Workshop Minutes
City of
February 11, 2008
WORKSHOP MEETING
The Workshop meeting of the City of
In
Attendance were: Council Members Mayor
Steve Gold, Deanna Leake, Sara Pasti, Charles Kelly, Eleanor Thompson, Marlene
Fredericks and Randy Casale.
Also
in attendance were City Attorney Richard and City Administrator Meredith Robson
Glenn
Scofield, Captain
Police Matters, including Police Dog. Captain Scofield will call NYCOM to get
additional information.
Acting Chief Scofield: In prep for the 2008
budget I have been approached by 2 officers with mutual interest in becoming
K-9 handlers. Our two dogs are close to
being retired. Once the dogs are retired,
I made plans to budget two dogs to replace them. The officers who are interested in becoming
K-9 offices are here tonight. I find
that the K-9 unit is an important function of the police dept. Captain Scofield introduced Sargent Junjulas
who is a current K-9 officer.
Sargent Junjulas: I have been with
the Police Dept. for fifteen years and I have been assigned to K-9 for 11
years. When people think of police
K-9's, there is a misconception. These
dogs are capable of smelling 200 times more than a human being. The deterrent capability of the dogs is
paramount. In addition to the scent
rate, they are trained to track missing persons and evidence recovery. He can find that 10 times faster than a
human. As far as the public perception
goes, we do demonstrations to alleviate this misconception. They are one of the
most valuable tolls that the police department has. School children love the dogs and after a
demonstration, we are asked to go back.
Mayor Steve Gold:
Had there been beneficial incidents where the dogs
helped?
Sgt. Kevin Junjulas: Yes, but I do not have
that information with me but I can get it for you. You would be surprised at the deterrent
factor. I have been doing this for a lot
of years. In 2004 I was unhappy to see
that the dog patrol was decreased from four to two dogs.
Council Member Thompson: Is there a need for
officer training for these dogs?
Officer Kevin Junjulas: Yes. There is a K-9 Academy. The training for untrained dogs is 16 weeks
for basic control. Bomb or narcotics
control takes 8 weeks. It would take
twenty-four weeks to train a dog. The
basic obedience is in the dog already.
All the dogs live with their handler.
A bond is created between the dog and their handler. They live with their handlers.
Council Member Thompson: How much is their cost
for training?
Sgt. Junjulas:
There is no cost for the training. The estimated purchase cost to is $5,300 for
each dog. We have a dog fund. We would like to go to the community to
offset the cost. I have donated two free
dogs throughout my career. There are two
dogs now. K-9 handlers do get
compensation.
Captain Scofield:
The salaries and the care and maintenance are
budgeted.
Council Member Pasti: I have no doubt that the
dogs are necessary. How many dogs does
Beacon have?
Sgt. Kevin Junjulas: We used to have four dogs
then they cut it down to two. It depends
on what the city needs. The first two
will be replacing the two that retired.
Council Member Casale: I want to thank Sgt.
Junlunas for his contribution of the dogs that he donated.
Captain Scofield: It
will require overtime while the officers are attending training classes.
Sgt. Junjulas:
We can move people around. A dodge Durango that we have is outfitted for
a dog.
Council Member Casale: If we are going to save
$5,000.00 can we transfer that for the purchase of the dogs?
Sgt: Junjulas: That
saving is not in actually dollars but it is a savings in other ways.
Mayor Steve Gold:
I would like to have an itemized list of the cost
for this project.
Captain Scofield:
The cost will be $3,500 for supplies and vet
care. Care of K-9: 2006 was $23,572.00, Cost for 2007 was
27,796.00. Supplies: 2006 - $3000.00 - 2007 - $3,300.00.
Sgt. Junjulas:
Maintenance training is two times a month.
Council Member Kelly: Is this a full time day
for the dog? It would be kind of hard to
make that up without overtime. Can they
do the full range of work without the use of the dog?
Sgt. Junjulas:
It only enhances the duties of the officer. He performs a normal function.
Council Member Leake: I hope we can work things
out. I have seen the dogs at work and
they do a wonderful job.
Mayor Steve Gold: We
will have two officers at training. Can
we buy dog and save for the second dog and for the training instead of getting
both at this time.
Sgt. Junjulas:
I think that two dogs are better than one. We would not want to have a loss of
protection on the street. That is your
decision.
Mayor Steve Gold:
I am not talking about staggering the
training.
Sgt. Junjulas:
The dogs are assigned to patrol. They rotate.
When we had four dogs we always had a dog working.
Mayor Steve Gold: How often is the training offered?
Sgt. Junjulas:
Maybe once or twice a year.
The two officers that will be handling the dogs
were called up to the podium and introduced:
Their names are Christian Alvercastro and Steve Ingram.
Pub Crawl - The following
Report was submitted by Captain Scofield dated 1/29/08
To: Mayor Gold From:
Captain Scofield Topic: Pub Crawl Date:
January 29, 2008
As requested, I have compiled information regarding incidents
surrounding the "Pub Crawl" events held in the recent past (2005
through 2007). The incidents reflected are for the period of 1200pm to 1200am
on the day of the event.
March 12, 2005 - 4 complaints -
"Disorderly Group"
March 11, 2006 - 4 complaints -
"Disorderly Group"
March 10, 2007 - 4 complaints - "Disorderly
Group"; 1 Appearance Ticket issued for
Public Lewdness
The callers in the above incidents
described the disorderly activity to be: loud / boisterous
individuals intoxicated subjects trash / littering exposure / urinating in public
For a violation charge (appearance ticket) to be lodged against an
individual for the offenses described above:
1)
An officer must have observed the violation.
2) or a civilian complainant must be
able to positively identify the offender and the
complainant must be willing to supply a supporting deposition in support of any
charge.
Though there appear to be a relatively low number of actual reported
complaints phoned into police during the course of the
event, there is public outcry and backlash in the days
that follow (not officially reported to police but directed to city hall).
To better
police the event held in both 2006 and 2007 and for general public safety, the police department increased staff (on overtime) to keep tabs on the
groups as they moved from location to location. A review of department records
shows an O.T. expenditure of approximately $1,250 for '06 and $1,300 for '07.
I am
available to discuss this matter further should you have any other questions or
concerns.
Mayor Steve Gold: The
public requested that we not have Pub Crawl.
We may have discussions and opinions.
I asked Glen to give us a list of the incidents that took place.
Captain Scofield: We have extra
officers. It keeps the complaints
down. During the event in March, we
received four complaints. 2006 four
complaints. 2007 four complaints. It stems around loitering, littering,
intoxication and urinating in public places.
We need officers there to keep control of the crowd. We use as much discretion as possible. I am aware that there is intent to raise funds
for a worthy cause.
Mayor Steve Gold: If
there is one person from the Pub Crawl system that would like to speak they are
welcome. The council will be speaking
about this.
Council Member
Leake: Is there any particular hours that most complaints
come in?
Captain Scofield: It
usually starts later in the day into the evening.
Council Member Pasti: Have there
ever been a request made to have some of the merchants cover the cost of the
overtime? Answer: No.
Council Member
Thompson: You said that you received four calls each year. Are they the same people? Answer:
No.
Council Member
Leake: Pub Crawl has become a part of Beacon every year. It is always for a worthy cause.
Mayor Steve Gold: We
are not going to make that decision today.
Captain Scofield: My
comments are not my opinion one way or another for this pub crawl.
1.
Amend the
General Fund Balance for the Police Department in the amount of $76,500. This is to
provide funding in 2008 for items that were originally part of the 2008 budget
requests. The items were then removed
from the budgeted expenses and it was determined that they are part of the
appropriated fund balance amount of $700,000 on the front page of the
budget. The breakdown is as follows:
A3120.416700
Purchase of K-9’s
9,000
A3120.220001 Purchase Equipment 47,500
Laptop computers and wireless service. This can be done from the road instead of
coming into this office.
A3120.250018 Purchase Traffic Equipment 20,000
Mayor Steve Gold: The
next thing on the agenda is the purchase of Laptop computers and wireless
service.
Captain Scofield: $47,500.
This is for Laptop
Computers and wireless service. This can
be done from the road instead of coming into this office.
Council Member
Thompson: I thought this was budgeted for 2008.
Captain Scofield: That
was not for all the vehicles. I would
like this in all cars.
Council Member
Kelly: Is that in the $700,000 or is not in the $700,000
Mayor Steve Gold: It
is not in the $700,000
Council Member
Kelly: Normally these things are budgeted. Maybe we should put this in some sort of
bond. I am concerned about this cost
item. Did you have it in your budget?
Captain Scofield: I
had it in my budget and I did not know that this was taken out of the budget
until after it was approved.
Council Member
Thompson: How much does one computer laptop cost?
Captain Scofield: They
cost $4,000.00 each.
Mayor Steve Gold:
You really did your homework. We do not need to vote on this. This will be put off until next
workshop. The important things are the
dogs.
Mayor Steve Gold: The
next thing on the Agenda is the Purchase of Traffic Equipment for $20,000.00
Traffic enforcement equipment: Scanner, update video recorders, purchase of
two electronic speed signs.
Alamo Ambulance Update
Mayor Steve Gold:
I can't thank you enough for all the work you did.
Current Laws / Building Codes:
Regarding Building being neglected by owner and demolition of such buildings at
the expense of homeowner.
I met with Council Members Casale and Pasti to see
what can we do to prevent the further demolition of properties. The codes that are in place now are
helpful. I need the council and the
attorney's full support. I can go after
those people with the maintenance codes that we have right now. It would be adjudicated through the
court. If the owner does not show up in
court, the judge can issue a warrant for their arrest. Then we can do an injunction against
occupancy or that it is a dangerous and unsafe building. Tim passed around a picture of a building
with violations.
We need an absentee landlord's building law. If they do not live in Beacon, they have to
designate a managing agent. We have to
start at some point, draw the line and stick to it. If we cannot get the building owner to
comply, the city will have to do whatever it has to do to make the building
safe. Maybe the attorney's office can
help. I need support and a green light
and the city attorney.
Mayor Steve Gold:
I like the way things are going now. I like code enforcement. Some of the buildings are so bad that they
are overwhelming. The council should
think of a way to tell these owners that there are violations and we are going
to site them for violations. If anyone
purchases a building from us, they have an obligation to keep it safe.
Council Member Kelly: I am happy to hear that
we have codes on the book. I am opposed
to the landlord registration. I think
that this is not the problem. I am not
opposed to registering all absentee landlords.
I think we all support the efforts to make the city safe. We should use the existing codes.
Council Member Casale: Thank you for the work
you did. I am sure that if it went to
court, the judge would give him time to fix up his building.
Council Member Kelly: I am against policy by
extreme measures. I believe that if we
have codes, we should enforce the ones that we have.
Council Member Pasti: I have been receiving
complaints in my ward about buildings that are deterriating. I would like to hear what our attorney has to
say.
Attorney Wolf:
Tim and I will talk
Council Member Pasti: Our primary concerns are
the buildings that are unsafe.
Council Member Thompson: Thank you for your hard
work. I introduced the absentee landlord
issues. Not everyone is a slumlord. We need a way to reach these people. If you send out cards they might respond. We need to discuss this further.
Mayor Steve Gold:
Regarding Registration: I asked the council to do their
homework. I will give them another two
weeks. Is the council ready to get into
this law now? I think the registration
is necessary. I don't think that
inspections should have to be that often.
Absentee Landlords should be every two years. I do not understand the fees for the inspections.
Tim Dexter: We
took Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston and looked at their laws. Any fees that I proposed are fees to cover
our cost.
Council Member Pasti: My buildings are
residential and not commercial.
Mayor Steve Gold:
Absentee landlords should be required to register
in some form. I am asking for a
consensus vote. All council members
voted yes. This will have to be fine-tuned.
Timeline: Inspections for residential and commercial
would be every three years.
We would like to have vacant commercial buildings
inspected two times a year
Residential above two family absentee landlords
should be inspected every three years.
Tim Dexter: I
can only go into single-family homes if I am invited in or if there is a fire
where they rent the house and the landlord is gone. Another way to get in is to secure a search
warrant if there is probably cause.
Mayor Steve Gold:
Is the council thinking about the exterior of a
building?
Tim Dexter: Does
the council want me to call the owners in and work something out?
Mayor Steve Gold:
I would like a consensus vote regarding Tim's
request. All council members voted yes.
Mayor Steve Gold:
We have a meeting with one of those landlords in
March.
Council Member Thompson: If they do have a plan,
they must have a deadline and we must stick to that deadline.
Rental Properties,
Absentee Owners Proposed Local
Law – New
Chapter 173 Rental Properties, Absentee Owners Registration Requirements. See Attached.
Discussion
on this is included in the above comments.
Main Street Parking Including
Possible waiver of $1,500/space fee for failure to have off street parking for
Main Street Business.
The following email dated January 29, 2008 from
David Lloyd, 381 Main Street regarding Parking fee was received by Mayor Steve
Gold.
I would like to bring a time sensitive
issue to your attention.
Last summer, we invested over
$150,000 into the renovation of 381 Main St. We have been aggressively marketing it through brokers and print/web advertising. To put it
lightly, the market is slow. We did however find
someone interested in the end-cap (the space closest to the post office) and
for the last six months we have been negotiating with him. He
is interested in renting a substantial amount of space at 381 Main St. for a
new restaurant. To entice him to rent the space, we have agreed to give him
below market rent and help build out the space, among other concessions. In
addition, to our renovation, he plans on spending over $100,000.00 to complete
the build-out of the space.
He went to the planning board as well
as to the zoning board last month. He was ready to start construction and sign the lease once the parking requirements were
waived. We were confident that they would be waived
based on past applicants having the requirements waived and the fact that 381
Main St. has a large underutilized municipal parking
lot directly behind it. Additionally, the bulk of their business is done during
evening hours when parking demand is even lower in that area.
To our dismay, the zoning board gave
him relief from the parking requirement, but would not waive the $1500 per parking spot fee, which amounts to approximately $43,500.00.
As you can imagine he has told me that he will not move forward with the lease
unless the fee is waived. He was upset and explained that he is already taking a big financial risk by opening the restaurant in
the first place and he had no room in his budget for
such an expense.
Both the tenant and BTA have spent a
considerable amount of time and energy negotiating the lease and preparing the building plans because we were confident that the city
would waive this parking requirement and the fees.
Is there anything that can be done at
this point to help us through this situation? I fear that if we do not resolve
this situation quickly he will find a space in another city or town that does
not penalize business owners for investing in their
community.
I was really looking forward to
leasing this space because I'm confidant that once we have the restaurant up and running at 381 Main St, other tenants will follow.
Mayor Steve Gold:
I would like the council to invite business owners
to our next workshop. The funds were
supposed to be put into depositories for parking. This should be accounted for and utilized. At the next workshop we should discuss
whether to raise the fee, lower the fee or move the fee. There will be two weeks to decide on this.
Council Member Pasti: I agree that we should
invite the business people to give some of their ideas.
Mayor Steve Gold asked Meredith to
look into this and find out how about this account and what was paid out.
Video – Council Meetings:
Robert Feldman of Webcatter - GovernmentWebcasting.com
will make your organization compliant with NYS Executive Order #3 by Governor
Spitzer on Open Government. Mr. Feldman
gave a presentation on what he can provide to the City of Beacon and their
fees.
Peter Skorewicz, Jr. gave a presentation and
what they can provide to the City of Beacon and their fees.
Mayor
Steve Gold: The Council will look over
this information and get back to Peter or Robert if we have any questions.
Solar Paneling for Municipal
Center - Grant provided by Congressman
John Hall
Mayor
Steve Gold: John Hall's office would
like to provide to the city with grants and wanted to know if we had any
projects that they can help us with.
They have a date of Feb. 26, 2008.
They would help us get a trolley if we had a trolley picked out. I asked our grant writer to help us with
this. I know we can work on getting a
solar panel for the Municipal Building.
The package is about 70% complete.
There are not too many packages that we can do this for.
Council
Member Thompson: I am all for this. This will be added to wind power. We can start planning more efficiently toward
that goal.
Mayor
Steve Gold: This will cover about 90% of
our goal.
Council
Member Pasti: It would be great if we
could hear about other earmarks.
Council
Member Casale: I agree with Sara. It is a good idea.
AdHoc Committees
Main Street Corridor Committee,
Fishkill Creek Corridor Committee and Waterfront / Train Station
Committee. See document prepared by S.
Pasti dated 10/03/07
Council Member
Pasti: Follow up to the comp plan. We had about 12 to 15 people apply to this
committee. Council Member Pasti read
from her document dated 10/02/07 of what each committee would consist of.
Mayor Steve Gold: This
is the most exciting part of Beacon - there are so many people who are willing
to volunteer.
Council Member
Thompson: I would like to review members of committee.
Mayor Steve Gold: If
you have any recommendations, please get back to me.
Town Hall Meeting -Topics, date and location
Mayor Steve Gold: We talked about coming up with three topics. This would be on a Saturday Morning. I would like some suggestions. I would appreciate if you will give them to
me in writing.
Does anyone have
any suggestions? This will be followed
up at our next workshop. I thought the
veteran's building is a good central location.
We might want to invite the people that we spent time with when we were
campaigning. Maybe we can have it at the
school.
City Web Site Upgrade
Mayor Steve Gold: I
have been doing this website for 6 years.
Sara has been working on getting somebody to upgrade the website because
she knows people in that field.
Council Member
Pasti: This will be advertised in the Beacon Free Press and
advertising will also be on the TV.
Sara has someone to do it for $5,000.00
Council Member Casale: Can't we have
someone at City Hall update the web site that you started?
Mayor Steve Gold: Yes,
I will have my secretary Colleen do it.
Fredericks P. Clark and Associates, Inc.
Council Member Kelly: It
would be nice to know what we are paying.
We might want to consider hiring a city planner to provide routine
function at this rate. I would think
that after a certain point it would not be cost effective. I would like to investigate that option.
Mayor Steve Gold: I
think that it is a good idea. I think
that we should do that comparison. I
will make sure the figure gets pulled out.
Council Member Pasti: I think you
should think about a full time planner.
It would probably cost 50 or 60 thousand.
Council Member Casale: What
does Meridith, our administrator think about having a full time planner? We might want to go out for an RFP without
hiring our own or we might share with another community. Our administrator might want to look into
this and get back to us.
Mayor Steve Gold: I
was thinking the same thing. Fishkill or
Newburgh. RFQ. We were looking at that for the engineer, for
the company that does our auditing. I
don't know if it is too late for this because it is February. I don't think we should do it for one and not
all three. Should we start now? Meridith Can you do this and get back to
us? Answer: Yes.
Council Member Thompson: We
should have a contract from last year.
Amend Proposed Local Law
Clearwater
wants to dock at the Ferry Dock. By
ordinance, all boats must pay a fee. The
Clearwater wants to be exempt from the fee.
(City Attorney Opinion)
NOTE: If the Council wants, to
change this to allow boats operated by not for profits not to pay a fee, the
Local Law Chapter 33 – Harbor Management needs to be amended. City
Attorney working on Amending Proposed Local Law.
Mayor Steve Gold: I
asked Colleen if this is accurate. I
don't think it is. I will put this on
hold.
Financial Audit - Questions submitted by
Council Casale. See Attached Response
from Director of Finance.
Mayor Steve Gold: Randy
asked some good questions. The company
tells us what they want us to change.
Did we comply? I would like to
ask if Randy he is satisfied.
Council Member Casale: It
satisfied my questions for now but there still are things that are being worked
on. I think we should not be a year
behind. The books were not being updated
in a reasonable amount of time. I wanted
to make sure that they are doing their job.
Mayor Steve Gold: Our
bank reconciliation's need to be completed in a more timely manner so that this
year's financial report will be done in a timely manner.
Council Member Casale: The
Finance Dept. was short of help causing a backlog of work.
Mayor Steve Gold: It will be
critical that we hire needed staff. I
offered the dept a temp but they did not need it.
Council Procedures: Rules of Procedure for Public Meetings.
Attorney Wolf: The
rules that I have reviewed are close to the charter and are very helpful.
Mayor Steve Gold: This
will be put on the next council meeting agenda.
If it is not okay we will take it back to workshop.
Council Members Thompson and
Leake: We did a list of procedures a couple of years ago.
Mayor Steve Gold: I
will send out his recommendations.
Water Department
01/28/08 Lower Melzingah Dam
/ Issues with NYS DEC
01/30/08 – Repair of
Ruptured Water Main / Talbot Avenue
Mayor Steve Gold: There
is to need to discuss this. I just
wanted you to get a copy of these memos from James McCollum, Superintendent of
the Beacon Water Department.
Fire Department
Formation of Volunteer Fire
Recruitment Committee
Mayor Steve Gold: Having
a committee to go to different departments to get idea and to go out to the
public for ideas. To chose six of twelve
candidates.
Council Member Thompson: I
have a memo from Samuel Madachuck. He
suggested that we contact the high school and offer college credit for those
who apply.
Mayor Steve Gold: Let's
not get into too many ideas now. Thank
you for sharing that with us.
Budget Transfers:
Mayor Steve Gold read the Budget Amendments that will be placed on the
February 19, 2008 Council Meeting Agenda:
1. Amend the General Fund Balance for the Parks
Department (Code: A7110.250040) in the amount o S37.122. This is the unspent amount of the funds that
were allocated to the 2007 Girl's Softball Field House and it is needed
to complete the project in 2008.
Council
Member Kelly: I would like the
city attorney to look at the legality of this.
Mayor Steve Gold: I would
like an answer by next Tuesday so we can vote on it.
2. Amend the General Fund Balance
for 2007 in the amount of $7.500 for the Highway Department (Code: A5110.413000). This is the amount of
revenue received in excess of the anticipated amount is therefore
available for transfer. The funds are received from BVAC to cover the cost of
the fuel being used by their service.
3. Amend the
General Fund Budget for 2007 in the amount of $5,100 for the Highway
Department. This: amount
is an excess in the Highway Blacktop (Code: A5110.411300) expense to Highway
Gas & Oil f A5110.413000) in order to
cover the over-expended budget. This does not involve fund balance. We are seeking to use excess revenue.
4. Amend General Fund in die amount of $6.154.50
into the Planning Line Item A8020.x4520000 to pay an invoice from Zarin &
Sleinmetz for the month of 11/2007
5. Amend
Human Relations Commission Budget as follows: - Contractual Expenses for Monthly
Rent at 679.68 per month or $8160 per annum
6. City
Clerk would like to amend budget as follows:
Move A1410-4414-00 totaling $2,010 and move $1,229.19
from A1410-4160-00 to A1410-4520-03 - Totaling $3,350.00.
7. Amend
City Council Line Item A1010 452000 (OR GENERAL FUND) for $8,000 into the
Mayors Line Item A1210 105000 Overtime Line. (CLG only submitted $500 account for
overtime for year 2008).
ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS -
Please let me know if I should add these:
1. I am requesting a budget amendment for
$80,504 on February 19, 2008 to cover the retirement
payout to Joe Braun. This amount was not budgeted.
2. I received a contract for Susan Roeller Brown
signed in November 2007. There is no budget for her pay. If we are amending the
budget, how much is the amendment for?
ADDED - February 11, 2008 Per City Attorney Richard Wolf
Amend the General Fund Balance in the amount of $125.000
for Attorney Settlement expense (Code: A 1420.450499). Per Richard Wolf, city
attorney, the city will be issuing this amount to Richard Sassi. Sr. as part of
the court-ordered settlement agreement.
Council Member Casale: Isn't there
an ongoing lawsuit? Shouldn't our
insurance company know about this?
Council Member
Thompson: This had to do with zoning
Mayor Steve Gold: Nevertheless,
I will contact all our insurance company's to see if they will pick up any
fees. Human Services will go on the
agenda. We need to know the difference
of what was allocated and the and the additional amount needed.
Council Member Thompson: What
happened to these people's money that they did not use?
Council Member Casale: I
believe it goes back in the general fund.
Can we get a running balance on what is taken from the fund balance?
City Administrator Meredith
Robson: Yes
Impeach President George
Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney
Mayor Steve Gold: Take
note of the time, which is 9:45 p.m. because it will be important in the end. I heard from some people from the public
and they feel that this is not something that the council should discuss. The council should decide if we want to
discuss this at a council meeting or not.
I would like the council to follow the following procedures. Here is how I want it to work if the council
agrees. I would like us to make a
statement as to whether to vote on this at the next council meeting. Not debate, not to discuss with each other -
just make a statement as to whether that should be voted on at the next
meeting. It will be handled the way any
other resolution is handled.
Council Member Thompson: