JULY
12, 2010---PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED LOCAL LAW
# 1 OF 2010 AND
The Public Hearing was called to order at 6:54 PM on
the proposed LOCAL LAW # 1 OF 2010: A
LOCAL LAW TO RESCIND LOCAL LAW # 1 OF THE YEAR 1994 TITLED “DATE CHANGE FOR THE
HEARING OF COMPLAINTS IN RELATION TO
ASESSMENTS”.
PRESENT AT THE MEETING: Supervisor Donley, Councilmen Gifford, Councilman Haver, Councilman Bravo, and Councilman Przelski,
and Superintendent Longstaff,.
Clerk Barley.
ALSO PRESENT:
Fred
and Shelia Barnhart, Sue Wandover, Christopher and
Frank Vesera and Carl Irwin.
Proof of publication was given to the Town board
members and public present by the Town Clerk for the notice of the public
hearing.
Local Law # 1 of 2010 is so that the town can revert
back to the original date for the Meeting of the Board of Assessment Review to
the fourth Tuesday in May. The Town no
longer employ’s an Assessor who is also employed as an Assessor by another
Town, and therefore, it is no longer appropriate or necessary to change the
date for Grievance Day in the Town of
Discussion:
Supervisor Donley explained to the public present
the reasons for the repeal of Local Law # 1 of the year 1994 titled “Date
Change for the Hearing of Complaints in Relation to Assessments.” This is no longer needed, and the Board of
Assessment Review will meet on the fourth Tuesday in May of each year for the
hearing of complaints as is set by NYS Real Property Tax Law.
Fred and Shelia Barnhart stated that they were
extremely unhappy with the revaluation that was done on their property, and also with our Assessor and Town Board members
for letting this happen, especially during this most difficult time---when the
economy is so stressed already. Are
they trying to put people out of their homes or trying to force them to sell
their property? They had, at their own
expense, hired a certified appraiser, who appraised their property much lower
than the revaluation team hired by the town to do this project. They also said that people with vacant land
got hit the hardest with the increased values, which is not fair, and that the
members of the Board of Assessment Review did not even listen to them, or care
that they had their own appraisal already done. His land is in the APA, a total
of 90 acres, and the value increased from $ 20,000 to $ 93,000. The added cost to them is approximately $
1,250 on just the wood lot alone that he will need to pay out of his own
pocket. Do the Town board members
realize what they have done to the residents?
Councilman Gifford said that he feels that the
values went up too high also, especially on the vacant land and woodland.
Sue Wandover said that she
had tried to explain her reasoning to the members of the Board of Assessment
Review also, and they did not want anything from her on her easement, and told
her that the price of $ 20,000 in increased values over the price set from
Gallagher Appraisal services was proper, and she did not give sufficient
information to effect any change. Mrs. Wandover also said that Gallagher said the assessment
should be assessed for the value that he had set.
Frank and Chris Vesera
were at the meeting, stating they had also come to the grievance board, and
their land went up 900 %. They did
provide two documents for the wood lot only, which value increased to $ 20,000
from $ 4,500, and is only used for a wood lot, approximately 21 acres of
land. They have sent numerous e-mails to
Assessor Weakley, and to date he has not responded at all. He said that our Assessor has stated that
“most people would not be paying a lot more – unless they were one of the few
whose valuations actually increased a lot.”
Supervisor Donley responded by saying that our assessor is doing his job
and we will ask him to respond, if he is able to answer their questions, to any
e-mails he may have received.
Mr. Barnhart said that he feels that the valuation
is set way too high. Supervisor Donley
said that the board controls the spending for the town, while others control
the school and county spending. The
rates for the Town will decrease approximately 44 %.
Mr. Vesera said he is
unable to get enough money for his property to sell it, approximately 21.4 A on
a seasonal use road, with parts of it being inaccessible.
Councilman Bravo and Supervisor Donley said that we
will check into this matter further, and we are taking this all into account,
and will certainly look into it further.
Mrs. Wandover queried as
to if the entire process of setting these values can be done differently? She made many corrections on the first page
of her property description that was mailed to her, but still it remained
unchanged, and the same. Her home was
build out of remnants from
Supervisor Donley said we will look into this matter
further and see if there is reason to proceed further, and we will re-evaluate
the entire process.
All those desiring to be heard, having been heard,
the Public Hearing was brought to a close at 7:33 PM by a MOTION from Councilman
Bravo and a SECOND from Councilman Haver. The Vote:
All ayes.
The Regular Town Board Meeting for the Town of
PRESENT AT THE MEETING: Supervisor Donley, Councilmen Gifford, Councilman Haver, Councilman Bravo, Councilman Przelski,
and Superintendent Longstaff,.
Clerk Barley.
ALSO PRESENT:
Fred
and Shelia Barnhart, Sue Wandover, Christopher and
Frank Vesera and Carl Irwin.
MOTION offered by Councilman
Gifford and he moved for its adoption to approve the Minutes of the June 14th,
2010, Regular Town Board Meeting, SECONDED by Councilman Haver. Vote:
All ayes.
MOTION was offered by Supervisor Donley to approve
the Town Clerk's monthly report for June 2010 to the Town Supervisor, SECONDED
by Councilman Bravo. Vote: All ayes.
MOTION was offered by Councilman Przelski to approve the Town Supervisor's monthly report
for June 2010 to the Town Board, SECONDED by Councilman Gifford. Vote: All ayes.
The members of the Town
Board reviewed the Bank Statements and reconciliations for the month ending June 2010 from
the Bookkeeper.
MOTION was offered by Councilman Bravo to pay the GENERAL BILLS, as shown on Abstract # 7, and # 216 already paid to the US Post
Office for $ 132.00 and Voucher #’s 216 – 259 for $ 40,420.84, A Fund, and $ 430.51, for B
Fund, for a Total of
$ 40,851.35, as shown on the Cash
Requirements Abstract for July 2010,
SECONDED by
Councilman Przelski. Vote:
All ayes.
MOTION was offered by Councilman Gifford
approving Highway Payroll #
13 & 14 of 2010, and the HIGHWAY BILLS, Vouchers # 100 – 115, as shown on ABSTRACT
# 7, in the amount of $ 374.98 , for DA Fund, and $ 19,991.45, for the DB Fund, for
a Total of $ 20,366.43, as shown on
the CASH REQUIREMENTS ABSTRACT for July 2010,
Abstract total is $ 61,217.78, SECONDED
by Councilman Haver.
Vote: All ayes.
The Bank Statements and
reconciliations for the month ending June 2010 were not received yet, and will
be done at the next meeting..
Councilman Bravo said that
our DCO, Pat Scofield is not doing the job we pay her
to do. Mr. Barnhart said she does not
want to go up to his house because he has called her regarding a dog that bites
and is running loose most of the time.
She said we don’t pay her enough to go up there.
Superintendent Longstaff reported that the Little Black Creek Bridge signs
are down, along with other ones. He
received three quotes for spray foam insulation for 2 “ for outside walls of
the cold storage area at the new highway garage…..he and his men will do the
ceiling themselves, which cannot be sprayed due to air space.
Quotes received from:
1. Standard Insulation $ 2,780
2. Upstate Spray foam $ 2,250
3. Northern Spray Foam $ 1,500 (Brian Ozog)
MOTION offered by Councilman Przelski to hire the low bidder, NORTHERN SPRAY FOAM, to do the insulation project at a cost of $ 1,500, SECONDED by Councilman Haver. The Vote:
All ayes.
Superintendent Longstaff said that we should also put out the sand bids, approximately 1,200 yards are left now, which will be
moved to the new site. He would rather
put up 3,000 or 3,500 yards…..sand will not rot. The sand on Route 365 is useable.
Shelia Barnhart said that
Mr. Kinney who works for the highway department does a very good job for them.
The sand is not a perishable
item, and when we need it, it is there to use as stated by Superintendent Longstaff. It will
take approximately one day to move the sand.
The back part of the sand stored at the Route 365 site is not screened.
MOTION offered by Councilman Haver to put sand bids out for 3,000 yards of sand, SECONDED
by Councilman Bravo. The Vote:
All ayes.
We also need to consider the
installation of a Fire/security system to put out for bid for the highway
garage. The Fire alarm is the critical
one to have. The Town board on a MOTION
by Councilman Haver and SECONDED by Councilman
Bravo voted to authorize Supervisor Donley to bid for both the Fire Alarm and
Burglar Alarm Systems to be opened at the August 9th Town Board
meeting at 7:00 PM just prior to the regular Town meeting.
Paul Antonik,
Chairman of the Planning Board said he will come in to meet with the Town Board
members to go over everything on the Land Use Regulations.
The monthly report of the
Codes Officer was received and looked over by the members of the town board.
The lighting at the highway
garage is way too much. There are seven
(7) 100 wt bulbs that go over each door.
Codes officer Irwin recommended removing them from the doors, and see
how it looks…all on an electric eye, and two breakers for the lights. There is no way to just turn off the entrance
doors. Just try removing the bulbs for
now, or try it with one breaker off, which will turn off 600 – 700 wts of electric. Superintendent
Longstaff said he will try shutting down one breaker
and see how it is.
LETTER’s have been received from:
RESOLUTION # 64 ----was offered by
Councilman Gifford and he moved for
its adoption to hereby adopt LOCAL LAW #
1 OF 2010 TITLED which will rescind Local Law # 1 of the Year 1994, Titled
“Date Change for the Hearing of Complaints in Relation to Assessments”, which will become
effective immediately upon the notice of filing with the Secretary of State, SECONDED
by Supervisor Donley.
C.
GIFFORD, AYE C. HAVER, AYE
S. DONLEY, AYE
The Vote, being all
ayes, the Resolution is hereby adopted.
RESOLUTION # 65 ----was offered by
Councilman Haver
and he moved for its adoption to authorize the Town Supervisor and Clerk to
advertise for sealed bids for the furnishing of all labor and material
necessary for the Town of Russia Salt Storage Facility, to be received until 2 PM on Monday, August 9, 2010, and
will be publicly opened and read aloud, at 7 PM at the regular meeting of the
Town Board, SECONDED by Councilman Bravo. (To be advertised in both the
OD and the Telegram)
C.
GIFFORD, AYE C. HAVER, AYE
S.
DONLEY, AYE
The Vote, being all
ayes, the Resolution is hereby adopted.
RESOLUTION # 66 ----was offered by
Councilman Bravo and he moved for
its adoption to authorize the Town Supervisor to pay invoice # 28295 for $
9,015.26, and Invoice # 28364 for $ 10,634.26 for a total of $ 19,649.52 to Lu Engineers from the HSBC Bond Account
for engineering work as contracted, SECONDED by Councilman Haver.
C.
GIFFORD, AYE C. HAVER, AYE
S.
DONLEY, AYE
The Vote, being all
ayes, the Resolution is hereby adopted.
MOTION was offered by Councilman Gifford authorizing the
budget adjustment and transfer to the following accounts from:
$ 3,467.50
for HJ Brandeles 1-C Plumbing from Bond funds
$ 21,042.68 for HJ Brandeles
1-B Heating from
Bond funds
$ 200.00 for Mark R. Rose Attorney from
Bond funds
$ 633.51 for Turner Lumber Company
$ 222.55 for
Lowes,
$ 397.04 for W. W. Grainger all for the NEW HIGHWAY GARAGE
to A 5132.5 from EMPIRE ZONE FUNDS or Bond Account?
SECONDED by Councilman Przelski. The
Vote: All ayes.
RESOLUTION # 67 ----was offered by Councilman Bravo, and he moved for its adoption to
hereby adopt the following:
Standard Work
Day and Reporting Resolution
BE IT
RESOLVED, that the TOWN OF
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SECONDED by Supervisor Donley. (Note:
SS # ‘s/ Registration #’s left out of this
Resolution,
but were sent to Retirement System)
C.
GIFFORD, AYE C. HAVER, AYE
S.
DONLEY, AYE
The Vote, being all
ayes, the Resolution is hereby adopted.
On this 12th day of July, 2010
________________________________ DATE
ENACTED: July 12, 2010
(Signature of clerk)
I, JEANNE M. BARLEY, Town Clerk of the governing board of the TOWN OF RUSSIA, of the State of New
York, do hereby certify that I have compared the foregoing with the original
resolution passed by such board, at a legally convened meeting held on the 12th
day of July, 2010 on file as part of the minutes of such meeting, and that same
is a true copy thereof and the whole of such original.
I further certify that the full Town Board, consists of five members, and that all of such members were present at such meeting and that all of such members voted in favor of the above resolution.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and the
seal of the TOWN OF
DATE: July 12, 2010
____________________________________
TOWN CLERK/ RMC
TOWN SEAL
MOTION offered by Councilman Gifford to adjourn the REGULAR
TOWN BOARD MEETING at 8:35 PM, SECONDED
by Councilman Haver.
The Vote: All ayes.
Respectfully
submitted,
Jeanne M.
Barley, Town Clerk/RMC