New Lebanon Town Board Action – Fuel Bid Confusion

by Thaddeus Flint
The January New Lebanon Town Board meeting was a quiet one. The most exciting discussion of the night was how to accept a bid for low sulfur heating fuel, low sulfur diesel fuel and kerosene. Resident attendance was low, and those who stayed home missed very little.
First the most important news – there will be a sleigh hill this year. The same lease agreement, signed last year with Councilman K.B. Chittenden to use a piece of his land for tobogganing and that sort of excitement, was once again accepted for this winter. [private]Last winter the immediate effect was that the winter weather ceased almost immediately. The weather report for the rest of this week is leaning toward the same sort of outcome. Nonetheless, Town Clerk Colleen Teal will make sure the Town’s insurance is up to date in case somebody goes for a sleigh ride and decides to bring their attorneys with them. Those who prefer skating will be pleased to note that Parks Maintenance Supervisor, Scott Larabee, is slowly putting together a skating rink in Shatford Park. Said Larabee, “With the warm weather coming, though, I’m not in a big hurry.”
Fuel Bids
“This is as clear as mud for the second year in a row,” Town Supervisor Mike Benson noted when discussion moved on to the fuel bids.
The mud was pretty much a result of the wording the Town uses to request bids. “Bids are to be presented as a Fixed Add to the base rack price at the Port of Albany at the close of business on Monday, January 7, 2013. The Fixed Add will remain constant and will be added to the base rack price at the Port of Albany on the date of delivery. Bids must be in sealed plain envelopes, labeled only with the item being bid, and must include a “Non-Collusive Bidding Certificate,” the bid requests say.
Three companies interpreted that mumbo-jumbo in three different ways. One problem is that there are different rack rates with different suppliers at the Port of Albany. What keeps a company from moving to a new rack rate? The bidders did however all manage to seal their bids in plain envelopes, so there was some hope. Councilman Matt Larabee waded through the bids and decided HL Fuel of New Lebanon had best responded and with a decent price, too. “I’m totally comfortable with it,” he said.
Benson was clearly not comfortable with it. When a vote was taken he was the sole vote against accepting any bid. Not that he was against HL Fuel, he was against the bidding process.
Right after the bid was accepted, Chittenden noted that the HL Fuel had supplied a rack rate from February 7. As this was January 8, they had supplied a rack rate from the future. “This hasn’t occurred yet,” he pointed out.
Benson laughed, “You guys already passed it!”
Someone at HL Fuel seems to be a fan of cut and paste. It was then found that the bid was for 2011. Larabee was not so concerned. “I trust him,” Larabee said. “He’s not going to post something shady. “
Town Attorney Andy Howard was a bit more concerned. “I don’t really like it, to be honest,” he said.
“My motion stands,” said Larabee. And the muddy bid for fuel remains with HL Fuel.
Apples, Oranges And Bananas
Benson proposed rectifying the bid process for next year. “The problem is we have apples, oranges and bananas,” he said. A bid form will be supplied for the next fuel season so the bidders only have to fill in their numbers. “That way we are not relying on a letter from this guy, a napkin from that guy, a paper towel from some other guy,” said Benson. Everyone thought this seemed like a good idea.
To help manage such complex financial technicalities the Town has hired a confidential secretary/bookkeeper. So as to give this person a greater scope in the position it was agreed, with all in favor, that pre-audit functions would be allowed so the confidential secretary/bookkeeper can work with the Town Clerk in the preparation of bills, abstracts and vouchers.
To help manage such complex tasks as shovelling snow and hanging pin boards a new position was created. This arose after it was found that the current snow shovel technician charged the Town $60 for five hours of snow removal services at $12 per hour. After some thought, nobody could determine how it was possible to take that long. A tiny shovel? Benson’s kids and Town Highway Superintendent Jeff Weinstock had even shouldered some of the burden themselves.
“I’m not being mean,” said Weinstock, “but I could shovel a foot of snow from here to K.B.’s barn in five hours.” Then everyone could get to that sleigh hill.
Councilman Bruce Baldwin said this was a continuing problem. “In the past we have had some real issues with snow removal,” he noted.
But what to do? Winter is already here, and the snow removal is turning into a snow job. Of course the creation of the sleigh hill would probably stave off winter, it had worked before. But what if it didn’t?
“I don’t know if you saw my brother’s email,” Matt Larabee asked Benson.
“I did. But I didn’t have a chance to read it,” said Benson. “I did see that it came in at 2:12 am this morning.”
“My brother doesn’t sleep much,” noted Larabee.
Apparently, in the middle of the night, Scott Larabee had outlined a new arrangement that could take on tasks like snow shovelling, pin board hanging and that type of toil – a Town Hall Maintenance Supervisor.
Much of the simple maintenance tasks had previously been done by Baldwin, but, due to health reasons, he won’t be around so much. “I think Scott’s proposal makes sense,” said Baldwin.
Residents who think they are up to the challenge should head over to the Town Hall and get an application from Town Clerk  Colleen Teal. She will be the overseer of this new hourly on-call employee. Unfortunately the salad days of snow shovelling in New Lebanon are now over. The new position pays $10.75 per hour, almost 10% less from the good old days of last week.
This Maintenance man, or woman, could also help the New Lebanon seniors set up their new tables at their new space in the new Town Hall just as soon as they get their new tables. They have asked the Town to cover 50% of the costs, around $200. Right now though the Seniors are looking at their finances so Benson proposed tabling the tables for the moment. “No pun intended,” he added.
The endless Speedway Safety Project has moved along a bit further and at this rate should be completed just before the end of the world. According to Councilman Doug Clark, NYSDOT sent a letter stating that they will put up a blinking yellow light to keep race fans from being run over as they cross Route 20. “But why DOT takes three months to review something is beyond me,” said Clark. He will continue, as he has been doing for some years now, to follow up on the crosswalk and the other stipulations Speedway owner Howard Commander is supposed to take care of before opening each summer, even though he opens each summer anyway without them.
And finally, artist Mike Gilbert proposed decorating the sparse new court room of the Town Hall addition with perhaps the words from the Bill of Rights. He said he could also do something more indicative of the history of New Lebanon, possibly from the 18th or 19th century. Baldwin, who was largely responsible for the coordination and construction of the new room, was not a fan of the idea. His vision has always been a room adopting the simple Shaker ideals. Permanently adding something to the walls is “not so Shaker,” he said.
Decoration of the space is, however, being planned. The possibility of the Town’s seal was mentioned, and Gilbert was advised to speak with Judge Jessica Byrne and the Town’s Historical Society to ponder the matter further. Baldwin did mention that the Town possesses numerous artifacts from its history which could be used in perhaps revolving, non-permanent exhibits.  These include many pictures, a hand drawn map and even copies of the old Echo newspaper, a paper many residents in New Lebanon still remember and speak of with great fondness.[/private]