Town of Catharine
Budget Hearing/vote
November 9, 2011

Members present:  Supervisor John VanSoest; Councilmen Wayne Chapman, Ronald Hoffman, C. Michael Learn, George Tanner; Highway Superintendent Larry Reynolds.

The meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m. (we waited for public)

There being no public in attendance, we went ahead with discussion of the Budget and the Fire Contract.  On the budget discussion, John pointed out that he shifted some of the sales tax to different accounts to equalize the rates a little more.  The overall % of increases are 3.1467% for Townwide Inside the Village and 3.0310% for Townwide Outside.

On the fire contract, the contract for 2012 will have a 2% increase over last year.  This is a one year contract and can/will be renewed for one additional year at the end of this contract at the same rate.

RESOLUTION 2011-52
RESOLVE that the Town of Catharine approve the presented 2012 Town Budget and Odessa Fire Department Contract for 2012 and authorize the Supervisor to sign the contract with the Village of Odessa for Fire Protection.
RESOLUTION by C. Michael Learn, seconded by Wayne Chapman
VOTE  5 ayes,  no noes

 RESOLUTION 2011-53
RESOLVE that the Town Board will authorize the Justice Court to apply through JCAP for up to $30,000 for necessary items needed for the new court room.  This application must be submitted by November 15, 2011 in order to be considered.
RESOLUTION by  Ronald Hoffman, seconded by C. Michael Learn
VOTE 5 ayes, no noes

 Meeting adjourned at 8: 15 p.m.

Members present:  Supervisor John VanSoest; Councilmen Wayne Chapman, Ronald Hoffman, C. Michael Learn (arrived at 8:00 p.m.) George Tanner; Highway Superintendent Larry Reynolds;  Guest  Bruce Bruckner

Public Be Heard:
Mr. Bruckner is just here to observe.
RESOLUTION  2011-54
RESOLVE that the minutes of the October meeting be approved as submitted to the board
RESOLUTION by Ronald Hoffman, seconded by Wayne Chapman
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes

RESOLUTION 2011-55
RESOLVE that the Clerk’s report be accepted as submitted to the Supervisor
RESOLUTION by Wayne Chapman, seconded by George Tanner
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes

RESOLUTION 2011-56
RESOLVE that the following records be destroyed according to NYSRMA guidelines:
Bank statements 2000-12/31/2005
Monthly dog reports: 2005
Software contracts: 1995-1997
Purchase Orders from Dell Computer 2002
Handicap Permit Applications 2003
RESOLUTION by Wayne Chapman, seconded by George Tanner
VOTE 4 ayes, no  noes

Supervisor’s Report: 
John went over the report with the board, and explained that we are in fairly good shape financially.
RESOLUTION 2011-57
RESOLVE that the Supervisor’s report be accepted as presented to the board.
RESOLUTION by Ronald Hoffman, seconded by George Tanner
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes

Highway Superintendent’s report:  There is a question about whether or not Brink Rd. is a town road.  A lawyer for the Karski’s  would like Larry to sign an affidavit saying that the Town will continue to maintain the road as they are doing a land transfer.  Larry called Hornell and they don’t have any record of Brink Rd. being a town road.  There is only 200-300 feet of road in question.  We can adopt it as a town road by calling Hornell and they will send us a resolution and it would become a “road by use”.  There are 5 families on the road and we wouldn’t want to let them be without a road.    Larry will respond to the Lawyers office to let them know that we can’t sign the proposed affidavit as sent to us.

RESOLUTION 2011-58
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by the Town of Catharine for the purpose of correcting and updating the Local Highway listing provided to the town of Catharine each year by the New York State Department of Transportation for verification of the Local Highway Inventory, we make the following corrections/changes:
Additions: the following addition is to add a NEW road that is not currently included on the inventory listing from NYSDOT.  The Town of Catharine hereby acknowledges maintenance and snow removal responsibilities for this road:
NEW:
Brink Road from Beardsley Hollow to the End of Road for a total length of 0.09 Mile
Total Mileage added:  0.09 miles
RESOLUTION by Ronald Hoffman, seconded by Wayne Chapman
VOTE 5 Ayes, no noes

 Also Carl States would like to make the road through the sub-division a town road eventually.  The problem is that he has to bring it up to highway standard and he can’t at this point because of large trees.  Larry thinks that if it was a town road, it would encourage people to build there.  It’s not something that we have to worry about at this time.  

2 trucks are ready for winter and the men are ready to go!  Let’s hope that it holds off for a while.  We still have a problem with MacDowell Rd. when it rains.  Larry thinks that we need to have some sort of plan of action.  Soil and Water are on board with the problem, but we aren’t sure that they have done anything further.   John said that we have to be very visible in our work on the ditch.  Part of the problem is that the land owner put in an 18” pipe at the end of our 30” pipe, thus restricting the flow of the water as it goes through the yard.  Mike wonders if we can’t open up our end of the pipe and make a separation between the 30 and 18” pipe.   Ron wonders if we can talk to the land owners and explain the situation and see if we can work something out.  John said that we need to take the “who’s not going to like it” out of the equation  and he suggested putting in a culvert and a sod waterway so that if the water gets too high, it would come out of the culvert.  John and Larry will request a meeting with Jerry Verigini (Ron would like to be involved in the meeting) so that maybe we can make progress prior to spring thaw.  Larry said that it needs to be engineered and that is where Soil & Water comes in.  Larry will talk to Jerry.

Zoning: -- One permit issued for Roof replacement

Larry talked Denny Mann about the electrical work in the garage and he will put us on the schedule for a winter project.

Landfill commission:  Tom Brace is requesting not to be reappointed as our representative to the Commission.   We need to be looking for someone who wants to be on that commission.  We need to talk to Tom, so we will see if we can get him to come to the next meeting to let the board know what has been happening with the “possible closure”.

RESOLUTION 2001-59
RESOLVE that the following vouchers be paid  G193-206 in the sum of $6273.39 and H118-126 in the sum of $18054.55 within funds according to the totals
RESOLUTION by Wayne Chapman, seconded by C. Michael Learn
VOTE 5 ayes, no noes

Carm will check with other towns to see what law books they use to see if we can cut the cost.

Unfinished Business:

CVSA—Ron said that all he has heard is that Larry put the skids on the soccer field project—Larry said that all he did was give his feelings.  John had talked to Tim Hicks prior to the meeting—and they had hired Jess Engineering for the design—John said that his opinion is that he is in favor and that his concern is adequate parking and drainage.  After the meeting, John heard that there is a lot of dirt to move—and the drainage would take up some of the area.  Also, Steve Bannister has offered to sell them 14 acres of land in the village that is behind VanSkivers and Parmenters.  Dave Kelly was supposed to go and walk the other property.   Larry doesn’t know why the town would enter into a lease with any organization.  Ron said that they have the money—John said that we have to ask what the benefit is to the town—it semes pretty clear that if there is a benefit to the town to have these soccer fields in our town and if someone else puts the financial responsiblitty into it, that is a benefit to the town.  The lease would have to spell out all the pros and cons and after the initial lease is over, would the town still benefit or would the leassor have to pay?  In a general sense, John thinks it a good thing—he actually hopes it still works out.  But they have to look at all the options.   It may not be dead in the water, just yet—

Right to Farm law—we will table for now—bring it back up next month.

Larry said that the state is going to get very strict with signage and will be taking down signs within the highway right away.

Delta—we still have to adopt a local law –it is on Rob’s desk now—there is a training program at the Shared Services building on Dec. 5 to go over the Delta process.  John and Larry should attend as well as anyone else who is interested.

Carm asked for the Board’s opinion on the cost of renting the bathroom—She told them that a $15 charge is suggested.  The board said to try it and see what happens.