Personnel Meeting Minutes
June 12, 2008 – 8:00 am
Present:
Larry Cornell, Chairman, Tony Piombo, Vice Chairman, Sandy Price, John
Troy
Others
present:
Absent:
Steve Dafoe, Dan Tagliente
Excused:
Kathie Wilcox
Mr. Cornell called the
meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.
Mr.
Troy moved adoption of the minutes of the May 8, 2008 meeting; seconded by Mr.
Piombo.
All members voting in favor; none opposed;
minutes approved as printed.
RESOLUTIONS:
1) Petition the NYS Legislature County Clerk’s Office Adopt County Emblem
as County Seal
Moved
by Mr. Troy; seconded by Mr. Piombo.
The
seal currently in use by the
All in favor; none opposed; motion carried.
1A) Authorize
Agreement/ Accept
Moved by Mr. Troy; seconded by Mr. Piombo
Discussion:
Mr. Wood explained this money is the money that is interest as the state has not spent HAVA funds. It is a small amount and it goes into that same pot as the handicapped accessibility. Ms. Price asked if there were any plans for this money. All applications have been put in and they would see how much is left. It is an on going process and Mr. Wood said they can only do what fits into the criteria.
Mr. Wood said four new positions needed to be created to train inspectors and the general public on how to use the new machines. Mr. Wood and Mr. Howe discussed the fact that these people need to be able to teach, and be paid enough so that there would not be a great deal of turn over in these positions. Ms. Price asked how long they would be needed for and Mr. Howe said it would be an on going process. As a result of HAVA, people have to be trained once a year especially with the handicapped accessibility part which is very technical. Mr. Cornell asked if there was money that the County was receiving from the state that will cover this and the response was part of it would. The cost for the training is about $30,000. Mr. Howe questioned how these people should be classified and Mr. Schrader stated they would be considered contractors so Mr. Howe would just need to authorize contracts for service.
Mr. Howe talked about the fact that the City of
November Election. The problem is that the City has come out and said you can have the election on or about – Mr. Howe stated the BOE doesn’t deal in on or about. That is why they are doing the resolution so as to be specific to a date. If they pick this date, they are then violating the 120 day rule. If they are dead set on this date, it depends on the Attorney, the State, and what Mr. Knickerbocker works out. Mr. Howe said if they end up having it, he does not want anyone coming back stating the BOE did anything incorrect or illegal.
Mr. Suben interjected that his concern lies with his
client which is the BOE, and his understanding about the General Municipal Law
is that it refers to a Governor’s Election.
Mr. Suben’s said that the City is solely responsible for this
election and that being the case, if the City asks the County to do this, Mr.
Suben believes they should do so. The
County did not have anything to do with calling the election; they would just
be serving the City. Mr. Wood
stated they would do what they are asked to do.
Mr. Troy questioned the cost to run a Special Election, and the
response was approximately $1200 - $1500.00
The City will incur the cost. Mr.
Wood stated the Town of
Mr. Schrader
noted two storage options for the new machines coming in depending on when
they arrived. The first location
is Employment and Training located on
Ms. Price questioned with regards to the Special
Elections if in fact they were going to be charging the City and were they
going to forgive the bill for the Town of
Mr. Howe asked what happens when fire and school districts want to use the voting machines. Mr. Schrader responded by saying no. They could buy their own machine or use paper ballots and count the ballots. Mr. Howe agreed that they should use their own machines and ours should only be used for federal, state, and local elections.
Mr. Cornell questioned what we were going to do with the old machines and Mr. Howe said he had people already interested in purchasing them. Mr. Howe said if you had an auction, people would buy them. The old machines cannot be used as the state out laws this.
Ms. Price questioned the secretary taking minutes if she
had received Mr. Schrader’s recommendation that the Legislature adopt a
policy to incorporate the cost and management of Special Elections to the BOE
so that the County could control their own machines. This
question was acknowledged. Ms.
Price again made the motion to support the recommendation by Mr. Schrader, and
Mr. Cornell asked if anyone agreed and wanted to second the motion. There was
no response to second. Mr.
Wood and Mr. Troy both thought that the Special Elections should pay their own
fees. Ms. Price again made the
motion on Mr. Schrader’s recommendation. Mr. Cornell said there was a motion
and wanted to know if any one would second the motion. No one replied.
Ms. Price agreed that the individual municipalities should pay for
these elections but on the other hand they were the County’s machines, our
responsibility, and we would want to make sure that the people supervising
them for elections were trained and would take good care of the machines. Mr.
Wood pointed out that he went to the Town of
Mr. Cornell stated once again, that he heard a motion, but there was no second.
2) Extend
Temporary Appointment of Information Processing
Moved by Mr. Troy; seconded by Mr. Piombo
Discussion:
Mr. Boylan, the
The grant money will run out on June 30th and there is about one more month of work left to do of complete cataloguing. Mr. Boylan praised the processing clerk’s work and said she had done an exceptional job. She had inventoried and entered into the database more than 2000 boxes and had indexed 22,000 files which included Health, DSS and Personnel files. As a result, when anyone is looking for a record, rather than going to a binder when a request is sent over, they can just type in a name and pull the file. Unfortunately, the grant money is going to run out and Mr. Boylan is looking to extend her position for one additional month.
Mr. Schrader asked when the next application was due and
Mr. Boylan said February was the deadline.
Mr. Boylan did not write a grant through the Historian’s office this
year because he was busy completing this one. He did not want to write a grant
for just one month. Mr. Schrader questioned him because he was thinking about
the program they were trying to develop with ICON for $123,000 regarding
electronic record maintenance. Mr.
Boylan thought the maximum they could get as a County was $75,000 unless it is
a Cooperative which the
All in favor; none
opposed; passed.
3)
Authorization to Contract with ASC
Dining Services
Moved
by Mr. Troy;
seconded by Mr. Piombo
Discussion:
Mr. Cornell asked Mr. Boylan if
he requested bids and was ASC the only one that came in. Mr. Boylan said they received
two bids. With all things compared
between the two bids i.e. table linens, glassware versus plastic etc, Mr. Boylan
felt that ASC put together a more beneficial package than M&D. In answer
to the question posed as to whether they were going to be serving “finger
food” or not, Mr. Boylan said it was going to be a full buffet with open
bar. Mr. Schrader was given a copy
of the menu and more could be made available if needed. Mr. Boylan recently
attended a dinner prepared by ASC at the Alumni House for about 250 people and
they did a nice job. This benefit
will be for 300 - 350 people. Ms.
Price questioned whether this will bring in revenue and Mr. Boylan said yes.
He said that when they put the budget together for the Historians
Budget they included this money for this cost and the tickets will off set the
cost. Ms. Price questioned if
there will be enough to cover the expenses.
Mr. Boylan said the ticket price will cover this, off set not only the
contract for ASC, but will off set potentially some other costs as well such
as tent rental. In response to the
question as to what the ticket price will be Jeremy said it will run
approximately $125 - $150 per couple which is in range of other events similar
to this such as the hospital fund raiser.
Mr. Boylan felt this would be a sell out.
All in favor; none
opposed; passed.
Ms. Larkin apologized for being
late and wondered if there were any questions she could address regarding the
new County Emblem; however, Mr. Cornell said that he had already taken care of
the description and related questions.
Mr. Whitt commented on behalf of the Chairman of the
Legislature. Mr. Whitt praised Mr.
Boylan and Ms. Larkin on the hard work they did regarding the
Ms. Larkin pointed out that when they did the Seal for the Court House it was already digitized so they did not have to go to the added expense of having this done again. If the Legislature wants to use this digitized image it will be made available to them.
Mr. Cornell moved on to Personnel and asked Ms. Barber if she had anything for discussion.
Ms. Barber discussed the vacancy report. She noted tests recently completed impacted four vacancies. The Department Heads wanted to wait for the results from the exams to avoid provisional situations. Ms. Barber anticipates the results from these exams soon so some of the vacancies-- Volunteer Coordinator Office Manager will be taken care of and recent results on the Medical Services Clerk will take care of those four vacancies. The summer people have been hired at the Highway Department --wade pool attendants, park attendants, and seasonal aides. Ms. Barber said that she, Mr. O’Mara, and Mr. Schrader will be talking with regards to the Accountant position and all else was good.
Mr. Cornell asked if anyone had any comments or questions
and Ms. Price wanted to extend her compliments to the Personnel Department
with regards to Ms. Barber, the Personnel Officer and Laurie Gosse, the Deputy
Personnel Officer. Ms. Price said
she served on two contract negotiations at TC3 and Ms. Barber and Ms. Gosse
have been working diligently on them and they have been representing
4) Adopt Local Law No. 1 for
the year 2008 A Local Law Restating the Establishment of A Plan of Mutual
Self-Self Insurance for Worker’s Compensation
Moved
by Mr. Troy;
seconded by Mr. Piombo
Discussion:
Ms. Price said this is a very
important issue to all Towns but specifically for the Town of
Mr.
Suben is aware of the need for the Town of
Ms. Price questioned whether
Mr. Troy was calling a joint meeting next Tuesday with Personnel Committee and
if they are Ms. Price asked Mr. Suben if he would have his determination by
then. Mr. Suben said he would try to have an answer for them. Mr. Cornell said
they would have to advertise this for a Public Hearing and questioned whether
this would give them enough time. Ms.
Price confirmed yes to the advertisement and Ms. Morgan, Clerk of the
Legislature, said the Cortland Standard needed three days notice. Ms. Morgan
said if it passed, she could put it in Monday and that would give them their 3
days. She mentioned they also have the Public Hearing for the TC3 budget at
the same time. Ms. Price questioned if they pass this as written today and Mr.
Suben looks at it and decides it can’t be done this way or if we decide to
do different, can it be advertised one way and then amended.
Mr. Suben said it has to be advertised as it is going to be considered.
Mr. Cornell questioned whether they should hold off and wait till March and
advertise this. Mr. Troy asked do
you recommend that we pass it today pending your review.
Mr. Suben said only for their convenience so that would not have to
call a Special Meeting Ms. Price
said there will be a Special Meeting
Tuesday, but they are told by Ms. Morgan it has to go to the press Monday. Ms.
Morgan interjected that she could put the ad in and then withdraw it if need
be. Mr. Schrader said that if they
pass it today and then there is an issue with it, he could pull it. Mr.
Schrader said that the
Mr. Cornell said this is not
only important for the Town of
All
in favor; none opposed, passed.
Ms. Price said she had one
change she would like to make to the Rule and that was on page 2 Section 4 of
the Plan where it says Clerk of the
Mr. Cornell addressed Mr. Troy
so he could comment on the code of ethics.
Discussion:
Mr. Troy was hoping to have a
code of ethics document today; however, they are just adding the final touches
to it. Mr. Troy handed out a report from the Ethics Subcommittee and it
basically has dates and times. They
presented the preliminary document to the committee at the March meeting. There
were three areas of concerns outlined in the handout that was given to all
members. Mr. Troy stated on May 28 the Sub Committee met, he thanked Mr. Don
Spaulding for attending and giving his input. They looked at the Code of
Ethics and basically decided to go with the same Code they provided as a
preliminary. The three areas they
decided to go with were the Appendix, which was the regular state disclosure
form. Initially a lot of people
felt this was true intrusive, there was disclosure on families, children, and
wives. So, Mr. Suben provided a form used at Cayuga County and they expanded
on that by adding some room for comments and will present that as the new
disclosure form. They are aware
that a lot of people such as Mr. Whitt, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Schrader who have
to fill out the State Disclosure Form and they are going to present the new
Appendix A for people who don’t have to do the State.
It is an alternative form.
The second area is Article 3
Section C1. This section prohibits
anyone who was a
The third area Article 3
Section C4 Prohibits the Party Chairman from being Election Commissioner. Mr.
Troy and Mr. McKee do not really endorse this but they felt it should be
brought forth so that it would not appear they were hiding the issue
Mr. Troy said Mr. Schrader
should be providing the Legislature with a copy of the new Code.
It is basically the same thing with Appendix A different and the one
section reworded and the Election Commissioner the same. Hopefully this will
be brought to Committee for action and then to the legislature in July.
Mr. Suben commented that he has
not seen the draft but he did not believe there would be any problem advising
him on the particular section involving
Mr. Whitt talked about his
experience the last time the Legislature met to discuss this type of issue and
in several conversations he had with Legislators and the Mayor, one of the
things they thought would be useful is for someone to give a speech letting
people know the proposal is not a
choice by any particular individual or Legislator. They were only presenting
options and the fact that anybody has participated drafting any particular
section does not imply they advocate that section. It is however the job of
the appointed officials to draft up the options required.
Secondly, Mr. Whitt continues
to say the fact that you want to legislate or prohibit activities in the
future does not make it evil or wrong in the past.
The fact is the way it stands right now, all the things that seem to be
adjusted right here are not prohibited right now.
We have an opinion and don’t have to follow the disclosure form.
Therefore, there is no ethical issue involved.
Next, running for office--there
is no prohibition to do this. It
simply is not wrong, unethical or illegal. The issue is do they want to do
that. For those that participated in that it needs to be clear that some
people thought we were advocating a position and that was not the case.
For example the Party Chairs became a big issue.
Nobody advocates this. Mr.
Whitt stated they just have a duty to inform the people that according to the
law enforcement official in NY you can prohibit that activity by virtual of
the November Opinion that was issued last year. Mr.
Whitt says that if the Legislature hears this and a report is done letting
them knows that they have these as options, it is not declaring anything
inappropriate in the past. Again, it is just an option to make that decision.
Mr. Whitt wanted to clarify that that was all his role ever was.
Mr. Whitt said he had a couple of Legislators approach him and they
thought he had a personal agenda and he stated he did not. Mr. Whitt felt this
needed to be reported to the full Legislature so they do not think they are
doing business with anybody else.
Mr. Troy felt that Mr. Whitt
explained what he attempted to explain very well.
Mr. Cornell stated that this
should then be brought to the next committee so they can take action and get
it behind them. There were more
important things to address and move on with. He said constituents wanted to
know why they were wasting so much time with this Code of Ethics when there
were other things to be addressed.
Mr. Cornell asked what the
status was with the DMV land and if Mr. Schrader had heard from Mr. Armideo. Mr.
Schrader had not. The last contract they had with Mr. Armideo called for a
closing by July 1st, and they are currently waiting for the
environmental impact statement and the Environmental Phase I Inspection that
Mr. Armideo was responsible for. Mr. Schrader has not received that
information and has not had any conversations with Mr. Armideo in a couple of
weeks. Mr. Schrader spoke to the Assistant County Attorney handling this and
she was going to contact Mr. Armideo’s attorney to see where they stood.
Mr. Troy stated that on
Tuesday, the Budget and Finance committee will be meeting and President Haynes
from TC3 will be there. Discussion will begin with the Budget Presentation and
then at the end of that they will move into Executive Session to discuss
contract negotiations. Mr. Troy
said they would like the members of Personnel who can attend to be present.
Mr. Troy questioned if this had to take action for this to be a Joint
Meeting and Mr. Schrader said he felt it would be better if they did take
action. Mr. Troy then asked to
have a Special Meeting to be called and then after the Executive Session they
could take action on the contract and then go on with the rest of the meeting.
Mr. Cornell questioned the time and Mr. Troy said it was at 8:00 o’clock.
on Tuesday. Mr. Cornell said they
would call a special Personnel Committee Meeting and make it the same time as
the Joint Meeting. Mr. Cornell confirmed this with Ms. Morgan and she stated
that Budget and Finance would proceed from that point.
Motion
to adjourn made by Mr. Troy; seconded by Mr. Piombo,
meeting was adjourned at 10:02 a.m.