Town Board Approved Meeting Minutes - December 29, 2014

The Year End meeting of the Town Board was held December 29, 2014 at 4:00 pm at the Town Hall.  Present were:  Supervisor Thomas S. Hynes, Councilmen Gene Cronk, Edward Raeder, Allen Hinkley and Carol Murray, Highway Dept. Employees William Sprague, Corbin Bouton, Earl Krom, David Thorington, Edward Docskalik, Jeffrey Haskin, Neil German, Larry Shultis, Christopher Kratochvil, Ralph Sprague and Steven Greene, and Attorney Kevin Young and one resident.

The current two year highway contract expires 12/31/14 and no agreement has been reached during negotiations.  The Town Board is alternating raises between the highway dept. and non-highway employees where the highway is not slated to be given a raise in 2015.  The highway workers addressed the Town Board to request that the $.60/hour being offered in 2016 be broken down to $.30/hr in 2015 and $.30/hr in 2016 and suggested returning to past practices where all Town employees would either be given or not be given an increase each year instead of alternating any increases.  Lengthy discussion took place regarding the matter.  The highway workers also requested, and were granted, direct deposit of paychecks which has also been offered to all employees.  Payroll Clerk Carolynn Faraci discussed the direct deposit process.  Per the request of the highway workers, Town Attorney Kevin Young discussed the mediation/arbitration process should an agreement still not be reached.  The Town Board will discuss the matter in more depth at the January Organizational Meeting.

Highway Supt. Stephen Schuman reported that Jerry Hamil has taken water samples at the highway garage and he awaits the results and plan of action.

The Town has received an offer in the amount of $9,000 to settle the truck lawsuit.

RESOLUTION #72 – ACCEPT TRUCK LAWSUIT OFFER

On motion of Gene Cronk second by Allen Hinkley the following resolution was offered and adopted:

“RESOLVED, the Town Board accepts the offer of $9,000 from Cummins in exchange for a release of all claims and discontinuance of the truck lawsuit; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Town Board authorizes the Town Attorney to procure the process of obtaining said funds on behalf of the Town.”

AYES – 5 Cronk, Hinkley, Raeder, Murray, Hynes
NAYS – 0

Assessor Clerk, Stephanie Seminara, updated the Town Board on the status of the revaluation stating most property inventory verifications have been received back from owners and the Assessor has received the reports on comparables requested from Delaware County Real Property Services so he can put figures together for use.

Discussion took place on another change for the recently adopted Aged Exemption Local Law.

RESOLUTION #73 – IN THE MATTER OF THE ADOPTION OF LOCAL LAW NO. 2 OF 2014 ENTITLED “LOCAL LAW TO INCREASE INCOME LIMITS FOR PARTIAL TAX EXEMPTION FOR PERSONS 65 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER”

On motion of Carol Murray second by Edward Raeder the following resolution was offered and adopted:

“WHEREAS, in accordance with the authority granted by Section 467 of the Real Property Tax Law of the State of New York allowing municipalities to adopt a Local Law that sets out income limits for partial tax exemption for persons 65 years of age or older; and

WHEREAS, the proposed Law was adopted on November 7, 2014 as Local Law No. 2014 and submitted to the Department of State on November 10, 2014; and

WHEREAS, subsequent to the submission of the Law to the Department of State it was determined that there was a typographical error located in Section 2 on the first line of the income schedule in which the Income was identified as $15,000 Or Below and the second line of that schedule begins with the amount of $15,100; and

WHEREAS, the income schedule has been corrected to identify the first line income as $15,100, thereby including, rather than inadvertently deleting those with incomes between $15,001 and $15,099.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS BY THE TOWN BOARD OF ROXBURY, DELAWARE COUNTY, NEW YORK:  Hereby authorizes the Town Clerk to resubmit the corrected version of Local Law No. 2 entitled A Local Law to Increase Income Limits for Partial Tax Exemption for Persons 65 years of Age or Older.

WHEREUPON, the Resolution was put to a vote and recorded as follows:

AYES – 5 Murray, Raeder, Cronk, Hinkley, Hynes
NAYS – 0

Parks Clerk, Carolynn Faraci stated she has bookings for the pavilion in 2015 so far that total $7,400 and further stated pavilion rental fund balances currently being held in Capital Projects will be transferred to General Fund where they rightfully go.

No action was taken on renewing the Highway Workers Association contract.

The draft Building Inspector contract will be discussed by the Town Board at the Organizational Meeting.

On motion of Edward Raeder second by Allen Hinkley the Town Board approved 2014 Budget Transfers and Amendments as will be needed.

AYES – Raeder, Hinkley, Cronk, Murray, Hynes
NAYS – 0

On motion of Gene Cronk second by Carol Murray the Town Board approved the Justice Court monthly report for November 2014 in the amount of $3,479.00.

AYES – Cronk, Murray, Raeder, Hinkley, Hynes
NAYS – 0

Copies of the 2013 Justice Court audit, Town audit and management letter were distributed to the Town Board.

RESOLUTION #74 – JUSTICE COURT AUDIT

On motion of Allen Hinkley second by Edward Raeder the following resolution was offered and adopted:

“RESOLVED, the Town Board, Town of Roxbury acknowledges that, pursuant Section 2019-a of the Uniform Justice Court Act the records of the Town Justice Court for the year 2013 have been audited by the firm of Mostert, Manzanero & Scott, LLP; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that said audit report shall be filed with the State of New York Unified Court System.”

AYES – 5 Hinkley, Raeder, Cronk, Murray, Hynes
NAYS – 0

Supervisor Hynes reported only Judge Gockel will be is session January – March 2015.

Town Attorney Kevin Young states he has contacted Attorney Beebe regarding the terms of the NYCDEP sewer system valuation approved by the Town Board but has not received a response yet.

Attorney Kevin Young met with Historic Preservation Commission Members to clarify their regulations and procedures.

A reminder was given that the 2015 Organizational Meeting will be held January 2, 2015 at 7:30 pm at the Town Hall.

On motion of Gene Cronk second by Allen Hinkley the bills were audited and ordered paid in the following amounts:

General #604-633
$17,177.08
Denver Water #83-87
$589.66
Highway #328-341
$25,979.28
Roxbury Sewer #88-94
$643.27
Roxbury Water #88-92
$6,036.73
Denver Sewer #131-139
$5,411.95
Grand Gorge Water #92-100
$7,359.23
Special Lights #20
$42.22
AYES – 5 Cronk, Hinkley, Raeder, Murray, Hynes
NAYS – 0

On motion of Carol Murray second by Edward Raeder the meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.

THIS IS A TRUE COPY
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Diane Pickett, Town Clerk
Thomas S. Hynes, Supervisor
Gene Cronk, Councilman
Edward Raeder, Councilman
Allen Hinkley, Councilman
Carol Murray, Councilwoman