by Kieron Kramer
Perhaps it was the big bowl of candy, with plenty of root beer barrels, that appeared at the front table for the first time at this Grafton Town Board meeting on Monday, October 20, or the presence of nice kids in the audience trying to contribute to their community but, whatever, butter wouldn’t have melted in the mouths of the members of the Grafton Town Board. All the Board members seemed to be on the same page, as the saying goes, acting as one body for the furtherance of the agenda. [private]Many resolutions were offered, mostly by Town Supervisor Frank Higgins and Board Member Barb Messenger, and all were seconded quickly, mostly by Board Member Rick Ungaro. The meeting only lasted 39 minutes, and it seemed like a lot got done.
But Grafton Town government can be a treacherous endeavor. There is still plenty of correcting and catching up to do for the period after Allison Kirchner’s term as Supervisor up to the time when Higgins took over, when much of the Town’s business went unattended. During the transition choices were made that resulted in Board Members feeling slighted and in the shifting of alliances. As documented in previous reports in this newspaper, for months factionalism took hold, and the clash of personalities resulted in meetings that were often acrimonious in which Town business was either not done or done begrudgingly. When Marie Claus resigned from the Board in June for personal reasons it left only four Board members, separated most of the time into two camps, with the votes deadlocked. The void left by the withdrawal from the fray by Town Clerk Sue Putnam, either from illness or frustration, added to the problems. Deputy Town Clerk Cathy Goyer is trying to fill the void but is inexperienced, and in the back room there is a definite disconnect between the Deputy Clerk and the Supervisor no matter how smoothly business went at the meeting on Monday.
For instance, the bills were voted to be paid without any sturm und drang. But it was stated by Higgins in an interview after the meeting that the bills presented at the meeting were only those with vouchers that had been reviewed and signed by the Board and that there were many that did not have signed vouchers and so were not presented. It could be that these bills were objected to by one of the Board factions or it could be that they just weren’t circulated properly to the Board.
This bottleneck in the payment of bills has unforeseen consequences. According to Higgins, a credit card bill that was to be considered months ago was not paid. It had a charge on it for six tables for the Town Park at a cost of $600, $100 above the spending limit in the Town’s procurement policy. The bill was objected to by Rick Ungaro for that reason, rightfully so. Apparently the legitimacy of the purchase was not the issue, just the violation of the policy. Higgins should have gotten authorization from the Board for the expenditure. Or he could have bought five tables and then bought one table. Or the Board could have authorized the purchase after the fact and maybe admonished Higgins and maybe decided to review the Town’s procurement policy. In the August meeting the Board decided to form a committee to develop guidelines for credit card use. In any event, the bill was not paid. Higgins said the credit card company closed the account for non-payment, and Messenger said that Microsoft, with which the Town had a contract for software, could not charge the monthly $100 fee to the defunct credit card so it cancelled the Town’s software access. As of Monday night, according to Messenger and Higgins, the Town had no software on which to run its business.
An example of how Town business could, and should, be done was the resolution to replace the lighting in the Town Hall and the Town Garage. The proposal, and the facts and figures of the energy savings plan from nationalgrid, was placed in every Board member’s mailbox three weeks before the meeting. This gave the Board members the time to review the proposal and research the facts – something Board Member Rick Ungaro has been asking for for years. When Higgins presented the proposal at Monday’s meeting it was immediately seconded by Ungaro and passed unanimously, smooth as silk.
Approving the lighting upgrade was a no-brainer. The energy audit that had been applied for by Supervisor Higgins showed that the Town could save $5,647.27 per year in electric bills – not to mention reducing greenhouse gases by 55,863 pounds annually – using LED lighting in these facilities. The cost of the upgrade to Grafton would be $11,968.64. Board Member Mike Crandall asked how long the LEDs last. “50,000 hours,” Ungaro said. Nationalgrid offered three payment options – a lump sum payment with an additional 15% discount for a total of $10,730.29, an interest free 12 month plan with payments of $997.39 or an interest free 24 month plan with payments of $498.69. The Board voted for the 24 month plan, which would cost $5,984.20 per year, because the yearly savings would offset the expense almost entirely, thereby not costing the taxpayers anything.
Resolutions
In addition to the resolution to pay the bills and the resolution to upgrade the lighting, six other resolutions passed unanimously. Board Member Messenger made the motion to accept the minutes of the September 8 regular meeting. Ungaro seconded. Messenger made a motion to accept the Town Clerk’s report, which was seconded by Ungaro. Messenger made a motion to accept the Town Supervisor’s report for August 2014. This was also seconded by Ungaro.
A resolution to attest to the Board’s audit and review of the documents of the Grafton Justices was passed at this meeting. The audit and review had taken place in January, Higgins said. The resolution should have been offered at that time so it could have been entered into the January minutes. Monday’s resolution about the Justice audit was prompted by correspondence from the Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, the Chief Administrative Judge of the Unified Court System, stating that town and village justices must have their records audited and the findings entered into the town board minutes. Since Grafton did not do this at the time, Prudenti was asking for a copy of the recent audit or a copy of a Board resolution attesting that the review had been done. Higgins said the resolution was “needed now.” Messenger seconded the resolution.
A resolution to adopt the tentative budget as the preliminary budget was passed after some confusion on Deputy Clerk Goyer’s part. She had to sign the tentative budget and hand it back to the Board. This probably should have been done when the Board developed the tentative budget but was not. Each Board member explained the process to Goyer in different terms. Board Member Mike Crandall said, “It [the procedure] is being condensed.” Board Member Barb Messenger said that signing the tentative budget was “just a formality.” Ungaro explained that if there are no changes, the tentative budget becomes the preliminary budget. And Goyer finally signed the tentative budget. So, the figures from the tentative budget became the figures on the preliminary budget which the Board then voted to adopt. The resolution to do so was made by Higgins and seconded by Ungaro. Goyer clarified that the Town Clerk’s office had not asked for a $600 increase in the budget workshop as reported in this paper on September 26. She said she was only indicating that the software that the Town Clerk could use but had chosen not to spend the money on would require a $600 increase. Higgins said to Goyer, “There is money available in your contractual expense [line] to buy the software.”
This was followed by a resolution to set a public hearing on the preliminary budget for 7 pm on Monday, October 27. After that, a special meeting of the Board will be convened to pay bills – presumably the bills that were not presented Monday or those that are overdue.
The Nicest Public Comment
The meeting started in the nicest way when the only public comment was made by Abby Buckley announcing that she and her brother Zachary and family were starting a bottle drive for the month of November to raise money for the Town’s Youth Department. Bottles may be dropped off in November at 40 Jay Hakes Road or people can call 279-0095 to arrange for pick up.
The Highway Department report, Rescue Squad report, Assessor’s report, Code Enforcement Officer’s report, Dog Officer’s report and several announcements will appear next week.[/private]