Public Informational Meeting
8/8/13
Meeting called to order at 6 PM. The meeting was held at the Grange Hall.
Board Members present were Councilman Wrisley, Councilman Garvey and Supervisor Boisen. Also present was Audrey Hoskins, Town Clerk.
Attendees were Rita Ann Fitzgerald, William Poppino, Keith Lobdell,
Mary-Nell Bockman, Patricia Gardner, Rob Ivy, Sara Scheinin, Sally Johnson,
Tom Stransky, Wayne Bailey, Gary Heurich and Dianne Lansing. Mr. S. Lewis attended but did not sign.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform the voters of a choice of three elected or one sole appointed assessor. The Board could make this decision without public opinion. The Board wanted to hear the opinions of the public as to whether or not they would like this question on the ballot in November.
Patricia Gardner asked why not one sole elected assessor? Supervisor Boisen said that is another option. The Board decided to ask the public and see what their thoughts were on the question three elected assessor or one sole appointed assessor on the ballot.
Supervisor Boisen stated there is all kinds of information on line. The Town will put packets together and make them available.
Dianne Lansing asked if there will be Public Hearings. Supervisor Boisen stated we would have Public Hearings if the people want this on the ballot.
Sally Johnson wanted to know who would decide who would be hired and how would you find this person. We would advertise and the Town Board would interview the applicants. Then the Town Board would appoint the person they felt was the best candidate for sole assessor.
Supervisor Boisen stated the main concern was does the public want a choice on the ballot of changing the assessors from 3 elected to one sole appointed assessor. All but seventeen percent of Towns in NYS have gone to one sole appointed assessor. There is all kinds of information on line about elected or appointed assessors.
Dianne Lansing asked if there would public hearings on elected versus appointed assessors. These are not Public Hearings, they are informational meetings to find out how the public feels about this question.
Sally Johnson wanted to know if it is one sole assessor how would that person be chosen. The Town Board would interview the applicants and choose the applicant they felt was best suited for the job.
Supervisor Boisen stated the question we are asking is does the public want the question of one sole assessor or three elected assessors on the ballot. The local law process will have to done before the question can go on the ballot.
Sally Johnson stated that without knowing the individuals how can we make that choice.
The Town Board can decide to put the question on the ballot without residents input. The Town Board can also make the decision to go with a sole assessor by Local Law without the input from the residents. The Board decided that they wanted input from the residents before they made a decision.
The question was asked if one sole assessor can do the job, why do we have three elected. Elected assessors do not have set hours and they answer to the public.
A sole appointed assessor would have set hours and answer to the Town Board.
Rob Ivy, Chairman of Assessment review Board is in favor of having the question on the ballot. He stated he would like very much to be given a choice. It is a very democratic way to give the public a choice. With education I believe the public will make a good decision.
Councilman Garvey stated that only 17% of the Towns in NYS do not have a sole assessor. Councilman Garvey wanted to know if there was a breakdown of how many Towns have a sole elected assessor.
Sandy Lewis asked why Councilman Garvey did not look this information himself.
It is his job to look it up and tell the Town.
Rita-Ann Fitzgerald agreed that it is the democratic way to give the public a choice and it should be on the ballot.
The ballot can have the question do you want 3 elected assessors or one appointed assessor. Supervisor Boisen did not believe that it could have
The question as 3 elected assessors, one appointed assessor or 1 appointed assessor.
Supervisor Boisen stated that the Town Board does not want to know how you would vote. We just want to know if you want the option on the ballot. There is also the option of a sole elected assessor.
There is additional training that a sole appointed assessor must complete.
The question asked was how long is the term of a sole elected assessor. Patricia
Gardner stated the term is six years.
Wayne Bailey asked about the policy for appointed or elected assessors.
Supervisor Boisen stated that the Town Policy right now is that we seek an appropriate candidate within the Town of Essex. Mr. Bailey said he would like to see this on the ballot so that the voters can have a choice.
Supervisor Boisen stated that it is the Board’s responsibility to make sure the public is educated on the subject. There are pros and cons to both side and the
Information needs to be available to the public.
Mary Nell stated it is a problem if only two options are on the ballot when there are three choices. There needs to be a way to have all three options on the ballot.
Mr. Lewis does not feel that any of the three options will work for farmers.
Supervisor Boisen told Mr. Lewis we are here to determine if the public wants the options on the ballot. Mr. Lewis stated there five assessors in the state who have
established reputations. An audience member stated they are just appraises.
Mr. Lewis went on to say these are people who offer appraisals and they consult
The Towns and individuals. There are only five with this experience. When you
Consider the option there are only five with experience and what does that experience represent. My own view such as it is that whatever solution emerges
From this process you will face to the extent that there is farming here with people that have some comprehension of what the law states in farming as
Recognized today. Supervisor Boisen to Mr. Lewis that she would like to address Mary Nell’s concerns. Supervisor Boisen stated she knows there are three choices
And this is the first time we have discussed the sole elected assessor. Supervisor
Boisen stated that she did not know if all three questions can be put on the ballot.
Supervisor Boisen said she this is premature. We were not intending to have 100% of the information. We simply needed to know if the public would like
The choice on the ballot. The Town Board can unilaterally put it on the ballot.
The Town Board wanted to get the public’s view. If is determined that it will be put on the ballot a local law will have to be passed. At that point we will have all the information available to the public of all the choices. The local law process will sort all of this out. We do not have all the information today.
Gary Heurich fells there are flaws in the system. Mr. Heurich feels that this an
Important issue and it should be up to the public. Supervisor Boisen stated she would find out if all three options can be on the ballot. Councilman Garvey asked if the question could be one sole assessor or three elected assessors. When we have the numbers if the majority want one sole assessor then we could go back to the public and see if they want an appointed or elected assessor. Mr. Heurich stated the ballot could have appointed on one side and on the other side it could say elected. Then with the choice the public makes the Town Board could decide the number of assessors.
Mr. Lewis began commenting on the importance of farming in the north county and how farms should be supported. His continued comments were not relevant to the discussion at hand therefore Mr. Lewis was asked to leave by the public.
Tuesday night we had a Special Meeting after the Informational Meeting and we discussed the Lake Street Wall facing bid. It was tabled at that time. There were budget issues that need to be reviewed. The low bid was $189,000 by Luck Bros.
We have a $90,000 matching grant. An application for $49,000 is with the
County it is a multi-project grant. It will be announced around December if we will receive the $49,000. The rest of the money will come from the Town’s
General Fund.
Gary Heurich stated he did not think the Town should be spending money on esthetics. Supervisor Boisen stated the wall project was left incomplete and it is in violation of the APA approval of the project. In 2008 Board minutes it was noted the Supervisor received an APA noncompliance letter. Supervisor Boisen could not find this letter in the file. She called the APA and was sent a copy. It said you have to face the wall with stone. The APA did not say what the consequences would be if we did not complete the project. If we do not face the wall we would have to return the $90,000 matching grant we have. Supervisor Boisen stated that we probably would not find grant money to face the wall again. It would be better to spend any money we find to face wall will better spent facing the wall then paying APA fines. Mr. Heurich asked if the wall was lowered would the Town have to pay money back. The Town cannot reduce the height of the wall. We would have to return all the grant money.
Supervisor Boisen the wall was determined and the Planning Board approved the
Project. It designated to be as high as the original structure which included the guard rail. From the pictures it appears to be very close.
Sally Johnson stated that there have always been questions about footings for the wall. She feels that the footings should be checked before anything else is discussed. Sally also said the wall is not level and it should be leveled. Supervisor
Boisen stated the wall and the permitting to build the wall was dictated by all the regulatory agencies and it had to maintained the same line as the former structure.
A picture was looked at by the attendees and was discussed. Ms. Johnson said she was not in favor of what it will cost to face the wall.
Supervisor has check with the state to see if we can reduce the height of the wall.
Gary Heurich asked if we could hire someone to faux paint the wall. Supervisor
Boisen said we would be in violation with APA.
Rob Ivy stated the problem with the wall was inherited and I do not see
Where there is much wiggle room. It is not worth fighting theAPA over.
We do not have bottomless pockets.
Supervisor Boisen stated that everyone needs to understand the Essex Planning Board approved the project complete as it is, but with facing. All the process was done according to process that is place now. The process was done and they ran out of money to finish the project. We have worked on getting grant money to
Finish the project. We went out to bid to have the facing done. The bids came
In higher than we expected. Bottom line is it is public record that we have a $90,000 matching grant.
Gary Heurich said he did not think we should just throw out the possibility of having the wall faux painted. This solution is used. There are buildings in
Washington, Dc that are faux painted. He feels the Town should do what is
Economically efficient and responsible.
Supervisor Boisen stared she has presented other option to the APA. They said no. We need to face the wall before the APA decides to start fining us.
There were budget concerns and we had budgeted $75,000 for lawyer fees. We have about $55,000 of unexpended funds that we could move to another line.
There is $30,000 in contingency. The budget was discussed.
Dianne Lansing suggested we plant woodbine in front of the wall and let it grow up to cover the wall. Further discussion of options was continued. Supervisor
Boisen stated that we either face the wall or not face the wall and loose the grant money.
Resolution # 57
Bid Award Lake Street Wall
The following resolution was offered by Councilman Garvey, who moved its adoption.
Be it resolved the Town Board of Essex awards to the low bidder Luck Brothers with a bid of $189,000 to face the Lake Street Wall.
The resolution was duly seconded by Councilman Wrisley and adopted.
Roll call
Councilman Wrisley – yes
Councilman Garvey – yes
Supervisor Boisen – yes
The transfer was discussed.
Resolution # 58 of 2013
Transfer of funds
The following resolution was offered by Councilman Garvey, who moved its adoption.
Be it resolved the Town Board of Essex authorizes the transfer of $50,000 from Account 1355.4.1 Assessors/legal fees to Account 1620.2.18 Lake Street
Wall Capital Project.
The resolution was duly seconded by Supervisor Boisen and adopted.
Roll call
Councilman Wrisley -yes
Councilman Garvey – yes
Supervisor Boisen – yes
Rob Ivy stated he was concerned by the fact that the Code Officer is issuing permits to her contractor husband with no oversight on these permits.
Supervisor Boisen stated the matters of personnel would not be discussed
In a public meeting.
As there was no further business to come before the meeting was adjourned at 7:17 PM.
Respectfully submitted
Audrey Hoskins, Town Clerk
