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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-04-17 c � APR 2 51997 TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD MEETING Thursday, 17 April 1997 Board Members (*absent) Others Present George Totman , Chairman Charlotte Rankin Monica Carey Sheldon Clark *Jeff Lewis Verl Rankin Cecil 'I\vigg George VanSlyke The meeting was called to order at 89.05 p.m. by Chairman Totman. G. Totman: We have a quorum and we'll now call the meeting to order. The agenda said we would approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Our lady clerk didn't get them back to us in time. J. FYtch: They are here, but not reproduced. G. Totman0 So we will go ahead and postpone the approval of the March minutes until the May meeting. And, I don't have anything else for the meeting. So, does anybody have anything that they'd like to talk about that they think is important? M. Carey: I do. G. Totman: Monica Carey, M. Carey: That's me all right . G. Totman: Are you going to remain on the Planning Board? M. Carey: Well, if the Board wants me to stay on, I guess I will. But that's the Board's decision. G. Totman: Well, maybe for the minutes sake, we should poll the people. M. Carey: Yes, that would probably be good. I plan on staying on until they kick me off. G. Totman: George? G. Van Slyke: I'm with her. G. Totman: Verl? V. Rankin: I'll stay until they find a replacement for me . G. Totman: Sheldon? S. Clark: I'm willing to serve, but I just can only do so much. When you work a full day, or whatever, some days you just can't make a meeting. If I can't, it's hard to get a letter coming to you saying that you got to make a decision if you're going to be to the meetings on time, and so I'll do the best I can. Otherwise, I'll have to get a replacement. G. Totman: Cecil (who just arrived) , we're polling the members to see if they still want to stay on the Planning Board , M. Carey: Read your letter first. 1 e � Groton Town Planning Board Meeting 17 April 1997 C. Rankin: Did you send your letter in? M. Carey: Obviously not. He got a letter. C. Twim Second notice. We need to know if you're still interested in fulfilling your present term in your appointed office . Your term expires December. . . .we must hear from you no later than April 24th as to whether you still intend to serve in your present capacity . Action will be taken at the May 13th Town Board meeting. What's this all about? G. Totman: Well, what it's about is that there's a Local Law saying that you've got to attend so many meetings year to stay on a Planning Board, and you must attend at least one outside educational session pertaining to the position that you hold — once a year. What I thought they were going to be doing was sending a letter out to the members who, by their attendance record, didn't show they had the proper attendance , and to the ones who they weren't sure had attended a school or not, and ask them if they had attended the proper amount of schooling, and this is your attendance, and what are your intentions about staying on the Board because of the Local Law. But all the letter says is do you want to stay on the Board. C. Twigg: Well, we wouldn't have signed the thing the other night if we weren't going to stay on the Board, would we? M. Carey. The Oath of Office? C* Tw1 g: The Oath of Office . G. Totman: Well, that's why I'm asking the question now, so that it will be a matter of record. C. Rankin: Let him explain what they did to him . Ce TWI g: So you're all done , huh? G. Totman: So what Monica and I did with this one we got tonight is just signed it. I mean they appointed me in January for seven years; I assumed they wanted me to stay on the Board. I just assumed since they appointed me they thought I was going to fulfill my duties. And I plan to. Anybody got anything else they want to bring up? M. Carey: Yes. I still want to bring up something. G. Totman: Monica Carey, M. Carey: Okay. Seeing how we have to have this training, this County board that I'm on , we're planning on doing the training late summer/ early fall and we're talking now about having it at TC3. so there's our training session. And actually we're having a public meeting next month -- the second Tuesday -- the 13th of May -- on groundwater. Now that may be something interesting for some of you Board people to go to and that would be considered training. Our regular meetings start at 7:30, so I imagine this will be 7 :30. They were going to put something in the paper. G. Van Slyke: In the morning? M. Carey. At night. If we do the training seminar this summer or fall, it would probably be like on a Saturday. S. Clark: And that would qualify us? M. Carey: Yes, And I brought it up to our board that our Town is requiring us to have training and I wanted them to look into getting a training program going so that our Board members would get trained and be able to stay on the Board. 2 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting 17 April 1997 G. Van Slyke. The thing that's kind of tough about that whole thing is the fact that one of the training sessions is go to New York. But four or five days in New York -- even though I'm retired -- there's times I couldn't make that trip for four days. Ce TWIW Well, there are several of them. There's one in the fall, right? G. Totman: Sheldon went to the fall one once. M. Carey: That's why I'm pushing for this thing through the County -- between Cortland and Tompkins County. If we could do something, then all board members -- Planning Board and Zoning Board members -- could attend this and they would have their required training if their town requires it . G. Van Slyke: She said it could be local, but what's local you know? C. Twigg: We really should attend some of these . V. Rankin: Yes, there's nothing wrong with that at all . M. Carey: Well, you, Mary and I went over to Watkins Glen a couple of years ago for two different meetings. It was nice over there . G. Van Slyke: That's another thing. When they talk about that attendance thing, okay, let's face it . there may be some nights that you aren't going to be able to make it. There were times in that previous year when we gave them how many extra nights and days and all this time re-doing the zoning, and hardly a thank-you for that. And then the next year, when this thing is all over with , all of a sudden all that time we put in doesn't mean diddly. What it means is, well, you didn't fulfill your obligation or you weren't there for certain meetings during this year. I know the law. G. Totman: For each year, it has to be that way. G. Van Slyke: I understand that. Okay, what is the number that they're looking for for attendance? I didn't see that listed . S. Clark: In one of my letters it was in. G. Totman: I think you can't miss three in a row -- G. Van Slyke: Yes, three in a row. But did they go back and check that attendance record to see i f the ones you missed were three in a row? M. Carey: My brother told me they had the attendance record in front of them at one of their meetings, and that they saw which meetings which people attended. I think it was a monthly record . G. Totman: Well, that's how you get paid , you know. You're paid $25 a meeting and if some of you didn't get the full $300, you know you didn't attend the meetings. G. Van Slyke: But what if they didn't have a meeting that month? G. Totman: You didn't get paid. G. Van Slyke: So how can they count that as attendance? G. Totman: How many months didn't we have a meeting? Co Tw1 g: One -- December, right? G. Van Slyke: So we only had eleven meetings we could possibly go to. C. TWI g: But that isn't counted as a missed meeting. 3 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting 17 April 1997 G. Totman: No . G. Van Slyke: Okay. What's the regulations on -- do you call in like , when I was doing my job, if I wasn't going to be there that day I called in and said well, I'm sick, or I had to have a reason for not being there, I suppose. And if they're going to treat this as a job , then you should be able to call into the -- and get excused, I would think. G. Totman: George, I really don't think that's what it's all about. I 'm not sure what your attendance record is for the year, because I don't have a record of it. But I think what it's all about is when you have a board, any board, and you have trouble getting quorums, and there's people sitting here waiting for people to come in to make a quorum, it's just isn't good business to do it that way. In the training sessions, the State saw a problem and it was in July of 1993 that the State passed a law saying that the towns should respond to it and require that planning boards, or any appointed boards - - we don't get too many here in Groton where it requires a lot of knowledge about what the rules and regulations are about major subdivisions, or roads, or SEAR laws, where you have to go into full impact statements and things like that, but one of the main reasons behind having people go to these schools or seminars is to know what some of the rules and regulations are. You could make decisions that could get the Town in trouble . A decision of a planning board , if it's a wrong decision and not according to the rules and regulations set forth in the articles of the State legislature, the Town could get sued by our actions. M. Carey. Just look at Homer and that feed mill situation . All the boards are being sued over there . G. Totman: And so I can see the reasoning behind that. I don't think it's being picayune on attendance, because I don't think, except for Sheldon maybe as I recall it, and Jeff — other than that I don't think we have a real problem with the attendance . M. Carey: Have we ever seen Jeff at a meeting in the last year and a half? Let's be truthful . G. Totman: The Town Board has the attendance record; they know what it is. It should be directed toward that person, not to Monica, or me, or you if you've got a good attendance record. I don't quite agree to the way that was done, but there is a need for it. Because some nights we've had meetings here where we've had people setting here and -- V. Rankin: I thought Lyle brought out a good thing the other night. If somebody wants to get away with something and they've got a good sharp lawyer, and if we haven't been attending the meeting or at least attending some of the meetings, why he can throw it out. G. Totman: Or if you don't do it according to the way it's supposed to be done. That's right . That's why that part of it is -- Ce TWI g: What's the matter? Didn't anyone send their letter back in? S. Clark: I did. Ce TWI g: I was going to do it and didn't do it. So where do you sign it? V. Rankin: This is unusual not having anything to do. We always have something . G. Totman: Well, I tried to manufacture something for tonight, but there just wasn't anything there . So I said we'll have a meeting anyway and see if we can't get this situation resolved, and see all you nice people, and look at your faces, and all that. V. Rankin: I think the Town Board probably had to do something. G. Totman: It's a law that they passed three years ago, and the Town Board doesn't enforce the law that they passed, then there's no sense having the law on the record. And they passed a law saying the Planning Board members and the Zoning Board of Appeals members had to attend so many 4 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting 17 April 1997 meetings and attend so many seminars. And it was brought to their attention that there are some Board members that might not have had the attendance record or the schooling, so it was their legal obligation to notify us. But the letter that came out said do you still want to be on the Board. You can say yes, and have zero attendance, but what does that mean? So if we all sign it and say yes and send it back, then it's up to the Board to decide what they want to do about it. Ce Tvigg: I thought it was just such poor judgment. I mean if someone is not doing what they are supposed to do, they should be reprimanded or they should be talked to -- not reprimanded; I shouldn't say that. We're not getting paid very heavy for what we're doing -- M. Carey: Well, it's a community service . Ce TWI g: It's a community service — but it just doesn't seem right. I attend seminars and I attend most of the meetings -- G. Totman: But you don't bring popcorn anymore -- C. Twiggy I don't bring popcorn anymore, but I just don't understand that. M. Carey: I just don't think it's fair for those Board members who do attend all the meetings, that there's some that aren't, or one that doesn't attend any meeting, and I just don't think it's fair to the rest of the Board. When it comes down to when they do come to a meeting, once in a blue moon , then they have no idea what we're talking about, and I feel that's not fair to the rest of us Board members. V. Rankin: I feel that you have to have some common sense on the Board, regardless of the meetings, and I'm the common sense . M. Carey: We'll make no comment on that one . G. Totman: Has anybody else got anything else to bring up? It will be a short meeting. V. Rankin: I move we adjourn. M. Carey: I'll second that. G. Totman: All in favor? (All indicated they were in favor. ) It's 8 : 30. The meeting ended at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 9oan . Fitch Recording Secretary 5