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1994-03-28 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING MARCH 28, 1994 7:00 P.M. MTG #16 RES 165-166 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT FRED CHAMPAGNE-SUPERVISOR BETTY MONAHAN-COUNCILMAN DR. R.GEORGE WISWALL-COUNCILMAN NICK CAIMANO-COUNCILMAN CAROL PULVER-COUNCILMAN TOWN ATTORNEY PAUL DUSEK TOWN OFFICIALS Paul H. Naylor, Ralph VanDusen, Mike Shaw, Helen Otte, James Martin, Scott Harlicker, Colleen Kimble, PRESS: GF Post Star PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY COUNCILMAN CAIMANO Supervisor Champagne called meeting to order, noting tonight's meeting will be a workshop session. Discussion - Route 149 Rezoning Scott Harlicker, Assistant Planner reviewed with the Town Board the staff recommendations of the Planning Study that was performed over the past year for Route 149 rezoning and noted that there will be a public hearing this Thursday, the 31st at 7:30 p.m. here at the Activity Center. Councilman Monahan thanked Scott and the Planning staff for all their hard work. Executive Director, Mr. James Martin-Noted, this report is a series of recommendations, it's up for the Planning Board adoption Thursday night but to actually implement any element of the study requires legislation from this Board and at that time, it can once again be adjusted. So, you will see all of this or elements of it, or part of it or none of it but it will be this Board that will have the final say. Supervisor Champagne-Questioned whether the residents of Route 149 have been notified? Executive Director, Mr. Martin-Yes, they were mailed a direct mailing probably two and a half weeks ago and it's been in the paper. Discussion - Bike Trail Grant Mr. Dave Hodgson, spoke to the Town Board giving an update regarding the bike trail plan for the Town of Queensbury. Noted that the Federal Ice T money is available for the next go around and the application deadline has been set back from April to June 6th which gives us a window of opportunity that we didn't have when we spoke to you previously about getting an application into the enhancement committee of the Ice T in order to fund our Queensbury Trail systems. We've got an estimated cost of approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars but we're paring down our request to five hundred thousand dollars from the enhancement funds of Ice T with the necessity that Queensbury come up with twenty percent of that or a hundred thousand dollars in order to obtain funds. I found out that the State has already committed funds to cover seventy-five percent of the twenty percent that the town would have to come up with. That translates to five hundred thousand dollars from the enhancement funds, seventy-five thousand dollars from the State and it's likely they would be funding that which means twenty-five thousand dollars from the Town of Queensbury to commit to this project and establish a trail system that we've got a once in a life time chance to get. Twenty-five thousand dollars is the financial commitment that we would need from the town in order to be able to submit to the enhancement's committee for Ice T. At this stage, what we're looking for is a letter of intent. The Environmental Advisory Committee of which I am a part and Dick Sage and Charlie Maine, would be the applicant and we would be responsible for generating the application and doing all of the writing and the Town of Queensbury would be the sponsor. Town Board held discussion and agreed to proceed forward with a letter of intent. Town Attorney recommended to draft a letter of intent to be approved by resolution. Town Board agreed to prepare resolution for next week. Discussion - Animal Control Law Executive Director, Mr. Martin-We currently have a Dog Control Officer because we only have Dog Control Legislation. However, recent developments are, Colleen took the Animal Control Officer test with the Civil Service Department March 5th and she would like to go to Animal Control Certification School this June. The third piece of the puzzle is to have an Animal Control Law. Town Board held discussion. It was recommended that the Supervisor's Committee review some model laws and make a recommendation to the Town Board. Discussion - Highway Garage Town Board reviewed specs from 1. Weller Associates on the repair of the Highway Garage. Agreed to review further and bring back for next Monday night's agenda. Discussion - Sidewalk Law Town Board held discussion. Requested that the Highway Department and the Planning Department together prepare a map of all sidewalks in the Town of Queensbury for the Town Board to review and discuss at the next workshop. Highway Superintendent, Mr. Paul Naylor suggested that the Town Board members make a road trip through town to visualize all the sidewalks which may help the board in making a decision. Discussion - Planning Intern Executive Director, Mr. Martin-I had an individual contact me, he's from South Glens Falls and currently a student at Clemson University and he's looking for an internship. He's seeking a degree in Planning and he needs some intern work for his Masters Degree so he's looking to work with the town for the Summer. I've made no commitment to him, he's not looking for pay and technically he could work at night and do this without any pay. He's willing to commit to forty hours a week, I think it would be worth while to give him something. I presented this to the committee and they thought it would be a good idea to present it to the full Board. Councilman Caimano-Will he get credit for this from Clemson? Executive Director, Mr. Martin-Yes. Councilman Caimano- Then that's his pay. By definition, an intern is one who comes to work and get's school credit and I don't think you should get him for forty hours, I think you should assign him a task. Supervisor Champagne-Jim, I would also like to have some kind of an agreement with Clemson, some kind of a written understanding that he is engaged by the town. Discussion - Water Department Bid Specs for Backhoe Deputy Water Superintendent, Mr. Ralph VanDusen-Noted, eighteen years ago the Water Department bought a rubber tire backhoe, it's tired, it's time to consider replacing it. Seven years ago, we started to put a line item in the budget creating a capital reserve fund because we knew that we were going to have to replace it. We've been putting ten thousands dollars a year away for the past seven years. We believe there should be sufficient money to pay for it, all we want to do is replace it. Town Board held discussion and agreed to proceed to the next step. Discussion - Engineering Services Councilman Caimano-My point is, one firm is not going to cover the gamete. My concern is the fairness, we have alot of engineering firms in this town. What difference would it make whether engineer a, b, c or d got the next job if in fact all of them had to go out and sub, say traffic engineering? Executive Director, Mr. Martin-You can do that and I understand your fairness issue, I agree with that aspect of it but it just becomes rather cumbersome every time you want to go out and do something to get quotes and all of that, if you had one contract all encompassing for one firm. Councilman Caimano- Y ou don't need to get quotes because we're dealing with professional services. Councilman Monahan-I would have a problem, as far as Planning and I'm thinking of site plan type of things, of switching engineers because I think they lose site of where the town is, it's objectives, what we're trying to achieve. Councilman Caimano-I agree that the Planning Department would stay separate from this. I think that needs to be because there's a number of things going on at one time. Executive Director, Mr. Martin-There's a continuity that you need there. Councilman Caimano-Absent that, I'm talking about anything other. We must have hired engineers in the last administration, five, six, eight times and the expediency of it, meant that we went to one engineer all the time. I just don't think that's fair to all of the businesses in town. Executive Director, Mr. Martin-From Planning then, I have some issues I'll discuss with the committee. Discussion - Audit of Bills Supervisor Champagne read the memo regarding Audit of Bills to the Town Board: In an effort to stream line the Town Board meetings, please note that if you need any information on Audit of Bills, please contact the Town Clerk's Office. The Audit will be in the Town Clerk's Office on Thursdays at the time when you receive your information, have a vendor number of those that you question and we would be happy to pull the bills for explanation before Monday's vote. Supervisor Champagne-So, rather then sitting here going through item by item and pulling from the audit particular vendor bills, what we're saying in order to expedite the process, that that could happen sometime before Monday. Either it's pulled out and you have the answer to your question or the other option is to have a committee of two Board Members to meet with Darleen or who ever's on deck that evening, prior to the meeting go through the Audit and then recommend to the full Board. What's the pleasure of the Board? Town Board held discussion and agreed to get the questions ahead of time. Discussion - West Glens Falls Fireworks Town Board held discussion, agreed not to participate and the Supervisor will be notifying them by letter. Attorney Matters Attorney Dusek spoke to the Board regarding the DEC revolving loan fund. In the event that it ever wants to borrow monies from DEC for the North Queensbury Sewer project or the County Line Sewer project, the question posed to me by a representative of Dec is whether the town thinks that it might want to borrow monies in connection with either one of those projects in the Spring of 95 or in the Fall of 95. The town put itself on what they call an intended use plan for 95 and DEC has switched around their funding format such that if you're on the intended use list for 95, you have to start the process towards funding in the Spring of 95, if you want funding in the Spring. If you don't, then you would fund in the Fall. My reaction from what I saw the other night, is your North Queensbury project is not going to be ready so you'll probably want to leave it on the long extended intended fund use list. County Line, I haven't heard anything from the Board members on it so I thought maybe I'd find out if you had any thoughts on that at all, whether you might be looking at that in the near future or whether you think it can wait for funding until the Fall of 95. Wastewater Superintendent, Mr. Mike Shaw-Questioned whether there was any way that we could substitute those two requests for possibly Bay Road? Attorney Dusek-Actually, you wouldn't have to substitute, we can just seek out another rating on that project. So, if you want to add another project to the list, I can see if we can do that. Councilman Caimano-I do. Wastewater Superintendent, Mr. Shaw-I would think that's the most immediate area that we'll be looking at. Supervisor Champagne-Let's do that. How about water to the landfill, will they pay for water, too? Attorney Dusek-No, this is usually only for the sewer projects. They do have some limited water projects, I'll double check it but I don't believe that qualifies. The other thing I need from the Board is, you recall Dr. Reid donated a sizeable parcel to the town and the Supervisor must execute a Donee Acknowledgement, meaning that we've received property. I was just going to have Fred sign this but then I found that the language on here concerned me such that I thought we should have a Town Board Resolution just authorizing him to sign it. Town Board held discussion and agreed to propose the following resolution: RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING TOWN SUPERVISOR TO EXECUTE A DONEE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT RESOLUTION NO. 165, 94 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Nick Caimano WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Fred Champagne RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby authorizes the Town Supervisor to execute a Donee Acknowledgement as part of a report to the Internal Revenue Service concerning the donation of town property to the town and that the Town Board also authorizes the Town Supervisor to affirm on behalf of the town that in the event the town ever sells, exchanges or otherwise disposes the property within two years after the date of receipt it will file an information return with the IRS and furnish the donor a copy of that return. Duly adopted this 28th day of March, 1994, by the following vote: AYES: Mrs. Monahan, Dr. Wiswall, Mr. Caimano, Mrs. Pulver, Mr. Champagne NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION CALLING FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION RESOLUTION NO. 166, 94 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Nick Caimano WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Fred Champagne RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby enters Executive Session to discuss matters that are in litigation concerning assessment cases, a matter involving the purchase of property and to discuss matters leading to the acquisition of property and it's thought that discussion might affect the value of that purchase of property, three personnel matters and contract negotiations. Duly adopted this 28th day of March, 1994, by the following vote: AYES: Dr. Wiswall, Mr. Caimano, Mrs. Pulver, Mrs. Monahan Mr. Champagne NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION TO RECONVENE RESOLUTION NO. 167,94 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Nick Caimano WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mrs. Carol Pulver RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns from Executive Session and enter Regular Session. Duly adopted this 28th day of March, 1994, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Caimano, Mrs. Pulver, Mrs. Monahan, Dr. Wiswall Mr. Champagne NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION TO ADJOURN RESOLUTION NO. 168, 94 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Nick Caimano WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Dr. R. George Wiswall RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns. Duly adopted this 28th day of March, 1994, by the following vote: AYES: Mrs. Pulver, Mrs. Monahan, Dr. Wiswall, Mr. Caimano, Mr. Champagne NOES: None ABSENT: None No further action was taken. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, DARLEEN M. DOUGHER TOWN CLERK-QUEENSBURY