HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-09-13TB 9-13-18
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TOWN OF DRYDEN
TOWN BOARD MEETING
September 13, 2018
Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Linda Lavine,
Cl Kathrin Servoss, Cl Alice Green
Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk
Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent
Other Town Staff: Jennifer Case, Bookkeeper
Ray Burger, Planning Director
Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 7:07 p.m.
ABSTRACT APPROVAL - The board reviewed the abstract and decided to withhold the
payment to IV4 at this point. There is an on-going discussion with IV4 about their invoices.
RESOLUTION #123 (2018) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #9
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #9, as audited, general
vouchers #617 through #699 excepting #680 ($258,251.94) and TA vouchers #19 and #20
($2,628.42), totaling $260,880.36.
2nd Cl Servoss
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Green Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
BUDGET MODIFICATIONS - Supv Leifer explained budget modifications have been
requested from the Highway Department in connection with FEMA money received for severe
winter storms in 2017 and by the Rec Department for the increased cost of hosting their
registration program due to the migration to the cloud.
RESOLUTION #124 (2018) – APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS
From To
A7330.4 Rec Contractual A7020.405 Software Annual Upkeep 500.00
DA2701 Refund of Prior Year Expend. 5,576.36
AD5142.4 Snow Removal Contractual 5,576.36
2nd Cl Lamb
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Green Yes
Cl Servoss Yes
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Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
STAFFING UPDATES - R Burger reported that interviews will be completed by Friday
for the Code Enforcement Officer position and they will have a recommendation for next week’s
meeting.
Supv Leifer said he has talked with a few people about the secretary job and offered the
position to his current personal part-time secretary. He will have an answer by Monday. He
would like to offer $17-$18 per hour for the 20-25 hour/week position. One goal with this
position is to get more coverage from the media, so they would be responsible for doing press
releases.
Supv Leifer presented three proposed resolutions for consideration for next week.
1 - Sherri Crispell and Janene Trojner were both doing double duty during the
bookkeeper’s absence and this would provide for payment of a stipend to each.
2 – Sherri Crispell was the onsite coordinator for the migration to the cloud and that
added extra duties that weren’t part of her job. This would provide for a one-time stipend for
that.
3 – A change in the hourly rate for the new position for Sherri Crispell as assistant
bookkeeper/payroll clerk/HR assistant. The transition began August 13 (while still functioning
as the Supervisor’s secretary) and Supv Leifer would like the pay rate to be $20 per hour from
August 13 through October 13. She would also be training the new secretary. After October
13 he suggests a rate of $21 per hour for the remainder of 2018 and into 2019.
The Supervisor’s secretary job has been budgeted for 25 hours a week, though it will
range from 20 to 25/week and some weeks it may be less.
Cl Lamb noted it is unusual to retroactively give a stipend for extra hard work and he is
concerned about the precedent it sets. After discussion the board determined it should be
called “out of title pay.” The amounts in the resolutions are suggested and will be determined
next week.
BUDGET UPDATE - Department requests were distributed to board members. The
biggest project the town is working on is the trail. Other items to consider are the Comp Plan,
still managing BridgeNY, and the revolving loan fund. There will always be a few zoning
updates. The Ag Committee moving to an actual board will not result in additional costs.
Budget workshops were set for:
Monday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. (Overview and Planning Dept)
Thursday, October 4 at 6:00 p.m. (Clerk, Rec Dept, possibly Court)
Thursday, October 11 at 6:00 p.m. (Highway - Prior to the agenda meeting)
Revision to the tentative version will result in a preliminary budget that will be
presented for public hearing (held by the first Thursday after election day at the latest). The
board will take public comment at that hearing and vote on the budget at the agenda meeting
in November. The budget must be adopted by November 20.
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NYSEG LICENSE - This is necessary for the rail trail. It is a license, not an easement,
and like the agreement we have with DEC through the Game Farm property. The board
should review the document in anticipation of authorizing the Supervisor to sign it next week.
FIRE DEPARTMENT UPDATES – Most of the department budget requests have been
received for consideration for the 2019 town budget.
COMPUTER MIGRATION UPDATE – Supv Leifer reviewed the list of problems
employees continue to experience: multiple reoccurring errors in the payroll program,
worktime lost screenshotting those error messages and communicating with IV4 and
Williamson Law Books, printing delays all over building, lag time in opening and saving
documents, file explorer is slow, Outlook stops responding, users must enable editing with
most documents, and everyone’s work flow has slowed down. The board discussed the issues
and what the steps forward should be. It is not acceptable that this is the new normal. The
delays being experienced are unreasonable. The Williamson programs are being run through a
remote desktop application at a new expense to the town. The migration process had been
described by IV4 as something that would be seamless and invisible and only take a short
period of time. Two months later we are still having issues.
The board discussed the matter and a path forward. Supv Leifer will contact IV4 and
give them the name of a company that has successfully moved Williamson programs to the
cloud. He will report to the board on the progress next week.
PARK & RECREATION IMPACT FEES LOCAL LAW – Supv Leifer said he will introduce
this law next week. The fees under this law will be set by resolution. The Planning Board will
be asked to review and comment on this proposed law. Cl Lamb and Cl Green would like input
from the town attorney on this. There is time for that prior to holding a public hearing in
October.
DRYDEN VILLAGE CODE ENFORCEMENT AGREEMENT – Ray Burger reported that
we have been operating without a contract for a few months. The annual amount has been
increased to $28,000. The Village Board will vote on this next week. It will be on the town’s
agenda next week.
COUNTY ROAD PLOWING AGREEMENT - R Young said he is looking to put on two
new employees. The county has asked the town to take over 28.88 miles of county road (North
Road, Hanshaw Road and others). The county pays the town for plowing their roads. They
have lost some staff. It’s a long trip out here from Bostwick Road and they are concentrating
their efforts toward Danby. Cl Green confirmed that the town will be fully reimbursed for all
materials, wages and benefits. R Young said the town is not making money, but not losing
money. Salt will be stored at the county facility on Caswell Road. The boards need to approve
agreement with county and we are waiting on an updated agreement from them. Board
members will be provided with a copy when it is received.
There was some discussion about what other duties two additional employees would
have. R Young explained that the Highway/DPW Department has taken on additio nal
responsibilities and there is plenty of work to be done.
There are several pieces of equipment and some trucks that the Highway
Superintendent would like to dispose of via an auction service and sale to another
municipality. He will have a resolution prepared for next week.
ACCEPTANCE OF TRAIL EASEMENTS - A public hearing for acceptance of trail
easements (Hanson Aggregates and any others received) will be set for October 18.
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FREESE ROAD BRIDGE – The Town Board needs to continue narrowing alternatives
from four to one. The board can hold a public information meeting before or after that happens,
but it needs to move forward. Cl Servoss will present the four alternatives to the County
Facilities and Infrastructure Committee on September 20 to keep them updated and get their
input. DOT will not move forward until the town makes a final choice. The consultants will
provide additional information if necessary in order to make the decision. DOT, SHPO and
Federal Highway will need to concur with the town’s choice.
All work to be done to change the curve of road on the north side of the bridge would be
within the road right of way. There will be some trees removed.
The board agreed to discuss this further after the budget meeting on September 24.
Cl Servoss left the meeting.
REVOLVING LOAN FUND – Cl Lamb presented a proposal from Thoma Development
Consultants for assistance with administering the revolving loan fund.
RESOLUTION #125 (2018) – APPROVE PROPOSAL FROM THOMA DEVELOPMENT
Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby accepts the proposal from Thoma
Development Consultants to provide services in connection with the Town’s revolving loan fund
as outlined in their proposal dated September 10, 2018 (attached) and authorizes the Town
Supervisor to execute any related documents.
2nd Cl Green
Roll Call Vote Cl Lavine Yes
Cl Green Yes
Cl Servoss Absent
Cl Lamb Yes
Supv Leifer Yes
REC DEPARTMENT BUILDING REQUEST – The Recreation Department has need of a
new, larger building for storage of equipment and supplies and has quotes for purchase and
placement of a large storage building near the town hall. R Young said the Highway
Department could do any necessary earthwork for the project. The board determined the
funding source should be the Recreation Reserve and there will be a resolution next week to
appropriate funds subject to permissive referendum.
PLANNING BOARD APPOINTMENT – Applications have been received for the Planning
Board vacancy by Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, Joe Osmeloski, and David Bravo-Cullen. Marty
Moseley’s last meeting will be in September. An appointment will be made n ext week.
OTHER ITEMS - Supv Leifer will send the proposed Park and Recreat ion Impact Fee
Law to the town attorney and check with her about the water service agreement for 802 Dryden
Road. He will contact IV4 and give them the name of a company who has experience with
moving the Williamson Law Books programs to the cloud and report back by Wednesday.
Ray Burger said the Cayuga Lake Watershed group has received a grant to select
projects to further the watershed goals. They are contracting with Central New York Regional
Planning & Development Board to do that. They will look at organization to see if there are
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improvements to be made to the organization itself and then look for watershed improvement
projects.
R Burger said over the last few years when a cell tower needs to upgrade equipment,
we’ve gone through the process of a special use permit amendment. There is also a recertifi -
cation that is supposed to take place every five years that hasn’t been done very regularly.
There are now about four pending applications for cell tower equipment upgrades. He expects
there will be more. He proposed that we amend the telecommunications law to bring the
amendments to the special use permits and recertifications back to being an administrative
duty of the Planning Department. Initial permits would still be a special use permit process
before the Town Board. The board agrees and he will move forward to make that change.
There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried,
the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bambi L. Avery
Town Clerk