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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 13 2024 -Town of Enfield Regular Town Board Meeting Minutes_Final1 Town of Enfield Regular Town Board Meetfng Wednesday, November 13, 2024 In-Person & Via the Zoom Meetfng Platiorm 6:30 PM Present: Supervisor Redmond; Town Councilpersons, Cassandra Hinkle, Melissa Millspaugh, Robert Lynch; Code Officer Alan Teeter; Town Clerk Mary Cornell; Planning Board Chair Dan Walker Virtual Attendance: Councilperson Jude Lemke Call to Order: Supervisor Redmond called the meetfng to order at 6:30 PM Privilege of the Floor: Councilperson Lynch led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance. Additfons & Changes to the Agenda: Additfon of a Resolutfon Councilperson Lynch drafted amending the vacatfon leave accrual policy for Town of Enfield Highway Employees. Table RFP for the Town of Enfield Solar Project – waitfng on the contract. Correspondence: The Town Board was cc’d on an email that contained a letter by the Agriculture Farmland Protectfon Board to the IDA. Councilperson Lynch read the letter. Councilperson Lynch offered additfonal comments. Dan Walker asked Councilperson Lynch to email him a copy of the letter. Clean Energy Communitfes presented a report that offered suggestfons on ways the Town could improve the Highway Facility. Supervisor Redmond suggested looking for grant funding for these opportunitfes. Monthly Reports: County Legislature – Anne Koreman. Graham Savos letter. Anne is not sure that they can make it a part of the pilot agreement and they are going to look into it and are hopeful to sit down with Graham in the next couple of weeks. Sales tax is down this year verses last year -5.62 % from last December. They have been working on their budget and they are looking at a 3% increase and they are scheduled to vote on the budget on 11/19. Lisa Holmes is retfring as the County Administrator, the new Administrator will start in January. With the recent brush fires in Lansing and the lack of rainfall the county has instftuted a burn ban for 30 days which will expire on Nov 2. They are doing renovatfons on the old Key Bank for a temporary code blue shelter for the homeless this winter. Saint Johns was staffing regular shelter on state street and they are not contfnuing their contract with the county. They had to rehome those individuals. TCDSS can assist with homelessness. Councilperson Lynch asked Koreman if she was aware that the ICSD Board of Educatfon would like a school board representatfve on the IDA. She mentfoned that someone from the School board came to the IDA today. To do so they would need to amend their by-laws. The balk of taxes they abate are school taxes. Lynch also stated if they are going to amend their bi-laws they should also create a positfon for a municipality representatfve. Town Supervisor’s Report – Stephanie Redmond. She attended the regular monthly meetfng of Town Supervisors. The Town Sustainability committee hosted trach talks at the Enfield Community Center, It wasn’t a large crowd this year, but it went well. She attended the Water Protectfon Committee meetfng. They are working on the survey for residents who may be interested in municipal water. She facilitated a Public hearing on the Town budget. Town Board Members are invited to an Elected Official’s call that is the first Thursday of every month. She spoke with Tompkins County transportatfon about the Rumsey Hill Rd Bridge. There will be no bridge NY funding for 2025, they are hopeful other funding would be available next fall. Highway Superintendent’s Report – Buddy Rollins. N/A 2 Tompkins County Council of Govts – Robert Lynch. There has been no meetfng since there last session as he was unable to attend the October meetfng. The next meetfng will be in early December. Code Enforcement Report – Alan Teeter. 23 permits were issued 10 for September and 13 for October. There have been 6 New home permits in the past two months. Oner home will be on Tucker Road, and the modular will be set this coming Monday. He received a couple of complaints on someone living in a tractor trailer on Enfield Main Rd, that person is now living in a camper. Alan would like to change his hours for next year to 9 am – 11:30 AM. He needs to get some sign posts for house numbers as he has run out of them. He will ask Buddy for his assistance in getting a quote. The Fire Company there is quite a brush fire in Orange County and the Fire Company sent two trucks and a crew of 4 down to assist. Planning Board Report – Dan Walker. One site plan was approved last month. It is for 4 tfny houses on Patrick Heads property on Enfield Center Rd. Each home will be about 700 sq’ each and is between four and eight bedrooms total. A 10x10 bedroom in each of the homes. His water supply is very good. One of the houses has an artesian well which created a wetness problem. He has one well to serve the homes and a common septfc. He created a landlocked parcel and as part of the approval process the parcels need consolidated with the building lot. He will be forwarding a word file for the site plan regulatfons as they have completed those. They are incorporatfng the solar law in the site plan regulatfons as one document. Dan will be working with Clerk Cornell to move electronic documents to the Town Server. Councilperson Lynch asked about charging applicants a fee for subdivision or site plan applicatfons. Dan shared that it is on the table and he needs to sit down with Alan to work on the structure of the fee schedule. Councilperson Lynch shared that when the Town Budget passed it had included a minor stfpend for the Planning Board Clerk and the Planning Board Members. Revenue from the permit fees could assist in offsetting this new expense. Consent Agenda: Audit Claims: General Fund Vouchers #243-271 dated November 13, 2024 in the amount of $55,305.23. Highway Fund Vouchers #176-201 dated November 13, 2024 in the amount of $69,328.20. Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded. Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Millspaugh, Aye; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried. Approval of October 9th & 23rd Meetfng Minutes Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded. Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Abstain; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Millspaugh, Aye; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried. New Business: RESOLUTION #2024-67 A Resolutfon amending Vacatfon Leave Policy for Town of Enfield Employees Whereas, Sectfon 802 of the Town of Enfield Employee Handbook, adopted by the Town Board in June 2004 and subsequently amended, states that a Town of Enfield employee may accumulate vacatfon leave credits to a maximum of four (4) weeks carried over at the employee anniversary date; and Whereas, the Enfield Highway Superintendent has recommended that vacatfon leave credit be extended from four to eight (8) weeks to improve the flexibility of working conditfons for Highway Department employees; and 3 Whereas, this Town Board supports the Highway Superintendent’s recommendatfon; therefore, be it Resolved, that the “Accumulatfon” paragraph (paragraph five) in Sectfon 802 of the Town of Enfield Employee Handbook, pertaining to “Vacatfon Leave,” is hereby amended to state the following: Accumulatfon - An employee may accumulate vacatfon leave credits to a maximum of 8 weeks carried over at the employee anniversary date. And be it further, Resolved, that this policy change shall become effectfve immediately. Councilperson Lynch moved and Supervisor Redmond seconded. Supervisor Redmond wanted to clarify they are not asking to accrue eight weeks in one year, it would be a total of eight weeks total. Councilperson Lynch stated that Superintendent Rollins has stated that he will monitor it, so that it is used correctly. Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Millspaugh, Aye; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried. Discussion: SPCA Contract. Supervisor Redmond asked Clerk Cornell to update the Board on how the advisory meetfng went. Clerk Cornell highlighted the main points from the meetfng. The conclusion was that the other local municipalitfes like the contract as how it is written and do not suggest any changes. Councilperson Lynch asked Clerk Cornell if she was satfsfied with this contract and she responded that it is acceptable. Councilperson Lynch said the contract is not perfect, he is glad that the Advisory Council met. He is not sure how the other board members feel. Councilperson Hinkle moved and Councilperson Lynch seconded to allow Supervisor Redmond to sign the Contract. Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Millspaugh, Aye; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried. Discussion: Dog Licensing and Control Law – Supervisor Redmond shared the current version of the Dog Law and discussion followed on any additfonal changes that the board would like to make. The Dog Law is currently 17 pages and the advisory council stated that we should keep the contract simple. Councilperson Lynch asked Clerk Cornell for her opinion. She stated that she would like to keep it simple, however, there were some changes that the Board would like to add that will protect residents. Discussion contfnued and the law will be reviewed again at the next Town Board Meetfng and set the Public Hearing date. Discussion: CAC/ Conservatfon Advisory Committee Supervisor Redmond a CRC may be established by resolutfon or local law. Have between 3-9 residents appointed by the Town Board. Dutfes include to gather and distribute informatfon to the public. CAC inventories and monitors forest fields and space. Annual Membership to NYSAC, which was established by the NYSDEC and is $75 a year for membership. They have produced an Ordinance library, which is geared towards Zoning. The County just sent out informatfon on Unique Natural areas and they did a boundary update. EMC has been updatfng the boundaries. Councilperson Lynch would like one of the responsibilitfes of the committee to involve tree cutting, Supervisor Redmond suggested restrictfons on clear cutting, which is a lot like Zoning (we may have to talk about it). There are a lot of questfons and regulatfons that the CAC could work on. Supervisor Redmond will draft a blurb and send it out before the next board meetfng. Discussion: Subdivision Regulatfons: Councilperson Lemke it should almost be divided into three zones. Small, medium, and Large Subdivisions. Councilperson Lemke this includes commercial or residentfal propertfes. Dan Walker - generally with most major subdivisions you are going to end up with public improvements. In Enfield a road system would require town board involvement. In Larger communitfes water and sewer would be involved and the Town Board would then need to be involved. Supervisor Redmond would any major subdivision take place without Town Board approval? Breezy 4 Meadows was large, but it did not require any new public infrastructure. Councilperson Lemke, if the Town Board had been involved then we may have been able to put our foot down. Tucker Rd was basically an unimproved road and he spoke with Buddy on the road as the highway superintendent would have to expend the $$ for the improvement. Walker shared he spoke with the Highway Superintendent and his opinion was that he was not concerned about the road. Councilperson Lynch - Dan is correct he remembers that discussion from a previous Planning Board meetfng. Supervisor Redmond we may get more attendance at a public hearing before the town board than before the planning board. Councilperson Lemke - When waiving a provision the Town Board may want to weigh in on the decision. Dan - the Planning Board has the purview to waive regulatfons. Subdivisions require public hearings and site plans make them optfonal. That is a discretfonary decision that the Planning Board can make. Case in point last week they approved four tfny homes on a lot, they waived the requirement for a public hearing. Prior to this a subdivision request did require a public hearing. Dan - the planning board tries to stay neutral on decisions and not act politfcally. The biggest input from the Town Board is improving the comprehensive plan. Councilperson Lynch a counter point as to what Dan said, there is an advantage to projects like Breezy Meadows being reviewed by the Town Board. To a certain extent the Town Board has to be more involved as they are directly involved politfcally (they can be voted out of office). Supervisor Redmond it does give the Board an opportunity to weigh in. She is wondering if we should have an additfonal review session. Councilperson Lemke what are you trying to accomplish. Say the planning board says we are giving our approval and then it goes before the town board and they also have a public hearing and offer their approval. Would it really make that much of a difference. Councilperson Lynch do we want to have three categories. Would you need two public hearings. Is it legal to have two public hearings with two decision bodies. That is a legal questfon that Councilperson Lynch cannot answer. The Town Board does have oversite of the planning board as they appoint the planning board members. Some Towns do not have Planning Boards and the Town Board oversees it all. Councilperson Lynch, asked Dan how Ithaca deals with it? Does there planning board have total approval. Yes, except they stfll need to have some approvals at the Town Board level. Councilperson Lemke this may be an area that we should investfgate. We should include our lawyer in this discussion. Supervisor Redmond, we had spoke on minimal lot size. Right now the lot sizes are determined by the environmental conditfons. Discussion contfnued. Privilege of the Floor: Councilperson Lemke there is a Fire District Electfon coming up on Dec 10th. She believes that there will be a contested electfon this year. If interested in running for commissioner email the secretary of the Fire District. Councilperson Lynch in June of last year the state legislature changed the eventual electfon years from odd to even years, the same as president. On October 8th a Judge ruled that law was not constftutfonal. He will update the Town Board when he has more informatfon to share. The second thing the Enfield Fire District has a problem, they have eight pails of fire retardant foam that is expensive to dispose of with the County. He may go to the County on this and ask for a break and we will see what happens. Announcements: Deck the Halls is on December 14. There will be a toy exchange, crafts, and light refreshments at the Town Hall from 11 AM- 1 PM. Adjournment: Councilperson Hinkle moved and Councilperson Millspaugh seconded. Adjourned at 8:41 PM. Respectiully submitted, Mary Cornell Mary Cornell Town Clerk