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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-05-2011339 OCTOBER 05, 2011 5:00 P.M. TOWN BOARD MEETING The Regular Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Cortlandville was held at the Raymond G. Thorpe Municipal Building, 3577 Terrace Road, Cortland, New York, with Supervisor Tupper presiding. Members present: Supervisor, Richard C. Tupper Councilman, Theodore V. Testa Councilman, John C. Proud Councilman, Gregory K. Leach Town Clerk, Karen Q. Snyder, RMC Absent: Councilman, Ronal L. Rocco Others present were: Town Attorney, John Folmer; Highway Sup't. Carl Bush; and News Reporter: Sharon Stevans for Channel 2, Access TV. Supervisor Tupper called the meeting to order. Councilman Leach made a motion, seconded by Councilman Testa, to approve the Draft Town Board Minutes of September 21, 2011. All voting aye, the motion was carried. Councilman Leach made a motion, seconded by Councilman Testa, to receive and file the Cortlandville Zoning Board of Appeals Minutes of August 30, 2011. All voting aye, the motion was carried. Councilman Leach made a motion, seconded by Councilman Testa, to receive and file the Cortlandville Planning Board Minutes of August 30, 2011. All voting aye, the motion was carried. RESOLUTION #181 AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO SIGN PURCHASE ORDER #0086 Motion by Councilman Proud Seconded by Councilman Leach VOTES: ALL AYE ADOPTED BE IT RESOLVED, the Town Board does hereby authorize and direct the Supervisor to sign Purchase Order #0086 submitted by Water & Sewer Sup't. Peter Alteri for the purchase of a chlorine analyzer system for the Terrace Road Well from Khloros Products & Service, for the total cost of $3,280.00. RESOLUTION #182 AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO SIGN PURCHASE ORDER #1149 Motion by Councilman Proud Seconded by Councilman Leach VOTES: ALL AYE ADOPTED BE IT RESOLVED, the Town Board does hereby authorize and direct the Supervisor to sign Purchase Order #1149 submitted by Highway Sup't. Carl Bush for the rental of a CAT 321 Excavator to be used for highway work being done in Hoxie Gorge for a period of one to two weeks from Beck Equipment, for the total cost of $1,700.00 per week plus delivery charges. RESOLUTION #183 AUTHORIZE PAYMENT OF VOUCHERS — OCTOBER Motion by Councilman Proud Seconded by Councilman Leach VOTES: ALL AYE ADOPTED BE IT RESOLVED, the vouchers submitted have been audited and shall be paid as follows: 3qo OCTOBER 05, 2011 TOWN BOARD MEETING PAGE 2 General Fund A Vouchers 4515 - 539 $105,886.80 General Fund B B135 - B140 $ 3,634.90 Highway Fund DB D383 - D408 $ 79,362.20 Special Grants C31 - C32 $ 2,859.97 Water Fund W200 - W217 $ 10,523.16 Sewer Fund 5117 - 5124 $ 4,382.70 Capital Project H52 - H52 $ 8,910.00 The monthly reports of the Town Clerk, Code Enforcement Officer, Fire & Safety Inspection activity, Water & Sewer Department, and the Town Supervisor for the month of September 2011 were on the table for review and are filed in the Town Clerk's Office. Under communications, Supervisor Tupper apprised the Board he received communication from Time Warner Cable regarding programming services. Councilman Proud made a motion, seconded by Councilman Leach, to receive and file correspondence from Time Warner Cable, dated October 1, 2011, regarding programming services. All voting aye, the motion was carried. There was discussion regarding the Tentative Budget, which was delivered to Town Clerk Snyder by September 30, 2011, and was presented to the Board as required by law. Supervisor Tupper thanked Town Bookkeeper, Marcia Hicks and all department heads for their collaborative efforts in the budget process. Supervisor Tupper explained that the 2012 proposed tax rate was $3.10 per thousand of taxable value, which was the same tax rate as in 2011. He suggested that the Board conduct a Budget Workshop on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Councilman Testa complimented Supervisor Tupper for his hard work on the budget, and noted that for the past seven years that Mr. Tupper has been the Supervisor there has not been an increase in town taxes. RESOLUTION #184 ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIVING 2012 TENTATIVE BUDGET Motion by Councilman Testa Seconded by Councilman Proud VOTES: ALL AYE ADOPTED BE IT RESOLVED, the Town Clerk received the 2012 Tentative Budget on September 30, 2011, and has presented it to Town Board members, in accordance with Town Law. Attorney Folmer reported: Repair to Walgreens Stormwater Management System: Attorney Folmer discussed the remediation plan for the Walgreens stormwater management system. The Town sent a communication to Clough Harbour & Associates LLP, to which they responded. Attorney Folmer was working on another response to CHA and hoped that by the Board's next meeting an agreement between the Town and CHA will have been made. Certiorari Proceeding — Gator Cortlandville Partners: With regard to the certiorari tax proceeding involving Gator Cortlandville Partners, Attorney Folmer recalled that he received a proposed consent order, which he and Assessor Briggs reviewed and found a few minor errors that needed to be changed. He contacted the attorneys for Gator Cortlandville Partners, who have since made the necessary changes and submitted a revised consent order to Attorney Folmer for him to sign and return to be filed with the court. OCTOBER 05, 2011 TOWN BOARD MEETING PAGE 3 Dispose of Real Property that the Town Owns: Attorney Folmer discussed the possibility of declaring a parcel that the Town owns as surplus property and selling the property, which was mentioned at the September 21, 2011 Town Board Meeting. Attorney Folmer discussed the matter with Assessor Briggs and learned that a tax map number and a legal description of the property were both needed. Attorney Folmer contacted Denkenberger & Greene and asked that they conduct a survey and prepare a description of the property, which they were in the process of doing. If the Board decided to declare the parcel as surplus property, Attorney Folmer could prepare a request for bids, reserving the right to reject them all. If an acceptable bid was made, according to Town Law, the Board could adopt a resolution to sell the property subject to permissive referendum, identifying to whom the property would be sold to and for how much. According to Attorney Folmer, Walden Place was interested in the parcel. Attorney Folmer expected that the matter could be complete by the end of the year. Councilman Leach made a motion, seconded by Councilman Proud, to receive and file the State Environmental Quality Review Negative Declaration, Notice of Determination of Non - Significance, dated September 22, 2011, for the Cortland County Emergency Radio Communications System Project. All voting aye, the motion was carried. There was discussion regarding correspondence from Raphael Stark, 705 McLean Road, regarding his concerns over speeding vehicles on McLean Road. Supervisor Tupper requested Highway Sup't. Bush set up the Town's electronic speed limit signs on both sides of McLean Road near Mr. Stark's home. Supervisor Tupper would also contact the Sheriff's Department and ask them to patrol McLean Road for speeding vehicles. Supervisor Tupper recalled that he wrote a letter to the Public Service Commission (PSC) complaining about street light outages within the Town and the time frame of repairs. He was happy to report that National Grid contacted the PSC and reported that they repaired all lights that were out of service in the Town. National Grid also informed the PSC that they were working on getting outages repaired more expeditiously. Councilman Proud made a motion, seconded by Councilman Leach, to receive and file correspondence from the State of New York Department of Public Service, dated September 29, 2011, responding to Supervisor Tupper's September 8, 2011 letter regarding street light outages and the time frame of repairs within the Town of Cortlandville. All voting aye, the motion was carried. There was discussion regarding the Tax Enforcement Notification received from the Cortland County Treasurer's Office. Based upon the failure to pay real prop erty taxes, a proceeding to foreclose on property located at 3342 Route 11, owned by Jerry and Sally Stevens, commenced. The Town received the notice because the Town is a mortgagee of the property through the HOME grant. Attorney Folmer suggested the Board notify Thoma Development Consultants and ask them to look into the matter. He explained that the Town's loan agreement provides that the Town could pay the taxes to prevent foreclosure, but the Town is not a bank and would not take such action. Supervisor Tupper would discuss the matter with Thoma Development. Councilman Leach questioned whether it would be appropriate to make sure that the taxes are current before entering into such loan agreement. Attorney Folmer indicated that one of the prerequisites for the loan agreement is that the taxes have to be current when the loan is taken out. Councilman Leach recalled that the Board recently issued another loan to the Stevens' for additional work to their home. Attorney Folmer explained that the timing of taxes also plays a role in the situation. Supervisor Tupper indicated that the original loan was issued several years ago, while the supplemental loan was made in 2011 in order to close the grant out. Councilman Proud made a motion, seconded by Councilman Leach, to receive and file the Tax Enforcement Notification from Patrick J. O'Mara, Cortland County Treasurer, dated October 3, 2011, regarding property owned by Jerry and Sally Stevens, located at 3342 Route 11 in the Town of Cortlandville. All voting aye, the motion was carried. OCTOBER 05, 2011 TOWN BOARD MEETING PAGE 4 Supervisor Tupper apprised the Board he received correspondence from former Town residents, Jim and Gail VanDusen, concerning property owners who have not yet connected to public sewer in the Highland Road area. The VanDusens have written several letters to the Town in the past. Supervisor Tupper informed the Board that Water & Sewer Sup't. Alteri mailed letters to all property owners who have the ability to connect to public sewer yet have not connected, and also notified the new health engineer at the Cortland County Health Department of his action. Supervisor Tupper noted that the Board has discussed the issue at great lengths for several years. The Board does not have the authority to force property owners to connect to public sewer, and the County has not taken action. Attorney Folmer added that the County has given property owners who have new septic tanks more time to connect to the public sewer. However, he was not aware that the County has ever taken steps to attempt to enforce the requirement. No further comments or discussion were heard. Councilman Leach made a motion, seconded by Councilman Testa, to adjourn the Regular Meeting. All voting aye, the motion was carried. The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Q. Snyder, RMC Town Clerk Town of Cortlandville *Note: The draft version of this meeting was submitted to the Town Board for their review on October 14, 2011. The draft version of this meeting was approved as written at the Town Board meeting of October 19, 2011.