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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-14-RTBI TOWN BOARD MEETING Town of Ulysses October 14, 2014 Audio of the minutes are available on the website at ulvsses.nv.us. The meeting was held at the Ulysses Town Hall at 10 Elm Street, Trumansburg. PRESENT: Supervisor- Liz Thomas Board members- John Hertzler, Nancy Zahler, Rich Goldman (arrived at 8:05 p.m.), Clerk- Carissa Parlato Highway Superintendent- Jim Meeker Planning/Zoning Officer- Darby Kiley Second Deputy Supervisor- Michelle Wright ABSENT: (Via speakerphone)- Dave Kerness OTHERS: Glynnis Hart Notice of Town Board meetings are posted on the town's website and clerk's board. Ms. Thomas called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. GENERAL BUSINESS: APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA RESOLUTION 2014-177: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve the agenda for the Oct. 14, 2014 meeting with the changes as noted. Moved: Ms. Thomas Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman absent Vote: 3-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 Seconded: Ms. Zahler APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 9/10 (STB), 9/19 (STB), 9/23 (PI), 9/23 (PH), 9/23 (WTB), 10/2 (STB) 2 RESOLUTION 2014-178: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve the minutes of 9/10, 9/19, 9/23, 9/23, 10/2. Moved: Ms. Thomas Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman absent Vote: 3-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Seconded: Ms. Zahler RESOLUTION 2014-179: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve payment of claims 1 through 53 in the amount of $148,986.54. Moved: Ms. Thomas Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman absent Vote: 3-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 Seconded: Ms. Zahler APPROVAL OF BUDGET MODIFICATIONS RESOLUTION 2014-180: BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board approve the following budget modifications: A1410.1 Town Clerk PS increase $12,000 A1990.4 Contingency decrease $12,000 (Town clerk overall salary increase to account for full time work rather than budgeted 30 hours per week.) A6497.2 Econ Development, Equipment & Capital increase $6,000 A1990.4 Contingency decrease $6,000 9 (As per the TCCOG agreement, this is payment to the Town of Caroline for full coverage of broadband in all of Tompkins County. To account for this cost, the budget line A6497.2 was created.) Moved: Ms. Thomas Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Kerness absent Mr. Goldman absent Vote: 3-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: (none) Seconded: Ms. Zahler TOWN REPORTS: (see appendix) REPRESENTATIVES (none) PLANNING BOARD / ZONING OFFICER HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TOWN CLERK CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER SUPERVISOR DEPUTY SUPERVISOR TOWN BOARD MEMBERS AND COMMITTEES ATTORNEY FOR THE TOWN CAPITAL EXPENSES FOR HIGHWAY Mr. Kerness presented a spreadsheet of capital plans for highway expenses. Mr. Goldman arrived at this time. The group discussed the DA fund (highway) of the 2015 budget, as well as projections for year-end expenses for 2014. Discussion on this portion ended and Mr. Meeker was excused at 8:51 p.m. OLD BUSINESS: LOCAL LAW #5 of 2014: A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND THE ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS OF LOCAL LAW #1 OF 2007, WHICH PROVIDES FOR ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE NYS UNIFORM FIRE PREVENTION AND BUILDING CODE. RESOLUTION 2014-181: WHEREAS the Town of Ulysses needs additional tools that go beyond what exists in Local Law #1 of 2007 to enforce provisions of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code that address unsafe structures and properties with significant exterior property maintenance violations; and WHEREAS in these situations, the new law provides additional enforcement tools, including, but not limited to, enabling the town to arrange for the needed repairs and then add the costs of these repairs to the property owner's tax bill; and WHEREAS the final version of this law was presented to the Ulysses Town Board on September 10, 2014; and WHEREAS the public hearing date was set by resolution of the Town Board on August 12, 2014 and amended on August 26, 2014 to be held on the date of September 23, 2014; and WHEREAS notice of the public hearing was printed in the Ithaca Journal on September 15, 2014; and WHEREAS a public information meeting and public hearing were held on September 23, 2014; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Ulysses Town Board hereby adopts Local Law #5 of 2014: A Local Law to amend the enforcement provisions of the Local Law #1 of 2007, which provides for the administration and enforcement of the NYS Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code. Moved: Ms. Zahler Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Goldman aye Mr. Kerness absent Vote: 4-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 EMS BILLING Seconded: Mr. Hertzler The clerk distributed copies of the latest version of the EMS billing plan created by Ms. Zahler, Mr. Hertzler, and Ms. Wright. The board agreed to take up discussion of the document at a future meeting. BUDGET DISCUSSION: The board set two additional dates for budget meetings: 7-9pm on Wednesday, Oct. 15. 5-7pm on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Ms. Zahler made a motion to move into executive session at 9:10 p.m., seconded by Ms. Thomas; passed unanimously, to discuss matters of personnel. E Mr. Goldman made a motion to move out of executive session at 9:29 p.m., seconded by Ms. Thomas; passed unanimously. The budget discussion was taken up again. SETTING A DATE FOR THE BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING: RESOLUTION 2014-182: BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses set a date of October 28, 2014 at 8 p.m. at the Town Hall, 10 Elm Street, Trumansburg, NY for the Public Hearing on the Preliminary Budget. Moved: Ms. Thomas Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Zahler aye Mr. Hertzler aye Mr. Goldman aye Mr. Kerness absent Vote: 4-0 Date Adopted: 10/14/14 Seconded: Mr. Goldman BUDGET REVIEW: The board continued their budget discussion, going through sales tax, water districts and revisiting issues from earlier discussions. A D --t"1 TR N Mr. Goldman made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:32 p.m., seconded by Ms. Zahler; passed unanimously. Respectfully submitted by Carissa Parlato on 10/24/14 1.1 APPENDIX to 10/14/14 meeting: TOWN REPORTS: REPRESENTATIVES (no reports) PLANNING BOARD / ZONING OFFICER - Planning Board - The Planning Board reviewed Sketch Plans for three Lakeshore residences, which are all located in the Slope Overlay Area (one reviewed on 9/16 and two reviewed on 10/7). BZA On 10/1/14, the BZA overturned the Zoning Officer's determination on the definition of Existing Lots, and then granted variances for the residential property in the Lakeshore District. Enforcement actions Stormwater violation: Continuing to work with property owners and engineer on Pennsylvania Ave property. Zoning violation: 1942 Trumansburg Rd — At the court appearance on 9/23/14, it was discussed that the property is not being cleaned up as agreed to at the site visit on 8/28/14. The next court date is scheduled for 10/16/14. Noise complaint: Received a noise complaint from a neighbor, and discussed the issue with the property owner. Grants Energy Projects: Grant — The Project Team is beginning to move forward with the project though still waiting for NYSERDA to sign the grant contract. Other Meetings/Issues WRC: At the September 15th meeting, the WRC heard an update on the Tompkins County Stream Corridor Restoration and Flood Hazard Mitigation Program, which funded the design of the project on the South St Ext escarpment, and this year will be funding a Taughannock Creek watershed roadside ditch treatment. The WRC also heard about the City of Ithaca's Stormwater Law, which was established as a financing mechanism for long-term planning. Stormwater Coalition of Tompkins County: At the 9/17 meeting, the Coalition heard a presentation on the Cayuga Lake Monitoring and Modeling project and discussed the possible development of a TMDL for the South End of Cayuga Lake. The Coalition also discussed the City of Ithaca's Stormwater Law. The Green Infrastructure tour was held on October 9th, but due to poor attendance, the tour was canceled. Smart Energy Policy Group: The Group met on 9/10 and 10/8 and continued to discuss solar, including solar permitting and work with OPTONY; the new building code and how to inform and educate local code officials; and TCCOG and how to support sustainability issues in the county. HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - installed culvert pipe on Maplewood Road cleaned ditches on Colegrove, Dubois, Hinging Post Roads 7 assisted Covert, Enfield, Village on projects paved Curry Road stoned and oiled Hinging Post Road, Albrectsen, Colegrove, Curry Roads replaced road crossing pipe on Maplewood Road installed driveway pipes on Garrett, Colegrove Roads sealed new pavement TOWN CLERK Financial report for Sept: Collected $9799. in fees for licenses (dog, marriage, sporting) The town keeps $1162.75. of that. Licenses issued: Sporting licenses- 25 ($8543.25 sold; the town's commission is $497.75) Disabled parking permits- 5 Dog licenses and renewals- 44 Marriage licenses- 2 Activities: Attended a Records Mgmt. meeting with a representative from the NY State Archives to learn more about this often neglected portion of many clerks job. The state has guidelines on where/how records should be stored, etc. Got accounts configured on printers to help better track town expenses. Updated various areas of the town's website, mostly the Town Historian page. Organized several special meetings O Tracked applications on the county personnel website for PB/BZA clerk applicants Set up mtg. with FLTG re: phone/intemet system. They will give us an estimate. Attended Health Consort. mtg to get info on the dependent/spouse eligibility audit. Drafted and sent letters to affected employees/retirees who will need to supply me with documents to prove eligibility. Currently working with Excellus to become the agency administrator to switch eligible employees from family plans to 2 single plans. Meeting minutes, meeting minutes, meeting minutes! Other routine clerk tasks- collecting and processing water payments, answering questions, issuing marriage, conservation, and dog licenses, keeping the books balanced, etc. CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER (no report) SUPERVISOR Budget (meetings on 10/2, 10/8, 10/13) Preparing the 2015 tentative budget, answering TB requests and refiguring budget with changes absorbed the majority of Supervisor time this month. Water District (meeting 9/10, 9/25, 10/6) Prepare and send chlorination by-product reports to Department of Health. 9/10 Meet with Bolton Point. Follow through on draft contract with Bolton Point to manage parts of WD3, review with Fred/Jim, Bolton Point contacts, and attorneys. N. 10/6 Meet with Water District Commission to explain options for correcting TTHM violations. Arrange meeting with Dept of Health, Engineer for the Town, the Water District Operator and Town Supervisor. 9/25 Meet with Dept of Health and above. Review engineer findings, arrange for copies for the Dept of Health, talk to engineer with plan, calculate TTHMs and add to running totals file, send to DoH, contact water commission members, contact Fred Dean. TCCOG — meeting 9/24 Planning meeting 10/9 Organize joint meeting of Planning Board and Town Board to discuss roles and goals. Read through digests and discussions of the role of all parts of the planning process. Discuss with Counsel for the Town, chair of Planning Board, Zoning Officer, other board members (both Planning and Town). 10/9 officiate joint meeting of boards. Code Enforcement meeting 9/23 Help organize public information meeting and public hearing for new code enforcement regulations. EMS/Fire — meeting 9/10 Review Fire/EMS budgets, give feedback. Personnel Policy — meeting 9/19 Finalize language and appendices. 9/19 — plan meeting with employees and officiate meeting to discuss new personnel policy. Stormwater This was extremely time consuming. Revise Stormwater Operation and Maintenance agreement, review with Town Attorney and take questions from applicant's attorney. Review pre and post development maps, dig into definition of meadow, learn about off site management of water and how it is taken into account in SWPPP, etc. Ag Committee Review recruitment letter. Other (meetings 9/18) Weekly review of topics with attorney for the town. Prepare agendas, background documents, review topics with TB members, conduct meetings, review minutes. Review claims and budget, make suggested budget modifications to be approved by TB, review payroll, sign checks, Plan for change in bookkeeper position. 9/18 Trails: organize trail mapping meeting. 9/15-17 - Vacation Periodic check in with Town Clerk and Deputy Supervisor re: work load and coordination. Give input on new webpage for emergencies. Review material on how to declare emergencies, chain of command, and communications. Keep up with email on drilling: waste, pipelines, cancer connections, water quality, storage, etc. Review appropriations for the month. 6 DEPUTY SUPERVISOR — Ms. Wright Training with Mary New York State Retirement System Payroll: completed for the first time by myself Research into a more streamlined and less expensive software through currently used accounting software (Quickbooks) Water deposits General deposits Set up credentials for remote deposits Vouchers Documentation of the bookkeeping position details 2015 Budget Cost projections for health care coverage Cost projections for employee salaries Employee salary and benefits cost projections (retirement, social security, health coverage) Consolidation research funding Utility Report Set a time to meet with OPTONY contact regarding 3rd party analysis of both town hall and town barn solar production and electricity costs Communications with Direct Energy and NYSEG regarding balance and credit Communications with OPTONY re: third party opinion on billing status Street light inventory for posterity's sake if we ever want to install solar street lights EMS Billing Met with John Hertzler and Nancy regarding information gathering, action steps Development and gathering of draft resolutions, proposed policies Communication with Brian Snyder and Eric Dodge with subsequent documentation and integration into documents Newsletter: fall 2014 mailed, the newsletter mailing list continues to get updated and improved; extra newsletters (paper waste) continues to decrease with more exact ordering. Hand delivery to village locations (laundromats, etc). Agriculture Committee Organization Meeting with Brian H., John W., and Liz Ag related mailing list development Ag committee application creation Ag related data management Emergency Preparedness Plan Met with Jason Fulton regarding emergency plan and Fire Department during -event job descriptions. Through Jason I got connected with an amazing document that will serve as the basis for the draft emergency prep plan. Continued work on action items: required paper work from NYS during an emergency event, further development of during -emergency action items. Through County resources obtained a document that is currently being analyze as a starting point for our individualized local government plan. 10 Something for the future: I would like to plan a community training for emergency prep in collaboration with the village and the Fire Department. The county is willing to come out and provide this training. Miscellaneous Continued work with as the BZA/Planning Board Clerk Met with Carissa regarding passing on some projects I had documented that need to be done, but with upcoming duties are likely not to get to Consolidation research: communications regarding setting up a meeting time with NYSDOS, Seneca Falls, Marty and Liz. Development of job description for PB/BZA Clerk position, subsequent recruitment efforts via Tompkins County, Craigslist Upload of meetings audios to website DEPUTY SUPERVISOR — Ms. Zahler- V(-lT TTA Forwarded Youth Commission funding requests for 2015 to Supervisor for budgeting Met with Youth Commission on 10/7 to review current programs and listen to community members who are interested in improving the variety and accessibility of youth recreation programs. A recreation sub -committee meeting will be held October 15 to follow up on the suggestions. Revised Memorandum of Understanding for Youth Programs and sent it to Village Youth Commissioner Ben Carver for review Will be contacting Ithaca Youth Bureau to express concerns re: limited access to some youth recreation programs. VILLAGE of Trumansburg Received and forwarded to Carissa for distribution the Village Police report for responses outside of Village Requested that calls indicate which law enforcement agency requested assistance Will not be able to attend the Village Trustees re -scheduled October meeting scheduled for 10/16 Followed up with Fire Chief Fulton re: Town resident's inquiry at Public Hearing re: barn burning as a training exercise for Fire Department as a way of removing an unused barn to avoid more costly code enforcement. EMS Billing Worked with John Hertzler and Michelle Wright on a set of policies being presented on 10/14/14 for TB review at a future meeting. JACKSONVILLE Met with representatives from Exxon/Mobil to review winterizing repairs needed to stabilize the old church. Repairs may begin later this Fall, after the contractor's bid has been reviewed and approved by E/M. Also discussed status of soil testing. Samples have been collected from all properties owned by Exxon/Mobil as promised. Results may not be available until November 2014. Talked with Blue Ox gas station manager about excavation to assure there was no gasoline leak. The moisture sensors on one gas tank needed to be replaced. Repair was done in consultation with DEC and re -paving has been completed. 11 Submitted a report on these activities to the Jacksonville List Serve to report back to community. Talked with DEC regional staff responsible for the closed Exxon/Mobil spill ticket and for Blue Ox to arrange access to the results of soil testing being done by GES for Exxon/Mobil and to confirm report from Blue Ox. Requested and received case records and copy of the consent agreement with Exxon/Mobil for the Mobil oil leaks that began in the 1970's. The FOIL'd documents have been forwarded to the Town Clerk and Historian for archives. Submitted a budget request for $4,500 to enable a seminar from Cornell University to conduct a spring semester workshop to help develop a community re -design for re- vitalizing the hamlet. Attended the Water District 3 Advisory Committee convened by Supervisor Thomas to stay up to date on options for managing and remediating the water quality issues. HISTORIAN As liaison to the Town Historians, I am reporting that John Wertis, Sr. has gotten approval from the Trumansburg Free Press to print a monthly article on some aspect of the Town's history. The first installment appeared October 8, 2014: A History of Booze in Ulysses, to put in historical context the re -opening of the Rongovian Embassy on Main Street and the establishment previously operated as Rascals on Rt. 96. The Town's website now has a fuller explanation of the role and services of the historians under the Departments Tab- check it out. CHAMBER of COMMERCE Will attend Networking Luncheon on October 23 at 12 Annual Meeting will be November 12 TOWN BOARD MEMBERS AND COMMITTEES: Mr. Hertzler- Attended Environmental Management Council (EMC) where UNAs (Unique Natural Areas) were discussed. Some areas have been added/changed. The county is holding comprehensive plan meetings in various municipalities. ATTORNEY FOR THE TOWN (no report)