Starkey town board 7/5/12

    Meeting:  The Starkey town board met Thursday, July 5, for 50 minutes.
    Attendance:  Tim Gibson was the only board member absent.  There were five members of the public in the audience.
    Discussion without action:  Board member George Lawson said the town needs to see if planning board members can be made exempt from training hour requirements.  Each planning board member must receive four hours of training each year.  Lawson said the few times the people have been able to attend training, little new information was offered that hadn’t been covered at other sessions.  He added there are several members who have not met the training requirement.  Supervisor Jim Ritter said the state has exempted zoning board of appeals members from the training requirements.  The law will be checked.
    •  The town board will meet with Highway Superintendent Louis Seeley about staffing numbers.  Board member Fred Shoemaker made the suggestion because one full-time highway worker is retiring at the end of this month.  The board will look at how many road crew the department needs to do work and whether the vacant position will be filled.  Discussion included how there used to be more road crew members, but there is less equipment now and some tasks are contracted to private companies.
    •  Ritter reported Blue Shield wants to increase health insurance by 10.43 percent as of August.  However, he added that is not necessarily what the town will get.
    •  Jack Ossont said the planning subcommittee has organized a forum on hydraulic fracturing with four speakers on Friday, July 13.  He said the location, in the Dundee Central School auditorium, was still being finalized as of the town meeting.  The forum will be repeated at the Hammondsport school, Saturday, July 14.  Both times are 7 p.m.  Lawson asked if the group tried to get any pro-fracking speakers.  He added as a subcommittee of the planning board, the group needs to be fair to both sides.  Lawson said he would like to see someone from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation attend a forum and respond to concerns.
    •  Clerk Sue Crans said the state is recommending the town have an incident report form.
    •  Crans also reported she has collected $561.50 in dog permit fees for the town so far this year.  She added the county share of the fees is the same amount.
    Upcoming meetings:  The next Starkey town board meeting is Thursday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m.