Cortland
County Legislature
Approved as Corrected
Minutes of October 20, 2005 -
6:00 pm
Chairman
Steve called the meeting to order at 6:06 pm and led the Salute to the Flag.
On motion of Mr. Willcox, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present voting aye, the minutes of September 22, 2005 session were approved as printed.
Proclamations / Recognitions
Chairman Steve introduced Susanne Etherington, Region Six Advisory Officer of the Regional Advisory Committee for the New York State Archives, Elizabeth Larkin, Records Management Officer, and Yvonne Deligato to present an award to the County of Cortland Legislature for their achievement in records management. Chairman Steve this program is modeled on a program for the City and the County to work together for Record Management. He said the Ms. Deligato was the one who orchestrated this model when she was a former County Employee. Chairman Steve said that the employees that work within that department need to be recognized and will make sure this is forwarded on.
Receive
and Files
On motion of Mr. Cornell, seconded by Mr. Steger and adopted by all members present voting aye, the Letter from Town of Solon regarding State Park Location was ordered received and filed.
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Hartnett and adopted by all members present
voting aye, Resolution # 60 from the Town of
Harford regarding State Park Location within Cortland County was
ordered received and filed.
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present
voting aye, the Budget
Officer’s Fiscal Year 2006 Tentative Budget
was ordered received and filed.
There was a standing ovation by the Legislators for Mr. Schrader, County Administrator in regards to the early presentation of the Tentative Budget.
Chairman Steve said there are guests in the audience tonight from the A P Senior Class of Cortland High School that he had the privilege of speaking to at the school recently. He said he would like to explain to them the clapping that just occurred. He stated this is the first time that the Tentative Budget has been out this early. Mr. Schrader, the County Administrator, has been working very hard and diligently to be able to present this so early. He thanked the Department Heads for getting the numbers put together early and keeping all the financials up to date for the preparation of the Tentative Budget to be able to done early. He said it is exciting to be able to receive this early with it looking so good, however noted that there is still work to be done by Mr. Behrenfeld and the Budget and Finance Committee in reviewing the numbers and requests within this budget.
On motion of Mrs. Breed, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present voting aye, the County of Cortland – Financial Statements – December 31, 2004 – Richard M. McNeilly was ordered received and filed.
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Hartnett and adopted by all members present
voting aye, the County of Cortland –
Management Letter – December 31, 2004 – Richard M. McNeilly was
ordered received and filed. Chairman
Steve congratulated Mr. Ferris, the Treasurer,
and his office staff for a good management letter.
On motion of Mr. Cornell, seconded by Mr. Armstrong and adopted by all members
present voting aye, the Balance Sheets for
August 2004 and August 2005 – Treasurer’s Office was ordered
received and filed.
On motion of Mr. Ross, seconded by Mr. Willcox and adopted by a roll call vote
with Mr. Allen, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Behrenfeld, Mrs. Breed, Mrs. Brown, Mr.
Cornell, Mr. Dafoe, Dr. DiGiovanni, Mr. Elston, Mr. Hartnett, Mr. McKee, Mr.
Ross, Mr. Steger. Mr. Tagliente, Mr. VanDee, Mr. Willcox, Mr. Williams and Mr.
Steve voting aye and Mrs. Tytler recorded as absent, Agenda Item No. 1: Introduce
Local Law No. 5 of the Year 2005: A
Local Law Authorizing the County of Cortland to Make Application for
Re-designation of Certain Areas Within the County of Cortland as an Empire Zone
was received and will be placed on the November 17, 2005 Agenda
with a Public Hearing
to be scheduled on November 17, 2005 at 6:00 pm.
The municipalities that this Local Law will affect will all be sponsoring
resolutions at their Board meetings within the next month to approve the
changes. He said this action
tonight is to introduce this Local Law to be able to have a Public Hearing and
if there are any substantial changes that need to be made to this there would
have to be another public Hearing. He
stated this needs to be acted upon before December 31, 2005, which is the
deadline, or the County could lose their designations for Empire Zones.
Chairman Steve said Karen Niday of the IDA/BDC was present to answer any
questions. He thanked the IDA/BDC
staff and the Planning Department for their hard work on this.
Resolutions:
On
motion of Mr. Behrenfeld, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by a two- thirds
roll call vote with Mr.
Allen, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Behrenfeld, Mrs. Breed, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Cornell, Mr.
Dafoe, Dr. DiGiovanni, Mr. Elston, Mr. Hartnett, Mr. McKee, Mr. Ross, Mr.
Steger. Mr. Tagliente, Mr. VanDee, Mr. Willcox, Mr. Williams and Mr. Steve
voting aye and Mrs. Tytler recorded as absent, Agenda
No. 2 became Resolution No. 298-05: Resolution
of the Legislature of the County of Cortland, Extending Taxes on Sales and Uses
of Tangible Personal Property and of Certain Services, and on Occupancy of Hotel
Rooms and Amusement Charges, Pursuant to Article 29 of the Tax Laws of the State
of New York
On
motion of Mr. Behrenfeld, seconded by Mr. Allen and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No. 3 became Resolution No. 299-05: Amend
Contract / Amend Budget, Cortland County Convention and Visitors Bureau/
Innkeepers
On
motion of Mr. Behrenfeld, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by a two-thirds
roll call vote with Mr.
Allen, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Behrenfeld, Mrs. Breed, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Cornell, Mr.
Dafoe, Dr. DiGiovanni, Mr. Elston, Mr. Hartnett, Mr. McKee, Mr. Ross, Mr.
Steger. Mr. Tagliente, Mr. VanDee, Mr. Willcox, Mr. Williams and Mr. Steve
voting aye and Mrs. Tytler recorded as absent,
Agenda No. 4 became Resolution No. 300-05:
Resolution of the Legislature of the
County of Cortland Authorizing a Permanent Easement to the Town of Homer For
Access For the Maintenance of the Homer Town Hall on Lands of the County of
Cortland
On
motion of Mr. Behrenfeld, seconded by Mrs. Breed and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No. 5 became Resolution No. 301-05:
Amend 2005 Budget Recognizing Federal
and State Disaster Assistance Funding
On motion of Mr. Behrenfeld, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present voting aye Agenda No. 6 became Resolution No. 302-05: Amend Budget/ Retirement Payment
On
motion of Mr. Steger, seconded by Mr. Allen and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 7 became Resolution No. 303-05: Abolish/Create
Custodian, Buildings and Grounds Department
On
motion of Mr. Steger, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 8 became Resolution No. 304-05: Authorize
Agreement, Buildings and Grounds Department / V. Romanoff & Associates
(Pilaster Repairs – Law Library)
On motion of Dr. DiGiovanni, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present voting aye Agenda No. 11 became Resolution No. 307-05: Authorize Agreement, Health Department/ Administration (Laser Printer Maintenance)
On
motion of Dr. DiGiovanni, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No.12 became Resolution No. 308-05: Create
Senior Medical Services Clerk (F-T, Temporary), Health Department
Mrs. Brown asked why we are creating a full-time temporary
position for a six month period? Mr. Schrader said the person holding the
position is on medical leave and this position is for billing to the State and
can’t be left unfilled.
On motion of Dr. DiGiovanni, seconded by Mrs. Brown and adopted by all members present voting aye Agenda No. 14 became Resolution No. 310-05: Authorize Agreement, Mental Health Department (New York State Office of Mental Health)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 15 became Resolution No. 311-05: Authorize
Service Contract, Highway Department/Landfill
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present
voting aye except Mrs. Brown, Mr. Ross and Mr. Willcox voting nay, Agenda No. 16
became Resolution No. 312-05: Authorize
Rental Contract, Highway Department
On motion
of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present voting
aye Agenda No. 17 became Resolution No. 313-05:
Amend
Budget/ Transfer Funds, Highway Department (Projects)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 18 became Resolution No. 314-05: Amend
Budget/ Transfer Funds, McGraw-Marathon Road Bridge Project, Highway Department
(Projects)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mrs. Breed and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No.19 became Resolution No. 315-05: Authorize
Agreement, New York State, Federal Emergency Relief Project PIN-375445
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 20 became Resolution No. 316-05:
Authorize Contract, Highway
Department, Town of Taylor (Snow and Ice – County Roads)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mrs. Brown and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 21 became Resolution No. 317-05: Authorize
Contract, Highway Department, Town of Homer (Snow and Ice – County Roads)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. McKee and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 22 became Resolution No. 318-05:
Authorize Contract, Highway
Department, Town of Cincinnatus (Snow and Ice – County Roads)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Armstrong and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No. 23 became Resolution No. 319-05:
Amend Budget/ Transfer Funds, Highway
Department (Fuel)
On motion
of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Armstrong and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 24 became Resolution No. 320-05:
Amend
Budget/ Transfer Funds, Highway Department (Fuel)
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 25 became Resolution No. 321-05: Amnesty
River Clean-Up, Highway Department/ Landfill
On
motion of Mr. Allen, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 26 became Resolution No. 322-05: Award
Electronic Disposal Contract/ Highway Department/ Landfill
On
motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Mrs. Breed and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 27 became Resolution No. 323-05:
Increase Salary, Sheriff’s Department (Court Attendants)
On motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Mrs. Brown and adopted by all members present voting aye Agenda No. 28 became Resolution No. 324-05: Accept Grant/ Authorize Agreement, District Attorney’s Office (Assistant District Attorney Position)
On
motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Mr. Cornell and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 29 became Resolution No. 325-05: Amend
Budget, Public Defender’s Office (Assigned Counsel)
On
motion of Mrs. Brown, seconded by Dr. DiGiovanni and adopted by all members
present voting aye except Mr. Willcox voting nay, Agenda No. 30 became
Resolution No. 326-05: Amend Budget, Area
Agency on Aging (Title VII Long Term Care Ombudsman Program)
On motion
of Mrs. Brown, seconded by Mr. Armstrong and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 31 became Resolution No. 327-05: Amend
Budget, Department of Social Services (Transfer)
On motion
of Mrs. Brown, seconded by Dr. DiGiovanni and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 32 became Resolution No. 328-05: Amend
Budget, Department of Social Services (Daycare)
On
motion of Mrs. Brown, seconded by Mr. Armstrong and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No. 33 became Resolution No. 329-05: Authorize
Agreement Amendment, Department of Social Services (Shredding Services)
On
motion of Mrs. Breed, seconded by Dr. DiGiovanni and adopted by all members
present voting aye Agenda No. 34 became Resolution No. 330-05: Authorize
Extension of Agreement with Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Nationwide
Financial Services, Inc. and Nationwide Trust Company for the Continuation of
the Cortland County Deferred Compensation Plan.
Chairman Steve requested that Special Articles be acted upon at this time,
noting before Agenda Items 35 and 36 are acted upon the Board will go into
Executive Session.
On motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Mr. Allen and adopted by a two thirds vote Special Article No. 1 was moved to the floor. Dr. DiGiovanni explained the State gave notice to the County in a letter dated October 11, 2005 of this award and the signed contract must be back to the postmarked by October 31, 2005. He said failure to act on this in a prudent manner could cost the County the funding, therefore he presented this to the Budget and Finance Committee and at their meeting and received their consent to move this to the floor as a Special Article to be able to take the necessary actions to bring the funding to the County.
On motion of Dr. DiGiovanni, seconded by Mrs. Breed and adopted by all
members present voting aye Special Article No. 1 became Resolution No. 331-05: Authorize
Agreement/ Accept Funds. Health Department/ Children with Special Needs Program
(NYS Facilitated Enrollment Program)
On motion of seconded by and adopted by a two thirds vote Special Article
No. 2 was moved to the floor.
On motion of Mr. Steve, seconded by Mr. Allen and adopted by all members
present voting aye Special Article No. 2, as amended, became Resolution No.
332-05: Resolution
Requesting State and Federal Official Investigate Possible Instances of Price
Gouging, Price Fixing and/ or Anti-Trust Violations by Refineries, Oil Companies
and Home Fuel and Motor Fuel Distributors.
Chairman
Steve said the Majority and the Minority leaders have worked with him to address
this issue together. This and the
next special article go together to address items that concern the constituency
all across the County of Cortland with the rising costs of fuel.
November 1st start our heating season and we need to be ready
to go to help in this area. Chairman
Steve said he has met with the leaders of the municipalities and had much
discussion regarding the reduction of Sales Tax and has realized that there is
not enough of a consensus to go ahead in that direction.
Most of the municipalities have already prepared their budgets and rely
on the Sales Tax revenue to offset property taxes and changing that in anyway
this year would be a big hit for some. He
and Mr. Elston will be attending the Firs Chiefs meeting with Mr. Armstrong.
The County will be working with the local churches and organizations to
help people in need. The City has
addressed a plan and he applauds them for that that will assist people in need.
He stated he thinks the County has a responsibility to address the State
and the Federal Government regarding these concerns and the Special Articles
being put forward are to do just that. He
said he thinks they have been remiss at addressing these concerns and these
resolutions will start the process. These
resolutions will be forwarded to NYSAC and will be passed onto other
municipalities to pass for support to get the attention that is needed.
Dr. DiGiovanni asked the County Attorney if it would be more appropriate
to use the word possible instead of probably in the title and the first
resolved? His concern is that
the wording would imply that the County is limiting the scope of the
investigation to things which we have already established a certain degree of
probable gouging rather than saying certain instances of?
He thinks possible is a broader term and would allow the Attorneys
General to look into instances of possible price gouging.
Mr. Bardsley said that unless the County has evidence of price gouging or
something to show cause some cause for our position that probable is okay but if
we are relying upon information that we haven’t independently verified that
possibly would be a better word which covers a larger realm.
Chairman Steve said he thinks the word probable is appropriate given the
fact that the Attorneys General’s Office has done a preliminary investigation
on the fuel companies and has found price gouging instances during the National
crisis. He would like teeth but he
will leave it to the consensus of this body.
Dr. DiGiovanni said he believes changing the word to possible actually
gives the resolution more teeth by not limiting the scope of the investigation
to only probable instances but allows it to be expanded to possible cases also.
Chairman Steve will accept the word change as an amendment to the
resolution. All members present voting aye, none opposed the amendment was
adopted.
On motion of Mr. Elston, seconded by Dr. DiGiovanni and adopted by a two
thirds vote Special Article No. 3 was moved to the floor.
On motion
of Mr. Steve, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted be all members present voting
aye Special Article No. 3 became Resolution No. 333-05:
Resolution
Urging the Federal Government to Implement Meaningful Home Energy Assistance for
Residents of Cortland County
On
motion of Dr. DiGiovanni, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members
present voting aye the Legislature went into Executive Session at 6:35 pm.
On motion of Mr. VanDee, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members
present voting aye, the Legislature moved out of Executive Session at 8:00 pm.
On
motion of Mrs. Breed, seconded by Dr.
DiGiovanni and adopted by all members present voting aye Agenda No. 35 became
Resolution No.334-05: Approve Agreement
Between the County of Cortland and the Civil Service Employee’s Association,
Inc. – County of Cortland Local 812 – Unit 6650 Effective January 1, 2005 to
December 31, 2009. Chairman
Steve commended the CSEA team for continuing with the process through all the
tough times, thanked Mrs. Breed and Mrs. Brown for their work.
He stated Mr. Schrader and Ms. Barber spend numerous hours helping this
to all come together and thanked them for the hard word and dedication.
On
motion of Mrs. Breed, seconded by Mr. Elston and adopted by all members present
voting aye Agenda No. 36 became Resolution No. 336-05: Abolish
/ Create Positions MSD Classifications Study.
Chairman
Steve thanked Ms. Barber and the staff of the Personnel Office for getting this
MSD study completed.
Chairman
Steve asked Mr. Schrader to review and highlight the Tentative Budget.
Mr. Schrader said as he had promised the Budget is before the
Legislature. The Tentative Budget
calls for a 2.86% decrease in the theoretical County Tax rate.
He does want to caution people that does not necessarily mean a 2.86%
reduction in their tax bill because there are things that happen at the local
level that are beyond the Counties control with regards to apportionment,
increases in peoples property values etc. This budget calls for a tax levy of
just over 24 million dollars
which is 1.8 millions dollars over that of 2005, that translates into an 8%
increase in the levy. He is working
under the assumption that the fund balance should remain at 13 million dollars
combined. This budget does call the
use of fund balance to pay for some of the things that have been let go in the
past because of unfunded mandates such as Medicaid and others, particularly
highway equipment, roads and bridges and the repayment of some debt.
The use of fund balance equates to a little over 1 million dollars in
unreserved fund balance from the general fund with a 500 hundred thousand dollar
use from the reserve fund balance which has to be used for specific purposes
including the repayment of debt. The
budget does incorporate the agreement with CSEA that was just adopted.
The budget does provide a listing of the capital equipment that is being
requested. The budget lists the
changes in positions for 2006, there is a net increase of three positions.
There is a statement of debt with maturing dates.
There is a statement of reserve funds to be used for debt payment.
There is a statement of unreserved and reserved funds and what is being
recommended be applied to the budget with explanation.
This budget was helped because of the soft cap that has been applied by
the State regarding Medicaid. The
County is able to produce a tighter and close budget because we do have a
contingency and a healthy fund balance to fall back on in case of emergency
situations. The budget before you
is at the constitutional tax limit. There
are areas that are not covered by this budget and will need to be addressed as
they occur.
Chairman
Steve thanked Mr. Schrader for the hard work that has been done in preparing
this budget.
Announcements:
Mr.
Cornell said the CTV is currently meeting in the Auditorium with presentations
by two different companies regarding voting machines.
Chairman Steve encouraged people to attend.
Adjournment
The
meeting was adjourned at 8:08 pm.