VILLAGE BOARD MEETING MINUTES - JANUARY 22, 2007

Mayor Skeet opened Regular Meeting at 6:58 pm.

Members present: Mayor Skeet, Trustees Peterson, Patterson, Russ and Sobczak. Also present were Al Graham of Valley River Inc and Jean O’Connell and Gary Rouleau from J. O’Connell & Associates Grant Writers.

• Mayor Skeet addressed his concerns from the Grant meeting of January 9 regarding future expansion of the Sewer Plant, possible establishment of a Sewer District, and how and when we might be able to begin implementing such a thing.
• Al Graham gave the Sewer report. The plant was in compliance for the month and monthly average flow was 64,000 gallons. He said they did have 8000 gallons of sludge hauled. He said it became necessary because the plant developed filamentous growth that required dosing chlorine into the aeration tank, which added wasting because of the dead growth.
• He reported that lift station dialers have not been installed yet, as they ran into a few snags with personnel changes taking place in the company that installs the dialers.
• Inflow and Infiltration inspection reports are in the works for conducting sump pump inspections. There will be smoke testing of the whole system in June. The Village of Akron will be coming in to help with the smoke testing.
• With regards to the possible future expansion, Mr. Graham said that Clark-Patterson has still not come to look at the plant as per the last joint meeting. He said he has not heard of any progress being made at the Town level.
• He reported that the old Chlorine room has been converted into a storage area.
• He said they have inspected the new flow meter at the Laundromat. He has spoken with Mr. Doll regarding installing a tab wire control on the meter, and also spoke to him about the pit sump where wash water enters. He said it is full of lint and grit, so solids could be entering the sewer, so it needs to be cleaned out.
• Mr. Graham said he will be speaking with the Pizza Pantry regarding their grease trap. The Depot lift station was cleaned by Dibbles and found a lot of grease. He said the floats wouldn’t kick on. He would like to jet it and check it again in one month, to verify the possible source of the grease.
• He reported that the plant electric bill was down by about $800 due to running only one blower as often as possible.
  He reported that the plant variable speed drive burned out and the estimated cost of replacement is around $1500. It is at least 6-7 years old. He said he will get a total cost for replacement.
• He said they have greased and oiled all the equipment and are keeping a log book to indicate what equipment is done when.
• Jean O’Connell gave the Board an update list of Grants received, denied and pending. She said at present they are working on the State Archives grant for the court for microfilming of the court documents.
• The Board asked about resubmittal of the Small Cities grant for the drainage problems. She said she had received a review of our previously denied grant, and there were several areas that the reviewers had problems with. She said they did not like our survey, as there were not enough low-income families in the survey, so we will have to do another survey. One other problem was that they felt that this has been a long on-going problem and that we hadn’t done anything to alleviate it in the past. Trustee Russ did mention the in the early 1980’s they did have the Army Corps of Engineers out to look into the problem. On a positive note, Ms. O’Connell said the reviewers did seem to feel we have a real problem so hopefully we will get the grant in the future.
• She also said that in the application we had indicated that part of the cost of Engineers would be paid for by funds from Rural Development. The reviewers felt there would be a time problem if using Rural Development for funds, as they are extremely slow. She said we would have to file a preliminary application with Rural Development, or possibly look into paying the Engineer costs out of something other than Rural Development. After February she will look into it further.
• Mayor Skeet mentioned the possibility of obtaining grant funds for repairing the viaduct. He explained the problems we are having with the flooding as well as the safety issue with rebar sticking out, rusted railings, etc., as well as the appearance of it. Because it is owned partly by CSX and partly by DOT, neither is willing to make a commitment for any repairs. Ms. O’Connell said we need to get Mary Lou Rath and Steve Hawley out to see the problems, most ideally when it is flooded. She said we need to scream and yell. She also suggested we have our engineers come up with an estimate for repairs.
• Mayor Skeet also mentioned the possibility of obtaining a grant to redo the Village street lights, citing the examples of Clarence and Alden. She said it is easiest if you can coordinate with when DOT is planning on doing roadwork. The Board mentioned DOT suggested they may be redoing Route 33 in 2008, but she did point out that if another area has to have any sewers or water drains dug up, they will get priority and DOT could keep pushing us back.
• Ms. O’Connell was questioned as to the availability of a grant to have preliminary work done at our sewer plant, such as upgrading the drying beds, lift stations, etc. She asked if our engineers had completed the study they were going to do on estimated costs of upgrades at the plant. Trustee Peterson said he will call Chatfield Engineers regarding the sewer plant study.
• Mayor Skeet also requested they look into any grants for the revitalization of Main Street, grant monies for Police Cars, and other ideas were discussed. One mentioned was a grant available for establishing a Farmers Market in the community, which could be a good draw to the downtown area businesses, especially during Six Flags season. Ms. O’Connell did mention that member item grants (or legislative initiative grants) would probably not be announced until the budget passes. With a Democratic Governor, the procedure is likely to change.
• Ms. O’Connell, Mr. Rouleau and Al Graham left at 7:57 pm.
• Dave Cristofaro entered the meeting at 8:00 pm. He felt he would like to explain the sample letter he had sent to the Board was only an example and that they could rewrite it so it would not indicate any guarantee of hiring him in the future. He said he would not hold them to anything, or expect they had to hire him, but would appreciate just a letter of possible interest so he can get his civil service status reinstated. After a few questions posed by Trustee Patterson, Mr. Cristofaro was told the Board would let him know something by the end of the week.
• Mr. Cristofaro left the meeting at 8:15 pm.
• The Board had a brief discussion about the possibility of part-time officer Andrew Houghton returning to work. Mayor Skeet said he has received a phone call from Officer Houghton indicating his interest in returning to work. He said he would contact Mr. Houghton to set up a meeting and will request paperwork from his doctor clearing him for duty.
• Discussion was held regarding the possible reorganization of the Police Department. With violations and tickets having more than doubled, and especially with the paperwork intensive DWI arrests increasing drastically, the paperwork involved has increased considerably, meaning less time on the road for the officers. One possible idea suggested was changing Senior Officer Yueckstock’s position to management confidential, putting him in charge of making sure all paperwork is taken care of, as he is most familiar with it and has designed a majority of the report forms the officers use. Other possible changes were discussed.
• Trustee Patterson suggested the idea of getting a dry-erase board for the Police Garage for Officer’s to leave messages for the next Officer on duty, such as any problem with a vehicle, etc.
• Motion was made by Trustee Sobczak and seconded by Trustee Patterson to authorize the purchase of a dry-erase board for the Police garage not to exceed $25.00. Motion carried.
• Mayor Skeet informed the Board of the Drug procedure policy Officer Yueckstock wrote up. Due to an increase of drug arrests, the Police department has ordered drug test kits and evidence bags to save the costly procedure of having it done outside. Officer Yueckstock purchased a drug scale for $18.00, which the Mayor had approved.
• He also said that Officer Yueckstock is visiting various businesses that sell beer, liquor and cigarettes to offer a program for employees on the consequences of selling these products to minors. The Village police department is also working on Programs to present at the schools on drug awareness and the consequences of drug and alcohol use.
• Mayor Skeet said Officer Yueckstock is working with the Sheriff’s department on obtaining a base radio for the Village Police office. Discussion was held as to the possibility of a phone system that would encompass all Village phones on one relay when a phone is installed in the Police office. Clerk presented the plan quoted by Frontier, which the Board felt was far too costly. It was decided that at present to have a single separate line put into the Police office.
• Motion was made by Trustee Patterson and seconded by Trustee Peterson to authorize having a regular phone line installed in the Police office. Motion carried.
  
• Trustee Sobczak will check into the feasibility and cost of Vonage Business phone plan, which could be utilized once the offices are hooked up to Road Runner, a necessity for the Police and Court due to the TRACs system. The Mayor informed the Board that the hold up on the high speed internet is waiting for the technician to come in and install.
• Mayor Skeet gave update on the progress of the Cold Storage building. Drainage tiles are in and they are scheduled to start drilling Tuesday, January 23rd for putting up the posts. He said the Town of Pembroke has been hauling in millings for us.
• Trustee Patterson reported she has a call in to Mac Sobol of SEMO regarding possible clean up of part of Murder Creek from the storm.
• It was suggested to have Newsletter and State of the Village report printed outside for this issue due to time constraint and some problems with the office copy machine. Trustee Sobczak said he would take it to Kinko’s. Board was in agreement.
• Brief discussion was held regarding the letter for Dave Cristofaro. Trustee Patterson said she would make a few phone calls.
• Trustee Sobczak informed the Board he is looking into bulk purchase of paper towels for the sewer plant. He also mentioned that he has some CD’s for a music library for the Corfu Family Days.
• Trustee Patterson expressed some concern regarding the sidewalks not being plowed early enough one morning for the school children. Mayor Skeet said Mr. McCarthy had spoken to him about it, and he was running behind due to ice-laden trees hanging over the sidewalk, which slowed him considerably.
• Board agreed to set up first Budget meeting for Monday February 5, 2007 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
• Motion made by Trustee Russ and seconded by Trustee Sobczak to adjourn meeting. Motion carried.
  
• Meeting was adjourned at 10:20 pm
  

Sandra Thomas
Clerk Treasurer