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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-09 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2007 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 Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town Absent: Richard B. Gamel, Councilman Also present: Dewey Dawson, Gary Coats, Elizabeth Brennan, Richard C. Case, Jr., Rosemarie Tucker, Sam Rose, Mike Seelman, Darlene Swain, Charles Swain, Cheryl Rose, James Rose, Crystal Young, April Scheffler. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the October 4, 2007 Special Meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the September 11, 2007 Regular Meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 289-324 of the General Fund in the amount of$22,015.73 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 147-167 of the Highway Fund in the amount of$35,895.94 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. There were no Special Grant(HUD)Fund claims. Town Board Minutes Page 2 October9, 2007 Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. Supervisor Morey moved to enter into Executive Session on a personnel matter, seconded by Councilman Clark, at 7:35 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey Councilman Sovocool moved to return to Regular Session, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 7:40 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey Supervisor Morey requested that the record show that nothing was decided upon during Executive Session. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk - Submitted monthly reports for the Boards review and request a transfer of funds. RESOLUTION#07-069- 2007 BUDGET TRANSFER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED,that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2007 Budget Transfer: General Fund- Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4 .$175.00 To: Attorney, Miscellaneous A1420.41 175.00 Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - This has probably been the busiest spurt since I have been here with building permits coming in and certificates of occupancy issued. Life Safety Inspections for the year are all done except for one that had to be rescheduled. We've had quite a bit of complaint work this month, mostly used cars, but we're dealing with those. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - At the present time the Highway Department's shop is busy with repairs and starting the transition from summer highway maintenance to winter highway maintenance. Drainage work continues on Bird Cemetery Road. All cross-over culverts are in place. Ditching and brush cutting remain to be done. Highway right-of-way mowing continues as crops are taken off farmers' fields. Shoulders are now in place on the Old Stage Road paving project and on the surface treating projects on Lick and Elm Streets. Cortlandville has our thanks for letting us use their equipment and personnel. The new sand bodies approved at the last meeting have been received and preparations are taking place for mounting on trucks. At this time, I would like to request a Board resolution to put out to bid for the purchase of one shoulder machine. I have enough information now to write the specifications for a machine that will utilize our loader as a push unit and meet the needs of our Highway Department. Town Board Minutes Page 3 October9, 2007 RESOLUTION#07-070 -PERMISSION TO PUT OUT TO BID FOR SHOULDER MACHINE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves that the Highway Superintendent, Richard Case,begin the process of putting out to bid for one shoulder machine. Councilman Clark complimented Mr. Case and his crew for a good job done on the Old Stage Road project. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly report for the Board's review. I gave you a copy of a memo from Greg Potter, Tompkins County Information Technology Services, to the Tompkins County Council of Government Members concerning the 2010 Census and a project to establish a countywide address system. I had a call from Greg Potter the other day asking if I was interested in participating. The Census part of the plan would be to have all the municipalities send their address information to the County and then the County would report to the Census Bureau. Since I have already signed up to participate in the Census update and signed all the required forms, it is really too late to decide to now participate the way the County is suggesting. There is probably some way to change it, but I think I would rather supply our own information. The countywide address system data base does sound like a good idea. I attended a Tompkins County Town Clerks Association meeting today with Aurora Valenti, the County Clerk. Someone in County Administration has received a grant to do a feasibility study on building a County records center. In some ways it is a good idea, but I would have a difficult time turning over our records to the County. What I am concerned most about is whether or not we would be required to turn our records over. Since we will no longer be using the SPCA for dog control, I feel that it is imperative that we let the public know who our Dog Control Officer will be and supply them with information and phone numbers. I will be placing ads, making posters, and create a flyer to hand out to people who come into the office. The most cost effective way that I can think of to reach the most people, would be to insert an enclosure in the tax bills that will go out January 1. However, anyone inserting anything into a tax bill is guilty of a misdemeanor unless the Town Board passes a resolution to insert a notice relative to town fees or charges or passes a local law pertaining to inserting something that is public information of a worthwhile nature. I would like to ask that the Town Board consider passing such a law so that we could make this insert. Barbara Lifton will be here for a Town Hall meeting on Thursday from 7-9. I have one application for the vacancy on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town - Had researched the subject of Town leasing Town owned land for gas exploration and said that it could be done subject to permissive referendum. Town Board Minutes Page 4 October9, 2007 A. D. Dawson, Town Justice - Town Justice monthly and quarterly reports were submitted for the Board's review. April, Rosemarie and I attended a training session on archiving records and things like that. Peg came back from her conference saying that there was a lot of good information there this year. One thing that she did find out, which may impact us next year, is that the State is definitely taking over the cost of the credit card program for the courts. They are hoping to be online with that by the first of the year. Originally it was just for paying fines for vehicle and traffic tickets but now we can take it for all fines and surcharges. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator - Groton Recreation is currently planning a kids Halloween party for the end of October. We have plans in the works for a 2-day Winterfest this year and are planning some activities around Town instead of just at the Elementary School. Our summer programs all went very well. We got the reports on them and we had a good turnout. Supervisor Morey - Next is action on the 2008 Tentative Budget. It is the same tax rate as it was last year. RESOLUTION #07-071 -APPROVE 2008 TENTATIVE BUDGET MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the 2008 Tentative Budget as presented with no changes being made, thereby the Tentative Budget becomes the 2008 Preliminary Budget. RESOLUTION#07-072 - SET PUBLIC HEARING ON 2008 PRELIMINARY BUDGET MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a Public Hearing on the 2008 Preliminary Budget for Tuesday, October 30, 2007, at 7:00 PM at the Town Hall on Conger Boulevard. RESOLUTION #07-073 - SET PUBLIC HEARING ON 2008 FIRE & AMBLULANCE BUDGET MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a Public Hearing on the 2008 Groton Fire and Ambulance Budget for Tuesday, October 30, 2007, immediately following the hearing on the 2008 Preliminary Budget. Town Board Minutes Page 5 October9, 2007 RESOLUTION#07-074 - TOWN HISTORIAN TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Town Historian, Rosemarie Tucker, to attend 2007 Historians Conference, October 22-24, 2007, in Hunter,NY. Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian - Presented copies of the Destination Groton brochures that were prepared by the Municipal Historians of Tompkins County and the Office of the Tompkins County Historian and funded by a grant from the Strategic Tourism Board of Tompkins County. The brochure highlights historic sites within the Town and Village of Groton as well as annual events, lodging, shops, recreation, cemeteries, and historical markers. The text for this brochure was written by Ms. Tucker and the photographs were by Deputy Town Historian and Town Justice A. D. Dawson. The Groton brochure will be available in many of the local business and in the Town Hall. Ms. Tucker also presented everyone with copies of the brochures that were created for each of the other towns in Tompkins County. Samuel C. Rose, Application for Nonprofit Cemetery - Application for Site Plan Review/Special Permit had been presented to the Planning Board for a nonprofit cemetery. They had reviewed the application and held a public hearing upon it. The application was then forwarded to the Town Board for their review as required by NY State Cemetery Law. Sam Rose, the applicant, was there to talk to the Board about the proposed cemetery. He said that the foremost concern of the Planning Board had been what would happen to the cemetery if the corporation went broke. He presented the Board with an investment plan that had been devised to ensure that there would be money to care for the cemetery in the future. Mr. Rose also presented letters of support from neighboring landowners. He explained that once he got approval from the Town, he would still have to get approval from the Supreme Court. Councilman Clark explained that he manages the Groton Rural Cemetery and that it keeps solvent by selling graves. Even though it is still selling graves, they have been experiencing financial difficulties for several years. Councilman Clark wondered if this cemetery might create competition for the Groton Rural Cemetery. Councilman Scheffler was still concerned about the possibility that the Town might eventually have to take over the cemetery if the lots didn't sell or if the investments failed. He did not feel that this was a guarantee. Mr. Rose said that he had done a lot of research and had followed all the steps to make sure that the cemetery corporation was created according to the what was required in the law and financed properly. There was some further discussion on the subject and the Board came to a decision. Town Board Minutes Page 6 October9, 2007 RESOLUTION#07- 075 -APPROVE REQUEST BY SAMUEL ROSE TO ESTABLISH A CEMETERY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, a Preliminary Site Plan Review Application was submitted to the Town of Groton Planning Board on July 30, 2007 by Samuel C. Rose of 82 Chipman Corners Road to establish a not-for-profit cemetery, and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton Planning Board reviewed said application at their meeting on August 16, 2007, and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton Planning Board held a Public Hearing on said application on September 26, 2007 where several members of the public spoke in favor of said cemetery, and WHEREAS, following the Public Hearing, the Town of Groton Planning Board approved the Preliminary Site Plan and accepted the Final Site Plan as complete. They then forwarded said applications and all accompanying information to the Town of Groton Town Board for their review, and WHEREAS, Samuel C. Rose has provided a plan to create a fund which would pay the expense of caring for the cemetery in the future and therefore ensure that the cemetery did not revert to the care of the Town of Groton, and WHEREAS, many members of the public have expressed support of the creation of the cemetery and no one has spoken against it, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT REOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton hereby approves the request to establish the cemetery. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board- October 18 ➢ ZBA - October 15 ➢ Request from Paul McCarty concerning his intent to apply for a $55,000 HUD Loan from the Town to expand his business. ➢ GBA/Rotary Meeting - October 25 - Elm Tree Inn ➢ Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton- October 11, 7-9 PM - Town Hall There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:19 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk