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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-11-2003 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2003, AT 7:30 PM, AT THE TOWN HALL Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Victoria Monty, Town Attorney Absent: Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Also present: Tena McClary, John Norman, Arthur Dawson, Ed Neuhauser, Peg Palmer, April Scheffler, Richard Case, George Senter. MOVEDExecutive by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to go into Session for purposes of Personnel and Litigation at 7:31 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey MOVEDRegular by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to return to Session at 7:40 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey Supervisor Morey – Let the record show that nothing was decided in the Executive Session. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the October 14, 2003 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the October 28, 2003 Budget Hearing as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 291-358 of the in the amount of $33,299.00 were presented for audit. Supervisor Morey – Review action of payment of invoices. Can I have a motion to accept the General Account? Councilman Scheffler – I’ll move that we accept the General Account with the exception of the one bill for the Dog Enumerator. I’d like to table that till next month. Supervisor Morey – And….? Have him come in and present..……? Town Board Meeting Page 2 November 11, 2003 Councilman Scheffler – Have, have him, yeah and have him come in and explain it to us. Supervisor Morey – Okay. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the General Bills for payment with the exception of Claim #355, Thomas Scheffler, Account A3510.41, $1000.00. Amount of General Fund approved for payment - $32,229.00. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers198-206 of the in the amount of $54,378.08 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 306-311of the in the amount of $48,333.04 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Privilege of the Floor: The Court Clerk, Margaret Palmer wished to make a clarification of something that was said by her at the October Board Meeting: th Margaret Palmer – Just a clarification on your minutes of October 28 when I was talking about my hours on page 3, at the top, the bottom 2 lines. It says 52 hours a week. It should be 52 weeks a year. Those 2 references. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Clerk Scheffler – I knew that wasn’t what you meant. Margaret Palmer – That’s not what I said, I know. I’m reading this and I said, wow. So, I just wanted to clarify that. It should be 52 weeks a year. Supervisor Morey – Vicki, should we go back and rescind our resolution, our motion to accept the minutes, with the correction? Clerk Scheffler – You can’t change it. It is what was said. Supervisor Morey – Okay, I’m sorry. Town Board Meeting Page 3 November 11, 2003 Clerk Scheffler – We can make a clarification. Councilman Scheffler – The clarification would be in this month’s minutes. Clerk Scheffler – Yes. Supervisor Morey – Okay, any other public comment? If not we move on to the monthly reports. Liz could not be here. She had a minor operation Monday and she’s recovering from that. She did present the bookkeeper’s report and she would like to have some transfers, one transfer if we could. RESOLUTION #69 – BUDGET TRANSFER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve the following budget transfers: General Fund Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4…………………$33.00 To: Dog Expenditures A3510.42………….. 33.00 Supervisor Morey – And we hope Liz gets better very soon. George? George R. Senter, Sr., Fire/Code Enforcement Officer – We had 5 building permits issued in October, one for a house and the other 4 were other than a house, garages, shed, additions, replacing a porch and a deck. We issued 7 C of O’s or letters of completion and the LSI’s, I still have one to do to be current through October. Any questions? Supervisor Morey – No, appreciate it. Thank you George. Rick? Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – At the present time the Highway Department is in transition from summer to winter road maintenance. The shop crew has 3 plows and sander combinations ready at this time. The majority of the deicing sand has been stockpiled with a portion already mixed with salt. The salt shed received some repairs, so all in all we’re getting prepared for the snow season on schedule. With the help of the Town of Cortlandville, we have finished the shoulders on Walpole Road, Old Stage Road and Clark Street. The Town of Cortlandville has my thanks for allowing us to borrow their shoulder machine and two operators. The gravel bank reclamation has not progressed as far as I would have liked but with the amount of rain we have received I’m encouraged with the way our back slopes have stood up. Reagan Land Surveying has completed the marking out and mapping of the mine site as requested by the DEC. And how far we progress now is directly connected to the weather. And during October I completed the New York State Department of Transportation Annual Highway Mileage Town Board Meeting Page 4 November 11, 2003 Certification and the total centerline miles of roadway under the Town’s jurisdiction is 53.45 miles. Supervisor Morey – Rick, do you notify the DEC about the progress on the mine. Richard Case – No. Supervisor Morey – Okay, did, did you send a map to them? Richard Case – I was going to get ahold of Rich and see if he wanted a copy of that map… Supervisor Morey – I think they did. Richard Case - ….or if they wanted to come down and look at the staking, because it’s all staked out now. Supervisor Morey – How close were we before? Richard Case – Very close. Supervisor Morey – So, do you have the big orange markers on either, on every corner? Richard Case – The whole thing is staked out. There’s wooden stakes. If you pull in there you can see the outline of it. Supervisor Morey – Okay, great. Richard Case – We’ve moved the oversized stone that was against that bank and we’re ready to start pushing some more of that, I don’t know if you read their, I’m using that as a punch list, the last letter from Rich, and we started moving that upper ridge out of there. We’ve got the trees and stuff out of the way and as soon as it stays dry enough, if it stays dry enough, we’ll shove that down in where the oversized was. Supervisor Morey – Did we take the other bulldozer back to Beck? Richard Case – Yes. We’re working with the County’s machine right now. Supervisor Morey – Okay. I gave Vicki a copy of the equipment-sharing list. Supposedly the Town Superintendents came up with an agreement. Richard Case – This has been on the table for about 4 years. I don’t know if Fran ever saw it. I see how it was presented to the Mayors and the Supervisors. The Highway Superintendents in themselves didn’t go ahead and approve this. Every year, in January, you fellows give me the right to work with the other towns and the Fire Department where I see fit for the Town of Groton. So, as far as the legalities and a lot of the stuff, we’re already covered and I really don’t know just where they want to go with this and that’s been some of the Superintendents’ concerns, whether there’s ulterior motives or what’s behind it. We are under contract with them for the snow removal, which is a contract and everything on that is renewed, I think, every two years. Town Board Meeting Page 5 November 11, 2003 Supervisor Morey – So do you approve this contract or…. Richard Case – That was not approved, to my knowledge, by the Highway Superintendents. It’s been discussed and at the last meeting, that was some time ago, it was suggested that the lawyers, the town attorneys take a look at it. And if you read through that it makes it sound like they have and I don’t believe our attorneys have had the privilege to look at it yet. Attorney Monty – Not that I’m aware of. Richard Case – I don’t think so. So my recommendation would be to take a look at it before we sign anything. Supervisor Morey – Okay. That we shall. All right, any questions for Rick? Councilman Sovocool – I have none. Supervisor Morey – Vicki? Attorney Monty – Are we going to go out of line? Supervisor Morey – I’m sorry, April. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – You’ve got my monthly report. I guess you all met Tena, so I don’t have to introduce you. Just a reminder that I have some contracts for you to sign before you leave tonight, if you approve everything. We had a little mishap with one of the voting machines. I guess it got dropped a little bit off the truck and I talked to Lee Shurtleff. He and Louie are going to come and look at it after the end of the month, after everything has been certified and they will open it up, set it up and see if everything works. Then if we need to call somebody to fix it we’ll have to see about that. And I guess the only other thing is when are we going to get the final audit? Supervisor Morey – Oh, the report? No, it’s supposed to be coming. Okay, now Vicki. Victoria Monty, Town Attorney – Earlier today I met with the Planning Board and ZBA Board so that they could have their training session. Sheldon was there and you can elaborate on it if th you’d like. I also am going to go to the Planning Board meeting scheduled for November 20 so that, it was my understanding that the Planning Board’s going to get me the agenda so that I can review it prior to the meeting. I believe there’s a public hearing scheduled for that so I know they’ve been wanting me to come to the meetings. Clerk Scheffler – We can fax or email that to you. Attorney Monty – Okay. And I know that the ZBA, I guess there isn’t any appeals pending so I guess they are going to let me know………..(can’t her what she is saying)………. Relative to this highway agreement, I don’t believe that my office has seen it at all. Usually if Fran gets something that’s relative to Groton he will bring it to my attention. I know there are some matters that he’s been handling exclusively but he does make me aware of the fact that he’s Town Board Meeting Page 6 November 11, 2003 doing that. So I will check with Fran and Jim to make sure that they haven’t seen this but usually they make me aware of it……………………. So, do you have any questions for me? Councilman Clark – I just want to add that I think you did a very good job of your presentation today and….. Attorney Monty – Well, I thank you. Councilman Clark - …and you sure got a lot of intermingling talking or whatever going with a lot of questions and if you didn’t know you took down notes and said you’d get back, so that made them feel real confident, I think. Good job. Councilman Sovocool – Vicki, have we done anything with Diversified yet? Attorney Monty – Actually, my understanding, Glenn you were going to contact Tom Sims. Have you had a chance to speak with him? Supervisor Morey – No. No. Okay, you got the report from Theresa Delaney? Attorney Monty – Report? I don’t think I got that. Supervisor Morey – We sent it on to the insurance company. Attorney Monty – Okay, I did confirm that……(can’t hear her)……I spoke with…….. Supervisor Morey – But this is just a notice, so we don’t have to act on this at all, do we? Attorney Monty – I don’t know, what do you have? Supervisor Morey – It’s a notice of claim. Attorney Monty – Right, so he’s going to look in to that and take care of it. So, it is in the right hands. Supervisor Morey – All righty. Any other questions for Vicki? If not we’ll move on to John Norman. John Norman, Town Justice – (Monthly reports of the Justices had been submitted to the Town Board) – I really had nothing, no report except for what you discussed with the notice of claim, Theresa Delaney, so that’s about it. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Any questions from John? Okay. Then we’ll move on to the Recreation Coordinator, Donald? Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – The Town and Village th Recreation Committee met November 4 for a monthly meeting. Gary Smith, Superintendent of Schools for Groton attended our meeting and we discussed mutual concerns between the school Town Board Meeting Page 7 November 11, 2003 and our committee and hopefully ironed out some problems. We also set a tentative date for Winter Fest, which is February 27, 2004. And that’s basically all I have on that at the moment. Supervisor Morey – Okay, any questions for Don? If not move to number 6, discussion on Fiscal Year 2004 Budget changes. Is there any changes to the Budget that we know of? No questions? Okay. Move on a for resolution of action of Fiscal Year 2004 Budget. RESOLUTION #70 – ADOPTION OF FISCAL YEAR 2004 BUDGET MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby adopt the Fiscal Year 2004 Tentative Budget as the Fiscal Year 2004 Final Budget with no changes. RESOULUTION #71 – CONTRACT WITH NYSEG SOLUTIONS AS NATURAL GAS SUPPLIER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the contract with NYSEG Solutions, Inc. of Binghamton, NY for the supply of natural gas used by the Town of Groton under the terms negotiated by the Municipal Electric & Gas Alliance. The term of said contract will run form November 1, 2003 to October 31, 2005. RESOLUTION #72 – APPROVE 2003 GADABOUT CONTRACT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby accept the 2003 contract between Gadabout Transportation Services, Inc., of 737 Willow Avenue, Ithaca, New York and the Town of Groton in the amount of $4,200.00. Town Board Meeting Page 8 November 11, 2003 RESOLUTION #73 – APPROVE 2004 HIGHWAY CONTRACT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town of Groton Highway Employees be granted the following for the year 2004: 1)$.46 per hour raise in pay across the board. 2)$100.00 allowed per year for additional clothing or boots. RESOLUIOTN #74 – APPROVE 2004 FIRE PROTECTION AGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the 2004 Fire Protection Agreement between the Town of Groton, the Village of Groton and the Groton Fire Department in the amount of $75,000.00. RESOLUTION #75 – APPROVE 2004 AMBULANCE AGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the 2004 Ambulance Agreement between the Town of Groton, the Village of Groton, and the Groton Fire Department in the amount of $69,000.00. Supervisor Morey – There’s two reports I want some opinions on the Board and I don’t want nd them tonight but I want you to read them and tell me a little bit about it. On October 2 Tompkins County, representatives from Tompkins County from towns of Caroline, Danby, Enfield, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing, Ulysses got together and made out a Hazard Analysis Report and in this report it tells you exactly what we, the group, the consensus thought was the highest rated hazards that we have to prepare for. Being the top one was the flood. Second one was terrorism, an epidemic, severe storm, ice storm, water supply contamination, fire, transportation accident, hurricane, winter storm – severe, civil unrest, hazmat in transit and utility failure, in those rankings. So, I want the Board to read that and make sure you know about what’s going on. During that same meeting or just before that meeting, I had a meeting with Kate Hazlett who’s the representative for the Tompkins County Planning Department and she wanted to know Town Board Meeting Page 9 November 11, 2003 what the Board thought about sponsoring a program or study on a geohydrology of the valley fill aquifer in the Owasco Inlet valley. Our share would be somewhere around $60,000 to do this. The County would pick some of it up and the State would pick something up. But the total bill would be $279,990. So, read that report. I’d like some input on that also. Announcements: Planning Board Meeting & Public Hearing – November 20, 7:30. Association of Towns Newly Elected Officials School – January 12 -14 at Rochester Association of Towns Annual Meeting – February 15-18 at New York City The being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:02 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk