May 16, 2002
Supervisor
Zajicek called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
Present: Supervisor Zajicek, Councilmen Francisco,
Hunt, Maynard, and Abbott.
Also
present: Wes Cline, Robert C. Ellis, Raymond W. Hoberg, Jr., Sue Collins,
Charles L. Fordham, Vince Middaugh, Michael Shawl, Dirk Knapp, Gary Harding,
Nancy Casterline, Wanda Perry, Tom Perry, Dana Hand, Mike Hand, Ivan
Quaintance, Jr., John Clouse, Shirley Benjamin, Ron Lundberg, Mike Presutti, Rick
Jordan, Patti Coleman, Anita Foote, Harold Mitchell, and Pat Sawyer from the
Cuba Patriot.
The
minutes of the Regular Town Board Meeting of April 18, 2002, were read. There was one correction: Mistake of mph was changed to mpg in
comparing fuel usage of the town highway trucks. Motion was made by Mr.
Hunt second by Mr. Francisco to approve minutes. Approved 5-0-0.
Town
Vouchered Bills
Town Abstracts and Town Clerk’s report
was given to the Town Board.
Mr.
Abbott made motion to pay bills as presented.
Mr. Francisco second. Approved 5-0-0.
Highway
Report and Wilmac Park
Mr. Zajicek announced that Mr. Reniff
was unable to come to the meeting.
However, Mr. Reniff, Mr. Zajicek, Dana Ross and the architect for Wilmac
Park did meet at the park. They
discussed the concerns of Mr. Zajicek and Mr. Reniff regarding taking down the
pine tree at the entrance of the park. The concern over no barrier between the
10 inches of wood chips and the lawn was also discussed as the town feels that
this will present a problem with mowing the grass. Mr. Reniff thought the lawn mowing work would be minimal, a few
hours a week. Mr. Zajicek reported that
he had discussed what was happening with Lori Mathien, legal advisor, from the
Association of Towns. Ms. Mathien suggested
that there should be some agreement between the Wilmac Park Committee and the
Town as to what each party is expected to do for the future. Ms. Mathien stated that this need not
necessarily be a formal contract and she suggested a committee be formed to
draw up the agreement. Mr. Zajieck will
check with the Town Attorney on who should be on the committee. Mr. Larry Dye representing the Town’s
insurance company stated that there would be no additional liability on the
town.
Energy
Management
Mr.
Dirk Knapp and Michael Shawl from Intelligent Solutions Plus delivered a
presentation on potential natural gas dollar saving and reliability for budget
management for the Town of Amity.
(Copy
of presentation is included in the hard copy minutes.) In summation Mr. Knapp and Mr. Shawl believed
they could save the Town several thousand dollars between the building at 1
Schuyler Street and the Town Barns on Erie Street. Mr. Knapp and Mr. Shawl acted as consultants. They deal with the marketers, they find marketers
based on the Town’s needs and select their recommended best bids. They then bring the bids before the Town
Board to decide which bid contract they want.
The Town Board has 15 days to accept a bid at that price. There can be penalties for using less gas
than you buy in the contracts depending on what you sign. Sometimes the best price is not the best
contract and could ultimately cost you more.
The Town would be billed once a month by the supplier and depending on
the contract there may be another bill from the carrier.
Mr.
Shawl and Mr. Knapp, charge $1,000. per year per municipality for their
service.
There
was some concern over companies going belly up. The response from the
consultants was that they only deal with marketers that have solid financial
foundation.
The
consultants also stated that they do energy audits. Based on their audit they could reduce the cost of energy
expenditure 20%-30%. The cost of the
energy audit is $250 per building and their report presents savings based on
minimal, moderate, and major cost.
There
was some discussion over the cost of 1 Schuyler Street being split between the
Town and the Village. The consultants
said they were already talking to the Village.
Mr.
Francisco and Mr. Maynard requested the consultants to bring the contract and
the bids with them to the next Town Board meeting on June 20. The consultants agreed.
Resolution
2002-12
The
Resolution Requesting New York State Department of Transportation to Reconsider
Timetable for Repaving I-86 was read aloud by the Town Clerk. Mr. Francisco made motion to accept Resolution
as read. Mr. Hunt second. Resolution passed 5-0-0.
Reassessment
Fountain Arts Center
Mr.
Zajicek stated that Mr. Weeks said that he had reassessed the Fountain Arts
Center and the assessment was now acceptable to Wendy Powers.
Electrical
Upgrade
Both
Doug Reed and Kelkur have looked at the building and will send bids for the
electrical work.
Telephone
Upgrade
The
two new telephone lines were installed.
Final installation came to $30. less that the max of $300. that was
allowed in the motion in the April 18, 2002 meeting.
Town/Village
Hall Pillar Painting
Mr.
Zajicek stated that Ed Whitney’s bid of $1200. to be split in cost between Town
and Village was approved by the Village. The bid included the paint, the caulking, and painting. Mr. Whitney as he is already an employee of
the Town would be covered under the Town’s liability insurance. Mr. Francisco made motion to accept Ed
Whitney’s bid. Mr. Hunt second. Motion passed 4-0-0, with Mr. Maynard
abstaining.
Southern
Tier West Conference
Mr.
Zajicek stated that he and the Town Clerk had attended the Southern Tier West
Conference held by the Association of Towns at Houghton College on May 9. Mr. Zajicek stated that they he had found
the information valuable. Ms. Fordham
agreed.
Plum
Bottom Creek and Flood Control
Mr.
Zajicek stated that he and Mr. Reniff had gone over the 2001 specs and
engineering study. They had met with an
engineer from the state. They still did
not have all the information they needed and were still working on it. Mr. Zajicek stated that he felt we needed to
make a decision soon because if the Town continued to ask for extensions on the
timeframe that we may lose the money.
Building
Code Enforcement Officer
Mr.
Zajicek recognized that we had both Dana Hand and John Clouse in
attendance. Mr. Zajicek stated that we
had a letter from Mr. Schmelzer, Mayor of the Village of Belmont, stating that
the Village thought Mr. Clouse was doing a great job as the Code Enforcement
Officer. (Copy of letter is attached to hard copy minutes.) Mr. Zajicek then gave the floor to Mr.
Clouse to respond to the comments regarding himself during the April 18, 2002
Town Board meeting. Mr. Clouse’s
response was of the following:
Every
town, village and county is mandated to enforce building and fire codes. When the Town you opts out, it then goes to
the county. As the county does not have
a building code inspector, it goes to the State. The State will enforce building and fire codes and the State is
not as easy as I am. My point is that I
believe that Amity Rescue Squad is probably the best in the county. I had a job to do and I had to do it not
only to make the building safe for the public.
One of the things you spoke about was the plumbing, but we worked the
plumbing out, they had a variance and were allowed to use pvc pipe rather than
copper. The complaints that were made
against me were not valid because I had nothing to do with requirements for
that plumbing. I was on the side of
that issue. Because it is a place of
public assembly, there are two other agencies that have jurisdiction over Amity
Rescue Squad, Dept of Labor and the Regional Engineer from Albany. They will not let them build a building out
of compliance; they will not let me agree to a building that is out of
compliance. If I did someone other than
myself would own my property and my house.
Also, I do not operate that way.
If you feel the code is excessive for a building the proper way to do
anything is through a variance. Mr.
Zajicek asked about the fees that had been charged by Mr. Clouse. Mr. Clouse stated that the fee was a system
based on square footage. In the very
beginning, he had no intention of charging a fee for the inspection work that he
was doing on the Rescue Squad building, but the builder fought him every inch
of the way regarding what he was doing and when. The result of that was that he (Mr. Clouse) had to spend mega
hours on the code enforcement and checking on the builder, forcing him to
charge a fee. The fee is based on the
square footage. Mr. Clouse stated that
he no authority to waive a fee for Town, the Town waives the fee. The Town could have asked me to waive the
fee and I would have. The complaints
registered against me were not valid, there was nothing done wrong on my part,
nor the Dept of Labor, nor the Regional Engineer. The problems from beginning to end that were resulting from the
builder. We had a meeting over there
with the builder, the Regional Engineer, myself and the Town Supervisor. There were changes that were made to those
blueprints that had to be made or the building would not have been able to be
used. The State and myself allowed the
building to be built from wood when it is not even allowed to be that. It is an assembly area and not allowed to
built of that because of the vehicles parked within it. There is an agreement that when the people
are in the assembly area that the vehicles are pulled out to minimize any
hazard of fire. The sprinklers were
another issue, it was a big expense. If
that building was made out of steel or cement block, it would not have required
sprinklers. That is not my fault, no
one can blame me for that. I did not
choose to build it in wood. The
building still had problems, the first day that it got two inches of snow on
the roof, the trusses buckled so bad it pushed the end of the wall out two feet
and it had to be repaired. That is
substandard building. The only thing I
did was bring it into compliance enough so that the State would not say you can
not use it for that purpose. The
Regional Engineer from Albany would not let me go out of compliance with the
code. The whole problem from beginning
to end was the builder. There was a meeting
held between the Regional Engineer, the builder, Mike Presutti as Town
Supervisor, and myself (Mr. Clouse) to resolve changes in the blueprints or the
building would not have been able to be used.
Mr. Clouse stated that the only thing I did was bring the building into
compliance so that it could be used.
The Regional Engineer said that I should shut it down, but I knew the
owners had a lot of money in that building.
You have another example of a building outside of town done by the same
builder that is not able to be used. We
are all paying for this.
Mr.
Zajicek asked Mr. Clouse that as he was living in Angelica rather than Belmont,
would he be charging an hourly rate from Angelica or Belmont. Mr. Clouse stated that it is not an hourly
rate and the rate does not cover his cost for the inspections and training. Mr. Clouse stated that he was doing the job
due to waking up in a fire when he was ten years old and then two days later
two of his neighbors died in a fire. Mr.
Clouse stated that he was not doing it for the money.
John
Maynard stated that Don Case’s fee was $15. per hour and that when Mr. Clouse
had been doing inspections, it was significantly less.
Mr.
Zajicek then opened the floor to any others who might to address Mr.
Clouse.
Mike
Presutti said that when we met with the Regional Engineer over the Amity Rescue
Squad building, while the Rescue Squad was not there, Mr. Clouse presented the
difficulties and explained the situation. The Regional Engineer said this is
what you have to do. Mr. Clouse
presented the code enforcement side very professionally. Mr. Presutti thought Mr. Clouse had done a
good job trying to reconcile the differences in trying to build a rescue squad
building. Mr. Zajieck asked why the Rescue Squad had not been invited to that
meeting. Mr. Presutti said that the
Rescue Squad had been invited to the meeting, but no representative had showed
up.
Patti
(Peterson) Coleman stated that she had had a problem with Mr. Clouse on
building inspection and it had nothing to do with the rescue squad building. Mr. Clouse stated that was because the
building permit you did applied to a storage facility, not a public place of business. You applied for one thing and built another
thing. Then wanted me to agree to
letting you do it and I said, no. Ms.
Coleman stated that she had asked for a list of what was needed to bring it up
to code and had not received it. Mr.
Clouse said that he believed that it had been given her when they went to
court. Ms. Coleman said no.
Ivan
Quaintance, Jr. stated that he believed he had not been the person at the last
meeting that stated a problem with Mr. Clouse.
Mr. Quaintance stated that he had not had a problem with Mr. Clouse.
Nancy
Casterline stated that Dana Hand was interested in the job. Mr. Maynard mentioned that interested was
different than qualified. Mr. Hand
stated that he had been to two of the five classes. Mr. Maynard asked him if he was certified. Mr. Hand said no.
Mr.
Zajicek stated that Mr. Case stated that he would be willing to stay for an
extended period.
Mr.
Maynard stated that he had had no indication from the Village that they were
unhappy with Mr. Clouse. Mr. Maynard
had gone to the village mayor, trustees, and village clerk and they had said
they were all happy with the job Mr. Clouse was doing. Mr. Zajicek stated that he had been working
with the Village on the Planning Committee and that both Bruce Caldwell and Ray
DeTine had indicated unhappiness with Mr. Clouse. Mr. Maynard stated that he had spoken with Bruce Caldwell and
that he was happy with Mr. Clouse. Gary
Harding stated that he had also spoken with Bruce Caldwell and that Mr.
Caldwell had indicated they were unhappy.
Mr.
Clouse stated that he felt slandered from the comments that were made about him,
posted on the internet and that he would like the letter from Mr. Schmelzer
read. Mr. Zajicek stated that he had
placed copy before each of the board members. Mr. Maynard said that he did not see it.
Mr.
Zajicek asked if there was anyone else present who had comment. Wanda Perry stated that she had had two
contacts with Mr. Clouse. The first
time there was a problem with being able to reach him, the second time there
was no problem. Otherwise, no problem.
Mr.
Maynard made motion to accept Mr. John Clouse as building code enforcement
officer. John Francisco second. The floor was then open for more
comments.
Mr.
Maynard asked Dana Hand if he had any experience with this. Mr. Hand replied no. Mr. Maynard stated to Mr. Hand that he was
sorry, but if Mr. Hand had had experience and was certified that he would have
no problem recommending Mr. Hand for the job.
Wes
Cline stated that he had not had a problem with Mr. Clouse.
Mr.
Zajicek asked Mr. Clouse if he would provide accurate records and a monthly
statement. Mr. Clouse suggested some
type of computer sharing. Mr. Zajicek
asked Mr. Clouse if he would have a problem meeting with him once a month to go
over the status of the inspections. Mr.
Clouse stated no, that he would have no problem. Mr. Clouse stated that the problem in the past was that since the
records were kept in the Town Clerk’s office that he had assumed that the Town
knew the status.
Harold
Mitchell suggested that Mr. Clouse could take Mr. Hand under his wing. Mr. Clouse indicated that he was willing,
however, the Town would have to take Mr. Hand on as an assistant.
Mr.
Zajieck requested a roll call vote of the pending motion. The Town Clerk called roll of the Town Board
with the following results: Mr.
Abbott-yes; Mr. Maynard-yes; Mr. Francisco-yes; Mr. Zajicek-no; Mr. Hunt-no.
The Town Clerk stated that the resulting vote was 3 yes and 2 no. Mr. Zajicek stated that the ayes have it and
that Mr. John Clouse was the new building code enforcement officer for the Town
of Amity. Mr. Zajicek stated that he
would set up a meeting with Mr. Clouse, Don Case, and himself to turn over the
inspections to Mr. Clouse.
Property
on Back River Road
Anita
Foote requested the status of this property as her concern was unsanitary dumping
in the river. Mr. Zajicek stated that
they had Mr. Dean Scholes from the Health Department involved. Mr. Scholes had stated that legally where
there is no well there is no requirement for a toilet. Mr. Francisco stated that the problem here
is we have no teeth, no legal enforcement.
Mr. Clouse stated that this exactly the point and you can hand over it
to an attorney, go to court, and get a judge that does not want to act. New York State does very little to get into
personal life.
DeLong
Road
Wes
Cline’s letter to the Town Board was read.
(Copy of letter attached to hard copy of minutes.) Wes Cline read the letter he got from Cathy
Young, Assemblywoman of the 149th District of the State of New York,
in which she stated that the Town Board can reactivate an abandoned road at any
time. (Copy of letter attached to hard copy of minutes.) Mr.
Cline read the letters that he had sent to the Town Board two years ago
regarding the Town’s procedure in abandoning DeLong Road and the response from
Mr. Mike Presutti that an answer would be coming to him from the Town
Attorney. Mr. Cline stated that he has
never yet received an answer. Mr. Cline
stated that this was a ministerial abandonment, not a proper legal abandonment;
he was never informed of the abandonment, and the result was that he was landlocked. The discussion proceeded between Mr. Cline
and the Town Board with the Town Board stating that the Town Attorney, Annette
Harding, had advised the Board to take no action at this time and that they
needed to follow their attorney’s advice.
Mr. Zajicek made motion to take no action on DeLong Road at this
time. Mr. Maynard second. Motion passed 5-0-0. Mr. Cline continued his discussion with the
Town Board. Mr. Cline asked when he was
going to get an answer from the Town Attorney.
Mr. Zajicek stated that he was waiting for an official letter from the
Town Attorney.
Feathers
Creek Road
Harold
Mitchell stated that he had sent the NYS DOT a letter requesting horseback
riding signs on Feathers Creek road.
The NYS DOT had responded that Feathers Creek was a Town Road and the
Town had the responsibility to install this type of sign. (Copies of both letters attached to hard
copy minutes.) As there was some
confusion as to who could post signs, Mike Presutti stated that from his
experience in the past that in order to get a speed limit posted a petition had
to be sent to the County Highway Superintendent who sent in to the NYS DOT in
Hornell and the DOT then in turn sent it to the State Police.
Incorrect
address and phone number on Internet
John
Maynard stated that his address listed on the Internet was incorrect. He asked that it be corrected. Mr. Zajicek stated that he would get it
corrected right away.
Mr.
Hunt made motion to close the Town Board meeting of May 16, 2002. Mr. Francisco second. 5-0-0.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM.