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Regular Meeting June 9, 2003 Charlton Town Board Saratoga County New York After the pledge to the flag, the invocation was given by Town Clerk Gail Hanchar. At the regular meeting of the Town Board of Charlton, Saratoga County, New York held at 7:35 P.M. at the Charlton Town Hall, called to order by Supervisor Acunto, there were present:
Councilman Alan Grattidge Councilman Schroeder was excused. Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Mitchell that the minutes of the May 12 Town Board Meeting and the May 26 Agenda Meeting be accepted as received:
Approved: ABSTRACT OF CLAIMS: General Fund: Abstract of claims totaling $43,961.63. Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Highway Fund: Abstract of claims totaling $60,973.12. Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Water Fund: Abstract of claims totaling $94,523.65. Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Vouchers for the month were #498-#627. TOWN CLERK'S REPORT: Gail Hanchar read the Town Clerk's Report. She reported taking in $580.87. Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. PRIVILGE OF THE FLOOR (Agenda Items): Stan Falise, Construction Manager for Niagara Mohawk, spoke regarding the construction of the10 mile pipeline project that will be running from the Rotterdam Mall to Charlton. Chris Sheldon is the Project Manager. The pipeline should be completed by mid-August. They are on a weather-delay type status. Clearing within the town is approximately 90% done. The right-of-way will be about 75 feet wide. They will lay the pipeline 30 feet off the centerline of the towers. They will begin grading at Charvale Pool and will then proceed south. A grading process consists of leveling the high spots so they can get construction equipment through. Following that, they will start with a ditching operation. They will bring two track hoes in at the same location and following through with at trench. Thursday the first shipment of pipe will arrive. It may or may not be placed on the right-of-way depending on weather conditions. There are 36 wetlands to cross. They are matting every wetland because DEC does not allow them to drive through any wetland. The soil will be segregated as it is removed for the pipe. It will be put back in place in the layers that it came out to protect the wetlands. Wetlands are restored 6 inches below the original contour. That allows for the natural soil and animals to move back in. There will be a full time environmental inspector. There will be five inspectors on the right- of-way continuously. There will be three management type people. There will be an x-ray expert and a welding expert monitoring the job. There will be three crews working – a mainline crew which will be bussed in, a tie in crew which will do the wetlands and every stream crossing and a road-boring crew who will bore every road. Mr. Falise can be reached at their construction trailer on Route 5 in the Town of Glenville at 518-382-0292. He can also be reached at 315-447-0836 which is a 24 hour number. Work hours will be from 7:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. The road-boring crew may be working beyond those hours. They cannot work past 7:00 P.M. without approval of the Public Service Commission. If this crew needs to work longer, they will get permission from the Public Service Commission and make contact with the residents adjacent to the project and make sure they are agreeable. They will not be working Sunday's and holidays without PSC approval. The regulator station by Charvale Pool is being fabricated in Indiana. It will be tested and x-rayed there. Once it arrives here it will be re-tested and randomly x-rayed. SUPERVISOR'S REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENETS:
May review of revenue and expenditures:
Major expenditures:
Major revenue: Mosquito dunks are still available at the Town Hall at no charge. Sundae on the Farm will be June 15 from 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the ArnoldHaven Farm on Route 147 in Charlton. The Town will be providing free children's ID kits to residents. Children will be identified by fingerprints, photograph, physical description and identifying marks and a portion of a DNA kit which parents can keep. They should be here shortly. The front door needs to be replaced. We have requested quotes from six firms that do business within the town. Supervisor Acunto has asked that these quotes be back to him by June 30th. The next meeting of the Comprehensive Study Planning Committee will be July 7 at 7:30 P.M. at the Town Hall. There have been inquiries from horse owners requesting signs that say there are horses in the area. This has been reviewed with the county highway superintendent. These signs are only allowed where there is a well defined horse crossing where farm or ridden animals regularly cross a highway. At the end of the Founder's Day Parade, Assemblyman Tedisco presented a citation to the Town Board. Supervisor Acunto feels the more appropriate place for the citation is the Historical Society. The Board will read the citation and determine where it should go. We have received notice from DOT that starting Friday, July 11 at 10:00 A.M., the eastbound lane of Route 7 will be closed from the Northway to Route 787. It will reopen Monday, July 21 at 6:00 A.M. We had a very successful Founder's Day Weekend. Supervisor Acunto thanked the Historical Society. Party in the Park went well in spite of the rain. Supervisor Acunto thanked Alan and his committee, Sue York, Laura Linder, Bob Lippiello, George, the fire department, vendors and organizations. COMMUNICATIONS: Supervisor Acunto received a memo from our Voting Machine Custodian stating that we have two machines that are scheduled for servicing. It will cost between $250.00 - $300.00. Everyone on the Board has received two letters from the Zoning Administrator. One letter deals with a problem on Swaggertown Road and the other with a 911 issue. The Swaggertown Road issue needs our investigation so we can report back to her as to how to proceed. ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER: The month of May has been very busy. Lee has picked up a number of dead animals. Had one dog bite case. Lee asked people to have consideration for their neighbors and not allow dogs to bark and asked people to have tolerance for their neighbors that do have dogs. ASSESSMENT BOARD OF REVIEW: Grievance Day has been held. They are working on the cases. CONSTABLES: They had a busy weekend with Founders Day and did an excellent job with traffic control. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION: They are reviewing ZBA applications for variances on a regular basis. EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE: Henry Coghill from Lake Hill Road has a good background in emergency planning and has asked to serve on this committee. A resolution will be passed later in the meeting. HIGHWAY: They are finally done with bulk pick-up. We had more stuff this year than last year. They have been mowing and trimming brush. The new furnace is in at the garage and working. HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION: They are planning to have a display at Sundae on the Farm. They will be having a meeting the third Wednesday in June at the Town Hall. PARK COMMITTEE:
George has made contact with Mr. Baker at Saratoga County Soil and Water. He will meet some members of the committee and highway department tomorrow morning to plant sugar maple trees. PLANNING BOARD: Their next meeting will be Monday, June 16 at 7:30 P.M. at the Town Hall. TOWN HALL: Councilman Mitchell said she had spoken with Mr. Mesick a couple of months ago and was not aware that we were calling him again. Dot or Allen will set up a date to meet with him. WATER DISTRICTS AND LIBRARY: The summer library session will be starting soon. We still have two hardship requests for water. One is moving along. Councilman Lippiello has heard no more regarding the request from Meadow Lane. The Crooked Street hardship case is having engineering work done to see if the possibility is there that the line that exists could supply an additional home. They would have to apply to the Town Board. The Water Study Committee will be meeting again on June 23. We are trying to put together some recommendations and then come back to the Board. ZONING ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE: We are continuing to go through the list of potential changes to the Zoning Ordinance. No pressure is being put on us but we are trying to go thorough the list as rapidly as possible. We would like to have something to present to the public this fall. Their next meeting is June 25 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall. RESOLUTIONS: Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello that Resolution #66, A RESOLUTION TO APPOINT HENRY COGHILL TO THE EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE , be approved:
Approved: Motion made by Councilman Mitchell, seconded by Councilman Grattidge that Resolution #67, A RESOLUTION HONORING ANDREA E. SMITH, NEW YORK STATE DAIRY PRINCESS 2003, be approved:
Approved: COUNCILMAN REPORTS: Councilman Grattidge – Congratulated Andrea Smith for her accomplishments. She is doing a commendable job representing the agricultural industry. Founders Day Weekend went well in spite of the rain. The fireworks were outstanding. Special thanks to Ron and the Fire Department. Councilman Mitchell – Congratulated Andrea. Dot is proud to be her great aunt. Thanked everyone that was involved with Party in the Park and Founders Day Weekend. Councilman Lippiello – It was a super weekend. In spite of the weather, people had a wonderful time. The fireworks were great. Congratulations to Andrea. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: John Tasse – Sweetman Road – The purpose of my presence here is to request that the Board remove Mrs. Schmidt from Chairman of the ZBA. That request stems from three concerns I have. In my opinion, the lot that the Schmidts are taking the town to court over does not appear to be consistent with the intent of the Town of Charlton Zoning Ordinance. In my opinion, I think that the Chairman of the ZBA should hold the Ordinance in high regard. Another opinion I have relative to this is the fact that the Schmidts are pursuing legal action prior to allowing the ZBA to hear this case. This indicates a lack of trust in our Town processes to resolve these issues. This trust is in the very committee Mrs. Schmidt chairs. The last element of concern that I have is that the lawsuit that the Schmidts have brought against the Zoning Officer has been brought by the Chairman of the ZBA. In my opinion, this action will probably cause significant damage to an essential operating relationship in the administration of the Town Zoning Ordinance and that is the relationship between the Zoning Officer and the Chairperson of the ZBA. Dave Schweizer – DeGraff Road – I have some concerns about the Zoning Administrator. We've got a junk car law. I don't see it being enforced. I think the enforcement is very critical to the look and the environment of Charlton that we are so proud of. There was a recent Gazette article about the Zoning Administrator and some decisions that have been made. I question – does the Zoning Administrator ask for a legal opinion? I know we have a lot more lawyers around this meeting place than we have ever had before and obviously there probably was legal opinion available. If it was asked, did the Administrator follow it or ignore it? I kind of resent being a resident of this town and having to see us defend someone who ignored a legal opinion if one was given. Torben Aabo – Sweetman Road – The Schmidt case, I only know what has been hearsay and what has been in the papers. However, some of it is true, I'm sure. It appears to me that we have a long time resident of the Town of Charlton that at one point was an elected official in the Town and it appears that that person is trying to not follow the rules that the Town has set up over many, many years which appear to me as being very good rules. Now we have a lawsuit against a town position. I am concerned that if we allow this kind of thing to go on, where it appears to me that our zoning laws are not being followed, that we are in deep trouble because this would be a trial for that Zoning Ordinance that we have in place. If this case goes forward and is not contended, we could be in for a lot of trouble. The next Agenda Meeting will be June 30 at 7:30 P.M. The next Town Board Meeting will be on July 14 at 7:30 P.M. After everyone had the opportunity to speak who wished, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Gail Hanchar Town Clerk |
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