West Seneca Town Board Meeting Minutes 12/15/2008
Supervisor Wallace C. Piotrowski called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with 30 seconds of silent prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present -
Absent - None Supervisor Piotrowski read the Fire Prevention Code instructing the public where to exit in case of a fire or an emergency. 21-A MINUTES TO BE APPROVED
21-B TABLED ITEMS 1. Ice Rink Remediation & Rehabilitation Project Remained on the table. 2. Moran rezoning request Remained on the table. 21-C COMMUNICATIONS 1. Town Attorney re Tower lease agreement with Upstate Cellular d/b/a Verizon Wireless Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to adopt the attached resolution issuing a negative declaration with respect to SEQR for the lease agreement between the Town of West Seneca and Verizon Wireless.
*APPENDICES* 2. Town Engineer re Princeton Estates Subdivision, Phase I, final acceptance Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to accept the Princeton Estates Subdivision, Phase I, Sublot Nos. 1 – 30 and 69 – 88, completed by Cimato Brothers Construction, Inc., 9220 Transit Road, East Amherst, NY 14051, under Public Improvement Permit No. 08-01.
3. Town Engineer re Purchase of emergency generator for Warren Avenue lift station Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize the purchase of a Generac Power Systems, Inc. propane engine generator with automatic transfer switch from Better Light & Power, 2140 West Henrietta Road, Rochester, New York 14623, at the NYS contract price of $18,413.
21-C COMMUNICATIONS 4. Town Engineer re Engineering services proposal for sanitary sewer study Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to accept the professional engineering services proposal of $273,400 submitted by Stearns & Wheler, LLC, 415 North French Road, Suite 100, Amherst, NY 14228, for performing a sanitary sewer study in West Seneca Sewer District #5 & #13.
5. Town Engineer re Purchases requiring Town Board approval Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize payment of $2159 & $3000 to Duke’s Root Control, Inc. for root control in sewer lines and $2400 to Electrical Connections of WNY, Inc. for installation of a new generator at the Warren Avenue lift station.
6. Highway Supt. re Change in quote for purchase of dump trucks with plows Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to change the purchase price for the five (5) dump trucks purchased at the December 1, 2008 Town Board meeting from Regional International & Engine Corporation as follows: three (3) trucks equipped with one-way plows @ $125,611.58 per unit - $376,834.74; two (2) trucks equipped with reversible plows @ $122,930.85 per unit - $255,802.56; total - $632,637.30.
7. Highway Supt. re Bid date for purchase of various equipment Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to set a bid date of January 5, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. for receipt of bids on the purchase of two (2) sanivans for the Sanitation Department; one (1) rubber tire loader for the Highway Department; four (4) medium duty dump trucks for the Highway Department; one (1) medium duty dump truck with lift gate for the Highway Department; and one (1) ice resurfacing machine for the Ice Rink.
8. Highway Supt. re Purchase requiring Town Board approval Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize payment of $2121.66 to Penn-Detroit Diesel for repairs to truck #106.
9. Chief Gehen re Purchase of in-car video systems Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize the purchase of two WatchGuard DV-1 overhead system, second generation in-car video systems from WatchGuard Digital In-Car Video, 3001 Summit Avenue, Plano, TX 75074 at a cost of $4995 each plus $50 shipping, a total cost of $10,040.
21-C COMMUNICATIONS 10. Chief Gehen re Purchase of equipment Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize the purchase of three (3) Panasonic Toughbook Model 30 Rugged Mobile Touchscreen, 1 GB Mem; 80 GB hardrive; 802.11 a/b/g; WinXP; Bluetooth data terminals (MDT’s) with docking stations from Synergy Global Solutions, Inc., 1100 Pittsford-Victor Road, Pittsford, NY 14534, at the NYS contract price of $4478 each, for a total cost of $13,434.
11. Chief Gehen re Attendance of Lt. John McNamara at FBI National Academy Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to authorize Lt. John McNamara to attend the 237th session of the F.B.I. National Academy, April 5 – June 12, 2009, at a cost not to exceed $2678 which includes two round trip air fares.
12. Chief Gehen re Status change for part-time Public Safety Dispatchers to part-time seasonal Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to change the status of part-time Public Safety Dispatchers James McCullough, Rick Galli, and Diane Nowicki to part-time seasonal effective December 1 – 31, 2008 and authorize the Supervisor to complete and sign the necessary forms for Erie County Personnel.
13. Chief Gehen re Rate increase for part-time Crossing Guards Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to grant a rate increase from $7.15 per hour to $8.00 per hour for the part-time Crossing Guards effective January 1, 2009 and authorize the Supervisor to complete and sign the necessary forms for Erie County Personnel.
14. Town Clerk re Hageman special permit request Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to refer the special permit request of Adam Hageman for property located at 506 Bullis Road to the West Seneca Planning Board for their review and recommendation, conditioned upon the facility not being used to dismantle any vehicles or sell motor vehicle parts and any debris (used tires, vehicle parts, etc.) should not be left lying around on the property.
21-C COMMUNICATIONS 15. Town Clerk re Serafini rezoning request Supervisor Piotrowski stated that all the property along Clinton Street was zoned R-65 and the applicant was requesting that the zoning for this one parcel be changed, but he did not believe it would conform with the town’s Master Plan. Councilwoman Bove agreed and stated she was hesitant to change this property to R-50 when the area was primarily R-65. Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilman Clarke, to deny referring the Serafini rezoning request for 4549 Clinton Street to the Planning Board.
16. Recreation Director re Termination & appointment of part-time recreation attendants Motion by Councilwoman Bove, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to terminate Meghan Ebert as part-time Recreation Attendant effective October 1, 2008 and appoint Claire Cusella and Kaitlin Wolf as part-time Recreation Attendants at a rate of $7.15 per hour effective December 19, 2008 through May 31, 2009 and authorize the Supervisor to complete and sign the necessary forms for Erie County Personnel.
21-D REPORTS ISSUES OF THE PUBLIC FOIL REQUEST FOR EMPLOYEE SALARY & BENEFIT INFORMATION Paula Minklei, Orchard Park Road, stated that on many occasions the residents asked for a list of town jobs, salaries, and benefits, but never received the information. In September 2008, Mrs. Minklei filed a Freedom of Information (FOIL) request for this information and the response she received was a combination of regulations and figures from 2007 and 2008, but not the requested information. She then filed another FOIL request stipulating the 2007 information regarding employee costs and benefits, and received a response from the Deputy Town Attorney stating that he would need a deposit of $632.56 before processing the request. The cost breakdown was explained as $509.74 for record research, $72.82 for record retrieval, and $5 for record copies. Mrs. Minklei did not mind paying for the copies, but she did not understand why research was necessary when this information must have been available since January 2008 to file W2 forms. She also commented that in this day of technology, and given the fact that the town sets aside large amounts in the budget for computer use and maintenance, she could not understand why this information could not be easily accessed. Accessing this information was not a problem for the towns of Orchard Park and Amherst and the information was published on their town websites. It also was not a problem for the City of Buffalo. Mrs. Minklei questioned why this was a problem for West Seneca and stated that the town was lacking in transparency in this regard.
ISSUES OF THE PUBLIC FOIL REQUEST FOR EMPLOYEE SALARY & BENEFIT INFORMATION (cont’d.) Councilwoman Meegan stated that she had spoken with Deputy Town Attorney Paul Notaro about Mrs. Minklei’s request and he informed her that New York State allowed municipalities to charge the public for the time it takes to dedicate an employee to gather the information requested plus 25 cents per copy. Mr. Notaro and Councilwoman Meegan were working together on this and they would be posting the information on the town’s website when they have it all together. TREE ORDINANCE Amy Carpenter, Woodward Crescent, stated that the Environmental Commission had Chapter 110-1 on the Internet for West Seneca and it talked about establishing standards and criteria to ensure the replacement of trees that have been removed. She questioned what the criteria was and referred to Princeton Estates where all the trees were removed to build houses. Code Enforcement Officer William Czuprynski advised that corner lots would have four trees and other lots would have two, and most of the time they were planted between the sidewalk and the street. Planting of the trees would depend on weather conditions. If a home is built now, the trees would probably not be planted until the spring when the grading was done. The developer would plant the trees regardless of whether or not the homeowner wanted them. Mrs. Carpenter questioned if the town had any jurisdiction over the property where state run facilities are located. Mr. Czuprynski responded that state run facilities were exempt from all town zoning ordinances and most of the other ordinances in the town. Mrs. Minklei commented that trees were not just there to look good; they were supposed to absorb water. There were a lot of trees removed for the Princeton Estates subdivision and there was water backed up in Fisher Court. Mr. Czuprynski stated that there was a Tree Ordinance in the town and the Planning Board should have told the developer what was required with regard to trees. In a subdivision, the trees are often totally removed because they have to put in swales and drainage for the development. PRESENTATION OF COMMUNICATIONS BY BOARD MEMBERS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS BREAKFAST WITH SANTA AT SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER Councilwoman Bove stated that Breakfast with Santa was held yesterday at the Senior Citizens Center and there were over 75 volunteers from the Youth Engaged in Service (YES). A number of families participated in group activities and had a wonderful time. Councilwoman Bove thanked JoLynn Keane and Donna Lepore for coordinating the event and Senior Citizens Director Mary Josefiak for her assistance. EMPLOYEES TRAINED ON DEFIB UNITS Councilman Clarke referred to the defibrillator units that were installed in certain town offices earlier this year. He thanked Blue Collar President James Kittner for paying for the books and cards for the course, Chief Gehen for allowing Desk Lt. Joel Fallon to teach the course to individuals, Tim McQuade of WNY EMS Association for printing the cards, the 27 Blue Collar workers and five AmeriCorps workers that took the course, and Highway Supt. Patrick Finnegan and the Town Board for approving this.
PRESENTATION OF COMMUNICATIONS BY BOARD MEMBERS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS HOLIDAY WISHES Town Board members and department heads wished everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Councilman Clarke, seconded by Councilwoman Meegan, to adjourn the meeting at 8:05 P.M.
_______________________________________ PATRICIA C. DEPASQUALE, RMC/CMC |