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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-08-10TOWN OF GROTON — MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2021 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Town Officers Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Richard Gamel, Councilperson Crystal Young, Councilperson Brian Klumpp, Councilperson Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Michael Perkins, Highway Supt. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Francis Casullo, Attorney Town Officers Absent: Also Present: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper Roberta Nilson John Norman, Town Justice Mack Rankin David Kay Ellard Keister MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, to approve the minutes of the July 13, 2021 Town Board Meeting as presented. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler RESOLUTION #21-041 - APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #8 for the Year 2021, numbered 3 3 3 - 3 71 were reviewed and audited by the Town Board, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves said vouchers for the accounts and in the Total amounts as follows: t, ,.t�'3 il���'d� `��li. ti t_� .« � �. �' y i"*w.:l'I...;. ����.�I�c.�. f4�s ��I� �, _•� � �i`�"�3 t F��s r:.i � � i 4'�'M i t � >• � � �� k Lid �i� fE � rlGlf� �_��S�; ,r, �.. i . - t:"'� 5 � ,� �� �. T�...� ,#� �� ax�t _. . �.....• bah i��. _ �'�t [ 2..'�E i. ,.i�L •s � _�"� �,, � 5.� .,..s �J__i_.. y� �_.�.. •�_=>�: "S'..?z, x^ �q'�S'� I I l � III r'k'� �} l� a `' }s� .a�'.� .. �'�•�`� Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 2 August 10, 2021 Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper — Was not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and requested budget adjustments. RESOLUTION #21-042 - 2021 BUDGET ADJUSTMENT MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Clark RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2021 Budget Adjustment: Highway Fund, Town Wide: From: Bridges, Contractual, DA5120.4.....................................$4,000.00 Employee Benefits, Workmen's Compensation DA9040.9....... 1,000.00 To: Culverts, DA5120.41....................................................5,000.00 Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #21-043 - 2021 BUDGET ADJUSTMENT MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2021 Budget Adjustment: Highway Fund, Part Town: Increase: Revenues, State Aid, CHIPS, DB 3 5 01.......... $74.00 Increase: Expenditures, CHIPS, DB5112.2..................74.00 Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Supervisor Scheffler - Just as an announcement, we did receive our stimulus money from the Recovery Act. The first-year payment was $182,000.00. That's for this year and next year in July we should get the same thing. There is a list of things that it can be spent on. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and had nothing else to report. Michael Perkins, Highway Superintendent - We've been busy fixing some washouts; roadside mowing; mowing cemeteries and around the building; some ditching; hydroseeding; cleaned up some downed trees from the storms; doing some shoulder work; installed some culvert pipes. We helped the Town of Dryden with their oil and stone. We helped the County with milling Cobb Street and Smith Road, and receive a bunch of millings from them to restock our pile. The used box that we bought for Truck 22 is installed and Ben's been working at getting it wired up and it looks pretty good. We've been prepping for oil and stoning on Sincerbeaux Road and Sovocool Hill Road. I talked to Chuck this morning and gave him the information for CHIPS. I'd like Ellard to talk to about trucks. Town Board Minutes Page 3 August 10, 2021 Ellard Keister - As Mike said, we diminished our grindings pile doing the shoulders on Sovocool Hill. The County needed a hand, so we're getting those grindings for free. Working with the County has been a huge benefit to us with gravel and everything else. Our new employee, Tyler, took his road test today and after a ton of training with Mack, he passed. He's been here about a month and a half and shows excellent skills and we're very happy with his performance. He came in with some experience and even with that, Mack has spent the better part of two weeks getting him ready for this. I'd like to thank Mack; he did a great job training him. The CDL test is not easy anymore and it's getting harder each year. The truck situation that Mike talked about, we found that our Truck 13 is probably not going to winter. That being said, logically, to get that truck replaced, it's not worth a lot. We also have a truck that doesn't really show it's need to us; a 2 -wheel drive, single cab pick-up. That's really quite useless to the Highway Department. Trying to make two into one, the most logical, we went to get a price on a trade-in of the newer truck. It is worth the most, but it is the most useless to us. That pickup is going to bring $25,000.00 on trade-in. We are looking to upgrade to a truck like Truck 13 that we want to replace, with an extended cab, 4 -wheel drive, with a plow. That was going to cost us about $13,000.00 out of pocket to replace that. Keep in mind that's with plow equipment and everything. Once that truck is in, I would send Truck 13 to Auctions International and I believe that would come in and make it almost a scratch and drop another $6,000.00 off that price. To me, that is the most logical way to upgrade this pickup. I know it wasn't in the budget plan. We are working on a budget plan for next year so this stuff doesn't happen, but this is something we need to move forward with right now before next plow season. To upgrade this to a 1 -ton truck is only about $100.00, so we'll probably go with that. Originally, we were going to go with a single cab to try to keep it the most cost effective. I have both quotes and the difference was $300.00 to go to the double cab, so we will be doing that. At this point it will be a 2022. We are having a problem, like everybody else is, getting equipment fixed because of parts. We've had our excavator down for 2 weeks now just waiting on a ram for a cylinder. It's a 20 -minute fix and we can't get parts. We've got a truck sitting up in Syracuse waiting on one part for a quick install and they can't get parts in for that. We'll be lucky to see that truck by October. So, work is slowing down, not slowing down, but making due with what we have. We've got a lot of work ahead of us and we're getting held up a little bit with some of the more important stuff because of that. We still have miles of shoulders to cut and tons of patch work to do. The crew's been doing a great job of making due and keeping themselves occupied in ways around what we ordinarily would be doing. Last month Mike talked to you about maybe a new hire to make up for a spot for me leaving in the fall. Tyler came into us with some experience; Mack put a lot of time into him to get his CDL; he's got it; he's still not ready to plow snow. That's my biggest fear about hiring somebody at the end of November or December, is bringing somebody in that's not ready to handle the winter. Applicants are hard to come by now and I know that's the way it is everywhere. I'd like to put a post out two weeks from now and maybe look at September 1 St as a hiring date. Right now, I think we'd be smart to get somebody in here. We're a little shy for two crews to split up because we don't have the traffic control. We always used to run two crews around here. When we hired Mack, he took the position of two operators. Yes, he's that good, but he's not two bodies. We can't put him in an excavator and flag around the excavator for safety. That's where we run into trouble. We get everybody on one crew, and in some of these situations, we have an extra guy standing there. Right now, training wise and getting ready for winter, it would be a smart thing to do to open up another operator position. Like I said, we hired Mack for two and we technically have one open from what we had 2 V2 years ago. Town Board Minutes Page 4 August 10, 2021 After discussion with the Board, it was decided to advertise the position with a starting date in November or December. RESOLUTION #21-045 - APPROVE PURCHASE OF 2022 PICK-UP TRUCK MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Supervisor Scheffler RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby authorizes the Highway Department to purchase, on New York State Bid, one 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD, 4 -wheel drive, Double Cab Work Truck for $37,915.00 and be it further RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby authorizes the Highway Department to trade in Truck #10, a 2017 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado Single Cab Pickup for the dealer offered amount of $25,000.00. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and had nothing else to report. Francis Casullo, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John J. Norman, Town Justice - Was not present. Councilperson Crystal Young as Representative to Joint Youth Program - Had nothing to report. Ben Nelson, Groton Fire Chief - Had emailed the following report to the Board: Good day everyone. It has been a while since I've given you a report of what's happening at GFD. I will not be there tonight as I am now the coach of the Jr tackle youth football team, and we have practice tonight. Let's start off with 2021 fireworks. They were a great success and pulled off with a very narrow (minutes) margin of error with the rain storm that was minutes before and minutes after the show. We almost had to cancel due to the gloomy forecast, but we went for it. We thank the town for the support for the fireworks with the permit. Next, we had a very successful Junior Firefighter camp. We had over 100 kids sign up, and regularly had almost 90 for the 3 nights we had the camp. Lots of water was flowing and we had a special visit from Dee Dee's ice cream truck and Dryden Fire Department. 3 nights is the magic number. Everyone was actively engaged, and interest wasn't lost like in years past. I told you about our one tanker being taken out of service and what we were doing to get it back in service. At the end of June, we found a 2009 Peterbilt tanker with 3000 -gal capacity and a small pump on it. We checked it out, and after some heavy discussion, we purchased it in the beginning of July. We should see it here within a couple weeks. We opted to go from a 2 -tanker operation to a 1 large tanker operation. The cost of maintenance on 2 trucks that do a fair amount of sitting, especially on the older tanker, was getting extremely noticeable. With a large tanker, we can potentially adjust our future aspirations of a building by potentially eliminating a bay, and with carrying a similar amount of water, we are bringing the value of 2 trucks in one. This reduces our need for an additional driver. This is a different chassis than many of our members are used to. It Town Board Minutes Page S August 10, 2021 is a 10 -wheeler chassis and drives completely different. Those of us that work for the town highway and some in the Village DPW can compensate because we drive them regularly. Our new ambulance, 851, which is a 2022 Ford went into service the last week of July. It has been the front run ambulance for a few weeks to allow us to make some repairs to the other ambulance and keep some miles off of it. Hopefully you don't have to see it at your house, but if anyone wants to take a look at it, or any of the other apparatus, let me know. GFD will be providing the concessions for the summer concert series at the legion on the 13th and 20th. Lastly, GFD will be doing concessions at the legion for Old Home Days weekend. We are also hosting the parade on Saturday the 28th at 6pm. Roberta Nilson, Cornell University Grad Student - For the last 3 years or so, I've been studying solar development in the State of New York; large scale solar development in particular. That's what my PHD dissertation research is on; it's kind of the State energy policy and the amount of development happening in the State. Specifically, what I've been studying is public reaction to that development. I'm not here to speak about any specific solar projects. I've heard that there is some activity proposed in the Town, but I don't know anything specifically about that. I gave a handout of this map to show the level of solar development that's proposed throughout the State and the number of applications that have been submitted. I understand that there has been no application submitted yet for Groton, but in other parts of the State some projects are further along. This map is a little outdated because I made it last year, showing 40 of the largest projects proposed in the State, and you can kind of see where they're at, predominately in Upstate New York; one on Long Island. What I'm talking about here is massive, large scale, ground mounted solar facilities. In New York, the term "major renewable energy facility" is now considered 20 megawatts and higher, and each megawatt requires about 6 acres of land. So, 20 megawatts will take a minimum of 120 acres of land. There are projects proposed in the State for up to 450 megawatts. So, that will give you an idea of the scale we're talking about; a lot of potential development in the State which is a major part of the State's plan for achieving a carbon neutral by 2040. The process for how these facilities get approval for siting has also been changing rapidly. The current process that facilities receive approval from, has only one solar facility in Upstate New York that has officially completed all of that. So, there's not a whole lot of case evidence to draw upon to get a sense of what the specifics are going to look like. I included a couple of maps in your packet to show you what some of these facilities kind of look like. The first map is the only project that has received permission for construction and this is the site plan. It doesn't exist yet, but is the site plan for a 177 -megawatt project that covers about 1000 acres of land with just the solar paneling. But I wanted to just show you how that land is dispersed over a larger area. I don't know what the exact area of this map is, maybe 10,000 acres or something, and you see how much is going to be solar panels. You can see it's spread out over almost the entire town of Mount Morris, out in Livingston County. You can kind of get a sense of how the configuration looks like for a project of this size and how all of this is still considered one project when they are applying. The other map shows a 200 -megawatt proposal, which is a more concentrated configuration. So, there could be a lot of different designs that developers put together. There's abrand-new Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) at the Department of State, just started last year. It has just got up and running. The main purpose was to consolidate environmental review for these major renewal energy facilities. The major shift with this is that you are no longer going to be the entity with the ultimate authority to approve or deny that permit. The State has shifted the process to where it is handled by this new Office of Renewable Energy Town Board Minutes Page 6 August 10, 2021 Siting and municipalities, such as towns, are consulted as stakeholders in that process. You might suspect that this is somewhat controversial, but that is what is happening and it's moving forward. There is funding available for municipalities where a project is proposed, and you have to apply for the funding within 30 days of an application being submitted for your town. It's a relatively substantial amount of money. Councilperson Klumpp - You talk about the State more or less taking over the approval process. Have you run across any research on why the State did that? Were the Legislators fearful that the towns, if they had control, would say no? Because the majority of the Upstate towns are not all on board with the green energy movement, or subsidizing the green energy movement. I think everybody would love green energy to work, but it comes down to who wants to pay for this. Do you agree with that? Ms. Nilson - How I'll respond to that is the law is called the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth Act; the key word being accelerated. The State wanted this to happen and they thought this process would speed it up. Councilperson Klumpp - I think the liberal dominated Albany was fearful of a conservative Upstate and simply didn't want to deal with some of these towns who are going to say no, we don't want solar farms, especially rural towns. Again, you showed us the map and nothing is going in Westchester or Ulster County. I was curious if you have seen any debates or.... Ms. Nilson - Yes, I have. That is definitely a perspective that is out there. I can't speak exactly to the State's intentions. I can say that from a policy perspective, people talk about Home Rule and because of that, New York is a policy patchwork and that makes the regulatory environment extremely complicated and a lot more difficult and take longer and certain towns can decide that they just don't want it. So, that is something that they are simply avoiding by changing this law. So, it speeds things up a lot and has specific deadlines for review with approval required within one year where previously it took four to five years. She went on to explain that a developer must meet with the municipality and identify if the facility will comply with local law within 60 days of submitting an application. They're also required to hold a public meeting with community members. They have developed uniform siting standards and conditions. If a municipality has local zoning that the developer feels they can not meet, they can apply to ORES to have those local laws waived as "unreasonably burdensome." Ms. Nilson said that the State had completed a draft for tax assessment procedures and provided a link to that draft. This would be a new way to assess solar arrays where municipalities have opted out of the tax exemption for renewable energy systems. Councilperson Klumpp stated that it seems like they keep changing the rules so that the town has no say. Ms. Nilson said that there are some towns and organizations who are suing over the whole process. Councilperson Klumpp - Is it individual towns or a group of towns that are trying to say, look we don't want to give up all of the control on this? This isn't just a few large houses going in. When you look at that first map, good Lord, that's the whole town and I don't know what the percentage is but it's a pretty darn good percentage of that entire town is now solar panels. I can't imagine that if those were houses in the rural area, I would think that the environmentalists would be going crazy because you're taking away all this natural environment. Councilperson Gamel - The fact that you're taking farmland away and clear -cutting trees to be green is just absurd to me. Ms. Nilson and her associate said that there were a few towns and a birding organization that went together on a lawsuit but they didn't have all the facts on that. Town Board Minutes Page 7 August 10, 2021 Councilperson Klumpp - I would think there would be a common cause for an awful lot of organizations who aren't at all related, but are viewing this the same way. RESOLUTION #21-046 - SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #1 FOR THE YEAR 2021 MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, Supervisor Scheffler introduced Proposed Local Law #1 for the Year 2021 entitled "A Local Law to Opt Out of Allowing Cannabis Retail Dispensaries and On -Site Consumption Sites in the Town of Groton as Authorized by N. YS Cannabis Law Articles 4 and 6", now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a public hearing on said proposed Local Law #1 for the Year 2021 for Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 8:00 pm Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed BUDGET WORKSHOPS: Supervisor Scheffler scheduled budget workshops as follows: Wednesday, September 15 at 4:00 pm - Highway Employees Wednesday, September 15 at 5:00 pm - Highway Superintendent Thursday, September 16 at 4:00 pm - Town Clerk Thursday, September 16 at 5:00 pm - Town Court RESOLUTION #21-047 - SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2 FOR THE YEAR 2021 MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp WHEREAS, Supervisor Scheffler introduced Proposed Local Law #2 for the Year 2021 entitled "A Local Law Overriding the Tax Levy Limit Established in the New York General Municipal Law §3-c in and for the Town of Groton", now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets a Public Hearing on said proposed Local Law #2 for the Year 2021 for Tuesday, September 14, 2021 immediately following the Public Hearing on Proposed Local Law #1 for the Year 2021. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. The Deputy Clerk, Robin Cargian, has been exploring grants to help fund the building of a salt shed. To apply for any New York State grants, application must now be done through the New York State Grants Gateway and people must be assigned to use the Gateway. Town Board Minutes Page 8 August 10, 2021 RESOLUTION #21-048 - NEW YORK STATE GRANTS GATEWAY GRANTEE ROLE APPOINTMENTS MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, the Town of Groton has registered with the New York State Grants Gateway, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board authorizes the following people to have access to the New York State Grants Gateway and in accordance with the roles assigned to them: I . Delegated Administrator - April Scheffler 2. Grantee - Robin Cargian 3. Grantee Contract Signatory - Donald Scheffler 4. Grantee Payment Signatory - Charles Rankin 5. Grantee System Administrator - Robin Cargian Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Councilperson Young - Lisa Marshall, the Director of Heat Smart Tompkins, reached out to me and wanted to know if she could come to a meeting and talk about the campaign for clean heat and clean energy community grants, etc. It sounds like a really interesting discussion that we could have. It's not solar, it's clean energy like geothermal and heat pumps, things like that, and how people can get grants and how the Town can help people to get grants as well as receive money from these initiatives. Supervisor Scheffler will put her on the agenda next month. Announcements: Planning Board has been postponed this month Zoning Board of Appeals has been cancelled this month Groton Olde Home Days is August 26, 27, and 28 There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilperson Young, at 8.44pm. Unanimous. April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk