224th ORGANIZATIONAL
MEETING
Wednesday, January 4,
2023
J.
GARRISON, CLERK OF THE BOARD: Good
morning and welcome. I would like to call this 224th organizational
session to order. Please stand for the
salute to the flag. Thank you. I will now call the roll for the 2023 Board
of Supervisors
PRESENT: Clayton
Barber - Town of Chesterfield
Charles Harrington - Town of Crown Point
Noel Merrihew - Town of Elizabethtown
Kenneth Hughes - Town of Essex
Matthew Stanley - Town of Jay
Joe Pete Wilson - Town of Keene - Excused
James Monty - Town of Lewis
Stephen McNally - Town of Minerva - Absent
Thomas Scozzafava- Town
of Moriah
Robin DeLoria - Town of Newcomb
Derek Doty - Town of North Elba
Stephanie DeZalia - Town of North Hudson
Margaret Wood - Town of Schroon
Davina Winemiller - Town of St. Armand - Excused
Mark Wright -
Town of Ticonderoga
Michael Tyler - Town of Westport
Shaun Gillilland - Town of Willsboro
Roy Holzer - Town of Wilmington
Department
Heads in attendance: Angie Allen, Linda Beers, Michael Diskin, James Dougan,
Judith Garrison, Krissy Leerkes, Dan Manning, Jennifer Mascarenas, Michael
Mascarenas, Jack Mouton, David Reynolds, Heather Sheehan, Kristy Sprague and
Matt Watts.
Also
in attendance: Chelsea Merrihew, Dina Garvey, Tom Murphy, William Tansey, Mary
McGowan, Jennifer Fifield, Kellie King, Patti Doyle, Mary Stanley, Allison
McGahay, Stacey Hayes, Linda Gillilland, Heather Reynolds, Evelyn Hatch, Devann
Murphy and Bill McGahay.
News
Media: Alana Penny - Sun Community News.
GARRISON: I will now call for nominations for the 2023
temporary Chairman of the Board.
HARRINGTON: Madam Clerk, I would to move the name of
Thomas Scozzafava from the Town of Moriah, as temporary Chairman for 2023.
GARRISON: Thank you.
Do we have a second?
DOTY:
I will second that.
GARRISON: Mr. Harrington moves the name of Mr.
Scozzafava, seconded by Mr. Doty. Are
there other nominations?
STANLEY: I move the nominations be closed and the Clerk
cast one ballot for Mr. Scozzafava as temporary Chairman.
DELORIA: I’ll second that.
GARRISON: All in favor, opposed – carried. Would Mr. Harrington and Mr. Doty please
escort Mr. Scozzafava to the County Clerk to be sworn in and then to the dais.
SCOZZAFAVA: Good morning.
So, I would guess that I probably have been Chair of this body more
times than anyone in the history but I always get temporary Chair, they never
give me permanent chair. Okay, the first
order of business is to adopt the rules and regulations that will govern this
board for 2023.
RESOLUTION #1 –
ADOPTING RULES AND REGULATIONS OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE ESSEX COUNTY BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Monty, seconded by Mr. Holzer and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
SCOZZAFAVA:
Okay, we will now call for nominations of the 2023 Chair and I would like to
nominate and move the name of Supervisor Shaun Gillilland for the 2023 Chair of
the Essex County Board of Supervisors.
Shaun has proven his leadership qualities through some very trying times
for this county and has always used a bipartisan approach to all the
difficulties that we have faced these past few years. He’s worked for the betterment of our county,
has excelled in the art of compromise during his tenure as our Chairman. He has represented our county proudly and
with dignity and articulated our mission very well to both the Federal
Government and to Albany. He always
works for the betterment of all of our constituents and the Town of Willsboro
is very fortunate to have Shaun Gillilland as their leader. He has also earned the respect from our
employees, department heads, my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors as being
someone who listens without prejudice and always strives for fairness and shows
compassion and that is why I submit the name of Supervisor Shaun Gillilland,
Supervisor from the Town of Willsboro as our Chair for 2023.
HUGHES: I’ll second that, temporary Chairman.
SCOZZAFAVA: All in favor, opposed – carried. Mr. Hughes we will bring Mr. Gillilland to
the front to be sworn in.
GILLILLAND:
And swearing me in will be our new Supreme Court Judge, Judge McGahay.
JUDGE
McGAHAY: Congratulations.
GILLILLAND: Thank you.
We will now call for the nominations for the 2023 Vice-Chairman of the
Essex County Board of Supervisors.
HOLZER: Mr. Chairman, it is an honor to nominate Mr.
Jim Monty of Lewis, New York as the 2023 Vice-Chairman of the Board for this
body. Jim has served as Vice-Chairman
with distinction and I’m very extremely happy that he has agreed to serve in
this capacity once more. The citizens of
his community and our county are fortunate to have his leadership. Over the last few years I have served on this
board and I have always found Jim to be a man of his word. He is an individual who does his homework,
one can tell he has a passion for his job and researches the issues. He will make no qualms in expressing his
views. Jim is a no nonsense leader who
commands respect by his very nature through all that he is also a person that
listens to other opinions and is always willing to meet in the middle if it
serves the better public good. Jim is a
true public servant in every sense of the word, prior to him serving as the
town supervisor he was on the Lewis town board for eighteen years. He understands the issues affecting our
communities and county. His work on the county housing task force and being a
staunch advocate for better broadband in our area is incredible. Outside his county responsibilities Jim also
serves on the ACAP and Essex County IDA boards along with countless other
boards in civic responsibilities. I
cannot think of a better individual with the caliber of Jim Monty to assist in
leading our county into 2023. I am proud
to call Jim Monty my friend and colleague and I cannot think of a better individual
for this position.
TYLER:
I will second that.
GILLILLAND: Thank you Mr. Tyler. Are there any other nominations?
BARBER: Mr. Chairman, I move that the nominations be
closed for the 2023 Vice-Chairman of the Board.
DOTY: Second.
GILLILLAND:
Thank you Mr. Doty. All in favor,
opposed – carried. Congratulations
partner. Thank you. Would Mr. Tyler and Mr. Holzer please escort
Mr. Monty to the County Clerk to be sworn in.
At
this time, we have the honor of swearing in our newest Supreme Court Judge for
the 4th Judicial District who is our resident, Essex County Judge an
honor that we haven’t had in many, many years so if I could ask Judge McGahay
to join us at the table. Congratulations
Judge.
JUDGE
McGAHAY: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you everyone. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve in
Essex County in this capacity. I enjoy
working with this county in every different position that I’ve held from
Assistant DA to Commissioner of the Board of Elections but this position I
recognize the importance of and I am so grateful for the support of all of you.
I’m excited to get started in this role for Essex County, thank you.
GILLILLAND: I am very humbled to the board for your
continued confidence in me to continue to perform my duties as Chairman. It’s a job that I truly enjoy doing and it’s
a job I strive to do the best I possibly can but being Chairman or being the
Vice-Chairman cannot be done unless you have a the tremendous team of giants
that sit here and you all are giants there’s not one supervisor that is sitting
here that has not in time, whether this is your first term or fifty-seventh
term, I’m not sure where Tom is but – taking your communities through crisis’s
be them manmade or God made crises and you always perform either individually
on the scene or as a team here at the county and you take great pride and I
take great pride in the fact that we are recognized as a board that is not
dysfunctional and most of our neighbors around the State have severe problems. I can say that in the entire time that I’ve
been on this board I think we’ve only had one slightly partisan issue we’ve
ever had to deal with and that was with that picture up there and we came to a
compromise and an agreement on it. Every
member does what is best for the county and the citizens of the county here
with in mind that you are also a town, you bring the town’s flavor to this
board, to help the county. I kind of
speak of giants and many of us, we serve with giants here that did tremendous
work and brought this county forward in great ways George Canon, Roby Politi
even Tommy Scozzafava. I know we laugh
about that because he’s got a great sense of humor but Tom has taken his town,
I mean you think of all the crisis’s, the dropping of the bridge, the first
attempted closing of Moriah Shock and now we’re working on the second one you
all sit among great people and I take great pride and always be honor and take
it to my grave the honor of serving with you.
We’ve
done great things and will continue to do great things. I will tell you that yesterday, one of them
is the EMS program that we banner about and we argue about and we debate; I got
a call yesterday from a supervisor from Onondaga county who wanted, as I’m
trying to rush out the door, and said do you have a couple of minutes to talk
about your EMS program? I said sure, what’s up?
Well, ours is a mess. It’s a
complete mess and word around the state is you guys have got the golden ring
and you’ve solved the problem. I said,
well, I don’t know if we’ve solved the problem but, Essex County evidently has
a reputation in the EMS world, EMS programs as being closest to managing the
crisis that EMS is having throughout the state.
So I described to her the whole program and everything and then she came
back to me, I told her we are much different though than Onondaga County,
Onondaga County has a massive population, urban centers, we have a small
population, really don’t have any real urban centers and we’re very large
geographically and very rural. So I
explained the whole system to her and she said, well, it definitely sounds like
you guys are on the cutting edge of working through the crisis. I said, I think we kind are because we have a
great board. That’s just one
example. Essex County and this board and
particularly these department heads and employees in this county who are
willing to go try something new, not afraid to lead. We’re a small county, some of the lowest
population, we have a rural poverty problem, we have a distance problem here
all the things Essex County leads the State in we shouldn’t be because of the
disadvantages we have but we do and just as a preamble because I think we’re in
for some rough seas ahead.
I
was honored to go down to the inauguration of the Governor on Sunday with Tom
and Steve McNally and others and it kind of seemed hearing that, it seemed to
me that the old days of the Adirondacks and stuff being a preeminent issue with
Albany are kind of gone. The concerns of
the state are shifting other places so I think we’re back if some of us
remember to we’re going to have to do it ourselves and figure out systems and
figure out programs and mostly figure out funding to do the things that we want
to do to improve the lives of our citizens.
We’re
lucky right now to have several million dollars in ARPA funding and we have a
number of issues that we need to get done that have been just sores, saddle
sores on the horse of this county for a long time and we’ve got to fix them and
we’ve got to do it quick before essentially, something else comes along. You know for this year one of the biggest
things is we have to get that old jail down.
We need to solve the issue with the buildings at the fairgrounds. We need to move forward with the fish
hatchery and a number of other issues.
I
would like to say my priorities are, for this year are to let’s get these
things that have been bothering us for years and years and years and get them
fixed because basically that’s the way we need to gird and reinforce Essex
County before the next set of crisis needs comes at us. The days I think of a State grant solving our
problems are kind of over.
So,
just remember we serve with giants and you are all giants and we’ll get through
whatever comes at us as we have in the past and I again, say thank you so much
and I’m humbled in your confidence.
Thank you.
We’ll
now move into resolutions and then we will swear in our county officials.
RESOLUTION #2 –
AUTHORIZING COMPENSATION FOR THE SUPERVISORS OF ESSEX COUNTY.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Merrihew, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
RESOLUTION #3 –
DESIGNATING OFFICIAL NEWSPAPERS FOR 2023.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. DeLoria, seconded by Mr. Wright and duly adopted.
RESOLUTION
#4 – ORDERING THE CONFINEMENT OF DOGS TO PROECT THE DEER HERD.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Monty, seconded by Mr. Doty and duly adopted.
RESOLUTION
#5 – ADOPTING AN INVESTMENT POLICY AND DESIGNATING DEPOSITORIES FOR COUNTY
FUNDS.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Scozzafava, seconded by Mr. Doty and adopted upon a
roll-call vote, with Mr. Monty abstaining,
as follows:
AYES: 2472 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
ABSTAIN: 104
votes (Monty)
RESOLUTION # 6 –
PURSUANT TO REAL PROPERTY TAX LAW §554 AND §556 DELEGATING TO THE ESSEX COUNTY
AUDITOR THE AUTHORITY TO APPORVE CORRECTIONS TO THE TAX ROLLS OF NOT MORE THAN
$2,500.00, AND THE PAYMENT OF REFUNDS DUE AS A RESULT OF SUCH CORRECTIONS.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. Barber and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
RESOLUTION #7 – OF
ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE ESSEX COUNTY PURCHASING POLICY AND ALL PROCEDURES RELATED
THERETO AND AUTHORIZATION OF THE CONTINUED USE THEREOF.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Scozzafava, seconded by Mr. Doty and duly adopted.
RESOLUTION
#8 – OF ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE ESSEX COUNTY PERSONNEL POLICY AND ALL PROCEDURES
RELATED THERETO AND AUTHORIZATION OF THE CONTINUED USE THEREOF.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Stanley, seconded by Mr. Holzer and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
Discussion?
MONTY: Yes,
Mr. Chairman I would like to encourage us as this will be the eighth, second
time that I’ve encouraged us on this date that since our personnel policy is
dated 2005, if my math is correct, that is eighteen years old and I would
definitely like to see that done this year. Thank you.
GILLILLAND:
Mr. Vice-chairman, we will make that a primary administrative goal for
this year.
MONTY: Thank
you.
GILLILLAND:
Further discussion? Being none,
all in favor, opposed – carried.
RESOLUTION
#9 – AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF J. MICHAEL MASCARENAS TO THE OFFICE OF
ESSEX COUNTY MANAGER FOR A TERM OF TWO (2) YEARS.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Scozzafava, seconded by Mr. Hughes and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
We will now swear in the County Manager.
MASCARENAS: I
would like to call up James Dougan as my Deputy County Manager.
RESOLUTION
#10 – ADOPTING LOCAL LAW NO. 1 OF 2023.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded by Mr. Hughes and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
RESOLUTION #11 –
APPOINTING JACK MOULTON AS ESSEX COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS REPUBLICAN
COMMISSIONER.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Holzer, seconded by Mr. Barber and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
Mr. Moulton come up and get sworn in as the Republican Commissioner.
RESOLUTION
#12 – APPOINTING MARY MCGOWAN AS ESSEX COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS DEMOCRATIC
COMMISSIONER.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Doty, seconded by Mr. Stanley and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
Ms. McGowan, come forward to be sworn in please.
RESOLUTION
#13 – AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN OR COUNTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT
WITH DAVID CUNNINGHAM ARCHITECTURE PLANNING, PLLC IN THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF
$159,000.00, FOR ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES FOR FARMWORKER HOUSING PROJECTS.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Merrihew, seconded by Mrs. Wood and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
HUGHES: What is this?
MASCARENAS: Yeah, I can explain. This the farmworker’s grant that we got
through the community development block grant that is being managed by
community resources group. You had a
resolution passed allowing our Purchasing Agent to bid and award, we just
wanted to tighten up a previous resolution with the amounts and who it was
awarded to so, the board had granted permission for this we just wanted to make
sure we had some belt and suspenders in a resolution for our funding agency.
HUGHES: Thank you.
GILLILLAND: Further discussion? Being none, roll call please.
RESOLUTION #14 –
AUTHORIZING THE REAPPOINTMENT OF LINDA L. BEERS AS DIRECTOR OF ESSEX COUNTY
HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Doty, seconded by Mr. Scozzafava and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
Thank you very much. Linda, would
you like to come forward to be sworn in.
RESOLUTION
#15 – REQUESTING HOME RULE LEGISLATION TO EXTEND THE AUTHORIZATION GRANTED TO
ESSEX COUNTY PURSUANT TO NYS TAX LAW §1210(i)(36) TO IMPOSE AN ADDITIONAL ONE
PERCENT (1%) OF SALES AND COMPENSATION USE TAX FOR THE PERIOD BEGINNING
DECEMBER 1, 2013 AND ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 2026, OR WHATEVER DATE THE LEGISLATURE
DECIDES IS APPROPRIATE.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Scozzafava, seconded by Mr. Merrihew and adopted
upon a two-thirds roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 3532 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 359
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
GILLILLAND: We will now ask our newly re-elected Sheriff
to come forward to be sworn in.
Congratulations. Could I have the
Under Sheriff come forward and sworn in please.
Congratulations. Could I have the
newly, re-elected Treasurer, Mike Diskin please come forward to be sworn in,
only four more terms after this Mike.
DISKIN: Before I walk away I do want to have my
Deputy sworn in but some of you may wonder why I had Mr. Scozzafava come
up. It’s always been my choice to have a
family member or somebody come up, I ran out of children, ran out of
grandchildren and my dad always used to be here. He was here up until my fifth time, this is
my eighth time but I wanted to let you know Tom served with my dad so, that’s
why I asked him to come forward to represent my family and I also want to tell
you that every time I’ve been sworn in I’ve worn something of my fathers, today
I wore his sport coat.
GILLILLAND: And can we have our new Commissioner of
Social Services, Angie Allen come forward to be sworn in please.
ALLEN: Thank you.
MASCARENAS: You do whatever you want. The floor is yours, you do whatever you want.
ALLEN: Oh, the floor is mine. Well then, I just want to say thank you for
the trust of the board, the trust and the guidance of Mr. Mascarenas. This has been something that I think all
women in Essex County should strive for.
I am the first woman in Essex County to become Commissioner of Social
Services as well as the first one that has been through the ranks so to me,
that speaks a lot to the trust and the guidance that I have been given over the
years and I will not fail you that’s my promise, so thank you.
GILLILLAND:
We have some other business for the board to attend to –
TYLER: Mr. Chairman can I offer a resolution to
recognize long time, resident, Lillian Lobdell who is turning 100 years old
from the Town of Westport?
GILLILLAND:
Absolutely. I have a resolution on the floor, do we have a second? Thank you very much.
RESOLUTION #16 – OF
CONGRATULATIONS TO LILLIAN LOBDELL UPON CELEBRATING HER 100TH
BIRTHDAY.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Tyler, seconded unanimously and duly adopted.
GILLILLAND:
Anything further from the board? I would
like to make one, quick announcement we have some business the board has to
attend to quickly; I think there is going to be a reception at the Half Way
House in honor of this event and of our Supreme Court Judge so, I believe it is
at 11:30, so everybody is invited to join in but at this time, I need a motion
to go into executive session in order to discuss a personnel issue and to
discuss a contract issue.
MANNING: And for legal advice.
GILLILLAND:
Moved by Mr. Monty, second by Ms. Wood. Thank you very much we are in executive
session at this time.
THE BOARD MOVED INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION AT 10:45 A.M. TO
DISCUSS A PERSONNEL ISSUE, A CONTRACT ISSUE AND TO RECEIVE LEGAL ADVICE.
THE BOARD MOVED BACK INTO OPEN SESSION AT 11:25 A.M.
GILLILLAND: I note the time is 11:25 a.m. we are out of
executive session. No decisions were
made in executive session. We are now in
regular session.
MASCARENAS:
Which resolution would you like to do first?
MANNING: Let’s do the HAPEC one.
MASCARENAS:
We are asking for a resolution for Essex County to enter into an agreement with
PRIDE of Ticonderoga, on their most recent OCR, CDBG award.
RESOLUTION #17 –
AUTHORIZNG A CONTRACT/SUBRECIPIENT AGREEMENT WITH THE PRIDE OF TICONDEROGA TO
ACT AS SUBRECIPIENT OF ESSEX COUNTY’S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG)
UNDER THE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT, (PROJECT #382-HR312-22) FOR
THE REHABILITATION OF RESIDENTIAL UNITS WITHIN THE COUNTY.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. Monty, seconded by Mr. Wright and adopted upon a
roll-call vote as follows:
AYES: 2576 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
GILLILLAND:
Discussion? Being none, roll call
please.
MASCARENAS: And I defer to Mr. Manning on the correct
language for the County Clerk resolution.
MANNING: So we would like to ask for a resolution
amending the salary of the current deputy county clerk, Chelsea Merrihew to the
former salary of county clerk as she is doing duties, the published salary for
the year, 2023, of $85,677.64.
RESOLUTION #18 –
AUTHORIZING TO AMEND THE SALARY OF THE DEPUTY COUNTY CLERK, CHELSEA MERRIHEW,
TO $85,677.64 FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2023.
This
resolution was moved by Mr. DeLoria, seconded by Mr. Doty and adopted upon a
roll-call vote, with Mr. Merrihew abstaining,
as follows:
AYES: 2477 votes
NOES: 0 votes
ABSENT: 277
votes (Wilson, McNally, Winemiller)
ABSTAIN:
99 votes (Merrihew)
GILLILLAND:
If I could add one thing on there, while she performs the duties of the County
Clerk and that no county clerk would have been appointed by the Governor. Moved by Mr. DeLoria, second by Mr. Doty.
Discussion?
MASCARENAS:
With the understanding folks that after the 2023 election, that that deputy
county clerk wage will go back to what it would have been following.
GILLILLAND:
Further discussion? Being none, roll call please. Anything else to come before this board? As I said, the reception being held is being
paid for by the wallet of Mr. McGahay so I would encourage everybody to go down
there and empty that wallet. (laughter) Nothing before this board,
welcome to 2023, once again, thank you so much in your confidence in me,
looking forward to a really good year.
As there was no further discussion
to come before this 224th organizational meeting it was adjourned at
11:27 a.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Judith
Garrison, Clerk
Board
of Supervisors