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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-20 Town Board Minutes Present:Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor Leslie Connors Katharine Hunter Patricia Woodworth Absent:Paul Hanson Town Staff:Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper Steve Cortright, CEO Other Attendees:Mariah Dillon, Recording Secretary Ted Crane Garry Huddle Jennifer Tiffany Ronda Roaring Zach Larkins Heather Coffey 1. Call to Order at 6:04 2. Additions to Agenda 2.1. Appoint Meeting Secretary Resolution 238 of 2023 to Appoint Mariah Dillon as Meeting Secretary Moved By Woodworth Seconded by Gagnon Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 238 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 2.2. Consider Request by Clerk to Buy the Office Mac Computer 3. Privilege of the Floor Ronda Roaring: When you click on Greg Hutnik's report and then you go down all the way to the bottom of 9.3 Newsletter and Website 2024 Planning, the documents are the same. Ted Crane: Agenda item 9.3 Newsletter and Website planning unfortunately calls up the planner's report. I’d like to just point out that the town already spends a good deal more on both its website and its newsletter than it really needs to and that in fact, I see no good reason why you shouldn't simply kill two birds or help two birds with one stone by by purchasing space in the existing Danby news which could cut your costs down perhaps 50%. The other thing that caught my eye, is the request to buy the office Mac computer and I have two comments about that. First of all, I think it's very important that the town maintain a significant presence of Mac computers in its working, so that you can you have an easy way to ensure that the proportion of the town that views the web using a Mac is in fact able to see it. As opposed to designing things that work for PCs. Second, I took a quick look at the write up on it. It's an estimated value of $1,000. I don't know it does not Mary Ann Barr 2021  Town of Danby  Town Board Regular Meeting  Monday, December 20, 2023 at 6:00 PM  specify what the model is, but you have to get to a pretty souped up and modern MacBook Pro to get $1,000 estimated retail value according to a very reliable source on the web: Every mac.com. I suspect that its value is not $1,000. And in fact, I'd be happy to do the research if you want to establish what might be a fair value. I not only track websites like that, I track actual sales through private sales online, which would be more appropriate. This is not a retail sale, this is a private sale and they tend to go for 50% less. It might be nice to swing the camera a little bit, as all I see on the left side of the screen is an empty chair. Please try to use your microphones. Hunter mentioned that Closed Captioning has been enabled. 4. Correspondence None 5. Announcements 5.1. CDBG Grant Award The town received the CDBG multi family housing rehab grant that we applied for. 6. Reports & Presentations 6.1. Highway Superintendent Laura mentioned that the Highway Department is ready for the winter weather. 6.2. Planner Greg Hutnik could not be at tonight’s meeting but submitted his report. 7. Meeting Minutes 7.1. Resolution 239 of 2023 to Accept the Meeting Minutes of December 5th Moved By Connors Seconded by Woodworth It was noted that Mariah Dillon’s name should be added to whom was appointed as meeting secretary. Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 239 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 8. Warrants Abstract 25 of 2023 8.1. Resolution 240 of 2023 to Accept General Fund Vouchers 396-409 for $23,300.89 Moved By Connors Seconded by Woodworth Gagnon noted the the Danby Community Park Association line indicates it for fire insurance, and it’s a general liability policy. Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 240 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 8.2. Resolution 241 of 2023 to Accept Highway Fund Vouchers 239–248 for $23,512.89 Moved By Connors Seconded by Woodworth Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 241 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 8.3. Resolution 242 of 2023 to Accept the Water Fund Vouchers 38-39 for $63.40 Moved By Gagnon Seconded by Connors Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 242 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 9. Business 9.1. Creation of a Court Auditing Committee Gagnon received the annual letter from the court saying they are ready to be audited. Woodworth and Hunter agreed to head up the Court Auditing Committee. Resolution 243 of 2023 to have Woodworth and Hunter be the Court Auditing Committee Moved By Gagnon Seconded by Connors Roll Call: Connors Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 243 of 2023 passed on December 20, 2023 L. Shawley clarified that there is a checklist for the audit. As you go through the checklist, you’ll need to have all the documents in front of you. You verify each item, so that you can go through them all. It's not for the court to go through and check things off. It's for you guys to check things off as you see them. 9.2. Request to seek Modification of State Enabling Legislation for Tax Abatement for Conservation Easement Properties to Include Existing Easements Gagnon: This was a topic of lengthy discussion at the Conservation Advisory Committee meeting. There was considerable consternation, both on the part of the CAC and the town board when we discovered that existing easements were not eligible, under the existing legislative authorization, to participate in the abatement. I was told that not only are existing easements not eligible, but easements not with the Town are not eligible. Only new easements with the Town of Danby are eligible. That was not our intention, and is way short of the objective, which was to provide relief for large landowners. The alternative is to go back to the legislature for a different authorization. That was the recommendation of the Conservation Advisory Council, that we go back to our legislative representatives and basically strategize with them on how best to get our main objectives better addressed. Whether by modifying the law that they would pass on our behalf, enabling us to do this, or something totally different. So I’m bringing this to the board to see if we can’t agree to do that. Approach Anna Kelles and Lea Webb to get what we need. Resolution 244 of 2023 That we Approach our State Legislators with a Request to Work With Us to Find Appropriate Authorization to Accomplish Our Objective of Tax Relief for Large Landowners. Moved By Gagnon Seconded by Connors Hunter: I didn't know that we intended for this to happen for people with Land Trusts. I thought it was for Town of Danby easements. Gagnon: It wasn't clear in the enabling legislation that it was specific to Danby easements. There were going to be new easements, and what was new in that legislation was the ability to do temporary easements. Still, that legislation enabled us to do temporary easements, which we hadn’t done before. As well as the permanent easements that we were already doing. Connors: The conversations I participated in all had to do with the Town of Danby conservation easements; how much it would cost to do them. I never thought it was going to be for Finger Lakes Land Trust easements. Gagnon: It's a voluntary program, so it's not like a landowner who has an easement has to participate in the tax abatement. They would have to apply for the abatement. Back in the beginning, when this initiative first started, it came out of the planning group that was focused on how do we get tax relief to large landowners.That group found this law which pre-existed and already applied in other places. The group thought that it would serve the purpose here in Danby. We didn't really think through how this was going to apply to existing easements, because the easements are not all with the town. Woodworth: New easements might not all be with the town either. So you're changing what the proposal is. You're not fixing what we asked for, you're adding more. Gagnon: Fixing what we asked for doesn't really solve the problem. Because the objective was to provide tax relief for large landowners, and some of those large landowners have existing easements, and some of them are not with the town. So, if they've already got a conservation easement with the land trust or Nature Conservancy or with somebody else, they can't turn around and do another one with the Town of Danby in order to participate in our tax abatement. They’re basically cut out, and can't participate. As it turns out, you’re cut out even if you have an existing easement with the Town of Danby! Woodworth: That was the issue, taking care of the ones that already have an easement with the town being able to participate, not whether it's existing or new, or from an alternative agency. Connors: The Finger Lakes Land Trust holds those easements they should ask. Gagnon: They have done all the work to protect that land in Danby that we would have had to deal with they if they had applied for a town easement. Woodworth: Then it makes more sense for them to request an easement on their own for a tax abatement on their own easements. Not for us to ask on their behalf, unless we talk to them first. Connors: I assumed that the law referred to people who were getting easements from the town. I thought what we were talking about right now is trying to find some way to get those people who have gotten easements from us already, to include them somehow. By opening it up it's a whole different can of worms, and I'd rather have that separate. We can talk with Finger Lakes Land Trust down the road, but right now, I would rather stick to trying to get the people who have already got current easements with the Town of Danby to be able to participate. I don't feel like the Town of Danby should be trying to go after tax abatements for easements held by other entities. Maybe it's something down the road, but this discussion, I thought, was about easements held by the Town. Woodworth: Yes, previous discussions have said that the real problem is that the law didn't apply to existing easements that we own. So this changes the previous discussions, and I'd rather stick to the previous discussions, extended for easements that are already held by the Town of Danby. Gagnon: And I'm saying that if we're going to go back to the legislature, why not deal with the bigger picture because the driving force in the first place was, how do we get tax relief to large landowners, not how do we get a mechanism for dealing with a subset of the problem. This legislation was only focused in on because it was pre existing. Connors: There's lots of things that were originally brought up. I think we've got the la.,If we have a problem with it, and we would like to try and find some way to get those people who took out easements with the Town of Danby some ability to utilize a tax abatement, I'm all for that. Gagnon: You're telling me that you're not interested in doing tax abatement for all large landowners? Connors: I am all for tax abatement for anybody who takes out a conservation easement, not just large landowners. If somebody's got 20 acres, I'm all for conservation easement on their property. Gagnon: I don't disagree. The reason the large landowner was used in my resolution, and I’m happy to modify it if you want, is that the benefit is primarily to large landowners, because the abatement is only on the land. On smaller properties, generally speaking, a house is going to be the lion's share of the of the assessed value. The abatement of taxes on the land, for small parcel is not a lot of money. Connors: If you want to change it, I think you need to go back and get information on what are the easements, whose are they, where are they, and who holds the easements, and talk to those easement holders. Hunter: Can we cut to the chase, and do this on that, and leave the language open that the Town of Danby would like to include all people who did an easement with the town. And then go back and do what you're suggesting at a separate time. Woodworth: That’s what we ought to do. Hunter: I think we need to take this off the table for tonight. Gagnon: That’s what I’m thinking, that maybe we should have a discussion about what is the scope of what we want, before we go to anybody. Hunter: And let's find out what the repercussions are for us. If we start giving tax abatements to - I don't even know how many easements there are in the Town of Danby. Gagnon: We did an analysis when we when we were looking at this. Woodworth: We don't have the data right in front of us now, so we can't vote on it, so we'll postpone this to the next meeting or later. Gagnon: Okay. But I'd like to have some direction as to what it is that we're going to do to address this issue. Hunter: The direction you're hearing from three board members sitting here is that we want to have more investigation about how many easements there are that are not town easements. And we want to see what the tax implication is for the Town of Danby. How many are there? What are these easements? Gagnon: I think we had that information on hand when we did the analysis. Connors: I think it’s too bad that this is going to hold up trying to get this for the people who have already got town easements. Woodworth: Then we could make a different motion, or we can vote on your motion. Gagnon: Well, my motion was broader than what you had intended. Woodworth: That's right, so it'll be deleted. Then I move that we talk to the state legislators about modifying the state regulations to allow landowners that have an existing easement through the town, to also take part in the abatement program. Gagnon: I don't think we should do that. Not because I don't think it should be done but I don't think we should focus in so narrowly, on only one aspect of what was our intent. Connors: I never ever thought that we would do tax abatements for Finger Lakes Land Trust easement properties. Hunter: It’s not a matter of saying we don't care. It just wasn't the focus of this. And if you're worried about having it be delayed, this should be done so that by the second meeting in January, we have the data to look at. Gagnon: I think we need to readdress the whole question, of what are we trying to do and for whom are we trying to do it. What Pat said is that we should pursue, with the state, getting their existing legislation modified, so that we can include other easements than the ones that were put in place after we passed the local law. Connors: It was town easements. Resolution 244 of 2023 That we Approach our State Legislators with a Request to Modify the State Law to Allow Landowners Who had a Town Easement Prior to the Law Taking Effect, to Still be Able to take Part in the Tax Abatement Program. Moved By Woodworth Seconded by Connors Hunter: I do not see why we have to do this until January. I think we should withdraw this, and put it off until January because it gives everybody a chance to think about it. No legislators will be working on it this week and probably not the first week in January. The town has a lot of tax things that need to be done, and we have an organization meeting coming up. Gagnon: The reason I don't support it is because I don't think we should go to the state with more than one request. Before we go to the State we should have our internal discussion about what are we really after? Hunter: And it's possible that people that read the minutes of meetings or pay attention will chime in from that community. Gagnon: We could ask for a discussion at the CAC, since we have not discussed opening it up. The discussion that the CAC had, was that we were all surprised to find that existing easements couldn't participate. Hunter: I’d like to table the motion for now. Connors: Let’s get more information from the CAC. Woodworth: My inclination is to have that in place, so that we can talk to people ahead of time. The fact that it could apply to other agencies in the future, would be added on to it but at least we can start talking to people now. Gagnon: I don't want to go to Lea or Anna without clarity regarding what it is we're really trying to accomplish This was an approach to getting property tax relief or large or mostly large landowners, or any landowner for anybody with an easement. Hunter: Those are two different things, and that's the problem right here. We're saying a town easement and you're saying large landowner, you keep saying large landowners. If that's what it says in there, and we send a letter then it covers large landowners period. If it doesn't say that, if it says town, then you're asking us to adjust a resolution that was already made and passed and we're uncomfortable with that. Connors: It’s a program for easements and that’s all I ever thought it would be. If you don't want to check with the legislators, about helping people who already have easements with the town, you want to open it up to other things, it’s a whole new discussion. We need to get the CAC we need to get information from the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and who else holds easements in town? How many public acres are we talking about? And what's their plans for the future? That's what I feel like we need to do. Woodworth withdrew her resolution. 9.3. Newsletter and Website 2024 Planning Gagnon would like to have a plan for how we address the context for a newsletter and for dealing with the website going forward. We should put together an oversight group, as people who might have something to submit, need some indications of what's okay to submit. Woodworth will head this up. Mariah Dillon will look into website updates and revisions once she is in office. Eventually we would like to have each office or department have the ability to make updates to their own area of the website. Connors, Hunter and Dillon will head up website oversight. Dillon will work with TCNS on the migration from Zoho to Office365 and will seek input from the board and keep the board apprised of issues and timelines. 9.4. Creating a Structure for Cloud Storage of Records Dillon will work with TCNS on the migration from Zoho to Office365 and will seek input from the board and keep the board apprised of issues and timelines. 9.5. Consider Request by Clerk to Buy the Office Mac Computer This request was considered premature at this time. 10. Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda The first meeting in January will be primarily the organizing resolutions for the new year, including appointing committee chairs and other appointees. Convening a group to do a review of the Comprehensive Plan. Discussion ensued regarding how we might get more community members interested in serving on committees. Meeting Adjourned at 7:40