VILLAGE OF WEST CARTHAGE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting
March 13, 2017
A regular meeting and public
hearing of the West Carthage Village Board of Trustees was held March 13, 2017
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, Deputy Mayor Scott Sullivan, Trustee Jim Smith,Trustee Mike Bigness,
Trustee Rob Peluso
Guests: S. Ryan, T. Turck , P. Crump, Jr.,
Dennis Quinn, Kathy Amyot, Nicole Burto, Terry Burto, Will Lipinski
Mayor Burto opened the public
hearing on Local 2-2017 concerning amending the village zoning map. No one from the public spoke. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by J.
Smith the public hearing was closed. On
a motion by J. Smith seconded by R. Peluso, Local Law 2-2017 was unanimously
approved.
Mayor Burto opened the public
hearing on Local Law 3-2017 concerning the MS-4 Stormwater Law. Mayor Burto explained that the law has been a
3 year process which was mandated by the NYS DEC. The other coalition members have also been
working towards passing local laws prior to the March deadline. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by J.
Smith, Local Law 3-2017 was unanimously approved.
Mayor Burto opened the public
hearing regarding the proposed village court dissolution. He remarked that the board believes the court
closure that was voted on by residents in a prior year was turned down due to
the then judge. He realizes that the
court is not there just to generate revenue but feels that with the state of NY
pushing consolidation and cost savings, we could accomplish that with the court
closure. The upcoming budget has a raise
in it for the clerk. Judge Quinn stated
the intent of a village court is not to make money. He commented that there is up to $30,000
available in grant money to move the court to the municipal building. The utility costs would go away with that
move and possibly the court could make money.
He personally thinks it is a mistake to close the court. It’s much harder to get it back down the road
should we close it. Mayor Burto that
village taxpayers pay for the town court already and with the town court being
only 2 blocks away, it’s still convenient for residents. Judge Quinn asked why have a police
department if you aren’t going to have a court.
Mayor Burto noted that in an earlier consolidation study, the residents
clearly indicated that they wanted our police department to remain. J. Smith stated that D. Pustizzi thinks we
should keep the court. S. Sullivan noted
that moving the court to the municipal building would have a higher cost than
we think. Mayor Burto stated it doesn’t
mean we can’t move it to the town offices.
Judge Quinn said the town court is taxed space-wise as it is. P. Crump, Jr. asked about village code
tickets being issued; Judge Quinn stated
the town would handle them. Mayor Burto
noted that if the central arraignment being pushed by the state would cause us
to lose any benefit we might have from a village court. Steve Anderson stated we should look at the
long term consolidation of services and we are paying twice for court services
in the village. Mayor Burto noted that
Canton and Potsdam have both closed their
village courts. On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by S. Sullivan, the public hearing was closed at 6:25 p.m. Steve Anderson asked at what point does the
village have to hold an election Mayor
Burto stated it would have to be on the ballot this November.
There was no public comment.
T. Turck reported everything
is going well. He had a meeting with the
new county safety officer who is helping him digitize our safety policies. Jake and Pete volunteered to be safety
officers. Tim asked for permission for
he and Dane to attend a water class in Watertown at a cost of $75 each. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by J.
Smith, the request was approved. Mayor
Burto asked Tim and another person to attend the MS-4 training. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R.
Peluso, 2 DPW employees will attend the training.
P. Crump, Jr. reported
several letters were sent out regarding code issues. The back apartment at the Sweeney property is
a mess. Pete gave the board election
results. Chief \- Peter Crump, Jr., 1st
Asst. Chief – Will Lipczynski, 2nd Asst. Chief – Matt
Christman. On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by R. Peluso, the officers were approved as presented. Chief Crump noted the ladder repair is being
covered in full. On a motion by R.
Peluso, seconded by S. Sullivan, pager repairs in the amount of $223 were
unanimously approved. The clerk noted
that several fire department line items are over budget. Chief Crump reported that there is an issue
with the new fire engines. The fill tube
on the top of the trucks is in the middle instead of the outer edges. He questioned this when the trucks were being
built. The trucks need to carry 1000’ of
5” hose. At a call, they were laying
down hose and a coupling caught on the fill cover and broke it. He called Scott Doyle who contacted United
Plastic. A statement was made that they
“heard of this before” but they won’t do anything under the warranty. Pete downsized the hose carried to 750’ but
in some cases, the 1000’ is required.
The cost to repair the damage is $2,475.62 and this is not
acceptable. Pete stated that the new
owner of Wildefire is not holding up his end of the deal. Pete has concerns about future warranty work. Mayor Burto will reach out to Mike Bliss
tomorrow and if he doesn’t get any results, will contact Larry Hasseler. Mayor Burto also noted that Scott Doyle told
him there is a lawsuit against Wildefire.
On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by S. Sullivan, minutes from the February 13th and 24th
meetings were unanimously approved.
Ona motion by J. Smith,
seconded by S. Sullivan, the WCFD Ladies Auxiliary’s request to use the
Community Room for a fundraiser was approved.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the Elk’s Club request
to hold the Flag Day Parade in the village on June 10th was unanimously
approved. On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by M. Bigness, Cub Scout 39’s request to help the village by painting
the wooden bleachers at Getman Park was unanimously approved. On a motion by M. Bigness, seconded by S.
Sullivan, the village of West Carthage will allow advertising banners to be
hung by the Chamber of Commerce at no cost to the village with the proviso that
the village gazebo will be on the banners in place of the Carthage clock. The
mayor does not believe that the bid process is being followed for the
advertising. On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by R. Peluso, the request by the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce to
fund the summer music series was denied as West Carthage is paying for
their own.
On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by S. Sullivan, T. Turck was given to surplus the old leaf vac on
Auctions International.
On a motion by S. Sullivan,
seconded by R. Peluso, a contract with Computel Consultation to review Verizon
gross receipts payments was unanimously approved. Sixty percent of any receipts found owing to
the village will be paid to the village with Computel keeping 40% for the
service.
On a motion by J. Smith,
seconded by R. Peluso, a shared service agreement with the NYS DOT was
approved.
A budget workshop will be
scheduled for next week. Mayor Burto
noted that the village was approved by the Pratt Northam Foundation to hire a
GPS intern. Debi Pierce noted that there
was an error found in payroll that resulted in Tim Turck and herself being
credited for more federal withholding tax than was deducted from their
checks. Tim paid $30 in cash to the
village and Debi paid $15 in cash to correct the error. Receipts were provided. A replacement payroll check to Wannetta
Monaghan was issued.
On a motion by R. Peluso,
seconded by S. Sullivan, the following budget transfers were unanimously
approved:
From: A.1990.0400 $610.41
To: A.5110.0410 $610.41 Treasurer Contractual (Software)
From: A.1990.0400 $3,289.31 Contingency
To: A.3410.0200 $1,762.93
Fire Dept. Equipment
A.3410.0430 $1,526.38
Fire Dept. Repairs & Maint.
From: A.1990.0400 $80.00
Contingency
To: A.3989.0400 $80.00 Drug Test Contractual
From: A.5142.0100 $4,160.37 Snow Removal Personnel Service
To: A.5110.0100 $3,328.75
St. Maint. Personnel Service
To: A.7110.0100 $
831.62 Parks Personnel Service
On a motion by J. Smith, ,
seconded by M. Bigness the following abstract was approved for payment:
3/13/17 General: $34,914.65
Water: $2,925.23
Sewer: $101,345.82
On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by M. Bigness, payrolls
for February 23rd and March
9th were unanimously approved.
S. Sullivan opened the
February bank statements and reviewed them.
R. Peluso reviewed the bills and signed the vouchers.
Mayor Burto announced a
special meeting to be held here March 15 at 3:00 with the village of Carthage
board of trustees to discuss WPCF bonding resolution.
Mayor Burto read a statement
he wrote regarding bullying and a statement from Bernier, Carr Associates
regarding the reason he left their employment.
S. Sullivan opened the February
bank statements and reviewed them. R.
Peluso reviewed the bills and signed the vouchers.
On a motion by S. Sullivan,
seconded by J. Smith, executive session was entered into at 7:06 to discuss
the particular employee’s job history
The regular meeting resumed
at 7:32. A short discussion was held
regarding court dissolution. On a mtion
by J. Smith, seconded by S. Sullivan, the clerk was directed to prepare a
resolution to dissolved the court at the April 10th board
meeting. On a motion by S. Sullivan,
seconded by R. Peluso, Debi Pierce was appointed to the Board of Ethics. A 3rd person will be appointment
as well.
On a motion by S. Sullivan,
seconded by R. Peluso, the meeting concluded at 7:32 p.m. with no further
business being necessary.
Deborah J. Pierce
Village Clerk/Treasurer
