July 8, 2009 Work Session 6:30 PM

Supervisor Grant along with Council Members Mohun, Frounick and George audited the Highway, General Fund and Special District claims, discussed minimum maintenance roads, also discussed tax assessment with Assessor Wittmeyer.

July 8, 2009 Regular Meeting 7:30 PM

Supervisor Grant declared the meeting open and asked Council Member Mohun to lead the pledge to the flag. Present were Council Members Mohun, Frounick and George. Councilman Gadd absent.

Minutes of the June meeting - Supervisor Grant asked if any corrections or amendments. Motion made by Frounick, seconded by George to approve the minutes. Voting all ayes, carried. Supervisor Grant noted a spelling error.

General Fund claims #192–219 totaling $12,884.51 presented. Motion made by Mohun/Frounick to approve the General Fund claims, voting all ayes, carried.

Highway claims #130–144 totaling $93,845.65 presented. Motion made by George/Mohun to approve the Highway claims. Voting all ayes, carried.

Special District Claims: Cowlesville Street Lighting claim #7 - $183.00 and Cowlesville Water District claims #32–37 totaling $2,075.38 presented. Motion made by Mohun/George to approve the Special District claims, Voting all ayes, carried.

Supervisor’s Financial Statement – Supervisor Grant reported the town received this past week the County Snow 2008-2009 final payment in the amount of $67,000 which isn’t included in this statement. Motion made by George/Frounick to approve the Supervisor’s Financial statement. Voting all ayes, carried.

Correspondence: Certificates of insurance naming the Tn. of Bennington as additional insured on their liability coverage received from: J/ Meyer Contracting; Francis A. Simons and the County of Wyoming.

Letter from Richard Mazzarella, Chairman of the Town of Bennington Wind Energy Advisory Committee re: Monthly Wind Energy Report, May – June 2009 – Number 7

Letter dated July 1, 2009 from the Tn. of Bennington Wind Energy Advisory Comm. re: Wind Energy Final Report – Errata.

Tax Collector’s Final Report for 2009.

Town Clerk’s June monthly report.

Supervisor Grant has a flier on the Summer Concert Series starting this coming Thursday.

Received letter dated 7/6 from Dadd & Nelson re: clarifying some of the guidelines on local road classification of low and minimum maintenance roads and their review of Local Law #1-2005 establishing the guidelines for the classification of low and minimum maintenance roads.

Letter from Wyo. County Civil Service re: Salary Survey.

Letter read, dated June 23^rd, from the Teamster’s Local 264 giving the 180 notice of their intent to amend the present Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Town of Bennington and Teamsters Local #264 in accordance with article 28. Duration and Termination, which means they want to begin negotiations on a new contract.

Letter from the Wyo. County Youth Bureau stating that the 2009 re-imbursement for Bennington is $1114, also stated there is a significant decrease in the 2009 youth recreation grant portion of the NYS budget.

Letter read from Chatfield Engineers re: Engineering report for the Town of Bennington Clinton Street Meter Vault Installation, along with 3 copies of the report to be used in procuring funding. Supervisor Grant reported that a copy of this report will be given to Municipal Solutions, who have worked on the bonding for the water district. They are looking at trying to roll the cost of this new project with the existing one and then only get one bond anticipation note or some additional grant funding. Councilman Frounick asked if the town is on schedule. Supervisor Grant stated they are pretty much on schedule but in Marilla, they are looking at some of their funding, they have initiated getting a member item grant from Senator Volker to pay for the line upgrade along Clinton Street as a joint project, that if received benefits Marilla, Alden and Bennington. Towns would have to pay their share up front and hopefully get re-imbursed. Bennington could receive $49,000 out of the total project of $117 thousand, approx 40%. Councilman Frounick just wanted to make sure Bennington is on schedule. Certificate of Liability insurance received from Chatfield naming the Town of Bennington as additional insured.

Letter from Unified Court System with the 2009 grant application received. Noted that there is 4.7 million dollars available and the maximum award is $30,000. Councilman Frounick noted that with other courts, security is now a big item during their court session and asked if could use grant money for that, pay a deputy. Councilman George suggested checking into a PA system. Supervisor Grant stated she lets that up to the judges, they put together the application, last year Judge Linsey did it.

Supervisor Grant received information from the Wyo. County Environmental Conservation, Water Quality Improvement Projects, Grant Program, application deadline is October 16th. She plans on taking it to the next Tonawanda Creek Erosion meeting to see if there is anything they can use it for and also going to talk to Superintendent Jensen about using for storm water, stream banks, etc. This grant covers up to 75 even up to 85% of the total project. Municipalities must cover the balance with local matching funds and/or in-kind services.

Highway Department: Council Member Mohun reported that the TIP application Highway Superintendent Jensen gave them is due July 24^th, she had an idea to connect all of the town roads. Councilman George asked if going to wait for Rick. Supervisor Grant said she wants to wait for Rick because she feels the first step is to establish/designate the minimum maintenance roads. Discussion held on town roads.

Zoning: Supervisor Grant reported that last month held a public hearing considering a local law amending the zoning law, Article VIII, amending map #2, Section 1 to add 1.10 Area Redi Mix Parcel ID #15.1-38. It was re-zoned many years ago, but never added to the map section of the Zoning Law text. Board did not vote on it last month, sent to the County Planning Board for their review and recommendations. Town needs to declare the Town Board as the lead agency for SEQR purposes to declare the impact assessment. Motion made by George/Frounick to declare the Town Board as the lead agency for the SEQR. Voting all ayes, carried. Supervisor Grant reviewed the short SEQR form with Board Members. Motion made by Mohun/George to declare a Negative Impact on this action. Voting all ayes, carried. The County Planning Board has determined that there are no significant county-wide impacts and recommended approval of the zoning map amendment. The County Planning Board also requested a copy of the updated zoning map. Supervisor Grant asked Board Members if there was any further discussion. Motion made by Mohun/Frounick to approve the Local Law amending the Town of Bennington Zoning Laws to add Area Redi-Mix to Article VIII, Amending Zoning Map #2. Voting all ayes, carried.

Special Use Permit Renewals: Clerk reported certified letters were sent to Sulzbach and LaBruna. No response back from LaBruna, so she called Marlene Evans and was told that Mr. LaBruna no longer leases the building from her and hasn’t done any work there in a while.

Brian Sulzback sent a check for $40. After a short discussion, a motion was made by Frounick/George to renew Mr. Sulzbach’s permit for 3 years starting from November 2008 and ending Nov. 30, 2011 and since Mr. Sulzbach over paid $10, needs to request his $10 back. Voting all ayes, carried.

Renewal application received from Michael Justinger, 2003 Clinton Street for a 3 year renewal. No complaints received on him. Motion made by Frounick/George to renew Mr. Justinger’s permit for 3 years, voting all ayes, carried.

Home Occupation Permits: Letter received from Ronald Christopher (Cheektowaga Hunting & Fishing) 1584 Bailey Road that he is no longer involved in the purchase and storage of guns for raffles and does not need the Home Occupation permit.

Renewal application received from Richard/Renee Schlenker, 972 Clinton Street. No complaints received. After short discussion regarding their sign, a motion was made by Frounick/George to renew their application and to state on their permit that they must keep their sign off of the pavement. Voting all ayes, carried.

Zoning Officer Kelly questioned the Goudy zoning permit, she denied it, wondered how he got his county building permit, the unit is on site. Councilman Frounick doesn’t think he needs a county permit, came in on wheels. Kari asked how an approved instrument gets in the file, right now she has a denied permit, town board approved, with no paperwork. Supervisor Grant said that they can authorize her to sign the permit and/or give her a copy of the minutes to put in the file. Ms. Kelly informed the board that she and the assessor are trying to coordinate their files so that everything is in one file, Short discussion held on the filing system.

Council Member Mohun asked Kari about the forms – telling people that no work is to be started until permit approved. informed her that the town has (needs to updated) a basic information – procedure for acquiring the necessary permits to construct in the town along with contact information. Discussion held on forms.

Transfer Station: Councilmen George and Frounick looked at the cover for the hopper after last month’s meeting, agreed on how they would like it, but haven’t gotten any estimates yet.

Public Concerns: Bob Padak, Getman Road asked why the Highway Department came in chewed up the pavement, mulched it away, laid down some #2 stone, rolled it and spread a little brine on it, seems like going in the wrong direction, going back to dirt roads, doesn’t understand what’s happening. Short discussion held. Highway Superintendent Jensen is on vacation, will check with him and have him get in touch with Mr. Padak.

Old Business: Wind Energy Committee request for an ad to be placed in the pennysaver – Supervisor Grant reported she discussed the matter with Chairman Mazzarella to find out exactly what their intentions were. She was told that they wanted to meet once a month for a while to answer questions from the community and also to research community owned wind turbines. Supervisor Grant sent them a letter thanking them for their time and interest, however the town has received their report, the public has attended the public meeting, people have been receiving copies of the report via the clerk’s office and the website and it’s the boards’ understanding that the report is complete, they are done and just meeting to get information on the community owned turbines. Once that’s done, their purpose will be terminated, job/agenda will have been completed and the committee terminated. Ms. Grant ran ad in the pennysaver with the Summer concert schedule information and underneath it had a little note about the WEAC presenting their findings to the public and also that the report is available at the clerk’s office also notice of their intention to meet the first Wednesday of the month for the next several months to review additional material on items not covered in the report.

Councilman George question that if they wanted to change something in their report, like this error they found, how does that happen. Told just insert/add a page to their existing report.

New Business: Grant writing services: Supervisor Grant reported that there are a number of Consulting/Engineering firms the town has worked with in the past, mainly for the water district like Jean O’Connell Assoc., Ann McDonald who worked for Jean O’Connell Assoc. and did the majority of the work for the Cowlesville Water District has left that firm and started her own business, also there is TVGA from Elma, maybe could retain one of them to watch for grant money for the town, let them know what projects town is interested in, roads, infracture, town parks, any types of upgrades, changes to town buildings, equipment etc. and then they would go out and look for grants/funding. All have been approved by the county for grant writing services. If one of those individuals did find a grant to apply for, town could ask the county and in all likelihood the county would pay half of the cost of the grant writing application. Discussion held. Supervisor Grant will obtain more information/costs etc.

Supervisor Grant reported she acted on a complaint received last week on heavy traffic on Lapp Road, road posted for 10 ton. She sent letters to 8 different businesses who are out of town, out of the county using the road as a short cut. The complainant also has had an arrest made on one of the vehicles using the road for thru traffic, no local delivery.

Contractor’s list – Only two names on it: Brian Sulzbach and a guy from Silver Springs. Simons & Kaminski questioned. Told that Kaminski needs to get a special permit.

Councilman George informed Supervisor Grant that he wants to be in on the negotiations with the union.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Mohun/Frounick to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:44 PM.

Respectfully Submitted:

Judith M. Brown

Town Clerk