REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN BOARD
TOWN OF GLENVILLE
NOVEMBER 17, 2010
AT THE GLENVILLE MUNICIPAL CENTER
18 GLENRIDGE ROAD, GLENVILLE, NEW YORK
Supervisor Koetzle called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM;
Supervisor Koetzle asked the Town Clerk, Linda C. Neals, to call the roll.
Present: Supervisor Christopher A. Koetzle, Councilmen Alan Boulant, Mark Quinn, Sid Ramotar and Councilwoman Gina M. Wierzbowski
Absent: None
Also present were Attorney Michael Cuevas, Director of Operations James MacFarland, Planner Kevin Corcoran, Receiver of Taxes Joan Menhinick, Highway Superintendent Tom Coppola, Deputy Highway Superintendent Jeff Gemmette and Police Chief Mike Ranalli.
Supervisor Koetzle announced that the Board would be entering into executive session to discuss contract negotiations at the end of the meeting and that they do not anticipate any action to be taken.
Town Councilman Reports
Councilman Quinn – “The Maalywck Park Frizbee Club rented half of the field space for two (2) days at $750 and Jamie MacFarland informs me that in the summer they also rent it for a few days for $1,500. This speaks for a promising trend, since 2007 our revenues in this department have risen from $3,000 to over $6,000 plus, which is an increase over 100%. We have achieved these increases primarily through modest increases in our rental rates and also by adding new renters. It is a step in the right direction.”
Councilman Boulant – “This past Saturday the YMCA had a property clean up day. There were some local officials and some employees from the Town of Glenville helped out and it was very successful. I’d like to thank everybody for that.”
Councilwoman Wierzbowski – “I’d like to report that the leaf pick up is going better than according to plan because of the different drop-off sites throughout the town we are moving along at quite a fast clip, faster than expected. If you still have leaves we are still doing spot pick ups. We will continue to go around and collect them because the new program is saving time and money in the long run.”
Councilman Ramotar – “The Town has received a rezoning application for a proposed multi-family senior housing project on Dutch Meadows Lane, consisting of a combination of independent living and assisted living apartments totaling about 152 units and the GECC (Glenville Environmental Conservation Commission) will be looking at the application next Monday.
The new 5,000 sq. ft. retail building in the Town Center Plaza, across from Town Hall is coming along nicely. The walls are up and the roof has been installed.
The new Key Bank building on Rte. 50 is also moving along very quickly, the framing is nearly complete and the roof trusses were installed today.
The excavation and underground material installation work is underway at the new Sunoco Gas Station and Convenient store on Rte 5 adjacent to Dunkin Doughnuts.
Renovation work for the former Hollywood Video building is underway. That is going to be a “Game Stop” occupying that spot.
The vacant space at 585 Saratoga Road next to Pendleton’s Sign is being renovated and will soon be occupied by a new café.
I would like to wish the Burnt Hills football team good luck this Friday in the regional championship.”
The following people exercised the privilege of the floor.
Frank Quinn, 1886 Ridge Road made comments about the budget. Mr. Quinn stated that the preliminary budget holds a 6.3% tax increase. He stated the following: current preliminary budget has no money for the 3 outstanding union contracts; it includes some cost increases for employees and retirees ($278,000) or 9% increase over the 2010 final budget; these increases in payroll costs are provided without knowing the cost of what the final settlements are going to be in any of these union contracts. The 2011 preliminary budget does not show any contingency account money for any of these potential pay increases.
Mr. Quinn made a couple of suggestions: This budget is based on last year’s budget and 2009’s budget not on actuals. If you use the three prior years acutals, actually spent on all of those line items, and you use the 2010 projected year end you can adjust. When you use those actual numbers not past budget numbers and what was really spent you can get this thing down to 0% tax increase.
He suggested that when they do the budget and if they vote the preliminary tonight what they are looking at is a 25% increase in health benefit payments over 2010 Final Budget. If you use the projected numbers for health insurance you could be saving $300,000 right there. Mr. Quinn stated that the board knows what the expenses are and that they are coming in $700,000 less, so it’s about $915,000 surplus from 2010 if the projection holds for the remaining 2 months of the year. He further stated that this budget could be knocked down to zero but use projected numbers not passed budget numbers.
Using the three main funds in the 2010 preliminary budget - given the economy and the impact on town revenues; ‘9, ’10 & ’11 revenues are flat; 72% of the budget are pay and benefits; proposed increases in employee health insurance costs, retirement costs, other benefits to the town, unresolved union contracts; the massive NYS budget deficits so we all know for towns, counties and school districts mid-year reductions are going to come out of the NYS Legislature when they are a million dollars in the hole; increased costs down to the towns and the counties so we need to cut expenses.
He stated that this budget could be taken back down to zero like the past year; the money is there, it’s available. If you take it to zero it puts the burden back on, 72% of the budget is pay and benefits, it is then up to the employees if you are going to be raising the taxes from that point on.
Hopefully my recommendations are clear, you can do zero, there are ways to get to zero and therefore in this economy for all of our citizens, some loosing jobs, some happy to have jobs, this is the year for a zero tax increase, just like last year.
Valerie DiGiandomenico, Via DelZotto Drive stated that when she was on the board and it was discussed whether we needed a town manager, I said no. After six months of being on the board I did a 360º turn and I think it worked out very well. He was an ambassador for us and he brought in quite a bit of business, Lowe’s mainly, if it wasn’t for him it wouldn’t have happened. She stated that she would like to address the $100,000 savings the board has claimed by eliminating this position.
She further stated that the town manager’s salary went from $92,920 in 2010 to $27,700 in 2011, since we no longer have a manager what does the $27,700 represent, is this a portion of Jamie MacFarland’s present salary and should 48% in benefits or $13,200 be added for a total of $40,000? She also stated that under the Supervisor’s section there is a new line item for a confidential secretary for $25,000 with benefits which comes to a total of $37,000. She stated that in the past budget this position was eliminated and helped fund the town manager’s position, if you add $40,900 and $37,000 that comes to a grand total of $77,900 from $92,900 a savings of $15,000 not the $100,000 represented by the board in previous conversations. She questions the funding under lawyers; in 2009 the actual fees were $80,000 compared to $108,000 in 2011. She asked where are the savings. She asked if the labor negotiation lawyer’s fees
were factored in this budget; union raises, since there are no anticipated union raises factored in the 2011 budget why don’t all personnel service line items remain the same, why do the line items show increases from 2010 to 2011 that doesn’t make any sense; under the general fund state retirement it went from actual $138,800 for ’09 to $260,700 in ’11; under town outside state retirement actual ’09 $45,800 to $86,100 in ’11; highway state ’09 actuals $85,900 to $161,500 in ’11, are all of these increases actual estimates by NYS or are they estimated by the town board?
Supervisor’s Comments to the Board
Supervisor Koetzle shared the following information:
On November 12th Councilman Ramotar, Highway Superintendent Coppola and myself attended the Rotary Veterans Day ceremony at Veterans Park.
On November 7th I attended the Veterans Ceremony dinner at the Senior Center.
I was a guest server at the 109th breakfast for service men and women.
We are making progress with the contract negotiations, smaller progress then I had hoped at this point. We will talk more about it later tonight, it has been positive generally speaking but nothing to firmly say tonight we have something to report.
Metroplex met here this week to talk about the K-Mart site that is moving forward. Another meeting is scheduled for Friday to talk with the developer. It is very positive, it is moving forward nicely.
Time Warner Cable – we are close to a contract. Not part of the contract that we are not being shown on Channel 16 because the signal is going to Saratoga County which has been a problem for years. Time Warner is going to move that signal so that we will be on the Schenectady County’s government channel at Open Stage Media. Time Warner will be passing the cost of that switch to the user, the Time Warner customer. It is going to cost $12,000 and over a ten year period they will be charging their customers five cents more per month to make this switch.
We are a couple weeks away to deliver content over the web by streaming it, so this meeting and other meetings will able to be seen on the web you don’t have to go to a schedule you can just visit our website and stream over web at www.townofglenville.org
On Friday November 26th at 6:30 Trustco Bank on Sarnowski Drive will be having a tree lighting and fireworks ceremony.
Budget comments: We have talked about this a lot as a group, as a community, as employees and as management. (The Supervisor responded to Frank Quinn’s comments during privilege of the floor.) It is easy to take line by line and say well this went up this and that went up that but when you take the end result this budget it is the most responsible budget that I have seen since I have been involved in town business on the board and as Supervisor. I can’t answer all of the questions that were asked tonight, there are way too many. I do know there were some false premises in what was presented and we will address those. If we get a written comment from either the former supervisor or the former
councilwoman we will address them. Tonight we can’t do it, it’s not the place to do it there is too much but the assumptions were not correct.
The other false premise is the only way we can pay for raises if we do two things; raise taxes or raise fund balance. The days of not being creative or imaginative are over; we are going to find different ways of doing this. We are not going to do it on the backs of the tax payers and we are not going to do it by raiding the fund balance irresponsibly. We are going to do it by finding ways to cut costs particularly in concessions for health insurance, which I have said from day one. Those are the places we are going to find savings in order to fund raises, it is very clear and for any one to say anything different at this time is just trying to confuse the facts of what this budget is.
The other thing is they keep going back to last years zero percent, I was part of that board, I know what that zero percent was about. That zero percent was about $500,000 of FEMA money coming into this town to cover the 2008 ice storm damage that was done and it was irresponsibly taken by the supervisor and used to hold taxes down in an election year. We can do that too, if someone gave us $500,000 we could easily deliver a zero percent rate. We have to go back and now try to find $500,000 to cover what was used for general fund deficit spending. So to say that they delivered a zero percent and they had the same economic conditions is not true. They had $500,000, they used 1.3 million dollars in fund balance
which now frankly, the town is addicted to and we are trying to reduce that addiction because it is a responsible thing to do.
I’ll tell you where we can get 4% to a zero percent is to use the same amount of fund balance they did last year, we could do that, we have said this before, all this budget represents is a reduction in use of fund balance. We have reduced that by $200,000 to try to break that dependency on deficit spending that has been going on for years in this town. We can go back and do the 1.3 million and we will have a zero percent it’s that simple but we will fall hard. It may not be on my watch, it may not be on your watch, it wasn’t on their watch but we will all be equally responsible when that happens and I’m not going to allow that to happen while I am sitting in that seat.
If we want to work together I am all for that, let’s get together, let’s work together but to take snipes, to take cheap shots, to present things that are not true it does not help us, it doesn’t help our residents and it doesn’t help us move this town forward.”
RESOLUTION NO. 202-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
A RESOLUTION adopting the assessment roll for Water District No. 11 of the Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York and the assessment roll for Extensions No. 1 through 35 of said Water District for the year 2010
WHEREAS, on November 3, 2010 the Town Board of the Town of Glenville adopted a preliminary capital expense budget for Water District No. 11 of the Town of Glenville and Extensions Nos. 1 through 35 of said Water District; and
WHEREAS, assessment rolls have been prepared by the Water Commissioners of Water District No. 11, Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York based upon said preliminary capital expense budget for and in connection with said Water District; and
WHEREAS, said assessment rolls were completed and filed in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town on June 1, 2010; and
WHEREAS, due notice of the completion of said assessment rolls and of the time and place when and where this Town Board would meet to hear and to consider any objections that might be made to said rolls was duly given by the Town Clerk by the publication of due notice thereof in The Daily Gazette, a newspaper published in the County of Schenectady and circulated in the Town of Glenville, and this Town Board duly met at the time and place specified and a hearing was duly had upon said assessment rolls,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS BY THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF GLENVILLE, NEW YORK:
SECTION 1. Said assessment rolls are hereby approved, affirmed and adopted by the Town Board.
SECTION 2. This resolution takes effect immediately.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 203-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
A RESOLUTION adopting the assessment rolls for Sewer District No. 9 and Woodcrest Sewer District of the Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York for the year 2011
WHEREAS, on November 3, 2010 the Town Board of the Town of Glenville adopted a preliminary capital expense budget for Sewer District No. 9 and Woodcrest Sewer District of the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, assessment rolls have been prepared by the Sewer Commissioners of Sewer District No. 9 and Woodcrest Sewer District, Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York based upon said preliminary capital expense budget for and in connection with said Sewer Districts; and
WHEREAS, said assessment rolls were completed and filed in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town on June 1, 2010; and
WHEREAS, due notice of the completion of said assessment rolls and of the time and place when and where this Town Board would meet to hear and to consider any objections that might be made to said rolls was duly given by the Town Clerk by the publication of due notice thereof in The Daily Gazette, a newspaper published in the County of Schenectady and circulated in the Town of Glenville, and this Town Board duly met at the time and place specified and a hearing was duly had upon said assessment rolls,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS BY THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF GLENVILLE, NEW YORK:
SECTION 1. Said assessment rolls are hereby approved, affirmed and adopted by the Town Board.
SECTION 2. This resolution takes effect immediately.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 204-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
A RESOLUTION adopting the assessment roll for the Acorn Drive Sewer District and Woodhaven Sewer District Waste Treatment Plant of the Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York for the year 2011
WHEREAS, on November 3, 2010 the Town Board of the Town of Glenville adopted a preliminary capital expense budget for Acorn Drive Sewer District and Woodhaven Sewer District Waste Treatment Plant of the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, an assessment roll has been prepared by the Sewer Commissioners of the Acorn Drive Sewer District and Woodhaven Sewer District Waste Treatment Plant, Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York based upon said preliminary capital expense budget for and in connection with said Waste Treatment Plant; and
WHEREAS, said assessment roll was completed and filed in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town on June 1, 2010; and
WHEREAS, due notice of the completion of said assessment rolls and of the time and place when and where this Town Board would meet to hear and to consider any objections that might be made to said rolls was duly given by the Town Clerk by the publication of due notice thereof in The Daily Gazette, a newspaper published in the County of Schenectady and circulated in the Town of Glenville, and this Town Board duly met at the time and place specified and a hearing was duly had upon said assessment rolls,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS BY THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF GLENVILLE, NEW YORK:
SECTION 1. Said assessment rolls are hereby approved, affirmed and adopted by the Town Board.
SECTION 2. This resolution takes effect immediately.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 205-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
A RESOLUTION adopting the assessment roll for Alplaus Sewer District No. 1 and Extension No. 1 of the Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York of the year 2011
WHEREAS, on November 3, 2010 the Town Board of the Town of Glenville adopted a preliminary capital expense budget for Alplaus Sewer District No. 1 and Extension No. 1 of the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, assessment rolls have been prepared by the Sewer Commissioners of Alplaus Sewer District No. 1, Town of Glenville, Schenectady County, New York based upon said preliminary capital expense budget for and in connection with said Sewer District; and
WHEREAS, said assessment rolls were completed and filed in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town on June 1, 2010; and
WHEREAS, due notice of the completion of said assessment rolls and of the time and place when and where this Town Board would meet to hear and to consider any objections that might be made to said rolls was duly given by the Town Clerk by the publication of due notice thereof in The Daily Gazette, a newspaper published in the County of Schenectady and circulated in the Town of Glenville, and this Town Board duly met at the time and place specified and a hearing was duly had upon said assessment rolls,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS BY THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF GLENVILLE, NEW YORK:
SECTION 1. Said assessment rolls are hereby approved, affirmed and adopted by the Town Board.
SECTION 2. This resolution takes effect immediately.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
Discussion…
Councilman Boulant – “I would like to offer an amendment to the 2011 Preliminary Budget. I would like to make a motion to amend the Dog Control Officers position that was budgeted for part-time in the 2011 Preliminary Budget to a full-time position.”
Seconded by Councilwoman Wierzbowski
Discussion on amendment…
Councilman Boulant – “When we were looking at the budget the cost cuts we needed to make some changes and we eliminated some positions we originally took the Dog Control Officer’s position to part-time to save money. As we went forward we were approached by the Town of Charlton to take on their position of dog control officer for an annual fee of $6,453. Also with the new rules and regulations from the State as far as licensing goes it’s now being handled by the Town which will mean additional revenue. After spending some time with Mr. Trzeciak and going over how many dogs the Town has, including the Village of Scotia there are approximately 2,400 dogs. It is a very large population in comparison
to other municipalities around us. The call ratio has gone up an average of 15% every year over the last 5 years. After speaking to Mr. Trzeciak and reviewing what he does on a daily basis I just felt that the service that the Town was going to get with a part-time position would not be adequate. Just for the month of November, there are 42 delinquent licenses that he has to go out and check on, which constitutes an average of two home visits so on a part-time position trying to handle this amount of dogs, the two parks that we have plus the dog park that we are proposing I just felt that we needed to address this and make it a full-time position.”
RESOLUTION NO. 206-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
WHEREAS, the 2011 Preliminary Budget of the Town of Glenville has heretofore been filed with the Town Clerk on October 20, 2010,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2011 Preliminary Budget is amended for the 2011 Final Adopted Budget of the Town of Glenville by the changed items noted with an asterisk.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: Councilman Quinn
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
Councilwoman Wierzbowski – “I had spoken with other board members and the Chief of Police. We have had many, many conversations about this and I feel that not knowing enough about what Mr. Trzeciak does, taking his position to part-time at this point would be a disservice to the residents. I feel that we need to take time with this and not make a rush decision just to save a little bit of money.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “Seeing it was my decision in the tentative budget to cut this position down to part-time I had a conversation with Mr. Trzeciak, Councilman Boulant and Chief Ranalli just this afternoon on this and the result of the meeting as I told Mr. Trzeciak and Chief Ranalli, I am still not fully convinced that it is a part-time position. We are trying to do things in this budget that will help bring a little more fiscal discipline to the budget and sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t and sometimes you don’t know until it’s too late after it’s done. After talking this out with the Board members, with staff and with management I am inclined to vote yes to restore it to
full-time with the caveat knowing now that we have money coming in from Charlton and that we will expand services to include small animals that we will increase coverage in our parks where we need it most. Where we are looking at all of these service enhancements I am inclined to vote yes but I do want us to be vigilant and to look at this again as we go forward over the next six months or so and to see if we are probably staffed. I apologize to you Rick, today, that you felt the stress you felt over the past months and I feel responsible for that, it was my decision to do what I did in the Tentative Budget and I am very sorry for that. That is not something that I intended to do, I don’t take playing with peoples jobs lightly. I will support you in any way you need it to make sure it is successful, to make sure we are doing what’s right for the people of the town so don’t think you have a target on your back, you don’t but my only
hope in this is that we do what’s right by the residents. If I was wrong I will be the first one to say I was wrong and you now have an opportunity to prove me wrong so go out there and do it. Good luck!”
RESOLUTION NO. 207-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
WHEREAS, the Preliminary Budget for 2011 of the Town of Glenville, including the fire protection district, lighting districts, drainage districts, water districts and sewer districts, has heretofore been filed with the Town Clerk on October 20, 2010; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing was duly held on November 3, 2010, and the Town board heard all persons desiring to be heard regarding the Preliminary Budget as submitted; and
WHEREAS, the matter of the Preliminary Budget for 2011 was fully discussed and considered by the Town Board; and
WHEREAS, the Preliminary Budget has been amended,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that said amended Preliminary Budget for 2011 of the Town of Glenville be and it hereby is adopted as the Final Budget of the Town of Glenville for the fiscal year commencing January 01, 2011, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said adopted budget shall be spread upon the minutes of this Town Board Meeting, in its entirety.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
INSERT 2011 FINAL BUDGET
RESOLUTION NO. – 208-2010
Moved by: Councilman Quinn
Seconded by: Councilman Boulant
WHEREAS, by application dated October 25, 2010 and pursuant to Code of the Town of Glenville, Trustco Bank of 5 Sarnowski Drive, Glenville, NY, has applied for permits to conduct the following Outdoor Amusement/Entertainment, “Trustco Bank Tree Lighting & Fireworks”, on November 26, 2010 at 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm.
WHEREAS, said application did include permission of the owner of the property on which said Amusement/Entertainment will be conducted, and the necessary insurance coverage; and
WHEREAS, said application has been referred to the Chief of Police, Town of Glenville and the respective Fire Chief of the area in which said entertainment will be conducted, as required by the Code of the Town of Glenville.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Glenville that said application from the Trustco Bank be and it hereby is approved; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Clerk be and she hereby is authorized and directed to issue the required permits subject to all stipulations cited by the Chief of Police and the Chief of Thomas Corners Fire District #7.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 209-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
WHEREAS, a local law to amend Chapter 88 – Animals and Chapter 195 – Parks and Recreation, being proposed as Local Law No. 7 – 2010, a copy of which is attached hereto, was introduced at this meeting by a member of the Town Board of the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to hold a public hearing with respect to the adoption of said Local Law;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a public hearing be held by the Town Board of the Town of Glenville with respect to the adoption of the aforesaid Local Law at 7:30 PM on December 1, 2010, at the Glenville Municipal Center, 18 Glenridge Road, Glenville, New York, and it is further
RESOLVED that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause public notice of said hearing to be given as provided by law.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
Discussion…
Councilman Boulant – “I know there has been some discussion on this whether it is a three year contract or a five year contract. I know in the past there have been a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings whether Beukendaal or the Village could handle the service. Each year the residents come out in droves to inform us that they want to stay with the Village coverage. Our approach this year was to set down with the Village to see if we could come to some kind of a long term contract to eliminate the zoo like scenario that we have and how we can benefit the residents. The discussion between a three year and a five year I feel that the five year is the best way to go being that it’s a locked in rate at
3.25%, this bargaining agreement is up in three years and we don’t know what is going to happen with that. The way that this is written the benefit to the residents in District No. 4 will really be felt in their pockets in the fourth and fifth year. After their three year bargaining agreement who knows what is going to happen.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “Councilman, as I understand it the last two years of that contract the Town residents actually get a better rate than the Village residents.”
Councilman Boulant – “Correct, the Village residents actually end up paying a little bit more then the District No. 4 residents. A lot of that had to do with the fact that there was equipment purchased for their EMS services that District No. 4 residents are not paying for only the Village residents.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “I support this contract because if you look at the last ten years, going back to 2001 and you average out the increases in Fire District No. 4 they average about 8%, this would be 3.25% locked for five years, that’s a deal. It was a good deal that we were given and actually in 2004 it went up 20%. So, what I think we are doing is protecting our residents against inflationary pressure which I believe we are going to see a lot of over the next five years. This is a good deal and I am reminded as we see everyday their health insurance and pension costs are rising faster than that rate. So we are protected against those kinds of increases going forward.”
Councilman Quinn – “I echo those sentiments and I appreciate all of the hard work that Councilman Boulant has done on this and all of the folks from the Village that worked on this. If you take the period from ’98 to ’08 take the two years lop them off that ten year period it was actually over 10% during that period.”
RESOLUTION NO. 210-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
WHEREAS, the Village of Scotia has submitted a proposed five year contract to provide fire protection and emergency medical services to the Town of Glenville Fire District No. 4, commencing January 1, 2011; and
WHEREAS, a public hearing was duly held on November 3, 2010, and the Town Board heard all persons desiring to be heard regarding the proposed contract for fire protection and emergency medical services; and
WHEREAS, the matter of the proposed contract for fire protection and emergency medical services was fully discussed and considered by the Town Board;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Glenville, in its capacity as the Board of Fire Commissioners for Fire District No. 4, hereby authorizes the Town Supervisor to execute a contract with the Village of Scotia to provide fire protection and emergency medical services to Fire District No. 4 in the town, on the terms and conditions contained in the proposed agreement, a copy of which is on file in the office of the Town Clerk, for a term commencing January 1, 2011 and providing that the Village be paid the following amounts for the years indicated:
2011 - $382,950.00
2012 - $396,353.25
2013 - $410,225.61
2014 - $426,634.63
2015 - $443,700.02
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
Discussion…
James MacFarland – “Ten year agreement, it does provides for overall additional revenue throughout the period. They will be providing through this additional video equipment that we can use not only for board meetings, although that is certainly adequately covered at the moment but for other community uses and other uses that we may have. Not part of this agreement but certainly part of our discussions was their commitment to move the signal, not Saratoga base but to Schenectady. Additionally they satisfied a couple of the elements in the audit that previously had gone on for the revenues. Not huge money but it is something there. They will be providing free cable service to the Senior Center
ultimately when this is approved. Those are the main elements, not something that the Town has a very strong bargaining position on, so we have been going through a number of years of extensions of the existing agreement and this puts it to bed.”
RESOLUTION NO. 211-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Quinn
WHEREAS, Time Warner Entertainment – Advance/Newhouse Partnership d/b/a Time Warner Cable currently provides cable television services within the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, the Town’s franchise agreement with Time Warner Cable has expired and Time Warner Cable has proposed terms for a renewal of such franchise for a period of ten years and a copy of such proposed Franchise Agreement is on file in the office of the Glenville Town Clerk; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to hold a public hearing with respect to the extension of said cable television franchise agreement;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a public hearing be held by the Town Board of the Town of Glenville with respect to the extension of the aforesaid cable television franchise agreement at 7:30 PM on December 1, 2010, at the Glenville Municipal Center, 18 Glenridge Road, Glenville, New York, and it is further
RESOLVED that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to cause public notice of said hearing to be given as provided by law.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 212-2010
Moved by: Councilman Ramotar
Seconded by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
WHEREAS, the Town of Glenville Open Space Committee has prepared a draft open space plan for the four Town-owned properties on Onderdonk Road (Tax map #s 15.3-5-33, 15.3-5-4.11, 15.3-5-4.12, and 15.3-5-4.2), consisting of 48 acres; and
WHEREAS, said open space plan consists of the establishment of a pull-off “eyebrow” parking lot for up to five cars on Onderdonk Road and the development of 3,760 feet of hiking trails, including two short foot bridges over on-site streams; and
WHEREAS, the Glenville Town Board, as Lead Agency in accordance with the provisions of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), issued a “Negative Declaration” on October 6, 2010, concluding that adoption of this plan will not result in a significant adverse environmental impact; and
WHEREAS, the Glenville Town Board held a public hearing on the draft open space plan on November 3, 2010, at which time support for the plan was unanimous by all those who spoke;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Glenville Town Board hereby adopts the open space plan for the Town-owned 48-acre site on Onderdonk Road; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that adoption of the open space plan for this Town-owned site is based on the following findings:
- The establishment of passive recreational use of these Town-owned properties is consistent with the recommendations of the Town-adopted Open Space Plan (2008), which identifies this site as being well-suited for open space preservation.
- The development of hiking trails and a small pull-off parking lot for this 48-acre site, with the remainder of the property to remain undeveloped, is entirely consistent with the natural resource constraints (wetlands and poorly-drained soils) of the site.
- Adoption of the open space plan, in essence, recognizes that this property has historically been used for outdoor recreational purposes, primarily by neighboring residents. Town ownership of the properties, combined with adoption of the plan, guarantees access to and use of this site by the public as a whole.
- Preserving this site as open space and for outdoor recreational use will result in very little disturbance to the site, which is entirely consistent with the character of the neighborhood.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 213-2010
Moved by: Councilman Quinn
Seconded by: Councilman Boulant
BE IT RESOLVED that the Monthly Departmental Reports for October, 2010 as received from the following:
Assessor’s Department
Building Department
Dog Control
Highway Department
Justice Department
Planning Department
Receiver of Taxes
Section 8 Housing Payments
Town Clerk's Office
Water Department
be, and they hereby are accepted, approved for payment and ordered placed on file.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 214-2010
Moved by: Councilman Quinn
Seconded by: Councilman Boulant
BE IT RESOLVED, that the minutes of the regular meeting held on November 3, 2010 are hereby approved and accepted as entered.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
New Business:
Councilman Boulant – “Mohawk Honda may have their soft-opening this week end. If not this week end it will definitely be next week end.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “Drafting the budget is extremely difficult, there is no question and I know that there are people in this room that have years of experience doing it and they can attest to that. I welcome certainly constructive comments, I welcome questions, and I welcome ideas and ways of doing this. I hope as we move forward it isn’t just about taking snipes or trying to find cheap shots or trying to say this is being done worse than this. I get a lot of calls and a lot of emails and there are a lot of questions here tonight and I haven’t gotten one call or one email from any of the people that had questions. I am more than happy to answer them just give me a call. I will buy the
coffee. Email me, we can talk about these issues and I think I can explain a lot of the misperception that was here tonight. We have a budget committee if any one wants to be a part of that I welcome you, we can use you. You want to come to the budget committee meetings and voice some of these concerns I think you will get answers pretty quickly. We can move together in partnership because I think that is what we need to do as a town.”
Supervisor Koetzle adjourned this portion of the meeting at 8:35 pm and entered into executive session.
RESOLUTION NO. 215-2010
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Glenville hereby adjourns into Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Quinn, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
Time being 10:03 p.m., Supervisor Koetzle reconvened the meeting and announced that no action was taken during the Executive Session.
Supervisor Koetzle asked for a motion to adjourn; motion to adjourn was moved by Councilman Boulant; Seconded by Councilman Quinn, everyone being in favor the meeting was adjourned at 10:04 p.m.
ATTEST:
______________________________
Linda C. Neals
Town Clerk
| 
