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captions Language: en The Pledge please flag States doly could you please call the role Deputy supervisor catalby present councilman kill here councilwoman W here councilwoman R here count attorney closer the first item on the agenda is open to the floor and I have one speaker who has signed up to speak ahed Mustafa to M TR Amed well good evening it's been a long time since I've been here yes it is so good evening members of the Town board I'm sure you all know me but for those who don't my name is Amed Mustafa and I'm the president of Northeast quadrant Advanced life support for naq tonight I may be making what might be the briefest comments I've ever made to this town Bo in 45 days neq will be forced to stop operating web Street EMS not because we want to but because a Current financial model does not provide adequate income to operate an EMS agency relying solely on third party billing Revenue I won't waste time tonight going over the wise of this as you all know I here actually tonight to ask you to please remember the cooperation and collab ation that existed between NQ and this board 9 years ago when we first started discussing open and an service together I'm asking you to remember all the times I stood before you and gave reports on our performance and activities asking at the end if there was anything we could do differently or better and being told repeatedly we were doing a great job please remember the difficult times we suffered through together when we fought to get Webster EMS up and running these were not done by any Q or the town alone these were done together remember how much we celebrated together when we rewarded our permanent Co Charlie that was a car ride I'll never forget we have been through too much together to let whatever has recently come between us destroy something that has taken so long to build and has become a source of Pride for our community NQ promised we open and operate uling service that this town will be proud of I believe we've done that we built a wonderful base that this community uses frequently for support groups training even the town uses our meeting rooms because they are awesome the idea that something we have worked together so hard to build could go away in 45 days breaks my heart this town has benefited greatly from the community focused EMS we've created together I'm here tonight to ask you please put whatever differences we have aside and let's find a way together the town board and the neq board to preserve this wonderful organization we've created let's put the past behind us and look to the Future one where naq is once again working hand in hand with this board to give the community something not only needs but I believe it deserves we have 45 days to sit together and come to solution let's not allow Webster EMS and most likely any qls to go away because we cannot find a workable solution together we are better than that thank you for giving me a few minutes this evening the mq board and I look forward to speaking with you as soon as possible to sustain our partnership to ensure EMS and web provided by Webster based Community Focus agency thank you thank you ahed was the only one who had signed up to speak to get everybody who has something to say tonight there's not too many people in the audience but anyone else no thank you we'll move on we have minutes to be considered for approval um first of all Dolly I want to commend you on the meticulous job you did in keeping the minutes of that meeting it was a very long public hearing and um I think that you might have been a court stenographer in your previous life you did a great job I would move that we the minutes of February 1st 2024 is submitted by the town clerk second Deputy supervisor Cal I Council r hi Council Mill hi counc hi and councilwoman right I believe you did the bills this week I did I did and I would move to approve the bills as submitted by the Director of Finance I went through everything was in order very well done as always s councilwoman right I councilwoman w i Council iut I I would move that we approve the prepaid warrants as submitted by the Director of Finance a second Deputy supervisor k i councilwoman I councilwoman wi I Council I and I would move that we approve the purchase orders is submitted by the Director of Finance second Deputy supervisor Cal I Council kill I councilwoman ly councilwoman r i next we have a resolution to execute a contract for laboratory services from the ALS Group USA Corp the amount of $1,932 um Rick canel is here from the sewer department do you want to explain a little bit about this sure um I just want to talk about this has gone up it's uh we kind of shocked when we went out to bed for this the contract is coming up this year and reached out to local uh lab supply facilities current contract was 8,000 this went up to 12,000 jumped up $4,000 kind of shocked us but we've been with this company for quite a while and we haven't raised it so when we reached out to other companies there's others little far to travel one from Syracuse used to come out doesn't come out so we got only two the other one was $21,000 talk about the shot so we were $9,000 cheaper than that one even though went up we're still I guess doing pretty well um one other tidbit on this that we're going to be looking forward to down the road is we're doing a one-year contract with uh two option years but we're going to look to do our is in house now so we're already doing some economic value on that probably save us about $8,000 a year once we get approved and stuff on that so we're looking to doing that since that's the big chunk of this project because have to pick up twice a week foron so it'll be a huge stings for us if we continue further I think that's the direction so that's very much that great and all of this testing is obviously required required for our yes okay thank you um and you did say that we need this signed sooner than later and I am able to do that but I don't want to make this motion so so I would move that we authorize a deputy Town supervisor to execute a contract for laboratory services from ALS Group USA Corp in the amount of $1,932 a second councilman kill I councilwoman right I councilwoman w i Deputy supervisor Cal I in keeping with the sewer department our next agenda is uh to solicit items to solicit bids for the town of Webster sanitary sewer Improvement this is something that we heard about last week Mike Richie uh gave a wonderful presentation about the um the pipe that is being put in AR do you have anything to add to that you want to summarize for those who didn't see the presentation last week absolutely so uh the project limits upgrade along with that 35 manoles to get to that point in that determination was two months of testing at three to four different locations what need to be done it's a pretty pretty comprehensive evaluation the cost estimate is good'll find out if that actually holds absolutely and the sooner we can get this out the uh we'll be in a better position with the contractor already lying out work for the spring and summer great thank you so I would move that we solicit bids for the town of Webster sanitary sewer Improvement Phillips Road to tore Road and advertise in the Webster Herald on February 21st 2024 with to be received and opened on Thursday March 14th Deputy supervisor Cal I councilwoman w i councilwoman r i councilman I our next item is to schedule a public hearing for a local law and revise the town code chapter 146 drainage control to include commercial properties and to be published in the February 28th Webster Herald again this is something that we've disced we had a presentation about a townwide drainage District that now would include commercial properties something that it has not up until now I know that I did comment at that meeting that um I'm somewhat embarrassed that I've been on this board this long and it's hasn't been taken care of yet so I for one think it's way overdue and I would move to schedule a public hearing for March 7th 2024 to consider a local law and to revise the Webster town code chapter 146 drainage control to include commercial properties and to be published in the February 28th 2024 Webster Herald Edition second Deputy supervisor Cal I Council I councilwoman W hi councilwoman right I and keeping with the theme we also had a presentation last week from campus construction manager and discussed their their part in two months of the early phases of the Fairlife planning process and and um them being the the central location if you will and uh the leader of all of the people who needed to be involved whether it be our department heads or those who were involved on the Fairlife side so we talked about the possibility of them continuing that service for us um we all received quite a bit of documentation on the work that was done in those two months um and I I think we all thought this was a good idea does anybody else have any comments before I no the only comment I I have actually a couple of them is number one that they did an outstanding job um with a Seeker when they were first here and um being in the construction business um the only other comment I would make is that campus construction has a phenomenal reputation in the construction business so forward to them coming on board assist us with Coca-Cola for like I have nothing to add I agree with the the presentation was great and I agree with what John said J okay uh this one I can make because the supervisor is going to sign it so I would make a motion to authorize a contract with the town supervisor to sign a professional Services agreement with campus construction Management Inc to provide project coordinator services for the Coca-Cola Fairlife project for the town of Webster I'll second that Deputy supervisor Cal I councilwoman r i councilwoman wi hi hi and next we have a presentation by Bron Connor our head of Human Resources um about a res tion on some professional search firms take it away Bron yes and presentation is probably too big a word but it'll be a uh report okay uh and then a discussion of of why uh the town supervisor and I are requesting uh this resolution so as the board's aware our uh Town engineer relocated out of town last summer since that time we've been actively recruiting for a replacement um we uh you know posted on the town uh website and sent to our uh distribution email list we use the town media Town's social media channels Facebook Instagram and uh Twitter X I believe is it's called now and we did free uh postings on indeed and uh LinkedIn uh when those uh you know didn't give us a robust candidate field we went to civil service and uh requested that they broaden the qualifying degrees so that we would have um we wouldn't have good candidates inadvertently screened out on of technicality they agreed to that we reposted with the broaden qualifications um we did get uh some candidates um and uh two rounds of interviews were held but uh because of the importance of this position the hiring committee really wanted to get somebody that we thought would be Fant fantastic to join the team and the candidates while they were more than qualified we didn't think they were the right fit so we continued recruitment uh we've used pay postings on indeed in LinkedIn we've been working um you know through Word of Mouth through the engineering community uh you several people doing that we're posted up on the association of towns um you know and so as we've gone forward and uh we don't have the robust candidate that we would like we said what are our other options and so one of those options is to hire a recruiting firm and so I was tasked with researching uh what was out there um I made contact with approximately eight firms uh five of them responded to me had good conversations with them um and I'm recommending three and so the thing to know about recruitment firms are you can hire them under two models one is the retained model where uh you work exclusively with one firm and you pay them upfront regardless of whether you get a good candidate or not um the other is uh the contingent model where you uh engage with them you can engage with multiple uh recruiters at the same time and you only pay uh if you hire one of their candidates um and so being that this is the first time that we have used a recruiter um we didn't we thought that the contingent model would give us a broader group of recruiters to work for uh since we haven't worked with any of these recruiters before um while they're all reputable uh we don't have any personal experience with them uh so that's why we decided to go uh with that route uh we will still continue our um traditional recruitment methods and if we bring a candidate in through our traditional recruitment methods we won't have to pay the recruiting firm it's only if the candidate comes in through the recruiting firm and so um you know ballpark the contingency fees are about 25% of the first year salary um we uh the budget contains uh adequate money in the uh engineering uh Town engineer U salary line for that um because of the vacancy and uh so we w atively impact the budget uh overall uh given the uh other vacancies that we have uh and the um you know so the savings on vacancy savings on salary and vacancy savings on benefits and um cost we have adequate funding as well for the current term contract that is performing the PE portion of the Town engineer work uh we have that but um the sooner we get a town engineer the better will be financially because the burn rate on an outside contractor is higher than the salary and benefit rate for an employee um and the you know Town management uh thinks that having a OnStaff employee who's the town engineer is a superior model to using an outsourced contractor most towns in this area use Outsource contractors I mean maybe it's 6040 so it's not uncommon and I think part of the reason they do that is because um finding a PE who's interested in Municipal work um you know it's a small recruitment pool so I think that's one of the difficulties that we're seeing and that's why some towns go a full outside contractor and you know we don't want to do that we'd prefer not to pay a recruiter but um we know that uh we have to continue to try different things and resourceful in order to bring us the talent that we need um so the three firms that we're recommending are Goodwin recruiting davron and exec recruiting Goodwin and davron are National firms that specialize in uh Engineers are one of their occupational Specialties um and exec recruiters is a local firm engineer is not necessarily their specialty but they are a local firm and we wanted to have a of local and specialized recruiting firms and the national recruiting firms their business model as well as our desire is for them to find us local candidates uh we don't have a budget and don't want to be in the business of paying relocation fees um you know so uh they know that and uh and they they say that you know that's that's typical in most of their engagements you know so with that that uh I'm available for uh questions uh that you may have that was such a thorough report that every time a question popped into my head and I made a quick note you answered it in the next sentence or two so I don't have any additional questions and also we did all receive this information at least five days ago from you so we had a chance to see it and ask questions then does anybody else have anything they want to ask of Brighton I'll just repeat the question I asked you when I spoke to you on the phone um so our budget for the engineering is what for 2024 it's probably a question for Paul uh no I I prepared for this question uh so when uh I think at least I think I'll answer it this way and then if I didn't get it right you tell me sure um so when we look at the salaries for our um for the engineering department and we add on the uh benefits rate um it's about the the employment cost is about $372,000 and if you look at uh the first quarter of that which all those positions are vacant so the first quarter of this year uh you know we're not paying those benefits and salar so that's a a savings of about $93,000 um if we uh end up hiring and to pay the recruiting fee that'll be about 25,000 and our quarterly uh burn rate on the town engineer um Consulting contract is about $50,000 a quarter so 93,000 minus 75,000 we're still 18,000 to the good but that's taking that's taking what three positions that are currently vacant but if we just looked at the engineer if we're looking to hire it's not going to be that same savings right right if we looked solely the Town engineer that quarterly cost is uh about 37,000 uh so um you know that engineering salary itself is enough for the uh contingency uh recruitment contract but not enough for the uh outside uh engineering uh contract right you said the burn the burn rate for the professional engine the engineers be outsourced is $50,000 a quarter yes uh and I mean so that fact is one of the reasons why it's good to have a employee as a town engineer versus contract and also um it supports why even though we don't want to be in the business of hiring a recruiter and having to pay that fee the sooner we get somebody the sooner we can reduce that burn rate on the outside uh Contracting rate so absolutely you know that's that's what we're up against I don't I don't think that I'm not sure if any other the board members were aware that we were the burn rate was $50,000 a quarter for the engineer I didn't until you just told me I was aware of that yeah it wasn't and they're doing a wonderful job for us and they're really handing a lot of things because uh now more than ever we need that engineering expertise but um it's expensive I just appreciate you taking extra effort in posting in the association of towns I trying to be a little creative there I guess I didn't realize how long and exhaustive this has really been so um yeah it certainly makes sense why it's come to this uh you're you're welcome and I did also um I'm doing an enhanced uh uh recruiter status on uh LinkedIn suggestion as well so um you know we got a lot of eyes on this and uh but we have uh no Monopoly a good idea so I appreciate the feedback as well well and to your credit also that um you know you've interviewed multiple candidates who were more than qualified but didn't feel was a good fit and it's very very important you know to hire hire slowly and then fire quickly but I appreciate the Indulgence you put into to it so and it's you know you can hire you can you can interview very very qualified people but they don't if you don't feel it's going to be a good fit for your environment whatever company you're in it's best to keep looking so I commend you on that also and and to hire somebody um you could do a disservice to them as well right because they'll be making a change in their career if it doesn't work out I mean obviously we we're looking at from our stance as the employer we're not happy about that but for the candidate that's really disruptive to them as well yeah and I think it's certainly our desire to to uh go with the first part of the hire slowly so that we don't have to quickly I think we learned it less than that one yes Jen did you have anything to add no I just say good luck good luck for all of us yeah um I would I would move that we authorize the town supervisor to sign contingency contracts with professional firms I don't have those firms in the res in the oh it's right here good one recruiting davron and exec recruiters second Deputy supervisor Cal I councilman kahill I councilwoman w i councilwoman right I um Council woman right you want to take the next one I I I will um um there's some recycling so I move to approve the following items for recycling from The Parks and Recreation Department there are one two three four five five TVs and a reception desk and I'm move to have those recycled second councilwoman r hi Council kahill hi councilwoman ly hi Deputy supervisor hi and I would move that we approve the following item for recycling from the sewer department an area velocity meter with no Deputy supervisor I councilwoman I Council I I is 758 and we've reached the end of the agenda um in all fairness the supervisor meetings often go longer but uh you're setting a record again well no no no I was going to say he he actually makes it quite easy on me because he gives me fairly easy agendas so come on you really should thank him for that um let's go around and see if anyone has any news that they'd like to share uh I will start down at the end that table with the stort Department um just like to say speak for the guys that work AR excited about progress at the plant start moving we got uh buildings coming up from the ground and I think one thing I noticed is prior as most of you know is our break rooms were all over the place we had guys not together um we're thrown into a trailer now but I've seen the camaraderie already start everybody's talking that usually was isolated and when we get the new building with the new break room I think that just grow more so it's been a great experience in the process we're all excited I was in the trailer for the Christmas launch it's quite cozy well art you have nothing to add I can't okay before we move on from that before we move on from that I want to congratulate Rick canel because I believe he received an award at the WEA conference this past weekend um art would you like to tell us a little more about the award because I know he's he's very um so Rick actually received two awards at the uh n conference in New York City uh this past week uh Rick received a 25 year award well that's right that's year old and he also did receive the public Outreach award um and maybe you can talk briefly about that one reached out to the public great job WR articles for publication yes forol well congratulations conratulations Rick also did a presentation at at the N conference uh on our plant and uh process that we've gone through and going wonderful spread the word it's great Paul uh today I actually finished up uh reconciling the town's capit projects there were believe it not 22 active projects during the year four of which are now closed so we currently have 18 um seems like a lot but uh many of those involve grants I would say there's probably almost a dozen grants involved in these projects and that can take quite a while to collect the funds from the state uh they're kind of slow pay on some of these grants so have to keep the project open until the mone's come in but uh I think look good each one's uh and accounted for separately and uh it can be a challenge to get it right kind of squar away for the year thank you for your work on that uh Council woman right I had the opportunity to spend some time with the Parks and Recreation staff and uh Join one of their department meetings and it was wonderful to meet everybody and hear all of the great things that are planned in the first half of the year there's a lot of things coming great programming for youth seniors the entire Community there's some interesting themed things that they plan to do around the eclipse so uh keep an eye out on Webster today on the town website for um for some of the cool things that are coming up soon for the Parks and Recreation Department thank you C oh well anyway um again um I'm privileged to have opportunity to celebrate to New Year last week we celebrate Aluna New Year and here's the dragon so um I wish everyone health and prosperity and also too like jam said we um we need to support our community and I'm honored to represent as a Lon for the museum and the library we got a lot of events coming up so please check the website and bring your family coming out there are tons of event that you can participate you know for adults children it's a family affair and to bring um to support your Webster library and also the Webster Museum thanks everyone and have a good night thank you counil K so uh earlier in the week I I had an opportunity to stop out to Highway garage and I met with I believe his name is Glenn from campus construction um and they they're making some amazing progress there and um under their leadership of Campus construction they're actually ahead of schedule so I'm looking forward to the same um performance with Coke um so the other thing I have is this has been weighing pretty heavily on me since some rather negative and disparaging comments um were made about Mr Tony kashani I know Tony for approximately 11 years now and I've been to his house a number of times and he's probably one of the most honorable gentlemen I have ever met in my life and to hear these comments um really bothered me and what I want the people the residents of Webster to know is that uh Tony kashani has served this town on our planning board for decades in many many of those years as the chair of the planning board so I'm going to take this opportunity to thank Tony for his service to this community that's all I have thank you John attorney Jessie do you have anything to um I do but it's rather sad new I want to note the U the passing of a former Town board member also former planning board chair and former zoning board chair of this town Bill Ramy and also he's a good friend of mine but that aside he was a great public servant he certainly was he gave years to this te yeah his uh his wife also had been on the town board um I believe in the early 90s but uh when I sat on first sat on the on the zoning board back 1990 uh he was the chair at that time and was on the zoning board I don't know how many years before that and uh eventually came to this board and then then again went to the U went to the planning board where he not only served but served his chair for a number of years but um he's a great guy he was a terrific uh worker in terms of he was a a custom builder remodeler he did fantastic work anybody that had had to use them or use his services but but he was a very good man and as I say you great public Serv servant to this town and U anyway uh our prayers and uh condolences to his family sorry thank you for sharing that sad news um bill bill was a gentleman and he was one of those people when you say one of the good guys his face came to mind so certainly I want to extend a personal sympathies and prayers um to his family that's very sad loss for the town well Dolly thank you um with that I would uh make a motion that we close the meeting of February 15 second we're done