10/9/2002

A regular meeting of the Jewett Town Board was held on October 9, 2002. Supervisor Michael
Flaherty called the meeting to order at 7 PM. Present were Board members Mark Middleton, Thomas
Hitchcock, Paul LaPierre and Marilyn Haarklau. Superintendent of Highway Robert Mallory,
Attorney for the Town Tal. G. Rappleyea, several Town residents and the town clerk.

Minutes of the September 11, 2002 meeting were approved as presented on a motion made by
Hitchcock, seconded by Flaherty and carried.

The Supervisor's report was given to the Board and bank statements were made available for the
Boards review.

The Building Inspector was not present but had new monthly spreadsheets for the Board to review.

Bill Nicholls addressed the Board. Mr. Nicholls, “I had a phone call doing a survey in Jewett. The
lady wanted to know if I was for commercial in residential. I said of course not.”

“ They did a survey by mail. People were real satisfied with what's going on in Jewett.”
“It seems as though there's a lot of stirring up going around here, why is it? Another thing is it's
been said that non-residents are being treated as second class, that's not true either. I'm on the fire
company and rescue squad. When we get a call we don't say that they are people that aren't here all
the time, we go no matter what. The majority of people here are happy with the way the Town is
running things, the Town's been doing a good job.”

“There's so much turmoil now, since this kiln. Now since the ZBA has OK'd it there's going to be
more turmoil. How much more do you want to keep going this way? It just upsets the Town.”

“Another thing, why did they want to remove two members from the Planning Board? Why does
this have to be so unsettled all the time?”

Mr. Nicholls asked Councilman Hitchcock “why he called the Internal Revenue Service on the Fire
Department?”

“Councilman Hitchcock, “The Fire Department gave us their report. We asked if they had
registered with the Internal Revenue Service as they're supposed to. They didn't know about it. I
called the IRS to see if they were registered. East Jewett was and Jewett wasn't. I don't see that as
not doing my duty as a Town Board member. We give them each $24,000.00 a year and they should
be by law registered with the IRS. We'd like to see a tax-exempt number from the Jewett Fire
Department. All we're trying to do is our job.”

Richard Corsie addressed the Board. Mr. Corsie, “I'm a homeowner in the Town. I have a problem
with the Planning Board. The Planning Board is requiring DEP approval on lots. If you put in a 10
acre lot sub-division and need engineered systems now you have to pay for the engineering to have
it all done before you can get Planning Board approval. It shouldn't be in the Planning Board
process.

I'm complaining to the Board that I'm purposely being delayed and to put the Board on notice that
the next time I come to the Planning Board I'm bringing my Attorney.”

Panning Board Chairwoman Jane Bostrom responded “In order to do a sub-division we have to have
certain information. This is in the regulations and on the application. You have to have a survey,
which shows the various things required by the law. You don't have that as yet.”

Mr. Corsie, “I have the DEP approval. I have in-ground systems on these lots. I just can't get the
letter out of the DEP, which is a delay. I hope to have it by the next meeting.”

“I'm telling the Town that last August 1st it wasn't required, now it is. I'm asking when that went
into effect?”

Chairwoman Bostrom, “It has always been required. In the 1988 original sub-division regulations it
was there. We sent the plats to DEP and they would sign it and now they no longer want to do that.
The new regulations say the approval letter must be attached to the plat.”

Courtesy of the floor was opened.
Sue Huetter asked the Board about the proposed construction on Carr Road. “My concern is that
you're putting in a dam. Your building up Carr Road and putting in a 19 foot sluice. I'm not against
the project I think you should put in several sluices.”

Superintendent Mallory, “I specifically told the engineer that they could not slow the water down
because it will affect the nearby homes.”

Superintendent Mallory will contact the engineer and speak with him again.

There were no more comments from the floor. A motion was made by Flaherty, seconded by
Haarklau and carried to close courtesy of the floor.

Councilman Hitchcock commented on the DEP land acquisition. He stated that “our children and
grandchildren are going to find land in the water shed exceedingly scarce. I see this land
acquisition being an attempt to limit and restrict and in time decrease the amount of human
habitation.”

Supervisor Flaherty will respond to the comments section saying that there were no negative
comments.

Attorney Rappleyea, “If we had some thought of some sort of use or development in that area that
we wanted them to be aware of so that potentially we could keep our own easement for that use in
the future, that's the kind of comment they're looking for. If we've got no plans for that land, that's
what that comments for.”

Other:

Supervisor Flaherty asked the Board examine that small section of Peck Road between Rt. 296 and
Ryan Road. He asked about the feasibility of making that section one-way going west. Another
suggestion was to make that section a dead end and turn it into a cul-de-sac.

This item was tabled to give the Board members time to look at the situation.

Councilman Middleton said he discussed with William Maley, informally, the situation with the dead
trees in front of the Village of Hunter highway building. They have been replaced.

Councilman Middleton asked what has been done about the letter of complaint from Mr. Hinnman
on Goshen Street? The concern was about Mr. Koehler operating a small engine repair shop.

Supervisor Flaherty said the Building Inspector spoke with Mr. Koehler and informed him that he
has to apply for a special use permit.

Councilman Middleton asked if Barbara Chandler, a CPA, has arranged a time to reconcile the
differences in the checking accounts.

Supervisor Flaherty said that he has talked with Ms. Chandler and she will get back to him at her
earliest convenience.

Attorney Rappleyea addressed the Kilmer property situation. He said, “it was an unsafe building
property listed on the Building Inspectors list. It was turned over to me in May. I spoke with Mr.
Kilmer over the summer and he has been working on the property. At the last Board meeting the
progress wasn't what the Board wanted it to be. A deadline of September 30, 2002 was set to have
the buildings and unsafe buildings removed or repaired. As I understand it there is still a trailer and
at least one building that's classified unsafe. I prepared a notice, the next step in the process under
the law, to Mr. Kilmer. I notified him that there is going to be a hearing with this Board to determine
if the Town should proceed with the removing of the buildings on its own and billing that cost back
to the taxes on the property. All I need is for this Board to set that hearing date.”

Mr. Gary Kilmer addressed the Board. He stated “he has been working on the property every
weekend since August 16th. I have taken down one building and taken a camper out of there and a
lot of debris. I would like to resolve this matter. Financially it's a big problem for me right now.”

Councilman Middleton, “There were letters from the building department that were ignored.”

Mr. Kilmer, “The notices went to my brother and he didn't contact me. When he got the certified
letter, he waited two weeks then he called me. That's when I contacted Tal.”

Councilman Middleton, “Unless you can satisfactorily prove to this Board, through the building
department, that the balance of the buildings that are on the property right now are structurally safe,
they've got to go.”

Mr. Kilmer, “I do plan on removing the trailer.”

A motion was made by Flaherty, seconded by Middleton and carried to give Mr. Kilmer a six-month
extension from today's date to come into full compliance with the unsafe building law.

A motion was made by Hitchcock, seconded by Middleton and carried to replace the stolen Town
Banner at the top of Maplecrest Mt/ County Rt. 40.

Councilman Hitchcock asked when the Town House rent for the nutrition center comes up?

Supervisor Flaherty wrote a letter in June requesting an increase of $50.00 per month.

Councilman Hitchcock said he would like a Board discussion on what the increase should be next
year.

Councilman Hitchcock requested that the Town look into a better lighting system for over the front
doors of the Municipal Building.

Superintendent Mallory will work on this. He also informed the Board that he has been waiting until
the sand and salt was stored before he begins work on lighting the Memorial Stone.

Councilman Hitchcock asked that the Mountain Top Supervisors keep up the discussion about the
charge backs to the Towns for the community colleges linked with the Towns getting some of the
sales tax.

Another issue is the 911 monies that are collected as a monthly charge on the phone bill.

Supervisor Flaherty has contacted John Farrell, the new administrator of emergency preparedness. “
I took the information to one of our legislators who thought there was a fund for this. It turn's out
there is no fund.” The Supervisor will pursue this issue.

Councilman Hitchcock said there was a resident on Cramer Road complaining that he has had 3
different 911 numbers. He said he was confused and going back to his old fire number as his
address.

Supervisor Flaherty explained that the gentleman made a gold-leaf sign and with the information he
had put the 911 number. “ When we went out to put up the 911 signs there was a conflict. The post
office provided still another 911 number. 911 has the number for that property and the proper
number has been installed.”

Councilman Hitchcock said he would like the minutes from the County Planning Board meetings.

The Supervisor advised the Councilman to call Warren Hart at the County Planning Department and
tell him you would like a copy of the minutes.

Councilman Hitchcock, “We do have a representative from the Town on the Greene County
Planning Board. It seems to me if that person has the minutes and a member of the Town Board
wants them we should be able to get those.”

Councilman Hitchcock, “There has been a discussion and Mr. Nicholls brought it up again tonight.
There have been some questions about the Jewett Fire Department that I have raised. There have
been some questions about the East Jewett Fire Department which I have asked about. I don't see
that as being troublesome, we're giving the two fire department $24,000.00 each. The reason I made
some calls was, we were told at one point, not this year, we had no business looking over their
financial records. I tried to call to see who did. It was more or less indicated that there is not a
policy in New York State. As a result of that I found out that East Jewett files with the IRS. Jewett
knew nothing about that. Should I have pursued that or not, I don't know. I thought it was prudent
to do so. As long as I'm elected to be here I will take my job seriously.”

“I would like to see the letter that went to them requesting information on their monies and
supplying us with the tax exempt number. No one seems to know we requested it.”

“As far as this thing about the kiln, there have been some things on the phone. I got a phone call
and something in the mail as well. I know it's not the Town Boards doing. That's the doing of a
citizen in this town and he has a right to do that. I don't agree or disagree with it. I'm a little
embarrassed by the whole controversy. It's not the Town Board at this point. It will find its way to
a conclusion. We're a great place to live. We're going through a problem here, we'll get through it. I
had nothing to do with saying anything about the three members of the Town Board one way or two
members the other way. I'm just going to keep doing what I can do and let the chips fall where they
may.”

Councilman LaPierre, “I don't know about anyone else, but I've been getting a few letters and a
couple phone calls. This came from the fliers that were being circulated apparently mostly to people
who are second homeowners. I'm irritated by the fact that the people who wrote these have not
undertaken to ask if there's another side to this particular issue. I really think that there is a red flag
that's been raised by that particular petition and it's inflamed a lot of people to react in an
uninformed manner.”

A motion was made by Hitchcock, seconded by Haarklau and carried to have the zoning regulations
and the survey results put on the Town's web site.

A motion was made by Flaherty, seconded by LaPierre and carried approving Resolution #15. This
resolution is a letter of commendation for retiring State Supreme Court Judge the Honorable George
L. Cobb.
ROLL CALL: Ayes, 5 - Flaherty, LaPierre, Middleton, Haarklau, Hitchcock . Nays – 0.

Supervisor Flaherty, “We've had some problems in the past with our ambulance bill. Marilyn and I
went over and spent a considerable amount of time with the clerk gathering information. Ultimately
we had a long visit with the Town Supervisor. I believe our problems are worked out.”

Councilman Middleton, “I thought at the last meeting we were on top of it? Why was there a need
for a meeting? My point is I thought we were 100% correct when we left the last meeting and I never
heard a discussion about having to send a committee over to Meehan. What was the problem, the
last I knew after Tom's query, is that we were 100 % right, Meehan was wrong. We have the
contract; it was two equal payments. I want to know what prompted you and Marilyn to go over to
Pat Meehan? Evidentially there was a problem for you to go over between meetings.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “We worked on this thing because there was a problem based on a previous
conservation.”

Councilman Middleton, “I thought as one Board member there was no problem. We were going to
wait for the bill and now there's a meeting and I want to know why there was a meeting.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “We went to have the meeting to make sure that everything was completely
understood by all of us and it was.”

Councilman Middleton, “Did Meehan call it and if he didn't call it why weren't we involved?”

Supervisor Flaherty, “No, because Marilyn and I are the ambulance committee. If there were some
serious decisions to make the Board would be in on it. We were trying to gather information and
that's what we did.”

Councilwoman Haarklau, “One of our problems was we weren't getting any bills from the ambulance
service.”

Councilman Middleton, “I don't care what the problems were, you're missing my point. I am fully
cognizant of what the problems been systematically. I am sick and tired of committees and other
people making moves without the balance of this Board knowing of their moves. I don't like the fact
that we're acting as individual Board members or a committee of two without the balance of this
Board knowing.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “We have been there before and tried to gather information. There's no
problem, it's been worked out.”

“When we do the audit tonight there's a sizable backlog in the ambulance bill which we predicted
would happen because there are remnants of 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.”

For 70 transports provided in 1999 the amount is $6,980.68; for 47 transports in 2000 the amount is
$2,828.04; for 54 transports in 2002 the amount is $12,443.59 and for 36 transports from January 1 to
June 30, 2002 the amount is $18,909.10 for a total of $41,161.41. The 2002 appropriation was $22,000,
the rest of the monies will be transferred from within the budget.

Councilman Hitchcock, “I am upset. I've been asking and asking about this since we entered into
this relationship. When you tell me 4 years backlog, I'm somewhat angry. This has been a
wonderful service for our people in the Town. We had a deal with them that we would pay them two
payments. They would credit us with the insurance credits.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “Every six months there will be an invoice sent to the Town for our ambulance
account. If the insurance credits do not clear it will be credited on the following bill.”

Attorney Rappleyea, “The problem has been that we drew up the contract four years ago. Basically
it sat on somebody's desk. During those four years we never got a bill.”

Councilman Middleton, “We knew we were obligated.”

Councilman LaPierre, “We kept the money aside, we rolled it over.”

Councilman Middleton, “We should have requested an invoice.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “We did and we did and we did. Then what we received, those partial numbers
were not reflective of our whole account. Now it's all taken care of and the vouchers are here now.”

Councilwoman Haarklau, “We went over to make sure that he understood that we wanted bills on a
regular basis, semi-annually. This is what we need and this is what we want. If we can't get it this
way we have to get it some other way and that's how we put it to Pat.”

Councilman Middleton, “For four years we've had to know we were incurring greater bills than
this.”

Supervisor Flaherty, “No, we got partial bills and that was an artificial way of telling us what our use
was.”

Councilman Hitchcock, “Do we not have a contract for this ambulance?”

Attorney Rappleyea, “I don't have one yet. I did not say we had it done. I said it was agreed upon
and they're going to sign it and send it to me. Every month I've called their attorney and asked
where the contract is.”

Councilman Hitchcock, “I would say that if we don't have the contract by the next meeting a letter
be written to the Windham Supervisor telling him that we have to have the contract to make the two
equal payments.”

On a motion by Flaherty, seconded by LaPierre and carried the Board went into executive session to
discuss potential litigation. On a motion by LaPierre, seconded by Hitchcock and carried the Board
came out of executive session.

Board members Hitchcock and Middleton were asked to speak with the Superintendent and the
involved vender and if possible to re-submit another voucher. All Board members present were in
agreement. This item was tabled until the next meeting.

Bills were audited and ordered paid. The general fund was $53,353.33 on abstract #10, claim
numbers 266 to 289. The highway fund was $3,450.42 on abstract #10, claim numbers 159 to 174.

The November meeting will be on Wednesday the 6th. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled
for 7PM and the regular monthly meeting will follow.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 10:10 PM on a motion by Flaherty,
seconded by Hitchcock and carried.

Patricia Merwin Town Clerk