TOWN OF GRANBY
BOARD MEETING
JANUARY 11, 2017
7:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
Supervisor
Williamson called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. leading those present in the Salute to the
Flag. Present for the roll call were Supervisor
Ed Williamson, Councilors Tracy Doyle, Eric Clothier, Melissa Fortier and Lori
Thrall. Deputy Supervisor John Snow Jr.
and Highway Superintendent Jeff Richards were also present. There were 13 Residents and Guests in
attendance.
Councilor
Clothier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Thrall to dispense with the
reading of the minutes of the previous meetings of December 6th, 14th
and 29th, 2017, all were in favor, none opposed.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Christine Bassett
– She is looking for an update on the County Route 85 Water District. Supervisor
Williamson explained that right now they are getting WSA 7 underway and as soon
as that gets underway a little bit more than it is, they are doing the
surveying right now, then they are going to form another district for 6 and all
of 85. Councilor Doyle told Mrs. Bassett
that the next Water District would include more than just County Route 85. A Town wide mailer has been sent out to see
who wants water. Mrs. Bassett asked about
the timeline to get started. Supervisor
Williamson told her April 1st.
He also explained the County will have to go out and take well
samples. This justifies the areas need
for water. There will also be an informational
meeting at the Community Center when there is a better idea of the cost of the
project. A postcard will be sent to all
Residents in the proposed area.
Matt Ward
– Mr. Ward sent in a proposal in regards to becoming the Town’s Attorney. He would like to introduce himself to the
Board and asked if they had any questions for him regarding his proposal. Councilor Doyle asked what kind of experience
he has in Town Law. Mr. Ward explained he
has practiced in Construction Law for nearly 8 years. He has had Clients who have had to sue a
Township, so he is familiar with the Civil Litigation side of Town Law. He explained in order to represent one side
of Town Law you must know both sides. Councilor
Doyle asked if his fee was negotiable.
Mr. Ward said his fee is negotiable but his price is all inclusive and
would also be available to attend Board Meetings as needed.
Rose Anthony – Ms.
Anthony asked the Board if there was something they could do to market the
Raynor Ford property on State Route 3. Ms.
Anthony asked Deputy Supervisor Snow Jr. if it would be feasible for Granby to
put in their own pumping station like Walmart did. Deputy Supervisor Snow Jr. explained that the
pump station on Hannibal Street needs to be repaired and we need to check with
the City of Fulton because the pump station by Tannery Creek will support more
sewer. His recommendation is that we
work with the City of Fulton to obtain a Grant to redo existing sewers. Then, hopefully we could make a deal with the
City where we would pay the City to lay the pipe and do the work. Then we could form a district and the
landowners would be paying a yearly fee.
Ms. Anthony feels Granby has potential for additional growth in the area
around Walmart.
COMMUNICATIONS AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS
David
Turner of the Oswego County Tourism and Planning Department is holding a
meeting for Town Supervisors and Mayors on January 11th, 2017 from
4:00 to 5:50 p.m. in Mexico. The meeting
will be regarding Government Efficiency.
Supervisor
Williamson has asked Deputy Supervisor Snow Jr. to put together the possible
savings on consolidating the Court Offices.
He is also putting together the savings on video arraignments. Each Board member has a copy of the email.
Deputy
Supervisor Snow Jr read the Resolution proposed by Oswego County Legislature
Chairman Gardner as follows;
This
is to verify that the Town of Granby is interested in the efforts being
proposed by Oswego County to explore opportunities for greater efficiency and
potential cost reductions in the delivery of local government services here. We will gladly work with your and/or your
consultants to analyze projects of mutual interest.
Councilor
Fortier made a motion, seconded by Councilor Clothier to approve the Resolution
from Oswego County Legislature Chairman Gardner regarding New York State
Municipal Consolidation and Efficiency Competition, Supervisor Williamson and
Councilor Thrall were in favor, Councilor Doyle was opposed.
Supervisor
Williamson noted there were changes made to the Employee Handbook in December
of 2016. These changes should be typed
and done as soon as possible. Councilor
Fortier said this is being worked on.
The
Town has received a copy of the DEC Notice of Declaration regarding a gravel
pit on Peat Bed Road in the Town of Hannibal.
The Board has a copy of this letter.
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
Councilor
Thrall made a motion, seconded by Councilor Fortier to decrease the Contingency
fund by $2,592.00 and increase Legal Fees by the same amount for Water Service
Area 6A, all were in favor, none opposed.
MOTIONS AND
RESOLUTIONS
REPORTS FROM
DEPARTMENTS
County Legislator -Jim
Karasek reported the County came in as a zero on its budget, although some tax
bills have a small increase because the Cody Lysander Fire District went up by
8%. The College Tax went down a
little. The Cayuga tax is based on the
number of Students from the Town that are enrolled in the School. Mr. Karasek stressed that the County does not
control this bill, it is done by the SUNY system. He also said we must keep an eye on our
Equalization Rate. This will cause a
small bump in taxes when the rate is less than 100%. He also addressed Ms. Anthony’s comments on
the sewer system. When Walmart came in
they put in an over capacity well. All
that needs to be changed out is the pumping system. The capacity is four times more than Walmart
needed so if a business wanted to go in there, there are several ways of
handling that. Mr. Karasek said that as
far as the testing of wells, that is done by Environmental Health at the Health
Department. He also would like to
congratulate John snow Jr. for the article he wrote that is in the County
Bicentennial book. He did a wonderful
job of representing who we are and where we come from as a Community.
Supervisor Williamson asked how committed the County is on the consolidation
issue. Mr. Karasek said that
consolidation is definitely the wave of the future. During the Budget process,
everyone worked well together and did what was best for the Communities. Some Communities are considering shared
services.
Town Clerk/Tax Collector – Total
Revenue for December was $2,431.40 with a check to NYS Ag & Markets for
$111.11 for the Spay/Neuter Program, a Check to the Supervisor for $1,930.41
for local shares and $389.99 to the Dec for hunting licenses. Kristen Aluzzi of Kristen’s Kitchen has
submitted a renewal for her liquor license.
She also informed the Board that the Dog Control Officer has asked the
Board to consider sharing services with Hannibal for the Dog Kennel instead of
using the Oswego City Shelter.
Historian – Mr. Snow Jr. would
like to thank Legislator Karasek for his kind words about the book and also
stated he is working with a reporter from the Pal Times to do a story about the
underground railroad in Granby Center.
Mr. Snow Jr. would like to thank the Board for their hard work last
year. We made changes to Procurement
Policy, had all of our wall heaters replaced with energy efficient HVAC units
and our energy consumption has decreased.
We negotiated a fair labor agreement that was good four our employees
and our budget with a savings of about $25,000 over four years. Our computers have been upgraded, we have
google accounts and a new phone system.
We developed a process for new water districts, came up with a Capital
Plan and did a good job of compensating our employees during the budget
process. Mr. Snow Jr. feels our
relationship with Justice Court has improved. We have also done a major
overhaul in the records room. There was
a very small increase in the Highway Budget, General stayed the same. Our Fund
balance in General ended up being $238,867.62. We are committing $55,000 for
this year, $25,000 to balance our budget and another $30,000 to work on a
re-valuation so we can get our equalization rate up. Our Highway Fund Balance ended up at $130.604.98
and we are committing $750.00 to balance our budget. We did make a loan of $100,000.00 from
General for Water Service Area 7 to get that project under way. We did excellent according to our Five Year
Plan which he updates every February/March so he will be working on that. And far as our Fiscal Stress Plan, we have
never had fiscal stress, but our points were lowered.
Things to work on for
this year.
Equalization Rate
Water projects
200th
Anniversary
Equipment replacement
plan
Zoning Ordinances
Fee Schedule for Codes
Comprehensive Plan
LED conversion
Clean Communities
Grant
Grant for truck
Constabulary Law
Explore feasibility
study on getting sewer down State Route 3
Water quality in our
mobile home parks
Court room expansion
Community Center
Remodel
Youth Director
Dog Control Officer – 28
Complaints, 1 dog picked up, 1 dog turned over to the City of Oswego
Shelter. Monthly mileage was 100
miles
Assessor – He
needs a desk top computer because the County is going to a web based program. Councilor Doyle offered to donate a
computer.
Supervisor – Supervisor
Williamson goes along with what Deputy Supervisor Snow Jr says.
Justice – Councilor
Fortier will be speaking with the Judges regarding the J-Cap grant.
Highway Superintendent – The
trucks have been out 32 times. Submitted
4 weeks of bills to the County. They
have been doing truck maintenance and pot hole repair. They are pleased with the new truck. They have been pricing a two way radio for
it. 11 valves ordered, price on sander
controls for old trucks.
ZBA
Code Enforcement/Zoning – There
were 10 Building Permits issued with a Construction Value of $75,861.00. Building Permit fees totaled $682.40, Water
Service Area 6A Permits totaled $200.00.
There were 12 Building Inspections and 8 Water Service Area 6A inspections. 2 Building Permits were closed, there were 3
violation Inspections, 1 Violation issued and 8 closed.
Planning Board
Buildings/Highway
Town Board Reports/Comments
PAYMENT OF TOWN BILLS
Councilor
Thrall made a motion, seconded by Councilor Fortier to approve the payment of
the Town Bills as audited on Abstracts #0A, 0B, #1, #1A and 1B, all were in
favor, none opposed.
DATES FOR UPCOMING
MEETINGS
Public
Work Session January 25, 2017 at 6:00 P.M.
Town
Board Meeting February 22, 2017
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 8:07 P.M.
