These minutes may not reflect what was actuallyWritten in the towns log book. They may not have the latest revisions. There may be inaccuracies due to converting to text and in some case scanning The posted minutes are simply a way for many to read that are not able to attend the town meetings. Al Rosenow~ Town Supervisor present Joe Ames ~ Councilman present Donny Farwell ~ Councilman present Roger Pettengill ~ Councilman present Eric Clayson ~ Councilman present Kelle Brisky ~ Clerk present Rich Michael ~ Highway Super. present Bucky Weatherby ~ Chair Assessor present Pledge to Flag Prayer ~ spoken by Rev. Wolfe Moments of Silence for the People who died in NYC (6 month anniversary was yesterday). 1. Resolution of Administrative Duties of the Town Board According to Town Law, Section 29(16), Resolved that the Town Board of the Town of Ischua hereby authorizes and delegates to the Town Supervisor powers and duties of day-to-day administration and supervision of all town and special district facilities and employees consistent with and in furtherance of any and all State and Federal laws applicable thereto and with any and all local laws, resolutions or policies hereto fore and hereafter adopted by this Town Board. Motion made by Al Rosenow. Seconded by Eric Clayson. All Board Members, Al Rosenow have affixed their signatures to this resolution. ALL ARE IN FAVOR. Carried. 2. Resolution Adopting Governing Rules of Order of the Town Board. Resolution 2002-2 Town Board had enough time to read. Motion made by Al Rosenow, that be it resolved that the following Rules of Order be and the same are hereby adopted pursuant to Section 3 of NYS Town Law. Al did not read all, but basically it sets down how the meeting is to be run and how the public is to conduct themselves; how we're to conduct ourselves as town board meetings. (I believe he meant "town board members). Seconded by Joe Ames. All Board Members and Al Rosenow affixed their signatures to Local Resolution 2002-2 made this day, March 12, 2002. ALL ARE IN FAVOR. Carried 3. Resolution 2002-3 of March 12. To draft letter outlining local laws. (Tabled till later on.) Not enough time to read. Don Farwell made motion to "Move on" and save for a later time. Seconded by Roger Pettengill. ALL ARE IN FAVOR OF Tabling Resolution 2002-3. CARRIED. So the folks know what we just did, I wrote up a resolution for the Town of Ischua; now, to be honest with ya, I really don't need the permission of these folks here to do this, I just want there backing and that's why I put this in here. But, What I wanna do is draft a letter to everybody in town, everybody that's a property owner, just informing them of the laws that we have in our town and I'll read the law that I have in mind, specially, because, we have several other laws that we're addressing differently, but these particularly, these 4 laws, some people know about them and some people don't know about them. I want everybody to know that we have these laws. So, I just wanted to have their backing on drafting this letter. And what it is, it is to notify the property owner of Local law # 2 of 1989 ~ Harboring and Running of Dogs in the Town of Ischua and mentioning that we have to have licenses and the dogs are supposed to be tied up. This is also a County Law. The Second Local Law is Administration and Enforcement of the Building Code. We have a number of folks in town that, in my personal opinion, that's just my opinion, not anybody else's, that, for whatever reason they have decided that they would not prefer to get a building permit and I think that's ~ it doesn't help the town, because when folks do that then everybody else suffers. Every homeowner suffers when a neighbor doesn't get a building permit. So I just want to tell them that we have that code. No. 3 ~ Local Ordinance #2 1986 ~ Regulating Automobile Junk Yards. That's a law that we've had here. And it has to do with 2 or more automobiles that are in peoples back yards and people that want to have junk yards in their yards, I understand fully that many people like to use their yards and property the way they want to, but we do have a law that says you have to regulate your property in a certain way as far as automobiles are concerned. Local Law #4 ~ Regulating Solid and Liquid Waste Disposal. This also has to do with regulating how you take care of your homes and your property. Where a lot of folks think that where this particular law whoever drafted it, their thrust was to a make sure that people wouldn't start and dump on their property. In other words, if someone has 100 acres they start dumping and their gonna have a solid waste dumpsite. It also regulates individuals, myself included, not to dump garbage and in fact, this particular law backs up, I think, the junk yard law, so in other words, if we have someone that has a large number of old cars that haven't been moved in a long period of time, this also could be considered solid waste and can be prosecuted under this particular law. There are a lot of people in town that are looking to have their property values go up because some next door neighbors continue to feel as if they have to compost there cars in their back yards forever. Now, one of things I wanted to do in this letter, also, which, it tells in this resolution what I have in mind; is to try to have folks that have, I am sure there is many out there, that have trouble getting rid of their cars. Now, we're not talking about folks that are in the business of fixing cars so much as people that are composting their cars. Cars that have been there for a long, long time and their making it that their neighbors are very upset about it, believe me. I think we should do something about it and I will if I get the backing of the Town Board. I can't do it by myself; I am only one person. But if the town board decides that they want to do something along this line, as a group, then we will do something about it. The other thing is that is far as enforcement goes, nothing is written out as far as enforcement goes; but we would probably start on a complaint basis first and then go from there. We don't have a Code Enforcement Officer that I think is gonna wanna bother with this, so I really am not sure how we can proceed but I will find out by next month. And I suspected that this would be tabled. Will go forward later on. 4. Vote on Public Officer's Law, Town of Ischua ~ Local Law 2002-1 Public Officials Law We've had a public hearing. We followed the state regulations to the best of my knowledge and it comes down to whether we are gonna vote yes or no. So, this is on the table for a vote today. Again, what this does, this Public Officials Law, is it protects the employees if there is a civil law suit; not if there is a criminal law suit. This was explained to those folks that were here at the hearing, by an attorney, and it just has to do with if there's a civil law suit against the town and coincidently an employee also gets involved in the lawsuit. If the employee cares to have an attorney, this law helps the town provide one for him. The town might provide the town attorney or the town might have to provide for a different attorney if necessary. Now, I can't recall, to be honest with ya, I don't think this has happened in our town to date, as far as I know, but it could. It's an important piece of legislation for employees not and in the future. So, I make a motion that we all sign this particular piece of legislation and make this a town law. Roger Pettengill Seconded. ALL ARE IN FAVOR. All Board Members have affixed their signature to this Local Law 2002-1. CARRIED. Al gave Town Clerk both signed copies (March 17th, 2002. Taken to Jerry Moriarty's office March 18th. This law will not take effect for @ least 20 days. Until we get back from the state of New York. 5A. Assessor to inform the Board of Airport Tax Progress Not much to report right now. We are still working on it. We've been to the airport today and talked to Mr. Binhauer a couple of times today and he seems pretty happy with what we are doing. That's pretty much all I got right now. Al~ so your basically checking in on what the assessments would be up there? Any further up or down? Eric Clayson ~ Do we know what the assessment is up there besides the 3 million or whatever is on the books? Bucky~ we don't have a final that we're going to put on it yet. That's what we're working on now. We found a few new items that have been added up there in the last couple years. I have to find some values for them. Eric Clayson~ did you get a building permit or anything that was in the paper for. (last night or night before) Bucky ~ No, I wouldn't get a permit till everything is probably done. I usually just get the applications from Kelle. Then I visit. A lot of times I pick up a lot more things that have been done just by looking at the applications rather than going by a finished permit in case it isn't inspected or something. Al ~ didn't they do some work recently up there. I've seen a lot of cement trucks going up there. Bucky ~ the only thing they've done ~ the most recent; He said they've only done 2 projects recently. For 6 or 7 years they had a city council that wasn't too interested in putting any money into the Olean Airport. They would just assume that it would shut down. And but I guess they have a council down there the last couple of years that have been willing to put more money into it and they have more money from the county. About 3 years ago they installed an Instant Weather Type Check where anybody from a plane can check what the weather is right at that airport; they can't check it in the surrounding area, but it gives the weather readings right at the airport. They said Mercy Flight uses that a lot and there's another one. They also replaced some, what they call "REAL LIGHTS" on the end of the runway. They are not the runway lights themselves. (I think this was done last fall) Al ~ If you get a chance. It also said in the paper that they just got $200,000 some dollars. Bucky ~ none of that could be used towards this assessment that's coming up now anyways. That would have to go on next year's. (Anything that is after March 1st. Al ~ Are they not supposed to get a building permit for that? Buck~ I would say so. They probably should. Depending on what they're doing. Al ~ I think I'll send them a letter. Maybe that'll help. Bucky~ If they are replacing existing items, I am not so sure that they need one. But, I didn't see any, and he gave us the tour around everything up there today, thru all garages and buildings, and I didn't see anything new (like new concrete or anything). Bucky ~ When were the trucks going up? Al ~ Gonna say December or January. Bucky ~ I will check on that. Don Farwell ~ I think you're gonna find that the money is going to replace the runway. Eric ~ they had a bid in the paper last night looking for bids to redo the runway and lengthen the runway (another taxi). Bucky ~ they are not going to lengthen the runway; they are going to resurface the whole runway and another taxi. too. Al~ Let's supposing they had ~ if they were to have taken a discount because it's been there awhile (a depreciation), taken out a 100 ft. section of runway and put in all new cement. Wouldn't that be updating it? Should we charge them for it? Bucky ~ Oh yea. 5B. Assessor ~ Veterans Exemption: I think it's too late for us to make them changes for this year, but I would still like to see the Board consider voting on allowing the "Alternative Veterans Exemption. " We've got 51 total veterans in town; 3 of them are only getting the "town exemption"; 15 are getting "Town & County Exemption" and 33 are getting only "County Exemptions". Those 33 would be "Alternative Veterans" that the town wouldn't allow an exemption on. Just trying to figure up roughly in my head I think it's gonna cost the town probably between $1000 and 1500 a year in real money. It's probably closer to the $1000 a year I am guessing. Al ~ I don't know whether you heard this. You might have been absent that day. For us to reverse the law, we have to go thru the same process as we did to make the law. So what we're really doing is making a law to get rid of the law. Al ~ is there anyone here that would like to author this document? I'll see that I'm going to have to do that. I will author the law. Bucky~ If you could do that Al and either let Nancy Barney look at it. Al ~ we will have both Nancy and Jerry look at. The other thing is we'll have to have a public hearing on it and then we'll have to vote on it. Bucky ~ this won't effect the veterans that are now getting eligible funds. They can stay in the eligible funds if they want because some veterans will opt to stay in that because they are getting a bigger discount by staying in that, but other veterans, like the ones that are only getting the County Exemption, that will help them for sure. Al ~ Will get a hold of Jerry Moriarty and will have him draft it as best he knows how. 6. Are Assessors to have 24 hours of education per year? (By law) No, only appointed assessors. Elected assessors, once they're certified they're done, but appointed assessors have to have continuing education. 7. Environmental committee ~ report from Deputy Supervisor, Penny Sage We have Rebecca Anderson that is coming to next month's meeting. She works with the "Flood Plain Management." Al Orman, who works for the County, is the gentleman we met with up at the landfill and he is going to also try to come to next month's meeting. I also talked to the gentlemen that hauls the waste and I asked him if he could be present at the meeting too. Al ~ If I recall, you told me that they don't fee that it's necessary for the workers themselves to wear any protective clothing? Penny ~ The gentlemen that I talked to that does the hauling says that he wears the rubber gloves but as far as any protecting gear, he doesn't wear. Al~ Am I correct, that they wanna put another monitoring sight in the flood Plain? Yes. Do you know whether that's one (3 pipes ~ 1 high; 1 medium; 1 low)? Penny ~ It's gonna be across, a ¬ mile down if your going up the Farwell Road; it's about a ¬ mile down the railroad track on the opposite side of the track. So what they need is a building permit to put in a road. Is what they're looking for? But, they're putting in just one, as far as I know. Al~ I think they want to put this new monitoring well in there is because it's obvious that what's in the ground is moving and they wanna see that if it's gone a ¬ of a mile. We have to, as a Town, permit the county to do this work. We also have on the table so to speak is we have a permit to ford the creek that's on Johnson Hollow Road by a property owner and they sent us the permit schematics and this is another thing that we're supposed to be looking into as a town. And I have laid this at the feet of Deputy Supervisor and Mr. Thompson and they are working with the DEC with that. This is something that we're supposed to be doing right along and this particular place on Johnson Hollow, I don't know really myself from what I look at it on how they can do it that way but that remains to be seen down the line. Penny ~ I am just afraid that with the gentleman that wanted to put this road way in on this stream, that it's gonna cause a blockage and it's gonna cause flooding. That's what concerns me. I just don't think that the way he wants to put it in would be ethical. Al ~ so, it's an ongoing thing right now. 8. Agreement to spend Town Highway Funds with Board This is something that we have to sign every year. The Highway Superintendent wants to fix Gile Hollow Road and work on that; leading to Rogers Road (Steward Road). He's going to do 1.93 miles ~ a surface treatment and gravel (resurfacing). We have an estimate of $ 18,000.00. Commencing @ Miller Road and leading to Kinney Hollow (Burt Hill Road). Al ~ Are you going to be doing more of what hasn't been done to Burt Road? Are you going to be redoing part of Burt Road? Rich ~ Just where it's paved; just resurfaced. Al ~ the estimate on that is $ 20,000. Distance of 2.1 miles. Surface Treatment. Donny ~ some of that road still dirt. Rich ~ yes. Up on top. Eric ~ Are you going to do anything with that this year (dirt part)? Rich~ it's pretty good. Motion made by Don Farwell. Seconded By Eric Clayson. ALL ARE IN FAVOR. Carried. 9. INVENTORY OF ROADS ~ Do we have a list of correct names that came from County? Myrick Hill Road (1,366) ~ was a road off Williams Hollow @ one time. We don't plow or fix. Crossed off the list. Williams Hollow Road (10,616) ~ yes Osgood Road (495) ~ yes Baxter Mill Road (6,700) ~ yes Hardscrabble Road (7330) ~ yes Doner Road (Main Hill Road) (4,105) ~ Yes Steward (22,386) ~ Yes Dutch Hill Road (16,430) ~ Yes Geyer Road (4,572) ~ Yes Farwell Road (3,951) ~Lower half is County Road, but part is on town map (going up over the hill there.) Elling Road ( 1695) ~ Yes, but we don't plow. Cross it off. Kent Road (640) ~ Yes, it is our Road, but we do not plow. Hinsdale plows it. Carpenter Hill Road (13594) ~ Yes (Seasonal Road) ~ what would it take to make it more than a seasonal road. Rich ~ It's gotta be widened and gravel put on it. Which I plan on doing. Brown Road (4033) ~ Yes Ingalls Road (728) ~ Yes. Town of Lyndon Plows. Eric ~ you swap roads, Right? We plow Steward for Ingalls & Snyder. They do put stone on it and grade it sometimes. Union Valley Road (7074) ~ Yes Munger Hollow Road (7824) ~ Yes N. Cuba Lake Road (1699) ~ Donny Farwell ~ I think that's just a state Road. Rich ~ I think we have a Road over there too. Eric Clayson ~ County Plows it; Town of Cuba plows it; and the State Plows it. Rich ~ Do you know where the Old Oil Springs is down over there? I believe that's a town Road. Eric ~ It is a town road; Allegany County maintains it. But it's a Town of Ischua Road. Eric ~ Nobody really knows for sure, if it's a state, county or town road. On our map it says it's our road, but 3 other trucks plow it, so.. Burt Road (10,394) ~ Yes Miller Hill Road (6433) ~ Yes Oil Spring Park Road (640) ~ Yes, But don't plow. Allegany County graded the park road last summer. Don't know why, but they do. Cattaraugus County Road but Allegany County graded it. In question. Kinney Hollow Road (7250) ~ Yes. We plow some for Hinsdale too. Union Hill Road (8744) ~ Yes. Dirt road all the way thru. Roper Hill Road (3381) ~ Yes. Very far end of Union Hill Road. Straightened out @ one time and renamed Union Hill but never got rid of Roper Hill or something. Cooper Hill is off of Williams Hollow Road ~ part is ours. We are plowing. Al is going to get a hold of the County guy and find out which belong to Town and which ones don't so we know which roads are in our town inventory for sure. 10. Highway information re: Snow Removal agreement w/ Franklinville We are not going to be voting on this right now. But I wanted to see if you had any input about it. And let the folks now what we're doing with that. Osgood Road is approximately, according to the one sheet here is 495 feet, could be 500 feet, could be more than 495 feet, it could be less than 495. Rich ~ it is exactly 528 to be exact according to.. Al ~ I guess traditionally, for along time they have been plowing this road. Unfortunately, the town is not supposed to be going beyond what is written as far as the town road. In other words, the town can, with an agreement plow farther than what is stated in the town inventory. So, right know, I am pretty sure, and I am sure the town highway superintendent will disagree with me if I am wrong, that Osgood Road has been plowed beyond the 495 feet to some extent, whatever, it really doesn't matter at this point. But he has been going beyond that point. But, to make it legal for him to do that and so that no one in town would have a squawk as far as Osgood Road goes, I had an agreement written up by Mr. Moriarty that basically says that the town of Ischua will have an agreement with the Franklinville Central School district so that they are in essence asking us to plow Osgood Road to appoint where the bus turns around. That not only gets the work done, but it protects the town in case there's a problem, some act ional problem where something gets damaged although nothing has over these years, but my job is to make sure that the town is protected. In this particular case, I felt that we should have an agreement to protect everybody so it protects F'ville Central School District it protects the town of Ischua; it gets the job done as far as the school bus get turns around and I think it's a win, win, win situation and I am sure that the town board has already read this. Is there any comment from the town board? Roger ~ so what would this agreement run? Al ~ Year-to-Year. Roger ~ so when kids all graduate, it goes back to 495 feet. Al ~ Yes Roger ~ so there was some controversy before saying that if the town had plowed a certain road for so many years that they had to keep up plowing it. Is there any truth to that? Do you know? Al ~ I have no idea as to whether there is truth to it or not, but I could not find anything in the law that would provide for that over time. Rich ~ There's all kinds of things out. 10 years. You can read it. Al ~ Well, a lot of these things, that anybody can show, has to do basically with whether we want to plow it. Okay, do you understand what I am saying? So in other words, if we want to plow it, that's what these agreements are for. Now, there's no way that anybody can force the town to plow any road; if the town decides they don't want to plow Miller Hill Road, I think that we could probably not plow it and nothing will probably happen. Donny ~ Not unless people live on it and they have a fire and they can't get there because the fire company can't get there. Al ~ Well, it depends on the road. Donny ~ I found out a long time ago when I drove school bus (50 years ago) that there's a state law that the says the town or county has to keep a turn around for the school bus. Yea, that's what we're talking about, but I think (Rich) is going beyond that. Al ~ we should stick with the point, here. Rich ~ I'd call Jerry about this agreement. This is the first one he's ever wrote up. He wrote it out because Al asked him to write it out. In this case, we'll probably need 30 or 40 of these for the town; really, if we're gonna do it to every school bus or any turn around that we turn a truck around at. Al ~ Well, you tell me where it is and we'll get 30 or 40 of them. Rich ~ I don't think that needs to be done. Al ~ you have to follow the law. Rich ~. I think we're doing it legal already; I think there's already a law there Al ~ we have to follow the law. Rich ~ There's already a law there saying we have the right to plow a school bus turn around or plow a turn around for us to turn around in. Al ~ you show me the law and I will follow it. Rich ~ Well Jerry said that there was. Al ~ Okay, well he'll have to show us. Rich ~ He can come down and talk to us on these roads if you want him to. Al ~ All right, that'll be good. Roger ~ I would like to know more about it. If Jerry will come down. I would hate to see us writing something up like 30 or 40 of them. Al ~ What other ones would you have to write besides this one? Rich ~ Write up on Carpenter to turn around in that guys drive way; Cooper; Union Hill Road; I mean every place we turn around we'd have to have one. Al ~ Yea, but those Roads go through. Rich ~ No. Well, yeah they go through but we still have to turn around. Al ~ that's the point. If you can drive thru, I mean if you don't want to plow thru; what I am saying is this is a special; this particular one is special; it is a dead end street. Rich ~ do you want us, for example, to take Union Hill @ do you want us to drive all the way down state route 446 turn around on state road and come all the way back up over. That'd be nonsense. Donny ~ Hinsdale and Ischua turns around @ the same turn around up there on Union Hill. Rich ~ so we would have to get an agreement for that? True? Al ~ No, I don't think so. This hasn't got to due with the turn around; this has to do with going beyond. Rich ~ this is the same thing though Al ~ you're not turning around in somebody's driveway because or the school bus. You're turning around in this driveway because of the school bus. Rich ~ Yea, but we are turning around on private property for our use. Al ~ I know, but I am saying you're not, I am just trying to stick to the point that it's a school bus issue, not because your turning around. Rich ~ I think it would be a good idea to have the attorney come and speak on it. Al ~ You take the chance that this he's going to tell ya that this is the only way to do it. Unless he told you something different. Rich ~ Well, we'll writing up a whole bunch, but this is the first one he's ever written up his entire life. Al ~ Well, he's an attorney, I'm sure he got it right. Rich ~ I believe he got this right; I am just saying that ~ I think there's a law already out there covering this. Al ~ I think the issue here is, with this one or any other one similar to this, is whether we, as a town, want to be plowing private property beyond what we are supposed to. Because when you go beyond where you are supposed to you are giving somebody a benefit. You can't give somebody a benefit just because you like em or they're a good friend of yours, etc. We have a lot of nice people here, but we can't go plow their road. In fact, I could request to have my driveway plowed out and it would have to be plowed out. Even though it's on state road, but what I am getting at is you can't get a benefit. It just isn't done. We have on the Table Mr. Pettengill wants to Table this particular matter. Seconded by Al Rosenow. ALL ARE IN FAVOR. TABLED. 11. HIGHWAY TRUCK FORM Highwayman gave an excellent report. Any comments on info. Eric ~ total is for this year, right? Rich ~ Yes, a running total. Eric ~ Good Report. Roger ~ Have you seen the new truck ~ are you happy with it and everything. Rich ~ Speaking of the truck. Did you talk to anybody about the lease? Al ~ I tried calling 2x they didn't call me back. Rich ~ I have a number to call right here. It's David Hartz in Municipal Service Group. I have figured out at what it would be a year and for how many years if you would like to know that. It would be a 5-year lease. It's 4.87% interest; payment would be due April 1st of every year. Payment would be $22,036.85. That would be the total of the new truck with the new plow and wing because East Otto's minimum bid was $3,500.00. So I didn't put a bid in on that. So, the new plow was $ 4150.00; Wing was $ 1450.00. The total would $ 100,415.00 for the truck. That would be thru this leasing company (David Hartz) Contact #. (800) 549 8911 ext. 230. Truck will be done in at least 2 weeks; maybe 3 weeks. Might even be done sooner than that. Might even be done by the end of next week. We don't know. 12. State and Federal Penalties for taxes. ~ $18,454.80 As you can see, there is $ 18,454.80 (a print out) either paid already; paid by the current supervisor, or still due to the State of NY or the IRS. In the last week I have received at least 6 letters from the IRS. I called them yesterday and talked with them. And it seems like we starting to get a handle on at least the IRS. he NYS tax I have not been able to get to first base with them folks yet. I have sent everybody, for every quarter, I have sent in abatement letters. Hopefully, they'll give us our money back or we won't have to pay them any of these thousands of dollars that are still due. However, the total amount appears to be $ 18,454.80 if we have to pay everything. Now, I would like to address what was mentioned last meeting regarding whether the town board should have known about all this info here. At that particular meeting Mrs. Curtain was good enough to bring this up that she felt the town board should have been on this right along and after the meeting was over with, I think it was a valid question at the time, it was answered quite well by Mr. Farwell, saying that these forms were never presented to the town board. I couldn't answer it one-way or the other because I really didn't know being that this was before my time. So, I went and looked at the paper work. These guys pay the bills buy warrant. Here's the warrant, it's not on here. (Al brought in Warrants from a previous meeting before 2001 to show that the bills for the payroll taxes are not included with the monthly warrants). That means that there was no way of these fellas knowing that these bills were being paid. See attached schedule of payments. A lot of penalty and interest for not paying on a timely basis and for not filing! I didn't go ahead and look all these up myself, the account from NYS looked up most of this stuff and checked on it for me. So, there is absolutely, I wanna make it absolutely clear, that these fellas here, the fellas that were signing the bills there's absolutely no way they would have known about these bills. (Unless they were accounts, of course, then maybe they could have figured it out.) Then, the other issue Mr Curtain brought up, and he asked the question: Well, how can we trust you? Well, I just want to respond. It took me awhile to figure this one out. Probably when I was sleeping, was that it's implied that I am honest. When I got elected it's implied that I am honest. In fact, I don't even think we can collect from anywhere on this because all laws imply that the supervisor and the town board are honest people. Even the insurance that we have looks as if we are not going to be able to collect because we have the wrong insurance policies. I am glad I didn't make them up; we could have collected on this, but I don't think, so far, we are not going to be able to collect on this and what was told to me by a fella from Syracuse was it's implied that you guys are honest. However, even saying that, I am taking bids on accountants to do this work that I am doing and I can assure you that the minimum price is $ 5000.00 a year to do all this stuff, and of course, it would probably look a little different than this, maybe a little bit more professional, but you can almost be rest assured that it would be honest figures, almost, of coarse, you know what happened with ENRON. So, you are not really sure, but you're almost sure that you'll get an honest reflection, but you'll be paying thru the nose for it. So, we'll be letting ou know in the future whether the town board wants to vote for an accountant to do this work. Kelle ~ you mean just the work to ~ regarding all the penalties? Al ~ No, I mean all my work. Eric ~ to make sure it doesn't happen again. Al ~ because I may not be honest enough to take care of it. Al ~ it's a valid question. I mean most people don't know me. You know, I am only here for 3 years. I might not be honest. That's very true. So, I am willing to give up all this fun to have someone else do this work. Okay, Next thing ~ 13. HISTORICAL REP. TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ~ Saddie Edwards Well, as a lot of you know, my mom, Joyce Edwards, is the town historian and as she's 72 years young, she's called out the reinforcements to help her out with the town history. Sally Pettengill was the Town Historian before her, and before that was Bobbi Jean Forrest, both who passed away quite suddenly, creating some confusion on where the documents were, where they would be kept next and how to handle the preservation of all of the town documents. What we come up with is, last month we got together and started a "baby form" of a historical society. The meeting was here and had a lot of people show up and we are recruiting the help of our young people in town and anyone else who maybe interested in any aspect of town history ~ to get involved and also to do some volunteer work. Now, the payment per year, to the town historian, has traditionally been $ 50.00. Out of that paycheck, comes the cost of paperwork notebooks, pencils, glue, all of the things that they use to conduct their work, and a lot of it out of their own pocket expenses. What we're coming across here, back in this gray cabinet, we have shelf after shelf of material that's over 100 years old, some of it. And, 3 of the biggest problems that town historians face is the paper will deteriorate with age. There's always the threat of losing everything to fire and also to flood. And, so, it's very important that we get copies of all the documentation that we have and a) get it on the internet so that it's accessible to everybody who needs that information and b) get the original sources in a fireproof, safe place and have a copy at a different location so that people will have access to them as well and if, god forbid anything should happen, there are back up copies. So, in order to do that, we need a little bit more than $50. And what we would like to start out asking for is $ 500.00 and the first thing we are going to use that money for is to immediately get as many documents that we have here copies over and once they are copied over, then we have volunteers who will put that information onto the internet. Also, more expenses, such as notebooks, reams of paper, plastic pages, because we cut out articles from the newspaper. So, if anybody has anything that has anything to do with current events with all you Ischua people, just drop off a copy at the big yellow house in town, and we'll add it because eventually that will be town history. As far as the copying we have there, it costs about 6 cents per copy but there's thousands of pages of documents, so this is going to be an ongoing thing. Any Questions? Eric ~ That $500.00. That's what you're asking for to get things started? Saddie ~ Yes. Eric ~ Takes a special copier to all that stuff, correct? Saddie ~ Well, what we're gonna try to do with most of the books is just copy, but with some of the really old stuff, we could, there is a process that where you can send them out for a certain amount per book and they chemically fix the paper so it won't deteriorate and it makes it fire proof and water proof, but for the majority of the books, that probably won't be necessary ~ that's kind of down the road. Joe Ames ~ Well, I think it's a good thing. I mean I don't know how they got along with $ 50 all these years. Al ~ Well, correct me if I am wrong, they were getting $100; her personally, she was taking $50, but still, you're even paying the tax on the $100, the way it was set up. Shouldn't even work out that way. One thing you are probably aware of, and I think we discussed this at the meeting, this is really not the time to be asking for a money, this would be better starting in August. So, the Town Board knows, I think we could afford something, and for now, if you would give us whatever bills you create, at least for this month; to be honest with you, I haven't had time to look at the budget to see where I can pull out the money, I mean I don't want to do it right here because I really don't know where it's from. So, if you are going to work for this month, would that be a problem to give us the bills for now? I don't think anybody here will object to us paying for whatever immediate bills you have right now. Just don't spend a $1000 bucks, will ya (LOL) Just give us the bills and keep in contact with Caroline or me. And then, next month, I'll be able to tell these fellas how much of this $500, more or less, we can afford. Because right now we're in, because right now we have other things that we have to spend money on and we really kind of up in the air, the whole budget is up in the air. We really don't know what is what with this particular juncture. I think we can come up some money for ya, okay? Roger ~ who has the voucher sheets; fill out a voucher and attach the receipts. Al ~ we can get you that, sure. Saddie ~ that sounds wonderful. Thank you very much. Al ~ is that agreeable with everybody? Don ~ that' s fine. Roger ~ that's fine with me. Everyone agrees. 14. Can the Town afford a FAX-COMPUTER COPIER ~ Al Rosenow ~ I have placed a figure of $500. I've looked over at STAPLES. I am not sure that's the best place to get it, but a lot of folks go there and I am sure we can get one that is cheaper or one that is more expensive. I just put a figure of $500 on there because that seems like there were some that were running $700 up to $900 and then there were some that we running about $ 300. But, I don't think, if we are going to purchase one, I don't think we ought to buy the cheapest, and of course, we don't need to purchase the most expensive, but a FAX machine, as far as the business of the town goes, is an important tool. That particular printer that we have for the computer is not a production printer and it certainly isn't a fax machine. The justice feels rightly, as I was a justice for a time; I know that the fax machine would be a tremendous assist to his business as a town judge. If he needs to have any input from the State of NY that he needs to know right away, if he will be already to go if we have those. The judge has been putting in a considerable amount of time. It seems like we a lot of bad customers in our town at this particular juncture for some reason and he is extremely busy, especially in the day time; it used to be a night business, but it's getting to be more of a day business for our town and that's when these fax machines become extremely important. So, I am not going to say whether I'll vote for it or not @ this particular juncture, but I'd like to know if anybody here has any other input regarding what is needed for this type of machine. Rich ~ the report I gave you, I cannot do on that copy machine. That's my home computer that did that. Eric ~ Do you have your stuff on there, Rich? Rich ~ Yea, but I gotta copy off of that and take it home... Kelle ~ I think we can get a good printer and a fax machine for under $ 500. I mean we don't need anything that's super fast or anything, do we? Al ~ We don't want to get a home thing. I'll be happy if it comes in @ $ 300. Kelle ~ When you say commercial? Al ~ Something that's gonna last awhile Eric ~ you can go to BJ's and buy one for $ 125 or so, but they don't last very long. Kelle ~ Right, but like at work, I have another one now, but I used to have a fax, printer and that lasted for a few years and I did a lot of printing on it. I think that was like only $ 235. Al ~ Well, I'll tell you what, we'll let you buy it if they say okay. Kelle ~ no, I don't want to buy it, you buy it. Joe~ Well you ought to be the man that knows if we can afford it or not. Al ~ Yea, we can afford it. Joe ~ Well, I say let's get it. Eric Clayson Seconded. ALL ARE IN FAVOR OF THE FAX~COPIER. Carried. Dennis ~ Can I say one thing on that fax machine. Al ~ Yes. Dennis ~ I just want to make it clear that I don't want someone to think that I was part of misleading them, and I didn't and Al didn't either, but.. It is mandated by NYS Law that every town in the State of New York has a FAX machine for the protection of battered women and children. So, that's why I need it. If I have women in here, I gotta protect them and that's what I need it for. I've already acted on it and I am happy to hear that. 15. INFORM THE BOARD ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF THE TOWN AUD. The NYS Comptrollers Office Auditor has been at my house 7 times now; 8 hours each time. He's been down here about 5 times, maybe 4. It looks like he's finally completed 2000. Now, I say I think he completed 2000; he faxed me a number of papers and they all say 2000 on it and he called me up and said that he'll be able to do something with 2000. So, we got to the point were we got 2000 done. We have no progress on 2001 as of yet. Eric ~ What about 98 and 99? Al ~ 98 and 99 were done before. But he has to go into 98 and 99 and in 1999 there was, don't quote me on this particular number, but the playground got $23,000 in 1999. And remember, I asked if we put that kind of money into the playground, I don't think so. So, that figure was wrong, but he said he got 2000 so we are beyond 1999 apparently. 16. TOWN FINANCES Just to go back about what I was saying about the money that's due for penalties. Just as an aside, just so you folks know, because I asked the insurance company, Franklinville Agency, I put a claim in with Franklinville Agency who turned it in to the home office you might say and in the letter back from the home office ~ this has to do with, because the penalties were paid, I felt that we might be able to collect the penalties back under "Errors and Omissions" that the town had insurance had a policy for errors and omissions. I heard back from the home office in Syracuse at the time, and he said that he was waiting to get the policy from the Franklinville Agency, because he (the home office) didn't have the policy. So we waited awhile and I called up the Franklinville Agency and they said they didn't have the policy. So now we have the home office in Syracuse, doesn't have the policy, we don't have the policy, and the Franklinville Agency, which we pay the money to every year, doesn't have the policy. So, we have to question at this particular juncture if anybody has the policy when you go that route. Well, know it turns out that there's another home office in Texas. And that lady is on vacation, so we are waiting to find out; however, I passed it by the town attorney and he says probably we are not gonna have insurance and probably we are not going to be able to collect. We really don't know. Today, I talked to Don Meyers and originally, he was saying that we were covered for errors and omissions and Don now says that we probably don't have insurance. So, I am wondering what we have insurance for. And it seems like we've been paying over a $1000 for something we don't seem to be able to collect on. One section says "Fiduciary" a person that has fiduciary responsibility cannot collect on this insurance policy. It's really odd. Apparently, we don't know one way or the other whether we're going to be able to put in a claim. Then, I imagine if we can't put in a claim; we're gonna put a claim in anyway and see what they send back to us, but chances are we are gonna have to redo all our insurance policies with Franklinville and maybe not have them at all, because to be quite honest from my point of view, it's only mine, I don't think he knows what he's doing. And I don't say that lightly because I would guess that if you had an auto accident that the first thing you would do is go to your insurance man and look in the policy and say yep, you're covered. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the policy, the home office in Syracuse doesn't have the policy, and we don't have the policy. So, I guess it's kind of up in the air as to whether we have anything at this point. Now, apparently, the cars and trucks are covered. So if we have an accident, we might be all right. FINANCIAL REPORT ~ Al gave written reports on all Finance Accounts The "Old" General Fund Account is going to be eliminated; the funds, $6576.32, will be placed in the New General Fund The "Old" Highway Fund Account is going to be eliminated; the funds, $4250.52, will be placed in the New Highway Fund Roger ~ Are these the ones from the old; is this left over from last year. Al~ Yes. Roger ~ Nothing else has went into that, right? Al ~ Right. From the beginning of this year. I did that because I couldn't make heads or tales of the old checking accounts. So I just waited until a couple months went buy and I know it's in there and we're gonna get rid of them. "Street Lighting" account is going to be eliminated and the remaining funds, $259.46, will be placed in the General Fund. Street Lighting is going to be accounted for thru the regular system for the month and paid from the General Fund. Now, this is the one that I have no Idea on ~ the Cemetery Fund. Cemetery Fund is approximately $1506.33. I haven't funded it yet; I didn't want to put anything in there because there's a better way of doing it, it's just by accounting but I just want some input from anybody that might know ~ is this a special fund? Or is this money that goes in and goes out? Don ~ Used to be separate funds. State Law, mandated you have a cemetery fund, a lighting fund, highway fund. Al ~ Yea, but that's no longer the fact. Don ~ that's what I under stand. They finally updated their .. Al ~ I was wondering.. Ya know, sometimes you might have a cemetery fund where someone might put some money in there for maintenance out of his or her private hands and it's there, accumulating. Don ~ There is a Trust and. one of the banks over to Cuba that we get the interest on. Al ~ but not this number? Roger ~ no, not that number. Don ~ I believe that particular was to take care of the Cemetery in Oil Springs. Al ~ who would be in charge of that. That's got nothing to do with the Town. Don ~ Oh yea, the money comes right to the town. The interest is sent right to the Town. Al ~ Out of that Trust Fund? Don ~ Yep. Always has been. Al ~ and what are we supposed to do with the money? Do ya know? Don ~ we always put it in the Cemetery fund and it helped take care of your cemetery. Don ~ Will pay it all out for maintenance etc. Al ~ I am going to eliminate the cemetery fund. It'll be accounted for. Okay. Take Notice of the Highway Fund under the budget code of snow removal. Right now, Mr. Michael and I went over this Code of Snow removal, pretty close and this is not to discourage the fact about his work or anything like that it's just our job to let you know that it's over budget a little more than a $1000. And, it's mostly because when the budget went in for last year, it was under budgeted; there should have been more money in there. We even had a light year, so we know that it was under funded because he has been doing a good job of trying to keep overtime down. And most of this money $1111.08, is basically overtime. It's so under funded that it would show something, but it shouldn't. So, in August or Sept. when we sit down we're gonna look over this funding of the highway snow removal fund and attempt to get that a little closer. This is not any reflection at all that he's over budget. This is completely unavoidable. Now, if we have a very bad November, it'll go over budget even more, but I think there's enough money in his particular highway fund to cover most of these problems if and when they occur Trust & Agency ~ I just want to make you aware of this so we don't have any problems 3 years from now. The balance amount shown at check # 1157 (436.40) indicates three mistakes that were made 1) over-paid NYS Retirement System approx. 3.25 2) Over-paid FICA taxes by 133.90 3) over deposit of Retirement funds due to misunderstanding of laws. At checks #s 1161 and 1162 over-deposits were returned to General & Highway fund. The balance at #1162 is a negative amount of $ 131.65. This will not affect the account negatively as there is other money there from last year. The mistakes will be rectified in the future. Now, over-deposit of retirement funds it was my understanding originally that when I take the money away from the fellas and put it in there retirement, that we match it, which we do, and then this money goes into the Trust and Agency Fund. However, after doing this for 2 weeks, I called up the Retirement (or they called me) because I made this mistake of $ 3.25 and they said that I didn't need to send them the town's share. Well, I wouldn't have no way of knowing that so it was just deposited into the Trust and Agency, it wasn't sent to NYS; however, one of the gentlemen that were paying into the system I overpaid by $ 3.25. I over-paid, he didn't; I did. All the money is still in Trust and Agency that needs to be there except that overpaid FICA taxes for $ 133.90 was paid to the government, so that would show on their books that I paid $ 133.90 too much. However, that can be rectified by probably the next time I send money to them ~ I'll just short them $ 133.90. Al ~ any questions from the Board~ Eric ~ did you put any money in this years taxes? (Deposited any money in the CD) Al ~ No. Not yet. Should go in maybe this week or next. Al ~ and where it will go is back to Smith Barney. Don ~ Ask Smith Barney what they got for a bank money fund thru the Citi Group. Just ask them. Al ~ I'll ask them. What they're telling me is that they lump our money in with everybody else's money to get a bigger figure, but it seems like you can get the same figure from just about anybody. Al ~ with the way our town budget is ~ with what's happening with the comptroller I am kind of leery to do anything at this point. Al ~ Does the board have any more input. 17. CITIZEN COMMENTS ~ Now, before anyone says anything, we'll take you one at a time; and I want you to stand up if you would, give me your name and address, and what the subject is. Harriet Emmons ~ 153 Munger Hollow; Subject: Roads It seems like we're trying to get rid of roads and I believe we get paid from the CHIPS according to how much footage that we take care of on the roads.? It seems like it would be more to our benefit if we contracted like with the county, on roads that we already travel to get from one road to the other, to get more money. Some of the other towns do that. I think the town of Limon does that. It pays for their new equipment. And I wondered if that's a possibility. Al ~ you are absolutely right. Harriet ~ I believe we get so much CHIPS money for every foot, mile, or something like that. Is that correct? YES. So, it seems like the more we keep up the better w e're gonna do because we'll have more money for new equipment. Al ~ The way I understand it to work, and maybe he knows more about it than I do, just to answer your question, I think it's a good idea. One place I would ask the county to do is to pick some road that they would like to see us do and give us a figure on how much money they want to pay us for it. Now, they do that in Colden. Colden was taking on about 2 miles of county road and they were getting maybe $200 a mile, but they get paid something. A lot has to with what road they pick because you know you take the road that they want you to take; not the road you wanna take. And they probably would give us the airport road and I don't know whether these guys would care to do that one. Harriet ~ Well, it's something I think would be worth looking into. Al ~ what it does, it comes down to a contract. Rich ~ Yeah, the Town of Lyndon does some of that for the county. Don ~ we looked into it a few years ago when the county first came out with it. Now, we go from Williams Hollow to Osgood Road, to Sands Hill to Gile Hollow. We travel over that. They didn't want to give us that. Ya know what they wanted to give us? Johnson Hollow and Hatch Hill. (The hilly roads, not the flat ones) Harriet ~ maybe it's a possibility things might be different with change of administration. Harriet ~ I serve on a Board of Administration and maybe I don't understand the rules of order and you mentioned something about passing something tonight about it. The Board that I am on, the person that's in charge doesn't make motions and doesn't vote unless there's a tie. Is that correct? Don ~ that's the way it always has been. Somebody changed the rules. Harriet ~ Just wondered about the procedure. It seems like there is a discrepancy. Al ~ Towns don't follow the rules of order. The Town's, by Town Law, makes there own laws and if we were to follow the rules "Roberts Rules", it'd be ciaos. You can't really follow Robert's Rules in a town. Now, that's not me talking, because I thought Roberts Rules, up until I came here was the same, but you go to the school, and the first thing they do is throw that exact law, I didn't change one word of it, that's the rules that they tell you to have a resolution on. Those exact laws. In other words, the supervisor can make a motion; they can also second a motion. I didn't even know that until I read it. That happens to be what they recommend us to pass so that you have good order at your meeting. Harriet ~ I guess I don't understand how that would make a difference with order in your meeting. Al ~ Well, ask the State of New York. Saddie ~ I thought it was the Town that makes the laws for Town Law. Bucky ~ since I wasn't here last month, I didn't get to go over the General Fund Account. I have a couple of questions on it or not. 1) Check # 994 The Association of Towns $ 160.00. Have we always done that? Al ~ Yes. 2) Stew was given a check for $584.81. What was that for? Al ~ He went to a Planning School. I didn't have anything to do with that. That was done prior. From the year 2001. Bucky ~ When was that? Al ~ Either October or November. That's all I had. Don ~ Association of Towns, we've been in that for over 34 years. Bucky ~ Yea, well, we never got these before where we can look at them. Penny Sage ~ Junk Yard Ordinance. You're talking that they're only allowed to have 2 vehicles on the property. Is what you're saying? What if there are farmers that have old farm equipment on there property? Are they gonna run into problems. Al ~ what do you mean by farm equipment. Penny ~ .. Old balers, etc. Al ~ you mean that they're not being moved; they're just sitting there. I am not sure that that would come under the "vehicle." Farm equipment gets kinda special treatment in the rural area. Dennis ~ that was brought up in the past and Jerry Moriarty addressed it to the town. I think the explanation given was that a vehicle intended for use on the highway, which excluded the farmer's equipment. If the vehicle was garaged, too, Al, it didn't fall under that according to him at that meeting. Don ~ we have one Junk Yard in Town and Mr. Converse keeps his license. He licenses it every year. Rich ~ wasn't it if the vehicle was out of sight too? Don ~ I believe, but I won't say for sure. Al ~ I hope that you folks don't feel offended by what I am saying, but as an old police officer, if you have a law on the books, especially if its one that makes sense, 1, it should be enforced. Now, enforced could mean a lot of things, or, if you're not gonna enforce it then take it off the books. Now, these particular laws that we have here, they seem to be pretty viable laws to me, and I like to do things that are proper, now, I may not do things proper all the time by accident, but I wouldn't do it on purpose. And it seems to me that these laws either should be enforced or we have to make some provision for getting them off the books. Now, we have a lot of folks in town, a lot of folks that love to build things on their houses and not get a permit and they have the idea that that's gonna help them with their taxes. That's fine; but if your going to do it ~ if 10 people in town get away with it, why is it that the rest of the people in town can't get away with it. So, the assessor needs to know this information and your next door neighbor thinks that your putting up a shack that detracts from his property and your not paying for it, it makes sense to me that we should have that law. Or, let's make it even. I am one guy that loves to build and I'd love to build things without a permit because it's a hassle, but if its on the law you gotta do it. That's the only reason I am saying that we should go after, or do something about these laws ~ I'll notify the people. Maybe they don't care whether I notify them or not; that's up to them, but I am going to do my job. Bucky ~ Question about and Code Enforcement and them not following through on some of this stuff. Have you given any idea about talking to them about that? Or, maybe even contracting with a different person or company? Is there another one or... I've had people that have applied for a building permits and their supposed to go thru an inspection process as they're going along and they've gone thru and finished the job completely up and it never did get final inspection because it didn't need a "Certificate of Occupancy." So, is there any thought of trying to get them to follow up on their job. Al ~ Well, I would imagine, if you don't mind me saying, that that was the beginning of where I was starting with this is notification. I have to get together or someone here has to get together with the Code Enforcement Officer. It probably wouldn't hurt if the Code Enforcement Officer, myself, and you got together or the Clerk, maybe all of us, so that we can get the system working like its suppose to. Is that what your saying? Bucky ~ Yeah, I guess, but if their not gonna do their job ~ The town doesn't get any money, if I understand it right, from building permits. If their not gonna do their job as far as this following up ~ Well, take the airport for example ~ supposedly, was it you that called? Somebody supposedly had called Mr. Klein and told him that there was no building permit up there. Well, I think it's his job to go summons them or take care of it. Al ~ If he knows what it is. I sent him up there because I know they were building something. Don ~ Down in Hinsdale, they'd come along and shut you down. Town of Allegany ~ they'd shut you down; you couldn't do a thing until you got the permit. Al ~ do those folks have a Code Enforcement Officer? Don ~ Yes they do. Bucky ~ These guys are getting paid anytime by the people that do get building permits; and they're not following thru on the people that don't get them. Al ~ Well, I think we don't have the whole circle completed. We don't have a constable. I should have put that on there, but I didn't. I don't know whether he would come into play with this, but I think he did in the old times, didn't he? Don ~ Chucky Magee would if the board backs him; we always backed him. Bucky ~ I don't think he has nothing to do with Building Permits and that kind of stuff. Junk Yard laws and that kind of stuff, I think should fall under the constable. Al ~ Well, we're gonna have to get together with him so we get the proper procedure down; then if he doesn't do what we want him to do, then I would say that you're right. Or, we can get somebody else. I mean, he doesn't have a contract with us that we can't go to someone else. Al ~ Called the meeting closed. ALL ARE IN FAVOR.