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2010 ORGANIZATIONAL RESOLUTION MEETING TOWN BOARD TOWN OF CHARLTON
January 4, 2010
The Organizational Resolution meeting of the Town Board of Charlton, Saratoga County, New York was held at the Charlton Town Hall was called to order by Supervisor Grattidge at 7:00pm.
Present: Councilman Gardner, Councilman Lippiello, Councilman Salisbury, Councilman Verola, Supervisor Grattidge, Town Clerk Brenda Mills, Attorney VanVranken
Supervisor Grattidge started the meeting by saying that the Time Clock at the Highway Department is broken, and there is an immediate need to replace it. Mike Emerich, Highway Superintendent presented the Board with three quotes for time clocks, ranging from $440.02 to $491.00.
A motion was made by Councilman Verola and seconded by Councilman Lippiello to authorize the Highway Superintendent to purchase a new time clock for $440.02.
Vote: All Ayes, No Nays. APPROVED.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESOLUTIONS
Resolutions #1 – 51 were read and reviewed by the Board.
A motion was made by Councilman Lippiello and seconded by Councilman Verola to approve Resolutions Nos. 1 -17, 19, 21-26, 28-34, and 36-51.
Roll call vote: Councilman Gardner: Aye, Councilman Lippiello: Aye, Councilman Salisbury: Aye, Councilman Verola: Aye, Supervisor Grattidge: Aye Approved
Discussion was held on the following Resolutions:
Resolution #18 - Resolution appointing a full-time Secretary to the Supervisor. Be it resolved that the Supervisor is hereby authorized to appoint a Secretary to the Supervisor at the rate of compensation of $40,480.00 dollars per a year to serve at the pleasure of the Supervisor.
Councilman Salisbury stated that he still believes that this is a part-time position, and should be treated as part-time.
Resolution #20 -Resolution appointing a part-time Deputy Town Clerk. BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Clerk is authorized to appoint not more than three (3) part-time deputies including a senior deputy, at a rate of compensation of $10.00 to $12.00 per an hour per deputy and $12.00 to $14.00 per an hour for senior deputy to serve at the pleasure of the Town Clerk.
Councilman Gardner said that he is aware that the Senior Deputy position and pay was discussed at budget time, but he is not sure that he is on the same page as everybody else. Supervisor Grattidge said that at budget time it was discussed that the Senior Deputy would be a higher skill level job than just a regular deputy.
Resolution #27 - Resolution Appointing a Zoning Administrative Officer and Assistant Zoning Administrative Officer. BE IT RESOLVED that DAVID LAFOUNTAIN hereby is appointed as Zoning Administrative Officer to serve at the pleasure of the Town Board at a rate of compensation of $8,985.00 per a year, and BE IT RESOLVED that KAREN ENGLISH hereby is appointed as Assistant Zoning Administrative Officer to serve at the pleasure of the Town Board at a rate of compensation of $4,349.00 per a year.
Discussion: Councilman Gardner said that the Zoning Administrator does field work, and since the Assistant does not do field work, should this position be modified to be a clerk position. Supervisor Grattidge said that when the Zoning Administrator is not available, the Assistant is supposed to do his work. Councilman Verola said that she would like to leave the position and pay the way that it is because if something happened to Dave LaFountain, then the Assistant would need to do that job.
RESOLUTION #35 - Resolution to Contract for Building Inspector Services. BE IT RESOLVED that The Inspector, LLC be appointed as the Charlton Building Inspector for the enforcement of the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code of the State of New York to serve at the pleasure of the Town Board.
Discussion: Councilman Gardner asked if the Town actually had a contract with The Inspector, LLC. Supervisor Grattidge said that there is a contract.
Discussion returned to Resolution 20. Supervisor Grattidge asked the Board if the Senior Deputy pay was what the Board was uncomfortable with, and would they like the wording of Senior Deputy and rate of pay taken out. Councilman Salisbury questioned why you need a Senior Deputy when there are only 3 people that work part-time. He would like to see it stay the way it was last year.
A motion was made by Councilman Salisbury and seconded by Councilman Verola that Resolution No. 20 be amended to remove the position of Senior Deputy and to change the rate of compensation to $10.00 to $12.00 per hour.
Discussion: Councilman Lippiello asked if the Clerk would have the right to appoint a Senior Deputy. Supervisor Grattidge said that the Town Law says that the Clerk has the right to appoint up to 3 deputies, there is no breakdown, we have made the distinction.
The Town Clerk said that she was sorry that the Board decided to vote on the position without discussing with her what that position would entail. There would be increased responsibilities assigned to the Senior Deputy that go beyond that of a Deputy. There has been discussion by the TAB Committee of having the Clerk’s Office be the point for the new network. That will not happen with a regular Deputy if they do not have the skill set to handle that. Also, there has been talk of having the Clerk’s office take over the daily management of the website, which along with the Town Board newsletter, takes additional skill set. I would like you to consider what you have just said. You are willing to pay the Assistant to the Zoning Administrator $46.00 per hour because you say that they may have to assume the duties of the Zoning Administrator if he is not there. What do you think that a Deputy does if I am not there? The Deputy assumes my duties on a daily basis. I just ask that you take that into consideration as well. If you want to strike it, that is fine. I just don’t know that the additional duties should be added to that person without additional compensation. I did not ask for a budget increase. Actually, my budget was reduced by a few thousand dollars. I was planning to cover the increase in pay by reducing the number of hours that my Deputies work. I did not ask for extra money. I only asked that the Deputy be compensated for extra duties.
Councilman Gardner said a lot of things are coming out now that he was not aware of. He was not aware of the extra responsibilities. Councilman Salisbury said that the Town Law states that the Town Board fixes the duties of the Deputies. Councilman Verola said that she was not aware that there had been discussion of the Deputy Clerk taking over the website. She does not think that the TAB Committee should add responsibility to the Clerks office. They should make that recommendation to the Town Board, and she has not heard that recommendation. Councilman Lippiello clarified that the website responsibility would be for updating the website on a regular basis and adding things as they come in. Councilman Verola said that that system is not in place yet. Councilman Gardner said that just because they are passing this resolution with revisions doesn’t mean that this issue can’t be revisited down the road, especially in light of the additional responsibilities. Councilman Lippiello said that when something is assigned to the Town Clerk’s office, it does not mean that the Town Clerk is the one that does it. It is her responsibility to pass that to one of her Clerks to do it too. Councilman Verola said it’s our responsibility, if you read the Town Law manual, it says the Town Board assigns the jobs to the Deputy. We determine what the Deputies will do. Supervisor Grattidge said he would have to see that. It is the Town Clerk’s Office, she has the domain over what work is being assigned in her office. If this Board is now going to micro-manage the Clerk’s office, we are in for a pretty rocky year. I would like to point out that I think that we have a little selective amnesia here because this was all laid out at budget time. It was explained that one of the Deputies had a higher skill set than the other Deputies. The Town Clerk had requested an increase in the hourly rate and she had agreed that she would not request any increase in her budget, and in fact, the Town Board cut her budget by $2,000 because she had not spent her budget from this year. So to now come in and pull the rug out from under her at the last minute, I think is disingenuous and I am totally against going back to last year’s resolution the way it was written. But that it is what is on the table, so we have to take a vote on it. You had a duly held budget, you had a duly held Public Hearing, you all voted unanimously for this budget with this position in it, and now at the 11th hour, you are pulling the rug out from under your Town Clerk, and not giving her the ability to do this. Where were you in November? So we have an amended Resolution 20, a Resolution that the Town Clerk be authorized to appoint not more than 3 part-time Deputies at the rate of compensation of $10 - $12 per hour to serve at the pleasure of the Town Clerk. I read that, to serve at her direction. Councilman Salisbury said that that is not what the resolution states. Supervisor Grattidge said that he added that, his own editorial, not be added to the resolution. Councilman Lippiello said he agreed with the Supervisor. If we feel that we are the ones that think that we are going to tell the Deputy Town Clerk what to do, how the heck is anything going to get done down there? I mean if they have got to come through us, which is what I have heard some of you say, whoa! Councilman Verola said that this is what it says in the Town Law manual.
Roll call vote: Councilman Gardner: Aye, Councilman Lippiello: Nay, Councilman Salisbury: Aye, Councilman Verola: Aye, Supervisor Grattidge: Nay Approved
ANNOUNCEMENT
Charlton Fire Department will hold a Public Information meeting at 7pm on January 6th regarding the proposed new fire station. Also on January 19th there will be a referendum vote. No other information is available.
DISCUSSION
The Supervisor presented some sample floor tiles for the Community Center. He has received a discounted price of $500 for the tile and the grout materials.
A motion was made by Councilman Verola and seconded by Councilman Lippiello that the Supervisor be authorized to spend up to $500 for the purchase of tiles and materials.
Vote: All Ayes, No Nays. Approved
The Supervisor said that the annual meeting of the Association of Towns is being held in New York City on February and he plans to attend. He has not been in three years.
A motion was made by Councilman Lippiello and seconded by Councilman Verola that the Town Board go into Executive Session to discuss litigation concerning the HVAC contractor and the notice of violation from the Building Department.
Vote: All Ayes, No Nays. Approved.
The Town Board came out of Executive Session at approximately 10pm and the meeting was adjourned. No action was taken.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Mills Town Clerk |
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