Minutes of the Bi-monthly Town Board Meeting held Tuesday, February 28, 2006, at 5:30 PM, at the Keene Town Hall. The following Town Board Members were present: William B. Ferebee, Supervisor, Paul R. Martin, Robert M. Biesemeyer, Marcy Neville and Lawrence Jaques, Members of Council. Also present were: Bruce Reed, Highway Superintendent and Ellen Estes, Town Clerk.

The Chairman, Mr. Ferebee, called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM.

Mr. Ferebee informed the Board that the Bulky Days that was discussed for April will be held Wednesday, April 19th, Friday, April 21st and Saturday, April 22nd.

Mr. Ferebee informed the Board that during the last meeting there was a brief discussion on tax collection, he said he was asked how many parcels there are in the Town of Keene. He said he told the Board approximately 1800 and the correct answer should have been 1617. He said that 84 individuals or 5.19% of the tax payers took advantage of the new installment plan.

Resolution No. 83 – 06
Mr. Jaques offered a resolution and moved its adoption. Be it resolved, that at the request of Fred Hooper’s application for “Run for Hope”, a Highway Permit be issued and the fee be waived, due to their not for profit status. This resolution was seconded by Mr. Martin.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Ferebee: Yes
Mr. Martin: Yes
Mr. Biesemeyer: Yes
Ms. Neville: Yes
Mr. Jaques: Yes

The next topic discussed was Water District No. 2.
Mr. Ferebee informed the Board that Wayne Ryan said the bidding for the construction of the new well may need to be re-bid. He explained that the bid was put out for a bedrock well and it has been discovered that it will be a gravel well. He also reported that Brad Caswell does prefer to drill a test well first.
Mr. Martin said he is still trying to get a hold of Boyd Artesian Well Drilling to get information on the two original wells, he said he will get this information to the Board as soon as he has it.

Resolution No. 84 – 06
Mr. Martin offered a resolution and moved its adoption. Be it resolved, that providing the new information the Board will be receiving enables the Town to determine the precise characteristic of each existing well, authorization be given for AES to proceed with a re-bid. This resolution was seconded by Mr. Biesemeyer.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Ferebee: Yes
Mr. Martin: Yes
Mr. Biesemeyer: Yes
Ms. Neville: Yes
Mr. Jaques: Yes

The next discussion was in regards to the attendance of the annual Association of Towns Meeting in New York.
Mr. Jaques asked if the option to attend has to be made available to the same individuals year after year, saying that one of the bills he had looked at was $1200.00. He said he felt that was a little high.
(continued)

Mr. Ferebee said he would check into whether some of these same trainings are given in other locations.
Mr. Biesemeyer expressed that a lot of information can be received going to these meetings.
Mrs. Estes pointed out to the Board that Real Property Tax Services reimburses the Town for some of the Assessors expenses.

Mr. Ferebee said he had given a copy of the last Youth Commission Meeting Minutes to the Board.

Mr. Ferebee informed the Board that Conrad Knapp has withdrawn his affordable housing plans due to the cost.

Mr. Ferebee reminded the Board that the Town Board would be meeting with the Planning Board on March 14th, at 6:00 PM, before the regular Town Board Meeting.

Mr. Ferebee informed the Board that there was going to be a Rivermede River Project meeting earlier that same day. He said it would include all the organizations, Corp of Engineers, Trout Unlimited, etc.
Mr. Biesemeyer said his concern with this project is Rocky Powell receiving $50,000 for engineering and then the project costing close to one million dollars.
Mr. Jaques said his concern was that after the project is done, the Town will be committed to make repairs at their expense.
It was stated that the project bid came in at $963,000 and had to be redesigned to bring down the cost.
Mr. Ferebee said he would let the Board know what time the meeting is as soon as he knows and said that he is interested in seeing where the project stands now.

Mr. Reed explained to the Board that he is interested in purchasing a new single axle truck with box and plow with money that was left over in the 2005 highway budget. He began by saying that a Capital Fund was established in 2004 in preparation of purchasing highway equipment.
He said that after moving $200,000 of the unexpended balance of the 2005 budget to the 2006 contingent account, there is still $139,000 left in the budget.
Mr. Biesemeyer said he had talked to Mr. Reed and this proposal made sense.
Mr. Jaques asked if any of the parts, like the plow, could be used from the truck that would be traded. He said he didn’t have a problem with the purchase, he just felt it seemed awfully expensive.
The question was asked why the purchase isn’t made through State Contract.
Mr. Reed said State Contract is basic and there are other things he needs.
Mr. Jaques said he would be interested in seeing specs on the basic truck from State Contract and the specs that Mr. Reed is looking at.
Ms. Neville and Mr. Biesemeyer agreed that they would like to see this comparison, also.
Mr. Reed pointed out to the Board that any truck built after January 1, 2007, would cost $7000 more due to new requirements.
Mr. Reed said he would get the two sets of specs.

Mr. Martin gave a brief update on the 200th Anniversary Committee progress.
He said they have letter ready to be sent to 7 or 8 individuals on the Steering Committee.

The next discussion was in regards to the cemetery swap with NYS.
Mr. Ferebee said that Mr. Manning was getting the paperwork together to pass on to Mr. Briggs, the current Town Attorney. He said that Mr. Briggs would check into where this situation stands.
Mr. Biesemeyer said he still doesn’t agree with this landswap, he said it was a terrible deal. He said it didn’t make any sense swapping 144 acres of woodland for cemetery expansion.
(continued)
Mr. Biesemeyer said he felt like he had been left out on decisions leading to this swap.
Mr. Martin said this landswap began back when Mr. Purdy was Supervisor and that the agreement was 144 acres of land from the Town for 13 acres of land from the State and money to relocate the highway garage. He said the Town felt they had to benefit to swap. He indicated that he believed the Town received their ISTEA Grant as payment for this.
Mr. Biesemeyer strongly disagreed.

Mrs. Estes informed the Board that half of a cemetery lot had been offered back to the Town for resale, but she said that there is no deed to accompany this purchase.
The Board agreed it would not be right to purchase back any lots without the original deed accompanying the sale.

Resolution No. 85 – 06
Mr. Jaques offered a resolution and moved its adoption. Be it resolved, that the Town Board accept the following bills for payment, including those that were post paid. This resolution was seconded by Mr. Biesemeyer.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Ferebee: Yes
Mr. Martin: Yes
Mr. Biesemeyer: Yes
Ms. Neville: Yes
Mr. Jaques: Yes

General Fund bills No. 112 – 134 $54,198.34
Highway Fund bills No. 29 - 35 6,778.62
Library Fund bills No. 20 - 22 696.92
Water Dist. #1 bills No. 13 - 19 2,182.89
Water Dist. #2 bills No. 11 - 18 5,868.36

Resolution No. 86 – 06
Mr. Martin offered a resolution and moved its adoption. Be it resolved, that all business having been transacted, this meeting be adjourned. This resolution was seconded by Mr. Biesemeyer.
Roll Call Vote:
Mr. Ferebee: Yes
Mr. Martin: Yes
Mr. Biesemeyer: Yes
Ms. Neville: Yes
Mr. Jaques: Yes

The meeting was adjourned at 6:26 PM.

Ellen S. Estes, Town Clerk
March 3, 2006

William B. Ferebee, Supervisor
Paul R. Martin, Councilperson
Robert M. Biesemeyer, Councilperson
Marcy Neville, Councilperson
Lawrence Jaques, Councilperson