May 14, 2003

A regular meeting of the Jewett Town Board was held on May 14, 2003. Supervisor Michael Flaherty called the meeting to order at 7PM. Present were Board members Mark Middleton, Thomas Hitchcock and Paul LaPierre. Also present were Superintendent of Highways Robert Mallory, Building Inspector Robert Bosworth, Zoning Officer William Dwyer, Attorney for the Town Tal G. Rappleyea, several town residents, newspaper reporter Mike Ryan and the town clerk.

Councilman Hitchcock presented Resolution #6. This resolution welcomes Maciek and Lilla Godlewski to the Town and as new United States citizens. The resolution was passed on a motion by Hitchcock seconded by Middleton and carried. An American flag and a copy of the resolution were presented to the Godlewski's
ROLL CALL Aye 4 Flaherty, Hitchcock, Middleton, LaPierre
Nay 0

Minutes of the April 9, 2003 meeting were approved as presented on a motion by Flaherty seconded by Hitchcock and carried.

The Supervisor's monthly report was given to the Board. Bank statements were made available for review.

Building Inspector Bosworth gave a written and oral report. A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried to accept the building inspector's report.
Councilman Middleton asked the building inspector to have the initial list of existing unsafe buildings by the next meeting and before anyone else is added to that list.

Zoning Officer Dwyer gave a written and oral report on observations of possible violations. His next step will be to send out letters.
A motion was made by LaPierre seconded by Middleton and carried to accept the report.

Assessor Georgette Krauss reported to the Board that the tentative roll was filed on May 1st. Letters with changes in assessment were sent out on May 2nd. There were approximately 640 changes.
A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried to accept the Assessors report.

A motion was made by Middleton seconded by Hitchcock and carried to go into executive session concerning personal matters. A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried to come out of executive session.

Courtesy of the Floor:

Resident Werner Pscherer inquired why the speed limit on County Route 23C went from 35 mph to 45 mph. Supervisor Flaherty answered that the County didn't follow the proper procedure to lower the speed limit.
Mr. Pscherer also asked if anything happened concerning the corner of Butternut Lane and County Route 17? Superintendent Mallory said that letters were mailed out to the County Highway Department after last months meeting. He has not received any response back from the County.
Supervisor Flaherty asked that a copy of the letter be sent to the Town's County Legislators.

Planning Board Chairwoman Jane Bostrom suggested an inventory of current signs in the Town be considered. This would help to avoid problems in the future. Supervisor Flaherty said the Board would entertain the idea and work with the zoning officer.

Courtesy of the floor was closed.

Bids were opened.
One bid was received for the 1988 surplus pick-up truck. The bid was from Ted Weingates for $200.00.
Superintendent Mallory recommended the bid be turned down "because I think we can do better."
All Board members agreed not to accept the bid.
A motion was made by Flaherty seconded by Hitchcock and carried to re-bid the surplus 1988 pick-up truck with a minimum bid set at $400.00.

One bid was received for a used 8-ton roller from Anderson Equipment Co. for $23,500.00. The Superintendent recommended the bid be accepted. The roller has 1100 hours of use on it.
Councilman Middleton suggested the Superintendent go to inspect the roller even though it's in Pennsylvania. "If you're buying a used roller, for me to agree to it, I'd want to see the things that are functional on these kind of pieces of equipment, to be operable, not get them here and all of a sudden your going to try to repair it. I think it's a big enough piece of equipment that we should look at it."
Councilman LaPierre suggested hiring an independent appraiser to look at the roller because "I'm not a judge" of that type of equipment.
Flaherty seconded by Hitchcock made a motion and carried to table this decision until the Superintendent can inspect the roller and have something in writing about delivery and the warranty.

Supervisor Flaherty "we have a junkyard ordinance that was passed in the Town in 1973 or 1974. I was wondering if we could ask Tal go get an updated State approved junk ordinance and put that into our zoning law so it would be consistent. A junkyard is already in the zoning but junk cars are not. Also incorporate in the zoning the Site Plan Review drafted in 1991."
Attorney Rappleyea said the alternative would be to have a codebook so everything is in one place. Attorney Rappleyea will bring in some samples for the next meeting.

Correspondence:

A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by Flaherty and carried to accept the resignation of Justice Debbie Allen effective June 30, 2003.
Councilman Hitchcock "She's been a fine justice for the Town of Jewett. I've heard many favorable things. I wish her husband well and regret the fact that she has to resign."
Supervisor Flaherty said a letter will be sent thanking her for her dedicated service to the Town of Jewett.

On a motion by Flaherty seconded by LaPierre and carried the Board approved Resolution #7. This resolution is in support of the Coalition of Watershed Towns Resolution regarding New York City's DEP position on the Belleayre Resort project.
ROLL CALL AYE 4 Flaherty, Hitchcock, LaPierre, Middleton
NAY 0

The Board discussed expenders for youth.
Councilman LaPierre "I personally think that, as with a lot of other things, we need to look at some of these things as broad based mountain top activities and not specifically how do they serve the particular interest of Jewett. I would suggest that we put some money into virtually any of the youth programs regardless of where they are on the mountain top."

All Board members were in agreement and approved the following expenditures for youth on a motion by Hitchcock seconded by Flaherty and carried:
Greene County Council for the Arts Sprouts Program - $200.00
Knights of The Road, who support Little League, Tee Ball, Mountain Top GALS softball and other sports for local youth - $600.00.

Councilman LaPierre asked the Board "to entertain the notion of generating a scholarship to each of the schools."
All Board members were in agreement but did not approve a specific amount at this time.
Councilman LaPeirre was asked to come up with criteria for the scholarship for the June meeting.

The Esbin family living on Cloos Road sent a letter to the highway department thanking them for a job well done during the winter months.

Under Old Business:

Superintendent Mallory asked the Board to table the discussion regarding the one-way section on Peck Road. He's looking into the situation.

Councilman LaPierre informed the Board he has been working with Peter Peters on the new web-site format. He's trying to keep the cost down by not having more than 5 pages.
The contract was signed by the Supervisor and will be sent to Mr. Peters.

A quote on remolding the two bathrooms in the Municipal Building was $2,330.00. Councilman
Middleton asked that the contractor understand that one of the bathrooms has to be ADA compliant.
This item was tabled. Councilman Hitchcock will speak with the contractor.

A draft copy of the Employee Handbook was given to all Board members for review. A workshop to discuss the draft was scheduled for Wednesday May 28th at 4PM.

Attorney Rappleyea served notice to Mr. Killmer on April 21st that his extension is expiring. A motion was made by Middleton seconded by Hitchcock and carried to have a letter go out to the contractors for proposals to remove the trailer and everything but the wooden building on the property. The Board would review the situation and proposals at the June 11th meeting and if necessary the work could commence June 12th.

Councilman Hitchcock asked the Board to look into the issue of property owners putting septic systems on property lines.
Attorney Rappleyea said the Town "can be more stringent than the law" and could make this a requirement as part of the building permit application.

On a motion by Flaherty seconded by LaPeirre and carried the Board went into executive session concerning land purchase. On a motion by Flaherty seconded by LaPierre and carried the Board came out of executive session.

Under other:

Councilman Middleton asked about the ambulance contract. Attorney Rappleyea said the contract has been delivered to the Town of Windham and we are waiting for their Supervisor to sign.

A motion was made by Hitchcock to have the "Town of Jewett pick up ambulance bills for those residents that go to neighboring medical facilities and then have to be transported to a hospital". There was no second.
Supervisor Flaherty "based on past experience with the ambulance billing I'm not satisfied that this is a science yet. I see credits that we have due that are floating out there. I'd be very reluctant to advance any more benefits to our community until we get this squared away."
Councilman Middleton "I think that the normal course would be to tell, when that person gets to the hospital, that he has no insurance and he would be eligible for some program. I won't believe anyone goes unpaid, certainly an ambulance service doesn't. They probably have the ability somehow to get the money a lot better even then the Town of Jewett does. I would support a resolution that would state that if all other means of repayment are exhausted by a Jewett resident to have his ambulance charge covered then we would pay."
Councilman LaPierre "that's essentially what we're doing now accept in a reverse order. We're paying up-front then getting reimbursed by what ever they have available to reimburse them."
Councilman Middleton "I want this person who has no insurance coming from the Town of Jewett, to pursue all reasonable means of taking care of their own bill regardless of whether they have insurance or not."
Councilman Hitchcock said he would think about this and maybe come back with something else.

Skip Benjamin applied for the zoning officer position in February. In the letter he received he was not told why he wasn't hired just that the opening was not being filled at this time. Councilman Hitchcock "in the letter we are telling him essentially we have delayed filling the zoning officers position, we have not told him why we did not hire him at that point in time. We have to be careful what we tell people. I told him that to the best of my knowledge we didn't give you the job was because you have a full time job with the county and we didn't think that would give you enough time to really do the kinds of things we were looking for."

Councilman Hitchcock has been looking after some of the abandoned cemeteries in Town. A number of these cemeteries are on someone else's property. The Cemetery Board in Albany has told him that he can't do this because the Town doesn't have the deeds to the cemeteries.
Councilman Middleton " if it's abandoned doesn't it revert back to the Town?"
Attorney Rappleyea "Yes, but the money we spend has to come from a dedicated fund."
He suggested the Board set up a dedicated "fund" for cemeteries. The Board was in agreement with the suggestion.

The Board gave its approval for a notice to be placed in the paper informing homeowners that they are responsible for making sure their 911 signs are in place and visible.
Councilman Middleton suggested that when the fire departments hold their fundraisers they announce that the 911 number needs to be visible.

For the Boards information Councilman Hitchcock commented on hazardous waste material. He said that batteries can just be put in the regular garbage and the recycling facilities won't take empty plastic oil containers.

Bills were audited and ordered paid. The general fund was $11,539.92 on abstract #5, claim numbers 97 to 121. The highway fund was $11,434.48 on abstract #5, claim numbers 76 to 96.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 PM on a motion by Flaherty seconded by Hitchcock and carried.

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Patricia Merwin Town Clerk