HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-14 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2006 AT 7:30 PM
PUBLIC HEARING - MCLEAN PARKING ORDINANCE
PUBLIC HEARING - PROPOSED LOCAL #1 OF 2006 - SIDEWALKS
THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD
Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor
Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman
Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman
Richard B. Gamel, Councilman
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman
Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town
Also present: Gary Coats, Elizabeth Brennan, Richard C. Case, Jr., Rosemarie Tucker,
Joe Graham, David Fox, Denise Fox, Tim Munson, Philip & Sandra
Munson, Mike Albern, Doug Albern, April Scheffler.
MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes
of the October 17, 2006 meeting as presented.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Claim Numbers 340-372 of the General Fund in the amount of$16,618.37 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.
Claim Numbers 176-194 of the Highway Fund in the amount of$31,455.24 were presented for
audit.
MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the Highway
Bills for payment.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Town Board Minutes Page 2 November 14, 2006
Claim Numbers 42-46 of the Special Grant (HUD) Fund in the amount of $35,737.10 were
presented for audit.
MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the HUD bills
for payment.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Privileged of the Floor: No one wished to speak.
Monthly Reports:
Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk — Presented her monthly report for the
Board's review.
Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer—Brown Road property has been cleaned up and
several people are interested in buying in it.
The Lick Street property has been mowed and trees trimmed out. Asbestos has been removed
and a letter has been received from Department of Labor saying that it has been removed and
there is no longer an asbestos issue as far as this property is concerned.
Mr. Coats will be catching up on Fire Inspections this month.
Councilman Sovocool asked about the old house on Peru Road,just outside the Village that has
a lot of junk around it. Mr. Coats said that it would look into it.
Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent — At the present time the Highway
Department is making the transition from summer highway projects to winter highway
maintenance. The trucks are well on their way to being changed over. The PM program is on
schedule. Salt and sand has been stockpiled and mixed. The excavator crew is still addressing
crossover pipes failures and drainage problems. I hope to finish the crossover pipes before the
blacktop plants close.
As of last Friday the new plow truck is finished at Viking in Harrisville and is being shipped to
Stadium International in Syracuse for the final prep work. It's possible we could take delivery as
soon as next week.
Last Monday I attended a meeting with John Lampman and Jim Shurtleff in regards to the Spring
Street Bridge. John has shown some plans that show some different alternatives, all of which
will reduce the cost that he brought to you last time he was here. John was going to explore the
different variations and get back to us on prices in a realistic timeline and we hope to be able to
do that next month.
We have finished with the gravel bank. I'd like to thank everybody for their support, Joe, the
other fellas, and you folks.
Town Board Minutes Page 3 November 14, 2006
RESOLUTION #06-095—2007 DRUG & ALCOHOL TESTING PROGRAM
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby adopts the 2007 Policy for the Tompkins County
Drug and Alcohol Testing Consortium in compliance with the US Department of Transportation
& Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations 49 CFR Part 40 and 382.
April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector — Submitted her monthly report for the Board's
review.
Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator—Halloween party went great even
though it poured all day. We had a lot of kids turn out and had a lot of fun. The Haunted House
at the Hardware Store, Dale Lane put it on and the Crouches provided the place for it. He has
donated$467.00 to Groton Recreation from the proceeds and the same amount to the Olde Home
Days Committee. We thank him for that. For this year's Winterfest, that we're just starting to
plan, we're talking about having a build your own toboggan contest out of recycled materials. It
will be open to businesses, individuals, families, whoever wants to build something out of junk
in the back yard.
Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian — All the towns in the county, the Town Historians are
each doing a brochure for their towns and it would be driving to a certain spot and getting out
and walking around and seeing historical sights or scenic views or whatever we can offer.
They're asking each town to contribute $200.00 for this and we have a grant to take care of the
rest. We have a graphic designer to do the brochure with us and the map that goes with it. All
the historical markers will be listed, all the restaurants in town and bed and breakfasts. We're
going to locate the cemeteries so when people come to look up their families they will know
where the cemetery is. I think we're having 1500 printed and then they would be distributed to
different places in the town where people could pick them up or they could be sent in the mail to
someone who was going to visit. Once we're done with this, the Town will own the rights to the
reprinting.
RESOLUTION#06-096—CONTRIBUTE TO HISTORIANS
DRIVING & WALKING TOUR BROCHURE
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves a contribution of$200.00 to the Tompkins
County Historians Driving& Walking Tour Brochure.
RESOLUTION#06-097-TAKE 10% OF SALES TAX REVENUES
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler.
Town Board Minutes Page 4 November 14, 2006
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey.
WHEREAS, the Town of Groton receives a County Sales Tax Credit from Tompkins County on
an annual basis; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Groton believes that a portion of said sales tax
credit could be used by the Town to pay for operational expenses; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton take a cash payment of ten percent (10%) of its Sales
Tax Credit from Tompkins County for the year 2007.
Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town — Presented the Board with copies of a letter from
NYS DEC as well as copies of the Mine Termination Notice and final reclamation approval
releasing the Town from reclamation obligation.
Announcements:
➢ Planning Board Meeting,November 16, 7:00 PM
➢ GBA-Rotary Joint Meeting,November 16, 6:00 PM at the Elm Tree Inn
➢ Letter received from NYS DOT rejecting lower speed limit request for Pleasant Valley
Road
➢ Zoning Code Review Committee, December 7, 7:30 PM
➢ McLean Community Council, January 10, 7:30 PM at the McLean Fire Hall
➢ Letter from PERMA concerning certificate of achievement earned by Town of Groton
PUBLIC HEARING ON MCLEAN PARKING ORDINANCE
Supervisor Morey opened the Public Hearing at 8:00 PM and the Clerk read the public notice as
it appeared in the Groton Independent, the Town's official newspaper. A letter had been
received from the Tompkins County Planning Department stating that they determined no
negative impact on the community or County.
Joe Graham—Asked if the no parking would affect the Fire Department parking located behind
the curb.
Supervisor Morey said that it would not affect this.
There being no further comments, Supervisor Morey moved to close the Public Hearing,
seconded by Councilman Sovocool, at 8:07 PM.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
PUBLIC HEARING ON LOCAL LAW#1 OF THE YEAR 2006
Town Board Minutes Page 5 November 14, 2006
Supervisor Morey opened the Public Hearing at 8:07 PM and the Clerk read the public notice as
it appeared in the Groton Independent, the Town's official newspaper. A letter had been
received from the Tompkins County Planning Department stating that they determined no
negative impact on the community or County.
David Fox—My wife and I are not in favor of the sidewalk. Going up McLean Road, there are
four houses on our side of the street; we own two of them. Actually, with all the conversations
I've had with Mr. Lampman, he wasn't even totally sure that there was going to be a sidewalk up
through there. I made quite a few attempts at the beginning of the project.....we heard that there
was a possibility of a sidewalk up through there. After quite a few attempts to get a hold of Mr.
Lampman about this, because there were some X's on trees out front, we found out there is going
to be a sidewalk up through on both our parcels because one of the neighbors up above wanted a
sidewalk and there never was one up through there. This is all the questions that I brought up to
Mr. Lampman and the reasons why I didn't want a sidewalk. As far as the snow removal, I'm
an owner/operator of a small business; I usually leave my house at 6:30-7:00 in the morning and
return home at 8:00 at night; and that's six days a week. So, I expressed all my concerns to him
about that and also the liabilities and who they would fall upon and I didn't get one straight
answer from Mr. Lampman. He had no answers whatsoever. He did say that he was talking to
the Town Board about this and it wasn't definite that there was going to be a sidewalk up
through there. Then we found out, basically, when the grade stakes were getting driven in the
front of our yard, that there is going to be sidewalks and they own 33 feet of it. So, that was our
biggest concern, how we're going to take care of this. I had some conversations with Joe
Graham, in fact if it wasn't for Joe, I'm not so sure we would have even heard about this because
I don't read the Shopper every week. So, thanks to Joe for getting this to us. The Town kind of
threw him right in a bee's nest at times. I guess one of my biggest question is, the way this is
written, it's just leaving the homeowners wide open to all kinds of liability, especially with the
10 o'clock deadline. Who's to say it's even snowing when I get up in the morning; I go to work;
one of my neighbors comes down the streets; he looks out and Dave Fox hasn't shoveled his
driveway; calls up the Town. The way I read it, I'm going to come home and have an
appearance ticket on my front door. I might even get a bill in the mail for snow removal. Other
than hiring somebody myself, I'm not sure how,unless maybe I get up another hour earlier in the
morning and hour at night to satisfy everything that's in here. If this is for the benefit of the
community and all of the public, maybe the whole Hamlet of McLean should hire somebody for
snow removal and have the equipment to do so.
Supervisor Morey—I was at a couple of meetings when they presented the roads and things like
that. During the Public Hearing they decided on sidewalks; they decided on curbing; they
decided what the hamlet square was going to be. At one time they wanted to take Lafayette
Road into Stevens Road; they wanted a round-about that you all said no to. It was under my
impression that the sidewalks were voted upon by the majority of the people in McLean.
Mr. Fox, along with several other people in the audience, say no, not true.
Mr. Fox—I'm not exaggerating. It was six phone calls. My neighbor, Harold Reese, lives right
beside me. I'll bet you Harold asked me 100 times, and he went to both of those meetings, and it
was not for sure that we were going to get a sidewalk on McLean-Cortland Road. It was vague.
Now, the project was well into the stages of being started when I called Mr. Lampman and he
said at that time it was not definite that there was going to be a sidewalk up there. He says it's
not for sure. He says I assumed that everybody wanted a sidewalk up there. I said, John, I spoke
to you and I told you that I really didn't see a need for it with four houses up through there. I'm
Town Board Minutes Page 6 November 14, 2006
not even sure who would use it other than the one person who wanted it. I brought up every one
of these issues with Mr. Lampman and did not get a straight answer who's going to be liable,
who's going to clean them. Say I don't clean them for one day and somebody gets hurt, you're
leaving everybody wide open to liability. In fact, my wife and I had quite a few conversations
and I said, if there's going to be a sidewalk up through there, I'm sure we're going to get a letter
in the mail telling us what's going to happen with our property. So, we're in the process of
rebuilding a house next door that burnt and we found X's on the trees over there. That's when
we went over to the engineer's office and just asked him what was going on. He said, the
County didn't contact you? Those trees are coming down. There's going to be a sidewalk there.
Then we got into a discussion on reasons why and drainage problems, that we still have now and
are trying to get straightened out with the engineer, because of the sidewalk being raised so high.
It basically, traps water. It's so close to that building across from the Elm Tree that there's no
place for the water to go. More or less what the engineer told me is that the County owns 33 feet
from the center of the road. They also own about 20 feet into that structure. So, I guess that was
the excuse that they were just going to do what they want.
Councilman Gamel asked for clarification of where Mr. Fox lived and it was explained that it
was directly across the street from the Elm Tree in on McLean-Cortland Road. There was not
formerly a sidewalk in this area.
Mr. Fox — That was the other comment I got from Mr. Lampman, was well, the existing
sidewalks that were in the Hamlet, no one has really ever taken care of them. In fact, the Fire
Department has kind of put snow on them, he said. That was his whole conversion on it.
Supervisor Morey— To be perfectly honest, David, I was under the impression that you wanted
the sidewalks. That's why they invested all the expense to do that. Just to have one person at the
end of the street
Mr. Fox — And Mr. Reese, I've had conversations with him and he didn't know if he wanted a
sidewalk. He didn't really oppose it, sometimes he would and other times . So, when the
construction started and the sidewalks went in it developed all kinds of other water and drainage
problems. The sidewalk is actually higher than the foundation of the house that we're trying to
repair. After numerous phone calls to try to get John Lampman to call me back because I had
concerns about the water, I asked him to meet me over there and if he had seen how high they
were and the problem I was having. I asked him to go over and look at them and get with the
engineer and please contact me back with any suggestions on how to repair this problem and
never heard anything back from him. So, I stopped over and talked to the engineer a couple of
times and they just tried to appease me and said how about we just throw some four inch
drainage tile around the corner of the building and it just shoots the water off down the side of
the driveway and we cover it up with dirt. It's very frustrating.
Supervisor Morey—I would be frustrated too.
Mr. Fox—And then we received this from Joe and I'm just wondering how we're going to deal
with this now.
Supervisor Morey—Well, we have an issue too in that we can't take on the liability. And what
we did, we thought that everybody wanted it and now it appears that only one person wanted
these, really?
Town Board Minutes Page 7 November 14, 2006
Joe Graham — If you go back to those hearings, all those proposals you talked about were
presented and comments were heard on everything. But once everything was decided and the
final plans drawn up, I don't believe there was a public meeting to show what the final plan was.
I mean, we were given options and everybody said what they didn't want and I think they took it
from there as to what was wanted.
Supervisor Morey—I know Doug Albern's driveway hasn't been fixed yet either.
Doug Albern — They're working on some of it. I took a trip to downtown Ithaca to get that
done.
Supervisor Morey—I was at a meeting Friday and talked to John Lampman about that too.
Mr. Albern—I had to go two steps over his head for that and I'm actually losing one driveway.
Supervisor Morey — Any other comments? We've got an existing situation, David, and we
can't afford the liability either. It was under our impression that everybody worked together in
the meetings and they got exactly what they wanted to. The only problem I heard about was the
Albern's driveway; the curbing was wrong. We addressed it; Doug addressed it; I addressed it at
a meeting last Friday. But from day one, that's the only thing I've heard of until right now. I
thought that everybody wanted that there. But since the issue that we have before us is that we
can't accept the liability either because we were under the impression that you wanted it.
Councilman Gamel — Vicki, liability wise, what are their obligations? If this is a 10 o'clock
thing what's going to happen?
Attorney Monty — Well, if they fail to do that and someone gets hurt that's for their
homeowner's insurance. It's going to be an unfortunate issue for the Town certainly, whether
you want to stick hard and fast to that rule or understand that can get a storm that no one
expected at noon.
Joe Graham — I wanted to address some things David didn't that have come to my attention in
talking to people. There's an old 1936 agreement with McLean Central School that if the Town
and County put that sidewalk in from the School to the Fire Station that the School would
maintain it. I wonder, is this going to supercede that agreement that hasn't been kept since about
1978, that I know of. There is an existing agreement. Are you repealing that? The other thing is
that there is an existing sidewalk on Gulf Hill Road that goes from the corner to just shy of
Randolf Well and Pump. That was not addressed in this project but I can tell you right now that
it is in disrepair. Are you going to make those property owners bring that up to the standards of
the sidewalks just put in? The way this reads you're going to make these people replace that
whole sidewalk and I don't think any of them really want to do that.
Supervisor Morey—I didn't know there was a sidewalk there.
Mr. Graham—I don't think the County knew that. Those are just a couple of things that I don't
think were considered with this.
Sandra Munson — I have several concerns about this. I feel that there hasn't really been an
attempt to notify the people of McLean about this snow removal. I accidentally found out about
it and I'm missing my favorite show tonight to come over here and voice my discontent with it. I
Town Board Minutes Page 8 November 14, 2006
feel that you can't really subject us to some type of a fine or something this year. Many of us on
the street where you are considering all of this are senior citizens, many of us spend the winter in
Florida. Half of the street is now in Florida, hasn't even been notified about this, doesn't even
know about this. This is not a fair thing, that you can just say all right, we're going to do this
without any previous notification. So, this is one of my biggest concerns. All of the people who
I've talked to, Reeses were in Florida, Paul Munson is in Florida and there are other couples on
the street where this is concerned and they don't really even know about it. So, is there going to
be a way for these people to have a chance to address this issue? If they're not here, they can't
address it, if they don't know about it. I would think it would be unfair to start this. Is there
going to be a period of leniency on this? That's one issue that I'm very concerned about.
Another issue, I don't know if you're aware, we have quite a problem where we live with
snowmobiles going up through. They go up through night and day and throw beer bottles
around. They pack the snow down so much that there's not going to be any way to clear that
short of with a bucket. You can't shovel it and you're not going to snow blow it. We do have
banks in our driveway and we have a terrible time getting out. Also, when they did the sidewalk,
this is my interpretation, from the bridge to my first driveway, there is no more sidewalk. Am I
responsible for that bill?
Supervisor Morey—There is no sidewalk there?
Mrs. Munson—They stopped it right at the end of my driveway so there is a period where there
is no sidewalk until they redo the bridge, whenever that will be. And as everybody else has said,
we don't seem to talk much with Mr. Lampman. He's not available. So, yes, we have several
concerns. Can there be a law against these snowmobiles riding on the sidewalks? This is a clear
and present problem in McLean right now.
Supervisor Morey — There can be a law for snowmobiles in the Hamlet. But I'm not sure
whether it's state highway or that we can regulate that but I will check on it for you. About the
timing, it's being turned over and they will be ending the project pretty soon. That's why the
timing for the sidewalks and we had to establish that right away. As Joe says there's a couple of
laws here that we do have to abide by. If there is an agreement between the school system, we'll
make sure that's taken care of. As far as the other section, I don't know what we can do on that.
Tim Munson — One other thing that I have a problem with is most of the snow that ends up on
the sidewalk on School Street, we don't have a lot of snow storage area .....?.... two or three feet
...when they plow the roads most of the snow off the roads end up on the sidewalk. How can we
be responsible for that? It doesn't seem fair that you take the snow off the road and put it on the
sidewalk and then we have to....there isn't any room for it. There's a stone wall four feet high
and the sidewalk is right tight to that. There's no place to shovel the snow. The other thing is
that, and I'm not a lawyer, but how can our homeowner's policy cover a public, I mean you put
that sidewalk in there for the public, seems like the County or Town or whoever that put that
sidewalk there is responsible for the public transportation on it. How can we be responsible?
Supervisor Morey—I couldn't tell you that.
Councilman Gamel—It's typical in a village, I believe, that the homeowner is responsible.
Mr. Munson — It may be typical but it doesn't make sense. If you let strangers across your
lawn, you're responsible. If it's private property and you're saying we're responsible for it, then
Town Board Minutes Page 9 November 14, 2006
it's private property and you're letting public transportation, strangers going up and down your
property, how can we be responsible for that?
Councilman Gamel — I live out in the country. I have some acreage that I have snowmobiles
on. My land is posted and I know that if a snowmobile comes on my property, on posted
property, I'm still liable for it. I know. I looked into it because it drives me nuts as well. I'm
liable. I have to carry a policy on my land, which is posted telling people not to come on, but if
they come on I'm still responsible. Doesn't make sense to me either.
Mr. Munson—But you're capable of fencing that or keeping them out somehow, right? I can't
keep these people off the sidewalks.
Councilman Gamel—I can't keep people off my property either.
Mr. Munson — You could if you tried but I can't. You wouldn't like it if I put a fence up the
sidewalk to keep people off it would you? We're talking about the same thing. It doesn't make
sense that the homeowner's responsible for public transportation. We're not responsible for
those cars going up and down the road. You'd have to be lawyer to figure it out, the real laws
here.
Attorney Monty — That's the thing, a local law that embodies that you are now responsible for
it. That's the proposed this local law.
Mr. Munson—You're saying that anyone can come across my property?
Councilman Sovocool—Your sidewalk, not your property.
Mr. Munson—Why are we responsible for it if it's not our property?
Supervisor Morey — Well, if you had requested the sidewalks to be put there then you would
have to take the responsibility.
Mr. Munson—Who wanted it there?
Supervisor Morey—Well, at some point in time somebody requested that sidewalk to be there.
Denise Fox — During the construction progress, when they were fixing the driveways, the
construction company actually broke a piece of the brand new sidewalk and they threw the
pieces of concrete over on to our lawn. It looks like they took a saws-all of some sort and made
it a straight edge and then they filled it with blacktop. It's a chunk. Now, the gentleman that
they're talking about that's going to use this sidewalk is 90 years old. This is not right now
level. The brand new sidewalk is not level because they filled it with blacktop. What is the
obligation to the homeowner if something gets broke? Right now, it's not in perfect condition.
What's going to be perfect condition and what is going to be our responsibility for fixing it?
Supervisor Morey—It's going to be your responsibility to fix it.
Ms. Fox—With blacktop?
Supervisor Morey—With concrete.
Town Board Minutes Page 10 November 14, 2006
Ms. Fox—No, they didn't fill it with concrete.
Supervisor Morey — Well, then you'd have to replace it with what is existing. I haven't been
over to look at the sidewalks.
Ms. Fox— So, is the construction company responsible to come back and fix that sidewalk?
Board indicates that they think so.
Ms. Fox— So, who do we have to contact? So we need to contact the County to come over and
inspect the sidewalks?
Supervisor Morey—Basically, they're going to have to sign off The County is going to have to
sign off on this job. (Someone asked if John Lampman will take care of it.) Obviously he's not
going to but you really should get hold of somebody at the County and say, look, we have
problems over here and you cannot sign off on this job. Doug, who did you talk to?
Doug Albern—I started with Tyke.
Supervisor Morey — There's a perfect example. You could talk to Tyke Randall; he's your
County Representative.
Mr. Albern mentioned someone else that he spoke with but was not using the microphone.
There being no further comment Supervisor Morey moved to close the Public Hearing, seconded
by Councilman Clark, at 8:37 PM.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLUTION #06-098—McLEAN PARKING ORDINANCE
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED,that the Town Board hereby passes the following ordinance:
AN ORDINANCE REGULATING PARKING ON HIGHWAYS
IN THE HAMLET OF McLEAN, TOWN OF GROTON,
Town Board Minutes Page 11 November 14, 2006
COUNTY OF TOMPKINS, STATE OF NEW YORK
For the purpose of enhancing vehicular and pedestrian safety and to facilitate the removal
of snow and ice with regard to highways within the Hamlet of McLean, Town of Groton, County
of Tompkins and State of New York, the Town Board of the Town of Groton does ordain as
follows:
Section 1: Definitions: The words and phrases used in this Ordinance shall for the
purpose of this Ordinance have the meanings respectively given to them by Article I of the
Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York.
Section 2: Prohibited Parking: The parking of vehicles is hereby prohibited on either
side of Stevens Road, also known as County Road 104, for a distance of 170 feet northerly from
the intersection of Stevens Road (a/k/a County Road 104) and a public highway known as
"School Street."
Section 3: Penalties: The owner of any vehicle parked in violation of this Ordinance
shall be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine of not more than $50.00 for a first offense and a
fine of not more than $100.00 for any second or subsequent offense.
Section 4: Prior Ordinances: This Ordinance shall amend and supercede the Parking
Ordinance adopted by the Town of Groton on February 15, 1971 relative to the parking of
vehicles on certain streets in the Hamlet of McLean. However, this Ordinance shall not amend
or repeal the Parking Ordinance adopted by the Town of Groton on March 12, 2002.
Section 5: Effective Date: This Ordinance shall take effect after its adoption and
upon its publication as required by the Town Law.
RESOLUTION#06-099—TABLE DECISION ON LOCAL LAW#1
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED,that the Town Board tables its decision on Local Law#1 for the Year 2006 until it
receives further information and some of the questions that have been raised are answered.
Councilman Scheffler—I have a question. Is there any way that we can abandon the sidewalks
in the Town of Groton? We abandon highways; people go at their own risk; or close them
during the winter. There's highways that are closed. Could we close the sidewalks?
Attorney Monty—When you abandon a highway it has to do with the use. I'll look into it.
Councilman Scheffler— It just came into my mind that we have highways that are closed from
December 1St to April something; seasonal. We could have seasonal sidewalks and then people
would be walking on them at their own risk.
Town Board Minutes Page 12 November 14, 2006
Councilman Gamel — We obviously have a situation here where people are unhappy with
something that just happened. Just out of curiosity, were any of you at those original meetings
about the sidewalks and did you explain to them your dissatisfaction with the idea?
Someone said that they were at a meeting. There was some discussion but no one was using the
microphone. Most indicated there the sidewalk issue was not addressed fully.
There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by
Councilman Scheffler, at 8:40 PM. Unanimous.
April L. Scheffler, RMC
Town Clerk