April 9, 2008

April 9, 2008 Work Session 6:30 PM

Supervisor Grant along with Council Members Mohun, Frounick, George and Gadd audited the Highway, General Fund and Special District claims. Superintendent Jensen updated the board on the truck warranty situation, reported he’s still reviewing the loader bids and discussed the Schoellkopf Road reconstruction project. Mr. Don Przybyl, a retired State Comptroller Auditor met with board members to see if the town was interested in his services in the auditing and municipal accounting practices.

April 9, 2008 Regular Meeting 7:30 PM

Supervisor Grant declared the meeting open and asked Councilman Gadd to lead the pledge to the flag. Present were Council Members George, Frounick, Gadd and Mohun, also Superintendent Jensen and Zoning Officer Kelly.

Supervisor Grant opened the Public Hearing to consider the Right to Farm Law.

Minutes of the March meeting - Supervisor Grant asked if any corrections or amendments. There being none a motion was made by Mohun, seconded by George to accept the minutes as presented. Voting all ayes, carried.

Superintendent Jensen has requested permission to attend Highway School at Cornell in June. Motion made by George, seconded by Frounick to allow Mr. Jensen to attend Highway School in June, all ayes, carried.

General Fund claims # 91 - 124 totaling $13,291.72. Motion made by Mohun to approve the General Fund claims, seconded by George, voting all ayes, carried.

Highway claims #57 - 96 total $47,686.02 presented. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Gadd to approve the Highway claims, voting all ayes, carried.

Special District claims: Cowlesville Water District claims #13 - #16 totaling $1125.06 and Cowlesville Street Lighting claim #4 in the amount of $184 presented. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Mohun to approve the Special District claims, voting all ayes, carried.

Supervisor’s Financial Statement for Feb/March 2008. Supervisor Grant reported that this statement is done prior to any adjustments. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Gadd to accept the Supervisor’s Financial Statement as submitted, voting all ayes, carried.

Correspondence: Letter read from Folsom Trailblazers Snowmobile Club thanking landowners for the privilege of letting them use their land for their trail system (their trail runs through Pine Tree Park). Letter included their certificate of insurance naming the town of Bennington as additional insured on their liability policy.

Certificates of liability insurance naming the town of Bennington as additional insured on their policies received form R. Myers Contractors and Hojnowski Transport.

Monthly reports received from the Zoning Officer and Town Clerk.

Supervisor Grant’s correspondence: Memo from the County Treasurer re: tax exempt properties.

Letter from Erie Co. Public Works with the electric account analysis, also thanked the town for interest in their consortium.

E-mail stating there will be a Tonawanda Creek Task Force meeting on March 28^th at the Village Hall on Water Street in Attica.

Letter from Charles Schumer re: NYS Cultural Grant Funding.

Letter from NYS DOT re: Snow fence along state highways.

Letter from the Bennington Fire Dept. to the Wyo. Co. Board of Elections stating that they agreed to allow the use of their hall for voting purposes and the conditions imposed with its use.

E-mail from Genesee FingerLakes Planning re: their Spring Annual Work Shop on May 8^th.

Notice from the Wyo. County Office of the Aging looking for nominees for Senior Volunteer Service Recognition Award.

Notice from Selective Insurance Re: terrorism

Departments: Highway - Superintendent Jensen would like to go out to bid on the Schoellkopf Road Reconstruction Project and the Tooley Bridge bid opening is set for this month. He reported that the Highway Dept. will be working on South Burrough, also will be doing ditching. Mr. Jensen reported that someone had put a sign on his property, drove a post in the ground with his house number on it. Come to find out the Board of Supervisors is trying to get funding for Wyoming County, which is coming from Emergency Services that everyone have a house number for emergency calls. The County decided to put one in front of the Supervisor’s house and one in front of the Highway Superintendent’s home, so people can look at it and voice their opinion. Mr. Jensen’s personal opinion is that the grant money is fine, but whose money is it? It’s ours and he can’t see a government entity getting into putting house signs up for every house, who’s going to pay to have them replaced down the road when they get stolen or ruined. Short discussion held.

Bid for Schoellkopf Road Re-Constuction - Motion made by George, seconded by Mohun to allow the Superintendent to go out to bid when he has all of his information ready. Voting all ayes, carried. Mr. Jensen is working on getting the temporary easements.

Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Gadd to authorize the Superintendent to advertise for bids on Road Construction Materials, Ditching and Hauling and have the bid opening 6:30 PM of the May Board Meeting. Voting all ayes, carried.

Recreation/Park - Kari Kelly asked if any word on bathrooms. Supervisor Grant reported they are looking at adding on to the building. Kari asked about porta-johns. Clerk informed her that she ordered one today to be in the 15^th. Ms. Kelly reported that this coming Saturday there will be sign-up in the town hall 9-1 for soccer, tee-ball and swimming, there is a $5 fee on everything. Will be having a Chinese raffle, it will be on display at Cowlesville Flea Market and asked all of the town board members to donate a theme basket. Last year raised $1000 on the theme raffle.

Transfer Station - Clerk reported the paper collection compactors will be up there within the next couple of weeks. Council Person Mohun procured pricing on new compactor $19,890.25, they will lease for 36 months (includes installation of unit and maintenance for $743.54/month which in the end is $8199.41 over the purchase option. Council Member Mohun called and asked for a payment plan for 3 years and that turned out to be $200 more. Councilman Frounick questioned the warranty. Short discussion held on the warranty. Council Member Mohun stated she will call them back and check on the warranty and what it covers.

Zoning: Special Use Permit Renewal applications received from: Michael Barren (Blood Road) and Maurice Shae/Jerilyn Mazur (Clinton Street) both applied for 3 year renewals. No complaints on either of them. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by George to approve both of them for 3 years, voting all ayes, carried.

Home Occupation Renewal applications received from: Bonnie McCarville (Homespun Shoppe);Tom Hudson (Sunset Printing); Kathleen Ott (Grandma K’s Handcrafted Soaps); Sandra Jerge (Sandy’s Cutting Corner); Stacey Acquard (Acquard’s Professional Dog Grooming); Kim Decker (Decker’s Secret Garden); Cynthia & Mark Craig ( CynMar Marketing); Diane Gutowski (Village Fabric & Craft Shop); Jay Meyers (JM Sports); Bettie Basher (The French Connection); Timothy Duda (Advance Finishing); Edward Duda (Ed’s Woodwork); William Rumley (Cayuga Creek Nuisance Wildlife Removal) and Gary Arcese (G. Arcese Enterprise). No complaints on any of them. Motion made by George, seconded by Gadd to approve the renewals, all ayes, carried.

New Home Occupation application received from Joe Ciulla (Rispoli’s Foods) He is closing his Alden Pastry Shop and wants to work out of his home doing wholesale. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Mohun to approve Mr. Ciulla’s application.

Right to Farm Law - Supervisor Grant asked if any questions or comments on the Right to Farm Law. She stated that it’s more of a PR law, the Farm Bureau is encouraging the towns to adopt it. Supervisor Grant said that Bennington’s is modeled after the Town of Sheldon’s except that where Sheldon’s law calls for a committee to consist of members of the Planning Board, one from the Zoning Board and one from the Town Board, Bennington Law calls for a committee to consist of the Planning Board, a member of the Town Board and a member from the Farming Community. Kari Kelly feels there should be signs put up at the entrance to the town like Marilla has. Leslie Huber feels that there should be more than one member from the Farming Community. John George stated that his son Phillip is willing to serve on that committee. There were 8 residents present. Councilman George questioned Section 6 - Notification of Real Estate Buyers doesn’t understand how town can enforce it or what the reason is for it. Supervisor Grant not sure why it was put in, but was in the original law. Leslie Huber stated that it’s basically a way of letting people know about the surroundings before they purchase property, so that it doesn’t end up in court. No one spoke against the law. Discussion held as to how many members should be on the committee from the farming community. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Mohun to change the working in Section 7 to include 3 members from the Farming Community, 1 Town Board Member and the Planning Board to serve as the committee. There being no further discussion, a motion was made by George, seconded by Frounick to close the Public Hearing. Public Hearing closed at 8:30 PM.

Public Concerns: Kari asked about the signs for the Right to Farm Law, will the town be getting them. Ellen said that would be addressed when they vote on the passage of the law.

Old Business: Right to Farm Law - Supervisor Grant asked if there was any more discussion. None. Motion made by Mohun, seconded by Frounick to adopt the Right to Farm Law. Voting all ayes, carried. Will get pricing on the signs.

Planning Board Vacancy - Supervisor Grant reported that last month, town interviewed 2 of the 3 applicants (3^rd was sick and couldn’t make it and is out of town tonight), they voted on it and didn’t have a majority vote so the matter was tabled. She asked the board what they wanted to do. Councilman George made a motion to appoint Deb Nye as the member and Debbie Kipp as the alternate member. Motion seconded by Mohun, voting all ayes, carried. Will keep Dan Krzesinski’s name on file.

New business: Supervisor Grant reported that there are some maintenance needs at the Town Hall, floors need to be cleaned. Councilman Frounick will get in touch with the gentleman that cleans the floors and get a price. Justice Court received a grant which includes an air conditioner, and they will be contacting the contractor who gave the town the estimate and see if the price is still good. Railings out front are rusting out, they need replacing, going to contact a couple of local welders and metal workers to see if can’t get done locally. After short discussion, a motion was made by Frounick, seconded by George to advertise in the Pennysaver. Councilman Frounick asked if also want to advertise for the partition in the park shed at the same time. Supervisor Grant explained that when they looked at the shed, the side door has been blocked off, which is where the people would enter to turn on the electric and water, now they have to go into the main part of the shed. They felt that maybe should partition that part off, have people use the side door again and that way people would not be in the main part of the shed where the equipment is stored. After a short discussion, it was agreed by both Mr. Frounick and Mr. George to amend their motion and include the advertising for a partition along with the railing. Voting all ayes, carried.

School’s use of the town hall for budget vote and their roving day for their board meeting. Motion made by Mohun, seconded by Gadd to allow the school the use of the town hall. Voting all ayes, carried. Noted that the school to provide a certificate of insurance.

Big Trash Day - Motion made by George, seconded by Frounick to set May 17th as Big Trash day and authorize the clerk to advertise such, voting all ayes, carried.

Annual contract with the OFA for Nutrition Site - Supervisor Grant stated it‘s the same contract as other years. Motion made by Mohun, seconded by Gadd to approve the contract and authorize the supervisor to execute same. Voting all ayes, carried.