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2005-04-11 SP MTG18 203 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING MTG. #18 APRIL 11, 2005 RES. 192-194 7:00 P.M. TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR DANIEL STEC COUNCILMAN ROGER BOOR COUNCILMAN THEODORE TURNER COUNCILMAN JOHN STROUGH COUNCILMAN TIM BREWER TOWN OFFICIALS JENNIFER SWITZER-BUDGET OFFICER MARILYN RYBA-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MIKE GENIER-SUPERINTENDENT OF PINE VIEW CEMETERY BOB KEENAN IT DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR SUPERVISOR STEC OPENED THE MEETING 1.0 RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION APPROVING AUDIT OF BILLS – TH ABSTRACT OF APRIL 7, 2005 RESOLUTION NO.: 192, 2005 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Roger Boor WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. John Strough WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board wishes to approve the audit of bills thth presented as the Abstract with a run date of April 7, 2005 and a payment date of April 12, 2005, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby approves the Abstract with a thth run date of April 7, 2005 and payment date of April 12, 2005 numbering 25-161300 through 25-170000 and totaling $146,607.07, and BE IT FURTHER, 204 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Budget Officer and/or Town Supervisor to take such other and further action as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. th Duly adopted this 11 day of April, 2005, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Boor, Mr. Turner, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES : None ABSENT: None Discussion held before vote: Supervisor Stec-Spoke to the Board regarding security at the Court Building…noted that he had met with Chuck Rice and the Town Justices at the Court House to review security plans. 2.0 RESOLUTION : RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT AT PARK LOCATED AT THE INTERSECTION OF BAY AND QUAKER ROADS RESOLUTION NO.: 193, 2005 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Roger Boor WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Tim Brewer WHEREAS, Greg Greene and Drew Monthie have volunteered to help with the beautification of the Town’s property located at the intersection of Bay and Quaker Roads, and WHEREAS, the Town Board appreciates their offer of assistance and wishes to accept it, and WHEREAS, the Town Board needs to authorize the expenditure of up to $4,000 for such work, and WHEREAS, in addition, the Town’s insurance company informed the Town that they Town should in this case create a volunteer program and obtain a certain endorsement so that the Town’s insurance will cover these volunteers, and WHEREAS, there may be other similar situations where the Town benefits from volunteers, 205 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes the beautification project at the park located at the intersection of Bay and Quaker Roads, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes the expenditure of up to $4,000 for such project, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board establishes a volunteer program relating to such park and authorizes the obtaining of such endorsement as required by the Town’s insurance company, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board authorizes the Town Supervisor to establish other similar volunteer programs as they may arise and obtain similar insurance endorsements as deemed necessary, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor and/or Budget Officer to take such other and further action as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. th Duly adopted this 11 day of April, 2005, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Turner, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec, Mr. Boor NOES : None ABSENT: None Discussion regarding volunteer programs: Councilman Brewer-questioned if this would cover all volunteers? Budget Officer Switzer-This would include any type of volunteer project that we do, we would just have to set up a program, the type of project they are working etc. 2.0 DISCUSSION: TOWN OF QUEENSBURY CEMETERY – REBUILD THE RETORT IN THE CREMATORY 206 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 Pine View Cemetery Superintendent Mike Genier-Requesting funding to replace through a factory a 1992 refractory, last time it was replaced was 1998, approximate cost of the repair $18,000. (showed photos of the unit) running three hundred cremations a year in this unit…refractory runs 1800 degrees for a cremation up to 2100 degrees…Noted Mathews has done repairs on the unit and is the largest company in the world for this type of work and has the best technical service and response for replacing retorts. Noted technical service has been used several times in 2004. Discussion held regarding placing this project out to bid…it was the recommendation of the Town Board to place this project out to bid and also contact the original company for spec’s on the retort. Budget Officer Switzer-Noted that money will have to be taken from the contingency to supplement the Cemetery for this project. 4.0 DISCUSSION: ROUTE 9/GREAT ESCAPE HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS Supervisor Stec-Reviewed for the Board the proposal by Great Escape, they have requested that the Town and County pay for a portion of changes being required by DOT … Portion appropriate for the Town to consider is the turn lane on Glen Lake coming to Route 9 to turn north approximately sixty five thousand dollars. The County will be holding a special workshop this Wednesday morning to discuss the project, the right hand turn lane coming south on Route 9 to turn into the ring road and the ring road that would be approximately two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Noted that the County is willing to give us an easement we want to put in a turn lane, also needed is approval from DOT to get work done in the State Right of Way, have questioned if the Town Highway Dept. can do the work for a lot less than the sixty five thousand dollars, have not heard back as of yet. Councilman Boor-Questioned the moving of the utilities. Supervisor Stec- Any utility that has got to be moved is accounted for elsewhere. Noted that the Great Escape will be installing a light at the intersection of Glen Lake and Route 9. Councilman Brewer-Questioned where the money was coming from for the turn lane? Supervisor Stec-It could come out of the Highway Budget or contingency or out of CIP. Councilman Boor-Requested clarity on the what the sixty five thousand dollars covers. Supervisor Stec-Will keep the Town Board updated on the project. 5.0 DISCUSSION: PAID DAYTIME EMS AT NORTH QUEENSBURY/BAY RIDGE Supervisor Stec-Discussed long-term better coverage through out the Town and even coverage for EMS. We basically have a plan in place and it is just a matter of running it past the Town Board to consider it. The only concerns that I have expressed is when will I be comfortable from a financial standpoint, it is not budgeted however to also conservatevily budget the revenue stream from bill for service. We have brought in thirteen thousand 207 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 dollars year to date so far. We have called iLIANT and talked to Pat Griffin who coordinates our end of things and she confirmed that everything is looking good, we have a couple of outstanding items that are needed from West in order to set up their Medicare. North Queensbury is all set with Medicare they have their number, Bay Ridge has submitted everything and they got their number. The grand total of what has been billed so far two hundred and twenty five thousand in a four-month period. You are looking at an annual basis of roughly a little under seven hundred thousand dollars in billing. iLIANT is telling us a conservative number is sixty percent. We can expect a four hundred thousand dollars a year revenue, we have budgeted for two fifty. Bay Ridge and North have been working on a schedule to provide a second paid crew, which would improve response time. Representatives from EMS-Paid program that was started March 2004 has gone very successfully. Noted demand for volunteer services and the training to stay active and current is very demanding; the amount of volunteers has been decreasing. Our leadership is strung out trying to make sure that everything is in proper form, and training records are kept and what have you. Noted down spots during nine to five each day or six to six we are short staffed. In Bay Ridge fifty two percent of the calls comes during the day. Presented a proposal for Bay Ridge and North Qsby. for paid day time staff for the summer up north as well as the east side of town year round to supply our self until the end of the year. Noted Bay Ridge calls this year is at 179. and our call volume last year was 550 we are on track for exceeding last years numbers. Noted around fifty calls were missed, such as standbys at the station some were mutual aid from other companies so there were around forty calls during the day we could not get to. On an average call we can take in four hundred dollars for resource recovery. Spoke on a mutual aid policy which is called System Status Management-when a call goes out and an ambulance goes to a call the other crew will come to the center of town and wait for the next one and when that crew returns into service in their station the other crew will also return to their station to cover both areas of the town. Supervisor Stec-The paid crews will act as a single coordinated unit so you will not have a line drawn in the imaginary sand. Representative of EMS-Instead of using Keena as a re-sourcing agent several time through each individual agency ..the paperwork for the paycheck status under one, and have everyone submit the paychecks in one form and we will get them to the individual people. Supervisor Stec- Questioned how much more expensive it was to have three separate companies all working through Keena? Budget Officer Switzer-There is a hundred and twenty dollar administrative fee per company per pay periods. This conversation as far as coordinating the paid crews and coordinating paying for these crews sets you all on the right path again. The Town Board wants to send the message to all three-rescue squads that we are still committed to and believing in the long run we do think that the right thing to do for your organizations and for the town is ultimately consolidation. If you are going to save six thousand dollars a year in overhead for paying for people, that is just in one area if you pool again how much would you save in equipment? Councilman Boor-We are going to be able to serve the public better, they are going to get a better quality it is always going to be there. Representative of EMS-This is an old concept that is across the country, we are not presenting anything new. Councilman Brewer-Noted his 208 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 biggest concern is I do not want to see the Town divided by a line. Supervisor Stec-All the big-ticket decisions, the paid crew, the bill for service the buildings, that all needs to be coordinated. I think you are heading in the right direction. You are talking about from when we say go for the rest of the year an ALS and a BLS tech at Bay Ridge how many days a week? Representative of EMS- Five Supervisor Stec-For how many hours a day? Representative of EMS-twelve. Supervisor Stec-Are they going to be the same five days? Representative of EMS-No. We are going to pool our resources figuring out what days we can staff…Supervisor Stec- Right now West is Monday through Friday, the five days that you are talking about are not Monday through Friday so Saturdays and Sundays are going to get covered so instantly town wide instead of having coverage five days a week we are going to have it seven days a week. The component for North stth Qsby., this is for an ALS tech from May 1 to September 9 also for five days a week, maybe or maybe not the same five days a week as West or Bay Ridge. Representative of EMS-North Queensbury also looking for somebody three days a week that would be another seven thousand. We have four or five people available in the day time most of the time we can get somebody, we have one person day time but to get the second person was just you know, that is why we are looking for one person rather than two. Supervisor Stec-If operated and viewed as a town wide plan which is what you have described tonight it is an improvement for coverage though out the Town not just for Bay Ridge or North’s area. I am supportive of the proposal as you have made it tonight. Councilman Boor-I think it really is going to pay for itself. Councilman Brewer-I would agree with that also. Discussion held regarding the EMS Proposal, the Town Board is supportive of the proposal, will contact legal counsel regarding the proper course of Th action and a public hearing will probably be held on May 16to change the contracts. Noted this was the 2.6 plan in front of the Board. Discussion held regarding how much to pay per hour? Councilman Brewer- Recommended going slow in increasing pay,..revenue has not been coming in long enough yet. Supervisor Stec-Whatever number we settle on will be across the board. Board agreed to set pay rate at $10.00 and $12.50. 6.0 DISCUSSION: MUNIS - ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE Budget Officer Jennifer Switzer-Presented to the Town Board a proposal to change the Accounting System Software – the present software has been used by the Town of Queensbury for fifteen years, need software that does a more efficient job, purchasing for the Town and the accounting would allow the office to have half of a position. This system will automate a lot of the paper work such as purchase orders and encumbering funds, looking to increasing the usefulness of the budget and reports. This proposed system would allow for doing projects for not only one department but for several departments down to line items by percentage and dollar amounts. At the present time only excel spread sheets are used for this type of reports. Using ADP for the payroll system, basically the Town is doing eighty percent of the work is data entering and they are basically printing checks for us and reports and filing our taxes for about eleven thousand per year. The initial 209 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 outlay for payroll software we would recover in a couple of years and do away with the eleven thousand dollars year expense, as well as give us more access to some of the data we cannot track because we do not have the ability to track. This system would have the ability to do water billing, wastewater and taxes and building permits, I would hope that one day we would be able to use MUNIS for all of these revenues and the receipting and the billing and they would all be integrated. If you as a taxpayer walked into the Town and walked up to the Clerk’s Office that office would not have to go through two or three systems to figure out whether you had a water bill your town or school tax or a building permit fee out there would be all on one screen. Those are some of the basic changes that we can see here at the Town, just a more efficient use of our time, our office could be more pro active as far as reporting and doing a better job of analyzing the costs of what happens here at the Town. Councilman Strough-What other municipalities use the Munis System? Budget Officer Switzer-The Town of Niskayuna, Wayne County the City of Saratoga Springs, the City of Glens Falls, the City of Rome the Village of Curtin on the Hudson, the City of Buffalo, they have all had great luck with it. Councilman Strough-How old is this system? Budget Officer Switzer-Munis has been around longer than KVS, twenty-five to thirty years. IT Director Bob Keenan-Noted that the company is active updating their products. Councilman Boor-What is the learning curve on this? IT Director Keenan-We have had a demo on this, it is a windows based product it is very intuitive I think on the accounting side of it. Councilman Boor-I would assume the Clerk would have to know all of this? Budget Officer Switzer-No. Right now they use Govern, and only when and if they decide that water, wastewater and the Clerk’s Office decide they want to change from that type of billing to MUNIS billing that is when you will see a bigger learning curve than what this is proposed. Councilman Boor-Isn’t that the natural next step, why would we be using different systems, this seems to have it all. Budget Officer Switzer-That is one of the biggest reasons that I like MUNIS because they do offer it all and there are municipalities that do use it all. IT Director Keenan-The way you start the process you have got to start with one department and the need is not there in the other departments like it is in accounting. Councilman Boor-I guess it looks expensive for one department I would like to think that the Town as a whole could take advantage of it. Councilman Strough-Do we pay an annual maintenance fee? Budget Officer Switzer-We pay an annual maintenance right now for KVS and it is about five thousand dollars. This is almost seventeen thousand dollars, this is including payroll and we are paying eleven thousand to process payroll. Noted there will be nineteen thousand dollars in payroll savings with having a part time person in accounting. IT Director Keenan-Noted savings in data entry with having department heads electronically submitting data for purchases, and payroll to the accounting department. Budget Officer Switzer-With KVS data cannot be exported to any kind of spreadsheet, MUNIS has that capability also has laser fiche to store data and transfer electronically. Councilman Strough-We can take over the payroll and save eleven thousand, reduce labor, easier to use more efficient, greater compatibility with systems and save on paper and supplies. What do they do for the annual maintenance fee? IT Director Keenan- Basically technical support, upgrades to the software. Budget Officer Switzer-Noted that she was involved in implementing and the set up of MUNIS at the City of Glens Falls and used it before she left. Councilman Strough-It is one hundred and sixty one thousand to buy the product and 210 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 sixteen seven fifty four for an annual maintenance fee, which will probably go up from year to year. IT Director Keenan-Noted it is under New York State Contract it is held at 5% tops as far as increase. Budget Officer Switzer-This will include all the set up fees, training and any costs that we would have, professional services that is everything, this training would be town wide. Supervisor Stec-Questioned the timing of implementing this type of program. Budget Officer Switzer-There is never going to be a good time to have a conversion. The longest time will be the contract issues between Munis and the Town, I am looking at six weeks before we can start to get them here and start the implementation. Councilman Boor-Where would the money come from? Budget Officer Switzer-CIP that is what my proposal is. Supervisor Stec-We would have to create a capital account. Councilman Boor-How does the sixteen thousand get handled? Budget Officer Switzer-The first year they only require a certain percentage of that. It would become an operating expense. Councilman Strough-This is the best one out there? There isn’t one better than MUNIS? IT Director Keenan-In this size market, you can go bigger and you are going to get better but you do not need it for a town this size. There are companies out there that do software for Cities, but it is just not affordable. Board agreed to review proposal. (Councilman Turner left meeting during discussion) DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Lighting a. Fifty dollars more a pole with outlets and they are recommending that we go with SC3 coverage. b. Total cost approximately 2500 dollars c. Requested that the outlets be locking. Board agreed 2. Highway Dept. a. Board to look at intersection of Pershing and Ashley 3. Safety Committee a. Reorganization – will present to the Board a draft form of reorganization of the committee and by laws…. 4. Litigation Letter a. Ltr. Has been prepared by Town Counsel to be presented to the City of Glens Falls – requested Board Members to review letter. 5. Survey Letter a. Ltr. Permission to do a survey regarding pedestrian bike path Written by Councilman Strough 211 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING 04-11-2005 MTG. #18 Councilman Boor-Questioned if there is any way to restrict use of shooting range on Ridge Road…Noted that is grandfathered in … Question on Boulderwood a residence not completed, I will check on this. RESOLUTION ADJOURNING SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 194, 2005 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Roger Boor WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Daniel Stec RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its Town Board Meeting. th Duly adopted this 11 day of April, 2005 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Boor, Mr. Strough, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Stec NOES: None ABSENT: None Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk-Queensbury