VILLAGE OF WEST CARTHAGE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting & Public Hearing
November 13, 2012
A regular meeting and public
hearing of the West Carthage Village Board of Trustees was held November 13th,
2012 at 6:00 p.m. at the West
Carthage Municipal
Building. Said building
is declared smoke free and accessible to handicapped persons. The press was
informed of the meeting and notice was posted.
Present: Mayor Scott Burto, Trustee Rob Peluso, Trustee David
Rounds, and Trustee Mike Bigness
Absent: Trustee Scott Sullivan
Guests: Ron
Blinebry, Adam Lundquist, Mike Lundy,
Adam Smith, Participation in Gov’t student,
M. Spencer
Mayor Burto called the
meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
On a motion by Trustee Rounds,
seconded by Trustee Bigness minutes from the October 22nd, 2012 meeting were unanimously
approved. On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, corrected minutes from September 27, 2012 were
unanimously approved.
Mayor Burto opened the public
hearing regarding a proposed extension of the moratorium on farm animals, Local
Law 7-2012. Mayor Burto explained that
the law is an additional 180-day moratorium to extend the moratorium already in
place. M. Spencer asked what will be
allowed and how many and would current owners be allowed to keep what they
have. No one else commented. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by M.
Bigness, the public hearing was closed.
On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by M. Bigness, a motion was made to
approve Local Law 7-2012, Farm Animal Moratorium. A roll call vote followed: D. Rounds-aye; M. Bigness-aye; R. Peluso-aye;
S. Burto-aye. Carried unanimously.
The public comment portion of
the meeting was opened. A. Smith
inquired about the tapping of maple trees in the terraces for next spring. Mayor Burto thanked Adam for reminding the
board and it will be brought up at a future meeting. Mr. Smith offered his assistance in answering
any questions or helping in any way he could.
Mark Spencer asked if any solutions had been found to deal with feral
cats. He stated that homeowners should
be taking care of their cats. He
commented that the Holiday Parade was a nice event. R. Blinebry reported another resident came to
him with a cat complaint. He believes
there must be something the village can do to curb the problem. Mayor Burto noted that the Jefferson County
Animal Control will not take cats. The
SPCA does take them when they have space but the village would have to pay the
$50 (approximate) fee for each cat. A.
Smith commented the cats are the owners responsibility.
Mayor Burto asked A.
Lundquist to pass along a message to fire department members concerning the
community room. With the exception of
emergencies, any fire department function using the community room but be
submitted for approval on the appropriate form and scheduled through the
clerk’s office. No exceptions will be
made. Mayor Burto apologized to a woman
who recently had a problem with certain fire department members concerning the
community room use.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by D. Rounds, Resolution 9-2012 concerning the annual court records
audit submission to the NYS Unified Court System was unanimously approved.
On a motion by M. Bigness,
seconded by R. Peluso, the court copier contract with Advanced Business System
in the amount of $309.75 was unanimously approved.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, Resolution 10-2012 concerning lead agency status for
the Broad Street development SEQRA was unanimously approved. A roll call vote followed: D. Rounds-aye; M. Bigness-aye; R. Peluso-aye;
S. Burto-aye. Carried unanimously. Part 2 of the Broad Street SEQRA, Project
Impacts and Their Magnitude was reviewed by Mayor Burto. He feels that a conditioned negative
declaration can be issued. The 2
conditions would be 1-the Army Corp of Engineers does not find any federally
regulated wetlands and 2-a traffic light is installed at Franklin and Broad
Streets. There will be a special meeting
on Tuesday, November 20th at 6:00 p.m. to review and finalize Part 2
of the SEQR D. Rounds asked about the
wetland areas as he spent a lot of time there and does not remember any wet
areas. Mr. Lundy stated that the 3 areas
have certain plants growing there that possibly indicate wetlands. Lundy Development is asking the Army Corps of
Engineers to make a determination just to be on the safe side. He also mentioned a Ducks Unlimited
reclamation program for wetlands and that one of the areas was known as the
“blood pond” at the time a slaughterhouse operated in the area.
On a motion by D. Rounds,
seconded by R. Peluso, the following people were approved to join the fire
department as recommended by the membership committee: Ryan Peebles, Melissa Roman, Kristopher
Hudson, Dick Murphy III, Robert Pinkham.
Carried unanimously.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, a request by the Association for the Blind to use the
Community Room on April 14, 2012 for a fundraiser with fees waived was
unanimously approved.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, a request by Sarah Graham/Ron Blinebry to use the
Community Room on December 8th for a Red Cross fundraiser with fees
waived was unanimously approved.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, unpaid taxes in the amount of $39,952.46 will be
returned to Jefferson County for collection.
Carried unanimously.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by M. Bigness, holiday gift cards will be purchased from Price Chopper
for full and part-time village employees.
Carried unanimously.
The clerk reported that the
village received a rebate check from NYSERDA.
Mayor Burto told A. Smith he would follow up on the tree tapping.
On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by D.
Rounds, the following abstract was
approved:
Dated: November 13, 2012 – General - $51,267.75
Water – $3,883.90
Sewer-$612.39
On a motion by D. Rounds,
seconded by M. Bigness, payment of payrolls dated October 25th and
November 8th, 2012 were unanimously approved.
The clerk reminded the board
that the current union contract expires in May of 2013. She was asked to contact Dave Ferrara for a
letter of engagement. Negotiations
should start in January.
Mayor Burto thanked the
Chamber of Commerce for a great parade and also thanked Channel 7 and Jeff Cole
for advertising the food pantry collection at the parade. The clerk was asked to send a thank you note
to Channel 7. RACOG is sponsoring a
holiday decorating contest for the VEM food pantry collection boxes. The Pewter Mug held a collection event and
sent a truckload of food to the VEM food pantry.
Another letter from HomeServ
was sent to the Mayor regarding water line insurance. He wants residents to know the village does
not require nor endorse this “insurance”.
Mayor Burto requested an executive
session to discuss the employment of a particular person regarding a health
issue and an on-going litigation matter .
R. Peluso reported the Christmas lights are up and the plows are ready
for winter. M. Bigness reported
complaints he heard about people parking on the street. The clerk reported that Don Monaghan and
Randy Bachmeyer were out Tuesday morning issuing warning tickets. D. Rounds believes the village should not
open the skating rink this year. S.
Burto mentioned that we might think about flooding it and letting people skate
at will.
On a motion by D. Rounds,
seconded by M. Bigness, executive session as requested by the Mayor was entered
into at 6:50 p.m.
On a motion by M. Bigness,
seconded by D. Rounds, the request by a former fire department member for reinstatement
as an active member was unanimously denied.
On a motion by M. Bigness, seconded by D. Rounds, the Mayor was
authorized to sign a consent order with the DEC regarding the S. Main Street
trailhead project and to pay a $250.00 fine.
Carried unanimously.
No further business was
requested or necessary. A motion by S. Sullivan, seconded by M. Bigness to
adjourn the meeting at 6: 30 p.m. Carried unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
