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TOWN OF CATHARINE
TOWN BOARD MEETING
DECEMBER 15, 2015
Members present: Supervisor John VanSoest; Councilmen: Wayne Chapman, Ronald Hoffman, C.
Michael Learn; Highway Superintendent William Morgan; Code Enforcement Officer Harold Russell;
Guests James Shaddock; Absent: Councilman Glenn Bleiler (due to travel for his employment)
The meeting was called order at 7:28 p.m. by Supervisor VanSoest.
Public Be Heard: James Shaddock said that he has spotted some red algae in the creek off County Rd. 11
and to the north of Swan Hill Rd. bridge. John asked if anyone knew what it might be. Ron said that
maybe Watershed could take some water samples--James indicated that someone was doing sampling
but he doesn't know who it was.
RESOLUTION 2015-80
RESOLVE that the minutes of the November meeting be approved with the deletion of the mention of
the public hearing.
RESOLUTION by Mike, Ron
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
RESOLUTION 2015-81
RESOLVE that the Clerk's report be accepted as presented to the Town Supervisor.
RESOLUTION by Mike, Wayne
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
RESOLUTION 2015-82
RESOLVE that the Justice report be accepted as submitted
RESOLUTION by Ron, Wayne
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
John went through the supervisor's report and reports that we are in good shape still. Most of the
accounts still have approximately 20% of revenues that can still be spent as needed.
RESOLUTION 2015-83
RESOLVE that the Supervisor's Report be accepted as presented to the Town Board
RESOLUTION by Ron, Mike
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
Highway Superintendent's report--the new road mileage is being done by global imagining. That is going
to short us some mileage. Gulf Rd and Cottage Rd are both shorted as they have
RESOLUTION 2015-84
RESOLVE that we reinstate Gulf Rd (.28 miles) and Cottage Rd (.37 miles) Summerton Hill Rd (.78 miles)
as NOT private roads, but Town Roads. A copy of this resolution will be forwarded to the State DOT for
their records.
RESOLUTION by John VanSoest, seconded by Ronald Hoffman
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
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Been ditching and using the nice weather to our advantage. They have replaced the road signs on many
of our roads. Bill has been hauling stone. He worked out a deal and is trading some of the recycled
asphalt for stone. Vince has returned to work on light duty as he still has a compression fracture. They
have cut the part-time worker to 24 hours a week as he can still do some work and also help Vince. Joe
Vondracek has filled out an application and will be the second backup when needed for snowplowing.
John asked about the proposal from the School District for fuel. We will continue to look into it and
Carm will send the amount of fuel we use to Michelle.
Bill indicated that truck #3 started blowing anti-freeze and he called Caskey's and it was a faulty
overflow tank that "only" cost $1200.
Code Enforcement: Harold's school is finally done for this year. He just finished up in Owego and got
two new code books that we now won't have to purchase.
He has closed out 8 building permits from this year. Harold filled the board in on the recent court case
involving the two houses in Alpine that are in severe violation of the Building codes as well as health
codes.
Since there is no litigation currently, he can talked about it. He spent last week in court on a landlord
issue. The landlord said that he had not talked to Harold and that he doesn't get his mail so was
unaware of the problems. The Justice told him that he is not to rent the properties in question until the
corrections listed in court have been corrected. The landlord has 30 days to correct the deficiencies and
if he doesn't he will face fines and the buildings will be condemned. John asked about the house that
was being torn down--Harold said that it's dangerous and he will recontact him and get him moving
again.
Landfill --a couple more weeks before meeting
RESOLUTION 2015-85
RESOLVE to pay the following vouchers (G194-217 in the sum of $6190.82 & H106-114 in the sum of
$9107.51) within funds according to the totals
RESOLUTION by Wayne Chapman, seconded by Ronald Hoffman
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
Wayne and Ron
Unfinished business: Zoning update--there are going to be 4 divisions in the new zoning law--site plan
review, sub-division, septic law around the lake and the bulk rules (set backs and lot size, etc). The
biggest change is along the lines of maintaining the rural character of our town, but not allowing the
"chopping" of large lots into smaller lots by encouraging "neighborhoods" by having a smaller lot size
there and larger lot sizes in the "rural" areas. Neighborhood size will be 1/2 acre and larger size would
be 5 acres. Neighborhood areas would be Catharine Hamlet and Alpine, and possibly one around the
lake. The consultants wanted to make the "lake neighborhood" 500 ft around the lake, but we didn't
like that as there is too much open space that we don't want chopped up into small lots. John explained
that the Planning board and the ZBA are going to be very important entities. Next meeting is Jan. 12th.
At some time in the near future we will have a public session.
Carm brought up the Tax collection software through Williamson Law Book that would allow our
residents to look up their taxes and pay them online with credit cards if they chose to do that. She
asked the Board to approve the purchase of the TAXGLANCE portion of the Tax program.
RESOLUTION 2015-86
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RESOLVE that the Board approve the purchase of the TaxGlance addition to the Tax Program through
WilliamsonLawBook at a onetime cost of $250 with an annual service contract of $120.
RESOLUTION by C. Michael Learn, seconded by Ronald Hoffman
VOTE 4 ayes, no noes
Last month we discussed the purchase of a new copier for office. There are some questions regarding
the service contract and the pricing of the 2 year contract. Carmella email the sales representative to
ask the questions and get clarification and we will discuss it at the Dec. 30th meeting.
Our position on the planning commission for the county is open and they want some suggestions. Ron
suggested Jim Tobey. John will ask him.
Meeting adjourned at 8;51 p.m. with a motion by all!
Respectfully submitted:
Carmella Hoffman
Town Clerk/Collector