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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-14-2000 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2000, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Francis Casullo, Town Attorney Also present: Colleen D. Pierson, Richard Case, Mark Gunn, Liz Brennan, Arthur Dawson, Gordon Klumpp, Joe Graham, Shari Shurtleff, Tina Wright. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2000 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 295 - 390 of the in the amount of $14,393.36 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Randall, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 169 - 193 of the in the amount of $21,689.33 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Supervisor Morey – Rick, there is one voucher that wasn’t signed. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 190 - 193 of the in the amount of $27,042.71 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Abstain - Randall Town Board Meeting Page 2 of 13 November 14,2000 Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. Monthly Reports: Liz Brennan, Bookkeeper – We only have one transfer this month. That was just a matter of the bills being as close as we could get to what we were going to be reimbursed for on the CHIPS program. We’re getting toward the end of the year. I’m sure next month we’ll have a lot more transfers. RESOLUTION #78 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby authorize the following transfer of funds: Highway Fund – Part Town: From: Retirement DB9010.8………………………$10.72 To: Chips DB5112.2…………………………… $10.72 Supervisor Morey – Colleen, about the voting? Clerk Pierson – I spoke to Liz about the Election Inspectors and the funds are short in that one. She is going to see where we can get other funds from. The reason they are short is that we had to have all of our machines serviced and also, we had two primary days, two registration days and an election day and that went over the budget quite a bit. Liz is going to take care of that. Liz Brennan – That will be next month’s transfers. Councilman Randall – I just wanted to thank you for doing, I didn’t get a chance to see you last time, and the glowing report from Rick Beals, it says a lot, and thank you for doing such a good job. Mark Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer – Since I wasn’t here last month, I enclosed a copy of the building permits from September along with a copy of the building permits for October. As you can see by the total for October that we are up considerably. I had one last year and twelve this year. It’s been quite busy compared to last year. I also enclosed a copy of the letter that I just received today from DEC. I have been in contact with Fran for the last month or so about this whole thing with Mr. Ottenschot. DEC has been contacting me, wondering what has been going on, and apparently he was taking some equipment to his property up there. Because of the conversations that I had been having with the Town Board Meeting Page 3 of 13 November 14,2000 DEC, they were trying to tell him that he no longer had a permit with them, but he was avoiding all official notices. So, this letter is the outcome of him avoiding them. They have terminated his license and I in turn, with talking to Fran, have gone through the files and found out that he no longer has a special permit with us because of the fact that he no longer has a mining permit with DEC. Letter dated 23 October 2000 as follows: “Dear Mr. Ottenschot: Please be advised that our records show that our letter of June 11, 1999 was properly served on you in accordance with Section 306 of the Business Corporation Law through the Department of State on September 13, 1999. A copy of our receipt for that service is enclosed for your records. Accordingly, your permit revocation was effective 15 days from the date of that service. You no longer have a valid permit and mining at your previously permitted facility would be a violation of the Environmental Conservation Law.” Signed: Michael K. Barylski, Deputy Regional Permit Administrator. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the property on Lick Street. I talked to someone tonight about that. Everything so far is legit. It is on the corner of 222 and Lick Street, for anybody who is not familiar with the property. It has been quite the discussion about Town, but everything is legit. The year of the trailer is legal. The distance from the road is legal. Everything so far is so good. Other than that, I really don’t know what to tell anybody about that property. Is everybody familiar with it? Councilman Sovocool – I’m not, no. Mark Gunn – You will be. And that’s pretty much it. I had no Life Safety Inspections last month and my MVRs are next month, so that will be busy. Councilman Scheffler – What was Mr. Ottenschot hauling in there, equipment? Mark Gunn – I had just some calls that some equipment was being taken up there on trailers, trackhoes, or backhoes, or something. Of course, no one wants to give their name. But I knew because DEC had been contacting me. I originally received a letter from DEC because his mining permit, he apparently didn’t give the monies as security to DEC and they started their paperwork. To make a long story short, it’s over with. Councilman Sovocool – But has he taken it out of there? Has he left it there? Is he bringing any more in? Mark Gunn – I really don’t have the jurisdiction to go up there and see where he took the equipment or even if it is still up there. I just went by the fact that people reported it. I got him a letter right out that came back. It was a registered letter. I have that in the file, unanswered. Anything that looks official, he is avoiding. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – At the present time the Highway Department is in a transition from summer & fall projects to winter road maintenance. In the shop area there has been a lot of activity with the winter preventive maintenance program is in full swing. The majority of the heavy trucks have received NYS inspection and the mounting of snowplow equipment. Bob, Lester and Rick have completed the mounting of one of the new sander boxes. If you were to look at it, you would notice a very neat installation with Town Board Meeting Page 4 of 13 November 14,2000 additions to the manufacturer’s design particularly in the area of safety lighting and preventive maintenance. Bob and Lester attended a training seminar on heavy-duty truck brakes. This was targeted at the new brake systems being introduced to the heavy-duty industry. In the field, an ongoing drainage problem on Bird Cemetery Road is being addressed. The preliminary ditching and right-of-way reclamation is underway. This project will continue when weather, manpower and machinery are available. At the present time de-icing sand is being manufactured in the Town’s gravel bank. A portion of this sand is now being blended with de-icing salt and is ready for application. The Highway Department was inspected by PERMA, our workman’s compensation insurance company. The report indicated that in the past 2 years the Town Highway Employees were below the average on recordable accidents and overall accident frequency. This is one time that being below average is good! I think both the Town and the Highway employees should be commended for working towards a safe working environment. I was invited to participate in, and attended, a risk management and torte liability workshop sponsored by the Cornell local road program. This program was targeted toward Highway Superintendents but the content of this course would be beneficial to any Town official. A working knowledge of torte liability is something we relate to daily. th In updating the timber sale project, tomorrow (Nov. 15) I will have a crew accompanying Brian Klumpp of Manzari & Reagan. This crew will be marking the property lines to be followed by the forester. After this is done, the mapping will then be completed. Michael Reagan indicated to me that this mapping should be completed soon. As soon as I have received this map I will turn it over to Sheldon Clark. The money for the equipment taken to the Lansing Municipal Auction has been received and totals $3,780 after commission was taken by Teitsworth Auction Service. Update on new truck: The cab and chassis is in Pennsylvania at J&J Truck Bodies. Snowplow equipment has not reached Pennsylvania at this time but I am being told it will be shipped next week. The date of delivery to the Town of Groton has not been determined. Supervisor Morey – I’ve been talking with Rick about replacing the grade-all and finding out some kind of way that we can do it a lot earlier than we thought. I have asked questions about lease-to-purchase programs, used equipment programs, and basically we haven’t got really good ideas or good responses to everything. So, I was talking to Rick that maybe we should put this out to bid and find out just exactly what a new one would cost, what a lease-to-purchase would cost and if there is anything used. I think that if we do put it out to bid, we reserve the right to accept or reject any, but also we could have some kind of basis to learn how to finance this or find out whether we could pay for it and stuff like that. So, I’m asking, Rick, would you like to put it out to bid just to see? Richard Case – Well, at the present time, under your direction, we have been looking for used machinery as well as researching the lease-buyout programs. I’ve got two vendors who said they would give ballpark; naturally they don’t want to give solid numbers because this is going to be a bid situation. To just put it out as a shotgun sort of thing with new and used I think could create a deluge of vendors at the end not really happy with what took place. By next meeting I hope to Town Board Meeting Page 5 of 13 November 14,2000 have some of this information for you and possibly we can target whichever direction you care to go, either new or used, and possibly start with what you are suggesting Glenn, put it out to new and if we can afford or make decisions at that point, and if not, we always have the option to go to the next level. But just initially, on my research for comparing new to used, with the municipal discounts that they give us on new equipment, it usually equates to $20,000 - $30,000. So, when you start looking for used machinery that’s in decent shape, you lose that because now it’s in the private industry. You don’t get that municipal discount on used equipment. So, that’s what I would like to do, is put those figures together for you and show you a little closer and maybe next month we can make that decision. Supervisor Morey – All right. Seem good to the Board? Board indicated that it was all right. Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – Had nothing to report. Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Presented her monthly Town Clerk’s Report for the Board’s review. Arland Heffron & Arthur Dawson, Town Justices – Presented their monthly reports for the Board’s review. Arthur Dawson – The conference for the State Magistrates Association was last month, down in the Neville. Peggy, Arland, Bob and myself were there. Peggy is now the second vice-president of the State Association of Court Clerks. She’ll have that for two years. She’s in charge of training for the Court Clerks and will have a lot to do with that. I think that was in recognition of her being here for so many years more than anything. Also, Arland received a 25-year pin from the State Association. I thought that was kind of a neat thing, to be a judge for 25 years. That was about the only thing I had to say, with the exception of the door, but I don’t know if that is going to be spoken about later. Any questions from you guys? Supervisor Morey – Gordon Klumpp and Shari Shurtleff are here to talk about sharing diesel fuel and gasoline with the town. Who wants to come up, Gordon? Gordon Klumpp, Superintendent of Groton School – We have had for the last year and a half, the school has gotten it’s gasoline at the Express Mart, and before that, of course everybody knows, that Groton always got its gas and diesel fuel right next to the bus garage. In 1981 we put in the tanks that were going to end all tanks. They weren’t going to have to be done again. We did everything state of the art, but 15 years later we had to pull them out again because they just weren’t up to the Code. So, we have gone over there for the last year and a half, and somebody was questioning exactly the price they were paying over there. It’s pretty confusing, but the same as with you folks, we don’t have to pay for any taxes, but we still are paying 5 or 6 cents more per gallon than you folks are. We were kind of told, or suggested, by the Board of Education that we look at other options. Our options are to put some tanks back on our property, either above ground or below ground, either next to the bus garage or over by Ross Field. The other options, of course, are to stay where we are. And perhaps the third option is to talk to the Town Board Meeting Page 6 of 13 November 14,2000 Village and talk to the Town about sharing facilities. I know that I have talked with Glenn, and I know that folks have been talking about it. Shari and Rick Case have talked about it quite a bit. There certainly are some concerns there, but I thought that it was certainly time to at least bring this discussion up because I think that we are supposed to be sharing facilities, equipment, personnel, whenever we can to help each other out. Really, it is just something on the table to talk about. Supervisor Morey – Question, when you first brought this up, we examined the tanks and found out that they have to be upgraded to handle the additional buses and traffic down there. Would you be willing to pay for that upgrade, for a key system or something like that? Gordon Klumpp – Yes. Supervisor Morey – And would you be able to pay for an administration fee? Shari Shurtleff – I would think so, yes. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Gordon Klumpp – One of the advantages school districts have is that we have transportation aid, so depending on how much we spend, we get back between 80% and 90% of that the following year. Supervisor Morey – We’d have to have a procedure in pumping, either two people there at all times with buses, to avoid spills and leaks and things like that. Would that be all right to have a procedure? How do you do it over at…… Gordon Klumpp – We don’t have the requirement to have two people there. Supervisor Morey – Okay. During Court days, there is an awful tight corridor back there. Would you be able to limit the time of fueling? It’s rather congested, and my question would be could the bus go through easily or would you be stuck and have to back up all the way? Gordon Klumpp – I think Sheldon could answer probably better than I can, something like that. I don’t mean to put you on the spot Sheldon, but you drive a bus and you’ve seen what’s out here, and I don’t really know that. Supervisor Morey – How would the radius of turn be through the parking lot? Is that tight for you guys? Councilman Clark – Out here? Well, if it’s full of cars, it would be a little risky. I don’t know. Gordon Klumpp – I wouldn’t want to have people back up. You can’t take the loop around? Richard Case – Yes, that’s how we approach it. But we’ve got a narrow corridor down below and Dewey has brought so much business to us lately that even certain parts….it gets congested in this corner, and it is a blind corner to come around. The number of buses, and like Glenn was asking how your scheduling of that, every day or after every run, or…. Gordon Klumpp – Well, it depends on the bus. Town Board Meeting Page 7 of 13 November 14,2000 Richard Case – Because, like you, we don’t want anybody backing around out here. During the day we are also in this corridor with other pieces of machinery, so there are certain times of the day, you’ve got to walk out there to really appreciate it, Gordon. Gordon Klumpp – I was there, probably on a weekend, and there wasn’t any cars around. I guess another thought, I guess, was the idea that before anybody, including the school, considered putting in new and better and bigger and fancier tanks, that we do indeed talk to the other two groups, because, to me, it looks like Conger Boulevard is really a big area. It’s really wide and quite open and maybe if the school was forced to put in their own tanks, and I don’t think that’s a scenario we have to really go at, but if we did, we should really look at putting in a really up to date facility that covers all three, the municipalities and the school. Supervisor Morey – So there is funding over there for it? Gordon Klumpp – Well, we’d have to have voter approval and again, it would be very highly aided. Councilman Sovocool – You didn’t have it in your original budget for gas tanks over there? Gordon Klumpp – Our decision was that when we fixed the bus garage, was to come over to the Express Mart and try that for a year or two and see how it worked. Councilman Sovocool – But you didn’t appropriate any money for tanks? Gordon Klumpp – No, we haven’t. Again, we felt pretty comfortable with doing that and we can go back to looking at, if it is under $10,000, we can do the extra … budget and still get our high aid on it. If it’s more than $10,000, we need…… (not using microphone)….In either case much of the money is not local money. Supervisor Morey – How are the new buses with fuel efficiency? Are they much better than the old ones? Gordon Klumpp – Not necessarily because they are automatic. Councilman Scheffler – How much fuel are we talking about? Shari Shurtleff – 2,800 gallons per month. It looks like they fill up 4 – 6 times a month, if that gives you an idea. There’s 15 drivers. Councilman Scheffler – 15 drivers, 6 times a month? Shari Shurtleff – 4 – 6, depending on the bus. Gordon Klumpp – Certainly, the school wouldn’t expect the Town to incur any expenses. I guess the good news would be that we could upgrade the pump system. Supervisor Morey – Can you be willing that snowplows have a priority? Gordon Klumpp – They’re bigger. Town Board Meeting Page 8 of 13 November 14,2000 Councilman Scheffler – I’m wondering about the liability of it with fifteen more people pumping fuel, and also nothing against the Highway guys, but backing around with the grader or snowplow, what happens when we take all the windows out of a bus? Shari Shurtleff – I’m not sure. Councilman Scheffler – Well, I wonder if that’s going to raise our insurance and how much. Like, Rick has two guys fuel and you have one. Gordon Klumpp – We’ve never had that requirement. We don’t have a mechanism on the spigot where you can put it in and let it go. You have to hang on to it the whole time. At least that’s what we had before. I’m sure the Express Mart doesn’t have that either. I’ve noticed in the south they still have that clamp where you can put it in and leave, but up north they’ve gotten a little smarter. Anyway, it is just a thought. I’m hearing concerns, and they are legitimate concerns, but I thought at least this suggestion should come to the forefront. If not now, maybe another time or in another area, but the School and the Town and the Village should really try to get together even more, maybe, than we do. I know when I came to Groton I was really impressed with the cooperation between the three groups and that has been my experience over the years and maybe it could be even more so. You keep hearing that you should try to consolidate. We all have the same taxpayers. Supervisor Morey – I think it’s well worth it. You’d be willing to sign a contract, wouldn’t you, with us? Gordon Klumpp – Yes. Again, I’m just talking as a lame-duck superintendent, but the Board of Education has indicated that we should be looking into what we’re doing with fuel. Shari Shurtleff – I’d just like to make a point that Express Mart has worked very well with us and been cooperative. We certainly can keep going that way for awhile. It does concern us a little bit that it is kind of the only game in town for us so we don’t have a lot of control over the prices. So far it has been reasonable. We expected to pay 5-6 cents more to not have the liability and have the reports and that type of thing. I wouldn’t want you to think that we have a problem with Express Mart because we don’t. Councilman Scheffler – Have you gotten prices on fuel tanks? You talked about putting in new ones over here for everybody and I was wondering if you got any prices on them. Gordon Klumpp – I’d like to be able to come back with that later. I did get a price for underground tanks. It was $150,000. I know that I’ve heard prices that are a lot less than that. So, I have to have some understanding, I don’t know, maybe the engineer didn’t hear what I was saying, because he came back over the other day and we resurveyed for another program. But I am sure that it will be more than you would expect. I don’t have another firm price though. He did say that the above ground tanks when you put what you were talking about putting around it, are still pretty expensive. Councilman Scheffler – What did ours cost? It was only a few years ago. Councilman Sovocool – What did we pay for them, Rick? Town Board Meeting Page 9 of 13 November 14,2000 Richard Case – I walked in in the middle of that. The tanks were purchased and we were in the process of building a coverage over it. It seems like it was $10,000 budgeted for it. Clerk Pierson - $10,000 and $2,000….. $2,000 for the regular gas. Councilman Sovocool – I think that sounds like it. Councilman Scheffler – And then there was some extra money we spent for trim work and stuff. Richard Case – Well, I think there was money left over from the tank project that started the coverage of the tanks. Where we got into….. Councilman Sovocool – Well, I think you’d want to go with above ground tanks anyways, rather than below ground. They get you in a lot of trouble. Gordon Klumpp – I know. Richard Case – It’s a shame this didn’t take place five years ago because I think that it is a novel idea. Not only the School but the Village had a problem also. They still run an aeration system….. Gordon Klumpp – That’s one of the troubles, is the School has a problem in 1981, the Village has a problem in 1987, the Town has a problem in 1992. You know, it’s never been all together. So, maybe the next time somebody has a problem we can say, okay, let’s do it. Supervisor Morey – Any other questions of Gordon or Shari? Thanks for coming. I’ll get back to you. The next one is approval of Town of Groton 2001 Budget. Any discussion? RESOLUTION #79 – APPROVE TOWN OF GROTON 2001 BUDGET MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve the Town of Groton Budget for the fiscal year 2001 as presented. (Entire budget will be attached to Minute Book.) Town Board Meeting Page 10 of 13 November 14,2000 RESOLUTION #80 – APPROVE AUDIT OF 1999 FISCAL AFFAIRS MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Randall. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve the audit by Kirby, Beals, and Maier, Certified Public Accountants of the Town of Groton’s and the Groton Town Court’s fiscal affairs for the year 1999. Councilman Randall – I had a question, though, Glenn. There was $3,500 initially. The $700 is for the Court fee? Supervisor Morey – No, it was $3,700 for the audit and $500 for the Court. Councilman Randall – Okay, and did we approve that? Supervisor Morey – Well, I signed the approval letter not knowing that it was the $4,200. I thought it was, as you said, the $3,500 for the Town and $700 for the Court. I miss-wrote it. It was $3,700 for the Town and $500 for the Court. Councilman Randall – Okay, because I noticed the bill, it didn’t really say which was which. It was kind of vague. Supervisor Morey – Those two bills were progressive payments. $3,500 was a progress payment and then $700 was the final payment. I’ll get a response letter out to them next week to read too. th I got a letter last week, and I know the Board has a copy of it. It was the 30 of October. There is a lot of vacancies coming up on the County councils. In particular the Environmental Management st Council expires December 31; the Tompkins County Youth Board also expires December 31, 2001; and the Fire Disaster and EMS Advisory Board is expiring December 31, 2002. I have talked to a couple people about the Fire Disaster and EMS Advisory Board and I think those two positions are going to be filled. However, I do not have any candidates for the County Youth Board or the EMC. So, I am asking the Board that if you know anybody, please let me know. And I’d like to run an ad in the Shopper, at least, for any volunteers. Colleen, you got a copy of this, didn’t you? Clerk Pierson – Yes, I looked it up in the minute book and we appointed two people to the Fire Disaster and EMS Advisory Board in March of 1999 and their terms, in the minute book it says, 2002. So, according to that, they are still on there. Supervisor Morey – That’s right. I talked to Lee Shurtleff and he said that it might be a conflict of interest to represent the Town as well as the EMS. Clerk Pierson – Lee isn’t on this. Supervisor Morey – Who is? Town Board Meeting Page 11 of 13 November 14,2000 Clerk Pierson – Don Hatch is on the one for McLean as an alternate and Adam Buck is on the one from Groton as a delegate. Supervisor Morey – I thought at the organizational meeting last year we appointed Shurtleff and Willis. Clerk Pierson – I don’t know, but that’s what I found in the minute books. I’ll have to look it up again when I have time. Supervisor Morey – That’s all right. I don’t think we have to advertise the Fire, Disaster and EMS Advisory Board but I would like to put in the County Youth Board as well as the EMC. Also, I’d like to review the M&T Investment statement. There is no approval. But I’d like to review it and have everybody know that we do have investments. Now, I would like to go into executive session dealing with personnel with just the Board. May I have a motion? MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Randall to enter into Executive Session for personnel reasons at 8:10 P.M. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool to return to regular session at 8:40 P.M. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Clark, Morey. Supervisor Morey – Let the record show that there is no action taken in Executive Session. Announcements: 1)Tree Foresting – Rick talked about that. nd 2)Peg Palmer was elected 2 Vice President of the NYS Court Clerk Association. 3)Copies of NYS Audit response. 4)Groton Town Clerk’s Office Pamphlet created by April and Colleen. Thank you for doing such a nice job. ndth 5)Frank Satterly retirement party on Sat., Dec. 2, reservations in by Nov. 16. 6)Donations are being taken for a monument in honor of Terrence Graves, Groton resident killed in Vietnam War and awarded Medal of Honor. 7)January Organizational Meeting – Tyke looking into changes for official newspaper. Supervisor Morey – Any other changes that you can think of right now? Did you like the format that we had last year, like the first couple of days of January and then had our regular meeting? Or do you want to combine both of them this year? Town Board Meeting Page 12 of 13 November 14,2000 Councilman Sovocool – Might just as well combine them both. Consensus was to hold a combined meeting on January 9, 2001. th Supervisor Morey – Planning Board meeting will be held this Thursday on the 16 at 7:30 and Tyke, you are the representative for the Board. Fran did get a letter out to McKane, to the Judge and everybody got a copy of that. So, that is getting cleared up. th Municipal Officials Association Meeting will be December 5 at the Lehigh Valley House. And also New York City is coming up and everyone got an application for that. It will happen in February, so people can start planning on that. Clerk Pierson – Don’t forget though, that the Board has to authorize people to go. Everyone has been told. I give them reminder notices, but we just had one that didn’t get authorization from the Board. Supervisor Morey – Did the judges get authorized? Clerk Pierson – Yes, they did. Peg wrote a letter to the Board requesting that they go. Supervisor Morey – I don’t think we voted on that. Councilman Randall – I remember seeing the letter. Clerk Pierson - Yes,………..we did with them but not with Monica. I didn’t know that she had gone until we got the bill. Do you want me to remind them again? Supervisor Morey – Yes, please do. Shall we vote on that, for Monica’s? Clerk Pierson – It’s after the fact. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Clerk Pierson – You need approval to pay her bills, which you just did. I think maybe a memo for everyone…. Councilman Scheffler – Send it to everybody. Clerk Pierson – Yes. Supervisor Morey – That sounds good. Clerk Pierson – This is about dog enumeration. We budgeted $1,000 for it and I told you it would be around $2,500. We did a little figuring here: Town Board Meeting Page 13 of 13 November 14,2000 95 Dogs where vaccinated at the recent clinic held on October 19, 2000. 41 Dogs were from other towns. Of the 54 Dogs from the Town of Groton, 23 were unlicensed. This is 43 %. We have 1074 active licenses. If you consider that 40% of the total dogs in the Town of Groton are unlicensed, this would be 716 dogs. If we then estimate that 1/3 of these dogs are unaltered and 2/3 of them are altered, this would represent a total licensing fee of $9,064.00. It represents a loss to the Town of Groton of $6949.40. It also represents a loss to the County of $1400.00, and part of that is reimbursed to the Town at the end of the year if there are no dog damage claims filed. Spending $2500 – 3000 on an enumeration would more than pay for itself in just one year and over a three-year period could mean an income of $21,000.00 to the Town. There are a lot of unlicensed dogs out there and we really have to do something. I hate to bring it up because nobody likes the subject of dogs, but nobody is licensing them either. Councilman Sovocool – I didn’t think there was that many dogs in the Township. Clerk Pierson – We do catch those that go to our clinic because they come in, we look on the computer, and if they are not licensed, they get a notice to license their dog. They are usually trying to beat the licensing by going to the clinic. But they are wising up because we have done that for a long time. They are going to clinics in other towns. Councilman Clark – What can we do about it? Clerk Pierson – Do an enumeration, number one. Supervisor Morey – Can we get a Youth Worker next summer to start doing that? Clerk Pierson – You couldn’t ask a Youth Worker to do that. Those people are real difficult out there. Nobody wants that job. Our last one was done by the SPCA and they hired college students in the summer, and they hired four of them. They took our map and divided our Town into quarters and each one did a quarter. Councilman Sovocool – And how much did that cost us? Clerk Pierson - $2,500. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler at 8:50 P.M. Unanimous. Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk