Bids were opened for the following:

One side-mounted, articulated hydraulically powered, 17’ boom mower with cutting head – TOS 02-03: Sole bidder: ARTCO Equipment Sales, 1217 Louden Rd, Cohoes NY for $28,293. Resolution #03-04 offered by Councilman Fred Drumm to accept bid for $28,293 from ARTCO Equipment providing the specifications are met and seconded by Councilman Philip Griffen. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Comfort Garb Cab Tractor (2 WD) – TOS 01-03: Allen Farm Equipment, 11853 State Route 40, Schaghticoke, NY for $36,900 (John Deere), and Capital Tractor Inc., 1135 State Route 29, Greenwich, NY 12834 for $36,336.80 (New Holland TS100). Resolution #03-05 presented by Councilman Philip Griffen to accept the bid of $36,336.80 from Capital Tractor for the New Holland TS100 providing the specifications are met and seconded by Councilman Bruce Cornell. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Supervisor Robert Hall opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30 p.m.

Roll call: Jean Casey, Town Clerk, called the roll. Present: Supervisor Robert Hall- present, Councilman Bruce Cornell - present, Councilman Michael McLoughlin - present, Councilman Fred Drumm- present, and Councilman Phil Griffen- present.

Also present: Town Clerk Jean Casey, Deputy Clerk Ruth Drumm, Assessor/Clerk Catherine DeFelice, Town Attorney William Reynolds, Building Inspector Robert Hathaway, Highway Superintendent Grant Seymour, Glenn Stevens, Richard Behrens, Geraldine Friedman, Sherry Doubleday, Dustin Gibson, Sean Kelleher, Roger Sherman, Virginia Cornell, Wendy Lukas, Tim Holmes, and Kathleen Bartholomay.

Approval of Minutes: All Board Members had read the minutes of the January 13, 2003

and January 27, 2003 meetings. A motion was made by Councilman Fred Drumm and seconded by Councilman Bruce Cornell that the minutes of January 13^th and 27^th, 2003 be accepted as read. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Town Clerk’s report: Fees paid to the County treasurer for Dog licenses $50.85. Fees paid to the NYS Dept. of Agriculture and Markets for the spay/neuter program $9.00. Fees paid to NY D.E.C. for hunting/fishing licenses $170.99. Fees paid to The State Health Dept. for marriage licenses $22.50. Dog license fees to the Supervisor $145.65. Clerk fees to the Supervisor $81.01. Total State, County, and Local Revenues received were $480.00.

Zoning Officer’s report: Robert Hathaway stated that 2 Building permits were issued,

2 Certificates of Occupancy, 9 inspections were done, and 8 Zoning Regulation books were sold. A check for $347.00 was given to Supervisor Hall. Councilman Philip Griffen questioned Bob Hathaway about the letter he received from Louis Hotchkiss.

A motion to go into Executive Session was made by Councilman Michael McLoughlin at 7:40 p.m. and seconded by Councilman Fred Drumm, Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Executive session ended at 7:55 p.m. and the regular meeting resumed.

Resolution #03-06 was offered by Councilman Philip Griffen to initiate legal action against Louis Hotchkiss for operating a business in a residential area, 220 County Route 69, without a special use permit, this was seconded by Councilman Fred Drumm. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Supervisor’s report: Supervisor Hall presented balances in Town funds as follows: General A $650,544.30, General B $81,211.98, Highway Outside $436,952.43, Youth Recreation & Services $1,696.22, Fire Protection $24,469.05, Highway Equipment Reserve $59,327.22, and Building Reserve $814,073.90. January revenues were $585,192.62 and expenses were $69,513.55, making the total January balance $2,068,275.10.

Highway: Grant Seymour, Highway Superintendent, reported that the John Deere Payloader was ordered with an air conditioner for $80,394 on January 30, 2003. It was decided that he should put the old payloader out to bid. Supervisor Hall suggested a $25,000 minimum bid be included.

Landfill: No report.

Insurance: No report.

Youth Committee report: Councilman Michael McLoughlin noted that meetings are taking place to plan future events.

Buildings: Supervisor Robert Hall stated that he will call Dente Engineering, who was the lowest bidder for the test borings, and contract with them to do the six test borings on the town hall foundation. Locations for power, water, and sewer will be needed. William Reynolds, Town Attorney, will review the contract. Once the soil tests have been completed then an engineer will be hired to further assess the situation.

Senior Citizens report: Councilman Bruce Cornell reports that the regular meetings of the Schuylerville Seniors resumed on January 14, 2003. The Schuylerville seniors donated approximately $500, to the "teaching baby" fund for the 7^th and 8^th graders at Schuylerville Central School. Fifty-five Quaker Springs’ seniors met and had a delicious lunch. A fun time was had as they shared stories as to how they met their spouses.

Old Business: Glen Stevens of the General Schuyler Emergency Squad (GSES) stated that an agreement has been drawn up by their attorney, Robert Farrell, and entered into with Stillwater and Malta Ambulance services that will guarantee a paramedic will respond to every residence in the Town of Saratoga immediately upon initial dispatch. Stillwater Ambulance retains their district. The dividing line in Stillwater’s ambulance district of their portion of the Town of Saratoga being County Route 70 (Wayville Road) west where Malta ambulance service will respond a paramedic to all emergency calls and County Route 70 (Wayville Road) east where GSES will respond a paramedic to all emergency calls. Glen Stevens said that Attorney Robert Farrell is continuing to work on the Certificates of Need (CON) for the portion of the Town of Saratoga that lacks a CON now, currently GSES is the only service that has a CON in the town. Once the CON’s are obtained, which is estimated to take three or four months, it is expected to divide the area equally so that the closest service will respond. A copy of their contract was given to Town Attorney William Reynolds for review. Glen Stevens respectfully requested that the board release the funds to allow the implementation of the ALS service to begin on March 1, 2003. It was noted that it is up to the Town Board to change the Ambulance District, but a district can’t be established until a CON is in place. In order to do this a permissive referendum is needed by both the Village of Victory and the Village of Schuylerville to be included in the ambulance district, and then the town has 90 days to act on it. The Town Board wants to have the Fire Protection District’s cost as a separate line item on the tax bills. Resolution # 03-07 to release the funds to the GSES for ALS coverage to begin on March 1, 2003 was presented by Councilman Bruce Cornell and seconded by Phil Griffen. Supervisor Robert Hall – no, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 4 – 1. It was suggested by Town Attorney William Reynolds to amend the above resolution to include it being subject to the signing of the contract with the GSES. Resolution # 03-08 Councilman Bruce Cornell made the motion to include that the releasing of funds is subject to the signing of the contract with the GSES. This was seconded by Supervisor Hall. Supervisor Robert Hall – no, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 4 – 1.

New Business: Resolution # 03-09 Presented by Councilman Philip Griffen, seconded by Councilman Fred Drumm, to approve a negative declaration for the Neilson Landing Subdivision. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

A motion was made by Councilman Fred Drumm, seconded by Councilman Michael McLoughlin to appoint David Clark to the Board of Assessment Review for a term from 10/01/02 through 09/30/2006. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Supervisor Robert Hall read a letter from Cindy Allen of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, requesting that the town contribute $1,500 of the $3,500 needed to cover the cost of additional mapping and conceptual sketches by the L.A. Group. These will be used in preparing a proposal to Congressman Sweeney for support of a proposal to fund the Schuyler Park project.

Resolution # 03-10, presented by Councilman Bruce Cornell, seconded by Councilman Michael McLoughlin, to contribute $1,500 of the cost of additional mapping and conceptual sketches to be used in preparing the proposal to Congressman John Sweeney for funding of the Schuyler Park project. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Resolution # 03-11, presented by Councilman Michael McLoughlin, seconded by Councilman Philip Griffen, resolved that Robert F. Hall, Supervisor, is hereby authorized and directed to enter into and execute a project agreement on behalf of the Town of Saratoga with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in accordance with the provisions of the Heritage New York’s Revolutionary War Heritage Trail Grant Program Guidelines in the amount of $47,200 for The Regional Signage Project – Saratoga Region CRISP. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Resolution # 03-12, presented by Councilman Michael McLoughlin, seconded by Councilman Philip Griffen, resolved that Robert F. Hall, Supervisor, is hereby authorized and directed to enter into and execute a project agreement on behalf of the Town of Saratoga with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in accordance with the provisions of the Heritage New York’s Revolutionary War Heritage Trail Grant Program Guidelines in the amount of $34,500 for The Saratoga Siege Field. Supervisor Robert Hall – aye, Councilman Philip Griffen – aye, Councilman Fred Drumm – aye, Councilman Bruce Cornell – aye, Councilman Michael McLoughlin – aye. Carried 5 – 0.

Communications: Supervisor Robert Hall read correspondence from the L.A. Group regarding implementing Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A GIS would provide better services in the areas of Assessment; Site plan and zoning review; Code enforcement; Infrastructure management; and Comprehensive planning. Councilman Philip Griffen suggested that we speak to Larry Benton about GIS as the county has it.

A note was read from Norbert Nolte thanking his colleagues for the luncheon and gifts honoring him in his retirement.

Supervisor Robert Hall stated that he, Highway Superintendent Grant Seymour, and Code Enforcement Officer Robert Hathaway would be attending a meeting on February 13, 2003 on the new Phase II Stormwater Permit Program.

Privilege of the floor: Roger Sherman asked what method our Dog Control Officer, Rick Sullivan, uses to catch dogs. Supervisor Robert Hall said he would call Rick Sullivan and ask. Roger Sherman also questioned if cereal boxes are recyclable. Supervisor Robert Hall replied that he would check with Saratoga and Washington County as to what they recycle.

It was announced that there would be an Informational Meeting on the Assessment Update of the Town of Saratoga on Thursday, February 13, 2003 at the Town Hall Meeting Room.

Audit the Bills: General A $14,147.45, General B $1,011.90, Highway Outside $9,569.60 and Building reserve $1,296.50 for a total expense of $26,025.45.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

The next regular meeting of the Town Board will be March 10, 2003 at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Casey, Town Clerk

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