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2007-05-23 SP MTG23 516 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING MTG. #23 MAY 23, 2007 RES. 254 7:00 p.m. TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN ROGER BOOR COUNCILMAN RICHARD SANFORD COUNCILMAN JOHN STROUGH COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER Supervisor Stec-Opened the Meeting Our Director of Community Development has left our employment, and we have a pending departure of our Land use Planner this Friday. There is now an issue for support st of the planning and zoning projects; we have a MS4 Report that is due June 1 but they st have said we can have it in to them by July 1 we need to know where that report stands. The good news is the Planning Board is more or less caught up they are looking for one meeting in June. The Land Use Planner; there is a Civil Service List we can get copies of resume´ the individual on the existing list. Noted since there are not three names on the list we can advertise for the position, we are not obligated to take from the existing list. Spoke on organization of the department, such as not having a Community Director and hiring another professional planner. The question is who they would report to? Councilman Boor-I would recommend for every workshop we have an executive session, meet with Craig Brown, Stu Baker and Dave Hatin, see what projects they are on and where are you on it, the Board will prioritize what they are working on. Not convinced st that we will have the CLUP or the Rezoning on June 1. Councilman Sanford-Place the Executive Session at the beginning of the meeting and move the workshop to 6:30PM. All three need to provide this Board in writing a report at the beginning of every workshop meeting, which would cover the things that they are working on currently the things that they hope to have accomplished within a two week period, their priority list. We will review the report and ask questions if any, and also if we have direction or concerns that we want to address with them we state that then. We then follow up the next week on what they provided, if there hasn’t been followed through or deficiencies we point it out to them and they are held accountable for it and all that gets turned around in writing and it gets documented and if we have a situation where we have a request and there seems to be an excuse and then we follow through and it doesn’t seem to get done, what we are doing we are basically developing the justification for disciplinary action. They ought to applaud this because we are giving them autonomy on the other hand it is also accountability. Councilman Brewer-The difficulty I see with that and I do not have a problem with having them tell us what they are doing and all that but Craig really I do not think has projects, Stu is about the only one that has if you will projects. Supervisor Stec-Two thirds of the contact that we would have with these three should if everything is going well center around items that Stu needs to talk to us about. Councilman Brewer-That is what I meant when I said projects. Councilman Sanford-We want to reduce their report to a written template where they will have a caption and write in the answer to the caption in terms of what are you currently working on, what do you hope to see accomplished. Supervisor Stec-We will start with a list and every two weeks when we meet with them either stuff is completed and falls off the list or we get a status update and a follow up and then perhaps we are adding to the bottom of the list. 517 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 Councilman Sanford-The other thing is attendance, these people have to be put on notice they are management now, they have been management but now de-facto they are elevated because they don’t have an immediate boss. Supervisor Stec-I get their time sheets and the request for leave and all of that. Councilman Sanford-Even at our Town Board Meetings they seem to treat their attendance after hours as somewhat discretionary and what they need to know in regards to these meetings is you need to know when our workshops will be you need to plan your personal affairs around them and as part of your management responsibility to be present at the beginning of the workshop on two nights a month to meet with the Board and we are not going to take easily the explanation of I have a family matter or a commitment I cannot make it. Work around it now. Councilman Brewer-Sometimes things happen and you just can’t. Councilman Sanford-We are tying to put a managerial process in place this cannot be discretionary; this is our opportunity to try to guide this ship down stairs which we know has had some rough times. Councilman Boor-You can only wonder if they won’t answer to us how can ever expect them to answer to any Community Development Director. Supervisor Stec-I assume we are going to look for the two kinds of people we have not decided exactly what we are looking for yet, as this evolves and we feel more confident that we are getting it under control, as the Town Board six months from now we decide we can tweak this a little bit we can throttle back a little bit we will make that decision. Councilman Sanford-One of the things we want to ask these people, it is an interactive thing, …what are these people doing…now that we are going to go for a period of time without an executive director looking to bring in a planner and looking to bring in a special projects person, what is the need for Barb Edmunds? Can it be absorbed with their needs, but that was an Executive Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director. Supervisor Stec-We should be able to find a niche for her down there. Councilman Sanford-That is why got to ask these people to come in and talk to us. Councilman Boor-We need to be directly interfacing with these people. Councilman Brewer-It is not that we are after the person, it is structure. Supervisor Stec-If we have a quality person and you need to reorganize for some reason, but you know what this person is capable of more and we are happy… Councilman Sanford-We have to address accountabilities all down the line and I am not trying to be punitive because I do not really know, you come in once in a while like I do and you see something and it looks like it is not productive you cannot draw a conclusion because you are only there once in a while. We are going to be a little more demanding of these people and in order for them to probably be successful they are going to have to be more demanding on the people that they are relying on. The fact that the CLUP process has dragged on for over two and a half years is inexcusable. Councilman Strough-You have no idea the magnitude of the project. Supervisor Stec-The City’s Comp plan was multi year project. Stu assures me that he st will have his done by June 1. Councilman Strough-I think we need to go with two senior planners, Stu and another one and I think we have to alter Craig Brown’s job a little bit in saying that he is going to be in charge of coordinating communication between zoning and planning and I think we should have one of the Sr. Planners focus on zoning and one on planning. Special 518 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 Projects; Craig I think we are going to put him as an administrator, so I am almost bypassing the executive director, if we give Craig more administration jobs to allocate depending on load at the time, allocate large projects to one senior planner or the other who ever is not burdened right now by planning or zoning issues and to maintain communication between those two departments. Dave Hatin has his own things going there and I do not see any changes needed there. Supervisor Stec-I intend to agree. Councilman Strough-I think we have to consult with Craig Brown see if there is a function for Barb Edmunds down there and if so what, if we did that we almost eliminate the need for an executive director if we make Craig Brown and Dave Hatin responsible. We need to hire one more and I think we need to go with a Sr. Planner. Supervisor Stec-I think we should replace the land use planner that we are losing, and replace the executive director with a Sr. Planner, or if we are losing two heads, do we want to go for two Sr. Planners? Councilman Boor-Are we able to make this kind of determination without meeting with these guys a couple of times? Councilman Brewer-No, you are not. Councilman Strough-I think at this point in time we do know and we could use a Sr. Planner. Supervisor Stec-We need some experience to figure out what exactly we need but if we know that ninety nine out of a hundred we are going to have a use for a Sr. Planner let’s start looking for one. Councilman Boor-We will have two Sr. Planners, aren’t you creating an issue there? Supervisor Stec-A Sr. Planner is not management per se. Councilman Strough-If you read the job description it has nothing to do with administration. Councilman Boor-Who would run the show? Supervisor Stec-We could designate one Sr. Planner as our go to guy. Councilman Sanford-We have to assess whether or not there is a leadership capability there, Stuart maybe competent in certain areas but is there leadership ability or is he a person who likes working on projects. You also have to flush out in terms of background and core competencies should we elevate one more than the others, do they have the pre- requisite resume´ to fully fill those positions? I believe Mr. Brown is an Associate Degree individual and Stuart is a Master Degree educated person that may not have a whole lot to do with anything but to some degree we have to balance that to some degree. I think that could potentially evolve. I do not want to get another Sr. Planner, Marilyn was a Sr. Planner, Stuart is a Sr. Planner and what I found these guys doing is a lot of back room stuff a lot of you know not work that needs to be done to prepare the Planning Board for its meeting or the Zoning Board for theirs they were dealing with more abstract things or more grant writing things or things of this nature. Councilman Strough-You are trying to use Marilyn as an example as a Sr. Planner and what a Sr. Planner does but no, Marilyn was the Executive Director. Supervisor Stec-She was hired as a Sr. Planner first under Chris. Councilman Strough-She was doing what Chris told her to do. Councilman Boor-I think his point is she did not have the skill set of Executive Director she had the skill set of Sr. Planner. 519 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 Councilman Sanford-When I was on the Planning Board and Chris Round was the Executive Director, Marilyn was the Sr. at that time and the people who we were interfacing with for all the nuts and bolts on everything to do with the meetings that we held at the Planning Board level were George Hilton later Sue Bardin, and Marilyn would come in and talk about the Karner Blue Butterfly project but if you asked her to talk about a subdivision or the development of forty five houses things of this nature it was not what she was doing. I have no problem with the title or the capabilities but I do not want I think we need to have doers people who are going to go in there and do the core work. I do not want too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Supervisor Stec-Lets advertise for Sr. Planner and a Land Use Planner see what we get for resume´. We will come up with a work chart later. Noted he will notify Stu Baker, Craig Brown and Dave Hatin regarding the upcoming workshops and their attendance. Councilman Sanford-Also noted that each should have a prepared report for the Board’s review detailing in priority what they are currently working on and sequence of when it will be accomplished. Councilman Strough-I don’t need a template and all that stuff I just want to find out in general terms just how they see things, what are the needs of the department, I just want to sit down and have a chat with them and I can meet with them at three or four o’clock. In order to put together a managerial plan I think we have to have a better idea of what we want. I think with discussing with these guys and seeing what is going on down there, see what their ideas are is the right way to start it off. I support the idea of advertising for a Sr. Planner and Land Use Planner and see what we can get. In the mean time we looking at who is going to do what, when and where so we want to find a person to full fill a certain niche that we do not really know what it is yet until we talk to these people and then we find out what is needed there. Councilman Boor-I actually know what I want and I do not what them to tell me what they want to do, I want to tell them what I want. Councilman Strough-The question I would ask, Craig, this is what I want this is what I would like to see down stairs how do I get there in your opinion because he works with it every day, and how can we make the situation down stairs better, get some ideas, I may not agree with him but get some input. Supervisor Stec-Noted he will send an e-mail to each of them, we can say e-mail in advance of a workshop a week before to give us a chance to ask questions. Councilman Sanford-That would allow the opportunity for any Board Member to set up times to talk to these people to flush out ideas and get a better understanding about things th so when we meet on the 11 we can solidify things. Councilman Strough-Re: Comprehensive Lane Use Plan We are not as close as you think. Councilman Brewer-You don’t want to get it done just to get it done, either. Councilman Strough-Right, but there is a tremendous amount of work to do. Councilman Sanford-That begs the question why hasn’t it been done? Councilman Strough-This is a lot of work. Councilman Boor-No, not good enough. Councilman Strough-You have no idea what you are talking about. Supervisor Stec-My take always from this meeting, by weekly reports to the Town Board at the start of the workshops and we are looking at a 6:30 P.M. workshop start time and I th will e-mail that to plan to attend the workshops and to get us by the 4 a list of projects 520 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 and current activities detail what you are working on what the issues are in an outline format something that we can use on an ongoing basis and then start advertising immediately both Land Use Planner and Sr. Planner and additional to the local paper we will get it on the Planning Websites and the Times Union. Councilman Sanford-Also ask them in the report to identify items that they hope to have accomplished in a two week period. We want to be able to measure based on what they are saying they are going to be accomplishing. If they come in and they explain that their projects are longer term than that, then we can discuss ok, what are the horizons? Re: Comprehensive Land Use Plan For the two and a half years I do not consider it a revolutionary, fundamentally, extremely profound document. Councilman Strough-The problem is not in the Comprehensive Lane Use Plan it is in writing the zoning. There are so many intertwining features and they have to work together. There are so many demands you want our plan to be in accord with the Lake George Park Commission, you want our plan to be pro-active like the Lake George Association and the Fund for Lake George is advocating for a buffering standards and landscaping standards. I am just giving you a small sliver of the pie there are so many issues that are interrelated it is so complicated. Councilman Boor-I am really upset that we spent a hundred and thirty thousand dollars and to hear that type of explanation of why it is not done, that was not a good use of … (Councilman Boor-left the meeting) Councilman Strough-Presented proposal to give awards to Residences and Commercial enterprises that were deserving of a Beautification Award …also work in the North West corner property. Will review this at the next Board Meeting. I had George draw up three scenario’s a lot that surrounds Blind Rock and I want to talk to the owner about securing some property around Blind Rock. Supervisor Stec-We want to talk to the owner about selling a parcel surrounding Blind Rock to the Town. A historical marker and fence around it and walkway to it. Will try to set up meeting with the owner. Councilman Sanford-We have been working with the Commercial owners on culverts running across from Homer to Quaker, today the Supervisor found out that the last guy is acceptable to the deal that we presented a year ago. Reviewed the proposal. Supervisor Stec-Want to have a resolution of support for this proposal. Councilman Brewer-Question if the Board was ready to go ahead with the funding for the Soap Box Derby? Board agreed Supervisor Stec-A contract agreement has been drawn up for $3,500. after review by Town Counsel the agreement can be signed. RESOLUTION ADJOURNING TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 254, 2007 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. John Strough RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its Special Town Board Meeting. rd Duly adopted this 23 day of May, 2007 by the following vote: 521 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 05-23-2007 MTG. #23 AYES: Mr. Sanford, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES: None ABSENT: Mr. Boor Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury