In attendance at this months  meeting was Dick Howard, Mike Scott, Shawn Dunmire, Trisha Grover, Dick Kozlowski, Curt & Sue Rung, Alice Dunbar, Laura Manners, Larry Bedow, Jon Reitz, Theresa Baldwin, Paul Sadler, Jean Howard, Gary and myself.

Jon Reitz questioned the board the cost of this engineering study for the windmills.  Mike Scott explained the only cost is the initial cost to the lawyer.  The engineering company makes their money off from the windmill companies.

Curt Rung gave his Superintendent’s Report.  In addition to his written report he also reported that he had received a call from Chad Bugman questioning him about a road off from the Wells Road by Leonard Morseman’s.  Mr. Bugman was questioning if this road was legally closed if not he is looking at the town to reopen this road.

Curt’s written report was:

• The majority of the roads have been graded
• Ditched & graded shoulders on Pleasant Valley and some on Allentown Road
• Ditched on Monahan & Hydetown Road, Burdick, Emerson, Hicks
• Replaced crossover on Hicks Hill
• New crossover on Johnson Road by Herzogs
• Towns  Scio, Wellsville and Alma worked with the town to place a leveling course of blacktop on part of Harlen Ames Road.
• Mowed east side of town will complete the rest in July.
• Received a CHIPS check for $35,029.88

Laura Manners gave her Justice report to the Board.  She explained to the board what she can get from her grants that she applies for.  All items on the grant are only applicable for the Courtroom not the Town Hall.  She can apply for such items as, chairs, file cabinets, calculators, desks, bookcases, conference tables and improvements in the courtroom.  Laura explained to the board that she has applied for these things in the past and has received grants for them.  This year she is applying for new carpet and a security system.

Laura also explained to the Board that her position with the Village is up as of March 31.  She went on to explain to the Board that his will be a good thing for the town as the revenue from fines for the Village are a great deal more than they are for the town.

Dick Howard announced the following announcements:

• Reminder for the Public Hearings on Windmills- July 21 @ 6:00 p.m.- Town Hall, Main Street  (This is for Public Comments)
• District III Legislative Meeting at the Independence Town Hall on July 28th @ 7:00 p.m. (This is open to the Public)

Jane was appointed the Registrar of Vital Statistics.  This is one of the items that should have been done in January and was not.  The Board Dick & Jane decided to wait until they received a notice from the state saying it was expired.

The Board approved the 6-year plan for reassessments.  If you would like a copy of the 6-year report Alice would be happy to give you one.

There was discussion on open positions for John and Randy’s positions.  It is hard to complete the schooling for Assessors.  The majority of classes can be completed online though you do have to travel to Batavia for the test portions however; a couple  of the classes are week long events and if you have a full time job it’s hard.  At the moment we still have 3 assessors but this may be changing soon.  If John and Randy do resign the board will have to appoint assessors (if they can find anyone to do it).  It was mentioned going to an appointed assessor, only having one assessor.  This would have to go to a public vote.

Jon Reitz questioned why everyone gives a report to the board except the Assessor.  If Curt, Laura or Paul do not have a report one month the Board is questioning why they don’t.  They though in turn include the previous months information onto the current.  Alice stated to Jon the she doesn’t have to give a report.  The town board can make this a requirement though and I believe that they request one every month.  It was explained by Gary Dorrett, Teresa Baldwin and Jon Rietz that it is good practice to provide a report so that the tax payers do know what is going on.  There would way fewer complaints if these reports were given.  I guess in the meantime we can assume our assessors are not doing anything.

Paul Sadler gave his report to the Board.  There were 5 building permits issued.  Paul asked the board to set a Public Hearing for the Local Law #2 Providing for the Administration and Enforcement of the New York State Uniform Prevention and Building Code.  The Public Hearing was set for Monday, August 10 @ 6 p.m.  This is prior to the regular board meeting.

In attendance of this months meeting was Supervisor Dick Howard, Board Members- Trisha Grover, Mike Scott, Shawn Dunmire, and Dick Kozlowski.  Also in attendance was Curt & Sue Rung, Alice Dunbar, Paul Sadler, Theresa Baldwin, Larry Bedow, Jon Reitz and myself.

All reports were accepted with no opposition or questions from any of the board members.

Curt, Highway Superintendent had this to offer on his crews work:

• The Town has $86,800 for 2009 CHIPS ($29,886.60 has already been spent)
• They are working on the Dimmick and Zimmer Road
• They will finish the gravel between County Road 8 and the Dimmick Road
• They patched pot holes on Pleasant Valley and will grade the shoulders

Mike Scott questioned if Pleasant Valley would be chipped this year and Curt said he would have to see how much money is left over with the projects he already has planned for the year.

Curt requested the board consider purchasing a new loader.  The town’s loader is  a ‘96 and in bad shape.  Curt priced a new one of from State Bid at $110,576 (3 1/2 yard bucket and a Cummins Engine).  Mike Scott asked Curt to look into getting the loader’s transmission rebuilt that he could not in good conscious vote for a new one at this time.

Alice Dunbar stated the tentative assessment roll is completed.  Just a note for all of you that like to check on the County’s website for updates, their website will not be updated you will have to check with the assessors office for any information.

Paul Sadler issued one building permit and attended a court hearing for a local resident for her dog.

The Village has abolished their judge’s position as of June 1.   What does this mean for the town?  All future fines collected (except for ones that were from previous court hearings) will go to the town.  This will help increase revenue for the town.  The town needs to increase the Judge’s pay though.  Her work load has not gone down, she is losing her Village portion of pay and the town’s revenues are about to increase it only makes sense.  ( I know your going to say oh that’s your sister-in-law but it’s only right.)

There were no bidders on the garage doors.  The Board accepted an offer of $300 from Curt Rung for the doors.

On a final note the positions of Town Supervisor, Town Clerk,  Justice and Highway Superintendent are up for reelection this year.

Jon Reitz questioned if board members are paid for months they are not present.  Dick Howard explained that board members are considered salary employees and get paid no matter what. Mr. Reitz also questioned why the revised assessments were not received from the Assessor’s Office.  Alice replied that she did not realize that she was suppose to send out revised assessments.  Mr. Reitz questioned Alice why this was, she had received the same letter from the lawyer that everyone else did.

The Justice Report was read.  There was a question from the peanut gallery whether or not Mrs. Manners has gone to training and was familiar with the increase in surcharges.  I went straight to the source for this information and yes Judge Manners is familiar with the new surcharges and they have been implemented.

What started out as a quiet meeting progressing along smoothly quickly turned tense between the highway superintendent and the “Highway Committee”. What brought this about? Dick Kozlowski questioned Curt why it took the men 60 hours to do the little bit of milling that was done on Blaine Road. (I thought we might have a donnybrook on our hands for a minute) This turned into a great deal of tension during the remainder of meeting.

Highway Superintendent’s Report:

• Millings on Blaine Road
• Cut brush on Harland Ames road
• Graveled Billings Hill Road and Claire Carrier Road
• 2 Culverts on Burdick Road were replaced
• Graded Bowker Road
• Worked on shoulders on Allentown Road
• Fixed bridge on Andrews Road
• Cleaned ditch behind shop
• Millings on end of Wells Road
• New cutting edge on loader
• New skid plates on under side of bucket
• Put crushed 3’s and 4’s on the seasonal part of Dimmick and then covered with screened bank run (at the request of the school)
• Graved and graveled by Hoshal’s on Dimmick
• Received three bids for hauling of Sand & Salt  (Jr. Green of Wellsville had the lowest bid at $5.34/ton)
• Curt made a point that bids should be in the paper earlier*
• County has brought approximately 1,400 tons of sand/salt
• Bought a 1995 1-ton Dump Truck from Andrews in Eldred for $4,000.
• Spoke with Guy James from the County DPW concerning the right-of-way for Paul Plants

The Code Enforcement Officer issued three building permits were issued for a total of $130.00.

Dog Control Officer passed their yearly inspection and had one run away dog.

The board passed a Resolution supporting the Cold War Veterans Exemption.  This exemption is for any service man/woman that served during the Cold War which is defined as September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991 provided such property meets the requirements of the law and they have a honorable discharge.  Applications must be filed in the Assessor’s office by March 1 and must be accompanied by a copy of the member’s DD-214.  This exemption does not apply to school taxes.  The applicant cannot be receiving exemption under other veteran’s exemption programs.  The exemption is granted for 10 years and must be renewed annually.

There was more talk concerning the doors and new stove for the shop.  It was decided to put the doors out to bid.  I suggested to the board that they have specifics on their bid to make sure they were paying for what they really wanted and didn’t get stuck with underlying costs.  I found it interesting though that Mr. Howard said the board could still award to John Day (assessor) the doors even if he isn’t low bidder.  I’m sorry but as a tax payer, I want those doors awarded to the lowest bidder.  We might want to stress that to our board.  I’m not 100% certain but I would think there would be a conflict of interest anyways by awarding the job to John.  If he was an appointed assessor there wouldn’t be however; he is an elected official with the town.

Curt questioned why the highway fund still owes the general fund $25,000.  Michelle was not sure about this.  Didn’t the General Fund lend the Highway Fund $25,000 for the new grader?  Just wondering.

The town still has not requested a refund from Abbott Welding for the argon tank the Bob Sherwood has had for the last couple of years.  Why was this not done when it was discovered?  Why does everyone have to ask permission to ask for a refund for the town?

The town received a letter from the insurance company stating they want the town to fence in the yard at the town barns and if this is not feasible then install security cameras with night with night vision capability with continuous feed and digital recording.

Assessors Report- October 13, 2008

Town’s Budget as of October 13, 2008