TOWN OF GRANBY
TOWN BOARD MEETING
JULY 13, 2016
7:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
Supervisor
Williamson called the meeting to order at 6:59 P.M. Present for the roll call were Supervisor Ed Williamson, Councilors Eric Clothier,
Tracy Doyle and Brenda Frazier-Hartle. Councilor
Melissa Fortier was excused. Deputy
Supervisor John Snow Jr. and Highway Superintendent Jeff Richards were also
present. There were 13 Residents and
Guest in attendance.
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Frazier-Hartle to dispense with
the reading of the minutes of the previous meetings of June 8th and
22nd, all were in favor, none opposed.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Bob Phillips – He
is here concerning the Dickquist property across the road from his house. There is sewage running on the ground
there. He is supposed to be cleaning up.
They are moving stuff from the front of the property to the back and also
moving things to a property behind Mr. Phillips residence owned by one of the
people living in a camper on the Dickquist property. They have been getting away with too much for
years. Something needs to be done about
this. Councilor Doyle assured Mr.
Phillips things are being taken care of, it will just take some time.
COMMUNICATIONS AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Supervisor
Williamson received an email from Wendy Falls, Clerk to the County Legislature,
regarding a County Wide Fire Department.
This email has been forwarded to the Town Board.
We
received a letter from Mike French thanking us for honoring him as Citizen of
the Year.
The
Town received a letter from The New York State Attorney General regarding Solar
Power.
Supervisor
Williamson received a letter from Windstream regarding upcoming service
changes.
The
Town has received notice that Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable have
completed their merger. The cable
franchise is now under control of Charter Communications.
OLD BUSINESS
The
County Highway Department has requested a Speed Reduction Request form be
filled out to go along with the letter the Town Clerk sent requesting a speed
reduction on Russell Road.
NEW BUSINESS
The
Board has received a memo from the Code Enforcement Office regarding
training. Councilor Doyle will meet with
the Codes Officer’s to find out what kind of training this is and if it is
mandatory.
MOTIONS AND
RESOLUTIONS
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Supervisor Williamson to allow Supervisor
Williamson to sign the authorization for the Fulton Area Snow Travelers to use
the National Grid right of ways, all were in favor, none opposed.
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Doyle to allow Miller Engineering
to proceed with the Environmental Study for Water District #7A, all were in favor,
none opposed.
Councilor
Frazier-Hartle made a motion, seconded by Supervisor Williamson to approve the
Google account with a total monthly cost of $119.99 with a one year commitment,
all were in favor, none opposed.
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Doyle to change phone providers
from Windstream to Time Warner.
Councilor
Doyle made a motion, seconded by Councilor Clothier to approve the Service
Software Proposal for the Codes Office at the price per the quote of August 27th,
2015, all were in favor, none opposed.
REPORTS FROM
DEPARTMENTS
Town
Clerk/Tax Collector – Total Revenue for June was $3,523.50 with a
check for $211.00 to the NYS Dept. of Ag & Markets for the spay/neuter
program, a check to the Supervisor in the amount of $3,241.64 for local shares
and $70.86 to the DEC for fishing licenses.
The Town Clerk received notification that David Ray Silliman has applied
for a liquor license for MJ’s Music Bar and Banquet Facility located at 605-609
State Route 48. The application reflects
the use of an outside deck.
Historian
– The Sons of the American Revolution had a
celebration at the Merritt Cemetery and placed a marker.
Budget
Officer – He explained the new Time Warner Agreement
for the phones and said we will also be upgrading our Internet Service. We also need to look into getting new
phones. As it is right now, some
extensions can’t transfer to other departments and no one can transfer to the
Court. The current phone system is a
mess. We need to look into something
different. He asked the Board if they
wanted Google Accounts. Councilor Doyle
believes that it would be a good idea for each Board Member to have their own
email account. Mr. Snow Jr., in working
on the Capital Plan, did a survey of all the employees of the Town to get their
opinions on what kind of updates the building needs. He toured the Highway Garage and pole
barn. There are concerns in that
area. He has the template for next
year’s budget. He will be meeting with
the Departments and will have some questions for the Board. The Board does need to decide if we will be
doing a revaluation next year. The Town
is at 95% valuation. The Board also
needs to look at raises. We have not
done raises for Elected Officials for some time. We also need to decide what we are going to
do with the Community Center and the Court Situation. On several occasions Mr. Snow Jr. has stated
that we exceed capacity by at least 50 people on a Court night. He has a call in to National Grid regarding a
street light by the County Route 3 entrance to Walmart.
Budget Officer Snow Jr. asked the Town Board
to approve the following transfers;
Transfer $2,000.00 from Contingency to
A1220.1 to cover the summer program expenses.
Increase DA2701 by $52.90 and decrease Appropriated
Fund Balance by $52.90 because of a refund we received that was Highway
related.
Increase DA5110.1 by $50,000.00 and decrease
DA5130.1 by $25,000.00 and DA5142.1 by $25,000.00
for Highway Payroll.
Increase
SW1089 by $4,506.00, Increase SW1930.4 by $4,506.00 for a water claim.
Councilor
Frazier-Hartle made a motion, seconded by Supervisor Williamson to approve the
transfers, all were in favor, none opposed.
Youth
Director – (Supervisor Williamson) The Youth Director
will be having tennis at the Community Center every Thursday in July.
Supervisor
– Supervisor Williamson reported that they
have completed the pumping of the sludge and have the beach totally done
working with the City of Fulton. The
City has asked them to continue cleaning going northwest to the new kayak
ramp. Once that is done they will return
back to the south end of the Lake. None
of the money for the cleanup of the Lake comes from Granby taxes. Granby has nothing to do with it.
Highway
Superintendent – Prepping
of the roads for the County to start paving is almost complete. They have a couple more culverts to replace
and have been repairing broken shoulders of the roads and marking the center of
the roads. Mowing has been a challenge
because the John Deere mower has been broken down for a couple of weeks and
they are waiting for parts. He is still
looking into options to repair the 2011 International. He is having a hard time finding anybody that
wants to weld on the 2001. Nobody wants
the liability. Budget Officer Snow Jr.
stated the Town could most likely come up with $20,000.00 next year for a new
truck. This will not pay for a payment
so we will probably have to put some money down to lower the payments. He does not want to piggyback off someone
else’s bid. Spec the truck out, submit
it to the State and the State will bid it out.
Councilor Doyle asked to have the specifications ready to review at the
work session. Councilor Doyle questioned
why there were no Highway bills on the abstract to be paid. Highway Superintendent Richards said the Supervisor’s
Clerk was off a couple of days and he didn’t feel there were any bills that
were that pressing.
Justice – Supervisor
Williamson reported that Councilor Fortier was in and spoke to the Court Clerks
last week.
Code
Enforcement/Zoning – Councilor
Doyle stated they have come a long way with the zoning, and they still have a
long way to go. The new Judge is working
with them and he is really excited that we are going to get this Town cleaned
up. It’s a long process, it’s not going
to happen overnight, but we are on the right road. The Code Officers are now going to have a
Tablet when they are out on the road so we will be able to go paperless. This will save time and they will have more
time to be out on the road. They have
the Town divided into quadrants. They will
be checking the quadrants to make sure that nothing is slipping by. Councilor Doyle read a letter from the DOT
regarding the access to State Route 3.
The letter states the DOT has not received a request for access on to
State Route 3. It then states that when
the road was originally built is was done so as a controlled access highway,
meaning without access. Councilor Doyle
feels if someone tries to gain access to this road the Town has a lot of
ammunition to prevent a request.
ZBA – ZBA
Chairman Mike French requested a Code Enforcement Officer be present at the ZBA
meetings to answer questions if someone has one when they present their case to
the ZBA. Councilor Doyle was contacted
by someone that feels there is some friction between the Codes Office and the
ZBA. He plans to sit in on a ZBA
meeting.
Buildings/Highway
– Councilor Doyle asked where the security
camera is that was supposed to be installed for the front door. Supervisor Williamson said it was on order
and he will check on it tomorrow.
Town
Board Reports/Comments – Councilor Frazier-Hartle asked about the lawsuit
involving the previous Dog Control Officer.
Supervisor Williamson stated it is being applied to the Court now and we
should know in another week or so when it will go before the Judge. Councilor Frazier-Hartle also questioned the
dangerous dog case that the current Dog Control Officer was involved in. The Town Clerk said there had been a Hearing
and the Owner of the Dog was following the Judge’s order.
PAYMENT OF TOWN
BILLS
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Frazier-Hartle to approve the
payment of the Town Bills as audited on Abstract #13, all were in favor, none
opposed.
General Fund $10,524.91 Highway Fund $8,356.44
Wilobob Fund $89.66 Capital
Project $1,5000.00
DATES FOR UPCOMING
MEETINGS
Public
Work Session July 27 at
6:00 P.M.
Town
Board Meeting Aug 10 at 7:00 P.M.
ADJOURNMENT
Councilor
Doyle made a motion, seconded by Councilor Clothier to adjourn the meeting, all
were in favor, none opposed.
Meeting
adjourned at 8:15 P.M.
