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2003-09-29 SP SPECIAL TOWN BOARD 09-29-2003 MTG# 41 640 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2003 7:00 P.M. MTG# 41 Res. 429-429A BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR DENNIS BROWER COUNCILMAN ROGER BOOR COUNCILMAN THEODORE TURNER COUNCILMAN DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER TOWN OFFICIALS Mr. Mike Genier, Superintendent of Cemeteries Mr. Chris Round, Executive Director of Community Development Mr. Dave Hatin, Director of Building & Codes DISCUSSIONS WEST GLENS FALLS EMERGENCY SQUAD - SANDY BOUCHER MS. BOUCHER-Spoke to the board regarding letter received from Comptroller Hess questioning their audit of last year. It stated that we have a twenty thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven dollar overage of money left at the end of the year. There was equipment purchased that didn't come in until 2003. So, it wasn't appropriately budgeted, taken out of the right account. That brought it up to fourteen thousand four hundred and seventy-seven dollars, out of that twenty thousand dollars leaving us roughly six thousand to go through January. So, technically, we really didn't have that overage. Secondly, in that letter, it states our audit report reveals that the squad apparently did not use the restricted vehicle funds for the 2002 ambulance purchase and he quotes, a Town Board resolution of 414 of 2002 but rather made an unauthorized borrowing of ninety thousand dollars, which those two don't go together. The ninety thousand dollars was the gear and radio equipment which was authorized by you people, you gave us the approval to go Evergreen Bank and get that loan... We did purchase the ambulance and it did come in early 2003, we order it in 2002 so it was actually paid for in 2003, so some of that money was held over until 2003 to pay for the rig. It also states that it didn't appear that the squad made the agreed upon annual eight thousand dollar reimbursement to the restricted vehicle fund to reduce the forty thousand dollars that the squad misappropriated, it states in 2000. But that was for the CD, that we agreed to pay the eight thousand dollars back every year. We have a copy of the CD that we purchased for eight thousand dollars in 2003 and I've got a copy of the CD that we purchased for five thousand because the three thousand went towards the purchase of the ambulance. So, we did purchase those. We needed to clarify this letter, it was pretty upsetting to get this letter and none of you got it. So, I just wanted to show you that we did do what we said we were going to do... Updated the Town Board regarding the status of the proposed building and the RFP's received, noting that the proposal is for an eight thousand square foot building and estimated cost is at one point three million dollars... COUNCILMAN BOOR-Questioned whether the rescue squad has spoken to the other squads regarding the issue of a central location? MS. BOUCHER-Noted that she has spoken with the membership and the majority of the membership did not want to join the squads together. The building committee and other members have looked at possibility of moving the building site from the fire department. We'd like to keep it in the Exit 18 area, the majority of the people would. There's a problem with the fire department, at this point we still have not heard from their lawyer and it's been several months and our lawyer has been contacting him to get the, the final contract has been written up and everything, it's not going anywhere with the fire department. SPECIAL TOWN BOARD 09-29-2003 MTG# 41 641 COUNCILMAN BOOR-I understand that you need to go to your membership when you do things, but it sounds to me like you haven't spoken with any other squads and we want you to do that, whether your membership wants you to or not. MS. BOUCHER-And what are you exactly looking at us doing? COUNCILMAN BOOR-What I would like to see is the potential for finding the most valuable location as far as serving this community with the notion that at some point in time, it's highly likely that we will go to third party billing and we will have some fulltime people that will be manning a building. I'm not saying it's bad or good but is the location that you had purchased from the fire station in West Glens Falls going to serve the needs of a third party billing situation as good as another? Until you speak with other EMS squads, you're acting as an entity onto yourself and without that communication, I don't know if you know what the needs are for the other units and I think as a Town Board, we have to look at the town as a whole. We have to look out for the residents of Queensbury and it's important to us that the leaders of these EMS squads communicate so that we know that when we say, yup, here's the one point three million, go build it, that we're making the right decision for the entire town not just for West Glens Falls. I'm not saying that's the case but I want to make sure that if we were to approve a budget such as you've put here, that we know we're doing the right thing... I'd like to meet with all of the squads in one room at some point in time. MS. BOUCHER-I think that would be a better situation for us. COUNCILMAN BREWER-To have either of the two squads go and talk to each other, I don't know if that accomplishes anything. I think if we're going to look at moving two or one squad to a particular location, I think it's incumbent upon us to take it one step further and have an organization takes a look at it as a third party with no interest... I think it should be a Town Board decision to not have the squads do it, have a third party do it and find out the answer that we're looking for... Town Board held discussion regarding fulltime paid EMS staffing, third party billing and the possibility of hiring an independent consultant to research these ideas... Town Board agreed to move forward with RFP, will meet at next workshop to discuss language and possibility of pilot program. MT. HERMAN CEMETERY FENCING - MIKE GENIER MR. MIKE GENIER, Superintendent of Cemeteries spoke to the Town Board regarding the proposed fencing for Mt. Herman Cemetery. Noted that he contacted three of the local fence distributors, Tri County Fence, AFSCO and Adirondack... Displayed samples of residential, commercial, industrial fencing and reviewed proposed costs involved with project... Made recommendation of industrial fencing with the company ofTri County Fence and Town Board agreed with Mr. Genier's recommendation and to put the money in the 2004 budget. BUILDING & CODES STAFFING - CHRIS ROUND / DAVE HATIN MR. CHRIS ROUND, Executive Director noted that Dave Hatin is here to share some information about our construction activities, the changes in the New York State Building Codes and how it affects the Building Department. MR. DAVE HAT IN, Director of Building & Codes-The level of activity has increased significantly due in a large part to the new building code that took effect January 1 st and with that came a lot of new requirements for buildings both residential and commercial. What it has meant for our office, is a lot more field work and a lot more office work for each permit that now comes through the office. Traditionally it used to take us about a half hour to an hour to review a residential permit, now it takes one to three hours depending on the level of submission we get from the applicant. A lot of times, we're having to take homeowners who are doing private additions by themselves and actually walk them through the process because with the new code, SPECIAL TOWN BOARD 09-29-2003 MTG# 41 642 the requirements are so significant... So, there's a significant amount of time now in reviewing the projects as well as the increase in inspections which went from roughly eight to twelve inspections per building permit to now fourteen to twenty. Commercial obviously is way above that. The problem I'm having right now is that I spend more then half my day in the field between complaints and answering, fielding questions plus inspections. Typically, I used to spend more then half my day in the office, now I'm spending less then half my day in the office which means if the three of us are out in the field, nothing gets done in the office. So, there's a big turnaround problem right now with getting information out of our office and us available in the office. I foresee it, if the trend continues, a point where I will be spending a lot less time in the office which is not good. We're required now by law to spend twenty-four hours of schooling annually which is about a week out of the office for three of us, plus we also have our time off and I'm up to almost five weeks now... I compared the end of August 2002 to the end of August 2003, last year we were just under thirty-eight hundred inspections and we're just under forty-three hundred inspections for this year already. When I came to this job in May of 1988, I had four building inspectors plus myself and I was also the Zoning Administrator at that time. In the 1992 when Mike Brandt came to office, we eliminated the position. We also had an inspector who had been eliminated through health concerns so we lost two inspectors by 1993. If you look at the number of inspections we do, back in 1992 we were doing five thousand inspections with four people. In 2002, we're up to sixty-four hundred with really two people because I'm doing administrative, court, complaints plus filling in with inspections... My point is, we're doing a lot more with a lot less and if the trend continues, it's not going to get any better. One of the other things that has cropped out of this, typically in January, February and March when we slowed down, we used to go back on the old permits and permits that weren't active and basically try to close them out and we haven't been able to do that in the last two years... Recommended a person who would be a fulltime multifaceted person who could do all... My thought in bringing this to the board was not necessarily to hire the person in January, let's see if the trend continues come April or May and if it does, then I'd like to come back to you and say okay, it's in the budget, now let's go hire the person. That's all we're looking for, if your convinced and you feel the same way I do, budget for the position maybe three quarters of the year. . .. Town Board held discussion, agreed to consider and discuss further at budget time. BOARD OF HEALTH QUESTIONS/CONCERNS - SUPERVISOR BROWER Karen Angleson, Joanne Bramley and Don Sipp spoke to the Town Board regarding letter they submitted to the Town Board on September 22nd, 2003 and made a part of the Town Board Minutes of September 22nd, 2003, in reference to the Queensbury Board of Health and the Town's Health Officer... Recommended an engineer to review all sewer variance applications that come before the Queensbury Board of Health, the Health Officer be present during those meetings and the possibility of restructuring the Board of Health. .. Town Board held discussion regarding hiring a full-time engineer, the Health Officer's duties and responsibilities and the need for a Health Officer. .. No decision made, agreed to review and discuss further. . . EMPIRE ZONE CHANGES - SUPERVISOR BROWER SUPERVISOR BROWER noted that he has met with Maureen Donovan from the county to review the proposed changes, that Councilman Brewer and Councilman Stec have met with her, and Councilman Boor and Councilman Turner will be meeting with her in the near future to review those changes also. . . KARNER BLUE BUTTERFLY HABITAT MANAGEMENT PLAN - CHRIS ROUND MR. CHRIS ROUND-Referred to memo submitted two weeks ago to the Town Board that was looking for some direction from the Town Board regarding the matter of the Karner Blue Butterfly Habitat Management Plan and noted that there's three different levels of involvement on behalf of the town. A, was no active roll in land acquisition and land restoration, B was like a middle option and that was assist and establishing a protective land base and C was the most SPECIAL TOWN BOARD 09-29-2003 MTG# 41 643 active roll in acquisition and that was actually requiring land set aside, requiring fees to be dedicated for restoration activities and using those fees as a source oflong term commitment... I need to get some feedback from you on what level you see the town playing... Town Board held discussion and the consensus was leading towards plan level B, no decision made but will discuss further. . . RESOLUTION CALLING FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION RESOLUTION NO.: 429,2003 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Daniel Stec RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns from Regular Session to enter Executive Session to discuss and Attorney Client Matter and conduct an interview with a Zoning Board Member Applicant. Duly adopted this 29th day of September, 2003, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Brower, Mr. Boor, Mr. Turner, Mr. Stec, Mr. Brewer NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION TO ADJOURN EXECUTIVE SESSION & SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO.: 429A, 2003 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED FOR IT'S ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Roger Boor RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns from Executive Session to enter Regular Session of the Town Board, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourn it's Special Town Board Meeting. Duly adopted this 29th day of September, 2003, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Brower, Mr. Boor, Mr. Turner, Mr. Stec, Mr. Brewer NOES: None ABSENT: None No further action taken. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, DARLEEN M. DOUGHER TOWN CLERK TOWN OF QUEENSBURY