by Alex Brooks
The Grafton Town Board was once again deadlocked and unable to accomplish anything at its meeting this month. [private]There is a vacancy on the Planning Board because of the resignation of Pete Gundrum. The open position was advertised, and there were two applicants to fill the position by Town Board appointment for the remainder of 2014. But a motion to go into executive session to discuss which applicant to appoint failed to pass because neither Councilman Rick Ungaro nor Councilman Mike Crandall would vote for it. Ungaro said he thought people who had expressed interest in serving in other Town positions should have been personally contacted and asked if they were interested in the Planning Board position. As a result the Planning Board remains shorthanded despite having two applicants interested in being appointed to the vacant seat.
The Board was also unable to deal with a correction to the Town’s 2013 annual financial report to the State Comptroller’s Office. The Town included in that report a figure of $300,000 that it expected to receive from FEMA, although Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck said at the time that he didn’t expect to receive that much. Town Bookkeeper Maureen Seel consulted with Hasbrouck at the end of April and learned that no more than $136,446 could be expected from FEMA. A May 19 email from an Associate Examiner in the State Comptroller’s Office said it would be “in the best interest of the Town to amend their 2013 report” to make this figure accurate. This was brought up at the June meeting, but no action was taken because Ungaro said he needed to look into the matter more fully before voting on it.
Since then the Assistant Examiner in the State Controller’s Office wrote again to the Grafton Supervisor, urging him to correct the inflated figure “as soon as possible.” This email note was sent on June 26, and Supervisor Frank Higgins said he put copies of it in the Town Hall mailboxes of each of the Town Board members, but Ungaro and Crandall said they had not seen it. Supervisor Higgins handed a copy to them.
Supervisor Higgins read the note out loud in its entirety – six sentences, 10 lines of text, but Crandall and Ungaro both abstained on a motion to correct the figure in the Annual report. Crandall said, “I want to read this document before voting on this.”
No one made any argument to defend the $300,000 figure or to say why it would be better not to correct it.
Councilman Rick Ungaro then announced that he will be bringing a resolution to the next Town Board meeting requiring that resolutions proposed for Town Board action must be given in writing to the other Board members five working days prior to the meeting at which they will be presented.
Youth Program Begins
The Grafton Summer Youth Program began July 14, the same day as the Town Board meeting. A letter from Summer Youth Program Director Kathy Mason-Wagar was read describing the “newly expanded” program. It expressed thanks to Jean Brook from Rensselaer County for helping the Town to secure a $2,000 grant for Grafton’s summer youth program and to Melissa Miller, Grafton Lakes State Park Manager, for her assistance setting up the “learn to swim” program at the Park. “Once again, swimming lessons are now a part of the Grafton Summer Youth Program,” wrote Mason-Wagar.
She said the staff consists of herself as Director, three Senior Counselors and one adult Arts and Crafts person. The program will serve 25-30 Grafton kids aged 5-12 years old, free of charge. The five week program runs July 14 to August 14, 9 am to 2 pm. A field trip to the Adirondack Zoo in Gloversville is planned for July 18.
Assessor Report
A report was received from Grafton Assessor David Galarneau. He said he is preparing a complaint about an appraisal received for grievance purposes, to be sent to the NY Department of State Licensing Board. He feels the appraisal in question attempted to suppress the real market value of the property through “an unusually low value estimate based on a series of data manipulation or omissions.” Galarneau wrote, “New assessors are routinely tested by some property owners to see just what can be gained assessment-wise and in tax savings. My complaint should serve as notice that I am pro-active in my attempts for assessment equity and in preventing misleading information from being used to circumvent that equity.”
Galarneau also said he has been working with the County to fix a glitch in their Real Property software, and he met with representatives from “the Grafton Quarry” and was able to work out an agreement with them, so they will not be filing a lawsuit against the Town this year over their assessment.
Galarneau said all grievance decisions have been made, and he is sending out final paperwork now to the complainants. He believes one of those will be filing a small claims petition against the Assessor, although Galarneau said the assessment in question “is clearly much lower than the value of the property.”
Town Board Gets Things Done
Councilman Ungaro said that he and Mike Crandall pressure-washed some of the siding on the Town Hall and painted some of the side porch. He said they plan to do some painting on the back of the building as well.
Other Matters
Councilwoman Barbara Messenger began the meeting by saying she could not approve the minutes as presented because the description of her letter concerning FOIL requests was very biased and inaccurate. She asked that it be corrected. The Board also did not accept the Town Clerk’s report, as Supervisor Higgins said there were some figures in it that were not accurate.
Supervisor Higgins announced that the Grafton Library had received $1,300 in additional funding through State Senator Kathy Marchione’s office. Grafton Library Director Christian Collins said this was additional education funding provided to all the libraries in Marchione’s district and said he is happy that “Senator Marchione chose to recognize us in this way, along with the other libraries in her district.”
The meeting was adjourned in loving memory of Mary Burger and Jacqueline Stowell.
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