HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-08-2009 TOWN OF GROTON - MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009 AT 7:30 PM
THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD
Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor
Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman
Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman
Richard B. Gamel, Councilman
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman
Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town
Also present: Dewey Dawson, John Norman, Gary Coats, Richard C. Case, Jr., April
Scheffler, Rosemarie Tucker, Peg Palmer, Teresa Robinson, Don Palmer,
Cheryl Lamoreaux, Caralina Kimbrough, David Kimbrough, Robert
Eckert, Mike Bartos, Bill Dallaire, Claude Williss, Mike Marcey, Aaron
Craig (?), Dean Lamoreaux, David Butts, Renee Butts, Barb Kelley, Carl
Kelley, Steven Cute, Patrick Jordan, John Banas, Rosemary Banas,
Michael Goyette, Sue Bennett, Joe Bennett, Damon Ferguson, Marcia
Sopp, Andrew Crispell, Steve Simons, Lynette Eckert, Hough Heegan,
Donna Simons, Caroline Kinne, Nick Babel (?), Robin Snyder, Wayne
Snyder, Dusty Snyder, Phylis Dague, James Willsey, George Miller,
Daniel Sudilovsky, Alexis Sudilovsky, Lynn Swearingen, Lisa
Swearingen, Laura Volpeceli, Mary Shockey, Sandi Swearingen, David
Swearingen, Cindy Cute
MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes
of the August 11, 2009 meeting as presented.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of
the August 11, 2009 Work Session as presented.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
MOVED by Councilman Scheffler, seconded by Councilman Sovocool, to approve the minutes
of the August 18, 2009 Work Session as presented.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the minutes of the
September 2, 2009 Work Session as presented.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Town Board Minutes Page 2 September 8, 2009
Claim Numbers 249-286 of the General Fund in the amount of$37,795.04 were presented for
audit.
MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the General
Bills for payment.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Claim Numbers 147-165 of the Highway Fund in the amount of$90,957.51 were presented for
audit.
MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the Highway Bills
for payment.
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey.
Monthly Reports:
Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's
review. We are proceeding with the Life Safety Inspections and have about six left to finish for
this year.
Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - At the present time, the shop is up to date
with vehicle inspections and the preventive maintenance program. Spreader bars have been
designed and fabricated in-house for Trucks #21 and #29. This is in preparation for the asphalt
sealing program which will start when scheduling allows. There was some storm damage on
Ogden Road, Eden Drive, Murdock Road, Fuller Road and Sears Road. These problems are
being addressed this week. Paving has been competed on Stauber Road and Lick Street.
Driveways have been back-filled and shoulders will be applied when the paving material has had
time to cure. The handicap door project is complete. George Senter, from the Village Code
Office has inspected the building and violations have been corrected. The PESH inspection has
been addressed and we await their visit. I would also like to request the Board's permission to
place the Town's 1994 1-ton dump truck in the municipal auction.
RESOLUTION #09-053 - PERMISSION TO PLACE DUMP TRUCK
IN MUNICIPAL AUCTION
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby grants permission to place the Town of Groton's
1994 Chevrolet, 1-ton dump truck in the Municipal Auction held in Lansing on September 12,
2009 and that the proceeds shall be placed in the DA5130.2, Machinery, Equipment Account.
April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's
review. The office has been busy. The photo show during Olde Home Days went well and a lot
of positive feedback has been received.
Town Board Minutes Page 3 September 8, 2009
Victoria Monty, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report.
John Norman & A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's
review.
Councilman Donald Scheffler, as Recreation Coordinator - Meeting was been postponed
until tomorrow night, so had nothing to report.
Patrick Jordan, Auditor from Ciaschi, Dietershagen, Little Mickelson & Company, LLP -
Was there to present a brief overview of the audit of the Town's financial records for 2008.
Three documents were presented. The first was a required communication to the Town Board
which describes the standards that were followed; whether there were any deviations from the
engagement letter; where policies are found, whether new policies were adopted; accounting
estimates; loans made by the Town that may be uncollectable; corrected misstatements and
adjustments; any disagreements with management. There were no problems reported. There is a
brief report of the Justice Court records and this report is a representative sample and shows no
problems. All money was easily tracked in and out to the proper source. The last document is
the full audit report. The draft had been presented to the Board earlier and reviewed in depth at
that time. The auditors were very comfortable with the fund balances and overall the Town's
finances looked good.
The Board had no questions concerning the audit and thanked Mr. Jordan for coming.
RESOLUTION#09-54 -ACCEPT AUDIT REPORT
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby accepts the annual audit of the Town of Groton
financial records and the Town of Groton Justice Court records for the year ending December 31,
2008.
Supervisor Morey - We're going to move to Privilege of the Floor. Tonight we have a sensitive
issue dealing with neighbors' rights. I ask that everyone have respect for the person speaking
and give that person the right to speak. We have to remember that we're all neighbors here and
tomorrow we're still going to be neighbors. We are going to limit to about four minutes.
(Clerk's Note: Some people who spoke did not speak directly into the microphone and therefore
some of the words were undistinguishable on the tape when these minutes were transcribed.
Undistinguishable words may be indicated with (7) )
Sue Bennett - I'm here to present a petition to the Town Board to restrict concerts, festivals,
group events, and public gatherings from infringing on neighbors' peace and quiet. I have a
copy of the original petition and six copies. I would like everyone to know that it's not personal.
It may seem personal because it is at this time specifically referring to an individual who is
having parties or festivals on his property. It wouldn't matter who it is, it's the level of the noise
and the traffic and the safety concerns that other people have is the reason why we're doing the
Town Board Minutes Page 4 September 8, 2009
petitions. So, when I called, and I know other people called, and talked to the Town Board,
specifically Glenn, it was said that the best why to do it was to do a petition. I was hoping it
didn't come to that, but I took the time, a couple other neighbors took the time, my sisters, and
we took the petition to as many as possible in a country square block. It's Pleasant Valley Road,
Old Peruville Road, Sharpsteen Road and there's a map in the packet to show the area that is
affected. I spoke with personally over 75 neighbors myself. My husband told me not to get
emotional, but it's difficult not to when you talk to all the people and you see how emotional
they are also. This was the level of noise that these parties have that makes your house just
throb. I don't know if they realize this. I don't even know if they care. But that's what it does
to our livelihood and our home. I've lived in this area my whole life. I was born on Old
Peruville Road and I've lived there now for 56 years. I hope you can create an ordinance, I'm
not saying to stop things, I'm saying to make it so that the neighbors can also maintain their right
to peace and quiet. Because everybody knows me, I'd like to have the people who are in favor
of this petition to raise their hands so the Board can have a clear understanding of how many
people did take the time to...(?).... I think that's significant. You know how people don't like
to come to speak. I just hope the Board can do something about this.
Robert Eckert - When I first did this, I play in a band called Hammerd. I did this festival to
show everybody a good time and be involved in music. We spent hours out there building jumps
for the S2S guys. I put in eight sets of horseshoe pits. I invited Mike Bartos and the guys from
down here at the horseshoe pits to come up there and play horseshoes while listening to music.
I'm also in the midst of building an RC car track which my boy loves doing. So I figured we'd
do that to. I brought my old swing set and climber thing for the kids because the first one we did
there was nothing for the little kids to do so they were just running around aimlessly. I just
thought I was doing a good thing for the neighborhood and the community kind of thing. I
realize the music was a little bit loud the first time. Gary (Coats) had a concern with that, so I
turned it down. There was also a concern with it going on too late, which I realize probably the
first one there was. I realize there's no noise ordinance in the Town of Groton but at the request
of Gary I cut it back to 10:30. He told me 10 and I said 10:30. The bands were already
scheduled so it was beyond my power at that point in time, when he confronted me, where I
could actually change it. You know, I'm trying to work with everybody. I have no guidelines to
go by at this point. My guidelines was, I contacted Gary down here and I asked if I needed any
permits to do anything. There were no permits needed from here. I had contacted the Health
Department down here in Tompkins County. They stated to me that there was no reason to get
any permits or anything else. I don't have a gathering of over 5000 people, well, at one time
they told me 3,000 people. At the time, they also said for the camping thing, that it was anything
over three days is considered a campground. I didn't realize that at the time, and they have
contacted me and corrected me on this. I want to have free camping when doing something like
this because I'm against people running up and down the road drunk in their cars and I realize
people are going to drink beer or whatever and I would rather have everybody stay there. I also
hired security at the last one because at the first one there were 886 people and 2 people got out
of hand. But thank God, the security that we did have there, the problem was remedied very
quickly, the two people were ushered to the front door and we had no problems. I didn't have
any other problems. I hired security out of Syracuse and these are five of the biggest animals
that you every saw in your life and they're all secured and bonded and everything else. They do
security for the President of the United States so I guess if they're good enough for those guys,
they're good enough for the festival up there. I'm trying to do everything right. I realize that
last time the music was a little more of a harder edge than what people are accustomed to but at
the last minute I really didn't have a choice on my bands. I was kind of struggling to make the
deadlines and stuff and it showed at the last one I did because we had less than half the people
Town Board Minutes Page 5 September 8, 2009
there for that one. Gary asked me to do a few things at the second one that I didn't do at the first
one. I'm just trying to make it safe and have an enjoyable time for everybody. I'd like to do a
country act, a country day kind of thing where we get nothing but country bands up there. I'm
open for any suggestions, if you guys ever read my blog on my website, I'm always try to ask
people for their comments. What would you like to see up there? I'm not sure what more you
want to hear.
Supervisor Morey- Any questions from the Board? Thanks.
Dr. Daniel Sudilovsky - Ours is the 64-acre farm that immediately abuts the venue site. Myself
and my family are as affected as anyone is. Essentially, while I am not here to demand that
things be shut down, I do have several concerns, some of which probably haven't been
mentioned yet. I will speak to the sound level. We have a very large, old, very solid Victorian
house that was thumping for the entire weekend to the point where we had to vacate our home
for both of these weekends. So, to me, my time at home is limited and my ability to spend time
with my family is limited and being chased out of my home is not really acceptable to me.
We're a half a mile from the venue. At a half a mile the volume level that we're talking about is
pretty dramatic. The only comparison I can think of is when the US Military used load music to
drive Noriega out of his compound. That's sort of what we feel like. We tried to be good sports
until about 11:30 at night and finally had enough. We called to have it shut down. It was too
much. I just left this last weekend so I can't speak to any of the events that happened on the
street. I can't speak to the noise level, but once was enough for me. I won't speak necessarily to
the musical genre other than to say it is not necessarily universally appealing. And the screams
of profanity in between songs doesn't help; I have small children. For me the, my next concern,
we have a big meeting here now, we have petitions, we have formal complaints. This is now a
disclosable business. This affects my property value fairly significant. I have to report this if I
put my house on the market as does everybody else within a mile radius here. Tax appraisals are
affected by this as well. I have spoken with my attorney about this. Definitely, these sorts of
things impact the property values and they can impact the Town if this goes further. The last
thing and actually the thing that actually got me involved in this and I have spent several hours
this past week, which I didn't really have to spend, doing my homework in terms as what exists
and doesn't exist in terms of zoning, insurance requirements, insurance standards, safety
standards for other festivals. I spoke to Trumansburg festival people; I spoke Grass Roots
Festival people; and there is a standard in terms of security for these types of events; in terms of
carrying liability insurance for these sorts of events which also covers the neighbors around. My
insurance agent called me this week with concerns that since my property abuts this, and I have a
working horse farm; we're a working, breeding horse farm; we have 40 horses including
stallions in breeding fields right next to where this is going on. Someone decides while they're
camping to have an adventure in one of my horse pastures, somebody could get killed. Liability-
wise we're in murky territory there. There are precedents in New York State where owners of
property have been successfully sued based on injuries that occurred on their property by
trespassers. It's one thing to have a fence to keep a horse in; it's another thing to have a fence
that keeps people out. I don't have that. My insurance agent went so far as to say theoretically
my insurance company could dump me and that puts my mortgage in jeopardy as well. My
attorney also raised the possibility that, your going to hear issues about dangers on the street,
whether there was security at the venue, it's not adequate for the security to put these people out
on the street that are causing the trouble. The Trumansburg festival has the Sheriff's office, so if
they get out of hand they take them away. They don't put them out in the street into the
neighborhood. They are forced to carry one million dollars of coverage for the event. My
insurance carrier actually suggested that I might have to pay for an insurance voucher for my
Town Board Minutes Page 6 September 8, 2009
property so that they will insure me, knowing that there is now a concert venue of this sort,
activity venue, as you might call it, next to my property. So, the way that I see this is I recently
moved here; we've been here about four years. But we chose to live in this area. Other people
have been there their whole lives and choose to stay here. We chose to move here because we
wanted a lifestyle that this property afforded us when we bought it. I think that everybody
enjoys the semi-rural area. It's not isolated rural area. Everybody enjoys their property and what
they are doing on them. To me it's been a point of honor that I don't indulge myself in being
offensive to others. In this case, I think that's the whole point. If we're looking for guidelines,
at a half mile away I think I have the right to choose my own music and when I listen to it. I
think my standard would be don't want to hear it. The Town of Ithaca, it's 25 feet to not only
people but animals as well. My horses are running around like idiots the entire time that this is
going. I realize this is ......(?)..... I think that the laws have to evolve .(7) and I
would love to see this council resolve this issue so that is doesn't have to go further .(9 not
speaking into microphone...)
Dr. Katherine Wolf- I live next to Dr. Sudilovsky. While I'm not directly abutting the land in
question, I'm on the corner. The second was extremely loud. We were actually away the first
weekend, so I can't speak for that one. The last weekend I had a family gathering at home. My
..(?) who had left the area were visiting when my son's girlfriend was there and we wanted to
have a nice family gathering. Saturday it was the back-beat, boom, boom, boom all day long.
And Sunday we could here the words of the people making the announcements and the words of
the music. Even when we went in the house, our house is being painted this year, and we
couldn't put any of the screens up, so it was shut up and we could still hear it all. And again, it's
not our kind of music and I wouldn't subject the neighborhood to a string quartet because I don't
think people......(?).. I'm also disturbed by the idea that if they have a problem, the trouble
makers are thrown out on the street. That doesn't help us (not using microphone). I asked
Lynette, after she came around to talk to the neighbors, the question that I heard about underage
kids drinking and she said we don't serve them any alcohol; we don't let anyone in underage
without an adult. I don't know if that's true or not. Well, I know it's not because I know an
underage person who was there without a parent. But Lynette said they don't serve the kids
alcohol but they couldn't control what other people who came in served them and that they said
that wasn't their responsibility. If you're going to have a commercial, paying venue I think
maybe you do have a responsibility to make sure that people aren't giving it to them.
Hugh Keegan - I own the property that borders right up against Mr. Eckert. I have a business in
Cortland County and was also a former ZBA Chair for the City of Cortland. I was the chair for
three years and I was on the Board for seven. As you already know, you're looking at a
Pandora's Box with this thing. You've got some zoning and code issues which have to be
addressed one way or another. You've got to create the code or at least follow the zoning and
codes that are in force right now. Secondly, I think the doctor referred to it, is you've got some
tax assessment issues going on here if this property continues to be developed and if it's used for
multiple purposes where it's an ongoing commercial venue. So, we're looking at, what
agricultural or residential property turning into light commercial? So, we assume that our
assessment rates are going to be going down now and we're going to be paying less taxes
because of this. And if he's collecting or making money off of what he's doing there, what kind
of corporate entity, is it a s-corp, c-corp or...(?) Did he collect sales tax at the last venues that he
had? If he did, how much did you get? Have you looked into it yet? If you're not collecting
sales tax from him, are you going to do that with all the businesses in the Town? So, you've got
a real Pandora's Box going on here. The only way you're going to settle this is to really lock
down the code and zoning issues because then no matter what happens with anybody in the area,
Town Board Minutes Page 7 September 8, 2009
as you know, they've got to get approval from their neighbors to do whatever activity they really
want to do. So, my suggestion is that you really look your code and zoning laws and really
tighten them up.
Dustin Snyder - I know the first one that went on, I actually ended up going later at night
because I do kind of enjoy the music that they played. I'm young, 20 years old, I know what it
is. So, I ended up going to that one and they say no underage drinking, you have to have
somebody there, or whatever. Well, I graduated with 95% of the people that were there, that
were my age. They were running around with beers in their hands. I know one kid was on
"shrooms" running around with a big old belt that had a beer in each loop and I know he was
underage because I graduated with him along with another kid who was there. They were
smoking pot around the bonfire they had there. And I don't do any of this stuff. I'm a behaved
20-year old, believe it or not. I don't care for the drug scene or the alcohol scene, so on and so
forth. So, whether they say they don't allow the alcohol or use of drugs there, they do, I saw it
with my own to eyes and that's why I didn't go to the second one. Profanity over the mike,
that's one thing that a lot of people don't care for, but me, whatever I guess. I listen to the same
kind of music but yet when somebody gets in my truck that doesn't like it, I shut it off. It's just
common courtesy, turn it down or whatever, don't listen to it. All these things that I seen when I
was there, I went to school with Bobby Eckert, their son, and he's a great kid. He was my friend
forever and ever and I don't want it to stop, I just want something to happen where they keep an
eye on stuff I know one went through the woods to sneak in. I was at my friend's house and
here he comes out the woods, sneaking out. I was like, where did you go, oh, I snuck down to
the festival. I said what's wrong with you and he said, I got "baked." So, he was down there
with the campers, smoking pot and getting drunk and he's like 18. So, their little security thing
that they had going evidently wasn't good enough. They were just letting stuff slide, everything
like that. So, there's my view.
Lynette Eckert - As for all that, that Justin just said, I guess I can't attest to that because I
worked at the gate. If people are sneaking in, and that was the first I've heard of that, then I
suggest we put up a fence around the perimeter for more safety to help from going out and
sneaking in or getting out and bothering the neighbors. Like my husband said, it's only our
second event and we're learning as we go. Obviously, it sounds like we didn't do enough
research but we did call as many officials that we could in this town and Tompkins County and
the Health Board. We did have security; we did have a million dollars coverage in event
insurance; we have all receipts and papers to show proof that.....(?). I do have some neighbors'
signatures. I didn't get as many as probably they did. It was just me and I have two kids. As for
some of the complaints that some of the neighbors are saying somebody came out of the gate
with a gun or something, Grandpa and I were at the gate all night and if that had happened I
would have called the police myself because my husband and I don't like guns. A lot of the
immediate neighbors didn't see any such thing. The neighbor right across the street didn't see
any of that. So, as for anything happening down in there, I wasn't aware of any drug use
happening. If my security failed me, I will be calling them because I was unaware of any of that.
We don't use drugs; my son doesn't do drugs. That's not what this is for. That's his livelihood,
music, it's all he has left. So, he just wants to have a good time and perform and he did try to
make it a more family oriented event. He made homemade games; had a dunk booth; (7)
and all that. I do apologize for the noise level but we did cut it off at 10, 10:30 like we were
asked to do. If it was still loud, as I told Ms. Bennett, someone should call me if it's still too
loud. Someone complained the first time, so we turned it down. It's not like we want to drive
our neighbors out. My husband's just trying to enjoy his music.
Town Board Minutes Page 8 September 8, 2009
Dean Lamoreaux - I'm here to support Mr. Eckert. I've known Bob for approximately 30
years. He was a Boy Scout in my troop back in the Town of Danby years ago. His son just got
his Eagle Award a couple years ago. Bob's parcel up there is 140 acres. We're not talking about
a 3-acre back yard. He probably pays more real estate taxes than anybody in the Town of
Groton. I think last year he paid about $25,000 in real estate taxes, and you can check the record
for that. Bob lost his dad when he was about 13. His dad was a drummer and Bob followed his
father's footsteps. He's a very, very excellent drummer. Even though he's blind, people are
absolutely amazed at some of the things that Bob can do. Music is his life. He likes to entertain
and he likes to play the drums. We reside probably 800 yards from his function. I do not have
my walls shaking; I do not have my windows vibrating. You can hear just a little, low murmur
but it's not something that would knock your ears off. So, in support of him, we have petitioned
in support of Bob as well.
Wayne Snyder - This is about the third time that I've heard that is Bob's livelihood. What
about everybody else's livelihood? I built approximately 600 feet off the road 16 years ago so
that I would have privacy, so I didn't have to listen to the road noise and just be secluded back
where I'm just by myself. I like my privacy. Nobody asked well I heard he's got 140 acres
and he pays a lot of taxes. Nobody told him to build a five hundred thousand dollar house.
Nobody told him to buy 140 acres of land. I pay taxes too. The noise level, I can't believe that
the gentleman just here said he was 800 feet away and couldn't hear it because I'm a lot further
away than 800 feet and I sure as hell could hear it. I mean when my window's closed,just that
bumping in your chest,just makes you a nervous wreck. Probably if you could hear the guitars
once in awhile or some other instruments but all you hear is that constant boom, boom, boom,
and it just wracks on your nerves. I mean, I work for Crown Construction; I put in over 50 hours
a week for them; and I work for myself on the side. So, I put in a lot of hours and my weekends,
what weekends I have, I like to come home, sit in my back yard, have a cookout, have my family
over or whatever and you just can't do it. The way I look at it, they got bands, the first one was
one day, the second one was two days. Then you're talking it's going to change, then it's going
to be go-carts, then it's going to lights and then it's going to be this and that. I don't think we
need it. So, I think something should be done.
David Kimbrough - I'm a member of the band Hammerd. First thing I'd like to say is we're not
trying to do this to make anybody mad; we're not trying to hurt anybody. There is nothing going
on in this area; there's no town carnival; there's nothing. Bobby decided to start doing this so
kids had somewhere to go. We made it more of a family oriented thing for the second one. As
for the noise levels at the first one, we were louder at the first one than we were at the second one
because Gary told us that we had complaints and we turned it down. At the first one, I
personally walked around with a decibel meter. At 250 yards from the stage, the decibels were
98 decibels. A noise ordinance is 90 decibels. I work construction and the circular saw in your
hand is 86 decibels. So, it's not as loud as everybody is trying to say it is. We went through
every step that we could take to find out what we had to do to have this thing. We've gone by
every guideline that anybody has given us. We're not out to hurt anyone; we just want people to
have a good time.
Robin Snyder - I appreciate the fact that they want everyone to have a good time but with
everything that my son witnessed there, that needs to be taken into consideration what they think
is a good time. Also, too, we don't have parties. I'm a classic rocker myself .(?)....but
there again too I don't have it blaring so my neighbors can hear it. So, we appreciate all they
have to say, but why would we all be sitting here tonight, this is our night off, this is our night,
this is our night to be home with our family, if this didn't mean something to us too as
Town Board Minutes Page 9 September 8, 2009
neighbors? This is important to us. I've never been to anything like thus in my life, ever. My
son, to get up here and say what he had to say, that was hard for him. I had to beg him to do
it. He did that for me because of what he saw down there. So, ....(?)....we don't like to have
problems with our neighbors; it's not what we want. I wish it was back to the old days where
everybody knocked on door and bringing dishes over but sadly it's not like that. And like you
said, when we leave here we're all going to be neighbors still and I hope we can be happy and
get along together but we need our peace and quiet.
Lynn Swearingen - I'm a neighbor on the backside as well. The noise level is very irritating,
very loud. Not to the point, again, to reiterate again on what other people said, you hear the
boom, boom, boom. I'm sure all of you have experienced while you're sitting in your car, some
younger kid perhaps, is behind you with a boom box in his car and it's bang, bang, bang. And
when you're further away that seems to be the only thing that really travels the distance is the
boom, boom, the base sounds, the drums, that's what you hear. It sounds like Indians. I don't
care what kind of music you have, that's what you're going to hear. It's just the tempo of the
sound which gets on your nerves. I know we have a lot of angry neighbors, concerned
neighbors. There needs to be a lot of perimeters, something, some kind of guidelines that need to
have put in place, otherwise we're going to have, again, what somebody else said, a Pandora's
Box opening and this could be the start of something like that. I know of other festivals that
they've tried around, like Woodstock and some other festivals down Elmira way that they've
tried before and stuff. Things do get out of hand. They turn buses over, and cars over, burn
them, lit them on fire and stuff. You can have security, but when you have that many people
there's not a lot you can do about security. So, that is a big concern of mine, is security and the
noise level. We live in the country; all of us choose to live in the country; most of us grew up in
the country so we enjoy the peaceful life. I think to subject somebody to something that they're
not accustomed to or that they don't like is just wrong. I think this is kind of a unique situation
in that living in the country in a rural setting that we do there's quite a bit more population in that
area than there would be a farm that has 500 acres on one side of you and another 500 acres here
and 1000 there. So, that's kind of a big concern too, that this is a little more heavily populated
area.
Mike Bartos - I'm a neighbor and live about a mile away. I ran the horseshoe tournament.
Sunday, when I was at my house, I couldn't even hear it a mile away. I don't live down the
valley, I live above it and from above it I couldn't hear it from my house. I had to drive down
the road and put my window down and then I could hear it but it didn't seem as loud as people
are saying, but they live down the valley so I can't speak for them. But for myself, it wasn't that
loud. I didn't even hear the base from my house. I thought maybe they weren't playing on
Sunday, so I drove down by the road to go in and then I could hear it. From my house I couldn't
hear it and I just wanted to make that statement.
Bill Dallaire - I was a food vendor there. I sat on top of the hill to sell food...within the fenced
in area right directly in front of the PA and I could talk to my customers and my customers could
talk to me not louder than I'm speaking right now. I do know a lot about sound reinforcement
though and I'd like to explain something to make everybody understand a little bit better. I've
done sound myself, not for this particular show because I was the food vendor. The sound where
I was standing, directly in front of the PA, like I said, I didn't speak much louder than I am now
to sell hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, whatever and my customers could talk back to me. And
this was directly right in front of where the bands were playing in front of the show. Sound does
have a way of traveling, especially base, but at the festival, what I do agree with, it wasn't that
loud. But down the road, two miles down the road, sound waves open up and they keep opening
Town Board Minutes Page 10 September 8, 2009
up as they go further and further down the valley. I think the major complaint is here that maybe
the bands are facing the wrong way. Maybe the stage needs to be turned in a different direction
and not go down the valley. Sunday, really, like I said, standing 200 yards away from where all
the bands are playing, probably more like 150 yards from where I was on the top of the hill
selling the food, directly in front of the bandstand, directly in front of the PA, I could speak less
louder than I am right now and I could talk to my customers and my customers could talk to me.
That was the actual volume at the show. I think what's happening is that as the sound waves go
down the valley, open up, and what's happening is this is where they're talking about the thump,
thump, thump noise. So maybe the solution to that is to figure out the geographical
demographics of the land and figuring out a different placement of the actual sound so that it's
not going down that valley creating it louder and louder as it goes. That's just a suggestion that I
have. I know Bobby's son, Bobby, he helped me get my food stand set up and I asked him to
walk around the entire perimeter and if it was loud or anything and he walked around the whole
block of the neighborhood.....(7) an I doubt that he's hard of hearing. But I just want to
vouch for the fact that right on the show I don't believe that it was any louder than 94 decibels
and that's at the sound console which is what any normal country show or anything like that.
Sandy Swearingen - I just want to say that I was born in Peruville; I moved to Lansing; I moved
back to make a retirement home there. I bought 52 acres. I live next door to with the
horses. It is very loud and I did.....(7) I told them that you can't imagine. I don't have
central air and I have to have my windows open and this makes it so I can't have my windows
open. So, we roast in the house and have our television turned up louder because I can still hear
the words to songs in there. I can tell you when they turn it off or turn it down because I can
judge it by the thump, thump, thump and some of the words. I know that the Village of
Groton has an ordinance to protect the Village people. They have a noise ordinance; they have
an ordinance on festivals. I did get copies of those. I would like to say that I would like to be
afforded the same rights as the people who live in the Village of Groton. They know that they
are going to be close to neighbors and they know that there might be a little kid who has to
practice an instrument. We're not talking about somebody practicing an instrument. We're
talking about someone subjecting us to music for over 12 hours a day. On Saturday it was that
length of time. That's a whole different thing to be subjected that long to that kind of music.
And it's not just the kind of music, I like peace and quiet and I'd like to able to turn the volume
down. I don't have that luxury here.......(?)...I don't think it would matter if I did call because
nobody would be home, in the house, if they were working at the.....and my husband said
something that was interesting. I said something on the way here about how to me this is a
business that they're running. It is not a festival. You can hide behind that title of a festival; it's
not a festival. I used to be a business owner, I had to go through all the proper channels to have a
business in the Town of Lansing. I had to make sure that I was open certain hours that wouldn't
affect my neighbors. I would think that if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it really is a
duck. You need to look at, they are making money off of it and if they take a wash, then they're
poor business people. It sounds like they want to continue and if they are concerned about the
amount of noise that's going to come out of this festival in the fall, I was told by Lynette myself
that he was going to have one in the fall and have hayrides. and it would be great if it was going
to be geared towards children but the leaves are going to be off the trees and I'm going to hear it
even louder. The air is going to be thicker and denser and it's going to just sit there out my back
door. Even on his own blog, he spoke about how it shook his own windows in his house at 2000
feet away. So, yeah, they even said it shook their own house, it did shake other people's homes
as well.
Town Board Minutes Page 11 September 8, 2009
Renee Butts - My husband and I live exactly next door to Bob and Lynette. We moved there
almost a year ago now and we both grew up in the Town of Groton. We have two little kids and
we chose to live in this area because we enjoy the rural area, a great experience growing up, and
we wanted our children to have the same experience. Never thought we'd have a big festival out
back. First party was loud but we gave them the benefit of the doubt, figured it would be a one-
day thing. It lasted late, very loud. Then they had the second one. The second one was
incredibly louder. It wasn't just a thump, thump, thump, but you walked in the house and it's
thump, thump, thump in the whole house. We tried to have family over for a barbeque that
night, Saturday night, and we couldn't. We went in the house and my family said I cannot
believe you put up with this constant thumping. If you went outside you could hear the words; it
wasn't just the thumping. So, we felt like, what do we do and it lasted all weekend. You
couldn't enjoy or do anything. On top of that, besides the noise, which we ....just accept the
noise pollution. Our children are not big at all. The traffic has picked up incredibly in the area;
cars constantly, motorcycles, everything just up and down the road. My husband was out in
front of the house and had a beer can thrown at him. We've had to pick up multiple beer cans in
the lawn. Just around the corner from my house, near the corner of Torok Road and Pleasant
Valley, there was a sign and it said, Keep Going Mother Fers. I know they claim this is
something for children. My father-in-law went to the first one. He had run into Bob and gotten
a free ticket and went. He had a fine time, it was a party, but he said absolutely nothing for
family and he would not suggest us to take our kids at all. I know that has been an argument that
just does not seem logical at all. The last thing I'd like to say is me and my husband and my
family and all of the neighbors here, this is not our choice. All of their fans, their bands, people
who want to go to their parties, that's their choice. They're paying for the tickets, they're going,
they're enjoying the music that they enjoy, but this is not our choice. We don't have a choice.
So, that's why we're here talking to you because we should still have a voice in all of this.
Steve Simons - I own land on Clark Street and Sharpsteen Road. I'm here basically to look at
the situation we have here. I think there were some things brought up about different people and
some things said about Gary that I have to refute a little bit. I think Gary is doing a great, great
job. I think he's interpreting the Code the best he can. Looking on the Town's website, it looks
like everything's a draft, nothing has been accepted, so I'm going to be pulling some things from
the 2007 draft and the 2009 draft. First off, looking at this, this is classified by our maps as a
rural agricultural area up there, which is very specific in uses, what can be done with it. In our
own Code it states that Rural Agricultural land is mainly for agricultural purposes or the
continuation of some farming activities or such. As far as this goes, I think we can apply some
of this because we do have in our own code land use activities, doesn't say if it's one time and I
think from Bob's own words, he wants to make this an on-going use, whether it be for the go-
carts, festivals or events. He's charging money to get into this so it's actually an event, almost a
business as we said. Under land use activities, it says land use activities appear in one of the
following categories; they are specified for each one. We also have a list of all the land use
activities in a rural agricultural area. Looking down through there, there is nothing listed for
events such as festivals and such. It says land uses not listed on the land use table are considered
to be prohibited pursuant to section 302 of the article. It says it is recognized that an applicant
may be seeking a land use that does not clearly fall within the categories, the code officer shall
deny the land use being sought as prohibited or refer it to the Town Board for review. Obviously
none of this was done because we are in uncharted territory here. I think, what I said, I think
Gary was looking at things the best he could without going above and beyond his duties as the
code enforcer. I think we do have these codes enforced right now. It also means if
permitted, if we look under our own descriptions, Bob stated that he was basically supplying
areas for campgrounds. Campgrounds, be it for a group or private campground is listed in the
Town Board Minutes Page 12 September 8, 2009
codes. It says that any parts of lands where more than one and not more than five recreation
tent sites, shelters.....or recreational vehicle sites, which obviously he was providing sites, it says
on a seasonal or transient basis and not occupied for more than 90 days, which this kind of falls
into. You need a permit to have that kind of campground. Obviously that wasn't done. So I
think just right now under our own code, he should have had a permit for doing this. But then,
looking at the perspective that everyone else is looking at, my land is probably a half mile east,
which is opposite of where the speakers were going. The gentleman who was here addressing
the sound issue, there is a lot of different ways you can look at sound and a lot of different ways
you can measure sound. I was an engineer with Smith Corona and we did a lot of sound
measurements on equipment that we did. One of the things is the level of the speakers. If the
speakers are up high, you can stand right in front of the speaker and you're not going to get
blasted,but once you get back away, you're going hear. I personally was in the parking lot at the
church down at the corner of Peruville and I could understand the words to the songs. So,
obviously, it was loud enough, and that's more than a half mile away. At my house, which is a
half mile away the other way, I could hear the music. It wasn't like these people were saying,
but I could hear it, just to say it was loud enough so I could hear it and it was opposite of the
direction of the speakers. Hopefully they don't decide to turn the speakers around and blast it at
my house, because then I would be upset more than I am now. I think looking at this, looking at
our own codes and what we are trying to designate for our rural agricultural, I know that the
Town Board, one of the things that Don Scheffler and some of the other guys are trying to do,
they're trying to save our agricultural lands. It's been sold off for housing development, other
things. I know the Board has put in place a lot of different protective codes that will kind of
keep enough agricultural land there. This is not in compliance with any rural agricultural codes,
per say. I think we're opening a big can of worms to allow something like this to happen because
it's just going to escalate from here.
Cheryl Lamoreaux - I'm Bob Eckert's mom. In his defense, I'd like to go over a couple things
that people have talked about. I think on the whole, Bob is being judged by the first festival that
he had. Yes, I will grant you, it was a little loud, but the second one, he turned it way down a
great deal. He hired some friends to be security at the first one, yes it did get a little out of hand
and there was a little too much drinking. The second one, he learned by that one. He went out
and hired security. For the second one he posted signs that there would be no underage drinking
permitted. We took some photos that reiterate that. We told the security that anyone who
doesn't have a wristband on or was underage drinking, they were kicked out of the place. We
did have a young lady that was drinking and she was kicked out, that we were aware of, that
Lynette and I were aware of, and security did the rest. So, I think we're being judged a lot by the
first festival. Someone said it's not safe for children. We have a lot of children's' things for
them to do; games; we have swing sets. I brought some photos for you to look at of what goes
on while we're up there. The first session, yes, it was a little late but the second festival that we
had, we did shut it down at 10:30 and it became quiet. As for tax appraisals, well, Bob's afraid
that his taxes are going to go up because of this too, so that's a concern. There is plenty of
insurance a million dollar liability. You're more than welcome to view that. We have port-
a-potties, so that's not polluting. Somebody has said we don't have them but we do. As for
security, we had wonderful security there. We had five people and they were at the gates,
checking for wristbands, checking for glass bottles and checking for underage drinking. They
were at the gate and then we had three of them walking around checking to see that there was no
underage drinking in the compound. For Mr. Snyder, when he said on the first one, yes there
was some dinking on the first one. We have corrected that, you know this is all a trial and error
and we're doing the best that we can. We're learning, too, along the way. Bob also pays taxes
too. Everyone is saying their taxes, they are entitled to complete quiet. Well, I hear the farmers
Town Board Minutes Page 13 September 8, 2009
out there with their tractors and trucks and stuff in the fields, and sometimes even late at night. I
didn't hear anyone complain about that one. We also do donations too. You know, this is also a
benefit. The Boy Scouts were up afterwards, Sunday morning, and they were picking up the
soda and beer cans. We asked people coming in, we told them that we were collecting for the
Boy Scouts and people were bringing their cans and bottles and we have a big trailer there for
cans for the Scouts. We were doing that and a lot of people brought cans with them when they
came. We also collected money for the young boy in Candor that was in an accident. We had a
benefit for him up there. It's not just for Bob. Bob, yes, enjoys it, but he also has it mind of
giving it to the community and helping organizations in the community like Meals on Wheels
and anybody that there's a need for. Somebody else said that they wanted somebody to raise
their hands in non-support of Bob; I'd like to have everybody raise their hands that are in support
of Bob. (People do that.) The noise level, like I said is greatly turned down. You can see by the
photos here, which I'd like everybody to take a look at, that it is family oriented. We have areas
for the children. It's a fun time. We have vendors up there; we have food vendors. We have
BMX bikes, you know where they have the loops and stuff up there. But the kids, you know, all
enjoy that. And we have a band; we have a swing set; we have horseshoes; we have a dunking
tank that everybody enjoys; we have balloon popping. As for sales tax, yes Bob does pay sales
tax on all of this. He's not making money at it, but it's the second time. We also have a first aid
station in case anybody has any problems up there. We're going to get a little bit more refined.
There's 160 acres and he wants to enjoy his property just as much as everybody else wants to
enjoy theirs. I'd like to put these (photos) up here and everybody, whatever you like, pass them
around.
Councilman Gamel asked that she hand the photos to him and they were passed around to the
Board.
Sue Bennett - I do want to clarify a couple of things. One, I understand that's Bob's family and
they're trying to support his effort but his effort is affecting all of his neighbors. They say that it
isn't loud, it's loud. And this isn't the second one, they had one last year and then they had two
this year. You can hear the words to the songs. If I could have figured out how to download the
songs so you could hear some of the words to the songs, they are appalling. I also, personally
saw, and someone is trying to discount this, at my age about all I have left is my word, I'm sure
some of you can understand getting older and that's all you have left, I pulled out of Marvin
Torok's driveway, went to go west on Pleasant Valley Road on Sunday night around 5:30 or so,
second day of the second festival this year, and there were two teenagers walking from the
driveway that you would use to go to the festival, walked out, walked west on Pleasant Valley
Road with a rifle down by their side. They tried to hide it more when they saw me going down
the road. Now, I saw that myself. Another neighbor, who isn't here, she got home at 10:30 on
Saturday night. There were five to six teenagers in the road on Pleasant Valley Road, wouldn't
move out of the way. She had taken her kids to Seabreeze and she beeped her horn and they
started giving her a bunch of crap, you know the mouth and stuff, and they even threw a beer can
or beer bottle at her car and then she got her kids in the house. Less than an hour later, someone
was passed out in their truck in front of her house and she sent someone else out to go knock on
the person's truck door to see what they were doing because their head was slumped into the
steering wheel. This is what's being brought into our town. I hope you take the time to read all
the notes in the petition. They're very important and I just ask that you do the right thing for the
neighbors too.
George Miller - I feel for Mr. Eckert but I live in the country because I like the peace and quiet
environment. If I wanted a festival sort of life I'd move to town, move to Ithaca. My property
Town Board Minutes Page 14 September 8, 2009
abuts right on his and ....the noise.... I'm not going to put up with that. I advocate holding up
our taxes until something's done about it. Now, if Mr. Eckert has too much money and so much
time, he certainly ought to be able to find...(?) to help the community and find something that
doesn't upset all the community and I hope he does or this is not going to go away.
David Kimbrough - I'd just want to let everybody know that for both events, the Sheriff and the
State Police Department were called and notified and there were several Sheriff's cars in the area
patrolling the area for both events. So, if somebody was passed out in their truck, the Sheriff's
Department should have got them.
David Swearingen - I have a truck that has a loud stereo. I understand that can bother people. I
turn it down in my backyard. I don't want to upset my neighbors. I've had a stereo in a truck
that had only 8 inch speakers and have got talked to by the cops downtown Groton before. It
went across the whole football field and was shaking the announcement booth, I guess. I didn't
know it; at my truck it didn't sound that loud; sound does travel. I'm 23, yeah the music might
be somewhat like I would listen to, but most people have the option to change the radio station if
they don't like it. We don't have that option at our houses anymore. It upsets me. I have lived
at my house for three years; my parents might own it but I will be buying it shortly; it kind of
makes you second-guess it. I like to be around my family; most of my mom's side of the family
lives on that road; it upsets the whole neighborhood. Everybody should have the right to be
upset and everybody should be entitled to do their own thing but how much do you want people
to really suffer?
Joe Bennett - I'd like to sum up the amount of time it has taken for the area of a country block to
get behind the petition that my wife started. I think the number of people that have signed the
petition speaks to the percentage of people that are affected by this festival. I'd like to speak to
the security issue. I was one of at least three households that called the police on the night of the
first festival of this year. When the State Trooper showed up at our house, he told us between
the Tompkins County Sheriffs Department and the Troopers there were only three cars on the
road that night. He came right out and said they were outnumbered; no way did they want to go
on the premises. That should speak to the demeanor of what was going on that night. They said
that they would patrol the road and I believe that they did that. They also said that if it lasted
much past 1:00 then they would call for reinforcement and they would shut it down. So, I'm not
so sure that any form of police that were in the vicinity, at least for the first party of this year,
were by Bob Eckert's choosing.
Robert Eckert -Yes it was.
Joe Bennett - Well, I talked to the Trooper and it didn't appear that way. So, again, I think this
has gone way past just a fun, family festival. To me it's the noise. What goes on on his property
is no concern of mine but how the noise affects my way of life is a big concern of mine and I do
believe a big concern of everybody who signed the petition.
Dustin Snyder - I just have one question for the Eckert family. What took so long in
consideration to go around to people's houses and ask them what they thought of the whole
festival thing? Why didn't you do this before you had the festivals if you knew you were going
to be playing loud music, there's going to be profanity over the mikes, there's going to be
alcoholic beverages there, so on and so forth? What took so long? After you found out there
was a petition going around, then you moved and went around to people's houses. Well, then it
was too late. It was too late to try to make good. You had to wait until people opened their
Town Board Minutes Page 15 September 8, 2009
mouths and started talking about it before you decided to talk to people about your festivals or
whatever.
Wayne Snyder - The first festival, I went to the State Troopers barracks on Route 13 and they
didn't even know about the festival. So, they said that if the Troopers knew about it, they didn't
know about it. They said that the dispatch up there, they had no idea. They said they would
patrol if they could. As far as I know two people were picked up for DWI, is what I heard, from
the party.
Steve Simons - I'd just like to address some of the comments that were made by Bob's as
far as the farmers and what people claim about the farmers. Bob, when he obtained his building
permit it states very clearly on there that this is a Right to Farm area which means that the
farmers are allowed to do whatever they need to do to plant their crops. This is why we, as rural
people who live in the country, this is part of what we grew up with, we like this kind of stuff.
We like the farmes, to hear them, to see them out there, to smell the cut grass, to know they're
out there. That's something they have a right to do by our own code and Bob was aware of it
when he built his house there, or he should have been because he actually applied for a building
permit. Again, I have to rely on and go back to our own codes. Permitted uses on rural
agricultural says no land shall be used for any purposes or purpose other than the following and
it gives a specific list of uses and this is not in that list of uses. Going back to the other code,
2007, in here it's talking about if a permit is granted, it says the proposed activity for which a
special permit is desired is in harmony with uses permitted within the district where the activity
is proposed. This obviously is not an agricultural harmony. And the health, safety and general
welfare of the community will not be adversely impacted by the proposed activity for which a
special permit is desired. This clearly is against our own zoning code right now. We have in our
own laws, dog ordinances, barking dogs, nuisance dogs. We have a right to call the authorities
to have a barking dog removed from the premises. Why? Why is there a law against it?
Because if it bothers us, it disturbs our own peace, our own well-being in or house. This falls
right into the same category. Same thing, if we have a barking dog ordinance then we need a
noise ordinance for any kind of activity such as this. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Robert Eckert - I understand now, we all pay for our taxes and we're all living in the same
community. I'm not, you guys are looking at it like, I'm going to do this every weekend. Well,
guess what everybody, I don't know if you guys ever put on anything like this, because there's a
lot of work that goes into this. I'm not trying to be a nuisance to you, or your neighbor, or my
neighbor, or the guy 16 miles down the road, I'm not. This is supposed to be fun. Miss Bennett,
you know, I'm not here to point fingers at you, I'm just saying that, you know, if you saw
somebody out in front with a gun, please, I beg you, call the cops. I've got to be honest with
you, I don't allow hunting on my property, and Mr. Snyder, you know that. You already know
this because you already confronted me because you already told me "I hunted this property my
whole life." I understand that, but I'm a no hunting guy. I do not like guns nor will I ever
consider anything with guns. If you guys see guns out there, or if I see guns, or if I know about
guns, anywhere in the vicinity of my property, I don't care if they're hunting or if they're doing
anything, if there's guns on my property, I want somebody to call the cops because I don't deal
with that. Outside of that, we're all in the same community. I'm not doing this in spite of all
you guys.
Sue Bennett - Then stop.
Robert Eckert - That's...
Town Board Minutes Page 16 September 8, 2009
Sue Bennett - Then stop, Bob. You just said (both people talking at once)....
Supervisor Morey- Okay, okay, let's not have personal attacks....
Robert Eckert - I'm just saying, give me one or two weekends a year.
Several people start making comments at once.
Supervisor Morey - I'm going to close the public comments right now. We're getting a little
heated. Let me say a couple things. This is new territory for us. We've never had to do this
before. For the last three years we've been rewriting the code regulations for the Town of
Groton and believe me, it's a monumental job. We're trying to replace an ordinance that was
written in 1992. We tried once to get it through and the County made other suggestions so we've
had to go back and try to do this. Ever since Sue made this a point to the Board, we've been
investigating ordinances for mass gatherings. We don't believe in a noise ordinance. We don't
want to get involved with regulating weddings and family reunions and graduation parties, but
we do want to regulate mass gatherings in excess of 500 people or something like that. But we
do have some issues to consider. We have to make sure that there is public safety and crowd
control and traffic control, security issues, insurance issues, sanitation, water, a rescue plan,
notifying the fire chief and police, and a first aid issue. I was happy to see there was a tent there.
So, this is some of the things that we're going to be going over the next couple of months. In
order to pass the ordinance we will have to have a public hearing and I'd be more than happy to
have April put it on our website. We've already looked at six ordinances from various areas,
with the help of our legal council and April looking at different towns and villages. So, that's
what we're going to do for you. I don't see anything out there that says Bob can't do this,but we
want a little respect as being neighbors and that's all you're expecting, a little consideration. Is
that true?
Mr. Miller -No, I don't think I want to hear it at all.
Several other people begin to comment and Supervisor Morey states that there will be no more
comments.
RESOLUTION#09-055 - 2009 BUDGET TRANSFER
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
General Fund-Part Town:
From: Contingency B1990.4 .$1,134.63
To: Youth, Summer Jobs B7310.1 1,134.63
RESOLUTION#09-056- 2009 BUDGET TRANSFER
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
Highway Fund- Town Wide:
From: Sick Time DA5142.12 $838.24
To: Bridges,Personal Services DA5120.4 838.24
Town Board Minutes Page 17 September 8, 2009
RESOLUTION#09-057- 2009 BUDGET TRANSFER
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
Highway Fund -Part Town:
From: General Repairs, Personal Services DB5110.1 $284.29
To: Health Insurance DB9060.8 284.29
RESOLUTION #09-058 - NAME TOWN OF GROTON AS LEAD AGENCY
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby names the Town of Groton as Lead Agency for the
purpose of New York State Environmental Quality Review as part of the approval process for
the updated Town of Groton Land Use &Development Code.
RESOLUTION#09-059 -APPOINT REPRESENTATIVES TO
HEALTH CARE CONSORTIUM
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED,that the Town Board hereby appoints Glenn Morey, as representative, and Donald
Scheffler, as alternate, to the Tompkins County Health Care Constortium
RESOLUTION#09-060 - COURT CLERK TO ATTEND CONFERENCE
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for the Court Clerk,
Cindy Vicedomoni, to attend the New York State Court Clerks Association Conference in
Albany,NY on October 4-7, 2009.
RESOLUTION #09-061 - ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MEMBERS
TO ATTEND CONFERENCE
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves payment of expenses for Zoning Board of
Appeals Members, Lyle Raymond and Steve Thane, to attend the New York State Planning
Federation Conference in Lake Placid,NY, on September 13-15, 2009.
Town Board Minutes Page 18 September 8, 2009
Rosemarie Tucker, Town Historian - The book that I am working on for Groton is due out in
November. This past year I also worked on the book with all the appointed historians in
Tompkins County and that book came in today, so you all get a copy of the book. (Councilman
Gamel exclaims, "awesome!") We made the cover with one of our pictures. We don't have a lot
of pictures in here but I did scan them all for the whole County.
RESOLUTION #09-062 - BUDGET WORK SESSION SCHEDULE
MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel
Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey
RESOLVED,that the Town Board hereby sets the follow Budget Work Sessions:
Wednesday, September 16 @ 5:00 pm- Court
Thursday, September 17 @ 4:00 pm- Highway Employees; @ 4:45 pm- Town Clerk
Tuesday, September 22 @ 7:00 pm - Highway
Thursday, September 24 @7:00 pm
Tuesday, September 29 @ 7:00 pm
Work Sessions for Code Review were set for Tuesday, September 15 and Tuesday September 22
at 6:00 pm.
Announcements:
➢ Zoning Board of Appeals - September 23, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
➢ Planning Board- September 17, 2009 @ 7:30 pm
➢ Letter received requesting stop sign at intersection of Route 222 and Salt Road
➢ Request for horse &buggy sign on Clark Street Extension
➢ The Town's application for CDBG Rehabilitation Grant Funds submitted by Better
Housing for Tompkins County was not approved.
➢ Farm City Days - Marlindale Farms - September 12, 2009 @ 11:00 am- 4:00 pm
➢ Next Board Meeting - October 13, 2009 @ 7:30 pm
There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by
Councilman Scheffler, at 9:13 pm. Unanimous.
April L. Scheffler, RMC
Town Clerk