AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING

March 5, 2007 at 7:30 AM

Chambers

 

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

Others Present: Tom Williams; Legislator, Newell Willcox; Legislator, Kay Breed, Legislator, Scott Schrader, County Administrator, Richard VanDonsel; County Attorney, Dennis Whitt; County Auditor, Brian Parker; Director of Buildings and Grounds, Jackie Gailor, Director of Public Health, Michael Kilmer, Director of Administrative Services-Mental Health, Susan Morgan; Clerk of the Legislature, Katrina Spicer; Secretary to Administration, Corey Preston & Eric Mulvihill; Media, Chad Loomis; Resident of Neighborhood

Ms. Tytler called the meeting to order at 7:33 AM.

Minutes of the February 27, 2007 meeting were unanimously approved.

 

Ms. Tytler called on Brian Parker to speak on the space issues. Mr. Parker reminded all that he previously provided square footage report (#14). He distributed and discussed a narrative report, numbered #18. Ms. Tytler asked if the numbers from the spreadsheet reflect the square footage of what he have or had. Mr. Parker answered what we actually have. Ms. Tytler asked if the studies reflect the space needs.  Mr. Parker answered that they are addressed on pages D25, D30, D35 and D36 of the 1990 study and on S4 of the 2001 study.  Ms. Tytler requested hard copies of those pages from Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker explained that each department was surveyed and there is a five year projection in the studies.

Mr. McKee asked where the extra space came from, from 2003 to 2007. Mr. Parker said that in 2005-6 that Environmental Health switched with Children with Special Needs Department. Prior to that Mental Health moved from the building.

Mr. Williams said there is missing information regarding the Jail space and asked if it is the intention of the Committee to include the Jail as part of their study. Ms. Tytler said that Mr. Parker was only asked to provide information on the Health/Mental Health and DMV space needs. We can gather information regarding the Jail as this all has a domino effect but due to time constraints we probably won’t spend a lot of time on it. Mr. Parker said that the Jail was renovated in 1990 and square footage can be provided to the committee from the studies adding that he is not familiar with the latest study.

Mr. Willcox asked if we have the study from Applied Design Research. Ms. Tytler said it was her understanding that we do not have a hard copy of that however there is a realtor in the community that has information on that. She deferred the question to Mr. Whitt who said that the County paid for that study last year. There was a special Buildings & Grounds meeting in April of 2005 and Budget & Finance meeting immediately following that approved $4,200 for that study. He said he held up payment on that because he didn’t see the work product, however there were drawings by an architect and they were paid for the work. He said that Mr. Troy said he found information on that provided by Mr. Hage. Mr. Whitt’s search did not find an official copy. Mr. Willcox asked if any attempts were made to contact Applied Design. Mr. Whitt said he didn’t as it would cost the County to obtain a copy. Mr. Willcox asked what the cost would be. Mr. Whitt said he did not know. Ms. Tytler instructed Mr. Whitt to contact Applied Design and find out the cost of obtaining a copy and report back to her.

In reference to the Cinquanti contract, Mr. Williams asked Mr. Parker how long he has been employed by the County. Mr. Parker answered 25 years. Mr. Williams asked if it has been a common practice to solicit verbal contracts. Mr. Parker said not since he has been here; the County has never acted as a buyer’s agent. He added however that Bell & Spina has provided work for the County without contract and at no cost on many projects over the years. He cited examples of the Bennie Road project and court renovations. Mr. Tagliente asked what the process was during the last administration’s purchase of a building. Mr. Parker said he wasn’t involved in that. Mr. Steger said he was on Buildings & Grounds and the committee met with the Chairman at the property for an inspection. Ms. Tytler asked if a realtor was involved. Mr. Steger said they worked with the owner. Mr. Parker said that Mr. Cleary was the owner, for the record. Mr. Williams continued asking if Mr. Parker remembered the County paying out close to $40,000. in fees for services without a contract. Mr. Parker answered not to his knowledge. Ms. Tytler said that if there are questions regarding the past practices of the County relative to contracts, she will request Mr. Whitt and Mr. Parker to gather that information for the past 10 years and report back to the committee.

Ms. Gailor presented the Health Department’s Space Needs and Issues numbered as #19. She discussed confidentiality issues as well as general space needs of her department. Mr. McKee asked her if she foresees any problems co- locating the Health Department and Mental Health. She said she sees advantages in sharing staff and in billing procedures as future cost reductions for the County.

Mr. Kilmer presented for the Mental Health Department. He had no handouts but spoke of space issues in Mental Health. Due to lack of handicap accessibility at the Clinic, patients are seen in the library on the first floor. There are confidentiality issues in therapy sessions due to inadequate barriers which they have been sited for. The Horizon House doesn’t have enough space for group sessions. We have purchased sound machines to deal with confidentiality problems. At the clinic with the addition of two new staff members we are full; we have no more space to put more people as we are using closets and doubling up offices. Mr. Tagliente asked how many patients are served in relation to staff. Mr. Kilmer said according to billing figures we have 1349 at the clinic and 105 at Horizon House. The Clinic has 16 support staff and the Horizon House has 4.

Mr. Daniels asked Mr. Kilmer if he saw problems integrating the Health Department with Mental Health. Mr. Kilmer said he agreed with Ms. Gailor regarding the billing and staff combination. He said they are researching grants for a Health Social Worker. Combining in one building would also relieve some of the stigma associated with mental health services. He added that clerical and reception duties could also be combined. He said that we are governed by the State Mental Health Department and the Horizon House has been under scrutiny. We are allowed a 3-year certification however right now we are down to a one year-six month look. The potential is they can tell us until the situation is fixed you cannot provide services. The Clinic is due in June on a 2-year cycle now. Ms. Ondrako has stated that the Horizon House does not meet the physical needs of the programs. Ms. Tytler told how small the library is that Mr. Kilmer described. Mr. Kilmer added that they are required to have a children’s waiting room and an adult waiting room. This requires a lot of shuffling at times and invades clinic space.

Mr. Tagliente asked how many patients do you see on a daily basis. Mr. Kilmer said at Horizon House the average is 25 and at the Clinic 86, not counting the groups that meet different days that raise the numbers. Mr. Tagliente asked who the groups are. Mr. Kilmer said the clinic groups are: Parent Aggression Reduction, NAP (Non-violent Alternatives Group, TEESO (Treatment, Evaluation, Education for Sex Offenders), Wellness Group and we are starting up a Nurtured Heart Group in the children’s unit. Mr. Tagliente said regarding the sex offenders group that some judges are referring for treatment and other counties who don’t offer services are also being referred here. Mr. Kilmer said when he started there were 2 TEESO groups. We are now at 3 and looking to start another. The groups run from 7-10 individuals and we serve Cortland’s needs first but do take referrals.

Ms. Tytler asked Mr. Kilmer about parking. Mr. Kilmer said he recently hired a new employee. After her first parking ticket she was looking to leave. It takes from 20 minutes to a half hour to find parking even with towing service to remove unauthorized vehicles. The snow reduces the size of the lot and street parking causes problems getting in and out. At Horizon House the driveway has been our main citation. There have many accidents on the steep incline as well as parking three deep due to limited road parking.

Mr. Willcox said he would like to clear a point between Mr. Schrader and himself. He said it was no secret my position on the South Main Street project. I was asked by the paper my opinion and said that he was never given the authority to go out and buy this property. Mr. Schrader was asked for his comment by the newspaper and responded that he must have a grudge. He said I assure you, Mr. Schrader, I don’t have a grudge. Ms. Tytler asked if this was relevant to Mr. Kilmer as he was the one being addressed. With no further questions of Mr. Kilmer he was excused. Ms. Tytler returned to Mr. Willcox who continued by saying the timeline does not include Buildings & Grounds input earlier in the year. He said his problem is not a grudge it is not being informed of any of this from Mr. Schrader.

Mr. Schrader provided additional documents for the committee as requested. Marked #20 was a complete packet of Budget & Finance Minutes from January, 2006    to December, 2006. Marked #21 was a complete set of Buildings & Grounds Minutes from October, 2005 to December, 2006.

Mr. Schrader requested permission to submit his timeline which is the same timeline that Cinquanti used, supplemented in bold with document back-ups. Ms. Tytler said these will be received with discussion to be scheduled for the next meeting. The timeline was distributed and numbered #22. Ms. Tytler clarified that the January Cinquanti timeline indicated that Mr. Willcox was in favor of the project but according to an email from him he is not in favor of it as stated. Mr. Schrader presented minutes of Special Meeting 2/17/05 numbered #23 that indicates that the Health/Mental Health Facility became a forefront project for the County. He noted current members who attended those meetings. Next he distributed minutes of Budget and Finance held the same day relating to the same project and numbered #24. Minutes of the regular legislative session of February 2005 were presented where the Legislature authorized a study of a Health/Mental Health study off of Route 281 and that was numbered #25. Number #26 are the minutes of Buildings & Grounds 5/9/06 meeting where discussions took place for site solicitation for Health/Mental Health, Jail and DMV. Property specifications were authorized and they include his statement that a letter would be sent to the Board of Realtors for proposals for properties to house these projects. There is a bullet that refers to the letter to the Board that has already been received (refer to # 3 ). The Buildings & Grounds meeting of 9/12/06, numbered #27, refers to my request for authorization to sign potential purchase offers for properties related to DMV. The minutes say “etc” however we previously established that it referred to the Health Complex as well as the Jail in my recollection as well as Brian Parker’s notes of that meeting. He referred to the bullet that has no documentation and that is the discussion of facts sent to the County Attorney’s Office for approval of a draft purchase agreement for each of the property acquisitions. He said he received approval of the draft by telephone on September 13^th. Next was the 10/10/06 Building & Grounds minutes (#28). An executive session was held during that meeting to give a property update. Minutes were taken and not made public until today. You can see that the properties discussed focused around the Moose property. Mr. Schrader referred to the bullet of 12/11/06 where he met with the Majority and Minority Leaders and the Chairman to discuss the next steps given the fact that all properties will be under contract. We discussed the public release, press conference, notice to the City to review the project prior to going public as well as presentations to the Building & Grounds and Budget & Finance Committees. The minutes of 12/12/06 meeting (#29) reflect a discussion where a rendering was provided as well as an update on all property acquisitions. It was recommended that we buy 7 of the 9 parcels for $630,000. All members present voted to approve that property acquisition. The next day, 12/13/06 I met with the Majority and Minority Leaders, the Chairman and Mayor Gallagher. The Mayor recommended that we consider all nine properties due to the City’s parking pressures. We agreed to keep all this confidential until the December 20^th press conference. The reason for this was to give the Mayor an opportunity to present this to the Common Council for their opinions prior to the release. The final document (#30) was minutes of Budget and Finance of 12/14/06. There was a significant legislative attendance at that meeting. The project was described as nine parcels, incorporating the Mayor’s input, Funding, parking, transition & demolition work as well as tax loss implications were also discussed. Mr. Schrader noted that Mr. Ross and Mr. Williams were significant players; they both suggested façade improvements be made to Kellogg Auto as well as alleyways. Mr. Ross, at a previous meeting, followed through providing surveys of the property to give it a better understanding. He presented those to me to assist completing the project. He referred to the bullet of December 19^th where he received a phone call from Mayor Gallagher saying that the Common Council informally and unanimously supported the project through their respective caucus meetings. The Press Conference took place on December 20^th along with a Ward Meeting that was called to explain the project to residents with one resident showing up. The rest is history. It didn’t end there however, the Majority Leader recommended we look at further options and we worked with Cinquanti and discussed the McNeil property of the Wickwire site. Many were extremely high and over inflated cost wise. There were also concerns with unethical and improper behavior of various individuals where the County Auditor became involved with an investigation. The County Auditor was also involved in the transaction to pay Cinquanti for their work.

Ms. Tytler asked for suggestions for their next meeting, All agreed with the exception of Mr. Cornell that Friday morning at 7:30 they could meet. Ms. Tytler said she sent all emails saying that she had recruited Mr. Loomis and Mr. Batzing to help her with the neighborhood focus group, which will meet Thursday evening at 7 PM at the COB. Residents of the 5^th and 8^th Wards are invited to attend as well as anyone affected by this project to give their input to the committee.

            Mr. Daniels spoke of a report that he was given that might be of interest to the Committee and neighborhood Focus Group regarding the Thoma Development study of the East End. It can be accessed on the internet by going to www.Thomadevelopment.com

            It was agreed that the committee review all materials provided and be prepared to ask questions if necessary at the next meeting.  Mr. Schrader will be available to explain his role in the project also.

            Mr. Daniels questioned whether there is time to complete this for a report to the Legislature on the 22^nd. Ms. Tytler said she thought a recommendation could be made by that time.

Mr. Steger asked if all legislators have received the needs reports given to the Committee as he feels it is important everyone is aware of the need. The Clerk was directed to send reports compiled by Ms. Gailor and Mr. Parker and asked Mr. Kilmer to put together a written summary report also.

 Meeting ended at 9:07 AM

 Minutes prepared by Susan Morgan, Clerk      Approved 3/09/07

 Audio/Video also available by request to the Clerk