Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-08-2003 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2003, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Victoria Monty, Town Attorney Absent: Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Also present: Frank Satterly, Monica Carey, April Scheffler, Richard Case, George Senter, Liz Brennan, MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the March 11, 2003 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the March 11, 2003 Public Hearing on Local Law #1 – Town of Groton Dog Control Law as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the March 11, 2003 Public Hearing on Local Law #2 – Senior Tax Exemptions as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 79-111 of the in the amount of $55,342.38 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 47-69 of the in the amount of $10,242.01 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. Town Board Meeting Page 2 April 8, 2003 Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 279-281 of the in the amount of $6,327.43 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey. Supervisor Morey offered privilege of the floor. No one responded. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Deputy Highway Superintendent – presented her monthly report for the Board’s review and had budget transfers to make. RESOLUTION #35 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds in the 2003 Budget: General Fund – Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4……………………..$778.48 To: Insurance A1910.4………………………… 769.06 Control of Dogs, Exp. A3510.42……………. 9.42 Liz Brennan – I’ve been in touch with Rick Beals, I don’t know if you have approval on that. Supervisor Morey – Yes, I do, it’s number eight. Liz Brennan – Then he’ll give me a date on when he’s going to start. Supervisor Morey – He will be starting early this year? Liz Brennan – Yes, at least by July, I think, but we’ll try to do it before that. George R. Senter, Sr., Code/Fire Enforcement Officer – Building permits issued in March were four, one house and other things. The house was Jeff Cargian’s. He’s building a place where Richard Brown used to live. He tore that down and is building a new place up there. We sent one Letter of Completion out. With Life Safety Inspections, there are two left to be completed for March and they’re scheduled for tomorrow. I’ve started on April already. Town Board Meeting Page 3 April 8, 2003 We wanted to discuss the Tompkins County letter about subdivisions. We were a little disturbed about that when I got it. I thought Jim or Fran would be here. Attorney Monty – It’s my understanding that Jay Franklin is going to send a clarification letter regarding this and you should be receiving that. George Senter – Everybody got a copy of the first letter. He pretty much told us they were going to do whatever they want to do down there and that is a violation of Town, City and State Law. It’s really disturbing. Attorney Monty – It’s my understanding that the Department of Assessment received a number of complaints from various towns, including the Town of Groton, and that they’re going to require the Town’s Planning Board approval before the map will be filed. That’s what the letter is stating that we’re waiting on now. George Senter – That’s what the State Law is, Town Law. So, he’s just saying he’s going to follow the existing laws instead of trying to go around them? Attorney Monty – Right. George Senter – He said in the letter that he realized this might create nonconforming lots but we can control that here. I said that’s fine, I’ll never issue another building permit for any subdivision not approved, an illegal subdivision. Hopefully, he got enough static that he’s going to do something about it. Attorney Monty – Right. In the letter he’s going to rescind that. Supervisor Morey – So, we will hear from Fran when he gets the letter? Attorney Monty – Yes. At the least, Jay Franklin said he would send it to the towns involved. Supervisor Morey – Why would they do a ridiculous thing like this? Attorney Monty – It was my understanding that they were putting a lot of onus on the County. The County is not supposed to file a map unless it’s been approved by the Town, so they were stating that the Department of Assessment was not going to change the subdivision maps unless it had been filed with the County. They were really sort of passing the buck, so to speak, in that if the County has approved it then it’s their job to make sure that it has all the necessary approvals from the Town. George Senter – And they were just going to go right around that. Supervisor Morey – So this is on hold, they haven’t enacted it yet? George Senter – Well, on some boundary line changes, we’re still working on that too. Hopefully this will fall into the same category. Attorney Monty – I spoke with Jay Franklin myself regarding this and he indicated that if there were any changes to the maps that you don’t approve of, contact them and they will take that change off of the maps. Town Board Meeting Page 4 April 8, 2003 Clerk Scheffler – That’s pretty hard to do when you get the map a year later. Attorney Monty – I know. I’m hoping that they haven’t made any incorrect changes. George Senter – We had quite an affair up here off North Parkway, if you recall, and that was an illegal subdivision that had never been filed with the County. So, Veng called me, from Assessment, and said, George, I do have a subdivision map down here on this property. I said, well, tell me something, has it been signed by the Planning Board Chairman? There was a long silence at the end of the line. Then he said no. And I said, well, then you don’t have a subdivision. It wasn’t too long after that this thing came up. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence or what. But anyway, we have something going to get it straightened up. Supervisor Morey – So, where we stand right now is that all subdivision has to come through the Planning Board. George Senter – Absolutely, it’s in our town laws. Supervisor Morey – And we will wait for the response that Fran is going to get from Tompkins County. Monica, did you have anything? Monica Carey, Planning Board Chair – I was just here to find out whether Fran had written a letter or not to the County because that would make it difficult for my board. You know, like George said, we could be getting building permits for undersized lots and how do we handle that? We would have some very upset citizens in the meantime. George Senter - That’s right, but it looks like it’s going to get back on track. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – At the present time the Highway Department is busy making repairs predominantly to snow fighting equipment. Normally we’re making token efforts to prepare for the changeover of equipment to spring and summer operations, but obviously that’s not been taking place as fast as I’d like to. When the weather allows, trees and brush are being cut. Potholes and sign damage have been address but there’s still plenty to do. We’ve had the grader out and honed some of the damaged shoulders and gravel roads. I’ve got three things that need action from the Board. One is to allow me to attend the New York State Association of Towns Highway Superintendent School and a resolution to co-sponsor the spring trash day with the Village. We don’t have a solid date yet but I will get with Jim and with your approval we will do that again. And May is usually the month that the Board makes the highway tour if anyone is interested in setting a date. I’m open to that whenever you want to. RESOLUTION #36 – HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENTS SCHOOL MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize payment of expenses for Richard Case, Highway Superintendent, to attend the New York State Association of Towns Highway Superintendent School at Cornell University, June 2-4, for the cost of $80.00. Town Board Meeting Page 5 April 8, 2003 RESOULUTION #37 – AUTHORIZE SPRING TRASH DAY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Highway Superintendent, Rick Case, to make the necessary arrangements with the Village of Groton to plan the Annual Spring Trash Day for an as yet undetermined date in May. Supervisor Morey said he would check with all the Board Members and set up a date for the road tour. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Submitted her Town Clerk and Tax Collector monthly reports for the Board’s review and indicated that they were a different format because the Town Clerk program had been recently updated to the Windows version. SPCA, I don’t know what to say except I’ve had it, and a lot of people have. I asked at the Clerk’s luncheon I went to and Tee Ann Hunter, from Town of Ithaca, just about went into orbit and said that she was ready to strangle all of them. The Town of Newfield has been having problems and they have sat down and renegotiated a lot of stuff. I don’t know. I don’t know how to get them to do the job. We took over part of the work for them and the agreement was that we were freeing them up to do more in the field for us and they’re just not doing it. When we call down there they are rude. They are rude to the people. I know we don’t have any alternatives, but I don’t know…… Supervisor Morey – Well, maybe a letter should go to the chairman of the board down there. Can you give me some things that are specific to our problems? And I will address a letter to the chairman. Clerk Scheffler – One thing about Newfield, the Town Clerk down there said that one of her biggest problems was the front desk. They have gone through what their law is and what the SPCA can do for the person who calls and that is supposed to be on the desk when somebody calls from Newfield. I asked her to send this information to me when they have it all finalized. I don’t know if that’s something we ought to look at, you know, do we need to sit down and look at the contract? I would like to have Fran or somebody look at it and get an opinion of what we could demand they provide for us under our contract, or maybe we need to make it more specific. Maybe we need to have it more specific rather than the generic contract that everybody gets. Councilman Sovocool – I think you need to talk to somebody besides the main desk down there because the information is probably not going any farther. Clerk Scheffler – Oh, I do. I don’t bother with the people on the desk. I call Nathan and usually don’t get a call back. If I call the girls that are out doing patrols, and finally get them, well, the last time it was a good thing she wasn’t in my office. Attorney Monty – So, it’s my understanding that they not responding to your calls? Town Board Meeting Page 6 April 8, 2003 Clark Scheffler – They’re not responding. For example, a week or so ago a 76-year old woman with two Rottwellers constantly in her yard and she’s afraid to go to the mailbox. They have been up there once and did a talk to owner but they won’t come back. They told her she can catch the dogs so someone can pick them up or she can go down to the SPCA and fill out a complaint, but they’re not going out there again. I called and talked to the girl and said you need to go out there again. This woman is afraid to go to her mailbox. I said you can’t expect this 76- year old woman to catch these two Rottwellers and her response was, well, I can’t be running up and down the streets of Groton either. I’m thinking, well, that is your job. She said maybe if she got time she might drive down that road and see if there were dogs running around. There was some other discussion on the subject. It was agreed that the Clerk would provide the attorneys with a copy of the contract for their review. Clerk Scheffler also said she would talk to other town clerks when she attended the clerks convention and keep looking for other options. Supervisor Morey asked how DECALS was going and Clerk Scheffler said that everything was fine. Clerk Scheffler – I have a request from the Board of Elections that we have four of our machines serviced because they haven’t been done in three years. And I have a letter from the Voting Machine Service Center explaining the Federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. A lot of people thought this would require that we replace the machines with electronic ones but that is not what it requires. But they are requesting that they become handicap accessible. I had put that in my budget request but I don’t know if that’s what you cut out. You cut my budget request by $2,000, so I don’t know what you want to do about service. Councilman Sovocool – Well, I think the machines need servicing. Has it been that long? Clerk Scheffler – It’s been three years. It was May of 2000 when it was done. The problem is that last year’s Primary and General Election cost us a little over $3,900 just for the inspectors, custodians and hall rentals. That was without any repairs or any of my costs. We have $4,160 budgeted. If we don’t have a Primary, we have money, but if we have a Primary we have barely enough to cover. Councilman Sovocool – What did it cost us to have them done last time? Clerk Scheffler – We had six of them done and it cost $1,468. It’s $98 for the service call for each machine and then there’s parts and labor. Two of them were done last year because they had to be repaired. So, we have four to do, Councilman Sovocool – So, that $400 plus parts? Clerk Scheffler – At the $1,460 it averaged $245 per machine so I would guess that it would cost you at least $200 per machine. There was some more discussion on the subject. The Board assured Clerk Scheffler that the money would be made available for service on the machines. Town Board Meeting Page 7 April 8, 2003 Victoria Monty, Acting Town Attorney – Had been in contact with Peter Grossman, attorney for the Village of Groton, and a letter was being drafted to Heather Blinn from the Cooperative Extension concerning changes to the Groton Youth Program contract discussed in March. Alton Alexander & John Norman, Town Justices – Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – We’re pretty much wrapped up on summer programs at the park. We’re still in the process of getting life guards certified. The concert series is locked up for the summer on Wednesday nights. I think there was one contract left she had to get signed and that will be a done deal. The Village did disband the Park Commission and pretty much automatically passed all the responsibilities over to our committee. Everybody tells me that the Park Commission did absolutely nothing, so, I don’t know what that means, if we have any more work to do or not. Time will tell what’s going to happen. Other than that things are going good. Marsha is doing a wonderful job. Supervisor Morey – Good. She stopped by the Youth Commission meeting the other night too, to talk about the summer programs. She’s going to try to coordinate between the Youth Commission and the Park. Councilman Scheffler – She did have some problems there that they’re trying to iron out. It’s mostly Youth Commission stuff that they had questions about. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Don? If not, we have a correction that we just want to make public that the local law for 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, we had a th clerical error in annual income ranges in number ten, the 10 range. It was “28,100.” We’d like to change that to “28,000 or more but less than 28,900.” The exemption percentage will be 5%. Any questions? And that will be sent on. Just a correction, this tax exemption will take effect in 2004. Fran did talk to the County Assessment Office, so everything is all set for 2004. RESOLUTION #38 – RETAIN AUDITORS MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Supervisor, Glenn E. Morey, to retain the services of Kirby, Beals, Maier, Certified Public Accountants to audit the general purpose financial statements of the Town of Groton for the year ended December 31, 2002 for a fee of $4,600. Town Board Meeting Page 8 April 8, 2003 RESOLUTION #39 – SUPPORTING THE TOMPKINS COUNTY MULTI-JURISDICTINAL PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION GRANT APPLICATION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey WHEREAS, the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 encourages and rewards local governments that initiate pre-disaster planning to identify and mitigate, where practicable, natural, technological, and human-caused hazards within their communities, and to promote the development of more disaster resistant communities, and WHEREAS, residents of the Town of Groton are vulnerable to potential hazards, including: 1) natural hazards, such as flooding, severe weather (including summer storms, windstorms, tornadoes, snowstorms, and ice storms), fire, drought, and other natural hazards, 2) technological hazards, such as transportation accidents and hazardous material spills, and 3) human-caused hazards, such as civil unrest, riots, and acts of terrorism, and WHEREAS, a hazard mitigation plan that addresses these potential disasters will help improve the ability the Town of Groton to minimize the loss of life and property and disruption to the economic well-being of the community due to a disaster, and to lay the foundation for a speedier recovery should a disaster strike, and WHEREAS, by November, 2004, participation in the development and adoption of an All- Hazard Mitigation Plan will be required to receive State and Federal funding for certain capital improvements and other hazard mitigation initiatives, and WHEREAS, the New York State Emergency Management Office is administering a competitive Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant program that reimburses successful applicants 75% of the cost of preparing an All-Hazard Mitigation Plan, and WHEREAS, representatives of the Town of Groton have participated in discussions with interested municipalities regarding preparing a grant application and All-Hazard Mitigation Plan with multiple jurisdictions in Tompkins County, and WHEREAS, the Tompkins County Planning Department has agreed to facilitate the completion of a Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant application and to oversee and administer the preparation of a Multi-Jurisdictional All-Hazard Mitigation Plan for Tompkins County, and WHEREAS, a cost allocation structure to pay for the 25% local contribution required by grant recipients to prepare the All-Hazard Mitigation Plan has been discussed by the participating municipalities, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton hereby supports the preparation of a grant application to develop a Multi-Jurisdictional All-Hazard Mitigation Plan and authorizes the Tompkins County Planning Department to coordinate the development of a Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant application for Tompkins County, and be it further Town Board Meeting Page 9 April 8, 2003 RESOLVED, that in the event that the grant application is funded, the Town of Groton agrees to actively participate in the development of a Multi-Jurisdictional All-Hazard Mitigation Plan, and be it further RESOLVED, that in the event that the grant application is funded, the Town of Groton agrees to contribute matching funds or in-kind services for the preparation of a Multi-Jurisdictional All-Hazard Mitigation Plan. RESOLUTION #40 – TOMPKINS COUMMUNITIES HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey WHEREAS, the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 encourages and rewards local governments that initiate pre-disaster planning to identify and mitigate, where practicable, natural, technological, and human-caused hazards within their communities, and to promote the development of more disaster resistant communities, and WHEREAS, pre-disaster mitigation initiatives elsewhere in the United States have improved the ability of local governments to minimize the loss of life and property and disruption to the economic well-being of the community due to a disaster, and to lay the foundation for a speedier recovery should a disaster strike, and WHEREAS, residents of the Town of Groton are vulnerable to potential hazards, including: 1) natural hazards, such as flooding, severe weather (including summer storms, windstorms, tornadoes, snowstorms, and ice storms), fire, drought and other natural hazards, 2) technological hazards, such as transportation accidents and hazardous material spills, and 3) human-caused hazards, such as civil unrest, riots, and acts of terrorism, and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton has expressed interest in preparing a Hazard Mitigation Plan which would include the area incorporated by the Town, and WHEREAS, after the Town of Groton completes and adopts the Hazard Mitigation Plan, adoption of said Plan by the Town Board would make the Town eligible for State and Federal funding for certain capital improvements and other initiatives to implement the adopted plan, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton is hereby authorized to complete a Hazard Mitigation Plan that includes the area incorporated by the Town. Supervisor Morey – We also had a Comprehensive Plan meeting the other night and we had a joint meeting with the Village Planning Board. Everybody is stumbling and trying to figure out how to do the Comprehensive Plan. Well, George Frantz is a consultant for the Village and he is Town Board Meeting Page 10 April 8, 2003 a specialist in planning, comprehensive plans and things like that. He gave an estimate for a consultant for $13,700. Our half would be $6,850 to do that. It could be taken out of the budget but it would have to be switched around. I’m not sure what the timeframe is going to be but I would like to make a resolution that we hire, with the backing of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, that we hire a consultant to help us along with the Comprehensive Plan. It’d be $6,850. RESOLUTION #41 – HIRE STEVE FRANTZ AS CONSULTANT FOR COMPREHENSIVE PLAN MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Groton wishes to have an updated Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Groton, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the hiring of Steve Frantz as consultant to the Comprehensive Plan Committee of the Town of Groton for the fee of $6,850.00. RESOLUTION #42 – MEMBERS OF LOCAL ADVISORY BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Supervisor Morey Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby appoint the following people to the Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review: Jack Miller, Russ DeMond, Fran Sovocool, Dennis Butts and Tom Guihan. RESOLUTION #43 – SET DATE FOR ADVISORY BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW HEARING MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby set the date for the Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review Hearing for Monday, May 19, 2003 from 3PM to 6PM at the Town Hall, 101 Conger Boulevard. Town Board Meeting Page 11 April 8, 2003 Announcements: th Planning Board – April 17 Municipal Officials Dinner – April 22, 6PM at the Lehigh Valley House Supervisor Morey will be away May 4 – May 11 GBA Spring Banquet – Saturday, April 26, 6PM at the McLean Fire Department Groton Downtown Merchants sponsoring Peter Cottontail Day – Saturday, April 19, 10AM-1PM There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler at 8:14PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk