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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-08-2005 TOWN OF GROTON – MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING PUBLIC HEARING – 2005 SMALL CITIES GRANT TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2005 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman Richard B. Gamel, Councilman Francis Casullo, Attorney for the Town Also present: Dewey Dawson, John Norman, Jean True, Duane Randall, Brian Buttner, David Christofferson, Gary Pai, Rosemarie Tucker, Stacey Crawford, Christopher Dempsey, Alberta Thompson, Lewis Thompson, Olivia Nellums, Martin Shapiro, Stacie Crawford, Gary Coats, April Scheffler. PUBLIC HEARING ON 2005 SMALL CITIES GRANT The Public Hearing on the 2005 Small Cities Grant Application was opened at 7:00 PM. The Public Notice was read by the Town Clerk, which was duly published in the Town’s legal paper, the Groton Independent, on February 2, 2005. Stacie Crawford, Director of Better Housing for Tompkins County – We are here tonight to present information on the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). It’s a Federal program that provides money for different housing and community development related things. In 2000 the Governor’s Office for Small Cities of New York State assumed responsibility for the small cities component of the CDBG Program. The primary objective of the CDBG program is the development of viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. There are a number of goals associated with the program. They are concerned with things like the elimination of slums and blight; elimination of conditions which are detrimental to health, safety and public welfare; expansion and improvement of community services; and a number of other things. Consistent with the objective, the grant money that is made available is for a number of things. Communities can apply for projects in one of the following areas: housing rehabilitation, homeownership, construction of housing, public facilities, microenterprise or economic development. Or a community can apply for a comprehensive program which would combine two or more of the activities if they were related in some way. Single purpose grants can provide funds for any one of those purposes. It can be an activity or set of activities designed to meet a specific community development need, like housing. There is scoring that the Governor’s Office for Small Cities Town Board Minutes Page 2 February 8, 2005 goes through on their annual application rounds, which is right now. The State has approximately $52 million in CDBG funds available for the program year. They plan on having about 60% of that go to housing, public facilities and microenterprise awards and 35% going to economic development and the rest going to things like imminent threat, administration, technical assistance and things like that. The maximum grant amount that a municipality the size of the town can apply for is $400,000 for housing and public facilities. For program year 2005 there is an annual competitive round. For things like economic development there’s a rolling process. For the grant application period another requirement is that it has to be spent out in 24 th months from the time of the award and the applications are due April 4. As far as Groton’s history goes, there have been four Small Cities Grants so far for the purpose of housing rehabilitation. Last year the Town applied for a fifth round of funding and it was not chosen for an award but Glenn has been in touch with the Governor’s Office for Small Cities and they were very encouraging of a re-application for housing rehabilitation. But this hearing is basically to discuss all of the possibilities that the grant money could be used for and see if anyone has any comments. The Town Board was of a consensus that a re-application should be made. Supervisor Morey asked if there were any comments from the public. Supervisor Morey made a motion to close the public hearing, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, at 7:12 PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the 2005 Organizational Meeting and the January 11, 2005 Board Meeting and the January 11, 2005 Public Hearing as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. General Fundfor the 2004 Budget Year Claim Numbers 441-443 of the in the amount of $3,759.43 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the General 2004 Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. General Fundfor the 2005 Budget Year Claim Numbers 8-44 of the in the amount of $34,465.12 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the General 2005 Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund for the 2004 Budget Year Claim Number 275 of the in the amount of $45.00 was presented for audit. Town Board Minutes Page 3 February 8, 2005 MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the Highway 2004 Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Highway Fund for the 2004 Budget Year Claim Numbers 3-19 of the in the amount of $27,130.96 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the Highway 2005 Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Supervisor Morey invited privilege of the floor. No one wanted to speak. Monthly Reports: Elizabeth Brennan, Bookkeeper/Highway Clerk – Absent Gary Coats, Code/ Fire Enforcement Officer – We issued two building permits for January, one for a coal stove and one for a shed. We gave out two certificates of occupancy. We issued six orders to remedy. Two were corrected. The other four are coming due this week or next. I’ve talked to many people. We’ve got plans for at least five new homes going up this summer. I gave you a report regarding the home that caught fire on 531 Davis Road. That fire was back in March of ’04. I’ve done the initial steps on getting the building corrected; I’ve taken pictures; I have those pictures. I was out there and walked the property with the daughter, the owner of the house that caught fire. The daughter, Ms. Smith, and her father, Mr. DeClerq came into my office last week and actually there is an active demolition permit for that house. They were going to supply me last week with the insurance company because when I told you a month ago that the insurance money was here to do it, they have since told me that the money they received from the insurance company was money just for the loss of the home itself. There was a separate check coming from the insurance company for the demolition. I think they mentioned somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 for that check and that was due very soon. They were to go home and supply me with the insurance company’s name and a number so that I could call them and give them my input on this thing and Ms. Smith was going to supply me with her new cell phone number because I haven’t been able to reach her. That never happened. On the advice of our attorney I did call them and tell them that this would be spoken about tonight. I feel that I have been nothing but jerked around by these people; they’re playing with me; it’s time to do something. Attorney Casullo – Why don’t we do this: Gary indicated that he wanted to have the resolution ready for the March meeting. If nothing happens with the demolition between now and the March meeting then we will have the resolution ready for the March meeting and we can move on that in the March meeting. Mr. Coats – That’s a direction that I can live with. Attorney Casullo asked if that was all right with the Board and the consensus was that it was. Town Board Minutes Page 4 February 8, 2005 Mr. Coats – The same people have a court date tomorrow to do the cleanup of some garbage that was in their backyard where they moved to on Peru Road, that Glenn and I talked about numerous times. They go before Judge Dawson tomorrow night. I drove by there today and the pile is still there. I’m going to drive by there tomorrow, the date that Judge Dawson gave them to complete it, and then I will write a letter to Judge Dawson so that he will have it when he has his court tomorrow afternoon. There was some discussion on reducing zoning fees for building permits for in ground swimming pools and woodstoves. RESOLUTION #05-012 – REDUCE ZONING FEES FOR IN GROUND SWIMMING POOL AND WOODSTOVES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby makes the following changes to the Town of Groton Zoning Fee Schedule: Building Permits: Above Ground Swimming Pool ……………$25.00 In Ground Swimming Pool………………….$50.00 Woodstove…………………………………..$25.00 Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent – Absent. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Presented her monthly Town Clerk and Tax Collector reports for the Board’s review. I’ll be going to the County tomorrow with the first installments and Glenn has been paid so the Town has its money. I gave you all a copy of the letter to the editor that the Town Clerks wrote concerning the Help America Vote Act and some of our thoughts and concerns that we have on it. A similar letter will be sent to our representatives in Albany. We also have been confronted with the County wanting to take over rd tax collection. The Town Supervisors and Mayors met at the Town of Ithaca on February 3 and I gave you a copy of a memo on that, kind of summarizing some of what they talked about. They felt that someone should draft a letter to the County asking exactly what it was that they are doing. Some of the suggestions for questions were: What is the County’s objective? Are there problems with the current system? If so, what are the problems? Does the County have a proposal for an alternative method of tax collection? If so, does the County have an estimate of what implementation of that proposal will cost? How does the County’s proposal address the perceived problems, if there are any? The memo also states “there seemed to be a feeling yesterday that if the County sees there are problems we should sit down with them, talk about the problems, and fix them. The energy should be centered on that, identifying and fixing the problems, not recreating the system.” There is also a meeting scheduled for February 24 for Clerks, Deputies, Supervisors and Town Board Members to talk over the whole thing and decide how we should go from there and possibly put together some resolutions. Town Board Minutes Page 5 February 8, 2005 th Supervisor Morey - There’s two issues that we’re going to discuss on the 24, the Help America Vote Act and also the tax collection. The County has just blind-sided us with both issues and we want to make sure that we go with one voice to the County and say what’s going on. Also, as I told April, whatever the Town Clerks Association comes up with, that I think all the Town Boards throughout the County should make a resolution supporting the letters. So, th more to come on the 24. Clerk Scheffler informed the Board about upcoming records management seminars from March through July and also the upcoming New York State Town Clerks Association Conference. She asked to move forward on the spay/neuter program. The job of dog enumerator had been advertised for two weeks with 10-12 phone calls but no letters of intent received. It was decided to advertise for two more weeks. RESOLUTION #05-013 – ATTENDANCE AT RECORDS MANAGEMENT SEMINARS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the payment of expenses for mileage and lunch to attend New York State Archives Records Management Seminars during the months of March through July 2005, for the Town Clerk and whoever else she deems should attend. RESOLUTION #05-14 – ATTENDANCE AT NYS TOWN CLERKS CONVENTION MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Town Clerk and Deputy Clerk to attend the New York State Town Clerks Association Convention from April 17-20, 2005 at Buffalo, New York. John Norman and A. D. Dawson, Town Justices – Submitted their monthly report for the Board’s review. Justice Norman – The phones and the internet system are working great and are helping us immensely. We’ve moved on the taking of credit cards. We have the machine sitting in the office. When they are coming to set it up, I am not sure. So, that will be soon. Judge Casullo says they have just started using credit cards in his court and it’s working out quite well. Just Visa and Mastercard so far. Dewey’s going to start teaching in Oneonta, teaching other judges. Supervisor Morey – Is this part of the Magistrates Association? Judge Norman – Yes. So, he’ll be teaching other judges. His first class is “Creative Sentencing.” So, that’s what’s going on in the Town Justice Department. Town Board Minutes Page 6 February 8, 2005 Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator – Town and Village Recreation st Committee met February 1. One thing we are changing this year is our summer concert series will be tentatively held on Thursday evenings instead of Wednesdays to better coordinate with th other Town schedules. The Winterfest is set to go for February 19 at the elementary school. We’re planning on renewing the Renaissance Festival that was held two years ago on Halloween at the school and we plan on doing that in conjunction with the Youth Commission. We’re also helping the McLean Community Council with bluebird house building project. Supervisor Morey – McLean has one of the highest populations of bluebirds in the State. RESOLUTION #05-15 – HIRE BETTER HOUSING FOR TOMPKINS COUNTY MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, the Town of Groton has successfully implemented a housing rehabilitation program to serve low-income homeowners in conjunction with Better Housing for Tompkins County, Inc. over the last 11 years, and WHEREAS, the Town of Groton recognizes a continuing serious need for housing rehabilitation services among low-income homeowners who cannot afford to make needed repairs, and places a high priority on serving that need in the Town, and WHEREAS, the New York State Governor’s Office for Small Cities has made Small Cities CDBG Funding available to municipalities for this and other purposes, THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED , that the Town of Groton will submit a new CDBG grant request of $400,000 to the New York State Governor’s Office for Small Cities to continue to provide a housing rehabilitation program on a town-wide basis, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton will hire Better Housing for Tompkins County, Inc. to prepare the grant application materials for review and submission by the Town of Groton. RESOLUTION #05-016 – CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR OF ZBA MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED , that the Town Board hereby recognizes Lyle Raymond as Chair and Steve Thane as Vice-Chair of the Town of Groton Zoning Board of Appeals. Town Board Minutes Page 7 February 8, 2005 RESOLUTION #05-017 – CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR OF PLANNING BOARD MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby recognizes Monica Carey as Chair and Mary Gloster as Vice-Chair of the Town of Groton Planning Board. Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian – I think everybody got a copy of my annual report. I wanted to explain that the two places that I gave talks to, one was the Groton Historical Society and they asked me to come in and talk about some of my responsibilities and some of the things I had as the Town Historian and other things that we could do. I also talked to the History Center in Tompkins County and talked about the section on Groton in the Place Names book that we had done. Do you have any questions about the report? One of our conference meetings is in May, so when I get the dollar amount I’ll be in to get the funds for that. It’s in Amsterdam this year. Chris Dempsey, Dempsey Insurance – Presented the 2005 insurance package to the Board. Rate incease is 3 ½ % mostly because of the addition of the new trucks. He explained that the rates could be brought down slightly by increasing the deductibles. He also explained what the insurance covered. RESOLUTION #05-018 – APPROVE INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR 2005 MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the renewal of the 2005 insurance policy with Dempsey Insurance Agency, keeping the deductible for property remaining the same, increasing the deductible for auto and inland marine to $1,000.00 and deleting the terrorism coverage. Supervisor Morey – We found out that the retirees can get better health insurance instead of coming through the Town, so I’d like to make a motion tonight to extend the amount we now reimburse the retirees for health insurance. That amount is now 25% of the total Town health insurance costs and the 25% would be the amount of the Town insurance cost, not the retirees’ new insurance cost, which is now $110.15 a month. All reimbursements would be made to the health insurance company directly. We would need a copy of the invoice and all requests for the change in health insurance for the retirees will be in writing. Does everybody understand that? (Several people said no.) We reimburse the retirees 25% of the insurance costs if they buy it through the Town. Town Board Minutes Page 8 February 8, 2005 Councilman Sovocool – Since when? Supervisor Morey – A couple years ago. Probably 2001 or 2000. So, what I want to do is take that 25% we already reimburse on health insurance and allow them to save more money by going to a private Medicaid or Medicare or Medigap or whatever kind of insurance they want. Because right now it’s a benefit to them and I don’t think we should restrict them just to going through the Town insurance but they should have the opportunity to go someplace else if they want. Councilman Gamel – How about if we put a limit on up to 25% of what the reimbursement would be for the Town, put a limit on it because if they go to a more expensive plan….if we’re giving the option to go somewhere else it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to get a cheaper plan. If they go to get better coverage and get a more expensive plan and we’re going to reimburse them….. Supervisor Morey – 25% of what the Town insurance cost would be. It has nothing to do with the cost of their insurance. It’s the cost of the Town insurance, so no matter what, right now it’s $110 a month that we reimburse them. Clerk Scheffler – Say they were paying $400 a month right now. 25% of that would be $100. You’re saying that if they get something for $300 a month that you’re still going to pay $100 of that? Supervisor Morey – Yes. Councilman Gamel – How many people are we talking about? Supervisor Morey – Two. Well, actually one who’s trying to take advantage of it. Councilman Scheffler – The payments would go directly to the insurance company? It would take more bookwork. Supervisor Morey – All I want to do is extend this benefit for them to save more money. Councilman Gamel – It will cost us the same? Supervisor Morey – Yes. Councilman Sovocool – It’s not going to cost us any more? Supervisor Morey – No. Councilman Scheffler – We won’t pay any more than what we’re paying through our insurance now? Supervisor Morey – Correct. Town Board Minutes Page 9 February 8, 2005 RESOLUTION #05-019 – PARTIAL REIMBURSEMENT OF RETIREES’ HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, the Town of Groton presently pays 25% of the insurance premiums for retirees who have elected to continue with coverage under the Town health insurance policy, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to extend this benefit for retirees who have the opportunity to procure health insurance through other providers at a lesser cost THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board approves the reimbursement of health insurance costs for retirees equal to 25% of the Town’s health insurance cost no matter what insurance the retiree chooses to buy. Supervisor Morey - Organizational changes: the ZBA, I gave you a new list. I inadvertently had Gerri and Tom mixed around; the law firm was Pomeroy, Armstrong and Casullo, LLP; and we just discussed the zoning fees. Executive Supervisor Morey made a motion, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to enter into Session for the purpose of discussing litigation, at 8:23PM Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Regular Session Supervisor Morey made a motion, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to return to at 8:39PM. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Attorney Casullo – For the record, I have talked with the Mr. Thompson’s attorney as well as his architect and the Zoning Officer, Gary Coats. Apparently, this may be an agreement that the Town could live with. This would probably be a resolution that the Town may wish to adopt. (Attorney Casullo explained the agreement and the following resolution was made.) RESOLUTION #05-020 – STIPULATIONS FOR AGREEMENT BETWEEN LEWIS & ALBERTA THOMPSON AND THE TOWN OF GROTON MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby wishes to have the Town Attorney prepare a stipulation for signatures of the Supervisor and the Thompsons as follows: 1)The Thompsons will have 90 days to bring the shed/garage up to Town of Groton and New York State Code or demolish it. 2)The 90 days will start with the issuance of a building permit, paid for by the Thompsons and obtained within 7 days of today’s date, February 8, 2005. 3)There will be no extensions to the 90-day period unless granted by the Town Board of the Town of Groton. Town Board Minutes Page 10 February 8, 2005 4)It will be understood that the Thompsons will make a diligent and active effort to complete the construction within the 90-day period. 5)If there is not substantial compliance in having the structure complete and up to code standards, that the Town would reserve all its options, including the possibility of demolishing the building. 6)The construction would be per the Thompson architect’s specifications of drawings dated February 4, 2005, if approved by the Code Officer. 7)If there are some disagreements between the architect and the Code Officer they will make a diligent effort to resolve the issues quickly. 8)No occupation by persons would be allowed in the garage until up to code standards 9)Once construction starts, inspections by the Code Enforcement Officer will be made once a week RESOLUTION #05-021 – INSTRUCT ATTORNEY TO PREPARE STIPUTLAIONS FOR SIGNATURES MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby instructs the Attorney, Francis Casullo, to prepare the stipulations for the signatures of Lewis and Alberta Thompson and the Town Supervisor, Glenn Morey. Announcements:  Planning Board Meeting – February 17, 2005, 7:30PM  Association of Towns Annual Meeting  Jeffrey Toolan was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and will be studying in Switzerland in the fall. th  Town Clerks luncheon, February 24 at the Valley House th  McLean Community Council Meeting – March 9 at 7:30PM th  Winterfest – February 19 at the Elementary School. Clerk Scheffler asked that the bill for the Human Service Contract be added to the abstract. RESOLUTION #05-022 – APPROVE HUMAN SERVICES CONTRACT MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board approve the 2005 Human Services Contract in the amount of $1,000 and that this bill be added to the February abstract. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 8:47 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler Town Clerk