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2001-04-09 SP SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING APRIL 9, 2001 MTG. #15 RES. 1747:05 p.m. TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR DENNIS BROWER COUNCILMAN THEODORE TURNER COUNCILMAN DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER ABSENT COUNCILMAN JAMES MARTIN TOWN OFFICIALS HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT RICK MISSIT A DEPUTY HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT MIKE TRAVIS COMPTROLLER HENRY HESS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CHRIS ROUND SUPERVISOR DENNIS BROWER-Called the meeting to order 1.0 RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING HIRING OF JILL BL Y TO WORK FOR TOWN DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION RESOLUTION NO. : 174.2001 INTRODUCED BY Mr. Daniel Stec WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Theodore Turner WHEREAS, the Department of Parks and Recreation has requested Town Board authorization to hire Jill Bly to work part -time for the Department as a Lifeguard/Swim Instructor and Assistant Pool Manager, and WHEREAS, Jill Bly is the daughter of Diane Herald, a Town employee, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the hiring of Jill Bly to work for the Town's Department of Parks and Recreation as a part-time Lifeguard/Swim Instructor and Assistant Pool Manager, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Director of Parks and Recreation, Town Comptroller and/or Town Supervisor to complete any forms and take any action necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. Duly adopted this 9th day of April, 2001, by the following vote: AYES Mr. Turner, Mr. Stec, Mr. Brower NOES None ABSENT: Mr. Martin ABSTAIN: Mr. Brewer 2.0 DISCUSSIONS 2.1 CAPITAL PLANNING PRIORITIZATION COMPTROLLER HESS-Issues to be dealt with: 1. Review the language of the Capital Improvement Plan 2. Adopting evaluation form so that priorities can be set 3. List of projects Funding for General Fund Projects, estimated year end after audit a fund balance of over five and a half million dollars, we see three million dollars available to fund a capital improvement plan for General fund projects that will leave a little over two and a half million dollars or about 30% of the annual budget which a healthy fund balance for operating purposes. Noted there is a Capital Project established for a storage building two hundred and ten thousand dollars, no approval to spend that... Capital Project for Ward I sewage and drainage Five Hundred thousand Dollars has not been designated as of yet... Ward IV a balance of one hundred and five thousand dollars which was set aside for Queensbury Forest... COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted that Mr. Nace is working on the design, and getting final easements ... requested that Mr. Hess prepare a report on what has been spent on the project to date. COMPTROLLER HESS-Noted there is an Exit 18 Capital Project with One Hundred thousand Dollars that has been established...so in addition to the three million dollars available out of General Fund and some money you could allocate from the Water and Sewer Funds for projects in those districts you also have the four projects mentioned... COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted that there has been reported another sink hole in Queensbury Forest... COMPTROLLER HESS-There is fifty thousand dollar budget item for drainage. COUNCILMAN STEC-Noted he was sure that we budgeted for Queensbury Forest project, I do not recall where we put it. BOARD CONSENSUS-Queensbury Forest a project that is to be completed.. Noted it is to be put in as a Priority Item on the Capital Plan... COUNCILMAN BREWER-Suggested using the five hundred thousand that was earmarked for drainage works in Ward I and move it to the Queensbury Forest Project... COMPTROLLER HESS-Requested guidance on the proposed Capital Improvement Plan, that will legitimize the setting aside of the money. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROUND-Spoke to the Board in regard to prioritizing projects.. . noted that at present there are sixty proposed capital projects...spoke on the Capital Project evaluation form, a list of criteria by which to prioritize that...the Board needs to think about that...reviewed criteria issues, health and safety would be considered a top priority...noted that there are twelve or thirteen criteria to be looked at including financial status of the town.. COMPTROLLER HESS-Once a list is prioritized that the Capital Plan honors the system that is set up. SUPERVISOR BROWER-How do we differentiate between our yearly budget request and needs and our Capital Plan needs? When we are budgeting for the coming year there are projects we know that we want to take care of those mayor may not coincide with the Capital Plan Project. COMPTROLLER HESS-Typically you would have normal maintenance or up keep as opposed to a Capital Plan. This is intended for the more significant expenditure with a long life, noted that there will be some overlap. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Questioned if there should be a dollar limit set for what types of projects go into the Capital Plan? COMPTROLLER HESS-We did that in an informal way when we requested plans from the departments. For the submission of the original form was Ten Thousand Dollars... MS. CONNIE TUCKER-Spoke to the Town Board regarding grant funding for removal of asbestos, that the Town might want to look into. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Questioned if appropriations would have to be done even it there is a Capital Plan? COMPTROLLER HESS-Yes. First you adopt a policy, allows you to put funds out of fund balance and that sits in that fund and is exclusive of the fund balance, then you execute one of your plans then you set up the Capital Project and approve an appropriation with a transfer from the CIP to the project that is specific to what you are going to do. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Questioned if engineering costs would be part of the projects that are in the Capital Plan or handled separately? COMPTROLLER HESS-To the extent that you have a plan that is big enough that is going to have significant planning or engineering costs or surveyor what ever you can include all of those.. . noted it also can be spent either way. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted he would like to see this process completed by June. COMPTROLLER HESS-I am offering three million as a reasonable amount that you can afford out of the current fund balance in the General Fund, I need to talk to Ralph and Mike about project that they have in their districts and how they see their fund balance being treated. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROUND-Questioned if bonding was proposed for a project would that have any effect on the bonding if there are funds in reserve? COMPTROLLER HESS-Noted he did not think so. Noted that the Town has a debt capacity of approaching a hundred million dollars that we have not used any of that is an asset that is available to us. The one word we are not using here is we think in terms of spending but Capital Project Plan really you need to think in terms of investing. There should be some future return on anything we spend out of this, services, or improved services to the constituency. Would like to see some feed back in the near future on the language of the plan and the structure of the evaluation form, they are the two key components. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Spoke to the Board on the Exit 18 Corridor and the expenses associated... COMPTROLLER HESS-Noted having a Capital Plan in place will be an asset when competing for grants etc. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROUND-Spoke to the board, noting that priorities will change, this process will evolve yearly... COMPTROLLER HESS-Asked permission to submit to Counsel the Plan Document... TOWN BOARD AGREED Will meet May 14th to discuss this further... 2.2 AMGlWEST END BUILDING FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT COUNCILMAN BREWER-Reviewed history of the AMG building, noted he has seen the building and it does have some merit, noted he wanted an option to look at other than the AMG building, looked a the Drellos's building - they would build a building on their property and either sell or lease it out to the Town or do we want to build a building? Questioned the Highway Supt. on how many routes are in that area? HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-Eleven Noted he is not looking to house just the equipment over on that side, I am looking to house the equipment that is sitting outside rotting away, all our seasonal equipment that sits out all winter long. Noted that the proposal in front of the Board from the Drellos's is only adequate just to house just what is used on that side of town. If the interest is still to place something on that side of town I would like to sit down with the Drellos's and give them what we are looking for so we can compare the same size of the buildings...noted the Drellos's property borders Niagara Mohawk and with an easement would give us access on to Sherman Avenue ...As far as I am concerned I am open, but I guess the guidance will have to come from the Board... COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted the way he looked at it is that we need a presence over there, that building is available questioned if we need that large of a building? HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSITA-Ifwe are looking to keep all our equipment under cover then I would have to say yes. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Is that what we honestly need to do? HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-In my opinion, yes. COUNICLMAN STEC-Questioned if we have any further feedback on the PCB issue at AMG? HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSITA-Other than the report that was done in 1993 stating that there was no PCB's on the property in question at site number 53, the only thing is way in the back where the encapsulated area is, that is not part of this property. COUNCILMAN BREWER-In essence it is still there it has not gone away. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-Noted that the report from Clough Harbor stating that there is a possibility of taking that off the PCB list, because of the levels there. SUPERVISOR BROWER-How does this project that would cost an estimated two hundred and fifty thousand plus how does that rank any different than all the other projects on our Capital Projects lists. Why wouldn't we rank these before we have this discussion. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Because this has been going on a year....ifwe need a presence over there then we ought to have a presence over there. If we are going to save money by being over there and taking care of the roads better this is another option. I am not saying that we have to do this. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Questioned why we wouldn't build our own building on Town property? COUNCILMAN BREWER-We looked at that and the cost Rick got was one point two million dollars. SUPERVISOR BROWER-Why is it more than what Mr. Drellos's proposes? COUNCILMAN BREWER-Why does it cost government to do things more than it does the private sector? COUNCILMAN STEC-Spoke on prevailing wage rates. COUNCILMAN BREWER-There are different standards that have to be met. All I want to know do we want to do this project or not? SUPERVISOR BROWER-In my opinion it is a Capital Project that has to be ranked with all the other projects, personally it is not high on my ranking list. COUNCILMAN STEC-Ideally this would be something that you Capitalize noted this was sidetracked off the Capital Improvement Plan because we were looking at this what we thought might be a narrow time window with AMG, maybe it is not time critical and maybe it is time to look at ranking it again. SUPERVISOR BROWER-How many routes are on the east side? HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSITA-Six SUPERVISOR BROWER-When Henry did his analysis of the AMG building one of the things that stood out I could be wrong on this figure but I seem to recall it was like seventy two thousand dollars a year over and above what we were currently paying for the existing facilities. COMPTROLLER HESS-Net cost and other factors to be considered forty five thousand and soft costs, a declining cost over a twenty year period. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Rick needs to tell us what he needs what the real need is not the want is. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-Do you want the equipment sitting outside depreciating or do you want it undercover? When it was discussed before it was ok to get the larger building to put the equipment undercover. COUNCILMAN STEC-Questioned the PCB issue and how much that would lower the value of the property and I thought we were waiting to get some sort of dollar figure back on that regarding the AMG building. COUNCILMAN BREWER-That aside do you want to talk about other options or just AMG? COUNCILMAN STEC-We should probably rank it on our priority list. COUNCILMAN BREWER-We have to figure out if we need it. COUNCILMAN STEC-Questioned if the town wants to own a brown field, we need assurance that we do not have some other hidden costs that will come around and bite us. COUNCILMAN TURNER-I want complete clearance. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROUND-Spoke to the board noting that there has been more testing done on the site, it was a demonstration project, there is more information than Clough Harbour COUNCILMAN STEC-Before we talk anymore about AMG building I think we need to have the PCB issue more concrete, we need to know what our exposure or liability is on that and if we can remove it off the PCB list or AMG as part of the sale to us, gets a study done that clears it or they release us from any liability that an attorney would be satisfied with. COUNCILMAN BREWER-If tomorrow we have a letter saying it was clean would you want to move forward with the project? COUNCILMAN STEC-Ifit was clean, yes...we are talking ofa building with a lot more space for the money. If I was going to build a building would I build the AMG building, no, but at the dollar figure it is at the price for square foot is exceptional. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-If I get something in writing between now and the next board meeting? COUNCILMAN STEC- This is a question for Town Counsel, what do they feel we as a town need to cover us. COUNCILMAN BREWER-If it has a PCB issue and was a bad thing to buy then? COUNCILMAN STEC- Then we need to look at staying away from the site and build on our own or have someone build it, the direction you are going in. It would be nice to cover all the equipment but we cannot build a building to do that with seven hundred grand we can only do something that will cover twelve plow trucks, that would be the next best thing. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Do we need something that big? Questioned how OSHA would view the building if there are any problems, would like to know before the building is purchased...is it suitable for us to occupy in its present form? SUPERVISOR BROWER-Noted there was some discussion about using the Five hundred thousand that was to have been spent on Cleverdale and put it toward the AMG building or the purchase of a building on the west side, that was the thinking it was not part of the Capital Plan but I think it should be part of the Capital Plan. I think the money if it is not spent for a drainage project and we do not foresee spending it for a drainage project we could indeed ear mark that money for the Capital Plan at the end of this year. It is up to the Board on whether this should be ranked as part of the Capital Planning process or keep it separate. COUNCILMAN BREWER-From what I hear before we go have a look at what Danny and George did for me we have to get a clean bill of health from that other building, if we get that then everybody wants to go with that. COUNCILMAN STEC-We should rank it any ways. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-If it is contaminated I would not want anything to do with the property either, everything we have gotten so far says it is not. SUPERVISOR BROWER-If the board is serious about doing something with a building on the west side I think it would be irresponsible to buy it without looking into the option of putting a building on Town property like on Big Bay Road where we have seven acres of land and seeing what it would cost the Town to construct a building that would meet minimal needs in other words a heated building that would be fine for some trucks. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted that there has been some interest in that property as an industrial property. MR. TUCKER-Noted if the AMG property was clear that would be the time to hire an constructional engineer and have Rick tell him what he wants to do with the building and that guy can tell you whether the building is capable of doing what he wants. COUNCILMAN BREWER-We need to rank whether we need to be present over there or not. If we do not need a presence over there we do not have to talk about a building. SUPERVISOR BROWER-You have not had one in how many years? COUNCILMAN BREWER-It does not mean that you do not need one. SUPERVISOR BROWER-I guess when we do our rankings on our Capital Plan we will have a better idea. COUNCILMAN STEC-I think it would be safe to say today if you did not have a Highway Dept. you would not want it where it is. If an expansion is needed, then I think you do want to talk about something on the west side. COUNCILMAN TURNER-We have one hundred and twenty miles of roads on one side and we have a total of one hundred and eighty miles, that's where the growth is. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A- in the third and fourth ward, and it is still growing in the third and fourth ward. Questioned if we are going forward or backwards? COUNCILMAN BREWER-I am just giving you another option. SUPERVISOR BROWER-From a financial point of view it is hard to justify in my mind because you are looking at additional costs that if you drive from here to the west side it takes a little time, it takes a little gas I do not care if it is the whole all eighteen trucks go to the west side you still have a tough time cost justifying it from a financial point of view. HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSITA-Noted at some point in time in the long run you would save... SUPERVISOR BROWER-Noted a more pressing need is the salt storage shed...also spoke about a broken lift... HIGHWAY SUPT. MISSIT A-That is a last year budgeted item for this year and it has not happened, part of Building and Grounds. COUNCILMAN STEC-We are going to rank it? SUPERVISOR BROWER-We will rank it as part of the Capital Plan. COUNCILMAN BREWER-Noted we need answers to the building, suggested calling the State...asked Chris to contact those that did the last PCB study... 2.2 AMBULANCE PURCHASE MRS. CONNIE TUCKER-Spoke to the Town Board regarding the replacement of an ambulance... 1995 ambulance that was involved in an accident in 1999 and we have spent a considerable amount of money repairing it and keeping it in repair, in the last three years we have spent over ten thousand dollars in repairs including the transmission. The cost to replace this ambulance with the same make and model $98,924.00. We have been offered 45,000 for the ambulance... SUPERVISOR BROWER-Questioned if they had spoken to Comptroller Hess, I do not want you circumventing the system. MRS. TUCKER-Noted she was here because she was asked... Spoke to the Town Board regarding the 9,000 + dollars on the repairs to the roof whether they have to pay that to the Town...also spoke to the board regarding a crack in the building will be looking at that in the near future...requested the 18,000 dollars that was not presented in the public hearing due to an error and 10,000 additional for the replacement of the ambulance...commented that she felt the ambulance was and is a lemon and is costing too much to keep... No further action at this time was taken by the Town Board. 2.5 WEST GLENS FALLS EMERGENCY SQUAD No discussion was held. On motion the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury