No preview available
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB 2024-11-21TB 11-21-24 Page 1 of 7 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING November 21, 2024 Zoom Hybrid Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Leonardo Vargas- Mendez, Cl Christina Dravis, Cl Spring Buck Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent Other Town Staff: Chris O’Connor, Fire Coordinator *Cassie Byrnes, Secretary to the Supervisor *Indicates attendance via Zoom Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 6:08 p.m. Board members recited the pledge of allegiance. RESOLUTION #180 (2024) – APPROVE MINUTES Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the meeting minutes of October 10, October 15, and October 17, 2024. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes PLANNING DEPARTMENT Ray Burger has submitted his monthly report and it is posted on the website. Two of the items listed are on the agenda for tonight. FIRE COORDINATOR Chris O’Connor has been working on the town strategic plan for fire and EMS service and encouraged board members to contact him with questions or comments. He learned from the regional ISO representative that the Varna Fire Department will be rated a 2/2Y ISO department, which is quite an achievement. There are only about 40 departments in the state with a class 2 rating and almost all are career departments. Some credit goes to the town’s code department. Contributing to that rating is that they have so many members, do so much training, and have a bunker system so that they respond quickly. However, this will not likely result in a reduction in homeowners insurance premiums for those in Varna’s area. ISO evaluates about every 5 years, sometimes sooner if requested. TB 11-21-24 Page 2 of 7 COUNTY BRIEFING Greg Mezey reported that he was contacted about a speed limit reduction on West Dryden Road and knows the town board is addressing that. It was discussed at the facilities and infrastructure meeting today and he, Mike Lane and Lee Shurtleff will sign a letter of support. The County Legislature has passed a resolution that mirrors that of TCCOG calling for EMS to be considered an essential service and will pass that on to our state representatives. They are ready at the county level to support efforts in accomplishing that. The legislature passed a negative declaration for SEQR for the Caswell Road Leachate Collection update. Updates are expected to begin in 2025. With respect to the County’s response to the homeless issue, the temporary housing shelter at St John’s has closed and the county has a solution working with local hotels and motels. The code blue warming shelter will be coming online next week at the old Key Bank building. They received no response to an RFP for an outside organization to provide services there, so the county has hired shelter workers and they are being trained to serve that population. They want to make sure they deliver the right level of service in the warming shelter. There will be a larger announcement coming about next steps in increasing shelter capacity and furthering the response to the homeless issue across the county. The county’s 2025 budget was adopted by a 9-5 vote. He and Lee Shurtleff voted against it. He said it is a good budget and well-thought out, but doesn’t think enough was done to keep increase to the taxpayer as low as possible. They did not exceed their tax cap. The levy amount resulted in a $4.79 per thousand county rate, an increase of about $115 for a median value home in the county tax. Mike Lane said they had an interesting development in the budget process. They had assumed they had a levy cap of 4.45%, but it was discovered just a few hours prior to voting, that it was 2.72%. They had been proceeding with a 3% levy increase and decided to use fund balance for the difference. He voted to approve the budget, noting they have cut back and some agencies were upset that they weren’t being funded enough. They want to keep the tax levy low. He noted they went two years with a zero increase on the levy and last year there was a 2% increase. They have the same inflation issues as others in expenses, and he is proud of what they’ve been able to do. He added the shelter is taking up a lot of time and the county is anxious to protect those vulnerable individuals who are homeless for any reason. DRYDEN FIBER Executive Director D Makar reviewed slide 2 of his executive summary (attached). The Municipal Infrastructure Program awarded five projects in June. Dryden & Caroline was one of those and is the first to have customers receiving services and paying monthly fees. Installation for those customers will be paid for with the MIP funds. This is because Dryden had a project up and running while the others are just beginning to get permits for access to poles. Of the 33 projects now approved by the ConnectAll office, Dryden’s project was publicly called out at the Southern Tier 8 Regional Infrastructure Summit by the director of the ConnectAll office. Kudos to the town board for getting this project started. The grant disbursement agreement has been received and reviewed. It is expected that the first reimbursement check will be received in the first quarter of 2025. Weekly status calls with the ConnectAll office are held on Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. TB 11-21-24 Page 3 of 7 As of October 31, the project is now able to serve 1,187 parcels and 1,504 households. There are 165 paying customers with 27 in the queue (these numbers have increased in the last few weeks). In the past seven months we’ve gone from 30 customers to 165 and it is expected to continue to increase substantially as more areas become ready for subscribers. The coverage map was reviewed and it appears that all yellow areas will be covered by the end of March 2025. DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS Sewer Capital Project – An invoice has been received for work completed on the Varna Sewer project and needs approval for payment. RESOLUTION #181 (2024) - Drawdown #5 for Sewer Capital Project Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, the Town has received invoice #5 from National Water Main Cleaning Co for $112,490.11 for work completed on the Sewer Capital Project through August 31, 2024; and WHEREAS, the invoice will be paid from CDBG funds (Project #336PR9-21) awarded to the Town for the sewer capital project, now Therefore, be it resolved that the Board approves the payment of $112,490.11 to National Water Main Cleaning Co to be paid in a timely manner when the funds are received. 2nd Cl Dravis Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Purchase of Materials for Dryden Fiber – Supv Leifer shared an invoice from Graybar for materials to continue the Dryden Fiber buildout. RESOLUTION #182 (2024) – APPROVE PURCHASE FROM GRAYBAR Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the GraybaR quote #0247525336 dated November 20, 2024, and authorizes payment in the amount of $379,671.72. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Approve Proposal from CHA Consulting, Inc. – The town has received a proposal from CHA for a recreation development plan at a cost of $29,400. The town attorney is reviewing the proposal and contract. Supv Leifer would like authority to sign the document after the town attorney is satisfied with it. TB 11-21-24 Page 4 of 7 RESOLUTION #183 (2024) – AUTHORIZE CONTRACT WITH CHA CONSULTING, INC. Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Town Supervisor to execute an agreement with CHA Consulting, Inc. for a Recreation Development Plan after the agreement has been approved by the Town Attorney. 2nd Cl Buck Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Property Tax Exemptions – Tompkins County has increased the income levels for property tax exemptions for low-income senior, disabled persons, and veterans’ exemptions. The Director of Assessment has provided information for the town to consider. There was a brief discussion by the board. Proposed resolutions will be available for the December 12 meeting. Freese Road Bridge – On October 17, the board passed a resolution declaring intent to serve as lead agency on the project for replacing the Freese Road bridge. Cl Lamb will check with the engineers for next steps. 27 Dutcher Road Special Use Permit Application – Ray Burger gave a brief overview of this application that is required for a home occupation level two business. Joe Tifft, the property owner, is looking to do a small engine repair business out of his garage. The Planning Board recommended the sketch plan with no further conditions. The site plan map was shared with the board and audience and the board scheduled the public hearing for the December 19 meeting at 6:05 p.m. 1814 Hanshaw Road Special Use Permit Application – R Burger said Park Outdoor is proposing an electronic billboard at the intersection of NYS Route 13 and Hanshaw Road. NYSDOT denied their request for space at the intersection of Route 13 and Route 366 near NYSEG. This would be the same application as previously approved by the board, but at a different location. The public hearing was scheduled for December 19 at 6:10 p.m. Fire Department Contracts – Supv Leifer shared some general information regarding the 2025 town budget. Using the four main funds, the town tax rate will drop by about 12% and the levy will increase by about 4.4%. With the special benefit districts added in, the total levy increase is 4.97%. The fire protection district levy will increase 5.35%, following a 12.97% increase in 2024. Varna’s amount should be $440,000 as they requested. He would like to pay out Etna’s contract in two installments with performance standards to meet prior to the end of June. He suggested a clause in the contracts providing for termination by either party on 30 days written notice. Cl Buck said the town has four departments, three of which are extremely active, and the town works hard to keep them functional. She questions whether there would be value in renewing three of the contracts and splitting the funds of the fourth contract between the others. She suggested not renewing Etna’s contract and splitting their coverage area between Freeville and Varna. The amount of Etna’s contract would allow the town to give Freeville what they asked for and the balance could be split between Freeville and Varna. TB 11-21-24 Page 5 of 7 Comments during discussion: • Concern about rapid transition. • Varna and Freeville are covering for Etna now. • Assets need to be addressed. • We need a coordination transition. • This would maintain the current status of service and transition could be addressed later. • The transition could occur gradually in the first six months of the year. • An orderly transition can occur after the six-month period. • The town should know the direction by the end of May. • Rip & run numbers will be used for assessment of response. • Concern that the Fire Chief will change which department(s) get toned out for first response. • Doing that would be a violation of their new contract. • Budgeting should not occur with double digit increases. • The Village of Freeville can contribute more to their fire department because they won’t have court expenses anymore. • Amounts not expended from the total levy would go to the fund balance in the fire protection account. • Fund balance has declined since 2021. (Freeville received $90,000 in 2023 for capital reserve and $75,000 in 2024 for the duty truck.) • A public hearing will need to be held in December to approve the contracts. Supv Leifer proposes the following contract amounts: Varna $440,000.00 Dryden $595,503.00 WB Strong $397,448.00 Etna $173,500.00 Cl Lamb said he doesn’t support a double digit increase in any budget. Cl Dravis said she is agreeable to these numbers. She feels that Freeville was too conservative for many years and is catching up. Fire Coordinator Chris O’Connor said he has looked through twenty years of records and a perennial issue has been what to do about Etna. Many boards have grappled with that issue. The only department in the town that does not, has not and is not able to respond to their calls is the Etna Fire Department. Their contract says they will respond to all calls and they don’t do it. Their own records indicate they had 80% no response rate. There is a response from Freeville or Varna under mutual aid. Etna is nonfunctional, dysfunctional. His advice is to not contract with Etna for 2025. He suggests giving 25% of their contract each to Varna and Freeville, holding back the other half of their contract amount and reviewing the situation mid-year. The board can then finetune and distribute the remaining 50%. The town continues to contract with a department that has 8 or 10 members, most of whom don’t live anywhere near Etna. The board gets to make the decision. If it were him, he would act in the best interest of everyone in the town. Right now, there is a significant part of the town of Dryden that by the goodwill of the Varna and Freeville departments are getting emergency coverage. TB 11-21-24 Page 6 of 7 There was discussion about whether the contract should terminate now, or renew and re-evaluate midyear. Supv Leifer said that by May the town will have a good idea of whether Etna can comply with the contract. RESOLUTION #184 (2024) – SET FIRE CONTRACT AMOUNTS Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its approval: RESOLVED, that this Town Board will hold a public hearing on December 12, 2024, at 6:05 p.m. on the following fire contract amounts: Varna $440,000.00 Dryden $595,503.00 WB Strong $397,448.00 Etna $173,500.00 2nd Cl Vargas-Mendez Roll Call Vote Cl Vargas-Mendez Yes Cl Buck Yes Cl Dravis Yes Cl Lamb No Supv Leifer Yes ADVISORY BOARD UPDATES Affordable & Workforce Housing – No report. Conservation Board – Cl Buck reported the committee is discussing planting trees, including what type and where, in honor of Bob Beck. They would like to move Kate McKee to a voting member. There continues to be concern about a landowner digging at the intersection of Chafee and West Lake Roads. There was discussion of removing the beavers on Johnson Road and a general discussion of culling deer. The committee is supportive of both. Climate Smart Communities Task Force – Cl Dravis reported the energy upgrade at the DPW building is expected to be completed by the end of this year. John Kiefer has resigned from the Task Force. He was a founding member and the task force will be requesting a resolution to recognize his efforts. Tom Sinclair is resigning because he is stepping down from his Village Trustee position. Alice Green will be stepping down as Chair next year, but will remain on the Task Force. Gina Cassidy will become the Chair. Planning Board – Cl Lamb reported they are discussing how to do the zoning rewrite. The consultant has highlighted various problems in our zoning, and they will begin revising sections in three or four phases. They will do the rezoning relating to the affordable housing portion first. They are also dealing with the moratorium on crypto mining and data processing and are conscious of that 18-month period and will ask Nan Stolzenburg to work with them. The Planning Board will have vacancies in January and are looking for interested community members to serve. Rail Trail Task Force – Cl Lamb reported they are looking at completion of the trail (Phase 3) and applying for a TAP grant from the State. They also need a feasibility study for repair of some washed out areas near the NYSEG/Pinckney Road parcels. There is a student team doing some engineering and design work on that. Ag Advisory Committee – Did not meet. TB 11-21-24 Page 7 of 7 Recreation & Youth Commission – Supv Leifer reported that in October they chose CHA to provide a development plan for the lands behind town hall. Their Nov ember meeting was moved to December 4. Cl Vargas-Mendez asked if there was still a role for the client committee and was told there was not, but interested people can attend the regular DRYC meetings. Other Business Dog Control – Supv Leifer reported there were two responses to the RFP for dog control. The board will make a selection by the second December meeting. CITIZENS PRIVILEGE Mark Bell asked when the first draft of the fire contracts would be available. They would like to review it before the end of the year so that they don’t have an experience similar to last year. He said he has heard that the board will be looking into the feasibility of forming a fire district, and asked if a few board members can meet with the Fire Departments to talk about the pros and cons. Cl Buck said the study will answer some of the questions. He would like to hear the thought process on the other side and be engaged in conversations on the topic. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk