MINUTES
May 15, 2017

Meeting opened at 7:04 PM by Mayor Guido.  In attendance were Mayor Louis A. Guido, Trustee Edward A. Harvey, Trustee Conway Bishop, Clerk-Treasurer Amy Herr, Dave Hajczewski, Int. DPW Superintendent and Dennis Laughlin, Village Attorney.  Also in attendance were Jeff Stiles and Kristine Hajczewski.

The first item on the agenda was approval of the April minutes as members received in written form.  It was upon motion of Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously carried, to accept the minutes as written.

OUTDOOR GAMES

          Jeff Stiles reported that things are going well for the Outdoor Games that are scheduled for June 16-18, 2017.  They are having some parking issues that are being worked on as a parking area they thought would be available near the field is no longer available.

TREASURER’S REPORT 

Checking Account

05/01/17 Balance
General

$112,579.98
Water

$21,242.98
Total Fund

$133,822.96
Trust & Agency

                 $354.10
Savings Accounts

05/01/17 Balance
Water System Repair Reserve

$ 2,897.14
Cemetery Capital Reserve

 10,829.91
Unemployment Insurance Reserve

2,639.09
Water Debt Service Reserve

20,913.02
Parks & Recreation Reserve

3,571.13
Sidewalk Repair & Replacement Res

238.56
James Wait Basketball Court Fund

0.86
                                       
Water
Taxes
Taxes Unpaid 4/1/17
Water Unpaid 4/1/17

$9,556.33

Billed in April
$80.00

Paid in April
$3,265.87

Unpaid 5/1/17
$9,556.73
Returned to Otsego County for Taxes 5/4/17
It was upon motion of Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey,
unanimously carried,
RESOLVED, to accept the report as given.

DPW   

          Work is being done on Alden Field to fix the walking path and other areas that were damaged by the flooding water this winter.  The flag pole on Alden Field needs to be checked to see if the hoist is broken or just the rope so a flag can be put up on the pole.  The Town of Cherry Valley Highway will haul woodchips for the playground when they are ordered from Seward Valley Farm in Fultonville, NY.  The banners will be put back up on the poles in the Village.  The Lithia Springs water needs to be turned on. Trustee Bishop will assist the DPW workers in doing this.  Tree boxes are ready to be put out. 

          Frank Duncan has been hired as a Part-time Laborer while Dave Hajczewski is out on medical leave.  He will also stay on for one week when Dave comes back to work. 

          Water meters were discussed.  It was decided to get prices for meters that are read manually.  Dave Hajczewski stated that he has a catalog that has them available for around $60.00.  To start 20 meters will be purchased.  Three verbal quotations will be required for this amount.

          Jake Wikoff, Suit-Kote has been to the Village to measure for the streets that will be repaired this summer.  The plan is to Cold Mix Pave and Chip Seal Maple Avenue and Chip Seal Maple Lane and possibly Maiden Lane.  Three written quotes or Requests for Proposals will be required due to the cost of the project.

          Information has been received from Southeastern New York Water Works on a conference to be held in Sidney, NY on June 8, 2017.  Motion made by Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously approved
          RESOLVED that the DPW staff will attend the Southeastern New York Water Works Conference at a cost of $21.00 each and the Annual Membership at a cost of $10.00 each is approved.

STATE AID

          The CHIPS allotment for 2017-2018 for the Village of Cherry Valley is $14,825.09, PaveNY is $3383.97 and EWR is $2712.84 for a total of $20, 921,90.  The AIM funding is $6053.00 and Per Capita is $500.00.

 SCRAP METAL

          Bryan Larrabee was contacted and had no issues with the Village having Richard Herron provide pick up of Scrap Metal on a day established in the Village.  Dave Hajczewski will contact Richard Herron about scheduling a date for the Scrap Metal Day.  Richard Herron was to do the advertising of the day that this will be done.  Motion made by Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey, unanimously approved
          RESOLVED that a Village Scrap Metal day will be run by Richard Herron on a date to be selected by Richard Herron.

REFUSE PICKUP ON MAY 31, 2017

          Bryan Larrabee has agreed to pick up the Garbage and Recyclables on May 31, 2017 at the cost of $867.30.  This will be paid by a voucher.

CEMETERY DEED

          The deed for the cemetery lot that was purchased by Ronald Park and Barbara Parshall, Section D Lot 32 a & b was signed by the Mayor and Trustees on this date.



ELECTRICITY PROVIDER

          A price comparison between Direct Energy, National Grid and Champion for the supply of electricity was presented to the Board.  Motion made by Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously approved
          RESOLVED that the Village will utilize National Grid as the supplier of electricity for the Village when the contract with Direct Energy runs out in July, 2017.

CEMETERY DAMAGE  CLAIM

          There is not enough damage to be paid for in the cemetery from the tree falling to meet the deductible on the insurance.  Mayor Guido directed Hugh Bresee, Cemetery Worker to clean up the tree that was on the ground.  The rest of the tree will need to be removed at some point. The insurance company will be informed that the claim is being rescinded.

END OF YEAR MEETING

          Motion made by Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey, unanimously approved
RESOLVED that the end of the Fiscal Year Meeting will be held on Monday, June 12, 2017 at 7 PM in the Village Office.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS FOR TAXES

          The paperwork has been completed to allow individuals to pay their Village Taxes by credit card through The Satellite.biz.  The company will provided training for the office staff on the procedures to credit the payments.

CEMETERY

          A quote was received from Cherry Valley Memorials for placing three memorials on foundations for a total of $300.00, repairing two tablets if possible for a total of $200.00 and no charge to reset small markers by the fallen tree.  Motion by Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously approved
          RESOLVED to use the services of Cherry Valley Memorials to complete the above quoted work.

MAYOR’S REPORT

          Mayor Guido has received a complaint from Deb Ellis about the number of cats on Maiden Lane.  There are up to 35 cats at one home.

          Mayor Guido has received a letter from Joe Pallone, National Grid about LED street lighting.  National Grid is in talks with the PSC about the change to LED lighting.  He is proceeding with the plans that the Village will continue to work toward replacing the street lights with LED lights in the near future.

          Mayor Guido has attended meetings at Artworks and the CVCFC.

          Mayor Guido has been in contact with Angelica Goss-Bley Palmer about assisting the Village with beginning to use QuickBooks for the accounting of the Village finances.  Motion made by Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously approved
          RESOLVED to purchase QuickBooks for installation on both computers in the Village Office and have Angelica Goss-Bley Palmer train the Clerk-Treasurer and Deputy Clerk-Treasurer on how to use the program.

OTHER BUSINESS

          A letter was received from the Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School about new Community Service requirements for graduation.  The Village may have projects that students could work on.  Contact will be made with Theri Jo Climenhaga, Superintendent to let her know of this possible location for Community Service.

          Paula Cochran from The Daily Star will be writing a monthly update as a “small town” correspondent.  She can be contacted with details about what is going on in the community.

          No update from the County on cleanup of the fire scene on Lancaster Street.  Mayor Guido has written to our County Representative, Dave Bliss about the situation.

AUDIT OF CLAIMS

After review by the board, it was upon motion of Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously carried,
RESOLVED to make payment on bills and budget modifications as follows:

General Fund
Ch. #’s 12377-12419
$15,207.69
Water Fund                                     
"
$6,517.33
Total Fund

$21,725.02
Trust and Agency Fund
Ch. #’s 1896
& auto deductions- Social Security, Medicare, Federal, Retirement
$97.00
$2,015.43
$2,112.43

Budget Modifications
To                                                        From                                                   
A1490.1      $272.25                           A5142.4      $272.25
A1640.4      $400.00                           A8170.4      $400.00
A8160.4      $867.30                           A1990.4      $867.30
F8330.4       $175.00                           F1990.4       $175.00

ADJOURNMENT

          The meeting adjourned at 8:29 PM upon motion of Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey.

Respectfully Submitted,


Amy S. Herr
Clerk-Treasurer

May 17, 2017

MINUTES
April 17, 2017

Meeting opened at 7:00 PM by Mayor Guido.  In attendance were Mayor Louis A. Guido, Trustee Edward A. Harvey, Trustee Conway Bishop, Clerk-Treasurer Amy Herr, Dave Hajczewski, Int. DPW Superintendent and Dennis Laughlin, Village Attorney.  Also in attendance were Joann Guido and Rich Herron.

The first item on the agenda was approval of the March minutes and the Organizational Meeting minutes as members received in written form.  It was upon motion of Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously carried, to accept the minutes as written.

GEMS

          Jeremy Silverman from GEMS (Geo-Environmental Management Solutions, LLC) gave a presentation on the services that GEMS can provide to the Village of Cherry Valley.  GEMS can provide grant identification, writing, administration and project development services to localities.  Some of the types of grant programs that they can assist with are Green Initiative Grant Programs, Main Street Improvement Grants, Economic Development Grants and Water Infrastructure Improvement Grants.  The Main Street Improvement Grants would require the local businesses to do a 50% matching commitment for work that would be done.  If GEMS develops a grant that is not accepted, they will resubmit the grant in the next grant cycle.  The cost for their service is $85.00 per hour to write an individual grant or $2500.00 per month for ongoing services. 

MUSEUM

          Joann Guido was representing the Cherry Valley Museum in a request that the Village Maintenance staff be available during the day to check on problems at the museum and give a recommendation on what needs to be done to fix the problem.  Attorney Laughlin stated that this would be a liability issue for the Village and that government employees should not be providing services to non-profit organizations during their working hours.  If this was to be done for one organization, then it would have to be done for any organization in the Village that made a request.  Due to this recommendation from Attorney Laughlin, the Village will not be able to provide this assistance to the Museum.

SCRAP METAL

          Richard Herron, Herron’s scrap iron & steel recycling presented on the possibility of the Village having a Scrap Metal pick up day in the Village.  The pickup would be curbside on one set day.  Mr. Herron would pay for any advertising and would pick up the metal that residents put out.  He stated that he is insured to run this type of business. 
          Attorney Laughlin stated that the Village has a contract for garbage and recycling and would need to make sure that the individual that has the contract at the time when the Scrap Metal Day is held has no issues with this being done.  The clerk will contact the garbage contractor that would be affected about this.

TREASURER’S REPORT 

Checking Account

04/01/17 Balance
General

$122,400.41
Water

$21,470.45
Total Fund

$143,870.86
Trust & Agency

                 $106.94
Savings Accounts

04/01/17 Balance
Water System Repair Reserve

$ 2,897.09
Cemetery Capital Reserve

 10,829.73
Unemployment Insurance Reserve

2,639.05
Water Debt Service Reserve

20,912.68
Parks & Recreation Reserve

3,571.06
Sidewalk Repair & Replacement Res

238.56
James Wait Basketball Court Fund

0.86
                                       
Water
Taxes
Taxes Unpaid 3/1/17
Water Unpaid 3/1/17

$13,557.00

Billed in March
$98.66

Paid in March
$913.06

Unpaid 2/1/17
$12,742.60

It was upon motion of Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey,
unanimously carried,
RESOLVED, to accept the report as given.

DPW   

          DPW Superintendent Hajczewski reported that the cemetery is now open.  Hugh Bresee is again hired as the Part-time Cemetery Worker.  There are 3 trees that National Grid has been notified about to take down.  There is another one on Maple Avenue that they may also have to take down as it is in the wires.  The DPW is cleaning the streets and sidewalks.  The fire hydrants will be flushed on April 27, 2017. 

          Mayor Guido stated that the Village should begin to alternate each year between redoing a street and then redoing a sidewalk with the CHIPS money.  This would allow for the longer streets to be done completely at one time as there will be money left from the previous year when only sidewalk work was done.  The current year street repair plans are to work on Maple Avenue this summer using CHIPS money.  DPW Superintendent Hajczewski is suggesting that, in the fall, Maiden Lane and Maple Lane should be Chip Sealed when Maple Avenue is done.  Some work also needs to be done on Wall Street and will be done this summer using Hot Mix.

 BENCHMARKING

          Discussion was held regarding the Benchmarking resolution.  It was decided that if would be difficult for the Village to be able to meet the criteria that is required by NYSERDA to become a Clean Energy Community, therefore the Village will not be doing Benchmarking at this time.



BUDGET

          It was upon motion of Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously carried,
RESOLVED to approve the 2017-2018 Budget as presented.

WATER

          The Annual Water Quality Report has been done.  There are no contaminants with detectable violations.  The report will be distributed with the Spring Newsletter.

TAX REPORTS

          The Tax Cap Compliance and Constitutional Tax Limit Reports have been done and submitted to the State Comptroller’s Office.  The Budget will be submitted for the Tax Limit Report to complete the submission.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS FOR TAXES

          Clerk-Treasurer Herr reported on a proposal from The Satellite.biz to provide the opportunity for Village residents to pay their Village Taxes by credit card or electronic check.  There is no cost to the Village.  The resident would pay a 3% service charge or $2.00 minimum service charge for a credit card and would pay $4.95 for an electronic check up to the amount of $2500.00.  The Satellite.biz is already set up with ATC which provides the tax payment accounting software for the Village Tax payments.   Attorney Laughlin expressed a concern about the liability for the Village if an individual contests the credit card charge.  The clerk will check on this with The Satellite.biz representative.  To notify the Village taxpayers of the option to pay their bill by credit card or electronic check, a note will be put on the bill and a letter will be enclosed with the bill.

          It was upon motion of Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey, unanimously carried,
          RESOVED to complete the application to have The Satellite.biz provide credit card and electronic check processing for Village Tax Bill payments.

CEMETERY

          Trustee Harvey will check with Raulli’s Iron Works about the progress on the new fence for the Cemetery.

MAYOR’S REPORT

          Mayor Guido reported that he is working with the Chamber of Commerce on redoing the signs coming into the village. 

          Mayor Guido reported that he is working with Chrissy Beauregard on ways to make the Village website more user friendly.

          Mayor Guido has received information that the Town of Roseboom is installing LED lights through National Grid.  The cost was around $73.00 per light.  He will be getting more information on this to see about replacing the streetlights in the Village with LED lights.

AUDIT OF CLAIMS

After review by the board, it was upon motion of Trustee Harvey, seconded by Trustee Bishop, unanimously carried,
RESOLVED to make payment on bills and budget modifications as follows:

General Fund
Ch. #’s 12333-12376
$14,726.53
Water Fund                                     
"
$37,402.17
Total Fund

$52,128.70
Trust and Agency Fund
Ch. #’s 1894
& auto deductions- Social Security, Medicare, Federal, Retirement
$35.00
$2,517.86
$2,552.86

Budget Modifications
To                                                        From                                                   
F8330.4       $100.00                           F1990.4       $100.00

ADJOURNMENT

          The meeting adjourned at 8:17 PM upon motion of Trustee Bishop, seconded by Trustee Harvey.

Respectfully Submitted,


Amy S. Herr
Clerk-Treasurer

April 20, 2017