Petersburgh Town Board Action – Clerks And Secretaries

by Alex Brooks
There was a wide-ranging discussion about the Town of Petersburgh’s clerical and secretarial needs at the February Town Board meeting. On the agenda were appointments for the Assessor’s Clerk, a Deputy Court Clerk, a 2nd Deputy Town Clerk, and a Secretary to the Supervisor.
[private]Assessor’s Clerk Ann Schnoop resigned recently, and Petersburgh Assessor Craig Surprise proposed hiring Helen Hemendinger, who is his Clerk in Grafton. Bill Seel said the Board had agreed to advertise publicly when there is a town job available, and he thought the board should follow the policy they had established. The Board agreed to hire Hemendinger temporarily, and then make a permanent appointment after the position has been advertised.
Everyone agreed that the Assessor needs to replace his clerk immediately, as he has deadlines to meet and a revaluation to get started. But the need for the other positions was questioned. Bill Seel has argued against all three of them, on the grounds that the proliferation of Secretaries & Clerks is unnecessarily raising the cost of Town government.
Town Clerk Callie Crisp also serves as Town Secretary and Court Clerk as well as several smaller jobs, and has at times in the past year let it be known that her work load is excessive. Last Spring Supervisor Krahforst blamed himself for giving her more work than previous Supervisors have. But this month he came to the Board and said he needs to have access to a secretary sometimes. “I have a lot of paperwork,” he said. His solution was to hire a new Secretary to the Supervisor, and he proposed to hire Brigitta Schmidt for that job, and since there is no budget line for such a position, he will pay it by voucher from his “Contractual” budget. The Board said he could use his contractual budget in that way if he so desired, but asked that he hire Schmidt temporarily, and then advertise the position before making a permanent appointment.
Brigitta Schmidt was also hired on the same basis as the 2nd Deputy Town Clerk, with the understanding that a permanent appointment would be made only after advertising the position. Anne Schnoop recently resigned from this position also. Bill Seel voted against the appointment, as he preferred to abolish the position.
The Deputy Court Clerk position was inadvertently left off the list at the Organizational meeting, after the Board had agreed to keep the position (over the objections of Bill Seel) at budget time. The board amended its resolution #1 for this year to include this position and appointed Barbara Snyder to it, who did this job last year. It will also be advertised before a permanent appointment is made.
Revaluation
The Board passed a resolution committing to do a revaluation of real property for 2014. The work on it will begin soon. Petersburgh Assessor Craig Surprise is planning to do some of the data collection from imagery supplied by Pictometry. He was concerned that the County had not yet approved the contract with Pictometry and if they didn’t do so right away it would delay the revaluation. But the next night, Tuesday, the County Legislature authorized the County Executive to sign the contract with Pictometry, so that may not be a problem.
Surprise estimated that the revaluation would cost about $15,000 altogether, and he said the Town will get about $5,000 in State aid for it, so the net cost he expects to be about $10,000.
The Leaning Garage
Town Building Inspector Doug Hull wrote a new, more detailed letter to the Town Board about the perilous condition of the structure which was formerly the Jones Garage. The letter said it could be saved if renovation was undertaken immediately, but if the owner wants to go that route, a “write-up” from an architect would be required. It concluded by saying that if renovations are not done in a timely manner to stabilize the building, “demolition and removal of the building would be the only other option.”
A letter referencing the Building Inspector’s report will be sent to the owner in the next few weeks, and if there is no satisfactory response, a public hearing will be scheduled to consider taking down the building.
Broken Wheel Bridge
Supervisor Krahforst said the fee letter from the engineering firm they had chosen, Greenman Pederson Inc. indicated that the engineering and consulting work on the Broken Wheel Bridge, not including construction, will be $186,319. The Board accepted the proposal by a vote of 4-0, with Bill Seel abstaining.
Town Hall Work
Supervisor Krahforst brought estimates from two contractors to put in window wells around the basement windows of the Town Hall. Krahforst says this work will keep the basement dry. There was a difference of about $700 between the two estimates, and board members weren’t quite sure if the work proposed was the same, so they tabled it until they could get more specific information about the work proposed by each contractor.
They did approve a $316 proposal to clean the bricks where they are discolored where the old shed used to meet the building.
The board considered two proposals to make the front door more handicapped accessible, but they were expecting one more proposal, so they tabled it.
Supervisor Krahforst said he had discovered that the hose from the sump pump in the basement was clogged, so the pump could not get the water out. He said he had cleaned it out and it is working now.
Planning Board Appointment
The Board appointed Jim Votra to the Planning Board, to fill the vacancy created by John McMahon’s resignation.[/private]