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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-1994MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MONDAY, JULY 11, 1994 AT 7:30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Donald E. Cummings, Councilman Carl E. Haynes, Councilman Also present: Leland Cornelius, Liz Brennan, George Senter, Orlando Houghtaling, Betty Sperger, Elsie DeCamp, Robert Bernhardt and Son, Phil Donahue, Karl Heck Supervisor announced that we did not have a speaker tonight and hoped everyone would be able to hear. Moved by Mr. Cummings, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten, to approve minutes of June 13th as mailed. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson. Haynes - Absent. Mr. VanBenschoten requested that the Supervisor write a letter to Nial Smith thanking him for his many years of service on the Groton Zoning Board of Appeals. Claim Nos. 102 to 121 of the Highway Department in the amount of $23,470.53 and Claim Nos. 146 to 172 of the General Fund in the amount of $22,324.25 were presented for audit. Moved by Mr. VanBenschoten, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson. Haynes - Absent. LIZ BRENNAN - BOOKKEEPER - Handed out monthly report and also a report of expenditures and revenues to date to be passed around to Board Members. There are no transfers. I have nothing else to report unless you have questions. (No questions). GEORGE SENTER - CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - Building permits issued to date: 1993 439 houses 7 mobile homes 27 miscellaneous 1994 331 house 3 mobile homes 29 miscellaneous Life safety inspections are all current. We have five unlicensed vehicles remaining. John Anderson's garden is doing well. He has removed two more piles of stuff and is taking two more boxes to recycling site of Route 38. We are okay as long as he doesn't bring anymore in. Sherry O'Brien looks pretty good. He is keeping cars in a line and is complying with his permits. I issued the permit for a two month period. DON CUMMINGS - COUNCILMAN - Dusty Kyes had a car crusher in last week. He got 1 rid of a lot of cars. 8:OOPM - Board meeting recessed for Public Hearing on Community Development Block Grant. Supervisor Robinson read legal notice that was publish in the Moravia Republican Register on June 29, 1994. T. Robinson - Karl, do you want to answer some questions? K. Heck - Yes. I'll talk for a couple minutes and then I'll take whatever questions anyone might have. Last month the Town of Groton approved a resolution authorizing the Tompkins County Planning Department to go ahead and prepare an application for housing rehabilitation. The last month I have been in process of doing that. So far we've advertized the availability of the program in the Suburban Shopper, Pennysaver, in the Cortland - Tompkins Weekly Newspaper, Moravia Republican Register and McLean and Groton Post Office as well as mailing out applications to a variety of people. So far we've received about 70 applications. Just over 20 of those came from our mailing and the rest from various other sources. We've also prepared an abbreviated strategy ........... The application amounts to $400,000. The applications that we've received back indicate a sufficient need for ........... Of that $320,000 for housing rehabilitation, $45,000 goes to program delivery and $35,000 for administration. Applications are due in our office on July 26, 1994...... B. Bernhardt - You mentioned income level. What is that level? K. Heck - People must be income eligible. In other words a family of four is $33,700. One person is $23,950 or less. Two persons is $26,950......... B. Bernhardt - Were those numbers published somewhere in the notices? K. Heck - HUD published them. They were sent with notices that were mailed out. G. Senter - Is 70 applications a good response ?....... K. Heck - Yes. Typically we do about 25..... B. Bernhardt - We have a lot of older people that wouldn't read the Pennysaver. How did you select these people to mail to? K. Heck - Those people came from a survey that we did around town. As part of our application we have to show that there is a need. We drove around Groton looking at places and observed and Better Housing did inspections......... T. Robinson - Does that answer your question Bob? Does anybody else have any questions? 2 D. VanBenschoten - I think I asked the same question last month. This is not for new housing, it is for rehabilitation? Do we have any way of knowing their age? Do they have to put down their age ?...... K. Heck - One quarter to one half are 60 or above......... T. Robinson - Anybody else have any questions? If not, we'll close the hearing. Hearing closed at 8:10PM. Board Meeting reconvened at 8:10 P.M RESOLUTION NO. 42 - AUTHORIZATION TO APPLY FOR GRANT FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) SMALL CITIES COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson Absent - Haynes WHEREAS, the Town of Groton is an eligible applicant for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton has shown an interest in applying for funds through this program, and WHEREAS, surveys of the Town have determined that housing rehabilitation is a necessary and the best use of HUD funds, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton authorizes the submission of a HUD Small Cities Community Development Block Grant, and further RESOLVED, that Supervisor Teresa Robinson is authorized to sign all necessary documents on behalf of the Town. PHIL DONAHUE - Update on Highway Equipment Storage Facility Specifications. Advertize in local papers plus any other locations that we normally would put legal notices to bidders. Also bidding documents may be examined by prospective bidders at Associated Building Contractors of the Triple Cities in Binghamton, Builders Exchange in Rochester, F.W. Dodge in East Syracuse and Syracuse Builders Exchange in Syracuse. Review Specs as prepared by Morton. They were written in such a way that they were against the spirit and intent of General Municipal Law. Everyone has to have a chance to bid. We need to have a pre -bid conference where you get all the bidders in a room and discuss 3 any parts of the specifications that they have a problem with. This conference is held generally five working days before the bid opening. We could then put an addendum out to clarify any items or settle any arguments between bidders. I would like you to consider a bid opening just prior to your September meeting. This would give you a weeks evaluation prior to your September meeting. Snow load will exceed NYS Building Code for this area. I would recommend that you have bid opening a week before your September meeting and that would give you the additional time for evaluation before your next regular Board Meeting. RESOLUTION NO. 43 - AUTHORIZE PHIL DONAHUE TO REDRAFT EQUIPMENT STORAGE FACILITY SPECIFICATIONS AND DEVELOP SCHEDULE FOR PRE -BID CONFERENCE AND BID OPENING DATE Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize Phil Donahue to redraft equipment storage facility specifications, and FURTHER RESOLVED, to set the pre -bid conference for August 23, 1994 at 10:00 A. M. at the Town Hall, and FURTHER RESOLVED, that the bid opening will be held on August 29, 1994 at 10:00 A.M. at the Town Hall. BOB BERNHARDT - Did Neville's submit a bid? Twice now I've been told that they did. T. Robinson - A lot of people took bids but did not bid. Bob - The other one was, on page 5 of the minutes, I notice an item that was in there about Walpole Bridge. The last sentence said "received an information subpoena with restraining notice pertaining to Diversified T.E.S.T. Technologies, Inc." and no explanation. Do we know what we're talking about? T. Robinson - That was something that came through from another company and the lawyers handled it. J. Fitzgerald, Atty. - I'm unaware of it. What an information subpoena with restraining notice is, is that apparently there's been a judgement entered against Diversified T.E.ST. R. Bernhardt - Is this something to do with what we were talking about with Diversified when we had the owner here a few months ago? T. Robinson - Well, it's something that's come up in their business. J. Fitzgerald, Atty. - What a restraining notice is, is if you owe me money, 4 and the Town owes you money, I send the Town notice not to pay you what they owe you. I have not seen this document, but that's what a restraining notice is. If you have a bank account at a bank, a judgement creditor can submit a subpoena which is asking for information regarding the account and the restraining notice telling the bank that their not allowed to pay the depositor any of those funds. It's done through the Sheriffs office. R. Bernhardt - I understand that part of it. But, does anyone know what this is all about? Our Town Attorney doesn't know about it. Some how this got in the minutes. Do we know how it got in there? T. Robinson - We received the thing and gave it to our Attorney to take care of. Not this Attorney. It was Fran that did it. J. Fitzgerald, Atty. - If the Town doesn't owe Diversified any money, that is the end of it. R. Bernhardt - They sure owe the Town money. J. Fitzgerald - The subpoena and restraining notice is if we owe them money, we can't give it to them. So there is no problem. C. Pierson - This subpoena is from another company that Diversified owes money to. They have a judgement against Diversified. R. Bernhardt - When was Diversified supposed to make some kind of a payment to us, July? T. Robinson - June and July. CARL HAYNES, COUNCILMAN - I received a call from Bert Husted last night. G. Senter - I'd guess it's Sherry O'Brien. I've had Fran Casulla out there. I've looked at it and I've had other people look at it. I've issued his permit on a two months basis. I think I've done all I can do to keep him in line. He has to make a living and I think he's trying to abide by our regulations. It's not going to be perfect but he has tried to comply. L. Sovocool - Is he legal with what ever permit he has got? C. Haynes - Bert said he has 25 cars or so. G. Senter - I don't think he's got 25 cars. Not the last time I was there. I don't go out there every day. He's supposed to have 14 parked in one area in an orderly fashion and he normally does that. Occasionally, a customer will drop one of in his driveway. He has three or four of his own cars. He's in compliance one heck of a lot more than he has been for the past fifteen years. He's been given free rein for a long time. Bert complains about Sherry all the time. I don't know why. GORDON VANBENSCHOTEN, COUNCILMAN - George, where did Lock go that was on k, Chipmans Corners Road? G. Senter - He's gone. I understand he's at his mother's place in Harford. Chuck Volbrecht is going to apply for a Site Plan Review to reopen his repair shop on the Jensen property. RESOLUTION NO. 44 - TOWN CLERK OFFICE MANAGEMENT nr_uFFra�um SOFTWARE /SUPPORT Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the Software/ Support Agreement covering the Town Clerk Office Management Program from Information Management Associates, Inc. (IMA) for a total price of $2400.00. ORLANDO HOUGHTALING - YOUTH COMMISSION - Basically, we're going along the same way we have been. The Youth Bureau is working with us with one of the youth workers and they will be working with both of them as of the first of August. The summer programs have started and seem to be going well. We have been given one more challenge which even Teresa doesn't know about. One of the youth workers has taken another job on August 1st. We will be looking at hiring another person. Moved by Mr. Haynes, seconded by Mr. Cummings to accept the resignation of Penny Bogardus as Steno for the Planning and Appeals Boards. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson Letter dated June 20th from Lyle Raymond indicating that he has resigned as the Town's representative on the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council to be effective immediately. He has served 10 years as our representative. Letter received from Lorraine Faucett of 90 Old Peruville Road requesting a "warning horse" sign at 90 Old Peruville Road. They are a riding center that works with handicapped individuals and often have a lot of horses being ridden. A sign out front would make motorists aware of horses crossing, etc. I feel this is a safety issue as some people speed along the road. Also, she requested that the "Slow Peruville" sign be replaced as it is old, full of bullet holes, peeling of paint and not up too straight. She currently has a Special Permit from the Town for a riding stable. Leland Cornelius said it was a County Road and we don't put signs up on County Roads. Consensus of Board was to request county to put up appropriate signs. n RESOLUTION NO. 45 - REQUEST COUNTY TO INSTALL HORSE CROSSING SIGN AT 90 OLD PERUVILLE ROAD Moved by Mr. VanBenschoten, seconded by Mr. Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Haynes, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Groton Town Board does hereby request that the Tompkins County Highway Department consider placing a horse crossing sign on County Route 107A in the vicinity of 90 Old Peruville Road. Discussed cat licensing. The SPCA wants more money to cover cost of taking care of cats in the County. The County has set up a committee to discuss the feasibility of licensing cats. All cats are now required to be vaccinated against rabies. Licensing would be done by the SPCA or the Town Clerk's. According to the SPCA, their cost for cat control is $20,000 more than the county pays them. The majority of Town's have already gone on record as being opposed to cat licensing. Colleen and Teresa attended a meeting where the County wants all the taxpayers in Groton to pay for all the printing of the tax bills. This apparently is a law that says Town's will pay all printing costs. Also, the County wants the Tax Collectors to collect there annual solid waste fee which would be included with the Town and County taxes. This would save the County the cost of mailing out separately. Consensus of the Town Clerk's was that we needed more than the five days to come up with a logical figure for the County to reimburse Town's cost in providing this service. All escrow accounts would have to be contacted to see if they would pay this solid waste fee since it is not a tax. In order for the Tax Collector's to collect this fee, all Collector's have to agree to it. Tax Collector's agreed to have some kind of a dollar figure for the County prior to the 1996 tax period. Marty Luster will be hold a town meeting at the Town Hall on Thursday, July 14th at 7:OOPM. Supervisor Robinson received maps from the State regarding repair of Route 222. Also received aerial view of township which can be purchased for a fee. There being no further business, Mr. Sovocool moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten, at 9:30 P.M. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk 7