Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 1990-08-28 TOWN OF ITHACA SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING August 28 , 1990 At a Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca , Tompkins County , New York , held at the Town Hall , 126 East Seneca Street , Ithaca , New York , on the 28th day of August , 1990 , there were : PRESENT : Shirley Raffensperger , Supervisor John Whitcomb , Councilman Frank Liguori , Councilman Catherine Valentino , Councilwoman Karl Niklas , Councilman ABSENT : David Klein , Councilman Patricia Leary , Councilwoman ALSO PRESENT : Daniel Walker , Town Engineer Linda Nobles , Assistant Budget Officer PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Supervisor led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance . FINANCIAL REPORT RESOLUTION N0 . 217 Motion by Councilman Niklas ; seconded by Councilman Liguori , RESOLVED , that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby approve the July Financial Report , as presented . (Raffensperger , Whitcomb , Liguori , Valentino and Niklas voting Aye . Nays - none ) . APPOINTMENT OF NEW HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT Supervisor Raffensperger noted that the real reason for the Special Meeting today was to consider the appointment of a new Highway Superintendent . She stated that the Town of Ithaca had received eleven applications for Highway Superintendent and a connittee of Councilwoman Valentino , Councilman Liguori , Councilman Whitcomb , herself , Dan Walker , Linda Nobles and John Ozolins , for one of the meetings , interviewed five final candidates . The Interviewing Committee has recommended , unanimously , the appointment of Scott McConnell as Town of Ithaca Highway Superintendent at an annual salary of ;025 , 000 . She asked if any of the Board members wished to discuss the recomnendation . Councilman Whitcomb remarked that actually the Committee had narrowed it down to two superior candidates , one was an in-house candidate and one was applying from the outside . We felt Scott had experience with the Town , his ability to work with the staff and his proven abilities gave him a slight edge over the other candidate . He said there was a concern as Scott was in the military , the Air National Guard , however , he assured us that he Town Board Minutes 2 August 28 , 1990 thinks he will be one of the last to be called if there is a conflict ., Councilman Niklas asked if Scott dealt well with the public ? Town Engineer Walker replied yes , he has been working with the water and. sewer handling a lot of the complaints that come in . Councilman Liguori remarked , we were going to look into the possibility of utilizing the other candidate to replace Scott on a temporary basis , he asked what had happened to this ? Town Engineer Walker replied that he had been evaluating his needs within the Department and the candidate may be quite over qualified for what we want . He stated that Assistant Engineer Erik Whitney had had an opportunity to talk with the candidate , he had not spoken to the candidate but he had talked to Erik about this . He went on to say that the candidate was interviewed a couple of years ago for a temporary position and also Erik had taken him to the Town garage . Erik felt there might be some difficulty working with him or him working day to day on the construction sites and he may be too over qualified for inspections . He thought that he did not want to extend a special invitation to him but he thought they would be advertising for the technical position and if he wishes to apply that there would be no prejudice there . We would make it clear that that would be the position that would be up for consideration . Supervisor Raffensperger remarked that she felt the Committee was very impressed with the second candidate and she thought that if he could be utilized in the Town it would be to the Town ' s benefit . She stated that she did think though , that the Town Engineer does have to look at the needs in his own department and how that particular person might fit in . It seems reasonable to advertise for the vacancy which this appointment would create in the Town and evaluate him at the same time . We are also aware that there are a number of other jobs in the ccmmmity that the other candidate might well apply for and perhaps might be better suited to fill . It ' s rather academic at this point whether or not he will even apply for our Engineering Technician job . When we write the letters to the unsuccessful candidates we will , however , tell him we will be advertising for that job and encourage him to apply if he would like to . RESOLUTION N0 . 218 Motion by Supervisor Raffensperger ; seconded by Councilwoman Valentino , RESOLVED , that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby appoints Scott McConnell as Town of Ithaca Highway Superintendent at an annual salary of $ 25 , 000 , effective August 29 , 1990 . (Raffensperger , Whitcomb , Liguori , Valentino and Niklas voting Aye . Nays - none) . Supervisor Raffensperger thanked the Board for coming to the meeting noting it was important to get the new Highway Superintendent on the job , with budget time coming up and even though we assumed he might be appointed it is difficult to give him any assignments or responsibilities until the actual appointment • ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN POSITION I Town Board Minutes 3 August 28 , 1990 Town Encrineer Walker asked if Board approval was needed to advertise! the Engineering Technician position? Town Supervisor Raffensperger replied that it usually goes to the Personnel Committee but she wondered if this was absolutely necessary- y n this case . Linda Nobles replied that she did not think it was in this case since it was not a new position . Supervisor Raffensperger went on to say that considering the work that needs to be done in the Engineering Department , particularly the water and sewer projects which are already lagging behind she would be very loathed not to fill the position as quickly as possible . RESOLUTIO14 N0 . 219 Motion by Supervisor Raffensperger ; seconded by Councilman Niklas , RESOLVED , that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby authorize the advertising for the now vacant position of Engineering Technician . ( Raffensperger , Whitcomb , Liguori , valentino and Niklas voting Aye . Nays - none ) . Supervisor Raffensperger noted that Agway had agreed to sell the biodegradable bags for leaf pickup , however , unfortunately they agreed to sell then in packages of 50 . She stated that she had expressed to the Park Manager , that she thought that was a little excessive :minimum purchase . He was going to contact Agway and try to negotiate a smaller minimum purchases . She felt they should be sold individually and even to say you have to purchase five , sane people are going to be disturbed about that . Councilman Liguori asked how much were the bags going to cost? Supervisor Raffensperger replied that the last she heard they would sell for $ . 35 to $ . 45 . But she did not know what Agway planned on charging , particularly if they break them up and sell them singularly ,. She went on to say that the Solid Waste Division has cancelled -the meeting for this Thursday that was to publicize the Town-wide curbside recycling because they discovered the Town addition w:)uld not make a whole group so they are making a move into the Tc7wn of Dryden with the Town of Ithaca . The meeting will be rescheduled for later and she wondered if the recycling would actually be under way by the 28th of September . Town Engineer Walker noted that NYSDOT has a project to reconstruct Route 13 from the City line to about Seven Mile Drive , the two bridges , and they are going to be in Town for basically a staff official type review prior to their September 26th public review of the project. . He noted that the Town had been invited to attend a meeting , Board members were welcome , at City Hall on September 5th at one o ' clock . Councilman Niklas asked if they would be shutting down that segment of Route 137 The Town Engineer replied that this was what they would be finding out , at the meeting , how they planned to construct its When you are dealing with the railroad they are very difficult to work with as far as temporary crossings , etc . They did put in a temporary ®on®R�Id Town Board Minutes 4 August 28 , 1990 crossing on Route 96 when they reconstructed that bridge , a while back , so he felt they might have sane kind of bypass like that in mind . This is the purpose of this meeting , to apprise municipal officials of the situation . ADJOURMNT The meeting was duly adjourned . wn Clerk