SPECIAL MEETING OF THE TOWN BOARD
TOWN OF GLENVILLE
JANUARY 31, 2007
AT THE GLENVILLE MUNICIPAL CENTER
18 GLENRIDGE ROAD, GLENVILLE, NEW YORK
Present: Deputy Supervisor Robert E. Bailey, Mark A. Quinn, Edward F. Rosenberg and Councilwoman Valerie M. DiGiandomenico
Absent: Supervisor Frank X. Quinn
Deputy Supervisor Bailey called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Deputy Supervisor Bailey led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Deputy Supervisor Bailey asked the Town Clerk, Linda C. Neals, to call the roll. Everyone was present and accounted for except for Supervisor Quinn who was out of town.
Deputy Supervisor Bailey – “Item No. 3 is a public hearing to solicit public comment on the use of the Governors Office for Small Cities funds for the Solid Surfaces Craftsman, Inc. project.”
Deputy Supervisor Bailey opened the public hearing at 7:32 pm.
Susan Lombardi, Grant Administrator – “The purpose of the first public hearing, two public hearings are required in this program, is to let the public know the nature of these funds and the process in which we apply for the funds under the Town.
The CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] program is federal money that gets passed down through the state; it is available for a variety of different uses. The particular category that we are looking at right now is economic development fund. That fund is an open round, you can apply at anytime. We are pursuing a preliminary application; we have put that in and the public hearing that we are having tonight is to offer up some information about the preliminary application and the final application is going to be going in and acted on shortly and to make sure that people understand what it is that we are applying for and offer an opportunity for them to look at materials in the Clerk’s Office as well as to make
any public comment during this time.
The description of the project is that we are looking to support a local business, Solid Surface Craftsman, with a low interest loan through the CDBG Fund Program as well as the grant for training of new employees. This company is looking to bring up to ninety-eight (98) new jobs into the area and train them specifically in the cabinet making and counter top surfaces manufacturing field which this local company has been very successful in so far.
The proposal that we are giving to the state at this point is that the funds would be funneled through the Town as a loan and a partial grant for the training of the new employees and this grant would be monitored by the Town. The funds would be dispersed through the Town and the company itself would be required to keep track of the new employees. This program is for low to moderate income level job creation so as the grant administrator I would be working with the company to make sure they filled out the appropriate paper work when the new hires were brought on to make sure we are creating the type of jobs that we intended this program for.
The primary and national objectives that this program asks of us is to benefit low to moderate income person to aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, that’s usually in an urban area, to address community development needs that may cause serious or immediate threat to the health or welfare of the community.
We are looking at the first national objective the benefits to lower or moderate income person and again another objective that they look at is job creation.
There will be no special assessments, no fees charged to the public for the use of these funds and again there is an invitation for written comments and such comments would be submitted to the Town Clerk’s Office. There is technical assistance according to the state from this office should anyone wish to get more information about the program itself and I can offer that information with the application materials in the Clerk’s Office during business hours in the town hall.
Just to give you a little sense of what the process is and I believe the Town Board is because they have been approving my working with this group for the last few months. The preliminary application asked the applicant to give quite a lot of detailed history, market trends, financial history, financial accomplishments for the last three to five years, and job creation projections for their return on an investment. The state looks to see that it’s solid financial package but that there isn’t too much of a return on the state money for the private investor.
So this preliminary application has been put together and it has been passed through the NYS Governor’s Office panel and we were invited for a final application and I have submitted a draft to them of an outline of that application. They are waiting for me to finalize the updated financials now that we have gone into a new fiscal year and they are hoping to act on that after I have my second public hearing and submit the final paper work in mid-February and they will put it on the agenda for March 27th for action. Any comments from the public that we receive between now and February 15th I will be entering into the application materials for them to be considered by the state in their determination of
whether or not this is an applicable program for us to pass the funds through.”
Councilman Quinn – “You said that you would be assisting them with the preliminary phases of this. When it gets to the active phase, who in the Town is actually tasked with monitoring their performance?”
Ms. Lombardi – “In the past we have had a couple of…… one project that comes to mind is the River Stone Manor Project. I was the point person in charge of making sure that they did get their job creation paper work and following through working very closely with the Comptroller’s Office. I would assume that we would have the same arrangement here.”
Councilman Quinn – “If they cannot verify a certain level of job creation for instance, as you know that has happened state wide a couple of times, is there any kind of repercussion to the firm if that does occur?”
Ms. Lombardi – “The repercussion that I have suggested we put into our application and that I have put into the preliminary application is that the grant fund for training, which is a $234,000 grant for 98 employees, would be turned into a loan and that would be payable back to the town. The pot of money that’s payable back to the Town is in effect CDGB funds so it goes back into a revolving economic development account that the Town will then have available for projects in the future.”
Deputy Supervisor Bailey – “What was the period of time that they have to create the 98 jobs?”
Ms. Lombardi – “Three (3) years.”
Deputy Supervisor Bailey – “They are large enough so that there is already going to be some fluctuation in head count over there and you have a mechanism for which you can tell the 98 under this from other activities.”
Ms. Lombardi – “The job creation is actually a very large investment, a little over one million dollars of new equipment and expansion of the facility itself on Freemans Bridge Road. It was also a strong point for an application because it’s an area that we have identified that we would want growth and continued success in that corridor. The expansion on the new equipment is actually going to create the volume their purchasers have requested that they actually up their capability for the manufacturing of their product and they are going to phase it over the next three years. They have identified the types of jobs that they will create, the training mechanism and the actual levels of pay so that we know
they fall into the appropriate categories.”
Deputy Supervisor Bailey – “I’ll note that this is the first of two hearings. We don’t have a large audience here tonight perhaps the audience will be larger for the second one because that will be next Wednesday, February 7th at 7:30 pm.”
No one else wished to speak; Deputy Supervisor Bailey closed the public hearing at 7:40 pm.
Deputy Supervisor Bailey – “The next and the final item on the agenda for this special meeting tonight is a resolution that would authorize the Supervisor to retain the services of one or more executive search firms with the intention of assisting the Town Board in soliciting for candidates for the position of Town Administrator.”
Discussion…
Councilman Quinn – “This simply allows the Supervisor to enter into an agreement with an executive search firm to assist us in our search for a Town Manager. It should be noted that this is a contingency search firm, which means the only way the Town pays is if we do indeed hire one of the candidates that they have sourced.
Just for the record, yes, I do this for a living and no, I will not be that search firm.”
RESOLUTION NO. 60-2007
Moved by: Councilman Quinn
Seconded by: Councilman Rosenberg
WHEREAS, the Town Board in continuing its search for candidates to fill the position of Town Administrator, and
WHEREAS, the Town Board believes that it would be desirable to retain the services of one or more employment recruitment consultants in connection therewith.
NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that this Town Board does authorize the Supervisor to retain the services of one or more executive search firms, on a contingency basis, to assist this Town Board in its solicitation of candidates for the position of Town Administrator.
Ayes: Councilmen Rosenberg, Quinn, Councilwoman DiGiandomenico and Deputy Supervisor Bailey
Noes: None
Absent: Supervisor Quinn
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
Motion to adjourn was moved by Councilman Quinn and Seconded by Councilwoman DiGiandomenico.
The Town of Glenville Town Board Meeting was adjourned at 7:42 PM.
ATTEST:
______________________________
Linda C. Neals
Town Clerk
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