CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

JULY 7, 2014

The Clermont Town Board held their regular meeting on Monday, July 7, 2014 at 7:00 P.M. Those present were Supervisor Raymond Staats, Councilman Evan Hempel, Councilman Robert Desmond, Councilman Kris Gildersleeve and Councilman Edward Kahle. There were four Clermont residents, one resident of Livingston and Adam Clayton of the Register Star present.

Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with a salute to the flag.

A motion was made to move into executive session relative to an appointment by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Kahle at 7:00 P.M. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made to come out of executive session at 7:25 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

MINUTES: The minutes were accepted on a motion made by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

TOWN CLERKS REPORT: The Town Clerk read the report for June and presented the Supervisor with a check for the General fund in the amount of 573.38 and a check for Trust and Agency for $250.00. A motion was made to accept the Clerk’s report by Councilman Gildersleeve, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

• Letter from Columbia County Office for the Aging seeking volunteers to assist Medicare eligible seniors and disabled individuals with insurance decisions. Contact OFA at 518-828-4258. Training is available.
• The Supervisor provided the Town Board members with the budget and revenue report for June 30^th.
• Supervisor Staats read an article in the Register Star about an article, which lists the top 50 affluent towns in upstate New York. There are six towns in Columbia County on the list and Clermont is ranked as the 45^th.
• Councilman Hempel reported that the domain name for Clermont’s website has been renewed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

• PARK: Councilman Desmond reported that the border for the swings has been installed, primarily by Staats Contracting. The invoice was received from Raymond Michael, LTD for the swings and fall surface for $15,250.00 which will be paid from donations made by Bank of Greene County, Iroquois Community grant and the Hover Fund.

• FRACKING: Councilman Desmond stated that the courts have upheld the no fracking laws in certain area of the states, and he feels that we ought to look at this issue again even though there is little chance of it coming here. Councilman Kahle said that we do have Utica shale in this area and it is unlikely that they would want to drill here, but they might want to stage in this location because of Route 9. The Supervisor will reach out to the Germantown Supervisor to see if they are interested in holding more informational sessions.

• HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Councilman Desmond would like to recognize the Highway Department for responding to help the Livingston Highway Department after a storm where one of Livingston’s roads had washed out.

• COMMUNITY DAY: The Supervisor reported that the Village Green BBQ is going to be postponed due to a lack of volunteers and the Chairman needs to have some personal time and cannot do it this year.

OLD BUSINESS:

• PARK DONATION: A donation from the Bank of Greene County for $250.00 for the park was received after the last meeting.
• BRIDGE UPDATE: The proposals are back for design services for the bridge, there were ten responses and the bids ranged from $50,000 to $250,000.00. The DPW Commissioner is looking at these bids and will be in the budget for 2015.
• ONLINE TAX BILLS: In May the Director of Real Property, Town Tax Collector and Deputy County Treasurer were at the Town Board meeting with a presentation on putting the tax bills online. Clermont is the only town that has not done this. At that meeting there was discussion about grant opportunities for paying for this service, as there is a cost for this service, which would be applied to the county tax bills. The Supervisor did ask the Director if there were any grant opportunities to help with paying for this. There are not. The cost would be $794.37, which is under a dollar per year for each parcel, after that it is $100.00 per year. He asked the board to reconsider approving putting the tax bills on line. Councilman Hempel does not think it should be paid for by the residents in order to help the banks, attorney’s and real estate companies. Councilman Gildersleeve has gotten very little feedback back about it, but what he has gotten is either neutral or positive. Councilman Gildersleeve made a motion to approve it; Councilman Desmond seconded the motion. Councilman Kahle is not in favor. A Roll call vote was held. Councilman Kahle, nay; Councilman Desmond, aye; Councilman Hempel, nay; Councilman Gildersleeve, aye; Supervisor Staats, aye. Motion passed.
• PARK: Supervisor Staats thanked Councilman Desmond for his help with putting down the border and stone for the swing. The flag on the ball field needs a light if it is going to be left up. Councilman Desmond and the Supervisor will look into this.
• WATER SYSTEM QUOTES: The Town Board approved the installation of an Ultraviolet light in the Community House for the treatment of the well water if the bids came in at $1868.00 or less, which was the first quote received. The following are the bids:

Culligan – with float control alarm, cartridge pre-filter - $1,978.00

Claverack Pump Service – same as above - $1500.00

Hart Water Conditioning – without 12 gal per minute and no pre-filter $1100.00.

A motion was made by Councilman Gildersleeve to accept the Claverack Pump Service bid of $1500.00, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

• ZONING BOARD ALTERNATE: Interviews for the position of alternate on the Zoning Board of Appeals were held and a motion was made to appoint Donald Van Wagner as an alternate by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.
• COMMUNITY HOUSE: Supervisor Staats and Councilman Kahle have not yet checked the Community House roof and ceiling.

SUPERVISORS REPORT:

• COURTHOUSE: All the work has been completed and now waiting for the windows with an expected finish date of September.
• PINE HAVEN HOME: There is an RFP for bids for the sale of the nursing home going out for the privatization. The information that is going out to the public does not show that Pine Haven will be paying back in full this year any money that it has been lent this year by the County. He is discouraged by the information that is being provided to the public. He hopes that other Supervisors will take a good look at these numbers. Councilman Desmond asked if it is true that there are indirect expenses being charged to Pine Haven, for salaries for other departments. This is true. The union was able to come up with a $500,000 savings to keep the home operating.
• TAX FORECLOSURE SALE: The Supervisor toured 36 parcels, which will be foreclosed on.

• Livingston did have a severe flooding issue on Greendale Road after a storm and our Highway Department was called in to help them to save the road. The Livingston Supervisor called to thank our Supervisor.
• The Village Green BBQ information will be posted as soon as we have it finalized.

ABSTRACTS:

A motion was made to approve General abstract #7, vouchers #164-205 in the amount of $27,823.72 by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made to approve Highway Abstract #7, vouchers #67-82 in the amount of $21,514.85 by Councilman Gildersleeve, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

• George Davis commented that the Chairman of the BBQ has worked very hard in the past and he is certain that she feels terrible about not being able to help. The is also an issue about the lack of volunteers to help put on these events.

• Mill Road Bridge: A resident of Mill Road in Livingston stated that the issue of opening the bridge never comes up at the Livingston board meetings and asked if there was ever any opposition to the bridge being opened and was there ever any public information period. The Supervisor said that there have been residents opposed and residents in favor, also people from outside have asked for it to be opened. The Columbia County traffic safety board has written about the safety issue. Councilman Desmond explained that there are emergency and safety issues and the town does discourage dead end roads. Mr. Hamilton also asked if there would be a chance for public to have anything to say about the configuration of the bridge. Supervisor Staats said that the configuration would basically stay the same.

A motion was made to adjourn by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Kahle. All in favor. So carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk