October 9, 2018 Town of Ballston Board Meeting Notes

Town of Ballston Town Board Meeting 

notes taken by town resident on Oct. 9, 2018

Town of Ballston Town Board Meeting notes taken by a town resident on Oct. 9, 2018.

1. Resolution 18-180 recognizing Burnt Hills Oratorio Society passed unanimously.

2. Resolution 18-181, financial report for Sept. 2018 passed unanimously

3. Tire Recycling Program will be Oct. 23, 4-6pm at the Town Hall. Drop off at the Town Hall. Cost is $2 each without rims. Get more info on town website.

4. Reports:
• Brian from the building department said there has been 5 CO’s, 37 permits, 101 inspections, 3 fire inspections, 2 storm water inspections, and 4 applications reviewed.
• Library- the book drop will be ready in November
• Financial (Jeanette)- there are 3 resolutions tonight on finances. 18-191 will be eliminated, and new language will be provided to the board for 18-192 prior to voting on it tonight…192 has to do with putting mortgage tax revenue into the town’s highway fund.
• Supervisor’s report: The town is interviewing for the new positions. The boiler broke and the highway supt. Is in charge of getting a new one installed. Security cameras, new entrance doors, a new phone system and a new IT system overhaul is all in the works and the Supervisor would like $100,000 from A fund balance to use on these items.

5. Board Member Reports:
• Mr. Curtis: no report
• Ms. Stewart: has hopes that at the Nov. Board meeting there will be a vote on the long range park plan.
• Mr. Antoski: said that the gas station on the corner of Lake Hill is an issue for the last two years and asked if the board can put something in the new zoning to avoid such an issue from ever happening again in the future. Mr. Curtis would like a timeline to be inserted into the zoning for future issues like this one. Atty. Kaelin said it is hard to put a restriction on this type of work, in this particular case it is a money issue, if you fine the owner, it won’t help because the owner doesn’t have the money. She said the property is classified as an “active spill” and the town can’t be exposed to the liability it would assume if there was a decision to revoke the owners permit (thereby taking over that property).
• Mr. Goslin: no report

6. Old Business
• The town attorney, Ms. Kaelin presented results of her research on how to encourage more people to volunteer as fire fighters in this town. Can the town give these volunteers a property tax decrease? The answer is yes, it is an $81/year credit for those who have been active volunteers for 5 years. But there’s a better option. There is a NY state income tax credit of $200/year on NY taxes for volunteers with 1 year of service. If both spouses volunteer, each of them get a $200 credit. Can’t take both the $200 and the $81. So of course, you’d take the $200 option. This info will be published in the Ballston Bulletin.
• Zoning Update: Sophia from the building department said that she and Nan (the professional town planner) are reviewing the zoning code document and are making changes as needed. This takes time to complete. Updating the GEIS will go to the planning board. All decisions have been made and now the document is being formulated and when it is ready to be presented to the board, the board will be able to approve it. Mr. Goslin commented that “for the next meeting, we have an obligation to the town to look at Rt. 50. I suggest we have a northern Rt. 50 committee and a southern Rt. 50 committee. The middle of Rt. 50 we have already agreed on. We need to hire professionals to eliminate the PUD on Rt. 50 and this can be done by defining what we want.”

7. New Business
• The Gateway House in Milton is an end of life home. The town of Milton gives $3000/year to it. Do we want to do the same? The board briefly discussed this and decided yes, we should. This will be added on as a resolution tonight to be voted on.

8. Privilege of the Floor #1

(anything pertaining to the resolutions coming up tonight):
• Ray Sergott, 29 Forestbrook Drive, Ballston Lake, Timbercreek. The 3-way intersection there needs a second STOP sign.
• Drew Hamelink, 122 West Side Dr.: regarding resolution 18-188, he is the chair of the sewer committee and he supports this.

9. Resolutions:

• 18-182 consider approving the travel of library director to attend NY Library Assoc. Conference in Rochester Nov. 6-10, with travel expenses of about $1191.00. passed unanimously

• 18-183 approve the tentative budget for 2019. Passed unanimously

• 18-184 set public hearing for the preliminary budget for Tuesday Oct. 30, 2018 at 6pm. Passed unanimously

• 18-185 update and adopt the towns sexual harassment policy for 2018. Passed unanimously

• 18-186 renew the town’s annual workplace violence prevention policy for 2018. Passed unanimously

• 18-187 approve the Determination and Findings of the Town Board of the Town of Ballston NY in connection with the proposed acquisition of Easements for constructing sewer utility infrastructure in the Ballston Lake Sewer District. Passed unanimously

• 18-188 Consider approving the order of the Town Board of the Town of Ballston increasing the maximum amount proposed to be expended for the sewer improvements in the Ballston Lake Sewer District.
Discussion: Mr. Antoski said he wants to make sure this decrease in price is legitimate. Will the town be sued over this in the future?? The town attorney (Kaelin) stated that “this is legal, the grant more than offset the construction increase.” Tim said that without the grant, there would have been an issue.
Passed unanimously

• 18-189 approve the proposal from Kubricky Construction Corp. for the concrete pavilion slab installation at Firemen’s Grove in the amount of $28,969. Funding from the Parks and Rec fees. Passed unanimously

• 18-190 approve the contract with Postler and Jaeckle Corp. as low bidder for the replacement of 3 heating and cooling roof top units to the library for $29,748 and authorize the Supervisor to execute the contract upon Town Attorney approval. Passed unanimously

• 18-191 re-worded, has to do with mortgage tax being placed in the town highway fund. This was read out loud but the language was not distributed to anyone but the board members. Passed unanimously

• 18-192 approve to proceed with Tyler Tech contract for the Incode ERP Financial System implementation to include budgeting, general ledger, procurement, accounts payable, dept. head mobile access, and electronic document management functions. Resolve to set aside $65,000 of General Fund A’s fund balance to cover the costs of procurement, implementation, training, and project liaison administration costs. Passed unanimously

• 18-193 approve the request to the county to reduce the speed limit on Outlet Rd. from 45 to 35 mph. passed unanimously

• 18-194 approve the request to the county to reduce the speed limit on Kingsbury Rd from 30 to 25mph. passed unanimously

• 18-195 declare old town flags as surplus and donating them to Stars for Our Troops, Inc. passed unanimously

• 18-196 approve 2 Aquava drives at $1500 each and $1250 for startup fee and installation for the Goode St. pump station. Passed unanimously

• 18-197 $3000 to Gateway House. Passed unanimously

• 18-198 replace the boiler, not to exceed $30,000 and this amount can be adjusted as needed. Passed unanimously

10. Privilege of the Floor #2:

• Mrs. Ann Pierce, 110 Lake Rd. What are the dates for the public hearing for new proposed zoning?? Is Ballston working with Clifton Park to see if there are more grants out there that can be used towards the Ballston Lake sewer district? Kim K. said the max. available in grants is $2.5 million and we received that, so no. Next question: 14 Lakehill Rd. is “condemned and unsafe”, what is the status? The Supervisor answered that he will get the enforcement officer to get the lawn done, and Tim asked the town atty to check into it, saying the owner is an individual that pays the taxes.
• Mr. Scott Draina: can the town support a volunteer day at Firemen’s Grove? Tim said yes, and it should be an annual event.
• Joe Kulikowsky, Devils Lane: He researched and found that neighboring towns allow additional homes on property. Saratoga Springs says it’s prohibited. Greenwich said its ok for farm families. Galway has an ok for two or more homes. Chatham allows up to two single family dwellings. Berne allows 2 family dwellings per 5 acres.