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2002-11-12 SP SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING NOVEMBER 12, 2002 MGT.#54 RES. 459-460a 7:00p.m. TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR DENNIS BROWER COUNCILMAN ROGER BOOR-Absent COUNCILMAN THEODORE TURNER COUNCILMAN DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER SUPERVISOR BROWER OPENED THE MEETING 7:00 p.rn. 1.0 RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXTENSION OF UNPAID LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR SANDY KRUGER RESOLUTION NO.: 459,2002 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Daniel Stec WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Theodore Turner WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 429,2002, the Queensbury Town Board authorized an unpaid leave of absence to Sandy Kruger, an employee in the Town of Queensbury's Department of Building and Codes, effective September 18th, 2002 through November 5th, 2002 in accordance with the Town's Agreement with the Town of Queensbury Civil Service Employee's Association (CSEA), and WHEREAS, Ms. Kruger has requested an extension of such unpaid leave of absence through November 24th, 2002 and has provided the Town with medical documentation supporting her need for leave through November 24h, 2002, and WHEREAS, the Executive Director of Community Development has recommended that the Town Board grant the extension of the unpaid leave through November 24th, 2002 with the understanding that Ms. Kruger will provide additional documentation to the Town by November 17th, 2002 if she needs to further extend such unpaid leave of absence, and WHEREAS, in accordance with the Town's Agreement with CSEA, Town Board approval is necessary before an employee may take or extend such a leave, and WHEREAS, the Town Board has carefully considered the circumstances of Ms. Kruger's request and the Executive Director of Community Development's recommendations, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and grants an extension of the unpaid leave of absence to Sandy Kruger effective September 18th, 2002 through November 24th, 2002 in accordance with the Town's Agreement with the Town of Queensbury Civil Service Employee's Association (CSEA), and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that Ms. Kruger shall notify the Town Board and Executive Director of Community Development in writing and supply supporting documentation by November 17th, 2002 if she needs to request further unpaid leave, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Executive Director of Community Development, Town Comptroller and/or Town Supervisor to take any action necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. Duly adopted this 12th day of November, 2002, by the following vote: AYES Mr. Stec, Mr. Turner, Mr. Brower NOES None ABSENT: Mr. Boor ABSTAIN: Mr. Brewer 2.0 DISCUSSIONS 2.1 BUDGET REVIEW - BAY RIDGE FIRE COMPANY Supervisor Brower-Questioned the following: Fire fighting equipment is that the reserve fund the 45,000 in 2002, 44,558 in 2003? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire Co. - It is any fire equipment, it is categorized because it is not broken down on the reporting. Supervisor Brower-The small equipment category has gone up significantly from last year, noted he did not understand that. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire Co. - Small equipment can be anything from imaging camera, to a floor buffing machine, fire fighting equipment is only fire fighting equipment. Noted a lot of equipment to be purchased in 2001-2002 was not purchase due to building of the fire house. Councilman Brewer-Do you anticipate buying gear this year? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire Co.- We have got to buy ten sets. Supervisor Brower-How many active fire fighters in the squad? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire Co.- Forty four. Councilman Turner- How many calls were you on this year? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire Co.- We are over three hundred calls right now. Supervisor Brower-The O&M vehicles tell me what that is? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-That is repair and maintenance. Noted that as the machinery is getting older the R&M is running higher... Councilman Brewer-Is the R& M equipment strictly pumps? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-That would be anything in equipment, an engine, or any equipment associated with fire fighting. Councilman Turner-Questioned the R&M building and grounds from ten to twenty two thousand for next year? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Part of that is the unforeseen costs associated with the new building. Noted bids on snowplowing and lawn care are high...in order to be conservative we have been doing it, we purchased a second hand lawn mower and the fire fighters have been mowing the lawn, it is getting difficult to get volunteers, I do not anticipate that we will be able to do that much longer...noted some expenses not anticipated due to engineering design not working as they should, had to pay a couple thousand in expenses. Councilman Brewer-Questioned what those were? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Not putting in a valve that allows the hot and cold water to mix, putting the fuel tank further away from the building than initially proposed, doors won't open up because they put drainage on top of it and said it was a cosmetic issue. Noted drainage is still a problem, we know we are going to have an ice problem because no one said we needed twenty thousand dollars worth of gutters, they raise the building a foot, said we would save fifteen thousand dollars and our aim was to build on budget so we did it but then they forgot to tell everyone so when they did the blacktopping that wasn't proper because no one told the guy we raised the building a foot. So, that created a lot of problems so now when it rains all that water comes into the doors and we are going to have a big ice mess we have calcium chloride at every door and we are going to be shoveling that. Noted they will be talking to a lawyer...there is a clause in the contract if they make a mistake or forget somehing they are not responsible...noted top soil was never figured in, the amount of twenty two thousand dollars. Noted they are working through the bugs, noted generator didn't work, toilets backed up, leaks....spoke to the board regarding maintenance agreements on equipment, heating, ventilation etc. Spoke on Emergency Services personnel, noting they will come to the fires, the training but to do anything else, I am wondering if we will find people to do these other jobs. Councilman Brewer-Questioned how they felt if the Town hired one bookkeeper for all the fire companies? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-It would not bother me, I think that is a great idea. Councilman Brewer-Noted he did not want to offend any of the companies, like the idea of all the books being done alike... Supervisor Brower-Noted that they had discussed a common bookkeeper for all the companies... Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Discussed insurance, noted it has gone down...spoke on training program for hazmat, we will all have to gear up to meet that... Councilman Brewer-Questioned if all the fire companies use the same insurance company? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-We have a couple that use the same...in 1996 or 97 Mr. Burns did the bidding for all the companies and virtually all but one signed up and saved a lot of money but over the past several years they sort of all gone their own way. Councilman Brewer-We should re-institute that. Comptroller Hess-Noted there is an advantage of bidding it out. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Noted some of the insurance companies puts on courses for the fire services...driver safety etc. Noted there could be an incentive for emergency services to save money, that might be an avenue to conserve and part of that would be a portion of the money that was in excess would go to debt and a portion of the money being used in a contingency fund, whether that be a truck fund or some other fund with a cap. Comptroller Hess-It is put back into the Emergency Fund balance. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-It rolls back into the big picture, my point is most would want to make sure that it doesn't roll back there is no vested interest, if it leaves the fire station there is no vested interest in saving any money. Councilman Stec- Y ou say it should go into a fund balance for that company. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Noted they would like to pay their mortgage back in half the time...it could be controlled through contracts... Councilman Stec-Questioned if this is something that legally be done is a fund balance for each company rather than one general fund balance? Comptroller Hess-We can't maintain it but if you wanted to set something up where what ever it is goes into another restricted fund ... the contract now provides for debt reduction. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-We can request that which we have.... Comptroller Hess-You can request that reduction and that is a pass through, if you don't request it, it comes back to the town. It gives a pool for the town to deal with ... Councilman Brewer-The fund that we are getting from the fire house that was sold, that is applied to this? Comptroller Hess-Whatever is left after expenses, is put against the Bay Road mortgage debt, it be used as a additional principal reduction. Councilman Turner-Physicals and immunizations, we were talking about using the hospital? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-We are all going to the occupational- Broad Street Cntr. -they are very flexible...some are required every three years some every year... Supervisor Brower-In last years budget you had the construction soft cost of one hundred thousand which you do not have this year, so technically if I am figuring this right your budget last year was without that one seventy five nine, I took the one seventy five nine and added three percent and came up with one eighty one one seventy seven and you have got two hundred seven eighty five. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-I took the original two thousand and two budget and added five percent based on advice from the accountant and called suppliers and tried to get a handle on what things were going to be, fuel those kinds of things. Noted on the training I went ten percent ... Supervisor Brower-You had twenty or so thousand left over from last years budget? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-We had twenty six thousand dollars ... spoke to the board about the transition of treasurers in the fire company ...noted the twenty six thousand if it was known that was in hand would have gone toward paying outstanding bills.. . noted the company is now computerized including the year 2001... Supervisor Brower-Questioned if the town was to provide bookkeeping services for the companies how many would you need? Comptroller Hess-That would have to be put out and let CPA's bid on it... Councilman Brewer-I think absolutely you should do that. Councilman Stec- That is a wonderful idea. Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Noted the Board should sit down with the fire services and emergency services and talk about a joint program that would work for everybody. Comptroller Hess-Regarding the 2001 audit I want everybody to realize that you did under spend ninety eight hundred dollars and I did not do anything with it I did not apply it to debt or anything, because I realized the 2002 was your volatile year the year you finish the building and you got a lot ofthings...at the end of 2002 we will look at expenditure of the buildings. In regards to the 2003 budget my observation is that your operating expenses it is in line with what it was you had two hundred and two thousand pre building in 2002, you are two hundred thousand which is virtually the same number in 2003 which equals what you got prior to the building so that is not out of line. The insurance is a wash, debt service is really where your budget goes up, I am looking at the lowest budget you have you are proposing for the next several years is 2004 when your debt service drops off when there is no budget debt service for Bay Road so your total budget is four hundred and two thousand if you compare that t the two hundred and ninety six thousand you had in 2002 that is a forty percent increase. It is all related to debt service, operation wise you can look over the numbers and probably pick here and there but it is not different than what they had prior to the new building. Councilman Stec-I would propose, and we have discussed this with the other three companies the misc. numbers we would freeze at eight across the board I think there are going to be people that want to freeze the Chiefs vehicle at six thousand across the board and then I think we will want to talk about the vehicle fund as to do we want to do an increase from forty to fifty or something in between or what. Spoke to the Board about the three year contract...questioned if a CPA firms bookkeeper could that be implemented quickly? Comptroller Hess-Noted it could not be done between now and the new year it is too big of a thing, the bidding companies would have to spend time with each company, to give reasonable bids, it could be introduced mid year...noted that if we introduce this in the middle of the year you would put a provision in the contract that we relook at that number for bookkeeping... Councilman Stec-I think it would help the future town boards to have the bookkeeping standardized... Comptroller Hess-Noted that the town's responsibility has to be arms length, because we have audit responsibility. . Councilman Brewer-If it would ease the pain I would like this board to have that done along with the blessing of all the fire companies... Councilman Stec-Use an independent firm or two to handle the bookkeeping...questioned iflegal services should be bid out? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-Noted that a lot of companies get the services for free...noted there is not a lot of litigation going on... . regarding truck fund we are going to be replacing a tanker in 2003 for deliver in 2004 we figured if we increased the truck fund it would get us up so we could pay for what we project the cost of two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. Consider purchasing of an aerial device in 2007, noted still talking about it...the study that the Town commissioned said there should be three aerial devices in the town and to date there are only two. Discussion held regarding use ofW.G.F. area being used a helicopter port.. suggestion made to contact the Hospital and with their renovations a heliport could be put on the roof... Supervisor Brower-Questioned the fixed asset purchase? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-That was put in there for upgrades and one is the gutters on the building, also anticipate down the road a storage facility. Discussion held on coordination within the County of where apparatus is stationed... Councilman Stec-We are going to talk to all five fire companies and then go with a second pass with the Board and then pitch something back to each of the five companies... Discussion held on new building regarding gutters...noted when they get done with the expenses this year right now there is five thousand seven hundred and eighty four dollars and fifty five cents which possibly could be left over, we just spent two thousand of that when our trailer come in for the six wheeler the other day I am looking at about three thousand dollars. We are going to give you back a considerable amount of money because you gave us the one and seventeen thousand dollars for the mortgage in 02 and we are not going to spend all that, we actually going to spend ninety five thousand four fifty, so twenty one seven is going to come back to the town for money we did not use, we are going to return three thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars for insurance that is less and we still have and I do not know the full outcome of this twenty six thousand seven hundred and seventy eight dollars from 01 so I have this all in the budget because it is going to reflect on the 03 budget when you deduct tha. Supervisor Brower-What happened to the left over building material? Representative of Bay Ridge Fire CO.-We sold them to various people and received income that is all documented. Supervisor Brower-Suggested in regard to lawn mowing to put an ad in the paper... Representative of the Bay Ridge Fire CO.-In the contract there is a clause in the contract that prohibits the use of Town funds for purchase of uniforms, I would like to have that deleted... Supervisor Brower-Thanked the members of the Bay Ridge Fire Co. for coming in. 2.2 QUEENSBURY CENTRAL FIRE COMPANY Supervisor Brower-How many active fire fighters do you have? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co.-Fifty currently, after tonight fifty one active. Supervisor Brower-How many fires did you go to this year? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. -To date, 684. Passed out sheets to the Town on number of runs handled up to October 31 st. Councilman Stec- The only change you are proposing is in the vehicle fund. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. - We put in a three percent for cost ofliving, operating expenses...highlighted changes in six lines, medical supplies costs going up,... Noted replacing radios that are ten and twelve years old...Increase in insurance line at 12% increase.. Councilman Brower-Who are you using? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co.-Community Insurance for ESIP..an important issue is the vehicle fund, showed replacement plan... seven pieces of apparatus lined up by age, 1981 brush truck, 1986 (2) vehicles, Tower one thirteen years old, engine 316 is twelve years old and our rescue vehicle 1996, and engine 318 purchased in 2001, we anticipate replacement in the next ten years currently look into a new engine to replace 317 one of the 1986 vehicles... we believe we can buy a functional engine for three hundred thousand dollars... Supervisor Brower-How often does the ladder truck roll? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-It rolls for every fire call...noted they covered 49% of the total runs in the Town last year...next item to be replaced will be tower truck by 2006...approximately eight hundred and fifty thousand for replacement...noted the company does not owe any money on the trucks...discussed the need for increase in truck fund, anticipating replacement ofladder truck... Councilman Brewer-What was the theory behind the truck fund and the dollar amount...I thought it was about forty thousand for all the companies... Comptroller Hess-It has never been funded objectively...it has been adjusted from an old number... Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-The reason we would be going from sixty to one twenty is because we have to replace the tower truck... Councilman Stec- The building will be paid for in 2009? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. -Yes. That is our biggest debt service is the building our land is paid for... Councilman Stec-Questioned if three quarters of a million dollars was borrowed what does that get financed over? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. - showed a plan for borrowing...borrowing seven hundred and fifty thousand over ten years at 5%...noted the company is outgrowing the building operation wise, men into fitness requesting area and storage area...possibly looking at addition... Councilman Brewer-I would like to see the Chiefs car stay at 6,000. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-Reviewed the history of the Chiefs car...we can hold the line on the Chiefs car ... Councilman Stec-We think there might be some value if the Town and the Fire Dept. hired a third party bookkeeper to reconcile the books, they would work for you and paid via the contact. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-Noted there are not a lot of people that are qualified to do the job, and it is a lot of work.. . noted that it is a reasonable concept, my only trepidation is controL.. Supervisor Brower-It would make it consistent it would be monitored and the same format the same software...Medical Supplies are up, questioned if the Hospital reimbursed you for supplies? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. -Yes and no, we beg borrow and steal out of the Squad and Hospital, it is not always covering everything we need...the big ticket items we still get from the Squad and the Hospital... Supervisor Brower-Training and Education is up a little are you expecting anything unusual? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-Noted that is probably not enough...that is an area where we have been stealing from other lines, it is so important. Councilman Brewer-My opinion on the bookkeeper, one bookkeeper does everything uniform for all the companies I do not want to know what you buy, I just want to look at the bottom line, so that is my intention. Councilman Stec-The natural extension of that would be buying power...How much input does the Warren County Fire Coordinator have into what the five companies buy or need or should he have? Is there a mechanism for the five companies to have these conversations to make sure you are buying hose together etc. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-The Warren County Fire Coordinator does not have any input. We do have Town Chiefs meeting and that can be done at that point... Discussion held regarding have a liaison again between the fire and ems services and the Town Board... Councilman Turner-Is that a particular time of the year that you order uniforms? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-We order at the end of the year. Our cycle is ten sets of gear every five years. Supervisor Brower-Questioned the small equipment fund what kind of things are you anticipating in that category? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. -Turn out gear as well as air packs, chain saws, basically any small hand type tools...Technically anything under a thousand with the exception of gear. Supervisor Brower-Vehicle Repair and Maintenance is down significantly why is that? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-Because we have been running in that range, that is in a state of flux because we have had a significant change in the way we are providing maintenance on our vehicles...we are now using Quaker truck to do all repairs and discontinued the monthly agreement that we had with Mr. Steel, we have been doing this since October Ist...do not know the impact of this. Supervisor Brower-I think you came in except for the restricted vehicle fund your operating expenses were reasonable we have to look at the restricted vehicle fund requests for all companies, by the same token I want to thank you for being here tonight and discussing the situation, you do a great service for the town all the companies do and you guys do a lot of calls and it is outstanding. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co.- Spoke about independent fire districts...some in favor some companies not...might alleviate some of the burden as far as budget goes to the town board the elected fire commissioners would set the tax, Darleen would collect it and then turn it over to the Board of Commissioners. The Commissioners are elected by the public. Supervisor Brower-Noted that had been thought about, I am not sure how it would affect the average Joe though I think it would increase people's costs initially certainly the way it works now the higher assessed value of North Q, pays for a lot of the fire service. Representative of Queensbury Central Fire Co. -As of eight years ago when I did a study when I proposed it to the Town Board it was split pretty much between North Queensbury and Queensbury Central, those residents are paying for the town. If this is something the Town wants to look into we would support this concept. Supervisor Brower-Questioned what was done with the left over funds from last year? Representative of Queensbury Central Fire CO.-We had earmarked for we transitioned our air packs from 2.2 to 4.5 and we used the funds from last year that was left over to do that this year. Supervisor Brower-Thanked the Representatives from Queensbury Central for coming. 2.3 UPDATE FROM RALPH VANDUSEN Supervisor Brower-Mr. VanDusen has been asked to be a consultant on a part time basis nights or weekends. Water/Wastewater Supt. VanDusen-Noted he had received a call from an engineering firm they have a specific project that they are putting in a proposal on they had asked if I would be willing to serve as a consultant to that project from operating a treatment plant reviewing the plans from an operational standpoint and chemical standpoint. I noted that I was interested in this but I wanted to discuss it with the Board to make sure they did not have any concerns or conflict. Noted it was Saratoga County. Saratoga County has a request out for proposals to do the design and construction inspection for construction of a treatment plant on the Hudson River. Apparently they have decided that, that is the way they are going, the City of Saratoga does not agree at this point. It is a project that I don't know if it will ever happen, but they made it very clear that they have no interest in buying from Queensbury. They want Saratoga County to control to have the growth that is occurring there. My portion would b tiny, a few hours quite honestly it is not a big deal. I do not perceive it as a conflict and the reason I don't the engineering firm that called me has never done work for the Queensbury Water District, I told them if I did that work for them that I could never recommend that they work for the water district as long as I was here, they accepted that. I also feel that if anybody on the Board has a concern I want to talk about it now and if you truly think it is wrong I will respect that and I will tell them I cannot do it. Supervisor Brower-I do not see a problem with it. Councilman Brewer-I have no problem at all. Councilman Stec-I do not see anything wrong what so ever. Councilman Turner-..consultant from start to finish? Water/Wastewater Supt. VanDusen - They want their Senior Design people to talk to me before they start the design and then they want me to review the design before it would go to bid and possibly once it is as it is finalizing construction beginning to be operational if Saratoga County feels they need some guidance from an operational standpoint as well, but that would be it. I would not be involved in construction itself I would not be involved. I feel very strongly about this that it would occur at my home it would occur nights and weekends it would not interfere with anything that I would be doing with the Town. Councilman Turner-I do not see it as a conflict. Supervisor Brower-Spoke about the meeting with Maureen Donovan she would like to meet with you this week if possible, we would like to have a resolution on for Monday.... Noted it would be a net increase for Queensbury.. . Councilman Brewer-Landfill Supt. Coughlin called me today the money that we said to take out of his budget he said you told him it can't be taken out without a formal resolution? Comptroller Hess-I said I would change the budget it does not become a formal budget until you adopt it on Monday. RESOLUTION CALLING FOR AN EXECUTIVE SESSION RESOLUTION NO. 460, 2002 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Theodore Turner WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Daniel Stec RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby moves into an Executive Session on a personnel issue. Duly adopted this 12th day of November, 2002 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Turner, Mr. Stec, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Brower NOES: None ABSENT: Mr. Boor RESOLUTION ADJOURNING EXECUTIVE SESSION AND SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 460.2002a INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Theodore Turner WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Daniel Stec RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby moves out of Executive Session and be it further RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby adjourns its special Town Board Meeting. Duly adopted this 12th day of November, 2002 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Turner, Mr. Stec, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Brower NOES: None ABSENT: Mr. Boor Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury