VILLAGE BOARD MEETING MINUTES - JULY 23, 2007

Deputy Mayor Peterson opened regular meeting at 7:10 pm.

Members present: Deputy Mayor Peterson, Trustees Patterson, Russ, and Sobczak. Also present Al Graham of Valley River Inc. Mayor Skeet arrived at 7:15 pm.

• Al Graham addressed the Board regarding their concerns that were presented at the previous meeting. Mr. Graham listed many jobs and projects that VRI and himself have done for the Village and not billed the Village for their time, such as; Joint meetings with the Town Board, time involved in upgrade of plant, time donated to the October clean up. He personally often took comp time, which the Village was not billed for. Up to the beginning of 2007 he was listed on the dialer and got called well over 100 times and never charged the Village. Making evening appointments for grease trap inspection or other calls, taking calls from Grant writers and Insurance company and working with them at no charge to the Village.
• Mr. Graham requested that if anyone has a problem with his or any of his employee’s performance, to please contact him directly. Mistakes happen occasionally, and he feels they should be kept in perspective. He felt the harsh criticism was undue, and they do often go above and beyond what they are contracted for. He said he will put together a procedure or check list for the operators.
• Mr. Graham continued with the Sewer report. He said the variable speed drives are in and new blowers set up. There is still some wiring to be done and air sensor needs to be installed. He complimented Village Maintenance man Kevin McCarthy for his valuable help, and said he works extremely well with VRI. He also mentioned what a tremendous job Kevin did on the outfall cleanout.
• Mr. Graham informed the Board that there has been no wet sludge hauled since December of last year. Both digesters are empty and the big tank is down 10-12 ft. The drying bed is working extremely well.
• Some discussion was held about looking into a grant for sludge storage building such as the recycling grant. Proposed idea would be a building about 1 ½ times the size of a 30 yd dumpster like a single car garage double deep with reinforced 7 ft high concrete walls, with clear panels in top portion and roof and possibly a fan to force fresh air into the building.
• The question of combustion threat was raised, but if put in dry should have no combustion threat. The possibility of adding dehydrated lime to the mix was also mentioned to kill any bacteria and is environmentally safe.
• Mayor Skeet mentioned that wastewater plants are looking at major law changes in the near future. There is a bill on the table now in the legislature for levels of phosphorous allowed to go into water. At present there is no test for phosphorous. He said the Dairy industry is being hit hard for phosphorous testing. He mentioned an incident in Batavia where 63 wells were polluted due to liquid manure from a farm leaching into the water table, costing millions for cleanup.
• Al Graham left the meeting at 7:50 pm.
• Clerk Thomas questioned the Board regarding past due sewer bill for the Landmark House. It was the opinion of the Board that the current owner is responsible if unable to collect from the previous owner.
• Mayor Skeet requested the Board make a decision regarding having Maintenance man Kevin McCarthy come to every committee meeting to give a report and be paid overtime for the meetings. The Board concurred they would like him to continue to give reports at committee meetings and would be paid overtime for the time.
• Brief discussion was held regarding request from Linda Tucker to have the Village water the small patch of new grass seed between the sidewalk and street that Monroe County Water finally repaired. Board decided to agree with the request.
• Mayor Skeet informed the Board that the Maintenance building roof is leaking badly and needs to be repaired or replaced. He presented the Board with three quotes he had gotten for varied treatments, from shingling over, ripping off and reshingling or replacing with steel roofing. After some discussion, the Board felt with the longer life span and small difference in price, the steel roofing would be the way to go.
• Motion was made by Trustee Russ and seconded by Trustee Peterson to approve having Steel roof installed on Maintenance Garage as per price quote of $4,650. Motion carried.
• Mayor Skeet informed the Board that Kevin McCarthy was going to start working on cleaning out the creek from Longs Lane to Maple Avenue. He is looking into the cost of renting a brush hog for the job. Mayor Skeet also suggested contacting NY Workforce for part time Maintenance position.
• Mayor Skeet updated the Board on the Police department. He said the radiator fan on the Impala had to be replaced. Kevin McCarthy installed the part saving considerably on labor. He also mentioned that the fuses on the light bar of the marked car melted, so that problem is being looked into and new fuse will be installed.
• Clerk Thomas questioned the Mayor as to the status of the new air cards as the bill is due. Mayor Skeet said part time officer Dan Wood informed him that they need to run test on the air cards at County to make sure the cards will work through County. He said Officer Wood would take care of it right away.
• Mayor Skeet informed the Board that officers are on the lookout for a Old dark color (brown or dark rust) pickup which appears to be stalking areas in the Village. Two incidents have been reported of suspicious activity by a truck of the same description. Officers have contacted the Sheriff’s and State Police to be on the lookout.
• Mayor Skeet said that Civil Service has agreed to allow seasonal officer Retzlaff to be reinstated for three more months after one week layoff, giving us an additional officer through the end of Darien Lake season. A brief discussion was held regarding police scheduling.
• Trustee Sobczak presented a report he has worked on with Officer Yueckstock regarding calls Village officers responded to outside the Village limits through the year 2006. According to the report, Village officers responded to 73 calls in Town of Pembroke and 65 calls in Town of Darien in 2006. Some discussion was held regarding how the Village of Leroy police force has set up a plan with the Town of Leroy for compensating Village Officers for calls outside the Village. The Board feels it may be something to look further into for the Village.
• Question was raised regarding the status of the Kennelly property. Clerk will contact Mr. Reeves to have him check on the situation once again.
• Trustee Sobczak was appointed by Mayor Skeet to keep track of Village Employee personal, sick and vacation time.
• Trustee Peterson updated the Board on the situation with planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals regarding getting the ball rolling on the proposed work on corner of 77 and 33 by Reid Petroleum. He said the County has approved the plans, and that signage was the only thing County did not sign off on. The next step would be to get approval on the variances by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
  At present there is not a full board, leading us to two options: 1) To appoint enough people to create a full board or 2) go with the Town of Pembroke Zoning Board.
• Trustee Peterson said a formal request has been made to the Town of Pembroke, and that Ed Beideck is getting paperwork from Leroy who has combined the Village and Town Planning and Zoning Boards. He said it took them approximately a month to accomplish.
• Trustee Peterson will be attending the public hearing of the Planning Board on Wednesday, July 25th and said he will stay on top of the project and work with the Planning Board through the project as much as possible.
• Motion was made by Trustee Patterson and seconded by Trustee Russ to adjourn meeting. Motion carried.
• Meeting was adjourned at 10:05 pm.

Sandra Thomas
Clerk Treasurer