The regular semi-monthly meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Menands, held on Monday, February 3rd, 2020 was called to order by Mayor Megan Grenier at 6:00 P.M.

PRESENT:

Megan Grenier, Mayor
Diane Foley, Trustee
Seth H. Harris, Trustee
Brian Marsh, Trustee
Aileen Nicoll, Trustee
Donald Handerhan, Village Clerk
William T. Smith, Jr., Village Treasurer
Stephen Rehfuss, Village Attorney

Also attending: Bill Garvey, Chris Flint, Frank Lacosse, Mike Hagmann, Mike Steurer, Susan Sweeney, John Stangle, Angelo Primo, Ethan Gaddy, Eric Johnson.

The Mayor led the Pledge of Allegiance.

A motion was made by Trustee Marsh to accept the minutes of the January 21st, 2020 Board Meeting, seconded by Trustee Foley.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting ABSTAINED
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

A motion was made by Trustee Marsh to approve payment for the following, seconded by Trustee Nicoll.

WARRANT # 16x:
GENERAL totaling $ 500.00

WARRANT # 17:

GENERAL totaling $295,924.81
WATER totaling $ 2,215.76
SEWER totaling $ 384.80
TOTALS $298,525.37

PAYROLL # 18: totaling $ 99,205.59
(01/17/20 – 01/30/20)

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

A motion was made by Trustee Foley, seconded by Trustee Marsh, to accept
the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that the Treasurer be, and hereby is, authorized to make the following Budget Transfers

Account

Account
From Acct:
A.1990.0400
To Acct:
A.1110.0116
Description
Contingent Acct

On-Call / Summer
Amount:
$3,300.00

$3,300.00

From Acct:
A.3410.0401
To Acct:
A.3410.0405
Description
Fire – Supplies

Fire – Insurance
Amount:
$120.00

$120.00

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley
voting AYE

Trustee Harris
voting AYE

Trustee Marsh
voting AYE

Trustee Nicoll
voting AYE

Mayor Grenier
voting AYE

The Treasurer wanted to inform everyone that effective the 1st of January 2020 the new IRS Mileage rate is $.575 per mile.

The Treasurer answered a question about a voucher from Albany County for Sales Tax. The Treasurer explained that Albany County gave Menands Colonie Village’s amount of sales tax and Colonie received Menands portion. The voucher is to correct the mistake. The Treasurer also stated that sales tax was lower this year than previous years, he is looking into the reason for the discrepancy.

Treasurer requests permission to transfer $55,000 from the General Fund Unappropriated Account to A.3120.0213 Police Radio System. This purchase was approved at the October 7, 2019 board meeting.
Trustee Marsh offered the following resolution authorizing the Treasurer to Transfer the requested funds. The resolution was seconded by Trustee Nicoll.

ADOPTED:
Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

Department Heads presented their Budget Proposals to the Board and answered all questions.

Chief Mike Steurer before giving Budget request advised the Board that the Town is trying to setup a Special Election Day for the Referendum to increase the LOSAP to try cutting down on the costs of holding a Special Election.

Chief Mike Steurer gave the Board his budget requests and answered all questions.

Chief Frank Lacosse gave the Board his budget requests and answered all questions.

Chief Lacosse explained to the Board that the Department has a need to replace a patrol vehicle due to high maintenance and unsafe condition of the vehicle. The funds for the new car will be transferred from Vehicle Savings. A discussion followed.

Trustee Marsh made a motion to purchase a Dodge Durango from Main Motorcar under state contract and to outfit not to exceed $40,000.00, seconded by Trustee Nicoll.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

Chief Lacosse asked the Board for six (6) post to be installed in front of the Police Station to ensure that no one could drive into the building. A discuss followed.

Trustee Foley made a motion not to exceed $2,000.00 to have the six (6) posts installed in front of the Police Department, seconded by Trustee Marsh.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

Mike Hagmann told the Board that the plow trucks and Garbage trucks are still planned for delivery in late March or early April.

Mike Hagmann gave the Board his budget requests for DPW, Water & Sewer Departments and answered all questions.

Mike Hagmann requested repairs to Chlorinator:

Replace plumbing for Chlorine Dosing $2,000.00
PLC Programming Changes $2,000.00
Relocation of control wiring for Chlorine Dosing $2,750.00

Trustee Foley made a motion not to exceed $6,800.00 to have Smith Controls repair the Chlorinator, seconded by Trustee Marsh.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

Judge Christopher Flint gave his budget request for the Menands Justice Court and answered all questions.

Donald Handerhan gave the budget requests for the Village Office and Buildings and answered all questions.

Don Handerhan asked the Board to increase email security and training with Barracuda Essentials Security for $2,424.00 per year.

Trustee Marsh made a motion to purchase Barracuda Essential Security for $2,424.00 per year, seconded by Trustee Nicoll.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

Bill Smith gave the budget requests for the Building Department and answered all questions.

The Clerk advised the Board that he was asked by the Park Lane Management the owners of 712 Wolfert Avenue the Wolfert Apartments if it would be possible to extend the NO PARKING past the driveway to make it safer to pull out of the drive, discussion followed. After discussion the Clerk will measure distance needed for the No Parking area and report back to the Board.

New Permit Fee Charges, the fees have not been increased since 2015. (Table to next meeting)

The Clerk advised the Board that NYCOM had drafted a Resolution to amend the Criminal Justice Reforms.

Village Attorney Rehfuss read the Resolution Trustee Marsh made a motion to approve the Resolution as read, seconded by Trustee Nicoll.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

RESOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE OF MENANDS

REQUESTING AMENDMENTS TO NEW YORK STATE’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS
WHEREAS while there was a need to reform New York’s criminal justice statutes during the 2019 state legislative session, it is widely recognized that several of the drastic changes in the laws pertaining to discovery are overly broad and vague and are having unintended consequences at the municipal level; and

WHEREAS the dramatically shortened time period in which prosecutors must disclose evidence to defendants and the broad expansion of the matters to which such discovery mandates apply will have significant cost, tax and justice implications for cities and villages with police departments, local justice courts or code/parking enforcement departments; and

WHEREAS the discovery reforms mandate prosecutors disclose evidence to the defense within 15 days of arraignment for criminal charges (even if the defendant is not in custody); and

WHEREAS drastically enlarging the scope of material that a prosecutor must review and deliver within 15 days will overwhelm the ability of city and village officials and employees to prosecute cases while managing their misdemeanor and felony caseloads, and will make it impossible to prosecute vehicle and traffic and local code infractions and violations in compliance with the new discovery mandates; and

WHEREAS arraignment must now take place within 20 days of desk appearance ticket issuance, thereby requiring justice courts, many of which convene monthly, to meet more frequently; and

WHEREAS cities and villages will not reap savings from the bail reform’s reduction of the burden on county jails; and

WHEREAS municipalities are already challenged with operating within the now-permanent 2% tax cap and have not received an increase in general purpose state aid in 11 years.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Village of Menands supports the following set of amendments proposed by the New York State Conference of Mayors that are consistent with the intent of the criminal justice reforms but which will allow for more effective and affordable implementation:

Ensure that cities and villages are provided with additional financial and operational support to offset the cost of these mandated measures;

Allow 60 days for prosecutors to disclose evidence to the defense for criminal charges;

Exclude from the accelerated discovery requirements any charge not involving a misdemeanor or felony;

Adjust the 20-day arraignment requirement to accommodate local courts that meet on a monthly basis;

Allow prosecutors to withhold sensitive information, such as victim contact information, without having to obtain a court order.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this duly adopted resolution of the VILLAGE OF MENANDS be forwarded to Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senator Neal Breslin and Assembly Member Phil Steck, the New York State Conference of Mayors, and local media outlets.

FOLLOW-UP:

Court Response was sent to the Comptroller’s Office
Trees removal at 30 Wolfert Avenue is scheduled
Danielle Freeman has been sworn as Alternate to the ZBA
Chimney has been replaced at the Pump Station

Mayor Grenier and Ethan Gaddy representing Chazen Companies explained the Hudson River Valley Greenway Grant. A discussion followed:

Resolution Authorizing Additional Planning Services for the Village of Menands Comprehensive Plan

Whereas the Village engaged Chazen to prepare a Comprehensive Plan;

Whereas the project is largely complete;

Whereas the Village has additional funding from the Hudson River Valley Greenway for the purposes of developing a Comprehensive Plan;

Whereas the Village Desires to conduct additional work in support of the Comprehensive Plan;

Whereas the Chazen Company provided an outline of those services in a Technical Services Charge Order letter to the Village Board dated February 3, 2020;

Therefore, it is resolved to extend the Village’s contract with Chazen for a sum not to exceed $8,000.00 in order to continue the efforts outlined in the abovementioned Technical Services Change Order.

The Clerk reminded the Board that the next meeting will be Tuesday, February 18th, 2020 due to Presidents’ Day Holiday on Monday, February 17th, 2020.

Open Forum:
Resident John Stangle asked if there are monies in budget for wall repair and paving to firehouse parking lot and apron.
Mayor Grenier stated tonight was to hear from Department Heads and their budget requests.

Mr. Stangle asked why the sales tax went down. Mr. Smith stated he’s not sure, but is looking into it.

Mr. Stangle asked the status of the Bike Connector. Eric Johnson and the Clerk advised him that DOT is out to bond and it ‘s suppose to start in the Spring.

Mr. Stangle asked because of what happened to the Town of Colonie with Ramsom Ware has the Village considered what to do. The Clerk advised Mr. Stangle that we have upgraded our security.

Resident Susan Sweeney asked if Revenue is looked at during the Budget process. Mr. Smith advised her yes, it is but at the end.

Eric Johnson advised the Board that the Trail Project is complete except for signage that will be completed in the Spring.

Trustee Harris had a question about trail markers. A discussion followed.

Mayor Grenier read a Thank You from Bill Nevins of Menands Youth Sports.

Trustee Nicoll had a report from the Village Gardener and Building Department.

A motion was made by Trustee Harris to adjourn, seconded by Trustee Marsh.

ADOPTED:

Trustee Foley voting AYE
Trustee Harris voting AYE
Trustee Marsh voting AYE
Trustee Nicoll voting AYE
Mayor Grenier voting AYE

The meeting was duly adjourned at 7:48 P.M.

____________________
Donald Handerhan
Village Clerk

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