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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.15.2022_Minutes1 Minutes VILLAGE OF CAYUGA HEIGHTS Wednesday, June 15, 2022 Zoom Meeting ID # 4118425407 BOARD OF TRUSTEES 7:00 p.m. MONTHLY MEETING Present: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbard, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, Salton; Police Chief Wright; Village Engineer B. Cross; Director of Public Works Wiese; Clerk Walker; Treasurer Dolch. Absent: Trustee VanLoan & Attorney Marcus 1. Call to Order: Mayor Woodard calls the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. 2a. Approval of Meeting Minutes: April 20, 2022 (Exhibit 2023-026) Resolution # 9218 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves the April 20, 2022 Meeting minutes as presented. Motion: Trustee Rennekamp Second: Trustee Hubbell Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, and Robinson Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried 2b. Approval of Meeting Minutes: May 18, 2022 (Exhibit 2023-027) Resolution # 9219 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves the May 18, 2022 Meeting minutes as presented. Motion: Trustee Robinson Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, and Robinson Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried •Trustee Salton arrives at 7:03 p.m. 3. Report of Fire Superintendent Tamborelle: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2023-028) •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that movie nights at the station will start on June 30, 2022 and run through August 11, 2022. The fire company will be providing food for the first night. •Mayor Woodard states that the Board typically waives the Village Special Event Permit and fee for the Cayuga Heights Fire Department. 2 Resolution # 9220 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves and authorizes waiving the Village Special Events Permit and fee for the Cayuga Heights Fire Department summer movie night. Motion: Trustee Marshall Second: Trustee Robinson Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none •Mayor Woodard inquiries about what movies will be presented. •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that Sandlot will be the first movie followed by the Secret Life of Pets, Ratatouille, Pete’s Dragon, and Ferdinand. The complete list will be available on the CHFD website. Motion Carried •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that the department applied for a TRIAD Grant in the amount of $11,30.20 for upgrades to the audio system in the truck bay. This would help with large training and movie nights. •The Taitem HVAC study was finalized, and it is clear that the heat pump system does not show any significant savings over replacing the current condenser units with new ones. •Mayor Woodard and Trustee Salton agree that it would have been nice to go with the heat pump system but is not cost-effective. 4. Privilege of the Floor: No members of the public wish to speak. 5. Report of Treasurer Dolch: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2023-029) •Village Treasurer Dolch states that there is some progress with the internal audit. •Village Treasurer Dolch states that the May bank to book reconciliations are complete and she can now move towards closing fiscal year 2021-2022. •Director Wiese asks what the procedure would be for any late invoices that belong in FYE 2021-2022. •Clerk Walker states that any previous fiscal year payables will be able to be allocated to that fiscal year, they will need to be coded differently to properly be applied to those funds. •Treasurer Dolch states that this is a revised resolution due to the late addition of vouchers 959, 960, and 961. Only Consolidated Fund vouchers 879-958 were approved to be paid last month. Approval of Abstract 12 Resolution: 9221 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves Abstract #12 for FYE2022 consisting of TA vouchers 88-93 in the amount of $19,951.85 and Consolidated Fund vouchers 879-961 in the amount of $550,944.92 and the Treasurer is instructed to make payments thereon. 3 Motion: Trustee Rennekamp Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried Resolution: 9222 Approval of Abstract 13 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves Abstract #13 for FYE2022 consisting of TA vouchers 95-100 in the amount of $5,996.59 and Consolidated Fund vouchers 963- 1029 in the amount of $350,529.17 and the Treasurer is instructed to make payments thereon. Motion: Trustee Robinson Second: Trustee Salton Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none •Trustee Salton states that he would like to see a breakdown of the attorney costs associated with expenditures of Country Club Lane. Motion Carried Approval of Abstract 1 Resolution: 9223 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves Abstract #1 for FYE2023consisting of TA vouchers 1-6 in the amount of $10,667.44 and Consolidated Fund vouchers 1- 28 in the amount of $232,850.36 and the Treasurer is instructed to make payments thereon. Motion: Trustee Hubbell Second: Trustee Rennekamp Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried •Treasurer Dolch states that Voucher #962 number from Consolidated and #94 from TA (both in between Abstracts #12-13) are missing from the Williamson software program. Therefore, she is requesting a resolution to remove those numbers from the system. 4 Resolution: 9224 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves and authorizes the deletion of voucher number 962 from the Consolidated Account and voucher number 94 from the Trust and Agency Account. Motion: Trustee Salton Second: Trustee Robinson Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, Salton, and VanLoan Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried 6. Report of Mayor Woodard: a. RaNic Update: •Noah Demarest from Steam Collaborative states that the project is at the stage where it makes sense for the Village Board to review all details. Below are their notes on the updated plan as presented in Exhibit 2023-030. 1. We identified two separate subzones. One for the medium intensity uses and the other for the low intensity/golf/open spaces. 2. We have moved the bulk of the townhomes largely into the Town as it is likely that we will need to reserve the area along Pleasant Grove for stormwater management. That is still being studied so we don't want to rule out the possibility of putting some housing in that northwest location but it seems less likely at this point. 3. No changes to the hotel at this point. However, it is most likely that the north wing would be treated as a potential future phase with just the surface-level parking being built out in the first phase. The priority is to build the housing first with the hotel intended to be a smaller boutique inn (30+/- rooms). The future additional 22 rooms will depend on the success of the housing and first phase hotel. 4. The clubhouse remains the same (major renovation but essentially the same footprint as exists today). 5. The Townhomes are intended to be privately owned. The project is somewhat dependent on selling homes to help fund the clubhouse and hotel projects. However, some rules around the number of townhomes being included as part of the hotel operation make sense. For example, the hotel could purchase X number of townhomes and use them as fully managed short-term stays. Other townhome owners would have to follow the current short-term rental laws in both the town and village. 6. We are showing townhomes on what is currently the driving range. This requires the 9th hole to be shortened to a Par 3 instead of a Par 4. The existing 9th green would become the short game practice area with a virtual driving range (nets with simulators). 7. A small number of individual home lots are shown scattered along the periphery of the property and those are intended to be subdivided off and sold as private homes. 5 8. The area around the horse barn property is intended to operate as part of the hospitality functions with some short-term stays and small event space in the existing barn so we are including that in the medium intensity subarea. 9. The main entrances to the property off Pleasant Grove and Hanshaw are intended to function as local streets. We are proposing to significantly upgrade the character of the streetscape to transform it from what currently feels like a wide-open parking lot into a hybrid local street where parking is limited to just one side of the street with tree lawns, sidewalks, and accommodations for a golf cart/bike lane. We need to maintain as much parking as we can, but we are committed to making this feel more like a walkable neighborhood street with the main clubhouse parking lot being isolated and buffered from the local streets. More design work on this will happen during the site plan review process. •Trustee Salton states that he is glad to see that the Board feedback has been incorporated into this new proposal. He also raises the question of how many golf parking spaces will there be once the project is fully built out. •N. Demarest states that is a great question and he does not know the exact number. However, the plan is to maintain the number that they currently have and future townhouses and hotel rooms will be a one-to-one ratio on parking spaces. •Trustee Salton also asks if there has been any discussion for other uses of what the project is coining “hotel phase 2” •N. Demarest states that there has been some feedback on what is the “sweet spot" for the number of rooms that make the most sense. The initial 30 rooms is the bare minimum but ideally they would want to reach the 50-room size. •Trustee Marshall asks for clarification on the total number of units and parking as it compares to the original plan. •N. Demarest states that the final PDZ language will most likely have more than 8 townhouses in the Village. The determining factor in the number of units will be the placement and size of the stormwater management system. •B. Cross reminds N. Demarest that the PDZ process hinges on the list of questions that the developer needs to provide to the Board on how this Proposed PDZ affects the Village and follows the Village Comprehensive Plan. •B. Cross also states that the Planning Board Chair, F. Cowett, is looking for clarification if the Board will be approving multiple phases or just the project with phase one. •N. Demarest states that the project will have all phases in the buildout. •Trustee Hubbell asks if the townhouses intend to be built before the hotel? •N. Demarest states that the townhouses will be sold and the proceeds from that will fund the hotel and clubhouse expansion. •In Closing Trustee Salton reminded N. Demarest that the new version of the application will become a legal document, You should be matching the project with our law. b. Definition of Law/Vacant Properties: The Village intern has been canvassing the Village posting door hangers on those properties that have not kept up with their lawns. 6 •Mayor Woodard states that we also have two abandoned properties, and we are looking into how soon they will be foreclosed on. In the meantime, the DPW staff will be maintaining the lawns and keeping track of the expense. •Village Attorney R. Marcus will be drafting a local law to address abandoned properties. •Chief Wright states that the Village Police Department has been routinely monitoring the vacant two properties. •B. Cross states that in our current local law we have provisions for abandoned buildings. There are specific steps we will have to follow. It would be in our best interest to keep an empty building from becoming or looking distressed. •Trustee Salton states that if we are going to take over the lawn maintenance then we need to do it right and make it look good, just as you have stated. c. Ithaca Women Writers of Silent Films Weekend: The Wharton Studio Museum and the Finger Lakes Film Trail combined with Historic Ithaca are planning a weekend (October 14 - 16) to mark Silent Movie Month. •Village Historian B. Szekely has requested the use of Marcham Hall on October 15, 2022. •Mayor Woodard states that the History Project in Cayuga Heights has been invited to participate by hosting a 1 - 1.5-hour program at Marcham Hall on Saturday the 15th from 2:00 to roughly 3:00 pm. Two of the three women whose work will be featured--Ruth Sawyer Durand and Maude Radford Warren-- lived in the village (in homes on Highland Road). •Mayor Woodard will invite Village Historian B. Szekely to attend the July Board of Trustees Meeting to provide more details. d. DPW Staff Work Hours: The Public Works Committee discussed summer work hours for the Village DPW staff from five eight-hour days to four ten-hour days. •Mayor Woodard states that the biggest reason for doing this is that inflation is eating into people’s budgets. •Trustee Salton states that he is totally against this idea. This type of work schedule will only lead to less productivity and leave the Village unmanned. The taxpayers deserve to have staff present every day of the week. •Director Wiese states that this is a trial process and not a contractual change. He doesn’t believe we will lose any efficiency. The proposed summer work schedule would begin on June 27th and run through September 4th. •Trustee Rennekamp asks if it would be possible to stagger staff so there is still coverage every day of the week? •Director Wiese stated that he would prefer a full crew versus a smaller staggered crew. The new hours proposed would be 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. •Trustee Marshall states that this might be very good for morale during the summer and a more tangible benefit is that you are reducing the amount of time it takes to gear up or take down a project. •Trustee Robinson states that he supports switching their hours for the summer because it is a trial period. 7 •Trustee Rennekamp states that Cornell has been doing this for years. •Director Wiese states that other municipalities are doing this as well. Resolution: 9225 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves and authorizes the Village DPW staff hours to convert to a four-day work week, Monday through Thursday from 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on June 27, 2022, as a trial to be reevaluated at the end of July 2022. Motion: Trustee Hubbell Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, and Robinson Nays: Trustee Salton Abstentions: none Motion Carried e. Rightsizing Culvert Project Contract: The Rightsizing Culvert Project was awarded to F.P. Kane Construction and now the Board needs to authorize Mayor Woodard to sign the contract. •Trustee Marshall asks if there has been any further contact with the Village residents regarding signing the easements associated with this project. •B. Cross states that he will be contacting individuals next week to close the gap of signed easements. We have 30- 60 days before the vendor (F.P. Kane Construction) will be ready to produce shop drawings. •B. Cross states that as a result of the bids and acceptance of those bids we decided not to do three of the culverts. Resolution: 9226 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves and authorizes Mayor Woodard to sign the Rightsizing Culvert Project Contract for F.P. Kane as written in Exhibit 2023- 031. Motion: Trustee Robinson Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried f. Revenue Reconciliation: Two issues have been found with the formation of this year’s budget collection. •Mayor Woodard states that when Clerk Walker reached out to the County Assessment Office there was a miscommunication on what number the Board should use to calculate the tax levy from the taxable value. We used last year’s number in establishing the tax rate. 8 •Mayor Woodard states that in the budget workshop we used last year's number and we also excluded the utilities as part of the taxable income. Therefore we used a lower tax assessed value for creating the budget. The combination of these two created a tax rate of 6.18 % when in fact we wanted a 6.40% rate. •Trustee Robinson states that one of the things that were discussed at the Village Finance Committee is a procedure to double-check the final numbers on the tax control worksheet before submitting it to the County. Resolution: 9227 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves and authorizes Treasurer Dolch to reduce the amount of expected property tax revenue from $3,011,907.00 to $2,960,688.00. Motion: Trustee Rennekamp Second: Trustee Robinson Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried g. Airbnb: The Village is still looking for a firm that can monitor short-term rentals in the Village of Cayuga Heights. •Mayor Woodard states that she attended several webinars and has learned that it will cost around $2,500.00 to hire a firm that can flush out those renting short-term. •Currently the Village only has 12 households registered with the Village. •Trustee Rennekamp states that she supports an increase in the fine or penalty for failing to comply with our local law. The Board agreed. •Mayor Woodard will have more information at the July Board Meeting. h. Plant to Plant Agreement: To finalize an agreement with the City of Ithaca Wastewater Facility to take Village sewage the City of Ithaca wants to establish a fee structure for use of the Ithaca Area Wastewater Facility. •Trustee Robinson states that the City of Ithaca is looking to establish a “worst-case scenario” fee for the Village having to send sewage to the city plant. •The Village has three scenarios, no sewage goes down the Kline Road Bypass, two a major rain event anything over 500,000 gallons would get to the city plant. Third, a winter thaw kept the intermittent creeks high, and for over a month, we had to use the Kline Road Bypass. •There is a strong case that the Town of Ithaca is a major producer of I & I and have agreed to install a sewer meter. •Mayor Woodard states that earlier this year the Village established a “pause” on issuing any large number of sewer permits for any projects outside the Village. This was a result of multiple times that the Village Plant almost went over its allowed permitted inflow. I & I is the main cause, and we are not finding it in the Village. 9 •Mayor Woodard states that the other municipalities who use the Village WWTP need to help located I & I and eliminate that which will allow the Village to issue sewer permits. •Cornell University has come forward and is willing to help offset the cost of hiring a firm to track down any I & I to release sewer permits for a project on vacant land that the University sold. The next step is for the Village Public Works Committee to meet with Cornell and narrow down the specifics. •Trustee Hubbell asks if a developer could just install a septic system. •B. Cross states that septic tanks are not legal if a project resides within 500 feet of a municipal sewer main. •Trustee Marshall states that in the three scenarios if they agreed in concept to that breakdown wouldn't they need to be defined with objective statistical criteria to determine which of those three scenarios was the case. •Trustee Robinson states that we would open the Kline Road Bypass and that results in only one scenario in which the Village would be paying the City of Ithaca. •Trustee Salton states that we are running into a situation where we are maxing out the capacity of our plant. Trustee Salton then asks B. Cross what the result would be if we did have a Remington Road Bypass. •B. Cross states that potentially would be many folds compared to the Kline Road Bypass so a potentially if there was a Remington Road Bypass in place and we could divert flow there, we would never have been in jeopardy. •Trustee Robinson points out that if we built the Remington Road Bypass, we would have to pay the City two times. It is the same sewage that would go down the Kline Road Bypass. •Trustee Salton states that one of the responsibilities of a municipality is to provide this service whether it's all municipalities, the County, or whether it's a different political subdivision if people need housing and then we can provide it for them because we don't have the infrastructure, we need to do something. •Mayor Woodard states that we need to be conscious of the cost associated with a Remington Road Bypass and that the NYSDEC is not going to allow the Village WWTP to exceed the current permit. •B. Cross states that he spoke to NYSDEC and they will provide the specific language of our discharge permit. •Mayor Woodard states that if the Village does hire GHD to conduct fieldwork to find all the I & I then the Village will raise the rate of sewer permits to help cover the cost. •Clerk Walker asks if there was a reason for the 1.5% increase for users outside the Village. •B. Cross states that the 1.5% is a historical acknowledgment that the Village of Cayuga Heights taxpayers are basically on the hook for the liability of the WWTP plant and that there's a surcharge for the right to use the plant. Those municipalities get to have the benefit without having to invest in the capitalization of the plant. 7. Report of The Trustees: •Trustee Hubbell states that the Cayuga Lake Watershed IO is still working through applicants. •Mayor Woodard states that Trustee VanLoan is absent tonight and has officially resigned his position as Village Trustee since they moved to the state of Maine. 10 8 . Report of Police Chief Wright: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2023-033) •Police Chief Wright states that the department provided another internship opportunity with TSTBOCES. •The new police vehicle is now up at Bush Electronics and should arrive in the next few weeks. •The seventh position has worked out very well since we have had a full-time officer out since March 16, 2022. Without this position, we would have had large amounts of overtime and part-time hours. •Mayor Woodard points out that the mutual aid calls are still one-sided. •Police Chief Wright states that he has expressed his concern to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department as well as the County Dispatch Center. •Trustee Robinson states that it is his understanding that our Village Police Department starts their shift sooner than other departments and therefore when there is a call we go. •Police Chief Wrights states that dispatch has known the Villages schedule and it hasn't changed since has been employed by the Village. Having a twenty-four-hour coverage plays a role in this. •Mayor Woodard would like to have a few months of data to better understand how this is affecting our own policing. •Trustee Salton states that he will hold a Village Public Safety Committee Meeting next month and expects that this topic will be discussed further. 9. Report of Director of DPW Wiese: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2023-034) •Director Wiese states that he has been working with the County to create an online system to handle all the building permits. He is pleased to announce that it is all now online and working properly. •Director Wiese states that the DPW is continuing to camera sewer lines to investigate I&I in the village. •Director Wiese states that he is holding off on scheduling any paving work until later in the year. This is an effort to ride out the oil prices. If things don’t change by spring, he will schedule the paving. •In Closing Director Wiese states that Village sidewalk repairs might be delayed because of a lack of vendors willing to deliver to the area. •Trustee Salton suggests that Director Wiese reach out to other municipalities and try to “piggyback” off other bigger concrete jobs. 10. Report of Village Engineer Cross: a.WWTP Update: •B. Cross states that the annual outflow pipe at the WWTP was inspected today. The report from the divers confirms a deterioration of the pipe. It would be advisable to hire someone to investigate how the Village would go about replacing that outflow pipe in the next few years. •B. Cross states that GHD Engineers have prepared an Engineering Report for a proposed WWTP Phase 3 project. There are several different elements of the project, but the combined total cost inclusive of engineering fees and estimated inflation is approximately $10,000,000. 11 •Until we know if we can get a grant to help pay for some of this project, the Village is not obligated to move forward with the project, but the next step to being eligible for a grant is to have GHD Engineers submit this report to the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation to have it placed on the Intend Use Plan List. •This list is a placeholder on the state level to show them where money is needed to help communities meet their permit compliance. This will give us a ranking that will be used by the EFC to determine who will be awarded grants from the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act or other sources. •B. Cross states that a construction meeting at the WWTP took place today. Supply issues are causing delays and Blue Heron (contractor) work on converting the digesters cannot be completed before winter. •B. Cross states that it was decided to “D” mobilize the project knowing that there will be an additional cost to shut down the project and later start it back up. The contractors agreed that this needed to happen. 11. Report of Clerk Walker: •Clerk Walker states that the Village website saw over five thousand views in the last ninety days. •Clerk Walker states that the Village IT Committee met and discussed implementing the new Village IT Policies Resolution: 9228 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees authorizes and approve the Village of Cayuga Heights Internet and Acceptable Use Policy, Confidential Information Policy, and the New York State Technology Law 208 Policy as presented. Motion: Trustee Hubbell Second: Trustee Robinson Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, Robinson, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried 12. Adjournment: Mayor Woodard adjourns the meeting at 9:59 p.m.