November 11, 2009                                        Work Session                                            6:30 PM

Supervisor Grant along with Council Members Mohun, Frounick, George and Gadd audited the Highway, General Fund and Special District claims, also discussed the bond for the water district. Supervisor Grant reported the mortgage tax for Bennington is back up to where it should be. Superintendent Jensen asked about a dumpster for couches and mattresses. Dick Mazzarella discussed with Board Members the WECS Local Law with reference to the Wind Energy Advisory Committees’ findings and addressed questions from board members.

 

November 11, 2009                                        Regular Meeting                                          7:30 PM

Supervisor Grant declared the meeting open and asked Councilman Gadd to lead the pledge to the flag. Present were Council Members Frounick, Gadd, George and Mohun, also Superintendent Jensen and Assessor  Whittmeyer.

Minutes of the October meeting – Supervisor Grant asked if any corrections or amendments.  Clerk reported an error in the Varysburg Fire Contract figures. The figure for 2013 should be $8546 not 6546 Councilman George asked if the board could hold off voting on the minutes until later in the meeting.

General Fund claims #314 – 341 totaling $9958.78 presented.  Motion made by George/Frounick to approve the General Fund claims submitted. Voting all ayes, carried.

Highway claims #194 to #214 totaling $75,063.01 submitted.  Motion made by Mohun/Gadd to approve the Highway claims submitted. Voting all ayes, carried.

Special District claims: Cowlesville Street Lighting claim #11 ($183) and Cowlesville Water District claims #57-62 totaling $598,931.97 submitted.  Motion made by Frounick/George to approve the Special District claims. Voting all ayes, carried.

Supervisor’s Financial Statements – Motion made by George, seconded by Frounick to accept the Supervisor’s financial statements, voting all ayes, carried.

Correspondence: Letter from Ryan Rupracht read, regarding his interest in serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Minutes of the Oct. 28th Special Meeting and minutes received from the Zoning and Planning Board for this past year given to all Board Members as per their request.

Town clerk’s monthly report.

Supervisor Grant received a letter from National Fuel Gas notifying the town that they are planning to do some pipeline replacement projects. Will send copies of the construction design, so the town may review them and identify any conflicts/preliminary projects.

Letter from Attorneys Neil & Strong re: Time Warner Cable Programming. They want to know if the town is interested in switching from the Rochester based programming to the Buffalo based programming. Town and Village of Alden met with Time Warner representatives about switching. If all the municipalities in this hub; Towns of Akron, Alden, Bennington, Darien, Java, Marilla, Newstead,  Orangeville and Sheldon, also the Villages of Alden and Akron (hub is located in the Village of Alden) were interested, would cost $125,000 to be shared by all 10 municipalities. If all municipalities do not decide to switch, then the cost would increase on the ones that decide to do it.  Supervisor Grant read letter (all board members given a copy) and asked Board Members  to talk to town residents and get their input. Council Member Mohun asked if it would  expand our area, Told no expansion, just switching over.

Letter received from Genesee County Soil & Water re: Tonawanda Creek Watershed, presently no Tonawanda Creek Watershed Committee in Genesee County, they are desiring to create a committee and partner with municipalities in Erie, Niagara, Wyoming  and Genesee Counties. Have a meeting scheduled for December 1st , 6:30 PM at the Corfu Fire Hall.

Notice from NYS Retirement System re: the February 2010 payment which can be prepaid in December at a savings.

 

Departments: Highway Superintendent Jensen reported on the purchase of a 2010 pick-up, trying to get PIN number from Ford, so can purchase locally, within the county and at the state bid price. When buying at the state bid price now, the state adds an additional 2% on the price, which goes into the state’s general fund.  If can get the PIN number, can buy locally and get by the 2%. Mr. Jensen asked the board to approve his request to purchase a 2010 pick-up truck off of state bid from Vision Ford out of Arcade at $15,982, so that when he gets this PIN straightened out he can purchase it.  Motion so made by Mohun,  seconded by Frounick, voting all ayes, carried.

Charlie Stedman asked Mr. Jensen about Stedman Road, why he maintains and spends all of the money on the East end of it and none on the West end.  Mr. Jensen explained that he inherited that situation from the former highway superintendent. The East end of the road had been done and in order not to lose what has been done, has to keep maintaining it. He understands how they feel, but he tries to oil, stone, patch and replace as best as he can to preserve what the town already has, if don’t maintain them, will go back to dirt. Long discussion held on the town’s dirt roads. Mr. Ott apologized to Mr. Jensen for his behavior the day they “greeted” him on the road.  Mr. Jensen accepted his apology, didn’t feel he deserved the treatment he got that day and deserved the apology.  Supervisor Grant informed the gentlemen from Stedman Road that the town is looking for grants for roads, have received two, but they were ear-marked for certain roads. Clair Kroh thanked the town highway for the work done on Woodley. Council Member Mohun  reported  she and Mr. Jensen worked on a grant they thought town would be eligible for, had questions, called and was told the town was not eligible for this grant, but the Town’s Comprehensive Plan does include roads. Reported there is suppose to be a lot of stimulus money out there for roads, but nobody knows where it is. The town now has grant writers looking for possible grants the town can apply for. Mr. Stedman asked if anything they can do. Told to call their representatives, also write letters to them, letting them know the situation.  Town will get together a list of names and address of the people to contact. Mr. Stedman asked to keep them informed.

Clark Kroh asked about the moratorium on new building construction on the town’s dirt roads he suggested, present town roads not able to withstand the additional traffic.

Zoning: Special Use renewal application received from William Dunn, 1245 Maxon Road.  Mr. Dunn applied for a three (3) year renewal. No complaints received.  Motion made by Frounick, seconded by Gadd to renew Mr. Dunn’s application for three (3) years, voting all ayes, carried.

Assessment: Assessor Wittmeyer reported town will be getting a discount for the tax bills being printed. She asked if board members had a questions on her little seminar for them. Supervisor Grant stated that  after the budget hearing, Ms.  Wittmeyer  did a work session on the budget process for town board members, it was very informative. Supervisor Grant reported that when she went to do some filing, she noticed a list from the County Treasurer of all tax exempt properties, like churches, cemeteries, fire companies, town owned properties within the town and their assessed values (copies given to all Board Members). Total assessed value on them is 2.5 million dollars. There is also a list of County owned properties with a total county-wide assessed value of $45 million.

Transfer Station – Supervisor Grant reported that last month had scrap metal day, a lot less traffic than usual, thinks that was because the town has the metal dumpster up there, only had one person brought tires. Superintendent Jensen reported he got rid of the old compactor, town got  $559 from Staba for it.

Council Member Mohun asked if have to inform residents they can’t bring furniture up here now because of the new burning law. Supervisor Grant reported they can bring it up provided they can get the pieces small enough to put into the dumpster.  They are also working on legislation to try and appeal that law or at least let the towns make the decision as to whether they allow burning. Councilman Frouncik reported he’s contacted Mike’s Dumpster in Batavia to see if they can provide a dumpster for furniture items and they were suppose to send him pricing, hasn’t received it yet and also should get an estimate from Waste Management.

Supervisor Grant reported the DEC came out in October, did their yearly inspection, the town received a good report back from them, everything clean and well maintained. Superintendent Jensen reported the only things they questioned was the batteries and waste oil. Batteries cannot be sitting on the ground, they must be on a pallet. As for the waste oil, showed him the tank. He asked where it was going and Mr. Jensen informed him that when the tank is full, calls NOCO and they come in and pump it out. He also gives a barrel or two away to two other people to burn in their waste oil burner.  Mr. Jensen was informed that cannot give waste oil away, must be accounted for, where it’s going and where it came from.  Mr. Jensen reported NOCO has pumped waste oil all these years at no costs and now charge .35/gallon to pump it out of the tank and get rid of it. Law states the town must accept waste oil.  Mr. Jensen asked NOCO why they charge now and was told the market has dropped out for recyclying it.

Supervisor Grant reported that the contractor, Mr. Dunn, who was going to build the cover over the hopper has backed out, does the board want to re-advertise.  Motion made by Frounick to re-advertise and award at the next meeting, but to first come up with a set of specs so everyone is on the same page. Motion seconded by Mohun, voting all ayes, carried.

Public Concerns – None.

Old Business:  Cable service – Supervisor Grant reported the town has been looking at extending the cable service in Bennington, quite a few short areas that don’t have cable service, areas that don’t have a lot of people living in that section. Time Warner did an estimate for the town back in 2006, breaking it down by different roads and how much money it would cost to do each road and how much money the town would have available each year out of the franchise fees that they pay the town. There is some question about Poland Hill Road, they say that all of Poland Hill is covered. Cindy Reiner says it only goes so far and then stops because the lines aren’t strong enough to support it, will need to have that clarified.  Supervisor Grant reported there are (8) homes on Woodley, (5) on Gadd, (4) on North Burrough, (1) on Rt. 354 and either the (6) on Poland Hill or the  (4) on Getman that could be done in the first year from the franchise fees. Councilman George asked if these figures would change, report done on 2006 and some of these of these roads may now have more houses on them. Supervisor Grant said it’s not so much the number of homes, it’s amount of lines than need to be put in. Councilman Frounick asked about Rt. 98, suppose to have been connected in when Sheldon got cable.  Supervisor Grant  informed him that she and the clerk checked the contract and nothing in there, must have only been a hand shake agreement.  Motion made George/Frounick to proceed with the plan, voting all ayes, carried.

New Business: Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) Zoning Law – Supervisor Grant stated this was discussed briefly in the work session, town has a first draft of the zoning law. Council Member Mohun put this together using other wind energy zoning laws as well as the results from the study and report that was turned over to the town by the local Wind Energy Advisory Committee. They met for 7-8 months, gave a report on their findings at a public meeting, that information has been molded in with existing zoning laws to come up with a first draft. The Town Board has reviewed some it, town needs to have an environmental impact study done on it, will also have comments by the county planner. The process will be first, county planner will take a preliminary look at it, review it, tell the town if they are missing something, if the town is way off base, if needs to be worded differently, to make sure the whole process flows. If he thinks it looks good, will have the impact study, which will be, not on a wind mill project but on the zoning law, Any time town adopt an amendment to the zoning law, need an impact study done on how that might affect the community, since this is such a serious matter, she feels the town should hire a professional to do it, (may or may not be something that goes to court).  After that the Town and County Planning Boards review it, make their recommendations. Town Planning Board reviews it with their local knowledge and the County Planning Board looks at how it might impact our neighboring towns, then present it to the public and hold a public hearing, either to adopt it or not adopt it. Once the law is adopted then the town will see if they get any applications. If an application comes in, it’s gets handled by the Town Planning Board, the Zoning Officer and the Town Board. Asked  if it gets voted on by the people.  Told no, have checked with legal attorneys, was told that it’s the responsibility of the Town Board, they tell you that if you’re interested in running for office, you should be able to make the hard decisions and take responsibility for this. Her understanding from the process in Sheldon, there is at least 20 public hearings for the various stages for everything that goes on. Supervisor Grant asked Board Members for a motion to refer the draft WECS local law to the county planner and to also ask him to advise the town of someone to hire to do the environmental impact study. Motion so made by Frounick/Gadd, voting all ayes, carried.

Approval to pre-pay 2010 Employee’s Retirement Bill – Supervisor Grant reported that if pay the 2010 Employees Retirement bill on Feb. 1st, the cost would be $26,754.  If pay the bill by December 15th, it would be reduced to $26,498, a savings of $256. Motion made by George/Mohun to authorize the supervisor to pre-pay the 2010 employees retirement bill by Dec. 15, 2009 in the amount of $26,498. Voting all ayes, carried. Supervisor Grant reported that there is a projection in the cost of 2011 retirement  bill and that the town’s bill will be going from $26,500 to $44,200 unless there is some drastic improvement in the economy.

Council Member Mohun reported that with the draft WECS law, there were a few places that she didn’t fill in, like with the penalties.

Supervisor Grant thanked Mike George for the top soil and Mike Gadd for his many hours of work with the ladies who ware working on the Veteran’s Monument in front of the Town Hall.    They are trying to put in a garden and walk way around the monument, doing it with volunteer labor and materials. She thinks they are done for this year, not doing any planting, but have the base in for the walkway. Councilman Gadd said he plans on doing some things this Fall yet.

Minutes of the October meeting – There being no other corrections or amendments, a motion was made by Mohun/George to approve the minutes as amended. Voting all ayes, carried.

Supervisor Grant stated that part of the acknowledgement with the work on the Veteran’s Monument, today is Veteran’s Day and feels all the people in the community have been very pleased with the work down at the Historical Museum and up here at the Town Hall, trying to show our appreciation to the community for the sacrifices our veterans have made. Not everyone have sacrificed their lives, but many have, others have answered the call and came back to serve in our communities which is well appreciated. On Flag Day, the town dedicated the monument up here, several of our local veterans attended. Would just like to publically recognize today – Veteran’s Day and the sacrifices those individuals have made to serve our country.

Council Member Mohun asked about the gentlemen who wants to serve on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Supervisor Grant feels should talk to him first. Will ask him to come to the next town board meeting.

At this time a motion was made by Gadd/George to go into executive session to discuss union negotiations. Voting all ayes, carried. Town Board entered into executive session at 9:07 PM.

Motion made by Mohun/Frounick to come out of executive session at 9:47 PM, voting all ayes, carried.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Gadd to adjourn.  Meeting adjourned at 9:47 PM.

 

                                                                                                                Respectfully submitted:

 

                                                                                                                Judith Brown, Town Clerk