Grafton Town Board Action – No Interim Supervisor Yet

by Alex Brooks
At this month’s Grafton Town Board meeting, Deputy Supervisor Marie Claus announced that she will not be able to take on the job of Supervisor.[private]Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo said it is up to the Board to appoint a new Supervisor. The tricky part is that if someone who is now on the Town Board is willing to put themselves forward as a candidate for Supervisor, they must first resign their seat on the Town Board. If they resign and the Board does not choose them to be Supervisor, the Board can then choose to re-appoint them to a seat on the Town Board, but the Board would not have to do so.
The Board agreed to schedule a meeting for March 25 to choose a new Supervisor. Anyone who would like to be considered for the position is asked to submit a letter of interest to the Town Clerk setting forth their qualifications by Friday, March 22. Candidates must be residents of Grafton and be 18 years old or older.
Kirchner Resigns
A letter of resignation was received from Secretary to the Supervisor Allison Kirchner on February 23. Claus reported that Kirchner was offered another full time job and decided to take it. Claus said that Kirchner has been very helpful to her over the last two weeks as she tried to pick up the pieces in the absence of departed Supervisor Ray Darling. At this meeting Claus appointed Joe Allain as Secretary to the Supervisor. The job is 20 to 30 hours per week, and it pays $12 per hour.
Finances
Claus said the Town’s Annual Report is overdue. She called the Comptroller’s office to ask permission to submit it late because of the extraordinary circumstances, but permission was not granted. She also felt that there should be some kind of closing of the books in preparation for turning them over to a new Supervisor. She said she would like to seek outside accounting services to help with these things, and the Board authorized her to do so.
Also, Claus and Barbara Messenger had questions for Town Accountant Carrie Minkler, and she had some questions for them, so they agreed to meet two days later to go over those things.
New (Used) Plow Truck
The Board agreed to publish a request for bids for a used plow truck. The bids will be due in time for the next meeting on April 8, when they will be opened and acted upon.
Highway
Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck said the roads are “taking a beating” with the recent alternation between snowstorms and thaws. He also said he and a group of Highway Superintendents went to the State House last week to ask the Governor and legislators to add $8 million to the CHIPS funding this year. He said this State aid for local roads has been “flatlined for seven years,” but the cost of road maintenance and improvement has been rising rapidly as diesel fuel and blacktop prices rise with the price of oil. Hasbrouck said 50% of the roads in the State are local roads, and if you want to have economic development, you have to have good roads.
Code Enforcement
Tom Withcuskey said he had issued four building permits so far this year and two of those were for new houses. He reminded people that there is no outdoor burning allowed from March 16 until May 15. He also noted that each household in Town is allowed just one junk car. He said he will be driving around to check and will issue tickets where he finds more than one junk car.
Ambulance
The ambulance responded to 10 calls in February: 2 for breathing problems, 2 for seizure, 1 each for injuries from an assault, cold exposure, structure fire, vehicle fire, medical alarm activation and motor vehicle accident (MVA). The crew missed one call because they were unable to confirm a crew. The ambulance traveled 232 miles and the crew logged 44.5 hours in the ambulance.
Public Comment
Cathy Goyer struck a combative note when she demanded that the Board “treat the next Supervisor with respect..”  In an angry voice, she said, “What you people did to Ray was wrong. You guys put him through the ringer.”
Others spoke supportively of the Board’s work and praised the way they had worked together. Linda Laveway said she hoped one of the four Board members would take the Supervisor position as they are the ones most experienced and most up to speed on the Town’s affairs.
The meeting was adjourned “in loving memory of Ray Darling,” and also in memory of Kay Carson, Frances Hall and Verouzhan Bagramian.[/private]