April 16, 2008 Town Board Meeting Minutes

Present:
Knox - Town Supervisor
Coller - Councilwoman (Arrived at 7:40pm)
Foster - Councilwoman
Jeanette - Councilwoman
Whiteford - Councilman
Eells - Town Clerk
White - Highway Superintendent

Guests:
Bobby Knox
Fred Morrill

The meeting was called to order at 7:15pm by Supervisor Knox.

Acceptance of the Minutes:

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Foster to accept the minutes from 03/19/2008 as presented by the Town Clerk.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - A

Motion carried.

Legislature Report:

• Fred Morrill handed out an invitation to tour the new jail for April 29th at 6:00pm to the board. The jail is still on schedule.

• Heidi Ames is 4 for 4 in grant writing since she was hired.

• They are discussing what to do with the old jail.

• They had a 6-7 hour discussion on what to do over the poster situation; they passed a poster policy by adding a standard of decency in the policy.

• The fuel distribution went well; it helped out families who do not qualify for HEAP.

• Superintendent White did a break down of costs for plowing County roads; he wants Fred to take them to the Legislature board to help get more money or the town board should decide to stop plowing county roads. Fred will get the figures from Superintendent White to have them for the next meeting.

Town Clerk's Report:

We sold 12 dog licenses, 1 certified copies, 1 building permit and $725.00 in Decals for a total revenue for the month of March of $808.00. I have taken in 78.34 % of taxes $845,891.12 as of 04/14/2008. I have been awarded a $250.00 scholarship from the St. Lawrence Clerk’s Association which will be reimbursed to my account after I attend the conference.

CEO Report:

N/A

Supervisor's Report:

1. Financial reports for March have been turned into the town clerk.

2. The town has received the second payment of the snow plowing contract from St. Lawrence County for $55,798.71 and that went into the highway account.

3. The town received $3,600.00 from the Russell Library for labor costs already done on the new Library/Museum.

4. The town received $5,519.99 from NYS Justice Court grant for computer software and to upgrade.

5. Zurich Insurance refunded the town $37.59 for having no disability claims.

6. Ike Guyette (CEO) could not take the online course for asbestos due to other obligations.

Highway Superintendent Report:

1. The 3 dump trucks from Federal Surplus and the roller have been delivered. We have gone over all of it; the roller is ready to go and the 3 trucks are all in use.

2. All the gravel roads have been graded and will be gone over again as they dry out and gravel will be added as needed.

3. We have cleaned up the last of the trees topped out by National Grid and removed several more on the Pyrites-Russell road and 2 in front of Coller’s on the Blanchard Hill road.

4. We cut the brush back on the Hewlett road and have some more ditching to do soon.

5. We have the motor installed on the #12 truck and are working on all the hook ups as time allows.

6. We have cleared the sand from the hill in town as well as the back streets and are now on the rest of the roads.

7. We have removed all the stumps on the Mackin road extension and are digging out the road bed and adding stone for the base. The military trucks have worked well for this job.

8. We will be shifting to our CHIPS projects soon. We have approximately 4 miles of roads that need very little time to be ready.

9. I got word from Bill Dashnaw at the County that our CHIPS money was increased from $121,273 to $149,327. This should off set the increased oil prices as Type 6 hot mix is approximately $50 a ton.

10. We will be going over the county contract on snow removal as we discussed it at our highway meeting.

11. The men have been very busy in many areas of the town with good progress and I thank them.

12. I handed in $519.80 for fuel from Russell Fire Department.

Councilwoman Carol Coller came in at 7:40pm.

Assessor Report: Donna Goodwin

On April 16th and 23rd I will be here from 3:00pm - 6:00pm and on April 30th I will be in from 2:00pm - 5:00pm to take questions from property owners.

Informal Hearings will be held on:

May 10th    Saturday    1:30pm - 5:30pm

May 12th    Monday    8:30am - 12:30pm

May 14th    Wednesday    4:00pm - 8:00pm

May 16th    Friday    8:30am - 12:30pm

All members of the Board of Assessment Review have been informed that Grievance will take place on Wednesday, May 28th from 4:00pm - 8:00pm.

Our new Roll Book and Notice of Change in Assessment letters should be printed soon.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Highway:

Resolution #46: Holding Harmless the County Agreement

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to renew the Holding Harmless the County of St. Lawrence for Providing Service for the Town of Russell Agreement.

By the Russell Town Board

WHEREAS, the Town of Russell is desirous of St. Lawrence county Department of Highways providing shared services such as paving, shoulder widening, signage, road stripping, blasting and other routine maintenance activities to the town, and

WHEREAS, both the Town of Russell and the County of St. Lawrence are desirous of promoting partnering efforts for the safety of the traveling public in St. Lawrence County, and

WHEREAS, in this joint cooperative endeavor, the Town of Russell and the County of St. Lawrence desires to be reimbursed for their expenditures, and

WHEREAS, the Town is aware that the County may incur liability in the providing of the services and wishes to indemnify the County in this regard,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Russell hereby agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the County of St. Lawrence from and against liability, loss, damage, claim or action resulting from the work performed by St. Lawrence County Department of Highways. The Town of Russell does not indemnify and hold harmless the County for any liability, loss, damage, claim or action which arises during the actual performance of services by the St. Lawrence County Department of Highways. Said St. Lawrence County Department of Highways and County of St. Lawrence assumes the liability for losses, damages, and claims for the actual physical performance of the work, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the following request for General liability (GL) coverage is as follows:

General Liability Insurance
On an “Occurrence” basis, with the following limits:
$1,000,000 Each Occurrence
$2,000,000 General Aggregate
$1,000,000 Products Aggregate
$1,000,000 Personal Injury
$50,000 Fire Damage Legal Liability
$5,000 Medical Payment Expense

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that St. Lawrence County shall be an additional insured on the GL Policy, via ISO endorsement CG 2026.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

Resolution #47: To Increase Highway Funds

A motion was made Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Coller to increase Contractual D5112.4 $28,054 from $92,951 to $121,005.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

Resolution #48: Agreement to Spend Town Highway Funds

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to have the board sign the Agreement to Spend Highway funds as presented by Superintendent White for these Projects.

(A) On the road commencing at 2 miles from Blanchard Hill Rd. on Boyd Pond Rd. and leading to the end a distance of 7/10. Installing pipes - cost $4,121.20.

(B) On the road commencing at Russell Pyrites Rd. and leading to the Cassidy Rd. a distance of 1 mile; installing pipes cost $2,664.20.

(C) On the road commencing at Town Line Rd. and leading to the Hill Rd. a distance of 1.4 miles cost $5,242.00.

(D) On the road commencing at 1 mile north of Lazy River Rd. on Pyrites-Russell Rd. and leading to Town Line Rd. a distance of 1.9 miles; resurfacing Type 6 & seal width of travel surface 18 ft cost $59,129.00.

(E) On the road commencing at 1 mile from County Route 24 on Blanchard Hill Rd. and leading to the Backus Rd. a distance of 7/10 a mile using Type 6 and seal with a width of travel surface of 18 ft cost $22,374.60.

(F) On the road commencing at Backus Rd. on Blanchard Hill Rd. and leading to Boyd Pond Rd. a distance of 2.1 miles using Type 6 and seal Approximately 1.5 miles with width of travel surface 18 ft also shim and seal approximately 1.5 and prep the rest at a cost of $49,959.60.

(G) On the road commencing at Boyd Pond Rd. on Blanchard Hill Rd. and leading to County Route 17; prep work for 2009 cost $5,838.00. All remaining money will be used in prep on this road and Boyd Pond Rd.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

Resolution #49: Audit

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Foster to pay the following bills:

General vouchers # 110-139: $21,143.29
Highway vouchers # 85-104: $35,829.44
Capital Improvement #1: $6,120.40
Lighting voucher #4:   Russell - $980.32
                              DeGrasse - 315.91
                                            $1296.23

The St. Lighting was high because a stop payment was done on a check they never received and a new one was written from December 2007. Superintendent White stated he was holding a voucher from Nortrac because he does not agree with the bill and wants to fight it.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

Resolution #50: Trading Scrap Trucks for Pipes

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to authorize Superintendent White to trade the 2 scrap trucks for pipes.

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

New Business:

Resolution #51: Membership for the Town of Gouverneur for AMP

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to pass the following resolution for the AMP Membership for the Town of Gouverneur.

WHEREAS, the Town of Gouverneur has passed the following resolutions: 1) to sign the Inter-Municipal Agreement; 2) to sign the AMP/Howrey Retention agreement; 3) to pay their share of the 2008 AMP membership fee; 4) to support the draft legislation to the State of NY for the creation of a public authority; and

WHEREAS, the Gouverneur Supervisor has signed the Inter-Municipal Agreement and the AMP/Howrey Retention Agreement; and

WHEREAS, it would be in the interest of the Town of Gouverneur and in the interest of the AMP municipalities to have Gouverneur as a member of AMP, and

WHEREAS, the AMP Commissioners of AMP have unanimously voted to recommend the membership of the Town of Gouverneur;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,

1. That the Town of Russell votes to grant the Town of Gouverneur full membership in the Alliance for Municipal Power, and

2. that a signed copy of this resolution be mailed to Robert Best, Chairman, AMP, PO Box 173, Canton, NY 13617

Jeanette - yes
Foster - yes
Knox - yes
Whiteford - yes
Coller - yes

Motion carried.

Supervisor Knox stated that Ray Wilson from Rose & Keirnan will be attending the next meeting May 21st to go over the quotes sent in for the town insurance.

Supervisor Knox asked if there was anything else. Councilman Whiteford stated he wanted to discuss the supporting of Morristown with the Amish Building Permit Problem that was tabled last month. He feels they should follow the same codes as everyone else. The majority of the board feels Morristown can deal with it.

A motion was made by Councilman Whiteford that we the town of Russell should support the Town of Morristown with their disagreement over the Amish not getting building permits. He could not get a second.

Motion denied.

Superintendent White was asked by Supervisor Knox if keeping the Colton Rd plowed all winter was necessary; the town opened it because Kefalonitis were going to live there permanently; but are not there yet. It was decided that Superintendent White will contact the Kefalonitis and let them no it will be plowed as a seasonal road for now.

A motion by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to adjourn the meeting at 8:45pm. All were in favor. Motion carried.