Supervisor Grant along with Council Members Mohun, Frounick, Gadd and George audited the Highway, General Fund and
Special District claims. Highway
Superintendent Jensen opened the bids for the (3) overhead garage doors that
were declared surplus. Bids were
received from:
Jerry Taylor - $326; Les Green -
$251; Z&M Ag & Turf - $601 and Matthew Howell - $400 for 2 or $200
each.
Mr. Jensen opened the 2
proposals he received on replacing the roof on the pavilion at the park:
Bob
Dunn Construction: $4500 to replace with shingles; $4800 for steel
J&D
Construction: $4875 using shingles or steel
Supervisor Grant discussed
the NYS Retirement bill, cable TV expansion in
Supervisor Grant declared the meeting open and asked
Councilman Frounick to lead the pledge to the flag. Present were Council Members George, Gadd, Mohun and Frounick.
Supervisor Grant opened the public hearings on: (1) Cowlesville
Fire District Contract; (2) Special Use Permit application submitted by Jasen
Myers (J. Myers Contracting).
Minutes of the July
minutes – Supervisor
Grant asked if any corrections or amendments.
Clerk reported that there is an error regarding deputy town clerk
appointment – not all board members voted for it as indicated. Councilman Gadd voted against the appointment. There being no further
amendments or corrections, a motion was made by George/Gadd to accept the
minutes as corrected, voting all ayes, carried.
General Fund claims #219-247 totaling $8217.49
presented. Motion made by Frounick/Mohun
to approve the General Fund claims, voting all ayes, carried.
Highway claims #228-252 totaling $54,112.02
presented. Motion made by Mohun/Gadd to
approve the Highway claims, voting all ayes, carried.
Special District claims: Cowlesville Street Lighting claim
#8 ($165.73) and Cowlesville Water District claims #42-44 totaling $2201.58 presented. Motion made by Frounick/George
to approve the Special District claims, voting all ayes, carried.
Supervisor’s Monthly
Report: Supervisor
Grant asked that the July report be tabled. The new bookkeeper has just started
and beginning
to familiarize herself with the accounting programs, will have the July report
next month. Motion made by
George/Frounick to table the Supervisor’s July Report. Voting
all ayes, carried.
Correspondence: Memo from GLOW Region Solid Waste Management
Committee re: 2011 Household Hazardous Waste/Pharmaceutical Collection Program.
Certificates of insurance received from Huber & Huber
Inc. and Mar Wal Construction Co., Inc. naming the Town of
Zoning Officer’s list of permits approved to date for
2011.
Letter from the Dept. of Planning and Development,
Letter from the Town of
Meeting minutes from the June 15th
meeting of the Town Planning Board.
Petition served on the Town of
Supervisor
Grant received the Planning News, an information news pamphlet from the New
York Planning Federation.
Letter
dated July 13th from Assemblyman Dan Burling re: the recent property
tax cap legislation on which he voted against it.
Letter
dated July 25th from Kibbe, King
& Moran re: Roland Lamb and certain water rights in the Hamlet of
Cowlesville.
Memo from Wyo. Co. Real Property
Tax Services re: Early taxable values taken from 2011 Final Assessment
Roll. Final taxable values will be provided
in late October or early November.
Public Hearings:
1. Cowlesville Fire District Contract – Clerk read letter
which requests a 3 year fire contract for Fire and Emergency Rescue Services as
follows: 2012 - $75,000; 2013 - $75,000
and 2014 - $75,000. The Cowlesville Fire Company is taking a slight reduction from the
2011 contact of $75,284 and going to hold the line for the next 3 years at
$75,000/year which in the end will save the taxpayers $4,610. Supervisor Grant
asked if anyone has any comments at this time.
No one commented on the contract. There were 12 residents present
including John Church, President of the Cowlesville Fire Company.
2.
Special Use Permit Application submitted by
Jasen Meyers (J Meyers Contracting, LLC)- Supervisor
Grant reviewed the application and asked
if anyone had any comments. No one commented. Clerk reported letters were sent
to the adjacent neighbors and there was no response back.
Departments:
Water –
Appointment of Water System Operator; set salary. Supervisor Grant reported she met with Bruce Sitzman from
Alden. He has agreed to take on the
project, would like to start the day after Labor Day and work with the Savakinas
for a couple of months. The pay rate would be basically the same as the
Savakinas, $15/hour for Mr. Sitzman and $13/hour for his men, no mileage for
the commute back and forth to Alden. Time involved is approximately an hour per
day, 5 days a week (no weekends). Each week day, one of his men will drive over
and take the samples. Noted that periodically, samples do have to taken to a
lab and the meters are read quarterly, then more time involved and mileage will
be paid the same as Diane and Jerry were paid. Councilman Gadd asked if two men
drove over to take the samples, would both get paid. Told no, only one gets paid. Councilman
Frounick asked if they are available for emergencies. Told yes, they are on call at all times. Motion made by George/Gadd to approve Bruce
Sitzman and his team as the Water System Operators to work with the Savakinas
effective the day after Labor Day. Voting all ayes, carried.
Highway Department; Earlier tonight, bids were opened for the 3 overhead doors that were
declared as surplus material. Four (4) bids received: Jerry Taylor - $326; Les Green - $251; Z&M Ag and Turf,
(Goodrich Farm Supply) $601 and Matthew Howell is interested in 2 of them for
$400 and/or $200 separately. Motion made by Gadd/Frounick to award the bid to
Goodrich Farm Supply at $601. Voting all ayes, carried.
Councilman George asked if Ellen could get him a list of
roads the Highway Department is working on.
Zoning – Special Use Permit Renewal
Application submitted by John Travis – Supervisor Grant reviewed the
application with Board Members. Applied
for a 3 year renewal, there have been no complaints. He did put up a building
back there, has permit for that. Motion made by Frounick/George to approve his permit
for three years, voting all ayes, carried.
Assessment: Assessor not here,
had to pick-up her computer tonight. Supervisor Grant reported that at the
county level, they have been talking about going to county wide
assessment. There are some assessors nearing retirement age
and since there is only a handful of assessors covering the whole county, they
are going to do a study to see how much it would cost to go county-wide. Supervisor
Grant noted that supposedly any town that didn’t want to go with the county
wide assessing, could opt out. Short discussion held on county wide
assessment, noting that the assessors hired would be full time with benefits
costing more money than what’s paid now, because now they are part time with no
benefits. Also noted that in our case, other towns are paying
for her mandated education and training programs, saving us money.
Councilman George suggested that
Transfer Station – Supervisor Grant reported that
today town received the boxes for the collection of fluorescent light bulbs and
the container for small, personal batteries. She will be taking them up to the
guys on Saturday. Asked if it costs to get rid of them.
Supervisor Grant thinks the box holds 25-40 bulbs and is $60-70 for shipping
and batteries is $45/box to ship.
Recreation – Soccer is going on right now,
tomorrow is the last day of swimming. Supervisor Grant met with Mike George on
the rest rooms for the park, reviewed the plans. Mike checked with the
Parks Maintenance
Person’s Salary – There
was a mistake made in the 2011 budget for the park maintenance person’s salary,
it was the same as the budget base salary as last year, it didn’t include the
extra mowing he was asked to do at the museum at an hourly basis last
year. Motion made by Frounick/Gadd to
increase his salary from $3800 to a maximum of $4600/year, which is the base
from last year plus the hourly wages paid to do the extra mowing he was asked
to do. Voting all ayes, carried.
Cowlesville Fire
Contract –
Supervisor Grant asked if there were any comments or questions at this time, if
not she would like a motion to close the public hearing. Motion was made by Mohun/George to close the
public hearing. Public Hearing closed at
Jasen Meyers Special Use Permit – Supervisor Grant asked if anyone had any further
comments or questions. None. A motion was made by Mohun/George to close the public hearing, voting all ayes,
carried. Public Hearing closed at 8:08 PM. Motion made by Gadd /Frounick to approve Mr.
Meyer’s permit for one year, voting all ayes, carried.
Old Business:
Cowlesville Fire Contract for 2012 – 2014. Motion made by Mohun to
approve a three year fire and emergency rescue services contract with the
Cowlesvile Fire Company at $75,000/year. Motion seconded by Frounick, voting
all ayes, carried.
Public Concerns: Debby Kipp addressed the Board with
questions from the Zoning and Planning Boards.
Old Business: Supervisor Grant reported on the
cable expansion in
New Business: Supervisor Grant reported she has
received the NYS Retirement bill and the amount that will be due is $49.326, if
paying in December, may save approx. $400. Last year’s bill
was around $36,000.
Ms. Grant reported she will be working on the 2012 budget in
the next 1-1/2 months, if anyone has any items that they think should be
considered in the budget, to contact her before the end of September, she would
appreciate their input. Ms Grant noted that the town will also be under the
restraints of the 2% property tax cap.
Civil War Re-enactment – Supervisor Grant reported that the
Historical Society is interested in hosting a re-enactment of the Civil War at
the town park on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, if enough interest. They
have several re-enactors who are going to be up there and demonstrating their
fire arms, showing off what civil war camp life was like, talking about some of
the uniforms, medical procedures at the time, do some drilling, also would like
permission from the Town Board to be able to camp overnight Friday night so
that they would be ready to on Saturday morning, thinks they were talking from
10 AM to 3 PM on Saturday. They would
also like permission to spend the night up there, have a camp fire, fire off
their muskets and cannon with blanks. Will be making quite a
bit of noise. Board felt no
problem but need to notify the neighbors. Short discussion held. Motion made by
Gadd/Mohun to allow the Historical Society to host a re-enactment of the Civil
War, to camp overnight Friday, have a camp fire and shoot off their fire arms
and cannon. Voting all ayes, carried. It’s the 150th
anniversary of the Civil War.
Bennington Volunteer
Fire Company Contract
– Supervisor Grant read the letter from the Bennington Fire Company requesting
a one (1) year contract in the amount of $90,000. Bennington also request that $25,000 of that
amount to be paid by January 15th and the remaining $65,000 due no
later than April 1st. Motion made by George/Mohun to schedule a
public hearing for the September Town Board Meeting, voting all ayes, carried.
Attica Central School has requested use of the town hall
for two School Board meetings,
Councilman Frounick asked about getting someone to repair the
soffit and siding on the Town Hall.
Supervisor Grant asked if he could get a couple of estimates.
There being no further business, a motion was made by
Mohun/Gadd to adjourn,
meeting adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted:
Judith
Brown, Town Clerk