Town Board Meeting Tonight.

I wonder if I can bring some popcorn for this show? I guess if I don't crunch too loud, or clap while I'm eating it, it would be ok to bring some snackies. A box of Raisinettes would be good too....or some licorice. Hey, how about everyone bring a snacky, and a few people bring a carafe of coffee? It'll be like a family get together (with my family anyways), and we can have a whole table filled with yummy, sugar filled snacks, so by the time Public Input rolls around (approximately 2 hours into this meeting) we'll all have the energy to actually get up and get to the podium to speak.....and be all jacked up on sugar and caffeine. ;)

LaBella will present their findings of their Property Condition Report.

I've read through it, and find it to be a good to fair reporting of things that have already been pointed out to the Town Board. But, LaBella did a thorough job, and I think they are a good company, so I'm not slamming them when I say that they got paid $34,000 of taxpayer money to report on things we already knew from the 2009 Budget Recreation Center Analysis. You can see the fee that LaBella charged on page 71 of their Property Condition Report (link above).

Public input is at the very end of the meeting.

Yesterday, (actually all week) I have been checking the Town Website for the Agenda for tomorrow's meeting. It wasn't up there until sometime between 3-5 pm yesterday, and only because I mentioned it on the D&C article comments. I think a very caring resident took the time out to get that agenda up there after I mentioned it. Thanks!

I took a screen shot at 2:45pm of the "Meeting Agenda" page with no agenda:


Just so I don't get accused of having an agenda for saying there was no agenda. :)

Rest assured, good citizens of Irondequoit, it is on there now.











If you're planning on attending this meeting, I think it would be helpful to review the LaBella document before you go, so you have somewhat of an understanding of the "scope", and can have any questions answered, and to challenge any information they may try to float by you.....that just isn't correct. That seems to happen an awful lot.

LaBella "Pinegrove Property Condition Report"

I have a question about the Press Release regarding LaBella's report from yesterday. In that press release, Mike Spang states that:
“The heating and cooling system alone could cost as much as $500,000.00 to repair and upgrade in order to do this right,” commented Mike Spang, Director of Parks and Recreation in Irondequoit, “ ”What this study shows is that in order to make Pinegrove a functional facility, the costs are considerable.”



Um, excuse me......Mr. Spang? Where did you get that figure of $500,000 for the HVAC system from?

I did not see that anywhere in LaBella's report that is online.

What I did see was a "Probable Cost Summary" at the end of the report. In that helpful chart, they list 3 categories in columns. I did not see a 4th column, and to me, it looks like the page is "cut off" on the right side. So, I can only go by what I see on the page right now.

Critical/Life Safety - things that needed to be done yesterday.
Immediate Maintenance - things that need to be done today.
Long Term Maintenance - things that will need to be done within the next 10 years.
(Trigger items - I did not see this column)

TO VIEW THE PAGES AND DOLLAR AMOUNTS~PLEASE CLICK "READ MORE BELOW THE FOLD"~Thanks!

Here are the pages of the report to show you their estimates:








The last page shows totals for each column. Immediately, the Town needs to spend (through CDBG grants) $148,000 & $164,500 (total: $312,500).

That is less than the first years rent at King's Park (which was $419,525).

The last column lists things that need to be done within the next ten years, and I'm sure a lot of that will be covered under the "spring cleanup" (according to MEH) that Mr. Ament had planned to do in conjunction with local businesses. That figure can be cut down considerably with the FREE work they plan to do, and with the DONATIONS of labor and materials for the Senior Center.

The immediate maintenance needs of the center are around the same amount in both the 2009 Budget Recreation Center Analysis, and LaBella's report. Around $300,000 for a temporary solution.

Let's double that amount - $600,000 for a temporary solution, with no lease payments.

$600,000 to fix up a building the town would STILL OWN if they moved to Kings Park.

If the vote went through, and the Senior Center moved to Kings Park - the Town would still be responsible for upkeep on the building, so on top of the lease payments and renovations spent on Kings Park - the town would have had to make the $300,000 repairs to Pinegrove anyways....I mean.....those are critical items that can't be ignored....riiiiiiiiight?

Right now, CDBG can fund the repairs to Pinegrove. If the WISD buys it, any repairs will be paid for in the school budget, so your school taxes would go up. Directly affecting your taxes.

The bottom line is, these repairs need to be done, not continually ignored, and the town needs to stop misleading the public with incorrect quotes to the media. The latest is that the HVAC repair will cost $500,000 dollars. Unless the boiler is made of 24k gold, it better not cost that much for an HVAC repair.
LaBella's report, under "MECHANICAL (HVAC) ITEMS" lists the costs for HVAC:
Replace all heating hot water distribution piping as well as finned tube radiators. Repair or replace boiler controls. This will allow safe and reliable operation of the existing boiler. No abatement cost included. - $130,000

Replace the existing boiler, circulation pumps and controls. Existing boiler is at end of it's life. Significant asbestos abatement not included. Note:
this should be done along with or after replacement of the distribution piping and finned tube radiation. - $40,000

Provide a commercial hood with self contained fire suppression system for commercial 8 burner range. Include a dry chemical fire suppression system for kitchen range. - $10,000

According to the report, the immediate "now" needs will cost $312,500 - and with the generous donations from Target, Home Depot, and Irondequoit Lawn & Landscape....those "long term", (within the next 10 years,) maintenance costs can be reduced significantly.

The least expensive "temporary solution" is the Pinegrove site. No doot aboot it.

Keystone Council In Action.......

I cannot believe the amount of bandwidth wasted on such a simple FOI request.

Back in the middle of January, a resident had requested e-mails from Tim Poley to the Town Board and Supervisor. The two invoices that Tim Poley submitted to the Town for payment stated there were "general e-mail and correspondence". Since the Town is being billed for those e-mails, and because the taxpayers are paying for that billing.....the e-mails for those two invoices were requested.

The invoices that state "general e-mail and correspondence.":




The Town clerk, in February, sent a "denial" stating that there are "no e-mails from Tim Poley for the time requested.", but only in reference to one invoice, not both of them....and there really wasn't a "time period" requested....it was e-mails relating to the invoices. The e-mails that were charged to the taxpayers of Irondequoit.

Denial:


So, the resident asked if this was a denial for both invoices, or just the one invoice, and asked that a denial on a Town letterhead, signed off on by the Supervisor stating that "no such records exist." be given to her, as supported by the FOI laws.

If there are no e-mails to produce from those invoices (they didn't save them....too much time to go looking into e-mail archives....the emails weren't to the Supervisor or a Town Board member...whatever reason there is for them "not existing"...), a letter that states that "no records exist" is supposed to be given to the person who requested the information - this is in keeping with the "Spirit of Open Government" and the laws pertaining to Freedom of Information requests.

No sign off on the denial was given.

Then, at the end of March, the Town Attorney got back to the resident, asking for clarification on what she was asking for in regards to her FOI request from January. You can read the back and forth on that via the above "March" link.

Here is the latest slew of e-mails regarding this simple subject.















To clear things up:

There are two invoices above from Tim Poley that states there was general e-mail and correspondence, the Town was billed for it, and the taxpayers paid for it.

A copy of those e-mails were requested.

If there are no e-mails, a denial, signed off on by the Supervisor (as within the rights of the FOI Laws) is also requested.

That's the scope.

Two "Real People" letters from I Post last week......

Link to letters archive at MPNnow.

Mr. Fakity-Fake-Fake Writes A Letter!

This is just too funny. You can tell the political season has started.

Didja see that letter to the I Post the other day? From a "Mathew Lewis Norton Street, Irondequoit"?

This one:



"Mathew Lewis" does not exist.

Wanna know why?

First of all, it "oozes" politics. The whole letter was bashing Mark Scuderi, for writing a guest essay giving his opinion on the way this Senior Center issue was handled.

Mr. Scuderi never said the vote was a fiasco. He said "After the recent fiasco with the Senior Center......."

Also, the infomercial "Mathew" speaks of Mr. Scuderi doing on ICAT was when he was running for Town Council, and that video was paid for by the Republicans......not the Irondequoit taxpayers.

"Mathew" starts out saying "Divisive comments aren't helping." Dedicates a token couple of sentences about the Senior Center Vote.....and then proceeds to make divisive comments, and personal attacks against Mr. Scuderi.

Actually, the majority of his letter is about Scuderi, and not the issues of the Senior Center. He offers no suggestions, or solutions either.

Second, a resident who happens to be a neighbor of the Lewis' on Norton street, found out that the address given by "Mathew" was the same address as their neighbors - the Lewis'- who were away in Florida, and not due home for another couple of weeks.

There is an "M Lewis" listed for this addresss, but it's not a "Mathew" that lives at that address. Norton Street, in Irondequoit, runs between Helendale and Culver Rd. - there aren't that many houses on that stretch - and neighbors know their neighbors, and nobody knows a Mathew Lewis who lives on that stretch in Irondequoit. I think I counted about 40 houses on that stretch of Norton from Culver to Helendale.
Here is a link to a map of the Town Boundaries for Norton Street in Irondequoit.

Map of Norton and Town Lines.


Aerial shot of Norton from Culver to Helendale.



So, anyways....the rest of the story....When the neighbor was outside today, she saw the Lewis' pull into their driveway....they had decided to come home early. She went over and told them about the letter and the address that was given was the same as theirs. The couple (neither are named Mathew and don't know anyone named Mathew Lewis,) called MPN to complain. We are hoping that they write a letter to the I Post to confirm that their address is NOT where that letter came from, and that someone is using their last name, and their home address to play their political games.

Identity theft is not fun. Basically, that's what this letter writer did. He/She stole their last name and address to write a letter to the I Post to slam Mark Scuderi because there are rumors he might run for Supervisor.

Also, it's interesting to note, that anyone who has easy access to an absentee voter list would know who was away, and when they were due back, making it simple to "use" that address for a fake letter to "slam" the "opposition"....because it's that time of year again.]

I guarantee, any time now, "the opposition" will go from accusing a "small group of people" to the whole Irondequoit Republican party.....because the Dems want to get elected.

Good thing Turner wrote this letter in February:


For the next 8 months, we can look forward to this kind of stuff.

Yay!


Anyways....."Mr. Fakity-Fake-Fake Mathew Lewis" has said in his letter:

"He said communication was avoided; but all the town leaders I wrote to, responded to me."

Well now.....if that's true.....there's going to be a recent record of that "communication" that can be FOIL'd, right? Of course there should be a recent record of that.

So......In about 21 days......we should find out if there really was any communication between "Mr. Lewis who doesn't live at the address he gave" and the "town leaders".


Oh...and we found out "Mr. Fakity's" e-mail too. We're trying to contact him.


I suggest that next time, he uses the nom de plume of Jerry Lewis, as I believe it is more applicable.

Too funny. And transparent.

Salaries, Job Descriptions, & Resumes......

......Of all the assistants to Supervisor Heyman.
























I just read in the D&C that the IDC has endorsed MEH, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Bello for re-election. The IDC website also announces their endorsements.

Great Letter In This Week's I-Post

Link to MPN.

There's only one thing in this letter that I disagree with. Mr. Barone doesn't think that the Supervisor intentionally misled the residents about the amount of property owned around the Pinegrove building.

I think she did intentionally mislead not only the residents, but her Town Board members as well. If I was a TB member......I'd be pretty ticked off about that.

I'd also be embarrassed that I didn't know this information, even after seeing the Financial Evaluation of Pinegrove from 2006 (or maybe the Supervisor didn't share that Evaluation with them either?).

Either way, I'd be embarrassed.

The first document is from the Town, the floor plan of Pinegrove, and it shows the main parking lot is to the left(west) of the center - which is WISD property if I am not mistaken. The Pinegrove lot has 5 spaces marked for handicapped parking, and the rest of the lot is empty.

Again, the only time I've seen an issue with the parking at Pinegrove is when there is a kid's game going on (soccer/baseball etc.), and the lot is usually empty.

I just wonder why the main parking lot is to the left of the center, on WISD property? The main parking lot should be what is in front of the center, where the handicapped spaces are (south side of the building). There is plenty of room for parking there.

Costs Of February 24th Referendum.

I think it was Elaine Cole, Irondequoit Library Board Member, who claimed in a letter to the Irondequoit Post that the referendum cost $20,000.

That was a slightly high estimate. It cost just over $16,000 for the referendum.

The printing and postal costs were the most, followed by the police overtime, paying the Inspectors, and paying the Town Attorney.


Here's the funny part. The referendum could have cost $8,480.33 without the mailing. (The referendum could have cost $5,268.61 without the mailing, and the police directing traffic/parking, but I can see where there might be a need for traffic control, so I would, personally, still include police overtime. Safety first!)

The Town was not required to do a mailing, and could have saved the taxpayers $7,653.93 - the largest expense of the referendum.

Supervisor Heyman stated herself in an article in the Irondequoit Post, from January 26th, 2009......

Heyman said town officials did meet with the Monroe County Board of Elections, adding that the single voting location was recommended “to keep costs (of the vote) manageable.”

"If there were more than one polling place," she said, "the town would be required to do a special mailing, alerting residents to the location of their polling place."






Why does she continually tell the public one thing, and then does the complete opposite?

Someone please explain this to me.

Why tell the public you are going with one polling place to avoid a mailing about the referendum to "keep costs manageable" - then go right on ahead and do a mailing that adds cost? A mailing you didn't have to do?

This is what cost $7,653.93. The taxpayers spent that much on a propaganda mailer? The "Background Information" on this mailer is completely unnecessary, all that is required is polling place information & what's on the ballot, and even that wasn't required due to it being at one location, according to the Supervisor.

(Note: I am not entirely sure on this point of not having to do a mailer about the vote. I have an e-mail in to NYS Board Of Elections asking this very question. I will let ya know what answers I receive.)

(Note deux: I have just spoken with someone from the Monroe County Board of Elections,(4/2/09 2pm), and someone from Peter M. Quinn's office to inquire as to whether or not a Town is required to send out a mailing with voter information on it if there is only one polling place. They told me it was TOTALLY up to the municipality to send out a mailer, and the Monroe County BOE had nothing to do with this vote because it was a "Town issue" regarding the special vote (permissive referendum) - the only thing Monroe County was required to do was deliver the machines - the inspectors were selected by Barbara Genier, and the mailing was totally up to the Supervisor to mail out. Monroe County BOE did not run this vote, everything was totally up to the Supervisor. For clarification, Peter Quinn's office told me that NO mailing is required for a permissive referendum at one polling location! A notice is required to be posted at Town Hall, or businesses in town, or in newspapers etc., but no mailing is required. I had originally thought I was wrong on this part....but I'm not. Supervisor Heyman DID NOT HAVE TO DO A MAILING about the vote, polling place, or "background information" - that was totally up to her. She could have saved the taxpayers over $7,000.00 - but decided against that.)

It also states blatantly false information on the mailer:

"The Town has no plans to sell the Pinegrove building."

As you can read in the 2006 Pinegrove Financial Evaluation, the Town paid a consultant thousands of taxpayer dollars for his assessment of the property with the intention to sell it.

From the evaluation:
"This analysis is presented for the purposes of finding a mutually agreeable purchase price for the sale of the Pinegrove Senior Center by the Town Of Irondequoit, New York to the West Irondequoit Central School District."