HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 8, 2023 - Town of Enfield Public Hearing and Regular Town Board Meeting Minutes1
Town of Enfield Public Hearing – Preliminary Budget
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 6:30 PM
In-Person & Via the Zoom Meetfng Platiorm
Town of Enfield Regular Town Board Meetfng
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 6:45 PM
In-Person & Via the Zoom Meetfng Platiorm
Present: Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond; Town Councilpersons, Robert Lynch, Jude Lemke, and Cassandra Hinkle;
Town Clerk Mary Cornell; Highway Superintendent Buddy Rollins; Code Officer Alan Teeter.
Absent: Town Councilperson James Ricks
Supervisor Redmond called the Public Hearing to Order at 6:31 PM
Councilperson Lynch shared the first page of the Town Budget and gave a brief overview.
Supervisor Redmond closed the Public Hearing at 6:45 PM
Call to Order: Supervisor Redmond called the Regular meetfng to order at 6:45 PM
Privilege of the Floor: Bev Rollins spoke in support of the Town having a page in the ECC Newsletter. Councilperson Lynch
led the assemblage in the pledge of allegiance. Councilperson Lynch spoke on a topic of concern that was brought up at a
recent Fire District Meetfng - there was another accident at the intersectfon of Applegate Rd and Rte. 79. He stated this is
a deadly intersectfon and we should consider requestfng a traffic study of this intersectfon.
Additfons and Changes to the Agenda: Supervisor Redmond will move the park committee update to after the adoptfon
of the town budget and move down the subdivision request to the last topic , Councilperson Lynch would like to delay
discussion on the subdivision revisions untfl the Board has had more tfme to review the changes. Councilperson Lemke
asked to add a discussion/actfon to pay the Fire District Attorney and the Fire District start-up costs.
Correspondence: N/A
Monthly Reports
County Legislator: Anne Koreman. N/A
Town Supervisor’s Report – Stephanie Redmond. Supervisor Redmond spoke on the Trash talks event and that she
would like to establish a Town Sustainability Committee. She attended an “ARE” meetfng and facilitated a Special Town
Board Meetfng. A picture of part of the Trash Talks presentatfon was in Anna Kelles' weekly newsletter.
Highway Superintendent Report – Buddy Rollins. They are doing seasonal changeover and getting the trucks ready for
winter work as well as performing regular maintenance. They are currently down three trucks which are all in the shop
getting worked on.
Tompkins County Council of Governments – Robert Lynch. They have not met since the last meetfng.
Code Enforcement Report – Alan Teeter. Last month he issued 7 permits which brings the total to 70 for this year. He has
had a lot of inspectfons and issued a couple of new addresses. He attended the planning board meetfng. He met with
Assessment and they went over plans from the last 6 months and the meetfng went fairly well. He has been receiving
calls regarding questfons about the Breezy Meadows lots. KUMAS has been sold at Auctfon to a couple of Enfield
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Residents and they are looking into ideas of what could happen at this property. The keys to the office in the Town
Courthouse and Town Buildings can no longer be replicated.
Volunteer Fire Company – Alan Teeter. Last month there were 22 calls, which included 8 EMS calls.
Planning Board Report – Dan Walker. They approved 2, 3-lot subdivisions. Crystal Buck gave a presentatfon on the
Agricultural District 2 review and spoke on two lots that they would like to remove from the district and the planning
board had no issues with them doing so.
Consent Agenda:
Moved to after discussion on payment for Fire District Attorney - Audit Claims: General Fund Vouchers #242-266, dated
November 8, 2023, in the amount of $104,241.03. Highway Fund Vouchers #169-189, dated November 8, 2023, in the
amount of $42,358.58. SF-Fire District voucher #267, dated November 8, 2023, in the amount of $5,000.00.
TABLED - Minutes: October 11, 2023, Regular Town Board Meetfng minutes and October 25, 2023, Special Town Board
Meetfng Minutes.
New Business:
Adoptfon of the 2024 Budget. Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Lemke seconded: Discussion: Supervisor
Redmond moved the following amendments to the Budget; change the projected 2023 Supervisors Personnel line to
$25,500, Buildings cleaner projected 2023 to $6,129.00 and increase the Home Community Services line by $3,500 for
the purpose of paying the Community Water Instftute for Water testfng in 2024. Supervisor Redmond moved the
amendments and Councilperson Hinkle seconded.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded to move the 2024 preliminary budget to the adopted
2024 Town Budget. Discussion: Councilperson Lynch will bring up again in the spring for the Town to have our own
budget capability with a growing source of revenue to help us do common sense budgetfng next year.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Park Committee Updates. Cornell Design Connect - Cameron led the update on the design process and he shared a slide
presentatfon. survey is stfll open, so please fill it out if you have not already done so. They have had 35 responses so far
and it will be open for another week or two. They would like to hopefully get some more families involved. He shared the
highlights of the current survey results. Supervisor Redmond asked if the Design Connect team could present at the
December 16 community event at the ECC. Superintendent Rollins shared concerns on how close to the Highway
Department the design will be projected. Supervisor Redmond suggested that Cameron and his team set up a meetfng
with the Highway Superintendent. Councilperson Lynch asked Cameron about their strategy on getting diverse reviews.
Discussion: Deb Teeter/Town Newsletter. Debbie Teeter shared that she had completed the Town Newsletter and the
Community Newsletter in the past. The current community newsletter is 8 pages, currently two 11x17 pages folded in
half. The Town Newsletter contained one 11x17 page which included informatfon from town departments, she thinks the
town newsletter should stay a town newsletter and not part of the ECC. The Town would get an invoice which would be a
third of the cost of the newsletter and the amount that she gets paid quarterly. They have tried to get people to sign up
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for the newsletter costs. The projected cost of the newsletter by email would be $3,500 annually. Supervisor Redmond
moved to allocate ARPA funds for the expense and Councilperson Lemke amended to allocate $7,000 of ARPA funds for
two years of newsletter delivery.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Discussion: NYRWA Plan. Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded to send the plan to NYS for
approval.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Open Bids for the Town Clerk Remodel & Generator.
Generator Bid - Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Lemke seconded to reject the bid and for the town
supervisor to work with the highway superintendent on a re-bid.
Town Clerk Remodel - Clerk Cornell had a couple of questfons for Cooley Constructfon and will reach out to them for
clarity.
The Clerk’s Office Remodel bid awarding will be tabled untfl a Special Town Board Meetfng to be held on November 16,
2023, at 6:00 PM.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Appointment of Planning Board Member. – Supervisor Redmond moved to appoint the Planning Board's
recommended member to the Planning Board, Councilperson Lynch moved to post on the Town website for both the
planning board seat as well as the alternate member seat and Supervisor Redmond seconded.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Supervisor Redmond and Councilperson Lynch seconded to table the appointment(s) untfl the December Regular Town
Board Meetfng
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Enumeratfon update/change request. Clerk Cornell asked that ARPA funds be used to send a mailing to Town residents
letting them know that dogs need to be licensed at the age of 4 months and send an applicatfon with the letter to assist
residents in registering their dog(s). Clerk Cornell shared that total costs for this mailing should be no more than $2.000.
The enumerator that the town had contracted with last year has not yet been able to complete much of the in-person
enumeratfon. Councilperson Lemke moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded to allocate up to $2,000 of ARPA funds
for the use of sending an enumeratfon mailing to Town Residents.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
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Nominatfons for the volunteer recognitfon program. As no nominatfons were received Supervisor Redmond will post in
the “New” Town newsletter that the Town Board is seeking nominatfons for this program.
ARPA Funds Discussion: Resolutfon of ARPA Funds Fire District #77-2023
Whereas, the Town formed a Fire District prior to the distributfon of $20k of ARPA funds previously granted to the Fire
Co. to purchase new equipment, (and)
Whereas, the Fire District should now be the entfty purchasing new equipment to reduce costs to town residents, (and)
Whereas, the Fire District, as a separate gov’t agency, would need to set up an ARPA acct, which is very onerous, if we
allocated these funds to them to purchase equipment, (and)
Whereas, the Town could pay some legal fees on their behalf to avoid the necessity of setting up an ARPA account and
free up funds to be used to purchase equipment; Now Therefore
I move we rescind the $20k ARPA grant made to the Fire Co. to cover the cost of new equipment and instead use ARPA
funds to pay up to $20k for attorney’s fees related to the formatfon & operatfon of the Fire District, that the Dist. would
otherwise need to pay.
Councilperson Lemke moved and Supervisor Redmond seconded. Discussion: Councilperson Lynch expressed that he
does not support this actfon and will not vote in favor of it.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Nay; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Fire District Start-up Funds 2023
Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Lemke seconded to allocate to the Fire District $5,000 of the Fire
Protectfon Fund balance to the Fire District for necessary start-up costs.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Aye; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
Discussion: Review updated subdivision regulatfons. Supervisor Redmond per comments made by Councilperson Lynch
suggests that the Town Board review the subdivision regulatfons 10 pages at a tfme and the first review session will be at
the December Regular Town Board meetfng.
Audit Claims: General Fund Vouchers #242-266, dated November 8, 2023, in the amount of $104,241.03. Highway Fund
Vouchers #169-189, dated November 8, 2023, in the amount of $42,358.58. SF-Fire District voucher #267, dated
November 8, 2023, in the amount of $5,000.00.
Supervisor Redmond moved and Councilperson Hinkle seconded.
Vote: Councilperson Hinkle, Aye; Councilperson Lemke, Aye; Councilperson Lynch, Nay; Councilperson Ricks,
Absent; Supervisor Redmond, Aye; Carried.
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Privilege of the Floor: Superintendent Rollins ordered the new radios from the County ARPA grant. Cassandra Hinkle
commented that on the recent Local Electfon Day she notfced that the culvert pipe near the Enfield Community Center
Driveway was half filled with silt. Supervisor Redmond will contact the State about having it taken care of.
Adjournment: Councilperson Hinkle moved and Councilperson Lemke seconded to adjourn, adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectiully submitted,
Mary Cornell
Mary Cornell
Town Clerk