MINUTES
PRESENT: MICHAEL
JOSEPH CAPASSO, COUNCILMAN
ERNEST KASSAY, COUNCILMAN
GINNY NACERINO, DEPUTY SUPERVISOR
ANTOINETTE KOPECK, TOWN CLERK
TIMOTHY CURTISS, TOWN COUNSEL
Salute to the Flag and Roll Call.
Supervisor
Mr. David Raines, Code Enforcement Officer stated I want to make sure you know that the fire exits are in the front, the rear and the sides of the building. If the fire alarm sounds please exit the building at the designated exits. Please don’t block the aisles and the doorways. There is no smoking in the building.
AUDIT OF BILLS
Mrs. Nacerino made a motion to approve the following bills chargeable to 2008:
General Fund $26,437.21, Highway Fund Item 1- General
Repairs $15,739.31, Highway Fund Item 3 - Machinery $16,615.22, Highway Fund Item
4 - Miscellaneous $775.42, Highway Fund
– Employee Benefits $1,024.94, Highway Fund – Debt Service $33,208.75, Patterson Fire District $68.31, Waste Water
Treatment Plant $229,801.53, Capital Fund $4,974,548.50, Library $26.09, Putnam
Lake Light District $1,246.00, Patterson Light District $1,312.00, Putnam Lake
Refuse District #1 $28,522.02, Patterson Refuse District #2 $51,494.30, Deerwood
Drainage District $15.51, Patterson Park District $317.12, Alpine Water
District $550.00,
Seconded by Mr. O’Connor. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
Mr. Kassay stated Mr. Supervisor may I address the public before we start the agenda.
Mr. Griffin stated you certainly may.
Mr. Kassay stated welcome ladies and gentlemen to our Town Board meeting. I would like to thank everyone here tonight and thank the folks that were here last Wednesday evening at the Preliminary Budget. It was wonderful to have one week to reflect on all the comments that you made to the Board. I wish I could have two weeks to put together ideas that I would like to share with you but one week is a good start. Thank you for the opportunity to reflect on this budget.
Mr. Kassay stated the second thing I would like to say is that I will and always have for the last fifteen years listened to the people and I will vote accordingly as to what the people said. Again, I revert that back to having one week to reflect on what the forty plus people had to say at the meeting. I would like to ask the public to try and attend every Town Board meeting from now on in. One fine lady who spoke last week had also made that statement to the Board and the public. Please help your Town Officials out and help your Town out with your input. I will reach out to everyone that will allow me to do that
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and try to improve the quality of life in the Town and help all the taxpayers in the Town. I thoroughly believe that every penny from now on in that this Board approves I want the public to be able to support. If things on the agenda, which now comes out the Friday before each Town Board meeting, are not clear to any member in the audience, I hope that you will raise your hand so we can discuss it. If we don’t clear it up for you and the item needs to be tabled we can even get your input to help us investigate the expenditure, I would cherish that. I would like to ask Counsel, after listening to the people speak; it might be a good idea to start the budget process on April 1. Let’s get a Tentative Budget out on April 1st and let the Town Board have it in the month of May, so the public will have five months to help us to decide how we can save the taxpayer’s money. I think that is a wonderful idea but it will only work with your assistance. Also, it is better to have an informed public as to what we want to accomplish for you. You are our employer and I am your employee like everyone else on this Board is. If you don’t know what is going on and I don’t know what is going on, we are never going to meet in the center of the road to rectify it. We all need to work on the communication skills to make it work better. If you have anything else you would like to say you can speak under Public Recognition.
Mr. Kassay stated I firmly believe after last week’s meeting we need more open government so that the taxpayers know all the facts before a Town Board member gives his/her vote. We should have a Budget Advisory Board in place for residents that want to help this Town Board out to do the right thing with the Preliminary Budget and the Tentative Budget. I also believe from this day forward that every meeting should be televised. That goes under the heading of more open government. We have the internet, the web page and everything else in place. Let’s give the taxpayer’s in this Town every opportunity to give input to this Board, so we do the right thing. Thank you for listening. Members of the Board thank you for letting me speak.
CHANGES TO PERSONNEL POLICY – BENEFITS
Mr. O’Connor stated I think in the future we should amend our Personnel Policy to reflect the fact that no Town Elected Official shall receive “In-Lieu” of cash after leaving Town service.
Seconded by Mr. Kassay for the purposes of discussion.
Mr. Kassay stated after speaking with the Town Attorney and
Comptroller about this there is an insurance problem with what is stated in the
Mr. Timothy Curtiss, Town Attorney stated you have passed a couple of changes to the Personnel Policy last week, which I did change and gave it to Patricia Brooks, Town Comptroller. What we learned in the interim is that we have a Policy of Insurance with Empire Plan, which has some implications to it. Some we can enact, some we may not be able to contract. What Ms. Brooks suggested was that whatever changes you want to make let’s talk about them tonight and we will research to make sure that we are not running afoul of the insurance carrier and then we can report to you what we can or can not do.
Mr. O’Connor stated I understand that whatever amendments we would make to put this proposal or similar thing into effect probably couldn’t be done tonight. The only thing I thought would be done tonight would be the second part of my agenda which is Proposed Amendments for the Budget which have to be acted upon tonight.
Mr. Griffin stated I think what most of the people are looking for here tonight is that this should be a statement of policy for this Town Board that no Elected Official should be taking in-lieu of after they leave the service of the Town as a Town Board member. They
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should not be taking in-lieu of with them as a matter of Town policy. How do we accomplish that, I think we should leave that up to the Attorney and work with our medical insurance provided that we are well within the bounds of the policy limitations and I think tonight that we should agree as a Board that it is a statement of policy.
Mr. O’Connor stated when I finish this term I will be with
the Town of
Mr. Capasso stated I also think that all employees should not have the in-lieu of medical. It shouldn’t be just the Elected Official’s; it should be all employees after leaving.
Mr. Griffin stated we also have a suggestion from Mr. Bruce Major that he would be willing to Chair a committee to review all employee benefits and as a Captain in the New York City Police Department for about a thousand years he pretty well qualities. It is another consideration the Board might want to make along with Councilman Kassay’s suggestion of auditing our budget.
Mr. O’Connor stated I consider myself a student of
history. One of the questions that comes
up in representative government is “are you there to just voice what you
perceive to be the will of the people, or are you there to rectify your own
good judgment”. There have been many
people in high positions who helped one way or the other. People have said they owe their constituents
their own good judgment. I favor
that. My judgment is to what is best for
the Town of
Mr. O’Connor made a motion for the budget to reflect that the Town Counsel and part-time Official’s without any set hours or mandated hours be entitled to an individual medical plan and not a family plan. If they choose to take the family plan they should pay twenty-five percent of the difference. If they choose to take in-lieu of while they are active their in-lieu of should be capped at $3,000.00 per year.
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino.
Mr. Griffin stated discussion. Would you like to say anything Mr. Capasso
Mr. Capasso stated no.
Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
Mr. O’Connor stated I would like to amend the line in the Budget for Personal Services for the Town Council’s 2009 salary which was originally set in the Preliminary Budget at approximately $19,600.00 to $18,000.00 per person.
Seconded by Mr. Kassay. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
Mr. O’Connor stated there were two lines that were deleted in the Budget. Line 1620.100 and 1623.100 were shared service lines to pay the salary of Mr. Paul Fava. As I was entering Town Hall today, I saw Mr. Fava running out of the building and he told me he was rushing to Covington Greens because an alarm had gone off in their wastewater pump station. I didn’t ask him about it but I thought if he wasn’t here then who would go and fix it. We would be calling some contractoring company which would cost a lot.
We also didn’t have our senior citizens luncheon today. Mr. Fava is a great cook and the seniors are as happy as they have ever been and so am I.
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Mr. O’Connor made a motion that line 1620.100 and 1623.100 for $11,576.00 and $2,132.00 be restored in the Preliminary Budget.
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino.
Mr. Kassay stated discussion. Why 1623.100. What is the $2,132.00 for. I don’t see that in the budget. Am I reading it incorrectly.
Mrs. Patricia Brooks stated that is the difference between the Tentative Budget and the Preliminary Budget. It would be restoring the lines that were actually in the Tentative Budget that were changed during the Preliminary Budget base. That would restore Mr. Fava to full status and full pay.
Mr. O’Connor stated you are right Mr. Kassay there is no specific number for $2,132.00. It is the difference between two other numbers.
Mr. Kassay stated ok.
Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
Mr. O’Connor made a motion to add a line to the budget for $8,000.00 to provide video recording for Town Board meetings and that they be made available to the public and aired on local television.
Seconded by Mr. Kassay. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
FINAL BUDGET DISCUSSION/AMENDMENTS
Mr. Griffin stated at this time I would like to open the meeting up and ask anyone who would like to come down and ask any questions or make any comments relative to the Final Budget before we adopt it.
Mr. Robert Lichtenberg stated I have a question for the Attorney. The item that was tabled due to legal information; in-lieu of cash payments after they left Town employment, why is that a health care legal issue.
Mr. Curtiss stated it probably won’t be. Under the contract if we change the contribution to employees or change the in-lieu of for the existing employees we may have to tweak the contract a little bit. People leaving Town service would have to defer to Ms. Brooks.
Mr. Lichtenberg stated is it the twenty-five percent co-pay, is that what the issue is. Then I would like to see the Board revisit that because it says to amend the Personnel Policy to reflect that no Town Elected Official or Town Employee receive in-lieu of cash payments after leaving Town service. It doesn’t have anything to do with they have to pay twenty-five percent. When they leave the Town Board they no longer get paid in-lieu of and I don’t think that has to go to legal. That is something you should be able to determine today. I would like to see you go back to that before we adjourn.
Mr. Griffin stated I think you have it on the record that it
is now a stated policy in the Town of
Mr. Lichtenberg stated is it.
Mr. Griffin stated yes. They did pass that.
Mr. Lichtenberg stated they did, thank you.
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Mr. Steve Mandras stated I just want to say that it is fantastic to see one Town Board here tonight.
Ms. Cheyenne Alberti stated the senior citizens of Patterson thank you very much for saving Paul’s job. Thank you so much. We are looking forward to our luncheon.
Ms. Nancy Kalbfell stated I was looking over the budget and just picking and came across on line for a total of $21,000.00 for training. I felt that was an area that the Town may be able to look at. Last week it was great seeing everyone’s support, but I didn’t know I was here for the “I Love Richie” show. I thought it was a Town Budget meeting and there were about four hundred lines on this Budget and each one can be addressed and the entire meeting was about two particular people, salaries and lines. There are so many other lines to look at. I assume that you will be looking at all these other lines before you make your decisions. I appreciate what you have done to this point, but just training alone for $21,000.00. My impression was when you get the job it’s because you know what you are doing and then they give you these additional courses you can take. That is an awful lot of money that you may be able to cut down.
Mr. Griffin stated you also have to keep in mind that a number of Officials, the Judges, the Assessor, Town Clerk, Fire Code Inspector, Building Code Inspector, Planning and Zoning Board have mandatory training. For everyone’s information the Town Board is discussing establishing a new policy. Mrs. Nacerino established a policy basically eliminating the Association of Towns because of the expense except for the Judges and a few others. We also had to agree that from here on in all requests for training will have to come through the Town Board and be pre-approved in advanced so that we will put a stop to a lot of those training lines that are not necessary.
Ms. Kalbfell stated that’s great. Thank you.
Mrs. Nacerino stated I will be working on developing a conference request form so that we will be able to make that assessment and we will be able to save tax dollars as a result of it.
Mr. Charles Withlew stated last week at the meeting, I asked
a question about one of the line items which happened to be the Assessor and
the expense of the Assessor that went from $114,000.00 to $187,000.00. I heard the answer that originally the
Assessor was shared with the Town of
Mr. Griffin stated as far as the Budget goes the Assessor
now has full-time responsibility. The
Town of
Mr. Withlew stated it is kind of what I figured but I didn’t expect it. The question is in these economic conditions, we should be spending less. One of the places you could spend less is on the Assessor. You need an Assessor but you can share with any number of Towns who are also trying to cut their budgets.
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Mr. Griffin stated right now we are looking at any Town that has an interest in sharing an Assessor and we would be more than happy to discuss it with them.
Mr. Withlew stated how do you go about finding them.
Mr. Griffin stated we could pursue the Association of Towns and the Supervisors in Putnam meet on a reasonably regular basis. Unless we go up into Dutchess or check with other Towns, as of right now I am not aware of any other Town who is willing to share an Assessor.
Mr. O’Connor stated the Assessor told me that he looks into
that actively also. He told me he had a nibble
from a small Town in
Mr. Charlie Cook stated I would like to commend the Board for the actions that they have taken tonight. Second, I would like to commend the Board to committing to have an early Budget process for 2009 open to the public. Thank you.
Mr. Griffin stated I am not going to promise that we will start the Budget process in April. It is way too soon in the year to figure that out. We could maybe move it up to August, maybe spend a little time in September talking about it but April is not really possible. A lot of the departments are not going to have a full picture of what their Budgets are going to be for the following year.
Mr. Cook stated you didn’t mention a month.
Mr. Griffin stated I just don’t want any one to leave here tonight with the assumption that April 1st I will have a Tentative Budget sitting on the Town Clerk’s counter for everyone to look at. I don’t want any misunderstanding. I don’t have a problem moving that up but we are not moving it up by leaps and bounds. Maybe thirty to forty-five days.
Mr. Cook stated agreed. My take would be September.
Mr. Griffin stated Ms. Brooks, Town Comptroller and I have had some brief discussions on it but I would like to reformat the way it is presented because it doesn’t make a lot of sense to a lot of people. I think it should be much more broken down where you can identify each individual, their salary and each expense in a little more detail. When you lump all your Personal Services together you are not sure who is getting what. I think you are going to see a very different format next year.
Mr. Kassay stated when I stated April 1 my intent was to go back and revisit the 2009 Budget which will be adopted this evening. As Ms. Kalbfell mentioned there are a lot of line items on this Budget with no explanations. It was only touched on a few lines like the Town Planner, Environmental Conservation Inspector, Maintenance and Recreation. There are a lot of other lines here that we need to have informational meetings on so that you have a better understanding on what every line is. If the Tentative Budget is pushed up one month and starts August 1 instead of September 1, you will have an opportunity to dissect this Budget so you understand what all those lines mean and you could express your opinion on what you want clarified better. That was the intent of what I said so that you as a group of taxpayers are one hundred percent informed as to what we are voting on tonight. If there are any discrepancies that have become uncovered you will then have the knowledge to address them.
Mr. Dan Kutcha stated last Wednesday I asked about the cost of the Court House and where it is in the Budget. I don’t see it in the Budget. I heard that you are contemplating floating a bond in the middle of the year that will appear on the 2010 Budget. I would like to see these costs on display for the public because I think that is where bigger tax increase might be coming from for this Town.
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Mr. Griffin stated some of the information is in the Capital Budget. Mr. Semo was here last week and dropped a whole lot of misinformation and I would be more than happy to address some of it with you. We sold the old library for $600,000.00. Mr. Semo stated that we spent $600,000.00 and that is essentially correct, but we also have a $250,000.00 grant from the State Dormitory Authority and that will cover the remaining costs for the project. The construction costs we will be putting out a Bond Anticipation Note sometime in the spring which will cover all of the costs for the construction. When the project is finished either in late 2009 or early 2010 and we identified all of the actual construction costs at this point we will seek long term bonding. The cost of the Bonding Participation Note and those costs will not be realized until 2010.
Mr. Kutcha stated what is the estimated cost of the long term bonding.
Mr. Griffin stated the overall cost of the Court House is about $2,000,000.00. I apologize but we just got a new estimate in from the architect and the construction off-setter and I did not get a chance to look at it. Now you are going to put me on the spot to figure this out. A lot of this has already been done and accounted for, construction is going to be $2,383,746.00 and the overall cost of the project will be a little over three million. There is a million dollar grant from the Dormitory Authority.
Mr. Rich Williams, Town Planner stated to address some of the issues that the community had and were brought up here last week, I presented the Board with a cross estimate done by Transitional Builders who is the outfit that the Board hired to look at value engineering for the project, the site plan and basic architectural floor plans. Hopefully the Board can digest this between now and the next meeting and hopefully at the next meeting we can have a lot of discussion about this Court House project so we can start making decisions on how to move forward on this, if we are going to move forward.
Mr. Griffin stated can you send all this information to Mr. Reibold and get it on the web site.
Mr. Williams stated I was going to ask the Board if they wanted me to do that. There is a whole series of plans. Would the Board be comfortable with just the basic architectural’s and site plans going up.
Mrs. Nacerino and Mr. O’Connor stated yes, I think that would be appropriate.
Mr. Williams stated the other thing that I will do is take Transitional’s budget which is for $3.5 million for the cost of the total project. I will add in there the funding sources that we have to off set some of those costs so everyone has a good picture.
Mr. Kassay stated Mr. Williams what do you think about having an informational meeting with the public so we can supply all the information we have on all the facts and figures that we acquired from day one. This is a very important project and it could be very costly to the taxpayers. I would think that you would want that information. If I’m wrong please let me know.
Mr. Williams stated I would absolutely support that. Going through this process we have gone to the Board with that information at different times and said here is where we are and what the anticipated budget is at this point. Certainly if you want to do that as a separate meeting rather than the Town Board meeting I would agree to do it.
Mr. Kassay made a motion that the Board consider a date in January or February. That will give us enough time to get all the facts and figures from day one together and you can decide how much money you want to spend on a new Court House.
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino. All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
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Mr. Griffin stated we will get the information up on the web site as quickly as possible and then anyone who has any questions can feel free to email Mr. Williams or myself or anyone else on the Town Board.
Mr. Williams stated we have a project schedule laid out and the intent was to bid this out in the winter season because we were hopeful we were going to get better bid results. Then we would be in a position to break ground in the spring and look at the construction season through next year. By doing that in January it pushes us back and I want you to understand by pushing us back it may add to the cost of this project.
Mr. Kassay stated I don’t know if the residents want to approve a two or three million dollar Court House.
Mr. Williams stated I don’t either.
Mr. Kassay stated I want to hear from the public. This is what the problem is here. I stated that earlier. We want to work with all of you and we want to have more open government and we want you to know where every penny has gone and where it is intended to go.
Ms. Erin Griffin stated the recall of some of the grants that have been issued for projects like this, can you speak of projects that have been secured and how long you have to use them.
Mr. Griffin stated we are at $1.25 million and we are already at the reimbursement stage on $250,000.00. We are also in the process of locking down the $1,000,000.00 but if we don’t move on the project we are going to be in trouble.
Mr. Williams stated I am constantly in contact with DASNY to make sure these grants are still in place. As of last week those grants are still secure. I recognize that this project hinges on securing those grants. If we lose those grants this project is done.
Mr. Kassay stated we know that approximately $598,000.00 has already been expended of this Court House budget. There is nothing there in place that can already explain why we already spent a half of million dollars. I know the senator’s office contributed $1.25 million dollars. I also know there was $300,000.00 more money that was given to the library so that the Town could continue to pay $1,000.00 for rent so the court could continue there. Maybe the people are going to say we already lost $600,000.00 let’s cut it off here before we lose any more.
Mr. Griffin stated we haven’t lost $600,000.00.
Mr. Kassay stated I have some facts and figures.
Mr. Griffin stated the fact is that we sold the old building for $600,000.00 and we have a $250,000.00 grant to pay for soft costs.
Mr. Kassay stated what about the $370,000.00 we spent to pick up those houses that we no longer need.
Mr. Griffin stated that is part of the $600,000.00.
Mr. Kassay stated all this will be out in black and white. We want to be on board one hundred percent. What should we do now. Should we cut our losses and look into shared services for the Court House. I don’t know what we should do. It might be the frugal thing to do. I am depending on you to let me know that.
Mr. Williams stated I would like to take the opportunity to dispel one myth that I heard going through the community and that is that we wasted the money picking up those
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three parcels. If that Court House is built, and I’m not advocating that it be built back there, but if it is built behind Town Hall those three parcels are absolutely essential. We did not waste that money based on the current plan that this Town Board approved and has directed to go forward.
Mr. Kassay stated I hope you are one hundred percent on track with that statement.
Mr. Williams stated it is absolutely certain.
Mr. Kassay stated ok then that will be discussed with the people.
Mr. Kutcha stated thank you for the proposal to layout the construction process for all of us. I hope in addition that it includes the annual operating and maintenance costs. I know to keep a building that size costs a lot of money. Finally, thank you for passing the video taping of the Town Board meetings.
Mr. David Raines stated Mr. Griffin I would respectfully request a meeting. I received those plans two hours ago and I started looking at them and I spent about forty-five minutes on them and I have several strong concerns about some of the numbers and before you run this publicly, as far as putting it on the web, I would like to meet early next week because it may change things significantly.
Mr. Griffin stated right now I would like him to put up the site plan.
Mr. Raines stated as far as the Transitional piece I think we need to digest it a little bit.
Mr. Griffin stated there is a lot of work that has to be done on the budget because I haven’t even taken a hard look at it.
Mr. Raines stated I am very comfortable with the site plan. It is what we talked about it but as far as Transitional’s proposal I think we should look at it before we put it out there.
Mr. Robert Farese stated one suggestion. We have a library there and I wondered why we didn’t look at the addition to that for the Court House. I know an addition would have been about twenty-five percent of a new Court House.
Mr. Griffin stated an addition where.
Mr. Farese stated at the library.
Mr. Griffin stated the property is limited in size. Mr. Petersen was not interested in selling the Town anymore property. We would expand the building, we would eliminate most of the parking and we would also be in jeopardy of violations of the wetlands.
Mr. Farese stated what about going up.
Mr. Griffin stated that is a possibility. We had an engineering review done on it and it was not designed to be two stories so it would have involved significant other engineering.
Mr. Farese stated I’m a developer, I do this everyday from start to finish and I’m sure it would be a lot less than a new structure. I know where costs go. I didn’t get a chance to look at that sheet yet, but when I do look at it, I’m sure your numbers are not going to be in line. Costs are high.
Mr. Mike Semo stated first of all Mike, I did not put out any misinformation. My statement last month was $600,000.00 already spent on the Court House, which is factual. You can dilute the numbers anyway you want but that is what has been spent to date. I think you have to take a real close look at the revenues that you are anticipating.
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Just in the Journal News today I think there was somewhere around thirty-three percent reduction (inaudible).
Ms. Lynn Andretta stated I would just like to make a point that whether you start the Budget process in April reviewing last year’s Budget or start the new Budget process in September or October, as our Representatives I would hope you would be looking at this Budget every month and figuring out where you are doing well and where you are not and where you think you can cut and where you can’t. I don’t think you need to wait until September to figure all of that stuff out.
Mr. Griffin stated there is a Supervisor’s Report every month that details all the spending so we can track how we are spending and where we are spending. I also think that we are very cognizant of the fact that wherever we can save we will save and any monies that we don’t spend will fall to fund balance to be used for the following year’s Budget.
Ms. Andretta stated understood but I was pretty sure I heard a statement that we only had a week to think about what the people have said and regardless of what was said last week those things could have been thought about for the past ten months. I don’t think we need a formal budget process to actually look at expenses and cutting budget costs.
Mr. Kassay stated I agree to what you have said to a certain point. Again, it is the people in the Town that have the right to know that. The Board already has certain information. Informational meetings for the people will bring them on board with everything we receive every month. The Supervisor is the Chief Fiscal Officer. He has that opportunity to put a Tentative Budget together. The idea is that the people need to understand what that report is saying in relation to all the lines on the Budget. How are people going to understand and read a budget. The Supervisor stated maybe the format needs to be changed and probably will be in the future but people need to become more and more educated. It is getting tighter and tighter everyday.
Ms. Andretta stated I agree with you totally Ernie. Maybe one of the places you could expand our knowledge is instead of passing a $5,000,000.00 abstract at the beginning of the meeting you could explain to us what that abstract is.
Mr. Kassay stated without a doubt. Besides the informational meetings we have, don’t forget we can use the internet. There are so many ways to have open government, let’s utilize them. It’s time to change.
Mr. Paul Fava stated thank you for understanding my position here and I always stand ready to help all of you and the Town too, especially the Senior’s. Although our luncheon is only once a month we look forward to it.
FINAL BUDGET - ADOPTION
Mr. O’Connor introduced the following Resolution for Adoption of 2009 Budget:
R-1108-03
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of
WHEREAS, a public hearing was duly noticed to be held on November 5, 2008 and adjourned further until November 12, 2008; and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Patterson has heard the public comments at the public hearing held on November 12, 2008; and
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WHEREAS, amendments have been made to the preliminary budget based upon the
public comments heard by the Town Board at the public
hearing held on
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Patterson hereby adopts the 2009 budget, which is the preliminary budget with amendments as set forth on the record and so moved; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of
Seconded by Mr. Kassay. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
Mr. Griffin stated I would like to thank all of you for coming out and participating in the process and I think it has been very helpful for all of us. I think we have accomplished what needed to be done. Thank you all very much. Please stick around for the rest of the meeting, you may find that interesting as well.
TIME OFF REQUEST
Mr. O’Connor made a motion
to approve three time-off requests. All
three requests are dated
Seconded by Mr. Kassay. All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
MICHAEL
ESTABLISH PERFORMANCE BOND TRACTOR SUPPLY
Mr. Griffin read the Tractor Supply Bond resolution.
Seconded by Mr. Kassay.
Mr. Griffin stated discussion. Counselor in years gone by we used to talk about these things concerned with Performance Bonds and Restoration Bonds. The Restoration Bonds were usually significantly smaller than the Performance Bonds and it was never the intension of the Town to go in and pull the Performance Bond and build the project out. In 2003 or 2005 the Board went back to full Performance Bond. I understand that part of was by State statue inspection fee and has to be based on the amount of the Performance Bond.
Mr. Curtiss stated that is true.
Mr. Griffin stated is there anyway that the Board can relock into what we had.
Mr. Curtiss stated you can do two things. You can do a Restoration Bond or you can do an agreement with the applicant which basically you set up in an escrow account to draw the inspection fees. It is not mandatory by the applicant (inaudible).
Mr. Griffin stated Tom Raveson since you are here tonight do you want to us to move this resolution as read or do you want us to look into further details with reducing the bond. I don’t mean to put you on the spot.
Mr. Raveson stated I really don’t fully understand what the Town Attorney just explained.
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Mr. Curtiss stated the reason why the Performance Bonds came back as statutory is that is the only way the Town could collect inspection fees necessary for the engineer to inspect the project. That is the statue. What we can do in-lieu of that is if the applicant, which is you, agrees to inspection fees in that approximate amount through an escrow account. In other words you would put money in escrow, as the engineer inspects it you draw down that money and they give you a balance sheet every month as to how much money has been withdrawn. If you want to voluntarily agree to that then we can forgo the Performance Bond and set up an escrow account for your inspection and simply set up a Restoration Bond, which would require a minimal amount of money. We are not going to build a Tractor Supply if you don’t build it.
Mr. Raveson stated it sounds like a reasonable proposition.
Mr. Curtiss stated ok. With the Town Planner, yourself and the Town Engineer we can probably draft up a little escrow agreement.
Mr. Raveson stated thank you.
Mr. Griffin stated at this time I will take the resolution off the table.
Seconded by Mr. Kassay. All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
PERFORMANCE BOND REDUCTION EUROSTYLE MARBLE
Mr. Griffin stated we have a recommendation from the Planning Board to reduce the amount of the Performance Bond from $140,000.00 to $40,000.00.
Mr. Griffin introduced the following Resolution for the Performance Bond Reduction for the Eurostyle Marble and Tile Site Plan:
R-1108-04
WHEREAS, Martin Monaghan own a parcel of land at
WHEREAS, the Planning Board of Town of Patterson has approved a site plan application from Martin Monaghan to construct various improvements on the lot, as shown on a site plan entitled Eurostyle Marble & Tile, Inc. prepared by Putnam Engineering, PLLC, dated July 15, 2004 and last revised on August 16, 2005; and
WHEREAS, upon recommendation of the Patterson Planning Board at its December 8, 2005 meeting the Town Board of the Town of Patterson established the cost of a bond, sufficient to cover construction and completion of the site improvements proposed, in the amount of $390,000.00, and
WHEREAS, a motion was made and carried by the Patterson Planning Board at its October 2, 2008 meeting recommending that, after review by the Town Planner, and based on the amount of additional site improvements completed, the Town Board of the Town of Patterson further reduce the amount of bond or security necessary to cover the site improvements from $390,000.00 to $140,000.00, and
WHEREAS, a motion was made and carried by the Patterson Planning Board at its November 6, 2008 meeting recommending that, after review by the Town Planner, and based on the amount of additional site improvements completed, the Town Board of the Town of Patterson further reduce the amount of bond or security necessary to cover the site improvements from $140,000.00 to $40,000.00, and
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the
Town of
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TOWN BOARD MEETING
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Patterson hereby reduces the amount of the Performance Bond sufficient to cover construction and completion of the site improvements proposed for the Eurostyle Marble & Tile Site Plan, pursuant to the Town Code of the Town of Patterson from $140,000.00 to $40,000.00, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the bond posted for the project be subject to prior approval by the Town Attorneys, CURTISS & LEIBELL, P.C., as to sufficiency and form.
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino. All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
TOWN HISTORIAN REQUEST – SIGNAGE
Mr. Griffin stated I have a couple of Board members who are
not entirely familiar with this so I will move to table this until the
FIRE SYSTEM MAINTENANCE
Mr. Griffin stated we finally got something in writing from NYCONN. Thank you Dave Raines and Mr. Fava. We have been advised by the Fire Marshall that we would be wise to get all of the smoke detectors in all the Town Facilities cleaned. We have a proposal from NYCONN.
Mr. Griffin made a motion
to approve the cleaning of the smoke detectors and testing of all devices at
the
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino.
Mr. Kassay stated discussion. Do we have another written quote.
Mr. Griffin stated yes we have another one from a company for $3,500.00.
Mr. Raines stated this has gone on for a few months. Mr. Fava and I have been trying to make it a little bit cost effective. Some of the design installations of our newest systems when the buildings were built were proprietary, meaning they were designed so only they could do the maintenance. They provided us a number that was in excess of $3,500.00 to do one building, which I thought was exuberant. I spoke to United Alarm and they weren’t comfortable because they don’t maintain our buildings and they didn’t want to touch someone else’s system. So I went to NYCONN where the Town currently has a contract and we walked through all the buildings including the treatment plant which has a fire alarm system as well, and they were willing to do it for a total of $1,500.00. They will work with us and I will work with them. We will clean all the devices and test all the systems to ensure everything is in good order. I don’t think going to another company will be cost effective.
Mr. Kassay stated you are comfortable with the quote they gave and you are comfortable with their responsibility to do the right thing for $1,500.00.
Mr. Raines stated yes, I will be supervising that work.
Mr. Griffin stated motion has been made and seconded, All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
Mr. Griffin stated we have a letter from the Putnam County
Clerk, Dennis Sant and he is asking us for some assistance. Apparently the County is not keeping up with
the
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Executive Bondi requesting that they fund the County Records Department and also to continue to provide room. Otherwise we will have to take our records elsewhere.
Mr. Griffin stated I would like the Board’s permission to
draft that letter and send it to the
Mrs. Nacerino stated absolutely.
Mr. Kassay stated I am in favor of that and thank you for sending the letter. Dennis Sant has gone above and beyond and apparently he has notified the powers that be for the longest time and he has received no response on this request with this dilemma.
Mr.
Mr. Capasso and Mr. O’Connor stated yes.
BUDGET TRANSFERS
Mr. Griffin made a motion to approve the Budget Transfers.
Seconded by Mrs. Nacerino.
Mr. Kassay stated I am in the process of signing them. I have four.
Mr. Griffin stated there are five.
Mr. Kassay stated Budget Request Number 39 is a Budget Transfer for Fox Run Water Pump Motor and Pipe Replacement and the Adjustment to Line Item SWF059940 Appropriated Fund Balance of $12,350.00 and the Line SWF8310.200 (inaudible) Administration and Equipment.
Budget Request No. 38 Code Enforcement Officer Relocation of Funds. Fire Code Personnel Line for $5,000.00 to the Code Enforcement Contractual Line for $5,000.00.
Budget Request No. 37 Patterson Park Request from Contractual to the Equipment Line in the amount of $8,700.00.
Budget Request No. 34 to Appropriate Funds for Disability Insurance for the Refuge District. Workman’s Compensation Insurance Line in the amount of $70.00 to Disability Insurance Line for $70.00.
All In Favor: Aye. Carried.
TOWN CLERK REQUEST-MAILING MACHINE REPLACEMENT
Mr. Griffin introduced the following Resolution for Replacement of Mailing Machine in Town Clerk’s Office:
R-1108-05
WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Patterson has received a request from the Town Clerk for the replacement of the mailing machine in the Town Clerk’s office; and
WHEREAS, after due consideration, the Town Board of the Town
of
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TOWN BOARD MEETING
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Patterson hereby grants the Town Clerk’s request to replace the mailing machine in the Town Clerk’s office; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of
Seconded by Mr. O’Connor. All In Favor: Aye. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Capasso; yes, Mr. Kassay; yes, Mrs. Nacerino; yes, Mr. O’Connor; yes, Mr. Griffin; yes. Roll Call Vote Carried.
PATTERSON ROTARY LETTER
Mr. Griffin stated we received a letter from the Patterson Rotary. The Patterson Rotary has been very helpful and has done a lot of things for the Town Hall and for the Town in general. A tree was added to the 911 Memorial and there was a misunderstanding as to what the tree represented. We received a letter from the Patterson Rotary that provided a lot of the landscaping and a bench at the memorial. They were concerned about what this tree was going to represent. I got together with Mr. Capasso and we discussed it and we thought it was appropriate to plant the tree where it is. It is a symbol of new life, going forward and that we are in the process of healing and growing. With Mr. Capasso’s help and the consideration of the Patterson Rotary we will be replacing lights at the memorial and we will relocate the bench in the front of the memorial so people can come see and reflect. Mr. Capasso and I have resolved the matter without any incident and we will be lighting the memorial on a more permanent basis in the near future.
Mr. Kassay stated I think that is terrific. Thank you.
Mr. Griffin stated thank you Joe.
OTHER BUSINESS
Mrs. Nacerino stated I would like to say thank you to everyone who came for the last three weeks to support us through this process. It has been a difficult one but I think it has been a learning process. We are advocates of open and transparent government and together we will move forward and make Patterson the greatest place to live, which it is already.
PUBLIC RECOGNITION
Ms. Lynn Andretta stated I would just like some little enlightenment on the five million dollars plus statue.
Mr. Griffin stated a lot of it is Capital Funds for the Wastewater Treatment Plant. This month we had to roll the band and pay it off so it has to be reflected on the abstract. Right now we are in the process of working with the Environmental Facilities Corporation. They are going out to a major funding. They bungled a lot of projects up and a couple of times a year they will allow the Town to use their credit rating, they have a much better rating then we could ever get, and it will help us to lower interest loans for the sewer plant. The fault of that abstract is for the capital project and the sewer plants.
Ms. Nancy Kalbfell stated so the budget was passed. Is it to say that it was reduced or increased.
Mr. Griffin stated I think that you will find with the changes that were made it will actually be a decrease because the few things that were put back in the budget prior to tonight reflected about a .08 percent increase. With the reductions of the in-lieu of and the reductions in the Councilman’s salary and the reinstatement of Mr. Fava is probably
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real close to a wash and it might even be less. I think you will see a budget that is very close to zero this year.
Mr. Kalbfell stated so the percentage will stay the same. Can you say it decreased by any percent.
Mr. Griffin stated no the budget is going to be very close to a zero percent budget. The same as last year. Charlie Williams, Highway Superintendent has been very helpful and has agreed to work with one less guy for next year and he was also kind enough to give back a $5,000.00 stipend, which I thought was very generous of him. Thank you Charlie.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Mrs. Nacerino made a motion
to adjourn the meeting at
Seconded by Mr. Capasso. All In Favor: aye. Carried.
Respectfully submitted,
___________________________________
ANTOINETTE KOPECK, TOWN CLERK