by Kieron Kramer
The highlight of the Grafton Town Board regular meeting on Monday, November 18, rescheduled from Monday, November 11 – Veterans Day, was the presentation of an $800 donation to the Grafton Youth Committee. The donation was represented by a four foot check facsimile signed by the Buckley and Reinhard family children, Tori, Zachary and Abby. In the context of years of conflict at the Town Board meetings, this was a special moment. It represented everything that is right about community spirit and about the Town of Grafton, in spite of the negativity expressed for so long in these meetings. [private]
When kids make this kind of commitment, with their enthusiasm and optimism, it is even more special. And Tori, Zachary and Abby, in particular, are so endearing that their very presence seemed to have a sobering effect on the adults in the audience who seemed to feel obliged to act like adults. And so, when the public comment time was at hand, usually a sea of conflict and contention, there were no comments, positive or negative – for the first time in recent memory. When calling for comments Town Supervisor Frank Higgins said, “Identify yourself and no personal attacks, please.” He seemed stunned by the golden silence.
Board Still Debilitated
Unfortunately, the behavior of the Town Board is still contentious, and the power struggle with Supervisor Higgins and Board Member Barb Messenger on one side and Board members Rick Ungaro, Mike Crandall and Marie Claus on the other is still debilitating. The acceptance of the Supervisor’s report, like last month, was one bone of contention. The final 2014 budget was another. As in October Messenger made the motion to accept the Supervisor’s report, now from December 2012 through October 2013. Claus asked, “Last month we voted not to accept the report until we have the final figures; is this still true?” Ungaro and Crandall said, “Yes.” Higgins replied, “Can you provide a list of the information you need?” Claus said, “We want the audit completed, a reconciliation [of all the fund balances] before we can approve the report.” After the meeting Higgins said that this is no easy task because the Town’s finances were still in a complete mess and that the bookkeeper, Maureen Seel, has been making copious corrections. And so Grafton goes for another month without resolving this issue.
The final 2014 budget, which was to be adopted at this meeting after numerous workshops and a public hearing, was not formally adopted. When a vote to adopt the budget was called for Ungaro announced that there was a $12,500 math error on the summary page of the budget. According to Ungaro’s guess, a cell on the spreadsheet that had $12,500 in it was not included in the total. He said that the corrected total would bring the tax levy over the tax cap. There was no explanation as to how this happened or why it was discovered at the 11th hour. Higgins said that “no changes can be made at this point.” He said that another public hearing would be needed. But Ungaro maintained, logically, that a math error can be corrected and that he had an email from the Association of Towns saying that the figures in the budget could be changed without another hearing as long as the Board votes on the individual changes. Ungaro read the emails to the meeting. Messenger said, “We can’t override the tax cap at this time because there has been no public hearing or vote to override.” Overriding the tax cap was not what Ungaro was asking for. He asked for a resolution to change specific lines in the preliminary budget.
Claus read a resolution, obviously prepared earlier, that the Ungaro/Claus/Crandall group wanted. It was a “Resolution Amending the Town of Grafton 2014 Preliminary Budget” and said, “During the workshop, several changes were recommended and a general consensus was that revisions to Grafton’s 2014 Preliminary Budget need to be made; and… a formal resolution needs to be adopted by the Grafton Town Board; and…it was discovered that the amount shown on the Summary Page (Page 1) under the heading title of ‘Appropriations and Provisions for Other Uses’ for the General Fund A is short by $12,500. The total shown in the budget provided shows $498,050 and should reflect $510,550…The difference was caused by the total amount of appropriations shown on the ‘Total General Government Support A1999.0’ line of the preliminary budget as $205,250…When all amounts are added in this category, the amount should read; $217,750…In order to bring the tax levy under the 2% tax cap, additional budget revisions will be needed beyond what was discussed at the November 12, 2014 Budget Workshop.” The resolution then included, presumably in order to formalize them, all the changes agreed to in the November 12 meeting. These were described in last week’s Eastwick Press. Reiterating these changes from the last meeting did not adjust for the $12,500 math error, but two new changes, changes on the revenue side of the budget, neutralized the effect of the error. The revenue from the General Fund County Sales Tax was raised from $205,000 to $222,500 – a $17,500 increase. The revenue from the Highway Fund County Sales Tax line was reduced $5,000 to $10,000. This resulted in a $12,500 increase in revenues that offsets the $12,500 that was not figured into the appropriation side of the budget. It keeps the tax levy increase to 0.07% as in the preliminary budget. This resolution passed by a 3-2 vote with Higgins and Messenger voting against it. Higgins said after the meeting that he voted against the resolution because he didn’t know what caused the error and because he still believed a public hearing was required to change the budget.
Near the end of the meeting Crandall asked if the Board needed to vote to adopt the budget. Messenger said that the vote on the resolution served to adopt the budget. And so, no formal vote on the budget was held. Usually, an amendment is voted on and then the amended motion is voted on.
It seems that the factions on the Board are not on the same page; they are not even in the same book. Several students from BCS fulfilling their community service were in attendance. They had also attended the November 5 budget meeting that ended with a “pharumph.” About that meeting one said, “Seems like people don’t listen to each other,” and about this meeting, “We are looking forward to the comment time.” Well, there were no comments this month.
A notice calling for an “Emergency Meeting” of the Board on Tuesday, November 19, at 7 pm was distributed Tuesday afternoon. The purpose of the meeting was “to make corrections to the Town 2014 Preliminary Budget as was amended on 11/18/13. To also approve the corrected budget of 11/19/13 as the final budget for the Town for 2014 and to deal with any other business which may arise.” The 2014 Town Budget was formally adopted at the emergency meeting.
The rest of the meeting on Monday went smoothly.
Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck reported that the Department has been busy winterizing the highway equipment. This includes lots of mechanical work. The new sander chains needed to be installed, the plows mounted and the hydraulic lines and pumps to control the plows needed to be inspected. One hydraulic pump needed to be repaired. Messenger asked Hasbrouck for the date on which seasonal roads will stop being maintained. He said December 1 was the date.
Code Enforcement Officer Tom Withcuskey reported that he had issued 60 permits to date and he has been dealing with some junk cars. He reminded everyone that the heating season is here and people should make sure that their heating equipment is in good shape, chimneys cleaned and carbon monoxide alarms checked.
The Grafton Volunteer Ambulance report was given by Donna Baldwin. The Ambulance responded to 15 calls – MVA (motor vehicle accident), three sick persons, two fire stand-bys, two falls, an assault, an unconscious person, two difficulty breathing calls, one no patient found, one call cancelled, one RMA. One call was missed because a crew could not be confirmed. The Ambulance travelled 298 miles and expended 57.49 volunteer hours, not including meetings and training. The Ambulance went to Samaritan Hospital four times, Albany Med twice and St. Mary’s Hospital once. Baldwin reported that the Ambulance was out of service early in the month from a leak in the brake line. The damage was caused by previous service during this time, she said. Grafton Ambulance received mutual aid from the Petersburgh Rescue Squad and Mohawk Ambulance for patient transport during this time. Baldwin announced that Cullen O’Brien became a new member, that meetings are the third Wednesday of the month and drills are on the second Wednesday and that annual elections will be held in December.
Supervisor Higgins reported that he had no update on Time Warner since his contact there had changed jobs and the new person had not yet responded to him. He asked that the Board vote to authorize the Fire Ladies Auxiliary to decorate the Town Park for the holidays. They voted 5-0 to authorize use of the Park. Noelle Goyer distributed flyers about the event. It is called “Deck The Town – Community Event.” The flyer says, “The Grafton Fire Auxiliary and the Town of Grafton would like to invite you to help us decorate the Town Center on Sunday, December 1, at 1 pm. Feel free to bring a snack to share. Hot cocoa and donuts [will be] provided by the Auxiliary. Please feel free to donate any lights, inflatables and gently used decorations.”
Higgins read a letter from Anne Kiely publicizing the Festival of Trees. The public is encouraged to decorate a 2 to 5 foot Christmas Tree for the Festival of Trees in Miniature at the Senior Center in Grafton. Trees will be displayed from Sunday, November 24, through Sunday, December 22. The trees may be traditional or completely original but no taller than five feet and should be in place by November 23. Local businesses, organizations and individual community members are invited to participate; prizes will be awarded. If you are interested in displaying a tree please call Donna Walker at 279-3275 or the Senior Center at 279-3413.
Higgins read a letter from Town Historian Pat Niebuhr requesting that the antique McNeely Bell from the closed Grafton Methodist Church be displayed in front of the Town Hall. Niebuhr said that not only was the bell donated to the Town but so was $500 to cover the costs of displaying it. For the last three years it has resided in the lobby of the Town Hall.
The Board went into executive session for about half an hour in the middle of the meeting to discuss litigation. Since attorney Thomas J. Mortati, Esq. from the Albany firm of Burke, Scolamiero, Mortati & Hurd, LLP, which is representing the Town in the lawsuit filed by former Town Supervisor Tyler Sawyer, attended the executive session, it is safe to assume that the Sawyer lawsuit was the topic of the executive session.
The motion to pay all bills as audited passed 5-0. The meeting was adjourned “in loving memory of Austin McGrath, Scott Ruchar and George Allain.”[/private]