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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-10 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING PUBLIC HEARING OF TOWN OF GROTON LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT CODE OF 2011 TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2011 AT 7:30 PM 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 Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town Also present: Ricky Jarrell, Robin Cargian, Robert Eckert, Cheryl Lamoreaux, May Crockford, Kaitlin Younes, several other members of the public who either did not sign in or signatures were illegible, Gary Coats, Richard C. Case, Jr., April Scheffler. PUBLIC HEARING LOCAL LAW #1 FOR THE YEAR 2011 TOWN OF GROTON LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT CODE OF 2011 Supervisor Morey moved to open the Public Hearing, seconded by Councilman Gamel, at 7:30 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey The Town Clerk read the Legal Notice as it was duly published in the Town's legal paper, the Groton Independent, on April 27, 2011 and additionally in the Freeville Shopper on April 26 and May 3, 2011 . No written comments had been received by the Town Clerk either by letter or email. After an opening statement, Supervisor Morey opened the floor to public comment. No one from the public wished to speak. He then asked the Board if they had any further comments, to which they all answered "none." Attorney Casullo - I think at this point, if there are no public comments, that we just need to do a resolution, which I will have ready for next month's meeting, that we're going contrary to what County Planning wants. You will need a supermajority plus one and a formal, written, specific resolution as to the Board's reasons why they are deviating from County Planning. Supervisor Morey moved to close the Public Hearing, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, at 7:35 pm. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Town Board Minutes Page 2 May 10, 2011 Claim Numbers 123-158 of the General Fund in the amount of $47,229.43 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 63-81 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $72,127.75 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the April 12, 2011 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the minutes of the April 12, 2011 public hearing on the SEQR for the Town of Groton Land Use and Development Code and public hearing on the Huber Junk Yard application as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk - Was not present but had presented monthly reports for the Board's review. Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - You have the report and I'll go over a few things on that in a minute. Last Sunday, Mr. Beck had a house fire. I don't know if you're aware of that. I was called to the scene and didn't feel comfortable doing that because of certain litigation. I called Fran the next morning and he said, no. We finally got a person to go over there and do the required inspection. When it's a sole source of heat, and this was a wood stove chimney fire, it has to be done within 24 hours and we were there right under the gun in about 23 hours. So, that was good. I drove by Mr. Hall's property today; the ongoing thing with the two homes and the trailer that he promised to remove. Nothing's been done. Again, Fran is handling that. A couple months ago, when I was in Mexico, Mr. Hutchings came in and talked about a property that his neighbor across the street, he thought he was turning it into a house. I went out there, talked with Mr. Cornell, issued him a stop work order, and haven't heard anything since. I believe he's stopped construction. There is no sign of construction anymore. I reminded him that this is only going to be a garage. It is not a house and in order to be a house he'd have to go through probably a variance or a Town Board Minutes Page 3 May 10, 2011 subdivision. He is aware of that and I haven't heard anything more since Mr. Hutchings came that night. I talked to him just before I went to Mexico and handled it the first thing when I got back. The annual inspections for the year, I have started. Robin has been scheduling them. We've been going out and doing the life safety inspections. This is the light year. Remember a couple years ago you wondered why there were so few? Well, last year was the heavy year and this is the light year. We should have them done by the end of summer. I do have one last request. I've been here seven years now and other than being reappointed every year, I am requesting a job evaluation by the Town Board. However you would like to do it, I would like to do it at any point in time, whatever is convenient for you guys. I would like to have that meeting, a job performance review. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - Many things have taken place in the Highway Department since my last attendance. The Town of Groton Highway Department continues to be partner in the Tompkins County Drug & Alcohol Consortium. The Town of Groton 2011 Road Inventory has been filled with NYS DOT. We are recorded to have 53.45 center-line miles of Town roadway. The Snow and Ice Contract has been signed and filed with the Tompkins County Highway Department for a term to expire September 30, 2013. We are now under contract to maintain 39.69 center-line miles of County roadway in the winter season. The Town's payment for the 2010 season was raised to $190,256.00. I would request that increase be placed in the DA5148.4 account. The NYS CHIPS Program for capital highway improvements for the Town of Groton has been installed in the State budget. The Town's portion stands at $100,231.38 for 2011 . This is a small increase over 2010. I would like to request this be added to the 2011 DB51 12.2 account. All Town roads and intersections have been power broomed twice since the last snow. Shoulder repair from snowplowing has taken place and is near completion. Pothole patching is taking place daily as well as Town sign repairs. The shop is busy with repairs and changing equipment over to summer maintenance. Our building maintenance person, Stanley Woolever, has resigned and moved to the Las Vega area. Stan was with us 6 plus years and I would like to wish him our best. Stan has been replaced by Kathy Foster and she is currently getting a feel for the job. Kathy has shown to be very energetic and dependable. I would like a Board resolution for Kathy Foster to replace Stanley Woolever in the building maintenance (cleaner) position. Everybody is happy with her so far. In another personnel matter, I would like to request that part-time employee, Ellard Keister, be promoted to full-time labor for the Highway Department. Ellard has been with the Highway Department as a youth worker and part-time employee since he was 14 and is presently 21 . He has gathered the skills and experience needed to be a good employee for the Town of Groton. I would like to request a resolution that Ellard Keister be hired as full-time status for the Town of Groton Highway Department as a laborer. This sort of coincides with Stanley leaving. Some of the outside work such as shoveling snow, the lawns and that stuff, Kathy doesn't want to take care of. Ellard can fill that bill and do real well. Town Board Minutes Page 4 May 10, 2011 With NYS OGS build-out dates looming for 2011, I would ask permission to purchase, under NYS OGS Contract, a 2011 Chevrolet 3500 Series Heavy Duty 1-ton Patch Truck with a 3-yard dump body for a cost of $33,653.10. This truck will replace the 2001 Dodge 1-ton Dump that, with your permission, will go to auction in Lansing this fall. I see on your agenda, we are due for the Highway Tour. I am open to any date except for Friday before Memorial Day. Secondly, I've talked with Chad, and the Clean-Up Day that we normally have for steel, we'd like to postpone that for a year because scrap steel is being picked up on the side of the road almost, as fast as it's selling now. So, we'd like to give it a year. Last year we didn't have a lot of product so we thought it was worth holding off a year. After some discussion May 17th was chosen for the Annual Highway Tour. Councilman Gamel - Rick, if we have a cleaner that is not doing all the same things that the last person was doing, are we knocking down the hours or the salary? Mr. Case - Hours, should be less hours. Councilman Gamel - What I'm concerned with is that we're basically adding a half- time employee. We had one cleaner and one half-time employee and now we're going to have a cleaner and a full-time employee, is that correct? Mr. Case - Yes. Ellard has been part-time and he's been doing 30 hours a week, so it's adding 10 hours of time per week for him. Councilman Clark- Would it be possible for him to do the cleaning? Councilman Gamel - When you get to full-time status it's a whole different game at that point. Mr. Case - Yes, you're absolutely right. Our workforce is aging. Several guys just a little bit younger than myself, can't do it as quickly and can't do it all the while like they used to. When we get into cutting trees, and Ellard has been a great asset. In our Highway Department, we have a Fire Chief and Ellard is an active fireman. I believe in service to the community and I make those guys available to an emergency whenever it happens. Here we are, we're coming to a part of paying for fire personnel, and these guys are also paid and they are there. That's another star in this young fellow's quadrant. Councilman Gamel - I'm just questioning the financial aspect. Mr. Case - If you want to start pushing numbers, it also does relax some of the overtime hours in the wintertime. I can't spit out how many, but certainly having an extra hand to keep providing the service that we've established through the years, we are running a little later into the evening. We don't go the full-time show, so as we rotate people through our scheduling, it does cut back on some of the time and a half. I am confident that we have it in the point ones to cover it and I also talked to Glenn about this, we have some fellows that will be coming to retirement age. Once retirement age is reached, if we don't feel like replacing that position, this would be the time to say, okay, we're not going to replace that position. Councilman Gamel - That was the next thing I was going to ask, that if we did add another full-time position, then come retirement of the next retiree Mr. Case - It will certainly be a consideration. The County, as you all know, they're funding for their highway department is pretty much down to the point where they are using what New York State is giving them for their CHIPS money. The County Board has cut their funds. I heard reported that they have 18 - 22 personnel that are doing what Town Board Minutes Page 5 May 10, 2011 in the 1970's there were 45 doing. Now, we do, under contract, the snow and ice, but I think you have probably noticed we have been doing some of the shoulder repair of their roads. We're not under contract to fix that, but it's just not getting done. These citizens are Town of Groton people. I don't want to do the County's job without being reimbursed but I think we're all in this together and this takes labor and we are doing it. Councilman Scheffler - It will work out okay with your point one accounts for the rest of the year? Mr. Case - I talked to Liz and the way that we budget for the overtime, particularly with the snow account. You know we had a bad winter this year but we are still within budget and that is something that you should be aware of. Our snow and ice budget, for materials and overtime, we are still within budget, we have not gone over. Yes, we still have a couple months in this year's budget but I feel confident right at this time that we're going to be able to get through without going over. Everything has gone up but we are still on solid ground. So, to answer your question, we are budgeted for it. We've always so far have been budgeted so that if we have a catastrophic snow storm, ice storm or whatever we could still function without going into any contingency funds. RESOLUTION #11-043 - INCREASE DA5148.4 ACCOUNT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, the payment from the Tompkins County Highway Department under Snow and Ice Contract has been raised from $187,523.00 to $190,256.00 be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves increasing the DA5148.4 account to reflect this increase in the contract. RESOLUTION #11-044 - INCREASE DB5112.2 ACCOUNT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, the NYS CHIPS Program for Capital Highway Improvements for the Town of Groton has been increased from $100,218.00 to $100,231.38 be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves increasing the DB51 12.2 account to reflect this increase. RESOLUTION #11-045 - ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF STAN WOOLEVER AND HIRE KATHY FOSTER AS CLEANER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby accepts the resignation of Stanley Woolever and be it further RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the hiring of Kathy Foster as part-time building maintenance cleaner. Town Board Minutes Page 6 May 10, 2011 RESOLUTION #11-046 - PROMOTE ELLARD KEISTER FROM PART-TIME TO FULL-TIME LABORER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Abstain - Sovocool RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the promotion of Ellard Keister from part-time to full-time laborer for the Highway Department. RESOLUTION #11-047 - PURCHASE 2011 CHEVROLET 3500 SERIES TRUCK AND SELL 2001 DODGE TRUCK AT AUCTION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the purchase, under NYS OGS Contract, of a 2011 Chevrolet 3500 Series Heavy Duty 1-ton Patch Truck with a 3-yard dump body for a cost of $33,653.10 and be it further RESOLVED, that permission is granted to take the this truck 2001 Dodge 1-ton Dump Truck to auction in Lansing this fall. RESOLUTION #11-048 - SET HOURLY WAGE FOR KATHY FOSTER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves a wage of $12.53 per hour retroactive to the date she started working for the Town. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly Town Clerk's report and Country Pet Services report. I don't have too much else to report. Robin and I went to convention and learned a lot of good stuff. We are thankful that you continue to budget for that as it is important to continue to learn new things. Next Tuesday I go for a day long seminar on DECALS retraining. Supervisor Morey - Please do look at Lindsay's report as it's all computerized now. Clerk Scheffler - I did want to ask you, while we're going through all this legal stuff, it kind of popped into my head, do you guys want a report on tickets that we issue from or office, dog tickets, things like that? Or do you just want to hear about it when it gets complicated? Councilman Gamel - When it blows up will be soon enough. Supervisor Morey read a letter from the New York State Town Clerks Association announcing that Clerk Scheffler had received her re-certification as Registered Municipal Clerk. The Board congratulated her on this accomplishment. Town Board Minutes Page 7 May 10, 2011 RESOLUTION #11-049 - RATIFY ACTION OF CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN HIRING PAUL GOWER TO INSPECT BECK PROPERTY FOLLOWING FIRE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby ratifies the action of the Code Enforcement Officer, Gary Coats, in hiring Paul Gower to inspect the John Beck property following a fire at his residence at a cost of $46.00. John Norman & A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator- Had nothing to report. Announcements: > Planning Board, May 19 at 7:30 pm ➢ Zoning Board of Appeals, May 25 at 7:00 pm >Assessment Review, tomorrow, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:10 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk