Town of Lyme

In Attendance: Supervisor Jim Golden, Councilmen Mike Countryman, Jim Madill, Warren A. Johnson and Norm Schreib, Attorney Mark Gebo, ZEO Suzann Cornell, ZBA Chairman Harry Staudenmayer, Assessors Sandy Cornell and Marsha Barton, Bookkeeper Roswell Gotham, Town Clerk Kim Wallace and approximately 20 others.

Public Hearing was called to order at 6:20 p.m. The local law will amend Section 920 of the Zoning Law to allow alternate members to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Be it enacted by the Town Board of the Town of Lyme as follows: The Town Board of the Town of Lyme finds that it is sometimes difficult for members of the Zoning Board of Appeal’s to reach a quorum because of the schedules of its members, including some members who may be absent from the Town for extended periods of time and conflicts of interest. The Town Board hereby finds that by allowing alternate members, the work of the Zoning Board of Appeals can continue uninterrupted despite the temporary absence of one or more of the regular members. It is the purpose of this local law to allow for alternate members.

The Town Board of the Town of Lyme hereby enacts and amends Section 920 of the Zoning Law of the Town of Lyme to add a new subdivision “D” as follows:

“The Town Board of the Town of Lyme may appoint (2) alternate members to the Zoning Board of Appeals in accordance with Section 267(11) of the Town Law. Such member shall be appointed by resolution of the Town Board. Alternate members shall be allowed to participate in any absence of regular members or in the event of a conflict of interest. The Chairperson of the Zoning Board of appeals may designate alternate members to substitute for a member under those circumstances. When so designated, the alternate member shall possess all the powers and responsibilities of the member for whom they are substituting. Such designation shall be entered into the minutes of the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at which the substitution is made. Any alternate appointed shall be subject to all training and education, attendance and conflict of interest requirements as regular member and shall also have to meet all other criteria for eligibility.

There were no public comments and the Hearing was closed at 6:25 p.m.

The Regular Monthly Meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Bob Thomas the Memorial Service down here was a success, they will be dedicating the Sheriff’s Boat in Sackets Harbor. They are still working on the contracts for the Sheriff’s Departments man power.

Sue Cornell asked Mr. Thomas about Brownville and wind power. He stated nobody has said a word about it. Attorney Gebo said that there has been some “nosing around” in the Brownville area. There is either a test tower up or there will be one going up. The Town is looking at draft legislation and there will be a joint meeting between the Zoning Board, Planning Board and Town Board at the end of the month.

Julia Gosier appreciated the Board letting her in now so she can go back to her grandson’s ball game. She wanted to state to the Board how much she appreciates how Tom and his men stepped in, along with Supervisor Golden’s help, to get things moving when they had their emergency with equipment. The problems made it very difficult to get the Three Mile Bay Cemetery in good shape for Memorial Day. Supervisor Golden had a phone vote to make it possible to purchase a decent mower for the cemetery. With Superintendent Parker’s efforts they have good steel doors on the front of the shed for the mowers protection. The shed was also painted at the same time. Things are going very well. There have been three different stones put in the cemetery this month by individuals on graves already there. The stone’s were put in according to Julie’s instructions and have the four-foot deep foundations put in. The new regulations are working and that will prevent problems in the future.

The gentleman from Carthage who is doing the abandoned cemeteries is doing an excellent job.

There were equipment problems Memorial Weekend and Joe Repp was trying to use his own mower, it was not heavy duty enough and it kept breaking belts. At the same time he was working with a broken thumb. Things were getting so far behind that she felt it essential that the cemetery be looking nice for at least Sunday and Monday. She hired one of the Savage boys to work for four and a half hours, he did very well and everything was in good shape by Saturday night. It’s not something she would normally do but she did call Supervisor Golden regarding the situation and he gave her permission to go ahead.

Superintendent Golden stated that Julie was doing a good job.

Councilman Schreib asked about the whereabouts of Superintendent Parker, he has not attended a meeting in three or four months. Supervisor Golden has spoke to the Superintendent and Tom has asked if the meting night could be changed from Wednesday to Thursday, he is busy on Wednesday evenings. Councilman Johnson also stated he has a problem with the Superintendent. The Cost Effectiveness Committee had a commitment from him to be here an hour before the meeting and he is not following through with his commitments. Councilman Johnson stated that his word is his bond and it should be his. If he could not make it he should have gotten with Jim and Warren to let them know the circumstances. This is Tom’s livelihood and it should be important to him. Councilman Johnson has a laundry list of eight things he would like to address with the Superintendent, he needs a status on these items.

1. What is the status of the town signs?

2. What is the status of Bates drainage problem?

3. Barn expansion for new truck?

4. What is the date of delivery for new truck?

5. Kathy Carr’s concerns and the sand problem?

6. Training of part time snowplow drivers and wing operators?

7. Buying vacation with overtime hours?

8. Accounting of time and materials for ballpark?

Councilman Johnson stated that if Superintendent Parker would attend the Cost Effectiveness Meetings he would be able to share the information with Councilman Johnson and Madill, not in public, and things would run smooth. The fact of the matter is we’ve gone four months, he’s a compassionate person as well as the rest of the Board members, with the problems he has had in his family but now he has got to get back to business.

Regarding Kathy Carr, the Town has got a commitment from the State to get extra funds for our Highway Department to go out and rent a sweeper and properly clean up after the winter sanding. When Kathy got ready to put the flowers out to beautify the community, nothing had been done with the sand. NYS made a commitment to rent the sweeper and pay for man-hours.

The board would appreciate Superintendent Parker getting back to them on these issues.

Councilman Madill stated that Superintendent Parker promised he would attend the next meeting, this is the next meeting and he is not present.

Councilman Johnson had gone through bills and there are two that the Board had questions on from abstract # 12. One voucher made payable to Charlie Mount for $150.00, he had to pay the league so the games would count and the second voucher made out to Thousand Island Baseball for league fees, totaling $140.00. There were no bills or invoices with either voucher, and the Town Board would not approve these bills as part of Abstract # 12.

Councilman Johnson made the comment that after reviewing the bills; we are getting sloppy on our travel vouchers. We have set a travel voucher system in place where a person using their vehicle should fill it out in its entirety. There have been some that have not been filled out in their entirety. He would like to suggest that when the Town Clerk gives out a travel voucher, reinforce that everything has to be filled out.

Bookkeeper Gotham reported that one CD came due in May and we reinvested $320,000.00. The other due on June 5^th does not show on the balance sheet. The Profit and Loss through May is on target except for a couple of items. Snow removal on personal services only has $1300.00 left and the snow removal on MEO part-time has $23,000.00 left. Something will have to be done with those before the next snow season.

Charlie Mount arrived at the meeting so Bookkeeper Gotham was interrupted for a moment so the Board could ask him about the two vouchers from Abstract #12 that they had questions on. Charlie was requested by the Board to state in writing that he paid the league fees because there is no invoice or bill. The Board would like to see something that they could have attached to the Vouchers.

Bookkeeper Gotham continued by stating everything else shows that it is in line for the year. Revenues look good and most of them are coming in over budget. The sales tax looks like it’s going to be just about what they had targeted.

Totaled $15,501.84, 301 Transfer site Permits and that is where the majority of the money comes from. Kimco checks will now be deposited into the clerk’s account rather than the bookkeepers, as it had been done in the past. Postings will be placed under scrap metal.

Councilman Schreib we are hitting it big with recyclables, we will be getting paid for our cardboard, newspaper, magazines, plastic, and metal. Empire Recycling will be paying us for our recyclables. This will save us trucking fees because we won’t have to truck to Pamelia Landfill. George will make sure people are separating their recyclables; it will definitely affect the income of the Town and offset the taxes and the operation of the Transfer Site. Empire is from the Utica area.

George has said that there are a lot of people coming into the Transfer Site during non-operating hours. One of the Highwaymen got a license plate number the other day, which has been turned, into the Sheriff’s Department. They did come out to do a little investigation. He would like to see some funds allocated to put up gates to help keep people out.

The Web site is up, www.townoflyme.com. We are still working on the email addresses. If anyone has any suggestion drop them off at the Clerk’s Office. The site still needs some work and information added.

Charlie Mount reported that it is a busy and exciting time for the committee. He feels the program is rebounding and they are getting a lot more kids involved. Numbers for some of the teams are up as much as 20 children. They are providing Pony Level Teams.

Each year they offer the Summer Rec Program for three days a week. They have three employees, one of them has left for college and they will be loosing another next year. They have recently advertised for assistants and they have received five or six excellent resumes. They would like to see swimming lessons added to the program. The addition will not change their budget; they will just have to transfer funds. They just did a can drive to raise money for uniforms and they raised $720.00 in four hours. They have an applicant who can give swimming lessons and is willing to work for $150.00 per week and one applicant who is lifeguard and CPR certified. Hiring the two assistants would be an asset to the program and community while still being able to remain within their budget. The swimming lessons would be done at the beach. Charlie will check with Fuller Insurance Company to be certain we would be covered under the Town’s policy. Mike Nichols has been the Director for six years and Stephanie rust has worked with the program for six years. Charlie would like to ask the Boards permission to accept two people to the staff. Julie Mosier, whom Councilman Madill is in favor of due to all the child abuse detective training she has had. Mrs. Adams looks very good, as well. Councilman Johnson asked that they both fill out Town of Lyme job application. The program will run from July 10^th to August 10^th.

Joan Mazulewicz reported that the Town of Lyme Planning Board has put together a Public Community Presentation on Wind Farm Development and Wind Power. The date they have selected for this presentation is Tuesday July 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lyme Central School Gymnasium. She has already gotten permission from the school to use the gymnasium that evening.

The moderator for this forum will be Denise Young, who is the Director of the Center For Community Studies at JCC. There are also commitments from Kevin McAuliffe, an attorney from Syracuse, who will speak on pilots, Empire Zones, and on negotiating tax agreements with wind power developers. Mr. McAuliffe represented Lewis County Municipalities in their negotiations with Maple Ridge Wind Power Development and was instrument in securing for Lewis County communities one of the best tax compensation packages in the State.

Keith Pittman has also committed to that evening. He is the President and CEO of Empire State Wind Energy, form Oneida. He will discuss wind power economics, how much money developers will make, and how much compensation the School, Town and County expect. He will present options for local project control and local benefit.

They are looking at a third presenter as well.

These people will make their presentations and it will be followed by questions from people attending the forum. They expect to put out advertising very shortly. She has already received several phone calls in response to her article that was in the newspaper a few days ago, with people who are very interested in finding what is going on with wind farm development.

Councilman Johnson suggested that this program be presented as an unbiased informational meeting. We should invite the three wind farm developers who have approached us in the past to give us a brief overview of what their project is. We should also invite Paul Carr. Councilman Johnson spoke to him this afternoon and he stated he would be a presenter at the seminar and share with the Town what he learned out in Los Angeles at the National Wind Forum.

Joan has a concern that if all three wind farm developers make presentations on that evening that it would run into a lot of time and she would like to leave a lot of time for community input. She does feel that people could ask questions of the developers. A hand out with a brief overview might be a good idea. They hope to be done by 9 p.m. that evening.

Councilman Countryman asked Attorney Gebo if due to having all the Town Board Members at the meeting would it have to be a publicized meeting? Mark responded by saying that it is a meeting for the Planning Board, it is an educational meeting. His only observation that if we have the wind power developers make presentations, he believes it will turn into a session about them and not wind power in general. At the time right now of adopting rules and regulations, it’s a more generalized discussion. In theory none of these wind towers developers have a project in the Town of Lyme. The Boards goal is to keep the meeting as an educational meeting only. Purely an informational meeting for our taxpayers so that the residents can fill out their wind surveys objectively from knowledgeable people about wind power. Councilman Countryman would like to go with Marks suggestion and keep the wind companies out of it. They could bring brochures with general information about their company.

Burt Bauer’s feels that the presentation by the wind power companies should be on a separate occasion.

Steve Ritigliano feels if the developers were brought in it might be a more bias opinion on their side.

Joan finished with addressing the Board with the final draft of the survey.

Councilman Countryman feels that if the Town were going to send out a questionnaire like this he would like to see the Board have a work session to talk about it. When the Board gets the Final Draft they will set up a meeting.

Superintendent Parker arrived late and asked if he could be added to the end of the agenda from now on, due to a conflict on Wednesday evenings.

Councilman Johnson stated that if the Cost Effectiveness Meetings are to be held an hour prior to the Regular Board Meetings, how will they be able to meet?

Superintendent Parkers responded by saying that he would meet with Councilman Madill only; he has a problem meeting with two Board Members. He feels that in the 10 to 12 meetings that have been held they have gotten nothing done. Again he reiterated that he would meet with Jim Madill only. Councilman Johnson stated that sentiment was never communicated with him. The original concept of this committee was that the three men would meet monthly. He feels they have gotten a lot accomplished and has a lot of litany to prove likewise.

There was a 10 minute break at 7:30 – meeting called back to order at 7:40 p.m.

Councilman Schreib stated to Superintendent Parker that he would meet with him and Councilman Madill instead of Councilman Johnson. He would ask that Parker, Johnson and Madill meet on one more occasion and if that doesn’t work out the Board can appoint someone else to the Cost Effectiveness Committee. Superintendent Parker did agree to meet with them one more time preferably on another day rather than Wednesday’s. Councilman Madill feels they have come a long way.

Superintendent Parker feels that the meetings are always about the Highway Employees.

Councilman Johnson stated that part-time employees have to be managed and Tom has never embraced the concept, change is tough but that is a change that this Board wants. We have a budget that represents part – time employees for MEO and snow removal; the part-time employees are there to subsidize the regular work force. He feels Tommy does not want to buy the concept because he has to manage the people. If the part-time program is managed it will be successful and in doing so it will save money for the tax- payers in the Town of Lyme. Tom is being asked to do this and he has been resistant since the time it has been brought up.

Superintendent Parker said he has been here for 30 years and doing this job since 1998. Part-timers don’t work here, in this type of situation.

Councilman Johnson replied by stating that he has managed a work force on a much larger scale and with a lot more flexibility and he value the flexibility of part-time employees. Part-timers will not work if he cannot manage them. More money could be made for the Town if he would embrace the concept of part-time employees.

Superintendent Parker again stated that he would not meet with Warren and would only meet one-on-one with Councilman Madill. Councilman Johnson extended an invitation to the Deputy Superintendent and that would make it two-on-two. It’s just a suggestion and might make Tom feel more comfortable.

The new plow truck is now at Henderson and is being equipped with winter equipment; it will be there for approximately three more weeks. We are about one month from getting it. The plow is also being mounted there. Henderson will do all the work because they were the ones who got the bid. We will be putting one of our plows on the new truck.

Councilman Madill asked for an update on the drainage situation outback.

Tommy stated that it was a mess. The State did finally dig in Trainham’s yard. There will be a pipe installed underneath the DANC line. It will come out to an area they have on the Banks property that will go into a pipe and then beneath the Sate Road. The project will take at least four men; weather permitting and they should have it dressed out within three days if all goes well. There will be approximately 96 man-hours and total cost of the project will be approximately $4000.00. The cost of the pipe will be $400.00 to $600.00.

The Ball Field is Tommy’s passion but he does not have time to address it right now. He hopes to get to it eventually. He would get the waterline up there as well, if the Town Board would like him to proceed.

If the parking lot does not get done it still presents a safety problem with people parking in the street. There would also be a benefit for Julie Gosier so the cemetery could get the extra fill and the benefit to the pedestrians and vehicles for safety.

The Highway Department is currently working on the 1986; bring it back up to par. He would like to replace the 91 with the new 2008, so he may keep the 86 as his back up, he may want to keep that as his fourth truck. Possibly keep it on the sate Road because it is a one winged plow. It’s good to have an empty truck around. If we have that other truck we will not have to worry about borrowing from another Town if we have a problem. It is worth putting the money into it for a spare. We could send the 91 Mack to store at the Village.

They Highway Department did not rent the sand cleanup equipment. The State Road has been swept three or four times this year and has been swept twice in Three Mile Bay. Tommy has to be careful as to how he uses the salt. He tries to keep the roads as bare and safe as possible. He apologized for not getting the roads any cleaner. Councilman Madill felt that Tommy has kept his end of the deal.

Tom has not been involved with the new Town signs. He will do the rock -work on the foundation. Councilman Johnson asked that “Please Come Again” be added to the back of the sign so people can read that as they’re leaving Town.

Mr. Metzger made the statement to Tom, that as a person who has to go to work at all hours of the day and night, seven days a week, holidays, and Sundays included. He has to say that he has no complaints with his snow removal; the roads are always in great shape. He thanked Tommy for a job well done in maintaining the winter roads. He also mentioned he had heard one of the council members refer to the wing operators. He hopes that the Highway Department will always have a wing operator. He realizes it’s a financial consideration but while driving at night in poor conditions he feels it’s important to have experienced wing operators.

ZEO Zoning Officer Suzann Cornell has some issues to add to her written report. She would like to ask that the Local Law of 1993 regarding Unsafe Buildings and Structures be updated.

Attorney Gebo stated that it would be a clarifying notice providing the element of due process protection that gives us a procedure that we would do internally opposed to having to go to court. Everything would be done before the Board.

Zoning Officer Cornell also brought up the Fay issue and said that it is time to put it to rest; they have been dealing with it for four years. She issued them a stop work order in March and they were asked to remove the structures in their entirety and as they can see by pictures taken yesterday, it has not been done. She will go on whatever the Board decides to do next. Attorney Gebo stated that if the Board would like to talk strategies he would prefer to do it in executive session.

The Wilson’s on Point Peninsula have been working slowly and making an attempt.

Councilman Madill had recently gotten a complaint from Robert Pitcher about an unsafe building on Point Peninsula. Tim had gotten all the paperwork ready. He asked Sue if she could please look it up and get back to him with her findings.

There have also been complaints about travel trailers being used as permanent residences. Sue will be putting an article together for the Lyme Light and the web site regarding the rules and regulations on travel trailers.

Assessors written report

Municipal Water Board written report

ZBA written report

Tax Collectors Salary

Councilman Countryman and Marsha Barton will be soliciting bids for an audit. Attorney Gebo asked if the audit what type of audit procedure the Town was interested in having performed. You have to be specific and let them know what you would like to audit. They would like to have all the departments including the water districts a full audit with suggested time frame being January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2006. Attorney Gebo stated since these are professional services that we are requesting we don’t have to advertise it in bid form. Often times when requesting professional services you should call and request proposals or simply send a letter out inviting people to bid. Accountants do not usually respond to legal ads so it would be best to send letters. Councilman Countryman stated that a couple of them would sit down and compose a letter to be sent out to accounting firms.

It’s professional services so the Town would not have to accept the low bid, we could select whom we had the most confidence in.

Councilman Johnson spoke to a woman from Albany out of the DEC Commissioners Office and said that we are a lead agency in protest and she will send us all the forms necessary, along with the information to fill that protest out and send it in. After that is completed then the DEC Commissioner will make a ruling as to who will be the lead agency for the wind farm project with Cape Vincent.

Agreement for Resolution between the Town of Lyme and The Chaumont – Three Mile Bay Chamber of Commerce

Councilman Countryman asked if that could be made a line item and Attorney Gebo said that the Town should have a contract with another agency.

The Clerk’s Office is in need of a new computer desperately. Councilman Schreib fells we could get twice the computer by purchasing from Dell and he will be willing to do some work on finding out pricing. He feels the price we have been quoted from ABS is high for what we are getting.

Don Metzger thanked the Board for the Privilege of the Floor and also for trying to take back the Lead Agency Position. As much as he likes Cape Vincent he still gets quite uneasy thinking that they could be Lead Agency over the Town of Lyme. He had coincidently ran into some truck drivers who are taking wind towers down to Dansville, New York; a small rural community forty miles south of Rochester. They are not planning or proposing, they are putting up 60 wind towers. He had thought if our Boards were looking for another community relatively close at hand to see how they were handling the situation with wind power, they may want to contact Dansville, New York. Lastly he wanted to thank Charlie Mount and the board for supporting him, for an attempt to get the swimming program going. As someone who has made their living on the water for the last 44 years, swimming is a very important thing to him and he thinks it would be a shame not to have a program when here we are a community on one of the Great Lakes. There are very few Towns that have the resources like this Beach that we have.

Robert Ring 10800 Duck Harbor Road Chaumont, NY 13622: He handed out a letter that the Town Board refused to be read in the Town minutes on October 11, 2006. It was a letter he had written to the Zoning Officer July 31, 2006. Mr. Ring read the letter to the Board and the people present at the meeting.

He has concerns about Richard Guga and the permits that he should have obtained for work done on his property. He feels Guga is in violation of the use of his property and what the Town is willing to allow, by law.

He would like a written response and is asking that it be done within ten days from now. First with the restrictions at Duck Harbor stating that there are no businesses allowed. The Internal revenue service tells him that a rental property producing 50% or more of ones gross income they are considered a business. Mr. Guga should not be allowed to carry on a business in duck Harbor. He feels his rights are being violated and would like to know what the town of Lyme is doing about it? The duplex appears to be to close to the right of way is also posing another problem for Mr. Ring. He has owned a property in duck harbor for 45 years and has never had the problems he is having today. Unless zoning is enforced there then he certainly doesn’t think the Town needs anyone with a title in the Town. If the zoning will not be enforced let him know within ten days. It seems to be reasonable since the Board has had since October 11^th of last year to think about it. If they plan on doing nothing then tell him.

Zoning Officer Suzann Cornell will make an appointment with Mr. Ring to discuss this matter further.

Motion to move into Executive Session to discuss litigation and collective bargaining at 9:00 p.m.