August 13, 2020 Regular Meeting

The Regular Meeting for the Town Board of the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, NY, was held Thursday, August 13, 2020, at 7pm at the Brighton Town Hall, 12 County Road 31, Paul Smiths, NY, with the following:

CALL TO ORDER:
Meeting was Called to Order by Supervisor Peter Shrope at 7:02pm

The “Pledge to the Flag” was recited

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS
PRESENT: Supervisor Peter Shrope
Council Members: Amber McKernan, Steve Tucker, and Lydia Wright
ABSENT: Councilmember Matthew Szeliga
OTHERS PRESENT: Paul Blaine-Code Enforcement Officer, Andy Crary-Superintendent of Highways, and Elaine Sater-Town Clerk
GUESTS: None

NOTICE OF MEETING:
Notice of this meeting was posted on the Town Clerk’s Sign Board and in the local post offices.

The North Country including Franklin County is still in Phase 4 of the Reopening of New York State due to the corona virus called COVID-19. People are still asked to wear masks to cover their nose and mouth when within 6 feet of other people. A limited number of people are allowed inside the Town buildings.

REPORTS
Highway – Superintendent of Highways Andy Crary

  • Mowed Town and County roadsides
  • Fixed patch at bridge on Keese Mills Road
  • Filled washout on Clark-Wardner Road
  • Helped Harrietstown and St Armand haul tar
  • Paved Hobart Road
  • Mowed grass at Town Hall, Garage, and cemeteries twice
  • Mowed the Landfill cover
  • Patched holes on Keese Mill Road
  • Cleaned and painted rims on 2013 and 2015 trucks
  • Put new hydraulic cylinder on 2015 front mast of wing
  • Put new water tank and pump in Town Hall, the contractor backed out (Resolution #33-2020)
  • Completed road checks
  • Employee out on sick leave
  • Cleaned beaver sticks out of culvert on Keese Mills Road
  • Received a notice that a bill for wing work was not paid from November from Viking Cives. After investigation a bill of a similar amount and invoice number had been paid in November to the same company. Voucher is submitted to be paid.
  • Attended the Franklin County Highway Superintendents meeting in Malone.

    • The Board thanked Andy Crary and a highway employee for installing the new water tank and pump in the Town Hall

    Town Clerk – Elaine Sater:

    1. Total Revenue to Supervisor as of July 31, 2020 was $454.69 from 1 Certified Copy of a Marriage License, 2 Dog Licenses: 1 renewed and replaced tag (#140 with #239) and 1 new (Tag#240), 8 Building Permits #20-019 thru 025 and #18-014
    2. July 1 – The Assessor filed the 2020 Final Assessment Roll with this office.
    3. New York State Town Clerks’ Association (NYSTCA) Conference and Annual Meeting that was rescheduled to Aug 16-19 is cancelled. The Town should be getting refunds from NYSTCA and the Desmond Hotel.
    4. TOWN PARK REQUEST: None
    5. RECORDS MANAGEMENT: Indexing Minutes Vol 10 (1977-1978), there is a new Retention and Disposition Schedule for NY Local Government Records (LGS-01 dated 2020) that has to be adopted by the Board for use in the Town before January 1, 2021, to be able to continue to dispose of Town Records.

    Historian – Elaine Sater: Nothing to Report

    Tax Collector – Holly Huber: Nothing to report

    Town Justice – Nik Santagate:
    Disposed of 16 cases and gave the Supervisor a check in the amount of $1,993.00 for July

    Code Enforcement Officer – Paul Blaine:

    1. Issued two (2) building permits (BPs) for July (BP#s 20-019 and 18-014)
    2. Issued one Certificate of Compliance for BP#20-016
    3. The State will no longer purchase the NYS Building Code books he uses. Need a resolution to purchase the newest set just published.
    4. Would like to replace his HP Deskjet printer with a label printer

    RESOLUTION # 35-2020
    PURCHASE OF NYS BUILDING CODE BOOKS
    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan,

    RESOLVED that the Town Board authorizes the Code Enforcement Officer to purchase a set of the new NYS Building Code books in an amount Not To Exceed $800.00

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #35-2020 declared duly adopted.

    RESOLUTION # 36-2020
    PURCHASE OF LABEL PRINTER
    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan,

    RESOLVED that the Town Board authorizes the Code Enforcement Officer to purchase a label printer to replace the HP Deskjet printer for his desk in an amount Not To Exceed $125.00.

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #36-2020 declared duly adopted.

    Assessor – Roseanne Gallagher:

    1. New Star amounts: Basic Star $22,340 and Enhanced Star $51,650
    2. Reviewing Property Transfer Reports for August 30, 2020 State deadline

    Supervisor Peter Shrope:

    1. Charter Communications: Several program changes are occurring with cable
    2. Osgood Pond Association: Receive a letter dated July 15, 2020, thanking the Town for funding one Lake Steward on Osgood Pond for the summer. Included statistics for use of boat launch on Osgood Pond: 648 boats were inspected from two days each weekend, 295 were retrieving and 353 were launching, of those 22 were motorized and 331 were non-motorized.
    3. National Grid: Received a letter proposing up to $50million in COVID-19 relief to support economically vulnerable. Proposing a rate increase of 4 percent ($3.43) per month for electric.
    4. The Financial Report as of July 31, 2020 was provided to the Board. Revenue for July was as follows: $1,274.21 in Stumpage fees, $.04 from the Tax Collector, $125.00 refund from the NYS Town Clerk’s Association, $1,993 from the Town Justice, and $454.69 from the Town Clerk.
    5. NYCLASS interest was as follows: General $20.95 for a total of $111,116.59 and Highway $7.97 for a total of $42,346.58.

    ACCEPTANCE/AMENDMENT OF MINUTES– Regular Meeting July 9, 2020
    Motion made by Amber McKernan, second by Steve Tucker, to accept the Minutes of the July 9, 2020 Regular meeting, as written. Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker), Nay 0, Abstain 1 (Wright), Absent 1 (Szeliga).

    BUSINESS

    Community Solar Project in Saranac Lake – Supervisor Peter Shrope:
    Distributed an email dated July 14, 2020, from Conrad Karsten, Project Manager, Community Solar, describing the Solar energy credits sold to subscribers, National Grid will still be the energy supplier. The billing will be online to start and eventually handled by National Grid. The Town will save about 10% on the electric bill. Small account can opt out if they give a two month notice.

    RESOLUTION # 37-2020
    PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY SOLAR ENERGY CREDITS FOR TOWN HALL AND GARAGE

    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan,

    RESOLVED that the Town Board is interesting in participating in the Community Solar Project in Saranac Lake and hereby authorizes the Supervisor to create accounts to allow the Town of Brighton to participate in the Community Solar Energy Credit Program for the Town Hall and Highway Garage electric accounts with National Grid to realize a cost savings of about 10% per year.

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #37-2020 declared duly adopted.

    CSEA Contract – Supervisor Peter Shrope: Received a new contract for dental and vision program, premiums for Dental coverage increasing in January 2021

    RESOLUTION #38-2020
    CSEA DENTAL AND VISION EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CONTRACT
    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan,

    RESOLVED that the Town Board accept the contract from CSEA Employee Benefits for Dental and Vision Plans for 2021 increasing the premium for Dental coverage from $141.53 to $154.53 per month per employee and vision to remain at $19.39.

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #38-2020 declared duly adopted.

     

    1. Records Retention Schedule (LSG-01)- Supervisor Peter Shrope: The Town Clerk as Records Management Officer received a notice that a new “Retention and Disposition Schedule for NY Local Government Records (LGS-01dated 2020) has been issued and the Board must adopt the use of it for the Records Management Officer to continue disposing of the Town’s records after January 1, 2021.

    RESOLUTION #39-2020
    RETENTION AND DISPOSITION SCHEDULE FOR NY LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS (LGS-01 DATED 2020)
    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Steve Tucker,

    RESOLVED by the Town Board of the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, New York, that “Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York Local Government Records, (LGS-01 dated 2020) issued pursuant to Article 57-A of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, and containing legal minimum retention periods for local government records, is hereby adopted for use by all officers in legally disposing of valueless records listed therein, and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that is accordance with Article 57-A:

    1. only those records will be disposed of that are described in “Retention and Disposition Schedule for NY Local Government Records” after they have met the minimum retention periods described therein
    2. only those records will be disposed of that do not have sufficient administrative, fiscal, legal, or historical value to merit retention beyond established legal minimum periods.

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #39-2020 declared duly adopted.

    Budget 2021 Meetings – Supervisor Peter Shrope: The Budget Officer is asking for dates for the 2021 Budget meeting in October. The Budget meeting to discuss the 2021Tentative Budget is scheduled for Thursday, October 8, at 5:30pm to be followed by the Regular Monthly Board meeting. The Town Clerk will post a notice. The Budget Hearing for the 2021 Preliminary Budget will be tentatively held on Thursday, October 29 at 6:00pm.

    Paul Smiths Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department (PSGVFD) – Steve Tucker: Received a letter from the PSGVFD dated August 13, 2020, concerning a resident that consistently parks on a Town Road with their personal vehicles limiting the access of larger vehicles such as the Fire Departments trucks.

    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan, that the Supervisor write a letter to the property owner and notify them of the public’s right-of-way on Mill Hill Road and the need for full access to the road. Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)

    COMMITTEE REPORTS

    Website – Supervisor Peter Shrope, Amber McKernan: New site is ready to go live; corrections will be made to the new website as they are noted.

    RESOLUTION #40-2020
    IMPROVEMENT TO WEBSITE FOR MOBILE DEVICE AND ADA ACCESSIBILITY
    Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Lydia Wright,

    RESOLVED that the Supervisor be authorized to contract with Rainbow Graphics, Inc, to make improvements to the Town’s website to make it mobile device responsive and ADA accessible with corrections to be made as necessary after the change to the new website.

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #40-2020 declared duly adopted.

    CITIZENS COMMENTS: None

    EXECUTIVE SESSION

    Motion to GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION at 8:13pm in accordance with Public Officers Law, Article 7, Section 105h, the proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property…, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof, made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Lydia Wright, Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)

    Motion to GO OUT OF EXECUTIVE SESSION at 8:23pm made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Lydia Wright, Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)

    AUDIT OF VOUCHERS:

    RESOLUTION #41-2020
    PAYMENT OF AUDITED VOUCHERS AS LISTED ON THE ABSTRACTS
    Motion made by Amber McKernan, second by Lydia Wright,

    RESOLVED that the Supervisor be authorized to pay the audited vouchers as listed on the abstracts as follows:

    PREPAID FUNDS: Abstract #8 for Voucher #s 8A thru 7C for 2020 General Funds in the amount of $452.53 and STREET LIGHTING 2020 FUND Voucher #8C in the amount of $56.83

    GENERAL FUND: Abstract #8 for Voucher #128 through #151 for 2020 funds in the amount of $10,382.68

    HIGHWAY FUND: Abstract #8 for Voucher #77 through #91 for 2020 funds in the amount of $67,205.83

    ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)
    RESOLUTION #41-2020 declared duly adopted.

    ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn at 8.25pm made by Amber McKernan, second by Lydia Wright, Aye 4 (McKernan, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0, Absent 1 (Szeliga)

    Respectfully Submitted,
    Elaine W. Sater, RMC
    Brighton Town Clerk