DRAFT

Regular Meeting July 12, 2004

Charlton Town Board

Saratoga County

New York

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 Councilman Lippiello, there were present:

Councilman Robert Lippiello

Councilman Dorothy Mitchell

Councilman Sandra Verola

Supervisor Acunto and Councilman Grattidge were excused.

Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell that the minutes of the June 14 Town Board Meeting and the minutes of the June 28 Agenda Meeting be accepted as received:

Approved: Councilman Grattidge Absent

Councilman Lippiello Yes

Councilman Mitchell Yes

Councilman Verola Yes

Supervisor Acunto Absent

ABSTRACT OF CLAIMS:

The total of the bills approved at the Agenda Meeting was $28,853.29.

Vouchers for the month were #1635 to #1725.

TOWN CLERK’S REPORT:

Gail Hanchar read the Town Clerk’s Report. She reported taking in $107.65. Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR (Agenda Items):

No comments.

SUPERVISOR’S REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

June expenditures and revenue:

General Fund – Expenditures of $114,049.04. Revenue of $13,019.39.

Highway Fund – Expenditures of $42,745.07. Revenue of $73,847.73.

Water District #1 – Expenditures of $96,245.00. Revenue of 190.48.

Water District #2 – Expenditures of $167.88.

For the month of June there were 793 hits at the web site.

We have received information from Egan Realty that is handling the property for sale on Jockey Street. Mary Egan thought we might be interested. They are offering it at $49,999.00. At the present time it is not something that we are considering.

On July 28 at 7:00 P.M. at Gideon Hawley Park there will be a concert by the Schenectady Brass Quintet. Lila Serapilio is organizing it in conjunction with the Historical Society. Bring a lawn chair.

It was brought up at the Agenda Meeting that there was a desire to get information regarding services for the seniors in town. We will be having a presentation at the September Town Board Meeting by someone from the Office of the Aging and Nina Acunto, the town liaison with the Office of the Aging.

We have received the results of the decision from Judge Nolan regarding the Crooked Street subdivision. The decision has gone against us on the appeal. There are copies of the proceedings and the Article 78 decision available to the public. The Town Board went into executive session with town counsel at the end of the Agenda Meeting on June 28 and again tonight. Based on our discussions and with advice of counsel, the following resolution was developed:

Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell that

Resolution #74, A RESOLUTION TO APPEAL THE ENTIRETY OF THE DECISION AND JUDGEMENT GRANTING THE PETITION OF CAPITOL REAL ESTATE INC. AND ANNULLING THE RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD ADOPTED DECEMBER 8, 2003, be approved:

Councilman Lippiello – As you read Judge Nolan’s response it was a very encouraging response and it seemed as if he was going to agree with us again. It takes a left turn at the end in spite of all that he had said during the first couple of pages. Counsel feels that we do have a good chance of turning this over based on some of the things Judge Nolan has actually used in his first response.

Marv Schorr stated that they had gone with the town on everything except that the town had to consider a few more documents. Is that what turned the whole thing around?

Councilman Lippiello – It did change the complete decision but I don’t believe he even addressed the additional items that we had to reconsider.

Approved: Councilman Grattidge Absent

Councilman Lippiello Yes

Councilman Mitchell Yes

Councilman Verola Yes

Supervisor Acunto Absent

Councilman Lippiello stated that Town Counsel estimates that our appeal probably won’t be answered within a year.

We received a Notice of Claim from a January 30, 2004 accident. The claimants are Bradley and Megan Swartz against the Town of Charlton. The claim has been referred to counsel.

COMMUNICATIONS:

We received a thank you note from Bill Herkenham for the town’s assistance with the 5K Walk and Run.

Heather Scriber has requested an email address so people can email articles directly to her.

Residents of Featherbed Lane have written with concerns regarding the work done on Featherbed Lane. Councilman Lippiello read the letter which stated that permanent status as a dirt road was granted many years ago. Residents are concerned that the latest improvements seem to be preparing Featherbed Lane for paving. They do not want to see the beauty and the serenity of the road destroyed. Ron stated that he shaped it up, brought in some loads of dirt and sprayed it with calcium. They didn’t harm anybody’s flowers or lawns. They made it safe for emergency vehicles and school busses. Councilman Lippiello said that the busses were having a hard time getting to one or two houses because of soft spots in the road. Ron said it still needs a little work and that will be done before winter. Councilman Mitchell stated that a few months ago a resident of Featherbed Lane was at a town meeting and reported that there were problems there and the highway crew responded. Councilman Verola said the Town Board toured Featherbed and there were problems. Councilman Mitchell said she had driven over there today and she thought they had done a very good job in preserving the character of the road but you also have to do repairs.

We received a letter of resignation from Margaret Dennis. She will step down as Chairman of the Board of Assessors immediately. She will resign as Assessor effective September 30, 2004.

Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell, A Motion to accept the letter of resignation from Margaret Dennis, be approved:

Approved: Councilman Grattidge Absent

Councilman Lippiello Yes

Councilman Mitchell Yes

Councilman Verola Yes

Supervisor Acunto Absent

Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell, A Motion to appoint Victoria Hayner as Chairman of the Assessors effective immediately, be approved:

Approved: Councilman Grattidge Absent

Councilman Lippiello Yes

Councilman Mitchell Yes

Councilman Verola Yes

Supervisor Acunto Absent

ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER:

A couple of dogs were picked up and taken to the county. There have been a couple of complaints.

ASSESSMENT BOARD OF REVIEW:

They have finished up their duties and have notified everyone of their final values.

Councilman Verola asked Vicki if she knew if they planned to make a report to the Town Board. Councilman Lippiello said that he had requested that of Marge last week. Vicki will make a report from the Assessors next month. Councilman Lippiello will contact the Review Board for a report. Councilman Mitchell asked that if a person who had received a stipulation would get a notice. She thought in the past we had done that. Vicki said that if they had signed a stipulation they did not get another notice.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:

They had the Vision Survey. It went very well.

CONSTABLES:

For the month of June there were 29 patrols, answered 11 911 calls, covered 1,811 miles, issued 34 tickets and investigated 2 accidents.

EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE:

There will be a Hazardous Analysis Software Workshop on July 14 from 10:00 AM– 3:30 PM. at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga. It is for all local government officials. Sandy will contact Dean DeCapria to see if he is interested in attending.

HIGHWAY:

They are working on upper Division Street, Jolly Road and Newman Road getting them ready for paving. They have also been working on Featherbed Lane.

HISTORIAN:

This is county fair week. There is a special booth at the fair for Saratoga County History. Each town is being asked to participate.

Thanked Ron Gavin for the piece on Featherbed Lane.

Thanked Don Bolon of Cook Road. He found a well in his front yard and took the time to take photographs of his excavation of it. It appears to be the well from Schoolhouse #5 which at one time was located where his house is now. That Schoolhouse was picked up and moved from that location to the bottom of Cook Road where it now serves as a garage.

Laura had a request for information on how to repair a weathervane on a church steeple. The Historical Society Building was repaired a number of years ago and folks in Duanesburg knew that and they called to find out where they can get their weathervane fixed.

Laura said she appreciated being included in the town hall planning concerning a town historian’s office and also being included in the Comprehensive Plan Meetings. She agreed that the Vision Survey was very well done. She feels that the more people that attend those meetings, the better it is for our town.

Senator Hugh Farley had a wonderful little booklet last year about historical sites and museums in his district. It has been reprinted and brought up to date this year. In his booklet he is pointing out the fact that there is a lot of money to be made in tourism and heritage. The more we do to maintain our history, the more it brings us in visitors, etc. to our community. Laura stated that our Historic District Commission does need help and our cooperation in helping to maintain the character of our Historic District. Senator Farley’s booklet also mentions that for every 10,000 New Yorkers there is a museum in our state. In 2001, museums and heritage organizations employed 113,250 full time and part time people. For each employed person, there were 3 volunteers working. Operating expenses for state museums exceeded $1.4 billion in 2001.

Laura said that as Town Historian she is liaison to the Historical Society and sits in their Board Meetings to keep contact between the Town and the Historical Society. As Historian she does not have any voting rights other than being a member. It would be a conflict of interest.

Laura stated that agriculture and tourism are a key part of this county’s financial well-being. Charlton is doing a lot more to bring business to our town. As Historian, Laura sees us loosing because as we try to maintain our older homes it is economically difficult. We can be sure that because of the popularity of wanting to live in Charlton, more and more of our older homes will be torn down and new homes built. We need to be prepared for this as a community and what kind of homes do we want people to build in place of those homes. The Corbin property on Maple Avenue is a signal for some of this. It is being neglected. The house is not being maintained by the bank that is in charge of it. The fence is falling down.

There is a Little Italy Heritage Tourism Conference will be taking place in Troy on

July 23. Communities are working hard to look at their various ethnic groups. Various politicians are taking part in that conference.

LIBRARY:

They held their annual meeting last month. There is a huge increase in patronage and we have not added any full-time support for the library staff. A long-range plan has been in the works for many months. We just got the final draft this week.

PARK COMMITTEE:

The volleyball court is finished.

PLANNING BOARD:

There are seeing a lot of activity, in excess of 20 subdivideable parcels. We have several factors in town that may be affecting that. One could be the Comprehensive Plan and the other could be the assessment changes. (Changed tape.)

RECORDS ADVISORY BOARD:

We will have a meeting next month to select a book to be preserved.

TOWN HALL:

There will be a meeting on July 21 at the Town Hall at 7:30 P.M. to go over floor plans

WATER:

We received a request for a new hookup on 43 Lake Hill Road. They are not in the Water District. It is something John needs to look at. He is in the process of painting hydrants and marking the location of valves.

ZONING ADMINISTRATOR:

For the month of June they collected $2,046.00.

RESOLUTIONS:

Motion made by Councilman Verola, seconded by Councilman Mitchell that

Resolution #75, A RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS, be approved:

Approved: Councilman Grattidge Absent

Councilman Lippiello Yes

Councilman Mitchell Yes

Councilman Verola Yes

Supervisor Acunto Absent

COUNCILMAN REPORTS:

Councilman Verola – Nothing at this time.

Councilman Mitchell – Thanked Marge for her service to the assessors and chairman of the assessors.

Councilman Lippiello – Also thanked Marge for her service. The County fair starts tomorrow.

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR:

Albert LaRue – Charlton Road – I am on the Comprehensive Planning Committee. I’m the one who started all of this on protecting the aquifers and so forth. I did not realize that our Chairman and Co-Chairman were going to bring it to the Town Board without going to the committee first. I don’t feel the town should be having a geological survey of the town. I feel that if a developer comes in and wants to put in a major development that he is the one who should do the geological survey to prove that he is not on an aquifer and not going to damage our environment, whether it be an aquifer or whatever. It could be that this aquifer system is something that we don’t really have to worry about. I understand that the county is going to be doing a massive water program. I am not looking for tomorrow or next year or whatever. Let’s look 200 years down the road. If we destroy our water now, we will be the same as they are in Europe. You can’t swim in the rivers. You can’t swim in the streams. You can’t drink water without concerned of getting sick or dying. That is why I am looking at water as being a major concern in the town. I don’t feel, at least at this point, that it should be an expense of the town.

Dale Delano – Meadowbrook Lane – I have been rather unhappy about the assessment process. I know Grievance Day branched out into 4 days. I wonder if somebody knows how typical that is in the grievance process. Is this an unusual year?

Councilman Lippiello – It was quite unusual. In the past, I believe, they had anticipated the possibility of an extended Grievance Day but they squeezed them into 1 long day.

Dale Delano – Four days was quite unusual then.

Councilman Verola – Has it ever gone beyond a day, Dot?

Councilman Mitchell – Not that I am aware of.

Councilman Verola – Dot used to be the Chairman of the Board of Assessment Review.

Dale Delano – Do you know any statistics about how many grievances there were compared to last year?

Councilman Lippiello – That was a request that we made of the new Chairman of the Assessors. There will be a report to the Board next month.

Dale Delano – Do you happen to know any of those numbers now?

Vicki Hayner – There were 105 grievances on Grievance Day.

Dale Delano – Do you know how that compares with the previous year?

Vicki Hayner – Last year we had 70 or 80.

Councilman Verola – But does not include the people that you resolved issues with. That is another 100 people. So you had a little over 200 people who grieved their assessment.

Dale Delano – Looking at the web site, I noticed from a previous board meeting that Bob VanVranken said the Board has no jurisdiction over the assessors.

Councilman Lippiello – They are elected officials.

Dale Delano – Then they don’t get any oversight from the Board?

Councilman Verola – According to our counsel, he informed us that we had absolutely no jurisdiction over how they did their job as assessors.

Dale Delano – I heard someone mention tonight about small claims. Is that the next step in the process?

Vicki Hayner – If you grieved and you received a response and you are not happy with that, the next step is small claims. We file the roll on July 1. You have 30 days to file for small claims and that is done at the county.

Dale Delano – What does the word “stipulation” mean?

Vicki Hayner – A stipulation is when someone came and spoke with the assessor and brought information and there was an agreement made between the assessor and the property owner.

Dale Delano – On the spot?

Vicki Hayner – On the spot or we had so many that we notified people in writing and if they agreed to our stipulation then they signed the form. That is a pretty standard procedure.

Dale Delano – Marge Dennis has resigned. Can you give me any background?

Councilman Lippiello – Her letter said, “Family obligations prohibit me from continuing in this capacity”. Her employment situation has changed in the past year. She had been self-employed and is now working for someone which limits her time. With her family she felt she could not continue.

Dale Delano – She could have gone until the 30^th of September?

Councilman Lippiello – Her resignation is through this third quarter, which is the end of September. That is when it becomes effective.

Councilman Verola – She has resigned as Chairman immediately but she still is an Assessor. That title will now be Vicki Hayners.

Dale Delano – It is interesting that the Board can appoint a Chairman although they have no oversight. It is still legal?

Councilman Lippiello – Yes. It is usually done in January at the beginning of the year but with the mid-year opening and the department facing the hearings that are coming up, we really felt we should have a Chairman. That is why we acted tonight to give the chairmanship to Vicki.

Dale Delano – What hearings are you speaking of?

Councilman Lippiello – Small claims hearings.

Marv Schorr – Will the appointment of the new Chairman be to fill out the term or will there be another election for Assessor in November?

After some discussion it was decided this would have to be looked at with the Board of Elections.

Ginny DeCapria – On the Article 78, do you know how much the Town has incurred in legal costs so far and what is this appeal going to cost the Town in legal fees?

Councilman Lippiello – I do not know a total.

Councilman Verola – It could only be an estimate.

Ginny DeCapria – They could give a total on incurred costs so far.

Councilman Lippiello – I’m sure they could be pulled. I don’t recall seeing a number that specified just the Article 78 proceedings. Often times billing comes in that includes many things that are dealt with.

Ginny DeCapria – Can anybody find that out?

Gail Hanchar – You could come in a look at the vouchers.

Councilman Lippiello – Two years ago when this process began, the town was pretty adamant that this was something they did not want to see for many reasons. The Town Board’s decision to go ahead with this denial initially was based on many weaknesses in the subdivision and we are facing the costs of that response.

Councilman Verola – If we approved a bad subdivision, in the long run that could end up being very, very costly to the town. I think we have to weigh that as well in the decision to make an appeal.

The next Agenda Meeting will be Monday, July 26 at 7:30 P.M. We will meet that morning at 9:30 – 10:00 to do the vouchers.

After everyone had the opportunity to speak who wished, the meeting was adjourned

at 8:40 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Gail Hanchar

Town Clerk