The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2025-10-06 Town Board Meeting Minutes1 | P a g e Town of Danby Town Board Meeting Minutes Held Monday, October 6, 2025 Board Members Present: Joel Gagnon, Town Supervisor Leslie Connors Katharine Hunter Tyler Stein (Via Video Conference) (Not Eligible to Vote) Patricia Woodworth Town Staﬀ: Mariah Dillon, Town Clerk Laura Shawley, Bookkeeper (Via Video Conference) Greg Hutnik, Town Planner (Via Video Conference) Keith Shipman, Highway Superintendent (Via Video Conference) Other Attendees: Captain Tilton, USNR Ted Crane Garry Huddle Ronda Roaring Steve Selin Karl Madeo Mark Karlsen Gene Sczepanski Karlem Sivira Marnie Kirchgessner Tom Sessler Kartik Sribarra Zach Larkins Karen Ros J Angelo Peters Micaela Karlsen John Marimar Della Hovanec John Van de Mark Joe Outson Jenna Katie Hallis Call to Order 5:38 Budget Review The Town Board went over several line items on the budget. Connors asked what line the Codiﬁcation project was coming out of. Supervisor Gagnon thought it was funded with ARPA money. Shawley will do some research and get back to the board. Connors also asked about the Beardsley Lane drainage district upgrades and their place in the budget. Gagnon brought up the additional pay period in 2026. Shawley mentioned that it would have no eﬀect on the budget. It was conﬁrmed that the budget is approximately $34,000 below the tax cap. Public Hearing ~ NYS Tax Cap Override Public Hearing started at 6:00 2 | P a g e Supervisor Gagnon announced the opening of the Public Hearing saying: ‘ I would like to begin the public hearing and invite anyone who would like to comment on our prospect of passing this local legislation, which allows us to override the tax cap if we need to. It's looking like we're not going to, but it's there, in case.” Spoke In Favor of the Tax Cap Override Spoke Against the Tax Cap Override Marnie Kirchgessner Tom Sessler Ted Crane Karen Ros Karl Madeo Steve Selin J Angelo Peters John Van De Mark Public Hearing ended at 6:22 Additions/Deletions to the Agenda • Set the Public Hearing for the Budget for November 3? ~ Moved to Business • Approve Cost Share for Appraisal of 1840 Danby Road ~ Moved to Business • Cancel the Budget Workshop for November 3rd ~ Moved to Business Connors brought up several budget related items. She will make a list and bring it to the board. She also mentioned that the Plaque for the Ric Dietrich’s tree has been damaged - run over (possibly several times). Privilege of the Floor Marnie Kirchgessner: “I live in the house that my parents bought when I was born, 75 years ago, here in Danby, and I do not ﬁnd Danby… Dirty or dumpy. I have had – experienced - a great deal of optimism over the discussion of this sewer and the possibility of bringing back a core of development here to this center. Last year, I believe, I was just so delighted at the opportunity - There was a rock show at the church. Danby Food and Drink was open. I was able to get some pumpkins at the stand ~there was an art show at Goldenrod Depot. To me, we're ﬁnally bringing community back- the Danby that I knew, that I grew up in. There used to be a hardware store, Ackerman's, it was like an actual kind of like strip mall that was a laundromat, and there's even this resiliency group that I think that Kathleen had a hand in creating. When one of my neighbors who was a member of this group started to visit me and just, you know, check in on me, I got to thinking You know- there's nothing wrong with him. This is exactly what my neighborhood was like when I grew up. Neighbors would go down the road and if the dog was out, they might stop and knock. You put on the coﬀee. And you checked up on one another, and I thought, I'm the one who's become weird. Danby is a wonderful place. I totally agree with what Steve said about the noise ordinance. We had a lovely meeting at his location. I take great pride in South Hill Cider. I'm not a big drinker, so I'm more often likely to hang at the Danby Food and Drink and have tea, but I applaud the eﬀorts that he has made, and he is really trying to work with the neighborhood. Because some of the neighbors are impacted by the events that occur there, but he's very willing to work around that, and I want to go on record saying, where I absolutely agree is I do not want one penny of my tax money involved in litigation over this matter. There are too many other things that are going to be pressing on this community. To provide services to our youth, for example, that I don't want one penny of my tax dollars spent on that man.” Karen Ross “I know when Angleheart left Gunderman Road - a factory, and I'm sure there were a lot of trucks coming and going. Then friends of ours moved in, and they faced roadblock after roadblock, trying to get quiet businesses put in there. And it was just constantly, one reason or another, no, no, no. 3 | P a g e So, I'm really not feeling from the powers that be, that bringing businesses in here is really that big a priority, and I have also heard that the cider place is the big impetus for the noise ordinance. I'd like that to be cleared up. If that's not the case, I'd like to hear about that. And secondly, you were asked several times in the course of comments earlier about how much money was spent on lawyers and did not answer. Is that something you're going to tell us right now? Or do we have to ﬁle to ﬁnd out?” Gagnon responded: “We have a budget every year for the lawyer, and we've stayed well under the budget. The lawyer gives us an itemized bill every month for how he spends his time and what it's used for. But that's not something we normally share with the public. Because it goes into details of what he's doing on [the Town’s] behalf Ros: “If the town overwhelmingly says we don't want a noise ordinance, then what's gonna happen?” Gagnon: “The town won't have that option, because it's not allowed in state law. …We [the Town Board] can hear, and we do listen, to comments from the public, and we take them into account. Ultimately, we're responsible for making the decisions. And people elect the members of the board to do that on their behalf. I, myself, I will say, I would not support anything that I felt the majority of the population doesn't want. Where we disagree is whether or not a majority of the population does or does not want something that we propose to do, and there's no way to ﬁnd out.” Gagnon responded to Peters: “The town board, cannot put to referendum, anything but a very short list of things that are in the law as subject to permissive referendum, or mandatory referendum. For instance, it was proposed a couple of years ago to increase the terms of oﬃce for a couple of oﬃces, and that had associated with it a mandatory referendum. People get to decide whether they did or did not want to do that, and they said, no. So, I mean, the people get to vote on that. Some things that we might do are subject to permissive referendum, where if the board passes it, voters can object, and then there will be a referendum to determine whether or not the majority are supportive or not. But there's a very short list of things for which you can do that.” Ronda Roaring “I have heard a number of you talking about the town attorney. And I don't know where you got the impression that the town has an attorney. I have seen it in the Danby News, so that would make it Ted's fault, but the town has no attorney. Guy Krogh is not the town attorney. I've sued the town, and I can tell you that the town has no attorney. The town has an obligation to be represented by an attorney if the town is sued or engages in some sort of legal matter. And so, quite often, because Guy Krogh has a reputation for representing towns, they will hire Guy Krogh on a temporary basis. But he is not, a full-time employee, he's not even a part-time employee, he's not anything like that. And so he is expensive when he's hired. That's not the fault of the town board. It's not the fault of the state in requiring this. It's the matter of how much attorneys in general charge their clients. I was looking at a legal document recently- it was a lawsuit that engaged the town. It was actually an Article 78, dealing with some property on, East Miller Road. And in that document Guy referenced himself as the general counsel for the town. So, if you think that we have some sort of fancy staﬀ member or something like that, that's not true. The State requires us to be represented by an attorney whenever the town either defends itself or engages in some active lawsuit against someone or something.” Steve Selin “ I wanted to get back to some of the things that Marnie said. Speciﬁcally, like, about the meeting that we had at the cidery, and I want to just give some backstory to some folks here who might not understand that. So, there are two households near my cidery that have hired a lawyer. And they passed a petition around the neighborhood to object to the noise that we're making. I am very willing to work with the neighbors, and that meeting, which I thought was very productive, was great because there were many people who came in, and we were obviously appearing to be on diﬀerent sides of the subject, and after a very thoughtful roundtable discussion I think it brought us a lot close together. And I want to propose that we have more activities like this in this town whenever there are disagreements, rather than pitting people against each other. For example, if you just use lawyers to sort all of this out, 4 | P a g e that doesn't bring neighbors together, that pushes them apart. I'm married, I've been married for over 25 years, and I must say that marriage counseling was one of the best things that happened in my life, not just to my marriage. But to learn how to work with people, you want to focus on where you can overlap and grow that, rather than focus on areas where you're diﬀerent, and just push yourselves apart. And so, we didn't even have to bring a mediator into that meeting, and I think Marnie would agree, or anybody, that it was an incredibly productive, thoughtful meeting, and there are mediators in this area that we can bring in if we can't discuss things thoughtfully. I also want to point out that the two households that are the catalyst for this whole, what people perceive to be a huge issue, and I do want to work with it, and I acknowledge to some people it is a huge issue, but it's a very small number of people that consider it a huge issue. Those two people were not at the meeting. They chose not to engage in conversation, to be constructive and try and work things out together. We're going to be neighbors whether we like it or not. So I'm of the mind, let's try and work together as neighbors and grow our community, because community right now is really all we have. The more things go on, if you pay attention to national politics, if you pay attention to AI and what that is doing to communities and people's brains and everything, like, this world is getting out of control, but if we can sit with each other and have discussions with each other, and grow what we have in common with each other, we could make this a beautiful place, and a greater place for everybody. So, I'll get oﬀ my, pedestal here, just reiterating, whenever there are disagreements between neighbors, I would highly recommend that the town develop a protocol to give them a toolbox. To say, here are the tools that you guys should use to try and resolve this situation before we have to start paying money to Guy Krogh and spending our own salary money discussing it at this meeting? I mean, how many hours have you guys gone around in circles on noise laws when we haven't even provided the neighbors with a toolbox to work it out amongst themselves. I mean, the CDRC, the Community Dispute Resolution Council, I didn't know they existed until recently, and I know the town used it at times. That's just one tool I found on my own, so, I don't want to take up a lot more time, but please, let's develop a toolbox to help neighbors work with each other and grow community before we just rush into laws and lawyers.” Tyler Stein “My comment is on the noise law, and you know, I'm a musician, and I enjoy playing my music outdoors, so, I felt like I'd like to comment. First and foremost, there should be no police involvement in noise disputes. The role of police in Danby should revolve around safety and should obviously not intertwine with grievances about the volume of music. There should certainly be no inspections of premises by police oﬃcers in relation to noise, as this law would call for. This is something that should never occur in a polite rural town like ours. It is a line that the people of Danby should not cross. The line I'm referring to is having police given the authority to inspect the premises of a house that has been reported for creating noise. That should never occur in Danby. We should not allow that to happen. Secondly, no ﬁnes should be levied as a solution to disputes about the volume of music. The suggested amount for a ﬁne is out of touch with reality. $700 is all my money. You can't have it because of the volume of my music. There are fewer places for professional musicians to make a living now than anyone can remember, due to the cultural shift that was ushered in by COVID-19. The Town Board should not be crafting legislation designed to shutter one of the Ithaca area's last remaining businesses supporting live music because of the complaints of a small number of neighbors. And we certainly shouldn't saddle all of Danby with an unwanted noise ordinance just to shut down South Hill Cider. I'd like to read a list of music venues and other gathering places for local musicians to perform for our community that we have recently lost in the Ithaca area. The Haunt; Taughannock Concert Series; the Range; Lot 10; The Chapter House; The ABC Café; The Charter House; The Nines. We should retreat from the pursuit of curtailing South Hill Cidery's ability to continue operating their business in much the same way that it operates now, which is to say, as an irreplaceable boon to our community, our culture, and the Finger Lakes. The cidery brings an agricultural business of the best kind right into our community. Most agricultural businesses - for instance, an agriculture with some form of unwanted externalized waste, such as odors, dust, chemicals, or noise, and other signiﬁcant disruptions. Waste music must be among 5 | P a g e the least oﬀensive in the class. Furthermore, I would like to add that I agree with what many have expressed in emails and on social media about how the process of moving this proposed law forward has been rushed and feels suspiciously anti-democratic. It appears clear to me that when the noise ordinance was recently considered, the unpopularity of the proposed law made it impossible to pass just before an election. A yes vote was an obvious liability for those who would be up for re-election, so, it was shelved until a more convenient time to pass a widely unpopular law. And now is that time. Three of the ﬁve members of the board are not returning next year and will not be standing for re-election. If the vast majority of the people of Danby really do oppose this proposed law, as the nearly unanimous emails during the comment period would indicate, I sincerely recommend that they make the time to appear at the relevant town hall meetings, to make their voices heard loud and clear, and I would remind the Democrats on the town board that when Democrats lose elections, they are usually replaced by Republicans.” Ted Crane “I'd like to give a shout out to Angelo for his excellent use of the word exuberant instead of exorbitant, speaking of budgets. I will remember that and use that. Thank you, Angelo. I noticed that this is a very well-attended meeting, maybe the most well-attended meeting in recent memory. And so I take this opportunity to invite you all to the 10th, or is it 11th, Annual Harvest Festival this Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. in Dotson Park. We are hoping for good weather. I know the grass and all the growing things want some rain, but we want good weather. And you're all invited, folks sitting at the town board table, you're the public, too. You're invited, too. You know, public is invited. Okay. Minutes. I've noted a couple of corrections, or things that I think could be corrections to the minutes privately to Mariah. She's the ultimate arbiter of what it was actually said, but I passed that on to her. Noise. I think what's getting lost here is that by and large most noise problems are resolved privately without resorting to going public in the town board and police and all the rest of it. But in recent years, and I'm not talking 15 years back, I'm talking the last few years, there have been a number of incidents where they could not be resolved amicably, neighbor to neighbor, neighbor to neighborhood, or neighbor to business. This, the noise law that's proposed, really doesn't please me, but there has to be some mechanism which does not involve cooperation. If there is no cooperation, there has to be a mechanism. This might not be the right Noise Law. In fact, I'll go out and say it, I don't think it is, but there has to be a mechanism. Next, someone talked about public voting on things, and Joel [Gagnon] gave a quick rundown on things that can and can't be voted on. What he left oﬀ the list, not intentionally, I'm sure, is that that water district business, if there's going to be a public sewer system, it has to be enabled by the public… a public vote on a water district, just in case anyone doesn't know. And ﬁnally, in the mid-September meeting, the Town Board spent an hour talking about garbage. In particular, enforcement options for a location somewhere on Nelson Road. They eventually came up with a conclusion and tried and decided to take action on it. So, this is a question for anyone on the Town Board who has the information to answer. As I understand, shortly after that meeting the town discovered that it could not in fact pursue that enforcement. And I'm just speculating that maybe the town board forgot that it, two years ago, passed a law which completely redeﬁned the role of the Code Enforcement Oﬃcer, and that role did not include enforcement of garbage issues. So, Joel, could you correct my speculation and tell us why that change happened?” Della Hovanec: “Production Manager at South Hill Cider: What made me want to raise my hand initially was when Marnie got up and spoke about a vibrant community in Danby. Because I think that South Hill Cider brings a lot of value, in that sense, to a vibrant community. I think that Danby Food and Drink does as well. I would also like to point out to Marnie, just on a personal note, that we serve many non-alcoholic options, so anytime you want to come, anytime you want to come to jazz, or Thursday night music, or Friday night music, when we have it brieﬂy during the warm months outside, you're more than welcome, and we have many options for you. What really troubles me about the narrative about South Hill Cider is 6 | P a g e that there was a small number of neighbors, right, who have concerns, and we are willing to address their concerns, as Steve has stated. However, we do not hold music 5 nights a week. We do not amplify music beyond what needs to be ampliﬁed. We do not, have it run past… like, all of our music is scheduled from 5.30 to 8.30. We close at 9. We have tasting room employees that we care deeply about, who want to go home. And we don't want to keep them past, like, their scheduled time out. And so, there's been a lot of misinformation about what our music nights actually are. And I do invite all of you in attendance at this meeting to come and see what these music nights actually are, because they're family-friendly events. They're not, like, loud, drunken aﬀairs by any means. We serve food, we only support local, farmers and other local breweries and wineries in what we serve, and I care very deeply about South Hill Cider. My concern with the noise ordinance is that businesses like Danby Food and Drink and South Hill Cider will be disproportionately aﬀected by this, simply because someone can hear music, which we have to also address the fact that music and noise are two diﬀerent things, right? Hearing, like, lovely music sailing across the hills at a tolerable volume is not the same as your neighbor running a tractor loudly at 4am, right? And so, while I do want to be sensitive to the concerns of neighbors, I also really want you to understand how important this community is, and how important it is to all of Danby. And also, like, I hear you that, like, you're saying that we can't vote, but you must also hear us, that this is not a popular law. Like, most of Danby constituents do not want this, and most of Danby constituents, I'm sorry to say, feel that there are some biased opinions on the board. And so, I would really like to see, if a vote were to happen on the noise ordinance, that it happens after December, into the new year. And I also would like to agree with Tyler.” Angelo Peters: “ I would like to come back to harping again on the idea of community here. Because it seems like that is a pretty common thread that everyone has been talking about. And I also want to clear this up, just because it did seem like there was some misinformation for a little while, but this… we're talking directly about South Hill Cider with this noise ordinance, there's no question about it. We can talk about the history, we can talk about the history that led us to here, based on other things, maybe even things I was involved in, etc., but the reality is, we're talking about this right now because neighbors sent a demand letter via their lawyer that is the same lawyer that New York Ag and Markets uses directly to the town board. Clearing that up, that is just the truth. So, how would, I think, a noise ordinance or an events law aﬀect South Hill Cider? And I would like the Town Board to directly comment on that after I'm done speaking on the privilege of the ﬂoor, because I've yet to hear that. And I'd also like to hear exactly how much the town has spent on this. I know the town doesn't have a lawyer on retainer, but you've paid Guy Krogh how much? Does that need to be in a FOIL request? I don't know.” Gagnon replied that the Town pays Guy Krogh $270 an Hour. Peters: “That's cool, that's a lot of money. That's a lot of my tax dollars and other people's tax dollars obviously being used for something such as this because you spend a lot of money and time with Guy Krogh drafting this proposed legislation. Correct me if I'm wrong. I wanted to just point out, Marnie, so on point. I wanted to say that the vibrant community you talk about, of Danby's past, is something that I'd like to look forward to for my 6-year-old son, who's growing up here. Steve, I want to thank you for all of the hard work you've put into this, because I know that you are a great person and a great business owner, and you are trying so hard to work with the neighbors to make sure that you can ﬁnd a common ground, and not just the neighbor, the community at large, and trying to hear all the diﬀerent sides and perspectives, and I really commend you on your work. I hope that we can all get through this, and we can ﬁnd some common ground and that this noise legislation can get pushed oﬀ until we can ﬁgure out how it might aﬀect a business like yours. Tyler, I just wanted to point out that I agree with you wholeheartedly that police should never be involved in disputes like this. This is just so particularly disrespectful to all of us as community members of Danby for a noise law to kind of slip under the cracks in this way that also does feel very suspicious in the timing of it, given the people who are leaving the board et cetera. I don't need to get too into that, because you nailed it. And, I think the inspection of the premises - that has no place in Danby. I think this is a very Democrat, progressive, liberal, whatever you 7 | P a g e want to call it, community. Do we really believe that we want police coming in and going into people's houses or inspecting their premises over noise disputes? No thank you. I want to add, there's at least one other venue you didn't mention on there that's closed, that's the Gates. And the last thing I want to hear is another venue that can't do music in this area, because I, too, am a professional musician, and we rely on this. And again, circling back to the idea of community, I think in these uncertain times, now more than ever, we all, as people, need community, and we have a beautiful and vibrant one here, and I think that South Hill Cider is very much a part of what is now the new Danby community. Della, I wanted to say thank you, that also, yes, a lot of the stuﬀ that has been talked about in the meeting that I listened to from early September, where there was the folks who were angry and who had expressed concern about the noise South Hill Cider was making, there was a handful of people. A lot of the information was bogus. They were saying it was 5 nights a week, it was all sorts of hours of the night, and that's just absolutely not true, and I thank that Della, I want to commend you, and I greatly appreciate you clearing that up.” Tom Clements: “I’m against the noise ordinance. Seems like when we were here just a few years ago with the same topic, there were several issues that were between neighbors. Seems like a couple of them had issues with, like, machinery running, motorcycles. Have those problems been resolved over these years? They went away. They found some other without our noise ordinance. They were resolved without noise ordinance. They worked it out amongst themselves. Gagnon: No, it's just a matter that the business folded, so the problem went away. Clements: Danby is the quietest it has ever been in history. If we want to preserve rural character, then we need to be louder. There was a railroad depot in West Danby, I don't think that was quiet. There were all the agriculture, all the tractors, everything going on associated with that, cows mooing, whatever it was. We don't have any of that anymore. Mills, All the creeks were all dammed up and had, sawmills, grist mills, all… none of that was quiet. So, we are the quietest that we've ever been. There's no need for anything else if we want to preserve rural character. We need to be louder. I'm not saying we should or go out and start being louder, but we are the quietest that there's… there has ever, ever been. Again, the point of who takes oﬀense to a little bit of music coming a couple times a week? If there are the neighbors, that can be worked out amongst them. I don't know what that would entail, but it's between them. It doesn't need to involve the rest of the community, doesn't need to involve any of the community's money. They'll work it out, let the rest of us keep Danby as quiet as it is ever in history, without any noise ordinances.” Joe Outson: “ We have a daycare here in Danby, just kind of echoing what everyone else has said, Steve, what he said was amazing, and what they're doing at South Hill Cider just awesome. What Kartik's doing over there, Danby Food and Drink, amazing. Everyone I've talked to in the community agrees that a noise ordinance is not needed and is only going to be a hindrance to the people. I think it was Joel [that] said, you “will listen to what the community's asking for”, and I just say that you do that, because I know it's tough for some people, but it seems like an overwhelming majority of our community is against this, so I'm just kind of echoing everything else that everyone else has said.” Jenna: I have a young family, and we spend many of our Friday nights at South Hill Cider, and our Saturday nights at Danby Food and Drink, because it's something we can do. It's one of the reasons we love the community. We can bring our children and expose them to live music, we can see friends, and everybody has a really wonderful time, and I'm really happy that these… I've lived in Danby for 9 years. and these things are now here. I'm really happy to be raising my family in this community, and I have my sister-in-law on the line, and they are building a house on Lieb Road, and I think they feel very similarly, and I think about if we were to have a community gathering in our yard, we would be breaking this noise ordinance, and I wouldn't really feel like that's a very community thing to do. Like, we all have moments of making noise and having a community gathering, and it really bothers me that there'll be some sort of law that will… I would much rather talk with my neighbors and work it out and not be governed by 8 | P a g e some law. And, I just want to express that my appreciation for these businesses and how it's enhancing our community. Katie Hallis: “ I've had a lot of time in Danby, and we've chosen to build a home in Danby and raise our young family there. I would just echo many of the things that Jenna and others have said, and I also just want to emphasize and reiterate the importance and power of community, especially in these times when one of the biggest challenges that people face is loneliness and isolation. Before the new administration came in, the Surgeon General put out a report on the challenges that parents were experiencing, the mental health crisis for parents of young children these days, and I can't really say enough about the power of gathering and coming together and to have these third spaces where we see each other and we feel just less alone in the craziness of parenting or the craziness of the hardships of life. I think places like Danby Food and Drink, like South Hill oﬀer, are so much more than just a venue or a business. They're true spaces for the community to build and strengthen relationships. So, I just want to reiterate how crucial that is, not just for folks like me with young children for whom it can be really hard to get out and connect, but for so many. I really hope that as Jenna said that we can ﬁnd a way for all of these things to coexist and to not take something that has been so life-giving and make it punitive and shut that down. I just think what can be gained and the value around coming together, I think it needs to remain a priority in the community, and I hope that we can creatively ﬁnd a way for everyone to coexist. I think it's possible.” Gagnon: “I'd like to clarify on behalf of the board that none of us is trying to shut down South Hill Cider.” Kartik Sribarra: “For the record, I'm not here to try to shut down South Hills Cider, because I came right after that comment! I operate Danby Food and Drink. As the other main business in Danby that hosts music, I would also be very concerned and deeply saddened at the passage of the Noise Ordinance as it currently stands and I've heard pretty universally, I would say, the town, as people come through my store and just folks in Danby in general, the support for what is really kind of burgeoning energy in this town, and it's really exciting to be seeing this happen. I know all of you on the Town Board very well and I really appreciate your attention to this, and I do think that you all do see and are hearing here the importance of these community spaces, and, and the opportunity for music to bring people together, and I'm seeing that regularly at my place. I love going to South Hill Cider. I see Steve and others there on the regular, and it's… it's a really wonderful place for me as well to see a diﬀerent side of Danby. I think [I’m] mostly echoing what I'm hearing everybody else say, but I appreciate all of you for what you're doing and hope that we can come to a solution that allows South Hill to keep its music going, and my store, and other places. Zach Larkins: ‘Did y'all get my email before this about the ADA grant? We got a quote. It was not to exceed $5,000. I have to read through all the legalese of it, but we should open up the conversation at some point about that. I am not supportive of a noise law as it is. I am very happy that we have venues in this town that have live music. The noise ordinance, as it's trying to pass right now, actually does not have to do with South Hill Cider. It coincidentally is happening at the same time. The issue with South Hill Cider versus the noise law is, and I'm sorry to bring this up concisely, is South Hill Cider operates as an agricultural business. Operating as an agricultural business, you have pretty strict bylaws you have to operate under. It is not an area that is zoned as a commercial business; it is a farm business. The neighbor's complaint is now being audited to see if the business falls within the agricultural protection. Hopefully that's about as plain as I can put it. I know for a fact that none of these board members want this business to fail. It is a crucial part. I also am a musician. I am going to be opening a venue in the next couple of years here. It is going to be inside, because I do not want to have to run into problems like this. I'm also working on other 9 | P a g e community spaces, hopefully next year starting a skate park. I'm opening, with approval from the health department and the town, a food trail court just up the road that will be run cooperatively, so there's a chance for people to buy-in at a much lower price than A. a restaurant, or B. most other places in town. But it's important to have all more. And I think we're kind of at a crossroads now, where It's gonna just keep gaining momentum. I understand some people not wanting growth. I'm not oﬀended by someone saying this is a dumpy town, but I've lived in a lot of places in America. I want to die here. I love it here. I hope people keep showing up, and I'm glad everyone has been decently civil tonight.” Correspondence ~ None Connors mentioned that there has been a lot of Correspondence. Gagnon pointed out that “we are talking about correspondence with the board that is For The Record.” This led to a discussion about the responses to the draft noise law. Dillon agreed to compile and post the responses on the Town’s web site (under the draft noise law). Announcements ~ Gagnon reminded everyone about the Fall Harvest Festival on October 11th and 12th. Sribarra – Announced that Danby Food and Drink is having an oﬃcial one-year celebration on Saturday, October 18th. Meeting Minutes Resolution 237 of 2025 To Accept the September 22, 2025, Town Board Meeting Minutes Moved by Woodworth Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 237 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025 Reports and Presentations Town Clerk Report Code Oﬃcers Report Supervisor’s Report Warrant Abstract 19 of 2025 Resolution 238 of 2025 To Approve General Fund Vouchers 384 - 393 for $14,754.54 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 238 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025 10 | P a g e Gagnon explained that Stein is a board member but cannot vote tonight as he did not give enough notice to vote from home. Resolution 239 of 2025 To Approve Highway Fund Vouchers 186 - 194 for $14,504.63 Moved by Connors Seconded by Woodworth Shipman explained the Highways department’s purchase of a used sweeper truck, pursuant to an earlier Board authorization. Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes        Resolution 239 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025 Business Tax Cap Override Local Law Local Law #5 of 2025 To Override the Tax Levy Limit Established in General Municipal Law 3-c For the Fiscal Year 2026 Be it enacted by the Town Board of the Town of Danby as follows: Section 1. Legislative Intent. It is the intent of this local law to override the limit on the amount of real property taxes that may be levied by the Town of Danby, County of Tompkins, pursuant to General Municipal Law 3-c, and to allow the Town Board of the Town of Danby to adopt a town budget for (a) town purposes; (b) any other special or improvement district governed by the Town Board for the ﬁscal year 2026 that requires a real property tax levy in excess of the “tax Levy limit” as deﬁned in General Municipal Law 3-c. Section 2. Authority. This local law is adopted pursuant to General Municipal Law 3-c(5), which authorized a town board to override the tax levy limit by adoption of a local law approved by a vote of sixty percent (60%) of the town board. Section 3. Tax Levy Override. The Town Board of the Town of Danby is hereby authorized to adopt a budget for ﬁscal year 2026 that requires a property tax levy in excess of the tax levy limit speciﬁed in General Municipal Law 3-c. Section 4. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, or part of this local law, or the application thereof, shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional, such order or judgment shall not aﬀect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be conﬁned in it operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, or part of this local law directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment or order shall be rendered. Section 5: Eﬀective Date. This local law shall take eﬀect immediately upon ﬁling with the Oﬃce of the Secretary of State. 11 | P a g e Resolution 240 of 2025 To Approve Tax Cap Override Local Law if There is a Need Moved by Woodworth    Seconded by Connors Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes         Resolution 240 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Draft Noise Law – What Process to Revise? Resolution 241 of 2025 To Take the Noise Law oﬀ the Table Until after the Special Event Law is Passed Moved by Woodworth    Seconded by Hunter Discussion: Several board members agreed that the current noise law was being confused with the complaint about Sout Hill Cider. Gagnon noted that Guy Krogh said they are two separate issues. Connors said she would appreciate having more time to go through the comments sent to the board. Woodworth stated that she wanted to set aside the noise law and focus on the Special Event Law. Gagnon proposed that the two laws could be looked at in parallel. Stein said that the board should frame the discussion not as how to ﬁx the law, but whether or not we should be passing this law. Connors talked about the history of the noise law. Discussion ensued. Resolution 242 of 2025 To Extend the Meeting by 15 Minutes Moved by Connors   Seconded by Gagnon Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes         Resolution 242 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Woodworth called the question (Resolution 241). Resolution 243 of 2025 to Call the Question (to End Dabate) Moved by Woodworth   Seconded by Hunter Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon No         Resolution 243 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Vote:  (Resolution 241) 12 | P a g e Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes         Resolution 241 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Set 2026 Budget Public Hearing Resolution 244 of 2025 To Make the Tentative Budget the Preliminary Budget and Set the Budget Public Hearing November 3, 2025 Moved by Gagnon   Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes         Resolution 244 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Approve Cost Share for Appraisal of 1840 Danby Road Gagnon agreed with the sellers of 1840 Danby rd. to split the cost of an appraisal so that the Town can come to an agreement under terms for selling it as is. The board was in agreement Cancel the Scheduled Budget Workshop Resolution 245 of 2025 To Cancel the November 3, 2025, Budget Workshop Moved by Gagnon    Seconded by Woodworth Vote:  Connors Yes  Hunter Yes  Stein Not Eligible to Vote Woodworth Yes  Gagnon Yes         Resolution 245 of 2025 passed on October 6, 2025  Discussion of Next Meeting Agenda Design Phase Contract for the Town Hall Entrance Ramp Timber Harvest Public Hearing Special Event Law Discussion Adjourn 8:08 Mariah Dillon, Danby Town Clerk