153 A special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger was held on July 27th 1989 at the Town Hall Middlebush Road Town of Wappinger Dutchess County New York Supervisor Paino opened the Meeting at 7 20 P M Present Irene Paino Supervisor Vincent Farina Councilman David Reis Councilman Constance Smith Councilwoman Robert Valdati Councilman Elaine H Snowden Town Clerk Others Present Thomas Wood Attorney Thomas Classey Building Inspector Notice of the Special Meeting were sent to all Board Members on July 21 1989 calling said Meeting for July 27 1989 at 7 15 P M Notices were also sent to the news media and posted on the Town Clerk s Bulletin Board at the Town Hall on that day The Meeting was called for the purpose of addressing three items Adopting a Policy of Procedure to Return Escrow Money return escrow money to Linda Sanzo and Ludwik Zabczynski and a resolution to establish an escrow account with Tri Municipal regarding engineering contract negotiations and environmental work on the Town s behalf Mr Wood explained that the resolution to establish a policy for the return of escrow money would formalize the informal practice that has been followed when an applicant comes in to apply for a Certificate of Occupancy and at times there may be some minor items that have to be completed and there may be circumstances that would warrant the issuance of a C O In these cases the property owner has been requested to post a certain amount of money for the cost of the items to be completed with the Town until this work is completed This resolution would formalize the process for both the Building Inspector and the Zoning Administrator it would only pertain to any items that would not be in violation of the Fire Code or Building Code The money would be deposited with the Town Comptroller and the property owner would sign an agreement at that time that they would hold the Town harmless of any liability that the money would be used to complete the work should the owner fail to do so in a timely manner and there would be a date specified for the completion of the work Once the work is completed upon certification of the Building Inspector
154 if a building escrow with a voucher from the person who deposited the money a written request from the property owner or the person depositing the money at that point the Comptroller can refund the money to the proper party the same applies in a zoning matter The Comptroller will keep the record the money will be deposited in the Trust and Agency account with a separate designation in favor of the person who deposited the money with the Town The Town Clerk noted that all monies are returned only upon the approval of the Town Board and the ones they are talking about now are escrow monies The Attorney stated that the resolution authorized the money to be returned based upon certification of the Building Inspector in compliance with the other documents each one would not have to come before the Board and they would not receive the correspondence pertinent to the release of the money Mrs Smith expressed her objection to this method feeling that the Town Board should retain this control The Building Inspector added that he or the Zoning Administrator would inspect the items in question and give the Board the results of said inspection with their recommendation and basically the Board is going on their say so anyway He s only trying to cut down delay and the red tape that s involved in the process of returning the escrow deposit Some of these people are in dire need of their money and they have to wait at least one month in some cases to get on the Agenda then another two weeks after the release is approved for the actual reim bursement in some instances it s a waiting period of six weeks If it was a case of the Town Board having control Mr Wood suggested that the last paragraph of the proposed resolution be deleted thus allowing for the Board to consider each request Based on the certification of the Building or Zoning Officer written request from the property owner to the Town Board and a signed voucher would then go before the Town Board who would then authorize the release and direct the Comptroller to reimburse the applicant s money Mr Valdati agreed that the Town Board should be in complete control of monies and reimbursement and there are enough of them to scrutinize each request carefully The following resolution was offered by SUPERVISOR PAINO who moved its adoption the Building Inspector and Zoning Administrator of the Town of Wappinger from time to time are requested to issue Certificates
of Zoning Compliance or Certificates of Occupancy which were previously issued and based upon Permits 155 Under the circumstances presented to the Building Inspector and Zoning Administrator at the time of the request for the issuance of the aforementioned Certificates all work may not be fully completed in accordance with the Permit which had previously been issued however the circumstances may warrant the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy upon the further promise of the mittee to complete all of the terms and conditions of the requirements of law and the Building Inspector and the Zoning Administrator have previously established amounts to be deposited by the property owner to be held by the Town in escrow pending the completion of the aforementioned improvements and said amounts were then returned to the property owner upon certification of the Building Inspector or Zoning Administrator that said work has been fully completed in accordance with the Building Permits issued and heretofore there has been no formalized procedure established by this Board with respect to the establishment and maintenance of escrow accounts and it is the desire of this Town Board to establish an acceptable practice and procedure both for the establishment of said escrow accounts and for the return of the escrow deposits to the property owner NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board does hereby authorize the Building Inspector and the Zoning Administrator to require the establishment of an amount to be held in escrow pending the completion of certain matters in order to issue a Certificate of Occupancy or a Certificate of Zoning Compliance to a property owner prior to the completion of all required improvements and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said escrow amounts shall be for amounts equal to the cost of performing the required work as estimated by the Building Inspector Zoning Administrator or Engineer to the Town and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that should an escrow account be accepted that a form indemnifying and holding the Town of Wappinger harmless with respect to its issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy based upon the escrow shall be executed by the property owner and such Agreement shall be in the form as prescribed by the Attorney to the Town and shall furthermore contain a date upon which compliance and completion will be had and in failure of the completion or compliance being had by the day specified an authorization shall be included in said Escrow Agreement for the application of the escrow funds to achieve the compliance and completion of the project and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in no event shall escrow funds be accepted for any matters which are required by the State Uniform Fire or Building Code that could effect the health welfare or safety occupants of the structure or the use of the property and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all funds held as escrow deposit shall be deposited by the Town Comptroller in the Trust and Agency account of the Town under separate designations showing for whom they are being held and of the BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said amounts shall be refunded by the Comptroller of the Town upon written request to the Town Board by the property owner and certification from the Town Building Inspector or Zoning Administrator of the completion of the project as well as upon receipt by the Comptroller of a voucher executed by the property owner or the person by whom the escrow was deposited Seconded by Councilwoman Smith Roll Call Vote 5 Ayes 0 Nays
156 Release of escrow deposits from Linda Sanzo and Ludwik Zabczynski was tabled at the last meeting pending receipt of written requests from the property owners The letters have since been received and the matter was again placed before the Board for their consideration MRS PAINO moved to release the escrow deposits to Linda Sanzo in 5 000 and to Ludwik Zabczynski in the amount of 1 500 as recommended by the Building Inspector I the amount of Seconded by Mrs Smith Motion Unanimously Carried A resolution discussed at a previous work shop as explained by Mr Wood would authorize a deposit to the Tri Municipal Sewer Commission in the amount of 152 000 as set forth in their estimate for the engineering study SEQR process and attorney and accountant fees The breakdown is as follows which represents maximum estimates from Tri Municipal Project Accountant Project Engineer Tri Municipal Attorney Project Administrator 7 000 100 000 15 000 30 000 The resolution further states that the funds shall be raised by a Bond Anticipation Note for the Wappinger Sewer Improvement Area 1 and Rockingham Farms Sewer District which will be placed before the Board at a later date for further approval During the discussion that followed Mr Farina questioned whether the 100 000 for the Project Engineer was a projection of what the total Map Plan and Report was going to cost or was it what they plan to spend over a 90 day period Mr paggi responded that these are funds that the Engineer anticipates will be expended totally to analyze the existing pump station pipe line and treatment plant and determine what improvements have to be made to upgrade it for the MGD delivery from the Town Mr Farina s next question did the rates state include the prevailing rates that were mandated by the State for public works projects that took effect about a month ago All engineers were notified of this substantial increase in surveying rates Mr paggi III responded so he assumed that whatever rates of this category that are included in the project would be reflected This remained a question which the Board felt should be clarified since it could mean a substantial difference in rates as previously pointed out by Mr paggi MRS PAINO moved to table action on the resolution pending clarification
157 of the prevailing wage rates for surveyors for Seconded by Mr Reis thef rojae h Motion Unanimously Carried There was no other business to come before the Board l MR REIS moved to close the Special Meeting seconded by Mrs Smith and unanimously carried The Meeting closed at 7 50 P M Elaine H Town Clerk Snowden Spl Mtg 7 27 89 lj t