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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-08-1998 MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1998 AT 7:30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Daniel J. Carey, Councilman Donald N. Palmer, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Francis Casullo, Attorney Also present: Richard Case, Liz Brennan, Mark Gunn, George Eberhardt, Dwight Mengel and Nancy Oltz, from TCAT. George Eberhardt presented a petition to Supervisor Robinson which requested TCAT bus pick-up either at the corner of Conger Boulevard and Cortland Street or in front of the bowling alley on Main Street. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Okay, thank you very much. Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to accept the minutes of the November 5, 1998 Town Board Meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Claim Nos. 310 - 336 of the General Fund in the amount of $13,279.13 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Claim Nos. 231 - 257 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $24,135.75 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Palmer, to approve the Highway bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Claim Nos. 141-143 of the Special Grant (HUD) Fund in the amount of $8,377.46 were presented for audit. Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Pg.2 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 Supervisor Robinson asked George Eberhardt if he would like to speak. GEORGE EBERHARDT- I live here in Groton, and I ride the Tom-Tram bus every day. Since it has been moved down to the far end of town, you get maybe two people waiting for it down there. Most of the people that ride the bus either get on by the side of the bowling alley or at the bottom of "Dog Hill" here, at Conger and Cortland. They would like to have the bus shelter moved to this end of town, where the people are, instead of where nobody uses it. Petition reads as follows: "We, the undersigned, are daily riders of the Groton TCAT run. We respectfully request that the bus shelter, now located at the corner of Main St. and Railroad St., be moved to the corner of Congers Blvd. and Cortland St. Most of the riders get on and off at this spot. It also offers parking, which the new site doesn't. We would greatly appreciate your assistance in this matter." The petition carried 19 signatures. There was some more discussion. Mr. Eberhardt said that he was submitting a copy of the petition to the Village also. Supervisor Robinson said that they would speak to the people from TCAT as they were arriving later to attend this meeting. RICHARD CASE, HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT- At the present time, with the advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, the Highway Department has continued clearing right-of-ways. This clearing has taken place at the Elm Street and Wood Road intersection. Two of the landowners and local residents requested this project. Trees and brush have been cut and ditches have been cleaned and re-established. Sight distance, better drainage and the ability for more efficient and safe snow removal have been the results. In the shop the new welder continues to be a valuable asset with the ongoing preparation of snow equipment. Three front plows have been repaired and are mounted or ready to be mounted. A special project is in the final stages of completion. A damaged, inoperable front wing tower has been constructed and fabricated in the Town Highway shop. We started pricing these out this summer, and the lowest quote we could come up with was $1,715.00. At this time, certainly not including the labor, but we have $358.00 worth of steel in this project. And we have steel left over....... The building located on Spring Street at the gravel bank has been cleaned and activated for mining equipment repair and storage. Repair and cleaning of the wellhouse and water storage tank for this facility has been done and is in operating condition now. On January 1, 1998 the Town Highway included an additional 9.12 miles of County Roadway to the winter maintenance contract. I estimated at that time December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.3 that between $18,000 and $20,000 in additional revenue would be generated. The Town has, in fact, received $19,643 for that additional mileage. At the present time, I think this agreement is still beneficial to the Town and I plan to continue this contract until its expiration. This $19,643 is above and in addition to what was figured as revenue for the 1998 budget. At this time, I would like to request, from the Board, a resolution dedicating $17,421 of this Highway Department generated revenue for the purchase of a 1999 pick-up truck. This truck is currently listed on the 1999 New York statewide bid. That means we wouldn't have to go through a bidding process. (1999 Chevrolet 1500 series, 2 wheel drive). I have not made arrangements or plans to move on the project of putting electricity in the back storage building. That estimate was $1,832. I am not sure if you would like to dedicate this money out of the 1998 building fund budget to cover this project or how you want to handle that. COUNCILMAN PALMER- You're planning on going ahead with it, just going to delay the timing on it, Rick? RICHARD CASE- To be honest, we just haven't had time to do it and I haven't tied up with any one electrical contractor because I would like to do the majority of it with our people. So, yes, I'd like to continue with the project, but I don't know if you want to take the money out of this year's building fund and put it towards it or how you......what is it, I believe the word is incumbrance? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Do we have the money? RICHARD CASE- This is the money that was left over after we, I believe there was $10,000 budgeted, for that tank, the contaminated soil........earlier this year when we discussed it. That's the money I'm talking about. COUNCILMAN CAREY- That's an estimate though. You may need more than $1800. RICHARD CASE- That's why I thought if we could hold off and we could have a little more time when the weather gets crappy, and we could dedicate our own people to help and we might get more for that $1831 than if we had a contractor coming in. There was some more discussion on the subject. Pg.4 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 RESOLUTION NO. 63 - ENCUMBER FUNDS AGAINST 1998 BUDGET FOR LIGHTING IN HIGHWAY STORAGE BUILDING Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved, that the Town Board does hereby encumber $1832 against the 1998 Town Budget to be used for the installation of lights in the Highway Cold Storage Building. RICHARD CASE- The question then, the pick-up truck? COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- Is this a replacement? Are you replacing a truck or an additional truck? RICHARD CASE- We have a 1987 Chevy that I didn't want on the road when I first came here. But Jerry Holl talked me into it and he's primarily the only one who's been in it. I guess he's a little braver......... It came time for it to be inspected. It wouldn't pass inspection. I don't know if you've seen it. The cab is settling down, and the brake lines are....there's one brake on it. The brakes are gone. To replace those brakes, you know what it would cost. The vehicle itself has 155,000 miles on the engine. Now that does not indicate how many hours are on it. You know that thing has set and run a long time. We basically depleted the equity out of it. Yes, I am replacing that. And next year when the municipal auction comes around, that's where it's headed. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Gas or diesel? RICHARD CASE- Gas. About the third day I was in here, Dan, the shop started smelling of gas, and I walked out there and the gas tank had busted through. I junked it then, but Jerry talked me out of it, bought an old gas tank and fixed it up......... I just thought this was an opportunity, Teresa and I talked about the revenue coming into the Town seems to be getting smaller and smaller, and that's why I did the study on whether or not we should be taking this road, and that study is still continuing in negotiations. I have started negotiating with Ward (Hungerford). Teresa and I have kept in contact with that. That's one of the only forms I see of bringing, the Town Highway Department, bringing revenue into the Town. Unless you have other ideas, you could commercially mine materials up there......... COUNCILMAN PALMER- The $19,000 that you mention here now, that's a net number, a milage number, what? We incurred some costs to provide the service. RICHARD CASE- That was in addition to what we had already taken care of. Those roads that we took on, that extra 9 miles of roads, we was crossing December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.5 anyways. So, yes there are some expenses there, there's no doubt about it, but I think they were minimal for what we gained on them. All of them, we're crossing over. The only addition.......(did not use microphone). COUNCILMAN CAREY- How many pick-up trucks do you have? Just one? RICHARD CASE- Well, we've got a shop truck........fuel tank and put on that. It's pretty much the shop's truck. Fuel and grease and tools travel on that. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- What are you going to do with the new one? Replace the one you're driving? RICHARD CASE explained that he would replace the 1987 truck with the new one. Jerry Holl would get the truck that he (Case) presently drives and Case would drive the new one. RESOLUTION NO.64 - AUTHORIZE PURCHASE OF 1999 CHEVY TRUCK Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the use of $17,421 of Highway Revenues for the purchase of a 1999 Chevy pick-up truck currently listed on the 1999 New York statewide bid. RESOLUTION NO. 65 - AMEND 1998 BUDGET AS FOLLOWS: Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Carey. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following amendment to the Budget to show the additional money earned by plowing County roads: Highway Fund - Townwide: Est. Revenue DA2416 Rental of Equipment Other Govts...$19,643.30 Appropriation DA5130.2 Machinery Equipment............$19,643.30 further resolved, And be it That the Town Board does hereby authorize the following amendment to the Budget to show the additional money received from the County in connection with the Celebration Fund: General Fund - Townwide: Pg.6 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 Est. Revenue A2389 Celebration funds from County.........$822.45 Appropriation A7550.4 Celebrations......................$822.25 RESOLUTION #66 - AUTHORIZE DISTRIBUTION OF COUNTY CELEBRATION FUNDS Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved, that the Town Board does hereby authorize that the $822.45 received from the County for Celebration Funds be distributed to the Groton Old Home Days Committee, in the amount of $500.00, and to the Merchants' Committee, in the amount of $322.45. LIZ BRENNAN asked for a resolution to approve transfer of funds. COUNCILMAN PALMER- On the first item, we just ran over budget for the Bookkeeper and the Deputy Clerk positions? LIZ BRENNAN- Right. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Is that due to overtime, or just not enough budgeted, or what was that? LIZ BRENNAN- Well, in my case we didn't budget for the extra time I was working for the highway.....(end of tape #1).... and we're just moving it from accounts that I don't think there will be any more expenditures on. COUNCILMAN PALMER- That just takes it through the month of November? So you still have another month where you're going to have a shortage? LIZ BRENNAN- Right. We'll still be transferring. CLERK PIERSON- I'd like to explain that the Deputy Clerk's is a little bit different. It's not extra hours she's putting in. It's extra hours charged to that fund which was underbudgeted and it was overbudgeted in the Planning Board. She's not going over budget. It's just pretty hard to tell how many hours she's going to be using in the Personnel, or the Planning, or the Zoning. December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.7 RESOLUTION #67 - TRANSFER OF FUNDS Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved, that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfers of funds: General Fund - Townwide: From: Personnel, Contractual A1430.4...............$ 504.00 Auditing, Contractual A1320.4................$ 700.00 Unallocated Ins., Contractual A1910.4........$1269.70 To: Bookkeeper, Personal Serv. A1220.12..........$1445.70 Personnel, Pers. Serv.(Dep. Clerk)A1430.1....$1028.00 From: Engineer A1440.4.............................$6955.71 To: Attorney, Msc.A1420.41.......................$6955.71 Highway Fund - Townwide: From: Workers Comp. Da9040.8........................$ 331.96 To: Bridges, Contractual DA5120.4.................$ 331.96 TOWN JUSTICES, ARLAND HEFFRON AND ALTON ALEXANDER - Monthly Reports were submitted to the Board for their review. MARK GUNN, CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER- Building Permits for November of 1998 are down a little bit compared to last year. We only had one single family house last year and none this year. We had one mobile home this year, and last year we had three. For the total, we are down two building permits this year compared to last. It is picking up from the summer though. Life Safety Inspections are current for November. I am working on 15 Motor Vehicle Repair Shops and Junkyards for December that I am doing Life Safety Inspections on. I'd also like to refer back to a meeting we had a couple of months ago where I brought up we were going to work on the permit fee schedule. I guess the Deputy Clerk wrote a letter. And we really need to get work done on that, so if any one had any questions to ask myself about the permit fee and maybe some of the problems that I've had. Charging some people one item and not seeing where it fit in with other people, that sort of thing. Like with these Motor Vehicle Repair Shops, I'm about to go up and charge them a $25.00 fee to renew their Special Permit for their MVRS when I don't charge Pg.8 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 Patchwork and Pies for the Life Safety Inspection that I do on their place. So, it's kind of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" but it's up to the Board how you want to charge folks. Then on the other hand, I've got specific businesses that just don't deem it necessary to come down and pay for their Special Permit. Basically, they've been approved by the Planning Board to run the business, but they haven't come down to the Clerk's Office, paid their 25 bucks and picked up their Permit. You know, what do I do, go in and slap their hands? I can't really go in and shut them down for that. We've written them letters and that sort of thing, but there comes a point in time where I'm going to have to start writing these citations and that's going to raise a stink. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, you have a set-up, a formula then, for what each one of them is supposed to be paying, and what kind of permit they get, and whatever there is? MARK GUNN- A basic renewal for a special permit, there's just a life safety inspection for a special permit every two years, like of Patchwork and Pies. That's a simple one. Motor Vehicle Repair Shops get, probably because of their use, they get their LSIs once a year. It costs a $25 fee. If the municipality is sending me out to do a Life Safety Inspection on any business, I feel that there should be some fee to that business, for getting this Life Safety Inspection. It doesn't have to be extravagant, like $25, but maybe minimize the MVRS and Junkyards down to $15, and maybe charge all the other businesses $10. Somehow I just don't see how it's fair to charge..... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Have you looked at the fees that are being paid in the townships around? MARK GUNN- As a matter of fact, I've gotten a call from the Town of Caroline twice this week, and we just faxed him our permit. The Town of Caroline is actually doing a study, and they're getting all the surrounding towns' permit schedules together and they're going to put them all in a print out. And they're going to base theirs on this county wide thing that they are doing. It just happened to come up at the right time because we were talking about ours. But it really needs to be looked at because there's a lot of real confusing stuff on there. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I thought that we asked that there would be a study in that. It was a July 14th meeting, wasn't it, something like that? MARK GUNN- Yeah. I've been working on it. Actually, George Totman and I did sit down and took a look at it, and the Planning Board doesn't have a clue who set up what's actually there. They haven't made any motion that they want to do anything about what's there. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, I think at that time you asked that it be done, and you were going to get together with, was it George Senter, to check out what you didn't know about at the time. December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.9 MARK GUNN- Yeah, I don't know if it was George, I can't remember. But we did do a little bit of talking about it. By January I was hoping to have everything in full swing. I actually wanted to run a newspaper article and tell people about LSIs and little news articles that would tell somebody, in the Shopper, basic things like citations can be written for "such and such", keep the appearance of your property so that your neighbor's property value doesn't diminish, things like that. At the same time try to promote Life Safety Inspections in businesses just because the more people think about how safe a business is that they're walking into...... SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- And you don't charge for them at all? MARK GUNN- There's no charge for a standard, for a regular business. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Did the Planning Board set that up at one time, Colleen, or not? CLERK PIERSON- I thought they worked with George Senter on setting that up. George Totman said no, they never did the fee schedule. So, I don't know. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We didn't set it up as the Town Board. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- Who says they have to be inspected? Our zoning ordinance? Several people answer the State. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We didn't just think the fees up. But we should have something that's reasonable and something that we have an income. You know, some places charge a lot of money. We're pretty cheap actually, when it comes down to it. MARK GUNN- That also brings me to why MVRs get an LSI once a year and "Ma and Pop's Grocery Store" doesn't, and they only get once every two years. Hand rails can get pretty loose in the course of a year if you get hundreds of people going down them and kids hanging off them. One Life Safety Inspection I did, I leaned on the hand rail and I almost fell over backwards because there had been no LSI done on it. That ended up that that railing was their handicap access. So, I don't see why there shouldn't be LSIs done on all special permits in the Town of Groton once a year and charge everybody 10 bucks, something of that nature instead of only charging the MVRs 25. Everybody else is getting their LSIs, which I feel, it is mandated by the State, but it's also, if I was a business owner, I would welcome an LSI so that I would know that my customers coming in are going to be safe and somebody else is using a second set of eyes to look around. I would think that they would welcome an inspection once a year. It's not going to shut them down, it's going to help them actually. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Do they get something to put on the wall saying they passed a Life Safety Inspection or something like that? Pg.10 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 MARK GUNN- They don't, but that's a good idea, come up with something printed off on a computer, just for the patrons to see it. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I'm going to be stupid about this. What does your LSI stand for? And then you said something else. When people throw initials at me, I want to know what they stand for. (It was explained that LSI stands for Life Safety Inspection and MVR stands for Motor Vehicle Repair Shop.) I think that there should be a list of exactly what the inspections are and they should have an amount for them and how often they have to be done. I think that you should have an idea of what they are in Homer, and Cortlandville, and Dryden, Lansing, Locke and some of the communities around, so we have some comparison of what's going on. MARK GUNN- That also helps you kind of keep an eye on what is going on in a business because in the course of two years there's all kinds of things that can happen inside a building. If this one particular individual that I stated before, I don't have to go back to his business unless by complaint, for two years. And he's yet to come down and pay for his $25 Special Permit that everybody has to pay when they initially start this business up. But, you know, I don't have a leg to stand on to go down there and tell him to come down and pay the $25. Basically, it's just a piece of paper that you get that's not going to do anything for you. COUNCILMAN CAREY- When someone doesn't pay the $25, you write them a letter? MARK GUNN- Yes. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Do they get a bill in the mail? MARK GUNN- This particular gentleman did get a notice that he had a Special Permit waiting for $25. As a matter of fact, he came down and bought a Building Permit, and mentioned, oh, I should have brought that paper work down and paid that $25. That was in August? COUNCILMAN CAREY- It's probably not legal, but do you have to give him the Building Permit if he hasn't paid for the other permit yet? MARK GUNN- Yeah. Several people speak at once. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Why can't you make them, when they apply for the Special Permit, you make them pay up front? You hold it in escrow, and if they get denied, you give them the money back. If they get granted, you've got the money already. CLERK PIERSON- But when they bypass us, my office, and go to the Planning Board, they don't do anything, just say okay. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Oh, I agree, there should be uniform procedure in which, before you even entertain the Special Permit Application, they have deposited the $25 bucks. December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.11 CLERK PIERSON- That's been the policy. ATTORNEY CASULLO- That's what it should be. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- And if they don't get it, we give it back to them. ATTORNEY CASULLO- You don't entertain their application till they give you the $25. That takes care of that issue right away. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- What they're doing, what you're saying, is they go directly to the Planning Board.... CLERK PIERSON- Right. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Well, the Planning Board should be sending them to you. That's one of the problems. That's the way it should be. You shouldn't have Mark spending his time as the Code Enforcement Officer writing and chasing people for 25 bucks. That's ridiculous. There's a uniform procedure and the procedure should be followed.......... To be honest with you, Colleen, I'm surprised your auditors haven't picked up on that yet, that there's Special Permits out there, yet they haven't been paid for. CLERK PIERSON- They could if we had the State auditors. Independent auditors wouldn't........ ATTORNEY CASULLO- Sure. But I think the State auditors would pick up on that. You're essentially giving a Special Permit away for free. MARK GUNN- Right, and if the word gets around, a lot of the guys are going to say, why am I paying, you know a lot of the MVRs find out that they're singled out and they're paying this, I don't think they'd be happy, really. I think we should try to do something soon to try to get this situation figured out. COUNCILMAN CAREY- Mark, if you do LSI inspections of everyone once a year, yours is a part time position, can you logistically do all that and still maintain a part time position? MARK GUNN- Yeah, I think so. There's not really that many. It does include multiple residences, public assemblies, but they are busted up so that in a course of a month I only have sometimes only two. Last month I had, I think one LSI and in October I had like two or three. So I think to put it in the proper perspective, between now and next Friday I'm doing 16 Motor Vehicle Repair and Junkyards. I'm doing three a night. COUNCILMAN SOVOCOOL- We've got that many in this Town? MARK GUNN- I know, I didn't realize it either. There was some more discussion on the LSIs and how they could possibly be scheduled. Pg.12 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 MARK GUNN- I guess I've made my point that this definitely needs to be looked at, something taken care of. I'm not sure who actually, I've got no problem still working with it and coming up with something, but I need lots of ideas and input on who should be charged what, and that sort of thing. COUNCILMAN CAREY- You've got this list, the Town of Caroline is putting together a list? Is that going to be available to all the towns? MARK GUNN- Yes, whoever participates in sending him their information, everything he gets, he's going to send it back to us. COUNCILMAN CAREY- I would think that by next month's meeting, or before, if the Clerk would send something to us in the mail, it would give us a chance to look at it and maybe by the next meeting we would have some input as to the way to go. MARK GUNN- Yes, I think the way he's pushing, he's trying to get it ready by the first of the year. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- There's some other issues in this letter too that we probably ought to address at some point. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, I didn't receive this until 4 o'clock tonight. Councilmen state that they received theirs last week. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- There's something about cell towers, fees, and building permits. Who decides whether to use long forms or short forms. I think we ought to address all these issues at some point. The Planning Board should or somebody should. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- What you could do is you could set up what you want and then present it and let them chop it up, if they want to. But I think you'd have to present it to the Planning Board, wouldn't you, Colleen? CLERK PIERSON- What, regarding the short forms or long forms, or what? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, whatever. Do they pass on this, or not? CLERK PIERSON- They're the ones that set up their short forms and long forms and whatever they're doing, Site Plan Reviews, and who's going to determine whether it's a short form or a long form. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- But they haven't done any of this? CLERK PIERSON- I don't know. The Planning Board hasn't acknowledged this, that I know of. And everyone's went out last week. I do know that. COUNCILMAN PALMER- I guess the position I would see the Town Board taking on this, I would think the Town Board would be looking for recommendations on fees, on wording of forms, design of forms. Whether that comes from the Code December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.13 Enforcement Officer or the Planning Board, I think they could work that out. But I would look probably for recommendations be presented to the Board to take action on. I don't think the Board in itself would initiate that action, to design the forms, I think it's more the user, the people who are more familiar with it, that should offer the recommendation. Say this is what we'd like to have and let the Town Board critic it and take action on it. COUNCILMAN CAREY- When I read that, Mark, I pulled out my July 24th, and I knew we talked about this at some time, and at that time you indicated to us that "I will keep the Board updated and ask for advise as needed." I'm kind of confused here with this letter. We're waiting for you to ask us for advice, we haven't heard that yet. We just assumed that you've been working all along on this, and I thought we kind of gave you the affirmative with the wording of the minutes of that meeting. I'm kind of confused here, is why, we thought we gave you the affirmative to go ahead and pursue this. MARK GUNN- Well, I've been, with the Special Permits, and stuff, and the way we've been issuing them to the Planning Board, I haven't had a whole lot of time to just start fabricating everything over. Once you get into the Special Permit, then you get into the long form and short form that is being used. It's almost a domino effect. We have to back-track a little bit and start up here at the top with the permit fees, and then we're going to have to come up with the forms, because frankly, some of the forms, we use the same forms for one special permit that we use for a renewal. It doesn't jive, because some of the information on a renewal isn't needed. Number of bathrooms, if they haven't put in a Building Permit to change the place, that question shouldn't be on there. That's just a small thing, but the fees are just so messed up. And I don't even charge the fees. It's all done before I'm in on it. It's up to me if they don't pay the fee, I have to go after them. COUNCILMAN CAREY- That's why we have to go back to what Fran said. You have to have that money down before the Permit is issued. We're going to have to hold that money in escrow. That's going to have to be a new procedure. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Essentially you have two problems. One is the fee issue. The fee issue is something that needs to be rectified fairly quick so that you have some sort of, and you can probably wait for the Town of Caroline to come with theirs so that you have a guideline as to what other people are charging for different things. From what I see, and I read April's letter over the weekend. What April is saying, and I don't disagree with a word she is saying, is the problem is, as far as the forms, and I hope Colleen will back me up on this, what had happened is a couple years back when you did your new land use code, the forms you are using now are more in tune with your prior code. What had happened is when you passed this new code, nobody bothered to say, gee if we pass this new code, some of those forms don't even match, and now we need some additional forms. Nobody has undertaken that effort, which is necessary to match up what the code requires with what we need for forms. That's where you're running into problems. You never had before a sketch plan conference that you have now. Pg.14 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- The other thing is, the Clerks give out the forms, but they aren't responsible for the permits. The Zoning Officer is responsible. CLERK PIERSON- We hand out the application forms. They take them, go home, complete them, bring them back. We collect the fee and turn them over. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- He has to be the one to do the judging on the permits. It's not their responsibility. ATTORNEY CASULLO- I think to disseminate the actual application, that and the fee collection should be through the Clerk. Once the Clerk gets the application she should channel it to the Planning Board or Mark or the ZBA or whatever. Then that goes on their desk, but the fee has been paid, the application forms went through one uniform person, then it sits on the proper person's desk for action. That's how it should be. I agree with Mark, and I agree with April, that there needs to be some work done, sooner than later. COUNCILMAN SCHEFFLER- There's also the question of the two-tiered fee and who decides how much they pay. MARK GUNN- Right. I tried coming up with trying to combine some of the fees. When you combine some of the fees that means some of the forms are going to be combined too because they'll fall right in.....you know, a MVR renewal is going to have different questions than a milk and bread store. The forms are going to be completely different. So if I gotta redo them, then the form has to be redone too. A long form and a short form, when the renewals are done, they're going to have to be reworded to the specific business. So, it's not going to be a quick process after looking over some of the forms that we have. CLERK PIERSON- I don't think we want to get a whole lot of forms though, you know, we want to consolidate a lot of them if we can. MARK GUNN- Right. A renewal should be a renewal. The majority of their information is going to be on the original application they made for a site plan review and that's going to be stuck in their file. If any information needs to be gotten after that we can go back to the file and get it from the original one. The renewal should be a simple one, not all kinds of mumbo-jumbo. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Well, you wouldn't fill in anything that you didn't have to anyway. I mean, just fill in whatever applies to whatever you're doing. Well, we charge you. Go ahead and get going. MARK GUNN- Okay. Thanks. COLLEEN D. PIERSON, TOWN CLERK/TAX COLLECTOR - Submitted her Town Clerk's Monthly Report to the Board for their review. December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.15 RESOLUTION #68 - 1999 STATE REGISTER SUBSCRIPTION Moved by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby authorize Clerk Pierson to subscribe to the 1999 New York State Register to be kept on file in the Town Clerk's Office for use by the Town and Village of Groton. CLERK PIERSON- Having to do with the Highway Negotiations, this is Exhibit A, that goes on the back of the Highway Contract. (Clerk Pierson then read Exhibit A). That's a form you have to sign that goes with the contract. I need a resolution approving that. RESOLUTION #69 - APPROVAL OF 1999 HIGHWAY NEGOTIATIONS Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town of Groton Highway Employees be granted the following for the year 1999: 1) A four (4) percent pay increase across the board. 2) A fifteen (15) cent increase every fifth year anniversary of continuous employment. CLERK PIERSON- The next thing is the Highway Contract itself, the agreement. Rick Neville looked it over and okayed it. Fran Casullo, our attorney, looked it over and okayed it. I believe Rick Case okayed it. RESOLUTION #70 - APPROVAL OF 1999 HIGHWAY EMPLOYEES AGREEMENT Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Pg.16 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby approve the 1999 Highway Employees Agreement. CLERK PIERSON- Number four is the Health Insurance Agreement for Part Time Employees. We have on the books now that the Town of Groton Bookkeeper is a part time employee. We need to amend that by removing that item (c) from the definition. RESOLUTION #71 - AMEND HEALTH INSURANCE AGREEMENT FOR PART-TIME EMPLOYEES Moved Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolve , that the Town Board does hereby amend the Town of Groton Health Insurance Agreement for Part-Time Employees, adopted June 12, 1995, in Section 2: Definitions, to delete sub-paragraph (c) defining the Town of Groton Bookkeeper as a part-time employee in accordance with Resolution #61, passed November 5, 1998, establishing 30 hours per week as full time status for the Bookkeeper and Deputy Town Clerk. RESOLUTION #72 - SCHEDULE 1999 ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING Moved by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Palmer. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby set January 5, 1999 at 7:30 for the 1999 Organizational Meeting of the Groton Town Board. CLERK PIERSON also had several items of correspondence: A) Time Warner Cable - Official notice of changes in service rates effective January 1, 1999. This increase is due to recently completed upgrade which increased choices and quality of programming. B) Time Warner Cable - Announcement of a Public Comment Period concerning renewal of cable television franchise running from December 14, 1998 through January 29, 1999. Comments should be sent to the City of Ithaca Planning December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.17 Department. C) Letter from the Town Justice Court respectfully requesting that the Town cover expenses for travel, registration, room and board for the Association of Towns 1999 Training School and Annual Meeting to be held February 14 - 17, 1999. D) Groton Rotary Club - Asking members of local associations to join together at an informal meeting to discuss the possibilities of working together on a major project or projects. E) The 1999 Dog Contract with the Tompkins County SPCA will be ready in 1-2 weeks in the amount of $9880.00. CLERK PIERSON asked if the Board was going to appoint two adjunct Planning Board Members. ATTORNEY CASULLO - You should, but I don't know if you have anyone in mind. Let me tell you the truth, I mean, with this thing with Sirens,........ We should probably be looking for a couple of people who may want to do it. I think we're okay right now. But it's right, you're going to get people into the fire, and I'm not sure how many people you want to get appointed, I mean, you might want to put the word out, but I don't know how many people you're going to get that are interested in doing it. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- Not now, I'm sure. CLERK PIERSON- I just have a couple more things. An All-Mode representative will meet with all Department Heads on December 15 at 2:00 PM to assess current phone system and its capacity to handle the internet, fax, etc. We are currently addressing the Year 2000 issue. The Town utilizes standardized software and hardware with the exception of the Justice Court. We are currently conducting a study of the Town's readiness. Suppliers of hardware and software have been contacted to determine what procedures should be followed to insure our system will be ready. I have looked into some Internet options. I don't have a lot of information but we do have: ACC Road Runner - getting prices on AOL - America On-Line - $24.95/mo. Clarity Connect - $15.00/mo. A-Z NET.COM - $9.95/mo. ACC Telecom - They did a study on phone bills and said we would save $19-20 a month on total phone bill which would include internet service. We are working on it, and I am sure Liz is too. Pg.18 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 LIZ BRENNAN- I attended the Road Runner meeting that the County had at the Tompkins County Library. For municipalities it is $75.00 per computer. The second computer might go down to 60-something and the third to 50-something. It sounds pretty expensive. An individual will be $32.00, but commercial or business use is $75.00. CLERK PIERSON- Did they say anything about hooking us up to the cable free of charge? They were going to do it for municipalities, schools, whatever. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- They didn't say anything about it there. LIZ BRENNAN- They were doing a hook-up with schools and libraries. When I specifically asked about municipalities, they said no. DWIGHT MENGEL, SERVICE DEPARTMENT MANAGER, AND NANCY OLTZ, OPERATIONS MANAGER, OF TCAT reported on the status of service changes resulting from a year long planning effort. They intend to maintain the present level of service with six round-trips per day through the Town. They are looking for funding to possibly provide Saturday service. A copy of the petition from TCAT riders was presented to Mr. Mengel and Ms. Oltz. Mr. Mengel said that another bus shelter in the Village would be considered. Further discussion was held on the TCAT services. Board members requested copies of the Highway Employees Agreement. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON presented the inter-municipal agreement with the Tompkins County Consortium providing for drug and alcohol testing, services and training. There was some discussion on the subject. RESOLUTION #73 - RENEW INTERMUNICIPAL AGREEMENT WITH TOMPKINS COUNTY CONSORTIUM FOR 1999 Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson Resolved , that the Town Board wishes to hereby renew the Intermunicipal Agreement with the Tompkins County Consortium for 1999 for the purposes of drug and alcohol testing. December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.19 LIZ BRENNAN- Provided the Board with a report on employees' health insurance - Blue Cross/Blue Shield: Rates are Rising 18% for 1999. Presently we have a Student Rider, covering students under a family policy up to age 25. The Town could save approximately $500.00 by dropping this rider. Employees would save $40 per year. The policy requires a $50 deductible. Higher deductible of $100 would save $325 per year for the Town. Savings for individual $6 per year, family $18 per year. There are three tier rates which include individual, two person family, and family. At present we have tier rate of individual and family. The cost saving to go to a three tier level would save the Town $1000 per year. Employees would save $167 per year and one employee would pay $180 more per year (Highway Superintendent). If we dropped student rider, changed to a three tier status and raised deductible to $100 per year, savings to the Town would be $1700 and employees with individual coverage would save $25; employees with two person family would save $219 per year and regular family would increase to $113 per year. Need to notify Blue Cross/Blue Shield at the end of this week, if there are any changes. New rates begin next month. There was some discussion on the subject of the Health Insurance. There was a question of possibly joining with the County which is now self-insured. It was indicated that Cayuga Medical Center is not a participating provider with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Central NY and only about one half of a bill there would by paid by this insurance. Clerk Pierson expressed disapproval of changing the deductible from $50 to $100. Clerk Pierson quoted from Civil Service Law, 204(2): If town employees are organized pursuant to the Taylor Law, health insurance benefits must be negotiated as part of the collective bargaining agreement. She explained that this means that the highway employees must be contacted before doing anything. Attorney Casullo advised that any motion made should be pending approval by the Highway Department. Liz Brennan indicated that she would speak with them the following day. RESOLUTION #74 - CHANGE IN EMPLOYEES' HEALTH INSURANCE Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby make the following changes to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Employees' Health Insurance: 1) Drop the Student Rider. 2) Change to a three tier program. 3) Raise deductible to $100. Pg.20 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 Said resolution to be subject to approval by the Town of Groton Highway Employee Union. RESOLUTION #75 - SET DATE FOR SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING Moved by Councilman Palmer, seconded by Councilman Scheffler. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby set Tuesday, December 29, 1998 at 7:30 PM,for a Special Town Board Meeting for the purpose of performing annual accounting of all Town Records. ATTORNEY CASULLO- Tom Sims (?)...signed a personal personal guarantee, signed a loan and security agreement for $95,000. They've signed one UCC. They've got to sign one more...... What I need is a resolution from the Board authorizing Teresa to sign on behalf of the Town. Bernie Thoma has indicated to me that they have indicated to him that they could very well be relocating out of Town by the early summer of next year. They will do the best they can to repay the Town, but it's questionable. I have told you all along......I think in the future there is no way for a Town this size to be lending that kind of money. .....one circumstance where you have a Fortune 500 Company coming in here and guaranteeing you jobs, but giving that kind of money to a business like this wasn't....... The fact is that they are making payments. I think that the best thing to do is just monitor it and get as much money as we can to replenish your fund. RESOLUTION # 76 - AUTHORIZE TERESA ROBINSON TO SIGN PERSONAL GUARANTEE WITH DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGIES Moved by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Carey. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved , that the Town Board does hereby authorize Teresa Robinson, Town of Groton Supervisor, to sign, on behalf of the Town of Groton, a Personal Guarantee with D.I.V.E.R.S.I.F.I.E.D. Technologies for the sum of $95,215.00. Be it further resolved that said contract be filed with the Tompkins County December 8, 1998 - Town Board Meeting - Pg.21 Clerk. SUPERVISOR ROBINSON said that she had been contacted by Don Barber, Supervisor of the Town of Caroline, and he had asked the Town of Groton to support the Tompkins County Aquifer Study. She explained that it would be funded by State and County money. A discussion followed in which the Board agreed that it would be a good idea to show support for this project. RESOLUTION #77 - SUPPORT OF TOMPKINS COUNTY AQUIFER STUDY Moved by Councilman Carey, seconded by Councilman Palmer. Ayes - Sovocool, Carey, Palmer, Scheffler, Robinson. Resolved, that the Groton Town Board hereby requests the Tompkins County Board of Representatives to provide funding and enter into a contract with USGS to complete the Tompkins County "Aquifer Study" in 1999. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Back in our Budget Work Session we talked about a part time recreational position that was going to be brought up to Community Links. What was the feed-back on that? Where does that stand? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- They're still interested in it. I think that the Village, I don't know if they've put their money into it, I think they do it in the Spring. They were talking of putting money in there. Still considering it. They are talking it more in the Youth Commission and they're talking it more in the Village. COUNCILMAN PALMER- Okay. What's the status on the Deferred Compensation meeting? Did that ever take place with the people who wanted to sign up? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- I don't think that they ever got, we had communications back and forth, and they've had our resolution and said they're going to send a representative, but we haven't had anybody show up, to my knowledge. COUNCILMAN PALMER- But when we met in October, they said they definitely wanted to go ahead with that and get it started, and you were going to set up a meeting. I'm just following up. Did that happen or not? SUPERVISOR ROBINSON- We haven't had the meeting, but we've called them. We've communicated with them. They haven't got back to us. COUNCILMAN PALMER- That should be followed up on if they want to start the program. We authorized it to happen. Pg.22 - Town Board Meeting - December 8, 1998 SUPERVISOR ROBINSON announced the appointments to the committee responsible for the review of applications and the distribution of Industrial Development Association funds: Gary Watrous, John McLean, Dan Carey, Judy Demond, Teresa Robinson. She said there could be two more members if anyone was interested. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Palmer, at 10:10 PM. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk