Home  Calendar  Departments  Directory  Gallery  Documents  History

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the Caroga town board held on Wednesday August 10, 2016

State of New York

County of Fulton

Town of Caroga

Minutes of the regular monthly meeting of the Caroga town board held on Wednesday August 10, 2016 at 1840 State Highway 10 Caroga Lake NY.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm by asking for the roll to be called. The flag salute followed.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio - Here

Council Member Glenn - Here

Council Member Morris - Here

Council Member Manning - Here

Others in attendance were: Lita Hillier – Bookkeeper and Budget Director, James Selmser- Planning Board Chairman, John Delesky – BTI Coordinator, and John Duesler – Code Officer, There were 75 members of the public in attendance.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio reads the letter submitted by Robert Sullivan. “Please accept this letter as my official letter of resignation as the Town Supervisor effective today.” He stated he is finding it extremely difficult to balance his professional career with the responsibilities as town supervisor. Initially his schedule coincided nicely with the job. “That is no longer the case.”

He felt the supervisor needed to be available for public consultation and have regular hours, - he can’t. He thanked everyone who has supported him for the last 25 years as he served on the Wheelerville Union Free School Board, Board of Assessment Review, Zoning Board of Appeals and finally the Town Board. He wished the board continued success and would be available to answer any questions they may have. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio thanked Mr. Sullivan for everything he has done for this town.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio made the following statement: “As deputy supervisor I now assume all administrative duties of the supervisor with these two restrictions. I cannot represent a vote for the Town of Caroga at the board of supervisors meetings and he does not get an extra vote as councilman and supervisor in any board votes.” This information was from the Assoc. of Towns.

His first responsibility is to the Town of Caroga to assure the day to day government operations remain uninterrupted. He will keep the town apprised of county business by requesting copies of the board of supervisor’s meetings minutes. Further he requested the help of his fellow board members to ensure nothing will get overlooked. “I am now in a position I was not elected to. I will do the best job that I can for the town.” He will leave it up to the voters in November to decide who the next elected supervisor will be.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio opened the public hearing for proposed Local Law #2, 2016 regarding the salary adjustment of the Town Clerk in the amount of $5,000.00 per year at 7:05 pm. He noted this local law is subject to a permissive referendum.

The Town Clerk, Linda Gilbert first thanked everyone for their support via letters, calls, and face to face conversations on this issue. I put together some information showing the duties and responsibilities of the town clerk. I have 18 years of experience as your town clerk and as you know I follow up and follow through on the needs of my residents. Previous boards have been asked to provide equal compensation. This Local Law was proposed when everyone is here to weigh in on this issue.

Valerie Scribner wondered why the board felt an urgency to do this wage increase without waiting until the budget season. “With all due respect she probably maybe is worth another $10,000.00.” She thinks it sets a bad prescient. The clerk responded that her compensation is set in November, after budget time there were other departments that received an increase in compensation. The highway dept. went into a closed door executive session in January and received another 7% raise. The only way the Town clerk can get an increase or decrease after the board has set the budget is through a local law.

She noted again this was not snuck in in January or February when people are not here.

Mike Vickerson – thought the town clerk had not had a raise in 8 years. He believes she is due and wants the board to pass it. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio stated the law has already been passed. He noted the public has 45 days to sign a petition if they want to.

Tony Toskas calculated the beginning salary of the clerk with a yearly 2-3% raise puts here about what she is asking for. There is no question that this is the compensation she should get. He stated she does a lot of things that are not part of her job – a lot for the town. Linda does the most work and is the biggest supporter of the 911# signs project. He noted the numerous events that go on in town and that the clerk has putting together a calendar of events so things don’t overlap too much. As far as waiting he thinks the salary is warranted now.

Bill Bishop – noted the number of things that Linda goes beyond that she doesn’t have to do. Things for the golf course, helping the new code officer, helping with different events. If a secretary was needed for each department she helps a lot more money would be spend. She researches things and should get the raise now.

Syd Greenwood met Linda in 1990. She had big shoes to fill, Mrs. MacGregor was outstanding as a clerk. He noted her clerk’s duties with the New York State Town Clerk’s Assoc. and he is proud she is currently the President of that organization. He also worked closely with her on the Zoning Board. He knows what she does and urged the board to act on this.

James Selmser noted the board gets a publication from the Assoc. of Towns. There was an article on tax caps and he questioned the budget last year not allowing an increase even though it was asked for at that time. It will be more difficult now if granted to fit it in the budget in the future. Mr. Selmser stated next year the tax cap is less than 1/2%. Realistically he noted the need for additional revenue sources or the board may be faced with difficult choices to make in the future. He further stated this issue was not on last month’s agenda and thought it was against state law. He questioned this if it was legal. (Items do not need to be on the agenda to be discussed at a board meeting)

Council Member Glenn interjected that this board has already approved this raise, and the public hearing was for the folks to chime in on this. The clerk corrected him stating that the Local Law was introduced last month and a public hearing scheduled. They board will vote on adopting the Local Law tonight. It will then lay on the table for the required number of days before taking effect. A member of the public noted it’s a good thing the Clerk knows the law.

Joseph Capparella – noted this is not a popularity contest it’s how good she is doing the job. We want the best people on the job.

Joyce Barrett thought the clerk ran the town. “Without Linda things would not run as smoothly as it does. She knows the rules and regulations and helps all of us when we need something done.” The clerk stated she helps the town run.

Mr. Selmser noted the additional cost of Social Security and pension contributions associated with this.

Mr. Bishop noted the clerk helped Mr. Selmser when he was in office. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted the importance of continuity of government. The public hear will remain open until 7:35pm.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio waived the reading of the July minutes. The clerk noted there was one correction to the minutes. The cost to red cap of the street light on Pine Lake Road was not $135.00 as the resolution stated. In the prepaid bills the cost was $129.15. The board needed more time to review the minutes and stand as unapproved.

Public:

Dick Aulisi – has been a resident for 35 years and owned property here for 40 years. He is terribly concerned about the blight condition in this town. Years ago he attended a meeting with the Planning Board who was working to attract business to the community. At that time he asked how they could accomplish this if there are so many areas that are not acceptable. He was assured at that time that steps were being taken to clear up this matter. He knows there have been 2-3 code officers since that time. He asked how many tickets have been written by the code officers in this town in the last year. Mr. Duesler responded that he wrote one today. He has been here for four months and extremely busy. He has prioritized his job by taking care of the building permits and the code enforcement aspect of his job. He anticipates that after Labor Day he will have more time and has a plan to tackle the blight. He has already taken care of some hot spots. He has received over 50 complaints, ¼ have been resolved through voluntary compliance. Those who don’t follow the rules and regulations will get a ticket.

Council Member Morris noted Mr. Duesler came into a department that had been neglected for a very long time – years. She noted his work with the open permits and issuing permits along with the properties that need attention - that is a lot for one person to handle. She sympathized with the situation but noted he has done a good job getting things done the way they should have been done to begin with. Moving forward things are going to be done the right way.

Mr. Capparella asked again what the definition of blight was. Council Member Glenn noted there is a junk law in place to deal with this which our attorney is updating - the definition is in there. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted the code officer is dedicated to doing his job. He will put in the time to do this.

Mr. Duesler will be issuing more and more tickets as the building season winds down. Mr. Bishop wanted the judge to issue fines. Council Member Morris noted the two departments are separate. We want compliance. People do pay a fine and we still have the problem. We need to give Mr. Duesler a chance to do his job. There have been years and years of neglect and unaccountability.

Mr. Aulisi - note the town board makes the local laws. “You have the legislative authority to increase the fines.” Make it more difficult for people to keep the property the way it is than to make it look right. If there are teeth in the law people will start complying and for those who refuse to comply ultimately maybe they will just pack up and leave.

Carolyn Suffern read from the Comprehensive Plan vision statement about the concept of the town center. She does not want to see condo’s at the town center – Sherman’s. She has consulted with various people who state this would be best served as a tourist based economy. She noted the difficulty of getting everyone on board. She would like to see Sherman’s kept intact. She stated the town hall building has a controversy with the mold and wondered if the town offices could be moved to Sherman’s. She would like a restaurant onsite and performance/concert space for the Caroga Lake group. Ms. Suffern did not want to see the ice cream stand torn down.

Kookie Warden thanked the town clerk for her sign. She noted the blight situation has been around for 35 years and nothing has ever been done. Where she lives once a person has been contacted, written up, and a deadline set and there isn’t compliance the town or city cleans it up and the cost is added to their taxes.

Howard Wilson asked if the blight committee will be reestablished. This would help code enforcement. Council Member Glenn noted another person might be brought on board to assist with blight. He anticipates revitalizing the committee.

Tony Toskas is concerned with the definition of blight. He was not concerned with height of grass but with the physical condition of the house in terms of safety. Before we get too deeply into it we have to determine what it is. Things on people’s front lawn are there stuff – not blight. Council Member Glenn noted the town attorney has been working on this since January.

Mr. Selmser noted the revised zoning ordinance has enhancements in it and additional mandatory state regulations on fines that are allowed. Some of them are mandatory – they are enhanced from what we have presently. He encouraged the board to move forward with the revised zoning document to adopt it. This may help the code officer accomplish more.

Council Member Morris noted there are words in the blight ordinance that are very subjective. Her concern was the statement “when feasible.” Council Member Manning noted we are moving forward. He would like to set a meeting with the town Attorney for this next month.

Mr. Bishop thought vehicles needed to be registered and current with their inspections.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio wanted a year on this. Maybe 6 months.

Kent Kirsch suggested first setting a date for a blight meeting after we have the revised document.

Ralph Ottuso stated he has not been to a town board meeting in 7 months and doesn’t feel like he has missed much. His concern was the lack of representation at the county. Mr. Sturchio signed on as deputy supervisor and “when the supervisor is gone you should be moving into that position to represent us at the county.” That is what he feels should be done. Then the town board should put in another council member. He noted the need to have an odd number of representatives to make decisions.

Hank McGrath stated that prior to the death of Ron McLain he helped to initiate an interstate investigation into seasonal residents voting in two locations. “According to election law you can’t do that in a period of time.” HIs question was did the candidate seeking to oust a supervisor intentionally mislead the public and encourage or cause to organize the duel registration of seasonal voters based upon misleading information. He stated that well over 120 new seasonal registrants voted in the local primaries and several have been found during this initial investigation to have voted in the presidential primary in FL & NJ – four months after voting in our local primaries and elections here. They could face charges and a $2,500.00 fine plus repercussions on their homestead tax in FL.

“Today we sit before a new council many of whom during their campaign negligently mislead the public regarding the legitimacy of the Sherman’s legacy gift.” “They did so in order to get elected. If found to be true (this is a claim) it is a felony of all participants on the council.” Candidates celebrated and legitimized the gift then attested to its illegality, and also intentionally promoted the music group. He stated these were all untrue, misleading, and negligent with intent to control and usurp the election process. Once the article 78 was filed, it was evident that the town owned Sherman’s property. To tell people while campaigning that the town did not own it, or that we were going to get rid of it... and stuff is misleading. Mr. McGrath states there was no illegality about the legacy gift. He stated “the stipulations were well known prior to and during legitimacy of the gift.” He continued on with his observations of the situation at Sherman’s. In the upcoming elections seasonal residents are asked to take heed to the laws of the state and county, and to be aware of the investigation.

To respond to Mr. Ottuso, Council Member Morris wanted to make it clear - Council Member Manning and Deputy Supervisor Sturchio stated their opinion. She and Council Member Glenn did not agree. . She believes we need representation on the county level.

Nina McCormick asked about the beach. She went by and saw 22 people there. Her fear is someone will get hurt and file a lawsuit. Even if it is a frivolous lawsuit we have to defend it which will cost the town money. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted he has an appointment with the Sheriff Giardino. Previously the board was taking a soft approach. Now they are looking to go a little more drastic than that. In talking to the town attorney he recommended setting hours and closing the area at 7 pm and has no trespassing signage. A security system could be put in and tickets would be written to people that are there. It was noted that currently no one in town patrols or talks to people on the beach.

Council Member Manning spoke to the Board of Health (BOH) on this quite a bit. Right now the signs are not consistent with BOH regulations. They need to be changed to read “no swimming beach closed.” You can go on the beach but not in the water. It was asked if the town owned any other lakefront property. The clerk responded there is another piece on East Shore Road. The Irving Pond property was also mentioned.

Mr. McGrath noted he is from South Troy. He stated he is going to get arrested as he is only swimming there with his 7 yr. old daughter. He is not interested in suing anyone. He believes there should be one more try at a soft approach because of the 2 years of bad press on Sherman’s. Council Member Manning noted there is no way the Health Department will allow swimming at your own risk. Mr. McGrath suggested splitting the property and creating an Association giving it back to the public like East Caroga has.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio wanted to move on it has been an hour.

Anita Potocar is concerned about Sherman’s. She sees people wash their dogs. Cars are parked along the road. This has become a blight. She asked how the board is taking care of the property. She noted the lack of bathroom facilities for small children. She wished the code officer luck. She asked why the ice cream stand was being torn down. Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted the glass was cracked and with kids being on the property the town did not want anyone getting seriously hurt or killed. She urged the board to do something this year to prevent a tragedy and to clean up in 2017.

At 8 pm the public hearing on the proposed Local Law #2 of 2016 was closed. The motion was made by Deputy Supervisor Sturchio and seconded by Council Member Morris. All board members were in favor of the motion.

Mr. Male has been coming to meetings for three years with the same request to do something about the speed limit on East Shore Road of West Caroga Lake. The limit is 25 mph and no one drive it. Ideas have been presented to slow traffic - what can we have. Council Member Manning asked Mr. Putman about making it one way. He responded that could be done somewhat. Mr. Male noted someone is going to get hurt. Sight distance was one of his concerns. He noted at 25 mph total stopping distance is 85 ft., at 35 mph it is 136 ft., at 50 mph stopping distance is 229 ft.

Department Reports:

Assessor’s Report – The clerk read Mrs. Parkers report: Mr. Sullivan asked me to talk with Shannon Wager about her interest in the Assessor’s position, several weeks ago. She informed me she had talked with Mr. Sullivan and was no longer interested in the position. She has not heard from the state about corrections to the equitation rate. They will respond the last week in August or first part of September.

Mrs. Parker is in the process of updating information done during revel on to the RPS screens. The RPS system will be down 8/15 to 8/19 as the county processes school bills. She will be moving into her new home in approx. 2 weeks.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted Dorothy is retiring mid-December if anyone knows someone interested in the job let the board know.

BTI – Mr. Delesky reported they stopped treating the end of July. He will be checking all the stream reports and retain his records and submit his report to the state.

Clerk/Registrar – The town Clerk presented her July report. DEC sent a publication noting that as of May 1, 2014 a new law came into effect where all individuals born on or after 5/1/96 are now required to successfully complete an approved course in boater’s education in order to operate a motorboat. This will be distributed to the lake associations.

The August Clean up days are on Friday 19th from 8 – 4 & on Saturday 20th from 8 - noon at the transfer station, there is a $2.50 fee for tires off the rim. Appliances are free but no Freon units.

Code Enforcement & Sanitation – (Covered) per a written report dated July 1 to July 31st – 25 permits issued, one demo, and 5 sanitation permits.

Blight – (Covered)

Dog Control – The DCO Howard Dutcher reported to the clerk that he wrote two tickets this month and he received and responded to 13 calls.

Golf Course – Mr. Jennings is not here due to a break in the watering system.

Highway – Mr. Putman stepped around the table to urge the board to seriously sit down and have some workshops on this new proposed zoning. As a former Planning Board Member who worked on a couple of Comprehensive Plans this is not in the best interest of this town/community as a whole. He strongly urged the board to look it over and have some meetings on it.

He also urged the board to contact the attorney about regulating drones. Some have a 3 ½ mile range. He suggested as a private citizen that a local law be made.

As the Highway Superintendent he noted all of his paperwork regarding the additional raise for his men was on the up and up.

At the last meeting he asked for a local law for people illigitamely digging into town roads. He strongly urged the board to move forward with this. He wants substantial fines. There are problems in this town, he knows of 5 situations on Kasson Drive where lines have been put across the road. He a recommended a $2,500.00 fine.

Regarding the radios – there is money from FEMA. In looking for the initial bid the cost was $15,157.00 for the best radios. Little did he know the tower and repeater was an additional $14,225.00. He did not order the radios. Another vendor was contacted. They gave us a better estimate. At best he would like to move forward and purchase the radios. This is a safety issue. He will look into funding for the tower.

Mrs. Hillier reviewed the paperwork from Mr. Putman. She went over the financials last month and thinks she can pull money from somewhere.

RESOLUTION #2016 -000 to purchase mobile radios from Motorola was offered by Council Member Glenn at the regular monthly town board meeting held on August 10, 2016 at the Caroga municipal building 1840 State Highway 10. WHEREAS, Highway Superintendent Steve Putman has tried to get estimates to upgrade the radio system at the highway barn and in the town vehicles for over 2 years, and WHEREAS, recently a second quote was obtained from Pittsfield Communications Systems, Inc. 1502 West Housatonic St. Pittsfield MA 01201 (413)448-8214 for 14 radios and a tower system at a cost of $16,511.25 plus $5,554.95 for the Rohn tower kit. Now therefore be it resolved that the Caroga Town Board does hereby move to agree to spend $22,066.20 for the radios and tower with the majority of the money coming from a reimbursement from FEMA for storm damage a couple of years ago. The motion was seconded by Council Member Morris.

Adopted by a vote of 4 Ayes, Sturchio, Glenn, Morris, & Manning

Mr. Putman had to drag it back to the shop from Bleecker again. It is not a situation of he (Steve) gets what he wants, it is what this town needs. His only interest is giving this town the best possible job with the best equipment to keep us moving along. It gets to the point where you are paying for the vehicle 2 or 3 times over.

Council Member Manning announced that on September 3rd a local rock climbing club (ACCESS) will sponsor a cleanup at 9 Corner Lake. They do it every year. They drag the garbage down to the trail head. There were 60 bags last year. He wondered if the town could assist with this cleanup by having a truck brought up there to haul away the garbage. Mr. Putman stated he will bring the garbage truck up on September 3rd as they are coming back out.

Lake Stewards- Council Member Glenn read the report from Mike Durkee – he was unable to attend the meeting tonight. He wrote that the boat traffic at West Lake is running at about last season’s volume, with about 790 boats as of August 7. Most boaters are aware of the threat of invasive species. He noted in a CSLAP report Brittle Naiad, another invasive weed, had been reportedly found but it was found to be erroneous, and the report was corrected by DEC.

At the Boat Wash traffic is slowly increasing as of August 7th 90 boats were processed. Paul Smith’s says this number is better than most of their first- year stations. Signs were bought to advertise the free service and placed at the Campground, Caroga Marina and along the highway. They have heard rumors that the station was to inspect registrations, but this is false.

Town Hall Building – The town hall building water was tested 7/14.

Weeds – Council Member Glenn spoke to Mr. DeWeese about the divers schedule when he supervised the program. The divers worked Monday through Thursday five hours per day and there were two teams of divers. A total of 20 hours per week. The divers were in the water for 45 minutes and rested for 15 minutes. Now there are only two divers and they are have been reported as diving an excessive amount of time. For two weeks they put in 66 – 69 hours. A former dive master at the Sherriff’s Dept. was contacted today. He said it was too many hours for a diver to be in the water. He suggested no more than 20 hours per diver per week. This is a safety issue and for the next two weeks the hours will have to be cut down. Next year they will find more divers. It was asked if the harvester the only thing we can do or the only way to do it? It was noted that hand harvesting can be done. One resident of Avery Road noted her area is turning into a swamp. She wanted other weeds to be harvested too. Other methods of weed control will be looked into. It was asked if the harvester had been on West Caroga Lake yet – it was not known.

Youth - Council Member Morris read a report submitted by Rachael Simonds- Director. She stated they are currently in the last week of the program. They have had an average of 35 – 40 kids attending on a regular basis. She thanked Mr. Jennings for having the kids on the golf course they really enjoyed it. On August 2, 2016 the Health Dept. came for the annual inspection. No violations were found. Designs to build a sandbox were attached to her report. The plastic kiddy pools they were using for the past two years needs to be replaced. She hopes the town will consider building a permanent sandbox within the park.

Sherman’s Advisory Committee – Kent Kirch is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee. The committee is comprised of 11 people three of whom are town residents – all volunteers. The goal is to identify and generate more options for Sherman’s for the town to consider. The will make a recommendation to the board based on the options they are given. On July 21st he, Bill Fielding, and his son spent 4 hours repairing the floor of the pavilion. At that time they were looking to use it to hold an auction. On July 22 he brought Jim Law from Mohawk Cabinets through the Sherman’s banquet hall to look at the restaurant equipment. It took 3 hours. He is working to get the town connected with people who may be interested in buying the equipment. Most is pretty old, and some collectible. It is likely there is over $10,000.00 worth of equipment in there, maybe more. We will have numbers by late September. Some of the usable equipment uses too much power and not what people want. The smalls (glassware, plates etc.) were not looked at and Mr. Kirch thinks people might be interested in stuff like that as a souvenir.

On July 27th the committee finalized their recommendations – they brought 6 national commercial real-estate companies through the property and asked them to propose marketing it for us. Of the 6 one gave a letter of interest and one gave an actual proposal - Cushman Wakefield and the committee agreed they should move forward with that. The recommendation was given to the board. Key points being there is no fees to the town unless they sell something or lease it. The fee would be 6% of whatever the sale or lease represents. Mr. Kirch thought the town attorney should look at the proposal from Cushman Wakefield and have a contract drawn up for a board vote.

The website for people to look at is Shermansproposals.com. Council Members Manning and Morris are also on the committee. Council Member Manning did send Sal Ferlazzo the proposal from Cushman Wakefield. At the next meeting the board could vote to make a resolution to accept the proposal. Council Member Glenn has not read the proposal yet. Everyone does have it via email. It was noted that there are no proposal to date.

Deputy Supervisor’s Report

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio wanted to clarify the news article. If he stepped up as town Supervisor and lost the election then he would lose his board seat. In talking the John Stead the Clerk to the Fulton County Board of Supervisors he said it would not behoove him to come up for just the two and a half months when he can easily get emails and minutes from the County meetings and be kept informed what is going on at the county level. Council Member Sturchio did not want to give up his last year on the town board to pick up 2 ½ months of representation at the county when Mr. Stead told him he could stay as deputy.

Council Member Morris and Deputy Supervisor Sturchio met with Mang Insurance today. They would like to take over our health insurance brokerage. He will come to speak to the board before anything is done.

Old Business:

Securing Sherman’s Property – Council Member Manning and Deputy Supervisor Sturchio will meet with Sheriff Giardino. Council Member Glenn knows Peter Gierszewski of Johnstown who has a computer service and does security systems. The system could be linked to the Sheriff’s 911 center. He would be happy to talk to the board. Mr. Selmser noted Canada Lake Computer also does this type of work.

The glass has been removed from the Ice Cream stand. Any future plans will be discussed at another meeting.

Council Member Manning is waiting to hear back from Steven Ovitt whose company owns the trail to Mountain Company. He will submit a preliminary proposal doing some trail development and what it would look like. If the board accepts that then they would look at available land and give the town a recreational assessment He also spoke to some local bike associations who might foot the bill and save the town the upfront cost. He will report back next month. This is for town acreage not existing trails owned by DEC.

New Business:

The board has not had time to review the Fulton County Snow and Ice Contract the matter was tabled.

Correspondence:

Council Member Morris received a copy of a correspondence sent to Anthony Russitano of 284 S. Shore Rd. East Caroga from Assemblyman Marc Butler. Mr. Russitano sent him a petition regarding the condition of Route 29A in Fulton County. The letter notes that subsequent to this communication Assemblyman Butler had a direct conversation with the regional DOT Director. His concerns were noted and his views expressed that the repairs to the road need to be a priority. He traveled the road and agreed with the concerns. An understanding with the Governor and DOT is at hand regarding funding. A priority list will be created.

The following correspondence is available upon request from the Clerk’s office:

7/15 County Res. Authorization Community Dev. Block Grant Application

7/16 Thank you from Nathan Littauer Foundation for golf passes & cart

7/19 APA acknowledged recipe from town stating its intent to be Lead Agency for SEQR

FC Workers Comp. Report July 25

July 27 Army Corps of Engineer no permit needed for fiber cable on bottom of West Lk.

July 27 Army Corps of Engineers no permit needed for Bellinger property E. Stoner Lk

8/1 letter of resignation from Robert Sullivan

8/5 Museum Trustee interested in acquiring the bear from the ice cream stand

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio noted the need to have an executive session for a personnel matter with Mr. Snell of the Highway Department. The board set a meeting for Wednesday August 17th at 7:30 pm.

Resolutions:

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio made a motion to pay the bills as presented for audit. Council member Morris seconded the motion. All board members were in favor of the motion.

Council Member Manning noted that Local Law #2 public hearing was closed at 8 pm and that a vote should be taken now.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio read the proposed Local Law into the minutes.

Section 1. Title.

This Local Law shall be known as “A local Law to Adjust the Compensation of the Town Clerk of the Town of Caroga for the Fiscal Year 2016.

Section 2. Intent.

The Town Board finds that in order to address the question of fair compensation for town officials in a non- partisan objective manner that a Local Law be created per Town Law § 27 (1). This authority is in furtherance of the general power of the Town Board to control Town finance forum in § 64 of the Town Law. The board may set elected official salaries at amounts greater than those approved in the town’s annual budget through the adoption of an appropriate Local Law.

Whereby salary adjustments were made in January of 2016 to some Department heads and the highway staff after the2016 Budget had been set. This Local Law is based on the demands placed on the Town Clerk that have increased.

Section 3. Salary

The salary of the Town Clerk Linda Gilbert with 18 years of experience, and knowledge, and who holds certifications as a Registered Municipal Clerk and Certified Municipal Clerk shall be increase by $5,000.00 for the calendar year 2016.

Section 4. Payment of Salaries.

Within forty-five (45) days of the adoption of this Local Law the Supervisor as required by § 29(7) of the Town Law of the State of New York, and the Personnel Director shall take any and all steps necessary to pay the salary established in Section 3. Salaries shall be paid from the balances remaining from unappropriated unreserved monies remaining in the budget or from contingent funds, surplus monies, or any other legal funding source.

Section 5. Effective Date.

In accordance with the provisions of § 24 (2) (h) of the Municipal Home Rule Law, this Local Law shall not become operative unless and until forty-five (45) days have elapsed after its adoption and no petition protesting against it, signed and authenticated as required by said section, has been filed with the Town Clerk of the Town of Caroga.

Deputy Supervisor Sturchio made a motion to adopt Local Law #2, 2016 the motion was seconded by Council Member Manning.

Adopted by a vote of 3 Ayes, Sturchio, Morris, Manning

1 Nay Glenn

At 8:46 pm Deputy Supervisor Sturchio made a motion to adjourn. Council Member Glenn seconded the motion. All board members were in favor of the motion.

Respectfully Submitted,

Linda M. Gilbert, RMC, CMC

Caroga Town Clerk

Copyright © James McMartin Long 2017–2024