The Regular Monthly Meeting for the Town Board of the Town of Brighton, Franklin County, NY, was held Thursday, August 8, 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 7:00pm

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

OTHERS PRESENT: Andy Crary-Superintendent of Highways, Elizabeth DeFonce-Town Clerk, Russell DeFonce-Town Justice, John Stack-Assessor, 1 resident

 

NOTICE OF MEETING:

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

 

REPORTS

 

Highway – Superintendent of Highways Andy Crary: hauled tar for the towns of Franklin, Harrietstown, and St. Armand; worked on prepping the park for the playground; mowed the cemeteries, Town Hall, and Town Garage; cleaned the shop; raked the dirt roads; helped the Tupper Lake Highway Department; chipped the trees at the park; put down seed and hay at the park; performed road checks; took down the tree near the septic tank at the park. The 2015 truck is still being worked on in Plattsburgh.

 

Town Clerk- Elizabeth DeFonce: Total Revenue to Supervisor as of July 31^st was $1,059.50 for 1 Marriage License, 1 Certified Copy, 2 Town Park donations, 8 Building Permits, and 6 copies

Shredded Town Clerk records from 2017 per LGS-01

Made copies of pages of the Assessment Roll for a taxpayer

Requested permission to destroy old court records from the Unified Court System

TOWN HALL REQUESTS: None

TOWN PARK REQUEST: Saranac Lake Youth Soccer Association, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, July 2 – August 7, from 5:30-8:30

Clark Family birthday party, Saturday August 10, 3-6pm

Miller Family birthday party, Friday August 23, 4:30-7pm

Saranac Lake Baptist Church annual cookout, Monday September 2^nd, 11am-3pm

Due to problems with the functionality of the current email address the Town Clerk would like to change to a gmail address. The Town Clerk will explore available names and pick the appropriate one. Motion was made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, seconded by Steve Tucker, to approve the Town Clerk switching email addresses from roadrunner.com to gmail.com. Aye 5 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker, Wright), Nay 0

 

Tax Collector – Elizabeth DeFonce: Inquired about taking credit card payments via the website. Preliminary investigations have been conducted on allpay, the service currently used by the Town of Franklin. The Tax Collector will investigate further.

There was a discussion about the proper management of petty cash. It was determined that the best way to handle it would be to have the Tax Collector submit a voucher at the end of the collection period to bring the total back to $50, then hand that $50 back to the Supervisor to redeposit in the Tax Collector’s budget line.

 

Historian – Elaine Sater: Finished pulling Court files for destruction, shredding date set for Tuesday, August 20, at the UPS Store in Lake Placid

Completed copying 2022 newspaper articles

Indexing Minutes from Volume 14 (1988-1989)

 

Town Justice – Russ DeFonce: 26 cases were disposed. The Supervisor was given a check for $3,080.

Brianna Sargent, Town of Moriah Court Clerk, was unable to make the scheduled July 26 training date. She will be rescheduled at her convenience.

 

Code Enforcement Officer – Rodger Tompkins: Issued 5 Building Permits in July

 

Assessor – John Stack: Recommended the purchase of an HP laptop with Microsoft 365 and McAfee Total Protection from Staples at the cost of $490.

One Small Claim has been filed.

The Office of Real Property is considering adding additional tools, including pictures and deeds, online (deeds would only be accessible by the assessor) and is looking for support of $1 per parcel from all towns to continue this support and to possibly increase resources available at the county.

A question arose as to whether the Town can apply to the state to be reimbursed for some of the cost of the reevaluation. KLW may have already submitted for reimbursement. The Assessor will investigate.

 

RESOLUTION #41

PURCHASE OF COMPUTER FOR ASSESSOR

Motion made by Supervisor Peter Shrope, seconded by Amber McKernan

 

RESOLVED that the Assessor be authorized to use the Town credit card to purchase an HP laptop with Microsoft 365 and McAfee Total Protection from Staples to be use for Assessor duties, not to exceed $550.

 

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

Resolution #41 declared duly adopted.

 

Supervisor – Peter Shrope:

The due date for the Town credit card is now the 25^th day of the month

Information for Franklin County Personnel has been updated

BridgeNY: another voucher needs paying but a clerical error of $33 held up the latest reimbursement; that check has since been received so the application can move forward. The amount will be $30,533.01

Deposits: Received $1,059.50 from the Town Clerk and $3,080 from the Town Justice. In addition to the $33 check referenced above, received $184.80 for scrap metal

NYCLASS: For July – General Fund interest $535.33, total $121,879.68 ($20,000 for Town Hall). Highway Fund interest $204.02, total $46,543.75

Budget: some budget lines are in the negative but overall in good shape.

 

Accept/Amend Minutes

July 11, 2024 – Regular Board

Motion made by Amber McKernan, seconded by Steve Tucker,  to accept the minutes of the July 11  2024, Regular Meeting with the following changes: change “prevue” to “purview” on page 3.

Aye 4 (McKernan, Santagate, Shrope, Tucker,) Nay 0, Abstain 1 (Wright)

 

CITIZENS’ COMMENTS: It’s been fun watching the activity on the new playground equipment in the park.

 

BUSINESS

 

Abstracts will now accompany the vouchers as a double check to prevent future clerical errors.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Town Park: The new playground equipment looks good. An ad announcing a Town celebration of the new playground ran in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. The celebration will take place on Sunday August 11, from 11am-1pm. The PSGVFD will be on hand to sell food and drinks as a fundraiser. There has been an increase in the use of the teeter totter; instead of replacing it mulch will be added under it and the swings. There are two rotten picnic tables that should be disposed of. Discussion then shifted to the occasional misuse of the portapotties and the current state of the nearby bottle deposit. As of a few years ago the property owner didn’t want the bottle deposit removed.

 

Paul Smith’s College (PSC) request for a water/sewer district: Discussion centered around the future viability of the college and the numerous procedures required by the state of New York to establish the district. Supervisor Peter Shrope has contacted Scott Goldie, attorney for the Town, and Lori Mithen, attorney from the Association of Towns, but hasn’t heard back yet. Also received information from the NYS Office of the Comptroller about the steps the Town would have to take to create the new districts. Officials at PSC would like to schedule a meeting by the end of August but the Board agreed it would be advisable to wait until the Supervisor can speak with the attorneys.

 

CITIZENS’ COMMENTS: None

 

AUDIT OF VOUCHERS

 

RESOLUTION #42-2024

ADUIT OF VOUCHERS

Motion made by Amber McKernan, seconded 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 through 8C for 2024 GENERAL FUND in the amount $659.42 and Voucher #8C for 2024 STREET LIGHTING FUNDS in the amount of $73.82

GENERAL FUND: Abstract #8 for Voucher #131 through #144, for 2024 funds in the amount of $33,427.55

HIGHWAY FUND: Abstract #8 for Voucher #67 through #77 for 2024 funds in the amount of $101,608.41

 

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

Resolution #42 declared duly adopted.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Motion to Adjourn at 8:44pm made by Amber McKernan, seconded by Lydia Wright

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

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Elizabeth DeFonce, Brighton Town Clerk