Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-21 Town Board Minutes1 | P a g e Town of Danby Town Board Meeting Minutes Held Monday, October 21, 2024 Board Members Present: Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor Leslie Connors Katharine Hunter Patricia Woodworth Paul Hansen Town Staff: Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper Mariah Dillon, Town Clerk Greg Hutnik, Town Planner Kieth Shipman, Highway Superintendent Mary Ann Kozak, Pond Other Atzendees: Ted Crane Garry Huddle Ronda Roaring Theresa Klinger Captain Charles Tilton Marnie Kirchgessner Kate Shanks-Booth Jamie Sorrentino Budget Discussion Opened at 5:1 5 Kozak answered questions about the Jennings Pond Program. She mentioned that since the town added sand to the bea ch, the goose poop issues on the beach have been nearly resolved. There was discussion about the tasks of the “lifeguards” that include s more than waiting for children to come and swim. She mentioned general cleaning, picking up trash and testing the water. Kozak also reported on the efforts to remove some of the problematic weeds in the swim area. M Kirchgessner spoke of the benefits and values of the Jennings Pond Program. Shanks-Booth, Tompkins County Youth Services Depa rtment spoke about the Youth Commission Budget increase proposal. They shared a presentation of the 2025 Recommended Allocations which included two options. The first is raising the matching fund by $1,800, bringing the contribution up to $3 3,971 for the Town of Danby. The second option is where Danby would match the entire amount from the county raising the budget line to $34,550 ., which includes additional youth employment and other benefits. Sorrentino added that there were nineteen youth s who were not able to participate in the youth employment program in 2024 because of a lack of funding. He confirmed that many parents reached out in frustration about their children not being able to participate. It was generally agreed that Option 2 , raising the Danby Youth Commission budgeted amount to $34,500 was preferable. There was further discussion regarding summer youth employment and other youth programs. Crane asked about where the bulk of the money for the youth program is going. Sorrentino 2 | P a g e answered that most of it was for the Danby Youth Program educator’s salary. Praise for the programs educator was offered. Town Board Regular Meeting - Call to Order 6:0 8 Privilege of the Floor Ted Crane – I have two items . While I appreciate that I said a lot of words at the last meeting , I would appreciate if there was a litzle more specificity as to what the reservation was that I expressed to passing the budget override law, something on the order of that the town should exercise financial restraint over its recent additions to the budget, like, technical contracts and maintenance contracts that it really hasn't demonstrated up till now, which would also help you stay under the tax cap. And second, I read through your proposed regulatory review commitzee proposal document, and I remembe r that I was privileged and honored to atzend a training program offered by the Land Use Leadership Alliance. It was put on by Pace University and by (I'm looking at the at the notes from it) Cardi and Government Law Center some years ago. And one of the things I took away from that program was that the first thing you want to do is to get the public involved. You want them involved in the process of anything involving land use from the beginning and as effectively as possible. In fact, what it says here - just one sentence - “Local boards can create a decision-making climate in which citizens can be involved productively and engaged constructively in controversial land use decisions ”. Controversial is something of a redundancy. All land use decisions are pretzy much controversial, and when I look at the text in your proposal, they are open to the public for observation, with participation at the discretion of the commitzee and its chair. I understand you have to have some control over shall we say, I don't know , bad behavior by the public, but the idea that the public is simply there to kibitt isn't following what we were trained for in that four-week training course. You want the public involved, not only as kibitters, but as decision -makers with vote. That's my comment. Ronda Roaring – I am opposed to a ll of this money being spent on children getzing jobs. You know, having spent a good portion of my life – decades - teaching students, I get to talk to them and learn about what they're doing in their free time. And certainly, a lot of them seem to be rather successful at picking up jobs here and there. Even kids that are in middle school, you know, find babysitzing jobs and yard work and all of that sort of thing. And I think the whole business of saying, Oh, well, we're out i n a rural area. No, we have a bus service, we also have parents who can be driving their children, and the older children can drive. So, I feel th at children need to be making much more of an effort themselves. There are a lot of kids that just sort of sit around and don't make any effort. And there are a lot of them, and I'm not lumping them all into Danby there. You know, that's the way kids are sometimes. But there are a lot of jobs, and you can go door to door and ask for work. There's really, in my opinion, no reason for us to be paying this kind of money to just a handful of kids. If they need help, then we should be hiring somebody to help the m find a job. But this business of picking a few children, maybe five, and giving them work at 1000s of dollars, I don't think that that's very effective, and we could be doing much betzer, but there are jobs even posted in the High School . For example, I remember a number of years ago, when I was still teaching, there was a big sign in the counselor's oiffce that the New York State Highway Department was looking for summer jobs and they were paying more than I was getzing as a sub. So , you know that's just garbage. Marnie Kirchgessner – I just want to explain things have changed since I babysat. I'm 74 years old, and the world is a different world, and the things that I and my grandchild ha ve to face. It's a very different world than the world that I faced. And I think that I like to think of all of the community's children as part of my community, and I want them all to succeed. And I think that we all have some responsibility in giving different people what they need to succeed and everything. All the data, statisti cally will prove that $1 invested at the 14 - 16, year old age to someone that potentially can go off the wire will save society $1 ,000’s of dollars and also provide a much betzer benefit for the community, sometimes kids do sit around, but 3 | P a g e those are the kids that do need that kind of community hug for lack of a betzer expression , to see that there are other things they can do than, you know, potentially all of the things that are available to children that take them down a path that is not protected or beneficial to society. Correspondence Request to Use the Town Hall Meeting Room Discussion ensued regarding having a theatrical performance in the Town Hall library/meeting room. Insurance and risks were also discussed. Woodworth agreed to contact Ms. Mulligan, the letzer writer, and explain the Town’s position and suggest she contact the church as a betzer venue. Announcements 1. Appointee Terms Expiring in 2024: Name Membership Name Membership Fairchild Water Adv Sorrentino DYC Chair Colbert Planning Board Kirchgessner DYC Member Jones BZA Member Hunter DYC Member Owens CAC Member Shawley Threat Assessment Hunter CAC Member Hunter Threat Assessment Corbit CAC Co-Chair Cortright Threat Assessment Zisk CAC Co-Chair Dillon Threat Assessment Barr Historian Jordan Threat Assessment Kirshgessner Recreation Partnership 2. Danny Wheeler and some of the men from the 148 th a re going to be at the monument on October 22, 2024, at noon, touching up the paint on the fence. Reports & Presentations None Meeting Minutes Resolution 2 36 of 2024 To Approve the Town Board Meeting Minutes of October 7 , 2024 Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Connors Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 2 36 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Warrant Abstract No 19 of 2024 Shawley presented a report of where all the 2024 budget line items currently stand. Resolution 2 37 of 2024 To Approve General Fund Vouchers 337 - 363 for $23,072.80 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes 4 | P a g e Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 2 3 7 of 2024 passed on October 21 , 2024 Resolution 238 of 2024 To Approve Highway Fund Vouchers 188 -197 for $19,417.96 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 2 3 8 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Resolution 239 of 2024 To Approve the WD Water District Fund Voucher 30 -35 for $5,233 .60 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 2 3 9 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Business ARPA Commitment Process Update • Town Hall Entry – Having difficulty getting quotes. May get quotes for just the automatic door opener. Hansen will investigate getting additional quotes. • Fire Hydrants - also having trouble getting quotes. Hydrants as well as v alves need to be replaced. Initial estimates are over $64 k. Discussion ensued on how the Town might cover this cost. • WDWD Office Building Electrical installation . • Solar Array purchase. Holahan sent the Board information stating that the annual maintenance costs if provided by Renovus would be on the order of $10 - $15k. Holahan will investigate other options for annual maintenance on the solar array. Hansen felt the maintenance costs should be less than what Holahan reported. • Security Cameras for the Highway Department. The total cost for a new system is approximately $11k. • New Phone System Proposal to Create a Regulatory Review Committee Supervisor Gagnon proposed creating a Regulatory Review committee to review zoning and sub regs, and other items that have been identified as needing fixing or addressed. Hutnik spoke about having a list of items including zoning laws, subdivision regulations, Planning Board concerns and other items that need review . Connors suggested that the Planner Hutnik lead the committee. After discussion it was agreed that Hutnik would Chair the Regulatory Review committee. Hutnik conveyed that overseeing this 5 | P a g e committee might cause a delay in the review of the comprehensive plan. He expressed concern about stretching the planning board too thin. The Board was in agreement that the Review committee be composed of Town Board and Planning Board members and would meet monthly. H utnik agreed to poll both groups for interest in being appointed. Additional Budget Considerations Town Clerk Compensation considerations. Discussion ensued regarding breaking out some of the Town Clerk’s tasks and funding them individually. Resolution 240 of 2024 To Extend the meeting by 10 Minutes Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Connors Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 240 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Resolution 241 of 2024 To Scheduling a Budget Workshop on Friday, October 25 at 9 :3 0 AM Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Hansen Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 2 4 1 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Resolution 242 of 2024 To Schedule a Public Hearing for the 2025 Preliminary Budget for Monday, November 4 at 6:00 PM ~ During the Regular Town Board Meeting Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Hansen Vote: Connors Yes Hansen Yes Hunter Yes Woodworth Yes Gagnon Yes Resolution 24 2 of 2024 passed on October 21, 2024 Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda Phone System and ARPA Commitment Update Adjourn 8:27 PM