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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-10-2015 Town Board Meeting Minutes ApprovedTown of Virgil Regular Meeting 09/10/2015 1 TOWN OF VIRGIL REGULAR MEETING September 10th 2015 PRESENT: Supervisor John Kaminski, Board Members Dale Taylor, Eric Snow, Jereme Stiles and Matthew Denniston, Attorney Patrick Snyder Esq., Town Clerk/Collector Alane Van Donsel, John Morse Highway Superintendent, Rick Horner Asst. Highway Superintendent, Douglas Withy W20perators, Jena Withy W2Operators, David Coish Yaws Environmental, Craig Umbehauer (Did not Sign Attendance Sheet), Kathy Taylor, Steve Terwilliger, Sabin Clay, Carole Rehkugler, Christine Applegate, Gary and Teri Pelton, Joanne Hoellerer and Stacy Kelsey. 7:00 PM –TOWN HALL MEETING: No comments made. 7:30 PM – THE REGULAR MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER Supervisor Kaminski called the meeting to order, followed by the salute to the flag. RESOLUTION# 15-110 APPROVAL OF AUG 2015 MINUTES Draft of Town Board Regular Meeting Minutes dated August 13th, 2015: Board member Stiles moved to approve the minutes of the August 13th 2015 regular town board meeting. The motion was seconded by Member Denniston Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None Draft of Town Board Special Meeting Minutes dated September 3rd, 2015: Board member Denniston moved to approve the minutes of the September 3rd 2015. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. Abstention- Stiles RESOLUTION# 15-111 AUTHORIZATION TO PAY BILLS GENERAL FUND: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the General Fund audited vouchers numbered 205-220, adding on a bill from Greek Peak for residents swim lessons for the 2015 season in the amount of $360.00 amending the amount of the general fund bills to $24,882.93. The motion was seconded by Member Stiles. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None HIGHWAY FUND: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Highway Fund audited vouchers numbered 1192- 1205 , in the amount of $17,479.91 . The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles and Denniston Kaminski. Nays-None. RECREATIONAL AREA CAPITAL PROJECT FUND: Member Stiles made a motion to pay voucher number 4003, in the amount of $62.00. The motion was seconded by Member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles and Denniston Kaminski. Nays-None. SEWER DISTRICT #1: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Sewer District #1 audited vouchers numbered 2089-2094 in the amount of $5,808.32. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None WATER DISTRICT #1: Member Taylor moved to approve payment of the Water District #1 audited vouchers numbered 3048-3052, In the Amount of $5842.00. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles and Denniston Kaminski. Nays-None MONTHLY REPORT SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Supervisor’s Monthly Report in long form for August 2015. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None TOWN CLERK’S MONTHLY REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Town Clerk’s Monthly Report as presented for August 2015. The motion was seconded by Member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None SEWER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: Dave Coish of Yaws Environmental Process Control, Inc. submitted a written report. Dave Coish reported that things are running well at the sewer plant. Member Taylor asked about the CL17. Coish said that the 4000 was taken off line. He said that things were running without it. Taylor asked if there were any letters from the DEC, because this piece of equipment was taken off line. Coish said no. Taylor said that Dave Coish was Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 09/10/2015 2 at the Cook residence at 7am and he dug down in a ditch to find line. Taylor wanted to comment that Coish was a very dedicated employee. Member Taylor made a motion to accept the Sewer District report for August2015. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None WATER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: A written report was submitted by W2Operators. Doug Withy reported that the audit was done by New York Leak Detection. Member Taylor asked if any leaks were found. Withy said that the water concerns around the parking lot are not from any leaks in the system. He said that this was confirmed by NY Leak Detection. Withy said that water that is there must be from ground water. He said there is still a question because the water is chlorinated. He said they are still not sure where it’s coming from. Two leaks were detected in hydrants. He said they will have to be dismantled. Withy said that the City of Cortland would do that. He said there will be a hydro- flushing preformed tomorrow. He said there is a 30 day supply of water in the tower they will do the flushing to get the residual up higher. The water is now running to Mack Cooks home and he will be getting meter soon. There was some water outside the pump house; they now know where drain is. Member Stiles thanked Withy for taking care of that. Taylor was wondering if the home owner was going to be happy that no leaks were detected where the parking lot gets flooded. Supervisor Kaminski said that the town has done due diligence. Kaminski said that the ball is now back into Greek Peaks hands. Stiles agreed to let Greek Peak know it’s not the town’s water system that is causing the water concerns. Withy felt Greek Peak needed a catch basin. Withy said he would be glad to help. Member Stiles made a motion to accept the Water Districts report. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER’S REPORT: A written report was submitted by Lindsay Anderson of Country Acres Pet Services from Homer, NY. Member Denniston motioned to accept the Animal control Officers report. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None CODE ENFORCEMENT AND ZONING OFFICERS REPORT: A written codes report was submitted by Code and Zoning Officer Craig Umbehauer. Umbehauer was asked what the refund for. Umbehauer said it’s for Bill Short. He was planning on putting up a carport but he waited too long and now the company is bankrupt and going out of business. Short decided not to get a carport. Gina says that this would have to come in front of the board before a refund is issued. Member Stiles made a motion to accept the Code and Zoning Officer’s report. The motion was seconded by member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. RESOLUTION #15-112 REFUND OF BUILDING PERMIT #0960: Member Stiles made a motion to refund Bill Short in the amount of $40.00 for the unused building permit #0960. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. COUNTY LEGISLATOR’S REPORT: A written report was submitted by County Legislator Sandy Price. Member Taylor made a motion to accept the County Legislators report. The motion was seconded by member Snow. Member Taylor said he was concerned because the sales tax was down for the second quarter in a row. He is hoping that the county didn’t rely too much on projected sales tax revenue when they did their budget. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. VIRGIL YOUTH COMMISSION REPORT: The report was skipped over until later on in the meeting. HOPE LAKE OPERATIONS MONTLY REPORT: No one was present from Hope Lake and no report was submitted. HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENTS REPORT: Member Taylor thanked the highway department for putting shoulders up on Clute Road and Van Donsel Road. Taylor said there were some concerns on a road that needed black fabric in the ditch. Morse said he will take the grader out to take care of it. Taylor said that the mailman likes to turn around in his driveway and has pushed dirt in the ditch. It was asked of Morse if the board will get a fuel report. Morse said that Cortland pump came today and checked the pumps. They said the pumps need valves because they are pumping air. They also checked the pumps for the fire department. They were one tenth off. He said Cortland Pump will calibrate them. He said when they are full he can tell what was used with a ball park figure. Morse said for every five gallons only says 4.5 are recorded. That would make them almost 2000 gallons off. Morse said he would like to have the pumps calibrated two times a year by Cortland Pump. Weights and Measures checked them and said they may need to get a different valve. Another month can tell what is used and what they dropped. Kaminski said that he wants Morse to keep track and write it down so they can plug in a number and get a ball park figure of what is used. Superintendent John Morse submitted a written report. Member Taylor made a motion to accept the Highway Superintendent’s report. The motion was seconded by member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays- None. Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 09/10/2015 3 OLD BUSINESS WATER & SEWER BILL CONCERN: Joanne Hoellerer from Greek Peak said that she bought a condo at Greek Peak. The water and sewer bill was sent to the old owner and now she is being charged a late fee. She doesn’t feel its fair because she didn’t get the bill in time. She said she closed on the property in March and the bills were sent out on April 1st. Member Stiles wondered why this wasn’t taken care of at closing. Hoellerer said she has no problem paying the bill, but she doesn’t feel she should have to pay the late charge. Supervisor Kaminski said that the town is not aware of every closing, unless they are informed. Attorney Snyder asked if she had an attorney. She said yes, but she was not even made aware of water and sewer bills. Member Taylor said he has no concerns about waiving the penalty of $18.20 in this case. Snyder said this should have been addressed at closing. RESOLUTION #15-113 REFUND OF WATER AND SEWER LATE FEE FOR UNIT 6E: Member Stiles made a motion to wave the penalty for Joanne Hoellerer Unit 6E at Greek Peak in the amount of $18.20. The motion was seconded by Member Taylor. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE: Member Taylor said that the board reps and highway employees sorted out as best they could what they wanted to do with the Health Insurance. Taylor said that most of the questions centered on the different plans available. He said that the general feelings of the employees were that they would like the silver plan at bronze plan price. There was some discussion regarding the two people polices, as there are a few families with only two people in them. This represented group did not want to see a large increase. He said the bronze plan had a little bit lower deductible. He said that HRS money can be used to pay co-pays. This would mean less money out of the employee’s pocket. Morse said that the employees wanted to go with the consortium, but they were still going to get back to Taylor on the exact plan. Taylor said that don’t have to make a decision until budget, but they still needed to decide if they wanted to go with the consortium. Stiles said he felt it was a smart choice because the increases will be a lot less. Morse said the employees still want to see the diffecence in price. Supervisor Kaminski asked if there was motion to apply to go to Consortium. Member Taylor reminded the board that they need to find someone to sit on the Consortium board. He said this person does not need to be a sitting member of the Town Board, but needs to be willing to go to meetings once a month. Someone recommended Mack Cook, but he is already a sitting member. RESOLUTION #15-114 TO APPROVE JOINING THE HEALTH CARE CONSORTIUM: Member Stiles made a motion to allow Superintendent Kaminski to draft a letter stating that the Town of Virgil wishes to join the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium and that the town wishes for the Consortium to wave the upfront costs. The motion was seconded by Member Taylor. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays- None. WATER DETECTION REPORT: This was discussed during the Water Districts report. RESOLUTION #15-115 WAIT UNTIL SPRING TO START THE ADDITION TO THE TOWN HALL: Member Taylor asked if the board had received that report from Weeks engineering regarding the Town hall addition. Weeks is making the recommendation to wait until spring to start the project. There was some discussion regarding starting the project now. It was determined that waiting until spring would be the best choice. Member Stiles made a motion to accept the recommendation form Weeks engineering to wait until spring to start the construction project. The motion was seconded by Member Taylor. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. FUEL ACCOUNTABILTY UPDATE: Discussed during Highway Superintendents repot. NEW BUSINES RESOLUTION #15-116 SURPLUS OF OLD SIGN AT FOUR CORNERS: As the Virgil Fire Department has installed a new electronic sign at the Virgil four corners, the old sign has been taken down. Supervisor Kaminski said the old sign is pretty rotten. He said pressure treated wood was not used. Kaminski said that Craig Umbehauer would like to have the sign to try and save it for historical purposes. Member Taylor made a motion to surplus the old Welcome to Virgil Sign. Member Taylor seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. BIDS ON BUILDING FOR WATER DISTRICT: There were three bids submitted for the storage shed for the water district. Doug Withy commented that one party was considering another product other than T-1 eleven. He said this other product isn’t supposed to delaminate like T-1 eleven. Member Stiles was looking at the bids and said that it looked like all the bids were for T-1 eleven. Withy said there were also some questions regarding color scheme. Stiles said that one of the bids was for $6862 and would use Duratemp siding as opposed to the T-1 eleven. Member Taylor wanted to know if Withy knew what Duratemp was. It was determined that it was a composite material. Stiles said that everyone Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 09/10/2015 4 bid the same thing, however one company threw the option of duratemp siding. There was some questions regarding putting in a pad. Withy thought they would put down gravel and it would be placed toward creek at pump house near the flat spot. Stiles said that all the companies reduced the height of the building. They all bid 14X24 with the floor joists of 4X4 8inch on center. Member Denniston said they all say they will support 9000 lbs. It was determined it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put down a vapor barrier. Midway bid for an insulated door. Member Taylor said that due to the Department of Transportation they would need to hire an escort vehicle to move the shed. He was wondering if all the bids included that in the bids. RESOLUTION #15-117 ACCEPT BID FOR NEW STORAGE SHED FOR THE WATER PLANT: Member Stiles made a motion to accept the low bid of $6865.20 from the Amish Group. The motion was seconded by Member Denniston. Vote: Ayes- Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. APPOINTMENTS TO VIRGIL YOUTH COMMISSION: Supervisor Kaminski said he talked to Sandy price and she would like to stay on the Youth Commission Committee. The Committee will be made up of Sandy Price, Sue Connolly, Stacy Kelsey, Jen Stiles, Kim Kelchner and Teri Pelton. Kaminski said they will have a President and Vice President and a treasurer. The Youth Commission will continue to use the Towns tax ID and payroll for the before and after school program which will be run through the town. Eddie will eventually surrender the before and after school duties to the new committee. The new board will collect the funds and submit a bill to the town. Pelton called down to the Cortland Youth Bureau and learned a lot. She said if you put in a request for funds you won’t get accepted until April. She said all money comes from the county and it is possible that they may not get any. Stiles said that the town board budgets $5000 a year for youth programs. Stiles said he thinks $500 goes to supplies. Taylor was surprised to learn that the county doesn’t get any money from the state for youth programs. Pelton said they used to but in 2012 it changed and now no money comes from the state. Pelton said right now they plan on meeting two times a month at Virgil fire station. Pelton said they have more questions about the before and after school program. Stacy Kelsey who is the new treasurer was wondering how much was spent in 2015. Stiles thought only $118.00. Member Taylor requested that the new commission reports to the board monthly and he complemented Pelton for getting a copy of the minutes of their first meeting to the board so quickly. There was also some discussion regarding the ski program. It was stated that Vicki Myers runs the ski program. Kelsey had some questions regarding setting up a bank acct. Stiles said he was going to look into it. Kaminski said that all bank statements need to come to the town hall. RESOLUTION #15-118 APPOINT MEMBERS TO THE VIRGIL YOUTH COMMISSION: Member Stiles made a motion to appoint Sandy Price, Sue Connolly, Stacy Kelsey, Jen Stiles, Kim Kelchner and Teri Pelton to the Virgil Youth Commission. Stiles said that Eaton will turn over the books for the before and after school to the new commission once they are settled. Member Denniston seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. RESOLUTION #15-119 APPOINTMENT TO TOWNS TAX GRIEVANCE BOARD: Pete Hans Sr. has stepped aside from the Towns Tax Grievance Board. Kaminski said there were a few people that have applied. He said one person that applied was Steve Terwilliger and the he is here. He said also Carole Piedigrossi and Rhona Levin expressed an interest as well. Neither Piedigrossi nor Levin were preset. Terwilliger also submitted an impressive resume. Supervisor Kaminski made a motion to appoint Steve Terwilliger to the Assessment Board of Review to serve the remainder of Peter Hans Sr. term. Member Taylor seconded the motion. Taylor said that Terwilliger has a wealth of expertise in this area and that’s what is needed on this board. . Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. Some further discussion took place. It was stated that the first budget meeting will be held on September 22 nd at 7:00 pm. Kaminski said that the town received the official paper work form the DEC regarding the Creek reclamation. There are papers that need to be filled out in order to get reimbursed. Stiles mentioned that it was a matching grant of $75,000 and that the contact person is Scott Cook. Ceadeerwood prepared bid documents. They plan to go out to bid in January. Kaminski said they are just waiting for the board to give them the go ahead. Greek Peak will be paying for half of the bridge. Kaminski said that he needs to go down and talk to them. It was asked of Attorney Snyder if there was any response from the letter he sent to FHER. Snyder said no and he takes it as a sign that they are on this ice with this claim. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Discussion on Lawsuits Member Stiles made a motion to enter into executive session at 8:30 pm. The motion was seconded by member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. END EXECUTIVE SESSION: Member Taylor made a motion to end executive session at 8:45 pm. The motion was seconded by member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. Town of Virgil Regular Meeting 09/10/2015 5 ENTER INTO REGULAR SESSION: Member Taylor made a motion to enter back into regular session at 8:45 pm. The motion was seconded by member Stiles Vote: Ayes-Members Taylor, Snow, Stiles, Denniston and Kaminski. Nays-None. There was some further discussion regarding fuel accountability. Member Taylor was wondering if the board was ever going to get anything. It was stated that Aaron Peck has an app on his phone that tells who is using the fuel and how much. Stiles said he would like to use that. Kaminski said they need something in writing. Taylor said the board is accountable so they need to do something. Taylor also mentioned that the board needs to perform the audit of the checks that the Supervisor signs. He would like to get together with another board member in October to do an internal audit of the Supervisors check books. ADJOURN: With no further business to discuss Member Taylor made a motion to adjourn at 8:50 p.m. The motion was seconded by Member Snow. Respectfully Submitted by, Alane Van Donsel, Virgil Town Clerk