Town of Essex New York
Unofficial Minutes of Town Board Meeting
November 13, 2014
Supervisor: Ed Gardner
Councilmen:
Claire LaPine
Bryan Garvey (Absent)
Harold MacDougal (Absent)
Mark Wrisley
Town Clerk: William Morgan
Members of the Public Attending:
Emily Gardner Philips, Jane Terlouw, Bonnie Monoski, Olive Alexander, Kevin DeLaughter, Dianne Lansing, Bradley French, Tina Gardner, Sharon Boisen, Scott Hayes, (Dr.) Jim LaForest, Lauren Murphy
Supervisor Gardner opened the meeting by leading the Pledge of Allegiance and a Special Recognition of Veterans
The Town Clerk took attendance (results above)
Town Clerk verbalized the Minutes of October 9, 2014. He stated that if you want copies they are available at the Town Clerk’s Office. There were also 3 (three) budget meetings last month, if you want copies of minutes they are available. Councilman LaPine requested a hard copy. Town Clerk agreed to provide a copy for Councilman LaPine. All voted in favor of accepting the minutes.
Resolution to accept the 2015 Budget as presented. Resolution passed. All in favor.
Resolution to authorize Supervisor to prepay the NYS Retirement System annual bill for $52,961.00. This will save $500 and Sharon Boisen had put this amount in the 2014 budget. Councilman Wrisley asked if this should be added to the prepay. Councilman LaPine asked the Town Clerk how many people are in retirement system. Town Clerk didn’t have info, would have to look it up. Resolution passed as presented. All in favor.
Resolution to amend the Highway Budget to account for revenue received from line items leaving a balance of $15,000.00 to be funded from unexpended fund balance. Per Town Clerk you should see a page with handwriting, updated by our accountant. (No copies of the budget with handwritten notes were provided to the attendees.) Resolution passed, all in favor.
Resolution to hire Tony Stoker via shared services with Willsboro for pay-as-needed Animal Control/Dog Catcher services. We would pay a little over $17.00 per hour. Councilman LaPine stated she received a phone call requesting we keep our resident in this position. Councilman Wrisley asked if we could do this on a trial basis. Councilman LaPine asked how many hours were worked. Per Town Clerk, Scott only worked about 4 hours this year. In Willsboro residents must go to Town Hall to get a paper request and fill it in to request service before the Animal Control Officer will respond. During discussion Scott Hayes/Animal Control Officer arrived. He had heard in Willsboro that his position was being eliminated. Town Clerk indicated that Scott didn’t do a report. Sharon Boisen stated that Scott reports to Ag/Markets. Scott said he had just received a lengthy survey from Dianne Dodd and had been asked to join an Emergency Task Force. Councilman Wrisley asked Scott how many hours he had worked this year. Scott estimated he spent between 80 to 100 hours this year working on animal control issues. Councilman Wrisley requested the resolution be tabled. All agreed. (A separate post on this site provides more detailed information on Shared Services)
Resolution offered to increase yearly water rates by 5% for 2015. Councilman LaPine asked if this was the same as we had already passed. Per Town Clerk; yes, but we never increased the rates. Discussion on wording of this Resolution. Was it written to increase rates or was it to hold a Public Hearing? Decision by the Town Board made that the intent was only to schedule a Public Hearing. The Public Hearing is now scheduled prior to the next regularly scheduled Town Board Meeting on December 11, 2014. The Water Public Hearing is scheduled for 6:00 and Sewer Public Hearing for 6:30.
Resolution to schedule a Public Hearing to increase yearly Sewer Rates by 30% for 2015. The Public Hearing will be held prior to the next regularly scheduled Town Board Meeting on December 11, 2014.
Both Resolutions were passed with all in favor. The Town Clerk was instructed to place the legal notices required.
Resolution was offered to award the second highest bidder two (2) of the Highway Surplus items: Tarco Sander and Miller-Pro Disc Mower. Bids were reviewed by Councilman LaPine and Councilman Wrisley and resolution to award the equipment to the second highest bidders was approved with all in favor.
Discussion: Highway Fuel Tank Bids (The DEC previously condemned the underground tank and has removed all of the fuel oil it contained): Highway Superintendent French provided the Councilman with estimates from three (3) providers. The estimates range from $7,000.00 to $28,000.00. Two of them did not provide detailed equipment information nor amounts. (No RFP had been done so bidders would not have had specific guidelines to follow.) No decision was made by the Town Board pending additional information from the bidders. A limit of $10,000.00 was set for the purchase. The Highway Superintendent offered that he had arranged for credit cards to be used for individuals purchasing fuel from other sources. There was no discussion on approvals and documentation required from users of the cards to provide an audit trail. Councilman Wrisley asked that the Board receive more information on this item.
Motions to Accept Assessors’ Report, Highway Superintendents’ Report, Supervisor’s Report, Town Clerk’s Report, Water Superintendent’s Report, Wastewater Superintendent’s and Zoning Officer’s Report as presented was voted on and all in favor.
The Wastewater Superintendent requested a Town Credit Card to purchase Sensors needed by the plant.
Emily Gardner Philips provided an update and photo of the new Kiosk/Sign to be located on the Town Hall grounds, already approved by the Planning Board (A drawing of the KIOSK follows the minutes). Emily also presented information on the ROOST project and the four communities involved: Essex, Chesterfield, Westport, and Willsboro. She encouraged all Board Members to attend the meetings.
A motion was made and carried to approve bills (Abstracts). Councilman LaPine questioned purchase of gloves for Highway Department. These are winter gloves. The Town Clerk was also questioned about a purchase of high capacity stapler ($8.00 plus) and $41.OO worth of staplers. Existing staplers must have been junked per Clerk.
Comments from the Public: Emily Gardner Philips asked about the loss of Wi-Fi at the Town Hall. Although she will continue to investigate, the Town Clerk and Supervisor stated that the County recommended that there should be none to protect the sensitive information on the Town Hall Computers. Can’t we use a guest Network – Emily asked who she should talk to. Clerk said to check with the Auditors. He was told we were not in Business to set up Wi-Fi accounts. Claire LaPine suggested Emily speak with Kevin (Auditor).
Dr. LaForest asked the Board to meet with a group of people who want to develop a Three Year Plan for the Town to develop a new way of conducting Business in a way other than day to day. Councilman LaPine suggested he write something up and send it to the Board and they will discuss.
The meeting was then adjourned to go into Executive Session to discuss Legal Negotiations and Personnel.
Note: There were no copies of the previous meeting minutes or copies of the various reports that were approved available to the public. Copies of the 2015 Budget, that was approved, were eventually provided but they were not the same as the copies the Town Board approved.
