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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-13 TOWN OF GROTON -MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012 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 Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town Also present: Dean Wolf, Joan Jurkowich, Dorothy Pomponio, Elizabeth Snyder, Carole Daugherty, Marie McRae, Bob Fouts, Sharon Fouts, Marc Perosio, Joel Rabinowits, Howard Snyder, Ed Neuhauser, Jen Schwade, Mike Goldstein, David Kalb, Ann Carey, Dan Carey, Richard Dale, Joan Packard, Greg Weiland, Dally Morris, Lyle Raymond, Ruth Raymond, Marlin Houston, Ray Wagner, Christine Hughes, Dyan Lombardi, Kelly Smith, Asha Sanaker, Mary Gloster, Frank Heine, Susan Cerretani, Dan Cerretani, Karl Stauderman, Tiff Stauderman, Monica Carey, Ron Space II, Gary Coats, Charles Rankin, Richard C. Case, Jr., April Scheffler. MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the minutes of the February 14, 2012 meeting as presented. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 57-87 of the General Fund in the amount of $75,108.43 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Gamel, to approve the General Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Claim Numbers 18-38 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $8,000.87 were presented for audit. MOVED by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, to approve the Highway Bills for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey. Town Board Minutes Page 2 March 13,2012 Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper - Submitted monthly report for the Board's review. He is working on the annual report for the State, which is about 80% done. Mr. Rankin had been to a Cable Franchise meeting and will probably have a resolution to be considered next month. Gary Coats, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. He had also provided before and after pictures of the restoration of a house on Lick Street. Richard C. Case, Jr., Highway Superintendent - At the present time, the Highway shop is busy with NYS vehicle inspections, repairs and the beginning of winter to spring equipment change-over. The main shop and parking garage have been pressure washed and painted. Lighting repairs have taken place in the entire complex along with a cleaning of the general storage room. Rick Neville constructed new shelving for the storage of cleaning supplies and documents. This was done after we tore out the structure that was used to protect the voting machines that are no longer the Town's responsibility. The payroll certification has been filed with the Tompkins County Personnel Department. All Highway Department employees have had their drivers' license information updated with Dempsey Insurance. Insured Highway inventory has been updated and filed. The Town's workman's compensation insurance company, PERMA, has completed their inspection of the Highway Department and I believe we will receive a good report. License renewal for the Town of Groton's radio system has been completed and is in the hands of the FCC. As per your approval, Brian Klumpp is surveying the Town property on the north side of Spring Street. A general cleanup of the northwest corner of this property has taken place in preparation for future construction of a deicing salt storage building. In this cleanup, $3,388.08 was generated from scrap steel and is to be placed in the DA2650 account. At this time I have a resolution that was missed at the last meeting. Ellard Keister, a Highway Department employee, has fulfilled his probationary period and I recommend he receive a $.50 per hour raise. I don't know if you want to discuss at this time the resolution for the $100,000 grant requested by TCCOG, but for your information the Tompkins County Highway Superintendents voted unanimously against it. RESOLUTION #12-020 - APPROVE RAISE FOR ELLARD KEISTER MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey Abstain - Sovocool RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves a pay raise Ellard Keister of 50-cents per hour in that he has completed his probationary period satisfactorily. Said raise to begin with the next pay period. April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly Town Clerk, Tax Collector and Country Acres Pet Services reports for the Board's review. I think that Rick made a little bit light of the work that Rick Neville has done in the past week or so. It was awesome. He has done so much and cleaning out that back storage room and Town Board Minutes Page 3 March 13,2012 building the shelves was such a big improvement out there. He also did all of the lights in this building, opened them all up, put in new light bulbs, washed the inside of the lights and its so bright in our office that we almost need sunglasses. He did an awesome job and I really appreciate it. Supervisor Morey- Give our thanks to Rick, will you Rick? Clerk Scheffler - Robin and I would like to attend the New York State Town Clerks regional seminar in Geneva on March 26. Speakers will be Jim O'Connor from the Department of Health and Robert Freeman from the Committee on Open Government. With all the updates to the Open Meetings Law we thought probably that would be a good seminar to go to. RESOLUTION #12-021 - TOWN CLERK & DEPUTY TO ATTEND SEMINAR MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the payment of expenses for the Town Clerk and Deputy Clerk to attend the New York State Town Clerks Association Regional Educational Seminar to be held on March 26, 2012 at the Ramada Geneva Lakefront, Geneva, NY. Francis Casullo, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John Norman & A. D. Dawson, Town Justices - Were not present but had submitted reports for the Board's review. Councilman Donald Scheffler, for Joint Recreation Committee - We are in the middle of the interview process for a new Recreation Coordinator and hopefully we will have someone onboard for next month. Supervisor Morey turned the meeting over to Councilman Gamel, who introduced Bill Kappel, a hydrologist with the US Geological Survey for about the last 30 years. He's been involved with the fracking process and dove into that for the past 5 years. Everyone should know that he's probably heard every question out there. This is his 177th presentation to various organizations about fracking and is well versed in everything fracking. Mr. Kappel brought samples of Marcellus Shale that he passed around for people to look at. He said the USGS is a non-regulatory agency and that he does not advocate or press for either side, but provides information for people to use as they see fit. He showed a map of the Marcellus Shale bed and explained that the deeper areas are more mature with the deepest areas on the most eastern side where the shale is probably being over-mature with no gas left in it. The north central Pennsylvania area, he described as the "sweet spot." He pointed out where development would start out in New York State and said that there are 58 pending permits sitting on someone's desk in Albany for the past two years. He indicated where the Utica Shale was, which has approximately the same footprint as the Marcellus Shale. The first gas well in New York Town Board Minutes Page 4 March 13,2012 State was dug in 1823 and there are many very productive gas wells here. They have been hydrofracking these wells in New York for the last 30 years, although not with the long horizontal drilling and in plays other than the Marcellus Shale. There are many wells in the Western part of New York. Mr. Kappel said that if and when drilling starts in New York, it will be a slow process, first drilling in the Southern Tier and seeing if these wells produce and how well they produce. He explained the process of drilling a large hole to begin with, lining it with pipe, going in with a smaller pipe and cementing the area in between, then continuing on, with progressively smaller pipes, cementing each layer. Pennsylvania did not initially require this process and this was the cause of many of the well failures in that area. New York is going to require 3 casing, all of them cemented. When done correctly, there should not be a problem. Once they begin drilling horizontally, how far they go depends on the rig, the formation and the driller. In Pennsylvania, the general horizontal length is between 4,000 and 6,000 feet long, with the record being 14,000 feet. He then explained how they do the actual hydrofracking, explaining that every well and every situation is different. When a well is hydrofracked at a great depth, the factures develop in a more vertical pattern and as you move to more shallow depths, the fractures develop in a more horizontal pattern, which is what they want in order to capture more gas. It is also important to stay away from natural fractures that exist in the rock because gas can escape to the surface through them. It is important to conduct micro-seizing and testing of the natural formations before drilling. He talked about water sources for hydrofracking, including municipal water, ground water, and surface water. He also spoke about the frack water that comes back out of the well, the chemicals that are in it and different ways that there are to dispose of it. He had a sample of the sand used to hold the fractures open which was passed around to show people. Most of the water put into the well does not come back out, only about 17% of it. After the original flow-back, some natural occurring water will continue to come out of the well. This is brine, many times saltier than sea water and the make up of this water is different from well to well depending on what is naturally occurring in a certain area. Other natural things that come back include barium and magnesium, which are things that cannot be dumped, but must be treated. He spoke about several alternatives for getting rid of and/or containing the brine. One alternative is injection wells, which must be very carefully placed in areas where there are no naturally occurring faults. Many companies are now recycling and reusing the flow-back water but the brine must be disposed of in some kind of safe way. USGS has been doing some testing for methane in wells in New York State and Mr. Kappel talked about these results. There is some methane in water in some places but not everywhere. He spoke about the concerns connected with pipelines and roads. The entire presentation was very informative and was followed by a short question and answer session. Someone asked about the silica sand used in the process and Mr. Kappel explained that it was a very fine sand and the dust is a carcinogenic. It must be handled very carefully Someone asked if Mr. Kappel thought the total volume of gas in the Marcellus Shale play is overestimated. He said that he thought it might be overestimated, but no one really knows for sure and they won't know until wells are actually drilled and start to produce. Town Board Minutes Page 5 March 13,2012 Someone mentioned that Mr. Kappel had said that some companies are very good and others aren't and that we would have no control as to who comes in here. The Federal Government has written "best practices" but the speaker said he saw very little movement from the gas companies to adopt "best practices." Mr. Kappel talked about the very small percentage of chemicals used that are called proprietary by the industry. When asked how the USGS tests the water when they don't know what's in it or what to test for, Mr. Kappel said that they do not have to test for everything, it is a test of the overall quality of the water. He would like to see all the water testing data made available through an accessible database. Someone asked about eventual in-filling between original wells. Mr. Kappel said that would depend on well placement and the leases. Councilman Gamel asked what the chances are that gas drilling will actually come to Groton. Mr. Kappel said that if the Marcellus is less than 2000 feet from land surface, they will need to get a site specific GIS. A GPIS is the generic version, meaning if you meet the criteria, here's your permit. Part of the permit is that the horizontal layer and the hydrofrack that could emanate from that has to be 1000 feet below freshwater/saltwater interface. This interface is variable. So, it will depend on the geology. Groton is sort of right on the line for the Marcellus, but there is the Utica underneath that. There is really no way to tell whether they will come to Groton or not. Someone asked what they do when the well is used up and who controls the honesty of the company as to how much gas is being taken out to pay the landowner. Mr. Kappel said that there are meters on each well. When a well is used up, they remove as many of the casings that they can and then cement from the end of the well, to the outside and seal the well. This seems to work well, but there are no guarantees and no one knows what the situation will be 100 years from now. New York State has approximately 60,000 abandoned wells. The DEC started doing records in the 60's but wells date back to the 1800's. Someone asked about methane leaking into the air and Mr. Kappel explained several ways that this could happen and that the EPA is coming out with new requirements on methane leakage. The person in the audience said something about this methane causing problems with the atmosphere and Mr. Kappel said, yes, along with the cows, wetlands and permafrost, to name a few. He does not go with climate change as climate has always changed, but we have affected it and accelerated the changes. Marc Perosio said that he had visited friends in Pennsylvania and was told that problems with roads had been very quickly addressed by the gas companies. He talked to one farmer for about 72 an hour where fracking was taking place about 72 mile away. The speed limit on the road was 45 mph and the only vehicles going at that speed were the water trucks and everyone else was driving much faster. He went to the school district and they are pleased how problems have been handled. The biggest problem was a marked increase in DWIs from the young men working for the drilling companies. The companies have instituted a strict curfew of 8:00, including bed checks, which have mitigated many of the problems. Mr. Kappel said that those are the responsible companies and they realize they have to do right by the communities. Another farmer said that they had 3 wells very close by and any problems that had come up where handled very quickly. Companies are now running into problems getting landowner permission for the construction of pipelines. Town Board Minutes Page 6 March 13,2012 Dyan Lombardi asked what it does to the geology of the earth to take something out and not replace it with something else. Mr. Kappel said that they are not mining and taking out the actual rock or structure of the earth, they are taking the gas, in molecular form, out of the rock so there's not a void left there. The rock is cracked but is not generally going to shift. Eventually the cracks will close back up because of the overlying pressure. Someone said that perhaps the gas companies did not tell their "proprietary ingredients" because they knew they were bad and didn't want to tell people. Mr. Kappel, said he didn't know and the biggest thing is to handle all of it carefully. Someone asked about leases that say they will give gas back to the landowner to use and Mr. Kappel said that they no longer do that because of liability issues. Rick Case asked how long we could expect the heavy truck traffic is they do come here. Mr. Kappel said it would depend on a lot of things, including how many pads and how many wells. Someone asked about re-fracking at a later date and Mr. Kappel said he has heard people talk about this but is not aware of anywhere that they have actually done this. Joan Jurkowich, from County Planning was present to talk about the Tompkins County Development Focus Area Strategy. In 2004 Tompkins County passed its Comprehensive Plan and part of this was the Development Focus Area Strategy, which would promote development patterns reflected in existing villages, hamlets, and the City of Ithaca and create vibrant places where people will want to live and businesses will want to locate. For Groton these areas would be the Village of Groton and the Hamlet of McLean. County Planning would like to work with the Town and the Village to identify goals and how they can be achieved. Members of the McLean Community Council were present and said that they would like her to come and speak to them at some point. Privilege of the Floor: Michael Goldstein - Thanked the Board for bringing in Mr. Kappel to speak. Mr. Goldstein said that there were things that needed to be addressed concerning the presentation last month by Mr. Achie, from Chesapeake Oil. Mr. Goldstein presented the Board with a list of things that he felt were erroneous claims by Mr. Achie and read some of them to the Board during Privilege of the Floor. Ray Wagner - Said he is an environmental geologist who works in Syracuse for a consulting firm that does environmental work for the oil and gas industry. He sees the impacts and gets called out to clean up spills. He presented a list of potential impacts that included, potential for contamination of fresh water resources, surface leaks or accidents involving drilling mud, frack fluid or produced water, migration of liquids and gases from faulty well construction, migration of liquids and gases from shale formations directly to shallow water through geological formations, surface releases of liquids and gases via blowouts, air quality, storage and drop-out tanks, truck traffic, noise and light pollution, wildlife affects, and seismic affects. He had recently been in Oklahoma evaluating a brine release that was initially thought to impact about 4 acres and turned out to be about 18 acres. Town Board Minutes Page 7 March 13,2012 David Kalb - Told the Board that he thinks that fracking goes against the Comprehensive Plan of the Town of Groton and the current zoning plan. He talked about limiting truck traffic and creating critical environmental areas where gas companies would have to do a specific environmental impact statement in order to do anything in the area. He thinks that the beauty of a moratorium is that it has a set end or if you need more time it can be extended and that the beauty of a ban is that it can be changed 5, 10 years down the road. He read a list of municipalities that had enacted moratoria and bans, 77 in all. He gave the Board copies of some of the bans that have been passed. RESOLUTION #12-022 - SALE OF TOWN PROPERTY SUBJECT TO PERMISSIVE REFERENDUM MOVED, by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, the Town Board of the Town of Groton has been made aware that there are various encroachments on Town property with respect to an adjacent premises located at 115 South Parkway in the Village of Groton, and WHEREAS, the Town Board with the approval of the Town Highway Superintendent and Town Attorney believe that it is in the Town's best interest to resolve the encroachments by selling a portion of Town property to the owner of the adjacent premises located at 115 South Parkway in the Village of Groton, and WHEREAS, the property owner located at 115 South Parkway is agreeable to such a transfer, and WHEREAS, the Town has made a determination that the land to be sold is not necessary for Town purposes, and WHEREAS, an appraisal has been obtained relative to the value of the portion of property to be sold by the Town, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that subject to a Permissive Referendum, the Town of Groton sell the 0.12± acres of land, which is part of Tax Parcel #6.-1-31, located adjacent to 115 South Parkway in the Village of Groton, to Julie Martin for the sum of Six Hundred Ninety Dollars ($690.00). The buyer is to pay all costs associated with the transaction excluding the Town's attorneys' fees, and be it FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Town Supervisor and Town Attorney execute all paperwork necessary to complete this transaction. Discussion was held on the request by the Tompkins County Council of Governments to support the County applying for a shared services grant to do a study on local roads efficiency to share services and save money. The Highway Superintendent, Rick Case said that the Highway Superintendents met this morning and none of them are in favor of this grant application. This issue had been looked at several years ago and meetings had been held between the County and the municipalities and it is not needed again. Town Board Minutes Page 8 March 13,2012 There is already a lot of intermunicipal cooperation going on, many projects that are worked on together, and County roads that the towns are contracted to plow snow on. The Highway Association thinks that the County government has cut funds for the County Highway Department and this is an attempt to put more of it off on the Towns. Their feeling is that instead of using $100,000 for a study, it would do more good to give it to the County Highway Department or to the Towns. The grant would be for $100,000, with each municipality providing an additional 10%. Councilman Scheffler observed that with 8 towns this would be an additional $80,000 and commented that we would then be spending $180,000 to study something that we are already doing. RESOLUTION #12-023 - TABLE DECISION ON GRANT FOR SHARED SERVICES MOVED by Gamel, seconded by Councilman Clark Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby tables the decision on supporting a NYS DOS Local Government Efficiency Grant Application to study the feasibility of shared services of Tompkins County and local roads for cost savings and efficiency measures. RESOLUTION #12-024 APPOINT PEGI FICKEN AS REPRESENTATIVE TO TOMPKINS COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COUNCIL MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby appoints Pegi Ficken to represent the Town of Groton on the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council. RESOLUTION #12-025 - TOWN HISTORIAN TO ATTEND CONFERENCE MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the payment of expenses for the Town Historian, Rosemarie Tucker, to attend the 2012 New York State Association of Public Historians Conference in Hauppauge, New York, April 22-25, 2012. RESOLUTION #12-026 - APPOINT LOCAL BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW MOVED by Councilman Gamel, seconded by Councilman Scheffler Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark Abstain - Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby appoints Fran Sovocool, Jean Morey, Jack Miller, Glenn Morey and Betty Conger as the Local Board of Assessment Review. Town Board Minutes Page 9 March 13,2012 RESOLUTION #12-027- SET DATE FOR ASSESSMENT REVIEW MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Sovocool Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets Wednesday, May 16, 2012 from 3:00pm - 6:00pm for Local Board of Assessment Review. RESOLUTION #12-028 DECLARE FAIR HOUSING MONTH MOVED by Supervisor Morey, seconded by Councilman Gamel Ayes - Sovocool, Scheffler, Gamel, Clark, Morey WHEREAS, in accordance with the Title VIII Fair Housing Policy of the Civil Rights Act of1968 and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 and, WHEREAS, the Month of April 2012 has been designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office as Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity as Fair Housing Month, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton hereby declares and proclaims April 2012 as Fair Housing Month in the Town of Groton. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board March 15th has been cancelled due to no agenda ➢ ZBA March 28th @ 7 PM ➢ GBA Meeting Wed., March 21st @ 6:00 PM, Speaker from TCAD, RSVP by March 14th ➢ Tompkins County Broadband Forum @ Town Hall on Wed. March 14th ➢ GRAC is sponsoring speakers, Fri., March 23 © 7:00 PM at Groton Elementary School. There being no further business, Councilman Sovocool moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at 10.28 PM. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk