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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReg Mtg. Minutes 2/19/2001Minutes of the Regular Meeting February 19, 2001 held at the new Fire Station Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees Present: Mayor Anderson, Trustees, Kira, Kusse, Dunning, Attorney Tyler, Treasurer Silber, Fire Chief Evans, Supt. of Public Works Cross, Clerk Manning Absent: Trustee Meinhardt, Fleming, Lynn, and Police Chief Lansing Others: Ann Antil, Kate Hackett, Craig Schutt, Susan Jung, Seung Heon Yoo, Jon Pique. Mayor Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM and opened the meeting to the Privilege of the Floor. Kate Hackett of Tompkins County Dept. of Planning and Craig R. Schutt of Tompkins gave a presentation on the Tompkins County Flood Mitigation Program. They explained that the purpose of this Program is to minimize damages caused by future flood events and to fund the construction of appropriate remediation measures to minimize any future flood damages. The County annually appropriates funds for up to, but not to exceed 1/3 of the total project cost. The municipality and the landowner are each responsible for 1/3 of the total project cost. Ms. Hackett and Mr. Schutt also explained that any community is eligible to apply for funding through this program. Individual landowners are also eligible to apply for funding, but must work through their local watershed committee and municipality. Landowners will be responsible for 113 of the total project cost. In -kind services are acceptable as a match. There were handouts available for those interested. Mayor Anderson gave his report. He reported that he had received two resignations — the first from Timmie Dupuy effective February 28, 2001. Tim was leaving the Village D.P.W. to accept a position at the Village of Montour Falls. It is not only a promotion for Tim, but also has afforded him to be closer to his home. Supt. Cross responded to this with a request that the Board formally recognizes Tim's time and contributions given to the D.P.W. over the years and have the Mayor write a letter to Tim to that respect. Resolution 5208 — Recognize Timmie Dupuy on his 22 years of service to the Village of Cayuga Heights and wish him much luck in his new position at Montour Falls. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Dunning VOTED to accept Resolution 5208 Mayor Anderson, Trustees Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. The second resignation received by the Mayor was from Dr. Patricia Meinhardt, resigning from her position on the Board of Trustees of Cayuga Heights due to her work schedule and work location. The Board agreed that they were sorry to see Dr. Meinhardt leave, but understood her reasons. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Dunning VOTED to accept Dr. Meinhardt's resignation from the Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees and thank her for all the contributions site has made to the Village during her tenure on the Board. Mayor Anderson, Trustees Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. At this time, Treasurer Silber requested time to present some items regarding clarification of issues in the Personnel Handbook. Treasurer Silber had requested Laurie Johnston to be present at this time for clarification on some of these issues. Treasurer Silber feels that the Village is lacking some policies, which are, in fact, hurting the Village. Treasurer Silber distributed a Proposed Modification to the Personnel Handbook for discussion. The changes proposed were as follows: Section 8 — Overtime (addition to ensure FLSA compliance) Section 9 — Delete Clerk position from the list — the position of Clerk is exempt. Section 10 — Change the amount next year of the $1050 plan to $1040. This would take care of the discrepancy of $10 caused by the rounding of the hourly sum of $0.50, added to the base salary of each employee. Section 12 — Workers Compensation - new policy Section 13 — Temporary Modified Duty— new policy Section 12 - (renumber to 14) — Retirement (current policy). There was much discussion regarding the above changes. There was no problem with the Section 9 change; however, Supt. Cross requested that he would like to talk to the Public Works Committee regarding the other changes since those changes directly affected the Public Works Department. Trustee Kira felt that the full Board would be more comfortable with these changes if the Public Works Committee agreed first on the new policies. Trustee Kira requested that the board table any action on these changes until the Public Works Committee agreed on the policy. The Board then returned to the regularly scheduled agenda. There were corrections to the minutes of January 15, 2001. On page 3, the last section of Supt. Cross's report should read as follows: 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 environmental 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 Seiver Group. Trustee Lynn requested that copies of the Draft agreement be distributed to all Board members. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Kusse VOTED to approve the minutes of January 15, 2001 with the above changes. Mayor Anderson, Trustees, Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. ######################################### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## Mayor Anderson continued with his report. A special meeting of Bolton Point is scheduled for April 5 directed by Mayor Cohen and the City Common Council to get them up to date on the Bolton Point water project. There is no visible progress on the Intermunicipal Sewer Group. Regarding Deer Control — There was an open meeting on January 17. Many comments appeared in the newspaper, along with letters sent directly to the Mayor with as many varying opinions. Mrs. Gomer has suggested that she fund sterilization as long as there is no culling involved. She is aware of yearly maintenance with this procedure. The N.E. Subarea Transit Study is moving ahead. A consultant will be hired to look at traffic issues. Police Chief Lansing was not present but his report is on file. The report of the Fire Chief, which is on file, was presented and Chief Evans reported on the following: Regarding the new fire station, Chief Evans wanted to thank the Board on behalf of the Department and Company for their support during this transition period. Everyone is very happy with the new station, and punch list items are being addressed. Chief Evans reported that he has received a signed contract from Pierce for the Village's new fire truck. The Fire Council met earlier in the month and Jon Pique and Phil McNeil resigned as chief officers to accommodate the new station agreement. Jeff Randall is 0 Assistant Chief, Mariano Garcia has assumed the duty of Second Assistant Chief. The bunking chief spot is still open. Bob Day is expressing interest in that position. At this point, Fire Chief Evans took the Board members for a tour of the Fire Station. At 10:15 PM. the meeting was reconvened with Supt. of PW Cross presenting his report, which is on file. The major project scheduled for this spring will be Highland Road. 3 Supt. Cross reported that on January 24, 2001, the Unified Sewer Group met to discuss progress on the Bond Act project. At this meeting, Supt. Cross informed the group that the Village Trustees believed that it would be premature to spend $130,000 on SEQRA for this project until an intermunicipal agreement had been reached, or at least significant progress. Supt. Cross also distributed to the Group a draft of some conditions that the Village would require for consideration of joining a sewer consortium partnership. This draft was distributed to the Board members for their review and has asked the Board to give him their comments. On February 8, 2001, Supt. Cross, along with Trustee Lynn, attended a Unified Sewer Group meeting on the subject of additional SEEQRA expenses for the Bond Act projects. The previous report of the price escalating from $30,000 to $130,000 did not include all expenses. The latest figure for the cost of the SEEQRA work is approximately $250,000. Some other municipalities are also concerned about proceeding without further commitments. On February 10, Supt. Cross, along with Trustee Dunning, attended a presentation by the Ithaca area WWTP partners to explain a new partnership agreement that they have drafted to replace their existing agreement. The owner of 507 Cayuga Heights Road had applied for a permit to subdivide their lot into 2 new lots for a total of 3 lots. The property owner has asked this matter to be put on hold at this time. Supt. Cross asked the Board to enter into Executive Session to discuss a pay adjustment on a particular employee (deferred until later in the meeting). Attorney Tyler gave a brief report. He explained the background to the further revision to the Bunker Contract distributed to tine Trustees a little over 2 weeks ago. He also mentioned work resumed on the legal description for the zoning ordinance. Treasurer Silber presented his report, which is on file. Most of the budgets are in. Treasurer Silber will report further at the next meeting. - Abstract of Vouchers for February was distributed. Motion by Trustee Kira seconded by Trustee Kusse VOTED to approve Abstract of Vouchers as presented. Mayor Anderson, Trustees, Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Clerk Manning had no report, except that she will be out of the office on February 23 and February 26 for a trip to Utah. rd Motion by Trustee Kira, seconded by Trustee Kusse VOTED to move into Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter of a specific employee at 11:00 PM. Mayor Anderson, Trustees Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Kusse VOTED to move out of Executive Session at 11:15 PM. Mayor Anderson, Trustees Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Motion by Trustee Kira, Seconded by Trustee Dunning VOTED to adjourn meeting at 11:20 PM. Mayor Anderson, Trustees Kira, Kusse and Dunning voted YES. Norma Manning Clerk