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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-04-12TOWN OF GROTON — MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilperson Kelly Smith, Councilperson Randy N. Jackson, Councilperson Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town Also present: W. Rick Fritz, Barry Goodrich, Jamie Babcock, Glenn Morey, Ed Neuhauser, Dan Carey, Chuck Rankin, April Scheffler. MOVED by Councilperson Sovocool, seconded by Councilperson Smith, to approve the minutes of the, March 8, 2015 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the General Fund in the amount of $30,040.74 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilperson Smith, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the Highway Fund in the amount of $109,009.73 were presented for audit. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Fund in the amount of $38,613.80 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilperson Clark, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, to approve the CDBG Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. He had completed his training requirements for the year. He has six more life safety inspections and then that will be finished. The new ICC Codes went into effect as of April 1 St but we have not received our books yet. We are registered to get free books, which would otherwise be around $800.00. Complaint season is coming and we are developing a smoother way to handle them. I like to try and verbally get Town Board Minutes Page 2 April 12, 2016 things straightened out first before we issue an order to remedy and that seems to be working so far. If they want to stay in violation, then we will move forward with an order to remedy. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - Was not present. Supervisor Scheffler - Commented that the new snowplow and new mower have both come in. April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review as well as her final tax collection report and a status report on the CDBG grant funds. A letter had been received from Jay Franklin at County Assessment concerning changes that the State is making to the STAR program. A letter had been received from Country Acres Pet Services stating that Ag & Markets want their contract with us to state clearly that they retain the $150.00 adoption fee and it is not turned over to the Town. So, they have asked to have an amendment added to the contract. RESOLUTION #16-036 - AMEND 2016 DOG CONTROL AND SHELTER AGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Smith RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following amendment to the 2016 Dog Control and Shelter Agreement: This amendment is being made by Country Acres Pet Services, LLC and the Town of Groton which are both parties to the original Dog Control and Shelter Agreement dated January 1, 2016. The agreement will be amended as follows: Section 6(f) All of the adoption fees collected by Country Acres will be retained by Country Acres and will not be submitted to the Town. These fees collected will be used to aid the adoptability of the dog seized from the said Town including but not limited to spay/neuter, micro chipping, and vaccinating. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Clerk Scheffler - Robin and I will be at conference from the 17th through the 20th. Robin, I'm happy to tell you, has applied for and will be receiving her Registered Municipal Clerk Certification. This is an honor that the State Clerks Association bestows upon clerks based on a combination of experience and education. Joanne Costely, from the Town of Nanticoke, has been a clerk for 51 years and is retiring next month. She has also been the historian for the State Clerks Association for many, many years. I have been given the opportunity to fill her position as the historian and am excited to do that. It will be fun. Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John J. Norman and A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Councilperson Kelly Smith as Representative to Joint Youth Program - Spring youth programs have started. Youth track is going to be grades 4, 5, and 6 and will be held one day a week, on Wednesday. Jeff Cronk is going to be couching. There's a GBA sponsored spring community event coming up on May 12 - 14 and they will have a carnival. We're still having an issue getting lifeguards to sign up. We need 13 to 14 and we only have 3 so far. We are trying to get high school aged lifeguards because if you Town Board Minutes Page 3 April 12, 2016 get college age they go back to school early and that means we have to close the pool early. If you know anyone who might be interested we talked about possibly setting up training locally to off -set the cost to participants. SUNY Cortland did the recreations needs assessment and they got 300 students to respond. Now they are going to reach out to parents with a similar survey. We will be having an annual youth sports meeting in the fall where we get all the coaches and committee members together to talk about finance, how to handle the money, that sort of thing. We had our annual committee meeting and I have been voted chair of the Recreation Committee and Scott Weeks is the vice chair. Glenn Morey, County Legislator - It's great that you are not only leaders in your community but are also leaders in the associations that you are associated with. It's a great pride for the whole Town of Groton. The State budget is finished now and there are a couple things that affect the Town as well as our local area. First being the CHIPS funds. They have maintained the same rate as they had before, but the specific impacts aren't out yet. Funding to assist communities impacted by power plant closings is going to happen in Lansing and I represent a little part of Lansing. It's going to represent a 20% loss of tax base if they do close. Community college aid went up $100 for a full time student, however local areas had requested $285, but at least it's up. County budget time starts April 26th. Groton City Bridge and road are on schedule to be completed this summer. Privilege of the Floor: Jamie Babcock, Fire Chief - Wanted to fill the Board in on what was happening at the Fire Department. They have recently taken in 2 new members which increased the number to 9 new people taken in during the last 2 months. There are also 2 more coming in. There will be a chicken barbeque and open house at the fire station on the 23rd for everyone in the community. It's a recruitment day, a thing that every fire department throughout the State tries to participate in. Total fire calls this year are 58, and total ambulance calls are 182. There have been some really serious calls lately. In January, when the commitment was made to get more people on board, there were 19 calls taken by other agencies; in February there were 11; in March there were 2; and only 1 so far in April. So, getting more people is paying off. Barry Goodrich, from the Town of Caroline - He is a former board member and is involved with everything to do with water in the Town of Caroline and a member of Water Recourses Council at the County level. He was there to talk to the Board about having a water assessment done by the USGS. He brought some publications for the Board and talked about the value of doing a water assessment. He had a copy of budgeted costs and explained that the County, NYS DEC, and USGS would pay a portion making the Town's cost to be estimated at $63,334 spread out over 4 years. He also said that there were FLLOWPA funds, (Finger Lakes Lake Ontario Watershed Preservation Alliance) available and could probably get $5,000 and $10,000 per year taken off of the Town's share. He is pushing for this project at this time because the funding stream from USGS is going to dry up and Groton should take advantage of it now while the funding is still available. He also pointed out that during a study, they will drill 2 wells. At the end of the study, if they are on Town land, they will be turned over to the Town and if they are on private land, they will be turned over to the landowner. The Board said that they would think about it and get back to Mr. Goodrich. Town Board Minutes Page 4 April 12, 2016 RESOLUTION #16-037 - POPPY TIME IN THE TOWN OF GROTON MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool WHEREAS, the Carrington -Fuller American Legion Post #800 Auxiliary works unselfishly throughout the Town of Groton, and WHEREAS, the American Legion Auxiliary annually sponsors the traditional offering of the "POPPIES" to the Groton area, and WHEREAS, by offering these "POPPIES" the Auxiliary helps to benefit the needs of the disabled American Veterans by providing workshops and therapy for them through the Veteran's Hospitals, NOW THEREFORE, I, Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor of the Town of Groton, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM, the month of May 2016 to be "POPPY TIME" in the Town of Groton and respectfully encourage all members of the Groton Community to generously support the Legion Auxiliary during "POPPY TIME". Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #16-038 - APPROVE 2016 CEMETERY RECORDS AGREEMENT MOVED by Councilperson Smith, seconded by Councilperson Jackson RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the 2016 Groton Rural Cemetery Records Deposit Agreement for storage of cemetery records in the Town Clerk's vault and authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign said agreement. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #16-039 - PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Smith RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the payment of expenses for Planning Board Members, Lisa Maloney -Hahn and Leon Brockway, to attend the New York State Planning Federation Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY, April 17 - 19, 2016. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Clerk Scheffler - Told the Board that she and the Deputy Clerk, Robin Cargian, had been reviewing the dog law and would like to see it updated to clear up some confusion and inconsistencies, add some things that should be there, and take out some things that do not really pertain to our local law. Discussion took place on the changes they would like to make. They Board made some of their own suggestions. Attorney Monty said that she saw no legal problems with making the changes. After the discussion, Clerk Scheffler, said that she would prepare final copies of the proposed law and get them to the Board in time for a Public Hearing next month. Town Board Minutes Page S April 12, 2016 RESOLUTION #16-040 - SET PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #1 FOR THE YEAR 2016 LICENSING, IDENTIFICATION & CONTROL OF DOGS IN THE TOWN OF GROTON MOVED by Councilperson Clark, seconded by Councilperson Kelly RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a Public Hearing on Propose Local Law #1 for the Year 2016 entitled the Licensing, Identification & Control of Dogs in the Town of Groton for Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 8:OOpm, during their Regular Monthly Meeting. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Announcements: ➢ Planning Board Meeting - April 21St at 7:30 pm ➢ Zoning Board of Appeals - April 27th at 7:00 pm ➢ Local Assessment Review Day - May 12th from 3pm - 6pm at the Town Hall ➢ Primary Day - Tuesday, April 19th from Noon - 9pm ➢ Open House and Barbeque at the Groton Fire Hall - April 23rd ➢ National Day of Prayer - May 5th There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Smith, at 8:15 pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Groton Town Clerk