DPW - COMMITTEE

Wednesday, February 15, 2023 - 9:30 AM

Robin DeLoria, Chairperson

Clayton Barber, Vice-Chairperson

Vice-Chairman Barber called this DPW Meeting to order at 9:30 am with the following Supervisors in attendance: Clayton Barber, Stephanie DeZalia, Charlie Harrington, Roy Holzer, Ken Hughes, Steve McNally, Noel Merrihew, James Monty, Tom Scozzafava, Matt Stanley, Ike Tyler, Joe Pete Wilson, Margaret Wood and Mark Wright. Shaun Gillilland was excused. Robin DeLoria and Derek Doty were excused. Davina Winemiller was absent.

Department Heads present: Jim Dougan, Judy Garrison and Michael Mascarenas.

Also present: Alice Halloran and Holly Acquino

BARBER: Okay let’s call this meeting to order and stand for the pledge please. Mr. Dougan.

DOUGAN: Do you want to start with resolutions?

BARBER: Yes.

DOUGAN: My first resolution is just an issuance of a permit. This is for the Adirondack Sports Council for them to use County Route 83, Springfield Road to run the Wilmington/Whiteface 100k Bike race on Sunday, June 4.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A PERMIT TO THE ADIRONDACK SPORTS COUNCIL FOR THE USE OF COUNTY ROUTE 83, SPRINGFIELD ROAD LOCATED IN THE TOWN OF WILMINGTON AND JAY FOR THE WILMINGTON WHITEFACE 100K BIKE RACE ON SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2023, UPON APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY AND WITH THE PROVISION OF INSURANCE. Holzer, DeZalia

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number two is a budget amendment. This is for work at the courthouse, more work that the court system has asked for so this budget amendment will increase both revenues and expenditures. The revenue is going to come from the court system, 100% for these repairs so those are the account numbers for both revenue and appropriations if we can get one.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT INCREASING REVENUES AND APPROPRIATIONS IN THE DPW- BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, IN THE AMOUNT OF $40,000.00, STATE AID UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM. Wright, DeZalia

BARBER: Discussion?

DEZALIA: What are they requesting at the courthouse?

DOUGAN: We are moving the magnetron, they are moving that towards the elevator. We’re building a half pipe wall there so that the officers are protected from behind if anybody comes out of the elevator, we have to put shatter proof glass above that so they can still see so that’s one item. The Supreme Court, the new Justice they are taking over an adjacent office and so we’re putting in new doors, new door to the hallway, it’s going to require fire rated doors and trying to patch and match carpet all in one room, special paint is in the hallways so it’s a pricey thing and I’m glad the court system is paying for all of it.

DEZALIA: Okay.

BARBER: Any further discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number three, is basically for us to use a contractor to tackle of that work that I just described. It’s a contract amendment with JFP Enterprises for not to exceed $35,000. Again, it goes along with that budget amendment up above, further authorizing the County Manager or County Chair to sign that contract amendment.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT AMENDMENT WITH JFP ENTERPRISES IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $35,000.00, FOR WORK AT THE ESSEX COUNTY COURTHOUSE AS REQUESTED BY THE NEW YORK STATE COURT SYSTEM WITH FUNDS TO COME FROM BUDGETED FUNDS. Scozzafava, Wright

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number four, is ongoing Federal aid project it’s the Water Street Bridge project that we actually completed last year so this is us getting our final paperwork from New York State DOT to close the project out. This will allow us to sign a supplemental agreement number three, for the project. It actually increases the overall funding by almost $320,000, it increases the Federal funding by two-fifty-five and then decreases our local match by over $290,000 so, formally it’s a resolution authorizing the implementation and funding first instance 100% of the Federal-aid and State “Marchiselli” program.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE IMPLEMENTATION AND FUNDING IN THE FIRST INSTANCE 100% OF THE FEDERAL-AID AND STATE “MARCHISELLI” PROGRAM-AID ELIGIBLE COSTS OF A TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL-AID PROJECT, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFORE – WATER STREET OVER THE BRANCH BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT. Holzer, Barber

BARBER: I’ll second that motion. Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number five, is a relatively small contract but it is a sole service provider so these small service providers even though they are specifically budgeted, I am supposed to bring them back to the board for consideration. This is authorizing the purchasing agent to award a contract to Emcor Services New England Mechanical in the amount of $10,258. This is for the heating and cooling control system up at the Public Safety Building. For those of you who attend the facilities committee meeting, you’ll know that some of my staff were working on making these controls in the future less proprietary in nature. This particular company has been at the Public Safety building since the day it opened with this, every year contract for heating system controls and preventive maintenance so, but until we can actually tackle that whole change with new controls, equipment I need to keep them on board.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASING AGENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO EMCOR SERVICES NEW ENGLAND MECHANICAL IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,258.00, FOR HEATING AND COOLING CONTROL SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AT THE PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING WITH FUNDS TO COME FROM BUDGETED FUNDS AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID CONTRACT. Wright, DeZalia

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number six is authorizing a Memorandum of Agreement with Cornell Cooperative and the 4H program for them to hold their welding class, their welding club training at our DPW shop. This is something that we did for the first time last year. We’ve got a few dates for that so far, but just so we have proper insurance and all those things when they have the kids working there.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA) BETWEEN CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION/4H AND ESSEX COUNTY DPW FOR THE USE OF THE DPW WELDING SHOP BY THE 4H WELDING CLASS MEMBERS. Holzer, Wood

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number seven is for one of those term contracts that we’ve had for engineering or the general construction or site construction. This one is for surveying, general surveying services so I’d like to authorize the purchasing agent to award a contract to Pawloski Land Surveying for as needed general surveying services with funds to come from budgeted funds and further authorizing the County Chairman or County Manager to execute that contract.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASING AGENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO PAWLOWSKI LAND SURVEYING FOR AS NEEDED GENERAL SURVEYING SERVICES AT AN HOURLY RATE, WITH FUNDS TO COME FROM BUDGETED FUNDS AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID CONTRACT. Holzer, DeZalia

BARBER: Discussion?

DOUGAN: Just to add, any project that we have that we actually hire them for. If it’s over $5,000, I will be bringing it back to the board to approve those before we move forward. This is just setting the rates and then as we have specific projects, I’ll be coming back to the board.

BARBER: Further discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: Number nine, this is another contractor who has had basically been our contractor for years. This is the controls at the courthouse so this is authorizing the purchasing agent to award a contract to Alltech Integrations in the amount of $1,913.15, that’s for the security system that’s in the courthouse here in the main complex over at Public Health and Mental Health.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASING AGENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO ALLTECH INTEGRATIONS, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,913.25, FOR SECURITY SYSTEM INSPECTIONS AND PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE ON COUNTY OWNED BUILDINGS WITH FUNDS TO COME FROM BUDGETED FUNDS AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID CONTRACT. Wright, Wood

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: So, I’ve got to go back one. I can’t count but I’m glad everybody is awake. I haven’t bored you yet. It was just a test. Okay, so number eight was a resolution authorizing the purchasing agent to award a contract to Alltech for fire alarm system maintenance, this one is the amount of $9,820, annually that is for the main complex, the courthouse, Mental Health, Public Health, Community Resources, DPW, the landfill, nutrition and Fair grounds buildings.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASING AGENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT TO ALLTECH INTEGRATIONS, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,820.00 FOR FIRE ALARM SYSTEM MONITORING AND PREVENTION MAINTENANCE ON COUNTY OWNED BUILDINGS, WITH FUNDS TO COME FROM BUDGETED FUNDS AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID CONTRACT. Holzer, DeZalia

DOUGAN: Number ten is carrying forward some funds from 2022. This is the LED lightening project that we move forward every year, back in 2016, I hired a firm to do a detailed energy audit. They suggested we change all our light fixtures to LED and that over time we would save roughly $50,000 a year in energy costs so in 2016, the Green Committee at that time met and we happened to have our, fuel prices were down less than what we had budgeted so we put $160,000, into this account and we’ve been slowly tackling LED light fixtures with our own forces, since then. Last year we only moved forward about $53,000, that was how much we had left but we received almost $22,000 rebate. When we have been purchasing LED lights we also asked for, the company that we buy them to fill out paperwork so we can get a rebate so I’m going to keep that money moving forward. We are overall, all the county buildings, I would say we are about 70% complete. There are over 4,000 fixtures that were listed in that detailed energy audit so our people are doing that as they have time so this is just to keep that project moving forward.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE DPW-BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, INCREASING REVENUES AND APPROPRIATIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $75,185.17, 2022 CARRYOVER FUNDS. Wright, Barber

BARBER: Discussion? All in favor, opposed – so carried.

DOUGAN: I have just a couple discussion things. Tomorrow our bids are due for the Tahawus Bridge over Sanford Lake replacement. That’s a Federal aid funded project, assuming those bids are good, are balanced and are within budget, will still be reviewed by DOT and I will, hopefully bringing a request to award a contractor at Ways and Means so I just wanted to give you that as a heads up and if there’s any questions on that I can try to answer them or we’ll deal with it at ways and means otherwise, the buses we ordered back in November, two large 32 passenger buses, the vendor has come back and told us rather than painting them that metallic green you see most of our buses, we can paint them white and wrap them similar to some of the hiker shuttles you’ve seen. So, within the same costs or less so I’ve given you a couple of options to take a look at.

SCOZZAFAVA: Beautiful options but I’d like to see something with reference to Lake Champlain, maybe the bridge? Something that – you know? I mean, our end of the county or on the lake side, eastern portion just a suggestion but something that is recognizable as the Lake Champlain Bridge. I mean if you had something like that on there.

BARBER: Roy, you want to add to that?

HOLZER: If it’s wrapped it shouldn’t be that big of a deal to regionalize the look of the buses as long as it still maintains the county logo so the buses down in the Moriah area see if we can get a different wrapping to kind of represent their area.

DOUGAN: These two buses happen to be the largest buses that we’re dealing with. Usually it’s the smaller bus that is doing the typical Champlain South Route and some of those every day. These larger buses are quite often on the ski shuttle route and some of those. I again, I passed this out. I have lots responsibility but you guys have all the authority and I have no eye for color.

SCOZZAFAVA: I don’t want to get carried away on this but it could be a potential money maker and help support this system, is advertising on buses because that’s big. We might have a lot of businesses right in this county that would love the chance to have their name on a side of a bus that’s traveling all over the county.

BARBER: Anybody else? Further discussion? Could I get a picture of Mill Hill Bridge painted on?

MONTY: I was wondering what we were going to put on for Lewis?

HOLZER: Jim, did you receive a request from Wilmington Historical Society on the Whiskey Run for June 17?

DOUGAN: I have not seen it yet. It may have gone directly to the attorney’s office or maybe Shaun has it?

HOLZER: Okay.

GILLILLAND: We answered it.

HOLZER: No, we have to do a resolution or did we already do that? Authorizing the race?

GILLILLAND: Yeah, we did it.

GARRISON: We received the request but we haven’t done a resolution yet.

BARBER: Is there any further discussion.

MONTY: I just had a question. I’m not on the committee Jim but something has come up on the topic of discussion on one of our broadband calls, is the need for more mapping so we can justify our applications for all this Federal money coming done the pike and I was thinking, is there a way we can, not to put more on your plate but I know you have familiarity with the GIS services, Real Property and Emergency Services is there some way we can probably collaborate because right now it’s primarily Ken and I calling out to people asking them to do the work for the other communities in the county. If we could get some hard data drawn up on some mapping. We did contract with Ezra Schwartzburg here a few years ago and we do have a preliminary map set up but they’re really asking us for more of a current accurate map so that when we start applying for these grants for the last mile of these hard to reach places, we have accurate data which will enhance our application. So, I guess that’s my ask.

DOUGAN: Well, you know we are doing GIS all the time mapping our own assets. We actually contracted, the board authorized me to contract with DANC to help us get our county map with highways out in a GIS format. They are working on that, some of my staff have reached out to your Highway Superintendents and have been getting information to verify road names and things like to make sure we get that map as correct as we can so I don’t know if DANC is another option. I don’t know what was prepared by Ezra Schwartzburg whether or not that is in a format he would allow us to utilize?

MONTY: We pay for that mapping so I’m quite sure that belongs to us at the county. I want us to have the best possible chance to secure some of this money because there’s millions and millions and millions of dollars coming down from the Federal level.

HUGHES: Quick question, what data are you actually looking to achieve and receive?

MONTY: Accurate mapping of what isn’t available.

HUGHES: Are you talking, so you’re actually talking where broadband is and where broadband isn’t?

MONTY: Right.

HUGHES: And you think Jim has the ability to do that?

MONTY: Well, they have the ability to do the mapping I believe and if we can give them the data which a lot of that is already secured that would go a long way and that’s what Beth at the last meeting.

HUGHES: I missed that call.

MONTY: Each county like Warren County just did, Laura Oswell Washington County excuse me, she’s put together a map. She spent a lot of time out with her people from the county putting this stuff together and instead of just trying to hodge podge it and going on the knowledge you and I have I’m just thinking the more people involved, the easier it might be.

MASCARENAS: Now that I know what you’re asking I think yes, we absolutely have people that can do mapping depending on how the data is collected. Jim was starting to get at that a little bit formatting matters, the device matters in terms of how it can come into the system and do the mapping on the back end. The data collection is really where the grunt work happens so if you’re asking us to map data that’s already been collected that’s a much easier lift than asking us to go out collect all the data, and then map the data so I think we’ve got to just got to narrow down what the ask is.

MONTY: Basically my ask is for all of us to do something here because right now it’s kind of Ken and I doing a map for every community and really to me, isn’t fair to Ken and I.

MASCARENAS: No, I agree.

MONTY: Especially if I can get that money. Maybe we hire Ezra to do it, have him give us a quote on how he would be willing to do it?

MASCARENAS: So, Jim and this is now putting more work on you, but we’re not certain I guess where data has been collected, where data hasn’t been collected so that we can further look at what that lift is and see it might be worth bidding out just to know what the value is sometimes these things are much cheaper than we can imagine and it makes sense to contract it over trying to do it with our own forces what right now are somewhat limited due to not being able to put bodies in positions but I think if we know what’s been collected, what’s not been collected and then what we need to do we can even bid it out in a way that separates the duties so that we know the value of each one. Maybe we need to get somebody that does data collection but then we’ll do the mapping. Maybe it’s affordable and we chose to do both but we can certainly break that up within a bid document.

McNALLY: I have to applaud Jim’s work on this. Last week I had a meeting with the Department of State and we discussed housing and broadband. There’s a lot of money available but trust me, they mentioned three times you have to be ready to receive it and it came down three times, they mentioned mapping, mapping, mapping so if you’re going to dock it and not go out there and go pole to pole in your towns don’t be crying if you don’t get any Federal money or State money.

DEZALIA: So I know Beth was reaching out to everyone. I zoomed with Beth and we went through every road in North Hudson and we verified every dot on that map as to who was served and who wasn’t. I know she was willing to do it with anybody so that the maps were accurate so I feel that if everybody does that with her then we would have all the data we need.

GILLILLAND: One of the problems I found I think Jim can concur, there’s a tremendous amount of misinformation on what’s available out there and most of it is coming, the vast of it is coming from the Federal Government side. So they are relying on the FCC information coming out and they are actually going to have to take a look on the FCC website about what’s available and you’ll see companies listing there as full broadband but the companies don’t even exist in the State of New York so you know, I’m thinking the only way we are going to be able to tackle this and we’ve tried it and tried it over the years is you’re just going to have to have to out and figure this out, knock on doors, verify you know you have to go out and knock on every single door on a dirt road and stuff or you call and ask them the questions. So I guess, coming back who do we have to do that kind of stuff? What about our 911 team?

MONTY: That was my other thought Shaun.

GILLILLAND: Is when you’re checking addresses and stuff like that I mean, it is just like we are going to have our sewer and water people checking lead connections with sewer lines well, why can’t we have the 911 folks when they call somebody to verify an address and stuff verify what they’ve got and start collecting the data that way.

MONTY: To Stephanie’s point and to Shaun’s point, Ken and I was it last week Ken, two weeks ago? We sat with Beth and tried to go over what we knew in other communities and at the same token, I believe I sent an email out for requesting everybody get a hold of Beth because she would sit down and do that with you. The inaccuracies as you say Shaun are there. The connect all office shows one thing, the FCC mapping shows another and most of our providers are giving us information a few aren’t being Verizon, Charter, Spectrum they don’t want to release all their information which makes it even more difficult but I like Shaun’s idea about having it checked through the 911 addresses that could go a long way.

BARBER: I reached out to Beth last week and compared notes with her to what I had.

MONTY: And again, it’s not too late to challenge addresses even though the drop dead date was the 13^th of January it is not too late if you have addresses that aren’t served, by all means submit them to Beth and she’ll get them to the FCC.

BARBER: Any further discussion? Anybody else?

DOUGAN: To piggyback off of something Mike said, some of it comes down to how much you’re trying to track. Okay? The data and the way it is collected it’s important that GIS can be as simple as a PDF map that looks pretty or it can be very, very interactive. It makes a big difference the way the data is collected so if it something and I will tell you, you guys know Todd, Hugh all of our guys are doing that work, Real Property is touching it we just need to know what it is you’re trying to get out of the map, that will make a big difference, what level of help we can provide.

STANLEY: So did I misunderstand this while we were on that Zoom call –

MONTY: Which one?

STANLEY: All the ones on the topic, was it my understanding that finding out what each location has available is one thing but actually challenging that is difficult and that’s why I mentioned both you as a way we can do it together as a county so that we can hire a firm that not actually goes out and gets the information but knows the information they need to get so that when we actually go to challenge it’s actually done properly and not – because I don’t remember the gentleman who was helping Franklin County or Hamilton County challenge but it’s really difficult to actually put in that challenge and actually get it to be right and submitted.

MONTY: That’s what I’m trying to get at Matt. We need some help.

STANLEY: And that’s what I think, I think we need somebody that does the county as a whole. I mean it might be easy in Minerva where there’s more trees than people but when you start getting into North Elba and you start seeing Ticonderoga and Moriah and Jay there’s a lot of different things happening in Moriah and Jay we have three, four hamlets that we’re trying to actually find where there’s service and not service and there maybe service on the end of one road but not on another.

MONTY: Or service on one side of the road and not the other.

STANLEY: Correct. So, it’s a difficult thing and we can go around and do it ourselves but the owners themselves don’t know what they can get. I’ve fielded several calls to one of the FCC sites saying these look like your options and they don’t know what their options are. I mean, Spectrum doesn’t know what the options are. You can go to Spectrum and say, I want to get Spectrum at my house and they are like yup, we’ll send somebody right out there well when the appointment comes through three weeks later they are like, we can’t put service to your house there’s not a line that goes by your house.

MONTY: But they will show you on a map there is.

STANLEY: Absolutely. So, for instance, I tried to get Spectrum at my house years ago they made the appointment and everything until the person showed up and said there’s no line or pole and I’m like, well, it’s right down there at the intersection and they wouldn’t give it to me so I mean, I think getting somebody who knows what they are looking for, what they are doing to follow the whole process through I think is the way to go.

GILLILLAND: That Spectrum thing, that is the business model Verizon has done it to me, they did to me in Virginia too I mean, you go on the map, you sign up and there’s no way they can get it to you. I think it’s part of their corporate business model to do that to keep drawing in people. You can’t get high speed internet but they will sell you a phone.

MONTY: Would it be helpful if I get ahold of Beth and set up a Zoom meeting with a few of the people to see exactly what she is looking for? For us? Because she’s kind of spearheading this for Essex County, Washington County, actually Franklin County, Warren County just a thought.

MASCARENAS: Yeah, I think so Jim.

McNALLY: Last year the AATV we met Kevin Lynch from Sprint came down and he put on a presentation on how you can identify so you can ride down your roads and identify what there is for service. He explained the difference between you know, what the fiber looks like and he probably could help you out too and give you that presentation so you can ride down the road and see what is available. There’s quite a difference between the VSI and satellite or cable.

STANLEY: I did that and was there when Kevin gave that presentation and I was more confused than ever going down the roads.

MONTY: That doesn’t pick up the buried fiber, that’s the only problem.

McNALLY: But it’s a start, it’s a tool.

BARBER: Any further discussion? Is that it? Is there anything else Jim?

DOUGAN: No, I’ve said enough.

BARBER: Thank you. Alice, Soil and Water.

HALLORAN: Good morning. Highlights for us – we finished up our seven annual State reports we have to do and just a reminder, we have a four hour course that any municipal employees can take. Our next one is March 24, for free you can take it for free and that’s it. Any questions?

McNALLY: Do we have a tree sale going on?

HALLORAN: We do have a tree sale going on. Thanks.

McNALLY: I see Warren County has a lot of advertisement on theirs.

HALLORAN: Yeah, I think Minerva even shared it. Minerva’s Facebook page so thanks.

HARRINGTON: Is there any additional monies for salt sheds?

HALLORAN: I would talk to Anna about that.

MASCARENAS: Yeah, Charlie typically those are WQUIP opportunities through the DEC so water quality improvement program have been the grant program that people have been able to get salt sheds approved for, they have been quite successful in that so talk to Anna, she’s done a number of them.

BARBER: I believe Rob Wick is also involved?

MASCARENAS: Yeah, Anna will write them on the front end, Rob will run them through the mill on the back end once they are founded so they have a process of preparation and then it goes to somebody that administers it on the back end.

BARBER: I know Chesterfield piggybacked off somebody with Rob Wick to apply for the grant for the salt shed.

HUGHES: We did it for Essex and I think you did it too.

BARBER: Yeah, I think I piggybacked off you.

HUGHES: You’re welcome.

BARBER: I appreciate it.

HUGHES: And that’s in July the deadline for that is in July.

HALLORAN: Your town is a good candidate.

BARBER: Anything else for Alice?

MONTY: Alice, can you resend that because I don’t think I saw an email come across to me with the tree sale information because I haven’t posted it on my website yet and I don’t think I saw it.

HALLORAN: Okay. I will make a note to send.

BARBER: I don’t believe I did either.

DEZALIA: Yeah, can you send it to all of us please.

HALLORAN: Sure.

BARBER: Is there anything else for Alice? Okay is there anything else for this meeting? We stand adjourned.

As there was no further discussion to come before this DPW committee, it was adjourned at 10:04 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Judith Garrison, Clerk

Board of Supervisors