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DRAFT Regular Meeting June 13, 2005 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 7:30 P.M. at the Charlton Town Hall, called to order by Supervisor Acunto, there were present:
Councilman Alan Grattidge Councilman Robert Lippiello Councilman Dorothy Mitchell Councilman Sandra Verola Supervisor Ferdinand Acunto
Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello that the minutes of the May 9 Public Hearing and Town Board Meeting be accepted as received:
Approved: Councilman Grattidge Yes Councilman Lippiello Yes Councilman Mitchell Yes Councilman Verola Yes Supervisor Acunto Yes
Motion made by Councilman Grattidge, seconded by Councilman Lippiello that the minutes of the May 31 Agenda Meeting be accepted as received:
Supervisor Acunto stated that the Agenda Meeting date should be May 31 instead of May 30. Gail said that she had already made that change.
Approved: Councilman Grattidge Yes Councilman Lippiello Yes Councilman Mitchell Abstain Councilman Verola Yes Supervisor Acunto Yes
ABSTRACT OF CLAIMS:
The total of the bills approved at the Agenda Meeting was $159,440.79. Vouchers for the month were #1442-#1553.
Corrections to the May abstract: Voucher #1364 to The Daily Gazette had an account code change. Voucher #1371 to Suburban Energy Services was deleted for double payment. Voucher #1387 to Alpha Geo Science had an account code change. Voucher #1397 to Rain or Shine Tent Co. was deleted and will be placed on June abstract. Voucher #1402 to Empire State Fire words was deleted and will be placed on June abstract.
Corrections for June abstract: Voucher #1474 to Eaton Office Supplies was for fax machine and supplies instead of supplies. Voucher #1508 to Environmental Design Partnership had an account code change. Voucher #1516 to Environmental Design Partnership was deleted because it required a new line item account be set up. Will be placed on July abstract. Voucher #1519 to The Daily Gazette was deleted because it required a new line item account be set up. Will be placed on July abstract. Voucher #1520 to Edwards, Williams, McManus & Riccardelli had an account code change. Voucher #1529 to Edwards, Williams, McManus & Riccadelli had an account code change.
TOWN CLERK’S REPORT:
Comp Plan Steering Committee Report ToThe Town Board on June 13, 2005 from Steve Caine I have given each of you
1. A copy of the written survey and comments associated with it. You remember, we had over a 50% response rate. 2. The Vision Statement, Goals and a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat analysis. They were drawn from the written survey, image survey, four focus groups, two workshops and multiple interviews. The Vision Statement and Goals have had public review and were passed by vote by the CPCS. 3. Goals 1-14 consultant proposed strategies. They represent a menu of possible strategies that the CPSC is now learning about and trying to understand. All of them are aimed at achieving the goal or goals they support. Once we have completed the education process we have established for ourselves, we will decide through a democratic process which strategies to accept, reject or modify.
I hope to achieve two things tonight:
One, is to give you a sense of the significant magnitude of the breadth, depth and complexity of material the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee is working on and will ultimately bring to you for a final decision and
Two, sincerely ask you to accept the belief that now is the time for you to start to gain an understanding of the terminology and details of the complex issues we are working. It is all too much to learn in one meeting, in a week or even in a month with the schedules you have.
I should first tell you that Charlton citizens have put hundreds, actually well over a thousand man-hours in this project. When you consider, the workshops, surveys and interviews the public has participated in and the work of the committee members, we can say with certainty that a great number of Charlton citizen care about this, have clearly expressed their preferences and have acted through action and deeds to keep for our town the rural, farming and period character it possesses. A lot of folks have a big stake in this, have put a lot of effort into it and deserve an outcome that best serves the overall community’s interest.
As I see it, the biggest and most challenging aspect of this endeavor is to now select strategies that can be used to achieve our townspeople’s vision and goals. We all believe that in selecting any of the strategies it is most important to keep what our townspeople want in the forefront. We can do this by often referring to the goals and the written survey whenever we are evaluating a strategy. As you know, the survey was a major tool -- along with others -- to establish the goals, and the vision statement and its goals are our targets.
The proposed strategies represent a complex, layered and interrelated system of tools and measures for achieving the goals. If properly tailored for our town, they could allow us to meet our goals as well as strike a fair balance to account for the concerns expressed by segments of the community. We are quickly learning on our committee that it is important to have an in-depth understanding of the underlying rational for a strategy or tool so that when we match it against the situations we would use it for in Charlton, we can determine its overall strengths and weaknesses for us. We are also gaining an appreciation that it is possible to tailor or modify a proposed strategy to lessen or remove those aspects of the strategy that some find objectionable, but still keep the overall aim of the strategy in tact, or possibly weaken it somewhat, yet still have it add value when used in combination with other strategies. We are finding that many strategies are situation dependent and might fit well under certain circumstances but not in others. To throw out a strategy or tool, because it does not universally fit all situations is likely to diminish our chances of success. It is possible, and in my personal view imperative, to have an array of strategies that I’ll call tools or options in our quiver or tool kit, beyond those that just are universally acceptable in all situations. If they are available and can be used in a wise and tailored fashion, the town, in my view would be postured for the best chance of achieving its desired goals.
Like most towns, we may have, to a greater or lesser extent, a gap between what the overall majority of the townspeople say they want and different segments of the community. On the one hand the overall town has expressed through our Vision Statement and Goals a common view for Charlton’s future, yet on the other, different parts of town have different characteristics, citizens in different parts of town have differing perspectives and interests and each property in town has significantly different characteristics and setting. How do you handle this? I think we need a set of robust strategies that make sure we account for all health, safety and general welfare concerns, yet a set of strategies that is also flexible enough to account for specific situations. All this requires time and citizens that are willing to put in the effort to understand the complete rational for strategies offered so that valuable strategies that may not suite some can be modified, if necessary, or used in some other context for the benefit of all.
Our committee spent two months working in subcommittees to identify strategies we accepted, had questions about, wanted to modify or wanted to possibly reject. Based on these subcommittee findings, we’ve held three meetings so far where our consultant explained her rational for those strategies we had questions or concerns about. I should note, that many of our committee members have told me they have different opinions of specific strategies after hearing our consultant’s explanations. Once we have completed this education phase we are going to start voting through a democratic process on which strategies to recommend putting in the plan. This too could take several months. Overall, in my opinion, discussing, learning about and voting on consultant recommended strategies could take us 5-6 months. The challenge we all face is to have you, the Town Board and the townspeople understand the rational for recommended strategies, without the benefit of the time, and energy so many folks have put into discussing these issues and recommending them to you. We are doing our level best to keep everyone as informed as we can, and will continue to do so in the future.
After hearing these remarks and reviewing the documents I have given you, I hope you will have a greater appreciation for the size and scope of the CPSC’s task and how important it is for key decisions makers to start as soon as possible to obtain an in-depth understanding of these issues. It could make a big difference in the future of our town.
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