Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-22-19 Special Meeting MinutesTown of Enfield Special Town Board Meeting Enfield Community Building Tuesday, October 22, 2019 6:30 p.m. Present: Town Supervisor Beth McGee, Town Councilperson Virginia Bryant, Town Councilperson Mimi Mehaffey, Town Councilperson Becky Sims, Town Clerk Alice Linton. Councilperson Mike Carpenter excused. Supervisor McGee called the special meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. Town Clerk Linton lead the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Comprehensive Plan: The first public hearing date for the Comprehensive Plan was set for November 19 at 6:30 p.m. This would be the first of two public hearings that will be needed. The Plan will need to be sent to the County for a 239 review. Tentative Budget: Supervisor McGee stated there were several things she’d like to adjust in the budget. By adding $1,500 to the overtime highway line, there would be about a $94 increase in Medicare and social security. She will check to make sure the retired highway superintendent Medicare Advantage is in the A fund. She would like to revisit the deputy clerk position and add $500 back into that line – it was previously reduced by $1,000. She is going to ask that the website administration be under the supervisor for next year since she will have to train someone to use the website. Councilperson Sims mentioned there will be a learning curve on a lot of things with a new clerk and deputy clerk, and the time should be provided for training. Supervisor McGee stated other changes shouldn’t change the bottom line in the budget. She is still trying to get a good answer of what lines should be used for building the fund balance for the highway to accommodate CHIPS expenditures for the year. She stated the highway savings has to have the money in it in order to spend it, so it needs fund balance. If there is extra each year for a few years it will build up. The equipment line is at $140,000 and the purchase price for a new mower tractor is $150,000. There is a revenue of $20,000 that is to come from the reserve to help support the cost of the piece of equipment, but that does not offset $150,000. It offsets $140,000. She’d like to take $10,000 out of the CHIPS line and put it in the equipment line. The CHIPS line would then be $135,000 and equipment would go up $10,000. This will just slow down the fund balance build up by $10,000 for 2020. Councilperson Sims moved, with a second by Councilperson Mehaffey to move the tentative budget to the preliminary budget. Vote: Councilperson Bryant aye, Councilperson Mehaffey aye, Councilperson Sims aye, Supervisor McGee aye. Councilperson Carpenter excused. Carried. Capital Plan: Becky Sims will be listed as Deputy Supervisor/Councilperson on the front page. On page 4 Senior Citizens in the amount of $2,500 and Recreation Partnership in the amount of $6,201 will be added to organizations having contractual agreements with the Town. Also, on page 4, Supervisor McGee will make charts for 2020 and then decide whether to use 2019 or 2020 figures. On the equipment chart, page 5, the column for Anticipated Resale Allowance will be deleted. It could be noted that if the Highway Superintendent purchases a piece of used equipment, or if a grant is received, items could change or be moved up on the chart. A note could be added to the chart that revenue may be generated with resale value, but that is a figure that can’t be counted on. At the top of page 6 it was suggested to change “anticipates an additional” to “anticipates a minimum”. On page 7 it should be noted that PCI stands for Pavement Condition Index. On page 8 add “as of October Enfield Town Board Special Meeting October 16, 2019 2019” the Town Hall has a leaking roof. It was decided to remove “Old Highway” and refer to the building only as Town Hall and take “new” off Highway Building in all instances throughout the document. Supervisor McGee will look for the drawing of what was included in the original plan for the highway building to see if anything besides the salt storage building was taken out for page 8, second paragraph. Councilperson Sims asked to add language about the onsite waste water systems as follows: It is noted that the onsite wastewater treatment systems for the Town Hall and Community Building are more than 50 years old and are undersized by today's standards. If the building usage changes in a way that would affect the wastewater load, or the systems otherwise fail, replacement wastewater systems will need to be installed. The Town should be prepared for this expense, which would be substantial due to lot constraints. Under the Salt/Sand Storage Building, and moving funds from the new Town Hall savings, Councilperson Mehaffey feels strongly about the quality of water from runoff of salt; she feels the salt storage should take priority, especially since there is no plan now for a new town hall. Councilperson Sims agrees, since these funds have been there for a long time and have not been gaining much interest. She would be supportive of sending this out to a referendum for the people to decide if necessary. This would be changing the purpose of the funds. Supervisor McGee thinks this would be a permissive referendum and not mandatory. She feels the wisest use of the money would be for this salt storage building need. Regarding the 3 charts on pages 10 and 11, when the plan is reviewed next year, only one of the charts will be used. There should be notes of what the decision was based on. Fund Balance Policy: Supervisor McGee will ask the auditors, when they see our accounts, if they can give examples specific to what we have to help with the definition section. She explained several sections for clarification. It was agreed to change the amounts under Policy, Section 5b chart, in the A fund minimum from $175,000 to $200,000 and maximum from $200,000 to $225,000. There was discussion on how to make sure this policy is reviewed on an annual basis. Councilperson Mehaffey suggested at each quarterly meeting different items could be reviewed each year. Supervisor McGee suggested this could be part of a “supervisor manual” that would guide a supervisor through each year. Supervisor McGee will make the edits to the Fund Balance Policy and have them available for discussion after the budget public hearing on November 6. Solar RFP: Councilperson Sims provided a new version with the edits from the last discussion. Under Historical Energy Use, a statement will be added that “benchmarking” information can be obtained from the Town Clerk. A list of Quality Solar Providers was circulated. Supervisor McGee will reach out to Terry Carroll of Cooperative Extension and ask him to designate which ones on the list are authorized to do the battery rebates. Dates were adjusted so changes to the document could be made, and the Solar RFP approval can be on the agenda for adoption at the November 6, 2019 special meeting. Announcements: Supervisor McGee stated an Emergency Management Certification and Training -Tier 3 offered by Homeland Security will be held at the Enfield Volunteer Fire company on November 20 at 6:30 p.m. Town Board members are invited to attend. Supervisor McGee read information on the Gregory Kirchgessner Memorial Scholarship Fund. Adjournment: Supervisor McGee adjourned the meeting at 9:22 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alice M. Linton, RMC Enfield Town Clerk 2