“When you throw dirt, you lose ground”  ~ Texan Proverb

This month’s meeting was attended by Trisha Grover (Acting Town Supervisor), Mike Scott, Shawn Dunmire, Dick Kozlowski, Michelle Dunbar, Curt & Sue Rung, Paul Sadler, Theresa Baldwin, Barb Hetzel, Mark & Gayle Dorrett, Jon Reitz, Larry Bedow, John Dunbar, Andy Fisher (George & Swede) and myself.

I have to say Bravo to Trisha Grover!  This was the most organized meeting that I have been to in 3 years.  I would also like to thank the town board for handing out a copy of the abstract to all who attended.  It was a nice change to know where the money is being spent.

Andy Fisher of George & Swede presented the board with a quote for a new 3 1/2 yard wheeled-loader (Hyundai).  The board is looking into leasing the machine at $14 an hour.  The town runs the current loader an average of  600 hours a year.  This would be a cost of $8,400.00 for the year.  This machine will have a full warranty.  This would actually end up being a savings to the town when you figure the costs of a new machine along with the repair costs once the warranty runs out.    This will be considered as the board works on the 2010 budget.

Mr. Rung reported the following:

• Sand/Salt hauling bids were opened

Jim Scott- $5.47
Maybee Enterprises-  $5.22
West Side Sales-  $3.95

• Repairs to Truck 3 & 4 were completed- new torsion bar installed
• All trucks and trailers are inspected
• Ditching was done on Hydetown Road
• Attended a FEMA meeting in Belmont
• Worked on getting bids for new loader

Mr. Rung requested a resolution transferring $3,000 from DA5142.1  to DA5130.4.  This transfer will cover the repair costs for the ‘85 Autocar that was just purchased.

Mr. Sadler reported 6 building permits for a total of $411.90.  He has two dogs in his kennel.  Mr. Sadler also met with the representative from Ag & Markets for his inspection and everything passed.

The board requested Jane check into getting the phones through Time Warner and to see if that would save on the phone bills.

The Code Enforcement Law was passed with the following change:  Page 3- Section 4- Paragraph A- Size of a shed changed to 144 square feet or 12′ x 12′.

Ms. Grover read a letter from Assembly Minority Leader Brian M Kolb asking people to please check out www.reformny.org and sign his petition supporting the Constitution Convention.

The bills paid this month were- General Account:  $2,866.46    Highway Account:  $13,894.74

The Fireman’s Budget Hearing is set for Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m.

The Town’s Budget Hearing is set for the following Tuesday, October 27 at 6:00 p.m.

Next board meeting is November 9 at 7:00 p.m.~ Hope to see you there!

“Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot” ~ Clarence Thomas

There was not much new at this months meeting.  The meeting for September 14 was canceled due to illness.  In attendance were Dick Howard, Trisha Grover, Shawn Dunmire, Dick Kozlowski, Michelle Dunbar, Curt & Sue Rung, John Dunbar, Jean Howard, Mrs. Kozlowski, Theresa Baldwin, Larry Bedow, John Reitz, and myself.

Curt Rung had the following to report:

• $23,663.21 was received from CHIPS
• They widened the Pangburn Road from the Gas Company to Coles.
• Randy’s truck was repaired again- the torque bars were replaced
• The torque bars on Truck 3 will be replaced this month
• The hauling of the sand and salt were put out for bid
• The board approved a transfer between accounts for $200 for random drug testing

The board approved the Code Enforcement’s report.

Shawn Dunmire read a letter that was received from Invenergy stating that they are not in business with any current town employees.

The assessor’s had the current sales on the board.  I have attached them to the end of this post.

Judge Manners submitted a total of $830 to the State for last month.  The town received a check for $1,042.50 for the last quarter fines.

Jon Reitz inquired if there was a court case coming up for the town over assessments.  The board informed him that there wasn’t and Jane admitted that they do keep some things a secret which led into a very heated discussion.  By the way, there is a Supreme Court case coming up on October 16 that is very public knowledge at the County Clerks office if you are interested.  If this suit is won against the total assessed value for the town could take a huge hit which ends up falling on the rest of us.

Current Sales 9/21/09

In attendance at this months meeting were:  Supervisor Dick Howard, Trisha Grover, Mike Scott, Shawn Dunmire, Dick Kozlowski, Sue Rung, Paul Sadler, Theresa Baldwin, Jean Howard, Alice & John Dunbar, Michelle Dunbar, Legislator Bill Dibble, Larry Bedow, Jon Reitz and myself.

This months meeting went fairly quickly.  Jon Reitz inquired to when the town board will begin the 2010 budget process.  Mr. Howard stated that it will begin in September.

The following reports were approved:

Town Clerk

Building Code Enforcer- 2 building permits issued

Highway Superintendent (No Report)

Justice (Had report but never was talked about)

Alice Dunbar, Assessor gave the board a “6-Year Plan of Re inspection” to review and that needs to be signed by the board.  This was tabled until next months meeting for the members to have time to read it.

There will be a public hearing on Tuesday, July 21 at 6:00 p.m. on the windmill project.

Mike Scott stated we are back to square one on the property from the Mosher’s for the septic system.  It costs approximately $100/month to have the tank pumped at the Town Hall.

The board approved Jane to have a student from the “Summer Youth Program” work in her office this summer.  This student will spend 5 hours (a month, week, I don’t know) with Jane.  This is at no cost to the Town and is paid for through the County’s Employment & Training.

Next meeting is Monday, July 13.  Hope to see you there.  Have a safe and wonderful 4th of July!!

The first 15 minutes of tonight’s meeting consisted of the Village Streets. I’m still not sure why the town is so concerned about the village streets.  The village asked Curt not to take care of the streets for a reason and I think it is time to worry about the town roads instead.  Leave the village to worry about their own streets.

The next five minutes was spent worried about the road name for County Road 8.  Bob Goodwill is concerned that it says Inavale Road on one end, but everyone calls it Pleasant Valley.  This discussion should have been nipped in the bud the first 2 seconds in my opinion.

Curt reported they are down a man due to an illness.  Curt also reported that Randy’s truck is down due to a possible transmission problem and that Lyman’s Truck is working on it.  Also the highway department spent $149 for a battery powered grease gun.  I think I better run out and get Gary one of these for Christmas since they must be really useful.  But then the practical side wins over and I think I will just let him use the old fashion pump kind that doesn’t cost that much.

Mr. Howard then made the comment to Curt that the town roads are taken care of much better then the County takes care of their roads.  If Mr. Howard is talking about the same discussion that was had at the budget meeting then he is talking about County Road 5 (Daggett Hollow).  Let me clear something up, because clearly some people are just talking out both sides of their mouths, the Town of Genesee takes care of County Road 5 not the County.  If you are curious to what roads are taken care of by which town here is the County’s Snow & Ice Policy.

General Bills were passed with changes, it seems that the town was going to overpay the National Fuel bill once again.  Thankfully Shawn noticed this and spoke up.  I think it is time that we get someone in the clerks position that can read a bill.  At the beginning of the year when it was not getting paid  the postmaster was blamed.  Jane claimed that the post office must have removed the stamp and that took approximately four months to clear up.  Now she wants to over pay them again.  Last months payment did not get in there on time, which I really do not understand there was a law passed back in I believe it was 1980 stating that any utility bills could be paid without the boards prior approval so that they could be paid on time. Once paid they are to be listed on the next audit for the boards review.  I know when Mike Shawl was Supervisor and Dorraine Allen was town clerk the checks were cut the same week, why are they not done that way now?  Also, the Verizon bill was never paid last month.  What are we so busy with that the town bills are not paid on time?

Mr. Sadler stated that one building permit was issued and one dog was picked up.  The owner of the dog came and retrieved the dog.

Mr. Scott informed the board that he still had not heard from the lawyer concerning the property behind the town hall.  How much longer do we have to continue to pay the $170 (don’t quote me on the amount) to have the sewer pumped?  How many years has this been going on?

The Year-End meeting will be held on December 30th at 6:00 p.m.  And yes once again, I am going to quote the Town Law Manual, this time it is directed at Mr. Scott who informed the board that the meeting did not need to be publicized only posted on the board that only maybe 5% of the public sees.

§ 4-3. Notice of meetings.
A.    Regular meetings. When a town board has established by resolution a regular, fixed time and place for its meetings throughout the year, no other “call” or public notice of any such meeting need be given to the members of the town board. This resolution is customarily adopted at the annual organizational meeting of the town board held on or shortly after January 1 each year. Typically, this resolution will establish the time and place for such regular meetings, such as “7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of each month,” or “8:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month,” etc., and state the place (i.e., the Town Hall) in the town where such meeting will be held.

B.    Special meetings. A special meeting of the town board may be called by the supervisor at any time by giving at least two days’ notice in writing to the other members of the board of the time and place where the meeting is to be held. The supervisor may do this on his or her own initiative and shall do so within ten days if requested in writing by two members of the board. Because the town clerk is mandated by law to attend all town board meetings, notice of a special meeting should be given to the clerk as well. The Attorney General and Comptroller have agreed that business conducted at a special meeting held without two days’ notice is valid as long as all the councilpersons had actual notice of the meeting and attended and participated therein [1980 Op. Atty. Gen. (Inf) 109; 18 Op. St. Comp. No. 442].

C.    Posting.

(1)    The Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law § 104) requires notice of the time and place of a meeting to be posted conspicuously in at least one public location (i.e., the town clerk’s bulletin board) and to be given to the news media at least 72 hours prior to any meeting which is scheduled at least a week in advance. Where a meeting is scheduled less than a week in advance, notice to the news media and public posting must be accomplished to the extent practicable.

(2)    Notice of (Regular) town board meetings does not require publication of a legal notice. Posting the notice of time and place of the meeting on the town clerk’s bulletin board and notification by letter or telephone to the local news media is sufficient to meet this requirement. It may be advisable to keep a book or log for entry of the date, time and name of the person who actually furnishes the notice to the news media. If you provide the media with copies of your meeting notice, perhaps with a list of tentative agenda items, they may choose to carry a story or notice of the time and place of the meeting as a service to their readers or listeners, which achieves the goal of notice to town citizens without the attendant cost of a legal notice.

Mr. Howard made the announcement that anyone wishing to address the board or to attend the meeting that even though the meeting is started at 7 the first half hour the board members look over audits and minutes. There is no real discussion during that time.

Paul Plants of Plants & Goodwin approached the board concerning running a gas line along the town’s right-of-way from the Drum Road to National Fuel’s line on Zimmer Road. The board asked Mr. Plants to have a proposal written up and present it back to them.

Judge Manners sent the state $660.00 for fees collected. The town will be reimbursed their portion from the state.

Superintendent’s Report:

• Richburg Hill Road (Village Side)- Graded, raked and rolled
• Graded- Pangburn Road, Watson, Wightman, Johnson Road
• 1/2 tank of fuel was stolen out of a tractor while parked on the Watson Road
• Painted, labeled and installed gauges on both fuel tanks as required by DEC
• Graded, pulled ditches and shoulders on Wells Road
• Graded, pulled ditches and shoulders on Snowball Hollow Road (Scio?)
• Roger Hoshal is concerned about the amount of water in his yard since the town worked on the road
• Cleaned ditches on Dimmick and Barnes Road
• Placed new culvert on the backside of Richburg Hill
• Graded shoulders on Allentown and Drum Road

Also a lawyer called Curt concerning Jack’s accident this past winter, Curt stated that the only information that he could provide the lawyer concerning the accident would be bills. My question is why is there nothing else documented? Why were there not pictures taken of the road conditions? Now we have a he said/she said situation. I think the Town has lost one too many law suits.

Curt also stated that him and his crew needed to get the CHIPS projects done this year. He was concerned with the State budget cuts that if the town didn’t use the money and rolled it over till next year they would lose it.

Code Enforcement Officer- Paul questioned Jane if Bill Boeckman came in to get his building permit. Jane had no idea.

Dog Officer-Paul had to euthanize a dog that was discovered on the Hassard Road. Paul stated the dog had a large tumor on his head.

Mr. Scott has not been able to get in touch with Mosher’s concerning the property behind the Town Hall. The next step would be to file for eminent domain.

Mike Scott presented the board with a quote for a 190,000 BTU forced-air Bronco wood/coal stove for $2,995.95. Tom Robinson stated that would not be large enough for the town barns. Paul Sadler was going to get quotes on larger stoves for the next meeting.

There was also discussion on replacing the overhead doors at the shop. John Day (Overhead Doors) will stop and get a quote for the town to have these replaced.

The gas bills have gone down since the new ceiling was installed in the town barns, however; the board would like them to be even lower.

Mr. Kozlowski was also concerned about all the repairs to the equipment and questioned Curt if this was due to the employees being reckless. Curt replied that no this is just normal wear and tear on the equipment. Mr. Dunmire stated that this is what happens when equipment was not taken care of properly.

The town board received a letter from the state requesting the board do an audit of the judges books. Judge Manners stated the board can look at the books anytime they would like.

Mr. Kozlowski stated there should be a limit to the amount of time the public can speak at a meeting. He even went as far as to say that the public should sit through till the end of the meeting, then they can say their peace and the board can go home. Mr. Dunmire, Mr. Scott and Mr. Howard all felt that the public does have a right to speak at the meeting. They are considering setting aside a time at the meeting for public comments or even to have the public request prior to the meeting to be put on the agenda. Mr. Dunmire stated that he felt this was a good idea but if something came up later in the meeting and someone wanted to comment they should be allowed. They will make a motion on this at the next meeting.

Assessor’s Report