TB meeting September 13, 2012

Open Public Hearing for Local Law 2012-2 Tax Levy Override at 7:00pm

No comment from the public present.
Motion to close the public hearing made by Councilperson Barown, seconded by Councilperson Cornwell.
Public Hearing closed at 7:03pm

TB meeting September 13, 2012

The regular meeting of the Town Board of Cherry Valley was held on Thursday, September 13, 2012 with meeting called to order at 7:03pm by Supervisor Garretson.

Pledge to the Flag was said

Roll call of Officers was taken:
Tom Garretson Supervisor P
Mark Cornwell Councilperson P
Jim Johnson Councilperson P
Chris Barown Councilperson P
Ed VanDerwerker Highway Superintendent P
Tracy Laughlin Councilperson P
Mary Beth Flint Town Clerk P

Reading of last months minutes will be dispensed of and minutes accepted as presented. Any corrections can be made to the Town Clerk.

Presentation of invoices and payments:
000 Voided check # 9261
303 M Wheelock Disposal $44.50pd
304 RBS Inc. $250.00pd
305 US Postal Service $1,495.50pd
306 Rury’s Food Store $190.20pd
307 Hughesnet $64.99pd
308 CDPHP Universal Benefits $658.74pd
309 Kylie Graham $120.00pd
310 Lauren Loucks $75.00pd
311 Jessica Carson $60.00pd
312 Ben Drugatz $75.00pd
313 Ethan Johnson $75.00pd
314 Heather Patterson $150.00pd
315 Addie Wilson $105.00pd
316 Ryan Jaquay $45.00pd
317 Time Warner Cable Business $69.95pd
318 Richoh USA Inc. $143.00pd
319 Richoh USA Inc. $87.00pd
320 Verizon Wireless $103.18pd
321 Cherry Valley Hardware $17.96pd
322 The Daily Star $18.90pd
323 Hummel’s Office Plus $238.25pd
324 Cintas Corporation #121 $248.57pd
325 National Grid $1,103.16pd
326 Service Education, Inc. $99.00pd
327 Cornerstone Telephone Company $394.77pd
328 Cherry Valley Springfield Central School $1,480.00pd
329 Calendars $23.99pd
330 Williams Fence of CNY $5,325.00pd
331 JB Supply $116.85pd
332 Medical Arts Press $194.03pd
333 State Comptroller $1,550.00pd
334 Bassett Healthcare $25,647.53pd
335 Time Warner Cable Business $74.95pd
336 CDPHP Universal Benefits $658.76 pd
337 Excellus BC/BS $140.20pd
338 Medical Arts Press $358.42pd
339 William T Ryan Associates $920.90pd
340 DCH Enterprises $795.45pd
341 Postmaster $44.00pd
342 Hughesnet $64.99pd
343 Public Goods Pool $554.00pd
344 Richoh USA Inc $37.50pd

Highway Vouchers:
Item 1 (31-34)
Item 3 (119-133)

Councilperson Johnson made a motion to accept the invoices and payments as read Councilperson Laughlin seconded the motion. The invoices and payments have been presented and accepted. All in favor 5 yes 0 no. Motion carried.

Presentation of Invoices and Payments:
• Budget reviewed as well as NBT Account balances.
• FEMA checks are coming in.

Miscellaneous Information presented to the Town Clerk by Supervisor Garretson is as follows:
• Town share of monthly County sales tax collected for the month of June 2012 is $6,654.79
• NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance, Division of Homeland Security $94,701.76

Community Center/Alden Fields and Park:
• Weekends continue to be booked up for each month. Revenue is coming in. Fall activities are starting up. Supervisor Garretson noted revenue is up for the Community Center
• Billy Ryan is looking into a new estimate for the roof of about $25,000. Looking into trusses being built versus purchasing trusses.

Miscellaneous Information:
• Seasonal to Limited Use Roads Procedure update. Lynn is looking into the information to move forward with Limited Use roads versus Seasonal roads.

Health Center:
• Tentatively their budget will go from $425,000 to $450,000 nothing definite right now per Supervisor Garretson.

Town Facilities:
• Justice Wickwire is applying for a grant for security cameras to be installed at the Court.

Village:
• Town and Village board minutes online @ cherryvalleyny.us
• Trustee Flint inquired about the parking lot at the Community Center being paved
• Superintendent VanDerWerker stated the paving would be done next week

Town Planning:
• E mail from Tavis stated the Hazard Mitigation Plan is on file with the County
• Councilperson Barown is still reviewing the Comprehensive Plan.
• Chairman Buist stated not much going on at this time. A couple of subdivisions have been on the agenda.
• Supervisor Garretson asked Howard Young if he would be interested in attending the monthly Town Board meetings. Howard stated he would attend.

Highway:
• New truck, plow box sander sealed bids are opened and are as follows:
1. Tracy Road Equipment $199,499 is for the complete truck
2. Burr Truck $164,246-Bid is for Truck plow equipment no box
3. Wayne’s Welding $50,809 is for plow equipment and hydraulics only
4. Beam Mack Sales & Service $179,404 is for complete truck
Highway Superintendent VanDerWerker will need to review bids and dealers will be notified.

A question was asked from the floor how the decision will be based on all the different bids as some bids had one with the body one without the body? How did you ask for the bids?

Highway Superintendent stated the body is supposed to be bid separate. The gentleman on the floor stated this was not stated in the bids. Highway Superintendent stated the specs were handed out separate. Highway superintendent VanDerWerker stated he called to clarify the specs and the gentleman on the floor stated yes you did, however the change should have been in writing.

Supervisor Garretson asked Highway Superintendent VanDerWerker if he had enough bids to make a decision? Highway Superintendent VanDerWerker stated the bids might need to be all thrown out and start over.

Federal/State/County:
• Beth Rosenthal gave a brief update on County Business. For more information regarding County Business can be found on the Otsego County web site.
• Received the third FEMA check roughly totaling $145,000.

Superintendent Garretson presents the Local Law 2012-2 Tax Levy Limit Override. This will be presented every year in September. Last year we did not exceed the 2% limit and does not look like we will be exceeding it this year.

Motion made by Councilperson Barown to accept Local Law 2012-2 as presented, seconded by Councilperson Laughlin. Roll call vote is taken Supervisor Garretson-yes Councilperson Cornwell-yes Councilperson Barown-yes Councilperson Laughlin-yes Councilperson Johnson-yes. 5 yes 0 no. Local Law 2012-2 Tax Levy Limit Override is duly passed.

Supervisor Garretson presented the Tentative Budget to the Town Clerk to be on file in the Town Clerk Office for review.

There are no questions or comments from the public present:
Barbara Hall from 171 Main Street asked if the budget would reflect the fence that will be put up between her property and the Town Barn property.

Margaret Lunzman member of Cherry Valley Tourist Committee appointed by the Town Board in 2008 asked why the decision was made to terminate the plans for the Visitor Center? Supervisor Garretson thanked Margaret and the committee for all their hard work in obtaining monies through grants and private donations totaling approximately $250,000-$300,00 to be used for the Visitor Center. The engineering costs alone totaled $60,000 and upwards and this was before it was put out to bid. When it was put out to bid the price was approximately $600,000. Only one bid was received. The engineers had to keep reducing the size of the visitor center to meet the monies raised and this made for a very small building. Supervisor Garretson stated he couldn’t see spending that much taxpayer money for building that was not even as big as the room we were sitting in for tonight’s meeting. He stated we needed to back away from the project for a while until the Board decides what they should do. The State money will be there for 9 years while the Board decides what to do.

Councilperson Cornwell expressed his regrets at coming to this decision, however, he feels that the project cannot move forward with the project having to be built by NY State specs and keeping within the laws of a State funded project. It costs $8,000 every time the project needed to be redone. If there were a way of building the project locally he would love to hear about it.

Councilperson Barown asked Mrs. Lunzman about a line in an email that was sent out stating, “The Board has given no explanation for dropping the project which has considerable support within the community.” This line implies to Councilperson Barown that there was an attempt to get an answer or explanation prior to sending the e-mail. Was any attempt made prior to sending the email and to whom? No one contacted me (Councilperson Barown). Mrs. Lunzman stated she had tried several times to contact Supervisor Garretson for information by e-mail and letters. Supervisor Garretson stated he is in his office every night from 7-9 and his phone never rang. The letter implied to Councilperson Barown that the Board was being secretive and nobody on the Board was trying to be secretive.

Motion to adjourn-Councilperson Cornwell Seconded by Councilperson Barown

There being no further business meeting adjourned at 8:20pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Beth Flint, Town Clerk
Town Board minutes were recorded.