HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-22 Town Board Minutes
Mee ng Minutes
Roll Call:
Town Board Joel Gagnon, Supervisor
Leslie Connors
Jim Holahan
Sarah Schnabel
Ma Ulinski
Town Planner David West
Town Code Enforcement Officer Steve Cortright
Town Bookkeeper Laura Shawley
Recording Secretary Janice Adelman, Town Clerk
1. Mee ng Called to Order at 19:04 by Supervisor Gagnon
2. Addi ons/Dele ons to Agenda
2.1. COVID Vaccina on and Tes ng Policy - new business
2.2. Schedule Public Hearing for Norbut Solar PDZ Applica on October 11 – added as
item 9.4
2.3. Agreement to spend Highway Funds - bo om of new business as item 9.6
3. Privilege of the Floor
3.1. Garry Huddle asked who is in charge when something goes wrong at town hall? The
Court was without office, fax, credit card phone lines. The library was also without
phones, and the alarm system was without phones. Laura, Garry, and Diane were all
on the phone for many hours trying to get something done.
3.1.1.Councilperson Ulinski stated that many people lost service because a phone
line was severed. Also noted that they haven’t figured out who is in charge
at town hall yet.
3.2. Huddle also made another comment about weeding around the court entrance and
other areas around the building asking if there is anyone who does that?
3.2.1. There isn’t a beau fica on commi ee anymore.
3.2.2. Katharine Hunter will volunteer to do this if someone will tell her what
Mary Ann Barr 2021
T he Town of Danby, New York
1830 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY 14850
https://danby.ny.gov
Town Board Regular Meeting
Wednesday 22 September 2021
+1-607-277-4788 | townboard@danby.ny.gov
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
should stay and what should go.
3.3. Ronda Roaring commented about a le er she sent to the Town Board two months
ago to lower the speed limit on S Danby Rd. She stated that nothing has been done
and motorcycles recently “went whizzing by at high speeds”. She asked what she can
do to get the Board moving on this?
3.3.1. Recommenda on was to refer this to the Transporta on Commi ee that
Leslie chairs.
4. Correspondence
4.1. Greg Nelson re Norbut Solar Farm proposal
4.2. Cassie Conley re Norbut Solar Farm proposal
4.3. Holly Hutchinson re Norbut Solar Farm proposal
5. Announcements
6. Reports & Presenta ons
6.1. Town Planner
6.1.1. Last month con nued trying to pull together comments around zoning
and answer ques ons around it. This will go up on the new website planning
page very soon.
6.1.2. No BZA mee ng last month.
6.1.3. Planning Board mee ng went forward discussing the solar farm.
6.1.4. Many people have been calling and wan ng to get projects started before
the end of the year.
6.1.5. Trying to pursue NYS HCR housing rehab grant for low-income (80% of
median income) homeowner op ons.
6.1.6. We are not seeing the waiver request due to the power outage mee ng
cancella on it did not leave enough me to post no fica on.
6.1.7. Joel asked to put on a “crack the code” event to bring people together to
see what are the worst scenarios people could come up with in the proposed
zoning changes. To be held on the first Monday in October.
6.2. Code Enforcement Officer
6.3. Town Clerk
6.4. County Legislator, Dan Klein
6.4.1. County is well into budget season. Making projec ons about tax
revenues; looking at last 5 months sales tax revenue, the numbers are good
— matching the numbers we saw in 2019 pre-pandemic. However, the
numbers look to match too precisely to those numbers in 2019.
6.4.2. Recovery fund: took ARPA money and applied it to par cularly allowable
categories. Se ng up a fund of $7 million dollars where people (businesses?)
can apply for funding. More specific details forthcoming. Klein voted against
the proposal because he felt the number was too large to take out of the
fund balance.
Page 2 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
6.4.3. Danby Conserva on Easement passed by State Legislature has not been
signed by the Governor. A discussion with Tompkins County will be held on
Thurs 10/7 at noon. If people would like to a end, check with Klein or the
county website. If you’d like to speak, contact the clerk of legislature at least
one day in advance. One thing to note is whether this should be something
for other towns to adopt.
6.4.4. Broadband study is s ll ongoing. The Town of Danby contributed $5k
toward the study. Subsequently, a number of towns became dissa sfied with
the process the county is using. The best thing to do is to return the donated
money; the County Legislature is yet to decide on this prospect. Technically,
the county has not billed any towns yet, so there is no need to return the
money.
6.4.5. Gagnon asked Klein about mandatory COVID tes ng.
6.4.6. Resident Ronda Roaring asked if the county Legislature has taken a
posi on on state-wide redistric ng. Klein responded that the Legislature has
not taken a posi on on it.
7. Consent Agenda
7.1. Warrants
7.1.1. General Fund No 16 Vouchers 292–316 for $21,715.78
7.1.2. Highway Fund No 16 Vouchers 202–209 for $13,510.28
7.1.3. General Fund No 17 Vouchers 317–331 for $31,680.22
7.1.4. Highway Fund No 17 Vouchers 210–227 for $30,609.29
7.1.5. Water Fund No 17 Vouchers 28–30 for $1,052.00
Resolu on 138 of 2021 To Approve Consent Agenda
Moved By: Ulinski Seconded By: Holahan
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 138 approved
Page 3 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
8. Old Business
8.1. Review and Consider Approving Level of Opera on Plan
Resolu on 139 of 2021 To Approve Level of Opera on Plan
Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Connors
Discussion:
- MU offered a friendly amendment that the supervisor be authorized to increase level of
restric on but not reduce it without town board approval.
-
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 139 approved
8.2. VOIP telephony update and possible vendor selec on
8.3. Conserva on Easement Template Revisions
Resolu on 140 of 2021 To Approve Conserva on Easement Template Revisions
Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Gagnon
Discussion:
- Councilperson Connors had some grammar/word-choice comments.
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 140 approved
Page 4 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
8.4. Workplace Violence Preven on Resolu ons
8.4.1. Nothing new on WPV - wai ng on es mates. Tabled un l next mee ng.
8.5. Vaccina on & Tes ng Policy re So Mandate.
8.5.1. If vaccinated, you can voluntarily par cipate in tes ng; tes ng is required
for those who are unvaccinated. The County pays for the tes ng; the
town pays for cost to take kits to site for analysis. The County is doing
2x/week; towns are thinking 1x/week. The Town has the op on to decide
how o en.
8.5.2. Shawley will reach out to the union rep for Highway re HIPAA around test
results. Highway personnel are unse led about this wondering if they’re
unvaccinated translates to losing their job. The others who are vaccinated
are wondering about the non-vaccinated being tested regularly.
8.5.3. Councilpersons Ulinski, Connors, and Holahan were in favor of following
up on this.
8.5.4. Ques ons about this process and implementa on should be directed to
Amie Hendrix (ahendrix@tompkins-co.org) at the County.
Resolu on 141 of 2021 To Par cipate in the TC Tes ng Protocol Subject to the Union Rep
Feedback
Moved By: Ulinski Seconded By: Schnabel
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 141 approved
9. New Business
9.1. Water District Advisory Commi ee Request to Authorize Leak Detec on Contract
9.1.1. System is losing 16-20% of water being pumped sugges ng an
unknown leak. Industry standard that 20% of unaccounted water is not
unusual. However, when nothing is happening s ll showing up to 20%
unaccounted.
9.1.2. The advisory commi ee believes it is worth running; es mated
Page 5 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
costs $1-2k
9.1.3. Don’t think a check has ever been done; it seems worth doing.
Resolu on 142 of 2021 To Authorize Leak Detec on Contract Not To Exceed $2000 From
the Water District Fund Balance
Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Connors
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 142 approved
9.2. Request to Contribute Toward Tree Removal at West Danby Cemetery
9.2.1. A tree is close to a fire hydrant; the Water District ADvisory
Commi ee (includes 2 members on the W Danby Cemetery Board)
9.2.2. A er some discussion, the Board noted that it was the first me
hearing about this issue and would like to wait un l next month to make a
decision.
9.3. Resolu on 143 of 2021 To Appoint Colleen Cowan to Fill Vacancy on Planning Board
Moved By: Seconded By: Holahan
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 143 approved
Page 6 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
9.4. Schedule Public Hearing for Norbut Solar PDZ Applica on October 11
Resolu on from Planning Board Sending PDZ for TB Review
The Town Board has the authority to change the zoning; PB has discussed this applica on over
3 separate mee ngs, including the Planned Development Zone language. Once TB takes
up the applica on, SEQR is the first thing to do as well as a public hearing. The main
reason for them seeking a PDZ is that the parcel is weird and want to subdivide it;
currently subdividing is not allowed for this parcel.
PB sent list of 6 things that they would like to see done, including in the zone language and in
the site plan. Part of approving this is approving the general site plan. This power falls to
the board. The only thing to do tonight is schedule public hearing.
All applica on materials and related documents
Gagnon asked why do public hearing now instead of toward the end. PB had public hearing
before approving this resolu on to send to you. PB has a meline for how fast to review
and forward app to TB. TB does not have a meline. This is a discre onary ac on, do not
have to change zoning when asked to do so. There is a meline for SEQR once we have all
the document.
JG thought it might be good to go through the environmental review before a public hearing
because if we substan vely alter the
Town Board members have no objec ons to having mul ple public hearings on this.
Resolu on 144 of 2021 To Schedule Public Hearing on the Norbut Solar Farm PDZ for
October 11 at 7pm
Moved By: Schnabel Seconded By: Connors
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Abstain
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 144 approved
9.5. Agreement to spend Highway Funds
Resolu on 145 of 2021 Approving the Agreement to Spend Highway Funds for Road Work
with Town of Ithaca
Page 7 of 8
Town of Danby Board Meeting + Public Hearing
Moved By: Holahan Seconded By: Gagnon
Vote:
Councilperson Aye No Absent
Connors X
Holahan X
Schnabel X
Ulinski X
Gagnon X
Resolu on 145 approved
10. Discussion of Next Mee ng Agenda
10.1. Workplace Violence
10.2. Speed Limits
10.3. West Danby Cemetery Tree
10.4. Revisit DCC contract
11. Mee ng Adjourned at 21:01.
Submi ed by Janice R. Adelman
Town Clerk
Page 8 of 8