REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN BOARD
TOWN OF GLENVILLE
APRIL 6, 2011
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, John C. Pytlovany, Sid Ramotar and Councilwoman Gina M. Wierzbowski
Absent: None
Also present were Attorney Michael Cuevas, Director of Operations James MacFarland and Highway Superintendent Tom Coppola.
Supervisor Koetzle – “There are two items on the agenda that we are going to pull; the first one is #5 a public hearing regarding the abandonment of First Street in the Industrial Park and the reason for that is we did not receive information that was needed to have that public hearing in time from Metroplex. We will reschedule that public hearing when that information is received. The second item being pulled is #6 which was to be a presentation by the President of ESAM. Unfortunately they had a fire this past week so we will reschedule that presentation for some time in May. We wish them well and anything we can do to help them please convey that to them.”
Town Council Reports:
Councilman Pytlovany – “As you all know I am retired from the Scotia Police Department after 29 years and the last 12 years I was the Police Chief of the Village of Scotia. I am on the committee and the liaison to the Police Department and the Public Safety Committee in the Town of Glenville and we have been working hard to try to work with the Village of Scotia for a consolidation effort. Now, as the Chief and a member of the Scotia Police Department I was present for a least three (3) attempts in consolidation and every single time a large amount of Village residents showed up in opposition to keep their police department. So, I wasn’t surprised at all last evening when I attended the work session in the
Village of Scotia to see that there were a lot of residents present and that they wanted to keep their police department and the Village Board, at that meeting, voted to not go any further. I was really disappointed that we really didn’t have a chance to sit down on both sides and work on a plan. Chief Ranalli worked very hard and presented a concept plan last week to both the Village and the Town Boards and I thought that was an excellent starting point for us to go forward at that point. I was very disappointed that that process ended last night, I understand to a certain extent, being a Village police officer for twenty-nine years.
So, with that said from this point forward I want to look ahead. When Chief Ranalli came to the Town of Glenville’s Police Department I was Chief in the Village of Scotia and we worked very hard to have the departments work together; we established a mutual aid agreement, which gave the Scotia Police Officers arresting powers in the Town of Glenville and we worked out a few other projects. I hope from this point forward we can look ahead. We can sit down again with the police departments in order to see what else we can do to provide a better service to the Village and Town residents from our police departments and of course see if there is some money savings that we can have.
I am a little disappointed; I am looking forward to continuing the relationship with the Village Police Department and the Town Police Department and going forward to see what we can do for the residents.”
Councilman Boulant – “Tuesday, April 12th at the Crown Plaza in Albany there will be a CEG (Center for Economic Growth) meeting at 7:45 am with Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy. I will be attending along with Supervisor Koetzle and James MacFarland. It has to do with what is in store for upstate New York and what the Center for Economic Growth can do for the surrounding communities.
On Saturday, April 23rd there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at Mohawk Honda from 11:00 to noon.
On April 27th at 9:30 am, here at Town Hall there will be a CEG meeting with our Elected Officials, town staff and Dave Rooney from CEG will be present and he will explain the benefits of CEG and what it can do to help the surrounding communities, the County especially with the impact of Global Foundries.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “I know that both you and Councilman Ramotar were instrumental in getting that membership up and going. I think the Town probably missed out for a couple of years in not taking advantage of it. At first I was a little reluctant but I think it was a worth while investment.”
Councilwoman Wierzbowski – “I want to say thank you to the water & sewer department workers and the highway workers that worked on the break on Hetcheltown Road at the end of Birch Lane. The workers spent many hours of their weekend to ensure that the main was fixed and the road was reopened. The hole itself ended up being 17 feet down to the main and the quick actions of Tom Coppola, Roger Harrison and Jeff Gemmette alleviated something that may have turned into a possible road collapse. I just wanted to make sure that they were recognized publicly.”
Councilman Ramotar – “The Efficiency in Government Committee met a few weeks ago and one of the things that they discussed was back in 2006 there were a few recommendations submitted to the Town Board and what they would like to do now is incorporate the 2011 Strategic Plan and see where those recommendations would fit in. They would like to attend a work session in the near future to discuss this further.”
Privilege of the Floor:
No one exercised the privilege of the floor.
Supervisor Comments:
Supervisor Koetzle shared the following information:
The Town was named a “Tobacco Free Champion” by the Capital District Tobacco Free Coalition and presented with a plaque. That was for the Town’s work in making the parks smoke free by resolution.
The 2011 Strategic Plan was presented to a well attended audience. We had a lot of representation from our committee chairs, which I thought was good which indicates that they are engaged and they have a part in the plan.
The theme out of it was that we do have a fiscally sound government; we have a plan to move forward, we are focused on economic development. We have got some challenges ahead in particular if the revenue continues to be either flat or decreasing. Our mortgage tax revenue is continuing to be a concern for us and as that goes obviously the only place that we could make that up right now would be property tax. We need to see a big turn around in the real-estate market at some point.
We did settle contracts and although that was a goal of this Board and we are glad that we did it does put us into a position that we are going to have to make some financial decisions going forward as we go into our 2012 budget year.
I thought it went fairly well and most of the members of the audience were pleased with the plan and you can get a copy of that plan on line or at the Town Clerk’s Office.
As all of you were in attendance at the Alplaus Neighborhood Association meeting two weeks ago. That also was fairly well attended and there too I believe the members of the community were fairly pleased with what we presented and I know that Commissioner Coppola did a good job in making sure they are happy with their sewer fees. We were able to come in actually well below what the estimates were for the sewer fees.
An update on the Time Warner situation because there was another editorial from the Gazette which I was please to see that they changed their position on what should be done with the Time Warner contract, the 2% versus the 5% pass through. Our Attorney Michael Cuevas has sent a letter to the attorneys for Time Warner indicating our position that we believe that they do not have a legal right to pass through 5% only 2% and that we have asked them to respond and we have asked them to cease and assist from passing through the 5% because we believe they do not have a contractual right. We are now waiting their response to that and we are prepared to take that to the next level.
Councilman Pytlovany talked about the consolidation efforts for the Scotia - Glenville Police Departments. I must say that I was thoroughly disappointed, I left that meeting and the Trustees said that they were not going to take the matter up tonight and everyone could go home because they were going to talk about something else. Everyone went home and they took the matter up, which I think is not good government but that aside they have decided to kill an idea that I believe was not ready to be killed. I think it was a premature decision, a decision that was made without a lot of thought and a lot of discussion and I am very disappointed…I want to say we work well with the Village and we hope to continue to work well
with the Village but there is a laundry list or a pattern of this happening. We talked about highway consolidation, they come to us and want to talk about this and we talk about it and they say no, we don’t want to do it. They talk about park consolidation, no we don’t want to do that either; then they come to us and say they want to talk about public works consolidation and we go through all of the hoops and we put a proposal together and they say, no we don’t want to do that. Armon Benny, former Trustee came here and we talked about water consolidation and before that idea got off the ground the Village Trustees killed it; Code Enforcement, another example. In each turn these ideas were, I think, dismissed out of hand. We have not fully vetted any of these ideas but to continue to just go down the path that we are going down it’s really as you know no harm to us. We are here to help if they need us and if they
don’t want to do it then that is fine.
On better news I would like to thank Charles and Carol Ann Loeber’s contribution to our work session. They have paid for a sound system to be installed and I think that helps with our ability to be heard better for our residents. I appreciate and thank them for their contribution, it was very generous.
On April 28th the Chamber is having the Schenectady Good News luncheon at the Riverstone Manor at 11:30 a.m. Scotia and Glenville Rotary are being honored, Frank and Sons Body Works and the Scotia Cinema. We will be issuing each of them a proclamation from the Town.
I also had the opportunity to meet with the Chamber of Commerce and their Business Committee this past Monday morning here at Town Hall. We talked about a variety of things. They are putting together their advocacy agenda and wanted to know how they can help local governments do things like consolidate. We talked about our thoughts as a town, how we believe we should go forward, where we can find ways to share services and consolidate. I was asked several questions and one of the questions was when do you believe it is finally going to get done, at what point do you think these decisions are going to get made. My answer was it is only going to happen when local leaders, elected leaders, show the leadership to get
it done. Beyond all of the strife, beyond all of the debate, beyond all of the issues, until there is leadership on the local level it is not going to get done. I believe that they agreed with that and I think that is part of the issue that we are facing here. They are going to issue a report about some of the things we talked about, they are going to talk to the other towns, and they are going to talk to the Village, the County and the City. They did try to push some consolidation issues that came out of Mayor Stratton’s proposal and they want to see centralized booking and things like that. We will continue to talk about those ideas as well.
The Woodhaven Homeowners Association is meeting at the Glenville Senior Center on Tuesday, April 26th at 7:00 pm. They have asked me to be a quest speaker and everyone is welcomed; if all of you can make that that would be good.
Supervisor Koetzle moved ahead with the agenda items.
RESOLUTION NO. 67-2011
Moved by: Councilman Boulant
Seconded by: Councilman Pytlovany
WHEREAS, a Member of the Town Board of the Town of Glenville is introducing a Local Law to amend Chapter 255, “Vehicle and Traffic” of the Code of the Town of Glenville; and
WHEREAS, a duly scheduled public hearing must be held in order to amend the existing code by Local Law;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Glenville will meet at the Glenville Municipal Center, 18 Glenridge Road, Glenville, New York on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 7:30 P.M., or as soon thereafter as possible, at which time it will hear all persons interested in the proposed local law to amend Chapter 255, “Vehicle and Traffic” chapter of the Code of the Town of Glenville; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Clerk be and she is hereby authorized and directed to prepare the proper public notice of said hearing in accordance with law, as follows:
Section 255-8. – Speed Limits
ADD:
C. A maximum speed limit of 40 miles per hour is hereby established within the Town of Glenville on the following county highways:
Potter Road, entire length, from North Road to Touareuna Road
Washout Road, from New York State Route 5 to Ridge Road
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall take effect when filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 68-2011
Moved by: Councilman Ramotar
Seconded by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
WHEREAS, by application dated February 11, 2011 and pursuant to Code of the Town of Glenville, the Ladies Auxiliary of the Alplaus Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 Inc., [Paddling for a Cure] has applied for a permit to conduct Outdoor Amusement/Entertainment at the Burnt Hills Rowing Association Maritime Road in Alplaus on July 17, 2011, Sunday from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM: and
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 and the Schenectady County Environmental Health Department, 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 of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Alplaus Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, “Paddling for a Cure” 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 permit subject to all stipulations cited by the Chief of Police, the Alplaus Fire District #2 Chief and the Schenectady County Environmental Health Department.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 69-2011
Moved by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
Seconded by: Councilman Ramotar
WHEREAS, Thomas R. Coppola, Superintendent of Highways has requested an RFP from three vendors for the Annual Bulk Item Program to be conducted curbside no later than the last week of May, 2011; and
WHEREAS, vendors Allied Waste and Waste Management declined the opportunity to submit a proposal therefore one proposal was received ~ County Waste in the sum of $9,990; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Glenville hereby authorizes the Superintendent of Highways to enter into an agreement not to exceed $9,990 for services to be rendered by County Waste & Recycling Service, Inc. of Clifton Park, NY for the Annual Bulk Item Program in the Town of Glenville.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said program is a budgeted item and to be funded by the Recycling Line 02.00.8160.4192.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 70-2011
Moved by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
Seconded by: Councilman Ramotar
WHEREAS, the Town of Glenville Highway Department must replace an obsolete equipment trailer in order to safely move highway and parks equipment to various work sites, and
WHEREAS, specifications have been prepared and quotes solicited from four vendors for this trailer, and
WHEREAS, upon receipt of the quotes the Town of Glenville will award the purchase contract to the low bidder,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Superintendent of Highways is hereby authorized to purchase one (1) 2011 split-bed, drop-axle, equipment trailer (specifications attached) at a cost not to exceed $6,000.00, such budgeted expenditure to be charged to account number 04 00 5130 2000.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 71-2011
Moved by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
Seconded by: Councilman Ramotar
WHEREAS, Pump #3 in the Town of Glenville Water Treatment Plant experienced a severe voltage drop necessitating emergency repairs in February 2011, and
WHEREAS, Pump #3 is a critical component of the Water Treatment Plant’s production of potable water for the customers of the Water District, and
WHEREAS, Commissioner of Public Works Thomas Coppola authorized emergency repairs to the pump including removal of the old pump and installation of a new Pleuger motor and power cable by Layne Christensen Company, 9317 Paysphere Circle, Chicago, Ill., totaling $20,505, and
Whereas, the town’s Procurement Policy necessitates Town Board authorization for public works contracts in excess of $10,000,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Glenville does hereby authorize payment in the amount of $20,505 to the Layne Christensen Company for the above referenced emergency repairs.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstention: None
Motion Carried
RESOLUTION NO. 72-2011
Moved by: Councilman Ramotar
Seconded by: Councilwoman Wierzbowski
BE IT RESOLVED, that the minutes of the regular meeting held on March 16, 2011, are hereby approved and accepted as entered.
Ayes: Councilmen Boulant, Pytlovany, Ramotar, Councilwoman Wierzbowski and Supervisor Koetzle
Noes: None
Absent: None
Abstentions: None
Motion Carried
New Business:
Councilman Boulant – “I drove by the water main break and it was a really bad situation. I would also like to thank Deputy Superintendent Jeff Gemmette; I know he put a lot of work into that as well.
The Target project is right on track. Everything is going well, there is actually a lot of activity now with marketing the 30,000 square feet building that is going to be at the northern end of Target and I think there are some businesses that are interested. There is a lot of activity in the Town. There are a lot of developers that are around; I know there are some people that are looking to do some projects. I’ll tell you our future looks quite bright here to allure some business to Glenville. I am really excited about it.”
Supervisor Koetzle – “We should mention just because someone might see that Target pulled themselves off the next agenda.”
Councilman Boulant – “Correct, it’s not a problem, we have plenty of time. The water tables information came back a little higher and we think that had to do with the excess rain that we had in that time. It was before we had cleaned a pipe out. I talked with the County and it is just a formality, it is not going to stop the project.”
Supervisor Koetzle asked for a motion to adjourn; motion to adjourn was moved by
Councilman Boulant; seconded by Councilman Pytlovany. Everyone being in favor the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.
ATTEST:
_____________________________
Linda C. Neals
Town Clerk
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