HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-03-11 - TB 21 0
TOWN OF ULYSSES • "
REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING . • • • `
MARCH 11, 1997
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PRESENT: _ : Supervisor. Douglas Austic; .Couneilpeople •Carolyn • Duddleston, • Peter
Penniman, Robert : Weatherby: Councihvomen Catherine Stover absent. James Meeker,
Highway ,, Superintendent; Marsha L Georgia, Town Clerk. ' .
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Others Present: Paul -Tater; Grace •Wolf, Tree- Press Reporter, David Gell, Mr. :Foley,
Lauren. Stanforth, Ithaca:: Journal . Reporter; Mss: Shrine anirMss.` Wright, High School,.
Students;, Thomas Reitz. ' ; . : : • - t 4 . . . . , . . .
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Supervisor .Austic : opened the meeting at '7:30' pm avid lead ° thbse assembled in the Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag of�the United States of America:.. . ' • ` s • ' ' ` ` ' . •
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APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Tabled ! to next meeting - . minutes not finished by the clerk.' . . 4 '
APPROVAL OF .CLAIMS, . . . : _ : - 4 • . . . , -
Previously examined vouchers were discussed and voucher 0, 63 for Peter Demjanec,
Assoc. was pulled - Board 's geaeral 'consensus was that this was not line " the architect.
Mrs. Dud idleston ;moved, seconded by Mr. Pennrnan` to approve claim #'s 53 through 81 ,
less 063: in the amount of $55,179.21: Unanimously approved: " .
REPRESENTATIVES REPORT
Paul Tater. Discuss Fishing Tournament Mr: Teter stated that has been working with_
NYS - fishing tourism program. Last year he was a quest on a fishing program that
was taped and shown on ESPN cable television.
He stated that one of the ways our .
Cvunty .,canwget. itself better : recognized for it's: meritorious in' the arm Of fishing, is to
get national recognition and that tomes through cable TV type shows. . 2He began. eailling
- he has spoken to /about five :different , studios =- production 'companies that are involved
- in doing doing this he became aware of a program called "Operation 'Bass " . "O"peratiori
Bass " is the governing group for a new Bass Tournament Profile coming along. Some
may be aware of they group, called "BASS" - the County tiled getting them ' to come here
for a major tournament a few .years ago and they wanted S25,000 ' UP, front beforyethey
would even consider coming toccour ; County to put on this tournament: * He found out
through talking: with� .the- . Tournament 'idirector for this new group, 'called the FLW tour, i .
that all; they, require is . a place- to put a 80lX :80 ;tent ' He lasked 'whit else they would do '
and. they, said here how it, works -- they take care- of the TV -coverage, Which ' is Oi • ESPN .
or ESPN2, they take car a f of all :the-advertising; that would be TV, radio, and . : • .
newspaper.: ; The :three organizations- that are involved in 'this "are ' Ranger; Boat, the , local
dealer is. .on Rt.89, :Wal-Mart, and Chevrolet: - These three are the .major aponrstirs.: WE
(the Town of Ulysses/County of Tompkins) would have no other responsibilities ' other
• than give them a place to set this up and go. He has gone to the State committee with
this and .asked if they thought it should be proposed . at'a State level or 'how: They felt
that it would be best to go from our own local level.• He has contacted Steve Colt, over,
at Lansing, the Mayor of Ithaca, and now is here to advise the Town of Ulysses. aAll 4
three locations will have the same opportunity to draft a proposal. Within the ro
P . �pas al, .
of course, you should describe what you have to offer in terms of facilities. ` Lnniediately
what came to his mind were the Fair Grounds. That would be a wonderful place to put
the tent up. The fish would be just brought up from the .lake 'for weigl 4n and returned •
to the lake for release. Ulysses has a tremendous potential of acquiring this tournament, ,
The tournament offers a first prize of $200,000 to the winner - it is elimination •
tournament - they have 3 days the first group' of men ga out '- they come back ' - some
are eliminated :- second day more are eliminated -4= last day down to five fisherman: •
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Regular Board Meeting .
3-11-97
There would be top fisherman from BASS Tournaments - well know names. We could
expect, in terms of numbers attending, two to three thousand, maybe be up to four
thousand. It would draw national attention to the Town of Ulysses, the Trumansburg
area and our lake, through the coverage it would receive on the cable network. ' This
would be an opportunity, if you wish to apply.. (Town Board)," to draw up this proposal.
They do ask that if you have a map or some sort of graphic that would show where
Taughannock Park would be ,located. in terms of the lay out of Cayuga Lake, He
suggested that the . Town get the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary, the Village, the
Fire Department, etc. involved and get a proposal together. The sooner the better: You
may have vendors there. They have no problems it becoming an event. If you wanted
to work this around a community event ,- probably it would be nice to do something like
that - for example a chicken barbecue many different possibilities. The only limit
would be that the vendors could not be in direct competition to the sponsors - Ranger
Boat, Chevrolet, and Wal-Mart.
The Board felt this could be a wonderful opportunity - Mr. Tater left the names the
proposals should be sent to: Charles Evans, Tournament Chairman at Operation Bass,
and his address, Charley Hoover, VP of Sales / Marketing for Ranger Boats, and
Sammy Lee, Director of National Promotions / Freshwater.
The 1997 schedule has already . begun - this would be for 1998 or 1999. You would have
plenty of time to set it up BUT the proposals would have to de done IMMEDIATELY.
The sooner you get it to these people the sooner it will be looked at for consideration. If
there are openings for the 1998 season than they may be considered for 1998 if not could
be pushed to the 1999 season. The ideal thing would be to get the Forest Wood Classic,
which is the last tournament of the year, which is their big one and the price money
goes from $200,000 to $400,000 top win. People- would come from all over the United
States.
Mr. Weatherby asked if the. Town would have to get the permission from NYS Parks to
launch the boats etc. Mr. Tater answered than - the facilities are open to any one he
did. not know how the financial would be worked out he can ask someone at the State.
Although people have to pay a substantial entrance fee. •
The Clerk asked if there was a formal application - Mr. Tater stated that he called and
they said that you can use any format you wish to put it into. A letter format probably
is best, describing. what you have to offer, pictures if you have them would be good. The
more you can provide to them that. would bring out the positive of the location. Number
one where you would hold the event and number two the body of water on which the
event would be held the more of course consideration you will get. Like he said before
Cayuga Lake, Jimmy Houston (very well know professional fisherman) knows the lake
very well A few years ago Watkins Glen got the tournament, but none of the fisherman `
fished on Seneca Lake they all came through the canal and fished the North end of
Cayuga. Lake. . .
Mr. Rustic feels that the Town could come up with a very good proposal. Oddly enough
he has a meeting tomorrow with the . Fair Board and next week with the Chamber of .
Commerce.
County Board Representative: Peter Meskill .
absent - attending to other business .
Trumansburg Fire Department
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Mr. Austic read the Fire Report. February they had six fire responses in the • Town and
no mutual aid. For emergency medical response they had ten in the Town. For the
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year they had a total in Town, Village, and Covert of 552 responses. .
Report on Transportation Council Meeting Mr. Reitz attended the meeting on behalf of
the Town on the Arterial Management. A new . group has been formed in Albany called
the Corridor Management Group through NYS Department of Transportation.
Important points that may be of interest to the Master Plan Committee and/or the
Planning Board may want to consider. Mr. Reitz left a couple of copies of their
brochure for review. He felt it was a very good meeting and he will continue to
• represent the Town through the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council.
TOWN REPORTS:
Highway Superintendent Mr. Meeker reported that for the month of February he
plowed and salted as needed, starting to haul stone for some summer projects, brush
cutting, working on summer equipment, and starting . to• do road- patching. The bridge
on Podunk .Road -. the engineering firm got back to him and Tompkins County Highway
- it needs work on the trust rods on, the side and a couple of stringers need work or .
replacement - possibly • within a week or so than they can put it back up to the normal
weight load. He feels he has his specs pretty much- in line for the new truck. He is
ready to advertise for the bids. Mr. Meeker will bring the information to the Clerk for
an advertisement to be published.
Mr. Austic asked about .Brook Road bridge: Mr. Meeker state& that as far as he knew
it is still a .go. The last he talked to them they were talking about a sixteen •foot deck
and with . the intentions of maybe in the near future widening it out. Mr: Meeker '
commented that we are almost in the year 2000 and they are thinking about building a
one lane bridge - felt very foolish - they may reconsider the plans.
Mr. Austic . stated that if the post office buys the land by our foot bridge they would like
to see that bridge twice as large: The general feeling of the Highway/Supervisor would
be to turn the .whole bridge over to them. •
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Mr. Meeker stated that he has spoke with the County in regards to the major pot holes
on Perry City Road especially in the vicinity of Assemblyman Luster's home. ' He will
speak with Peter Meskill, County Representative.
Code Enforcement Officer Mr. Rachun was absent - no report available. • Mr. Austic
said that it had been very slow. He has. not taken: any money in for building permits.
Town Clerk / Tax Collector Mrs. Georgia reported that $3,023.34 was collected for the
month of February and $2,825.49 was turned over to the Supervisor along ' with her .
monthly report. $2100 of that was the franchise fee from the cable company. A total of
$1,330,767 has been collected in taxes - the Town has . received their monies and $650,000
has been sent to the County.
and Board Member Reports Mrs. Duddleston reported that the Youth
Committee that she works on has been divided into two groups - one to create new
programs and the other to put a cost on the whole program. . What they are trying to
accomplish is to rely less (fmancially). on the Towns, Village, Cities ' and County and
collect more from the participants. She is serving on the committee that looks at the
dollar sign - very educational. The last couple of years some bad mistakes have been
made. A lot of new programs in the future.
Mr. Penniman stated that he and the student researcher are prepared to make a report
to the next meeting of the joint Master Plan Committee/Town Board meeting. Other
than that she is continuing with her research. He is working on trying to come up with
a list of all the elements that he thinks should be in the plan and talk about a time
or
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Regular Board Meeting .
3-11-97
frame for getting it done. Mr. Austic asked him if he had received a copy of the report
from Cornell. Peter had. Report is on file for anyone to review.
Supervisor's Financial Report Supervisor Austic reviewed and asked if there were any
questions. Hearing none he moved on.
OLD BUSINESS
Report on Building Progress Mr. Austic reported that the plumber was back this week •
and he is finished with the original project. The sheetrocking can be started. The
electrician is finished. They ran the phone wire, the TV wire, the computer wire
throughout the whole building. The electrical inspection has been done. Mr. Austic
stated that he has a couple of things from Kermit Cutter - the original plans did not
include finished stairs. If you want the stairs fmished to use the upstairs it will be at a
cost of $4800 - which is an Oak stairway/railing. The front entrance door can be put on
to match the back door for a price of $500. He also gave a price on sheetrocking the
whole upstairs for $2,500. Mr. Austic has asked the electrician for a price on finishing
the wiring upstairs. He did not get that price to him. Mr. Austic feels that it should not
run much more than $500 to $600. He went on to state that the lighting allowance is
way over so may not be any additional cost. Mr. Cutter does not have to know
immediately, so the Board tabled it for now.
Mr. Austic brought up the subject of PHONES - the system that we are currently using
will handle no more phones. There will have to be a minimum of 5 to 6 and maybe up
to 10 additional phones. He has had Sheehan Electric and Camalert System come in
and give the Town a price. The system we have now could be donated to someone like
the library.
Other Mrs. Duddleston asked if we still needed the architect at this stage of the
building. If be is going to continue and bill us each month - Mr. Austic does not know
why he is billing us because the agreement does not state that he would manage the
contract. Mrs. Duddleston will talk with him.
Heating System Problem The contract for the heating/air system calls for three zones.
Mr. Hubbard the contractor has checked with his engineers and they advise him not to
zone this furnace that way. They stated that if he was to zone three ways they would
not honor the guarantee. Mr. Austic also called and confirmed this information and he
explained. Mr. Austic feels that one zone would be fine.
NEW BUSINESS
Municipal Officials Meeting This meeting has been rescheduled. It may be in conflict
with the meeting with the informational Jacksonville Community Meeting that Mr.
Austic has been invited to. •
Cayuga Medical Center Letter A letter has been received from the Cayuga Medical
Center inviting the Town to appoint a representative to serve as a member of the
Cayuga Medial Center Corp. This would not necessarily have to be a Board member.
Employee Medical Insurance Coverage
Mr. Austic has called around about different health insurance coverage. He also has
talked to most of the employees that are covered. The employees feel that they would
just as soon stay with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Our agent feels the same way.
Other New Business none beard.
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Regular Board Meeting
3-11-97
HEARING OF INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS
Mr. Austic stated that before we get started he would like to say that the Town is
holding a Public Hearing on Monday, March 17th and he does not want to get into a lot
of this stuff on the towers. Mr. Gell of Halseyville Road, stated that in the proposed
ordinance he feels that the word tower owner should be replaced with applicant. Mr.
Austic stated to bring that up Monday. Mr. Gel also had information from the NYS
Association of Health that childhood cancers are associated with radiation through -- so
• should there be something in the ordinance that we should keep towers away from
schools? Mr. Austic feels what the Planning Board has addressed on pupulation would
cover it. Mr. Foley asked if Frontier was going to let it know what sites they have
chosen. Mr. Austic informed - that no building permit has been requested. He has
informed Frontier of the Public Hearing and have been provided with a copy of the
proposed ordinance. The meeting Monday night is on the Law - comments should be
keep to that and not on sites. When it comes down to them getting a permit than there
will be public hearings on that
Mr. Reitz asked if the Board could put some money aside to print a house numbering
directory. Mrs. Georgia stated that a directory is available. It is printed off the
computer. Mr. Reitz informed the Board - he has been having meetings with the group
that he formed in Jacksonville about historic preservation on different properties. They
have had some advise on doing an historical district and if that should happen they
would need the support of the Town. We would just like to inform the Board that we
are considering this. Mr. Austic asked if the people understood the implications to a
historical district - conies from the state.
Representative Peter Meskill Mr. Meskill arrived late and reported to the Board that he
has checked into the assessed value of a tower and what it may do to the value of
properties. Mr. Austic advised him of the application the Town may do for the
previously discussed fishing tournament and asked about Room Tax Monies. Mr.
Meskill stated that they could apply and he would be glad to help do that. There is a
formal application and Carl Heck of Planning has those.
Hearing no further business Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mrs. Duddleston for
the adjournment of the meeting. Hearing no objection / Unanimously approved.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:25PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha L. Georgia
Ulysses Town Clerk
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