A regular meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Moreau was held on October 9, 2003 in the Town Office Building, 61 Hudson Street, South Glens Falls, New York.

Supervisor Gutheil called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

The Town Clerk called the roll, which resulted in the following Town Board Members being present or absent:

Harry G. Gutheil, Jr. Supervisor

Rich Hewlett Councilman

Bob Prendergast Councilman

Niki Baker Councilwoman

Todd Kusnierz Councilman

None

Also Present: Jeanne Fleury, Town Clerk; Peggy Jenkins, Assessor; Mike Shaver, Water Superintendent (arrived at 7:05 p.m.); Stephen Gram, Recreation Director (arrived at 7:10 p.m.); Martin D. Auffredou, Attorney for the Town (arrived at 7:20 p.m.); Emanuela D’ Ambrogio from Hiscock & Barclay; and guests.

Supervisor Gutheil led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

The following minutes were prepared and distributed to the Town Board in advance of the meeting for their review, comment, correction and approval:

September 25^th (2 sets) and September 29^th

Supervisor Gutheil noted in the minutes of September 11^th on page 398 that the resolution authorizing Town Counsel to sign a stipulation of settlement didn’t mention which Article 7 this was for. The Town Clerk was asked to check her notes and a correction would be made at the next meeting.

It was the consensus of the Town Board to table approval of the minutes until the next meeting to give them a chance to finish reading them.

The month-end audit meeting was scheduled for October 30^th at 3:30 p.m. to meet with Department Heads and 4:00 p.m. for the business portion of the meeting.

The second regular meeting in November falls on Thanksgiving Day so it was rescheduled for Wednesday, November 26^th at 7:00 p.m.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Prendergast to receive and file monthly reports from the Town Clerk; Supervisor, Water Superintendent, Assessor,

Recreation Director, Dog Control Officer, Transfer Station Clerk; Building Inspector and Highway Superintendent.

Supervisor Gutheil gave the following comment on the Recreation Director’s Report:

In the report the Recreation Director mentioned that he told the Highway Superintendent and the Supervisor that the speed bumps needed to be done at Rec. In response to this Supervisor Gutheil stated he was well aware of this and he has been trying to see that they get done since the paving work was done. It should have been coordinated and done by now. It has to be done or put the temporary ones back in. [amended 10/23/03]

In his report the Recreation Director wrote that he needs the proper equipment and money to get projects done at the park. In response, Supervisor Gutheil stated that he has a budget and he hasn’t requested anything from the Board. He recommended that if the Recreation Director has some problems and needs he should share them with the board.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

WATER BILLING CORRECTION:

The Town Clerk requested that the amount billed in Water District 2 on September 23^rd that was approved by the board on September 25^th be changed from $107,124.83 to $106,967.39 for the following reason:

Account #20574 in the name of Clute at 48 Tanglewood Drive was billed $157.44 in error. On 9/5/03 a final bill for a closing was calculated for this property in the amount of $157.44 and it was paid. On 9/23/03 a semi-annual bill was calculated again in the amount of $157.44. The previous reading used to calculate this bill was the one from March and it should have been the one from 9/5/03. In the water system, once a cycle is opened any final readings that are taken we must go in and manually make the previous reading the final reading. In this case we failed to do this. There shouldn’t have been any bill calculated because the reading on 9/23/03 and 9/5/03 was the same. There wasn’t any water used since the closing.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

A motion was made by Councilman Kusnierz and seconded by Councilman Prendergast to accept the following donations:

$20.00 from Sandra Randall and $10.00 from Brian & Kathy Murphy and for these donations to be deposited into the Recreation Park Capital Projects Fund.

$200.00 from the Fraternal Order of the Eagles to be deposited into Revenue Account Code A2070, Contribution for Private Agency for Youths Programs (per the State Comptroller’s Office. This donation was restricted to the soccer program.).

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

(Mike Shaver, Water Superintendent, arrived at 7:05 p.m.)

(Stephen Gram, Recreation Director, arrived at 7:10 p.m.)

The board started to discuss the requests from the Highway Superintendent and decided to wait until he arrived.

There wasn’t anyone present to address the Ferrone Project. Mr. Ferrone and his representatives arrived later in the meeting.

At this point in the meeting Supervisor Gutheil asked if anyone present wished to address any particular issue before they went any further with the agenda?

Barbara Weinshank of Diamond Point addressed the board regarding a dog that was seized by the SPCA from Bluebird Terrace. Ms. Weinshank asked questions such as, does the Town have a DCO or Animal Control Officer, does the Town have a contract with the SPCA, was the DCO called in on this dog complaint, etc. These questions were answered.

Barbara Weinshank then referred to a complaint regarding goats in a residence on Bluebird Road. Ms. Weinshank stated the person who houses the goats is the person who confiscated the dog for the SPCA. She has spoken with the Code Enforcement Officer about this and was told that there isn’t any regulation that states what type of animal a person can have or how many. Ms. Weinshank’s concern was over the health issue of having the goats in the house. Supervisor Gutheil asked Ms. Weinshank if she had any evidence of a health issue and if she did and it is found there is a violation of the State Sanitary then it could be an issue for the Consolidated Health Board. She stated in her opinion it could be a possibility. Supervisor Gutheil stated this isn’t an issue for the Town Board it would be an issue for the Code Enforcement Officer.

Attorney Auffredou arrived and noted that he had talked with Joe Patricke the Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer regarding the goats and they reviewed the zoning code and couldn’t find any specific violations of the zoning code. They discussed the possibility of some other violation of the state codes.

The Water Superintendent requested permission to attend a training class in Queensbury, along with Earl Ruff, at no cost to the Town.

Councilwoman Baker made a motion approving this request and it was seconded by Councilman Kusnierz.

Councilman Hewlett stated that if there isn’t any cost to attend this class then he didn’t think the Water Superintendent even needed to ask and Councilman Prendergast concurred. Councilman Hewlett suggested that Mike Shaver add this to his monthly report.

It was the consensus of the board that no formal action was necessary.

Supervisor Gutheil stated that the condition of the cemetery on Route 197 is shameful. Historically the town has mowed the cemetery. He has also learned that the property owner contiguous to it has blocked the access to the cemetery and people should have the ability to visit the gravesides. Some research will have to be done on this. The board went on to discuss mowing of the cemetery. Stephen Gram thought his staff could mow it, Councilman Kusnierz suggested getting three quotes from a lawn care business to mow it and then it was suggested that the Highway Department should be able to mow it. It was also mentioned that an Eagle Scout is looking for a project and perhaps mowing and sprucing up of the cemetery could be the project. Councilman Hewlett stated that the Eagle Scout was his neighbor and he would call him.

The Department of Probation’s has sent a Victim’s Impact Statement to the Supervisor to fill out regarding damages done at the Recreation Park for pre-sentencing. Discussion followed on what repairs have been made already at the park.

Supervisor Gutheil reported that the board needed to start working on the mining law and zoning. The Master Plan Committee met and there wasn’t a very good turnout. A meeting regarding the mining law and zoning will be held sometime in November.

Lake George would like to be added as a representative on the Council Policy Committee and Adirondack/Glens Falls Transportation Council is looking for an endorsement. The board didn’t have any objection to this.

The Town received a petition from residents of the Spier Pines Subdivision expressing interest in forming a lighting district, but it is unclear how representative this petition was of whole Spier Pines Subdivision. Supervisor Gutheil stated he had a map showing the layout of the street lights being proposed and estimated costs.

Supervisor Gutheil was under the impression that this could be done by petition or Town Board resolution. He asked Attorney Auffredou if this was correct.

Attorney Auffredou stated the petition has to be signed by property owners of more than 50% of the assessed valuation. The board may be able to do it by resolution, but it involves permissive referendum. He suggested that the burden be placed on the petitioners to establish to the board that they meet this requisite.

Supervisor Gutheil thought the property owners in the subdivision should be told how much the lighting district is going to cost them per year and that it should be on the petition when circulated.

Attorney Auffredou stated a letter could be sent to the person who circulated the petition stating "we want you to get a petition signed by 50% of the assessed valuation property owners and that this cost is acceptable to them" and attach a copy of the estimate from Niagara Mohawk.

Supervisor Gutheil stated that Joe Patricke has been asked to interview applicants. The Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting was canceled this month for lack of appeals so Supervisor Gutheil stated that Joe Patricke wasn’t rushed to get somebody on board for this month.

Tom Ferrone, Gary Robinson and Chuck Cronin arrived and addressed the board on their proposal that they had previously presented to the board. Mr. Ferrone wants to build apartments on a 12- acre parcel of land located on Route 9 that is currently zoned commercial that does not have frontage on Route 9, but rather on Reservoir Road. There is a 24-acre parcel that is contiguous to this parcel that does have frontage on Route 9 that they are trying to attract a commercial business to. Mr. Ferrone has a contract pending to purchase this property. They went on to explain the types of businesses they thought they might be able to bring to the parcel. They asked the Town Board to give this project consideration.

Supervisor Gutheil spoke with Brad Owen  Olin of Hilander Construction. We withheld $10,000.00 from their contract and $3,000.00 from Hall’s contract. The estimate for the restorations we got from Grasshopper would be around $72,000.00 and that doesn’t include the ones that need restoration of their sidewalks and blacktop. Brad Owen  Olin didn’t feel his obligation was as extensive as the list the Town was working from. He is willing to take $3,000.00 off the $10,000.00 and he is willing to drop a small amount of interest off contract 16. Supervisor Gutheil said he didn’t feel it was the answer. He thought we were at a point where we should go ahead and get the work done ourselves and make monetary offers in lieu of restoration. There weren’t any objections raised by the board members. [amended 10/23/03]

A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Hewlett authorizing the Supervisor to engage Evergreen Bank to provide the Town with a balloon for the holiday parade at an amount not to exceed $1,000.00 and for a voucher to be submitted at the month-end audit meeting and the check will be held.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

The Comptroller for the Town of Malta has distributed a draft inter-municipal agreement covering how to handle disasters, similar to what happened in Mechanicville when it was hit by a tornado. Supervisor Gutheil will copy the board and Attorney Auffredou. Supervisor Gutheil thought the Comptroller should be commended for this initiative.

Hal Leonelli looking for water/sewer for his property on Harrison Avenue that he is proposing to develop.

Tom Jarrett is requesting water/sewer for the Independent Living Project on Bluebird Road.

Harry Baker may be interested in water/sewer for 9 lots adjoining South Park.

These requests will be referred to Tim Burley for review.

Letters of interest have been received from residents for the vacancies on the Recreation Commission. Councilman Kusnierz suggested meeting 15 minutes before the next budget workshop to interview candidates.

The board and attorney for the Town had reviewed the dog laws from other communities that they had received and Attorney Auffredou made the comment that they all appeared very similar to Moreau.

Supervisor Gutheil stated he didn’t have a problem strengthening the Town’s law and adding language on a pooper scooper law. He asked Attorney Auffredou to draft something.

Liz Rovers has reviewed the draft law and one of her questions was over the definition of ignitable stuff. Attorney Auffredou will be copied on her comments.

Supervisor Gutheil stated he would talk to Stephen Gram and Liz Rovers about the report and decide what type of vehicles should traverse the landfill. DEC is agreeing with Liz Rovers recommendations. One gas vent that has a broken coupling sleeve and two of the gas bubbles have disappeared. They may have migrated.

The Recreation Commission met Monday night and Peter Wirfel was commended for the excellent job he did holding the Soccer Clinic for over 60 coaches. They would like to send him a letter of recognition on Town letterhead and present it to him at the Fall Sports Banquet. The board agreed that this would be a nice thing to do.

New York State DOH has finalized the Intended Use Plan for the bond act and we now know who will be competing for funds next year. The Town of Moreau scored 210 the highest so far. We will have to do a hardship application no later than December 3^rd. The EDU charge was $485 and next year it will be $284. This sounds encouraging.

Stephen Gram found out that the repair manual for the John Deere Mower is $120.00. Ron Gilligan has looked at it again and decided it may be more complicated to repair than first thought. It is not a typical draft  drive shaft repair. It was the consensus of the board that if Ron doesn’t think he can fix it then it should be taken to a John Deere Dealer for repair. [amended 10/23/03]

General Electric has requested access to four test wells to do groundwater sampling as part of the EPA mandate.

Supervisor Gutheil received calls from the press and radio, apparently, the Attorney General has chosen to do another press release and the Judge has signed an order for stipulation of discontinuance. Supervisor Gutheil told one reporter that it was old news, the Town adopted a local law on September 4^th and before school started the trucks were rerouted. He wanted them to know that the Attorney General sued a small Town and it could have been handled differently.

Supervisor Gutheil stated that the interest rates have dropped and he thought the tank recoat loan should be charged the same rate of interest as the industrial park, which is 2%.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Prendergast changing the interest rate charged for the loan for the tank recoat from 3% to 2% per annum.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

The South Glens Falls Fire Company submitted a report for the Months of August and September.

Supervisor Gutheil reported on some workshops and seminars being offered around the area.

A draft was received from the Village of South Glens Falls on a 6-month moratorium they are entertaining on installation of external solid fuel burning boilers/furnaces and heating apparatuses. Councilman Prendergast thought the Town should look into controlling them also. Discussion followed. It was the consensus that Joe Patricke be requested to research this and give his recommendation.

A notice was received that Adelphia is adjourning their meeting of creditors.

Level 3 Communications is going to discontinue their action in the Article 7 Proceeding they commenced.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Kusnierz authorizing Town Counsel to sign a stipulation of discontinuance in the Article 7 Proceeding of Level 3 Communications LLC vs. the Assessor, Board of Assessors, Board of Assessment Review and Town of Moreau.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

Supervisor Gutheil stated we are being proactive on our insurance. We have looked at our loss ratio and Selective Insurance will send someone in to look at our operations and make recommendations.

Supervisor Gutheil reminded the board that our Assemblywoman is looking for recommendations on renaming the bridge from South Glens Falls to Glens Falls.

Courtesy tickets have been received from the Glens Falls Symphony. It was agreed by the board that the tickets should be given to the Moreau Community Center and let them do what they see fit with them. Councilwoman Baker thought they might be able to use them for their silent auction.

The Highway Superintendent’s requests were discussed again.

A motion was made by Councilman Prendergast and seconded by Councilwoman Baker authorizing the purchase and installation of used guide rails for Old Saratoga Road from Chemung Supply under county contract #02-PWUGR-36R (used guide rail) and 02-PWGR-24R (new guide rail) at an amount not to exceed $8,000.00.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

The Highway Superintendent also requested the purchase of one mobile radio with antennae. He received quotes from Adirondack Two-Way Radio, Inc. of South Glens Falls and Capital Digitronics, Inc. of Albany. In his memo to the board he stated he preferred the Motorola Model from Adirondack Two-Way Radio, which was $6.59 more than the lowest priced Panther model from Capital Digitronics. The reason for this preference was that he already had 8 Motorola Units at the Highway Department and they are easier to interchange from one vehicle to another if they are the same model.

Supervisor Gutheil stated that if he wanted to standardize then there is a legal process to follow in order to standardize, if not he has to be able to justify the additional expense. The board decided to wait on this request until the Highway Superintendent could be present to discuss this.

No action was taken on the cleaning of the 1,000-gallon oil/water separator.

Supervisor Gutheil stated that Terry McGuire was hired on the basis that at the end of her 6-month employment with the Town her job performance would be reviewed and if found satisfactory her salary would be adjusted up to the next step offered upon hiring. If the board agreed he asked for a motion to raise her salary up to the next step, retroactive to October 1^st her 6-month anniversary.

A motion was made by Councilman Prendergast and seconded by Councilman Kusnierz authorizing the adjustment of Terry McGuire’s salary up to the next step of $23,000.00, as negotiated upon hiring, retroactive to October 1^st the end of her 6-month probationary period.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

A motion was made by Councilman Prendergast and seconded by Councilman Kusnierz to adjourn to executive session at 9:05 p.m. to discuss the following:

RPTL Article 7 Niagara Mohawk, National Grid, Reliant & Erie Blvd.

Three Article 78’s with Erie Blvd./Reliant

Personnel for Recreation Department & Highway Department to discuss employment history of a particular unnamed people in those departments

Potential Condemnation Proceeding

Potential Litigation over a buffer zone in the Pinevalley Subdivision

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

The Town Clerk did not sit in on the executive session.

A motion was made by Councilman Hewlett and seconded by Councilman Prendergast to adjourn the executive session and re-open the public session at 10:12 p.m.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

No action was taken as the result of the executive session.

A motion was made by Councilman Hewlett and seconded by Councilman Prendergast to adjourn the meeting at 10:12 p.m. for the evening.

Roll call vote resulted as follows:

Councilman Hewlett Aye

Councilman Prendergast Aye

Councilwoman Baker Aye

Councilman Kusnierz Aye

Supervisor Gutheil Aye

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeanne Fleury

Town Clerk