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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-03-13 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2007 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town Absent: Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Richard B. Gamel, Councilman Also present: Dewey Dawson, Gary Coats, Elizabeth Brennan, Richard C. Case, Jr., Rosemarie Tucker, Patrick Castrenze (?) Matt Cooper, April Scheffler, several other people. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the minutes of the February 13, 2007 meeting as presented. Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 63-103 of the General Fund in the amount of $26,184.37 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 16-33 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $27,997.79 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 64-65 of the Special Grant (HUD) Fund in the amount of $1,954.12 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Town Board Minutes Page 2 March 13, 2007 Privilege of the Floor: No wished to speak. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk - Stated that she had no report this month because she is at a point where she is catching up. The annual report has been filed with the State Comptroller. Gary L. Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer — Reported only two building permits for the month. He said that he learned at the school he attended that the State will be providing the new building code books. It was thought at one time that code enforcement officers were going to have to inspect farming operations but that is not going to happen. Mr. Coats reported that he and the Clerk and Deputy Clerk had been working at up dating and fine tuning many of the forms that the Zoning Office uses on a daily basis as well as putting more information online for the public to download. Councilman Clark said that he had checked the timeline for Mr. Muka and felt that it was time for him to be back to work at restoring his house. Mr. Coats replied that he had taken some time off for cold weather but that it is time to resume work and he has been in calling Mr. Muka weekly concerning this. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent— This month I have been in contact with Bill Sczesny and tonight, I believe tonight Glenn is going to present you with the municipal agreement with regards to the Spring Street Bridge. Bill has assured me that they are ready to keep moving forward and they would like to get the project done as much as we would. The other thing is I would like to request to purchase a 15' aluminum dump body on NYS OGS bid. This is going to go on truck that has recently been purchased. It's a product of Viking Cives (USA). The money was encumbered for this. RESOLUTION #07-023—PURCHASE DUMP BODY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the purchase of one fifteen foot aluminum dump body complete with installation from Viking Cives (USA) on New York State Office of General Services bid PC#J60904107 for the amount of$29,276.80. RESOLUTION#07-024—APPROVE SPRING STREET BRIDGE AGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the Municipal Agreement between the County of Tompkins, Town of Groton and Village of Groton for the repair of the Spring Street Bridge. Cost of the project will be $530,000 with the County paying 80%, the Village 10% and the Town 10%. Town Board Minutes Page 3 March 13, 2007 RESOLUTION#07-025—AUTHORITY TO SIGN AGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Scheffler, Clark,Morey RESOLVED,that the Town Board hereby authorizes Supervisor Morey to sign the Spring Street Bridge Agreement between the County, Town& Village. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector— Submitted her monthly reports for the Board's review and asked for authorization to attend the Regional Town Clerks Meeting as well as several seminars presented by the State Archives. RESOLUTION#07-026—CLERK& DEPUTY CLERK TO ATTEND REGIONAL TOWN CLERKS MEETING MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Town Clerk and the Deputy Clerk to attend the New York State Town Clerks Association Regional Meeting to be held in Syracuse on March 19, 2007. RESOLUTION#07-027—CLERK& HISTORIAN TO ATTEND STATE ARCHIVES SEMINARS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Town Clerk and the Town Historian to attend various New York State Archives Seminars scheduled during May and June. Victoria Monty,Attorney for the Town—Had nothing to report. A. D. Dawson, Town Justice — Presented monthly report for himself and Judge Norman. They had changed the report from one page to three pages and Judge Dawson explained what each page was and explained that it gave them more information and a better overview of how many cases they were handling in a month. Consensus of the Board was that they liked the new format and felt that it was very informative. Judge Dawson told the Board that they would be receiving invitations to the Tompkins County Magistrates Dinner that will be held May 4 at the Holiday Inn in Ithaca. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator — 2007 is shaping up to be a good year for Groton Recreation. Our Annual Winterfest went well, although with a slightly lower Town Board Minutes Page 4 March 13, 2007 attendance than last year. We have already discussed ways to make it more exciting, fun and appealing to all age groups next year. We received a $700 festival grant from Tompkins County for this year's event and have applied for a $900 grant for 2008. Viola has been busy with Youth Baseball, helping reorganize and setting up coaching workshops, as well as creating a code of conduct for players, coaches and fans. Youth Baseball is seeking team sponsors. If you are interested see Jen McCarty at the bank. There will be an adult photo workshop starting March 14, taught by Joanne Morrison. The class is filled, so we may run it again. Marc Perosio and Scott Weeks are starting an after school track and field program for 4th — 6th grade, which will run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through the end of school. The High School will be performing "Cinderella, a Musical" this year, March 29-31. Groton Recreation will again be sponsoring transportation from Center Village Court to the School and back, in cooperation with the bus garage, administration and drivers. Groton Recreation received$1,400 grant from Groton Community Council for our programs. Crystal Young has resigned from the committee as of March 10. I would like to publicly thank her for the countless hours of work she has volunteered to get the program going. She has been with us from the beginning and we wouldn't be where we are without her. Terry Young (no relation) has shown an interest in the Groton Recreation and I believe she will be an asset to our community. Therefore, I request that Glenn appoint her as Town Member at Large and that the Board approve. RESOLUTION #07-028—ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF CRYSTAL YOUNG MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board regretfully accepts the resignation of Crystal Young from the Groton Recreation Committee. Supervisor Morey thanked Ms. Young for her dedication to the youth and the whole community and stated that her enthusiasm and bright smile made it a real pleasure to set on committees with her. RESOLUTION #07-029—APPOINT TERRY YOUNG TO RECREATION COMMITTEE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby appoints Terry Young as Town Representative at Large to the Groton Recreation Committee. Town Board Minutes Page 5 March 13, 2007 Gary Coats wished to discuss a possible new local law with the Board. In 1986 the Town passed a local law establishing the Code Enforcement Office and authorizing the Code Enforcement Officer to enforce the New York State Uniform Fire Protection and Building Code. Although the name has never changed, New York State adopted the International Building Code in 2003. This is the building code that we use today, however the State is now updating and adding some new things, such as Operating Permits and more intensive record keeping and reporting requirements. Revisions should be completed by this fall and the State will be providing updated books to the towns. At a recent convention Mr. Coats learned that the State would like towns to update their local laws concerning their Code Enforcement Offices. He had a sample local law to present to the Board, which he and the Town Clerk had spent quite a bit of time reviewing and tailoring to fit the Town of Groton. Although many of the things in the law are things that a already done every day, this new local law would clearly spell out the duties of the Code Enforcement Officer as they pertain to present day State law and mandates. Supervisor Morey and the Board had some questions and there was some further discussion on the subject. One of the things that the Board would have to consider is whether or not they want to establish a fee for Operating Permits. There was also some discussion on how many times a building permit could be renewed and it was thought that this section could be edited to be more specific to our Code Enforcement Officer's policies. Supervisor Morey asked about the section that refers to the unsafe building law and it was suggested that perhaps this would also be a good time to review it and also update it if needed. New reporting requirements will be in place by the first of next year. Mr. Coats and Clerk Scheffler have already been working at updating many of the forms that are used and will continue to do this so that they will meet the State requirements. After further discussion, it was decided to let the attorney look it over as well as Board Members and discuss it again next month. Passage of the law is not needed before the end of the year, so there is ample time for review. RESOLUTION#07-030—APPOINT LOCAL ADVISORY BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby appoints the following people to the 2007 Local Advisory Board of Assessment Review: John Miller, Fran Sovocool, Jean Morey, Dennis Butts RESOLUTION#07-031 —SET DATE FOR LOCAL BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW MEETING MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Clark,Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets May 9, 2007 from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Town Hall on Conger Boulevard. Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian —Presented her 2006 yearly report to the Board. She said that she will be retiring in October from her fulltime job and will then be able to spend much more time working as Town Historian. Town Board Minutes Page 6 March 13, 2007 RESOLUTION#07-032—HISTORIAN TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Clark,Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Town Historian to attend the Association of Public Historians of New York State 2007 Spring Conference to be held April 29, 2007—May 1, 2007 in Utica,New York. RESOLUTION #07-033 —DESIGNATE FAIR HOUSING MONTH MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Scheffler, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, in accordance with the Title VIII Fair Housing Policy of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and, WHEREAS, the Month of April 2007 has been designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office as Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity as Fair Housing Month, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,that the Town Board of the Town of Groton hereby declares and proclaims April as Fair Housing Month in the Town of Groton. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board Meeting,March 15 at 7:30 pm ➢ Groton Business Association Meeting,March 14 at the Elm Tree Inn ➢ Agricultural Day, March 29 at 1:30 pm at the Town Hall There being no further business, Councilman Scheffler moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Clark, at 8:28 pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler,RMC Town Clerk