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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg Mtg. Minutes 1/15/2001Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 15, 2001 Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees Present: Mayor Anderson, Trustees Fleming, Kira, Kusse, Lynn, Dunning, Attorney Tyler, Treasurer Silber, Police Chief Lansing, Fire Chief Evans, Supt. of Public Works Cross, Clerk Manning Absent: Trustee Meinhardt Others: Leland Glenna, Allison Nowak, Jon Pique of the CH Fire Council, Dooley Kiefer, Stephen Phillips, Jeff Schoenhaut, Adam Robertson, Paul Sarokwash. Mayor Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM and opened the meeting to the Privilege of the Floor. Leland Glenna, spokesman for the Cayuga Heights Fire Council, spoke on the issues of the Fire Council being involved in the decision - making process as it pertains to the Bunker Agreement which was passed in principle at the last Board Meeting. Mr. Glenna felt that the Fire Council should have been involved in the changes made in the agreement, i.e. the decision of the Board that the Fire Chiefs will not live in the fire station. There was much discussion between the Board, Attorney Tyler, and the Fire Council members regarding the new bunker agreement. The Council, referring to its by -laws, may have misconstrued its authority as set out in the Village law, as Mr. Tyler tried to explain. He gave a rough analogy as the Village, as landlord, owner of the real property, and the Fire Department as tenant, occupant of the property and responsible for its condition. The Board listened as Jon Pique and Allison Nowak stated the reasons for their desire to have a Resident Chief at the fire station. There were no corrections to the minutes of December 18, 2000; however, in the minutes of the Continued Meeting of January 5, 2001, it was stated that Bruce Kusse was present and he was not. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Fleming VOTED to approve the minutes with the above changes of the Continued Meeting of January 5, 2001. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Mayor Anderson gave his report. He noted that on Wednesday, January 17, there would be a public meeting at Dewitt Middle School on the Deer Population Control in Cayuga Heights. All residents of the Village have received advance copies of the report. Also, there will be a meeting on January 18 at the Village Hall with the NEST Committee (Northeast Subarea Transportation Study). The Mayor also reported that the Cornell Ornithology Lab has proposed to tear down the building across from their old building and build a new building. The new building is not in an approved sewcr /watcr district. They would like to be given authority to come under the road to the existing main in the Town of Ithaca. The current structure sits in the town of Dryden. The Board has not received a formal request yet, and will wait for that request before acting. At this point, the Mayor turned over the meeting to Deputy Mayor Fleming. The report of the Police Chief, which is on file, was presented and Chief Lansing reported on the following: The police Explorer was involved in an accident over the weekend. Car 125 was hit the week before. Jeff Frisbie has helped repair Car 125. The report of the Fire Chief, which is on file, was presented and Chief Evans reported on the following: Chief Evans reported on the bids received on the Fire Truck bid proposal. They were Tyler (Pierce) at $185,000, KME at $218,000 and E -1 at $205,940. The truck that KME proposed does not meet the specs the Village requires. E -1 came in second in the bidding process. Even though Pierce came in the lowest, they at first did not have all the requirements clearly covered in their proposal. They informed Chief Evans that they had sent an addendum to the Village Hall with more specifications, but it was never received. They then faxed a copy dated December 21, 2000, followed by bid clarification dated January 15, 2001 to Chief Evans. The addendum with the clarification met the specifications that the Village needed. Chief Evans expressed reservations about the service that Pierce has given the Village in the past (our ladder truck is a Pierce). Chief Evans discussed the service issue with Pierce and was reassured that their service to us would improve. Treasurer Silber felt that we should accept the Pierce proposal. He felt that service wasn't as big an issue after the warranty period is over because we would not necessarily take it back to Pierce for "out of warranty" service. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Dunning VOTED to approve Pierce's bid for $185,000 as described in their December 20 proposal. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Trustee Lynn asked about the status of the fire station. Paul Sarokwash reported that it is not yet completely finished. The electricians have been severely undermanned and they are the ones holding up the progress. Some of the time passed is forgiven due to change orders, and the electricians will be penalized, but Paul doesn't know how much at this time. 2 Chief Evans expressed his gratitude for the support of the Board during this final phase of completing the station. He wanted to invite the Board to hold it's February meeting at the new fire station. It was noted that the February Board meeting to be held on the 19 °i of February is presently scheduled to take place in the new fire station. Supt. of PW Cross presented his report, which is on file, and reported on the following: There was no Public Works Committee meeting on January 11 as there were no Board members present. An employee meeting was held, however. Supt. Cross noted that he would put into next year's budget a major street project on Highland Street. The new DPW truck has been delivered and is in the process of being made ready for service. Supt. Cross reported that he witnessed the I &I (Inflow & Infiltration) flow in the sewer line at the Health and Human Services area in the Village of Lansing consistent with what Mayor Hartill represented. The leak had been found and after it is repaired, Supt. Cross will return and inspect it again, verifying the reduction in I &I. Trustee Lynn and Supt. Cross met with Town Supervisors on the new draft Ithaca Sewer Agreement. The discussion with the Town was very positive, however, the cost (of which the Village was to share a portion) for the environment impact statement has risen from $30,000 to over $130,000. Supt. Cross feels that it is premature for us to agree to spend the money at this time. It is the sense of the Board that it is premature to engage in a contract at this time, and instructed Supt. Cross to convey this to the unified Sewer Group. Trustee Lynn requested that copies of the Draft agreement be distributed to all Board members. Supt. Cross wanted the Board aware that on February 5, the City is holding a "media day" on this subject. Attorney Tyler reported that most of his items had already covered previously in the meeting, i.e. truck bid, bunker agreement. Attorney Tyler brought up the subject of properties in the Village where fire lanes have to be identified. There is currently a list of these properties, which have to be identified for fire purposes, but it needs to be updated. Supt. Cross will work with Fire Chief Evans on this. ***************************************** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Treasurer Silber presented his report, which is on file. 3 The budget process begins on January 15. Department heads need to prepare their budget by the appropriate time. Instructions have been distributed to all department heads explaining the process and timeline. Hopefully by the next Board meeting, Treasurer Silber will have tentative figures for the Board. Treasurer Silber will write a letter of thank you to the Court Clerk thanking her for discovering that the Village is entitled to a greater share of traffic fines than we have been receiving. We have received payments on three years of back fines which equals an extra $15,000420,000 /year. - Regarding the overtime compensation issue, Supt. Cross will meet with the Public Works Committee, Treasurer Silber and Laurie Johnston to try to come up with a resolution to this issue. It will then be presented to Board. Treasurer Silber has authorized the State to begin sending payments due to the Village electronically. These include fines, chips money, revenue sharing, etc., equaling approximately $100,000 /year. There were transfers shown in the Treasurer's report to be approved with the following changes; Delete transfer A08160.200 Refuse Cap Eq. to A08160.410 of $2300, and Delete transfer A01990.400 General Contingency to A08160.410 Refuse Contr. Exp. of $10,000. Motion by Trustee Kira, seconded by Trustee Lynn VOTED to approve Transfers with changes listed above. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Motion by Trustee Lynn, seconded by Trustee Kira VOTED to approve Abstract of Vouchers as presented. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Police Chief Lansing requested a resolution, which he did not bring up during his report. He would like to hire a part -time clerk before the next Board meeting. The position has been open for some time and he feels that there is a need to fill it. He has some applications and would like to begin interviewing. Motion by Trustee Kira, seconded by Trustee Dunning VOTED to allow Chief Lansing to hire a part-time clerk once he has completed the interview process and has settled on a candidate. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. 4 There was discussion of the fire Council's presentation on the Bunker contract. Trustee Kusse asked that there be some record of the acknowledgement of the Fire Council and their concerns. The Board concurred that they appreciated the Fire Council's concerns and took them into consideration, but ratifies the Bunker Agreement as rc- written following the December 18, 2000 meeting (as continued on this subject at the January 5, 2001 meeting continuation). Village counsel has reviewed the agreement as re- written, therefore, the agreement stands. Clerk Manning had no report. Motion by Trustee Lynn, seconded by Trustee Kira VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 10:25 PM. Trustees Fleming, Kira, Lynn, and Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Norma Manning Clerk