Workshop
Minutes
City of
WORKSHOP
The City of
Council Members in Attendance
were: Clara Lou Gould, Elizabeth Foster,
Charles Kelly, Phil Shea, Steve Gold and Eleanor Thompson.
Also in attendance: City Administrator, Joseph Braun and City
Attorney Gerard Pisanelli.
Agenda
Police
Budget: Capt. Glenn Scofield -
Beacon positions needing filling – See letter to Joe Braun dated10/3/07
Captain Scofield: Briefly
referred to his budget presentation that he gave in late August when he
presented his comprehensive proposal, which included the department needs such
as salaries, equipment, etc.
Council Member Questions and
answers:
Council Member Kelly: How many
officers are we paying that are not working?
Captain Scofield: There
are three on administrative leave.
Council Member Kelly: How long does
it take for the processing of newly trained Police Officers through the
academy?
Captain Scofield: The
Police academy is twice a year - one in January and one in July. If we miss the Jan startup, we would have to
go to the summer. It takes approximately
seven months in all.
Council Member Kelly: Do
we take lateral transfers from other cities?
Captain Scofield: If
we get an applicant from another city, they have to take the test here in
Dutchess. The next exam is November
17th. The exam after that one will take
place again in three years. Currently we
are working off the list of four years ago.
Recently we hired three officers off the list that were working in the
sheriff's dept. Every single new officer
that is hired by Beacon must go through the investigative process no matter how
much experience they have. We currently
have one officer who is due to retire in 2008.
As for vehicles: we are
requesting 2 patrol vehicles and one unmarked vehicle. We currently have ten marked cars. Computers in the patrol cars are a big-ticket
item.
Council Member Gold: Why
do you think you need 41 rather than the 39 used in the past to accomplish the
duties now assigned?
Captain Scofield: The
current contract allows two officers to be off at the same time for vacation or
illness.
Council Member Thompson: Why don't we
have auxiliary police?
Captain Scofield: For
training and liability reasons. Back in
the 80's there was issues involving lack of training, liability, safety and
union issues so they dissolved the program.
Council Member Kelly: What
percentage overall is the increase in the Police Budget? My interest is to keep the increase to
4-1/2%. Taxpayers have to have some
relief. If it is more than 4-1/2% I
suggest you look at making some serious cuts.
Captain Scofield: We
are looking into two new dogs.
City Administrator
Braun: was asked how the vehicles were paid for in the
past. Four or Five years ago, we talked
about paying for them over a matter of time, but now we take it from the fund
balance. I think 80,000 miles on a
vehicle is the time to get new vehicles.
Council Member Shea: Can
we lease cars?
City Administrator
Braun: We did that at one time. Now we buy cars on state bid and then when we
sell them and make money.
Captain Scofield: When
asked about civilian dispatchers. The
reason that we do not have a civilian dispatcher, is that we believe that the
dispatcher would replace a police officer in the office who might have to check
on prisoners
Council Member Kelly: Asked about
community watch groups?
Captain Scofield: They are a great
help. Police officers cannot be at more
than one place at a time. We have a
number of officers who are doing more than one job.
The council thanked Captain
Scofield for his presentation of his budget needs.
Grant Writer contract - Susan Roeller Brown
a)
Extend 2007 agreement by 25 hours to prepare Greenway planning
application for use of University Settlement camp
b)
2008 Agreement
The following email from Susan
Brown dated
Dear Clara Lou and Joe,
Attached is a
proposed contract amendment to increase my current grantwriting services
contract by an additional 25 hours to
allow for the preparation of a Greenway planning grant application for
University Settlement Camp. The cost of this amendment would be up to $1,875
(25 hours @ $75/hour).
Per your request,
Clara Lou, I have also attached an annual contract proposal for grantwriting
services for 2008. I have proposed 275 hours of service, based on
our experience this year. The annual
cost of these services would be up to $20,625 (275 hours @ $75/hour).
Please let me know
if you need any additional information. I will plan on attending the Council
workshop on Monday, October 29, to answer any questions the Council may have
about grant opportunities and/or my services. Once they are approved,
I will send you signed copies of the contract amendment and 2008-contract
proposal for your signature.
Thank you for the opportunity to continue my
work with the City of
The following email from Susan Brown dated
Dear Clara Lou and Joe,
At Monday's workshop meeting, should I be prepared to discuss
possible grants the City might want to pursue during
2008? If so, here is a list of projects/needs that have been passed along to me
and potential funding sources:
•
Funding
for new police officers through Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
Universal Hiring
Program (from Glenn Scofield)
•
Funding to hire civilian staff
through COPS Secure Our Schools program (from Glenn Scofield)
•
Restoration of the
•
Clean up of the Highway
Department facility and neighboring junkyard through EPA's Brownfields program
- is this the correct site?
•
Invasive species eradication
through NYSDEC's Environmental Protection Fund - what project do you
have in mind?
•
Sightseeing
binoculars/telescopes for the waterfront (from Bob Murphy) - corporate sponsors
to be
identified
Other projects for which funding might
be sought include grants to:
•
develop a management plan and
implement improvements at Hiddenbrooke
•
implement
improvements at University Settlement Camp (assuming we secure a Greenway grant
for the
planning phase)
•
complete a Fishkill Creek
Corridor plan for conservation, redevelopment, and Greenway Trail
•
develop a
•
secure a facility for a
community center
•
plan and implement activities/events
for the Beacon 2009 celebration
Are there other potential projects that
should be on this list for 2008? Thanks
for your feedback. Susan
Susan Roeller Brown 94 Sharon Turnpike
Susan Roeller Brown: I
have a couple of things pending. There
are many things that we would like to do and there are grants to support them.
Council Member Gold: A
grant was written for acquisition of University Settlement.
There are a number of grant
programs that we can look at for "planning so that we can hire a
group. There are interests from not for
profits. As far as that property goes,
we can apply for planning grants.
University Settlement.
Council Member Gold: I am glad you
are working for the city. You delivered
on what you promised. Re: The old high school. It is up for sale now. Do you have any grants that we can apply
for? You might know of ways to make that
happen.
Susan Roeller Brown: The
city is eligible for grants that "not for profits" are not eligible for. I will do some research to see what is out
there. We can probably develop a program
to receive matching funds. Council Member Gold: The list is endless as to what we can use
this school building for seniors, teens, etc.
Susan Roeller Brown: If
that facility is in the right location, there are some state funds that can be
looked into. I would be delighted to do
that with some additional information.
Council Member Kelly: You
might want to look at other communities to see how they are able to keep their
old schools. I think that there is a
need to keep that building in the community.
We do not want the entire burden on the taxpayers. I think your idea to have the mayor set up a
task force to look into this is a good one.
Susan Roeller Brown: There
are several sources of funds for revitalization.
Council Member Kelly: We
would like to make the old school more community oriented.
Mayor Gould: We
have artists there now.
Council Member Gold: Asked about a
grant for the Restoration of Tioronda Bridge.
Susan Roeller Brown: There
is a grant for that.
The council was in favor of and
pleased with the suggestion of going after specific grants for proposed
projects in the City of
The contract renewal was
brought up:
City Administrator Braun: This new
agreement is for "x" number of hours that Susan will pursue what the
council suggests such as the high school.
The grant needs budget authorization before she goes out and does it.
Council Member Thompson: I
think we need a grant writer to do it and getting it done. Susan suggested that we tell her what we want
her to pursue and she will work on those items.
This is what I am looking for.
This will be put on the agenda
for the budget.
Sewage problems not caused
by Homeowners
a) Propose Local Law to cover
everyone?
b) Invite firefighter
representative
Council Member Gold:
When the basements are being
pumped out, how can we distinguish whether it is sewage or if it is just water?
Council Member Kelly: You can take a
sample and have it tested.
Council Member Gold:
All water must contain some
sewage. How do we distinguish the
acceptable level of this to apply this law?
Council Member Kelly:
I think the burden of proof
should be on the homeowner.
City Attorney Pisanelli: It
comes back to the insurance company where a claim is made. In this situation, if all these are proven,
it is a clear-cut case for the insurance company to pay.
Council Member Kelly:
Asked Chief Joseph: Can you tell if it is sewage or water?
Chief Joseph: It is pretty obvious when you have sewage.
City Attorney Pisanelli: The
homeowner should be obligated to notify the city as soon as possible.
Council Member Gold:
The city would have the
responsibility of having the water tested.
There should be an acceptable level to determine what is a safe. If the test shows no signs of sewage, the
homeowner should pay for the test. If it
does show signs of sewage, the city will pay for the test.
Mayor Gould: Attorney Pisanelli will have this ready for our next
council meeting.
c) Resolution to cover George
Mansfield
Attorney Pisanelli: The difficulty
of this is that is impossible to reimburse an individual with a resolution.
. My recommendation is that he brings a
suit against the city and the insurance company should react.
Council Member Gold: I
don't think we should tell residents to sue us.
I think we should turn around and sue our insurance company.
Council Member Thompson: I
say that we find a way to pay the man because I know that we are at fault.
Council Member Kelly: When
the city was sued in the past, has the city ever negotiated a settlement rather
than go to court?
City Attorney Pisanelli: If
the city wants to do this differently than the way it should be done, someone
should be appointed by the council to act as mediator.
Council Member Kelly: I
think that we should have a mediator to listen to the city and Mr. Mansfield
and come up with a negotiated settlement.
City Attorney Pisanelli: I am not
suggesting anything improper.
Council Member Kelly: I
think that the meeting of the minds would be acceptable.
City Attorney Pisanelli: My suggestion
is to adjourn until mediation can be done between Mr. Mansfield and the city.
Council Member Gold: We are asking
the city to do due diligence to get this engineer's report that were told
exists and which we never received.
Mayor Gould: Will
contact the engineer for a copy of the report.
Proposed Local Law - Storm Water Proposed Local law.
(NOTE: must be passed by end of
year)
City Attorney Pisanelli: The
council got copies of two local laws. I
have not seen them and I do not have copies.
I have copies of some documents but I do not know if these are the final
documents.
City Administrator Braun: I will ask for
an absolute final copy. I suggest that
we review it and if it does not have any fatal flaws, we should process
it. This should have two public
hearings. On Monday it will be on the
agenda for the first reading and in two weeks be voted on.
Put on the agenda for November
5, 2007 for first reading.
Traffic
Safety Committee - Recommendation - “No Parking, Stopping or Standing
Here to Corner” signage to be placed 30 feet on both sides of St. Luke’s Place
at the intersection of Churchill St.”
Mayor Gould: This
does not need a public hearing. It just
needs a vote. This will be placed on the
Agenda for November 5, 2007
Proposed Local Law - Cabaret Law - Noise - from last workshop.
City Administrator
Braun: We are trying t protect the quality of life. This law will straight forward do that. In the past Captain Scofield gave some views
and suggestions. There is a training
session in
Council Member Thompson: Why
can't we enforce the laws that we have now?
Is there a particular neighborhood that is worst than others?
Captain Scofield: As
far as the noise on
Council Member Gold: I
spoke to the homeowners there. Sometimes
it has been addressed. Other times it
has not. Businesses on
Mayor Gould: There
are many residential areas on
Council Member Kelly: I
think this is an issue of law enforcement rather than legislation. I think our cabaret law is giving the
residents false hope.
Council Member Shea: If
there are continuous complaints about these establishments, they can lose their
liquor license.
City Administrator: I think we
can bring up the parking spaces issue. I
feel sorry for the people who have to deal with the noise.
Council Member Gold: The
law regarding capacity and parking spaces should be looked into
Council Member Shea: They
should be held to the licensing laws.
Council Member Kelly: This
cabaret law gives us the authority to act.
I would support enforcement rather than litigation.
Council Member Gold: I
would like to go back to see if we can have this law for a certain size establishment.
Mayor Gould: They
might do well to not use the patio.
Council Member Thompson: I
guess we should go back and look at our laws.
Council Member Gold: Asked
the police representative what would happen if they were guilty of loud noise.
Police Representative: provided the amount of fines for each violation.
This will be ready for the next
workshop.
Council Member Kelly: We
need Tim here at the workshop also.
A suggestion was made that we
tell the owners of their establishment that they cannot allow their patrons to
go out doors.
Council Member Gold: That
is not strong enough.
Mayor Gould: That
is a good start.
Council Member Gold: We
should discuss this at a workshop.
Council Member Kelly: Asked
the Police Captain to make suggestions and help us come up with a law that
would solve the problem.
Police Representative: I
think keeping them inside is a great suggestion. I also think that the fines should be
increased.
City Administrative
Braun: We should look at the parking spaces law. We can use the laws that we have now to
accomplish our objective.
Mayor Gould: I
think that we should get suggestions from the Police Dept. and the Building
Department. and come up with a solution.
This will be discussed further
at a future workshop.
Proposed Local Law - Outdoor furnaces - Tabled at meeting of October 15. Waiting input from Building Department
We are still waiting for
information from the building department.
Mayor Clara Lou Gould read the
following letter dated October 29, 2007 from the Housing Authority, One
Forrestal Heights, Beacon, NY in answer to a complaint that they would not
permit access to an emergency situation.
Dear Mayor:
It troubled me to learn that
the City Council has "Forrestal Heights -Rule requiring tenant permission
to open door in emergency" placed on
their workshop agenda for this evening. My
concern over this agenda item is multi-faceted.
Our first concern is that our office learned about this
agenda item secondhand. Approximately one week ago, our office received a call
from our attorney, Gerard Pisanelli,
regarding an e-mail that he received from a Council member about a certain
tenant. Our office provided our attorney with the necessary information
to answer this e-mail.
Today,
we received information. which a visit to the City website confirmed, that
this matter was on tonight's workshop agenda. No one from the City Council, or the Mayor's office,
contacted our agency to discuss this matter prior to it being brought to workshop. Our attorney
stated that he had not yet responded to the email and had just been
informed that this would be on the workshop agenda. Our office is
actually not even sure what "rule" is being referred to or what the
City Council hopes to accomplish with a workshop. Since there has been no communication
from the City, we can only assume that it has to do with the e-mail our
attorney received. It is disheartening that there was no effort made to communicate
directly with the Housing Authority first.
If this were indeed about the
e-mail our attorney received from Steve Gold, our office would like to state
that our tenant is very wrong. According to our records, Health Watch called
our answering service at 4:00 am on 9/12/07 on behalf of this tenant (whose name our office will not release for
confidentiality purposes) to request
that maintenance open the door for paramedics. Maintenance responded to her apartment and opened the door. Apparently,
this tenant had another incident a few
days later but did not call the answering service. Instead, the on-call maintenance worker heard the call dispatched over
his ambulance/fire pager and responded to the apartment. By
the time he arrived, emergency personnel had already gained access
through a window. We have no idea what this tenant is referring
to when she claims there is a form that must be filled out or that maintenance
stood by and watched the ambulance workers climb through a window.
Our
agency has prided itself on its commitment to cooperate with the fire department,
police department, and ambulance corps. We have never denied emergency
personal access to any apartment. In fact, our staff has often been on-hand to
assist these agencies after hours and on our own time. A simple phone call to any of
these agencies will confirm this.
As you
may not know, both
Also, our
maintenance staff is on call. 24 hours a day 7 days a week, Even though
providing access to an apartment is not necessarily a. "maintenance" emergency, our maintenance
staff has always, and will continue to, open doors when needed.
Finally,
our agency is very upset that this agenda item appears to suggest that the
Housing Authority is in some way prohibiting access to OUT tenants' apartments
in an emergency. This is not only wrong but is demeaning to the staff that come
from home at 4:00 in the morning to open doors, emergency or not. The safety
and. security of our tenants is the Housing Authority's utmost concern.
Christine Scofield, Acting
Executive Director
Council Member Kelly: I will pursue
this with the ambulance corp. Charlie
asked Joe if we got an attorney regarding the bus stop.
City Administrator Braun: Yes,
we did. Maybe a letter to the executive
director might work.
Banners
- DCAC Comments - Add any to resolution passed 10/15/07
Comments about banners: An
email dated October 12, 2007 addressed to the Mayor and copies going to each
council member from Sara Pasti containing a list of concerns by Benjamin
Krevolin was mentioned
The city's only extent of
obligation is that they are hosting this program.
Council Member Gold: asked
if we could have an agreement drawn up that we have the right to remove these
at any time.
City Attorney Pisanelli: This
will protect the city. It should be
short and sweet.
Property tax discounts:
a. Firefighters
Letter from Garry Cooper, Chairman Dutchess County
Legislature, Local Law, August 30, 2007:
The
following resolution entitled "A Local Law to Allow Enrolled Volunteer
Firefighters and Volunteer Ambulance Workers to be Eligible for a County Real
Property Tax Exemption Under Real Property Tax Law (RPTL) Section 466-c"
has been introduced by Legislator Tyner.
It would be appreciated if you would review the attached local law and
forward your comments at your earliest convenience. Thanks you.
The following letter dated October 10, 2007 written by
Mayor Gould to City Administrator Braun:
The
enclosed memo from Fire Chief Tim Joseph requests the Council to consider a
property tax exemption for volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance
workers.
Can
you give us an estimate of what the cost of this exemption would be to the city
of
We
do, of course have the service award program for firefighters which was
intended as an incentive, but that takes effect only after retirement. This might have more appeal and would also
make housing more affordable. Cc: City Attorney Pisanelli.
Memo to Mayor and City Council Members from Fire Chief
Timothy Joseph dated September 17, 2007 regarding Real Property Tex Exemption:
The
Dutchess County Legislature has proposed a 10% Tax Exemption for volunteer
firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers.
To try and retain and recruit and just show our volunteers in the City
of
Council
Member Gold: If this can help us bring in
more volunteer fire fighters, the decrease in their property taxes will
help. I think that we should give them a
greater discount. The total now is only
$3,940.90.
Chief
Joseph: I sent the council members the law and I
thought it would be a good idea for the volunteers as long as they fulfill
their qualifications. If you have a
history of five years as a volunteer, the discount would be for life.
Council
Member Thompson: We had gotten permission to do
this a long time ago.
Council
Member Kelly: We should come up with a package which is
more than the 10% discount on their property taxes.
Chief
Joseph: Most people who stay for five years end up
staying a lot longer time than that.
This will be discussed at a
workshop.
Muslim Identity Symbol - Request for Muslim
Identity Symbol.
Mayor Gould: We do not have any religious symbols here in
Beacon. He calls a Christmas tree a
Symbol. I will tell this man that we do
not do Holiday Displays.
Website - Request to create
additional website directed more to visitors
- Henry Long
Mayor Clara Lou Gould mentioned briefly about this
person's request.
Council Member Gold:
The
City of Beacon Website that I do is a lot of work already. Creating another website would be impossible.
Mailboxes - No blocking mailboxes
The
following information was obtained by Colleen Swift, Secretary to Mayor Gould
addressed to Mayor Gould, Administrator Braun and Attorney Pisanelli dated
October 2, 2007 regarding Blocking Mailboxes:
Mayor,
I called the Beacon Post Office to see if there was any
Federal Law against blocking Mail Boxes.