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1980-10-02 SPM1 4 A Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger was held on October 2, 1980, at Town Hall, Mill Street, Village of Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County, New York. Notice of said meeting was sent to all Board Members on September 26, 1980, calling the meeting for October 2, 1980 at 7:00 P.M. Newspapers and Radio Stations were notified and a notice was posted on the Town Clerk's Bulletin Board. Supervisor Diehl opened the meeting at 7:05 P.M. Present: Louis Diehl, Supervisor Bernice Mills, Councilwoman Janet Reilly, Councilwoman Frank Versace, Councilman Elaine H. Snowden, Town Clerk Absent: Nicholas Johnson, Councilman Others Present: William Horton, Superintendent of Highways Henry Cuatt, Comptroller Supervisor Diehl explained the purpose of the meeting would cover four subjects ----1. Our participation in providing manpower/dollars for the Aquifer Tests in CSI and Rockingham, 2. Presentation of the tentative budget to the Town Clerk, 3. Resolution on safer local roads and streets, and 4. Appointment of Robert Cacio as part time hydrant inspector. He corrected item ##2 since the Town Clerk had already received the budget, she would now present it to the Town Board. Mr. Lafko had previously requested to speak on the first item, but preferred this subject to be taken up last, as it probably would be a lengthy presentation and discussion. The Town Clerk, having previously received the Tentative Budget of 1981, now presented it to the Town Board. Mr. Versace reminded the Board that a hearing should have been held on the Federal Revenue Sharing Budget prior to the presentation of the Tentative Budget to the Town Board. According to law, the citizens of the Town, and especially the Senior Citizens, are invited to participate in this hearing and either orally, or in 48 writing, and voice their opinion on how this money should be spent. His concern was that if Federal Revenue should ever cease, the Town would have to make up about $140,000 in taxes; we are getting away from the purpose for which it was intended. The money is already locked into the budget; he has never seen the results of a public hearing implemented. The next item to be discussed was a resolution on safer local roads and streets and Mr. Diehl explained that their understanding of this program was that it could be used for road improvement in the Town. Mr. Horton had met with Mr. Spratt to discuss the program and was told that road improvement was not the intent, but Mr. Horton did have other projects in mind that would qualify and he then informed the Board that he would like to use this for updating the traffic lights and the Widmer Road culvert. A change, mandated by the State, had to be made in the traffic lights --the six inch light had to be changed to an eight.inch light, and there now had to be two lights of each color facing each way. Mr. Diehl commented that again the state mandates changes but the Town has to pay, however, with 75% reimbursement by State bond funds, the Town outlay would be considerably lower than originally anticipated. Mr. explained that these two projects had to be done within Horton the next two years. In order to participate, the Board must approve the resolution tonight, however, they can pull out anytime before they commence the projects. Funding was discussed, and when asked, Mr. Cuatt said the share due from the Town could be bonded, however, Mr. Versace felt that the culvert work could be taken from the Downstream Drainage Fund, and the money for the change in the traffic lights could perhaps be taken from Contingency. The other members of the Board thought the resolution should be adopted tonight and the funding could be discussed at a future work shop session. RESOLUTION ON SAFER LOCAL ROADS AND STREETS PROGRAM (Towns, Cities & Villages under 200,000 population) The following resolution was offered by COUNCILWOMAN MILLS who moved its adoption: 49 WHEREAS, pursuant to Chapter 369 of the Laws of 1979, the Energy Conservation Through Improved Transportation Bond Act, and Chapter 53 of the Laws of 1980, the New York State Legislature authorized and appropriated funds for a statewide Safer Local Roads and Streets Program, and WHEREAS, pursuant to these statutes; the New York State Department of Transportation has apportioned program funds to the municipality as follows: State Bond Funds plus Local Match Total Program- - $57,048 - 19,016 - $76,064 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the municipality shall participate in the Safer Local Roads and Streets Program, pursuant to the terms of the Bond Act, the Program Guidelines and the State - County Agreement, and it is further RESOLVED, that construction of the Program shall be by municipal forces or by competitive bid letting, with oversight by the County Superintendent; and it is further RESOLVED, that the municipality shall participate in the costs of the Program, with 75% reimbursement by State bond funds; and it is further RESOLVED, that upon completion of the Program, the Town of Wappinger shall at its own expense properly maintain the completed project (s). IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Superintendent of Highways be and he hereby is authorized to sign all project applications. Seconded by: Councilman Versace Roll Call Vote: 4 Ayes Mr. Johnson ---Absent Resolution Duly Adopted The last item to be considered was action on the appointment of Robert Cacio as part time hydrant inspector. Mr. Diehl had interviewed Mr. Cacio and also requested that Mr. Horton interview him, since he would be under the supervision of the Highway Superin- tendent. Mr. Diehl recommended an hourly rate of $5.00 per hour, to be paid by the districts. MR. DIEHL moved that Robert Cacio be appointed as part time Hydrant Inspector, under the supervision of the Highway Superintendent, at an hourly rate of $5.00, which will be appropriated from water district funds. Seconded by Mrs. Mills Motion Unanimously Carried Prior to taking up discussion the Aquifer tests, Mr. Versace asked if the Board intended to set a date for a public hearing on the use of Federal Revenue Sharing Funds for budget purposes. 50 MR. DIEHL moved to set the Public Hearing for Federal Revenue Sharing Budget for Monday, October 20th, 1980 at 7:00 P.M. at Town Hall, Mill Street, Wappingers Falls, New York. Seconded by Mrs. Reilly Motion Unanimously Carried The subject of our participation in providing manpower/dollars for the Aquifer Tests in CWWI and Rockingham now came up to the Board for their consideration. Mr. Diehl referred to a letter from Camo Pollution Control, Inc. dated Spetember 30, 1980, which was hand delivered to each member of the Board and quoted a price of $11,500 including labor, material and rental of a pump and generator to do these tests. A letter had been received from Atlas Water Company offering these same services at a total of $2,800.00, which would comply with specifications set by the Dutchess County Department of Health and Ground Water Associates, Inc. a firm approved by the Department of Health, the Town of Wappinger and Atlas Water Company. Mr. Diehl emphasized the fact that he wanted the tests done, and as far as he knew, the Board concurred with this fact. He did have reservations about spending $11,000 of taxpayers money. He asked for comments from the Town Board, and Mrs. Mills spoke first saying that she did concur with Mr. Diehl that the tests should be done and had so stated this fact at several meetings with the Health Department. She, too was leary about spending $11,000 from district funds and she resented the fact that the state is mandating the county and the county is looking to the Town to pay the cost; she felt the county should fund these tests. She went further to voice her opinion that it would be a conflict of interest for Mr. Lafko's firm to do this testing; they should be done by an impartial person with the proper qualifications and preferably a firm outside this area. She repeated that the county or even the state should pay the cost of the testing. Mr. Versace then spoke and confirmed the fact that he wanted the tests done; he also felt that the cost would be a burden to the district taxpayers since they had already incurred the expense of attorney and engineer fees for testifying at the water hearings that had recently started. Although this mandate went back to June of this year, it was not until a week ago that the County indicated to the Town that they would not fund of the cost of this testing, and Mr. Versace expressed concern over this fact. He thought perhaps an informational meeting should be set with the residents of CEEI to determine what direction they wanted to go, since it was their money that would be laid out for the expenses incurred. Mr. Diehl then asked Mr. Lafko to speak and limit his speech to five minutes. Mr. Lafko began by reviewing his proposal. Number one, the project that Lafko Associates would be doing would be as a plumbing contractor for the mechanical fastening of the devices and installation, in conjunction with, or as subcontractor to, Camo Pollution, and under the supervision and the guidance of Andre Zienkiewicz, P.E. from Ground Water Associates, Inc., who Mr. Lafko referred to as "Andy". This would have nothing whatsoever to do with the tests. Mr. Lafko's offer for this work was $2,800.00 with an additional $1,000.00 for Michael Morris, who will provide one man, two at the most for monitor- ing the readings in conjunction with the one man from "Andy". The professional Aquifer testing will be done by "Andy", and will cost a total of $15,000.00,--$7,500.00 to be paid by the State and $7,500.00 by the County. Mr. Lafko mentioned paying the bill from Federal Revenue Account, since by the time it was due, the Town would know the amount they would receive. Mr. Diehl interrupted to say that would be a "no no", spending money from that account for the districts. Mr. Versace questioned Mr. Lafko as to how he arrived at the total of $3,800.00 when his letter quoted $2,800.00, and Mr. Lafko explained that if he subbed under Camo or "Andy", who would provide a man to do the reading, that would add another $1,000.00 to the bill. After further discussion on the "maximum" total of $3,800.00 to the Town, and what the Town would actually receive for that sum, Mr. Diehl read the last paragraph from Camo's letter of September 30, 1980, signed by Michael Morris, Vice Presi- dent as follows: "In summary, it is the feeling of the writer that with the exception of room and board all savings on this project would be due to the use of less experienced personnel which would greatly increase the possibility of overruns and questionable final results and since it would appear that there is little savings to our client CWWI in providing part of the service I would most strongly advise the Town if they plan to go ahead to propose and commit to follow 52 Plan B in which Ground Water Associates will provide the entire service. In this way the Town would be obtaining the equivalent of State Aid for the project which would provide them excellent data on their well fields at about 1/3 of market value. If you have any further questions regarding this matter please contact us". The cost of Ground Water Associates Inc. to do the entire testing quoted in Mr. Morris's letter was $50,000.00 under Plan B, and under the "Remark" column was stated, "sole responsibility and complete expertise in all phases". Mr. Lafko's response to this was "it's obsolete", however, Mr. Diehl differed with him since he spoke to Mr. Morris just hours before the meeting. Mr. Fulton was recognized by the Chair and urged the Town to pass a resolution approving the expenditure of $3,800.00 to Lafko Associates to do the work for the testing as outlined by Mr. Lafko. He went further with a discussion on the cost of the attorney and the engineer and believed that they had the Town in a "box". He contended that if the Aquifer Tests had been made in March, the Hearing would have only lasted one day. The Attorney and the Engineer are trying to prevent these tests. He also commented that had Mr. Lapar been present tonight, because of the $3,800.00, he would have wagered him this; that if those wells pass the test, he will pay, and if the wells don't pass it, Mr. Lapar would pay. MR. VERSACE moved that the Town accept the offer of an expenditure of a maximum of $3,800.00 by Lafko Associates for testing as out- lined by Ground Water Associates, Inc. and confirmed by Michael Morris of Camo Pollution Control, Inc. Motion Failed For Lack of a Second Mr. Lafko, upon the failure of the motion, stated he withdraws his proposal. Mrs. Schmalz was recognized by the Chair and informed the Board that the residents of her area were shocked to hear they were being charged the expenses of the water hearing that they had requested not be held. Their reason for this was they felt the Aquifer Tests should have been done before the hearings were conducted. The be hearings were for the purpose of determining who would provide water for the Cranberry Hills Development, therefore, let them pay the bill. She went on to say she objected to paying the bills that were accumulating due to the continuation of these hearings. 117 t) t3 Mr. Diehl closed the discussion by stating that the Board wanted the tests to be done as soon as possible, but felt that the hearings could continue, they did not see any logic in delaying the hearings. MR. DIEHL moved to close the Special Meeting, seconded by Mrs. Mills and carried. The meeting closed at 8:28 P.M. a uQ Elaine H. Snowden Town Clerk Spl. Mtg. 10/2/80