August 11, 2022 Regular Meeting (Draft)

CALL TO ORDER
Meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Supervisor Peter Shrope at the Brighton Town Hall, 12 County Road 31 (aka Jones Pond Road), Paul Smiths, New York, on Thursday, August 11, 2022, with the following:
Pledge of Allegiance to Flag was recited

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS
PRESENT: Supervisor Peter Shrope
Council Members: Amber McKernan, Matthew Szeliga, Steve Tucker and Lydia Wright
ABSENT: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Andy Crary-Superintendent of Highways, Elaine Sater-Town Clerk and 4 residents
GUESTS: None

NOTICE OF MEETING:
Notice of this meeting was posted on the Town Clerkís Sign Board.

REPORTS

HIGHWAY – Superintendent of Highways Andy Crary:
Installed culvert on Wardner Road; mowed cemeteries, Town Park, Town Hall and garage; mowed roadsides with tractor; mowed landfill cover; road raked dirt roads; fixed lights on 2013 truck; hauled tar for Village and Town of Tupper Lake; put ad out for employment of MEO or laborer, had 1 inquiry but they were making more money per hour; Forrest Pennington has officially retired as of July 22, 2022.

TOWN CLERK – Elaine Sater: Total revenue to Supervisor as of July 31, 2022, was $1,091.04 from 1 Certified Copy Vital Record, 4 Town Park donations, 2 dog licenses: 1 new (Tag#267) and 1 renewed; and 8 Building Permits (BPs#22-012 thru 019) and 2 renewals (BPs#17-020 and #21-027).
August 2 ñ Posted notices for Special Meeting on Thursday, August 4 at 7pm, faxed notice to Adirondack Daily Enterprise
August 10 ñ Took ìOath of Officeî from Rodger Tompkins, Code Enforcement Officer.
TOWN HALL REQUESTS: None
TOWN PARK REQUEST: Saturday, August 6, Blue Family, 3 to 7pm; Saturday, August 27, McNulty Family, 6 to 11pm; Monday, September 5, Saranac Lake Baptist Church, 12 to 5pm
RECORDS MANAGEMENT: Indexing Vol 12 of Minutes (1981 thru 1984), shredding documents as per the LGS-01 Records Retention and Disposition Schedule.
FOIL Request received July 29 from Town of Dickenson, List of elected officialsí salaries; emailed ìAdopted 2022 Budgetî on August 2.

HISTORIAN – Elaine Sater: Nothing to report

TAX COLLECTOR – Holly Huber: Report Provided
Tracked property tax refund checks as they clear the checking account. On 7/9, had 99 checks of the original 850 left uncashed. Located phone numbers for the owners of each check, called and/or texted to request the check be cashed as soon as possible. By 7/31/22 all but 13 had been cashed and, after speaking with the owners once again, decided that 11 of those were most likely lost in the mail. On 8/1/22, contacted the owners of the 12, informed them I was stopping payment on the original check and sending a replacement and asked that they return the original to me should it ever arrive. Subsequently put a stop payment order in place for each, then printed and mailed (certified, return receipt requested) the 12 replacement checks. As of 8/9, there are just five checks still uncashed. Have confirmed that two of the five have been received and will soon be cashed. Have left messages and texts regarding the other three. The balance in checking account is now $1,078.03, which will cover the outstanding checks and the as yet unpaid penalty income and bank interest. Bank interest for July 2022 was $.21.

TOWN JUSTICE – Nik Santagate: Report Provided
Supervisor received a check in the amount of $908.00 for 8 cases disposed in July 2022.

CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER ñ Rodger Tompkins:
Supervisor Peter Shrope said he offered the job to Rodger Tompkins, and he accepted. He started as of August 5; office hours will be on Wednesdays from 1 to 4pm.

ASSESSOR/DATA COLLECTOR – Roseanne Gallagher: No Report Received

SUPERVISOR ñ Supervisor Peter Shrope:
Charter Communications: Received notices dated July 15, August 1 and 5, concerning upcoming changes to cable channel lineups.
Budget update as of July 31, 2022, was provided to Town Board, budget lines that are over budgeted amounts are Tax Collector (tax warrant correction), Cemetery (cleaning stones) and Highway paving. CHIPS funds have been requested in the amount of $96,000.
Revenue received: $2,916 and $908 from Town Justice, $1091.04 from the Town Clerk, $200 from cemetery plot, and $24,124.67 for Snow and Ice Contract.
NYCLASS investment interest received for July as follows: $114.14 for General Fund, Balance is $111,470.83, ($20,000 for Town Hall); $43.52 for Highway Fund, Balance is $42,481.07

ACCEPT/AMEND MINUTES

Regular Board Meeting – July 14, 2022
Motion made by Amber McKernan, second by Steve Tucker, to accept the minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of July 14, 2022, as written.
Aye 3 (Shrope, Szeliga, Tucker), Nay 0, Abstain 2 (McKernan, Wright)

Special Board Meeting ñ August 4, 2022
Motion made by Amber McKernan, second by Steve tucker, to accept the minutes of the Special Board meeting of August 4, 2022, as written.
Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Szeliga, Tucker), Nay 0, Abstain 1 (Wright)

CITIZEN COMMENTS:

Michael Humberstone asked for a copy of the minutes from the previous board meeting, but not the ones on the Website. He requested a copy of the tape of the meeting and a copy of a letter sent by the Supervisor to a property owner.
He was directed to the FOIL request procedure on the website.

Caroline Rupp said she spoke to George Earl about the Town Hall roof. He said the warranty should cover the repairs.
The roof was not replaced when the building was restored in 2012.

BUSINESS

Town Park Ball Field Lightning ñ Amber McKernan: Discussion was held on adding lights to the ball field, she felt a survey of neighbors should be done before lights are added. Supervisor Peter Shrope said he has not heard from the Turf Management Company that does the Paul Smithís Collegeís soccer field. Unless the ball field is owned by the Town nothing will be done by the Town to the infrastructure.

Town Hall Roof Project ñ Supervisor Peter Shrope: Received a quote from Crawford and Sterns dated August 10, 2022, for RFP Proposal. Also received a letter dated July 26 from the NYS Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation explaining how the roof can be replaced. A standing seam metal roof is estimated to cost $90,000 to $100,00 and should last 50 years. Discussion was held on replacing with a less costly type of material.

COMMITTEES:

Highway Committee ñ Steve Tucker/Lydia Wright: Steve Tucker said the fire truck had trouble turning around at the end of Clark-Wardner Road due to soft spots.
Andy Crary, Superintendent of Highways, said he has grindings he could put there to take care of the problem.

Adirondack Regional Airport ñ Tom and Amber McKernan: Received notice from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation dated July 2022 concerning Remedial Investigation Work Plan for the airport. The Town of Harrietstown is the Remedial party. Received an update from Corey Hurwitch, Airport Manager, dated August 5, 2022, concerning the runway 5/23 project. They will be cutting grooves in the runway during the night during the week of August 15. Runway 09/27 will remain open during the construction.

Cemetery ñ Amber McKernan/Steve Tucker: Steve Tucker said he is selling a lot of plots lately.

CITIZEN COMMENTS: None

AUDIT OF VOUCHERS
RESOLUTION #47-2022
AUDIT OF VOUCHERS
Motion made by Amber McKernan, second by Steve Tucker,
RESOLVED that the Supervisor be authorized to pay the audited vouchers as listed on the abstracts as follows:
PREPAID FUNDS: Abstract #8 for Voucher #s 8A through 8C for 2022 GENERAL FUND in the amount of $496.64 and Voucher #8C for 2022 STREET LIGHTING FUNDS in the amount of $71.71
GENERAL FUND: Abstract #9 for Voucher #134 through #142 for 2022 funds in the amount of $2,700.71
HIGHWAY FUND: Abstract #8 for Voucher #62 through #70 for 2022 funds in the amount of $3,399.89
ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 5 (McKernan, Shrope, Szeliga, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0
RESOLUTION #47-2022 Declared Duly Adopted.

ADJOURNMENT
Motion to Adjourn at 8:00pm made by Amber McKernan, second by Matthew Szeliga; Aye 5 (McKernan, Shrope, Szeliga, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

Respectfully Submitted, Elaine W. Sater, Brighton Town Clerk