Supervisor Grant along with Council Members Mohun, Frounick, George and Gadd audited the Highway, General Fund and Special District claims, discussed power washing agreement (when is work going to get done) for the town hall and Harris Corners Fire Contract.
Supervisor Grant called the meeting to order and asked Council Member Mohun to lead the pledge to the flag. Present were Council Members Mohun, George, Frounick and Gadd, also Highway Superintendent Czworka.
Supervisor Grant opened the public hearing on the 2012 Town Budget.
Financial Matters: General Fund claims #306 – 335 totaling $7,555.56 presented. Motion made by George/Frounick to approve the General Fund claims, voting all ayes, carried.
Highway claims #300-329 totaling $26,472.41 presented. Motion made by Mohun/Gadd to approve the Highway vouchers, voting all ayes, carried.
Special District claims: Cowlesville Street Lighting claim #11 ($165.73) and Cowlesville Water District claims #56-64 totaling $2692.04 presented. Motion made by Frounick/George to approve the Special District claims, voting all ayes, carried.
Supervisor’s Monthly Financial Reports: Supervisor Grant reported that the software is now working correctly and the financial reports print out correctly. Motion made by George/Mohun to approve the Supervisor’s Financial Statements, voting all ayes, carried.
Minutes of the October meeting: Supervisor Grant asked if any
corrections or additions. Council Member Mohun noted
that on page 57 under New Business the 2012 Town Budget public hearing date
reads “ Nov. 8th, should read “Nov. 9th”. Noted also that the Tentative Budget figures are not correct.
Councilman George asked whether it was correct to consider Mr. Czworka
as Highway Superintendent “Elect” at
this time. Decided that a better description would be
Superintendent “Candidate”. Clerk
will check the budget figures. Motion made by George to accept the minutes as
amended/corrected, seconded by Mohun, voting all
ayes, carried. Note: Clerk had the wrong
budget, the correct figures for the 2012 Preliminary Budget are: General Fund
appropriations of $397,119 less estimated revenues of $177,670, less an
unexpended balance of $61,988 leaving $157,461 to be raised by taxes. Highway
appropriations of $860,550 less estimated revenues of
$216,300, less an unexpended balance of $18,650 leaves a tax levy of
$625,600. Total town appropriations of 1,257,669 with an
estimated revenue of $393,970, an unexpended balance of $80,638 leaves a
tax levy of $783,061.
Correspondence:
Two
letters received from the NYS DOT regarding (1) investigation of conditions on
Rt. 354 between
October minutes received from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
List of Zoning applications received from the zoning officer and monthly reports from the assessor and town clerk.
Supervisor
Grant read letter she received from David and Kathy Ludwig regarding the speed
limit on
Two
letters received from the NYS DEC, copies of inspection reports on two (2) dams
within
Notice
received from the Association of Towns of their Training School and Annual Meeting
in
Notice from Selective Insurance on the condition renewal.
Letter
from Dadd & Nelson re:
Letter from Wyoming County Office of the Aging re: They are required to do a 4 year plan on services they provide for the community. They have surveys they would like filled out, some in the back of the room, can fill out and give back to Ellen and she will deliver them to the Office of the Aging.
Supervisor Grant read a copy of a letter that Richard and Maria Walczak sent to the Whitford/Landford Company, (contractor that did the recent work on Rt. 77) thanking/acknowledging them for a job well done.
Departments: Highway
– Highway Superintendent Czworka reported the county mower
has been up here in
Mr. Czworka reported that the 1977 Drott wheeled excavator, getting tired, blowing a lot of anti-freeze, has oil leak out of the transmission, swivel getting bad. Discussion held on the excavators, town has two, one tracked and one wheeled. Councilman Gadd asked Mr. Czworka to get pricing on one so the Board has some idea of how much is involved. Supervisor Grant suggested he check when he attends the next Highway Superintendents meeting, other towns may be getting of one, not looking to buy junk, but towns like Sheldon and Eagle who have healthy budgets might be replacing one, can also check with County Highway Superintendent Todd Gadd. Discussion held. Will look into it in the next couple of months.
Councilman George asked Superintendent Czworka
if he could come up with an idea, like a program of what roads he wants to fix
next year, knows that weather and budget affect it, he doesn’t know whether he
(Mr. Czworka) knows this or not, but the town has a report of the roads that need to be
fixed and what has to be done to them, would like to get an idea so they can
have a plan of attack. Mr. Czworka mentioned he’s
been approached by residents on No.
Zoning: Special Use Renewal Application received from Brian Sulzbach for a three year renewal for a home office for his contracting business, no complaints received. Motion made by Frounick/Mohun to approve Mr. Sulzbach’s renewal for three years. Voting all ayes, carried.
Goudy Special Permit – Notarized
letter returned stating that his parents have returned to
Assessor: Have her report.
Water – Supervisor Grant reported that the Savakinas have retired as of Oct. 31st. Bruce Sitzman and his assistants have taken over the operation of the system. They have some ideas of doing maintenance, like painting the hydrants, marking all of the curb boxes, also want to do a public awareness program, (informing the residents who aren’t tied in/hooked up) the benefits of having public water.
Supervisor Grant reported she has signed the BAN for another year, 5 Star Bank was the low bidder.
Transfer Station – Supervisor Grant reported they had a low turn-out on Scrap Metal Day, talking about only doing one next year, maybe having a flyer/pamphlet to hand out when residents buy their stickers next year, that will have the information on how to get rid junk tires, scrap metal and larger items, without having a junk day, phase it out.
Public Comments – Mrs. Germain asked about a letter Ellen had for her. Ellen has it in the office.
Public Comments on the 2012 Town Budget – Supervisor Grant asked if
any comments on the 2012 budget. The Preliminary Budget calls for General Fund
appropriations of $397,119 less estimated revenues of $177,670, less an
unexpended balance of $61,988 leaving $157,461 to be raised by taxes. Highway appropriations of
$860,550 less estimated revenues of $216,300, less an unexpended balance of $18,650.00
leaves a tax levy of $625,600. Total town appropriations of 1,257,669. with an estimated revenue of $393,970, an unexpended balance
of $80,638. leaves a tax levy of $783,061. Supervisor
Grant reviewed her budget narrative on the 2012 budget. Town is under the tax
cap by $4000. Supervisor Grant asked if Board Members had any other comments or
changes at this time. Council Member
Mohun asked about money for equipment, does the town have to take the tax cap
into consideration. Supervisor Grant feels some money in the budget for that, but town can
always get a BAN for equipment. Supervisor
Grant reported that the town was really fortunate this year with the timing of
the tax cap, the union contract had extra money in the 2011 budget, had extra money
also to pay off the Peterbilt truck and the
Cowlesville Water District’s budget was higher last year due to the BAN for the
meter vault on Clinton Street, all which helped the town when everything
calculated fall under the 2% tax cap in 2012 budget. Ms. Grant also stated that
when calculating the 2% tax cap, also have an option that if some given year,
don’t go up to the 2% increase, can roll that money
over into next year. There being no further discussion a motion was made by
Frounick/George to close the public hearing on the 2012 budget, voting all
ayes, carried. Public hearing closed at
Old Business:
Harris Corners Fire Contract – A
public hearing was held on October 19th at the Harris Corners Fire
Hall. The Harris Corners Fire Company asked for a one year contract with 2%
increase over last year. At the public hearing, talked about the difference in
rates between the residents in the Town of Sheldon and the residents in
Bennington and what determined that the contract be divided equally between the
two towns and when, the original contract? Right now the windmills in Sheldon
bring the rate down for Sheldon residents (wind mills are assessed fire tax).
The two towns basically agreed at the hearing to go with the 2% increase for a
one year contract and to start meetings early next Spring to figure it how this
all started and figure out some sort of equity between the two towns, will have
to begin by getting info from Real Property Tax Services.
Harris Corners – Amendments of Certificate of Incorporation - Supervisor Grant received a letter from the Law Offices of Mark C. Butler, PLLC regarding the Harris Corners Fire Department, Inc./Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation. This allows the fire department to operate as a tax-exempt corporation under 501C(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the same as the Cowlesville Fire Company just went through. The Town needs to schedule a public hearing for the December meeting. Motion made by Mohun/Gadd to schedule a public hearing for the December meeting and authorize the clerk to advertise same. Voting all ayes, carried.
Time Warner Cable Expansion – Supervisor Grant received some cost to install cable service to four town roads, namely Woodley - $10,626; Gadd - $4,250; Getman – $8,550 and Hoover $6,463 totaling $29,889 from Chris Muller. Mr. Mueller requests a Town Board resolution passed to begin this project. Supervisor Grant read the resolution. Councilman Gadd and George feels that town needs something, contract to lock them in. They (Time Warner) was told before to do it and they never did, now two years later and higher costs involved. After discussion, decided to amend the resolution to include that there shall be a signed contract with Time Warner and all work to be completed within one year of the date that the contract was executed, at the agreed upon price. Motion made by Gadd/George to approve the resolution with the changes made. Voting all ayes, carried. Supervisor Grant stated she will have the town attorney review the contract, hopefully it will be very basic.
All Hazard Mitigation Meeting – Supervisor Grant reported that the
All Hazard Mitigation Meeting was held here at the town hall. Wyoming County
Director of Fire and Emergency Services, Tony Santoro came here, she and Rick
represented
New Business: Municipal Solutions proposal on financing services –
Supervisor Grant received a proposal from Municipal Solutions, Financial Advisors
that have been handling our Bond Anticipation Notes for the Water District (BANs).
Supervisor Grant had a discussion with them earlier this year, she would like
to look at some long term borrowing, so the town doesn’t
have to keep paying out all this money every year, to do it on an annual basis.
They submitted a proposal for financial services when needed which would lock them in at certain
prices. Discussion held. Councilman George asked how much are
they charging now. Told Approx. $1900 which is down
from $2400 last year, which is paid out of the Water District fund. Each year
they take the town’s annual financial report and the town budget, send out
/post it for any interested parties that would be interested in bidding on the
town’s bond. This year 5 Star Bank was the low bidder, last year it was
Update on Borrowing with 5 Star Bank – Supervisor Grant reported that the interest is 1.5% this year with 5 Star, other bidders were: Roosevelt & Croft was 1.89% and Oppenheim came in at 2%.
Historical Museum Building– Supervisor Grant informed Board Members that next Spring. The museum will need some repairs, the front steps, also have a lilac bush that growing next to the foundation which needs to be removed, it’s jeopardizing the foundation. Short discussion held.
Council Member Mohun, after reviewing the Order in Anticipation of
Settlement for
2012 Budget – Supervisor asked if any more discussion from the Board on the 2012 Budget. Motion made by Mohun/Gadd to adopt the 2012 adjusted preliminary Budget as the 2012 Final Budget. Voting all ayes, carried.
There being no further business,
a motion was made by Mohun to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at
Respectfully Submitted:
Judith Brown,
Town Clerk