CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

JANUARY 5, 2009

The Clermont Town Board held its regular meeting on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall. Those present were Supervisor Staats, Councilwoman O'Neal, Councilman Jones, Councilwoman Lent and Councilman Nolan. There were fifteen other residents present, Jessica Dundon, student from Pine Plains High School and Town Attorney Andy Howard.

Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with a salute to the flag. A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilwoman O'Neal to move into executive session at 7:00 P.M. to discuss personnel matters relative to the organizational meeting. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Nolan to close executive session and reopen regular meeting seconded by Councilman Jones at 7:20 P.M.

The Organizational meeting was held.

Supervisor Staats spoke about the recent power outage of December 11, 2008 from an ice storm. A lot was learned from this event. The generator at Station #2, Route 9G was inadequate to run the entire building. The Town Hall and Community House could have been used for warming center; however, we need a generator so that these buildings could be used for warming center. Dry ice and bottled water was made available and people did come to pick it up. The Supervisor received updates from National Grid on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day. The Fire Chief was concerned with the poor response from National Grid due to power lines down for days and roads being closed for emergency response. The Supervisor thanked the Carmelite Sisters on Woods Road who were ready to help with beds and food during the days that followed. He also thanked the Fire Department and the Highway Department for getting our roads open and accessible. He thanked everyone who helped out a neighbor or anyone during the storm. The Emergency Preparedness Plan will be updated and these issues will be addressed.

MINUTES:

1. Councilman Nolan noted a correction to the December 1^st meeting minutes on page 2, item 7 - the charge for NYSERDA to assess the buildings is $100.00 per building for a total of $300.00. Councilwoman Lent asked is there was a proposal submitted for the energy audit. Councilman Nolan stated that there was a proposal submitted by Patrice Courtney Strong. He also noted a correction on page 3, Supervisors report, 4^th bullet to add ‘some local banks'.

MOTION: A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to accept the December 1, 2008 minutes with corrections. All in favor. So carried.

2. Councilman Nolan noted a correction on the December 17, 2008 minutes, last paragraph change "if to it".

MOTION: A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to accept the minutes of December 17, 2008 with corrections. All in favor. So carried.

3. MOTION: A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to accept the December 29, 2008 minutes. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

1. Town Clerks Report - The Town Clerk submitted a check for the General Fund in the amount of $159.28. The report was accepted on a motion made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones. All in favor. So carried.
2. Desiree Webber, Dog Control Officer has the ability to check the State website to look up dog licenses. She suggested that dog owners have a second phone number listed on the dog licenses in the event that they are not at home if there dog should get lost or there is an emergency.
3. Letter from Pine Plains Veterinary Associates regarding vaccination against kennel cough, which is now mandatory for any dogs housed at their facility.
4. The Association of Towns annual meeting for 2009 will be held in New York City in February. Material was distributed.
5. Webmaster - Councilman Jones noted an email that Stephen Hammer had sent about who would handle certain postings on the website. This could be discussed at the February meeting when Mr. Hammer is present.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

1. Councilwoman O'Neal thanked the Village Green committee for the Holiday Party which was held on December 5^th. It was attended by about 80.
2. Councilwoman O'Neal also spoke about the Emergency Preparedness Plan, for which she was put in charge of updating. She is sorry that it was not in place. There are things that we should have been prepared for that our current plan would not have helped us with. She had asked for responses from various departments but received only one back from the Highway Superintendent. Discussed purchase of a generator for fire station on Route 9G because it was not able to run the entire building for a shelter, and using their smaller one for the Town Hall or Community House.
3. QUADRICENTENNIAL: Councilwoman O'Neal reported that there is a grant for funding for a joint project between town and state historic site for $8000.00, available through County committee. She has also applied to be listed on the website, but we are still not listed.
4. Councilman Jones thanked the Village Green Committee for the work that they do.
5. HIGHWAY GARAGE: The American Land Title Association survey is complete. It has been completed in CAD format. Other communities have put up garages with wooden trusses, which reduces the cost, priced in the vicinity of $500,000.00. He has produced a drawing of a 5800 square feet with no partitions, but including concrete, plumbing, underground electric, heating, septic and oil separator. The next step would have a detail of materials required for this size building, concrete costs, wooden trusses so that we can go to contractors and get a price on materials. This would not include cost for road. Supervisor Staats thanked Councilman Jones for his efforts on this project and for his time and work that he has donated. Councilwoman O'Neal noted that it might be possible to apply for funding for infrastructure projects with the new administration. Councilman Jones also noted that the building could also be used for storage for emergency equipment.
6. Councilman Jones would like to see the community using the Community House more often, particularly the young families in the community.
7. Councilwoman Lent reported on DEC reimbursement for ALTA survey, which should be 90% of our cost, which was $2500.00. They will reimburse 5% for attorney fees for Brownfields work. They did not mention a cap on reimbursement fees for attorneys. We need clean invoices from Andy Howard in order to submit. We have not gotten reimbursement for Kimberlea Shaw Rea so a new voucher should be submitted.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. EMERGENCY RADIOS: Councilwoman Lent has spoken to Robert Lopez, Deputy Director of Emergency Management. We have a grant from Berkshire Taconic Foundation, which will match up to $1000.00 of what we spend. There was further discussion regarding the radios.
2. Councilwoman Lent thanked Anne Jennings and Janet Crawford of Germantown for dinners, which she delivered to residents during the power outage. Councilman Nolan suggested writing a letter to the Carmelite Sisters thanking them.

MOTION: A motion was made by Councilman Jones, seconded by Councilman Nolan for Councilwoman Lent to write a letter to the Carmelite Sisters, Germantown Auxiliary and Town of Germantown thanking them. All in favor. So carried.

3. ENERGY AUDIT: Councilman Nolan is in contact with the firm in Troy who is going to do the energy audit.
4. SCHOOL LIAISON: Councilman Nolan has contacted three school districts to ask them to come to a town board meeting, before their budgets are in place.
5. AMIDON BUILDERS: Councilwoman Lent asked the Town Attorney about three payments for the window grant, which were paid without coming before the full board. The contract allowed for payment of $18,000.00 in three payments of $6000.00 each. Andy Howard stated that there was a provision to pay $6000.00 at the beginning of the job. The final payment was not to be made until the work was reviewed by the building inspector; but he would have to review the contract further. Councilwoman Lent stated that the contractor was supposed to use the standard AIAG702 but it was not submitted and there was also supposed to be backup documentation of prevailing wage, which was not submitted. Councilman Nolan thought that the resolution authorized the Supervisor Staats to make the payments because it would be in the middle of a board session as long as there were no changes. The duration of the job was estimated to be 30-45 days, which would fall in between meetings. Mr. Howard will review the contract and advise.
6. BIDDING ON PROJECTS: Andy Howard noted new protocols on low bidders on a project. The State Comptroller and Legislature is requiring boards to take a look at the low bidders because there may be a de facto presumption that there is something wrong with the bid. Boards are looking to be fiscally responsible and if bids come in meeting your specs but are 20% lower than the next bid, it has to be reviewed.
7. ALTA SURVEY- Councilman Jones had the survey work done by Robert Zimmerman and his original estimate was for $2700, but when done, he reduced it to $2500. A thank you will be sent to Mr. Zimmerman, who is a resident of Clermont.
8. TOWN INSURANCE: Our agent, Gregory Fingar had reported that NYMIR would be distributing refunds to towns. He has told the Supervisor that Clermont will receive a check for $931.70.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. BANK ACCOUNTS: Supervisor Staats has been checking with various banks on their interest rates, which are down to 1%. Several banks are willing to hold CD's: First Niagara, rate of 1.35%, Bank of America, rate of 1.30%, Kinderhook Bank, rate of 2.03%. Funds are currently in a Money Market account. Supervisor Staats is recommending putting some money in CD's from various accounts.
2. An email was received from our accountant regarding Councilwoman Lents objection to using funds from the Highway Fund to balance accounts in the Highway Fund, reference Resolution #63-08, but rather use funds from General Contingency A1990.4.

MOTION: A motion was made by Councilwoman O'Neal, seconded by Councilman Nolan to authorize an adjusting journal entry to reduce the A1990.4 Contingency account in General fund and transfer to A9901.0 in the amount of $1609.00 pursuant to Resolution #63-08 approved on December 29, 2008. This will be done by resolution. All in favor. So carried.

SUPERVISORS REPORT:

The Supervisor outlined some of the accomplishments of this year:

1. Consolidated bank accounts.
2. Highway Garage subdivision, survey and DEC work, Community House window project, gutters, floors and lighting.
3. The website has been updated and is more user friendly, more accessible.
4. Village Green Committee has taken over all the events of the town and is more structured.
5. The Ackerman Development road, Sharon Drive, has been turned over to the Town and the Highway Department is now responsible for its upkeep. Our attorney was instrumental in getting this completed.
6. Budget - We have lowered our budget considerably, revenues are on the downside and even though the tax increase is 66%, it is only on the town tax and is less than 5% of total tax bill. A letter will be going out to all taxpayers explaining the tax increase.
7. Generator - A larger generator should be provided to the firehouse on Route 9G and we can use the smaller generator in these buildings. Councilwoman O'Neal called Peter Lopez office seeking member item grants for this purpose. She was advised to complete an application, even thought funding may be scarce this year.

ABSTRACTS:

A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to pay General Fund abstract #1, vouchers #1-10 in the amount of $2,353.65. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to pay Trust and Agency abstract #1, voucher #1 in the amount of $1258.00. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Nolan, seconded by Councilman Jones to pay Highway abstract #1, vouchers 1&2 in the amount of $1,352.52. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

1. George Davis - There are new laws that municipalities can apply for solar panels from NYSERDA. Councilman Jones has planned for maximum solar in the garage planning. Dr. Davis noted that in planning, you might want to be just off due south to maximize the solar benefit. Councilman Nolan thinks that once we are in the NYSERDA program this information will be discussed. Dr. Davis also thanked the board for videotaping the meetings, as it has opened up the meetings to more people and makes for open government.
2. Bob Desmond - Thanked the Supervisor and Fire Chief Laurence Saulpaugh for their efforts during the ice storm. National Grid has been cutting back and there are no line crews in Hudson any longer and preventive maintenance is not being done. It is totally unacceptable to have a road closed because there are wires downs in the road. He reported that National Grid had a person sitting in a vehicle for three days on Pleasantvale Road, where a line crew could have removed the wire so the road could be open. He would urge the board to sit down with officials of National Grid and get them to understand that this was a public safety issue. If there is no action, the board should report or send a resolution of the board to Public Service Commission. Bob also talked about the tax increase, looking at the last eight years, the county increased 102%, the fire tax increased 211%, and the town tax portion increased 17% percent. He believes that the increase is significantly lower than other portions of the tax bill. Supervisor Staats has spoken to Chairman Baer regarding paying taxes in two or more payments and he has asked the Supervisor to bring this up at the Real Property Tax committee meeting. Councilwoman Lent is reporting that Red Hook and Germantown schools would be willing to consider this.
3. Dagmar Payne - It was great that there was water and ice during the emergency, but it could have been sooner, and if there was water for flushing the toilets, that would help a great deal. She also suggested a neighborhood watch group for telephoning neighbors to check on them in the event of an emergency. She also asked if the attorney and accountant bill by the hour? The attorney bills by the hour but the accountant is a monthly fee. She asked if the discussion held earlier would be included in the monthly fee or billed separately. The response was that it is possible it may be billed.
4. Desiree Weber - We, as residents and the town, should have our plans for an emergency under control and then go to National Grid and be able to tell them what we expect from National Grid, not what we need from them.

A motion was made to adjourn by Councilman Jones, seconded by Councilwoman O'Neal at 9:30 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk