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VILLAGE OF WEST CARTHAGE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Regular Meeting
May 22, 2017
A regular meeting of the West Carthage Village Board of Trustees was held May 22, 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: P. Crump, Jr., Steve Anderson, Mark Spencer, Dave Pustizzi., Ed Reed
Mayor Burto opened the meeting at 6:00 p.m. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, minutes from the April 10th, 2017 meeting were unanimously approved.
Mayor Burto opened the floor to the public. M. Spencer complained about a flag at the cemetery. He also complained that the village should have put a gas furnace in the court with the grant money instead of planting trees behind the municipal building. Mr. Spencer requested a motion to rescind the minutes from the last board meeting as it was “illegal because there was no mayor there”. He asked Mayor Burto to resign because the Mayor cancelled a board meeting due a conflict with his daughter’s lacrosse game and “he’s not doing a good job”. Trustee Sullivan noted that he also could not attend the May 15th meeting as his son had a lacrosse game and family comes first. Mayor Burto also noted that his family comes before the village.
P. Crump, Jr. reported that he has some lawn letters going out. He has been unable to reach Adam Smith regarding his property at 19 Lathrop Street. The clerk will attempt to find out bank information. The bank owner of 14 Liberty Street has been contacted. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by M. Bigness, the request by the WCFD to hold a car wash with te Junior Firefighters program was unanimously approved. There is a pressure switch issue on 49-4-2 that is not under warranty. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the fire department is authorized to purchase a replacement switch for $63 and Pete will replace it. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the fire department is authorized to take 49-4-1 to Lake Placid for the convention parade. On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by J. Smith, the fire department will be granted permission to use a Conex box to store drill team items in on S. Main Street. Pete reported that the pallets behind the garage will be gone Monday and the fire department will clean up the area. S. Sullivan asks that Pete make sure we have a good driver behind the wheel going to Lake Placid. The fire department will be sent in invoice for the 4000 gallons of water used to partially fill a resident’s pool. Mayor Burto spoke with Chief Crump and reminded him that neither the fire department nor the DPW fills pools. Chief Crump asked that Ed Reed be allowed to ride his go cart to the municipal building to make sure it’s parade ready.
T. Turck reported that he is expecting to begin working on sidewalks next week. The DPW crew installed 150 new meters and there are 225 radios now activated with approximately 384 left to install. Tim asked permission to perform work on a storm water pipe at 5 Lathrop Street. The property has been purchased and the new owner would like to renovate the house. There is a storm water pipe that drains into a cavern on the property and Tim feels the cavern should be replaced with pipe. Champion and Jefferson Street drain to the area and it is crucial to the storm water system and we aren’t maintaining it as we should. The DPW will do the work and the cost will be approximately $500. There is some work to do at the pool to get it ready. Lief Ostrum is the GPS intern who will be working for the village this summer with reimbursement for his pay made by Pratt=Northam. Tim has not installed the dock at River Bend Park; he’s waiting for the water to go down. There are some broken spindles on the gazebo. The police station has an ongoing sewer problem and the line probably needs to be dug up. D. Pustizzi noted it has been going on for a couple of years. Training offered by MSHA will be held Wednesday in Watertown and there may be the need to pay a small amount of overtime to the attendees. Mayor Burto asked Tim to check for a hole in the baseball field as there is a cone there.
D. Pustizzi would like the board to consider banning parking from the first block of N. Main Street off Bridge Street due to traffic issues and accidents in that area. After a brief discussion, the board will hold a public hearing at the June 12th meeting on a local law to ban parking in that block. Dave reported that the Army is holding a big exercise is the two villages. He is trying to get the organizers to contact village officials. He tracked down the kids responsible for unauthorized entry to the concession building. They stole some snacks. The parents were very cooperative and the kids will be cleaning the park. The new Charger will be probably be here in July or August. The village really should look into an animal control officer. He noted that he received a copy of an email from Ryan Santamour complaining about an abundance of cats around his home. The board has discussed this issue before and there really is no good solution to the cat issue that is affordable.
On a motion J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the request by the VFW to hold the Memorial Day Parade on May 29th was unanimously approved. On a motion by M. Bigness, seconded by R. Peluso, the request by the Great Bend Fire Dept. Drill Team to hold practice on S. Main Street was unanimously approved with the understanding there will be no cursing or alcohol and that any drill team that is practicing there use barricades. The village will also require a certificate of insurance naming West Carthage as additional insured. On a motion by S. Sullivan, seconded by J. Smith, the request to use the Community Room with fees waived to hold a bone marrow drive on May 28th was unanimously approved. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by S. Sullivan, the request by the Carthage Central School District to hold ball practice at Getman Park was unanimously approved. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the request by Barb Prievo to allow Carthage Middle School students to hold a picnic and zoo demonstration at Getman Park on June 19th was unanimously approved. On a motion by S. Sullivan, seconded by J. Smith, the request by the WCFD Auxiliary to hold paddle bingo in the Community Room with fees waived on June 3rd was unanimously approved. The clerk presented information concerning the new credit
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card processing company the village will be using with the Williamson Software. The switch will save $25 per month for the village.
Mayor Burto reviewed the annual MS-4 report. No one from the public asked any questions or made comments. On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the annual report was approved as presented.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by M. Bigness, the 2017/2018 tax warrant in the amount of $ $612,647.91 with an additional $2,982.54 in re-levies was unanimously approved.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the 2016/2017 budget was amended as follows:
RESOLUTION FOR AUTHORIZING AMENDMENT TO 2016/2017 VILLAGE BUDGET
On a motion by Trustee Smith, seconded by Trustee Peluso:
WHEREAS, the Village of West Carthage Board of Trustees has reviewed and approved a 2016/2017 Village Budget; and
WHEREAS, the expenditures related to purchasing new water meters have exceeded budgetary appropriations for the Water Department; and
WHEREAS, sufficient fund balance is present to cover such expenditures.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Village Board of Trustees hereby authorizes and directs the following accounts be increased in the 2016/2017 Village Budget:
F.8340.0200 – Transmission & Distribution Equipment - $8250.00
F.0000.0599 – Appropriated Fund Balance - $8250.00
Resolution voted upon and approved by a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees.
Dated: May 22, 2017
I, Deborah J. Pierce, the Clerk-Treasurer of the Village of West Carthage, New York, do hereby certify the foregoing resolution was adopted at a regular meeting of the Village of West Carthage Board of Trustees, May 22, 2017 and is on file and of record, and that said resolution has not been altered, amended or revoked and is in full force and effect.
(seal) _____________________________
Deborah J. Pierce, Clerk/Treasurer
The clerk was authorized to place advertisements for a zoning officer, summer recreations aides and lifeguards as budgeted.
On a motion by S. Sullivan, seconded by R. Peluso, upon recommendation by the WCFD Membership Committee, Nicolas Connor was unanimously approved as a member of the fire department.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by S. Sullivan, the clerk was authorized to pay any remaining bills through the end of the fiscal year and make appropriate budget transfers to be reviewed at the June meeting.
Mayor Burto, Debi Pierce and Attorney Burrows are working on the WPCF IMA final draft.
The clerk presented a draft design for the Lundy property. Mr. Lundy stated to the Planning Board he has been working with Mayor Burto regarding the project. Mayor Burto believes the village taking over the street would be a benefit to the village by removing Shaffrey Drive.
On a motion by J. Smith, , seconded by R. Peluso the following abstract was approved for payment:
4/10/2017 General: $41,252.47
Water: $69,086.72
Sewer: $222,893.76
On a motion by R. Peluso, seconded by M. Bigness, payrolls for April 20th, May 4th and May 18th were unanimously approved. J. Smith reviewed the bills and signed the vouchers. S. Sullivan opened and reviewed the April bank statements.
Mayor Burto discussed the NYS mandate for Shared Services. Cuomo is requiring that each county put together a Shared Services Plan. Mayor Burto noted that we have been doing this for years, i.e. the joint water/sewer plants, paving, snow removal, etc. There is a meeting on May 31st for Jefferson County that Mayor Burto will be attending.
On a motin by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the clerk was authorized to transfers $12,500 from the sewer fund to the sewer debt reserve fund as collected.
Trustee Smith noted that he will be in Lake Placid on June 9th representing the village of West Carthage. He would like to get a cost for installing 4 more flag poles at the N. Jefferson Street memorial.
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Trustee Bigness reported that the WPCF is up and running after the flooding event that caused $45,000 in damage. He questioned DANC’s operator, Bart Crary as to why the second sump pump in the plant remained inoperable for 5 years and why the battery backup for the phone system was out of order for 8 months.
Deputy Mayor Sullivan inquired about summer recreation applications.
Mayor Burto addressed Mr. Spencer’s comments about the trees behind the municipal building. The grant for the trees was through Jefferson County to help prevent stormwater runoff and could not be used for a “gas furnace for the police station”. Mayor Burto also stated his family will always come first.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, executive session was entered into at 7:28 to discuss a particular person’s employment history.
The regular meeting resumed at 7:44. On a motion by S. Sullivan, seconded by R. Peluso, Levi Brownell was hired as a permanent full time laborer as the contract rate on the recommendation of Tim Turck. Carried unanimously.
On a motion by J. Smith, seconded by R. Peluso, the meeting concluded at 7:45 p.m. with no further business being necessary.
Deborah J. Pierce
Village Clerk/Treasurer
