February
28, 2008 – 6PM
Meeting was called to order at 6:06 PM by Chairman Daniels followed by the Salute to the Flag.
The Clerk took Roll Call with all members recorded as present.
The minutes of the January 24, 2008 Regular Meeting were unanimously approved.
Chairman Daniels announced that he was changing the order of the agenda by starting with Proclamations and then to Privilege of the Floor.
The Clerk read the Proclamation declaring March as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Mr. Ted Jones, Operational Manager of Cortland Madison ARC introduced clients: Ira Adams, Mr. & Mrs. Sandy and LeRoy Dutton, John Gradey and Ms. Tomasso. He thanked everyone for supporting programs that benefited developmentally disabled citizens in Cortland County. Ms. Price said she had the honor and privilege of having lunch with many of these folks, visited residential homes and welcomed them to the Legislative Session. She further thanked them for being part of our community and for all the good work that they do.
The Clerk read the resolution recognizing Lawmen of the Year, Kelly Ryan and Karl Altmann. Sheriff Price thanked legislators for honoring these officers. He told legislators how lucky we are to have such fine officers, not only in our department but also in the City, Village of Homer and State Police. Sheriff Price introduced Trooper Steve Bilodeau who was injured in the accident. He also introduced Captain Larry Jackmin. Captain Jackmin said that he has never worked in another County that has the professionalism, cooperation and friendliness as he has experienced in Cortland. He said that he has tremendous respect for the Sheriff and his Officers and thanked everyone on behalf of the State Police and the Bilodeau family. Chairman Daniels presented the recognitions to each officer with the County’s gratitude.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
Garry VanGorder, Chamber of Commerce & Machell Phelps announced plans to expand into the County using the Youth Leadership Program for the annual clean up day. This is the third event done in concert with the Chamber of Commerce and they are looking to gather volunteers and liaisons on the day designated in April to expand into the County. Ms. Phelps described the Youth Leadership Program as the adult version of Leadership Cortland bringing together 7 school districts in the County to teach leadership skills. They decided to do a group project to team up with their legislators and do a Countywide clean up effort. The City will kick off the event a week prior to April 27th and they asked for legislators assistance with these students. Follow up information will be going out and all participants will receive free t-shirts. Ms. Price suggested if more clean up helpers are needed that the Sheriff provide helpers in orange uniforms to assist in this effort.
Chairman Daniels introduced Carl Haynes, President of TC-3 who was present to give his annual State of the College Message. President Haynes distributed copies of the TC-3 2006-2007 annual report to all legislators. He highlighted the focus on the goals and accomplishments making it more of an accountability report. He stated that they are finishing up the Master Plan in 3-4 weeks with positive responses and thanked everyone for their support and guidance. He added that the college will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with activities planned later this year. He also reported that the school will be undergoing the Middle states re-accreditation process critical for receiving federal funding.
Mr. Haynes noted that there are 6 major themes they developed to improve and strengthen services of students and community:
He welcomed questions from the body. With no questions he thanked everyone for their support.
The 2008 Annual Report of Cortland County Board of Elections and 2007 Sales Tax Distribution Report from the Treasurer’s Office were unanimously received and filed.
RESOLUTIONS
Chairman Daniels pulled Agenda Nos. 1-10.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Ms. Price and all members voting aye Agenda No. 11 became Resolution No. 60-08 Accept Funds Real Property Tax Services CPTAP County Assessing Initiative.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. Spaulding and all members voting aye Agenda No. 12 became Resolution No. 61-08 Accept Funds Real Property Tax Services CPTAP County Tax Collection Information Initiative.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye Agenda No. 13 became Resolution No. 62-08 Authorizing Settlement of Claim. Ms. Tytler thanked the staff for resolving this issue.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. McKee Agenda No. 14 was introduced. Mr. Troy made a motion to amend the resolution in the second sentence (4th line) replacing Cortland County is a named defendant to Cortland County is an interested party, second by Ms. Price and all members voting aye, Agenda No. 14 became Resolution No. 63-08 A Resolution Authorizing the Process for Consideration of Participation in Proceedings Pursuant to Article 7 of the Real Property Law (Proceedings for Review of Assessment of Real Property) as amended.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. Spaulding Agenda No. 15 was introduced. Ms. Tytler asked for the account number to be included. The Clerk said that she would add Account No. A1420 5 54055 Professional Services to the resolution. Mr. Cornell said he would support this however some of this could be done in house and save money. He added that he hopes this will be in place by 1/1/09. Ms. Tytler asked Mr. Williams if Mr. Casullo would be an interested party in the outcome of the study. Mr. Williams said he asked Mr. Casullo if he would be part of the mix and his answer was no. Mr. Suben added that this is a prudent approach and Mr. Casullo is the perfect person to do the study. He added that this should be done by a lawyer and not done by my office due to the possible inference of appearance down the road. Mr. Waldbauer asked what is the expected result of the $5,000 study. Mr. Williams said there are three things, 1. a needs assessment, i.e. how many attorneys do we have vs. how many we need, 2. give us a design i.e. present vs. plans and 3. help us through the process to put this into place, i.e. home rule, local law, etc. Ms. Price asked what the anticipated time line is. Mr. Williams projected this summer. Ms. Tytler asked if it ends up that our current model is recommended would that be presented as well. Mr. Williams answered yes. Ms. Price questioned that since this resolution came out of Budget and Finance will the report be presented to that committee. Mr. Williams said it was the prevailing philosophy, since the subject is under the umbrella of other committees, that Budget and Finance would be the reporting committee. Ms. Price said that this is a worthy project and suggested that the report be presented on one sheet in the same manner that Highway projects do. With all members voting aye Agenda No. 15 became Resolution No. 64-08 A Resolution Authorizing the Retaining of Legal Counsel To Conduct a Needs Assessment Study on Creating County Law Department.
On motion of Mr. Loomis, second by Mr. Troy Agenda No. 16 was introduced. Ms. Price questioned the cost to the County. Mr. Loomis said there is no cost merely a placeholder; however if we accept the NIPA recommendations then we will obligate cost. Mr. Schrader added that we would have to implement the recommendation from NIPA and fund it to be obligated to county dollars. If we implement outside of the NIPA program there is still no cost to the County. Mr. Willcox asked what account number would be used if we incurred cost. Mr. Schrader said that the money would be added to the amount that the County would borrow from NIPA so there would be no account number per se. Further, the intent of this program is to have savings in energy costs pay for the debt service for NIPA to do the work. Theoretically, it would come from those savings generated from our utility lines. With all members voting aye Agenda No. 16 became Resolution No. 65-08 Authorize Agreement NYSERDA (NYPA Energy Efficiency Study).
On motion of Mr. Loomis, second by Mr. Cornell Agenda No. 17 was introduced. Mr. Loomis made a motion to amend the resolution to change not to exceed $7,000 to not to exceed $4,999. second by Mr. Cornell. Mr. Loomis said that the County Attorney has advised that there is a cap amount without receiving 3 bids. He said he believed the cost will be significantly less and roof legitimately needs repair. Yaman was the only one who submitted a proposal and is licensed for the specialized work. Ms. Wilcox asked if Yaman is in agreement to do this for this amount. Chairman Daniels said that Brian Parker estimated that this will come well under the $7,000 and asked Mr. Parker to speak to the issue. Mr. Parker said that after three leaks were detected he asked Yaman for a low and high number. The low to high range was $1,500-$7,000. He said he believes it won’t be more than $2 – $3,000. With all members voting aye, except Mr. Dafoe voting nay Agenda No. 17 became Resolution No. 66-08 Authorize Agreement Paul Yaman Construction Inc. (Roof Repairs to Public Safety Building).
Mr. Loomis pulled agenda No. 18 at the request of the County Attorney. Mr. Suben stated he needed more time to study this, as he believes that a municipality giving services to private interest is inappropriate.
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Mr. Troy Agenda No. 19 was introduced. Mr. Waldbauer asked where this is applied. Ms. Tytler responded that it would be to the storm sewers. Ms. Tytler clarified that we have not had instances of West Nile identified however this will put things in place should that happen. With all members voting aye Agenda No. 19 became Resolution No. 67-08 Authorize Agreement Health Department/Environmental Health Pesticide Application for mosquito/larva control.
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye Agenda No. 20 became Resolution No. 68-08 Increase Petty Cash Account Health Department/Environmental Health.
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Mr. Troy Agenda No. 21 was introduced. Mr. Waldbauer asked why is this better to hire this way. Ms. Tytler said that this was on contract upon the advice from the previous County Attorney. With all members voting aye Agenda No. 21 became Resolution No. 69-08 Authorize Appointment Health Department/Environmental Health (Hearing Officer Services).
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Ms. Price and all members voting aye Agenda No. 22 became Resolution No. 70-08 Amend Budget Health Department (Reappropriation of Expenses & Revenues Deferred From Prior Year, 2007 to 2008).
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye Agenda No. 23 became Resolution No. 71-08 Authorize Agreement Health Department (Nursing Division) Beacon Resource Group).
On motion of Ms. Tytler, second by Ms. Price and all members voting aye Agenda No. 24 became Resolution No. 72-08 Amend Budget Mental Health Department (NYS Office of Alcoholism Abuse Services).
On motion of Mr. McKee, second by Mr. Loomis and all members voting aye except Mr. Dafoe voting nay, Agenda No. 25 became Resolution No. 73-08 Award Bid Highway Equipment – One Leachate Tanker Trailer Highway Department/Solid Waste.
On motion of Mr. McKee, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye except Mr. Dafoe voting nay, Agenda No. 26 became Resolution No. 74-08 Award Bid Highway Equipment – One Motor Grader Highway Department.
On motion of Mr. McKee, second by Mr. Cornell Agenda No. 27 was introduced. Mr. Willcox asked when we are going to start moving these materials out as it is pretty full right now. Mr. Chambers they are waiting for the passage of this resolution. He explained that the plan is to palletize and transport. Mr. Willcox asked how they palletize. Mr. Chambers answered that they shrink wrap the materials based upon the specifications with the vendor. With all members voting aye Agenda No. 27 became Resolution No. 75-08 Award Highway Bid – Transportation and Recycling of Electronic Equipment Highway Department/Recycling.
On motion of Mr. McKee, second by Mr. Ross and all members voting aye Agenda No. 28 became Resolution No. 76-08 Authorize Amnesty Week Highway Department.
On motion of Ms. Price, second by Mr. Troy and all members voting aye Agenda No. 29 became Resolution No. 77-08 Create Temporary Secretary 1 Area Agency on Aging.
Mr. Williams pulled Agenda No. 30.
On motion of Mr. Williams, second by Mr. Troy Agenda No 31 was introduced. Mr. Spaulding stated that he is voting no on this because, in his opinion, this appointment should be someone from the Judiciary/Public Safety Committee. With all members voting aye except Mr. Dafoe, Mr. Hartnett, Mr. Spaulding and Mr. Tagliente voting nay, Agenda No. 31 became Resolution No. 78-08 Appoint Member Jury Board.
On motion of Mr. Williams, second by Mr. Troy and all members voting aye Agenda No. 32 became Resolution No. 79-08 Amend 2008 Budget Sheriff’s Department (Child Passenger Safety Program).
On motion of Mr. Williams, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye Agenda No. 33 became Resolution No. 80-08 Amend 2008 Budget Sheriff’s Department (Forfeited Proceeds).
On motion of Mr. Williams, second by Mr. Cornell and all members voting aye Agenda No. 34 became Resolution No. 81-08 Amend 2008 Budget Sheriff’s Department (Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee – S. T. O. P. P. E. D.).
On motion of Mr. Williams, second by Mr. Troy and all members voting aye Agenda No. 35 became Resolution No. 82-08 Authorize Agreement/Amend Budget (Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee-STEP) Sheriff’s Department.
On motion of Mr. Cornell, second by Mr. McKee and all members voting aye Agenda No. 36 became Resolution No. 83-08 Approve 5% Matching Funds To Access Federal HAVA (Help America Vote Act of 2002) Monies.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Ms. Price announced that there
is a CCTVS meeting following this meeting in Room 304. She said that there is
a Regional Farm Bureau Meeting in Cortland on Monday. March 6th
there is the Ag Summit at the Ramada Inn. She encouraged legislators to
participate in the Meals On Wheels deliveries on March 19th. She
added there is an Ag Luncheon scheduled for April 1st.
Ms. Tytler gave an update regarding the shared study with the City on Storm Water Management preliminary report. She has contacted C&S Engineers to present the information at a joint meeting that will be open to the public sometime after March 11th.
Meeting adjourned at 7:03 PM.
Minutes
prepared by Susan Morgan, Clerk