Regular Meeting portion of the minutes of the January 14, 2003 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 15-46 of the in the amount of $13,465.39 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 2-25 of the in the amount of $31,129.84 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 274-275 of the in the amount of $814.08 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Town Board Meeting Page 2 February 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey offered privilege of the floor. No one wished to speak. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Deputy Highway Superintendent – I’m in the process right now of closing the books and I’ve started the annual report. That’s why you don’t have printout yet, I haven’t opened the new books yet. RESOLUTION #19 – 2002 BUDGET TRANSFERS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the following 2002 Budget Transfers: General Fund – Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4……………………………… 296.02 To: Justice, Contractual A1110.4………………………. 202.88 Tax Collection, Contractual A1330.4……………… 60.50 Central Printing & Mail, Contractual A1670.4…….. 32.64 Liz Brennan – As Deputy Highway Superintendent I wanted to just pass along a report for Rick that it’s been snowing and things are going along smoothly. Pete has been handling everything and Jerry is helping out too. Supervisor Morey – I don’t know if everybody knows that Rick isn’t here because he’s in Syracuse with his son who is in the hospital and had a terrible accident on a snowmobile. But I guess his son is doing a little better. Any other questions for Liz on highway? George R. Senter, Sr., Code/Fire Enforcement Officer – Building permits in January, we had three. There were two mobile homes and one garage. Not real conducive to building this time of year. We had seven certificates of occupancy or completion issued in January, also. The Life Safety Inspections are current through January. I sent a letter to Mr. Muka about his property after we discussed it at the last board meeting. And I issued his building permit. I talked to Fran th about this. I gave him until June the 30, about a five-month job, to make some progress on the property, the house and lawn, and so forth. If he does, I’ll extend his permit another six months. If he doesn’t, then we’ll go from there. I don’t want to drag this thing out forever. I talked to Fran about this and we pretty much had that kind of agreement. Tyke, you asked about code classes. The new schedule is coming out in March. You also have my annual report for last year. Any comments on it, if I can answer it, I’ll try. Is Fran going to be here? We discussed this local law, change we had on boundary lines…….. Town Board Meeting Page 3 February 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey – Yes, it’s going to be tabled until after the Comprehensive Plan is finished. Monica thinks it’s going to pass in front of the ZBA and see what they say, but she has a feeling that she’d like to table it until after…… George Senter – I discussed it with a few people and I think we should sit down and go through it. It’s supposed to be user friendly and we should probably make it that way. Some of the things I read in it, I just didn’t like the way it read. So, I hope I can get in with Lyle and with Monica and the people on the boards and iron it out. Supervisor Morey – All right. That sounds like a good idea. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – You have my Town Clerk’s report and my Tax Collector’s report. Things are settling down after the tax rush and we are getting caught up on some things. I took the first installments down to the County yesterday and everything is all settled up with them for that part of it. I had a call from Bill Foster from Cayuga Lake Watershed Network. He would like to do a workshop on private well water in the Town of Groton. They talk about water table, what happens when you drill a well, how to protect your water supply, sources of contamination, how to test, and how to read test results. They also have the kits and a reduced testing cost for any participants in the seminar. We’ve scheduled that for Thursday, March 13, from 7-9 at the Town Hall. They will be sending some press releases and posters and stuff like that. I gave you a copy of the one for Dryden, so it will be something like that. We also heard from Barbara Lifton’s office wanting to have a Town Meeting. That’s been th scheduled for March 6 at 7 PM. She will be sending out invitations and putting it in the paper. I don’t know if you wanted to put something in the Shopper too, or not. You have time to decide. I plan on writing about both things in my article for the Groton Independent to get word out a little bit. thth The New York State Town Clerk’s Annual Conference is April 27 – 30, in Buffalo, and I am asking permission to attend and prepay the registration fee of $108 and the room reservation deposit of $114 in advance. I have an application for the Tompkins County Community Beautification Program. I was talking to Tyke about this the other day. They’re giving up to $500.00 for community beautification to be used in visible location such as entrances to villages and towns, along roads, and in front of prominent public buildings such as schools, post offices, town halls and historic buildings. We were talking about possibly applying and get something done with our front yard, which looks pretty bad and our fence is getting rotten. At one time Dottie Cornelius talked about buying a bench and we talked about fixing a little area out there with some flowers and shrubs and we’d need topsoil and grass seed. You have to have matching funds but they can be in-kind such as plants, soil, compost, mulch, which we have a lot of, and labor, which we also have. I guess I probably need your support to go ahead with that, if it’s okay with you guys. The st deadline is March 1. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for April? We want to thank you for all the hard work you did in January. Everything went smoothly. Town Board Meeting Page 4 February 11, 2003 Clerk Scheffler – Pretty good. We had a few glitches but nothing we couldn’t handle. Supervisor Morey – How is the conservation, DECALS coming? Clerk Scheffler – Pretty quiet right now. We are supposed to be getting an update on the program soon. RESOLUTION # 20 – APPROVE CLERK’S ATTENDANCE TO NYS TOWN CLERKS CONVENTION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby grant approval for the Town Clerk, April L. Scheffler, to attend the New York State Town Clerks Convention being held April 27-30, 2003 at Buffalo, New York and pay registration and room deposit in advance. Consensus of the Board was that Clerk Scheffler should proceed with the application for the Beautification Grant. John J. Norman, Town Justice – (Presented the monthly report for the Justice Court.) Things are going very well, I think. I have a report on fines that we’ve collected during the month. This may not be a total because there are some partial payments that haven’t been collected yet. We’re having a terrible time with people and dog licenses. They don’t even want to show up for court. There isn’t much we can do in the Town. If they live in the Village, Peg was telling me just the other day that we could file a warrant for their arrest and the Village will serve the warrants. But, we’re talking about dog licenses! I don’t know if this is just a common problem here in Groton or if it’s statewide. I’ve got one guy who’s got five violations against him and just won’t appear in court. I don’t think the Sheriff’s Department is going to go out and arrest him. Clerk Scheffler – He’s going to have more, because they are going to get a ticket every month if they don’t show up. Justice Norman – Maybe I should start putting one or two in jail for five days, I can do that, and maybe the word would get out. But I hate like heck to put somebody in jail for five days for a dog license. Clerk Scheffler – Yeah. Well, how many parking tickets does it take before you get to that point? Justice Norman – You know, I never even looked. Clerk Scheffler – I mean, a lot of people don’t think that’s very important either. Town Board Meeting Page 5 February 11, 2003 Justice Norman – I know. But we’re doing our best to catch up on all the people who have pled guilty and not paid their fines. I signed a lot of letters today that Peg will probably be mailing out tomorrow. Some of them are quite past due. We did Scofflaw some of the offenders and I guess that brings us up to date on that. You all have the estimate for the fire screen for that little window? Supervisor Morey – We’re going to discuss it. Justice Norman – Thirteen hundred and thirteen dollars? George was just telling me that Mike Fahey, who works for ADT, you might contact him to get an estimate, he says. But anything lower than $1,313.00, for that little window? That’s a lot of money! Supervisor Morey – George is making us do it. Justice Norman – If we can get an estimate lower than that from anybody, I mean, you know that’s going to take care of that and give a 2-hour firebreak, you might want to think about that before we spend $1,313.00. I understand the only thing Peg asked for was a Dutch door and a Dutch door wouldn’t cost all this money. I guess that’s all I have. Board members pointed out that this was all before Justice Norman’s time. Supervisor Morey – Who’s the guy from ADT? Oh, Mike Fahey. Justice Norman – I mean, we have one at work that you can drive a Mack truck through to separate the two storage rooms, in case there’s a fire. Maybe P&C paid thousands upon thousands of dollars for that door, but I wouldn’t think they’d get…..and I don’t know who did it because that was probably subcontracted out by the contractor who remodeled the store. I wouldn’t know how to contact anybody for that. Supervisor Morey – What we did is about two years ago we bought the window and we’re going to get the curtain. I called the factory of the curtain and they gave me the local representative. They gave me Wilcox. I also called the factory who sold us the bullet resistant glass and so that came in first. Justice Norman – How much was the window, by the way? Supervisor Morey – Oh, $500.00. It wasn’t very expensive. Justice Norman – Well, with the bullet resistant glass it’s probably not unreasonable, but the fire screen I think is. It’s up to you guys. It’s not up to me. Up to the Board. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – Last Saturday was our First Annual Winter Fest with a sledding party, snow sculptures and a few other activities at the Elementary School. It went well. We didn’t have a real big turnout and we’re not sure exactly why yet. Maybe it was too cold or what, but it went well and we’re going to move on from there. Town Board Meeting Page 6 February 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey – And they had cross-country skis for rent and a lot of sleds down there and a lot of young kids were having an enjoyable time. Councilman Scheffler – We’re still a little confused on some things. We had 20-30 people interested in doing snow sculptures and we had a contest and no one showed up. Supervisor Morey – And the alumni association was there to serve food. A lot of fun. A lot of parents and a lot of kids showed up and it was the first one, so, I think we started out pretty darn good. Councilman Scheffler – Yup. She only had three weeks to plan it so next year it will be bigger and better. Supervisor Morey – The chili and popcorn were flowing, big seller. Tyke, you wanted to talk about the hazard mitigation meeting we had with the County? Councilman Randall – Yeah, Glenn and I attended this. Basically it laid out the criteria from the federal level and what they want from the state level and they met with a representative from SEMO (?) last week to answer some questions to find out exactly what they wanted in the proposal. At this point it’s kind of really gone back to the municipalities, I’d say, at least that’s how I took it. They want us to do our own hazard assessment and involve each of our townships in that process and bring the information back to them and then they will plug all that into a document to send to the state level. So, that’s where it’s at right now with that stuff. It’s in its infancy, for sure, and they’re trying to bring everybody on board by having them tailor their part of the plan to their communities first. I guess in regards to that, I just completed a class, offered by SEMO (?) for hazard analysis and I went to Syracuse to take this and I’ve got the software so we can do our own hazard assessment now. So I would like to move forward with this because it is pretty timely and fits in well with this multi-jurisdictional mitigation plan and our own in particular. I’ve begun a dialog with the Village also to try to sell it to them also. I’d really like to incorporate…you know, we could do it all together. I think it’s a community and we should try to look at it as…from the community aspect of it, so, I’m working on that right now. I also just completed a six-week course in bio-terrorism and incident command system, which is, again, more of the training that’s going into the hazard plan that I’ve been working on for a year for the Town. I think it’s really important to address the communication aspects of it otherwise the plan th won’t work. I think to bring it up to date with the Sept. 11 events and stuff that the bio- terrorism element needs to be there. We also looked at agro-terrorism because agriculture is one of our main businesses here in Groton still and I think that we need to look at all aspects in the big picture of things. When we put this together it will be a complete document this time. I’m trying to tailor it so that it...it sounds complicated but we’re trying to make it as simple as possible because it’s not going to work if nobody reads it, so. I’m also currently working on an emergency operation center training offered by FEMA as well, which fits also nicely into this whole project, so. Right at this point I would like to get the endorsement of the Board to move on with this. I want to put together a committee to do this hazard assessment and I would like to bring in people that, like the Lester Coits and Lee Shurtleffs or people that have background in these kinds of issues because, you know, none of us have that kind of training at this point, so. I think to do the hazard assessment the way it should be done, that we need to use the human resources that we have here. We have a lot of expertise in this Town that it would be nice to have them all sitting at one table and working out a comprehensive plan, so I would kind of like to get an endorsement to go ahead and get a committee together. I’ll obviously run it by the Town Board Meeting Page 7 February 11, 2003 Board and Glenn, a list of names, and then I would like to start to approach some people to see if we can get this done fairly soon. Supervisor Morey – All right. I’ll put it to a concession. Councilman Sovocool – Yeah, I’ll go along. You’ve got to get started someplace. Councilman Scheffler – Get it done. Councilman Clark – Get it done. Supervisor Morey – Good luck. Any other questions for Tyke? If not, we’d like to welcome Rosemarie Tucker, our Town Historian to present her annual report. Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian – I believe the annual report I mailed into Glenn and think it’s distributed to each of you. If you have any questions on that, it’s a real simple report, no details in it at all. That’s what they ask for, so that’s what I do. I did want to talk to you about some ideas I have for projects that I want to work on this year. I want to do some exhibits, I think, and make possibly three, but a minimum of two, and make then rotate between the bank, the Town Clerk’s Office and maybe over to Center Village Court. One of them I want to work on right away is on this Jones School Building; I’ll talk about that later. And another one I would like to do, I was in and I was snooping through some files and I found some pictures of some of the older houses out in the Town and I would like to develop some information and do an exhibit on that. Maybe someday get the information into a booklet, as well so that the public will become aware of some of these wonderful homes and things. But with the Jones School, I want to work on that one first. There’s some stuff going on around Town right now and I thought maybe I could also end up, eventually, no promises, in doing one on all the rural schools that used to be in Groton and get that into a booklet for people’s information as well. What’s going on with the Jones School now, if you haven’t heard, is the Historical Association here in Town is thinking of moving it. I’ve been researching it. Lee Shurtleff and I, as a team, him as Village Historian and I as Town Historian, have the history of it. The gentleman who owns the property next door, the farm property next door, has bought that property it sits on and we don’t want him to just knock it down. I believe it is the last, if not one of the last, that’s still standing that hasn’t been turned into a home or just fallen down. We’re thinking of moving it to the back of the Historical Association building right there on Main Street and there is room back there. We’re going through all the process of what we have to do to make it legal and flood zones and whatever. We’re working with George on that one. So, I think this is an interesting project and we’re getting a committee together. We want people from the community, not just the Historical Society. They want a separate committee like they did with the Terry Graves Memorial, so that the community as a whole is involved in this project. Hopefully, we will get it moving. We’ve looked at the prices and it’s pretty reasonable for professional movers. We’re going to raise some funds for it. Thinking positive, I believe this can be done. I know it can be done. Supervisor Morey – And I understand they have an old original chalkboard that is not cracked. Ms. Tucker – The original chalkboard is in there and it’s a black chalkboard and it has no cracks in it. Supervisor Morey – It’s been maintained through the Grange for many, many years. Town Board Meeting Page 8 February 11, 2003 Ms. Tucker – Yes, the Grange has used it for many years and there’s some of their memorabilia in there as well. We want to incorporate that. There’s a 1872 piano in there and I asked the guy who owns the property if we could have it too and he said, sure, take it. Supervisor Morey – It’s on the corner of Salt and Elm Street. Ms. Tucker – Across from what was once known as the Briggs Tavern. Higgins had it and Offners had it as a bed and breakfast. The last thing I want to tell you about is an upcoming conference with what is known as District 10 of the Association of Public Historians of New York State. Now that’s the village, town and county historians of this area are going to be sponsoring an annual conference. We’re hosting it this year and we’ve been working on it th already. It’s going to be in Ithaca at the Holiday, starting Sunday, April 13 and going through th April 15. I’m taking off my real job so I can go to this. Registration is like $15.00. It’s going to be worth it. We’re going to have workshops on GIS mapping, how to set up a web page, how to recognize different architectural styles and a number of things. Carol Kammen, the County Historian, is the own who’s coordinating all of this, she’s our leader in this case, and she’s using all the professional people she can gather from Cornell. We hope to make it one of the best conferences that this group has had. The District 10 includes Broome County, Chemung, Chenango, Schuyler, Tioga and Tompkins Counties. We expect 75 to 100 people to show up for this. Once I get the itinerary for it I’m going to send it to Glenn and to April and say come on along. I keep referring to this place name book. I want to let you know what that is. For the last year and a half all the municipal historians in Tompkins County have been working on this book that was done in 1951 by Glenn Norris. He was at that time the County Historian and the County Clerk. So, it’s already almost 50 years old and it’s the “Origin of Place Names in Tompkins County” and what it tells you is why the towns were called what they were and why some of the roads were called what they were. We’re trying to get more information into it, so we’re going to revise this and hope to have it in print by this coming fall…fall of 2003. So, that will be one of my projects as well. Anyone have any questions? Councilman Randall – Yes, I do. With this project I’m working on with emergency preparedness plan, I really wanted to get together with you to get some background on some of the prior disasters that we’ve had in the township and the village. I’d really like to add an historic element to that, so if you could either help me physically or point me in the right direction I’d be glad to do the research. I just don’t know where to start, so. Councilman Randall and Ms. Tucker discussed it further and she said that she would give him a call and set up a time to do some research. Chris Dempsey, Dempsey Insurance – Was there to discuss the Town’s insurance. He said that the price was going up and explained that the largest increase was in general liability coverage for town officers. He indicated that one of the good things about this policy, and the one that the Village has, is that it covers general liability for recreational programs such as the Winter Festival, Little League, Pee Wee Football, etc. Total increase in the cost of the policy for 2003 was 11%. Councilman Randall – It seems like we go through this every year. It seems right after we pass our budget, you come forward and it’s always more. Is there any way we could get that to maybe correspond a little earlier? Town Board Meeting Page 9 February 11, 2003 Mr. Dempsey – There is no way. Glenn calls me like September or whenever you guys do your budget, like six months ahead. And I do, I call the company and say to them they’re trying to get into their budget and I don’t know what I told you, but then they come back and they hit me like this. Mr. Dempsey explained further that the way the market is right now it is almost impossible to get the price ahead of time. He also said that since there were not very many companies insuring municipalities there was very little competition to keep the prices down. Supervisor Morey – We also got a letter from Selective Insurance Group Inc. dealing with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002. It says coverage for acts of terrorism is already included in your current Selective Insurance policy at no addition premium charge. Mr. Dempsey – This is thanks to the President. What he’s done is, he’s gone and made all insurance companies cover terrorism. So, what we do is we cover terrorism. If there’s any kind of terrorism to you, we would cover that and then the insurance company would go back against the government. What they’re supposed to be doing at this time is try to figure out what the terrorist risk is to say, Groton, New York, and in the future they will offer this coverage to you at some kind of premium. Who knows what it will be, you know, $46.00, or whatever it is, and we’ll have the option on whether to keep that coverage or not. At this point in time the government is covering the risk. So, you’re covered for it but if it’s ever paid out we’re going back against the government to get our money back. There also was a situation where we had a 4-wheeler claim up on Pleasant Valley Road. Right now Selective has denied the claim. They’ve denied the claim because supposedly the 4-wheeler was parked in the road. The way the law reads is if there is a vehicle parked in the road and we hit it, we’re not in fault, whether we’re backing or whatever. This guy is fairly upset, so we’re still trying to handle that. Councilman Clark – It was hit with what? Mr. Dempsey – Mr. Case’s son hit it with his plow. There was vehicles parked in the road on Pleasant Valley Road. When he went around them the 4-wheeler was there and he hit it. Because it was parked there and nobody was on it, the way the law reads you don’t have to pay. th Supervisor Morey – On January 25, at the annual dinner of Better Homes of Tompkins County, Don and Melody Scheffler and myself and my wife and Sheldon and Barb Clark, and Tyke and Phyllis showed up. Tyke was awarded the Community Builder Award for finding a solution to the John Anderson property, for the coordination of the community and public services. I just want to thank you, Tyke, for representing the Town of Groton with compassion and dedication. It was a great lot of fun that night and it was nice to see you get it. Councilman Randall – Thanks. Thanks for the support. It’s pretty humbling. I just wanted to share it with the community because it’s not about me at all; it’s certainly about this community. They extended their help in time of need for my family and it was just an opportunity to give some of that back. So, it was great to be able to do that finally. It was a good feeling. And hopefully continue to do that as long as my body holds out, I guess. Town Board Meeting Page 10 February 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey – We got to set a hearing for the dog clarification ordinance. April, you want to say anything about it? Clerk Scheffler – I just had a few questions on it. Under Section 7, Seizure, Impoundment, Redemption, and Adoption (d) says that the impoundment fees will be set forth as Subdivision (c) of this section, which refers to Ag & Markets Law. Ag & Markets Law says the impoundment fee is $10.00 unless a different fee is set by the Town Board. Ours is $15.00 right now. I have no idea how it was set at $15.00. I did some research today and I could not find anything anywhere where it was set at $15.00. My assumption is maybe it was a holdover from the past. At one time, when we first had a contract with the SPCA, the whole thing was handled by the County and there was one big contract for all the towns and all the towns signed it. Maybe you remember that, Louie. Councilman Sovocool – I believe so. Clerk Scheffler – And then around 1985 we went to separate contracts and I did find a paper on how all the fees would be divided up with the Town keeping the impoundment fees and thought I would find something there. But I read the minutes and there is nothing there that says that they actually set that $15.00. So, my assumption was that maybe it is a holdover from when the County handled it. Councilman Sovocool – I can remember doing that, but I can’t remember how long ago or when it was. It should be down someplace. Clerk Scheffler – I couldn’t find it. But they’re being charged $15.00 by the SPCA right now and that’s all I know. When we went to our meeting, the clerks with the SPCA, one of the suggestions they made was to raise that impoundment fee. The Town of Ulysses has raised theirs to $30.00 and they feel that that has cut down on a lot of stray dogs being picked up because when people have to pay $30.00 to get it back, they start to pay attention. But I would like to see at least $20.00. That’s what Glenn and I discussed tonight. Supervisor Morey – It’s what we get for returned checks, I mean………………. Clerk Scheffler – I don’t know what you guys think of it, but the way this is written, it’s $10.00 and, like I say, right now they are charging $15.00. Supervisor Morey – Jim, comments? Attorney Baranello – Well, you can set it wherever you want. We can change it. The only thing we have to do is the local law has to lay on the desk 10 days prior in its final form, so if we’re going to do some changes, here it is. Set the public hearing for the next meeting but sometime between now and then we have to change that. Consensus of the Board was to change it to $20.00 Clerk Scheffler – I had a question about Section 8, Complaints. It says that any person who observes a violation can go to the town justice with the complaint. I talked to Fran about that and he said that was sort of like for when the SPCA wasn’t available or… Town Board Meeting Page 11 February 11, 2003 Attorney Baranello – Well, it follows the Ag & Markets Law. It says that right in the Ag & Markets Law anyways, so this really just codifies that. Supervisor Morey – My question was you might not have a contract with SPCA, I mean somebody else might come in and…… Attorney Baranello – Any person can make a complaint. Clerk Scheffler – But we have the SPCA hired to handle those complaints, so really the first person they should go to is the SPCA. Attorney Baranello – They don’t have to though. Under the Ag & Markets they don’t have to so whether they have an SPCA contract or not they can utilize that, but they don’t have to. All this does really is codify what right they have under the Ag & Markets Law. Supervisor Morey – Besides the fee, does this coordinate with the new State Law? Clerk Scheffler – Yes. Councilman Sovocool – Is there anything in here about the licensing at four months now instead of seven? Attorney Baranello – Yes. Clerk Scheffler – I assume you are doing away with the ordinance? Attorney Baranello – We won’t have the ordinance anymore. This will supercede the old ordinance and the old law. Supervisor Morey – Besides that, you’re happy with everything else, right, April? Clerk Scheffler – Yes. RESOLUTION #21 – SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING ON DOG CONTROL LAW MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby set a Public Hearing for March 11, 2003 at 7:45 PM for the purpose of reviewing a local law, which would regulate and control the activities of dogs within the Town and provide for the enforcement thereof. Justice Norman – Do you mind if I ask April something about something she said earlier during my report? You said there was going to be a citation issued every month for a person who doesn’t license their dog? Town Board Meeting Page 12 February 11, 2003 Clerk Scheffler – If they get a ticket this month and they don’t come in and license, they will get one at the end of the month. A lot of people will come and pay that fine and still don’t come and license their dog or else they will ignore the whole thing, like you said. Justice Norman – My new policy is that I am going to reserve my sentence pending the licensing of the dog. So, if I have to reserve that for a week or two, that’s what I’m going to do when they come before me. The trouble is, they don’t want to come before me. Clerk Scheffler – Well, we gave you all the hard ones this month. Justice Norman – Well, last night’s session I expected three people to show up. And here’s something on Ag & Markets right here on what I can do to them. But none of them showed up! RESOLUTION #22 – SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING FOR SENIOR TAX EXEMPTION LAW MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby set a Public Hearing on March 11, 2003 at 8:00 PM for the purpose of reviewing a local law, which will provide a partial exemption from taxation to persons sixty-five years of age or older pursuant to the provisions of Section 467 of the Real Property Tax Law. Supervisor Morey – I was going to have a discussion about Better Homes of Tompkins County proposing a housing development in Groton, but I talked to Stacy Crawford today and she said there is no proposal. They had no land in sight or in mind or like that. They just were asking whether they would like to do it. So, there is no discussion here whatsoever. th Last Tuesday, on the 4, Jerry Holl, myself, Jim Shurtleff from the Village and Dennis Toolan from the Village met with Pete Mesmer of the Tompkins County Highway Department, Ed Marks from Tompkins County Planning, Fernando deArgon (?) from Ithaca/Tompkins County Transportation Council to talk about two projects that they’re thinking about submitting to the Federal Government for Federal funding. One nice thing is Sherwood Boehlert is chairman of the committee. But they did have five projects they’re going to submit to the Federal Government for funding, two in transit, one buying buses and I don’t know what the other one was, one trail, and two road constructions. And the two roads happen to be in the Town of Groton. The first one is the Peruville Road project and this has to do with construction of a bridge over Route 38 and 34B. Coming down the hill, they would build a bridge over 38 and tie it back into 38 by going up Peruville Road. The cost of that would be $8,404,028. The Federal Government share would be over $6,000,000. The other one would be creating a truck route over Salt Road, bypass the Village and the Hamlet of McLean. That cost of that project would $4,435,000 and the Federal Government share would be $3,500,000. So, what I’m looking for tonight is for your permission to write a letter of support for this so it would go to Boehlert’s office as well as a copy to our State Representatives too. Town Board Meeting Page 13 February 11, 2003 Councilman Sovocool – Well, they’re tearing Main Street up with the salt trucks, so I think it’s a good idea. Salt Road is our road, isn’t it? Supervisor Morey – Just a half mile. Just what we paved last year. Councilman Sovocool – So, they’re going to tear that up then. Supervisor Morey – What they’d do is trade a half mile; it’s about a half mile on Salt Road. We own from 34 to Stevens Road. What they would do is trade us that half mile that we own with another County road that they own. Councilman Sovocool – So, they’re going to maintain it? Supervisor Morey – Yeah, they would take care of everything. Consensus of the Board was that Supervisor Morey should write the letter. Supervisor Morey – Discussion on Courtroom fire shutter. I got a request to sign and this would be finishing up the fire resistant window to be fire resistant. The amount would be $1,313.00. This has been going on for two years. I’d like to get it finished. John came up with a suggestion to call Mike Fahey. Discussion? Councilman Sovocool – I think it might be a good idea to contact somebody else, with the price. Councilman Scheffler – I think we should shop around a little bit too. It seems steep. Maybe it isn’t. Supervisor Morey – All right, let me do this, I’ll call Mike Fahey and see if he can price it. If they can’t do it, I’ll get it done. Is that good enough, George? George Senter – Yes. Supervisor Morey – As long as we’re moving forward? Councilman Scheffler – In the interest of getting it done and getting it over with, I would be in favor of authorizing to make the best deal you can to get it done. Supervisor Morey – All right. It’s under the bidding limits too, so. Then that’s what we’ll do. RESOLUTION #23 – ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF LISA MCELROY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby accept, with deep regrets, the resignation of Lisa McElroy from her position on the Town of Groton Zoning Board of Appeals. Town Board Meeting Page 14 February 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey – The end of January I got a letter announcing the abandoned railroad property that the Lehigh Valley Railroad used to own in McLean was being abandoned and we have the first choice of buying the property. Everyone has a copy of the map of it. Basically, the property description…Robert and Kathy Moran who are adjacent property owners plan to purchase said property formerly owned by Lehigh Valley Railroad. This parcel is located in McLean Cortland Road in the Town of Groton. The property to be purchased is 1.112 plus or minus acres in the Town of Groton, Tompkins County, New York. ……….?……clear title to said property formerly owned by Lehigh Valley Railroad. The homeowners who are adjacent to the property, which are Robert and Katherine Moran, are interested in buying this. I’ve been out to see it and it’s basically landlocked. Don suggested to contact the McLean Community Council to see if they where interested. They aren’t, to see if they’re interested in a walking path or something like that but it basically is landlocked and it wouldn’t be a good walking path at all, so. I have to send a letter to the State, Department of Planning, Tompkins County to tell them whether we’re interested or not interested. Consensus of the Board was that they were not interested. Supervisor Morey will write a letter declining the offer to purchase it. Supervisor Morey – Emergency generator. Over the last three years we’ve been discussing about the emergency preparedness for our Town Hall because it would be a control center if any disaster ever did happen. We also discovered that if the electricity went out we’d have no lights, th no phone, no heat, so on and so forth. So, we got together with the Village on the 20 of January and we did offer them $8,000.00, which was approved at the last month’s meeting. I just wanted to let you know that the construction will start in March for this. And what the emergency generator will take is the two water pumps across the street, the DPW for the Village and the Town Hall. It would control all three facilities, so. RESOLUTION #24 – DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS AND SCRAP MATERIALS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the disposal of materials that are determined to be surplus and/or scrap. Announcements: th Planning Board Meeting – January 20 th Town Hall Meeting with Barbara Lifton – March 6 at 7 PM th Well Water Seminar with Bill Foster – March 13, 7-9 PM Next Town Board Meeting, Tuesday, March 11, 2003 at 7:30 PM There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:45 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk