The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2020-11-18 Town Board MinutesAttendees: Town of Danby Town Board Regular Meeting Minutes via Zoom Video Conferencing 18 November 2020 at 7:00 PM Town Board Joel Gagnon, Supervisor Leslie Connors Jim Holahan Sarah Schnabel Matt Ulinski Recording Secretary Janice R. Adelman, Town Clerk Town Justices Garry Huddle Theresa Klinger Town Planner John Czamanske Code Enforcement Steve Cortright Officer Bookkeeper Laura Shawley Members of the Public Anthony Wells Carl Seamon Katharine Hunter Ronda Roaring Ted Crane 1. Call to Order 1.1.Meeting called to order at 19:02 by Town Supervisor Joel Gagnon. 2. Privilege of the Floor 2.1. Ted Crane made comments regarding current affairs in Washington, DC; the proposed law on the Highway Superintendent eligibility expansion; and kudos to Matt Ulinski again for foregoing his stipend in FY 2021 associated with deputy supervisor status. 3. Consent Agenda 3.1. Approval of Minutes 3.1.1. Budget Workshop Meeting 28 October 2020 3.1.2. Regular Monthly Meeting 9 November 2020 3.2. Announcements 3.2.1. Open Positions Committees/Boards 3.3.Warrants Genera' Fund Vouchers 354 370 fer $12 1 1 ^ Removed from consent agenda for discussion. Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 3.3.2. Highway Fund Vouchers 198-205 for $34,985.69 WateF 94stf;et Fund V,.,,..h eFs 7:749feF $ 098 50 Removed from consent agenda 3.4. Reports 3.4.1. Court Justices Huddle and Klinger provided updates regarding court procedures in the face of COVID; they are taking all precautions while experiencing a busy month having collected just under $6,000 in fines and surcharges. There have been no evictions nor small claims cases; these are on hold until January at least. 3.4.2. Workplace Violence group led by Ulinski is proceeding with next steps after completing the workplace surveys and compiling those results. The next steps are to get safety recommendations, present those to the Town Board, and then look at reporting procedures, documentation, and training recommendations for staff. If we do not have a system in place, we are liable for fines and fees from the state at any point; this is a high priority for Town Hall. 3.5. Correspondence 3.5.1. None Resolution 133 of 2020: Approval of Above Consent Agenda (absent Gen Fund and Water Vouchers) Moved By: Ulinski No further discussion Seconded By: Schnabel Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 133 approved. 4. Old Business 4.1. Warrants (removed from the Consent Agenda for clarifying questions) 4.1.1. General Fund Vouchers 354-370 for $12,114.85 4.1.1.1. Schnabel questioned the appearance of two bills for the Ithaca Journal and Central NY Newspapers for legal ads. It turns out that Voucher #357 is not actually an invoice and the $54.64 amount Page 2 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 referenced will be removed from the vouchers list, bringing the total amount of the warrant under consideration to $12.060.21. Resolution 134 of 2020: Motion to Approve General Fund Warrant for $12,060.21 Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Holahan No further discussion. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 134 approved. 4.1.2. Water District Fund Vouchers 37-40 for $1,098.50 4.1.2.1.Connors found a discrepancy of $3 between the lawn mowing invoice and the voucher line. Shawley will include the additional $3.50 from the invoice to this fund. Resolution 135 of 2020: Motion to Approve General Fund Warrant for $1,102.00 Moved By: Connors Seconded By: Ulinski No further discussion. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 135 approved. 4.2. Vote on Proposed Local Law re Highway Superintendent (Gagnon) Resolution 136 of 2020: Motion to Approve Local Law #4 to Expand Residency Eligibility for Pool of Candidates to Highway Superintendent Moved By: Gagnon Seconded By: Holahan Page 3 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 4.2.1. Discussion centered around expanding the pool of candidates as a good thing for Danby by allowing for better options, some of whom may still be from Danby. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 136 approved. 4.3. Proposed 2021 Budget Resolution 137 of 2020: Approve Proposed 2021 Budget Moved By: Gagnon Seconded By: Connors 4.3.1. Discussion ensued on one alteration/technicality in the Town Board contractual line. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 137 approved. 4.4. Policy on Correspondence (Connors, Holahan) 4.4.1. Connors did a thorough job crafting a draft to start the conversation rolling. Board members will review and come back next month with revisions. The Town Board and Town Clerk will make comments for Connors to compile to have a focused discussion in the next Town Board meeting. 4.5. Code Enforcement Draft on Personnel Responsibilities (Czamanske) 4.5.1. Czamanske developed an expedient and short-term fix in considering the Code Enforcement vs Town Planner responsibilities based on conversations with the Town's attorney. Page 4 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 Resolution 138 of 2020: Approval of Designating Planner as Code Enforcement Officer for Zoning and Subdivision Only Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Connors 4.3.1. Discussion included a question as to whether the current Code Enforcement Officer (Cortright) and the new Town Planner (David West) are aware of these changes; they are. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 138 approved. 4.6. Stormwater Management Officer (Czamanske) 4.6.1. The formal designation of Stormwater Management Officer (SMO) was never made apparent but has historically been transferred between staff to decide who would be doing what. Former Code Officer Sue Beeners was the first appointed SMO in Danby in March 2010. After Beeners left, it is unclear whether her replacement was subsequently appointed as SMO. Since there are training requirements associated with the SMO position, the appointment needs to be considered and made or renewed annually. There is a clause included such that the appointment automatically renews if not modified. Connors noted that they last appointed Beeners in 2014. Resolution 139 of 2020: Appointment of David West as SMO Moved By: Connors Seconded By: Schnabel No further discussion. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Page 5 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 Gagnon Resolution 139 approved. X 4.7. LED Lighting Resolution (Czamanske) 4.7.1. There is a program with NYSEG to switch street lights to LEDs. The question was whether this was actually cheaper. Based on Czamanske's not quite exhaustive comparison, it is clear that it is easier and probably cheaper to accept the NYSEG proposal to have them switch the lights over and continue to lease rather than buy them and have to set them up ourselves both initially and over the long-term with any required maintenance. Resolution 140: Accept Proposal From NYSEG Moved By: Holahan Seconded By: Schnabel 4.3.1. Discussion around fine details such as expandability and whether other towns have gone this route. Schnabel asked if anyone has thought about doing solar battery lights where there is no connection to the grid? Because if we were going to try to do something that's not renting the poles, then the units might be more but we wouldn't have to hire an electrician to do it. Ultimately, the desire to do something now rather than wait for solar options to materialize took precedence. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 140 approved. 5. New Business 5.1. Mail Delivery at Town Hall (Adelman) 5.1.1. Given the continued closure of Town Hall, mail delivered to Town Councilpersons and Board appointees is stacking up at Town Hall. Discussion involved what to do with the mail, if there are mailboxes for officials in Town Hall or if mail could be delivered. Katharine Hunter offered to pick up and deliver the accumulated mail as a courtesy to the town. 5.2. Audio and Video Recording Archive Policy (Gagnon/Adelman) Page 6 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 5.2.1. Gagnon noted that previous Town Clerk Pfeifer used the minimum requirements of the retention policy for audio, and that audio recordings were not retained after 4 months. A policy decision was made that video records would not be kept due to space concerns, just the audio would be kept. Now Gagnon wants to keep audio files indefinitely. 5.2.1.1. Discussion centered around what the official recording of the meetings are; by law that is the written minutes. 5.2.1.2. One suggestion was to include the audio; another was to post the video recordings to the Town's YouTube channel. 5.2.1.3. Another suggestion was having an internal policy even if it's redundant with state policy. Resolution 141 of 2020: Approval of A/V Recording Archive, notwithstanding the minimum standards in the State Retention Schedule, that audio recordings will be kept indefinitely. Moved By: Gagnon No further discussion. Seconded By: Holahan Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 141 approved. 5.3. Tech Upgrade (Gagnon) 5.3.1. Given the way the world has changed when meetings moved to the videoconference platform, we've also adapted by posting supplementary meeting materials with the agenda on the website for public accessibility. For this meeting, we also for the first time posted abstracts of the warrants. Is this something that the board wants to embrace? Points for and against included whether including the actual vouchers would be problematic, however a government contract is not kept confidentially. 5.3.2. Another important point around tech is that we are finding as we are coping with pandemic that it requires us to do things that will enable us to function more effectively in the pandemic and beyond. The Page 7 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 direction we are heading in is to invest in technology that will make hybrid services work. The problem is that we haven't really budgeted for it. However, consensus is that we can make it work. 5.4. Living Wage Adjustment (Shawley) 5.4.1. We are not in compliance with meeting livable wage standards for two current employees. To be a living wage employer in Tompkins County, employees must receive at least the minimum wage of $15.37/hour. 5.4.1.1. Town Historian, Mary Ann Barr, is underpaid by $0.45/hour; she works about 9hrs/week. 5.4.1.2. David MacArthy is underpaid $0.07/hour. Resolution 142 of 2020: Motion to increase hourly rate to make the Town of Danby a Living Wage Employer Moved By: Holahan Seconded By: Connors No further discussion. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 142 approved. 5.5. Second Meeting in December Status Resolution 143 of 2020: Cancel the Board Meeting Scheduled for 23 Dec 2021 Moved By: Ulinski Seconded By: Holahan 5.5.1. Discussion focused on the need to have applications for Board appointments due at the first meeting in December, with interviews and appointments made at the second meeting. This has been rectified by moving the deadline for applications up to December 9 so that review and interviews can be made at the Dec 14 meeting.. Vote: Councilperson Aye No Abstain Connors X Holahan X Page 8 of 9 Town Board Meeting Town of Danby, NY 18 November 2020 Schnabel X Ulinski X Gagnon X Resolution 143 approved. 6. Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda 6.1. Change rules of procedure regarding minutes (e.g. compilation and distribution) 6.2. Putting Warrant Abstracts Up 6.3. Revisit Records Management Policy 6.4. Correspondence 6.5. Codification/Organizing Laws and Policies 7. Adjournment 7.1. Meeting adjourned at 21:22. Janice R. Adelman Town Clerk Page 9 of 9