Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.20.2006 Minutes.pdf 1 Minutes of the Board of Trustees November 20, 2006 Village of Cayuga Heights Meeting of the Board of Trustees Present: Mayor Lynn, Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount, Staley, Attorney Tyler, Police Chief Lansing, Fire Supt. Tamborelle, Treasurer Silber Absent: Trustee Antil, Supt. Cross Others Present: Jeff Zamanski, CHFD Company President, Michael Burke, Resident The Public Hearing on the proposal of a change in Local Law 2 of the Year 2004 detailing administration and enforcement of building and fire prevention codes in the Village of Cayuga Heights was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Lynn. Attorney Tyler, in Supt. Cross’s absence, gave a brief statement regarding the proposed code enforcement change. There being no one in the audience commenting, the Public Hearing was closed at 7:05 P.M. Motion by Trustee Collyer Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Move to pass Resolution 6228 approving the change in Local Law #2 of 2004. The new Law will become Local Law 2 of 2006. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. NOTE: Even though this Resolution was passed, the Attorney will write up the formal Resolution with the proper wording and present it at the December meeting along with a final draft with a couple of technical revisions for Board approval. *********************************************************************** The Minutes of October 16 were presented for approval. Motion by Trustee Bisogni Seconded by Trustee Kaplan Move to pass Resolution 6233 approving the Minutes of October 16 with corrections as noted. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. Privilege of the Floor – No one wished to speak at the Privilege of the Floor. *********************************************************************** 2 Report of the Mayor The Mayor introduced Jeff Zamanski, Fire Company President, and asked the Board’s approval on the letter written by Jeff to solicit funds for the Fire Company. The Mayor explained that any letter soliciting funds must be approved by the Village Trustees. This letter lists who the Company is and what their plans are for the money. There was some general discussion on some of the wording, but the final decision was that the Trustees have read, made some minor suggestions of changes, but have agreed that the letter is acceptable to send out to the Fire District. Included in the information packet to the Trustees was the TCCOG (Tompkins County Council of Governments) Grant Application. The Trustees passed the Resolution approving this grant application in October. There was also information distributed about the training of ZBA and Planning Board members. The NYS pamphlet promotes the training of municipal planning and zoning officials. Training information is also available on the web. TCAT wants to start an advisory group and is soliciting the Village to nominate someone to be willing to serve on their committee. If anyone has any suggestions, please see the Mayor. Also included in the Board packet was a letter from the Department of Assessment informing us that the New York Legislature has increased the maximum income level for eligibility for the “person sixty-five years of age or over” (RPTL 467) AND THE “Persons with disabilities and limited income” (RPTL 459-C) exemptions. The Village of Cayuga Heights is at the low end of the scale. Should we reduce the assessment to low income people? The County needs an answer by February 1. The Mayor asked Treasurer Silber, who didn’t know how this would affect the Village. More information is needed by the Dept. of Assessment. Trustee Collyer thinks the number should be raised to $24,000. We need to know the number of people in the town who live in the Village who claim exemption. More on this to come at the January meeting. Deer Issue – Mayor Lynn gave a brief background on the deer program held in the Village of Cayuga Heights. The Forest Home statement presented at the October meeting was good. A draft resolution was distributed to the Board for their input. This resolution puts the Trustees more in control of the situation in the Village. Trustee Mount asked about the Council of Governments (COGS). There was discussion as to the fact that the County government doesn’t control COGS. Mayor Lynn will take the Village’s Resolution to COGS, the Neighborhood Council, and everyone else, if passed. Motion by Trustee Collyer Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Move to pass Resolution 6229 stating the following: Whereas all residents of the Village of Cayuga Heights are aware of the conspicuous presence of white-tail deer throughout the Village and elsewhere in this region, and 3 Whereas the former Deer Committee of the Village reviewed and studied the matter of controlling the Village deer population, and Whereas with the financial support of a Village resident, a major research project was undertaken by Cornell University (Department of Natural Resources) to reduce the fecundity and thus the reproduction rate of does who maintain their home range in sections of the Village, and Whereas this research effort increased our understanding of the deer population in the community it was neither intended nor successful in reducing the deer population in the Village, and Whereas the destruction and damages resulting from the overpopulation of these animals has been repeatedly represented to the Trustees by numerous requests to the Village trustees to "do something about the deer" because of their destructiveness to plant materials, danger to humans and domestic animals and significant damage to vehicles, and Whereas devising a means to effect control over this population is plausible and has the greatest chance for success if it involves all the territory embodied within Tompkins County, as the aforementioned Cornell research study established, Therefore; be it resolved that the Trustees of the Village of Cayuga Heights requests that the Council of Governments, which includes all the municipal governments embodied in Tompkins County, establish and implement a program to control the deer population within their respective territories, and Be it further resolved that such a program (to be approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation) would involve the participation of most, if not all the municipalities within the Council of Governments as well as other significant land owners such as Cornell University, and Be it further resolved that such participation would include both financial resources and legislative authority required to operate and sustain a long term program in order to significantly reduce the deer population in the territory within Tompkins County, and finally, Be it further resolved that the Village of Cayuga Heights fully supports and endorses this concept and agrees to participate by providing its sha re of the financial and other support to such an endeavor. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. ********************************************************************** Report of the Police Chief – Report was distributed and is on file. Chief Lansing reported that the 2004 Chevy Impala will be advertised to be put out for bid. The Chief asked for a motion to allow the Clerk to advertise. Motion by Trustee Kaplan 4 Move to authorize the Clerk to advertise for the sale of the 2004 Chevy Impala, former Police Car #124. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES *********************************************************************** Report of the Fire Superintendent – Fire Supt. Tamborelle’s report was distributed and is on file. Supt. Tamborelle reported that the new recruit class has finished their initial training and for the first time, all 15 members who joined, finished. The yearly banquet is scheduled for April 14th at the Country Club…mark your calendars. There is a community spaghetti supper planned for December 10 at the Fire Station. Supt. Tamborelle was approached by the Tompkins County Ham Radio Club. They would like to place an antenna in the area and are looking at the Fire Station tower to place it on. It will be used for emergency purposes only. The club will mount it on the tower. Attorney Tyler said that there will need to be a “Hold Harmless Agreement” in place as well as a license. Atty. Tyler will draft this paperwork after he talks to the club and they outline exactly what they want. The Mayor will sign the license after it is all worked out. *********************************************************************** Report of the Superintendent of Public Works – Supt. Cross was absent and the Mayor conveyed the following for his report: Tim Eighmey was hired as the new MEO (Motor Equipment Operator) at the D.P.W. He was a former employee of the Town of Ithaca, moved to Florida, and then moved back to Ithaca. The mayor asked for a resolution approving his hiring. Motion by Trustee Kaplan Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Move to pass Resolution 6230 approving the hiring of Timothy Eighmey as a M.E.O. (Motor Equipment Operator) at the Department of Public Works. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES There was much discussion on the procedures in place for hiring new employees. One of these procedures is that all prospective employees should come before the Board BEFORE they are hired, not after. Also, background checks should be conducted with the Police Dept. as well before the employee is hired. All of these procedures will be discussed and reviewed. Warren Real Estate - the light fixtures have been fixed. There was discussion about the fact that there is no fence or gate at the “unopened entrance” on N. Triphammer Road. The question arose as to whether Supt. Tamborelle asked to keep the area free of gates. (It was later determined that that was not the case.) A request was made to tell the Contractor to suggest to the Warren’s to get some flower pots to replace the cones in that area. Photo-Imagery – The Mayor presented the Trustees with the details of the proposed intermunicipal effort to share the cost of upgrading the resolution of the upcoming 5 orthoimagery to be done by NYS. This is a tool that can be used by the Village staff for many purposes such as zoning checks, water/sewer locating, roadway engineering, etc. The $21,300 cost is to be distributed among the six municipalities in the urbanized area of Tompkins County. The trustees agreed to support the upgrade with a cost not to exceed $3,550. Trustee Bisogni expressed his concern with the fact there still was piles of leaves in the Village waiting to be picked up. This sparked a discussion on the Public Works Dept. and the work they are doing. *********************************************************************** Treasurer Report – Treasurer Silber distributed his report, which is on file and part of this report. Transfers were presented as follows: Motion by Trustee Bisogni Seconded by Trustee Collyer Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES Motion by Trustee Collyer Seconded by Trustee Mount Move to pass Resolution 6231 to approve the Abstracts of Vouchers dated 11/20/06 in the amount of $265,209.89, with the corrections described below, and instruct that the Treasurer make payments thereon. Also note, special payment made since last meeting: NYSDEC (Permit Fee), $225.00. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES *********************************************************************** Report of the Attorney – Attorney Tyler had no further report as he had talked about parts of his report during other reports. *********************************************************************** Report of the Clerk – The Clerk presented the Board with the list of unpaid taxes to return to the County for relevy. The Trustees signed off on this list. *********************************************************************** Motion by Trustee Mount 6 Move to enter into Executive Session at 9:15 P.M. to discuss modification of the collective bargaining unit agreement and potential litigation. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. Motion by Trustee Mount Seconded by Trutee Kaplan Move to exit out of Executive Session at 9:48 P.M. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES Motion by Trustee Collyer Motion by Trustee Collyer Seconded by Trustee Mount Move to pass Resolution 6232 authorizing the Mayor to enter into negotiations and sign an agreement with the Teamsters for health insurance coverage for selected non-bargaining unit employees. Furthermore, to authorize an opt-out plan for individuals who have suitable alternative health insurance allowing them to receive a payment equal to one-half single- or one-fourth of the family premium (whichever is less) of the applicable insurance plan. Such payments to be made over the course of the plan year. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES Motion by Trustee Mount Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Move to adjourn at 9:50 P.M. Trustees Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES Norma R. Manning Clerk