June 11, 2003

A regular meeting of the Jewett Town Board was held on June 11, 2003.
Supervisor Michael Flaherty called the meeting to order at 7PM. Present were Board members Mark Middleton, Thomas Hitchcock and Paul LaPierre. Attorney for the Town Tal G. Rappleyea Assessor Georgette Krauss, Zoning Officer William Dwyer, several Town residents, newspaper reporter Mike Ryan and the town clerk.

Minutes of the May 14, 2003 meeting were approved as presented on a motion by LaPierre seconded by Flaherty and carried.

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

The Board reviewed the written monthly report of the Building Inspector.
A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by Flaherty and carried to accept the report.
The Board went over the unsafe building's list. The building inspector will be instructed to follow up on the outstanding buildings on the list.

Zoning Officer William Dwyer gave a written and oral report. A motion was made by Flaherty seconded by Hitchcock and carried to accept the report.
The Zoning Officer was directed to send letters to the 22 observations he had listed from last month.

Assessor Georgette Krauss gave a written and oral report to the Board. The final roll has been sent to the printers. She said the town's value increased approximately $15 million dollars. 41 complaints were filed for grievance day. The Assessor prior to grievance day resolved 15 complaints. 26 complaints were heard and/or reviewed by the Board of Assessment Review.
A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried to accept the report.

A sole bid was opened for the 1988 surplus pickup truck. The bid was from Donald Goodrich for $452.17.
A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by Middleton and carried to accept the bid.

Rental for the Nutrition Center was discussed. Presently the Town receives $500 per month from the County for rental of facilities in the Municipal Building.
Board members agreed with Councilman Middleton's suggestion that the County pay to upgrade the bathrooms and make them ADA approved. The cost would be about $2,500. The Town would hold the rent to $500 per month. If the County doesn't agree to redo the bathrooms then the Town will ask for the rent to be raised to $600 per month.

A motion was made by Flaherty seconded by Middleton and carried to pass Resolution #8. This resolution is a transfer of funds in the highway budget. For the purchase of an asphalt roller the amount is $23,500.00 and for a 2003 pickup truck the amount is $22,539.00.
ROLL CALL Aye 4 Flaherty, Middleton, Hitchcock, LaPierre
Nay 0

A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried that a short section of Peck Road, at the intersection of Peck Road and State Highway 296, be designated one-way for westbound traffic.

A motion was made by Flaherty seconded by Middleton and carried to approve Resolution #9. The resolution request that the State to look into the unsafe intersection of Butternut Lane and County Rt. 17.
ROLL CALL Aye 4 Flaherty, Middleton, Hitchcock, LaPierre
Nay 0

A motion was made by Flaherty seconded by LaPierre and carried to approve Resolution #10. The resolution request that the State look at the intersection of Beaches Corner Road and State Highway 296.
ROLL CALL Aye 4 Flaherty, LaPierre, Hitchcock, Middleton
Nay 0

A motion was made by Hitchcock seconded by LaPierre and carried approving Resolution #11. The resolution request that the State look into the unsafe intersection of Cramer Road and County Route 23C.
ROLL CALL Aye 4 Hitchcock, LaPierre, Middleton, Flaherty
Nay 0

On a motion by Flaherty seconded by LaPierre and carried the Board went into executive session concerning unsafe buildings.
On a motion by LaPierre seconded by Flaherty and carried the Board came out of executive session. The issue was tabled pending the advice of Attorney Rappleyea.

Under Old Business:

Councilman LaPierre reported that the web site is virtually ready. He will report when the site is up and running.

A motion was made by Middleton seconded by Hitchcock and carried to approve upgrading of
the bathrooms in the Municipal Building pending the response from the County to participate in the project as discussed earlier in the meeting. The cost is approximately $2,500.

The decision on carpeting the front hall was tabled pending further information.

The employee handbook was not ready for this meeting. The Supervisor didn't have an opportunity to speak with the Superintendent about the SOP. The Board agreed that the handbook only has to make a reference to the SOP and the Superintendent will create one. The Supervisor will work on this item.

Correspondence:

A letter was received from the Greene County Historical Society approving the Town's application to include Miles Bridge on the Greene County's Historical Register.
A motion was made by Middleton seconded by Flaherty and carried to purchase a Greene County Historical Register Plaque for $50 for Miles Bridge.

A letter was received from town resident Stanley Tatar asking to be considered to fill the justice vacancy.
Justice Selkirk has indicated he could handle the court until November but only three nights a month.
The Supervisor will check with the State to make sure this is feasible.
Due to the short time period involved until the November election the Board respectfully declined Mr. Tatar's request.

Under Other:

A letter was received from Maciek and Lilla Godlewski. They thanked the Town for "the wonderful welcome and the beautiful gift" of a new American flag.

Supervisor Flaherty "At the next CWC Board meeting the program rules are going to be changed so we can address reimbursements to those folks who have built their septic systems. At least 700 people put in systems watershed wide. To the best of our knowledge about half have been reimbursed. Everyone that we know of will be notified." He will report next month on what was actually done.

Councilman LaPierre "There's a concern right now about the spread of West Nile virus and the breeding of mosquitoes. We have a number of ditches that do not drain. There's one at the bottom of Ford Hill Road. It has a very low pitch and it's got big scooped out sections that will never drain because there're below grade plus it's full of vegetation. I think we want to start paying attention to this. It may take some filling and regrading and cleaning out of vegetation. I've spoken with the Superintendent on this matter before."

Councilman LaPierre and Supervisor Flaherty attended a meeting last month in Lexington. It concerned adult entertainment and noise.
Councilman LaPierre "When we were doing our zoning revisions a couple of years ago one of the issues we were trying to deal with was adult entertainment. You cannot within a community or a municipality prohibit it you can only restrict it to certain locations."
Attorney Rappleyea will do some research on this item.

Councilman LaPierre would like the Board to consider a community building within the Town. "We have a mix of second home owners, vacation home people and local residents. The recent issue of the kiln was one in which there was an attempt to make a division between the two types of residents."
"I would like to suggest that we consider some vehicles to develop community building activities in the next couple of years. Things like a summer picnic, maybe something around the Christmas season."
"The way I see it the problem frequently is people come up from down state and they don't really understand rural life and rural people don't really understand down state people that well. Have activities that would enable one side to get to know a little more about the other. A bit of community building."
Councilman Hitchcock suggested "keep it simple maybe an open house in the Municipal building with cider and donuts and people just talking."
The Board decided to work on an open house for Saturday September 27th and/or Saturday October 4th, 2003 during late morning or early afternoon.
The information will be put on the web site and in the newspaper.

Councilman Middleton " I would like to pursue the scholarship idea. There are procedures to follow to build a scholarship. Have it as a Town of Jewett Scholarship. I would like to see a student produce an essay on civics or government that the sitting board of this Town judges."
Board members decided to put this in the budget for next year and start with a $250 scholarship, one for a Senior at Windham-Ashland-Jewett School and one for a Senior at Hunter-Tannersville Central School and increase the amount each year.

Councilman Hitchcock would like to see the bottom of the salt barn painted. This has been mentioned a few times. Supervisor Flaherty will speak with the Superintendent about this project.

Councilman Hitchcock spoke with the Highway Superintendent about the memorial. They suggest a culvert be put in from the culvert where the road is all the way down then fill in so there is no ditch.

Councilman Hitchcock "I got a price from Catskill Fence for $10,000 to put a fence around the Hull-Peck Cemetery. I will check into this further."

Councilman Hitchcock asked Attorney Rappleyea about people being buried either in mausoleums on private property or in back yards. The Councilman wanted to know if the Town could restrict this. Attorney Rappleyea said he's never heard of it.

Councilman Hitchcock offered to look into the Town sponsoring safe driving courses in the Municipal Building. Town of Jewett residents would be first come first serve then open it up to whomever. All Board members were in favor.

Bills were audited and ordered paid. The general fund was $5,058.46 on abstract #6, claim numbers 122 to 143. The highway fund was $25,031.27 on abstract #6, claim numbers 97 to 99.

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

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Patricia Merwin Town Clerk