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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes of the Board Meeting March 15, 2010.pdf 1 Minutes of the Board of Trustees March 15, 2010 Village of Cayuga Heights Meeting of the Board of Trustees Present: Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely, Attorney Marcus, Treasurer Silber, Supt. Cross, Chief Boyce, Clerk Manning Others: Attorney Laurie Johnston, Jim Steinmetz, Sarah Hatcher, Mindy Mindlin, Linda Bors, Lee Donner, Fred Antil, Pat Shea, Joe Cowan, Chris Crooker ************************************************************************* Mayor Gilmore opened the meeting at 7:00 PM. The minutes of February 16 were presented for approval. Motion by Trustee Szekely Seconded by Trustee Bors Move to approve the minutes of February 16, 2010 as amended. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Bors, Donner, Riesman and Szekely Voted YES. Trustees Andolina and Supron ABSTAINED. Privilege of the Floor – Allen Vandemark – Patrick Jansen, principal of Cayuga Heights Elementary School, wrote a letter to TCAT. Mr. Vandemark asked the Board to approve the letter. He feels that the Village has a say in what TCAT does, and also wants the Village to put in a stop sign on The Parkway. He advocates lowering the school speed zone on the Parkway from 20 to 15 mph. Report of Supt. of Public Works – Supt. Cross reported that Matt Townsend, a current Laborer at the D.P.W. was chosen over the applicants interviewed to be promoted to MEO and asked the Board to approve this promotion. Motion by Trustee Bors Seconded by Trustee Szekely Move to pass Resolution 6620 approving the promotion of Matt Townsend from Laborer to the vacant position of MEO effective March 22, 2010 at the entry level rate of $16.20/hour according to the Teamster Contract. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. 2 Since the Board approved this promotion, the Laborer position will now be vacant. Supt. Cross asked the Board’s permission to have the Clerk advertise for that position. Motion by Trustee Andolina Seconded by Trustee Szekely Move to pass Resolution 6621 authorizing the Clerk to advertise for the Laborer position at the entry level Contract rate of $11.81 vacated by the promotion of Matt Townsend to MEO. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Supt. Cross stated that Petru Petrina, who recently built a house on Triphammer Road next to 904 Triphammer, needs a legal address for that house, which should be listed as 906 Triphammer Road. A resolution needs to be passed to that effect. Motion by Trustee Supron Seconded by Trustee Riesman Move to pass Resolution 6622 approving the address of 906 Triphammer Road for the new house build by Mr. Petru Petrina, and authorizing the Clerk to notify the appropriate agencies. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Supt. Cross also stated that Cornell University has requested that various Jessup Road addresses be changed and asked for a resolution to that effect. Motion by Trustee Bors Seconded by Trustee Donner Move to pass Resolution 6623 approving Cornell University’s request to change townhouse street numbers on Jessup Road as follows: Tobin Field House - 108 Jessup Road - currently 1 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'A' - 210 Jessup Road - currently 35 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'B' - 218 Jessup Road - currently 39 Jessup Rd. North Campus Student Center - 224 Jessup Road - currently 37 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'C' - 228 Jessup Road - currently 41 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'D' - 234 Jessup Road - currently 43 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'E' - 238 Jessup Road - currently 45 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'F' - 244 Jessup Road - currently 47 Jessup Rd. North Campus Townhouse 'G' - 250 Jessup Road - currently 49 Jessup Rd. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Marcham Hall renovation - Supt. Cross reported that he did not have the third quote for architectural services yet and will try to get it soon to discuss with the Clerk. He will then report back to the Board. 3 NYSEG is in the middle of planning a gas main connection on lower Hanshaw Road, up Klinewoods to Hanshaw Road. The “T” to make the connections in the middle of the intersection and there will be a disruption of traffic. NYSEG would like to shift the pipe off the road onto the lawn on 825 Hanshaw Road. The Board will need to grant an easement to NYSEG. At the April meeting, Supt. Cross will show the Board a map, Atty. Marcus will read the easement, and then advise the Board on how to proceed. A separate gas main project on the Parkway will be laid behind the sidewalk in most places. This job will slightly prolong the paving of the Parkway by one month. Trustee Szekely suggested that Supt. Cross stay in touch with Principal Jensen at CHES, letting him know that the work will be done in May before the end of the month. Trustee Szekely, as Chair of the DPW, attended the Open House and Public Hearing held for the properties on Hanshaw Road regarding the upcoming Hanshaw Road Project. The Village is seeking easements on some of the properties and the County is anticipating that there will be those who will not grant easements without compensation. The County will take the property anyway, and then will talk about compensation. Report of the Police Chief – Report on file. Trustee Szekely said that she would like to hear about drug issues in the Village at another time. Chief Boyce suggested that she visit him in his office. The Annual Report for the Police Dept. was presented. Chief Boyce reported that part-time Police Clerk, Brenda Armstrong, gave her notice at the end of December 2009. The Chief tried to get her to stay on, but was unsuccessful. He asked the Board to accept Ms. Armstrong’s resignation, and approve the Village Clerk to advertise for a part-time Police Clerk. Motion by Trustee Andolina Seconded by Trustee Donner Move to pass Resolution 6624 accepting the resignation of Brenda Armstrong as part- time Police Clerk effective December 28, 2009. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Motion by Trustee Donner Seconded by Trustee Andolina Move to pass Resolution 6625 authorizing the Village Clerk to advertise for a part-time police clerk position, typically working one day/week. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Chief Boyce stated that the policy is in place for the two tasers in the department. Officer Lansing is trained as master trainer and will train the other officers in April. Trustee Andolina asked if there is something in the policy stating that tasers cannot be used while an operator is in an automobile. Boyce answered “yes”. 4 Supt. Cross spoke at this time about a request he received regarding a stop sign at Northway and Parkway. His answer to the request was that it was possible if we do so in response to a specific condition. A recommendation could be made because of the overall intersection. An intersection study may be undertaken to show why a stop sign is requested. Trustee Riesman asked about the speed in the school zones. They presently are 20 mph, but were 15 mph a few years ago. They were raised to 20 mph because 15 mph was painfully slow. The Village would have to enact another local law to go back to 15 mph. Both the Public Safety and Public Works Committees should discuss this. Report of the Mayor – The Mayor asked to schedule a final meeting to complete SEQR for Deer Remediation. Motion by Trustee Riesman Seconded by Trustee Andolina Move to pass Resolution 6626 setting a meeting of the Board of Trustees to complete SEQR on Friday, March 26 at 9:15. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Motion by Mayor Gilmore Seconded by Trustee Bors Move to enter into Executive Session at 8:00 PM for the purpose of pending contract negotiations. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Motion by Trustee Supron Seconded by Trustee Riesman Move to exit Executive Session at 9:10 PM. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Motion by Trustee Donner Seconded by Trustee Andolina Motion to pass Resolution 6627 approvinge the extension of the current PBA contract of 2% increase for the next 5 years. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Report of the Treasurer – An interim abstract was presented for payment. 5 Motion by Trustee Supron Seconded by Trustee Szekely Move to pass Resolution 6628 approving interim abstract dated March 15, 2010 as presented and authorize Treasurer to pay same. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Treasurer Silber presented the Treasurer’s abstract and asked for comments before filing it with the Clerk. Trustee Szekely asked for a summary sheet, and Treasurer Silber answered that he would prepare one when the budget becomes the tentative budget. At this time it was discussed whether there needed to be a work session for the budget, and it was decided that the SEQR meeting previously scheduled for Saturday, March 27 would become a SEQR finalization and a Budget Work Session. Motion by Mayor Gilmore Seconded by Trustee Bors Move to pass Resolution 6629 setting a meeting of the Board of Trustees to complete SEQR AND have a Budget Work Session on Friday, March 26 at 9:15. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Silber said that he will issue the tentative budget at tonight’s meeting, and reiterated that if the new Board fails to pass a budget by April 30, the tentative budget becomes the budget. Mayor Gilmore said that since the Macenas subdivision has stalled, what can the Village do about it next budget year? Atty. Marcus stated that the Village cannot promote the subdivision. Report of the Clerk – Clerk Manning stated that both Local Laws 1 & 2 were filed with New York State on March 9, 2010. Local Law 3 needs the SEQR short form performed. Motion by Trustee Szekely Seconded by Mayor Gilmore Motion to set up a Special Meeting of the new Board for Monday, April 5 at 2:30 pm. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Report of the Attorney – The short form SEQR will need to be performed on Local Law #3 at the April 12 Board Meeting.’ The Board needs to authorize NYSEG to grant an easement to lay the pipes on 824 Hanshaw Road. Trustee Privilege of the Floor – Motion by Trustee Supron Seconded by Trustee Szekely 6 Move to pass Resolution 6630 setting a Public Hearing on the Budget for 7:00 PM on April 12. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Approval of the Purchasing Policy addition as follows: Motion by Trustee Bors Seconded by Trustee Andolina Move to pass Resolution 6631 authorizing the Clerk to add the following to the Code of Ethics of the Village of Cayuga Heights. 1) The Village will not purchase labor, services, goods or materials from any current Village Board member, officer or employee, or from any member of such person's immediate family, or from any entity that is owned, in whole or in part, or managed or controlled by, any such person or any member of such person's immediate family, except in the case that a majority of the members of the Board of Trustees vote in favor of doing so, in advance of engaging in the transaction." 2) That the Purchasing Policy be revised to read "All transactions shall be in accordance with the Village's Code of Ethics as may be amended from time to time. Particular attention should be paid the Code of Ethics provisions regarding transactions with Village officials, employees, or family members. Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES. Trustee Szekely asked if the signed Lansing Sewer Agreement was delivered to Lansing. The Clerk answered “yes”. Trustee Szekely continued. The sale has been completed of the Jared Newman papers, one half of which were purchased by the Village and one half by the Cornell University Library; the papers have been transferred to the Rare Books and Manuscript Division of the Library where Trustee Szekely met with the Archivist of the Carl A. Kroch Library and our Village history intern Josh Robinson on March 12. Josh will work on sorting the materials in the coming months and hopefully will arrange an independent study project to research them, along with the large collection of Newman papers already catalogued, in the next academic year. Andrew Janis, formerly of 119 East Upland Road, has raised sufficient funds from donations to rename the playing field at the Cayuga Heights Elementary School the James Joseph Kaplan Memorial Field in memory of his friend who died December 2008. Enough money has been raised to fund new goals, field maintenance supplies and a sign. A field dedication ceremony in Jay Kaplan's memory and a soccer game will take place on Saturday, June 12 at 2:00 p.m. at the school. All are welcome to play and may email Mr. Janis to RSVP at ay.janis@gmail.com. As this was their last evening meeting of the Village Board, on behalf of the entire board, Trustee Szekely thanked outgoing Mayor Jim Gilmore, Deputy Mayor Dave Donner, and Trustee Ron Bors for their service in the past two years. 7 Trustee Donner also thanked Mayor Gilmore and Trustee Bors for their friendship and camaraderie over the past two years. They all learned a lot – now it comes to an end. Trustee Bors spoke on the fences and walls local law. He thinks that Supt. Cross should put the word out to contractors and fencing companies that the Village has a new law on the books so that people don’t spend their money and time on a fence, then end up having to take it down. Trustee Andolina commented that “the clock is ticking” on the new law – Moratorium on Enforcing the Fence Ordinance. Trustee Riesman said that the Planning Board is working on a process to begin moving the fencing issue forward. Trustee Supron gave a TCAT update. She and Trustee Szekely attended the transit services meeting on 2/23/10. There were many people present – both Supron and Szekely spoke in addition to residents. At the 3/10/10 Executive board meeting, both Supron and Szekely spoke to the Board, the residents were not given public input time. Supron and Szekely said that TCAT did not follow their own process. Trustee Andolina asked about TCAT’s reaction to that statement. Supron said that they didn’t have any reaction. TCAT doesn’t think that they did anything wrong. Trustee Andolina asked if there was a new route that would fix the situation. Trustee Supron said that if Country Club Road was extended to Triphammer Road from Highgate Road, which could help. The bigger issue, though, is people moving throughout the Village. The Planning Board will look into that. Supt. Cross said that if the Village undertakes opening a road to better serve TCAT, the Village should look at all the routes in the Village. Trustee Riesman said that the Village needs to look at the big picture. Atty. Marcus said that there is no legal authority to trump the County’s determination of routes. If TCAT has designed a structure for the way it creates routes, it should follow the structure. Trustee Andolina thinks they would respond to the safety issue more than anything else. Trustees Supron and Szekely would like to bring a recommendation to their Board. At this point, Mayor Gilmore thanked the entire Board for all their efforts during his time as Mayor. He thanked Trustees Bors and Donner for their time as trustees as they leave office, and thanked Attorney Marcus for all his help. At this time, Treasurer Silber officially filled the tentative budget with Clerk Manning. Move to adjourn at 10:30 pm by Trustee Bors Trustee Donner Seconded Mayor Gilmore, Trustees Andolina, Bors, Donner, Riesman, Supron and Szekely Voted YES.