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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9-19-2022TOWN OF GROTON –MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 AT 7:30 PM Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Randy Jackson, Town Justice Barbara Siebe Richard Gamel, Councilperson Lee Shurtleff, County Legislature Barry Siebe Brian Klumpp, Councilperson Mark Potter Crystal Young, Councilperson Scott Metcalf Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Christine Miller Ellard Keister, Highway Supt. Dan Compitello Mack Rankin, Dept. Highway Phil Esparza Robin Cargian, Town Clerk Jen Hammond Paul Lang, Town Justice Craig Mackenzie Francis Casullo, Attorney Jon Miller Julie Graham, Bookkeeper Dan Carey W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Monica Carey, Planning Board The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30pm MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, to approve the minutes of the August 9, 2022 Town Board Meeting as submitted. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler, Motion Passed MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Clark, to approve the minutes of the August 17, 2022 Special Town Board Meeting as submitted. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler, Motion Passed RESOLUTION #22-061‐ ‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #9 for the Year 2022, numbered 377-420 were reviewed and and audited by the Town Board, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves said vouchers with the Total amounts as follows: A GENERAL FUND 11,476.56 B GENERAL FUND PART TOWN 10,645.75 DA HIGHWAY FUND 137,007.46 DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 4,178.33 SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 81.90 SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 152.05 Total 163,542.05 MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Young Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler, Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 2 September 13, 2022 Monthly Reports W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer – You have my report. We have been very busy but have a good team in the office. We will be starting more fire & life safety inspections. We have already done a couple and have developed a new checklist to make it easier. Julie Graham, Bookkeeper – You have my report with the needed budget adjustment for the new mowing tractor. I will be attending a State Retirement Seminar tomorrow and an accounting class next week. RESOLUTION #22-062‐ ‐ BUDGET ADJUSTMENT Highway Town wide: Appropriation Fund Balance DA511 $114,839.63 Capital Equipment from Reserve DA51130.2R $114,839.63 MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler, Resolution Passed Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent – We have been making up for lost ground due to the salt shed project. To help us, we have rented another excavator with tracks to run through the Fall to get us caught up on shoulder work and patch work. We will be helping the Village pave at the end of this week. We have listed the old mowing tractor separate from the mower as we talked about at the beginning of the year. That bid ended last night with an impressive amount subject to board approval tonight, the tractor brought $9,500 and the mower brought $3,750. To be able to sell those we will need an approval. It was a little more than what I was expecting. Supervisor Scheffler- I believe that would go back into the general fund and then we would transfer it off from there. Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent – Correct, it has to go in there. The pickup truck we talked about last year has gone up about that much because of switching years so it will be a nice even wash for us. To let those go I will need approval. RESOLUTION #22-063‐ ‐ APPROVE THE SALE OF THE FORD 4600 TRACTOR AND THE JOHN DEERE FLAIL MOWER MOVED by Councilperson Klumpp, seconded by Councilperson Clark to approve the sale of the Ford 4600 tractor for the bid of $9,500 and the John Deere Flail Mower at the bid of $3,750. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent – The previous new hire did not work out so the position was opened back up. I had three applicants but only one with the license classification that we need. Pending your approval, I would like to hire Kyle Lampman to fill Rick’s position with the start date of September 19, 2022 at the rate of $18.25 per hour. Town Board Minutes Page 3 September 13, 2022 RESOLUTION #22-064‐ - APPROVE NEW HIRE, KYLE LAMPMAN AT THE PAY RATE OF $18.25 PER HOUR MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel to approve the new hire pay rate of $18.25 per hour rate for Kyle Lampman. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Robin Cargian RMC, Town Clerk & Tax Collector – Office is running smoothly, did approximately $4,000 worth of hunting licenses last month. Still deciding if the DEC starting those early is helpful to us. It is nice to get a bit of a break for summer. We have a new digital recorder we are using this month as the old 1980’s double cassette player would no longer record. Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town – Nothing to report. Justice Lang, Justice Court – Due to covid and the eviction situation, we are running into 3-4 eviction proceedings per week. Those consume a great deal of time. You should be made aware of the CAP program or centralized arraignment program through the sheriff’s office. The judges are being held responsible to show up either at 8am or 8pm if an arraignment is necessary. We are paid $125 plus milage. Some judges do not like it, upset they are being dictated to and must participate. Some judges are going so far as to vacate their position just so they do not have to participate. There will be a critical vote regarding the program, compensation, and the by-laws on the 24th of this month. I must consider if participating in the CAP program will take precedence over being a judge in Groton. It is something for you to consider or be aware of at least. Councilperson Young, Recreation Coordinator- We have wrapped up the summer programs and have moved on to the winter fest. I do not have the numbers from the summer programs yet but will hopefully have them at the next meeting. Fran has been helping us out with a couple of the agreements with the coaches and volunteers to make sure we are legal with what we are asking them to sign. Eric Deforrest, Groton Fire Department- Submitted Report:    We are crowding 700 calls for the year. We had very involved structure fire on Church Street last month. We had an amazing turn out from the GFD, mutual aid, Groton Village DPW and Town DPW which made the call a success. The hard work kept the call to just a room and contents fire. Job Well done to all who participated! Main Street is being paved. We are being proactive and planning our responses around the village based off that so we can remain efficient, effective and responsive. Olde Home days was successful! We had a great turn out. We brought back clams this year. We sold out of all food from the grill and the steamer. Very impressed with that. GFD is doing a raffle for a 1/2 cow. $10 a ticket. Please reach out to a member if you'd like one! Thank you! See you next month! Discussion and Action on Local Law to override the Tax Cap: Don Scheffler, Town Supervisor - Due to the rising inflation rate that has effected every person, business and municipality, I/we may be required to raise the tax cap beyond the State Mandated 2%. Town Board Minutes Page 4 September 13, 2022 Equipment, parts, fuel and operating costs have skyrocketed for the town just like everyone else. Rest assured, we will do everything we can to keep taxes as low as possible while still maintaining services well into the future and will only exceed the tax cap if it is necessary, but we have to pass a law just in case we have to override it. We have done this in the past as more of an insurance policy in case we need it. I would like to propose Local Law #1 for the Year 2022, 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. Be it enacted by the Town of Groton Town Board, as follows: It is the intent of this local law to override the limit on the amount of real property taxes that may be levied by the Town of Groton, County of Tompkins pursuant to New York General Municipal Law §3-c, and to allow the Town of Groton to adopt a Town budget for (a) Town purposes and (b) any other special or improvement district governed by the Town Board for the Fiscal Year 2023, that requires a real property tax levy in excess of the "tax levy limit” as defined by the General Municipal Law §3-c. RESOLUTION #22-065‐ PROPOSE LOCAL LAW #1 FOR THE YEAR 2022 TO OVERRIDE THE TAX LEVY LIMIT SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR OCTOBER 11, 2022 AT 8PM MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel to set a public hearing on October 11, 2022 at 8:00pm to discuss Proposed Local Law #1 for 2022 to override the tax levy limit. Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Board Update on Yellow Barn Solar Project: Don Scheffler, Town Supervisor- Fran and I have been in discussion with Lansing on the CS Energy project. We do have a contract with a special attorney out of Rochester and we are waiting on an engineering contract. They will be paid from NYSERDA funds after they file an application. There is not much we can do until they file. Delaware River Solar- Presentation Dan Compitello – Hi, I am Dan Compitello, I am here with Mark Potter from Bergmann, who is the engineer on record for this project we are proposing. It was easy to get here, following the double rainbows. I first want to make sure to note this is not part of the larger project that is happening in Groton. For some background, Delaware River is a NY State based company, we are in NY City and our headquarters are located Callicoon on the Delaware River. I am based in Rochester covering central NY to the Pennsylvania boarder. Mark Potter is also based in Rochester, Bergmann’s headquarters and offices. Delaware River Solar has developed hundreds of these projects throughout the State over the years. We have been in business over 20 years since the State has allowed community solar to be built in New York. What we focus on is building small community solar that ties into the local distribution grids. Those are just the power lines that you see up the street the ones that run to your house. In comparison to the larger project that you mentioned, that is a transmission project that is a much bigger scale and covers a lot more ground. What we do is we find land that a landowner has made available to us, in this case we have entered into a long-term lease with the landowner who does not want to sell. Then we do a lot of background work so we can understand from the utility where we can interconnect with the grid and do an initial environmental analysis of the property. We developed a sketch plan which would be what we would provide for a preliminary site plan. A lot of work has gone into both projects, thanks for printing these out. Each project will be 5 megawatts of alternating current, which is the same current that runs through Town Board Minutes Page 5 September 13, 2022 our electric lines and come through the lights now. What we do is we have solar panels that are mounted on a fixed tilt structure. Just like the podium here, the panels would sit on top of that facing south. This would not be a tracking system. Each system would be able to power about 1,200 households. As this would be more than what is consumed within the town, a lot of that power would be available to people in other parts of Tompkins County. Essentially, anyone with a NYSEG bill would be able to subscribe and will get a 5% discount on their monthly bill. They can cancel at any time with no fees to cancel. For those that have subscribed they would see how many kilowatts they have consumed on that bill and they would see a 5% discount on that for as long as they are a customer for 20 years. It is a great way to know you are getting your power locally, knowing you are supporting the State’s energy goals of 70% renewable energy by 2030 and also you are saving money. We set aside 40% of the power for large business in the area, for town, school districts or any county meter accounts that you might have. Our next closest project would be in the Town of Enfield, we built those about 3 years ago. We established working with Tompkins County on the first pilot tax agreement projects working with the IDA and we would work with them as well if the Town would like that to happen. We have a number of projects that we construct across the state. Our engineering, procurement and construction facility is located in Ithaca where we have a 70,000 square foot space on the south side of the county where we collect all of our materials for construction. This project would take probably about 6 months. We would ideally construct these projects simultaneously across the street from each other. As you can see on the map, we are on either side of South Main St. on the site plan. We would be improving the access roads, culverts, road and anywhere on the site we would need to. The solar array itself would be enclosed in a 7-foot tall fence that is required by the National Electric Code, the Town code requires an 8-foot fence but we would prefer to go by the Electric Code if possible. Our fence is a deer fence, that blends in with the agricultural nature of where a lot of our projects are built. It is stronger than a regular chain link fence as it can’t be bent or split. Inside this fence we will have rows of panels. The ground cover will be a native grass mixture that is good for sheep grazing. We have sheep that will be brought out several times of the year to help mow the grass for us. We are slowly building that program and have more sheep than we do staff. We have other projects where a local lawn maintenance contractor is hired to go in 3-4 times a year and mow the ground under the panels so we don’t get trees. These systems will be completely silent outside of the fence area. The only moving parts in these projects are a small fan inside the inverter or transformer, which is not unlike the equipment you may see around the town. It is inaudible outside the fence. It is a very passive system, they just sit there, collect the sun, and convert it to energy. They are also very safe and is a very proven technology. Solar Panels themselves are glass, aluminum, and silicone. Very sturdy panels that we expect to last about 25-35 years before we would consider changing them or if the project is no longer useful at that time, decommissioning the system. We will also supply to the town, when we submit our application, a decommissioning plan for exactly how the project will be decommissioned at the end of its useful life. That would also come with a decommissioning cost estimate to tell you what it would take to actually take the system down in the event that we are no longer here as a company. A lot of towns find that is a useful requirement and we do that as a standard practice. That covers a lot of the bigger details, we will go into more detail when we submit the application. We would like to submit the application by September 30th to be on the Town Board agenda for October 11th. I think we have everything ready except the stormwater retention plan. Which could be done by then or we could present as a preliminary work in progress as that in not something that is required until construction. Don Scheffler, Town Supervisor- As we were just informed of this within the last couple of days we have not prepared questions so probably the next step would be your application. Once we get that then we may have some concrete questions and have comments. Town Board Minutes Page 6 September 13, 2022 Dan Compitello, Delaware River Solar- We just checked with our team and I think we are set to submit that at the deadline. Will we need just enough copies for the Town Board, or a few more? We do this all the time around the State and I am actually standing in for the CEO who wanted to be here and I am sure he will be here the next time. Privilege of the Floor: Barry Siebe, 800 S. Main St. – I have a couple of questions I would like to bring up. First and foremost, somehow our address has ended up on this proposal. I live at 800 South Main and have nothing to do with this project. A decommissioning plan will be submitted but would that come with a fund that will be built over the lifespan of the project so the Town isn’t the one having to fund the reclamation of the land if it is no longer functional. I do not expect an answer to these questions, I just would like to get them on the record. Councilperson, Gamel – I promise that will be one of the questions I will ask once we have an application. Barry Siebe, 800 S. Main St. – Just a couple more questions being a property owner just north of where the one site is proposed and just west of where the other site is, an obvious question when I walk out on my back deck what am I going to see? Currently I see a beautiful valley to my south. How obstructed of the view is that going to be? Am I going to see these panels? There was mention of a water collection or water retention plan that they would work on as they clear this land. Will it increase the runoff from that hill? Those of us who live just west, are downhill from the land, we are all on wells. What is going to happen with the water? Will it be collected, treated, is there going to be a need for that? Is there a ground saturation on those hillsides that ultimately leads to some movement of the land? Those are concerns. Construction, traffic controls, air and sound impacts of construction? We are an AG community, is this land conversion appropriate? There was mention of the grid, connecting to the grid, everyone here knows if we have a good windstorm, we have a power outage. Our grid is quite fragile so I am concerned what this will do? Will a more robust system be created, or will we see more of strain on what we currently have? Who benefits from the project? Is it the community at large or is it investors? Who is going to do the environmental study on this? Is it an agreement that the town enters into with an environmental planner and who hires the planner and who oversees the report? These are concerns that I have to present for your review process that I wanted to get on the record. I have a general question, you mentioned you just heard about this and we did too. I am curious, is this normal for folks to come around and ask, is this something you would allow coming into your back yard? I don’t have a problem with solar as long as there are no major impact to the residents who live there. If you look at the map, myself and at least five other residents live downstream from that one site. We are all on wells. Additionally, further downstream, is the village where they are building a brand-new football field that is downhill from this place. What is going to happen to the runoff? Those are my concerns that I have. Thank you very much. Craig Mackenzie, 393 Lick St. – A 5% discount on power was mentioned, for me that would amount to about $150 per year. In the meantime, property values will go down, the average is 10-20%, which is a lot more than $150 per year. Secondly, it was mentioned these things are silent, I have been on four windfarm sites as I own a towing company and trucks get stuck on the sites, not this company but I have seen and heard what they sound like. It is like Death Valley, there are no birds, cricket sounds, no nothing. I live out in the country for a reason. I like hearing birds, crickets and I like seeing deer. This is a sound from a solar farm (plays a recording into the microphone). Can everyone hear that? If that is what this will sound like, I don’t know, but that is what one’s I have been on sound like. That is a video from my phone from a solar farm taken by me personally. The other question was the decommissioning, if this company goes defunct, what are we going to do with this stuff? They say they will recycle the stuff, right now it’s Town Board Minutes Page 7 September 13, 2022 not recyclable. Maybe it will be down the road, who knows. Who will benefit from it? Like the other gentleman said, we won’t. $150 per year versus property value decreases, not the residents. I would like some answers on that. Dan Carey, 305 Lick St. – I have been working this ground for to close 20 years. I don’t agree with putting up solar panels on tillable land. If you want to put them on your property or houses, to put them on tillable land is short sited. I have done a lot of work on that property, put in drainage tile and I can tell you there is a lot of water that comes off that side hill. Probably a lot more if there will be clear cutting of trees. I don’t know how they can do that, as a farmer I can’t cut trees. FSA would stop me and so would DEC. I don’t know where they get the permission to do that. There are trees there now because it is so steep it can’t be farmed. If you clear those trees, I don’t know if you can get the seeding started to be able to hold the soil or not. Taking that into consideration, along with other things the first gentlemen mentioned, I would like to throw it out to the board to put in place a moratorium on these projects to give yourself a chance to study them. I know the law in place limits you to what you can do as a township but there are other towns around that are doing this, putting the laws in place. Your hands are tied to a certain extent. I would think it would behoove you to put on a moratorium, study the issue as you have some concerns here. Christine Miller, 834 South Main St. – We are the house that will be adjacent to this project. Not happy at all. One of our big concerns is for the creek that runs behind our property and goes into the Owaso Inlet. We are all about the environment on that hill. There isn’t a one of us that doesn’t care about the animals. Where are all the deer going to go? We will lose 20% on our homes, then compensate us. Give us free electric. Why not, it’s better than 5%. I don’t know what the effects are to have these near homes for people with disabilities. We have a granddaughter who is nonverbal autistic, can you imagine hearing that sound? It will drive her insane. Please look at all the facts and consider the lives it will affect. Monica Carey, 390 Lick St. – My concern is the elevation, when you go up the hill behind my property, you have to be in 4-wheel drive as it is very steep. There is a vapor beam on one side, so when they clear cut those woods, where is that water going to go, right down into the village? My other concern is of a fire. Is our fire department prepared for this? Can they get a vehicle up that hill? Dan Compitello, Delaware River Solar – I will answer some of these concerns if I can. Fran Casullo, Attorney for the Town – I would advise this is time for the public to speak. This is the first I am seeing this information today. Once you have submitted your application and we all have had some time to digest the information, then that would be the time to respond. We should listen to potential applicant and listen to the public. Then next month, they have heard this and they can come back to the board and make comments to the board with what has been made by the public. Don Scheffler, Town Supervisor- I would agree with that, we have not had much time with this yet. Would anyone else like to speak? Scott Metcalf, 396 Lick St. – A lot of us hunt in that area. Who has to pay for a stray bullet if it hits one of the panels? Does that go back on the hunter or the landowner. My property is on the back side by Monica’s and I have a spring fed well, will the runoff effect it? Town Board Minutes Page 8 September 13, 2022 Barb Siebe, 800 South Main St. – The board mentioned they just heard about this and the attorney as well, I am curious why if they said they did the research on this, why was our property identified as the site? Nobody talked to us about it. Councilperson Gamel, - Could you explain to me what you mean? It was mentioned before. Councilperson Klumpp, - The address is wrong. Don Scheffler, Town Supervisor- This is not your property? Or where this is going on your property? Barb Siebe, 800 South Main St. – 800 South Main is our property, but this is not going on our property. If research has been done, they should have known this. No one else wished to speak. Announcements: Planning Board September 15, 2022 @ 7:30 pm- ZBA September 21, 2022 @ 7:00 pm – McLean Fire Fighters Parade September 17th Line up @ 10:00- 75th anniversary Rabies Clinic at the Groton Fire Station September 29, 2022 7pm-9pm please pre-register. NYSEG is proposing to increase delivery of electric by 31% and gas by 19%. If anyone would like to write a letter as they were asking for comments ,please get ahold of me and I will forward that to you. There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, at 8:25 pm. Unanimous. Robin Cargian, RMC Town Clerk/Tax Collector