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Home My WebLink About2006-02-14 - TB TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 14, 2006 Present : Supervisor Douglas Austic ; Town Council Roxanne Marino, Don Ellis, Rod Ferrentino and Lucia Tyler; Town Clerk Marsha L . Georgia; Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan; Town Highway Superintendent James Meeker; Town Attorney Bruce Wilson absent. Others Present : Robert N. Brown, Sr. , George W. Chase, Jody Coombs, Bill Chaisson, Curt Dunnam, Bill Coon, Rose Hilbert, Village Trustee, Jason Fulton, Trumansburg Fire Chief, and James Dennis, Tompkins County Board of Representative. Supervisor Austic called the meeting to order at 7 : 30 PM and lead those assemblied to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : RTB 12/13/05 AND 1 /10/2006 Ms . Tyler and Ms . Marino presented minor changes and corrections to the minutes of December 13 , 2005 and January 10, 2006 Regular Town Board meetings . Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the minutes of December 13 , 2005 of the Regular Town Board as corrected. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino abstained Ms . Tyler abstained Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Austic to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2006 Regular Town Board meeting as corrected . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis abstained Ms . Marino aye Adopted . APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Ms . Marino the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the previous examined vouchers # 27 through 84 in the amount of $ 32 ,235 . 60 . Ms . Marino stated that Mr. Wilson had previously agreed that he would provide monthly detail for what he had worked on for the billing and that is not included with Mr. Wilson ' s voucher #31 . Ms . Marino will vote for it this month but she would appreciate having it in the future. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms. Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Regular Town Board Meeting 2 02/ 14/2006 Adopted . REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. Austic asked the Board if they minded moving Mr. Chase up to the head of the meeting. No objection from the Board was heard. Mr. George Chase had previously written a letter to the Town Board requesting his property located at 1635 Trumansburg Road be removed from the Industrial Zone where it was placed when the new Zoning Law was adopted in August . Mr. Chase stated he intends to always leave the property as a farm and he feels the other property in the area has not changed in years and sees no reason to place his property in an Industrial Zone which increases his appraisal . Mr. Chase is requesting the Town Board reconsider and rezone his property as residential . Mr. Austic said the Town Board has read his letter and understands what Mr. Chase ' s situation is and the Board will take it under advisement and within a reasonable amount of time the Board will discuss it. Mr. Chase thanked the Board for listening. Jim Dennis Tompkins County Representative said he does not have too much to report tonight . The County Legislators passed the three year assessment and at the end of January, which will have some impact on the Town of Ulysses, which will most likely come along the lake first and some other areas which have been fairly active in the market . It does appear that the market is leveling off according to the realtors but the County went with the three year assessment on a very close vote . Mr. Dennis feels it needs to be watched to see how it operates , which may end up going back to the yearly assessment. Mr. Dennis mentioned the Tompkins County Beautification Program is available again this year and next year it has changed from a $ 500 grant to $ 3000 . The Town of Ulysses is on the schedule for 2007 . The program is run by Chris Gardner through Cooperative Extension and involves anything that would beautify the Town . What it amounts to is it would not be a cost to the Town other than getting .volunteers for "in kind services", which would match the grant. It can be a combined grant with the Town and Village . The Town received a grant a couple of years ago for a project in Jacksonville where they put in a bus shelter and also Mrs . Georgia, Town Clerk received one last year for $ 750 for benches and plantings in front of the Town Hall . This year the money is headed to the Towns of Newfield, Danby, and Caroline . The Town would have to support any applicant for a grant . Mr. Austic asked about the three year assessment. What if all the houses in your neighborhood went up in assessment, is the County just going to let that go and not assess or is the County going to raise everybody' s in relationship to the sales in the neighborhood or is the County just not going to visit every ones property on a yearly basis and visit them now on a three year basis? Mr. Dennis said the theory is that a third of the properties will get assessed every year. Mr. Dennis said lets say that in the Village of Trumansburg there are a whole bunch of properties that sell in the market than the County would come out and look at spot arrears, but the theory is about a third of the people will have their assessment done . At some point in the three year process every one will get reassessed . Mr. Dennis said lets say if the Town of Ulysses does not get any reassessments for three years that third year could be a really big hit . said that to him it seems that it Mr. Ellis commented on the Assessment situation o of under tand ng and comfort that people all comes down to dollars and cents but the so have with it he thinks is closely related to simplicity or complexity and he just feels what Mr. Dennis said is a long ways in the direction of complexity rather than simplicity. Mr. Ellis said that every three years maybe feels totalitarian frankly. Regular Town Board Meeting 3 02/ 14/2006 Robert Brown, Associate PPL Mr. Austic introduced Mr. Robert Brown who would like to address the Town Board about a proposal that he would like to present as a benefit package to the employees of the Town of Ulysses, according to the rules Mr. Brown has to get permission from the employer before he can present his proposal to the employees . Mr. Robert Brown introduced himself that he is Co-owner of Flo-Tech manufacturer of artificial limbs . Mr. Brown gave a little background on how he got into the business . Mr. Brown said that he was exposed to Pre-Paid Legal Services and shortly became an Associate . Mr. Brown is an Independent Associate and sees himself as a facilitator more than a salesperson. Mr. Brown is here tonight to present a brief outline of the benefit he would like to present to the employees . It is a Pre-Paid Legal Service which offers a preventive legal care by providing free phone consultations, letter and phone calls, contract and document review, will preparation and updates, living wills, warranty assistance, debt collection and review and many others . Mr. Brown showed a short video explaining the service in more detail . Mr. Brown distributed a hand out with information and thanked the Board for their time for his presentation and will be looking forward to presenting this benefit to the employees . Jason Fulton , Trumansburg Fire Department Chief reported that he had come up with a cost figure that he had been previously asked about . Mr. Fulton said that a couple of new things will be happening at the Fire Department . The building is now 20 years old and has had the same heating system for that long and the last couple of years have been having problems in the winter time with keeping the truck bays warm. The Department for the last several months has been trying to get a new heating system and the Village now has approved to allow Mr. Fulton to go ahead with that. Mr. Fulton has received one quote so far and he is waiting on two more. The Fire department is going from the forced air water boiler type furnace to a radiant heat system . Mr. Fulton also said that coming up in the New Year is the FEMA grant, the Fire Act Grant, and the Fire Fighters Assistance Grant. Some of the things that the Fire Department is looking at are a sprinkler system for the fire house, exhaust system for the trucks , a breathing air cascade compressor and some new turn out gear. Mr. Fulton said that he has been talking for the last six months about a vehicle, not designated but to be used by the Fire Chief to drive for Fire Department business so as not to use his personal vehicle, and also to be used for training classes . One of the other purposes of this vehicle is to use it as a utility type vehicle for when there is a large fire, and not using personal vehicles . At the Village Board meeting held last night the Village approved a purchase of such a vehicle. Mr. Fulton said that the calls for fire and ambulance are about average . The ambulance calls are more and more every day. The Fire Department is trying to figure out a way to recapture some of the money for calls . The way the Village is set up the Fire Department can not bill anything. The Village would have to do different paper work to get that through . The Junior membership is up and going but now it is called Apprentice membership, because the State says you can not have Junior members of the Fire Department. At the age of eighteen they will become regular members . At this time there are five Apprentices . Ms . Marino had a question in general as to whether the Fire Contract had been signed. There has been an exchange of letters between the Village and the Town. Mr. Austic said that it is up to the Town Board as to whether he should sign the contract or not. Regular Town Board Meeting 4 02/ 14/2006 Ms . Marino ' s thoughts were that the Town should sign the contract and that would alleviate the worry of not having a contract and providing services and then try to resolve the other issues later. Margot Chiuten, Planning Board Chairman contacted Ms . Marino and apologized that she could not attend because she needs to attend the ZBA meeting and also there is a Planning Board meeting on Thursday evening. TOWN REPORTS James Meeker, Highway Superintendent reported that the highway crew have been plowing and salting as needed, hauling stone for summer projects , and working on odds and ends with the trucks and plow equipment. Mr. Austic said that Mr. Meeker as submitted the "Agreement for Highway Monies" as follows : AGREEMENT FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF HIGHWAY MONEYS -- 2006 AGREEMENT between the Town Highway Superintendent of the Town of Ulysses- , Tompkins County, New York, and the undersigned members of the Town Board. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 284 of the Highway Law, we agree that moneys levied and collected in the Town for the repair and improvement of highways, and received from the State for State Aid for the repair and the improvement of highways, shall be expended as follows : 1 . GENERAL REPAIRS . The sum of $ 50,000 shall be set aside to be expended for primary work and general repairs upon 36 miles of town highways, including sluices, culverts and bridges having a span of less than five feet and board walks or the renewals thereof 2 . PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS. The following sums shall be set aside to be expended for the permanent improvement of town highways : VAN DORNS CORNER (a) On the road commencing at PERRY CITY ROAD and leading to IRADELL ROAD a distance of 97 miles, there shall be expended not over the sum of $ 108 ,000 Type 6 hot mix pavement_width of traveled surface 18 ft . Thickness 1 " shim (in middle) Sub base ok . 1 1 /2 top coverage type b top (edges will take more) Mr. Meeker explained the agreement . Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Ms . Tyler the following: BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses agrees to execute the foregoing "Agreement for the Expenditure of Highway Money — 2006" submitted by James Meeker, Highway Superintendent . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted . Alex Rachun , Code Enforcement Officer reported that five permits have been issued, three for additions, one for business and one educational. Mr. Rachun said that currently in Building & Zoning he is trying to facilitate an agreement with Mr. Ledger that would allow people on his property to aid in the cleanup effort. Mr. Rachun has talked with a person who works with salvage, has the necessary Regular Town Board Meeting 5 02/ 14/2006 equipment, and is willing to work with Mr. Ledger in return for a percentage of the money the salvage brings on the market. Mr. Rachun said that Tompkins County Solid Waste will waive the tipping fees for the first 3 to 5 tons if the Town requests the service as part of a cleanup from a zoning violation. The County may be willing to waive more tipping fees depending on the project and the amount of trash to be removed. Mr. Rachun said that Mr. Coogan is aware that TC Stormwater Group has received funding for water quality issues and at this time there are $ 13 ,000 if funds that are not marked for any particular project . Mr. Coogan has reported that since the Ledger property is bisected by a stream that feeds into Taughannock Creek and Taughannock Creek is thought to be a water course marked for protection in the future, the cleanup of this property would meet the requirements for the funds . Mr. Rachun said that the Planning Board has been meeting on a regular basis working on the Site Plan for the Washington Street Partners . There still are some questions about the drive-way entrance. The Planning Board is waiting on a traffic study that will hopefully answer the Boards concerns . Mr. Rachun feels that the Planning Board is at the point of having all of the information that they need to make a decision of Site Plan. Mr. Rachun also said that there is a pending Zoning Board of Appeals meeting due to the fact that the Zoning Law in the B1 district has limited retail stores to a 3000 square foot footprint. Also the Zoning Board will be looking at the definition of retail services . Mr. Wilson has given a letter of opinion for the Zoning Board . There is also another variance request from the developer to limit the parking . Marsha L. Georgia, Town Clerk reported that for the month of January a total of $ 1066 . 50 was collected and of that $ 727 . 88 was turned over to the Supervisor along with her monthly report. Mrs . Georgia gave a total amount collected to-date in 2006 taxes and reported that she had mailed out the second notices . Mrs . Georgia turned over the 1st installment payments to Tompkins County Budget and Finance. Board Member and Committees Mr. Ellis reported that he attended the Village of Trumansburg Board meeting where the main discussion was about the skate board park; a report from the Comprehensive Planning Committee that they have held three meetings and they have around fourteen members . The CPC have hired a person from Tompkins County Planning Department as a facilitator and professional guide. Mr. Ellis said that the Village had two resolutions that were directed to the Town of Ulysses, the first one regarding the Fire Contract cautioning the Town that the contract needs to be signed at the last day of the year and that the payment be made before the 1st of March. The second resolution is to not endorse the grant application related to the proposed water district #5 . Ms . Marino reported that she attended the Youth Program meetin g and learned that Carissa Mann, Ulysses Youth Highschool Coordinator will be on maternity leave from the 7th of June until the 30th of August so they are adjusting her programming and reducing it down. The biggest summer program Carissa runs is the farmers market, which will continue and some of the programs that had less interest will be cut for this summer. Ms . Marino is going to be meeting with other representatives of youth to better understand the programs and get familiar. Ms . Marino also wants to pursue the Recreation Partnership in regards to the Town. Ms . Marino wants to briefly discuss the different design criteria and other things that are coming up routinely with the new Zoning Law and things need to be looked at and potentially revised . Ms. Marino stated that Mr. Rachun has a collection of different items that need to be revisited and also the Planning Board has made a resolution to the Town Board that they review the Zoning Law and address some errors, omissions, and conflicts 1 I I Regular Town Board Meeting 6 02/ 14/2006 where it is becoming a problem . Ms . Marino suggested as a procedure to work efficiently towards collecting the different arrears needed to work on. The Planning Board is going to discuss what they see as high priority issues and than get together with the list Mr. Rachun has to work from to make a local law change . Ms . Marino is hoping to get that together to bring to the March Town Board meeting. Supervisor Doug Austic previously distributed a report for the year-end of 2005 after the adjustments were made and the first month of 2006 . Mr. Austic asked if there were any questions. Mr. Austic also presented the Board with a year-end report which is his opinion that the Board should look at it and discuss it further at the March meeting. Mr. Ellis did not have a question but pointed out where there was a number transposed . Mr. Austic said that he and the Highway Superintendent visited the Town of Lodi after their fire . The Town Highway Barns does have an alarm that goes directly to the Fire Department and Mr. Austic is considering figuring out what it would cost to put a sprinkler at the Town Barns . Also the fire insurance could be reduced by half with a sprinkler system . The Board felt that would make a lot of sense to look into that . Mr. Ellis thinks that the Board overlooked appointing someone to stand in if the Supervisor was absent from a meeting. Ms . Marino said that in Town Law it says that the Board can just choose one if that happens . Richard Coogan, Deputy Supervisor reported that he has received a note from Chris Gardner, the Community Beautification Coordinator that Legislator Frank Proto contacted her that he has a concern that the Beautification Advisory Committee does not have sufficient role representation because just about every one on the committee lives or works within the City of Ithaca and so they are looking for members for the committee. The committee meets four times a year, usually the second Wednesday from 2 pm to 3 : 30 pm . This is linked with the Strategic Tourism Planning Board . Mr. Coogan said that if anyone is interested they can contact Chris Gardner at Corporative Ext . #272-2292 ext . 123 . Mr. Dennis said that he has a list of who is on that committee and there are no elected officials . Mr. Coogan will contact the paper to get something in the community notes . Mr. Coogan said that the Stormwater Group meets tomorrow and he will meet with Kate Hacket to see how they are doing in appropriating funds for the Ledger cleanup . Mr. Coogan will be talking with Cindy Crawford of Better Housing because a call was received today from a disabled resident asking for grants to help him repair his home . There may be a couple of things that the Town may have to do so that the residents are eligible for grants . OLD BUSINESS Training Status Mr. Austic asked how the training status was going that Mr. Coogan and Ms . Marino are working on. Mr. Austic said that the Town should at least do something about the procedures and the Zoning Law. Ms . Marino ' s understanding is that the Board was waiting until the Planning Board was fully constituted and then have that organized first and also the Planning Board would be out from under the Site Plan Review of Washington Street Partners project. Ms . Chiuten, Planning Board Chair also feels this way and knows it should be done soon. Mr. Ellis asked if sources have been found to do the training. Regular Town Board Meeting 7 02/ 14/2006 Mr. Austic said that the first step would be have someone go over the Zoning Law and what it is and then when you get further into it like SEQR you would bring someone else in. There are training sessions coming up at Cooperative Ext. this year and also one for Stormwater for Planning Boards only and what they need to know. Mr. Coogan said after those initial trainings the Planning Board could be poled to see what particulars they feel they need and than find people such as Jonathan Kanter from the Town of Ithaca who said he could be available . Mr. Ellis asked if the Stormwater program would be sponsored by Cooperative Ext. Mr. Coogan said that DEC would be putting that on and it is suppose to be geared more towards Planning Boards and not contractors or Code Enforcement . Mr. Austic mentioned that there is also some training going to be available in Rochester. Mr. Ellis said the most pressing training is with the Town ' s own Zoning Law . Mr. Coogan said that a lot of that is just getting the Planning Board comfortable on how they proceed, what they should be doing, what some of the danger signs they should understand when they are talking with an applicant to make sure they avoid certain things to avoid litigation, how to always stay as a Board not as an individual , and how not to redesign a project but how to get the applicant to understand they have to make a change . Mr. Ellis asked who the Board has in line to do that kind of training. Mr. Coogan said that he thinks Jonathan Kanter would be wonderful person to do that kind of training or Sue Ritter who is also a resident of Ulysses . Mr. Coogan said that those people have been contacted but what we need to do is get the Planning Board to say they are ready to do it and when . Ms . Chiuten is well aware that a date needs to be set for training. Other Comprehensive Plan Organization Mr. Austic said that the Board needs to start organizing the Comprehensive Plan . Mr. Austic said that he is not sure how big of a committee the Board is interested in having but he thinks the Town will want business people , people from all different areas of the Town, a Planning Board member, a Town Board member, but not flood the committee with either one of these boards , a ZBA member. Mr. Austic is thinking maybe 10 or 12 people . Mr. Ellis said that he is on the committee in the Village of Trumansburg and they have fourteen people and a great cross section of people . Ms . Marino said that she thinks that there have been a few people that have expressed interest but she would also like to see the Board have a meeting that is really well publicized and have people come, a sort of a kick off to the fact that the Town is doing this . Mr. Austic asked Ms . Marino if she would like to take care of that. Ms . Marino said that she would help coordinate something like that . Mr. Ellis had a couple of other thoughts and one is that it would seem to him that it would be valuable to get synchronize with the Village and they are already off to a good start and they see it as a good two year project . Mr. Austic said that the Town has a Comprehensive Plan that they are going to review. Regular Town Board Meeting 8 02/ 14/2006 Mr. Ellis said that the Village does have a Planner assigned from Tompkins County Planning Department which is a $ 6000 contract. Mr. Ellis thinks that is a good thing and he has talked with the County Planning Department about doing that for the Town and they said to forget it until the end of next year but could assign someone possibly to start sometime in January 2007 . In light of that Mr. Ellis said that may be the Town should bring someone in as a coordinator to get the Town through until January with the idea that than the Town would try to get more synchronize with the Village by at least sharing a Planner, than the Town would be appropriately overlapped . Ms . Tyler thinks that there needs to be some structure worked out and she could help Ms . Marino do that . Mr. Ellis distributed a resolution that he had prepared and read and moved it into the record as follows : Whereas the Town ' s Comprehensive Plan contains a commitment for review and renewal of the Plan at five years after enactment, and Whereas the intention to advance the Comprehensive planning within this new year was frequently visited and generally endorsed by the Town Board during 2005 , and Whereas the Board went so far as to engage engineers to prepare alternative schemes for critical expansions to the Town ' s piped water system as input to the Comprehensive planning, and Whereas there is strong support in the community for simultaneous comprehensive planning by the Town of Ulysses and the Village of Trumansburg, and Whereas the planning in the Village is already in progress, and Whereas the Town ' s current budget already provides for such planning, and Whereas, in the case of the State Park in particular, and some residences in general, the need for a clear plan for water services is quite pressing, Be it resolved that the Town launch the following actions immediately, in no case failing to substantially complete the initiating actions by mid-March : A . Engagement of a professional planning facilitator to guide the Comprehensive Planning in the tasks below until such time as Tompkins County Planning Department can assign a planner. B . Formation of a planning committee to include one member of this Board, one from the Planning Board, one from the Board of Zoning Appeals, one from the Village Trustees, one from the Village ' s Comprehensive Planning Committee, one from among business interests in the Town, one from among business interests in the Village, one from among agricultural interests in the town, and any additional members as seen fit by the first-seated members of the Committee. C . The Committee shall proceed as it sees fit to complete a plan update, or replacement, while recognizing the aforementioned pressures to respond to certain needs for water system extension, while making an effort to organize its proceeding so as to produce a practical response to water system needs within this calendar year. D . The Committee and the Facilitator shall be charged with completion of the survey and information gathering functions of the planning including no fewer than three gatherings to bring interested publications into the process , and distribution and analysis of an Regular Town Board Meeting 9 02/ 14/2006 opinion survey, with the general intention to be in a position at year' s end to engage a planner from the County Planning Department, hopefully the same Planner now performing similar services for the Village . And, Be it further resolved that the Town shall arrange immediately for the engagement of a planner from the County Planning Department as described above with the expectation that said planner will come into the project in 2007 to see the process through to the publication of the new plan after all reviews as prescribed by the planning committee and required by Town Law . Ms . Marino seconded the motion . Mr. Austic asked if there was any discussion on the motion. Ms . Marino suggested changing the wording in B . to say "formation of a planning committee to include representation from the Town Board, the Planning Board, the Board of Zoning Appeals" just so the wording is not so constrained in the number so in case you can not get someone from those Boards but that is what the Town Board would like. Mr. Ellis said that the last paragraph takes care of that were it states any additional members as seen fit by the first- seated members of the Committee . Mr. Austic has a question about hiring a County Planning Department person at this point. Mr. Austic says he does not know that he would want to say that . Ms . Tyler asked what is in the budget. It was stated that $ 15 , 000 was put into the budget . Mr. Ferrentino said that he sees this as Comprehensive Plan, Water System throughout this resolution and he is a little lost because the Town already has a Comprehensive Plan and we are going to re-visit it and revise it, shouldn ' t this Water System already be in sink with the current Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Austic said that it is because the Comprehensive Plan says to try and provide water services where possible. Ms . Marino said that the Town Board has not addressed the implications of a water system of the proposed scale in terms of planning in this Town at all . Mr. Ellis said that there can be differences of opinion about something that is very subjective and there is no doubt differences of opinions and that is what is the impact in a Town like this of the installation of water services and a lot of people come to the conclusion of this that installing a water line will have a major influence on development and others can look at water lines that have been installed and say nothing much has happened. So it is very subjective and a very important point and Mr. Ellis thinks what they are looking for last year, some at least, when the engineering study was approved to see, beginning with the five areas defined that the Town would have a quality of engineering input that would help with that question . Mr. Ellis thinks that there are big questions there. Mr. Ellis says he has heard from some people that running a major line down to the State Park has a big implication on what might get developed along that line adjacent to the park. Mr. Austic questioned how it could do that when the Town ' s Zoning will not allow much down there . Mr. Ellis thinks that the Town needs to look at how things are going to actually do things . As an example the Town had hardly finished the Zoning Law when the Town allowed a Regular Town Board Meeting 10 02/ 14/2006 PUD . Mr. Ellis feels that a lot of pressure could be put on the Town to allow things that are not in accordance with the Zoning. Mr. Ferrentino said that the premise of the water and the urgency of the water should be removed from the resolution and just be to do the Comprehensive Plan . Mr. Ferrentino hates to do something based on a particular item. Mr. Ferrentino feels that is knee jerking and he thinks the Comprehensive Plan should be looked at as the Comprehensive Plan and reviewed on its own merit not on this water. Mr. Ellis said that he really likes that and that The Town would be able to do it but the thing that concerns him is the State Park. Mr. Ellis said that the State Park is going to need water from one method or another and the logical thing is that the water come from the Town and he thinks as kind of good neighbors give them something to hang onto because if the Town says we are going to do comprehensive planning and leave the water issue entirely out and put it off until the planning is done . What Mr. Ferrentino is saying is to separate the two things . Mr. Ferrentino said that there are a lot of people where the water line is proposed and their water is horrible and anything that the Town can do to improve the quality of that potable water the Town should be doing and he just does not see mixing water with the Comprehensive Plan. Let the Comprehensive Plan stand on its own merit . Mr. Ferrentino does not want to mix the two and he says he sees it happen all of the time as a growth or no growth and the bottom line is if the water fits into the comprehensive plan than great and if it doesn ' t than maybe it does not make sense to do it but he thinks the comprehensive plan should stand on its own. Ms . Tyler said she sees the water and comprehensive plan dove tailing together and you don ' t want to do something called spot planning. Mr. Ferrentino feels that is what is happening because you are singling out water it could be singling out agriculture or residential . Mr. Ellis says that he hates to throw away so many words in his original resolution but Mr. Ferrentino ' s point is very well taken and he does not have a problem making the changes as follows : Deleted Whereas #3 deleted Whereas #7 , deleted C . and deleted the last Be it further resolved . Also under B . where it says one replace with the wording "representation from" and in D . change it to read bring the interested public and delete publications . Ms . Marino made a comment that she has something to bring forward about the water but at this time the Board is in the middle of this resolution . Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Ms . Marino the following resolution as amended : Whereas the Town ' s Comprehensive Plan contains a commitment for review and renewal of the Plan at five years after enactment, and Whereas the intention to advance the Comprehensive planning within this new year was frequently visited and generally endorsed by the Town Board during 2005 , and Whereas there is strong support in the community for simultaneous comprehensive planning by the Town of Ulysses and the Village of Trumansburg, and Whereas the planning in the Village is already in progress , and Whereas the Town ' s current budget already provides for such planning, and Be it resolved that the Town launch the following actions immediately, in no case failing to substantially complete the initiating actions by mid-March : Regular Town Board Meeting 11 02/ 14/2006 A. Engagement of a professional planning facilitator to guide the Comprehensive Planning in the tasks below until such time as Tompkins County Planning Department can assign a planner. B . Formation of a planning committee to include representation from this Board, representation from the Planning Board, representation from the Board of Zoning Appeals, representation from the Village Trustees, representation from the Village ' s Comprehensive Planning Committee, representation from among business interests in the Town, representation from among business interests in the Village, representation from among agricultural interests in the town, and any additional members as seen fit by the first-seated members of the Committee . C . The Committee and the Facilitator shall be charged with completion of the survey and information gathering functions of the planning including no fewer than three gatherings to bring the interested public into the process , and distribution and analysis of an opinion survey, with the general intention to be in a position at year' s end to engage a planner from the County Planning Department, hopefully the same Planner now performing similar services for the Village. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. NEW BUSINESS Planning Board Member Vote Ms. Marino read Ms . Chiuten, Planning Board Chair ' s email into the record as follows : I want to thank you for allowing me to sit in on the planning board interviews. I wanted to give my support for the appointment of Rebecca Schneider and Ken Zeserson for the two open positions. Both seem knowledgeable of land planning issues. Rebecca in particular has shown recent commitment with her participation on the Stormwater Committee. I think both would be thoughtful and thorough in their review of projects, while being able to weigh all the variables that would come up without being personally biased. I think that Rebecca would also bring her experience of watershed and stormwater issues to the board. Ken would provide representation from the lakeside area of the Town. He also shows great interest in broader-scale planning issues, which are good to keep in mind when the Comprehensive Plan is updated, and other studies are undertaken. While Jennifer Wapinski-Mooradian does have interest in land planning, I think her energies would be better directed at other tasks, perhaps the Comprehensive Plan, if/when this is undertaken. Thanks again, Margot Chiuten Mr. Austic asked if any Board Member would like to make a motion to appoint a Planning Board Member. Ms . Tyler moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses appoint Rebecca Schneider and Ken Zeserson to the Ulysses Planning Board. Regular Town Board Meeting 12 02/ 14/2006 Mr. Ferrentino stated that he will have to abstain because he was not able to make all of the interviews . The Board discussed the terms and the motion was amended as follows . BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses appoint Rebecca Schneider for a term of seven years and Ken Zeserson for a term of one year to the Ulysses Planning Board . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. Mr. Coogan was asked to notify the applicants of their appointment and write a letter to the other applicant that was interviewed and explain that there may be something else coming up that they may be interested in. Set Time to Invite Eric Pond, Engineer at Barton & Loguidice Mr. Austic said that he had spoken with Mr. Pond to come review the proposed Water District #5 and he said he could come to the next Board meeting. The presentation would take about an hour or two . Mr. Ellis asked why the Board would want him to come. Mr. Austic said to explain the reports the Board had not been able to listen to . Mr. Ellis said that he thinks there is a point of question that needs to be laid out and discussed and that is "Did the engineering firm provide what they were paid to provide?" . Mr. Ellis said that he is quite convinced that they did not, so having Mr. Pond come and explain the details of the report would be rather meaningless to Mr. Ellis . Mr. Austic feels that the engineers did do what they said they were going to do in the scope-of- services . The engineers came to the Town and did a drive through, talked with people, talked with the State Park and investigated the Park ' s services . The engineers expanded on the five locations that they had. The original study was to first of all determine if the Town can get water from the tank to those areas . Mr. Austic said that engineering wise you can get water from the tank to all those five different areas without increasing things such as extra pumps, etc . The second study was to figure out the economic feasibility. Mr. Austic said that these engineers are good in finding ways to solve problems that count for grant money. Ms . Marino said that now there is just one plan and the Board has never discussed any other plans, any smaller scaling and Ms . Marino said that she remembers many different discussions where the Board clarified this and now the Town has this plan that is being used to shop for money. Mr. Austic said that this is a proposed plan and it does say the Town is going to do this or that it is what can be done because the Town could get this much funding, a no interest loan and grants . Mr. Austic said that if you start chopping things up some of those things will go . Mr. Austic said that in Mr. Pond ' s presentation it does go into why you go here or go there and what you get by doing that. Mr. Ellis feels that the report that the Board has from the engineer is not what the Board asked for and that is the five plans that may help with the comprehensive plan . Regular Town Board Meeting 13 02/ 14/2006 Mr. Austic says that he does not ever remember the comprehensive plan being part of the discussion to approve the scope-of service to the engineer. Mr. Austic said that the Town ' s Comprehensive Plan says that we as a Town should, if possible supply services to the Town ' s residents. Ms . Marino would like to see the Board clarify more of what they are doing. Ms. Marino said she has talked to a lot of people and in light of what the Village said at their meeting last night and what Mr. Ferrentino just said about water fitting into the Comprehensive Plan great but if not maybe the Town should not do it . Ms . Marino said that she would like the Town to have a laid out procedure for where the Town is going with this report. The report suggests that it is recommended that the Town presents this to the Health Department and potential funding agencies . It is this plan that is going forward . Ms. Marino said she drafted a resolution that she would like the Board to discuss and distributed copies . Ms . Marino said that she does not sense that the Board knows where they are going and she feels that there are a lot of issues . Mr. Austic said that he does not understand how the Board is ever going to get a sense of what the engineer is talking about unless he comes and presents it. Ms . Marino said that she is not saying he should not come but she would like more clarification. Mr. Ellis thinks that maybe it is worth while to talk to Mr. Pond but the issue is what the engineer gave the Board and Mr. Ellis thinks it needs to be resolved among the Board. Mr. Ellis says the first question is did the engineering firm perform the contract and Mr. Ellis feels that they did not . Mr. Austic feels that they did. Ms . Marino said she would like to move the following resolution : Whereas the Town Board is overdue with the recommended 5 year review and revision of the Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan, And whereas part of such review should be the consideration of the appropriate development of new water districts, with due consideration of both the positive and negative aspects, And whereas the Town Board commissioned an engineering study of alternatives for water district development that could address several areas of concern or need in the Town of Ulysses in February 2005 , And the Town Board has not yet been presented with a report of feasible alternatives from said study, And whereas implementation of the next steps of the Engineering Report for Water District No . 5 , presented to the Town in December 2005 by Barton & Loguidice, P . C . will require significant appropriation of Town funds, estimated at $ 65 ,000, And whereas there is a clear and growing need for focused planning in the areas of the Town-Village interface, in cooperation with the recently begun comprehensive planning process in the Village of Trumansburg, The Town Board hereby resolves that presentation of the December 2005 Engineering Report for District No . 5 to the Tompkins County Health Dept, and implementation of the additional steps recommended in such. report will not proceed until : a. ) the Town Board is presented with a series of alternatives for water district development and associated rationale for these alternatives, Regular Town Board Meeting 14 02/ 14/2006 b .) the Town Board can engage the public and other stakeholders such as New York State Parks and the Village of Trumansburg in additional discussions on the draft water district plan and various alternate engineering and cost options , and c .) the Town forms a Comprehensive Plan review committee and engages in a town- wide review of the 1999 Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan, and said Committee issues preliminary recommendations on new water district development, if any, as part of such Plan . Be it also resolved that the Town recognizes the need for water source improvement for Taughannock Falls State Park in order to comply with Tompkins County Health Department directives and that connection to a municipal water system is one option for such compliance, And therefore, the above steps (a - c) will taken by the Town as expediently as possible, with a target date of December 15 , 2006 . Mr. Austic said that this resolution is the same thing that Mr. Ellis just proposed which combines the water district with the comprehensive Plan. Ms . Marino said that it is the introduction point to why she thinks she needs the Town to have this procedure be timed differently because to her it is going forward without the planning in place and she would like to see some of the planning in place before the Town makes major decisions about water district establishment. Ms . Marino said that the Village Board said that at their meeting last night from her understanding of their resolution to the Town. Mr. Austic said that it is not a Village Board project. Ms . Marino said she knows but they are part of the Town and they will be affected by it and they are stake holders and Ms . Marino also believes that the State Parks wants to have more discussions of other alternatives . Mr. Austic said that the State Park representative was in the office yesterday and did not say that . Ms . Marino says that different people that work for the State think different things . Ms . Marino said that the Board has never had a discussion with the Park . Mr. Austic said that the whole plan is to get people in here to talk to them . Ms . Marino said she wants a more formal procedure of what the Town is doing, are we moving forward and getting money, getting grants? She is opposed to moving forward with this draft plan at this time . Mr. Austic asked her if she was opposed to getting a grant to do the engineering. Mr. Coogan said that the grant is effective dead as of today when he received a letter from the Village where they say no . The grant is a shared municipal grant and without another municipality there will be no grant. Ms . Marino is opposed to one particular project, rather than a grant to help the Town look at alternatives , which she thought it was when she voted on the 5`" and she was wrong. Mr. Ferrentino said it is hard to believe that the Village of Trumansburg would not move forward with this when they are under the gun to get a secondary source to supply water and if the Town does not move forward and get that to them they are in deep trouble. Mr. Ellis said that he did not get the impression from the Village Board that they feel under the gun at all to get a secondary water source . Mr. Ellis said that they did have a lot to say about a possibility of all kinds of new water resources being provided all the way around the Village and what that might mean for the Village . Mr. Austic said that the Health Department has said that. Mr. Austic said that the Town Comprehensive Plan is to concentrate development around the Village in housing and that kind of stuff. Regular Town Board Meeting 15 02/ 14/2006 Ms . Marino said she thinks that there is concern that the Town and Village need a common agreement as to where they are going. Ms . Tyler asked about clarification of the different engineering reports that she has . Mr. Ellis said that for the proposed water district he clearly sees the vision and the leadership behind this and that most likely comes from Mr. Austic and most likely is a good one and good for the Town, the Village and a whole lot of folks, which he feels is the case, but the presentation of it and the procedure is going to be sensitive because it is going to have both real impacts, positive as far as the Board can see, and other impacts that are sort of the ones that people imagine that may be positive or negative. The Board is going to have to deal with that in an orderly way because a lot of folks have to buy into this before it goes ahead. Mr. Ellis thinks that probably that is very good and it really should go ahead and Mr. Ellis says he probably would be proud to be a part of it but he thinks the Board is going to have to get right down to how the Town can go ahead and accomplish all these things with everybody feeling like it is being done right and is the right thing. Mr. Austic said that the Board has to understand that a water district may not affect the whole Town. In the Town a water district affects only the people that have availability to the water. Where the engineers designed this to go there are very serious problems with water and the engineers found that out by talking to people . This is just a proposal designed not for the Town but for certain areas . Ms . Marino said that it would also have impacts on the Town and the way the Town grows in the future and have impacts beyond just the people in the district . Mr. Ferrentino said when he looked at the proposed water district to him it gets everything accomplished everything that it needs to . It gets water to the State Park and the park needs water, they are under the gun. Mr. Ferrentino said that the State Park is an intricate part of the Town and the Town Board should be working in anyway to accommodate that because they have a major impact on the tourism and the activity in the Town. Mr. Ferrentino said that the Village of Trumansburg is in deep trouble whether they admit it or not they are out of time with dealing with a secondary supply. The Village has already spent $ 80,000 as a mission to get this accomplished . Mr. Ferrentino finds it hard to believe that the Village of Trumansburg is fighting getting a grant where the Town could get monies to look towards the engineering of this district. This should be done so it can be looked at closer and brought to the people for their final okay. The Board continued discussion of the proposed water district . Mr. Austic explained the process that the Town took with Water District #3 . Mr. Ellis thinks what Ms . Marino is trying to do with her resolution is what he thinks makes the most sense and for that reason Mr. Ellis seconded the motion. Mr. Ellis thinks this is a great grand plan for the Town of Ulysses given the size of the Town. Mr. Ferrentino feels that it is great grand plan and only wishes that Iradell Road was not included because there are a lot of people on that road that would like water. Mr. Ferrentino says he gets very irritated when he hears people say water, no development or development and that is not right in his opinion. The Town should be looking at what is good for the people. If the Town waits to long the Town could lose the opportunity for the monies and could lose the opportunity to increase the residents in that district but ultimately it is up to the residents in the purposed district to say they want it. But ultimately you have to start out with a plan and you shout for the best that you can get and than if you have to scale back because of the dollars and Mr. Ferrentino ' s assumption is that the Town is doing the right thing to get water to these residents . Mr. Ferrentino said that it is not his business if someone develops on a particular road; if so great more taxes come into the Town. Mr. Ferrentino says he looks at this as a major positive service to the Town ' s people. Mr. Ferrentino said that if the Town can get grant money for the engineering it is a shame that we can not get that grant money because the Village won ' t agree so that the Town can engineer it out and than when the Town sits down to talk about the comprehensive plan we would have the information. Mr. Ferrentino asked how much of the current comprehensive plan is going to be changed, what can we do with the comprehensive plan that the Town has ? Regular Town Board Meeting 16 02/ 14/2006 Ms . Marino said that the current plan was done in 1999 before any water district was developed and it does say what Mr. Austic stated, it is an overall development and growth and direction plan for the Town. A water district changes development potential a lot. Ms . Marino said that she is just advocating she is not opposed in anyway getting fresh water to people. Ms . Marino said that the procedure is not what she understood it to be and she would like to have a procedure over the next year that the Board all agrees is what is happening and there are not people talking to the State Park, the engineer, and others but the Town Board is never told about it in an open discussion. Mr. Austic disagreed . Mr. Ellis remembers the engineer being here and going over the five sketches and they were going to be expanded and then have more understanding of the five alternatives and then the Board could sit down and make decisions based upon that information. Mr. Austic reviewed the agreement that the Board has with NYS Ag & Markets that was made during the Water District #3 . Mr. Austic said that if the water goes through the agricultural district, which it does and no body other than who is all ready there or farming operation or house that is there could hook into the water, you can not build new and hook in. The Board feels that this type of information should be out to the public . Ms . Marino said that she would like to hear from the State Park. She has talked to someone there and Mr. Austic has talked to someone and she would like the Board to hear what they have to say. Mr. Austic said that he has a concern about the timeline in Ms . Marino ' s resolution to put the water district off Mr. Austic said that it takes a long time to do a water district, if you say the Town is going to wait until February of 2007 than that is throwing away a couple of years because you are behind on things that have to be mailed to other people and organizations . Mr. Ellis asked Mr. Austic what kind of date he would like to see . Mr. Austic said that the State Park has an announcement from the Health Department that they will so something to them unless the Town is in the process of planning to get to the Park by October of 2006 . Ms . Marino said she would like to talk to the State Park about this before the Town uses that as an excuse to move forward on the water. Ms . Marino says that she does not believe the State Park at all cost wants the Town to do this ASAP , she thinks that the Park has other concerns about the Town. Mr. Austic said that the original question is when does the Board want to come and speak to these people, tell him when to have Eric Pond, the State Park, give Mr. Austic a time and he will get them here . The resolution was called for a vote. Mr. Austic nay Mr. Ferrentino nay Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted . Mr. Austic again asked the Board to set a date for Eric Pond and the State to come to a Special Board Meeting. Several dates were discussed and three dates were left open — March 7th, Stn , or 9t" . Mr. Austic will check with Mr. Pond. Other Meeting Rule Proposal Regular Town Board Meeting 17 02/ 14/2006 Tabled because of the lateness of the evening, will be discussed at the next Regular Board meeting. Schedule Two Monthly Town Board Meetings Ms . Marino would like the Board to consider having two regular scheduled meetings a month instead of one. One meeting would be the regular business meeting and than there would be a slot to talk about other things coming up because it seems that the Board is having Special Board meetings every month and than if there is nothing to talk about it could be cancelled. Mr. Ferrentino said that he was against having a resolution such as the ones Ms . Marino and Mr. Ellis distributed at the meeting tonight without the Board having time to review it before hand . Ms . Marino said this should be discussed within the rules of procedure. PUBLIC COMMENTS No public comments heard. CORRESPONDENCE None distributed. ADDITIONAL ITEMS No additional items heard . ADJOURNEMENT Hearing no further business Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned after 10pm. Respectfully submitted, Marsha L. Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk MLG : mlg