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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-05-27-WTBI TOWN BOARD MEETING Town of Ulysses May 27, 2014 Audio of the minutes are available on the website at ulysses.ny.us. The meeting was held at the Ulysses Town Hall at 10 Elm Street, Trumansburg. PRESENT: Supervisor- Liz Thomas Board members- Rich Goldman, John Hertzler, Nancy Zahler Clerk- Carissa Parlato 2nd Deputy Supervisor- Michelle Wright Environmental Planner- Darby Kiley ABSENT: David Kerness OTHERS PRESENT for a portion of the meeting: Ben Carver, Paul Pennock, Anthony Ouckama, Durand Van Doren, Sharon Bilotta, Janice Johnson Notice of Town Board meetings are posted on the website and clerk's board. Ms. Thomas called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. GENERAL BUSINESS: APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA RESOLUTION 2014-114: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve the agenda for the May 27, 2014 meeting with the following additions: general announcements from Ms. Thomas, an update on the sidewalk under new business, and a review of the next meeting's agenda. Moved: Ms. Thomas Seconded: Mr. Hertzler Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Kemess absent Mr. Goldman aye Mr. Hertzler aye Vote: 4-0 Date Adopted: 5/27/14 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 5/13/14 RESOLUTION 2014-115: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve the minutes for May 13, 2014 as edited. Moved: Ms. Thomas Seconded: Ms. Zahler Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman aye Mr. Hertzler aye Vote: 4-0 Date Adopted: 5/27/14 PRESENTATION: Youth Prommmin2 2 Mr. Van Doren, chair of the Youth Commission, shared information on the various programs offered through the commission. Rural Youth Services serves about 250 youth during the school year; and about 200 youth are served by the summer recreation program. Other programs include the library's summer reading program; youth employment program; and the recreation partnership which allows Ulysses youth to get a discount on programs offered through Ithaca Youth Bureau. The fees for the rec partnership may be increasing by about $300 this year. Mr. Pennock, the school liaison to the commission, quoted the adage "an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure" with respect to the youth programs. The program managers, Anthony Ouckama and Mike Perry, target youth who may not be involved in other activities, and help them foster healthy interests. Mr. Van Doren continued his discussion by noting that the program is run on a small budget, and that movie nights will happen again this year at the end of July/early August. Ms. Thomas inquired as to whether the county has plans to make any more cuts to youth funding based on the state cuts. Ms. Johnson, a County Youth Services staff, said that the legislature has not yet made a decision. The County Administrator has asked for a 1% decrease across the board. However, the state has allocated about $6000 more for the county to disperse among its municipalities. Ms. Zahler explained the collaborative nature of youth services in the county: each municipality has a volunteer group to help make decisions about youth programming in their towns. The Ulysses commission is composed of town & village community members, a school liaison, town and village board liaisons, and a county youth services representative. Mr. Ouckama, the middle school program manager, shared the programs that he is offering. Programs are created based on student interest and benefit. Community resources are drawn upon. The programs provide a place for students to connect to other students and develop new interests. Announcements from Ms. Thomas: • The county has passed legislation encouraging people who are building new homes to use the LEED guidelines/criteria. This will enable eligibility for tax breaks for 7-10 years. The town could find more ways to encourage "green" building in Ulysses. • Historic Ithaca is hosting an old homes tour on June 7 in Brooktondale. • The Trumansburg Senior Citizens newsletter is available if anyone would like to read it. This is a group that the town funds. • A library fundraiser is scheduled in June at Americana Winery. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: (no comments spoken nor submitted) OLD BUSINESS: PERSONNEL POLICY UPDATE: Healthcare and review rest of policy The board discussed how to move forward with this topic and identified the following issues that need to be addressed: • Clarification of the smoking policy • Clarification of the comp time policy • Whether to approve all the pieces except healthcare • Setting a deadline for voting on the policy • Getting a presentation on ACA (Affordable Care Act) from the county Chamber of Commerce • Determining what the guiding principles are for healthcare: balancing quality employee benefits with fiscal prudence of taxpayers' dollars • Tax credits for ACA • Projecting staff costs into the future • Retiree coverage Ms. Thomas distributed a spreadsheet showing salaries and town contributions to retirement and health care from 2008-2013. Mr. Goldman is concerned that the town's current "Cadillac" plan is not sustainable, nor philosophically ethical to tax payers. Employees should have coverage similar to the community members that they represent. Ms. Thomas suggests waiting a year before making any drastic changes to the healthcare policy as the system is currently in flux, nationally. Ms. Zahler is working with a Cornell graduate student to develop some comparisons. She will pass on the information when she receives it. The group agreed that an "apples to apples" analysis comparing private insurance/health consortium/health exchange rates is needed. Ms. Zahler will contact Jean McPheeters from the Chamber of Commerce who is well -versed on the healthcare exchange for businesses. NEW BUSINESS: SIDEWALK GRANT/transportation alternatives - Ms. Kiley and Ms. Wright have been working on a sidewalk grant, along with the village of Trumansburg. The grant will primarily cover sidewalks in selected areas of the village, i.e. those used for school and daily needs. The town section that funds are being applied for is from the fairgrounds to ShurSave. Ms. Kiley and Ms. Wright have been working with the Department of Transportation, the county engineer, TCAT, and NYSEG. The total cost at this point is still being estimated but will be spread over 2 years, as well as an additional match of in-kind services. Ms. Thomas shared a draft resolution in preparation for voting at the June 10 meeting. EMERGENCY MGMT PLANNING: Ms. Wright presented an introduction to the Emergency Preparedness Plan Update project. The first step is to pass a resolution stating that the town will use NIMS (National Incident Management System) in the event of an emergency. This will make the town eligible for FEMA funds if necessary. RESOLUTION 2014-116: WHEREAS, Homeland Security Presidential Directive / HSPD-5, 28 Feb 2003 established the National Incident Management System (NIMS); and WHEREAS, the NIMS establishes a single, comprehensive approach to domestic incident management to ensure that all levels of government across the Nation have the capability to work efficiently and effectively together using a national approach to domestic incident management; and WHEREAS, the NIMS provides a consistent nationwide approach for Federal, State, and local governments to work together to prepare for and respond to, and recover from domestic incidents regardless of the cause, size or complexity; and WHEREAS, the NIMS provides for interoperability and compatibility among Federal, State and local capabilities and includes a core set of concepts, principles, terminology and technologies covering the incident command system, unified command, training, management of resources and reporting; and WHEREAS, beginning October 1, 2004 all Federal departments and agencies shall make adoption of the NIMS a requirement, to the extent provided by law, for providing Federal preparedness assistance through grants, contracts or other activities to local governments; NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Town of Ulysses hereby adopts the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as its system of preparing for and responding to disaster incidents. Moved: Ms. Zahler Seconded: Mr. Goldman El Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman aye Mr. Hertzler aye Vote: 4-0 Date Adopted: 5/27/14 Other considerations: • Working jointly on the plan with the village • Emergency response training- which aspect/ for whom? • Development of a committee composed of agencies, resources, community members and municipal officials WATER DISTRICT update: Ms. Thomas and Ms. Wright compiled and shared a spreadsheet of water district maintenance costs: those of Bolton Point vs. the town hiring someone new. The figures did not include a final tally but it appears that Bolton Point will be more expensive. This topic will be revisited at the next meeting. JACKSONVILLE PROPERTIES owned by Exxon/Mobil: Exxon/Mobil shared the results of a visual structural evaluation that they had ordered. It does not include dollar amounts but classifies the condition of the property to be poor to fair. Next steps include getting a cost estimate on restoration from Exxon/Mobil as well as Romanoff/Adams, community visioning, searching for grants. The DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) has declared the site clear of contaminants. Exxon/Mobil will also do a soil test. AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE JUNE 10 MEETING • Public hearing on the zoning map change • zoning map change resolution • Consideration of a new Planning Board chair- must be appointed by the June 24 meeting. • A presentation from Paul Mazzarella • Discussion of the proposed new code enforcement law • Sidewalk resolution • Bolton point resolution PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: (no comments submitted nor spoken) ADJOURN: Ms. Thomas made a motion to adjourn the meeting at l Opm, seconded by Mr.Hertzler. Respectfully submitted by Carissa Parlato, 6/3/14