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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.18.2007 Minutes.pdf 1 Minutes of the Board of Trustees June 18, 2007 Village of Cayuga Heights Meeting of the Board of Trustees Present: Mayor Lynn, Trustees Antil, Bisogni, Collyer (arrived late), Kaplan, Mount, Staley, Treasurer Silber, Police Chief Lansing, Sgt. Boyce, Fire Supt. Tamborelle, Supt. Cross, Asst. Supt. Frisbie, Attorney Tyler Others: Ron and Jean Anderson, Wies van Leuken, Dave Riehlman (DEC), Ron and Linda Bors, Dave and Lee Donner, Sara Hatcher, Barbara Thorpe, Paul Velleman. At 7:00 P.M. Mayor Lynn opened the June meeting of the Board of Trustees. The May minutes were presented and discussed. Motion by Trustee Bisogni Move to approve the Minutes of June 18, 2007 . Trustees Antil, Bisogni, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. *********************************************************************** Mayor Lynn introduced Wies van Leuken, the Village’s representative to Pegasys (Public, Educational and Governmental Access Channels). Ms. van Leuken presented a verbal report on the 2008 Pegasys budget, and presented the draft resolution to adopt the 2008 PEG Access Studio Capital Budget. Motion by Trustee Antil Seconded by Trustee Kaplan Move to pass Resolution 6269 adopting the 2008 PEG Access Studio Capital Budget. Whereas the Franchise Agreement between Time Warner Entertainment and the Village of Cayuga Heights signed in 2003 authorizes Time Warner Entertainment to collect $0.15 per subscriber per month to be used for the purchase of equipment for the PEG Access Studio; and Whereas the total capital budget for the life of the ten-year agreement was estimated to be $200,000; Whereas the Franchise Agreement outlines the creation of an Access Oversight Committee which shall be responsible for approving the timing, use and amount of PEG access equipment acquired each year over the term of the agreement; and Whereas the Access Oversight Committee has approved a 2008 capital budget in the amount of $39,270; and Whereas the Franchise Agreement states that participating municipalities including the Village of Cayuga Heights must adopt the annual PEG Access Studio budget by June 30 of the preceding year; now therefore be it 2 Resolved that the Village of Cayuga Heights Trustees adopt the 2008 PEG Access Studio budget as approved by the Access Oversight Committee. Trustees Antil, Bisogni, Kaplan, Mount and Staley voted YES. *********************************************************************** Privilege of the Floor – Ron Bors of Texas Lane commented that he has heard rumors that the proposed driveway of Warren Real Estate that opens onto N. Triphammer Road is up for discussion again. Supt. Cross answered that the applicant did recently come to him requesting that the driveway be opened and Supt. Cross confirmed that the site distance used in the original approval was not the same as it is now. Supt. Cross, acting in his role as Code Enforcement Officer, denied their request because of the compromised site distance; i.e., the sign and fence that was erected. Warren needs to come back to the Board to ask for reconsideration and they haven’t done that yet. Mayor Lynn and Supt. Cross spoke with Jim and Bryan Warren and they did not indicate their immediate plans. They were asked to put up a temporary barricade, which they didn’t immediately do, so the Village put up the D.P.W. barricades that you see there now. There was much discussion again on the proposed driveway onto No. Triphammer Road. Ron Anderson reiterated that when the two properties were first divided, there was a decision to not allow a second driveway onto N. Triphammer Rd. Mayor Lynn said that since there cannot be anything found in writing to that effect, the Village couldn’t deny the application on that basis. Ron Anderson felt that it was recorded somewhere. Ron Bors explained why he thinks the intersection is going to be very dangerous if that driveway is opened up. Attorney Tyler gave an overview of why the Village couldn’t deny the original application. Site distance was then discussed. Paul Velleman’s concern is with bicyclists on the sidewalk. Jean Anderson feels that the situation at the intersection continues to be bad. She doesn’t think that the Village should try to make life better for a few at the danger of many. Barbara Thorpe asked about the seriousness of the legalities. Attorney Tyler said that the Warren’s have the uphill battle now, not the Village. Supt. Cross commented that he doesn’t think that the Warren’s are interested in compromising the esthetics of their curb appeal to get the driveway approved. The question was asked how the public will be informed if something happens. Mayor Lynn said that he will let the public know. Supt. Cross said that the Warrens might have to come before a Public Hearing first and that is where the Public would see activity happening that way. Ron Bors urged the Board to keep the public informed. If the Board is put into a position not to deny, the Public wants to know about it. Mayor Lynn asked anyone who wants to be contacted to give him their name and address and he will personally keep them informed. Mayor Lynn thanked everyone for their input. At this time, Mayor Lynn introduced a guest invited by both he and Trustee Mount -- Dave Riehlman, a Wildlife Specialist on deer control from the D.E.C. office in Cortland. Mr. Riehlman gave the Board an overall view of what options are available to the Village for deer control which remains a significant on-going problem. He also distributed papers which are attached to these minutes for the record. Items discussed: Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), Fertility Control Options, and Lethal Removal. Feeding deer is illegal mostly because of CWD, among other diseases prevalent to the deer population. Deer Management is a controversial, emotional subject. Residents of the community need to come together to find a solution. A few options are available to try to control the numbers…some options are not available now because of CWD/parasites. You 3 simply cannot catch deer. There are no easy answers. The impact of deer on landscape is great. Current law prohibits trapping of deer except in experimental situations as previously done in Cayuga Heights. Two options are available – fertility control options and lethal removal (bait & shoot/ trapping & euthanize). The Village of Lansing has significant open parcels of land – permits can be issued to a community to pass on to hunters. In the Village of Cayuga Heights, hunting is extremely limited. The Village has approximately 75 deer/square mile. Another Village amended their local discharge of weapons ordinance to allow homeowners to discharge weapons in their own back yards (Village of North Haven). The Town of Irondequoit established community bow hunting. Bow hunters are subject to the 500’ rule. Darting deer would also be subject to the 500’ rule because you can not use firearms unless all residents say yes. A question was asked if the D.E.C. is prepared to work with Communities. The answer is yes, but it’s a site specific situation with different community attitudes. Are we too unlike Lansing to be able to work together with them? The Village doesn’t have the space that they do. We have few big parcels here. We need to develop a continuing program. Mayor Lynn and the Board thanked Mr. Riehlman for his input and will plan talking to him again in the future. *********************************************************************** Report of the Mayor – Mayor Lynn distributed items for the Board’s review – a Planning and Zoning School put on this summer by NYCOM, and a letter and sample resolution by New York Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco on the Property Taxpayer Protection Act. The Trustees were asked to look these over and they will be discussed in July. Mayor Lynn would like to begin a tree re-planting project whereby when mature trees come down for whatever reason, new ones are replanted in their place. More on that subject in the future. Lynnette Chappell-Williams (a Labor Specialist at Cornell) will present two seminars (June 20 and July 19), on diversity and bias issues to the employees of the Village at 10:30 am in the Village hall. All employees are encouraged to attend. *********************************************************************** Report of the Police Chief – Chief Lansing presented his report, which was distributed and is on file. The month has been busy with a wide range of activities. The 911 System progress is looking good. New radios will start testing soon and the system should be online by September/October. Trustee Mount asked the Chief about a letter he had recently sent to the Board. Mayor Lynn said that an Executive Session would be held at the end of this meeting to discuss the letter. *********************************************************************** Report of the Fire Supt. - Supt. Tamborelle’s presented his report which was distributed and is on file. The Health Inspection held at the station with Rescue Director Lindsay Russell went very well and CHFD passed. The hydrant testing done with Bolton Point went both good and bad. The situation needs to be looked into further…the flow hasn’t changed. There were just new hydrants put where there weren’t any. There is a question of the diameter of the existing water main pipe in certain areas which needs to be investigated further. *********************************************************************** 4 Ass’t. Supt. of Public Works - Ass’t. Supt. Frisbie’s report was distributed and is on file. All winter and spring cleanup projects are completed. The next 2 projects are Upland Road and The Northway. There has been much discussion on the brush policy. Supt. Cross will prepare a detailed information sheet about the past, present and future brush disposal situation. Trustee Mount will wait for that report before she prepares the next issue of The Courier. Treasurer Silber commented on the trash tags… have they served their purpose? We will be checking with the County on this. *********************************************************************** Report of the Supt. of Public Works – The Supt. has received approval from the D.E.C. on the trickling filter piping project. We are expecting a revised consent order schedule. The proposal discussed last month on the sprinkler system in every new home proposal was defeated at the Rochester International Code Council Meeting. Nothing has come back to the Board on the list of conditions given to Mark Macenas pertaining to his subdivision approval. Hydrant testing – Grant Street Construction completed Phase 1, which was the installation of 9-12 new hydrants. All went fairly well…the next step is how to handle the larger project which is the low flow in parts of the Village. We found a 4” pipe where T.G. Miller thought we had a 6” pipe. (See Fire Chief’s report above.) The water tank on Sheldon Road will have major work done to it. Bolton Point will be doing all the work and they are sending a letter to all the residents of Lowell Place and Sheldon Road with an explanation of the work being done. *********************************************************************** Report of the Treasurer – The audit for the Village for year ending 6/31/06 was distributed. The Fire Contract was passed by the Town of Ithaca. There were no transfers for this month as this is the beginning of a new fiscal year. There was discussion on the high cost of retiree health insurance. Motion by Trustee Antil Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Motion to pass Resolution 6270 approving the Abstract of Audited Vouchers dated 6/07/07 in the amount of $250,323.44, and instruct that the Treasurer make payments thereon. Trustees Antil, Bisogni, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley and voted YES. The Treasurer reminded department heads that the budget year ends in 10 days, on May 31. *********************************************************************** 5 Report of the Attorney – The Wadach Sewer Line exposure issue is still unfinished. Supt. Cross will draft a proposal for Mrs. Wadach. It is good that the D.E.C. is on board for the Phosphorous Plan. Atty. Tyler asked if there will be a new fine when a new consent order is issued. Supt. Cross doesn’t think so. Warren Real Estate-N.Triphammer Road egress issue is not going to go away. Atty. Tyler suggests that the Mayor have specific documentation in hand to fall back on when asked questions. *********************************************************************** Report of the Clerk – No report. *********************************************************************** Motion by Trustee Antil Move to enter Executive Session at 9:11 P.M. to discuss a personnel matter on a specific employee. Trustees Antil, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley and voted YES. Motion by Trustee Antil Seconded by Trustee Bisogni Move to exit Executive Session at 9:23 P.M. Trustees Antil, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley and voted YES. Motion by Trustee Bisogni Move to adjourn meeting at 9:24 PM. Trustees Antil, Collyer, Kaplan, Mount and Staley and voted YES.