HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-01 Town Board Minutes
Board Members Present:Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor
Leslie Connors
Katharine Hunter
Patricia Woodworth
Paul Hansen
Town Staff:Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper
Mariah Dillon, Town Clerk
Other Attendees:Ronda Roaring
Garr y Huddle
Ted Crane
1.Call to Order 6:02
2.Additions/Deletions to Agenda
2.1. More on Roles and Responsibilities
2.2. Businesses on Corner Lots
2.3.Adding the list of ARPA Projects from Highway Department
3.Privilege of the Floor
Ronda Roaring has not been able to get the meeting agenda on Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
Discussion ensued regarding possible remedies for Roaring.
Ted Crane – “ Obviously, I was able to get the agenda from the website. There are so many
different configurations of browsers and computers that the kind of problem that Ronda was
seeing isn't at all impossible. I have three comments. The First one actually also relates to the
website. It was brought to my attention that the meeting IDs and password codes for the
Zoom meetings have been changing. I would like to encourage the town to make ever y effort
to keep the meeting IDs for the meetings the same all the time as they have been for many
years. It's just a lot more confusing for the public to keep track of what the current meeting ID
is. Secondly, I was reading through the minutes of the previous meeting, and although it's not
mentioned in the minutes, I recalled something that I did hear during passage of the previous
meeting minutes that one of the board members commented that they were making a
distinction between the minutes based on who produced them and that you would not
approve the minutes that were apparently produced by the former clerk and you know
something I think you should be looking at the contents and not who produces them. It's just
it just left me with a taste of you know, a sort of suppressed hostility. And you don't need
that. Continuing down the minutes I also heard part of the conversation about the park
contract. I'd like to state so you'll have perspective: Tonight you have on your agenda
approving a contract with the Danby Seniors which as you know is not an organized
Mary Ann Barr 2021
T he Town of Danby
1830 Danby Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
danby.ny.gov
Town Board Meeting Minutes
Meeting Held Monday April 1, 2024 at 6:00PM
organization. It has no legal status and you're willing well I don't know that you are but I
assume you're going to be willing to make that without question. During the board discussion
that I heard about the park contract a board member mentioned twice that it was an opinion
that the park was operating illegally. Of course that board member is not a lawyer. The park is
not operating illegally and never has been, As Joel mentioned later in the conversation, the
law changed, not the park. The park is taking steps and has been dealing with that problem.
Once again, there's this impression that an outside person might get some kind of hostility
on the part of the board or at least members of the board and I think that that is ill becoming
to our town. And of course, coming back to the fact that you're approving a contract with
something that isn't really an organization, I hope I’m going to say this correctly- Joel, you
had an opinion from the town lawyer that you could you could make a contract with a
criminal as far as you're concerned, as long as the ser vices that are being paid for and the
payments are clearly stated. So there's no reason to be criticizing a situation that was not of
the park's creation and which it is working as hard as it can to get done.”
Garry Huddle - Commented that he had no problem getting the agenda on Chrome from the
website.
4.Correspondence - None
5.Announcements - None
6.Reports & Presentations
6.1.Town Clerk
6.2.Code Enforcement Officer
7.Meeting Minutes
7.1.Resolution 110 of 2024 to Accept the Meeting Minutes of March 18, 2024
Moved By Connors Seconded by Hansen
Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 110 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.Business
8.1.Next moves in ARPA Decision-making
The Town Board has a list of possible ARPA projects, and will be adding potential highway
projects.
Projects in the Process of evaluation:
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Getting the Solar Array Looked at, assessing it’s condition and potential for maintenance
issues going forward. The person who was recommended for this (Dave Tedeyan) is not
currently available due to insurance issues, but he may be available later, or it’s possible the
board may be looking for someone else.
Hansen said he would ask Tedeyan, as well as JimHolohan, if they know of other qualified
individuals.
Resolution 111 of 2024 to Authorize Hansen to Check Out the Options, f ind and hire a
qualif ied person to do the inspection and appraisal.
Moved By Gagnon Seconded by Connors
Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 111 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
Connors mentioned asking the Highway and Water District if they had projects they wanted
to request. Gagnon answered that they had been asked.
The Water District hydrant replacement was suggested by the Water Committee. Gagnon
mentioned concern that some of the pipes might be fragile. If this could be identified as a
need, we could potentially use ARPA money for a study. Peter McDonald is looking into what
grant funds are available and what they might be used for.
Supervisor Gagnon thought that ARPA money could be used for the trail easement
acquisition. Connors asked about continual maintenance on the trail. It was agreed that the
board may seek out grant money for repair of the trail, but that would have to wait until after
the next meeting and public hearing on the matter. Hansen agreed to go to the town of
Ithaca and discuss maintenance costs with their engineers. Gagnon mentioned that he has
costs of trail maintenance from the Town of Ithaca DPW, because part of the MOU will be
agreeing to have Ithaca’s DPW do the maintenance on the trail, using the same formula as for
the easement acquisition. That formula consists of dividing half of the costs equally among
the four partners and then having the other half of the cost shared in proportion to the
length that's in each municipality. That leaves Dr yden and Ithaca shouldering more of the
costs than they would based on how much of the trail is in their municipality. If we did it on
the basis of length, it would not be a significant difference for us. Caroline would get a
socked pretty hard if it were all based on length because they’ve got by far the longest
section. The negotiating team is proposing to have the memorandum of understanding or
maintenance be based on that same formula, with the split based half on the four towns
equally and then the other half based on the trail length. This will be going before all four
towns.
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Connors: If we are on board with this, it will be at least $7,000 and we don’t know if we can
afford the repairs.
Supervisor Gagnon will provide an estimate of trail maintenance cost per mile. He also
mentioned that there is NY State money available for trail development. It was decided to
have acquiring the trail remain on the ARPA Possible Project List.
Codification of Codes - Connors will get more information regarding costs of codifying the
local codes.
L. Shawley went over a couple items from the Highway Department list of potential projects.
She will pass along the list.
Dillon shared the List of Possible ARPA Projects with the group.
Town Hall Modifications – Discussion ensued regarding modification for ADA parking and a
ramp in front of the Town Hall. Hansen is looking at costs for some of these modifications.
Supervisor Gagnon noted that acquiring land for a community center was not on the list. He
mentioned that Zach Larkins was trying to get a hold of the owner of the vacant property next
to the Town Hall. Hansen will also tr y to get a hold of him.
Discussion ensued about bringing broadband to the West Danby Fire Station and other
internet deprived areas. Supervisor Gagnon mentioned that what's going to go before the
Committee on Wednesday is a proposal that they spend $100,000 to fund Point Broadband’s
costing out of their proposal and then they're proposing that Point Broadband do it,
because theirs is the lowest bid. That's going to be discussed in committee on Wednesday
and presumably a recommendation to the legislature will come out of that.
Discussion ensued regarding the possibly of utilizing Starlink for town employees in West
Danby locations. This led to much conversation about where to house the WDWD clerk.
8.2.Danby Seniors Contract Signing Authorization
There was some discussion about how much money the Seniors overspent last year. L.
Shawley remembered that is was about 2 or 3 hundred dollars. This year they asked for a bit
more money in the budget. This year's agreement is essentially the same as last year's, with
a small increase in their budget.
Resolution 112 of 2024 to Give Supervisor Gagnon the Authority to Sign the Danby Seniors
Contract
Moved By Woodworth Seconded by Hansen
Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
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Resolution 112 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.3. Resolution 113 of 2024 to Create a Buildings and Grounds Committee of Larkins,
Gagnon, Hansen and Dillon
Moved By Gagnon Seconded by Woodworth
Connors feels that one board member is enough.
Roll Call:
Connors No
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 113 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.4. Resolution 114 of 2024 That the Town Board is the Declared Lead Agency for
SEQRA, in Amending the Local Law No. 1 of 2022, Pertaining to Signage and Related
Lighting
Moved By Connors Seconded by Woodworth
Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 114 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.5. Resolution 115 of 2024 to Have Planner Hutnik Draft a Change to the Corner Lot
Location Requirements for Businesses – Deleting Them.
Moved By Hansen Seconded by Connors
Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 115 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.6. Resolution 116 of 2024 For the Town Board to Approve to Send unused items to
auction from the Highway Department
Connors read over the list of excess property. L. Shawley confirmed the equipment is very
old, but someone might want the items.
Moved By Connors Seconded by Woodworth
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Roll Call:
Connors Yes
Hansen Yes
Hunter Yes
Woodworth Yes
Gagnon Yes
Resolution 116 of 2024 passed on April 1, 2024
8.7. Roles and Responsibilities –Supervisor Gagnon spoke about a policy for responding in the
name of the board. No one can speak as the board, only the board as a whole. Specifically
problematic is using the word “we” that might refer to speaking as the Town Board. “T he
reason I'm bringing this up now, is because in the name of statements that have been made in
the Town News. Whenever “we”is used, it’s an - in the name of - statement. Who is “We”?
The last issue of the Town News had an item, Notes f rom the Town Board, implying that it is in
the name of the town board. But none of us is authorized to make statements in the name of
the town board without the town board signing on to what's being said. I don't have any
objection to what was said. I’m merely raising the question of how we do these things. When
we're making statements "in the name of", particularly when something's addressed to the
board or said on behalf of the board, the board should be on board with what's being said.
Discussion ensued about the article in the Town News.
Connors suggested having a couple of people meet, and develop a checklist for checking the
validity of whats being said and giving the Board 24 to 48 hours to go over the Newsletter
before it is published.
Hunter mentioned that the “Thank You” in the recent Newsletter went over very well.
Woodworth: I want to be sure that as a policy we always thank people for their work and
welcome people in.
It was agreed that more checking and verification will happen moving forward.
9.Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda
Two public hearings
Warrants
10.Adjourn 7:38
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