Town Board Meeting January 17th, 2023
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Attorney Bavoso, Deputy Police Chief Maresca, Police Chief Rickard, H’way Supt. Hassenmayer.
Supervisor Howell called the meeting to order at 7:30pm following the Pledge of Allegiance.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilwoman Davis that the minutes of the January 3, 2023 meeting as submitted are accepted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Hometown Helpers annual report for 2022
2. Email from RCLS re: contract for library
3. 2023 fuel agreement received from Village of Otisville
4. Mortgage tax receipts December 2022 from Orange County
BOARD REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings reported the village board meets January 19 at 7pm. There were 15 fire calls for December. Fuel agreement was received from the village of Otisville.
Councilman Furman reported MVYFL have new rules (following the incident with the NFL player) to include that there be at least one AED machine at the field. Further, at each game/cheer session there will be at last 2 people certified in basic CPR or an EMT. These rules are basically already place. They would like permission to build an 8X8 concrete pad next to the concession stand for BBQ – the league will supply the material and labor for this. They are also having a fundraiser on January 28 at 7pm at the youth center. The screens were delivered for the sewer plant upgrades. We are waiting on the ETA of the new boxes. ZBA will be having a meeting on February; once he has a date, he will get it posted. He spoke re: Gov. Hochul and a plan to allow 25 homes per acre for every town that’s serviced by the MTA. The impact: no sewer, no water.
Councilman Carey has posted the summer recreation director positions. He wants to be ahead of the game. Boy Scout flag pole project – they are awaiting approval from the boy scout board. Mount Hope Chinese Assoc. is having the Chinese New Year celebration on January 29, 2023 from 11:00am to 6:30PM at the youth center. He thanked Dean and the highway guy that worked on the sign out front. He has been receiving emails and contacts for the 2023 concert series.
Councilwoman Davis reported there will be no planning board meeting this month. There were no issues found with the annual receipt book audit which was completed on January 12.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: NO REPORT.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported that they have posted the clerk position and have received 6/7 applications back. He requested executive session for a personnel matter.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Supervisor Howell reported that Brian Lattimer from the village board could not be here tonight but wanted to report that the village has started the Christmas tree clean up. They will use the trees at the fire department for practice/training.
ANNUAL SERVICE AGREEMENT FOR HIDDEN VALLEY SEWER PLANT:
Supervisor Howell reported he received the service agreement from the company Water Solutions Supply LLC. Our plant operator has reviewed it. There were no questions from the board members.
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MOTION TO APPROVE ANNUAL SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH WATER SOLUTIONS SUPPLY LLC:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the 2023 service agreement with Water Solutions Supply LLC for $7,500.00. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
LIBRARY UPDATE:
Supervisor Howell reported that the PJFL had their monthly board meeting today. He attended that this morning. He requested an update. As of today, there is still no update regarding a contract from RCLS to PJ for us to review and possibly approve. He also requested that as soon as they get a contract that they send it to the town. The PJFL did vote to extend any current library cards through February 28th.
RESTORE NY GRANT:
Supervisor Howell noted that he received an ‘Affidavit of non-municipal ownership of the property’. The attorney reviewed it for us. He needs authorization for him to sign the document.
MOTION TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN SUPERVISOR TO SIGN THE AFFIDAVIT OF NON-MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF THE PROPERTY DOCUMENT:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Carey for the Supervisor to sign the AFFIDAVIT OF NON-MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF THE PROPERTY. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE REQUEST FOR CONCRETE PAD AT FOOTBALL FIELD:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilwoman Davis to approve the concrete pad to be built by the football league at the park and to coordinate with the highway superintendent. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
RESOLUTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to audit the claims for Abstracts #1 & #2:
ABSTRACT #1:
GENERAL A: #1-12 $ 18,625.14
GENERAL B: #1-5 $ 1,417.47
SEWER: #1-3 $ 5,770.64
ABSTRACT #2:
GENERAL A: #13-29 $ 13,392.50
GENERAL B: #6-11 $ 1,071.12
HIGHWAY: ` #1-9 $ 43,705.68
SEWER: #4 $ 6,938.17.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
TOWN ANNUAL RECEIPT BOOK AUDIT:
January 12th the receipt books were audited by Brian and Amanda. The justice court audit was completed on the 12th with no discrepancies found.
MOTION TO APPROVE TERRA FIRMA CORP FOR ADDITION FRAMING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve Terra Firma Corp. in the amount of $27,800.00 for the framing of the town hall addition. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
DISCUSSION RE: EMPLOYEE #15 REQUEST TO EXTEND UNPAID LEAVE:
Supervisor Howell re-affirmed employee #15 request for leave of absence. Employee #15 would like to extend the unpaid leave – to be effective January 16 through January 31. Councilman Carey would like to discuss this in executive session.
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PUBLIC COMMENT:
JEANNE ZOLL asked if the board had any idea why CRLS is dragging their feet on renewing the contract. Councilman Furman stated it is because of the library vote being voted down. Attorney Bavoso: I’ve actually spoken with Carl Hendrick (Board of Trustees president). He was informed that RCLS has an attorney that’s working on a new contract. The draft should have been delivered weeks ago. It hasn’t been received. It is his guess that the board of trustees is very frustrated with RCLS because they actually liked providing the service. RCLS won’t accept the contracts with the towns as they exist now which is the same contract every year that the library came up with. We are awaiting the new draft. They want more money.
LUCY JOYCE stated that she spoke with Dean re: the grant. He is willing to help out with our project. She looks forward to further discussions. Thank you for everything tonight.
ALISON MILLER stated that at the last meeting she had asked the board to consider using any available ARPA funds to help at the old school with some outstanding renovations for the primary purpose of moving Little Munchkins Preschool to this building. She asked if there’s been any discussion on this. Supervisor Howell asked if any board members had any questions. He asked Mrs. Miller if there is any type of formal agreement between the old school and the preschool. Miller: there’s no formal agreement.
Supervisor Howell: there is unspent/unallocated funds at this point. Once we get through some unexpected sewer funds we can re-evaluate.
MIKE HORNBUCKLE asked for an update with the keys for the gym. Supervisor: the contractor I spoke to this morning has us scheduled for Friday of this week but if an opening comes sooner, he would do it sooner. Hornbuckle: my understanding is that you are the only one that’s able to program the keys and I think you have enough to do – you have capable people in the office, maybe when the contractor comes you can figure out a way to have them be able to do that. Supervisor: that is a possibility. At this point, the issue we have is a computer connectivity issue between the facilities. Once that’s rectified, we’ll be able to give the cards out. Hornbuckle: I felt bad calling because I know you’ve got lots of other stuff going on but that is important to be able to get in there. Councilman Carey: if you need to ever get in there during business hours, (he asked Paul) can someone stop by and someone from the PD can let them in? Chief: if someone is there, sure. The problem would also be that we might not know the people and if they live here. Councilman Carey: the problem is the internet with the youth center and the senior center. When Matt programs it from his office and he sends it to every single building that we have – it doesn’t make it up there because of the internet. He can program a card today but it’s not going to work until the internet issue is resolved.
MARIE BUBILO asked about the WIFI for the youth center. Chief: the WIFI is not being turned off.
BRIAN CAREY added that the pickle ball court looks awesome. We did talk about making maps for the building right before this meeting. So, if there’s a rental, and after people use it for a rental, the map would show where to put the tables/chairs not to interfere with the pickle ball court.
MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to enter into executive session at 8:04pm for two different personnel matters. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to reconvene regular meeting from executive session at 9:12pm. (NO ACTION WAS TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION). All in favor: Davis, Carey, Howell, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE EMPLOYEE #15 REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF UNPAID LEAVE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to extend unpaid leave for employee #15 from January 16, 2023 through February 6, 2023.
All in favor: Davis, Carey, Howell, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO ADJOURN:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Furman to adjourn the meeting at 9:14pm. All in favor: Howell, Jennings, Carey, Davis, Furman; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 6, 2023 at 7:30pm.
Respectfully submitted, Kathleen A. Myers, Town Clerk, RMC
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