Minutes
City of
REGULAR MEETING
The
regular meeting of the City of
Council Members
in Attendance were: Clara
Lou Gould, Lee Kyriacou, Elizabeth Foster, Charles Kelly, Phil Shea, Steve Gold
and Eleanor Thompson.
Also
in attendance were: City
Administrator, Joseph Braun
City
Attorney, Gerard Pisanelli
Media
Represented By: Goldee
Green, Beacon Free Press
Residents
at beginning of meeting: 65
Mayor
Gould asked for a Motion to Enter Executive Session at
Motion
to End Executive Session:
Public Hearings:
1.
Authorizing the Submission of the Fiscal Year 2008
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the City of
Beacon will hold a public hearing on Monday, September 17, 2007 at the City of
Beacon Municipal Center, One Municipal Plaza, Beacon, New York at 7:30 p.m. or
as soon thereafter as the matter is reached on the agenda, to consider a
Resolution Authorizing the Submission of the Fiscal Year 2008 Dutchess County
Community Development Block Grant Program Application. A copy of the proposal is available for
inspection at the
All interested persons and citizens shall
have an opportunity to be heard on said proposals at the date, time and place
aforesaid.
Public
Comments: None
Motion
to end public hearing: Council
Member Thompson. Seconded: Council Member Gold. All voted in favor. Motion carried.
2. Restore
NOTICE
OF PUBLIC HEARING
The City of
The Public
Hearing will be held on
Part
5 – Property Assessment List
|
Municipal
Name |
City of |
|
||||
|
Project
Name |
Long Dock Beacon
– Hotel and |
|
||||
|
# |
Site
Name /Address |
Sq.Ft. |
R -
Residential C
– Commercial * see
definitions |
DM -
Demolition DC -
Deconstruction RH -Rehabilitation RC
–Reconstruction * see
definitions |
||
|
1. |
8 Long
Dock Road, Beacon, NY Tax ID
No. 5954-32-488835 |
3.49 Ac |
C. |
DM |
||
|
2. |
8 Long
Dock Road Tax ID
No. 5954-32-488835 |
3.49 Ac |
C |
RC |
||
|
3. |
12-25
Long Tax ID
No. 5954-32-481822 |
3.44 Ac |
C. |
DM |
||
|
4. |
12-25
Long Tax ID
No. 5954-32-481822 |
3.44 Ac |
C. |
RC |
||
|
5. |
Dennings
Ave.- Rear Tax ID
No. 5954-41-537725 |
17.8 Ac |
C. |
DM |
||
|
6. |
Dennings
Ave.- Rear Tax ID
No. 5954-41-537725 |
17.8 Ac |
C. |
RC |
||
Hearing
Public Comments:
Matthew
Ruddikoff of Longdock: We want to
encourage the council to authorize this application. This will make funds available to the
community. We have worked with
Beacon's grant consultant. We want
to thank the City for what you have done and we continue to need your
help. We appreciate the City's
support and ask that you look favorably on this request. We are continuing to pursue HUD for
financing. The grant application is
due
Mayor
Gould announced that the grant writer was available to answer any questions
from the public. There were no
questions.
No
further comments.
Motion
to end public hearing: Council
Member Shea. Seconded: Council Member Gold. All voted in favor. Motion carried.
Council Meeting Minutes:
Mayor
Clara Lou Gould asked for a motion to approve the following Council Meeting
Minutes:
Special Meeting
Council Meeting
–
Motion
to approve minutes: Council Member
Foster. Seconded: Council Member Thompson. All voted in favor. Motion carried.
Text
for the September 17, 2007 Reports is at the end of these minutes:
Mayor's
Communications read by Mayor Clara Lou Gould.
City
Administrator Joseph Braun - No
Report
City
Attorney Report of Activities – 1st Meeting of the Month
Mayor
Clara Lou Gould read her Report of Activities
Council
Reports of Activities read their reports of activities
Resolution regarding Trees Project
Mayor
Gould read a resolution from Council Member Kyriacou’s computer written
by him regarding the Trees on Main Street Project. She requested that it be added to
tonight’s agenda so that it can be included under Public Comments
pertaining to This Agenda Only so that the public can make their comments.
Motion
to add to agenda as Resolution No. 3 below: Council Member Kyriacou. Seconded: Council Member Kelly. All voted in favor. Motion carried.
The
Mayor also made an announcement that she will take names at the end of this
meeting of those interested in being on the committee.
City
Attorney Pisanelli: The contractor
is willing to work with the city.
Public Comments:
Pertaining to This Agenda Only (This now includes the Trees Resolution)
City Attorney
Pisanelli: Because
of the large number of residents that want to speak this evening, we are limiting
each comment to one minute.
Shelly Tween,
These are my
requests/questions/grievances:
1) Please reveal the
job/professional title of each member of the tree committee:
Chair, Norm MacLeod, Title:
Jay Vaughn, Title:
Anthony Tomaselli, Title:
Who selected the members of the
tree committee?
What is the name of the company
that holds the tree contract? What is the contact name?
How long has everyone on the tree
committee known each other and known the administrator that arranged the
contract?
2) I ask that Mr.
MacLeod release his report on the case for each and every tree that was felled.
What is the exact disease, the amount of disease and/or damage to sidewalk?
3) Why did the entire
city council choose to omit Lou Sebesta off of the tree committee? Why were his
recommendations for saving the trees by alternative solutions such as paver
stones ignored?
4) I ask that Mr.
Sebesta be made the new chair of the committee and report directly to the Mayor
and the City Council.
5) At the city
council meeting 2 weeks ago, why was Administrator Joe Braun unable to tell us
about the number of trees to be cut or any details of the contract? This lack
of attachment to the details of his responsibilities has proven reckless.
6) At the July 2 city
council meeting Mr. Braun announced "each year 2 blocks of overgrown trees
will be removed and replaced until all of
Why the disconnect
between this report to the city council and the contract that was created? On
the present contract 2 blocks of trees were to be clear cut each day!
7) This accelerated
demolition of trees was not presented before the city council, neither was the
exorbitant number of trees that were to be cut -- 55 trees in all. At the city
council meeting on September 3rd, Phil Shea said that 55 was not the number of
trees he would have approved, neither would he have approved 22 trees. He
thought the number of trees was going to be 'way less' for the entire
8) The administrator
proceeded without informing the city council and without taking into
consideration the intention of the resolution championed by Steve Gold to
protect all the trees except those in danger of disease/falling/harmful to
public safety.
9) Needless taxpayer
dollars have been squandered. The contract has an exorbitantly high delay fee
that is costing taxpayers each day of this fiasco.
10) The nature of the
planting of the new trees is in violation of proper tree handling and puts the
City of
11) The lawyer for
the City of
12) If the monies
lost by the city would come directly out of Mr. Braun's salary, I believe he
would be motivated to find a way to void this contract with the tree company
with which he holds a direct relationship.
13) I believe Mr.
Braun was negligent. Knowing the resolution and the intention of the resolution
to then commit to cutting 55 trees without further consultation with the city
council warrants the possible removal of Mr. Braun from his involvement with
the city.
14) It is a shame
that the City of
Mayor Gould: You are quoting wrong information.
Randy Casale:
I do not want you to lose focus.
I want you to know how the city government is run. This administrator plus this council had
the contract that was approved voted on by the council based on the information
they had. I don’t know what
Goldee Greene wrote in the newspaper but I’m sure when they voted to
spend $394,000.00 it was fair and blueprint free before this administration has
a contract that was voted on by the council. I’m also sure before they voted a
lot of work was done. This is not a
kangaroo court and Goldee Greene should have given the right information to the
newspapers.
Tony Uber,
Pamala Wieder-Bier,
Susan Wisniewski,
Resident:
I do like trees. They should
be pruned and cultivated. If Beacon
had such a plan we would not be in this predicament. Many times you need to rely on the
expertise of others. The time to
ask questions was before the contract was awarded.
Whatever decision you make you should try to curtail
additional expenses.
Tom Baldino,
Hank Dutch,
Nicole Ashley: I concur that the contract should not
dictate what you do. We would like
a copy of the contract and will seek legal advice if we have to. Megan Sheramata, a forester that I know has
written the following comments:
Hi there, I just wanted to email a few comments. I only learned of the
recent discussion after seeing a sign posted in a store after a horrifying walk
down
I have worked as a professional forester for 10 years and an urna forester for
5 years, and have rarely seen such shoddy tree planting work as I have seen
this week. As I understand it, this kind of tree removal issue is common, and
unless you have a knowledgeable person review contracts prior to removals,
many, many tree companies will over cut to make some cash. Given the very
damaging pruning work I have seen on
In terms of the current planting job, however, I hope that these comments can
be included somehow in the discussion. I am only too sad that I cannot be
there. There are professional standards for tree planting work, and this
contractor is not following them. What I see them doing that will ultimately
harm the trees and likely cause their death over the next few years are, in
order of threat to the trees' survival:
1) The trees are being planted too early. No trees in Beacon should be planted
before the leaves have dropped (or "hardened off") for the winter.
Period. This alone indicates to me that this is a shady company. This alone can
kill the trees.
2) There is burlap around the root ball of the tree. This was not pulled back.
According to any basic tree-planting test, this burlap MUST be pulled back;
otherwise it inhibits the ability of water to get to the root ball, thus
starving the plant of needed water. This alone could kill the tree, too.
3) The trees were not planted in soil, but in fill!! Soil has a balanced
mix of organic matter and air, along with minerals. Fill is considered
"dead" and should never be used as a planting medium. This alone can
kill the tree.
4) The trees have been planted too deep. This is serious and can kill the tree.
5) The trees were lying out in the sun at time of planting. They should have
been tarped. This can cause serious damage to the tree.
6) The trees did not appear to be watered at time of planting, nor were they
mulched. Neither were they staked. This is basic tree care.
7) No contractor should place construction material in a tree pit. This
compacts soil and contributes to tree decline.
The company clearly is not professional and I would say that they do not have
much of a leg to stand on in terms of their inability to perform even a
mediocre job in this tree installation. I have worked with numerous
contractors, and find that without very defined specs in their contract, they
will not do a professional job unless they are a highly reputable company -
hard to find up here. However, I have NEVER seen such a poorly executed job,
and I have worked on hundreds of jobs.
If anyone would like any help setting up contracts with a tree-planting
contractor in Beacon, I do forestry consulting. Normally I charge a few hundred
dollars a day, but in this case will help you out for free if it will help you
set up a proper contract to ensure that the trees that go in are soundly
installed. You need specs defining tree installation requirements, tree care,
and after-care.
If Beacon wants to do an urban forestry plan, I am available to coordinate
something like that, but I would have to do it for a fee for it takes a
considerable amount of time and resources. I have worked on a number of plans,
have references and live in the community. Such a plan could help prevent
disasters like this, and help ensure that Beacon retains a strong, living
canopy cover that meets the interests of businesses and residents alike. It
could also address issues like the Route 9D work, which I fear has caused
damage to trees that will result in trees falling in 2 - 4 years from now.
My name is Megan. If you want to talk more about a forestry plan or, if
you only want advice on this predicament and working through existing
contracts, I am available this Thursday or Friday. Beacon has two urban
forestry professionals living in town - myself and Lou Sebesta. Between us,
there is a great deal of experience with trees. I hope the community relies on
us, for we both love the city and its trees.
I am sorry I cannot make it tonight.
Megan Sheramata
PS: I should comment on
Nicole Ashley:
This alone indicates to me that this company is shady. A group of people will read the
report.
Robert Brush,
Lou Sebesta:
I am a forester for free. (He then listed his credentials.) I am frustrated. I have consulted with the city and
supervisors for ten years on how to deal with these trees. The fact that these trees are diseased,
dying or dangerous is not true. The
trees that are being planted are not good trees. None of those trees are going to provide
shade. I have given the council
information on how to fix the sidewalks.
I can help you to fix the sidewalks and save the trees. There are some trees that are dead and
need to come down. You can have a
good design to save the trees. The
material that is being used to plant the trees in will not grow trees. Trees are like people. They need to live, eat and drink
water.
Tony Brown: I would like to make a recommendation
that since the contractor is taking down the wrong trees, he should be stopped.
Justin Riccobono,
Gary Wood,
Deborah Bigelow,
In the interest
of time, Mayor Gould asked for a motion to stop public comments Council Member Thompson.
Seconded: Council Member
Kelly. All voted in favor except
Council Member Kyriacou who voted "no". On a vote of six (6) “yes”
and one (1) “no”, motion carried.
No further
comments
UNFINISHED
BUSINESS
Resolutions:
1.
Resolution No. 149 of 2007 - Authorizing the Submission
of the Fiscal Year 2008 Dutchess County Community Development Block Grant Program
Application. Read by City
Administrator, Joseph Braun.
WHEREAS, the City of
WHEREAS, input from citizens and groups has been
received and considered, and
WHEREAS, an application has been prepared which
addresses our community concerns.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED, that the
Dutchess County Community Development Consortium Fiscal Year 2008 application
for the City of
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the submission of said application
to the Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development he and hereby is
authorized.
Motion
to authorize: Council Member
Shea. Seconded: Council Member Thompson. On
roll call, all voted in favor.
Motion carried.
2. Resolution No. 150 of 2007 - Authorize the
Mayor of Beacon to apply for and Accept Funds - Apply for a Restore New York
Communities initiative Grant from Empire State Development Corp for the Long
Dock Beacon Project. Read by City
Administrator, Joseph Braun.
RESOLVED: That Clara Lou Gould, as Mayor of the
City of
Motion
to Authorize and Accept Funds:
Council Member Thompson.
Seconded: Council Member
Shea. On roll call, all voted in
favor. Motion carried.
3. Resolution No. 151 of 2007 - Resolution
for trees: Read by City Administrator, Joseph Braun
WHEREAS, there has been overwhelming community
expression of concern regarding the contract for Main Street tree and sidewalk
replacement, and;
Wher