August 19, 2009 Town Board Meeting Minutes

Present:
Richard Knox - Town Supervisor
Carol Coller - Councilwoman - arrived @ 7:12
Evah Foster - Councilwoman
Courtney Jeanette - Councilwoman
David Whiteford - Councilman - arrived @ 7:12
Tess Eells - Town Clerk
Larry White - Highway Superintendent - arrived @ 7:25

Guests:
Harvey & Iris Thomas
Bobby Knox
Fred Morrill
Larry Cook
Sandy Burnham
Bryan Given
Marie Rocca
Mike LaRose

The meeting was called to order at 7:04pm by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Jeanette.

Acceptance of the minutes:

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Foster to accept the minutes from 07/15 and 08/06 as presented by the Town Clerk.

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

Motion carried.

REPORTS

Town Clerk's Report:

We sold 21 dog licenses, 9 building permits, 3 marriage licenses, and $1,121.00 in DECALS for a total revenue for the month of July of $1431.00.

Supervisor's Report:

1. The financial records for the month of July have been turned into the Town Clerk.

2. The Town received $15.00 for the last flower pot.

3. The Town received $745.00 from the Town Justice for July for fines.

4. The Town received $650.00 from E.J. Noble Hospital for rent.

5. The Town Received $60,197.35 from St. Lawrence County for sales tax; $37,500 went into the highway account giving the highway 75.78% of the budgeted amount and $22,697.35 went into the general account giving the general account 75.39% of the budgeted amount.

Assessor Report:

Data mailers were sent out to all property owners with a request to return them, if necessary, with any corrections by August 7th. I have already been on a few field inspections to correct inventory and this will be an ongoing process until the end of the year.

I realize that the Data Mailers were confusing for some and I would like to thank the property owners for their patience and cooperation.

On September 2nd, I will return to a 10:00am to 4:00pm schedule on Wednesdays. If it is necessary to schedule an appointment with me, it should be before 11:00am so I can accomplish the work for the revaluation. I will be at a Continuing Education Conference on September 30th and my office will be closed.

Resolution #75: Audit

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

General vouchers # 271-306: $14,939.01 ($15,386.95 TE)
Highway vouchers # 138-159: $29,008.80
Street Lighting #8:   Russell $342.25
                            DeGrasse 109.28
                                         $451.53

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

Motion carried.

Mike LaRose: Lives at 554 Fordham Hill road; had a complaint about when the highway men blasted and dug he asked for the fill and for the 3 trees they cut and was told no. He stated he asked for fill 4 years ago also. He also stated that they dug back 30-40 feet from the road onto his property. All he asked is he wants the fill to fix a road up into his cabin. He would also like the ditches cleaned out near his sluices and he wants the fill.

Superintendent White was not at the meeting yet to discuss the matter.

Marie Rocca - Historian:

Marie wanted to give the board a report on what the Museum has been up to. Been busy unpacking and setting up; we have a couple issues.

1. There is not very good heat in the museum; Supervisor Knox stated that putting some ventilation vents in may help and moving the thermostat into the museum may help the situation.

2. The parking and drainage around the Museum. Superintendent White stated that the whole driveway needs digging out and widened. It will take an aggressive grade to fix the problem.

3. When will the siding be put on the Museum.

Our grand opening was May 18th with about 75 people in attendance. We have a group working at least 1 day a week. We are open on Thursdays. We have held 2-3 classes so far; we want to hold at least 1 a month. We are doing a raffle right now and are intending to do one in December. George Grant did pictures on all the waterfalls and wants to do a show for the public to see them. Superintendent White stated they would start the siding in two weeks. A piece of pressure treated lumber will be put in at base of building before the siding is installed. Mike LaRose stated he would donate some gutter and his time to install it.

Superintendent White answered the questions pertaining to Mike LaRoses complaints. He stated no one was available the day they moved the fill so they used it on the Lafaver road to shore up a steep bank by the spring. They try to be fair with the fill. The highway men will bring some fill when they return to the town at the end of the day. He will also check out the ditch Mike is talking about.

Harvey Thomas - Fire Chief: Harvey presented to the board the things they would like in place of turning the piece of property the Clinic is on over to the town.

1. They want the ramp removed.

2. No loss in the amount of parking they have.

3. Water rights remain the same.

4. Lease back for the ball field.

5. Lines done by town for the clinic.

6. The fire department is doing survey on all their property.

Supervisor Knox stated he was not in favor of giving a lease back to the fire department, he feels it should stay as is.

They would like to see the original 99 year lease; Iris Thomas stated that they both came up missing.

Superintendent White asked if the lease was recorded anywhere.

Councilwoman Coller asked the board why they didn’t want them to have the lease back.

Councilwoman Foster stated she feels it should stay as a town field.

Councilman Whiteford asked the fire department why it is important now to have the lease back. They feel they could hold more events there and maybe upgrade the electric etc.

Councilman Whiteford requested that the clerk go through the minutes to see when and if a lease was done. Iris Thomas stated the lease was done in 1962. She also stated that they have papers from the Army Corp. where they did surveys where the water ran (ditch) and it was requested to be done by the fire department.

Supervisor Knox asked what year the new addition was put on; response was 1991-1992 and that’s when the lease came up missing.

Resolution #76: Ball Field Lease

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Foster to table the ball field lease discussion with the fire department until further information can be looked at in the minutes.

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

Motion carried.

The proposal from Kevin Albern for new handicap ramp was brought up by Supervisor Knox. The board will go over and look at what they plan to do and how to handle the parking before the proposal is decided on. Lines will have to be painted on for clinic parking lot area.

Legislature Report: Fred Morrill

1. Primary is September 15th and the BOE would like to bring a new voting machine into Russell so people can try it out before the election; KUNOCO and the Library were suggestions for a place. Mr. Knox will call KUNOCO and Tess will set it up with the BOE.

2. Discussion of the foreclosure on the J&L site. The county needs to own it to clean it up. Fred asked the board if they would support a resolution on the matter.

Resolution #77: Support Co. For J&L Site

A motion was made by Councilman Whiteford and seconded by Councilwoman Coller to support St. Lawrence County completing the tax foreclosure on the property known as the J&L Site in the Town of Clifton:

WHEREAS: property taxes have not been paid on the property known as J & L site in the Town of Clifton since 1994, and

WHEREAS: St. Lawrence County commenced a Tax foreclosure in 2005 in St. Lawrence County Court (Index No. 1115624) for delinquent taxes for 2003 upon the J & L property identified as Tax Map Parcel #214.000-4-2, and

WHEREAS: the St. Lawrence County Court granted an order giving St. Lawrence County temporary incidents of ownership and staying the foreclosure proceeding as to that parcel, and

WHEREAS: St. Lawrence County has contracted with the Department of Conservation (DEC) under State Assistance Contract # 302997 as amended for an Environmental restoration project for the parcel, and

WHEREAS: a municipality which enters into and complies with such State assistance Contract receives liability limitation and indemnification provided in environmental conservation Law Section 56-0509, so long as it complies with subdivision (2) of said Section 56-0509, and

WHEREAS: a municipality must own the property to receive said limitation of liability and indemnification, and

WHEREAS: future development including subdivision of the parcel would benefit the environment and become an economic benefit to the Clifton-Fine area, St. Lawrence County, and New York State, and

WHEREAS: the Towns of Clifton and Fine, the Clifton-Fine development Corporation, the Adirondack Park Agency, the Adirondack Mountain Club, and the DEC support efforts to remediate the Site,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Town board of Russell supports the resolution before the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators to complete of the tax foreclosure proceeding on the J & L Site.

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

Motion carried.

Legislature Report: Continued

3. The budget is scary, sales tax is down, expenses are up and revenue is down. To make up for the down fall we would have to raise property tax 15-18% increase and that is not acceptable. We can raise the sales tax, I will vote no unless they take sales tax off of fuel.

The Board left the meeting to go look at the proposed handicap ramp at the clinic.

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox to resume the meeting @ 8:45pm all were in favor.

Resolution #78: Proposal for Handicap Ramp @ the Clinic

A motion was made by Councilwoman Foster and seconded by Councilwoman Jeanette to accept the proposal from Kevin Albern: Painting & Construction Company in the amount of $1,700 for a 7’x9’ pressure treated ramp; $850 will be paid down and the remaining $850 when the job is complete.

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

Motion carried.

Supervisor Knox stated that the town will be short around $6,000 from sales tax, but we budgeted for the shortfall.

We received $6,488.25 from the Development Authority for the last monies to come back for the clinic.

We have received checks from National Grid for refunds; Supervisor Knox is still checking into it.

Councilman Whiteford stated that the roof is bad on the back side of the clinic; it can be budgeted for next year.

Resolution #79: Highway Transfer

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to transfer $826.00 from Account # D5110.1 General Repairs Personal services into Account # D5112.1 CHIPS- Personal Services.

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

Motion carried.

Highway Superintendent Report:

1. We have completed our prep work for the 2010 resurfacing projects on the Town Line, Cassidy and Hill roads. The paper work has been sent in to the DOT for reimbursement.

2. We have completed our blasting and clean up on the Town Line, Cassidy, Pyrites and Fordham Hill roads.

3. We brushed back a mile section of the Dana Hill and Thurston roads.

4. We mixed up more mulch to repair a section of the Given road, two intersections - Belleville, Fordham Hill, Cassidy and Town Line roads as well as enough to patch the 2010 projects back in.

5. We sent 3 trucks to help Dekalb with their resurfacing.

6. We continue to grade gravel roads as necessary and plan to go through the seasonal roads again next month.

7. We have started going through all the trucks for inspection.

8. A check for $249.63 was handed in from Russell Rescue.

9. All the men have worked well with good production and I thank them.

AMP Report:

N/A

DCO Report:

N/A

CEO Report:

N/A

Ball Field:

N/A

New Business:

Tess told the board she can order forever stamped envelopes now in bulk. She suggested ordering enough for REVAL and taxes. The price will come up in May again so it should save some money.

Resolution #80: Envelopes

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilwoman Jeanette to have the Clerk order 5,000 envelopes with the forever stamp on them.

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

Motion carried.

Adjournment:

A motion was made by Supervisor Knox and seconded by Councilman Whiteford to adjourn the meeting @ 9:05pm all were in favor.