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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-03-17 Town Board Meeting Minutes1 | P a g e Town of Danby Town Board Meeting Minutes Held Monday, March 17, 2025 Board Members Present: Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor Leslie Connors Katharine Hunter Tyler Stein Patricia Woodworth Town Staff: Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper Mariah Dillon, Town Clerk Greg Hutnik, Town Planner Other Attendees: Ted Crane Ronda Roaring Garry Huddle Theresa Klinger Zach Larkins Erin Caruth Captain Charles Tilton Jim Holahan Dan Klein Kyle Erickson Mark Pruce Laura Vineyard Barb Schloss Corrine Beeners Hannah Predmore Delia Yarrow Caeleb Hall John Walker Blake Savoy Call to Order 6:04 PM Additions/Deletions to the Agenda Town Hall Meeting Room Policy Revision Next Steps – Moved to Business Privilege of the Floor K yl e Erickson introduced herself as a candidate for county legislature. “I'm born and raised in the area. I'm now raising my own family in Caroline. I'm a public-school teacher. I've been working in the city schools for the last 10 years. Speciffcally, I worked in the high school writing social studies . I'm having a really fantastic time walking around and meeting people and talking to people. So, it's been really energizing. And then as far as what I think I offer and bring to the table; I think my work in public education . I have a sense of what's going on in the community acr os s a pretty wide range of families and kids in particular. And then also, I think I have had a lot of experience being a collaborative problem solver, and I think in the face of what we are addressing at the national level, that could be a helpful tool - working with colleagues, working with other parts of the county, working with the state, right and ffgure out, how do we, how do we address the situation as best as possible?” Ted Crane liked the new arrangement of the meeting room camera and furniture. 2 | P a g e “I'm very curious to see the agenda. I'm very curious to see the outcome of the Hanson resignation issue, and I'd like to devote the rest of my time to the question of so what's the town doing about the internet or internet service in Danby? It's my impress ion that you sort of abdicated that to the to the county, and that maybe you know that may be the only answer. But I'd like to talk about a situation that I've been encountering over the last few months. I'm one of the few remaining Clarity Connect radio customers ; there is no other choice for me. You know, Time Warner or whatever they are, they don't serve me. Verizon ffber doesn't serve me. Starlink might serve me, but I hope you'll excuse my bias, but I will not deal with that company and that owner. And what's more, no, they won't serve me because they will not provide static IPs. But what has happened most recently is that there's stuff I know that I can't talk about because I've been talking to Clarity, and I got some skinny, but basically, they're going to have to cut off their service entirely. It has been down for me now for two days solid, and it was pretty bad for quite a while before that. And I think that I'm probably not the only customer who was basically getting hung out to dry her e. Now here I am sitting here on Zoom, there was another alternative. It's somewhat more expensive and considerably more complicated than going through Verizon, and it'll probably take me a couple of weeks to ma ke the transition. It's out there, but I think that whatever plans you or the county have should be accelerated as much as possible. Currently, I hear that it might be a year or more before laying of actual ffber happens. And being such an optimist, I woul d say that could be two years or more.” Za chary Larkins is petitioning to get on the ballot for a town board position. “It's made me love this community even more. All the people I have got to meet. I actually feel like I've made more friends walking around. It's been really lovely, but part of walking around, I took time walking up Bald Hill and talked to the neighbors around where I proposed a s kate park. And there, there's like one or two people I could not get a hold of within maybe 1000-foot radius on Bald Hill, but everyone was in support. But one person said, “We should check the ground ffrst.” But it's really lovely, and I put it out there on the internet, not from an olficial capacity, just looking for architects and structural enginee rs. A lovely notion would be someone that donates their time to that too. But, you know, wishing one hand and see how that works.” Laura Vineyard voiced support for a skate park. “What a huge community resource that would be - just such an exciting thing that it would be so close to this denser residential area and just very enthusiastic about it.” Correspondence – Letter of appreciation from Danby Seniors . Supervisor Gagnon noted that he is working on getting annual contracts signed with the Danby Seniors, as well as Danby Community and Park and the West Danby Community Association. Crane mentioned he would look into the Danby Community and Park contract . Announcements - None Reports and Presentations County Legislature Rep Dan Klein Welcomed Tyler Stein to the Town Board. Talked about the living wage increase. “The new living wage that would start in 2026 was announced recently. It's going to go up to something like $24.80 an hour. That's a 35% increase from what it is now. Tompkins County is towns. County government is a certiffed living wage employer, and we're going to have to make a decision soon on whether we want to continue that status in 2026 . Rough calculation at this point is that it’s going to cost us two and a half million dollars next year 3 | P a g e just to get up to that standard. And I'm mentioning it here because it is a county issue, but it's also a Town of Danby issue. The Town of Danby is also a certiffed living wage employer, and so that's something that you're going to want to start doing the pencil work on to see what , if any, additional cost it would put on your budget in 2026 . Gagnon mentioned that the Town had already committed to the living wage of $24.82 for 2025. Woodworth noted that Gagnon had told the Board that $24.82 was the current living wage. Discussion ensued. Klein spoke about a study to assist in considering increasing the minimum wage. “It is not legal for a county to set its own minimum wage in New York State - you'd have to ask New York state permission, and if New York State doesn't grant it there are people that want Tompkins County to implement it anyway to be a test case, and then it would go to court .” Klein said that the county is doing an inventory of all the federal funds they receive. None of that funding is in danger at the moment, but they want to know of any vulnerabilities and what recourse they might have if federal funding is threatened. He mentioned that there are farms in Tompkins County that rec eive federal funding that were in danger and that grants had been canceled, “Including some reimbursement grants. In other words, the farms had put out money and then put in the paperwork to get the reimbursement and were denied that reimbursement.” He’s looking into this. Supervisors’ Account Analysis Shawley reported that there is no need for budget transfers. Meeting Minutes Resolution 97 of 2025 To Approve the February 20, 2025, Town Board Meeting Minutes Moved by Connors Seconded by Hunter Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 97 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 98 of 2025 To Approve the March 3, 2025, Town Board Meeting Minutes Moved by Connors Seconded by Hunter Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 9 8 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   4 | P a g e Warrant Abstract 0 6 of 2025 Resolution 9 9 of 2025 To Approve the General Fund Vouchers 88 - 126 for $29,590.76 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 9 9 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 100 of 2025 To Approve the Highway Fund Vouchers 37 - 51 for $40,511.75 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 100 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 101 of 2025 To A pprove the Water Fund Vouchers 49 - 51 for $1,122.70 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 101 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Discussion ensued regarding missing and/or unapproved meeting minutes from years prior. Connors will work with the Town Clerk to find and recreate minutes from audio files. Business Acknowledgment of Procedural Missteps in Handling of Hansen Resignation and Implications Thereof Gagnon explained that Hansen’s “resignation was dated January 6, and it took effect 30 days later, which meant that he was no longer a Town Board member after the ffrst meeting in February. He was at and participated in the second meeting in February because we thought he was still a [board] member.” It was agreed that any resolution the Hansen seconded would be re -done: 5 | P a g e Resolution 10 2 of 2025 To Amend Resolution 81 of 2025 To Approve Highway Fund Vouchers 16 - 24 for $37,747.80 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 1 02 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 10 3 of 2025 To Amend Resolution 83 of 2025 To Approve Fire District Voucher 68 for $600,000.00 Moved by Connors Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 10 3 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 10 4 of 2025 To Amend Local Law No. 1 of 2025 To Extend Cold War Veterans Tax Exemption Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Connors Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 1 04 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Resolution 10 5 of 2025 To Amend Resolution 86 of 2025 To Move Forward with Seeking Energy Grants for EV Charges Moved by Woodworth Seconded by Connors Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 10 5 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   6 | P a g e Resolution 106 of 2025 To Amend Resolution 87 of 2025 To Authorize the Highway Superintendent to Purchase Gravel Screening Equipment from the Town of Ithaca - not to exceed $23.000. Moved by Woodworth Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 106 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Allocation of Clean Energy Communities Grant Funds Jim Holahan Talked about the Grant funds emphasizing that the Town needs to make a decision by the end of the month. Resolution 10 7 of 2025 To Have a Special Town Board Meeting on Monday, March 24th at 6:00 PM to Decide How to Allocate the Clean Energy Communities Grant Funds Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 10 7 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   2025 Municipal Cooperative Agreement – Health Consortium Resolution 10 8 of 2025 To Sign the 2025 Municipal Cooperative Agreement – Health Consortium Moved by Woodworth Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 10 8 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Restricted Sale Price Exemption for Housing Trust Houses – Consider Scheduling Public Hearing for Local Law Delia Yarrow, Director of Home ownership at Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) explained the New York State Real Property Tax Law Section 467-j - Restricted Sale Price Exemption for Housing Trust Houses. Discussion ensued. 7 | P a g e Resolution 109 of 2025 Schedule a Public Hearing to Consider Enacting the New York State Real Property Tax Law Section 467 -j - Restricted Sale Price Exemption for Housing Trust Houses Whereas, the Town of Danby wishes to encourage affordable housing by providing for an exemption for properties subject to a housing trust for the amount between the restricted resale price and fair market value of a property, and  Whereas, the New York State Legislature has passed a section of the Real Property Tax Law to allow for such an exemption . Now therefore be it   Resolved, that a public hearing be held before the Town of Danby Town Board, on April 7, 2025, at 6:00 in the evening thereof concerning proposed Local Law No.2 of 2025 - A Local Law Enacting the New York State Real Property Tax Law Section 467 -j - Restricted Sale Price Exemption for Housing Trust Houses.  At such time and place all persons interested in the subject matter will be heard concerning the same, Resolved, further, that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to place proper notice of such public hearing in the olficial newspaper of the Town.  Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 10 9 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   Review of Recommendations for Safety Improvements from Safe Streets for All Study Joint Action Plan Both Safe Streets Joint Action Plans: Danby Rd., Between Miller and Michigan Hollow Rd., and the Station Rd and Rt 34/96 Intersection, were discussed. Comments and feedback were collected by Planner Hutnik, who will present the plans to the Planning Board on Tuesday, March 18 th for their review. Resolution 1 10 of 2025 To Extend the Meeting by 15 Minutes Moved by Gagnon Seconded by Stein Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Yes Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 1 10 of 2025 passed on March 17, 2025   8 | P a g e SEQR Review for Flood Risk Mitigation Local Law Hutnik explained that there is no rush to get this local law passed. It was agreed that it would be added to the next regularly scheduled town board meeting on April 7 th, 2025 . Town Hall Meeting Room Policy Shawley spoke with the insurance provider who recommended we speak with the Town Attorney. Discussion ensued regarding the criteria for who can use the Town Hall Meeting room and the history of the current policy. Shawley pointed out the importance of getting the legal language of the policy correct. Gagnon will talk to the Town’s attorney to ask if he has previously dealt with use policy for other towns. Woodworth agreed to check other towns to see what their use policies are. “No use reinventing the wheel”, Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda SEQR for the ifood hazard mitigation local law . Adjourn 8:15