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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-10-13TOWN OF GROTON — MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13 , 2015 AT 7:30 PM PUBLIC HEARING ON FY2016 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AT 8:00 PM FOLLOWED BY PUBLIC HEARING ON FY2016 GROTON FIRE & AMBULANCE BUDGETS THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilperson Kelly Smith, Councilperson Richard B. Gamel, Councilperson Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town Also present: Ed Neuhauser, Randy Jackson, Julie Graham, Joe Graham, Charles Rankin, April Scheffler. MOVED by Councilperson Sovocool, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the minutes of the, September 8, 2015 Town Board Meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the minutes of the, September 1, 2015 Joint Meeting between the Town Board, Village Board and Fire Department as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler. MOVED by Councilperson, seconded by Councilperson, to approve the minutes of the September 29, 2015 Special Meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Clark, Scheffler. Abstain - Gamel Vouchers for the General Fund in the amount of $19,798.28 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the Highway Fund in the amount of $58,874.74 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilperson, seconded by Councilperson, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Fund in the amount of $32,607.06 were presented for audit. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel to approve the CDBG Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Town Board Minutes Page 2 October 13, 2015 Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. He had filed the tax cap paperwork and everything is okay with that. Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Was not present. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - Was not present but had requested the following resolution from the Board. RESOLUTION #15-067 - DEPOSIT PROCEEDS FROM AUCTION IN HIGHWAY MACHINERY ACCOUNT MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Clark RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby directs the Bookkeeper to deposit the money earned from the sale of excess highway machinery at the recent municipal auction in Lansing in the DA5130.2, Machinery - Equipment Account. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Notice had been received from NYS Agriculture and Markets that Country Acres Pet Services had satisfactorily passed their Dog Control Officer Inspection and Municipal Shelter Inspection. The dog census is moving along nicely. Of 2071 notices mailed out, 1029 have been returned, which is about 50%. There have been 97 new licenses issued so far. Comparing numbers to when a survey was done when the last comprehensive plan was done, 2490 surveys were mailed out and only 497 responses were received for about a 20% return. Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John Norman & A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present and had not submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Councilperson Kelly Smith as Representative to Joint Youth Program -Winter program registration is starting up. Cross Country is in full swing with 10 - 12 runners. Jeff Cronk is heading up that program. We are in the process of selecting a date for the Cabin Fever Festival, which will probably be in February or March. The school is going to stop performing background checks for the youth coaches so we are going to have to start paying for that and will be using a company called Protect Youth Sports at the cost of about $8.00 per background check. We hope to have someone come to our next meeting to help provide guidelines for our youth sports as far as reporting their finances because we are going to do another audit at the end of this year. Jen Jones is working on a sponsorship agreement and it will include a logo to go with that. We are looking at a grant to purchase a AED (Automated External Defibrillator) to have at the pool. Terry Young resigned from the committee, so we are going to need a new representative from the Town. Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. Town Board Minutes Page 3 October 13, 2015 RESOLUTION #15-068 - ADVERTISE FOR CANDIDATES TO FILL VACANCY ON PLANNING BOARD MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Kelly WHEREAS, John Morey has resigned his position on the Town of Groton Planning Board, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby directs the Town Clerk to place an ad in the Dryden Shopper announcing the vacancy and seeking interested applicants. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Patrick Jordon, from Ciaschi, Dietershagen, Little, Mickelson & Company, LLP - Was present to speak to the Board on the completed FY 2014 Financial Audit. Mr. Jordon explained the cover letter and the audit process. He went over the sections of the audit report and pointed out highlights to the Board. There were no concerns that stood out to the auditors. The Justice Court audit was also satisfactory. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board meeting - October 15 at 7:30 pm - has been canceled ➢ Zoning Board of Appeals - October 28 at 7:00 pm ➢ Letter from Senator Seward about a Senior Scam Forum to be held on October 22 at the Southworth Library in Dryden ➢ Notice from Public Service Commission concerning electric rate making hearings. ➢ NYS Association of Towns Annual Conference and Meeting - February 14-17, 2016 ➢ Notice from Town of Dryden concerning a public hearing on a zoning change ➢ Next Town Board meeting - November 10 at 7:30 pm MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, second by Councilperson Smith, to open the Public Hearing of the FY 2016 at 8:00 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler PUBLIC HEARING ON FISCAL YEAR 2016 PRELIMINARY BUDGET The Town Clerk read the public notice which was duly printed in the Town's legal paper, the Groton Independent on October 7, 2015. No written comments had been received from the public. Supervisor Scheffler - We worked hard at this. Our tax rate is 5.774822 per thousand, down from 5.994964 last year. We are under the tax cap, which was 2% or the rate of inflation and we are under the rate of inflation so we are good there. Our budget includes a reserve fund for the highway roof and continued funding for current services. We made some line item adjustments up and down to better reflect expenditures. If anyone has any comments or questions, this is your time to speak. No one wished to speak. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool to close the Public Hearing at 8:05 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Town Board Minutes Page 4 October 13, 2015 RESOLUTION #15-069 - ADOPTION OF 2016 BUDGET MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilperson Smith RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby adopts the 2016 Preliminary Budget as the Final Budget for Fiscal Year 2016. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool, to open the Public Hearing on the FY 2016 Fire and Ambulance budgets at 8:06 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler PUBLIC HEARING ON FISCAL YEAR 2016 GROTON FIRE DEPARTMENT & AMBULANCE BUDGETS Supervisor Scheffler asked if anyone would like to comment. Joe Graham - I guess my comment is on increasing the ambulance contract $20,000.00, and as I understand it there is no provision to start charging for ambulance service. Is that correct? Supervisor Scheffler - Yes, we've had discussion with the Fire Department and Ambulance. They can't charge the way they are set up. Joe Graham - Why can Dryden charge and they can't? Supervisor Scheffler - Dryden is set up as a municipal ambulance, Chuck what's the term? Chuck Rankin - Dryden has it separated from the Fire Department. Our Fire Department, the way they're set up right now, they can't do it. I'm not saying that couldn't be done... Joe Graham - Well, my thing is why not do that? Insurance will pay for me to go in the ambulance. Insurance isn't going to pay my taxes. Supervisor Scheffler - They don't want to do that at the Fire Department. Joe Graham - But they want to take 20,000 more from the Town. Supervisor Scheffler - Yes, and we have talked to them and they plan on hiring more people with that money. They're going to hire another EMT and hopefully we're going to get a lot better coverage. Joe Graham - At what cost? Supervisor Scheffler - $20,000.00. Joe Graham - Right now. Supervisor Scheffler - Right now. Joe Graham - I don't see an end to it, Don. Supervisor Scheffler - Personally, I agree with you. Councilperson Gamel - This was partially brought up by me because I've had a few incidents with my mom, where insurance didn't cover Dryden, wouldn't cover it coming over. So, I was all about getting the Fire Department and figuring out what's going on with our coverage. We had had meeting, after meeting, after meeting a year ago and it was under my assumption that it was all taken care of, that we did have the coverage, and recently that turned out not to be true. So, we met again. You're right, they do not want to separate the Groton Ambulance and Fire Department. Town Board Minutes Page S October 13, 2015 Joe Graham - Maybe it's time, rather than come to the Town for more and more money. You said it yourself, there is a limited pool. Councilperson Gamel - And there is, and we went over all of that, and this is their recommendation for now. Supervisor Scheffler - Since we started talking to them they have hired a couple of people. They have a problem keeping people along with every other fire department and ambulance. They tend to, with what you can pay, they tend to look at it and say if we take two more classes we can be a registered nurse or physicians assistant and they go. Joe Graham - Until they start billing, I don't think the taxpayers can keep footing this bill. Supervisor Scheffler - We can't continue this. We understand that. We're working with them but in the meantime we can't just leave people beside the road. Joe Graham - Well, maybe you could contract with somebody else. Councilperson Gamel - We discussed that too and there's no real place to contract with. We're kind of between a rock and a hard place because we're in the corner of Tompkins County, so we've got Bang's Ambulance, who isn't going to station anybody here, so it would be a 45 -minute, at least, timeline to get somebody here. It's already a half an hour or longer to get Dryden here if we don't have a crew on. Joe Graham - I understand that. All I'm saying is as long as they dig their heels in and won't bill anybody, I think they're barking up the wrong tree coming to the Town. I'll leave you with that. Supervisor Scheffler - We will keep after it. Ed Neuhauser - So, Rick, are you saying that if the Dryden ambulance comes they don't get paid by the insurance company? Councilperson Gamel - Depends on the situation, but not always. Ed Neuhauser - Two years ago, when I had cancer, and Groton was not able to come to me in the middle of the night when I was bleeding like crazy, Dryden came, and my insurance paid they $600.00. Supervisor Scheffler - It depends on the insurance. Councilperson Gamel - My mother's had two bills that haven't been paid. Ed Neuhauser - I'm just saying that they will pay depending on their insurance. Supervisor Scheffler - It's something we're going to continue to look at and continue to work with the Fire and Ambulance on, but in the meantime, we thought this was the best move at the moment. But personally I agree that eventually it's going to have to start charging. There being no further comments, motion was made by Supervisor Scheffler to close the Public Hearing, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, at 8:12 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler RESOLUTION #15-070- APPROVAL OF 2016 GROTON FIRE & AMBULANCE BUDGETS MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilperson Clark RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the Fiscal Year 2016 Budgets for the Groton Fire and Ambulance Service. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 6 October 13, 2015 MOVED by Councilperson Smith to enter into Executive Session to discuss the employment history of a certain individual, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, at 8:14 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler to return to Regular Session, seconded by Councilperson Sovocool, at 8:44 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Smith, Gamel, Clark, Scheffler Supervisor Scheffler - Let the record show that the Executive Session was for informational purposes only concerning the employment history of a certain individual. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Smith, at pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Groton Town Clerk