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Home My WebLink About12-09-1996MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1996 @ 7:30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Ellard L. Gordon C. Donald N. Daniel J. Fran Casu Robinson, Supervisor Sovocool, Councilman VanBenschoten, Councilman Palmer, Councilman Carey, Councilman llo, Attorney Also present: Liz Brennan, Oley Houtaling, George Senter, Leland ornelius Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten, that the Board go into executive session to discuss personnel at 7:50PM. 8:15PM - Board Meeting reconvened. Moved by Councilman VanBenschoten, seconded by Councilman Carey, that the minutes of November 4 and 7, 1996 be approved as mailed. Councilman Palmer had a correction to the November 4th Budget Meeting. The section dealing with the fire department budget shows an increase of $4,000 in the budget. There is a $2,000 increase. This is in the minutes of the Public Hearing on the proposed 1997 Fire Budget. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey and Robinson. Councilman Palmer said there is one other item that needs to be corrected. On Resolution #43 on the appointments to the County Fire, Disaster and EMS. The McLean delegates are incorrect. We did appoint two delegates from McLean in October (Hatch and Gifford). Lee Shurtleff requested the Board's appointment of the four delegates listed in Res. No. 43. Also, the County Board of Reps office said these are correct. Town Clerk will check with the Board of Reps to see how many appointments we should have. Claim Nos. 175 to 193 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $14,744.64 and Claim Nos. 261 to 326 of the General Fund in the amount of $30,899.42 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson. Claim Nos. 68 to 74 of the Special Grant Fund (HUD) in the amount of $6,888.59 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson. Supervisor Robinson thanked everyone for the plants and flowers and thanked all the people and Danny for taking over for her while she was gone. 1 LIZ BRENNAN - BOOKKEEPER - Along with my report you'll see a list of transfers that we need. It's getting near the end of the year and I'm zeroing out a lot of accounts. Drains in the garage are done and that is something that we didn't budget for so I have to move some money around. In the dog account the SPCA money was in there but we have to pay for some advertizing. There was an extra $200 left in the account after the enumeration so we can use some of that money for expenses. We took money out of contingency and Retirement and put in central garage for grease trap. I think all the bills are in for the grease trap. Leland Cornelius said all bills were in for drains and grease trap. Next summer we will have to put cement in garage over drains. Liz said that the only thing she could foresee was salaries going a little bit over budget. We have a couple more payrolls before the end of the year. This will be in the highway fund and the Court Clerk fund which is already zeroed out. I'm not sure we are going to wind up with the fund balance that we had hoped we would. RESOLUTION NO. 46 - APPROVAL OF TRANSFER OF FUNDS Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Carey Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following budget transfers: GENERAL (TOWNWIDE) FUND: From: Contingency A1990.4 $ 680.00 To: Justice, Court Clerk, Pers. Serv. A1110.13 $ 237.00 Justice, Contractual A1110.4 $ 214.00 Municipal Assoc. Dues A1920.4 $ 121.00 Health Ins. A9060.8 $ 108.00 From: Contingency A1990.4 $ 910.00 Tax Collection, Pers Service A1330.1 $ 306.00 To: Tax Collection, Contr. A1330.4 $1,216.00 From: Elections. Pers. Serv. A1450.1 $3,000.00 To: Elections, Contr. A1450.4 $3,000.00 From: Dog Enumeration A3510.41 $ 91.00 To: Dogs, Contractual A3510.4 $ 91.00 2 From: Contingency A1990.4 $2,675.00 Retirement A9010.4 $7,631.00 To: Central Garage, Contr. A1640.4 10,306.00 GENERAL (PART -TOWN) FUND From: Refuse, Contr. B8160.4 $ 45.00 To: Mun. Assoc. Dues B1920.4 $ 45.00 HIGHWAY (TOWNWIDE) FUND From: Contingency DA1990.4 $ 776.87 Retirement DA9010.8 $1,000.13 To: Snow Removal, Contr. DA5142.4 $1,777.00 From: Workers Comp. DA9040.8 $1,200.00 To: Machinery, Pers. Serv. DA5130.1 $1,200.00 GEORGE R SENTER, SR - CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER Building permits issued year -to -date 1995 102 9 Houses 22 Mobile Homes 71 Other 1996 87 6 Houses 13 Mobile Homes 68 Other Life Safety Inspections are current through November. I have a comment that I'd like to make on the changes the Planning Board proposed. On the one in relation to flag lots -- The original when it first came out was 20 to 50 feet for a pole. I think what they want to do now is to eliminate that and make it 20 feet up to 150. I just want to go on record in saying that if you do that you're taking away all frontage requirements in the Town of Groton. There is no frontage requirements. As long as you've got 20 feet then you have a lot. You can have 20 feet all the way up to 149 feet for a flag pole. I think it is a little ridiculous. That's just an opinion and I thought maybe it would give you something to think about. Councilman Carey asked what are your recommendations? I think you should stick with a specific dimension, if it's 20 feet which is a legal size or 30 feet whatever. I think 20 to 50 is a little irregular but maybe that's a standard. Maybe it should have been just 20 feet for a flag pole. That maybe restricted because you have people who have 70 feet of road frontage. I don't know how you would handle that. I think 20 to 149 is a misuse of the code. I have concerns about that. What you say now is that you can have frontage from 20 feet to one mile -- it makes no difference as long as you have 20 feet. LELAND CORNELIUS - HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - Grease trap has been completed with the exception of the cement. This will be completed next year. Everything has been approved. Didn't hear anything from DEC. As long as we were using the Village sewer system, DEC didn't have any problem unless there was a complaint. All of the bills are in for this project. We are all set to pour concrete out back for the fuel tanks. I need to get Toolan to put conduit in. Cortland Pump was awarded bid for the tanks. They will deliver 3 the tanks the week of December 21st. The concrete pad is 16 x 56 x 8" deep. COLLEEN D. PIERSON - TOWN CLERK /TAX COLLECTOR - Town Clerk's monthly report was reviewed by Board. Our dog enumeration has been completed for the SPCA. Total number of dogs enumerated is 1292. Of this total, 323 were unlicensed. Most of these have been licensed. We have very few dog complaints. If we do, the SPCA has taken care of the problem. ARLAND HEFFRON & ALTON ALEXANDER - TOWN JUSTICES - Town Justice Reports were reviewed by the Board. Discussed proposed 1997 Dog Contract with the SPCA. They are requesting a 2.5% increase. The 1996 Dog Contract is $9,340.00. The 1997 proposed Dog Contract is for $9,592.00. This is an increase of $252.00 RESOLUTION NO. 47 - ACCEPT 1997 DOG CONTRACT WITH SPCA Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Palmer, Carey, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby accept 1997 dog contract proposal as submitted by the SPCA. Item 6 - Proposed amendments to Land Use and Development Code. Supervisor Robinson said that they had decided that Fran will give him his outline of the proposal, changes and changes that they might have to make and then we'll discuss sometime for having a meeting and going over these with the Board and the Planning Board or some members of it any how. Attorney Casullo will send all of the members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals copies of how I perceive what they wanted in proposed amendments, with definitions which I have come up with and what definitions still need to be addressed. I'll send that letter with enclosures to them and invite them to discuss it with me or set up a mutually convenient meeting amongst the Planning Board and the ZBA and this Board. They should coordinate this with Supervisor to try to set something up. Discussed County Charter Review Report. Councilman Sovocool wanted to go on record as opposing appointing the Sheriff and County Clerk. Councilman Carey wanted to second that as he doesn't agree with the appointing of the Sheriff nor the County Clerk. If the County goes to appointing somebody, the people have no say in an election year. Consensus was that the people ought to be able to select these people in an election year. Councilman Carey also felt that the Sheriffs Department should remain so that the State Police or one law enforcement would not become to powerful. He also stated that he would not be opposed to term limits for County Representatives. Also Item 11 should have a limit on the number of offices and Item 10 is wide open too, staff assistance as needed. Consensus of the Board was that the County Sheriff and County Clerk should be elected. Supervisor personally felt that the Board of Reps should have a larger room for their meetings. Item #10 - Provide funding for 4 a modest increase in staff assistance in the Board Office on an as needed basis is too open ended. Item #11 - The Board should provide a few shared offices for Board members, equipped with telephones and computer terminals -- few should be scrutinized. Supervisor Robinson suggested that the January Board Meeting be held on Monday, January 6, 1997. All Board Members concurred. Village of Groton Housing Authority is going to have a meeting. It is important that we go to it because Owasco Inlet is going to affect us in the sense that it is out in the Town and is part of the project that they might want us to work on. The other is for Sykes Street and our water is up at the top of the hill and is part of our project. That is something that we are going to be responsible for in one way or another. Mr. Croney came over to talk about it. I told him if he was going for money we haven't got it but if you are going for in kind help we don't mind doing that part of it. The DEC and Village will be there to try to solve some of the flooding problems that they are having at the Senior Citizens Complex. The meeting is scheduled for December 30 at 7:00 PM in the meeting room. Groton Business Association annual Christmas Party will be held Wednesday, December 18, at 5:30PM at the Hotel. Supervisor Robinson received a copy of a Draft Bridge Replacement Agreement from the County which she would not sign. She spoke with Leland Cornelius and they have agreed that they want too much money from us, and particularly since they do the bids and we don't have anything to say about it, it doesn't seem quite fair. So far I haven't signed it. I haven't talked with any other towns about it. They want 20% from us which is too much to expect from a community. It would be nice if we could have a meeting of all the towns to discuss this. Discussed recycling in Peruville closing down. Several people are upset because they were not notified. George Totman had told the Board that it was closing the first of the year and that was it. Supervisor Robinson would like to see it remain in Peruville. Petitions have been circulated to keep the site open. Clerk Pierson had heard that the Town of Dryden has no desire to keep the site open since recyclables are currently picked up at all residences and keeping the recycling center open in Peruville is an added expense. The Town of Groton pays for employees at the site and are reimbursed by the County. If site was to stay open the Town would have to incur labor costs plus possibly pay for having goods hauled away unless a deal could be worked out with the County. Supervisor Robinson will contact Mr. Shugg in Dryden to see how they feel. RESOLUTION NO. 48 - KEEP RECYCLING CENTER IN PERUVILLE OPEN Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman VanBenschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Carey, Robinson Nay - Palmer k, RESOLVED, that the Groton Town Board does hereby desire to keep the Recycling Center in Peruville open. Word has it that the Wilson Farm Store will not be coming in until this spring. Apparently the building is in very bad repair. There being no further business, Councilman Carey moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Councilman Sovocool at 9:15PM. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk n