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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-14-2002 Town Board Minutes Page 1 May 14, 2002 TOWN OF GROTON MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING – MAY 14, 2002, AT 7:30 PM Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Francis Casullo, Town Attorney Absent: Duane T. Randall II, Councilman Also present: Richard Case, Liz Brennan, George R. Senter, Sr., Kristin Strickland, Lyle Raymond, Jeff Lewis, John Lewis, Ayslin Lewis, April Scheffler MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the minutes of the April 9, April 15, and April 16, 2002 meetings as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the minutes of the April 30, 2002 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey General Fund Claim Numbers 111-147 of the in the amount of $19,261.46 were presented for audit. MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund Claim Numbers 71-97 of the in the amount of $42,232.41 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Clark, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Special Grant (HUD) Fund Claim Numbers 245-240 of the in the amount of $3,217.05 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the HUD bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey. Town Board Minutes Page 2 May 14, 2002 Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. There was no response. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper – You’ve got a list of the revenues and expenditures and bank balances to date. We do have a transfer. RESOLUTION # 56 – TRANSFER OF FUNDS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby approve the following transfer of funds: General Fund Town Wide: From: Contingency A1990.4………………………$205.70 To: Buildings, Equipment A1620.2…………….$205.70 (Laser Printer, Clerks Office $299.99) Supervisor Morey – One other question, Liz, municipal jobs for the summer help, we’re going to be voting on that tonight. It’s still a 50-50 fund, right? Liz Brennan – Right. George R. Senter, Sr., Code Enforcement Officer – We had 8 building permits issued in April. One was for a house, one for a manufactured house, and 6 others. Life Safety Inspections are all current through April. I mailed 46 letters on unlicensed vehicles and trash out in April that th should be cleaned up by May 26. At that time I will go back and check them with my Polaroid and we’ll go from there. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – I want to apologize for not making the last meeting. I certainly want to wish Colleen the best of luck in her retirement and congratulations to April on her appointment. At the present time the highway department is engaged in the equipment changeover from snow to spring and summer maintenance. The Chevrolet pick-up that was purchased on NYS bid was received. This vehicle is now licensed, insured, and has been placed in service. I have contacted Niagara Frontier Equipment in regard to the status of the new moving tractor. They have advised me that it has been built and they expect to see it in their shop by the end of May. Town Board Minutes Page 3 May 14, 2002 The Highway Department employees attended the US Department of Labor Mine and Health Safety course. This course requires 8 hours of classroom time. Cortland County Highway Department hosted this event and has my thanks for including us. Mark Kirchgraber attended an alcohol and drug seminar put on by our Tompkins County Consortium. During the last 2 months the Highway Department has been dedicated to tree and brush removal. Champlin Road, from Stevens Road to NYS Route 222 received a concentrated effort. Other roads containing dead trees have been targeted and trees removed, ClArk Street, Stevens Road, Elm Street, and Old Stage Road. For the record, this work was done by landowner request and/or approval. On the right-of-way maintenance subject, I have attended 3 meetings in the last th 2 months. One of these meetings was held on April 24 at the Ithaca Town Hall. The featured speaker, Daryl Harp, is the retired chief counsel for NYSDOT. Daryl now has his own private law practice and is a consultant to the NYS Association of Towns and an instructor for the Cornell Local Road Program. This is not my first meeting with Daryl on the right-of-way matter. I have set in on his classes at the highway superintendent schools and was invited to attend the prototype session on reducing liability for local highway officials. That Session resulted in the publishing of the most current workbook for the Cornell Road Program on this subject. The meeting was very informational and is something that we will deal with every day. At this meeting I was reminded, by listening to other towns, what a good working climate we have here in the Town of Groton. Maybe we always don’t agree but continue to work together through any situations that arise. I certainly appreciate the support you folks give the highway department. On some general announcements: 1) Tompkins County has postponed the Champlin Road bridge project for another year. I don’t see that as a big structural problem. 2) The Highway Department is currently on 10 hour days. 3) Mine reclamation is still taking place. The site has been visited but there has been no correspondence from DEC. RESOLUTION #57 – PERMISSION TO ATTEND HIGHWAY SCHOOL MOVE by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby grant permission for Richard Case, Highway Superintendent, to attend the Highway School at Cornell University in June of 2002. RESOLUTION #58 – PUT 1990 MODEL 4630 FORD TRACTOR OUT TO BID MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby approve that the 1990 Model 4630 Ford Tractor be placed out to bid with a minimum bid attached. Town Board Minutes Page 4 May 14, 2002 April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Submitted her monthly reports for the Board’s review. You all met Kristin Strickland tonight, who I appointed as my deputy clerk. She started her first day today. I think she will be quite an asset to the office. One of the other projects that I’m working on is I talked to the editor of the Groton Independent and I am going to be doing a weekly news item of what is happening in the Clerk’s Office and in the Town. George and I were talking today on some ideas that he would like to get into it too and just inform the people of some of the things going on. We were talking about the importance of having your house number either on your house or mailbox for 911. That was one of the ideas we had. That’s about it. Still trying to get organized. Now that I’ve got Kristin, we’re going to get organized. Supervisor Morey – Do we make resolution for Kristin? Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – What you do, that’s her appointment. Supervisor Morey – Right, I know that. Francis Casullo – I think what happens though is you have to make a resolution to set her compensation because her compensation is set by the Board. Clerk Scheffler - They already did that. Supervisor Morey – Okay, let’s make a resolution to make it official. How’s that? We did do that. RESOLUTION#59 – APPROVE APPOINTMENT OF KRISTIN STRICKLAND AS DEPUTY CLERK MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby accept Kristin Strickland as Deputy Town Clerk. Francis Casullo, Town Attorney – I talked to Glenn a couple weeks ago. I probably am going to be stepping back a bit from representing the Town. My partner, Jim Baranello is probably going to be doing more of the day-to-day questions and research. I may or may not, we’re still in the process of hammering out who’s going to be coming to the meetings. What happened is that we had a young lady who was our associate who left rather suddenly, in March, and there are four of us there and I am the youngest. When the associate leaves, who we were giving all our Town Board Minutes Page 5 May 14, 2002 work to, the criminal matters, the collections, the evictions, when she left I’ve sort of been trying to fill that void. My partners haven’t been doing the criminal stuff and I’m used to doing it as prosecutor. So, in trying to do all of that it’s making things a little difficult and one of the ways of trying to ease the load is picking and choosing the things that I am not going to be doing day- to-day. I’m not sure how long it’s going to go, but you are going to have coverage. You can call me. We are interviewing and trying to get another attorney in there. Supervisor Morey – Any questions for Fran? Councilman Sovocool – How about Diversified? Attorney Casullo – Last I was heard they were supposed to be moving up to Auburn. You heard the same thing. But I drove by today and it doesn’t look like they’re moving to me. I could maybe put in a phone call to them and find out what’s going on. They’ve usually been pretty good about returning a phone call. Arland Heffron & Alton Alexander, Town Justices – Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – Today our Summer Program brochures came out. They will be available all around Town and tell everything that Kristie has planned for the summer. Everybody in the Town of Groton should be getting a postcard, going in the mail today, so they’ll get it tomorrow, telling them where they can pick these up. We’re not going to mail them out because that would cost a fortune. They’re going to be in the Clerk’s Office, Village Clerk’s Office, stores around town and a few other places. We’re still hashing out some problems with the school but we’re confident we can get that straightened out. We have a meeting tonight. Supervisor Morey – It’s also advertised in the Shopper. Any questions for Don? We’re going to set a public hearing for a zoning change on Locke Road from Low Intensity Industrial to Rural Agriculture. Attorney Casullo – If I’m understanding, I’m looking at your zoning map, and we’re talking about Locke Road. I’m looking here and it’s in pink and it’s an “I” District. The Board apparently wants to resolve to eliminate a portion of the “I” District? George Senter – The whole thing, I understand. Attorney Casullo – So, you’re going to eliminate the only “I” District in the Town? Supervisor Morey – Fran, it turns out that even the only industrial plant down there cannot make any additions. George Senter – I don’t think it’s a good area for an industrial zone anyways, in my opinion. Attorney Casullo – So it’s going to eliminate the entire industrial zone for that section. Town Board Minutes Page 6 May 14, 2002 Supervisor Morey – Yes. George Senter – The Planning Board is, as we speak, going over the Comprehensive Plan. They should address this whole thing. Attorney Casullo – I know that because that straddles the Cayuga County Line and the State highway, something has to be referred to County Planning, which is going to make this problematic because you probably want to do this by local law. That’s what your resolution is going to have to be that you want to adopt a local law that is essentially going to eliminate the industrial district on Locke Road and turn that into Rural Agricultural. George Senter – Which is what it was prior to 1996. Attorney Casullo – Oh, yeah, I’m well aware of that. Before 1995. RESOLUTION #60 – TOWN BOARD DESIRES TO ELIMINATE LOW INTENSITY INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby desire to pass a local law amending the Town of Groton Land Use & Development Code specifically to eliminate the Low Intensity Industrial District currently located on Locke Road and establish the area as Rural Agricultural. RESOLUTION #61 – SET PUBLIC HEARING DATE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby set a Public Hearing date of June 11, 2002 at 7:45 PM at the Town Hall on Conger Boulevard regarding the adoption of Local Law #1 for the Town of Groton for the year 2002, which would amend the Town of Groton Land Use & Development Code to eliminate the Low Intensity Industrial District currently located on Locke Road. Town Board Minutes Page 7 May 14, 2002 RESOLUTION #62 – REFER LOCAL LAW TO COUNTY PLANNING MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board intends to refer a copy of the proposed Local Law #1 for the Year 2002 to the Tompkins County Planning Department as well as other pertinent local and state agencies for their comments. RESOLUTION #63 – DECLARE TOWN OF GROTON AS LEAD AGENCY FOR SEQRA PURPOSES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby declare the Town of Groton as Lead Agency for the purpose of the State Environmental Quality Review regarding the proposed Local Law #1 for the Year 2002. Discussion took place with Jeff Lewis concerning the procedure for adopting the local law and the timeframe involved RESOLUTION #64 – SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR REAL PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby set a public hearing date of June 11, 2002 at 8:00PM for the purpose of real property tax exemptions. RESOLUTION #65 – HIRE SUMMER YOUTH WORKERS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board does herebyauthorize the hiring of three Summer Youth Workers at the rate of $5.15 per hour. Town Board Minutes Page 8 May 14, 2002 Supervisor Morey – Last month Norma Jayne came to talk to us a little bit about the Tompkins County communication project from the town courts. They asked us to pass a resolution. RESOLUTION #66 – AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TOMPKINS COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey WHERAS, the County of Tompkins and the Town of Groton entered into an agreement that the police will share a New York State-developed program known as Spectrum Justice System (SJS) and the courts will share the Court Information Networking System (CINS) and WHEREAS, the County shall act as the lead agency to manage each phase of the Data Communication project, and WHEREAS , the County accepts responsibility as lead agency to enter into certain contracts to effectively complete this project and present a feasibility report be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Groton does hereby authorize the local Court and Police Agency to participate in the Tompkins County Communication Project and be it further RESOVLED that a copy of this resolution shall be sent to the Tompkins County Administration Office. RESOLUTION #67 – APPROVE RECREATION PARTNERSHIP AGGREEMENT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby accept the agreement for the Intermunicipal Cooperative Recreation Partnership, to remain in force from January 1, 2002 until December 31, 2006. Supervisor Morey – We have the M&T investment letter to review. Fran, we did also make a public hearing for the tax exemptions. Attorney Casullo – Don’t you need a local law for that too? Normally, that’s what we used to do with tax exemptions, we used to do it by local law. Town Board Minutes Page 9 May 14, 2002 RESOLUTION #68 – RESCIND RESOLUTION #64 – PUBLIC HEARING ON TAX EXEMPTIONS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board does hereby rescind Resolution #64 – SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR REAL PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS and tables further discussion until a later date. Announcements: st  1 Quarter Sales Tax Report  Letter from Time Warner  Road Rights of Way Letter th  Town of Groton Planning Board meeting May 16 at 7:30 PM  Vital Communities Letter (Also gave Fran a copy for his legal review and was hoping George Totman would come to talk about it)  Dryden Central School Negative Declaration SEQRA letter  Letter from Governor concerning International Building Codes st  Grievance Day is May 21, 3-6 PM st  Municipal Officials Meeting- May 21, 7 PM, Lehigh Valley House  Thank you letter from Colleen Pierson  McLean Road Project set back to starting date of April, 2005. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Clark, at 8:43. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk