VILLAGE OF ALTAMONT
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
October 6, 2009
Mayor James M. Gaughan Rob Panasci, Legal Council
Trustee William F. Aylward Patty Blackwood, Clerk
Trustee Kerry Dineen Catherine Hasbrouck, Treasurer
Trustee Christine Marshall Tim McIntyre, Superintendent of Public Works
Trustee Dean Whalen Donald Cropsey, Jr., Building Inspector
Anthony Salerno, Commissioner of Public Safety
Paul Miller, Chief AFD Guests 14
7:30 p.m.
Mayor Gaughan called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trustee Marshall reported that she and Tim McIntyre, Supt. of Public Works, met with Barton & Loguidice to discuss two reports (Sanitary Sewer Inflow & Infiltration Assessment and Wastewater Treatment Plant Feasibility Study) the village has concerning the sewer collection system. The two reports will be integrated with prioritized recommendations and timeframes in terms of implementing remedial action. Barton & Loguidice will prepare the tentative recommendations and distribute prior to the November 4, 2009 Board Meeting.
Mayor Gaughan announced Village Costume Parade to be held on Sunday, October 25th at
3:00 p.m. beginning at Orsini Park and ending at Village Community Room. Village submitted a preliminary application of $175,000 through Multi-Model Program Funds for repair to sidewalks and installing of pedestrian bridge. Village of Altamont along with Town of Guilderland will be submitting a grant under CDTC in November to propose installing sidewalks from Route 146 & Main Street to end of Gun Club Road.
Paul Miller, Chief AFD, reported Altamont Fire Dept. had 5 calls for the month of September. Fire Prevention Open House will be held on Saturday, October 10th from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Donald Cropsey, Jr., Building Inspector, reported John Donato seeking approval from Planning Board to open auto parts store.
Timothy McIntyre, Supt. of Public Works, reported sidewalk replacement program is complete for summer of 2009. Eight hundred linear feet of sidewalk was replaced. Fall yard waste collection begins this week and water main flushing will be completed by end of week.
Anthony Salerno, Commissioner, reported 7 arrests for September 2009 and white collar crime has been reported of individuals receiving text messages from fictitious credit card companies. Commissioner Salerno publicly thanked the Village Justices for their hard work throughout the summer months.
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Marshall to approve the Treasure’s report; Abstract #8, Abstract #9 and transfer of funds as submitted.
Roll Call: All in favor
Trustee Marshall made a motion seconded by Trustee Dineen to approve authorization for Mayor to submit 211 waiver request for Anthony J. Salerno. Roll Call: All in favor
Trustee Dineen made a motion seconded by Trustee Whalen to approve recommendations of Altamont Guilderland Referral Committee regarding application from Susan A. Gage-Murphy, 6333 Gun Club Road, for side yard setback for a garage, Tax Map # 37.04-1-10.2, Town of Guilderland. Roll Call: All in favor
Public Hearing 7:45 p.m.
Public Hearing was opened with reading of the Legal Notice by Rob Panasci, Legal Council.
Mayor Gaughan summarized report regarding funds for Altamont Fire Department given to Village Board from Catherine Hasbrouck, Treasurer.
Paul Miller, Chief AFD, reported 2 bids were received on purchase of new 3000 gallon commercial tanker for Altamont Fire Dept. Bids were received by V.R.S. Sales Ltd and Roberts & Nichols Apparatus, Inc. Roberts & Nichols Apparatus, Inc. did not meet specifications of bid.
Trustee Whalen questioned whether there were other companies, other than the two that submitted bids, which could have met the specifications.
Chief Miller reported that other companies could have met the bids but only two companies responded to the invitation to bid.
Trustee Dineen stated specifications should have been general enough for any company to bid. V.R.S. Sales Ltd prepared the bid and the bid specifications seemed very specific to one company.
Chief Miller stated specifications were not specific to one company. The specifications were very general and the pump is general. The International chassis is available anywhere.
Trustee Dineen questioned if we were doing the taxpayers a disservice by having only two bids.
Chief Miller stated end of the season is coming for the chassis and probably many companies could not get the chassis even though it is an international chassis. Only specific dealers have the chassis. Chief Miller had expected at least two other companies to bid.
Mayor Gaughan stated Village Board wants to support the Altamont Fire Dept. At issue is the difference of $40,000 between the two bids and he would like to be assured AFD is spending the extra money on something they really need. Mayor Gaughan stated he needs to be assured Roberts & Nichols Apparatus, Inc. didn’t have the correct chassis included in their bid that the specifications required.
Trustee Whalen stated because this is public bid we have to be able to disqualify the low bidder and if we cannot disqualify them the bidder still needs to be considered. Trustee Whalen stated he doesn’t think we are there yet. We have to be careful not to discount low bidder because if he does meet the spec we have to take the bid.
Chief Miller stated the specifications were not met by Roberts & Nichols Apparatus, Inc. Chief Miller stated he took three days going through the bid material and found length requirements were not met, there were shortfalls, items not included and items were missing from Roberts & Nichols Apparatus, Inc’s bid.
Trustee Dineen stated she has concern seven years from now when there could be a possible dept of $200,000. At that time new equipment for AFD may be needed and that can’t be put on the taxpayers to bond at that time especially with sewer projects coming up. Trustee Dineen stated that after meeting with the AFD they had expressed that the E16 fire truck no longer meets their needs. V.R.S. Sales Ltd claimed the E16 could not be changed to meet AFD’s needs and in tonight’s materials is a quote from V.R.S. Sales Ltd showing E16 could be fixed to working order for $10,700. Trustee Dineen questioned if the pumper tanker is needed at this time especially with Town of New Salem and Town of Knox backing up with Altamont Fire Dept. in the outline areas. Trustee Dineen stated pumper tanker
is to be used in the outline areas and not for the Village’s needs.
Chief Miller stated the tanker would be used for the Village of Altamont. At this time we have to look at the value of the E16. The E16 will continue to drop rapidly and cost of new tanker in the next month will increase by $30,000-$40,000 because of new emission equipment requirements.
Trustee Dineen asked if this much money needs to be spent or can we get more bids.
Chief Miller stated the price is going to continue to go up.
Trustee Aylward asked if another element could be considered such as how much the Town of Guilderland contributes.
Chief Miller stated how much Guilderland contributes is between the Village of Altamont and the Town of Guilderland.
Trustee Aylward stated area to be covered by the tanker truck is in the Town of Guilderland and asked if we could put some number on the value of the service to the Town.
Mayor Gaughan stated Village of Altamont currently has contract with Town of Guilderland for service outside the village. Basis of contract is determined by a formula that applies a proportional amount of taxation on the Non-Altamont residents within the district. It is calculated based on population and applied to the fair value of the assessment. For the last seven years, 55% of the fire district budget comes from Town of Guilderland and 45% of fire district budget come from the Village of Altamont. Chief Miller and Mayor Gaughan have discussed adding some other variables to the next contract that would account for more fire calls outside the Village than inside the Village and be able to devise a change of the percentage of the contract. Contract will be reviewed at budget time 2010. Mayor Gaughan stated Chief Miller has informed him that the Town of Guilderland’s percentage paid to the Village of Altamont is the lowest tax rate of all the fire districts.
Trustee Aylward asked if a formula could be devised for Town of Guilderland to contribute to the reserve funds.
Chief Miller stated we can address budget process in the spring where we set aside what we feel is necessary going into reserve to cover the cost of equipment. Portion of budget is paid by Town of Guilderland. If Village increases reserve fund, which would increase budget in the spring, that would be a bigger portion we receive from the Town of Guilderland.
Mayor Gaughan stated village could pursue proportioning out part of the budget for reserve for equipment and tax at higher percentage the Town of Guilderland.
Chief Miller stated currently 1/3 of fire calls are inside the village and 2/3 of calls are outside the village. Two percent of the fire district outside the village has fire hydrants.
Trustee Whalen asked how many pumpers the AFD currently has.
Chief Miller stated AFD has three pumpers, a small truck and heavy rescue truck. Long term goal is to get down to four pieces of equipment.
Trustee Whalen asked if by moving E16 truck offline, the AFD would then have two pumpers and 3000 gallon tanker truck and then eventually get rid of one of the pumpers.
Chief Miller confirmed this to be correct and stated AFD has retained 40% of the value of the 13 year old E16 truck that is to be sold.
Norman Bauman, Maple Avenue, stated Chief Miller should negotiate and drive a hard bargain with vendor and asked Chief Miller who negotiated this price.
Chief Miller stated that there is no room for negotiation because we opened it up to bid.
Trustee Whalen stated there may be a possibility to go back to V.R.S. Sales Ltd and inform them they were not technically the lowest bid and we had to discount the low bidder because they did not meet the specifications and could V.R.S. Sales Ltd do anything lower with their bid.
Chief Miller stated he spoke to V.R.S. Sales Ltd and V.R.S. stated they are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Initially V.R.S.’s figure was going to be around $343,000 and they were able to lower it to $318,000 for their bid.
Trustee Marshall asked if the low bidder was called to see if they could meet the specifications with a higher price.
Trustee Whalen pointed out that you have to be careful about contacting lower bidder because then you might discount high bidder that does meet the specifications.
Chief Miller stated he called International HL Gage to get the price difference between the two chassis and was told there is a $25,000 difference in price. Chassis is critical element in price.
Mayor Gaughan asked if low bidder was proposing a chassis that didn’t meet the specifications because he would hate to see Village Board approve Chief Miller’s recommendations and low bidder states they did meet the specifications.
Chief Miller stated proposal for tanker from the low bidder had the lesser chassis and the Vacmaster truck was not what AFD is looking for. AFD has researched tanker truck for five years to determine what would work for them.
Trustee Dineen stated she made call this afternoon to fire departments that have the low bidder’s truck and heard nothing but glowing responses regarding the truck.
Chief Miller stated the low bidder’s truck would have more repairs done to it over the years due to less horsepower and cheaper transmission.
Trustee Dineen stated the low bid had the same horsepower as the high bid.
Chief Miller stated that is not the truck they are looking for.
Trustee Dineen stated she knows AFD wasn’t looking for low bidder’s truck but it is a tanker. Different municipalities that own this tanker gave glowing reports with no mechanical issues. Trustee Dineen asked if low bidder’s truck would fit the needs of the Altamont Fire Dept.
Chief Miller stated the low bidder’s tanker will not fit the needs of the fire dept. AFD wants to dump off more water than the tankmaster will allow and the tankmaster doesn’t have the pump capacity AFD wants.
Trustee Marshall asked if the needs of AFD have been matched up to the needs of the calls AFD hasn’t been able to get to due to the lack of equipment.
Chief Miller stated AFD looked at tankers in other districts and looked at the growing community outside the village lines to determine what was best for AFD. AFD looked at what tanker is easiest to use, flow rate capacity and being able to draft.
Trustee Marshall asked if AFD ever considered buying a used tanker.
Chief Miller stated when buying used you don’t know what you are inheriting for headaches. Altamont Fire Dept. discussed it a couple of times but felt it wasn’t an option and there isn’t a warranty.
Trustee Whalen asked what the warranty is from V.R.S. Sales Ltd.
Chief Miller stated full warranty is twelve months, side rails are sixty months, frame rails are eighty-four months, engine is thirty-six months, tank is unlimited, plumbing is ten years, stainless steel is fifteen years, paint is ten years and electrical system is four years. It was also stated that if there are any problems with the truck, the tanker will go back to the manufacturer for repair.
Trustee Dineen asked how many gallons per minute is pumped out by V.R.S. Sales Ltd tanker truck.
Chief Miller stated the gallons per minute are 1250. Chief Miller also stated there were several issues with the low bidder on their specs. Their stated pump capacity compared to actual pump capacity will not meet the flow criteria.
Mayor Gaughan stated ultimately the Board needs to accept Chief Miller’s professional recommendations. The crux of the discussion has been making sure, before approvals are made in this rather expensive purchase, we don’t commit the village to a situation that not only affects this decision right now but affects our current reserves, affects future plans and affects many other things. Some issues have been unearthed that have been around for some time such as the taxation proportion from Town of Guilderland. The village will try to achieve parity between the two municipalities. The Village Board’s questions have revolved around whether this is the right choice for the village.
Chief Miller stated he understands this is a very expensive piece of apparatus.
Trustee Whalen stated Roberts & Nichols had two proposals. One proposal was for 3000 gallon Watermaster tanker and asked if Watermaster met specifications.
Chief Miller stated the Watermaster was not what Altamont Fire Dept was looking for. Their other proposal from Roberts & Nichols was not what the fire dept was looking for either.
Mayor Gaughan asked Chief Miller to describe to the Board how the specifications were devised.
Chief Miller stated the fire dept has gone to multiple chief shows and made a dream list of what the fire dept would want on the tanker to fulfill their needs.
Mayor Gaughan asked if the specifications were pulled off of general material on the internet.
Chief Miller stated AFD got specifications from other fire trucks at the chief’s show. Specifications of other tankers were posted at the show and AFD removed what they didn’t want included in their specification list and V.R.S. Sales Ltd helped them with the final verbiage.
Mayor Gaughan questioned if V.R.S. Sales Ltd, that submitted a bid for the tanker, also helped with verbiage of the specifications before it went out to bid.
Chief Miller stated V.R.S. Sales Ltd helped with final verbiage on their specifications page before they went out to bid.
Lois Ginsberg, Euclid Avenue, questioned if specifications are based on the type of calls the fire dept is receiving. Ms. Ginsberg asked if the fire dept is able to meet it needs at this time.
Chief Miller stated the fire dept is able to meet the needs of ninety percent of their calls.
Lois Ginsberg, Euclid Avenue, stated if we are meeting ninety percent of the calls then she has a problem down the line being $200,000 in debt when the fire dept needs to purchase new equipment. We could utilize what we have now with the aid of other fire districts that have pumpers. Ms. Ginsberg stated she is concerned about the future.
Chief Miller stated AFD can’t always depend on neighboring departments. Altamont Fire Dept. had to cover for neighboring department couple of days ago because the department couldn’t get a crew together. Another neighboring department has another fire department covering most of their day and evening calls because they don’t have the help needed. Chief Miller stated community is growing outside our hydrant district with million dollar homes up on Settles Hill Road and AFD needs to plan for those homes. Tanker truck will help with homeowners insurance due to AFD being able to get water there adequately to fight the fires.
Mayor Gaughan asked the Board to contemplate before decisions are made on the three agenda items which were discussed and are dilemmas here. We have money, we have taxpayers, we have an inequitable situation as we see it of our service to the full district for which this pumper will help them with their insurance and help people outside of Altamont. This is probably looked upon as a great thing particularly with the low tax rates Town of Guilderland has been experiencing on our budgets. Ultimately it is the Village of Altamont and its taxpayers that need to be kept in the mix.
Trustee Whalen stated Chief Miller had said that if the tanker truck is approved the long term plan is to cycle out one vehicle in the next eight years therefore there is potentially some value in that.
Trustee Dineen stated concern that four years ago there was a rotation plan and that rotation plan has been thrown out the window for a new plan. Reserve funds were set up for each department four years ago. Police department and Public Works have stuck to the plan. Trustee Dineen understands this is a volunteer department, that is valued very much, but because of the people changing so constantly every few years there may be different groups with different wish lists. Trustee Dineen asks if the rotation plan will once again change. We may not have the money to support AFD for something else needed that may be dire to the village and the outlining areas. Taxpayers are bearing the brunt of this. Trustee Dineen stated she doesn’t want to rush just because in thirty days the price
of the tanker is going to go up. We need to take things slower and try to find more bidders to get a better price.
Chief Miller stated the long term plan on file was done by one person. The new long term plan the fire dept is coming out with is being put together by the current group of officers.
Mayor Gaughan stated the Board does not have the new devised plan. The Village Board is still working off the plan prepared three or four years ago and the plan hasn’t been changed. Mayor Gaughan asked when the new regulations are effective on the new emission requirements.
Chief Miller stated the new regulations will be effective on the new 2010 chassis which could start to be produced any day.
Mayor Gaughan asked if the tanker truck was being built based on our specifications and not based on the new regulations.
Chief Miller stated as of today the tanker truck is being built without the new regulation requirements. The 2009 chassis are no longer being built but some are currently available at this time.
Mayor Gaughan asked Chief Miller if he had any suggestions to help the Board through this. Mayor Gaughan stated some possibilities may be to keep public hearing open for another month and ask for another bid process to get a better bid.
Mayor Gaughan asked Chief Miller if he spoke to the high bidder to see if there was any hedging on his proposal that would reduce the price of $318,000.
Chief Miller stated V.R.S. Sales Ltd said they were already scaping the barrel. The original price was around $343,000 and V.R.S came in at $318,000. As far as apparatus being built, another dept went to an assembly plant and there were 37 pieces in line being built now. The fire truck business has slowed but has not dropped off that much.
Trustee Aylward stated by waiting until the next Board meeting we will have to come up with another $40,000. We have the money to pay for it now and he doesn’t want to see a change order on next agenda looking for an additional $40,000.
Mayor Gaughan stated by considering closing of the public hearing the Board would have to decide on release authorization out of the reserve fund to purchase pumper tanker, approve of specific purchase of pumper tanker from V.R.S. Sales Ltd and authorize the sale of fire truck E16 in order to get to treasures figures. Also have to authorize moving of $40,000 put in reserve account in June for the future spending which would leave the reserve account with $6,000 for equipment purchases for the fire dept.
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Dineen to close public hearing at 8:35 p.m. Roll Call: All in favor
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Marshall, subject to permissive referendum, to approve authorization to expend Fire Equipment Reserve Fund to purchase new 3000 gallon commercial pumper tanker for AFD.
Roll Call:
Trustee Whalen In favor
Trustee Marshall In favor
Trustee Aylward In favor
Trustee Dineen Opposed
Mayor Gaughan In favor
Motion Carried 4/1
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Marshall to approve bid submitted by V.R.S. Sales Ltd in the amount of $318,450 to purchase new 3000 gallon commercial tanker for Altamont Fire Dept. per recommendation of Paul Miller, Chief.
Roll Call:
Trustee Whalen In favor
Trustee Marshall In favor
Trustee Aylward In favor
Trustee Dineen Opposed
Mayor Gaughan In favor
Motion Carried 4/1
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Marshall to approve bid submitted by Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus, LLC; in the amount of $91,026 for 1996 Pierce Saber E-16 Fire Truck, which is Surplus Equipment as designated by the Board of Trustees, per recommendation of Paul Miller, Chief.
Roll Call: All in favor
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Dineen to approve holding public hearing on November 4, 2009 at 7:45 p.m., subject to permissive referendum, to consider authorization to expend $52,645.52 from General, Water and Sewer Funds to purchase Toro Groundsmaster 4100-D Commercial Mower under state contract as recommended by Supt. of Public Works, Timothy McIntyre. Roll Call: All in favor
Trustee Dineen made a motion seconded by Trustee Aylward to approve Board Minutes for September 2009. All in favor
Trustee Aylward made a motion seconded by Trustee Dineen to adjourn at 8:49 p.m.
All in favor
Respectfully Submitted,
Patty Blackwood
Clerk
| 