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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-10-2001 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, JULY 10, 2001, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Francis Casullo, Town Attorney Absent: Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Also present: Richard Case, Mark Gunn, April Scheffler, Erika Busch. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Randall, to approve the minutes of the June 12, 2001 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. General Fund Claim Numbers 167-187 of the in the amount of $5,740.42 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 109-127 of the in the amount of $14,132.28 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Randall, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Number 208 of the in the amount of $8,212.84 was presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman , seconded by Councilman , to approve the HUD bill for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. No one wished to speak. Town Board Meeting Page 2 of 15 July 10, 2001 Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper – Absent April L. Scheffler, Deputy Clerk – Had nothing special to report from the Town Clerk’s Office. Colleen Pierson, the Town Clerk was on vacation. Supervisor Morey – Have we hired anybody for the summer employment? April Scheffler – We are going to hire Niki Randall again. She worked for us last year. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – The Highway Department is on our annual vacation shutdown. Before that, everything has been mowed; the roadside has been mowed one time. Obviously, when we get back we will have to start over. Sovocool Hill project is moving right along. Maybe by the next meeting we’ll have that section rd paved. That’s tentative for the week of July 23. Governor Pataki has secured emergency authorization releasing our CHIPS money of $53,483. That’s about it. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Rick? Mark D. Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer – Building permits are booming. I have 19 this year. Compared to last year, I had 9. I have 4 homes. Last year I had 2. I’ve got 3 mobile homes. Last year I had 1. And I’ve got 12 other projects, pools, garages, additions, that sort of thing. Last year I had 6. So, that sort of thing is busting. Life Safety Inspections are current. And running smoothly. Just real busy. Councilman Sovocool – No problems? Mark Gunn – Not so far. Have you heard anything? Councilman Sovocool – Nope. Mark Gunn – Any complaints? Anybody got any complaints? It’s real busy, but things are quiet. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Any questions? Comments? Good. Fran? Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – I’m going to give you a copy of a letter that Mark gave the former supervisor back in ’99 on the Coit property on Lick Street. I think Mark would agree that it still needs to be torn down. I guess the time has come that I can start moving on this with some good speed, but it’s going to require that we follow a local law that was established in 1978. You have Mark’s report. I would need a resolution from the Board to start the notice requirement, to whoever is the responsible party now on that property, that they either get the building up to shape or they have to tear it down. And if they don’t, the Town is going to have to Town Board Meeting Page 3 of 15 July 10, 2001 tear it down and incur the cost onto the tax roll. Normally this is like a litigation action that would be charged outside of the retainer, but I just need to get the go-ahead to start the process of following the local law and the state law to do something with this building. On another prong, either I or somebody who knows the Fire Chief, because the Fire Department has also been concerned about this property, who happens to be a cousin of these individuals, and maybe if we could have an informal meeting between some people amongst this family and maybe figure out an easier way to handle this property short of litigation. But I just need some guidance from the Board on how they want to proceed. I am sure Mark feels the same way. Supervisor Morey – The work will be covered under the retainer, right? Attorney Casullo – Well, yes, I mean up until the point when, I mean I can probably go to the point of, and I am reading here, that if you give me a resolution tonight that you will order that this building be repaired or demolished. Then I can send a notice, and then if they refuse to comply, then we will be heading into the litigation aspect. Supervisor Morey – And since the gentleman is deceased, what do we do? Attorney Casullo – Well, at I think at this point we have to notice the relatives or siblings. I also understand that there is a DSS lien, Tompkins County lien on the property. I have spoken, a couple of years ago, with the County Attorney who said they wouldn’t step in the way of us trying to do whatever we could do with this property. I guess tonight what I need is some guidance from you that you are going to accept Mark’s report and by resolution tell me that you want to order this building unsafe and that you want me start the process according to the local law that you adopted in 1978 to give these people notice that they have to repair the building or demolish it. Then maybe we can talk, or somebody who knows Lester Coit better than me, and talk to his relatives to see if there is a way around all of this and we can just simply put an end to all of this. It’s been hanging for a couple of years and I think we need to do something. I want to get going on it. I don’t like leaving it loose. Supervisor Morey – Who is the actual owner? DSS or….? Attorney Casullo – I believe it’s his estate. His estate owns it. Supervisor Morey – And is it in probate? Attorney Casullo – I don’t know. That’s where I would have to start as far as the notice goes. Supervisor Morey – Comments? Questions? Councilman Sovocool – I’m in favor of doing what we have to get rid of it. I went by there the other day and it is an eyesore. Councilman Scheffler – I feel the same way. We should let Fran research it and see what’s the best way to go and go with it. Councilman Sovocool – If the firemen can burn it that’s one fast way to get rid of it. Town Board Meeting Page 4 of 15 July 10, 2001 Councilman Scheffler – I know the guy that takes care of it, the son I guess it is, and he’s pretty reasonable most of the time. So, I think that if you sat down and talked with him and if he has the authority to do anything about it. Councilman Sovocool – All’s we’re interested in is the house, right? We’re not interested in the property or………. Attorney Casullo – No, we just want the house down. Councilman Randall – I’m in agreement with that. Supervisor Morey – Will we have to get a release from DSS? Attorney Casullo – Yes. At this point what I would have to do is put everyone properly on notice. But once we figure out what we are going to do and everybody is in agreement, then I can talk with the County Attorney and I am sure they are not going to mind us doing what we need to do. In any event I need a resolution from the Board indicating that you have received Mark’s report and consider the building to be such that it either needs to be repaired or demolished. RESOLUTION #46 - ORDER DEMOLITION OF COIT PROPERTY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board of the Town of Groton upon review of the report presented to them by Mark D. Gunn, Code Enforcement Officer, pertaining to the Coit property located at 924 Lick Street and in accordance with Section 4, Investigation and Report, of Local Law No. 1 of the Year 1978 entitled Unsafe Buildings Law that the Town Board has found said property to be unsafe and dangerous. And be it further RESOLVED , that pursuant to Section 5, Town Board Order, of Local Law No. 1 of the Year 1978, the Town Board does hereby order the demolition and removal of said property and that notice be served upon the appropriate individual(s). Supervisor Morey – Do you want to do that Better Homes lien disposition? Attorney Casullo – Yes, I saw that letter. It looks like the property must have had some HUD money about five years ago that was given to this couple. They were an elderly couple and are both now deceased and the daughter is trying to sell the property. Normally, if you sell within five years there is a percentage penalty that decreases over time. Now, apparently, they are in the 20% penalty range because the five years doesn’t expire until October of this year. She’s asking that since there are only four months left and her parents are deceased that there be some consideration the Town could give in waving the penalty so that they can sell the property. Since Town Board Meeting Page 5 of 15 July 10, 2001 Better Housing is the one who sent the letter indicating that they are asking us will we consider releasing the lien I don’t see that it’s a problem. Councilman Sovocool – I don’t see a problem. Councilman Scheffler – I don’t have a problem with it either. RESOLUTION #47 – LIEN DISPOSITION – DOUGLAS & DONNA WILSON MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey. RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve the early release of the lien against the property of the Douglas and Donna Wilson Estate, Tax Map #121.-1-6.2, for work done under the HUD grant, with the approval of the proper authorities. Supervisor Morey – You are going to check with the proper authorities, right Fran? You’re going to check with the Feds? Attorney Casullo – Yes. Supervisor Morey – In your packet that was handed out tonight you have a report from the Town Court, Dewey Dawson and Arland. They could not attend tonight. Any questions on that? Last month Colleen asked us to look into raising senior citizens’ and disabled residents’ tax exemptions. The disabled residents don’t have a tax exemption in the Town of Groton. I don’t believe they have one anywhere in Tompkins County. So, our direct information I want us to discuss this night is about the senior citizens’ exemption. In your packet, from the Assessment Department, I got everything that’s happening in Tompkins County. Across the top is the school districts and along the side is the villages and towns of Tompkins County. You also have there something that I worked out that bases your decision on what we will do, titled Senior Exemption Proposed Options, one with 0-18,500 and one with 0-17,500. I’ll go into a little bit about it in a second. You also got something from the web site of the Office of Real Property Services, examples of what is throughout New York State. They give some examples of what it is. They tell you the min/max of everything you have. The maximum is unlimited. It’s basically up to the towns and villages across the state. The maximum base is 20,500. That’s all regulation. I also have another thing about questions and a summary of what the law says. It is ten pages and anybody who would be more than happy to do this, it is also on the website that you can go through. I decided that I didn’t want to make any more copies because I think I killed three trees doing just what it is. A couple things about this, I mean we can discuss this next month and make a decision next month if you want to. First of all would the procedure be a referendum or a resolution, Fran? And Louie, was this a resolution back in ’94? Councilman Sovocool – I believe it was a resolution. Town Board Meeting Page 6 of 15 July 10, 2001 Attorney Casullo – About tax changes? I’ve always seen them done mostly by local law. Supervisor Morey – Okay, so it would be a resolution, or, what do we have to go through with local law? Councilman Sovocool – We had hearings. I believe we had a public hearing on it. Attorney Casullo – Normally you have to with a local law. You have to call the County before you adopt it. Supervisor Morey – Can we get this in before 2002 or do we have to wait a year? Attorney Casullo – That’s something I’d have to do some research on, but as far as passing the local law there is no problem. You can have it certainly before 2002. I think the question becomes, and we’d have to talk to the Real Property Tax, to see if there is any requirement. I know with the Veterans’ exemption, because we did it in a couple other towns, that certain things st had to be done before December 31 of a particular year and it had to be on the books by March. Just going to have to check to see. I can do some research on it. Supervisor Morey – April, can you help me? How many people receive the exemption right now? April Scheffler, Deputy Town Clerk – I have no idea. Quite a few, I would say. Supervisor Morey – Okay, we’re going to have to find out that and just basically find out what it will do to the bottom line for the budget, or the impact on the budget. Councilman Sovocool – That’s right. Supervisor Morey – Another thing, I talked to Chuck Rankin this morning from the Village and he’s planning to change his rates this fall. As you can see that we are one of the lowest, the second lowest in the County, or third lowest in the County, except that Freeville has an exemption of $7,200, which is the lowest. The program has not been reviewed since 1994. That is the oldest. What I really need to know from you guys is what the base and ceiling should be. What’s your feelings on it? The base can’t be more that 20,500 and the ceiling in the County, the most is 28,400. Some of the quick things about the spreadsheet that you have there, Newfield is at 18,500; Dryden, City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Lansing, Ulysses and T-burg are at 20,500 for the base; and the County’s at 20,000 for the base. The Village of Groton base is at 17,500. The Town of Groton School system is at 16,500, just exactly what the Groton Town is too. Any questions, conversations, or any discussion? What are your feelings? Should we even review it or should we…? Councilman Scheffler – It think we ought to review it, and I’d like to see what each, like 18,000 or 20,000 does to the tax situation. See if we can afford to do it, too. Could we get a spreadsheet of what’s going to happen at each level? Supervisor Morey – Colleen would have to come up with that, but I’m sure she’s been very cooperative with all the information I’ve asked for. We’ve got some great information from her. April Scheffler – You want to know everybody in Town who gets an exemption? Town Board Meeting Page 7 of 15 July 10, 2001 Supervisor Morey – No, no, just give me, you know like 50 % of the population as decreased by such and such. April Scheffler – I don’t know if we would have that information or if you would have to go to the Assessment Department. Supervisor Morey – Yeah, you probably could. Councilman Scheffler – I think it’s worth looking into. Councilman Randall – Yeah, I think it’s important to see where we stand. You must have new census information too, that maybe would shed some light too on where the mean is as far as income. Supervisor Morey – Plus, Tyke brought up a great topic, the census. You have a census report in there too. It’s not the final, but it’s a pretty good one. Louie? Councilman Sovocool – I think it needs looking into. Supervisor Morey – Okay. Should we also look into the Veterans’ Exemption? I think we did that last year didn’t we? Councilman Sovocool – Yeah, I think we ought to look into that too. Supervisor Morey – And disabled? Okay. Councilman Sovocool – It’s going to hurt you in your tax base, real good. That’s why, I think, we left this at 16,000 or only raised it to that last time we did it. Of course it may have changed over the years. I think it definitely needs looking into. Councilman Scheffler – We also need to look at down the road how many people are going to be claiming it. If 90% of the Town turns 65 next year, we’re hurting. Supervisor Morey – What kind of information do you need to make an educated decision on it? What do you need? What would you like? Councilman Sovocool – I would say the percentage of your taxpayers that are, of course all of your taxpayers are not going to apply for it or going to be eligible for it. Attorney Casullo – I can tell you this. Over in Cortland County, last year over in Virgil, we did the Veterans’ exemption and we were able to get from the County’s Real Property Tax unit a breakdown, an estimate, if you did it at this percentage, if you did it at this percentage, if you did it at this percentage. They were able to give a breakdown that was better than just a guess. It was an educated estimate. Councilman Sovocool – I think probably your Assessment could do that for you. Attorney Casullo – Yes, they could come with something for you. Town Board Meeting Page 8 of 15 July 10, 2001 April Scheffler – They have those figures in their in their computer and they can manipulate them, where we can’t. We can’t manipulate what we have. Attorney Casullo – That’s right. Councilman Randall – That would be the first place to start, definitely. Supervisor Morey – And with the local law it would be at least 30 days before we can…? Attorney Casullo – Normally, for an example, get your research done in August, introduce the local law in September, have your public hearing in October and adopt it that day, and you would have the local law done in October. You’ve got plenty of time providing that there are no statutory requirements. Do you have enough time to do a local law within the year? Absolutely. And I will look into the other things. Supervisor Morey – And the people who do have computers, the website is listed on the top of your page. You can visit that. It’s a monster and you can get a lot of information on that. Any other questions? Comments? I called the County tax collection department last week and was discussing about the sales tax issue. What I usually like to do is every summer bring this to your attention that we do not collect sales tax at all. It goes back to the Town taxes which is very good. But over the last couple years things have been neglected, like the roof and carpets and furniture and computers and things like that. And this is money that is owed to us. It is our money. And a lot of people have said that the burden on the Town taxpayers would be pretty bad, but what I would like to do is propose taking up to 10% of the sales tax to get the immediate needs of the Town first where it wouldn’t come out of the taxpayers money so much. Councilman Sovocool – That would leave 90% of it still in there to go…? Supervisor Morey – Umm-hmm. Councilman Sovocool – I could go along with that. Councilman Scheffler – It’s all right with me. Councilman Randall – Yeah, give it a try. I honestly don’t feel real comfortable where that puts us on the tax roll. I don’t understand it enough to know that, honestly. Councilman Sovocool – All that’s going to do is that’s going to increase the people outside the Village tax rate more. Councilman Randall – So, I’m doing myself a real favor. Councilman Sovocool – You’re doing yourself a favor, yeah. But 10% shouldn’t hurt you that much. Councilman Randall – Well, if Don can live with it I can I guess. Town Board Meeting Page 9 of 15 July 10, 2001 Councilman Scheffler – I think we have to realize that it’s still coming out of the same pockets. It will help on one end hurt on….theoretically our County taxes will go up, right? Supervisor Morey – Umm-hmm. Councilman Scheffler – Town taxes will go down and County taxes will go up. Councilman Sovocool – County taxes is where it’s going to hit you. Councilman Scheffler – Be heroes for year. Councilman Sovocool – You may not be heroes. It may keep you steady. Councilman Randall – There’s definitely things that need to be done. The roof definitely needs to be looked into. It’s a good place to get the money. Where else we going to get it right at this point? Supervisor Morey – My concern is tomorrow or in the winter the roof’s going to collapse or do something like that and there isn’t going to be anything there for us. We’ve gotten Rick on the road to recovery, shall we say. I don’t think we’re going to have significant purchases next year like he had this year. So, I think we now have to concentrate on the physical plant here because this is the main place for the Town. It represents the Town. Colleen is sitting behind a desk that was probably boughten when she first got here. Isn’t that right, April? April Scheffler – Well, I think she only had a card table when she started. RESOLUTION #48 – TAKE UP TO 10% OF SALES TAX REVENUES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey WHEREAS, the Town of Groton receives a County Sales Tax Credit from Tompkins County on an annual basis; and WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Groton believes that a portion of said sales tax credit could be used by the Town to pay for various repairs/maintenance that are needed at the Town Hall/Highway Garage; therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton take a cash payment of up to ten percent (10%) of its Sales Tax Credit from Tompkins County for the year 2001 to make repairs/maintenance to the Town Hall/Highway Garage. Town Board Meeting Page 10 of 15 July 10, 2001 Supervisor Morey – We also got a letter from Van Travis, and the Town Planning Board does know about this because he called Monica, for his resignation. And we need to accept this resignation. I will get a letter out to him and thank him very much. RESOLUTION #49 – ACCEPT RESIGNATION OF VAN TRAVIS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Randall, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby accept, with regrets, the resignation of Van Travis from the Town of Groton Planning Board. Supervisor Morey – What we’ll be doing now is advertising for a position; having the Town Planning Board interview them; also invite the Town Board to sit in on those interviews; and have them make the decision to present it to us for acceptance. It worked out pretty good last time and I think we will do it again this time. April Scheffler – Do you want us to go ahead with the advertisement? Do you want to put a deadline on it? Supervisor Morey – September. April Scheffler – Before the September Planning Board Meeting? th Supervisor Morey – We can have them in by August 15. John Anderson property, what’s going on? Mark Gunn – I had a meeting with Pastor Richardson, the Assembly of God Church down on South Main where John is a member of, and I’m trying to think of the lady from Office of the Aging. Lorraine, is that her name? Supervisor Morey – I think so. Mark Gunn – We had a meeting with her and Pastor Richardson because they were presenting him with the letter that I wrote saying that he basically has to be out of there, I think I put down the end of September. He’s not going to make it there another winter with the water and heating problems, foundation problems and stuff like that. So, they presented him with that. He got upset and said he wasn’t going to be leaving the house. He’d go out feet first in a pine box. So, from there, I don’t know. They’re worried that something is going to happen to him by him being taken out of the house. They kind of geared themselves towards the fact that they still wanted to get a singlewide mobile home in there for just him, not the family that was suspected to be in there. But in my conversation with David Mountain, he’s looking for a singlewide mobile home in the $1,000 range. I don’t know if that is going to be any better off for him than what he’s in now. Town Board Meeting Page 11 of 15 July 10, 2001 Supervisor Morey – Basically Mr. Mountain is looking for a donation. I think the $1,000 is going to go for the pad and other things like that too. Mark Gunn – I approached him with a home that was being pulled off a lot right up in the West Groton area and it was going for $10,000 and it probably could have been negotiated with the mobile home company for the move because they only had to go down the road about a mile. He specifically stated $10,000 was too much. They had $1,000 to spend on a mobile home. I guess Pastor Richardson was going to speak with the Board and get their feelings on the lien the Town has on the property. A lot of the agencies will not give any kind of grant money from $40 to $1,000, they won’t touch it if there’s a lien on it. So, I see it going absolutely nowhere. I see something happening in September where he’s got to go. Councilman Scheffler – Tyke and I have talked to Pastor Richardson some and there’s, John has offered to put up some money. Apparently he’s come up with $1,000. He was interested in maybe putting a mobile home in there and leaving what was there. That was kind of the suggestion made to Tyke and I, and was it possible to render that building uninhabitable without having to tear it down? But I see problems with that too. It’s unsafe to be in. Mark Gunn – Yeah. Technically, it’s uninhabitable now and he’s living in it. I can see him moving into a singlewide and I can see family members moving into the house out front. I don’t know. I’m going to say that it should be taken down once he’s into another place, whether it’s on that property or whether it’s someplace else. He’s going to go in there and be working someday and that house is coming off the foundation because the foundation under it is falling in. And he’ll be in there working someday and the place will fall in whether it’s snow load or whatever. There’s like no R-factor in any of the walls or ceilings so the snow’s not staying on it all that much. You turn the heat off in there completely and there’s a snow load, the place is going to come down. Councilman Scheffler – There was also some discussion of maybe getting some donations from outside these agencies, to do it without releasing the lien. Then the Town will still control the property some. Mark Gunn – The Pastor was going to try to get some type of community involvement but I don’t know where that will go or how long it will take. I see a huge liability with the Town being up there, seeing the condition of the place, seeing the physical condition of Mr. Anderson. I see a liability that if something is not done to force the issue to make him leave that place by winter and something happens to him, his family members, who don’t want a thing to do with him, are going to be down our backs with a lawsuit if something happens to him with us knowing the condition of the property and physical condition of Mr. Anderson. That’s why I put the letter out. I feel it’s a liability to the Town if it continues to go on for another five or ten years like it has been, especially when the whole Board and myself were up there and saw the conditions along with Tompkins County Community Action, DSS, and everybody else. We’d be the first target in a lawsuit if something happens. Supervisor Morey – Tyke. Councilman Randall – Oh, boy. Wearing too many hats on this one. I guess Don and I did discuss it with Pastor and John coming up with the money and our help, not the Town’s help but the community’s help, but that was sort of contingent on whether we could leave the house there. Town Board Meeting Page 12 of 15 July 10, 2001 I don’t know if we could raise the extra money to have that demolished or not. But it sounds like that’s not really an alternative. Mark Gunn – I’ve sighted people and had people in Court for lesser things. To allow that to stay there with sheds full of trash and garbage is disrespectful to the rest of the people who keep their properties up in the Town who do it when I send a letter of violation out and they go right out and they clean it up. If we let this one go….. Attorney Casullo – Is the issue that he doesn’t want to leave there, just refuses to leave the house, there’s nowhere to put him? Councilman Randall – Yeah, he’s not really up on the idea of moving to senior housing or anything like that. He has never asked for anything up there and he’s very independent, still very independent yet. His health has failed a lot in the last year. I have gotten to know him and he’s fallen so many times up there that one of these times he’s just not going to get up. I don’t know, he’s very proud. Councilman Scheffler – Very proud and it’s his castle, whether we think of it as that or not. Attorney Casullo – I’m just thinking out loud, but is there a way that possibly community development funds could be used to put something like a trailer up there and then we demolish the house? We pay to demolish the house with community development funds? Supervisor Morey – We don’t have any. Attorney Casullo – You’ve got to have some. Councilman Sovocool – The only thing, if you put anything up there that’s bigger than a singlewide, he’s going to have them….. Attorney Casullo – No, I mean it’s got to be a singlewide. Get him in there where it’s habitable and then you get rid of the building. Councilman Sovocool – What about the other buildings? Attorney Casullo – I think, to be honest with you, get rid of the house and you’ve got rid of a lot of the problem, right? Mark Gunn – About a third of it. Councilman Sovocool – About a third is all. Mark Gunn – He’s got about 90 to 100 foot up a hedgerow an old trailer and a shed that is from top to bottom garbage bags. Attorney Casullo – Yeah, but you couldn’t live in them. Mark Gunn – No. Town Board Meeting Page 13 of 15 July 10, 2001 Attorney Casullo – You could always deal with them later. But as far as him living in a trailer, you’ve got a trailer and you get rid of the house, you’ve taken care of the habitability problem. Mark Gunn – Right. Attorney Casullo – And the other things you can deal with. I’m just thinking out loud. I don’t know. Supervisor Morey – What are we obligated legally by? Attorney Casullo – Well, I think the question becomes, I think, Mark is somewhat correct. I think we’ve got to get to the point here where the property either be cleaned up or he can’t be allowed to go back in. You can’t allow him to go back into that property. My concern is, and Louie knows, is this property would now be on its third time being cleaned up. We just can’t keep…and I agree with Mark, it’s not fair to the other Town residents that we keep doing this. So, I think that somebody has got to make this clear that the house is not habitable. Councilman Sovocool – Them people from the County and all that that was up there, they know that. Attorney Casullo – What I don’t understand is there’s got to be some funds available to somebody in this situation. Supervisor Morey – There is. There’s Office of the Aging, Dave Mountain’s group, and DSS. And this is what was offered at $1,000 for the trailer. Councilman Scheffler – There’s other funds available but not with the Town’s lien against it. Attorney Casullo – Maybe we can talk about the Town’s lien if there’s other funds available so that they can get this guy a house and allow somebody to take care of this property. Supervisor Morey – We have told the Office of Aging and Dave Mountain’s group that we would discuss it further and nothing’s come back at all. Attorney Casullo – I’d be more than willing to meet if you want to meet with some people. Supervisor Morey – He’s a very shy person. ey Casullo Attorn– John? I know. When we were trying to clean it up somewhat back in the early 90’s to mid 90’s, when I was an associate, I met with him a couple of times. We at least made some headway about cleaning, remember the whole junk issue? We made some headway cleaning that up. Then it just sort of died off. Mark is saying that if it’s this bad you have him in there for his own safety. Councilman Randall – I’d say as a Town Board our obligation is to uphold what we have passed as zoning laws, period. Like I said, I’m torn between being a community member and a friend too, but as far as our obligation as a Town Board, I think we need to, you know, we established those laws, those zoning laws. We need to stick by them or they are worthless. I hate to say that but I just feel that if it’s meant to be that he’s meant to stay there after that point then the community will respond and come up with some money to do that. Right at this point, Town Board Meeting Page 14 of 15 July 10, 2001 but our, I mean, as far as the Town Board itself, we’re here, we gave Mark a job to do and he has to do it. Attorney Casullo – I’ll tell you this, Tyke, ….. if you want to set up a meeting and you want me to attend, I’ll be more than willing to try to facilitate something here so we get some resolution to this fairly quickly. Supervisor Morey – What we’re going to do right now, I’m going to stop and see Pastor Richardson and talk to him about it and get everything laid on the table of what we’re going to have to do, get some kind of action plan that we can do this by at least the end of September. I’ll come back to the Board on August and let you make the decision on what the final say is going to be. Any other comments? Councilman Scheffler – What about releasing the lien if certain things are meant. Supervisor Morey – That’s what we’ll do. I’ll bring it back. I’ll talk to Pastor Richardson, come up with an action plan, and come back to you guys to make the decision what you want to do and what we discuss. In fact, we can have Mr. Richardson here. Could that be part of an executive session litigation? Attorney Casullo – Yes…… Supervisor Morey – Okay. Thank you. Announcements and Correspondence: th July 17, Municipal Officials Meeting Copy of McLean Community Council Minutes List of roadwork in McLean – tentative date of Fall 2002 for completion. Information on year 2000 population totals. Town of Groton increased 5.7%. th Overview of Terrance Graves Memorial Dedication, July 7. It was an exceptional tribute ending with a 21-gun salute, Taps, and fly-over by a Cobra helicopter. Wreath was place on memorial by Supervisor Morey and Mayor Toolan on behalf of all the citizens of Groton who passed away in wars. Groton Old Home Days – August 16, 17 & 18. Flea market will be in Town Barns. Copy of Owasco Lake Management Plan. th Groton Businessmen’s Association Annual Golf Day and Picnic, Wednesday, July 25. Town Board Meeting Page 15 of 15 July 10, 2001 Copy of a letter from Senator James Stewart to Robert Bulman, Director NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation supporting our 2001 Small Cities Development Block Grant Program application. Letter from Don Barber, Supervisor of Town of Caroline, wanting to form a group to promote better understanding and communication between the towns and Tompkins County. Copy of letter from Board of Representatives to Mary Russell, Deputy Supervisor Town of Ithaca, regarding possible compromise procedures that would allow the telecommunications towers project to move forward without the necessity of immediately seeking a court determination as to whether the County is subject to the land-use and telecommunications laws of the local municipalities. September discussions will include tax exemptions and indemnification clauses. Supervisor Morey – One more thing: the teller window. Where I am on the teller window. Last month you asked me to get in contact with Mike Fahey from ADT who was our sales representative. I was told by George Senter and Bill Stewart, who is the State Code Enforcement Officer, I didn’t stop with George, I went one step further, and the window blind is fine. It’s fireproof and everything like that. But it has to be tied into our alarm system so if the thing’s up when everybody’s gone you can’t close the doors. Mike has called Senter, George Senter, to find out exactly what they have, and I’m still waiting for Mike to get back to me. So, basically, what it’s going to be is a magnetic switch that you’ll have to close it so they can turn on the alarm system. I also asked Mr. Stewart why Town of Lansing had windows without any fire suppression on them whatsoever. They have a sprinkler system. We do not. So, that’s one of the reasons, so. So, as soon as we get going, we just know where everything should go, but we have to get approvals and it will take a little longer. Any other comments, questions, discussions? There being no other business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:22 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Deputy Town Clerk