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Home My WebLink About09-07-2004 TOWN OF GROTON – MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Richard B. Gamel, Councilman Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town Also present: Colleen Pierson, Debby Welch, Gary Coats, A. D. Dawson, Tena McClary, Richard Case, Liz Brennan, April Scheffler MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the August 13, 2004 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Abstain - Gamel General Fund Claim Numbers 231-252 of the in the amount of $23,506.88 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 156-175 of the in the amount of $113,875.99 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 364-365 of the in the amount of $165.50 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Town Board Minutes Page 2 September 7, 2004 Privilege of the Floor: Debby Welch, 136 Chipman Corners Road – Mr. & Mrs. Welch had originally planned on putting a second home on their farmland. After paying for a building permit they found out that it was going to cost over $6,000 to get the electricity to the site. It was also thought that a separate lot would need to be created. Ag & Markets Law, however, allows for more than one residence on a parcel of land if it is a farm. Mr. & Mrs. Welch then decided that they would renovate part of their barn and turn that into living space. The Code Enforcement Officer, Gary Coats, explained that they would need a building permit to do this. Mrs. Welch was asking that the money paid for the original building permit be applied to the new building permit. Clerk Scheffler said that she felt the refund should be made since nothing was ever done with the first permit. She felt that for bookkeeping purposes it would be best for the Town Board to refund the money for the first permit and Mrs. Welch then pay for the second permit since there was no way for the clerk to apply money that had already been paid over to the Supervisor. RESOLUTION #85 – REFUND BUILDING PERMIT FEE TO KEN & DEBBY WELCH MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the refund of $103.00 for a building permit submitted by Ken & Debby Welch. Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk – Submitted her monthly report and had two transfers for Board approval. RESOLUTION #86 – 2004 BUDGET TRANSER, GENERAL FUND MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the following transfer of funds: General Fund – Part Town: From: Contingency B1990.4………………….$81.92 To: Youth, Summer Help B7310.1………… 81.92 RESOLUTION #87 – 2004 BUDGET TRANSFER, HIGHWAY FUND MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the following transfer of funds: Highway Fund- Town Wide: From: Sick Time DA5142.12…………………$112.21 To: Health Insurance DA9060.8…………….112.21 Town Board Minutes Page 3 September 7, 2004 Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer – The building permits are slowing down. We aren’t getting the big ones for houses right now. We did have 8 permits issued for a total of about $63,000. 3 Certificates of Occupancy or Completion were issued. Life Safety Inspections, I sent out letters and have followed up with phone calls. Orders to Remedy, we had 3 of those pool problems again and one was a junk vehicle. We solved a couple today. The Welch problem has been worked on for a couple of months between them, me, Albany, Department of Agriculture and others. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – The Highway Department’s shop is busy with repairs, preventive maintenance program and when time allows, working on the new truck’s plow equipment. We have taken delivery of both of the new trucks. I am in the process of licensing and insuring them as we speak with hope to have them in service soon. As I reported last month, the majority of the heavy rain was in the southeast and southwest corners of the Town. This month that has changed to the northeast corner. The Highway crew is making advances on repairs of the shoulder damage and is cleaning debris from pipes from last week’s storm. New crossover sluice pipes have been installed on Elm Street, by Fuller Farms, and on Davis Road, near the intersection of Lafayette Road. Both have had an opportunity to prove that they function very well. I have not heard from the County in regards to the Stevens Road Bridge Project. For general information, Stevens Road did go under water last week for a short period of time. They are talking about raising that bridge a foot. Supervisor Morey – Lester stopped in today? Richard Case – Yes, he’s feeling a lot better. The doctor still hasn’t released him to come back to work yet. Right now we’re looking at October to December. Mr. Case reported that the gravel pit reclamation was almost complete. Some more grading and seeding needed to be done after the next inspection. He felt that on a normal year the water would probably dry up in the bottom. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Submitted her monthly Town Clerk’s report for the Board’s review. She had request to attend a Regional Clerks Meeting and a New York State Archives Seminar RESOLUTION #88 – TOWN CLERK AND DEPUTY TO ATTEND REGIONAL CLERKS MEETING. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve payment of expenses of $25.00 each plus mileage for the Town Clerk and the Deputy Town Clerk to attend the New York State Town Clerks Regional Meeting in Painted Post, New York on September 20, 2004. Town Board Minutes Page 4 September 7, 2004 RESOLUTION #89 – TOWN CLERK AND TOWN HISTORIAN TO ATTEND NEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES SEMINAR MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve payment of expenses of mileage and lunch for the Town Clerk and the Town Historian to attend a New York State Archives seminar entitled “Micrographics as a Records Management Tool” on September 22, 2004 in Greene, New York. Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town – Had given the Board memos on some outstanding research issues. A. D. Dawson and John Norman, Town Justices – Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. They requested approval to attend State Magistrates Conference. RESOLUTION #90 – TOWN JUSTICES AND COURT CLERK TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the payment of expenses for the Town Justices, A. D. Dawson and John Norman and the Court Clerk, Margaret Palmer to attend the New York State Magistrates Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York , October 3-6, 2004. Supervisor Morey – By the way, Peggy’s going to be indoctrinated to being the president of the New York State Court Clerks Association. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – Summer programs are wrapped up. Winterfest will be February 19, 2005. Larry Stamenthal will play at Center Village Court on September 24 and December 10. Last month I requested to speak to the School Board but was ignored. They did apparently solve the problem without talking to me. RESOLUTION #91 – TOWN HISTORIAN TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve payment of expenses for the Town Historian, Rosemarie Tucker, to attend the Fall Historians Conference in Lockport, New York, September 26-28, 2004. Town Board Minutes Page 5 September 7, 2004 Budget Work Sessions: Thursday, September 9 – 7:00 PM Tuesday, September 21 – 4:00 PM – Highway Employees 5:00 PM – Court Wednesday, September 22 – 6:30 PM – Highway Superintendent 7:00 PM – Town Clerk Thursday, September 23 – 7:00PM Saturday, September 25 – 8:30 AM Supervisor Morey – Discussion of various zoning changes. A couple of things have come up in the last couple of weeks. First of all, Route 222, there’s two places there, a horse farm that we found out they can’t sell it unless it’s changed and also an agricultural store that would like to go in. I’d like, since we already have this done, I’d like to look into a cell tower regulation and also the 1000 feet that’s restricted businesses around the Village. Attorney Monty – I think there is an existing cell tower law isn’t there? Supervisor Morey – There is. So can we go forward on that and see what we can do? Attorney Monty – Basically you need to let us know exactly what you want to do and how you want it modified. Supervisor Morey – Good. I shall get that to you tomorrow. MOVEDExecutive by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to go into Session at 8:00 PM for the purpose of litigation. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey MOVEDRegular Session by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Scheffler, to return to at 8:17 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Supervisor Morey – Let the record show that nothing was decided upon in the Executive Session. Town Board Minutes Page 6 September 7, 2004 Announcements: Thank you note from Senior Citizens for donations. Thank you from Tompkins County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board for support of Farm City Day. McLean Community Council Meeting – September 15, 7:30 PM Town/Village Comprehensive Plan Meeting – September 13, 7:30 PM Pizza Fun Day – September 18 – Sponsored by Groton Youth Commission Municipal Official Association Dinner & Meeting – September 21, at the Ichabod, 7:00 PM Planning Board Meeting – September 16 Groton Business Association Meeting - September 15, 6:30 PM at Elm Tree Inn – Speech on 911 System Primary Day – September 14, Noon – 9:00 PM Next Board Meeting – October 12 – 7:30 PM There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:21 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk