AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING

March 1, 2007 at 7:30 AM

Chambers

Members Present: Carol Tytler, Dan Tagliente, John Steger, John Daniels, Larry Cornell, Mike McKee

Others Present: Marilyn Brown; Chairman of the Legislature, John Troy; Legislator, Tom Williams; Legislator, Newell Willcox; Legislator, Scott Schrader, County Administrator, Richard VanDonsel; County Attorney, Dennis Whitt; County Auditor, Brian Parker; Director of Buildings and Grounds, Susan Morgan; Clerk of the Legislature, Katrina Spicer; Secretary to Administration, Corey Preston & Eric Mulvihill; Media.

Kathy and Robert Wilcox; Residents of Neighborhood, Tom Cummins, Steve Cinquanti, Susan Briggs.

Ms. Tytler called the meeting to order at 7:32 AM. She announced that she has a previous commitment and will need to leave before 8:30 and will turn the meeting over the Mr. Daniels if that happens A sign in sheet was distributed identifying people present. She requested Mr. Whitt to present the information compiled for background stating that we will not be discussing, only receiving these documents. Mr. Whitt distributed the following documents with numbers assigned to each as follows:

1) Resolution No. 39-05 dated February 17, 2005

2) Cortland Standard report dated May 24, 2006

3) Letter to Brian Cummins from Scott Schrader dated July 7, 2006

4) Cortland Standard report dated September 18, 2006

5) Disclosure from Cinquanti Real Estate signed September 20, 2006

6) Contract for purchase compiled by Dennis Whitt

7) Resolution 478-06 dated December 21, 2006

8) Property Acquisition Work Sheet from Cinquanti Real Estate

9) Approved Minutes of December 21, 2006 meeting

10) Approved Minutes of January 25, 2007 meeting

11) Letters to Russell Ruthig from County Attorney dated January 2, 2007

12) Blank document of lawsuit from the Moose Club from Russell Ruthig

(The County Attorney said that this is not a public document and should not be released at this point. Ms. Tytler said this will be distributed to Legislators only)

13) Cover letter from Russell Ruthig to the County Attorney dated February 12, 2007. The County Attorney remarked that they must have received this before he did.

14) Square footage report from Brian Parker

15) Ms. Tytler said there are large studies available also if any wishes to receive them of the Space Planning Study for Cortland County of 1990, 2000 and 2001. Because they are such large reports she opted not to copy but they are available for copy and/or review. Mr. Cornell said that Brian Parker could possibly condense the information in his report scheduled for Monday.

Ms. Tytler said that the Clerk has draft minutes of Monday’s meeting prepared and opted to delay approval until the next meeting so that members have a chance to review them.

Mr. VanDonsel cautioned members that document Number 12 should not be construed as a lawsuit filed by Mr. Ruthig. This was a draft provided as a courtesy to me and the County.

Ms. Tytler invited Steve Cinquanti and Susan Briggs to the podium to present their report. Mr. Cinquanti thanked the committee for the opportunity to speak regarding the property transaction that transpired between Cinquanti Real Estate and the County. He said that he is the principal broker and Ms. Briggs is the associate broker. He said that there is a confidence between broker and client. This all started a year ago, February when Ms. Briggs approached Mr. Schrader with the Moose Club property. He went through the history of their involvement in the project; distributing the timeline and spreadsheet for all to follow, later numbered 16 and 17. He said they inquired in March whether Buildings and Grounds was meeting and assumed that the property was being evaluated. He also said that they normally charge between 7 and 10% on commercial transactions and Mr. Schrader negotiated the 6% for the County. He further explained the role of Agency. As a sellers agent we owe undivided loyalty, confidentiality and duty to account, full disclosure and obedience to represent the seller in a transaction. The buyer has to know we are fair and honest in anything that affects desirability. When we work for the buyer the shoe is on the other foot and we put the seller on notice that we will be fair and honest negotiating on behalf of the buyer. When you represent both sides it is know as dual agency. He went on to explain their role in all property transactions, noting that an agency disclosure statement spells out their role. We tried to get a block of properties but not everyone was interested in selling. In September the agreements were sent to Mr. Schrader for approval. Mr. Schrader approved them internally. I am unsure how that works however presume that Buildings & Grounds, Budget and Finance, the Majority and Minority Leader all were involved in the approval process. This proposal was solely for the Moose property because if we couldn’t get that then nothing else mattered. Ms. Briggs explained that the target date was November 18^th however we had not acquired enough property to complete the project.

Mr. Steger said it appears that this was done in an orderly and right manner and asked if they concurred. Mr. Cinquanti said that this was the only way this could have worked; Mr. Schrader did a good job negotiating, paid fair prices and kept expenses to a minimum. Being anonymous in the transaction made a difference. He further stated that it was handled appropriately. Once this became public and the County was identified as the buyer he noted 2 examples. A property on South Main Street purchased in 2002 for $22,000 now was asking $250,000. A property on Williams Street (similar to the Cole property purchased at $90,000.) was asking $180,000. Ms. Briggs said that she was asked by Mr. Schrader to continue looking for other property to keep options open. She called everyone from the Salvation Army to Argyle Street excepting 2 that she was unable to reach, on down to Kellogg Auto Supply. Either there was no interest in selling or the prices were too high. She felt that the anonymous approach was wise and the sellers were very trusting even though there were indicators that their property would not be there after the purchase agreement.

For the record, Mr. Ross said he could not speak for the Majority Leader but he was not apprised of this until December. He said that if he knew he would have advised his caucus to keep them up to date.

Ms. Briggs said that she is unaware of the inner workings of the County and emphasized that this was a brilliant project, short of a miracle to put together.

Mr. Daniels asked if there was a written contract regarding the 6% fee. Mr. Cinquanti said it was verbal. It is not unusual to work without a contract, you use them when you can but it is not a requirement. Ms. Briggs said they had no reason to mistrust.

Mr. Williams asked if a multi-property of this size is normally done on a handshake. Mr. Cinquanti said because it was the County it was. There is a certain level of trust with our government. Mr. Williams asked how the contingency dates are selected. Mr. Cinquanti said they anticipated this would be ready for the November meeting but it wasn’t all that easy to pull it together. There were still key properties that did not fall into place until mid December so we aimed for the December meeting and extended the dates for the earlier properties. Mr. Williams asked if they are arbitrary dates. Mr. Cinquanti said they weren’t arbitrary as we were aiming for specific meetings dates. Mr. Williams asked who chose the dates. Mr. Cinquanti said the County by Mr. Schrader.

Mr. Willcox asked when they met with the Chairman of Buildings & Grounds (Mr. Dafoe). Ms. Briggs said she never did. Mr. Willcox asked if the County asked for appraisals of the properties. Mr. Cinquanti said not formal appraisals as the County has a Real Property Tax Office that has a professional appraiser. Ms. Briggs said that she did a comprehensive market analysis at the request of Mr. Schrader. I provided those on properties where I was buyer agent. The Moose property was established but all other properties were negotiable except Miniacci’s. Mr. Willcox asked if there is a difference between an appraisal and a market analysis. Ms. Briggs responded yes, very much. She later qualified that they basically use the same data to come to value. An appraiser just uses a different route.

Mr. Williams said he noticed on the timeline that the first mention of the Moose in relationship with the Health facility was after February. Could you give me a list of people you had face to face contact with, other than Mr. Schrader, regarding whom you dealt with. Mr. Cinquanti said Mr. Tagliente, Mr. Parker, Mr. Whitt, Bill Cinquanti in September and Mr. VanDonsel regarding contracts. Ms. Tytler asked that Steve state for the record his relationship with Bill Cinquanti. Steve said that he is his dad.

Ms. Tytler asked when everything was ready on December 14^th who did you contact. Ms. Briggs stated that she was in constant contact with Mr. Schrader. Ms. Tytler asked Mr. Schrader what action he took at that time. Mr. Schrader said he notified the Chairman of the Legislature, the Majority and Minority Leaders and they had numerous conversations in his office to plan the dissemination of information to the Legislature as well as the City and prepare for the December meeting. Ms. Tytler asked when they met with the City. Mr. Schrader said he would have to check his calendar but it was within the time frame of our meeting.

Chairman Brown said she believed she received the information at the same time as the Majority and Minority Leaders on the Monday before session and Mayor Gallagher was also present.

Mr. Tagliente said he wasn’t sure where the conversation is going but said he was pushing for this project to happen with the issues of the Health Department and the Jail as his number one consideration. He said in February he met with Chairman Brown and she told me to go look at the Moose property for DMV relocation. When I went with Brian Parker we measured and realized that this could house the Health Department and get them out of this building and possibly co-locate Mental Health and Horizon House. He said he went to Mr. Schrader and reported it was about 30,000 square feet. Mr. Schrader said it was not big enough, as parking was not taken into consideration. He told me that we have to be above board on this and it was necessary for him to contact the Board of Realtors that we were looking for property. He said he told him to proceed and get this underway if we are to accomplish anything this term. From that point Mr. Schrader handled the process, which he expected him to do. He said that the timeline is in front of you and that is how it happened. There were no secret meetings; everything was handled above board and that is the end of it as far as he is concerned.

Ms. Tytler turned the meeting over to Mr. Daniels at 8:20AM. She reminded all of Monday’s meeting and agenda prior to her departure.

Mr. Daniels recognized Mr. Willcox. Mr. Willcox said that he is a member of Buildings and Grounds and asked Mr. Tagliente if he brought this up at Building and Grounds meetings. Mr. Tagliente said he didn’t believe he did however he had talked to Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Daniels, Mr. Cornell and he thought Mr. Ross about the idea, as we didn’t have the properties at that time. Mr. Willcox asked Mr. Tagliente if he spoke to the Chairman of Buildings and Grounds. Mr. Tagliente said I believe I did but I will ask him when I see him. Chairman Brown stated for the record that Mr. Tagliente is Vice Chairman of Buildings and Grounds.

Mr. Daniels asked for further questions.

Mr. VanDonsel said that because the Chairman and the Legislature do not want to prevent anyone from seeing any documents, he asked to clarify the document from Mr. Ruthig. He said he was not aware that this would be distributed therefore didn’t have a chance to ask Mr. Ruthig if wanted this document put forth. He repeated caution that this document is only a draft and was the only reason he asked that it be held back.

Kathy Wilcox asked when the public will have an opportunity to speak. Mr. Daniels said anytime and asked if she had anything to add. She asked when Mr. Schrader signed the agency disclosure agreement papers, as there are no dates. Ms. Briggs said she wasn’t sure what she was referring to. Ms. Briggs said that when those offers were presented to the sellers I wasn’t able to have Mr. Schrader sign because it would be an anonymous buyer so there were separate agency disclosures signed by Mr. Schrader and separate ones signed by the sellers. Ms. Wilcox asked if that if that is traditional. Ms. Briggs said that an anonymous offer is not traditional. Mr. VanDonsel stated that there will be opportunities in focus groups to address these questions. Possibly we are going beyond the scope today.

Without further questions, meeting adjourned at 8:30AM

Minutes Approve 3/09/07

Prepared by Susan Morgan, Clerk -Audio of meeting available upon request from the Clerk

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