Chambana Sun

Village of Ogden Town Board Met Nov. 10.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

I: CALL TO ORDER: (7:00 P.M.)

Board Members Present

Gay H. Lenhard, Supervisor

Aaron Baker, Councilman

Thomas J. Cole, Councilman

Malcolm E. Perry, Councilman

Michael T. Zale, Councilman

Others Present

Noelle Burley, Town Clerk

Dan Wolf, Highway Superintendent

Daniel Schum, Town Attorney

Micah Clark

Malene Case

Nicole Dadson

Karen Smith

Jennifer Gillis

Brenden Gillis

Brock Bafford

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm

Mark Young

Purpose of the Meeting

To audit claims, act on monthly reports and remittances, and to transact such other business which may legally come before said meeting.

II: APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

Resolution #242-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Perry

BE IT RESOLVED, that the minutes of the Regular Meetings

of October 14, 2020, there being no errors or omissions, stand approved as submitted.

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Perry

BE IT RESOLVED, that the minutes of the Regular Meetings

of October 28, 2020, there being no errors or omissions, stand approved as submitted.

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

III: PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR:

Supervisor Lenhard: Is there anyone who would like to speak?

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: Mike, I was really happy to hear you say you’re were taking part in the 21-day Racism Challenge. Has it been valuable?

Councilman Zale: It has been interesting to take some of the questionnaires and tests. Overall, yes.

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: I was just curious on how the board was doing procuring the training that they promised?

Supervisor Lenhard: It is coming along. We are all working together. Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: So, it is not going yet?

Councilman Baker: Are you referring to the training that we were talking about or the 21-day challenge?

Aurora Branning-Fromm: No, two separate things.

Councilman Baker: Ok, so the training when I had a conversation with our Personnel Director, she was obtaining quotes from three vendors as per state guidelines to get bids out. She was waiting on one more to move forward.

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: Thank you. I am also just curious about plans to stream as we are moving towards the winter.

Councilman Baker: That is something I plan on talking about in my report. As far as streaming you mean on Facebook Live?

Aurora Branning-Fromm: There are so many different platforms.

Councilman Baker: I don’t know which one but given what the Health Director was saying today we may be moving in that direction sooner than later.

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: I know a few people who are not here because they are concerned.

Councilman Baker: I understand. We are going to have to discuss how to move forward with these meetings. The other Boards have been meeting remotely all along. We have been fortunate to not have to go that route just yet, but I am thinking we will sooner rather than later.

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: Mr. Wolf, I like your Facebook post. It was really informative. I like how it kept us informed. I like that type of communication. Thank You.

Dan Wolf, Highway Superintendent: Thanks.

Aurora Brannigan-Fromm: I think that is all I have today, thank you. IV: REPORTS AND REMITTANCES FROM TOWN OFFICERS: Resolution #243-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Zale

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Reports and Remittances from

Town Officers in detail for the month of October 2020, showing receipts and disbursements as submitted by the Town Clerk and the Finance Director, be accepted as read, monies and fees to be acknowledged by the Supervisor and copies of the same filed with the Town Clerk.

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

V. TOWN AUDITS:

Resolution #244-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Zale

BE IT RESOLVED, that the General Fund, Part-Town Fund, Highway Fund, Trust & Agency Fund, Drainage Fund, Sewer District Funds, and Lighting District Funds and being vouchered and submitted for audit, chargeable to the respective funds be approved:

General Fund $ 14,513.85

Part-Town Fund 6,165.17

Highway Fund 88,139.23

Drainage Fund 719.22

Sewer Funds 198.39

Lighting Funds 2,207.66

TOTAL $ 111,943.52

Prepaid Expenses (10/29/2020– 11/09/2020):

General Fund $ 51,525.06

Part-Town Fund 6,830.36

Highway Fund 24,165.38

Trust & Agency 40,674.83

TOTAL $ 123,195.63

GRAND TOTAL ALL CLAIMS: $ 235,139.15

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

VI. CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED AND FILED:

None

VII. REPORTS FROM TOWN OFFICERS:

Gay H. Lenhard, Supervisor

No report.

Aaron N. Baker, Councilman

1. I was on two conference calls today, one with the County on the Town Supervisors call with Dr. Mendoza. I was also on an afternoon call with New York State, the Governor’s office. Both related to COVID-19 and the designation of most of Monroe County to be in the yellow zone. It does not look promising, even though Ogden, Parma and Wheatland some of the far west county is still not affected, towns around us and the borders of us are. For those of you that watch the news you know what the designation for yellow means. There are 3 code yellow, orange and red. We got a report today that over the past 24 hours, the County as a whole has gone up 4.76%. Still brings the County overall to 3% which keeps us in the yellow, but we are trending upwards. Dr. Mendoza also alluded to a lot of this being attributed to our younger folks, ages 18-20 that are pretty much in his words dropped all precautions. He is very concerned especially with our younger constituents that are off to college and coming back from college. What is going to happen when the kids come home from school and are, we going to see a spike in numbers? Exercise the most upright caution when it comes to this. On the state call basically, what they are telling us is if the numbers continue to go up and they are forced to start going to businesses and distributing some sort of punishment. They are going to have what they call enforcement teams, investigators from the state liquor authority and other agencies would be working with local law enforcement to go around to establishments and figure out what is going on. More clarification is needed to see exactly what these enforcement teams are going to consist of or be like. They didn’t have any clear answers to that. I did have a conversation with Chief Mears about it and he is waiting for guidance as well. So right now, I guess it is a wait and see. In addressing the constituent who was up here earlier, in talking with Chief Mears I would strongly suggest to this Board that we take a look at making preparations to meet remotely if possible. I don’t know what this County is going to look like in the next month or so but if the numbers keep going up we may be forced to go down that road as we did in the beginning of this pandemic. I know that we have the technology to do some of this stuff so I would just make a recommendation or at least to consider taking the necessary precautions to be prepared to meet remotely.

Thomas J. Cole, Councilman

No report.

Malcolm E. Perry, Councilman

No report.

Michael T. Zale, Councilman

1. I just wanted to add to what Councilman Baker was talking about from a teacher perspective one of the things I am seeing an awful lot of people being concerned about is the mandatory testing of all students and staff, By students I mean K-12 and anyone who is in this yellow zone you are going to have students and staff there tested. It is different than the much more invasive nasal swab that you get if you go to the MCC campus or having a procedure, but it is still a nasal swab that is administered. It does not have to be administered by a nurse or medical professional, it can be an administrator or security staff. There is an awful lot of apprehension about school personnel administering these tests to students, especially the younger ones. I think that is something to be aware of. My school district in Brockport as well as the school district here that we represent here that we represent in Spencerport is not part of that, but Dr. Mendoza was clear when he said we are halfway through the yellow headed towards the orange and one of the things he said on the call is that 30% of all of these new cases in the last 4 days is 120, 210, 256 and then today 148 are 20-29 year old. He did go far in saying schools are still the safest place which in my opinion makes it a little weird and difficult that we need to test 20% of the population each week so that 100% of the population is tested every 5 weeks. That is for anyone in person. I just foresee there being a decent amount of push back for that. I don’t believe that is exclusive to public schools. I do believe that it is for private as well. The other thing is that I was in communication with our County Executive and also with our town Finance Director who let us know, I have to give context for this. I don’t remember what month it was in March or April we were awarded in the County $129,000,000 through the CARES Act. I don’t know how many locations in New York, I think it was only four locations to receive this money and it was supposed to be used for very specific criteria related to COVID. In the County Legislature when I was there, we actually passed a Local Law that the County was able to share that money with municipalities. They really didn’t do much of anything for the longest time and today found out that we were actually approved. If you are a Department Head that submitted any COVID-19 related expenditures, 100% of those expenditures have been reimbursed to the town, 47% of what we requested for front lines salaries and benefits were also included. The total that we are going to receive for reimbursement is $310,000. That is a good amount, $36,000 was spent on PPE that we have had, laptops, glass partitions and things of that nature but the 47% of front line salaries is going to be mostly law enforcement and a lot of the reimbursements that they had there. Very happy, I had to tell the County Executive that I was very pleased to see this happen. It also means the federal government wasn’t able to let that be pushed into local budgets, but I was very pleased to see we have something back to us here in Ogden.

Daniel Wolf, Highway Superintendent

1. Myself and my office staff decided to come up with COVID guidelines. We have limited our lunchroom to 6 people at a time. Trying to keep one person in a truck at a time.

2. We finished today over 350 trees over on Forest Meadow Drive off of Statt Road. We finished those trees up.

3. We are going to start doing leaves on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s, do a clean sweep in the town. There are a lot of leaves out there. 4. We have a few more trucks in service this week, other than that we are doing pretty well.

Noelle M. Burley, Town Clerk

1. As of yesterday, I finally have surrendered all the school tax payments so we are done with school taxes and we are already starting to work on town taxes. Bills are getting ready to be processed. Going from one tax to the other.

Daniel G. Schum, Town Attorney

1. Two weeks ago, the Town Board passed a resolution hiring special counsel to assist in a certain matter we are having with our insurance carrier. I am pleased to advise that in very short order the special counsel got our insurance carrier to acknowledge liability without reservation and participate in an upcoming mediation hearing we have on the 18th of November so it was money well spent. We don’t have that hurdle to overcome. Regardless of the result of the litigation it is covered by appropriate policies of insurance maintained by the town.

2. Patrick and I have on every Monday night since a few months ago been in court, we had a code violation where the citizen acknowledged the code violation, entered a plea of guilty and was given 60 days to bring the property into compliance. The whole purpose of code and compliance is to bring it into compliance no to bring someone in for being out of compliance.

3. We are fighting with COVID as well because many of the people who seem to be in code violation are also using a COVID defense. We are working on it.

VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

None

IX. NEW BUSINESS

Resolution #245-11.10.20

RESOLUTION ADOPTING PRELIMINARY BUDGET

AS ANNUAL BUDGET

Introduced by Councilman Perry

Seconded by Councilman Zale

WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Ogden has met and considered the preliminary budget for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2021, and conducted a public hearing thereon on October 28, 2020, as required by Town Law, Section 108;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the preliminary budget as changed, altered and revised and as hereinafter set forth is hereby adopted as the annual budget of the Town of Ogden for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2021, and the same shall be entered in the minutes of the Town Board.

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

Resolution #246-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Perry

WHEREAS, there is a need for a limited part-time Court

Attendant, and

WHEREAS, interviews were conducted with qualified applicants, and Mark Marcello was found to be qualified and desirous of the position, and

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Ogden Town Board to hire Mark Marcello to fill the position of limited part-time Court Attendant.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

SECTION I: That the Town Board of the Town of Ogden does hereby approve the hiring of Mark Marcello to the position of limited part-time Court Attendant at the rate of $14.59 per hour effective November 16, 2020 with a 52 week probationary period.

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

Resolution #247-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Baker

Seconded by Councilman Cole

WHEREAS there is a need for a full-time Office Clerk I in the Highway Department and

WHEREAS, Nicole Dadson has satisfied the requirements of the position and has been approved by the Monroe County Civil Service Commission for a non-competitive promotional appointment.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

SECTION I: That the Town Board of the Town of Ogden does hereby promote Nicole Dadson to the position of Office Clerk I, effective November 22, 2020, at a rate of $20.37 per hour with a twenty-six-week probationary period.

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

Resolution #248-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Cole

Seconded by Councilman Baker

WHEREAS, Section 25 of the Town Law requires each Town Clerk, Collector, Receiver of Taxes and Assessments to file a bond protecting the Town against any loss; such bond is to be filed in the Office of the Clerk of the County in which the Town is located; and

WHEREAS, an amendment to Section 25 of Town Law changes that requirement and now requires that the bond be filed in the Office of the Clerk of the Town.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

SECTION I: That the Town Board of the Town of Ogden does hereby approve the form and amount of the bond from the Travelers Casualty Taxes, Town Supervisor and the Finance Director in the amount of $250,000.00, which has been in effect since & Surety Company of America for the Receiver of April 1, 1990 and will continue in full force and effect until canceled.

SECTION II: That such bond will be filed in the Office of the Town Clerk. Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

X. ADJOURNMENT

Resolution #249-11.10.20

Introduced by Councilman Zale

Seconded by Councilman Baker

RESOLVED, that the Regular Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Ogden be and hereby is adjourned to Work Session at 7:19 p.m., at which time the public was invited to attend, and hereby is adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Vote of the Board:

Ayes: Baker, Cole, Lenhard, Perry, Zale

Nays: None

https://www.ecode360.com/documents/OG0089/public/577510810.pdf