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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-06-10TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 1 of 6 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING June 10, 2021 Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl James Skaley, Cl Loren Sparling, Cl Leonardo Vargas-Mendez Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent Other Town Staff: Amanda Anderson, Bookkeeper Ray Burger, Planning Director Supv Leifer called the meeting to order at 6:09 p.m. Abstract Approval RESOLUTION #118 (2021) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #6 Cl Skaley offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #6, as audited, general vouchers #416 through #484 ($245,803.15) and TA vouchers #23 through #27 ($4,639.45), totaling $250,442.60. 2nd Cl Vargas-Mendez Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Discussion Items Drinking Water Source Protection Program – Steve Winkley of New York Rural Water Association, using available well data from the county health department has prepared a draft Drinking Water Source Protection Program Plan (DWSP2). It has been provided to the Conservation Board and Ag Committee for comments. R Burger has a call set up with Steve Winkley to provide him with comments received to date. S Winkley will then prepare a final draft and make a presentation to the Town Board, perhaps in August. Varna Sidewalk CDBG - The board discussed the need for a special meeting for a public hearing on submitting the Varna Sidewalk CDBG application and set it for June 29 at 6:00 p.m. Resolution #119 (2021) - Authorize a Public Hearing to discuss community development needs for sidewalks in the Hamlet of Varna and to discuss the possible submission of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for 2021 program year through the Combined Funding Application (CFA) program. TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 2 of 6 Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: Whereas, the NYSDOT upgrade and repaving of Rt 366 from the Ithaca City line to the intersection of Rt 13 will include a sidewalk on the south side of the road between Forest Home Dr and Mt. Pleasant, but will not include a sidewalk on the north side for the same distance, and Whereas, aside from sidewalks for pedestrian safety and connectivity for a walkable community within the Hamlet there is also a need for bike lanes as described in the Varna Community Development Plan due to numerous bikers using this route and Whereas, the NYSDOT indicated that their regulations state there needed to be sidewalks on both sides of the road in order to designate bike lanes, and Whereas, NYSDOT has indicated that there are insufficient funds in the project to build sidewalks on both sides; therefore be it Resolved that the Town of Dryden will hold a public meeting on June 29, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. to discuss a CDBG application through CFA for a sidewalk on the north side between Forest Home Drive and Freese Rd. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Resolution #120 (2021) - Apply for a CDBG grant through the Combined Funding Application (CFA) to construct a sidewalk on the north side of Rt 366 from Forest Home Drive to Freese Road Cl Lamb offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: Whereas, the Varna Community Development Plan indicates the need for sidewalks and bike lanes in the Hamlet to promote public safety and a walkable community, and Whereas, the Town of Dryden has already passed a 2020 resolution 44 to ask NYSDOT to construct sidewalks on both sides of the road and Whereas, the NYSDOT indicated that they have insufficient funds so that they can only construct a sidewalk on the south side of the road, and Whereas, NYSDOT indicated that they could not designate bike lanes unless there were sidewalks on both sides of the road, and Whereas, there is a new round of applications for CDBG under the Combined Funding Application (CFA) due by July 16, 2021, and Whereas, estimated costs for 2420 linear feet of sidewalk from Forest Home Drive to Freese Rd are $500,000 plus a 25% contingency for a total estimated cost of $625,000, therefore be it Resolved that the Town of Dryden will submit an application on or before July 16, 2021 for funding a sidewalk on the north side of Rt 366 from Forest Home Drive to Freese Road. TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 3 of 6 2nd Skaley Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes South Hill Rec Way Feasibility Study – R Burger explained this to do a study on the next segment of this trail (Burns Road to Banks Road), a four -municipality project. Two years ago the town of Ithaca applied to CFA through the Environmental Protection Fund grant program and was not approved. The town of Dryden will be repackaging that and submitting it this year on behalf of the four municipalities. It is a cooperative project. The reason the match is 25-50% is because there is potential to qualify based on income level. Since we know that the 14850 zip code is a very poor area, they qualify and he thinks the 25% is a real possibility. This will be for a feasibility report on what is required for the next segment. There are a couple of washouts to deal with, trail head parking, kiosks, and stone dust surface. Resolution #121 (2021) - Authorization to Apply for Funding through the 2021 Environmental Protection Fund Grants Program for Parks, Preservation and Heritage for Preliminary Design and Construction Cost Estimates for the Potential Expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way – Burns Road to Banks Road Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: Whereas, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation (OPRHP) has announced the availability of funding under the 2021 Environmental Protection Fund Grants Program for Parks, Preservation and Heritage, which includes a category for the planning of parks and recreational facilities (stand-alone project planning), and Whereas, the maximum assistance allowed toward the cost of the project is $500,000, with a 25-50% local match required depending on how we qualify, and Whereas, the Town of Dryden, with support from Tompkins County and the Towns of Ithaca and Danby, is seeking to obtain preliminary designs and construction cost estimates for the potential expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way from Burns Road to Banks Road, and Whereas, the Town of Dryden estimates the total cost of this project to be approximately $80,000, based on cost estimates provided by several qualified engineering and landscape architect consultants, Whereas, grant applications are due by July 30, 2021; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Supervisor of the Town of Dryden, or designated representative, is hereby authorized and directed to file an application for preliminary designs and construction cost estimates for the potential expansion of the South Hill Recreation Way from Burns Road to Banks Road under the 2021 Environmental Protection Fund Grants Program for Parks, Recreation and Heritage in an amount not to exceed $80,000, and upon approval of said request to enter into and execute a project agreement with OPRHP for such financial assistance to the Town of Dryden. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 4 of 6 Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Marriage Officer – Supv Leifer said he has been asked to perform a marriage ceremony and asked the board to appoint him a marriage officer. RESOLUTION #122 (2021) – APPOINT MARRIAGE OFFICER – LEIFER Cl Skaley offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby appoints Jason Leifer to serve as marriage officer within the boundaries of the Town of Dryden pursuant to Domestic Relations Law Section 11-c through December 31, 2021. 2nd Cl Vargas-Mendez Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes July Board Meetings – Deputy Supervisor Lamb will chair the meetings while Supv Leifer is out of town. June 17 Agenda Items - There will be a public hearing on the Route 13 pedestrian bridge. The contract has been reviewed by the town attorney. Cl Lamb added there will be a public information session on June 30 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Dryden Fire Station so that the public can learn more about the bridge over Route 13 for the rail trail. Town Hall Business Hours – Supv Leifer proposes that for July and August the town hall will be open to the public 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:00 a.m. to noon Fridays. Employees will still need to work their normal weekly hours and can work out how to accomplish that with their department head. Supv Leifer will send an email regarding this to department heads. Broadband – The committee will meet tomorrow. Supv Leifer and Cl Lamb met with a representative of Spectrum about their buildout efforts and where they allegedly have put fiber on the eastern part of the town. There are a lot questions yet to be answered about that effort. Spectrum wanted the town to sign a non-disclosure agreement and the board has rejected that in the past. Freese Road Bridge – Cl Lamb reported that he had discussion with people from Federal Highway, NYS DOT, State Historic Preservation and our consultant reviewing our options for the Freese Road Bridge. One option is working with Groton who can’t take the whole bridge and is interested in the trusses only. They envision putting the trusses on the ground and creating a public park. They are still interested, but we’ll run into some cost concerns because Federal Highway may not pay for moving the trusses to Groton. They can only pay up to the amount of the expense to demolish them. What is the most responsible thing to do with this historic bridge; keep it in Groton or go with our original plan to put in a new truss style bridge in Varna with the old façade from the current bridge placed on the side? There is an expense to rehab the trusses before putting on a bridge (several hundred thousand dollars). The bridge has no real repurposing capacity. There is a company in Indiana that TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 5 of 6 would rehab the bridge, but Federal Highway won’t pay the cost of moving it to Indiana. There will be another meeting with involved agencies and representatives to discuss this further. Cl Skaley said he thinks people in Varna have resolved with the design that was proposed and having Groton have some part of the bridge as a historic thing for Groton Iron Works makes the most sense and is the least expensive option. Cl Lamb noted another 4-f process will be necessary moving forward. Varna Water/Sewer – Cl Skaley said they have discovered that we can’t get pipe for the water mains. The earliest estimate for delivery would be 13 weeks which puts us into the fall. He suggested our engineer contact NYSDOT to see if they might move their schedule so we could start first thing in the spring laying pipe in the priority sections and then work around DOT to complete the water main portion. They will be putting off the sewer because most of those pipes will be lined and it seems like a logical approach. This gives us an option of reapplying for the sewer grant. He has a call scheduled next Tuesday to discuss it with OCR and our consultants. The pandemic prevented us from going forward this year. Most pipe comes from India, and they have shut down and there is not enough supply of the pipe available in states. They looked into the possibility of using plastic, but Bolton Point is averse to us using plastic. They complete the submission to EFC and apply for short term funding for the sewer portion. County Report – Mike Lane reported the county received its first stimulus check for the ARP money. They received half of the 19 million (over two years) last week and are now in the process of trying to decide: how to use the money, how to hear opinions on how it should be used, and what to do about the fact that is one-time money. It won’t eliminate taxation and those kinds of things; it might help with a capital project. There will be no shortage of entities out there that will want to have county support and there would need to be a decision about that. The legislature will be discussing this through the end of the month. He encouraged people to send suggestions. The town will receive stimulus money, and will have to share that with the villages, and will have to make decisions on how to use its money. Supv Leifer said the town intends to spend it on broadband. Cl Lamb asked if the county had discussed using the funding for things that would have a county-wide impact. M Lane said there has been some discussion of using it for deferment of capital expenses. They know they have a major problem with the structural condition of the jail. There are all also things they want to do with the reimagining policy initiative in the Sheriffs Department, such as training initiatives and the oversight. They are just beginning to look at the options. United has added flights at the airport. The Syracuse airport will be closing its main runway for rehabilitation this summer, so there will be a lot of diversion to other airports. The airport now uses two hubs (Charlotte & Dulles) and have a 97% reliability now compared to a few years ago. Tompkins Cortland Community College has stabilized with funding from the stimulus program, but they need to be watching what will happen in 2023. Cl Skaley suggested the county look at the affordable housing problem and perhaps with a revolving fund the county could promote subsidizing those types of developments. TB 6-10-21 D R A F T Page 6 of 6 B Avery reported that a recent executive order will prevent the town from adding penalties to late water and sewer bills or relevying unpaid water and sewer bills to real property tax bills. She will provide the board with additional information when it is received. There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 7:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk