The Regular Monthly Meeting for the Town Board of the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, NY, was held Thursday, June 13 at 7:00pm, 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 of Allegiance” to the flag was recited.

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS

PRESENT: Supervisor Peter Shrope

Council Members: Amber McKernan, C. Tracy Santagate, Steve Tucker, and Lydia Wright

ABSENT: None

OTHERS PRESENT: Andy Crary-Superintendent of Highways, Elizabeth DeFonce-Town Clerk, Russell DeFonce-Town Justice, Roseanne Gallagher-Assessor, Elaine Sater-Historian, 2 residents

NOTICE OF MEETING:

Notice of the meeting was posted on the Town Clerk’s Sign Board.

 

REPORTS

Highway – Superintendent of Highways Andy Crary: mowed cemeteries, the park, the Town Hall and the garage; put out cemetery signs; put new bearings in the mower for the park; cleaned up berms on Tansey Lane; patched potholes on Keese Mills and White Pine Roads; raked the dirt roads; put the flags out for Memorial Day; fixed the loader; weed wacked most of the intersections; got the New Holland ready to mow roadsides; helped the Town of Harrietstown with hauling; met with Park Committee regarding the playground; would like to use CHIPS money to pave part of Keese Mill Road, starting on June 24^th.

RESOLUTION #32-2024

PAVING KEESE MILL ROAD

RESOLVED that the Town Board authorizes the Superintendent of Highways to pave Keese Mill Road, a distance of 1 mile, and hire Brunell & Sons, Inc to do the work, Not to Exceed $105,000.

ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

Resolution #32 declared duly adopted.

Town Clerk- Elizabeth DeFonce: Total Revenue to Supervisor as of May 31 was $1,980.16 for 9 dog licenses, 1 Marriage License, a Town Park donation, 5 building permits

Received Kyle Murray’s Certificate of Attendance, Board of Assessment Review Training

Notice of the Special Town Board Meeting was posted to the Town Clerk’s signboard on May 20^th, 2024, and sent to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise the same day. It ran in the newspaper on May 29^th, 2024.

TOWN HALL REQUESTS: Rainbow Lake Water Protection District Board of Commissioners will hold a meeting at 9am on Monday, June 10^th.

TOWN PARK REQUEST: Fobare Family reserved the park for a birthday party on the afternoon of Saturday, June 22^nd. Corrow Family reserved the park for a graduation party on the afternoon of Saturday, June 29^th.

Tax Collector – Elizabeth DeFonce: Arrived at the Annual Training Seminar in Lake George but had to leave due to a family emergency. Still has petty cash that needs to be turned in.

Historian – Elaine Sater: shredding archived records from 2017; working on Court files for destruction; completed copying 2021 newspaper articles; indexing minutes from Volume 14 (1988-1989)

Received a request for information on John F. Otis. It appears he died of electrocution by touching a high-tension wire while working on the Paul Smith Trolley line on December 9, 1924. He was the Town Clerk at the time. His wife moved out of the area and remarried.

Town Justice – Russ DeFonce: 13 cases were disposed. The Supervisor was given a check for $1,380.

Justice DeFonce presented the Board with a contract to hire Brianna Sargent, Town of Moriah Court Clerk, to provide training.

RESOLUTION #33-2024

HIRING BRIANNA SARGENT FOR COURT TRAINING

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

RESOLVED that Brianna Sargent, Town of Moriah Court Clerk, be paid $500.00 for one day of Court training, on or before July 15, 2024.

ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

Resolution #33 declared duly adopted.

Code Enforcement Officer – Rodger Tompkins: Issued 7 Building Permits in May

Assessor – Roseanne Gallagher: There were 21 grievances filed on Grievance Day. The Board had to adjourn to a later date due to one taxpayer that required more time. John Stack will work with Assessor Gallagher on the 27^th so she can show him how she does what she does. New York State must be notified of the change in Assessor. The Real Property Office in Malone may have the necessary forms. Received notification that we are at 100%.

Supervisor – Peter Shrope:

BridgeNY: Supervisor Peter Shrope met with Carol Murtaugh who was helpful with the reimbursement procedure. The first reimbursement has been submitted and approved locally and has been sent to Albany.

Deposits: Received $1,380.00 from the Town Justice, $1,980.61 from the Town Clerk, and $13,233.53 from Franklin County for mortgage tax.

NYCLASS: For May – General Fund interest $533.52, total $121,077.12 ($20,000 for Town Hall). Highway Fund interest $203.32, total $46,141.91

Budget: in good shape.

Accept/Amend Minutes

May 9, 2024 – Regular Board

Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, second by Amber McKernan, to accept the minutes of the May 9,  2024, Regular Meeting with the following changes: change motion to hire Peter Strack as Assessor to a Resolution. Also, add Roseanne Gallagher to list of attendees. Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright)

CITIZENS’ COMMENTS: None

BUSINESS

Discussion was held on the Proposed Franklin County Multi-Use Trail System. It was decided that a Resolution be crafted and submitted before the cutoff time for comments on June 14^th at 1pm.

RESOLUTION #34-2024

PROPOSED FRANKLIN COUNTY MULTI-USE RECREATIONAL TRAIL SYSTEM

RESOLVED that the Town Board opposes the proposed Franklin County Multi-Use Recreational Trail System due to the following:

• The definition of “bike” is unclear and could be read to include motorized vehicles
• There are concerns over who would be providing enforcement of trail rules and policies
• Since National Grid owns the land under the powerlines and does not allow ATV traffic on those lands the Town has no authority to supersede these regulations
• There are concerns over the potential economic effects of damages done to the trails
• There are concerns over who would be responsible for making repairs to the trails
• There are concerns over allowing motorized vehicles on State Land

ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 4 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Wright), Nay 1 (Tucker)

Resolution #34 declared duly adopted.

OLD BUSINESS

Town Park: The sign and plaque are being worked on. Discussion was held about the playground equipment at the Town Park. Bears Playgrounds were chosen as the vendor and will be able to install the new playground equipment this summer.

RESOLUTION #35-2024

BEARS PLAYGROUNDS CONTRACT

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

RESOLVED that the Town Board accepts the contract from Bears Playgrounds for new playground equipment, as designed and presented, in the amount of $59,236.60, half of which ($29.618.30) to be paid now, the remainder to be paid after installation.

ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

Resolution #35 declared duly adopted.

Camp Gabriels: the bill has passed the Senate again but failed in the Assembly.

CITIZENS’ COMMENTS: None

AUDIT OF VOUCHERS

RESOLUTION #36-2024

ADUIT OF VOUCHERS

Motion made by Amber McKernan, seconded by Steve Tucker,

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

PREPAID FUNDS: Abstract #6 for Voucher #s 6A through 6C for 2024 GENERAL FUND in the amount $708.33 and Voucher #6C for 2024 STREET LIGHTING FUNDS in the amount of $69.34

GENERAL FUND: Abstract #6 for Voucher #91 through #117, for 2024 funds in the amount of $58,382.55

HIGHWAY FUND: Abstract #6 for Voucher #50 through #56 for 2024 funds in the amount of $6107.96

ROLL CALL VOTE: Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright)

Resolution #36 declared duly adopted.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion to Adjourn at 9:00pm made by Amber McKernan, second by Supervisor Peter Shrope

Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

Respectfully Submitted,

Elizabeth DeFonce
Brighton Town Clerk