Down Two Members, Albion Trustees Adopt Bond Resolution That Requires a Two-Thirds Vote
The Albion Village Board of Trustees met February 28, 2024 with Angel Javier Jr, Mayor, and David Buczek, Trustee, absent for the entire session, leaving three of five members to carry a full agenda that included a supplemental bond resolution, an election resolution, and a six-figure transfer of village funds.
Banner Beach on Lake Ontario, Kendall, Orleans County — photo:
Andre Carrotflower
(BY-SA 4.0)
▶Key Actions & Decisions
●• Board met with only three of five members present all night — Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor, Chris Barry, Trustee, and Timothy McMurray, Trustee; Angel Javier Jr, Mayor, and David Buczek, Trustee, were absent throughout, and every recorded vote carried 3-0 (CARRIED).
●• Adopted Supplemental Bond Resolution BR 2024-2, adding up to $105,000 in additional bonds/notes for two 12-foot dump trucks and plow equipment after actual costs ran over the original estimate, raising the project's maximum cost from $470,000 to $575,000; the resolution's own text calls for "the favorable vote of not less than two-thirds of all of the members of such Board," and the roll call recorded three affirmative votes (Riley, Barry, McMurray) with Javier and Buczek absent.
●• Adopted Resolution 2024-10 setting the general village election for March 19, 2024 at Village Hall, polls noon to 9 p.m.; Trustee candidates for the 4-year seat are Gregory Bennett (Democratic and Republican lines) and Jeffrey Holler (Republican line); voter registration deadline is March 8, 2024.
●• Adopted Resolution 2024-11 authorizing Tracy A VanSkiver, Clerk-Treasurer, to invest village funds through the NYCLASS municipal cooperation program; separately voted to move $416,387.00 in Perpetual Care funds into a NYCLASS account.
●• Adopted Resolution 2024-12 scheduling a joint public meeting for March 27, 2024 at Gaines Town Hall, where the Village of Albion and the Towns of Albion and Gaines will consider forming what the resolution calls the "Albion Joint Fire District."
●• Approved payment of village bills totaling $80,809.74 (general), $43,776.52 (water) and $12,015.68 (sewer); approved a budget adjustment adding $1963.45 for a mounted generator and $2,500.00 for training.
●• Declined to grant a resident on Ingersoll Street a reprieve from a second water-and-sewer base charge, offering instead to remove the second meter so the charge would no longer apply; tabled the Town of Carlton water contract and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Orleans County pending attorney review.
●• Hired William Malone, Sewer Treatment Plant Operator Trainee, provisionally at a starting rate of $21.20, pending his exam score and a commercial driver's license by December 31, 2024; held executive session on contractual matters from 6:56 p.m. to 7:31 p.m.; authorized the attorney to pursue purchase of at least 40 acres of land surrounding the village cemetery.
The Albion Village Board of Trustees convened February 28, 2024 with two of its five members marked absent for the entire meeting — Angel Javier Jr, Mayor, and David Buczek, Trustee. That left Joyce Riley, Deputy Mayor, Chris Barry, Trustee, and Timothy McMurray, Trustee, to act alone on a night that carried bond financing, an election resolution, and a six-figure transfer of village funds. Every vote the minutes record that evening carried 3-0.
The biggest-dollar item was a supplemental bond resolution amending an earlier bond the village adopted to buy two 12-foot dump trucks and plow equipment. The minutes record that the trucks are now running about $105,000 over the original estimate, pushing the project's maximum cost from $470,000 to $575,000, with the additional amount to be covered by general obligation serial bonds or bond anticipation notes. The resolution's own text sets the bar for adoption at "the favorable vote of not less than two-thirds of all of the members of such Board." The roll call recorded that night shows three affirmative votes — Riley, Barry and McMurray — with Javier and Buczek listed as absent.
The same reduced board adopted Resolution 2024-10, setting the village's general election for March 19, 2024, with Gregory Bennett running on both the Democratic and Republican lines and Jeffrey Holler on the Republican line for a four-year trustee seat, and Resolution 2024-11, authorizing Tracy A VanSkiver, Clerk-Treasurer, to invest village funds through the NYCLASS municipal cooperation program. Trustees separately voted to move $416,387.00 in Perpetual Care funds into a NYCLASS account. A third resolution, 2024-12, calls for a joint public meeting on March 27, 2024 at Gaines Town Hall, where the village and the Towns of Albion and Gaines will consider forming what the resolution calls the "Albion Joint Fire District."
Routine business filled out the rest of the agenda. Trustees approved payment of $80,809.74 in general, $43,776.52 in water and $12,015.68 in sewer bills, and a budget adjustment adding $1963.45 for a mounted generator and $2,500.00 for training. They provisionally hired William Malone as Sewer Treatment Plant Operator Trainee at a starting rate of $21.20, pending his exam score and a commercial driver's license by December 31, 2024. The board declined to grant a resident on Ingersoll Street a reprieve from a second water-and-sewer base charge, offering instead to remove the second meter so the charge would no longer apply. The Town of Carlton water contract and a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Orleans County were both tabled, the latter pending review by the village attorney. Trustees also authorized the attorney to pursue purchase of at least 40 acres of land surrounding the village cemetery, and held an executive session on contractual matters from 6:56 p.m. to 7:31 p.m.
The election is set for March 19, 2024 at Village Hall, with polls open from noon to 9 p.m.; the village will not hold a separate registration day, so voters must register through the Orleans County Board of Elections by March 8, 2024. The joint fire district meeting follows on March 27, 2024. The bond resolution is subject to a permissive referendum; the Village Clerk's notice states that the window to file a petition for one has since closed without a valid petition submitted.
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Coverage of the Board of Trustees meeting on 2024-02-28,
Village of Albion, NY.
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●• Resolution 2024-09, moved by Trustee Timothy McMurray and seconded by Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley, calls the County Legislature's removal of village property from the tax rolls "unacceptable" and demands permanent reinstatement of the lost county tax revenue plus a PILOT payment on the properties rising 3.5% a year; carried, with Mayor Angel Javier, Riley, McMurray and Trustee David Buczek voting aye and Trustee Chris Barry absent.
●• Bond Resolution BR 2024-3 authorizes up to $1,992,440 in additional serial bonds/notes for water system capital improvements, after actual costs ran that much over the $3,249,000 bond the board approved in August 2019, lifting the project's estimated total cost to $5,241,440; carried unanimously among the four members present and is subject to a permissive referendum.
●• Trustees approved short-term financing of $3,000,000 for the village's WIIA 2 project, pending financing from the state's Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC); carried.
●• The board voted, 3-1 with McMurray opposed, to hire Chris Kinter provisionally as a full-time code enforcement officer, salaried at 2,080 hours a year starting at $28.00, pending Civil Service results.
●• A discussion of water and sewer rate changes was tabled until March 26, 2024, the same date set for a decision on DPW and Bullard cameras; representatives of the WaterWorth program had presented findings on potential rate increases tied to rising costs and the WIIA projects, and a NYCLASS representative, Kathy Saville, reviewed the investment services the village already uses.
●• Trustees approved invoices including $4,952.07 to Bernard Donegan, Inc., $6,845.12 to Wendel for a waterline river crossing, and $3,451.25 to Webster Szanyi LLP, along with budget adjustments including $3,654.80 for a car-seat grant expense and $350,388.50 to STC Construction, Inc., for the WIIA 2 project; carried.
●• The board approved transferring $633,049.81 in reserve and cemetery miscellaneous funds into a NYCLASS account.
●• Trustees entered executive session at 8:13 p.m. to discuss personnel matters and exited at 9:23 p.m.; the board also directed McMurray to contact the Town of Albion about a possible agreement to merge code enforcement between the village and town.
Albion Trustees' Vote on a Boy's Police Patch Draws the Meeting's Only Abstention
●• Carried, with Riley, Deputy Mayor, abstaining and Javier, Mayor, recorded voting aye: a motion to let Mogle, Police Chief, send a patch from the Albion Police Department to Paul Kilmurray on behalf of his son, Dexter; Javier said he would ask the Orleans County Sheriff's Department to do the same and asked Gavenda, Attorney, to follow up by email to confirm the vote.
●• Reviewed the budget for code enforcement with Chris Kinter, Code Enforcement; no figures are recorded.
●• Carried (Riley, Buczek, McMurray aye; Barry absent): a letter of support, to be written by the deputy mayor, backing a Community Action of Orleans and Genesee application for a Go Art grant for a mural at 131 S Main St.
●• Carried (Riley, Buczek, McMurray aye; Barry absent): authorized Jay Pahura, DPW Superintendent, to draw $1,963.45 from equipment reserves for a mounted generator.
●• Carried (Riley, Buczek, McMurray aye; Barry absent): a list of surplus items proposed by Jason Zicari, Cemetery Supervisor, including push mowers, blowers, trimmers and overhead door panels.
●• Accepted applications from five candidates for sewer treatment plant operator trainee, to be kept on file for one year; the minutes record no vote on this item.
●• Carried (Riley, Buczek, McMurray aye; Barry absent): adjourned at 5:25 PM.
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