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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-06-12TOWN OF GROTON — MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, JUNE 129 2018 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Richard Gamel, Councilperson Crystal Young, Councilperson Randy N. Jackson, Councilperson Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper Absent: A. D. Dawson, Town Justice, John Norman, Town Justice, Attorney for the Town Also present: David Fuller, Glenn Morey, Mick Neville, Ben Nelson MOVED by Councilperson Jackson, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the minutes of the May 8, 2018 meeting as presented. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers numbered 218 - 256 in the total amount of $350,345.43 were presented to the Board for their review. Vouchers for the General A Fund in the amount of $17,400.97; the Peruville Light District in the amount of $155.81; and the McLean Light District in the amount of 265.62 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Vouchers for the Highway DA Fund in the amount of $6,032.22 and in the Highway DA Fund in the amount of $326,490.81 were presented for audit. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Clark, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler. Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and requested a budget transfer. Town Board Minutes Page 2 June 12, 2018 RESOLUTION #18-035 - 2018 BUDGET TRANSFER MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Clark RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2018 Budget Transfer: General Fund - Town Wide: From: Contingency, A1990.4 ....................... $200.00 To: Buildings, Alarm System, A1620.41 ........ 2,000.00 Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Mr. Fritz spoke to the Board about the building permit application for the McLean fire station and whether or not the Board would want to consider a lesser fee or perhaps waive the fee. After a short discussion the Board decided to revisit it again after the monthly reports. He also explained that we are required to have proof of workers compensation insurance or an exemption as part of a building permit application. The State's updated online program to apply for an exemption is not working and has made it almost impossible for contractors to get this exemption and is creating problems for everyone. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - Heavy duty vehicle inspections are up to date. NYS DOT road inventory has been completed and filed. The PERMA Employee Right to Know training was completed a few months ago. We got an award and this should really go to the employees. I've filed for the NYS OGS Salt Contract for 2019. Haven't gotten the results yet. We had to do some upgrades to the fuel station outback for the DEC. Climate Control has performed the annual PM on the air conditioners and heaters. The NYS Department of Labor was in to inspect our boiler. We work through Harford Boiler Insurance and they are supposed to inspect every two years and file the paperwork. They were negligent in doing that, but they were here today and the paperwork will be going through. We're having some problems with overhead doors and probably should be talking about replacing some of them at budget time. The roof over the courtroom leaked when we had the heavy rain. The fellows cleaned the drains out and pulled out out some ceiling tiles to dry it out. There's a lot of patching up there and we could not see exactly where it was leaking. We've paved 4 1/2 miles of roadway: Brown Road, Cobb Street, and Durfee Road. We had the municipal cooperation of the Town of Cortlandville, Town of Caroline, Village of Groton, Town of Dryden, and the Town of Locke. The project went very smooth and the municipal cooperation was appreciated and works very well. Chuck reported last month that we totaled $182,139.00 for our NYS CHIPS program. With the two programs that go along with that and with the vouchers, Chuck and I can get the paperwork filled out so we can get our payment. Presently the shoulders are being worked on on those roads and we should be done tomorrow if things go good. Roadside mowing is taking place. The Route 222 cemetery was ready for Memorial Day. The Tompkins County Highway Association was host of the Tri -County Highway Superintendents - Tompkins, Cortland and Tioga Counties. We held that at the Rod & Gun Club here in Groton and it was well attended. Summer youth workers have started and they are Kelly Pai, Tom Buckley, and Cade Eldred. I'd like to request a resolution to advertise the 1993 Auto Car cab and chassis with Auctions International and see what kind of money we can get out of it. We used to do this at the Lansing auction but that is no longer available. I have scrap money. (He handed over an envelope to the Bookkeeper.) As we move forward would you be interested in researching the purchase of a tandem snowplow? If we are going to get it by next year this time, I should start the paperwork. This is to replace the truck we are getting rid of. We were short this winter on vehicles. The fellas did a good job keeping stuff band -aided together and the level of service stayed acceptable. With the newer equipment with the electronics we are limited to mechanics in Binghamton or Syracuse. Luke does not have the diagnostic tools to do this. The truck I presented last year, we had worked out a deal with Stadium International to give us the $15,000.00 software as part of the deal. If you want me to, I will negotiate to get that again. Town Board Minutes Page 3 June 12, 2018 Discussion took place on having the annual highway tour and it was decided to have it on Friday, August 10th at 8:3 0 am. RESOLUTION #36 - PERMISSION TO ADVERTISE 1993 AUTO CAR FOR SALE MOVED by Councilperson Clark, seconded by Councilperson Gamel RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby grants permission to the Highway Superintendent to advertise the 1993 Auto Car truck and chassis for sale with Auctions International Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Consensus of the Board was that they would like to have Mr. Case research the purchase of new tandem axle snowplow. April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. She has completed the Census address update and mailed it in. Other than that, it is business as usual. Attorney for the Town - Was not present. John J. Norman and A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Councilperson Crystal Young as Representative to Joint Youth Program - The Joint Recreation Committee met on June 5th. They have a rental form for the new pavilion, which is on-line or at the Village Office. It is only available to non -profits. The event review for summer programs at the Elementary School had a good turnout and they are looking to do that annually. Registration is coming in for all of the summer programs. From the needs assessment they learned that people wanted the trails re- established in Groton. So, they are looking for volunteers to maintain the school trail, the rail trail between the Benn Conger and Walpole Road, and some of the other trails around Groton. We are looking at possibly putting together a subcommittee to organize and maintain the trails. They figure it will take about 20 volunteers a year to do that. The pool is going to open June 22nd but there will be no slide. It is broken and there is an issue with Codes as far as putting up another one because the fence is too close. They are still dealing with some leaking in the kiddy pool and that will have to have a face lift and minor repairs and the long term leak needs to be fixed. They also did some paving behind the craft shack with some picnic tables and umbrellas. Glenn Morey, County Legislator - Said he was glad to be back after being out for 12 weeks and is just starting to attend meetings again and find out everything that's been going on. He has retired from Cornell University effective June 21 St. On McLean -Cortland Road someone went over a bump and broke a wheel bearing or something, so we had to take care of that and that's where all the money went for roads. I contacted Jeff Smith and said we still have Salt Road and Lick Street and Stevens Road. I see they are doing some drainage in McLean so that should be paved soon. He promised me that he'd go look at Salt Road and at least get some repairs on it. Councilperson Gamel - In all seriousness, there's one hole south of Elm Street on Salt Road that if I had hit that with my motorcycle tonight, I wouldn't be here. It's enormous. If they do anything with the road or not, that pothole has got to be filled in at least. Town Board Minutes Page 4 June 12, 2018 Supervisor Scheffler - And the end of Cobb Street that appears abandoned, that needs to be fixed. You could lose a Rascal Scooter in that hole. Last year the County's fix was to paint a yellow strip through the hole but that's worn off. Ben Nelson, Groton Fire & Ambulance - Not much going on at the Fire Department. We've run approximately 450 calls this year. We are gearing up for fireworks on July 6th. It's a Friday night. That following Monday starts our summer camp. Basically we're going to dump water all over Sykes Street. We're looking to land a helicopter in there if we can. After that, there's not much until Olde Home Days. The Board talked again about the fee for the building permit for the McLean Fire District and passed the following resolution. RESOLUTION #18-037 - WAIVE BUILDING PERMIT FEE FOR MCLEAN FIRE DISTRICT MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Clark RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby waives the fee the building permit application submitted by the McLean Fire District for an addition to the current fire house. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #18-038 - COURT CLERK TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Young RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Court Clerk to attend annual training in Potsdam, New York, July 17 and 18, 2018. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Discussion took place concerning a person who had received a CDBG grant from the Town for housing rehabilitation and is not maintaining their homeowners insurance in violation of their agreement with the Town. RESOLUTION #18-039 - REQUEST TOWN ATTORNEY TO SEND LETTER MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Supervisor Scheffler RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby requests the Town Attorney to send a letter to the CDBG grand recipient who has allowed their homeowners insurance to lapse, informing the person that he is in violation of their contract with the Town of Groton and that further legal action may result. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Discussion took place on correspondence received from Tompkins County Recycling wondering if they could establish a food scrap recycling drop spot in the Town of Groton. They would provide signage, handouts, containers, compostable liners, etc., and would come with a mobile trailer once a week to pick up any food scraps from people in Groton. Town Board Minutes Page S June 12, 2018 RESOLUTION #18-040 - PARTICIPATE IN FOOD SCRAP RECYCLING MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Jackson RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves participation in the Tompkins County Recycling and Materials Management's Food Scrap Recycling Drop Spot Program, which would establish a location in the Town Hall parking lot on a temporary, trial basis, through October 1,2018. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Councilperson Young - Gave a report on her and Councilperson Clark's research on LED streetlight conversion. Clerk Scheffler had gotten information from NYSEG on the cost to have them convert the lights to LED with NYSEG retaining ownership. It will take longer for them to come back with a proposal for the Town to buy the streetlights. Councilperson Young reached out to Terry Carroll at Cornell Cooperative Extension, who has been helping other towns. There is a formula that they have put together to determine what a town's best options would be. He said that NYSEG is no longer providing an initial inventory so it's difficult to do the analysis without knowing the different types of lights we have in terms of wattage and types of bulbs and things like that. He also said that he had some interns working for him this summer and they could do a lighting survey at no cost to us. Mr. Carroll said he would like to come to the Board to talk to them more about lighting as well as the Clean Energy Communities Program. He said that he thinks it's a fairly easy task for Groton to join with other municipalities in becoming designated to get a chance at a $5000.00 grant. It was decided to invite Mr. Carroll to next month's meeting. Privilege of the Floor: No on wished to speak. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, to enter into Executive Session to discuss a contract and the employment history and salary of a particular person, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, at 8:30 pm. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Councilperson Clark - Asked Rick Case about the salt shed and if he was thinking about building one. An extended discussion took place on the subject. The Board entered into Executive Session at 8:14 pm. MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, to return to Regular Session, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, at 9:04 pm. Ayes - Gamel, Young, Jackson, Clark, Scheffler Supervisor Scheffler - Let the record show that the Executive Session was for informational purposes only and no decisions were made. There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson Jackson, at 9:06 pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk