Council Meeting - Thursday - 9/3/09

A special regular Council meeting was held yesterday morning at Village Hall. All Council members were present. Also in attendance was Mayor Joe Surace, Village Administrator Jim Saracco, Fiscal Officer Dale Davis and WPD Chief Joe Scarabino. The regular scheduled meeting for last Tuesday was cancelled for lack of a quorum. Council members Rosie Goss, Joe Soldano & Don Brown were not there for that meeting.

In the Public Speaking portion on the agenda, representing the Revitalization Committee, Connie Carmichael advised Council that American Electric Power personnel has told the committee that spot lights for the floodwall murals can be installed on existing poles. AEP will install & maintain the lights free of charge. The only cost to the Village will be approximately $40 a month for electricity. The lights will illuminate both sides of the floodwall on both sides of the street. The lights will be positioned so that the glare will not interfer with night time drivers. Carmichael asked Council to approve taking on this minimal expense and explained that the new lights will hopefully reduce the vandalism that has been occurring there. With a Randy Allmon motion and a second by Tony Cataldo it was unanimously approved to pay the monthly electric bill for this project.

Speaking on behalf of the "Dash for Mat's Bash" set for October 3, Commerce Street resident Tim Long provided registration forms and information for the event. He reminded all present that the deadline to register to be guaranteed an event t-shirt is Sept. 15. Long said they will be present at the next two home WHS football games or you can call to register.

Council candidate Chris McNicol once again addressed members about the Cemetery House saying he thought the decision to have the care taker & his family move out was "cold hearted and unfair". This evolved into a lengthy discussion on the pros & cons of that situation and the possible consequences that could take place at the cemetary. Don Brown remarked that he has tried for two years to convince fellow council members to get repairs done to that historic house. He commended the good job Superintendent Mike Lombardozzi has done up there and noted the help he has given to veteran's organizations. Brown also remarked that Richardson Monuments repaired the damage done to the Newlin memorial stone at no cost to the village. Recently the head stone on the memorial for the Medal-of-Honor winner got knocked over. The exchange of comments was brought to a halt when the Mayor said they can get together sometime later to discuss all facets of the situation.

For Admistration Reports WPD Chief Joe Scarabino presented Council with an impassioned and convincing agrument to replace two part-time officers with full timers. Stating that he and the Fiscal Officer has been working long & hard with figuring out that with the recently awarded COPS grant there would be enough funds to put on two full time officers and the village will be able to save enough to pay for the required fourth year. Scarabino said there is enough with the COPS grant to pay the salary & benefits for the first three years. With cost savings in changing of the insurance program, eliminating two part-time positions and anticipated retirements in the next few years enough money can be set aside to cover the fourth year. It would only require that a separate budget fund be created to keep the savings in to cover that last year. Currently WPD expenses are handled out of the General Fund of the budget. There is no separate fund such as they have for the Fire Dept. Scarabino also remarked that much that is accomplished withing the department is from private donations and grants such as getting the tasers & computers for the cruisers.

The Mayor remarked that a portion of fines from Magistrate Court will be considered for the 2010 budget. Presently those fines mostly go to the General Fund. There is a small percentage that goes into a computer fund for the court. Councilman Randy Allmon said it was one of his goals to beef up the WPD since first being elected and made a motion that the two full time positions be created. Allmon commended the Chief & Davis for putting it altogether. Don Brown seconded the motion and it was passed with all in favor.

Although she couldn't be present Animal Control Officer Leslie Dean provided activity reports covering June 23 through August 23. She had a total of 78 calls in that time frame with 33 of them for dogs running at large. Eight calls were to investigate animal abuse & neglect and seven calls were for pit bull issues. One citation was issue for a dog running at large and another citation was issued for failure to have liability insurance for a pit bull. A failure to have liability insurance case will be heard in Magistrate's Court September 10.

Donations for the dog pound have been received from Tractor Supply, 3 Jacks Grooming and the CC Humane Society. Painting of the dog pound is being held up waiting for water & drainage to be hooked up to the building.

For the Mayor's Report Surace recommended that part-time police officers Glen LaClair and Joe Rayle be appointed to the two new full time positions. Councilman Tony Cataldo made the motion. It was seconded by Allmon and was approved unanimously. The move with be effective September 13.

Surace also recommended six new members to the Tree Board. When questioned by Rosie Goss the Mayor replied that he has accepted the resignations of the previous members. All six were approved by a Council vote of 5 - 1 with Don Brown casting the only negative votes. Brown stated the problems still haven't been solved during the discussion on the motion. The new members to the Board are Pinky Gill, Bob Marcin, Maurice Wyse, Gwen Murphy, Joyce Howell and Shirley Wells. Until yesterday Dawn Johnston was the only remaining member.

For Committee Reports an invoice from Pusateri Excavating for $66,785 for work on 10th St. Ext. was approved to be paid. Most of that invoice will be paid with the $60,000 grant the village received from OPW for the emergency job.

There was a tie voting on an invoice from LSW Sanitation Service for smoke testing sewers for $9,475. During discussion on this bill Jim Saracco remarked there were 35 homes found with storm drains tied into the sewer system. Brown stated that he felt that LSW has gotten enough of our money and he, Goss & Soldano voted against paying it. Surace broke the tie in favor to pay the bill since the work has been done. It was noted by Goss that this work might be done as part of the contract with United Water who operates the Wellsville Sewage Plant. Cataldo stated that he thought this type of work is above & beyond what is in the contract. That matter will be clarified for the future needs.

A third invoice for $9,439.69 was approved to be paid to Juris Solutions, LLC for updating the village computer system.

Under Legislation Councilman Joe Soldano remined everyone that the amusement tax was cut in half earlier this year. He stated that many businesses have not yet paid yet and advised that it still has to be paid. The reduced tax was made retroactive to the first of the year and Davis advised that those that had already paid the higher rate have all been reimbursed.

With no new business the meeting was adjourned at 12:05. This was the only Council meeting scheduled for this month. Council will resume meeting on the first & third Tuesdays of the month in October. The next regular scheduled meeting is set for 6 p.M. at Village Hall October 6.

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