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Home My WebLink About2024-07 Town Newsletter July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 1 Danby Town News Danby Summer Market Elana Maragna Please join us in supporting our local farmers, crafters and the following musicians at the Danby Fire Department July 19 - Cielle on Solid Ground August 16 - Karlee Weaver September 20 - John Petronzio If you’d like to be a vendor at the market or sign up to have a spot at the community yard sale, contact market organizer Elana at elanamaragni@gmail.com. Jennings Pond News Mary Ann Kozak A short distance down Bald Hill Road from the hamlet of Danby lies our beautiful Jennings Pond which is the headwaters for Buttermilk Falls. Jennings Pond will be open for swimming free to everyone until Labor Day. Our lifeguard will be on duty from 12 pm to 6 pm on Wednesdays thru Sunday weekly during July and August. Swim only when our lifeguard is on duty, but feel free to picnic, fish, canoe or kayak any day. Hike on our trails near the Pond too! Public Hearing July 1 at 6pm Possible submission of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the 2024 program year More details in the planner’s report on p.3 and on the town website – danby.ny.gov. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 2 Notes from the Town Supervisor Joel Gagnon The Next Step in Dealing With Noise You may recall that the Town Board came to agreement about what to include in a basic law regulating noise, and charged Warren Cross, an expert on acoustics, to collaborate with an attorney to get it into a legally acceptable form. Warren returned to the Board on June 17 for a discussion about the obstacles, and how to address them. Attorney Guy Krogh told Warren, in order to successfully prosecute based on noise, everyone needs to know ahead of time what is okay and what is not. This requires a clear definition of acceptable and unacceptable noise. Otherwise, the law has the potential for discriminatory application. Warren proposed creation of a panel to work with him on defining such parameters as: what unacceptable noise is, what are daytime hours vs nighttime hours, what exceptions there could be, etc. This is an unexciting undertaking, involving listening to a variety of examples, studying existing laws, and making judgments about what is acceptable and what is not, in a variety of contexts. Because the result could be different from one part of town to another, what might result is a recommendation to modify our zoning law to address some of the issues of the past few years. It will also investigate which issues can only be addressed by a free-standing law. Both the Town Board and Warren want the focus of the panel to be the crafting of a simple, acceptable, state constitutionally legal law. Board members Pat Woodworth and Paul Hansen agreed to serve, with Warren leading. A few others were proposed for the panel and will be asked to join if they are willing. Much of the groundwork has already been created from previous efforts, though I imagine it will be a while before the Board can expect to hear back from the panel with its revised recommendations. Derelict Buildings and Junk Both derelict buildings and junk have been raised as a concern by several residents and I believe this to be important to all of us on the Town Board as well. These are not new issues, but there has not been much action on them in recent times. That was the focus of Board discussion on June 17th. There is a process for addressing these issues, beginning with attempts to communicate with property owners to get them to take action on their own. If that fails, a formal prosecution can land offenders in court. The court can issue fines for violations. In the case of buildings, owners can be ordered to remedy or risk the town doing so. We have taken down derelict buildings in the past. The cost ends up as a lien on the property. If at time of sale (often by foreclosure) there is money left over after back taxes are recouped, the town will get paid back for its costs to demolish. There is a good chance that the town ends up paying some or all of the cost. Are we willing to spend taxpayers’ money to remove derelict houses? How much? Could we get grant money to help with the cost? We will look into it. With junk, what happens if fines go unpaid? Can we add the fines to the property tax bill? We will look into that as well. We would much prefer not having to spend time and money dealing with these issues, but ignoring them is equally unappealing. More to come! Reminder: If you would like to receive the Danby Town News only on-line or if you know someone who is not getting the Danby Town News but would like to please send an email with that information to townnews@danby.ny.gov. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 3 Notes from the Planner's Desk Greg Hutnik The Town of Danby has been awarded $8,000 from the Tompkins County Housing Affordability and Infrastructure Support Grant Program. This money will be used to cover the costs of grant writing services from Thoma Development Consultants to prepare a 2024 Community Development Block Grant Application for homeowner housing rehabilitations. (This is the same grant program that funded $500K to the Town in 2022 for similar homeowner housing rehabilitations.) We are now generating a new waitlist of low to moderate income homeowners who need rehabilitation work done on their home. The type of rehabilitation work that can be performed under this Program includes, but is not limited to, electric, plumbing, heating, roofing, insulation, masonry, windows, doors, painting, interior and exterior carpentry. If you are a low to moderate income homeowner and need home repairs such as these, please contact me. I have already had several residents reach out to be put on the waitlist – thank you! And related to the above…. The Town of Danby will hold a Public Hearing to discuss the possible submission of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the 2024 program year. The CDBG program is administered by the New York State Office of Community Renewal (OCR) and will make funds available to eligible local governments for the 2024 program year for housing, economic development, public facilities, public infrastructure, and planning activities, with the principal purpose of benefiting low to moderate income persons. Comments and questions can be sent via email to planner@danby.ny.gov or submitted in writing to Greg Hutnik, Town Planner, 1830 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY, 14850 until Friday, June 28, 2024, by Noon. If special accommodations are needed for persons with disabilities, those with hearing impairments, or those in need of translation from English, those individuals should contact the Town of Danby at (607) 227-4788 at least one week in advance of the hearing date to allow for necessary arrangements. The Town of Danby is committed to providing Fair Housing within constitutional limitations to all Town residents. The Federal Fair Housing Law prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status. If any individual or family feels that they have been discriminated against in obtaining suitable housing of their choice or if anyone requires additional information regarding Fair Housing, they can contact Greg Hutnik, Fair Housing Officer, at 607-592-0417, Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 a.m until 4:00 p.m. The Tompkins County Safe Streets For All website is live: https://safestreetstompkins.com/. Please especially take a look at the “Safety Feedback Map” and provide comments about road safety in Danby by using the “Submit a Comment” button on the lower right-hand side of the map. Your comments will help guide this county- wide initiative to create a safer street network in Danby. If you have any zoning or planning related questions or comments, or would like to schedule a time to meet, please call me at 607- 592-0417 or email planner@danby.ny.gov. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 4 Notes from the Town Clerk Mariah Dillon Danby Town Clerk's office is a busy place! The migration to Microsoft Office continues to move forward. All the mail and most of the people with an @danby.ny.gov email address have moved to MS Outlook. If you're still holding out, give me a call. It's a painless process. The next step is getting the town’s documents organized onto the Microsoft platform that will best facilitate a collaborative and stress-free work environment. MS Teams is looking to fit the bill better than SharePoint, and the possibility of developing a hybrid of Teams and SharePoint is on the table. If you have experience with either, I'd love to hear from you. We are learning a new process for posting documents onto our website and are moving the current online documents over to Laserfiche, since all the current links to documents will break when we move off our former document management system. (Please bear with us and let us know if you find broken links on the Town of Danby website!) We’re also setting up calendars, creating templates and building all new forms for the website (forms will break too). We have chosen a clerk software package to keep track of marriage, hunting and dog licenses, parking permits, as well as financial tracking! Our love of learning has been working in our favor! The Codification Project has been approved! Thank you to the Town Board for passing this important resolution. The codification project will structure and organize the town's local laws and ordinances for everyone who needs to know the law! Not only town residents, the code officer and the planner, but this will really help me - as the town clerk, who oversees all records management for the town! And if the town's laws are accurate and easy to find, that's a win, win solution! Being the Town Clerk continues to be a challenging, yet rewarding experience. From people skills, keeping track of over $4 million dollars in tax revenues, technical and secretarial skills, project management and a passion for organization, there are so many facets of this position! It’s hard to imagine that one person can do all of this proficiently. It has helped a lot that most everyone I have encountered in Danby has been wonderfully supportive, occasionally forgiving, and truly loves this town. Danby is indeed a very special place! Danby Fire District Sharon Gaden Cleaning Service Proposals Sought The Danby Fire District is soliciting proposals for cleaning services at the Danby Fire Station located at 1780 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 and the West Danby Fire Station located at 47 Sylvan Lane, Spencer, NY 14883. Anyone interested in submitting a proposal should contact the Danby Fire District, 1780 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 or call 319-4721, or go to the District Website, danbyfiredistrict.org for a list of requirements. Proposals need to be submitted to the Secretary by 5:00 p.m. on July 08, 2024, by mailing proposal to Danby Fire District, Attn: Secretary, 1780 Danby Road, Ithaca, New York 14850, or by email at secretary@danbyfiredistrict.org. Proposals will be considered at the July 9, 2024, Danby Fire District meeting at 7:00 pm. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 5 Tompkins County Legislature News Dan Klein Health Insurance Consortium is a Model for NY State The Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium is a highly successful, money-saving program invented here in Tompkins County. Don Barber, the former supervisor of the Town of Caroline, was a key player in getting this project up and running. The Consortium is a self-funded municipal cooperative that provides health insurance to employees of local government. All municipalities in Tompkins County are members, including the Town of Danby. The Consortium started providing coverage in 2011. Membership has increased slowly and steadily beyond Tompkins County. There are now 64 municipal partners in 12 upstate counties, covering 7,200 employees. These municipalities own the cooperative, write the benefit plans, and fill the governing board of directors. Health insurance costs generally go up a lot every year. The Consortium is not immune to this. However, the rate increases for members is always several percentage points below the statewide average. This is good for employees and good for taxpayers. One reason we are able to keep costs lower is that 94% of the total expenses go directly to pay claims. Because of the politics of Tompkins County, we are often viewed skeptically by much of upstate NY. However, the Health Insurance Consortium invented here is universally admired. Elected officials from other parts of the state frequently talk about establishing their own health insurance cooperatives, but no one has yet been able to duplicate our success story. For information about the county legislature, you can contact me at danbydan@hotmail.com. PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE of special meeting of the Members of DANBY COMMUNITY PARK ASSOCIATION, INC. In accordance with Section 603(c) and Section 605(a) of the New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, and the By-Laws of DANBY COMMUNITY PARK ASSOCIATION, INC. (the “Corporation”), a special meeting of the Board of Directors and Members of the Corporation will be held on July 9, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. at the Museum of the Earth, in the Museum of the Earth Classroom, 1259 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca, NY 14850. The following business will be transacted at the meeting: 1. Ratify past acts of the Board of Directors and appoint a new slate of directors and officers. 2. Amend the Corporation’s By-Laws to change membership requirements. 3. Review and approve the merger of Danby Community Council, Inc. with and into Danby Community Park Association, Inc. with Danby Community Park Association, Inc. surviving. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 6 Danby Seniors Theresa Klinger The next meeting of the Danby Seniors will be the annual BBQ (and 50/50 raffle) held on July 11th beginning at 12 Noon at the Eagles Club, 161 Cecil Malone Drive, Ithaca. If you would like to join us, please sign-up ASAP so we can give an accurate head count. Members cost is $10; non-members cost is $12. Make checks payable to Danby Seniors, and mail to Tammy Lopez, 68 Hornbrook Road, Ithaca. Questions? Email Tammy at tml24@yahoo.com or Theresa at tklinger617@gmail.com Our August meeting will be held on the 1st at 12 Noon for a dish-to-share meal at the Danby Community Church. We are planning to play a few games of Bingo with prizes! Don’t forget to bring your own table service and a utensil to serve your dish. Have you paid your membership dues? If not, send your check for $10 (payable to Danby Seniors) to: Cindy Ceracche, 338 Gunderman Rd., Spencer, NY 14883 (Phone # - 607-339- 9269). Those 80 and over are considered Lifetime members & no longer need to pay dues but may donate if they wish. SAVE THE DATES The Travel Committee has been busy confirming upcoming trips. We are working on an overnight trip to Lancaster, PA to the Sight and Sound Theatre in September. A fall foliage train excursion is being scheduled for October, Don’t forget the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular in NYC on December 4th. Youth Programs Heidi Doggett hd289@cornell.edu) We have a whole lot of fun planned for Danby youth this summer. Our no-cost summer programs begin the first week of July and run through most of August. Most summer programs run Monday-Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm. Summer program enrollment is generally capped around ten. Programs may fill up quickly. Please use the waiting list if the program is already full. If you sign your youth up and then decide not to come, please let me know so that I can open that spot for someone else. If you have questions, please contact Heidi Doggett at hd289@cornell.edu or (925)240-3572. You can register at bit.ly/41jUwDO or contact me if you need paper registration. If you encounter any difficulty registering, please email me right away and I will get you assistance! IMPORTANT NOTE: many summer programs are run outdoors. While we plan for the weather as much as possible, outdoor programs can be cancelled due to a forecast of extreme heat, smoke, or other hazardous weather. It’s important to have a backup care plan ready for your youth. REMINDER: Summer means road work (town, county, state). Please remember to slow down in areas where road crews are working. Thank you. July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 7 Cardboard Boat Building Meyers Park in Lansing, M-W 7/1, 7/2, 7/3 9:00 am-4:00 pm Think big! These cardboard boats aren't models. They are big enough for youth to fit in. Working in teams, they spend several days and use a LOT of duct tape to build a lake- worthy craft. Then they paddle out on the lake (wearing a life vest and tied to an instructor) to see how long their boat stays afloat. When youth need a break from building, we'll have nature walks down the creek, playground time, fishing, and swimming. Lake Life Meyers Park in Lansing, M-Th 7/8-7/11 9:00 am-4:00 pm Join us for a week of lake-themed activities including a cookout, swimming, fishing, and a trip on the Teal's Floating Classroom at the Ithaca Farmer's Market. Dungeons & Dragons Adventures Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ithaca, M-Th 7/15-7/18 9:00 am-4:00 pm Level up with D&D themed activities of all kinds! This is our second summer running this program. This year youth will have even more chances to increase their character's ability scores and earn new spells, feats, and magical items through solving D&D themed puzzles, crafts like dice pouches and costume pieces, and even cooking. Monday's activities will include a Dungeon Master Boot Camp, all experience levels welcome. Whether you want to run a game with us this week or later on your own, this activity will increase your world- building and story-telling skills and give you key pointers for helping your players have fun. Create Your Own Adventures Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ithaca, M-Th 7/22-7/25 9:00 am-4:00 pm Youth will plan together to create their own week of activities given a budget and bus schedule. Parks, Gardens, and the Science Center are all possibilities. Last year youth even voted to buy their own sundae ingredients and watch a movie in PJs at CCE. Since this is a combined program, we'll have multiple educators available to give youth choices for each activity. RYS Summer Olympics Various Locations M-Th 7/29-8/1 9:00 am-4:00 pm Why just watch the Summer Olympics when you can make your own? This program is a BIG event, with RYS groups from all over Tompkins county participating. Every day we will have different activities, including archery, field games, and all sorts of challenges. Youth will compete in four teams. They can earn points by winning challenges, helping out, playing with style, etc. Lunch and snacks will be served daily. Transportation is available to and from the event. Locations will vary and may change throughout the day. Families will receive an itinerary before the event. Making (and eating) Lemon Blackberry Tarts July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 8 Danby Community Groups Danby Community Library Contact: Cindy Parlett library@danby.ny.gov Open Tue 1-3pm, Thur & Sat 10am-12pm Danby Food Pantry Danby Community Church Contact: Joan Barber Open: 3rd Thur 4-6 pm Danby Food Scraps Pickup every Sat 9am – noon behind Town Hall Danby Community Parks Association (DCPA) Website: dotsonpark.org dotsonpark@gmail.com Danby Rural Cemetery Contact: Sharon Boda Sharonboda@gmail.com Danby Seniors Contact: Pat Phelps patriciaphelps2.0@ gmail,com Luncheons: 1st Thur at noon Danby Community Council President: Pamela Goddard Website: danbycc.org Meeting: 1st Thur 7pm Danby Tosspot (Open Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting) Wed 7pm virtual West Danby Community Association (WDCA) Contact: Pat Curran pc21@cornell.edu Danby Library News Cindy Parlett If your child would like to improve their reading skills, come cuddle up and read to some furry friends. Cornell Canine Companions will be at the library Saturday July 13 from 10:30-11:30am! Dogs are patient and nonjudgmental and can help kids with their confidence in reading. Pick out a book to enjoy on vacation. Here are more books from our recent Friends of the Library sale: The Exchange-J.Grisham Half of a Yellow Sun-C. Adichie The Lightning Keeper-S. Lawrence; Finding Dorothy-E. Letts Every Heart a Doorway-S.McGuire; Our Missing Hearts-C.Ng Ambush and The Fall of Crazy House-J. Patterson Mad Honey and Handle with Care-J.Picoult Killers of a Certain Age-D.Raybourne; The Book of Cold Cases-S. St. James; We Are Not Ourselves-M.Thomas The White Lady-J.Winspear Clock Dance and Ladder of Years-A.Tyler Too Much and Never Enough-M.Trump Sing,Unburied, Sing-J.Ward July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 9 Monthly Meeting Schedule At-A-Glance Group Day Date Time Call-in by Phone Meeting ID Town Board* Mon 7/1 6:00pm 1-929-205-6099 882 2697 6101 905098 WDWD Wed 7/3 5:00pm In person West Danby fire station CAC* Tue 7/9 7:00pm 1-929-205-6099 835 4940 5296 879507 FD Tue 7/9 7:00pm In person Danby Fire Station DYC No meeting in July Town Board* Mon 7/15 6:00pm 1-929-205-6099 847 9505 5187 308958 PB* Tue 7/16 7:00pm 1-646-876-9923 893 3897 1114 956288 BZA* Tue 7/23 7:00pm TBD 817 1432 4705 398041 FD Tue 7/23 7:00pm In person at the Danby Fire Station See the Danby calendar for the final, most up-to-date details. (Acronyms in the above schedule are identified below.) *These meetings are hybrid (i.e. both online and in-person at the Town Hall) Boards & Committees Planning Board (PB) Chair: Kelly Maher planningboard@danby.ny.gov Meets: 3rd Tuesday at 7pm Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Chair: Earl Hicks bza@danby.ny.gov Meets: 4th Tuesday, as needed Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Chair: Margaret Corbit cac@danby.ny.gov Meets: 2nd Tuesday at 7pm Danby Youth Commission (DYC) Chair: Jamie Sorrentino jsorrentino@danby.ny.gov Meets: 2nd Thursday at 7pm Fire District (FD) Secretary: Sharon Gaden, secretary@danbyfiredistrict.org danby.ny.gov/depts/danby-fire-district Meets: 2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 7pm Danby Volunteer Fire Company (DVFC) Chief: John Gaden, jgaden@danbyfiredistrict.org danbyfiredept.org West Danby Fire Department (WDFD) Chief: Robert McCray rmccray@danbyfiredistrict.org westdanbyfire.com West Danby Water DIstrict (WDWD) Contact: Scott Wendt, swendt@danby.ny.gov Meets: 1st Wednesday at 5pm July 2024 Town of Danby, New York 10 Town Officials Town Supervisor Joel Gagnon, x1010 supervisor@danby.ny.gov Town Board Meets 1st Mon and 3rd Mon Leslie Connors Paul Hansen H Katharine Hunter Pat Woodworth townboard@danby.ny.gov Town Clerk Deputy Town Clerk Hours: Mon–Fri 11am–4pm Mariah Dillon Cindy Katz clerkoffice@danby.ny.gov x8001 Highway Superintendent Deputy Highway Superintendent Hours: Mon–Thu 6am–4:30pm Keith Shipman, x8009 highway@danby.ny.gov Jack Shawley, x1012 jshawley@danby.ny.gov Town Justices Court Clerk Hours: Mon-Wed 8am-11am Garry Huddle Theresa Klinger Diane Gair dgair@nycourts.gov Town Planner Hours: Mon–Fri by appointment Greg Hutnik, x1007 planner@danby.ny.gov Code Enforcement Hours: Mon-Fri by appointment Steve Cortright, x1006 code@danby.ny.gov Documents/ Historian Mary Ann Barr, x1008 mbarr@danby.ny.gov Bookkeeper Laura Shawley, x1011 lshawley@danby.ny.gov Danby, New York From: 1830 Danby Road Ithaca, NY 14850 PRST STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No.428 Ithaca, NY 14850 Phone: +1-607-277-4788 https://danby.ny.gov Welcome to the Danby Town News! Questions? Email us at townnews@danby.ny.gov