The Town Board of the Town of Clayton held a regular workshop meeting at the Depauville Fire Social Hall, Depauville, New York with the following present:

Justin Taylor                             George Kittle                                        Donald Turcotte

Lance Peterson             Paula Baril                                            Robert Boulton

Kathy LaClair

Jim Yuhas                                 Alicia Dewey                                        Bob Cantwell III

Cindy Grant                              Kristina Rusho (TI Sun)                        Jasper Wilkie

Lena Black                               Keitha Huchzermeier                            Jim Kenney     

Cornie Schnauber                     Kenneth Knapp                                    Anna Forbes

Patricia Patchen                        Deborah Jepma                                    Morris Felt

The meeting was opened by Supervisor Justin Taylor at 5:00 PM.

Public:

Cornie Schnauber inquired as to when the reassessment would be done for the Town.  Supervisor Taylor indicated the reassessment would be done for the 2008 tax year.

Deborah Jepma stated a Wind Tower public information session would be held at the LaFargeville School on September 12^th from 7 to 9 PM.  She suggested that this Town Board might want to attend.

Anna Forbes stated that there are still people in the rural areas that don’t listen to the local news and they don’t get the local papers.  Many of these people have no idea about anything concerning the wind farms.  This is one reason to having a forum to inform this people.

Kenneth Knapp had a couple of topics:

1)      Water Line issue – discussions of putting a water line to Depauville from the Village of Clayton had transpired in the past.  Depauville residents had not heard anything in quit some time.  His issue with that proposal was the possibility of creating a public corridor and thus depleting an already depleted agricultural industry district.

2)      Wind Towers discussions – this is having and continues to have more impact on lives ie: extreme health issues.  Mr. Knapp continues that this Town Board can make or break a township.  Mr. Knapp feels that area residents are losing development right of their land.  He suggested that this Board really think closely about this issue.

Supervisor Taylor stated that any discussions and decisions will be well studied and thought out concerning both these issues.  He also stated that mailings have been sent to all residents of both the Town of Clayton and LaFargeville letting them know about the public meetings and public hearings concerning this issue.

Supervisor Taylor also indicated that there has been no change on the petition process or changes in the percentages concerning the water line.  The costs of the project and the State Comptroller establishes the amount that can be passed on to the user, it is not the Municipality that determines this. 

Minutes:

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Paula Baril, to accept the amended minutes of July 25, Grindstone Island minutes.  (Addition of John Davis as a new member to the Hawn Memorial Library Board.)  Motion carried

Motion by Donald Turcotte, 2^nd by Lance Peterson, to accept the amended minutes of August 8^th .  (Change sentence to read “G.I. road signs have been place.” and change the amount of Abstract #8 downward to $198,374.96.)  Motion carried.

Correspondence:

1)      Notice on 8/9 from Northern New York Library Network – Documentary Heritage Program Fall Roundtable to be held Sat., Sept. 8^th.

2)      Received on 8/9 the Fall 2007 copy of the Archives Associate.

3)      Grants Action News – August 2007 issue received.

4)      Notice from the Northern New York Library Network – concerning Volunteers Programs How to Recruit Volunteers and Manage a Successful Volunteer Program.

5)      Memo from Jefferson County Dept. of Planning – a Public Hearing Notice for the North Agricultural District Eight Year Review.

6)      Received from Jeff. Co. Dept. of Insurance a copy of the “preliminary” appropriation of Plan Assessments – Worker’s Compensation Chart for the calendar year 2007.

7)      Notices from NYS Archives for Seminars: (1) Files Management; (2) Conducting A Records Inventory; (3) Managing Inactive Records; (4) Micrographics as a Records Management Tool.  All four seminars are being held in September at various locations and pre-registration is a must.

Resolution(s):

RESOLUTION #40 of 2007 was offered by Donald Turcotte, 2^nd by Paula Baril, a resolution establishing hours of use of the Depauville Community Center Park.  Recent vandalism has occurred, some people have expressed concern and it was discovered that local police can’t enforce unless someone is caught there after hours of operation. Justin Taylor – aye; George Kittle – aye; Donald Turcotte – aye; Lance Peterson – aye; Paula Baril – aye.  Motion carried.

RESOLUTION #41 of 2007 was offered by George Kittle, 2^nd by Lance Peterson, a resolution to apply to the NYS Unified Court System for a 2007 Justice Court Assistance Program Grant for funds to assist in construction costs for a new local Justice Court.  Discussion followed with each year a Town and/or Village can apply for funding.  The total grant requested is for $60,000 for court security and offices.  ($30,000 each being requested from Town & Village.)  Justin Taylor – aye; George Kittle – aye; Donald Turcotte – aye; Lance Peterson – aye; Paula Baril – aye.  Motion carried.

Sara Workshops:

Councilman Kittle asked to go back and discuss the SARA Workshops that had been read at the correspondence portion.  He felt that the Town should be sending the Town Clerk or Deputy.  We have received grants in the past for projects and should be looking for more to help achieve a better government.

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Donald Turcotte, for Clerk to attend SARA Workshops.  Motion carried.

Supervisor Report:

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Paula Baril, to accept the Supervisor’s Report as submitted.  Motion carried.

Discussion that Cornie Schnauber had been Depauville Sewer Collector since its inception in 1991 and has done all billing by hand since that time.  Supervisor Taylor indicated the Town owes Mrs. Schnauber a big thank you for her service to the community.

Set Budget Workshop Date:

Discussion followed and consensus of the Board to go into “budget” discussions after the regular workshop meeting on Wednesday, September 26^th.

Recreation Park Employee:

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Donald Turcotte, to hire Chris Badour starting on 8/30 as a full time employee for Recreation Park at $10 per hour.  Motion carried.

Pool:

Notice to the Council that the pool will close on August 25^th.  Discussion that is seems early to close, however everyone is going back to school and there would be no life guards.

GIS Grant:

Supervisor Taylor indicated that this grant is now being closed out.

Network Administrator:

Motion by Donald Turcotte, 2^nd by Lance Peterson, for the Supervisor to enter into a contract with Shane McRowley for $65. per hour contract as our network administrator.  Mr. McRowley will be paid by voucher.

Worker’s Compensation Assessment:

Supervisor Taylor indicated that the Town of Clayton is tied in the top 3.  It was discussed that last year the Town had a significant hit.  This is paid by a chargeback from Jefferson County at tax settlement time.

$600 Plan Pro-ration for New Employees:

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Donald Turcotte, to pro-rate in quarters basically $150.00 per quarter ($50 per month) for any new employee.  This also needs to be an addendum to our Policy Manual.)  Motion carried.

Jefferson Leadership Institute:

Supervisor Taylor has sponsored Alicia Dewey as a candidate for this program which is thru the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce.  A sponsor, which would be the Town of Clayton, pays $875 and Supervisor Taylor indicated that this amount could come from the Supervisor Contractual line.  This is quite an honor for Alicia to be accepted as only 20 are accepted in any given year.

Motion by Paula Baril, 2^nd by Lance Peterson, to expend the amount of $875 for Alicia Dewey to attend the 2007-2008 Jefferson Leadership Institute.  Motion carried.

Web Site:

The Towns web site is being updated by Matthew Turcotte, grandson of Town Councilman Donald Turcotte.  September meeting will have a bill to pay Matt for his service at $10.50 per hour.

Highway Report:

Strawberry Lane – The Town has started to rebuild this road working with the Village.

Frink Remediation – Discussion of upcoming Frink Remediation project.

Hazmat Training – New hires and other municipalities will be training next Tues/Wednes.  We will be working on this project again starting next Wednesday to the finish.

Committee Reports:

George Kittle:            Youth Commission – Signups for football in process.  There will be a meeting on Monday at the new Fire Hall on Graves Street.

                                    Chamber of Commerce – Supervisor Taylor has resent Councilman Kittle’s name to continue on the Chamber Board.

Donald Turcotte:        Depauville Library – Construction is underway; the studs and plumbing are in, painting is being done.  We submitted a grant application to the North Country Library for $40,000 for asbestos abatement, bathrooms and working toward being ADA Compliance.  We should hear something in November.

                                    Depauville Sewer – flushing hasn’t been completed yet.  We have received one (1) odor compliant from Mr. Bourcy.

Lance Peterson:         Thousand Islands Regional Dock Committee – had a meeting.  Councilman Peterson showed a large Phase 2 depiction of Frink Park and the latest rendition of a proposed budget. (See attached budget.)

Paula Baril:                Paynter Senior Center – Paynter Board is working on setting up new procedures for using the building.

Bach’s Gravel Pit:

Supervisor Taylor has received a letter from the NYS DEC Division of Environmental Permits, Region 6, concerning Bach & Co. Inc. Pelo Road Pit Expansion.  The mine expansion exceeds the ten acres in size and is therefore a Type I Action.  The DEC will take Lead Agency designation for the coordination of review in accordance with the requirements of SEQRA, however a signed statement needs to be sent from the Town of Clayton that they have no objection to this request.

Discussion of the matter followed.

Motion by Donald Turcotte, 2^nd by Lance Peterson, to let NYS DEC be the Lead Agent.  Motion carried.

Bi-national 2007 Can-Am Forum:

New York State Senator Jim Wright and member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament Bob Runciman will hold a bi-national forum on a number of issues tomorrow at the Antique Boat Museum from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  Supervisor Taylor and Alicia Dewey are planning on attending.

Condolences:

Supervisor Taylor expressed condolences to Councilman Turcotte on the passing of his bother former Mayor of Clayton Joseph Turcotte who passed away this afternoon.

Motion by George Kittle, 2^nd by Paula Baril, to adjourn this regular workshop meeting at 6:38 PM.  Motion carried.

                                                                                    ______________________________

                                                                                    Kathleen E. LaClair, Town Clerk