Loading...
2010-11-01 MTG. #41 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 71 TOWN BOARD MEETING MTG. #41 NOVEMBER 1, 2010 RES. 356-366 7:00 p.m. TOWN BOARD MEMBERS SUPERVISOR DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER COUNCILMAN RONALD MONTESI COUNCILMAN JOHN STROUGH COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER 1.0 PUBLIC HEARINGS 1.1 BUDGET HEARING NOTICE SHOWN PUBLICATION DATE: 10-22-2010 Supervisor Daniel Stec-This evening we have one public hearing, it is a public hearing regarding the town’s 2011 budget and I have a brief power point presentation. There are some copies of the, hard copies of the power point presentation on the table for anyone that would like to grab one. I would like to start by thanking the Department Heads for all coming out tonight just in case there are any specific questions that come up, a Department Head might be able to help us with. Of course I would also like to thank them for all their hard work on this years budget. We will start off with some budget highlights. (Slide A.)The General Fund which includes transfers from the General Fund to fund Highway and Cemetery not all towns exactly fund Highway and Cemetery the same way. We, actually take money from the General Fund and transfer into Highway and Cemetery so they are included in that grand total, eleven million four hundred and ninety one thousand five hundred and five dollars. That is up a total of fifty eight thousand dollars or just over a half of a percent from last years adopted budget. The total of all Town Funds, so that includes that eleven and a half million figure above plus the water department the sewer department, lighting, special districts, fire, ems, I think that is all of them, solid waste. When you add them all together it is a little over twenty seven point one million dollars. That is up three hundred and thirty thousand seven hundred twenty seven dollars or one point two three percent from last years budget. Next year the first time since 2001 there will be a town tax and this budget has it at sixty five point eight cents per thousand. Obviously we are going to be getting into a little bit more of that in a second. (Slide B) The Budget Highlights, and I think I have inadvertently added some confusion here the budget does include a thirty percent increase in the New York State Retirement. It is a bill that the Towns, local municipalities receive every year saying what to expect for next years local retirement contribution to the State System. That is up thirty percent, last year it was up fifty percent. So, in two years it has almost doubled. Again, that is not something that is immediately within the towns control. Likewise, health insurance costs every year are usually hovering in that low double digit range. We were told and the last information we had hasn’t changed that we should budget seventeen percent increase to cover these health insurance costs. I think that some remarks that I said may have been translated in the newspaper to state that this is the reason why the Town is going to have a return of the town tax, that is not true. Without these increases however, the General Fund would have been down over two hundred and seventy thousand dollars, so we cut a lot of other places in the General Fund to try to off set these, as the previously slide says the total increase in the General Fund is fifty eight thousand. So, without these increases the General Fund would have been down over a quarter of a million dollars. This budget includes the purchase of no new vehicles and in fact there is two and a half fewer people in next years budget, one in highway and one water and one of the employees at the solid waste transfer station is retiring and we are likely to replace that person with a twenty hour a week person. So, that is where the two and a half comes from fewer employees. No pay increases for any Elected Officials. Last year the five Town Board Members did not take a pay increase. This year in addition to the five Town Board Members, the two Judges, our Highway Superintendent and our Town Clerk will not take a pay increase. (Slide C.) As I have done in years past I kind of put a little summary together that shows again, that first line the General Fund shows again what previous slides represented that the 2011 Budget will be up fifty eight thousand dollars or about a half of a percent, the next three slides though show that the Cemetery Funds is down almost three percent, the Highway Fund is down six point six five percent and solid waste is down almost two hundred dollars so just basically flat in the solid waste fund. (Slide D.) Going on to Special Districts, Emergency Services, now for those of you that were following this past year we made a lot of different moves in emergency REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 72 services particularly in Fire, we got a lot of debt that was going off in several companies and we also with an MMA Report that we put to use, we added some additional replacement apparatus and all said and done we now know all five fire company contracts for the next couple of years and the fire contract are up a little bit and the combination of fire and ems appropriations is up just over three percent. So, about inflationary a little higher than inflationary. The total lighting has not changed at all and that is a hundred and forty thousand dollars a fairly small district. Wastewater is up almost twelve percent and again that is a special district only people that are in the solid waste, receive the sewer service would pay into that. That is largely due to an unknown as far as the wastewater treatment buy in cost for capital costs with the City of Glens Falls that has been in and out of the paper a little bit. We do know that they are making some capital improvements down there, we do know that the Town rate payers are going to be included in paying for those things we do not have the final good figures yet as far as how much that impact is going to be so our wastewater director has done the best that he could to try and estimate with the information that we have. Likewise Water Department is up five percent over last year and again these two departments, Water and Wastewater they are growing, they are adding customers and they are adding capacity so that also explains for why they are spending more money. So, the questions are obviously with sixty five point eight cent per thousand tax rate, what does that mean? Is it a lot or is it a little? Is the town frugal or is the town not frugal? (Slide E.) What I have tried to do, is I tried to collect some information, now obviously no two towns are identical, so I am certainly not passing judgment on any of the towns in here, but as far as where do we stack up? In order to compare Town to Town you do need to factor in what the towns equalization rate is, and that gives you an idea what they are relative to full market value and you can see Queensbury is at a seventy six percent equalization rate. Basically if you multiply the first column by the second column that gives what is called an effective tax rate and that is the one that is used to try to compare apples to apples, town to town. What I did is I listed all the towns and the City of Glens Falls from lowest to highest as far as their effected tax rates and you can see that Hague with a fairly small population but a significant amount on the water with a large assessed value is able to maintain a zero tax rate. Queensbury and Bolton are about the same at roughly fifty cents per thousand and they go up from there. So, where does the tax rate stack up and is the town frugal or not frugal? This is the General Fund and this is not as I said in the first slide where you compare the first slide with eleven and a half million dollar figure includes highway and cemetery, this does not because I wanted again to try and show apples to apples and there are other slides that examine how frugal or not frugal highway is later on in the presentation. (Slide F.) But, in order to compare with other communities we wanted to make sure again, that was an apples to apples comparison, so that will explain why we are talking at a total of just under eight million dollars. The blue line on top is the grant total of what the General Fund has done since 2000. You can see that it has been a fairly level line there for the most part over the years. I think what is most note worthy to point out is two things. The green line if you can see there is a downward trend, from 2003 to 2011 as a side bar I became Town Supervisor in 2004. But, there is a downward trend from 2003 to present in what is class, I call stuff, which is everything that isn’t payroll and benefits. So, that’s insurance, debt, vehicles, fuel, energy, asphalt, any sort of material, repair material, soccer balls, anything that isn’t a paycheck or health and retirement. So, you can see, and this is not an adjusted for inflation, clearly if you adjust that for inflation our spending on the stuff category in the General Fund is significantly down over time. But, you will also see the second point that I think needs to be made here is the red line which is the benefits. That is the health insurance, and the retirement and you can see that in 2011 for the first time in the General Fund we would be spending more on benefits than we do on the stuff category. In particular the last two years you can see that the rate of increase has crept up a little bit. So, what do I think this slide says? Well, certainly if we are scoring ourselves for trying to look at how the town is doing as far as being a custodian of the money, we are not spending it on the soccer balls and the fuel and the vehicles and the stuff category. The increases are not coming in that area, they are coming from payroll and benefits. I say that not to alarm the employees but I think the question mark at that point will be you know as far as head count in the Town of Queensbury are we appropriate or not appropriate and I think future slides will address that question as well. (Slide G.) I asked Barbara a couple of months ago, I gave her a list of nine towns and those are the nine towns and I asked her to go out and either go on the internet or call her counterpart in the towns and try to get from them what their General Fund Budget was. So, we believe from most of them it was their 2010 budget. The Queensbury number is our proposed 2011 budget. Barbara also went out to the Census Website and got the estimated 2009 populations. I simply asked Barbara to take those two numbers and come up with a per capital General Fund spending. For Moreau and Guilderland they include the General Fund of South Glens Falls and Altamont, you have to factor in that these Villages also have General Funds of their own and their population in some cases is paying into two different General Funds. So, I throw that out there as a qualifier. But, you will see here, again, organized from lowest per capita to highest to gold metal I suppose would go to Wilton and Queensbury is not too far behind and certainly they go up from there. But these are the communities that I felt off the top of my head were communities that Queensbury would compare itself to. I am not sure Queensbury comparison to a Stony Creek is a very good one to try to bounce off where are we. I also want to point out and Barbara REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 73 could verify this that I did not cherry pick. I did not hunt around for an eight that I liked, I gave her a list of nine and those are the nine. So, if anyone is curious and wants to do their own just go out and get the General Fund and the population and if you want to look up some other towns that are not in there feel free. What I am trying to show here isn’t that we are the second lowest out of nine, we are the second lowest out of these nine, what I am trying to show is are we on the low side of the bell curve. Are we frugal are we below the average per capita spending are we tight with your tax dollars. I think this slide demonstrates that. (Slide H.) Likewise I said that I wanted to look at Highway because Highway is our largest Department it has the most employees it has thirty three employees and you know certainly when you say well our Highway Department has a three point six million dollar budget, well that is a lot of money. But, what does that mean, what is three point six million dollars get you? So, I asked Barbara to also while she was making those calls to the same nine towns what is the Highway Budget and find out how many center line miles they take care of and then just a simple division and again I believe that most of those numbers are for this year and Queensbury’s is next years proposed Highway Budget. Of those nine we happen to be the lowest and this number of course came up a couple months ago. I think it is important and probably goes without saying but our Highway Superintendent and our Deputy Highway Superintendent are here tonight, and I think that this is an opportunity to give them kudos because if there is one thing that I don’t think is occurring in our community is the general concern or complaint about the quality of the road care. Our roads are in excellent shape our roads are exceptionally well maintained. The snow season as far as snow removal so, it is not a case of the Highway Department is doing a great job on the money but the roads are falling apart, the roads are in good shape they are well maintained his crew does an excellent job so Mike and Tom hats off to you and certainly bring that back to your people. Now, certainly your union members and your employees are going to point out what a great job this will come back to bit us so, in that sense I say that with a little tongue and cheek but they do, do a good job for us and I think it reflects their effort and your efforts as well. But, again I think it is fair to say that the Highway Department is beneficent with the tax dollar. (Slide I) Water Department I think is equally is an impressive story. After the Highway Department it has the second most employees, again I am going back to that first slide where I talked about the stuff and the employees payroll and benefits and you know if you conclude that the stuff category has been going down over the years then people might say well what about the head count. So, I wanted to look at two departments that I thought were pretty easily measurable, Highway Department take the budget and divide by the number of miles and get a cost per mile. In the Water Department and they happen to be the two largest after Highway with thirty three employees the Water Department has twenty four employees. As an aside the full number of full time employees at the Town of Queensbury is one hundred and thirty four which again if you divide by the population of about twenty eight thousand I do not think you will find too many towns around here that have a lower per capita number of employees. But, the historical comparison for the water department I think is an eye opener and again I applaud the Water Department and Bruce Ostrander who is here as well tonight. In 1979 they made just under six hundred million gallons they had about twenty six hundred services and twenty five employees. Last year they made two billion gallons so almost four times as many gallons they had more than three times as many services and they are doing it with one fewer employees. Well that is all the service connections all those miles of pipe and they are doing it with fewer employees. The Water Rate History: In 1996 taxpayers in the Water Department were paying $1.52 per thousand gallons of water, in 2011 that rate is the same, fifteen year that rate has not changed. What is our rate, is our rate any good? The total average cost in 1992 was three hundred and fifteen dollars and in 2010 it is lower than it was in 1992. Eighteen years later it is about ten percent lower or seven percent lower than it was in 1992. It is significantly less than the State average, so I think our Water Department has been demonstrated that they are pretty frugal. ( Slide J)The last couple of slides I have talk about the revenue side, certainly when you go into what is a budget and what is happening with the budget you need to look at among other things you need to look at your expenses and your revenues. Now, clearly this we have been hearing about this from everywhere across the Country and across New York State, but for Queensbury you can see that in 2008 and that was about a high water mark we were a little over eight million fifty thousand dollars, in 2009 we were almost exactly seven point five million. It is a little early to say where we are going to close to 2010 but it is about seven point four and this budget I want to make sure that we didn’t cut ourselves short we budgeted just under seven point three million dollars. We are hoping that we have seen the bottom, yes it is starting to turn around at the County but there are other factors in play beyond what the County’s take is including equalization factors, that will affect how much the town will see in revenue. I do not expect us to do worse than that next year but again I did not want to overstate that revenue and then find ourselves in a position where we are missing revenue. (Slide K) After sales tax revenue the next largest revenue source is our Mortgage Tax and again that is a reflection of the housing market being a little slower and you can see in 2008 we were a little over Nine hundred thousand and next year we are budgeting a little over seven hundred thousand dollars and we expect to get that as well. But, just to give you an idea that one of the challenges that we are facing is certainly that the mortgage tax the sales tax the revenues just like everywhere else are down but like I said we discussed the expense REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 74 side as well. So, with that said we will take any public comments and questions. I will Open the Public Hearing on the Budget and call people one at a time, if you raise your hand and come to the microphone, these microphones not only amplify but they record for the purpose of the record. Again, we just ask that you state your name and address for the purpose of the record when you get to the microphone, please. Is there anyone that would like to comment this evening? Mr. Salvador Mr. John Salvador-Good evening my name is John Salvador I am a resident in North Queensbury. For openers I got a copy of your proposed budget picked it up at the Town Clerk’s Office and it’s a little dismayed to see it on the front cover you have a schedule of nonprofit appropriations and contributions. You do understand that you are not at liberty to make contributions? Supervisor Stec-It may be a misnomer we certainly have contracts with nonprofits. Mr. Salvador-This is nonprofit appropriations these are not, not for profit. These are nonprofit they are not, not for profit. Ok. There is a difference. But, anyway the use of the term contributions should be discontinued it is not allowed. With respect to the occupancy tax distribution schedule I noticed that it does not look like the schedule I have here is complete. Your 2011 adopted has not been finalized? Supervisor Stec-I am not sure what you are looking at John. Mr. Salvador-Not profit schedules of revenues and appropriations Supervisor Stec-Barb is telling me that it has not been totaled because it is still subject to change until we adopt it later this evening is that correct Barb? Budget Officer Barbara Tierney-Correct. Mr. Salvador-So, you are in the process of evaluating this and it is yet to be determined. Supervisor Stec-Well, certainly the budget is subject to change and you know the money does not get spent without subsequent resolutions later, next January, John. Ok. Mr. Salvador-This list includes almost thirty organizations participating, this used to be a number of like six or seven it has grown dramatically over the years. Most of these organizations are not even in the Town of Queensbury. Supervisor Stec-We are good neighbors and the Town Board has determined that our citizens benefit from whatever arrangements we make with those nonprofits, whether they are physically located in the Town or the City of Glens Falls there is a benefit to the town taxpayer for us to enter into whatever arrangement we have. Mr. Salvador-Occupancy tax monies by law are to be used for what they call heads in beds, and I just like to know what an appropriation to the well lets take the Hyde Museum. I was in the lodging business in this community for twenty eight years, winter and summer, and on a rainy day I just could never experience a person asking for directions to the Hyde Museum. They do not put heads in beds. Another aspect of this Occupancy tax and there was an article in the paper here concerning the Balloon Festival and charging for parking at the Airport and you will notice that they suggested putting up some kind of voluntary contribution affair. There is a good reason for that. A long time ago we used to say that if an event was taxpayer funded you could not charge admission. I think that is still the law. That is probably the reason why they suggested a contribution at the airport for the Balloon Festival. Now, you have on your list here appropriations to the Adirondack Theater Festival, I believe that they charge admission. The Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, there are many others here. They don’t necessarily put heads in beds and they do charge admission that is two violations. Supervisor Stec-Says you, I will add. Mr. Salvador-I am just speaking from my past experience, Mr. Stec. Supervisor Stec-And I am telling you that I don’t necessarily as always I don’t necessarily agree with everything you are saying. Mr. Salvador-Ok. There is an appropriations here to the Queensbury Land Conservancy, REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 75 Supervisor Stec-Has been for the last few years. Mr. Salvador-Yes, do you have any idea what they use the money for? Supervisor Stec-They are out there trying to promote and acquire and protect open space in the Town of Queensbury. Mr. Salvador-That brings up another point, do any of these organizations submit any kind of report with their request, what they do with the money, how they use it? Supervisor Stec-They all had to sign a contract with us that requires certain levels of how are using the money that you are asking for, yes. Mr. Salvador-And those reports are available? Supervisor Stec-They are a public document, John. Mr. Salvador-Excuse me? Supervisor Stec-They are a public document. Mr. Salvador-Ok. And they are submitted annually? Supervisor Stec-Part of the contact, not annually but part of the contact. Mr. Salvador-I understand that they are part of the contact but is the contract administered to where these people have to supply a report before they get their next appropriation? Supervisor Stec-I believe so. Mr. Salvador-We make an appropriation to the South Warren County Snowmobile Club it’s clear that snowmobile clubs and snowmobiling do put heads in beds at a time of the year when we really need it. However, the activity of trail grooming is supported by the State as I understand it, if you belong to a snowmobile club your registration, your State registration for the snowmobile is at a reduced rate. The thought being that your membership fee to the club helps to keep the trails groomed. There is another section of the law that I just don’t think has ever been put into effect at least I have not heard and maybe you have. But, there was a legislative enactment in 1987 that provided for Section twenty two hundred twenty two the Vehicle and Traffic Law is amended by adding a new subdivision thirteen to read as follows; The Lake George Park Commission shall be entitled to receive State Aid in an amount related to a percentage of fees collected under this section, that can be estimated to be attributed to snowmobile use within the Lake George Park. The amount of such aid shall be annually determined by the Commissioner of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Director of the Budget. Distribution of fees. The Commissioner shall deposit all monies received by him from the registration of snowmobiles and other services provided by the Department and all fees otherwise collected by him under this article to the credit of the General Fund except that additional fees imposed by Section twenty one point zero seven of Parks Recreation Historic Preservation Law received by the commissioner pursuant to Section two thousand two hundred twenty two of this Chapter shall be deposited to the credit of the snowmobile trail development and maintenance fund. These monies are allocated to the Lake George Park Commission shall be deposited to the credit of the Lake George Park Trust Fund pursuant to Section Ninety seven of the State Finance Law. I just never, Ron, Mr. Montesi maybe you could help me on this you served as a Special Advisor to the Governor regarding Adirondack Affairs. Do you ever recall this? Councilman Montesi-No, I don’t. Supervisor Stec-How does this relate to the towns budget John? Mr. Salvador-You are being asked to support the trail maintenance Supervisor Stec-And Gene Merlino and Mark McLain would tell you I am sure that none of these fees and none of these provisions that they are supposed to get cover the expenses of maintaining the trails at acceptable levels which is why they have bake sales and volunteer hours cutting brush and they ask the communities that have these trails in them for an occupancy tax contribution which we do I think it is four thousand dollars is what is in the budget for next year. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 76 Mr. Salvador-However, here is money that should be available to us for trail grooming. Supervisor Stec-I think they get some, what I am saying is I do not think that covers their expenses. Mr. Salvador-I do not think they are getting anything here. Supervisor Stec-They may not. But they are not getting it thorough the towns 2011 budget. Mr. Salvador-Ok. Cemetery Fund, Account zero, zero two page one of the budget summary and tax rate estimates, shows that regardless of a reduction in the year to year appropriations of close to sixteen thousand dollars there is still a need to subsidize the day to day operations of the nine cemeteries in town from the towns general fund to the tune of about two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. Supervisor Stec-It used to be more. Mr. Salvador- This tells me there is a short fall in the towns operation of the nine cemeteries which once were private undertakings. Supervisor Stec-And now they are public, they have been abandoned and turned over to the town and the town taxpayers are required by law to accept them and maintain them. Mr. Salvador-The town does not have to, they should pay for themselves. They have a revenue stream, if it costs more than, if it costs two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars to do the job the rates have to go up. That is all. Councilman Montesi-No, John the point that we are making is, there are many cemeteries that were abandoned already filled abandoned that we are obligated by State Law to take over the maintenance of it, so there is no revenue, there is no revenue on half of the cemeteries that we have taken over because they are either full or at capacity, they are not active anymore but somebody has to maintain them. That is part of the cost here, now, when you talk about maybe the Cemetery on Quaker Road with the crematorium we might be in the positive sense there. Also, you have to understand that the cemetery commission is a separate entity from the Town Board, we do have some oversight review of them but they are really a separate commission and we have struggled with them at times trying to make them take some of the money they have in let’s call it an escrow account and use it to pay off some of the expenses. Every year we have upped that so, but it is a battle and they have a fiduciary responsibility to. It is more than just simple nine cemeteries you ought to be able to create a revenue stream. We do try and we do create a revenue stream on the active cemeteries. Mr. Salvador-I can understand some kind of support, I can understand, but these two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars Supervisor Stec-It used to be more. Mr. Salvador-they are only covering sixty percent of their costs with their revenue. That is a big difference. Supervisor Stec-I think there is more than nine but we really, only one is active Pine View and the rest of them are sending the crew out to mow and maintain and fix the fence and repair the drive there is no revenue coming in for that. This is going to happen everywhere and it is going to get worse over time. Councilman Montesi-Wasn’t this the one up in Luzerne we had to pave the fellow couldn’t get in. Supervisor Stec-Off Luzerne Road Councilman Brewer-Yes, Luzerne Road. Mr. Salvador-Can we identify the cost of those to us of those inactive cemeteries and separate from the cost of the active cemetery? Supervisor Stec-Perhaps. Mr. Salvador-It would be nice to know. I would not think that it would cost two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars to keep the lawn mowed in some of these small rural cemeteries. There is not a lot of REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 77 detail given in you fire and EMS budget items however looking at their audit reports from past years there is one particular item that is costing us a lot of money and I think it is totally unnecessary. All of these companies the five fire companies and emergency squad companies have financial statements and supporting those financial statements there is a tabulation of statement of activities. Now, you have to have the statement of activities before you can do the financial statement before the auditor can audit the financial statement. The auditor does not audit, should not audit the statement of activities, but the do. The statement of activities every one of them all eight companies includes a line item as an expense, an expense depreciation. They all later on in the report they have a statement of cash flows and in the statement of cash flows they list depreciation as item not affecting cash. Where did it go? Supervisor Stec-John is this getting around to the Town budget? Mr. Salvador-I am getting there, the point I am making is that this little accounting exercise amounts to for the, by the way I have old data here because the audit reports you know they do them this year for the last two years. In 2009 amounted to, for the five fire companies nine hundred and seven thousand dollars. This is not costing these companies a penny. Depreciation is a non cash cost. The emergency squads one hundred and seven thousand dollars you add the two together you have got over a million dollars that we make available to these people as a part of their budget that is not spent. They just don’t have to spend it. Queensbury, I am just speaking for Queensbury in this respect, Queensbury then transfers their excess cash at the end of the year they have a statement of cash flow, Supervisor Stec-You mean North Queensbury? Mr. Salvador-Excuse me, North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company, cash transfers to the North Queensbury Fire Fighters Service Corporation. That cash is our money. It is going into a Fire Fighters Service Corporation that benefits only the members of the corporation and is not a fire fighting service corporation. Supervisor Stec-I am going to go out on a limb here John and say that they are members of the North Queensbury Volunteer Fire Company here tonight and they would be disagreeing with you vehemently. I am not going to defend them Mr. Salvador-…report? Supervisor Stec-We all know your beef with the North Queensbury Fire., in any case on the town budget. Mr. Salvador-In any case there is a lot of money out there that I believe is being appropriated and it is not necessary. The audit report also talks about their operating costs. Are we obligated to pay any more than operating costs? We pay for the equipment, we pay for the buildings, is there anything else that we are obligated to pay for? Operating costs, depreciation is not an operating cost. We will continue, we will get to the bottom of this someday. Thank you. Supervisor Stec-Is there anyone else that would like to address the Board at this public hearing? All right I will close this pub…is there anyone else that would like to address the public hearing, Mr. Brothers. Mr. Peter Brothers-Good evening, Peter Brothers-I guess the first items I would like to address is salaries for town councilmen, I know that this is an elected position and there is time involved, I do think there is a concern with the level, the rate per se that we pay compared with other municipalities. I am hoping that you would look at that figure and compare it with other municipalities and maybe even reduce it significantly, especially when considering there is also a belief, free health insurance. It is not free it is paid for by the taxpayers of course but it is a heavy, heavy discount and also I guess I would like to know about open competitive bidding for certain vendor services and specifically with regard to legal services and health insurance services. That is not to be confused with the town insurance business insurance per se I am specifically looking to have health insurance and legal services. I just think that maybe and you folks certainly can comment on this but I feel that there should be more competitive bidding in that regard. Also, I just wonder if this proposed Town Tax is somewhat of a retaliatory gesture maybe with regard to our having some people having worked to try to form the village. Would this be considered a retaliatory gesture? Supervisor Stec-I can tell you this Peter, one hundred percent of the town residents including the five town board members will be paying this tax and ninety five percent of them live outside that area. In fact what it is, it is a simple mathematical calculation of what it cost to run the town government. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 78 Mr. Brothers-Oh sure. Supervisor Stec-If you are finished insulting the Town Board. Councilman Montesi-Peter I did have an answer for you we did an extensive survey of salaries and we are below the guys out in California so we feel pretty comfortable as … Supervisor Stec-Far below them. Councilman Metivier-To comment on the Health Insurance, I do not know if there is anybody on the Board that actually takes advantage of health insurance through the town. Supervisor Stec-I do but I do not think any of the councilmen do. Councilman Metivier-So, I mean that question has been raised before, I know myself … Mr. Brothers-I was not aware of that. Supervisor Stec-All five of us could but in this case only me. Councilman Montesi-And we do consider that we shop for attorneys. Supervisor Stec-We shopped for attorneys in the past with I think mixed results but we are back with Miller and Mannix and I have been very pleased I think the Board has been pleased, not only with the performance but the value. We have shopped around and they were very competitive the last couple of times and every few years we do shop around. We have been delighted with their.. Councilman Metivier-As far as the Health Insurance again on average most companies right now are looking at an increase of around fifteen to twenty percent so we are at the seventeen percent mark it is right on target with everybody else. I know the company that I am just starting up it is a contribution of about eighteen percent. So, we are right there, could you shop it and save honestly with the programs that we have the company that we deal with I really doubt it. Councilman Montesi-You would have to get agreement with the union. Councilman Brewer-We have a person that does that anyways, Tony. Councilman Metivier-Of course the union contract too, they do shop it they did actually save us some money last year on it. So, we do watch that every year, it is just health insurance is an issue and I do not foresee that getting much better in the years to come even with this new program that was introduced by our Federal Government. Councilman Montesi-It is a meaningful number it is over two million dollars a year. Councilman Metivier-Significant. Mr. Brothers-I certainly respect what you are saying I do feel that if not in the area that I just mentioned with health insurance and the legal services per se, I am not trying to attack anyone but certainly other areas I do feel that it certainly could maybe look more carefully is my understanding and I do not have the specific numbers with regard to number of clerks that we have compared to other towns or the number of administrative assistants per se but I have been told but again I do not have the specifics as far as one number compared to Supervisor Stec-I suspect if somebody were to call surrounding towns in and out of Warren County and asked how many total full time employees they had and found out per capita measurement that Queensbury like the other things on the slides before you walked in Peter will be on the very favorable side as far as getting more done with less. Councilman Montesi-The other think Peter is one of the meaningful insurance costs is our general liability and we shop that pretty competitively we were with Cool Insurance for many years, two years ago we switched to Marshal and Sterling out of Saratoga but I mean there was a meaningful reason for it and it was a cost savings to us or at least a competitive bid was a cost savings. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 79 Councilman Metivier-They also in turn last year re-shopped the insurance for us without having to do an RFP and saved us an additional fifty six thousand, so that is being very proactive as far as insurance goes, to competitively shop within their market. It does not do them any good but it does the town some good. By that I mean of course they are paid on commission for premium dollar to save us fifty six thousand would be a savings not a savings but a cost out of their pocket. Will come down to another fee in a few years probably but keep in mind you do have to pay for those to. Councilman Strough-But I think you are right Peter, I mean we should always be on the alert for getting something at a lower price if we are getting the same quality item. You know I think you are right in offering that advice it is advice that we should follow. I believe we do and I know that we will work in that direction. Mr. Brothers-Fair enough. Just one last piece. I certainly follow some of the news can’t follow all of the information that is put out there all the time I do not think anyone else can either certainly a lot more available before us today than there every has been and seeing things on the national level and kind of referring to the unfunded mandates being pushed down, certainly and there is certainly justification with complaints of exploding or increasing federal deficit and majority on the federal level certainly the Democrats and certainly not to be partisan here and the State level as well. In this environment with justification here complaint about increased spending on State and Federal levels at the same time you got to be careful because on the local level, I mean the Town as well as the County it is Republicans majority that are looking to increase and have increased our taxes. So, it works both ways I just wanted to point that out, that is all. Thanks. Supervisor Stec-Is there anyone else that would like to address the Board on this public hearing? I will close this public hearing and entertain a motion. I want to take this opportunity I mentioned the other department heads, I got Barbara Tierney is not a Town Board Member and I had to coerce her to sitting between John and I not because I wanted to change the scenery sitting next to John for the last seven years but Councilman Strough-The scenery has certainly suddenly improved. Supervisor Stec-Yes it has improved. But I agree one hundred percent with you John. But, Barbara is our Town Budget Officer, she has been very hawk-ish on watching the dollars and cents on behalf of the taxpayers on behalf of the Town Board and on behalf of me, through her own peril with some of her fellow department heads and since all of her fellow collogues from the rest of town departments are here tonight it is not by accident that she does those things. She is an excellent bad cop to my good cop. But, Barbara has been on top of the budgets the last few years she has done a fantastic job not only with the budgets but with all things financial. She has been a pleasure to work with on this, she has worked very well with the Board and myself on this and all the other financial issues and budgets over the last few years so I want to thank her especially but also all the Town Department heads that worked hard. They certainly heard the call a few months ago some of you may recall around the first of the year instructed them all to read who moved the Cheese, and they all kind of laughed and chuckled. For those of you that are familiar with management training it is a change management document that just basically tried to emphases to people that work in an organization that change happens and the answer this is the way we have always done it, isn’t necessarily a healthy attitude. She has done, but actually it was her that introduced that book to me and I shared it with the Board. We have done some things differently I think we made a lot of good moves over the years the return of the town tax is also a reflection of a debate that occurred seven years ago and there is a very loud and clear mandate from the public. We were getting criticized that we were carrying way too much fund balance in the General Fund and when you got, which represents over taxation so somewhere in the eighties and nineties and the first part of this decade taxpayers either at the sales tax with the cash register or in property taxes had amassed a huge fund balance a surplus fund balance and when that happened one of two things can be done with that fund balance. It can be spent, or it can be returned. That was the debate that occurred and a large part of the argument against eliminating the Town Tax nine years ago and providing almost ten million dollars in rebates in the last six years the big argument against those was a political one. Someday when we return the fund balance out of the stratosphere in fact back down to where it ought to about be which in my opinion is about ten percent and right now it is about twelve percent that when it comes out of the stratosphere and you do not have millions of dollars to appropriate to keep the tax at zero or to lower a County Tax when that occurs there will be a perceived increase in taxes and there will be a large public outcry and people will be angry and there will be a political price to be paid. That was the argument that was made seven years ago and my counter argument to that then having been going door to door pitching that not for its own sake but in the spirit of election time, because election time around New York State happens to coincide with budget adoption time. I said I had not met a sole that said on the door step if you can’t give me a tax break REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 80 every year from now on don’t give me a tax break next year. That ultimately that is what the public wanted to that was the mandate that we had. We have been spending less than our revenues over the last seven years that I have been Supervisor however in that time we also did not collect the town tax and we returned ten million dollars back to the taxpayer as opposed to spending it. So, I think I have shown tonight that the town has been frugal with the dollar we understand less is more, we appreciate that. A lower tax is good. Hopefully having been given an idea of where sixty five cents stacks up and based on the reaction that we have gotten since five weeks ago when these budget number first became available I think people understand that there was a mandate that was made we have executed the plan that was discussed seven years ago we did this in a responsible manner and now as we move forward instead of future tax years enjoying fund balances that were raised by previous tax payers. I always liken the idea if you have lived in the Town of Queensbury your whole life and you have built into that surplus over your lifetime and then you sell your house and move to Florida and you leave a massive fund balance here and somebody moves into town from out of town buys your house, should that person benefit from this fund balance or the surplus that you paid into? When you ask the question that way everyone says no. Well, so we have responsibly returned it to the people that generated it as much as possible and now as we move forward we will pay as we go. Those that benefit from the service will pay for the service. Oh that Washington and Albany could understand that, but we are just Queensbury. But anyways we have done that and I want to thank the Department Heads for bearing with me not only this past several months with this budget but these last seven years as I have tried to march the Town toward a responsible reduction in the fund balance without spending it. Again, I think we have kept a pretty good handle on the tax dollar and we will continue to do that as we move forward. But, the risk of foolishly spending that money is gone now because rather it has been returned to the people that generated it. So, I thank the public for bearing with us over these last seven years. If there is no further discussion I ask Darleen to call for it: RESOLUTION ADOPTING ANNUAL TOWN BUDGET FOR 2011 RESOLUTION NO.: 356, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. John Strough st WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board conducted a public hearing on November 1, 2010 concerning the proposed 2011 Preliminary Budget and all interested persons were heard, and WHEREAS, the proposed 2011 Preliminary Budget sets forth the proposed 2011 salaries of the Town’s Elected Officials as required by New York State Town Law §27, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs that the 2011 salaries for the Town of Queensbury Elected Officials shall be as follows: TOWN SUPERVISOR 67,276. TOWN COUNCILPERSON (4) 17,382. TOWN CLERK 66,442. TOWN HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT 67,161. TOWN JUSTICES (2) 42,969. and REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 81 BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby adopts the 2011 Preliminary Budget presented at this meeting as the Town of Queensbury Annual Budget for 2011 with the following modifications: and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to enter the Adopted Annual Budget in the minutes of the Town Board proceedings, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that a copy of the adopted Annual Budget for 2011, including a copy of the S495 Exemption Impact Report, is attached and made part of this Resolution, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby states its support of non-profit and other community organizations by providing funding as outlined in the Schedule of Contributions which is contained in the supporting documentation to the 2011 Adopted Budget, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to prepare and certify duplicate copies of the Adopted Annual Budget and deliver one copy to the Queensbury Town Supervisor so that he may present it to the Warren County Board of Supervisors. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES : None ABSENT: None 2.0 PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR (limit 4 minutes) Mr. Donald Krebs-43 Masters Common North – read the following statement into the record RE: Assembly Point Road Drainage Gentlemen, In individual conversations I have brought to your attention the lack of storm water drainage on the roads on Assembly Point. You created a law that requires the resident’s of the Town of Queensbury to put a 15 foot rain garden along their lake frontage when they make changes to their property, but yet year after year the water from the Queensbury REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 82 Roads on Assembly Point continue to dump directly into the lake. Lake George is the most precious jewel this Town and area has. The economic impact to the area if Lake George becomes polluted and filled with algae will be enormous. Properties values on the lake will drop dramatically and tax revenues will drip with these decreased values. I believe it is time for the Town of Queensbury to assume it responsibility for the runoff into Lake George from the roads we are responsible for. This may seem costly, but the loss of the Lake will be much more costly. We have plans to correct significant problems at West Brook, but I also believe that Warren County needs to correct its lack of storm water treatment on the Pilot Knob Road where six catch basins dump directly into the lake. The State of New York needs to address the runoff from Route 9L which in many areas runs directly into the Lake with a minimum of filtration. I ask that you as the leaders of the Town of Queensbury make this a top priority in the next calendar year. Councilman Metivier-In the last few years we have been addressing the storm water issues especially on Assembly Point. Culverts have been replaced with filtered culverts; we are doing a project on Hillman Road starting this fall that will catch water to filter it out before it enters the lake. That project will cost ten thousand dollars. Mr. Krebs-Spoke to the Board on the number of people in the area now that are full time residents compared to the past as seasonal only. Salt and oil are being placed on the roads which goes into the lake, the salinity of the lake is going up significantly and the only source that we can identify is the salt that we are putting on the roads and there is no filtration from the water running off the roads. This is a significant problem. The Town, State and County are not assuming their responsibility for the storm water runoff. Mr. Pliney Tucker-Res. 3.8 What is our involvement in that? Supervisor Stec-The Town of Queensbury with all the other towns in the three counties along Lake George are involved Lake George Watershed Coalition, periodically the responsibility of which town becomes the applicant for State Funding Grants for Lake George projects rotates around. The Town of Queensbury was the fortunate one holding the bag on the current activity that is going on with Gaslight Village. The Town of Queensbury will sign the contact with the demolition company that will demolish the buildings on Gaslight Village. The State funds have to flow through Town they cannot float through the Lake George Watershed Coalition. We are the conduit for the funding. Mr. Tucker-Nothing out of the town? Supervisor Stec-No. Invited Mr. Decker to speak. Mr. Dave Decker-Year to year over the last ten years a series of the member municipalities of the Lake George Watershed coalition have been asked to serve as the applicant for the grant funds. In this case we made a single application in 2008 was the grant year and West Brook project was high on the priority list they awarded two grants that year on a single application. Both came to the Town of Queensbury. One in the amount of 1.2 million dollars and the other 600,000 dollars. The 1.2 million grant is devoted to the West Brook project. The Town is simply acting as the conduit to provide the funding for that project. The funding is from the State of New York. Supervisor Stec-The intent of this is we are only the conduit for the money that flows from the State through us. We need to make sure we are comfortable with the contact…Noted he would not sign it until the Board Members and Counsel are comfortable with the contract. Questioned what the time line is for starting the project? Mr. Decker-They are waiting for a notice to proceed, as soon as you sign it… Councilman Strough-The contact says as soon as the contract is signed and they will be done within ninety days. Mr. Decker-The counter contract of this which is lead directly by the Department of Transportation is also due to be signed within two weeks. That contractor is actually under the gun because there are liquidated damage provisions in that contact that he must finish his work by February of 2011. Councilman Montesi-Questioned if the storm water runoff is that part of the grant? REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 83 Mr. Decker-There is a three step process 1. 38,000 contract demo work on the south parcel the saloon 2. DOT work provides 600,000 dollars preliminary site work 3. Finish work final grading, top soil, and placement of wetland plants balance of the 1.2 million dollars grant. Supervisor Stec-Barbara and to a larger extent Joann Watkins has been Dave’s main point of contact with the town for these grants and contracts, would like to thank Joann on this. Mr. Decker-The Town does not have to front the money to the contractor, the contractor has bid on this basis that they wait for their compensation until the town has invoiced the State and the State has paid the town and then the funds to the contractor. Regarding the comments relative to stormwater challenges in Assembly Point, Pilot Knob Road area, those kinds of project we can mold that into a definable piece of work and that can be included into an existing grant where funds have not been expended or the new work plan to the next grant application. Mr. John Salvador- 1. There is another source of chlorides in the lake onsite septic tanks how much chlorides are coming into the lake from road salting and how much from septic tanks in the Lake George Basin. 2. The Highway Dept. installed catch basin on Dunhams Bay Road with a discharge pipe into the lake. 3. Questioned the cost of the Homer Avenue Drainage Project? Councilman Brewer-In the audit 140,242.33 Supervisor Stec-Engineer and Attorney costs not included Private property owners have signed agreements, agreeing to paying a percentage of the work that was done. 4. Awaiting answers from the Community Development Dept. with no response in particular an appeal before them, the Zoning Board spoke on the appeal at their last meeting and they termed it a re-hearing, there is a process involved in a re-hearing, this was done outside the procedure. I am waiting for the minutes of that meeting. Supervisor Stec-Any questions you have for the Zoning Board I would encourage you to consult with the Zoning Board. 3.0 RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ADVANCE PAYMENTS TO THE NORTH QUEENSBURY AND BAY RIDGE RESCUE SQUADS RESOLUTION NO.: 357, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHEREAS, general emergency ambulance services are provided to the Town of Queensbury by the Bay Ridge Rescue Squad, Inc., North Queensbury Rescue Squad, Inc., and West Glens Falls Emergency Squad, Inc., (Squads) in accordance with agreements between each Rescue Squad and the Town, and WHEREAS, the Town’s agreements with the Squads expired on December 31, 2009, and WHEREAS, in such Agreements the Town and Squads agreed to continue to provide general emergency ambulance services under the terms and provisions of the existing agreements during the interim period pending execution of new agreements, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 52,2010, the Town Board authorized payment vouchers th constituting 1/12 of the 2009 Contract Amount for January and February to the Squads under the current REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 84 Agreements, which payments constituted advance payments on the new general emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreements, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 110,2010, the Town Board authorized payment vouchers th constituting 1/12 of the 2009 Contract Amount for March, April and May to the Squads under the current Agreements, which payments constituted advance payments on the new general emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreements, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 199,2010, the Town Board authorized payment vouchers th constituting 1/12 of the 2009 Contract Amount for June, July and August to the Squads under the current Agreements, which payments constituted advance payments on the new general emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreements, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 295,2010, the Town Board authorized payment vouchers th constituting 1/12 of the 2009 Contract Amount for September and October to the Squads under the current Agreements, which payments constituted advance payments on the new general emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreements, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 345,2010, the Town Board approved the emergency ambulance service Agreement between the Town and the West Glens Falls Emergency Squad, Inc., for the year 2010, and WHEREAS, the Bay Ridge and North Queensbury Rescue Squads may face cash flow shortages before their new agreements can be executed and therefore the Town Board wishes to again authorize advance payments under the current Agreements, which after new agreements are entered into, will constitute advance payments on the 2010 agreements to the Bay Ridge and North Queensbury Rescue Squads, such advances to be deducted from contract payments to be paid after the 2010 contracts are ratified, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes the Town Supervisor to th approve payment vouchers for 1/12 of the respective 2009 Contract Amount(s) during November, 2010 to the Bay Ridge and North Queensbury Rescue Squads under the current Agreements, which payments will constitute advance payments on the new general emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreement(s) if such agreements are entered into, with the further understanding that the Town th shall also approve payment vouchers for 1/12 of the North Queensbury Rescue Squads’ paid daytime service costs, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that should new emergency ambulance services 2010 Agreements not be entered into th by November 30, 2010, then the Town Board authorizes the Town Supervisor to approve additional th payment vouchers constituting 1/12 of the 2009 Contract Amount to the Bay Ridge and North Queensbury REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 85 RescueSquads during December, 2010, again with the understanding that the Town shall also approve th payment vouchers for 1/12 of the North Queensbury RescueSquads’ paid daytime service costs, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor and Town Budget Officer to make the necessary arrangements to make such payments which are authorized under the current Agreements and take such other and further action as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXTENSION OF EMPLOYMENT TERM FOR THOMAS KORB AS SEASONAL LABORER TO WORK AT TOWN CEMETERIES RESOLUTION NO. : 358, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Mr. John Strough WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY :Mr. Tim Brewer WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 188,2010, the Queensbury Town Board authorized the hiring of Thomas Korb to work as a Seasonal Laborer under the direct supervision of the Town Cemetery Superintendent for paid hours totaling no more than approximately 25 weeks, commencing on or about May rd 3, 2010, and WHEREAS, the Cemetery Superintendent has advised the Town Board that the fall clean-up work at the outside cemeteries is behind schedule due to reduced work staff and a large number of burials and monument foundations, and therefore the Cemetery Superintendent has requested that the Town Board authorize an extension of the terms of employment for Mr. Korb so that Mr. Korb may work an additional 17 days or 136 hours, and WHEREAS, funds for such an extension are available in the 2010 Town Budget, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes an extension of the terms of employment for Thomas Korb to work as a Seasonal Laborer for an additional 17 days or 136 hours, at the same terms as set forth in Resolution No.: 188,2010, and REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 86 BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Cemetery Superintendent, Town Budget Officer and/or Town Supervisor to complete any forms and take any action necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ENGAGEMENT OF PENFLEX, INC. SERVICE AWARD PROGRAM SPECIALISTS TO PROVIDE ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES FOR 2010/2011 AND PROVISION OF 2010 STANDARD YEAR END SERVICES RESOLUTION NO.: 359, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board wishes to engage the services of PENFLEX, INC. Service Award Program Specialists to provide administration and support services during 2010/2011, and the 2010 standard year end administration services for the Town of Queensbury’s Volunteer Firefighter Service Award Program and the LOSAP Audit Package, as outlined in PENFLEX’s Service Fee Agreement presented at this meeting, and WHEREAS, PENFLEX will provide these services for a total estimated cost of $13,045, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby approves and authorizes the engagement of PENFLEX, INC. to provide administration and support services during 2010/2011 and the 2010 standard year end administration services for the Town of Queensbury’s Volunteer Firefighter Service Award Program for a total estimated cost of $13,045, to be paid from the appropriate account as determined by the Town Supervisor and/or Town Budget Officer, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to execute the agreement with PENFLEX, INC. substantially in the form presented at this meeting and the Town Supervisor and/or Town Budget Officer to take any other actions necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 87 st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010 by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING APPLICATION FOR FUNDS FROM NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES RESOLUTION NO.: 360, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. John Strough WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury’s Director of Parks and Recreation (Director) has advised the Queensbury Town Board that the Town is again eligible to apply for funds from the New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS) relating to Town recreation programs, and WHEREAS, the Director has requested Town Board authorization to prepare a funding application in the amount of $6,000 for youth recreation programs eligible for matching reimbursement from OCFS through the Warren County Youth Bureau, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town’s Director of Parks and Recreation to prepare the application for recreation funds from the New York State Office of Children & Family Services and the Town Supervisor to execute such funding application, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that in the event that the Town does receive such recreation funds, the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Budget Officer to amend the Town Budget by increasing Revenue Account No.: 001-0000-53820 (Youth Program) and Operating Account No.: 001-7110-4824 (Recreation Programs) by the amount of $6,000, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor, Parks and Recreation Director and/or Town Budget Officer to take any other action necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 88 st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING WAIVER OF 30 DAY NOTIFICATION REQUIRED BY NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE MEADOWS AT CRONIN ROAD LLC DBA PUTTERS RESTAURANT & LOUNGE RESOLUTION NO.: 361, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHEREAS, Michael Melucci owns and operates The Meadows at Cronin Road LLC d/b/a Putters Restaurant & Lounge located at 31 Cronin Road, Queensbury, New York, and WHEREAS, due to a location change of the bar, Mr. Melucci has applied for a renewal of its liquor license, and WHEREAS, Mr. Melucci has requested that the Town of Queensbury waive the 30-day notification required by the New York State Liquor Authority (NYS) in an effort to expedite the renewal of such liquor license, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to authorize the Town Clerk to notify NYS that the Town Board has waived the 30 day notification period before such liquor license is renewed, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to notify the New York State Liquor Authority that the Town waives the 30 day notification period before the liquor license that is issued to The Meadows at Cronin Road LLC d/b/a Putters Restaurant & Lounge is renewed and that the Town Board has no objection to such license being renewed, and BE IT FURTHER, REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 89 RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor, and/or Town Clerk to take any actions necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010 by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING RELEASE OF ESCROW FUNDS TO HAYES CONSTRUCTION GROUP IN CONNECTION WITH DEDICATION OF BEACON HOLLOW DRIVE IN AUTUMN RIDGE SUBDIVISION RESOLUTION NO.: 362, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 528,2007 the Queensbury Town Board authorized the dedication of Beacon Hollow Drive in the Autumn Ridge Subdivision and at the time of dedication, Hayes Construction Group, LLC provided the Town with $20,700 to ensure completion of the road, such sum to be held in escrow in accordance with the terms of an Escrow Agreement, and WHEREAS, as required by the Escrow Agreement, the Town deposited the $20,700 in an interest bearing account, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 343,2009, the Town Board authorized the road name change from “Beacon Hollow Drive” to “Beacon Hollow Way,” and WHEREAS, the Town’s Highway Superintendent has advised the Town Board that Beacon Hollow Way has been completed to the Highway Superintendent’s satisfaction in accordance with the Escrow Agreement, and therefore has requested that the monies held by the Town be released, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to therefore authorize the refund of funds currently held in escrow to the Developer as required by the Escrow Agreement, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes the return of escrow funds to Hayes Construction Group, LLC in connection with the dedication of Beacon Hollow Way in the Autumn Ridge Subdivision, which sum shall be the amount of $20,700 plus any earned interest, and BE IT FURTHER, REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 90 RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Budget Officer to take such other and further action necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING GRANT APPLICATION FROM NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION FOR FUNDS TO BE USED FOR TOWN COURT IMPROVEMENTS RESOLUTION NO: 363, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. John Strough WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury’s Justice Court has advised the Town Board that a Capital Improvement Fund Grant from the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) is now available to provide funding to the Town for Town Court improvements, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to authorize an application for these grant funds up to the maximum grant amount available, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor and/or Town Justices to apply for a Capital Improvement Fund Grant, up to the maximum grant amount available, from the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) to be used by the Town for Town Court improvements and take any further actions necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT WITH JACKSON DEMOLITION, INC, FOR PROVISION OF SITE PREPARATION AND BUILDING DEMOLITION SERVICES AT THE GASLIGHT VILLAGE PROJECT SITE IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPROVED WORKPLAN OF CONTRACT WITH NYSDOS, C006868 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 91 RESOLUTION NO.: 364, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. John Strough WHEREAS, the environmental health and overall quality of life in the Lake George Watershed area is critical to the social and economic well being for the Town of Queensbury, Warren County and the region in general, and WHEREAS, the protection, preservation and proper management of water quality within the basin is an essential ingredient to maintaining this revered natural resource as a key to the social and economic vitality of this region, and WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury has been an active participant in developing the critically important water quality management plan, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 340,2008, the Queensbury Town Board authorized submission of the Environmental Protection Fund Application for State Assistance Payments – Local Waterfront th Revitalization Program, Year 2008-2009 dated June 30, 2008 in response to New York State’s solicitation of Financial Assistance Grant, and WHEREAS, the NYS Department of State previously awarded to the Town of Queensbury, on behalf of all participating municipalities in the Lake George Watershed Coalition (LGWC), in the amount of $1,200,000 –the agreement for which, Contract No. C006868, sets forth the workplan for implementation of the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program for 2009-2010, such funds to supplement an announced construction project being progressed by the New York State Department of Transportation to reconstruct part of Route 9, extending into the Village of Lake George, with the local match for this grant already secured by three members of the LGWC, namely the Town of Lake George, Village of Lake George and Warren County, regarding the purchase of the Gaslight Village property and the LGWC’s purchase of the 1400 acre Berry Pond Tract located within the West Brook Watershed,and WHEREAS, the Town Board has already considered and adopted Resolution No.: 297,2009, related to the aforementioned Contract C006868, and, WHEREAS, under the direction of Project Manager, an RFP was publicly noticed, bids received and read aloud in the Offices of the Village of Lake George for the provision of said site preparation and building demolition activities, and WHEREAS, the apparent low bidder determined by this public bidding process was deemed to be Jackson Demolition Services of Schenectady, New York, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to also authorize an Agreement with Jackson Demolition Services, Inc. for the provision of site preparation and building demolition services, and REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 92 WHEREAS, a copy of a proposed Agreement between the aforesaid Jackson Demolition Services, Inc and the Town of Queensbury, has been presented at this meeting, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board, in the interest of advancing the important work of protecting the preservation of water quality of Lake George, authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to execute the aforementioned Agreement for site preparation and building demolition services, substantially in the form presented at this meeting, and any other associated documentation, and take any actions necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION APPROVING AUDIT OF BILLS – ND WARRANT OF NOVEMBER 2, 2010 RESOLUTION NO.: 365, 2010 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. John Strough WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board wishes to approve an audit of bills presented as a Warrant thnd with a run date of October 28, 2010 and payment date of November 2, 2010, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby approves the Warrant with the run date of thnd October 28, 2010 and payment date of November 2, 2010 totaling $908,948.24, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor and/or Town Budget Officer to take such other and further action as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Stec, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer NOES : None REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 93 ABSENT: None 4.0 CORRESPONDENCE 4.1 Building and Codes – Monthly Report - September 2010 on file 5.0 TOWN BOARD DISCUSSIONS WARD IV COUNCILMAN BREWER ? Have we received a call from Attorney Lapper regarding Pyramid Mall? Supervisor Stec-I called him on Thursday, and Friday and this afternoon and tonight, they expect the variance from the Department of Labor any day, I asked for the contact person at Department of Labor, he said he will get that for me…The contractor is starting to mobilize as far as laying out where the power is, they expect to start demolition next week. Councilman Brewer-Requested that Supreme Court Action be started by Friday if there is no progress. WARD III COUNCILMAN STROUGH ?th Leaf pickup – Ward 4 Nov. 3-5 Ward 3 Nov. 8-12 Ward 1 &2 Nov. 15-19 Just leaves and grass clippings in biodegradable bags ? Reviewed monthly report from Fire Marshal’s Office – make sure carbon monoxide are in working order and fire detectors. WARD II COUNCILMAN MONTESI ? Agreed with Councilman Brewer regarding demolition at Pyramid WARD 1 COUNCILMAN METIVIER ? With the Budget being passed thanked Dan and the Department Heads for a job well done ?nd Make sure you vote tomorrow November 2. SUPERVISOR DANIEL STEC ? Thanked the Water and Highway Dept. and all Department Heads for doing a great job. ? Thanked our Sponsors and TV8 for televising these meetings ? Queensbury Website www.queensbury.net COUNCILMAN METIVIER ? New Website in Queensbury queensburyregion.com for businesses in. ?th Next Meeting for Queensbury Businesses will be December 8 contact myself or Councilman Strough for time and location…this group helps foster and promotes businesses in Queensbury COUNCILMAN STROUGH ? If you are not listed on our Website there is an icon on the site to join or contact and Town Board Member COUNCILMAN BREWER ? Spoke on the need to register businesses- need workshop on this RESOLUTION ADJOURNING TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 366.2010 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 11-1-2010 MTG #41 94 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Ronald Montesi WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its Town Board Meeting. st Duly adopted this 1 day of November, 2010 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Metivier, Mr. Montesi, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES: None ABSENT: None Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury