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Good morning. It's Wednesday, May 1. It's 9:05 A.M.
This is the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority
monthly meetings. I'll call the meeting
to order. Wade, Mr. Davis, do we have
any letters of communication to the board? There are a couple things I'd like to bring to your attention.
First and foremost, on the top of the packet, is a letter from,
or an email from counsel, regarding St. Lawrence Factory Stores,
that you should look at your leisure. Also,
a follow-up from Congressman Owens, and DOT, regarding
the Step application. And, various news articles that occurred
during the period. Okay.
I have approval of board minutes. Minutes for meetings held on
January 30, 2013. And, February
13, 2013. So moved. We've got a move. Second.
Doug has, Mr. Loffler second. Any further questions, comments?
All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Do we have any comments
or presentations from citizens, right now?
Nothing, okay. Let's go right into staff reports,
we're going to hear high lights. I guess that what we kind of talked about before.
Something you really want to elaborate into, go right ahead. Certainly,
one correction. A meeting was cancelled, after I put the period report
together. That's the second bullet item. You can just cross that right off.
The Eastern Ontario Passenger Vehicle Survey meeting, was cancelled,
and will be rescheduled. Other high lights, we're still waiting
word on the Step application.
The SLA 16 with GSA was negotiated. I've been working
a lot on the website compliance page. I'd like to thank staff
because a tremendous amount of documents need to...
put online here. We're about
79% of where we need to be at this point. The Port of Ogdensburg was
recognized by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation for the Pacesetter Award
for the 2012 season. We've previously
been awarded this, in 2010, and 2005.
We are nearly complete on a salt contract negotiation.
That's an exciting contract, that I should have before
us for next time. What it will do, it has the potential to
turn a 2 million contract into a 3 million contract for us.
It's changed 2 salt ships into
6 or 7 salt ships per year. So, it's an exciting
opportunity. We're almost there, but the paperwork couldn't get here
in time for today's meeting. Any special preparation that we have to do for the port
for the extra tonnage space?
Well, we have the extra salt pad, that's on the books right now, it's all engineered,
and ready to go. We'll look at our spaces,
and if need be, we'll bring it up before the Facilities Committee
for approval for construction. At this point,
probably next year is when we'd have it in place. I know we talked about silos
and they'd fit into the scheme of things down there. And, do we have the space, and all those types of things.
Absolutely. One thing that we have, is we have a lot of space.
Thank you. As I mentioned,
the Facilities Committee, there's been a lot of coordination to resolve outstanding
property issues at the port. That's before the board
today. Airport's been very busy,
on a number of different subjects, as you can see there.
Industrial park, there's been a couple of offers extended in various...
various projects, as you see before you.
And, I know I've talked with several of you,
with a variety of different issues throughout the month.
I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Thank you, Wade.
I didn't do this,
John? Mine was handed out separately, Sam. Oh, is it?
Do you want to go next?
I'm missing it. There you go.
Yeah, okay. By order? Let's do that. Thanks, Mr. Director.
You're welcome. The year-end
closing is almost done. We have been
working hard to get that done.
And, with the help of...
a former employee, who was here on a long-term
from a local accounting firm, has made all the difference in the world.
That person is an excellent accountant,
and with the experience that she had last year, has made all the difference in the world.
So, we should have our account balance sent to the auditors,
by the end of the day. By the end of the day today,
we'll be closed. And, there will still be a little bit of truing up between
the bridge and the port, but we are in much better shape than we were
a couple weeks ago. The question I have is, we've just hired a new person,
and she's on maternity leave. Yes. And, when she comes back,
would you re-do everything in the process with her, so next year at this time,
she will be up to speed, and ready to go? Absolutely.
Yes. Obviously, we're very fortunate, we trained this other person,
and then allowed them to come back. Yes. I know it's pretty tough
challenge, I appreciate the way you've done that. Do we still have the...
the fill-in person working for us? Yes.
That is the second bullet in the other
(unintelligible)...filling in, while she's out on maternity leave.
But, moving that up a whole month,
made for a huge challenge.
Normally, the auditors came either the last week in May,
or first week of June. And, they're coming May 6.
Which is a whole month...it's not a whole month, it's nearly
a month ahead. And, it's been a real challenge
to be ready for them.
We've completed the MWBE 4th quarter compliance report.
We ended the year at
13.69%. We had a very strong 4th quarter,
to 49%. We started
at what percent, 1 or 2? (chuckles) Yeah, we started at 1, or 2. At the end of the
first quarter though, we had 10%. Then, second quarter
3rd quarter 5%. What would they say to us about that?
I mean, we've made substantial steps forward, and obviously we're not there
yet. But, is that...favorable?
for them? I think anything under 20% is...
not favorable for them. No...I don't mean...(cross talk - unintelligible)
I think it makes a difference. We're not...we're not being
challenged on a regular basis to improve. I think they see the improvement,
I have not received a "gold star" or...(interrupts): No, I don't think that.
But, the attitude is 100%. Yes. And, we sit here
a year from now, we know that that figure will be...hopefully it will be
20%. Yes. And then some? Yes.
I think we'll be able to make it. Okay. We'll see. We'll do our best to...
contract with MWBE.
Okay. I think it's on everyone's mind. As they are...
developing contracts.
PARIS reporting is due June 30th.
I believe that with the audit moved up,
the audit presentation to you will be with at the June meeting.
I'll be able to do the PARIS reporting,
with certified accepted...
financials.
So, I think that's going to put is in a much better position with the PARIS report.
The only report that I have available is the airport report.
I didn't think I would have any, because airport closed
like, 9 hours ago. (laughter) But, I did receive a report
from Cape Air, which showed that...
our commuter passengers were 916 in April, compared to
856 last year. Increase of 7%.
That figure probably can't be any higher.
Can it? I mean, it was pretty...I don't know what the (unintelligible) is, but...
(interrupts): I think the maximum we could get, is 96, or 9800 passengers.
Last year we had 5600. So, there's some room for growth. There's some room? Yeah.
Not a lot, but...
Fred, tell me, what's...I assume that you participated in the
Greek yogurt conference. What did you get out of that?
Well, it was with a...
the biggest manufacturer of Greek yogurt.
We had...
they are big in New York State. In fact, I...with my other hat,
I'm going to tour the Chobani Greek yogurt plant in Chenango County,
later this month. But, from that conference call,
there was a part of the Greek yogurt prospectus,
that said...
that a manufacturer could market yogurt in Canada.
The...
person on that call had direct involvement with
a court decision. That court decision said that
that company, or any company
that said their company could market yogurt in Canada,
as long as they had plans, and were actively...
working on building a plant in Canada. So they could
market yogurt in Canada, to build up their business
in support of their own plant that would be constructed,
somewhere in Canada. I believe that that was either
misunderstood, or...
or the decision, when it was first rendered,
was...stated in a way that was easy to
misunderstand, that opened up the Canadian market.
Our prospectus indicated that it opened up the Canadian market.
And, that was incorrect.
It made a big difference, I believe, in our prospectus.
So, instead of having a market that was a "big circle", it became
a half circle. You know.
I believe though, that from...
had that having been said about the prospectus, the prospectus was used
in ways that generate some interest among other types
of manufacturers. So, all was not lost. But, that part
of that prospectus, was incorrect.
That's what I got out of that call. Well, I think also,
that in that call, they were not aware of
that type of situation. They were going to look at other legislation that
could change that. Not right now, but it would take a while for that
to change the dynamics of that situation.
Yeah. I believe that with the quota system that they have in Canada, they protect their
dairy industry market very...
carefully; very closely. There's some interesting rules, what you can do
to go over, to go back, you can't do this, (etc.) it's a variation of things that
make it interesting. It's interesting to know what you're up against,
and that's why I wanted the press also to hear it. Because they can do a
follow-up story, as how legislation, and how different organizations
in Canada. You can build a market from here, over there, but then you're going to
do this. And, to do that, this is how you're going to do it.
It's unique in its own way. But, if you think back to
7, or 8 years ago, when we had the situation with the Toronto company,
was going to build the bullet-proof vests for the military, etc.,
we had created like, 400 jobs.
And, all of the sudden, it went away. We ended up with less than that,
and the Canadians lost the contract, because of that
particular issue. They were going to just use this as a
well it's a...smaller scale, put that away,
And, they were still going to do most of the work in Canada. So, it goes to show you how
it rolls around, too. You know, I think back when, we weren't allowed to go into that
market, whatsoever. And, they were like, "hands off", so both countries
have come a long, long ways. And, people have to decide,
in certain situations, advantage for America, and sometimes advantage for Canada.
It's just a matter of who's looking at what.
Yeah, we have content rules, and then Canada, like wind turbines, for example, they have a
20% content requirement. So, there's been plants built up in Canada
for manufacturing turbines, so, there's another example.
Yes. Well, you said how they protect the markets. It isn't
protecting manufacturing. But, even on a small scale on deeds, my nieces
come over to shop every weekend at Price Chopper, and the stores over here. I believe they
can bring 2 dozen eggs over, But on the 3rd dozen,
the duty is equal to the difference what they paid, to what a Canadian does
in the (unintelligible) are. So, they're very protective of their poultry, and their dairy
market. Oh, sure. Extremely.
Anything else, Fred? No. Okay. Thank you for that.
John? Yes. I've been meeting with...
the grain companies up in
Toronto. Productive meeting.
They're now shipping into the United States.
Due to last year's drought, there's a demand for Canadian products in the area.
So, they do have a need for a facility, it's just a matter of timing
and when they can use it. I also met with
an in-state grain and feed ingredient company.
And, they also have interest, they see a possibility for storage and distribution.
So, working with them, and then,
[in] early May, I'm meeting with a new player in the market that recently bought some
mills in Watertown and Vermont, and they're huge
in the south. Actually Arizona,
and those areas. But, they're expanding to the east market.
So, we've got our "foot in the door", and they're coming here, and they're here for the port.
And, hopefully will come out of that. A lot of work's done
into preparing for AWEA. And, I do have some
meetings set up with companies while we're down there.
And, as you know, Morton signed a 5 year agreement.
And, I've been talking with them, as well as another salt company
about other opportunities that we're not serving right now.
And, there's interest...and hopefully that will spur and go after some other
(unintelligible) contracts. Excuse me, John. Yes?
The specialty salt that we stored in dry storage? Do we have still more
contracts for that? Yeah, that was a 2 year agreement...
and...
it worked out great for them. Most of it went to Canada.
They had a little bit left toward the end, so they sold some in-county, here.
To try and get into this market as well. Okay.
Yeah, she's indicated that it worked out really well, and they'll be back next year. Excellent.
Okay. Well, you know, what's really neat though, if you've got these 5 year
contracts, all of the sudden you say, all right, at least you know what your planning stages are for a lot of different
things. Yeah. And, we know they're coming. That's the best of news.
Excellent on that. John, do you ever find with other salt companies, or grain companies,
are they all...just the ones that you solicit? Or, do we ever get
sort of word of mouth storage
contracts for anything, like maybe related companies? I'm just wondering if somebody
is so pleased with our facility, and they'll...(interrupts): Yeah, I think the word's gotten
out about the facility. And I met with
Bunge a number of times - this last
9,000 tons that we got was a different division of Bunge.
They knew of our facility, I'd met this guy 2 years ago at a trade show.
He had my business card, and it resulted in
9,000 tons, it was their biggest shipment. So, I think the word's getting around.
That's great. An interesting thing, is that, I think they're
all competing for the same market, and the market's only so big up here. Yeah.
So, it'll be interesting to see...how much more
growth there will be, even though there's different players.
Because, you know, there's only so many facilities up here...
then if they use the rail, and they want to farther south, that would certainly open up a bigger
market for them. But, if they're just delivering to Colton,
or just to grain mills around here, the distributors,
then it's a limited market. On that note,
there will be 30 rail cars coming in
next month for Poulin, for citrus pulp again. They're going to
continue that program that they do every year. So, that's about 2700 tons.
of citrus. That's good. I know it's not in your line of work,
but I know one of the issues that we talked about was,
calculating, or counting the cars that come into the port. Is that something we're
trying to work on; be more accurate with, or something? It's something we need to address,
specifically, there will be an issue before the Railroad Committee. Okay.
In that regard.
John, I noticed last week, when you got...
go ahead, and I'll tell you when you're done.
Wight and Patterson, there's a new agreement on there. They aren't a big user,
but they do use it for storage, and
it's worked out great for some of the stuff done in early business in Canton.
I just wanted to let you know there's an outreach to Alcoa. Just so you know that we're on top of that.
As well as the...prospective
purchase of a zinc mine, that's still active.
On the economic development side,
there's 2 companies, one a manufacturer, another one's in wood products.
that we're progressively working with. The county
and us, we've been getting them interested in
sites. And that came through our RFP process.
We had about firms looking at space last month.
The Marketing Committee met, and we're going to focus on some ads in the Ottawa market.
And, an Ontario mailing, a port mailing, as well as updating some of our
brochures that...
need to be updated.
Now, one of the things that we...I'm trying to think of what committee it came out of...
we talked briefly, just a question I asked was,
when you start thinking about what's happening in this area,
give me...I don't know if you have that off the top,
but, I know we had a peak number at one time, on the people reported
in the industrial park? And, what that number is now?
I'm going to work on that. Yeah, I know we talked about it yesterday, I just wanted to let the public know that
those are the type of things that happen in this area. I know we had...
we show this area, and those type of numbers that...
they sound negative. But, we need to inform people exactly what's happened here, in the economic
environment that we're into, and how difficult it is.
I guess, what I'm saying to it, is regards to (unintelligible) publicly say
here...the seriousness of the sites that are losing...
possibly, what percentage of that facility, or all?
Or, date, or closing, so it tells you what the economic impact of
all the things that are happening here. It's very difficult times.
And, we're struggling here, as a port authority to do everything in our power,
to get all the jobs and situations we can, to make it advantageous
for this area. And, right now we're faced with a real dilemma with the Psych Center.
And, we're supporting that 100% to do whatever we can to...
behind the scenes, to make sure that closure does not happen.
So, let that be known. Even on your report.
I think we need to know what's happening here. This is not good.
Not good. I know we had a lot of people
report some things, and then we turn the corner, and go in the other direction, which we are.
But, we still have to let the public know, this is not good.
Not good. Yeah, Even the broader numbers. Like in unemployment, poverty rates,
and...we in the North Country, you've got the highest unemployment...
numbers. Yeah.
We need help. We need help.
I'll use the quote that Mr. Carter has sometimes,
you say, what's left over, we get. obviously in [these] economic times, there's nothing left over
for us to grasp on, or have any access to any extra
money. We've been lucky to get a lot of things that we've had come our way. I'm not saying that
you know, we're crying poor. But really, in essence
difficult times...could be coming,
way worse than we had thought of. You know, Wade and I, and even personnel
came in to talk about, we fight for 2, 3, 4, 5 jobs,
whatever we can grab, and all the sudden somebody says, you know those 3, 4, or 500 jobs
that's very, very difficult to overcome. Very difficult.
Given the quality of care at this facility,
and the length of time that it's been here,
you know, it's an outstanding facility, hopefully it will turn into a center of excellence,
on something like that, and the state will look at that, rather than downsizing it.
Well, we're here to help, whatever we can do.
Whatever we can do from this, from our stage of capabilities.
One of the things, John, you mentioned something about ALCOA.
And, as you know, they're going to do that exansion, they're going to do a lot of other stuff
down there. From what I understand,
the part of that cleanup down there, that they're going to do,
most of that's going to go out by rail.
A tremendous amount of it's going to be leaving the area by
rail, and taken to the areas where they're going to dispose of it.
Of course, there's going to be some...materials kept
here, because that's the Feds, and the DEC want it done.
But, I think it would behoove us to go back
through your old file, and just look at that...
it goes back to Dan Dupree's days, when he tried to get
the ALCOA to look at bringing the ore into our facility, here.
I think we need to revisit that, and maybe
work together, as a group, with ALCOA.
Maybe we can get some ships to bring that up here, and take our rail line
and...get it down to Massena, rather than
having it dropped down in Montreal, where it is now, or come back, wherever it is, and put
on rail. Yeah. Where are they put on rail down there? I think it's Becancour,
or Contrecoeur, and the reason why that's used
is because it's deep draft. It's not seaway draft, so they can bring in
larger vessels,
and...yeah, they've got all the facilities for it,
in terms of conveyors, and all that kind of stuff. And, I think
it was explored years ago. And, when we met with them,
probably, what was it Wade? A year or two ago? Probably 2 years ago. Yeah.
I did look into that, and...
(interrupts) Like you said, though, it wouldn't hurt to "ring their bell" again, because, they are going to go
ahead with that expansion, you know? A million dollar expansion there.
So, maybe it's a good opportunity just to "ring their bell" again. We could do that.
We'll look into it again, and see what we can do. Do they own their own cars?
I think they do. Don't have an answer to that. Yeah.
It's just some of the important parts. But, I just wanted to mention it. Well, along those lines,
I have a friend in Houston, Texas, and he's involved with a
major titanium dioxide importer,
of Europe. And they're...their port of
entry is Montreal. And, I said, why wouldn't you come in through America?
And there's rules, the rules of duties and tariffs are different.
So, it's more advantageous to dock it there, and unload it there.
Like you said, put it on the railroad cars, it's a different set of rules,
to look at, or weigh. It's so much cheaper for them to dock there.
So, you say, what's a competitive market? Do you look? He says, I'd love to come to
Ogdensburg. I said, we could do a great job here. Supply a bunch of
stuff. But, he says the cost factor, is so much different.
But...
that being said, look at it anyways. You get back to
what's out there. Because that's local stuff.
Okay, that's it. All done? All done.
Any other questions for John?
Oh, we've got to do Steve's report. I'll "pinch hit" for Steve, again, he sends his apologies,
we've got an FAA inspection that went on yesterday morning, last night,
and again today. Everything so far, is going well, knock on
wood. And, I will be able to provide an update at the next
facilities meeting, in
Executive Session, of course, because it is the airport security,
and those type of items. It's been a very busy month, from Steve's
perspective. There's been a lot of spring cleaning going on, in the
building parking lots, so on and so forth. There's been a lot of
project work that Steve's assisted with, in terms of conceptual drawings for the industrial park
expansion. Client promotion, that type of thing.
Bridge washing is underway. He also participated in a
bridge authorities meeting, in Albany. And learned
quite a few interesting things. Including some things about cables that
we'll share with you, on that. Because there's some
very interesting...
...non-technical explanation of cables.
And, that's something that we should be looking at; familiar with.
Steve has performed a lot of work relative to the airport this month.
Everything from revisions to the airport security plan,
prepping for the FAA annual inspection,
and, some work on the runway project, which is currently
awaiting the FAA approval. 2 members of staff have also
completed their annual ARFF fire fighting
refresher training. And, he's had several meetings,
and...with airport engineers, and other
engineers, and various folks, regarding
future project development at the airport. The port's been extremely
busy. The road salt, 126,000 tons shipped out, to date.
A lot of grain activity, as you see listed there.
He's working with new customers,
interfacing on potential customers, and...
it has just been a very busy all around month.
I'd be happy to answer any questions
as best I can, and if I can't answer those, we'll follow up with the
separately on them. Does busy mean profit?
Well...(laughter)
Once April is closed. (laughter) We'll have a much better idea.
(incidental cross talk - laughter - unintelligible)
All right, thanks for doing that for him, Wade.
Okay, committee reports?
Yesterday, we had 2 committees meeting.
Marketing, governance, and this morning, we had facilities.
Doug, do you want to give us just a little brief? Yeah. You've heard the discussion
on the Greek yogurt prospectus. And, as John mentioned,
we did have a couple of...inquiries out of that
prospectus. So, which it has been mentioned already, which is good.
There's upcoming marketing strategies,
is spring mailing. It's also going to work on
a development of printing of his new marketing materials,
that we need. You know,
under the upcoming marketing outreach, I understand that
Wade, and you, and Fred will be going to Chicago, to the wind power...
and, we expect you to come back with a signed contract. (chuckles)
You've got to get someone to sign. (laughter) You've just got to get someone
to sign it. (laughter) A signature for something, I don't know who you'll get to sign it, John. (laughter)
Worst comes to worse. (laughter) You know,
in regards to that, it's interesting, because John and I attended last year,
and I forget what the business situation was, who couldn't attend. But, it was quite amazing,
to see exactly, what the energy of
wind power was at that point in time. And, the projects that were going on,
on we knew there was a lot of deals being made, there were a lot of deals being made, and things going back
forward. But obviously, when the tax relief changed, it kind of took
the projects off the map.
I know we, I met a lot of interesting people last year, with John, I look forward
to going back, and meet with those people, see exactly what's
best, out there for us.
It looks like, what you said, John, it doesn't look like anything in the near future.
But, I guess you have to get out there, and find out exactly what's coming next.
New technology type of things. I mean, we're not in the
wind turbine business, we're in the port business, but still and all,
knowing what exactly; how that industry works, is very advantageous for us, too,
that's why we attend. Anything else, Doug? I'm sorry. That's it.
Okay. Steve, do you want to give us a
little synopsis of the Governance Committee, yesterday? The Governance Committee
met yesterday. We had 5 items on the agenda,
we will bringing 4 of them to the full board, here.
And also, the Finance Committee
reviewed the financial reports,
and have no questions, so,
both things went very well. Okay, thank you for that.
Fred, do you want to give us a little brief this morning?
Well, we've got a couple agenda items on the Facility Committee,
the duty-free, and of course, the surplus property thing, and it's in the
regular minutes, and been approved for the full board,
so, that's all I have at this time. Thank you. Excellent.
Any unfinished business, Wade, that we have out there this morning? No, there's nothing.
Nothing, okay. Nothing held over from last time.
I see you're scheduled, Wednesday, June 5th.
I know that was a tentative date, in a way. Does that still work for everybody?
This is a Wednesday? Yeah. Wednesday's bad for me.
Remember when I told you there was another meeting
that I had? That's the first Wednesday
in June, right?
If you look at that once, every one of them is a Wednesday. Yeah, I see that.
Do you want to go to the 12th?
It's still Wednesday. (cross talk - unintelligible) Either that, or we'll go for the next
day. Or, the day...you know, Tuesday or...
Thursday. Wednesday is a meeting for me
but...you're going to have it in the morning? Yes. That's fine.
Okay. As long as we have it in the morning, I can get to the other meeting.
Is that a problem? I would suggest, can we do a Facilities Committee
if we need it, at 8 o'clock, board meeting at 9? That's fine. Does that work? Yeah.
I was here on time this morning, Wade, at 8:30.
Now, you turn around, and go back to 8, and you know I'll be late.
Well, if we have other items, I mean, in this case, we'll shorten it up
to 8:30, and if we have a lot of items, we'll back it up to 8.
Just kidding. (laughter) I was going to tell you I was on time.
Don was here early. I was here.
I was here. Okay, that's...
that's a go.
I guess, really, for that facilities part, Wade, if it looks like it's a short, then 8:30, if it
not, we can set a time schedule for 8? Eight's all right. eight's okay?
Yeah. All right, we'll go with that. Trying to help you. I know.
I just wanted to tell you I was on time. (laughter) Okay, let's go with our business items.
Wade, I'll let you take us through those. Sure. We've got a couple,
a couple items here today. The first up is...
a use permit for a new softball
and co-ed softball league. Typically, you don't see
these anymore, if they're repeat use permits. But this is a new organization, that's
looking to utilize the field. It does require
proof of appropriate insurance, and the $150
security deposit, for cleanup.
That's baseball? Is it baseball, or softball. Softball. Okay, the face was (unintelligible)
oh, okay, it is only for softball.
I'll move it. All right, a motion, do we have a second? Second.
You second. Further questions, comments? All in favor signify
by saying aye? Aye. Heard all the ayes, thank you.
Okay, the second item on page 9, is agenda item A2, it's approval of
a supplemental lease agreement with Dr. Carol Griffith, and Harold Lambert.
At the rates, terms, and conditions you see before you, including the
increased percentage, that was requested beyond
all agreements.
And, the map is on page 10, that shows the location.
A question I had
and it's only one. In all of those office space, I think there were a couple
offices over there already? Yes. There's only one?
Is there a priority to come to this building for any particular reason, why we couldn't
send them over there, vice versa? No, this is a renewal.
No, but I'm just saying...
(interrupts): I've had a couple people look at offices, and they prefer this building, because there's other people
here. Whereas over there, a big open space, and...
you know, there aren't other people working, and you know, there's...
(interrupts): They just want to feel the energy here, or something? Yeah. (laughter) There's life here, right?
There's life going on. Over there, there's nothing. Okay, that's interesting. But, I think what
you know, what Wade was doing was just to try to...
market that building, you know, like a...
a business mall. Where you handle...when you start filling those
offices up, all of the sudden you say, okay. Then, all of the sudden other things happen there.
I'm not saying that should be the push, but, it's just something to look
at, that...more people start moving over there, next thing you know, you have...
...okay. Yeah, it's almost
functioning as... as this "incubator", it just doesn't have the services that
an incubator would provide. That's not to say that it couldn't at some point in time.
Yeah. It's kind of laid out that way. It's interesting, because there's
offices all up front, and the back's wide open. So, you get someone that needs and office,
then you get someone in the back, distributing, or manufacturing, or whatever.
Yeah. Okay. That maybe what it evolves into.
Okay. Good. Need a motion? I'll make that motion.
Ramona. Second? Second.
Second with John. Further comments, questions? All those in favor,
signify by saying aye? Aye. Thank you.
The next 2 agenda items, are similar in nature
so, I'll give you the cliff notes version here.
Each January, you'll recall, that we do our
special appointments to various things. MWBE Coordinator for Chairman
Officers. So on, and so forth, the list goes on.
One of the things that we need to do here, there's a new requirement out there, on
page 11, that we appoint a Data Coordinator.
We don't know exactly what that is yet, because the state hasn't defined it. (chuckles)
But, we're requested to create one.
The other thing is, on page 12,
is a different agenda item, but a similar thing. The Ethics Officer,
right now, by statute, I am the Ethics Officer.
But, we need to officially appoint that. So, these are both housekeeping type
issues, that have been run through the Governance Committee for approval.
I make a motion to approve the 2 issues.
Second. Second.
All right, another question I have is, could this
responsibility fall on somebody else, after we know exactly what this all means?
Or is that something we feel belongs in here?
What we're doing right now, is as these new things are coming up, Fred's getting one, I'm getting the other.
Okay. "Bing, ***, boom." That's how we're...doing this...
some of these things have a lot of work attached with them. Some are just...
minor, I don't mean to minimize it, but, some things haven't been
developed yet. You feel you've got nothing to do, right? (laughter)
We will comply with all that (cross talk - unintelligible - interrupts): We'll comply with the main policy. (laughter) That's what it is.
(cross talk - laughter - unintelligible) Do we need at least one of the names, or both sentences.
One time. One at a time. I made a motion for both of them. They're both
the same thing. All right. I need a second for that.
Don did it. I did. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure
what you were going on, not that it was an issue, but I didn't want to do 2 things, if we only had to do one.
Okay. Who made the second? Don, or Doug? Doug. Doug did.
Okay. I think it's interesting with the Data Coordinator, that
you have an appointment, when you don't have any job status. (laughter)
You don't know what you're supposed to do. And, Don, the funniest part is, it's about
transparency. And, that's the organization that should have...
more transparencies at state levels who know what they're doing all the time, which we don't.
You know, they come out with these things, they come out of a closet.
You go like this, here, do the designation, but we'll tell you later
what it's supposed to...how do you do that? Or, why do you do it?
I don't know. Hopefully it's not we have to employ somebody else
that actually has to do the job, whatever it's supposed to do here.
And, we haven't planned on it. It's not in the budget. If you turn it into something, it's...
you look at your job, I mean, you wouldn't have time.
We'd have to hire for it. We need an Ethics Officer...big organization
you would probably have to hire somebody. But, do you know what he's supposed to do?
So, how do you know what would be happening. There's only so many people we've got that
can do the work we have here now. Well, I asked
the same question at the committee meeting, on the ethics.
Does it comply to the ethic rules that's already established by the ethic
people? If that person that we're appointing to that position,
does it fall under the...New York State ethic rules?
You read their policies, and what they've got. If that's so?
You know, I want the job. If you read how much
these guys make. At 21...people on that
committee. They're all paid. But, Wade is a
assured me that doesn't happen. And, we're not going to...(interrupts): You enforce your own
local ethics law. Right. But, if he was chosen by the Governor,
or whoever, the ethics people, to sit on a case, in New York City,
who's going to pay for those expenses, and stuff? That should fall under the
...the New York State ethics policy. It just means...
you're going to be working twice as hard, because there'll be nobody here to help out.
All this will...how envision this happening is, again, I won't be called on to serve
anywhere else. But, what'll happen is, we'll get a directive from in the Governor's
office, AEO, or one of the other agencies, to put an ethics policy
in place. Just like we got a directive a while ago,
to get the Domestic Violence Policy in place.
That's where we appointed the Domestic Violence Coordinator, then we -
they developed a plan, and said, here's what you need to do. And, that's relevant, because there's,
further down, you'll see something, when you do that.
Okay, I have a second, and we're going to go on the...
both resolutions. Any further comments?
No? All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Okay. Both passed. Note to staff on these 2 issues,
please make sure that these are included in the January listings.
Thank you.
Next up is agenda item A5, on page 13. This is an electronic
sign installation, by Duty Free Americas. It's a duty-free shop.
What they wanted to do, is they want to install a 4 foot by 8 foot
electronic sign. Adjacent to the flagpoles at their facility.
For display, for their use. You can see...
a bad photocopy of that, on page 14. I apologize, our color copier
was broken at the time the...
document went out. But, that's basically what it looks like.
And, you can see its location...
on page 15, adjacent to the flagpoles.
This is...will be installed at their expense.
In compliance with all codes. And, they're...
responsible for the electricity, maintenance, and all that other
good stuff associated with that sign. I make a motion to approve. I'll second.
Just one question, very quickly.
This is for promoting their own business,
only. That's right. This is their proprietary sign. And,
since we have to have some sort of a policy for
ours, is that going to...
that same policy going to...cover
this? Or, are they going to have their own...this is only advertising
for their business, only. This is their business sign, only.
They can't promote the boat races, they can't promote local, they can't
do any of that stuff. Their business, only. No, no, that's...(interrupts) : This is their
proprietary sign. That's it. It's governed by their policy,
they're...(interrupts): They're responsible for what they put on the sign, they're just...
basically in charge of it. We have no control over that sign at all.
We don't want responsibility for that sign at all. Do you want to establish a policy...
(cross talk - unintelligible)...I just want to know what is going on the sign. It says
specifically here, "promoting their business". Right. That's correct.
Okay.
Well, they could sell that sign, in promoting their business, because
there making business with business. Well, stop and think what
some of these...(cross talk - unintelligible)...So, you're making...
turn into. That's...I just want to make sure what I'm voting on.
That they're promoting their business.
Period. But...in essence, they could
do whatever they...if they want to advertise for somebody, they could, right?
(cross talk - unintelligible)...They could advertise...they could advertise, for instance,
hypothetically, "you buy 2 bottles of XYZ, you can get a discount
to the golf course in Prescott for $30 off".
So, you know, that's their thing. But we don't want any responsibility of this. No. No.
I understand what Steve's saying. But that's their business. Right?
They should be able to promote that. I don't have a problem with [them] promoting their business.
I think what Steve was saying, is he didn't want them selling space. I don't want them selling space.
The same issues that we talked about on our sign...that's....yeah, that we were worried
about. I think there's a big difference between our sign, and a business sign.
Yeah. Our sign, being a public authority, you have to control the
content. Actually, you want to control the content, because, the content
is your face. You let it go on your sign,
you're responsible. We're not...if we're just passing the sign
thing, saying, you can put up a sign...I don't think they have governance over there.
Sign content. Or responsibility.
for what they say up there. Now, there's rules that they could violate, they may violate
New York State law, depending on what they put up there.
So, it's going to still be their problem, if somebody will bring it to their attention.
Yeah, but then the billboards are there by...by Farm Tractors.
No difference. I understand Steve's point, I just don't know how we could
we don't want to get into the control aspect. (cross talk - unintelligible) I think what Steve
you start to open this up a little bit, and you say, all right, you have a sign that
you're advertising the way you're using your sign to advertise,
and you're not selling spots for "eat at McDonalds",
or somebody comes to advertise on your sign. But, here's a sign 100 yards
down the road. And, they're saying, "eat at McDonalds",
they can advertise different than we can advertise. We're allowing
to advertise the way they want to advertise, and use that sign.
We don't advertise to make money off it, we're providing a service.
They could utilize that sign, and make money with it. Because somebody could come
to them, all right, I want use...can I...well, I can't go to the bridge and port,
but I can go down here, because people come across the bridge,
But they're planning on getting business that's stopping, going that way.
So, I'm not sure exactly, it's a one-way sign?
It's just a one-way sign, Wade? That you know of? Wade, this is just strictly one direction?
All right, so they're really not doing anything to us, if you think about it.
They're going...the traffics going that way, and we're dealing wtih traffic both ways.
Whatever we're trying to advertise. I think that's what they're trying to do, is just...
(interrupts): They're going to get people to stop there. They're very good tenants, as far as...
And, we're not going to advertise either, Joes...(cross talk - unintelligible)...they really want to
(cross talk - unintelligible)...because there are things that you don't even know that they sell. I stopped at the one on the way to
over. You walk in, and you see this, and this one's half price. Yeah.
Well, they're going to help their business, that's obviously...(interrupts): My issue, is just
very simply, that we needed to talk about what the sign was for.
I'm for this, and I'm going to vote for it. But, I wanted to
at least, bring that to everybody's attention, that once we approve this
sign, then you don't have to go over those other facts.
That's all.
Are you going to call for a vote? Any further comments, questions? Okay.
All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye. Heard all the ayes.
Good discussion.
Okay, agenda item A6, over on
page 16. Contains a couple of things. The first thing
that you need to do, is open to page 26, and just draw a line through it.
26 is not included in this.
There's a couple of things, that we need to talk about here on...
agenda item A6, approval of policies. The first,
is the Data Coordinator, and the Ethics Coordinator, we just took care of
them with the 2 previous resolutions. Those 2 bullets can come off there. The first
is the Domestic Violence Prevention Program. And, the second is the Smoking Policy.
For the Workplace Violence Prevention Program,
you recall, we appointed a...
a Domestic Violence Coordinator, because we were required to.
Under state law. And, the Office for the Prevention
of Domestic Violence rolled out a sample policy.
We adapted our existing policy, and the sample policy, back in
November, December of last year. We approved
that as an interim measure. The policy went to...
the Office of Prevention of Domestic Violence.
And, they came back with some changes, minor changes,
associated with it, we had a couple "back and forths", and this is the final
version. It is not substantially different, from
what was originally approved by the board.
But, now that we have received everthing by the appropriate deadlines,
we can act, and formally adopt this policy.
That was discussed with the Governance Committee.
And, it was approved at the Governance Committee level,
and brought before the board. The second part of this policy
update, is on page 27. This is the Smoke-Free
Workplace policy, here at the authority. A couple notes on this,
on page 27, you see exactly what the existing policy
is. Page 28...
through...
32. Is the New York
State Regulation of Smoking in Public
and Workplaces. That's the policy of state version
that we need to comply with. The thing that the authority has control over,
is essentially that second paragraph, on page 27. We need to comply
with the state policy, that's the first paragraph. In the second policy,
says how far do you smoke within the
distance of the authority entrances. That, in
2010, was set at 25 feet. This policy is
back before the Governance Committee, and also the board
for 2 reasons. A, it's been a while since we've looked at it. And, B, this gives you
an opportunity, if you so choose, to change the
number of feet from the entrances. The thing I question, you know we've met,
and we've discussed this, and agreed tentatively yesterday. And now I think about it,
the State of New York said...do they, well, let's see,
they do have the power to say to us, there's no smoking whatsoever,
on all our properties. Could they say it?
They could, they would have to change that regulation that is on...
page 28. 28. They have the power to do that.
Absolutely. Now, why...I guess the question
I have is, the state, obviously the have the power to say whatever they
wish to say. I worked in a state facility,
and they, the rule there is, no smoking whatsoever, on
those, of their properties there. I wonder why it's different
in different areas, that the state has different rules for why
it is. Not that I'm willing...I want to change the rule here, but I'm just saying
why is there a difference. Do you know, Frank? Why? Well, I know schools are treated
differently because of young people. The influence of seeing older people smoke.
It may be the same way at some other facilities. Yeah, I remember,
we're not just state employees here. Actually, we're the smallest
group of people at our facilities. There's an awful lot of
non-related people, but on state land. Land we control,
and the state doesn't want to get into, I think, controlling what they do on their part of the
property, to a degree. They could make...if they're open to the public,
they could make their buildings smoke-free. But they're not going to try to control...
the employee behavior outside of the building. I think there's a difference in
the type of facilities you're talking about. Schools? 100%.
My wife's a smoker. On BOCES, and you've got to get in your car,
and leave the property. That's it. There's no smoking.
And, that's because of young kids. I think here, we're treated differently than say,
a school, or a state hospital.
Because, they're all state employees, and patients.
Here, we're state employees, plus a lot of people we rent to, that are not state employees.
They can't smoke in our building. Could we adopt a policy here, within the
confines of the rules, where we say there's no smoking in this building area? I think it's already,
it's already covered, you can't smoke in this building. I mean, I'm talking about in the
limited to 25 feet whatsoever. You know, that could be a detriment to your
ability or right to serve peoples. Certain people do smoke. I just don't know.
Okay. I'm fine...(interrupts): It is an inconvenience, where you've got
40 people out there, all smoking at the same time, move the line back.
You can change that anytime. Any time you can bring it up to the
Governance Committee, and they can look at the policy, look it's becoming a problem, there's 10 people
out there at 10:15 every day smoking. We want 50 feet away
from the building. Well, I think it would be easier for us, if passed this
resolution. I was concerned about the 25 feet that's in here.
But, I'd just like to have us comply with the rules and regulations,
and also add section to our resolution. And, that answers the question,
we ain't got to argue about it anymore. On page 29,
it addresses your issue.
Just adopt what the state says.
Okay. 100 feet of the entrance. That's it. That's what there's is, and that's what we should be.
100 feet? That's what it says.
So, it just..huh? That's the schools. What? That's the
schools. Well, whatever. It's still part of the rules and regulations.
We want it. Make it 100 feet? That's what we'll make it. So, we can change,
if it's the pleasure of the board, we could change that...
number on page 27, from 25 feet, to 100 feet.
That's it. That would get us
the same place. How would you designate that? Would you put a spot, so
they know exactly where you're going to be able to...(cross talk - unintelligible)...I think you should put a spot up, that says smoking area.
I did it, we talked about that at the Governance Committee, too. The possible designated...(interrupts): So, nobody's going
out there with their tape measure, measuring 100 feet from the building. Well, that's what I thought, because you can't
there's no smoking in behind here. There's fumes out here, there's gas,
out here, and I think, we know that 100 feet rule around here. So, if you go 100 feet,
if you want to put a thing over here, saying this is a smoking area, put a sign
over there, saying it's a smoking area. But, most of the people are probably going to do like they do
at the schools. They're going to go, park their car on the city street, and along the city streets, and go out and
smoke in that car. At BOCES up here, there are 25 every break
across the road, by Aldis. But, they're standing in the roadway.
I prefer to stand on a safer area than the road! (chuckles) That's where they're standing,
though. Really. You'll see them when you go home today. Yeah.
I think...I just think, if you're going to do 100 feet,
it would be good just to put up...some kind of indication, "this is the smoking area".
Yeah. So that, people know this
is where we have to go. It's not that expensive...(interrupts): With those
two discussions, I make a motion to approve the resolution as it is.
With the 100 foot modification. Right.
I'm just kind of thinking here, all right?
100 foot from this building...
you'd be on the other side of the parking area? You'd be on the other side of the parking lot out there. Other side of the parking lot. All right.
I don't have an issue with that. So...
I've got a common sense thing: Okay, put your signs out there,
drive a car in the parking lot, now where are your signs? You can smoke in your car.
It's your car. The other side, you know?
Anyway. I don't have an issue with the number of feet. I'm just saying,
whatever you do, or whatever we do,
let's do something, that is
enforceable,
and simply, enforcement for the most part means that people
comply with the posting. Because, we aren't going to have
a smoke captain out there, checking everywhere.
You don't have that. But, we need to be posted, so people know that it's
a no smoking area. I'm not trying to be funny, I'm being serious. You drive
up that road, you come to this parking lot, if the no smoking
sign's there on the other side, how do you know you're in a no smoking area?
You're already within it. Do you catch what I'm saying? Where it's
25 feet, or whatever, the end of the parking lot, you know you're in the
no smoking area. It doesn't make any difference to me, what the
number of feet are. I just want to make sure that we don't have signs posted out
in the middle of that field out there. Yeah, I know what you're saying,
maybe on the drive, on the way up? You can do no smoking
beyond this point, except in designated areas. That would be a probably a better sign,
on the way in, because then everybody would notice. Yeah. Then everybody knows. And then, you'd have a
designated area, where you, maybe, paint a line or something. That's fairly
simple, we can address that with a straightforward sign. I'll talk with our Director about it.
We're getting to Disneyworld with the designated
smoking area. So, my question is,
we are going to designate a smoking area, are we going to put some kind of a
free-standing ashtray device there? I would.
So we don't have things all over the lawn? We could use the same thing that's right outside the
door here, right now, it would just be moved 100 feet away to...
appropriate location. You've got to be big enough for cigars. Whatever we do, we can't promote smoking. That's the
most important part of this policy. The blanket is...but, we've got our industrial park, which
is separate from this issue. We've got our walking trail, which is separate from this issue. So, you've basically got an issue
of no smoking. And that's...within 100 feet of this building. You put a sign here, and a sign down there.
People ought to be able to read that. If you start designating smoking, then you're promoting smoking.
And, I don't think that's really what we want to do. I agree. No smoking in this area, let them find their area.
But, beyond that, the other issues you have is, we have activities on our
softball fields, or whatever. I don't even know where 100 feet's going to take us that way.
But, I'm happy with going to 100 feet. All I'm saying is,
the distance may create...us a problem, and not take care of the issue that we want, which is our
front steps. Well, the whole issue is...to me, no smoking
on authority property. Period. Period. There's no smoking on
authority property. Wouldn't hurt me at all. I go to the school, I cannot smoke on their property. It doesn't bother me a bit.
If I go down to Albany, we can not smoke in the parks down there.
You can't smoke anywhere near the Capitol buildings, or park buildings, anything like that? No. You could do it. Your policy. We're just trying
to be reasonable here. And, like we're saying, you know, 100 feet from our building,
and if you want to designate an area over there, I'm not looking to, but make them an area? You want to put a cigarette butt
thing over there, go ahead, I could care less. But, what the kids do out on the baseball fields, and stuff like that, I don't know
if we can control all that. But, you can designate this area as a no smoking area. Everything.
You hit it right on the head. I don't care what policy you come up with. It's going to be down to enforcement. Who's going to enforce it? Yeah. Okay,
they just did it in the city, and the parks, and all the rec stuff. And, they can't enforce it. I just enforced a ruling
the other day, walking on the trail. I was telling Steve about it, Sam about it, yesterday, about the dog. And, I told the guy.
And, he went, "I don't have my bag with me". I said, well, you're going to have to go and get it. And, he went home, got the bag
I walk my dog every day, every morning, and everything, in my pocket, you reach in your pocket, you've want a bag,
you want a treat? I've got both. (laughter) We have a resolution here,
We'll get back to it...well, let's go back to...(interrupts): Page 16.
16. Bullet point 2, bullet point 3, need to be crossed off.
I'm confused of what the resolution is about the smoking policy. Are we just going to...
changing 25 to 100, right? That's your proposal, Fred? Yeah, I just wanted to adopt that
section there, but they say it's for schools, but I think it's for anybody. That's all. That's fine. 100 feet's fine.
So, that would be a modification on page 27, changing 25 feet, to
100 feet.
Do you want the designation, or the resolution
to be added, do you want to add that there will be a designated area? It's up to you.
I don't think it needs to be in the resolution. I think it's something you can do. If he wants to. Okay, good.
So, what's the change, to 100 feet?
Just to 100 feet. 25 to 100. That's it. Okay. And, we'll put the signs up, like Steve says.
Do we have a motion. I'll move it. I'll make a motion. Fred already made the motion. Fred made the motion, Ramona, you want to second? I'll second.
Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify, by saying aye? Aye.
Okay, we're over on page
34, at this point. And, this is agenda item B1. It's approval of a handling and storage agreement, with Wight & Patterson
Feeds. And, in the page 35, is confidential information,
and contains the rates. But, on page 34 is the agenda item itself.
(incidental confidential conversation)
The rates, terms,
and conditions, the rates are outlined in appendix A, as I mentioned. The terms, and increased
percentages are outlined on page 34. Wade, will this be
are the increases of 2 and 3 percent stuff, is that going to be consistent...
I mean, for other grain companies, or other stuff that we have down there? Each grain company, each
salt company, is negotiated on an individual basis, based on what the market can bear. It's going to be the same...
order of magnitude, but it is going to be different, depending on the different customer.
I'm thinking the customer probably does try to negotiate part of that.
You don't put 7000 tons with 100,000 tons, I mean, you... (cross talk - unintelligible) Yeah, it has to be the difference
on how you're going to do it. Yeah, that's why you change, I just want to make sure that we're going to be competitive, you know LLC.
I don't want to see us go from 2 to 3 percent, to 7 or 8 percent, and lose that customer, is what I'm saying.
Because they can afford to pay that 7, or 8, we might have to scale back a little bit, to keep that
customer, or entice a new customer. It's in the same direction, where it will vary is like on a -
also another reason, would be like a 1 year contract, versus a 5 year contract. And, those
type of factors come into play. Okay. John, you negotiated it, I mean...
what issues did you have to do that? Was it a problem?
Sometimes I think it should be consistent for everybody, but,
you know, for example, a salt company, if you've got 3 companies using our depot.
It's too bad to put one at a competitive disadvantage, when they're all bidding on the same contract.
But, when you're talking volumes, and different volumes...
I'm not getting any complaints from anybody. Well, then you're okay. Yeah. That's a good point, though. But that is one in the same thing.
Go ahead, Fred. Just, Doug, for your information, and everyone's,
(laughter) I blocked my ears here. (laughter) I did an analysis, to show...(unintelligible)
we have contractual obligations... with our employees. We have...
expected increases in fuel costs. Expected inflation rate,
and so on, all of our other costs. I put that all together, for this purpose,
of what do we expect our costs to go up, over a 3, or 5 year period. And, we use that kind of
as a guideline. Now, in a case of a large contract, that would increase the amount
of revenue that we'd have coming in, while using the same level of employment,
makes that...increase our
efficiencies, so that we'd better use our labor and our equipment. So, that's why
some can vary. If we're going to increase our volume to the point where our efficiencies make it
so it costs us less to load, because we're loading more trucks with the same number of people, and the same amount of
equipment. Then, our costs per ton goes down. Of course, it goes down for everything.
But still, that's why they sometimes can vary, if we're increasing volume a lot.
But, we do have something put together that indicates what we think our costs would go, in..if our business
stays at a level pace. Well, you guys coordinate exactly what we report, to bid, or not to
bid. Yes, absolutely. Then it's negotiated from there, but John
and Wade, and Steve are not aware of where our costs are heading, according
to the obligations that we have. Steve? No questions.
Do we have a motion? I'll move. Steve. Second. Second, Doug. Any questions, comments?
All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Okay, next up, over on page 36. There is a typo here. And, you'll see the same
typo, over on...
page 41. And, that's where it says B1. It should say B2.
That's a minor discrepancy, but an important one. In the grand scheme of things.
The agenda item on page 36, is designation of surplus property.
The next 2 resolutions, are related, but need to be dealt with separately.
Parcels B2, through M, at the port, are defined as...
the area to the south of the access road, and...to
the north of the Ford Street residents. And, you can see the...the parcels...shown in the map,
on page 48. Parcel B2, through
M. The authority doesn't have any use for these parcels.
These parcels are now, not contiguous with the port. And, it's a recommendation that we
brought before the Facilities Committee, that we designate these, as surplus property, for disposition.
I would make that motion. Second. Second.
A comment I would make is...
this has...has really been a very...fluid situation with the
city. For the residents, and Wade, and everybody in the
negotiating all these type of things...and putting this together. I think it's turned out to be a very favorable exchange
of doing the things that...brought us to disclose this property.
So, I think...I had issues in my own mind, that if we had...property
lines all over the place. But, now all of the sudden, we have a common property line all the way down through. So...obviously, this is...
...very favorable for both parties...all parties.
Wade, the parcels that have not been sold yet?
They're all sold. They're all sold? Yeah, they're all sold.
The maps on that, where is that. The last page. We'll talk about that next, at the
next item, you'll see who has what for purchase offers. Okay.
You changed the B1, to B2? Yes.
In this book? Did you tell them about it? Yes, I mentioned that, at the opening
here, on this item. Okay. So, B1, becomes B2. Yeah. On both resolutions.
All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Did you count? Yes. Aye. (laughter) You second? I'm sorry.
My mind is...(interrupts): I probably should say, any of those opposed. But, obviously I didn't hear all the...
positives. Now, the second part, is over on page 41.
Once we have designated something as surplus property, we can dispose of it, per the policy.
The authority has been negotiating with...several different
land owners, that are adjacent to the property. And, as you can see on page 41a,
you can see the various...parties
in the negotiated purchase offer. In the...page 41,
you can see the sales price. And, this resolution would approve...the purchase
offers. Just about all the paperwork is in. We're still waiting for...I think
Frank, you've got a couple things that need to be done, in terms of wrapping up the sale. But, everything is
substantially in, at this point. All right, doing all the deed work that's been given to him, enough. But, the question, in the board, I'm going to be
nice mechanical question, about the properties....(interrupts): I make a motion to approve the resolution as presented here.
I second. I think the only comment I would make is, you know, just for people who haven't
followed the process. What happened was, the value of the property was assessed by the city.
And, we took each lot by square foot, so nobody got a deal...or got to a property, or had the
chance to negotiate, everything was dealt by per square foot. And, that's how the value of the property was made out,
so I think that should be publicly known that...there was no...
bidding by anybody...that's how we came to the properties. (cross talk - unintelligible) There were no...that's an excellent
point, I'm glad you raised it, thank you. It was valued at ten cents a square foot,
the number of square feet were outlined specifically for each of the parcels. And, it was very
simple matter from that point. Yeah. And, your policy allows, and state law allows that you can negotiate, as long as
you get the market value. You don't have to put it out to bid, as long as you get market value. (cross talk - unintelligible) And, that's what it was.
And we did the market value thing, before we decided to go vote. And I talked with 3 of the
new property owners, are very happy with the way things turned out. They actually commended
(unintelligible) and me, for how things were handled. They were worried at first, and very pleased at the end, so that's what matters.
That's a good thing. All those in favor signify by saying aye?
Aye. A question on mechanics, and it has nothing to do with the board. Just...
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 couples, bought more than one parcel. Do they want separate deeds?
Or "A" deed. They're going to double up their expenses if they get separate deeds. They wanted...
individual parcels, as per the amount. Steve asked that question for the folks that were looking at buying more than one.
Thank you. You're welcome.
Now...I want to make sure, what Frank just said.
We're providing them with the deeds. Well, we're providing 2 documents...or 4 documents for each parcel.
A deed, a real property tax report, and a gains facts affidavit. Plus,
correspondence that you'll look at from Wade, saying we're exempt from local zoning, so it can get recorded.
So, those 4 documents, there'll be...there's 12 properties, there will be 12 sets of those documents...(interrupts):But, that's at our costs.
That's our cost. It's all on us. And, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to bring them, they're going to be shipped back over here,
and, Wade, and his staff are going to have them. And, they'll be signed by him. Signed by 4 notary
right here. Other people are going to have to come in, pay their price, and take their properties. It's going to be up to them to record it.
We're not going to record the 12 deeds, it costs you...you know, it's a small fortune. I don't think it's your obligation. Okay.
My other question is...Wade, we talked about this...I'm sorry, Fred.
Well, we talked about this, and I want to make sure it's clear, here. That...
it's up to them to record all that stuff. That's correct, the obligation is on them to record it.
The other thing was, is we indicated to those folks, if somebody needed a year...
then, we would allow that. Yes, that's correct. And, about half of them will be taking the payment plan
option, at which point, at the end of the payment plan, we would transfer title, correct?
Yeah...in (unintelligible) of you, usually, I would hold the property, until they finished paying for it. Right.
That's what I'm saying. But, it can't be signed. It can be held eventual by them, by us. And then, go from there.
And I just wanted to fall back so the board knows, if something falls out of that group, default this property,
they would revert back to what the policy was. Whoever's touching that property will have the option
to buy it. It will be back in market, if they don't follow through with this. Right. But, it would go back on the market to the land owners that
adjacent to it. That's the way we set it up. And then, if no one was to bid on it, for instance,
I'm just using the...just wanted to talk about it...if it's "B" lot,
if she touches it, and Don touches it, and they don't want it, then it can go to the group
of land owners, that can jump. There's a lot of access, because we own a right of way to
at the very bottom of the strip. So, we have access to all the lots from whatever that street is...Ford Street? Wall Street. Wall Street.
Thank you. That's all I'm doing to make sure it was clear, I didn't want to see the people get a bill.
(incidental conversation) There will be a need for
Executive Session...what is the action of that? If there is action, we will notify
the press then to tell them. I make a motion to go into Executive Session. Specifically, the reason is,
matters leading to the appointment of a corporation.
I have a motion. Go to jury. Second. Second, Doug. All those in favor, signify by saying aye? Aye.
Okay, thank you very much. We'll take about a 5 minute break, here.
Okay, let the record show, that it's now 12:35, we just came out of the
Executive Session. And, we're going to reconvene. And...
Wade, I'll let you introduce...Other such matters,
C1, approval of a contract with McFarland-Johnson. This is for a special project,
at Ogdensburg International Airport. And, McFarland-Johnson has provided a proposal to the authority,
for Terminal expansion, and runway extension feasibility study. The establishes
design criteria. Provides conceptual layouts, and environmental screening,
in support of the expansion. The cost for these services, is
$89,283.
Well, we have some discussion if you wanted to, or somebody want to make a motion, whatever you want to do?
I'll move that. Okay. I have a motion. Second it. Second by Steve. Discussion?
I would like to say this, in regards to what's going on here,
for the press, or whatever. This...all we're trying to do in this particular situation,
is to look at what are the possibilities for the Ogdensburg Airport.
And, we've picked a firm that is very aggressive. We're still working C & S.
We're still doing other types of things. But, in this particular part of the project, at
$89,000, is to investigate the situation that we have, right now, and what we can do with our airport.
And, that's exactly, it is. Some of the things that are in concern here is environmental.
That concern is to see what environmentally, the possibility of some
things that can happen here. And, the other thing is, what...I guess I can say is...
what the capabilities this airport can do, if we extend the runway.
And...or, if we can't. Can, or cannot. And, that's exactly where we're at.
We have some other concerns, in regard to the study, in regards to other things we need to have happen,
for anything to go further than to what the feasibility study says. So, after the feasibility study,
looks to be that...a timetable for the press, and looks like September, Brian.
In September, we'll have a pretty good idea in September...(off camera reporter): That's when we're done? Huh? Yes.
When the feasibility study will be done. We'll know exactly in September. I think that's the timetable
we've got, that we understand at this point in time. There's really no news, other than, we're just looking to
see what the airport can do, or can't do, and we'll know in September. (unintelligible)
So, any other further discussion? We're still in the discussion part
of the motion, Brian. Okay.
Do you want a roll call vote? Yeah, let's do a roll call vote, just to...just for
purposes. Mr. Loffler? Yes. Mr. Barlow? Yes.
Mr. Hooper? Yes. Ms. Breen? Yes. Mr. Carter? Yes.
And, Mr. LaMacchia? Yes. Motion carried. Okay.
Wade, is there any other further business, in regards to anything else, or are we all set. We are all set. All set.
I want to thank the board for taking Wade's day off. (chuckles)
Here, in Northern New York, we don't get many of them, but this was a blessed day of...
I need a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Doug. All those in favor, signify by saying aye?
Aye. Thank you.