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A Committee Meeting of the Johnstown Common Council was held on February 1, 2010 at 7:00p.m., in the Council Chambers, City Hall.
PRESENT:
ABSENT: Mayor Slingerland called the meeting to order and led in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL – 4 council members present, 1 absent. PRESENTATION FROM FMCC – College President Dustin Swanger, Peter Sciocchetti, Executive Vice President of Crossroads Incubator Corp., and David Morrow, Vice President of Finance for FMCC, were present to talk to the Council about plans to purchase the existing dorm building at the college and to purchase adjacent land to build a new dorm. Mayor Slingerland had extended an invitation to the Fulton County Board of Supervisors as well as Town of Johnstown Supervisor, Roy Palmateer, and Water Board President Nick Cannizzo. County Supervisor Jack Callery and Water Board President Nick Cannizzo were present for the meeting. Creating more student housing would attract more students to the college. First year students would be required to live on campus. The existing dorm is owned by Steve Gross but managed by the college. They have cleaned up the apartments, removed the stoves and now offer the students a food plan. The new units will not include kitchens. They would like to purchase the existing dorm and property adjacent to the dorm for construction of a second dorm. They would have a total of 288 beds with both buildings. The property is all within Fulton County. They plan to apply for a grant from the USDA to help with the expense of purchasing the property and construction. The college already has a purchase agreement with the property owner. The college needs water from the City of Johnstown for the new dorm building. The existing dormitory facility receives water from the Fulton County Water District #1 and pays twice the City rate for water to the college and student housing. The college in turn bills the owner of the dorm building for water used at the dorm. The City of Johnstown and Fulton County would need to amend the existing agreement extending water to the property where the new dorm will be built. The present limit on water to Water District #1 is 40,000 gallons per day. The District is only using 18,000 gallons now and with the addition of the new dorm they don’t expect to use the maximum allowed. Mr. Callery hopes the other supervisors will support this and has some questions and concerns such as what affect the new dorm would have on some of the landlords that rent to students. Attorney Johnson will work with County Attorney Spring on amending the agreement. Mayor Slingerland hopes to present resolution to the Common Council at the February 16, 2010 meeting. Dr. Swanger said the application for grant funding is due to be submitted on March 10, 2010. Crossroads Incubator Corp. is assisting the college in the loan and building process. APPROVE MINUTES – the minutes of the January 19, 2010 Business Meeting were approved with a motion from Council Member Lakata and seconded by Council Member Foss. Motion carried. CITY OFFICIAL’S REPORTS CITY ENGINEER – Mr. Kortz said his department has been quiet, giving them time for maintenance. He along with Deputy Engineer Kevin Jones had prepared a bid packet for a new bucket loader. A resolution will be prepared for the next meeting to advertise for bids for a new loader. They hope to have the new loader delivered by July. One of the old loaders will be offered for trade. There is $132,100 in the budget for a new loader but Mr. Kortz thinks the cost will be more around $120,000. CITY ASSESSOR – Leamon Steele is finishing up with the STAR renewal applications and will send out reminders for the ones not yet received. He will be attending training in Albany later this month. SENIOR CENTER – Michelle Jones said the center will be open this coming Sunday from 1pm-4pm. Lunch will be served and Bob Gould and his group will entertain with their music. The Johnstown Business & Professional Association met recently and voted to disband. The money remaining in the treasury will be turned over to the City for the flower fund. FIRE CHIEF – Chief Heberer said there is a new law concerning carbon monoxide alarms. As of February 22, 2010 they are required to be in every building that has bedrooms. If anyone has questions, they can contact the Code’s Office. He is working on a press release. Mayor Slingerland would also like to put a notice on the City’s website. The new fire truck is still being built with the ladder being mounted recently. Delivery date is expected in mid-March. CITY TREASURER – Mr. Gifford said we will need to do three bond resolutions for financing the loader, fire truck and the Maylander project. Related to the fire truck, the local share is about $220,000 and the balance will be paid for with grant money. We will have some pay down of bonds this year. The landfill closure, which is the largest, has a few years left. The year-to-date sales tax for 2009 was $3.125 million. We budgeted for $3.1 million and hoped to receive $3.2 million. We need to be very cautious with spending. We have discontinued the credit card payment service for paying taxes. There were only about 20 users each year and we were paying out between $950 and $1,000 for the service. We were losing money using it. LIBRARY – Mrs. Callery said they are getting ready for this year’s Story Book Sundae. It will be held at FMCC on March 21st. They have 12 baskets on display at the library so far and expect to receive 50. RESOLUTION No. 19, 2010 was presented by Council Member Lakata to enter an agreement with Orion Management Company for grant management services related to FAGE USA. Seconded by Council Member Preston. Discussion: Mr. Gifford said FAGE has received a grant to assist them in expanding their facility and the money will be run through the City. The City needs a consultant to provide professional expertise relative to grant administration. DISCUSSION – transfer station charges will continue to remain at $20 per sticker. We need to pass a resolution to set this amount for 2010. This will be presented at the next meeting. ANNOUNCEMENTS
A motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Foss and seconded by Council Member Lakata. Respectfully submitted,
Cathy A. VanAlstyne
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