Town Board Meeting 7/9/1

Frank Hogg (draft 713/1) Update 7/14/1

There is a lot of people here tonight, 15 by my count. Many of then I haven't seen before. I'm doing something different. I recently bought a new Apple iBook laptop, the white one, and I decided to bring it to the meeting to take notes and not wait till I got home. I tried it first at the last ZBA meeting and it worked out very well. Saves me a lot of time and also points out how much dead time there is at these meetings. It hasn't gotten to the point where I'm playing solitaire yet, but it may. What follows is a running commentary of the meeting. My observations are in Italics.

8 PM We always start with a pledge of allegiance to the flag.

John Steger says they are changing the order of things to accept bid openings for a new truck for the highway department. Probably explains the extra people. Turns out this was wrong. Bids are in the $103K area.

Leija, Paul Knapp's lawyer just walked in and shook Del Knapp's hand and sat behind him. Paul and Maureen Knapp came in a few minutes later and sat at the back of the room.

8:10 PM bid opening is over and they have 30 days to deal with it. Now they are on regular schedule. First order is to accept the minutes of the last meeting, which they did. Now they are doing the run of the mill stuff like dog reports, justice, highway etc.

John Steger noted that on 7/28 there would be a band and at the Preble park. On 9/3(4?) a rummage sale will be held by the rec committee.

ZBA notes: John Steger said that the Town received a resignation letter dated 7/5/1 from Cathy Kinne. (Apparently for personal reasons.) No other comments about it. Mention was made of a letter from Barb Frier, former ZBA member, wanted to fill out the remaining 5 months of Cathy's term. Anne Brennen did not want to deal with it tonight. A real problem for the TB because Barb would make the perfect person for the job, a no brainer . . . BUT rumor has it that they don't like Barb and getting rid of her was the real reason for changing the ZBA from 7 to 5. If they don't accept her for the job that will make that rumor true.

Betty Ann Pitman talking about Dennis Morgan. She said he said he picked up a building permit application and filled it out and left it with Jane for Doug. She said Morgan claims that delays are putting him behind and he was told after the fact he needed a variance. Confusion on the board about what is going on. John Steger said he went to Morgan's two weeks ago last Wed. (6/20?) John Steger is saying that it is Morgan's fault and that he started late. Betty Ann Pitman and John Steger are debating it, now Anne Brennen chimed in and she is angry. (With whom? Betty Ann Pitman, Morgan or? Sounds like she is mad at Morgan). John Steger and Betty Ann Pitman are still discussing it. John Steger has convinced Betty Ann Pitman that it is Morgan's fault. Lots of rumors flying says John Steger and that he is trying to work it out. This will be interesting because the deck in question is very visible from 281 as you drive by the Mountain View. To keep an eye on how this progresses just note if any work is being done or is it being held up. I suspect because of the publicity and the openness of the deck it will go quickly. We'll just have to see what happens.

Back on Kinne's resignation now. They make a motion and pass it to accept Kinne's resignation. John Steger says that he has received a letter from Barb Frier about the position and said that he has others interested. Anne Brennen wants to delay doing anything tonight.

John Steger mentions that there is a Planning Board meeting on 7/12 instead of 19^th

Historian Ann Henderson reports that on 9/9/1 she will host a Sunday afternoon cemetery tour. She said last years tour was very popular. I would like to take that tour, should be very interesting. More info later.

Don Armstrong is talking about the old item about private roads access for fire, nothing from the state yet.

Arley Beaver(sp?) From Little York Lake is looking for action to control Jet Ski's on their lake. Because the public boat launch is in Preble he is looking for help. The public launch is the problem and the Jet Skis are there for hours. Very upset about it. Talked about noise and pollution. Connie Basset(sp?) Has an eroding sea wall. Long discussion seems to be mostly about the public access launch. Turns out this is the reason for most of the new people at the meeting.

9 PM I asked about the state audit of the town done in 1998-99. The state wanted a record of fixed assets and the town doesn't have it. The states comments were that if the town doesn't know what it has then it couldn't know if the assets are being misused or lost. John Steger told me that they didn't have to do it for 3-4 more years. I asked about an inventory of assets of the town and John Steger said they didn't have any lists, not even the stuff in the town hall. Referred me to the different departments for an inventory from each of then. Highway, firehouse, rec etc. I asked if that request could go through Jane and was ignored. I'll foil her and let them deal with it. I asked about the new application procedure for Staley and was told that John Steger had mailed it to the boards in January and he would get it to me.

UPDATE: (7/13/1) I received the minutes and letter from the Feburary 2000 3 board meeting in the mail as promised.

9:10 PM Leija talks about the long form SEQRA and is giving something to the board. Don Armstrong and Leija talked about something in private. They want to do something with the SEQRA tonight. Don Armstrong says they need to complete the environmental assessment. Anne Brennen really wants to do it tonight. Don Armstrong says that the county would like the towns SEQRA. Leija says the county concentrates on regional info and he says they also want the town's environmental review. Looks like they are looking for ways to get it done tonight. Leija says that the Knapp's are not changing their application before the board at this moment. Looks like Don Armstrong and Leija talked about this before hand and this is a plan to get something moving tonight. They spent several minutes making copies of the SEQRA that Leija provided for the board.

9:15 PM Don Armstrong tells the board they now have the long form environmental assessment papers in front of them. They are going to go through it tonight. Because Anne Brennen wanted to do this tonight tells us for sure she will vote for it. What a shock. Don Armstrong Said YES to the sole source aquifer question. Finally. Leija said that there is 183 total acres to be sub-divided.

Impact questions on part 2. They answered NO to every question! No impact at all. . . not even a little bitty one. Amazing, they must be. . .  well . . . no comment!  They determined a negative declaration. Betty Ann Pitman made a motion (rather quickly I noted) that a negative declaration will be determined Anne Brennen seconded it very fast; she could hardly wait to second it. ALL in favor and carried. Leija left and said they would be back for the August meeting. . . Let the lawsuits begin.

9:38 PM John Steger read a letter re ambulance assistance from Tully. How many calls from 911? How many on 81? How many from mutual aid with TSC. Going to have a mutual meeting with Tully to determine these questions. Tully has asked for financial assistance for calls to Preble that did not result in anyone being taken in the ambulance. The calls are being paid for by Tully taxpayers and they think that Preble and other towns should pay for this. Sounds reasonable to me. Ambulance service to people in the North of Preble has been great and I sure hope that they don't do anything to screw that up.

9:40 PM John Steger was on east hill with Jeff (Highway Superintendent) and they have problems with Dawson's road and the turn a round. Wants to put up signs for littering and no parking. The town uses the turn around with the property owner's permission.

Barb Frier says that Song Mt has applied for tax relief??? Looking for a 7-year rather than 11 year. She asks the board if they know anything, they say they haven't heard anything.

End of meeting.

Well, so how do you like this new way of reporting? Let me know.

Frank Hogg