HomeMy WebLinkAbout5-16-2024 Reg meetingTOWN OF GROTON - MEETING MINUTES OF THE TOWN BOARD
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2024, AT 7:30 PM
Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also Present:
Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Julie Graham, Bookkeeper Dan Carey, Ag Committee
Crystal Young, Councilperson Monica Carey, Planning Board
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Chris Skawski, Cornell Coop.
Brian Klumpp, Councilperson David Durrett
Richard Gamel, Councilperson Molly Messenger, DR Solar
W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Mellissa Melko, DR Solar
Robin Cargian, Town Clerk
Ellard Keister, Highway Supt.
Mack Rankin, Deputy Highway Supt.
Francis Casullo, Attorney
The meeting was called into session with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30 PM.
MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp to approve the Town Board
Meeting minutes of April 9, 2024.
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed
RESOLUTION #24-042 ‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES
MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel
WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #05 for the Year 2024, numbered 158-203 were reviewed and
audited by the Town Board, be it
RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves said vouchers which will make the accounts in
the Total amounts as follows:
A GENERAL FUND 16,918.19
B GENERAL FUND PART TOWN 45,125.00
DA HIGHWAY FUND 7,981.42
DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 9,488.23
SF1- SPECIAL FUND- FIRE PROTECTION 39,875.00
SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 94.37
SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 182.47
Total $119,664.68
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
Monthly Reports
Julie Graham, Bookkeeper - Was absent but the report was submitted with a budget transfer needed.
Town Board Minutes Page 2 May 14, 2024
RESOLUTION #24-043 - APPROVE BUDGET TRANSFER
MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, to approve the following
Budget Transfer:
From: A1990.4 Contingency………………………….…$525.00
To: A19144.4 Unallocated Insurance ………………...$525.00
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer: Normal typical code work happening. I wanted to
bring a question to you to think about for next month. I wondered if the board would be interested in
charging a fee to cover inspection issues where you have to go back because the contractor doesn’t
show up or they aren’t ready for it yet. I feel there should be a fee. Lansing is charging $50.00 for such
an event.
Building Permits Issued: 12 New Businesses: 0
Permits Completed: 0 Fire Safety Inspections: 0
Permits Renewed: 1 Building Inspections:26
Sign permits: 1 Certificate of Occupancy/Compliance:4
Site Plan Reviews: 0 Violation Notices: 2
Subdivisions: 3 Complaints: 2
Life Safety Inspections for April 2024: Inspected - 0; Completed - 0
Training Hours-
Highway Superintendent, Ellard Keister - The first phase of paving was completed today putting
down just short of 1600 tons of asphalt. I am happy with the results. We have cleaned out our millings
for the next cold-pave process and are busy with pipe orders that continue to arrive steadily. We are
staying busy on the other end of the wall.
Supervisor Scheffler inquired if the highway department would have issues with the USDA putting up
traps for the invasive cherry fruit fly. Superintendent Keister was aware of the email that was sent,
assuming it was similar to the Emerald Ash borer traps, and would have no problem with that at all
offering to assist them if they need it.
Town Clerk, Robin Cargian - A report was submitted. Denise and I are looking at starting the
enumeration but need to know the amount the board would like to set as a fee for not licensing a dog
by the deadline yet to be determined.
RESOLUTION #24-044 - SET FEE OF 5$ FOR DOGS NOT LICNESED BEFORE OR BY THE
ENUMERATION DEADLINE.
MOVED by Councilperson Gamel seconded by Councilperson Clark to set the fee of $5.00 in addition
to the license fees for dogs not licensed by or before the enumeration deadline.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
The Town Clerk presented the option of replacing all outside door locks to the building with an
estimated cost of $3,224.70 for nine doors through our current locksmith. Or the board could move to
install mechanical keypads on four doors, reducing key use and the need to change locks over and
Town Board Minutes Page 3 May 14, 2024
over. New locks would still be needed for five of the doors but the estimate for keypads and some
additional items would be around $7141 going over the procurement policy. She asked if the board
would prefer to simply replace locks or to seek another estimate if it is closer to $10,000. The board
advised seeking more estimates before deciding.
The attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo had nothing to report.
Recreation Coordinator, Councilperson Young - Read from the following May Groton Joint
Recreation Committee report.
Spring Program
Yoga, Kickboxing, and PiYo are running well. Looking for a summer location for Yoga.
o Using a punch card system for participants to attend any Groton Rec fitness program.
Adult Co-Rec Volleyball- maintaining 20-24 participants per night
Approximately 15 Active aging and Functional Fitness Participants are asking for another
round of classes. Will run directly through Groton Fitness Center
Summer Program
Camps confirmed - 13 total
o Added soccer camp Aug 5th-8th K-6th grades, Sewing camp & Cheer Camp July19th
9am-12pm for 7th -12th grades
Jr/Sr Color Run June 15th will have lawn games for pre/post-race fun.
Concert series is Set
July 4th DJ booked, Food Trucks attending are: Fredhot, Holy Smoked BBQ, MoMo’s Café,
and Meg-a Moo’s
Anticipated Pool opening - June 22nd
o Moving to extended hours. Open swim 6 pm-8 pm, Saturday group swim lessons.
o Concerns about staffing private lessons and possibly removing the program
Summer Hiring - Jobs are posted
Daniel Zhe- Director
Erin Cummings- Craft Shack staff
Aaron Conger- Assistant Rec. Director
11 Lifeguards returning
3 New Lifeguards
Full staff meeting and in-service meeting is scheduled
Adult Photography class offered by Old State Photography June 1st & 8th @ the STEAM Lab
10 am to Noon the cost is $45
o 4 participants so far
Adult Kickball- Tuesday nights, pick up games - same as last year July to August
Adult Softball league partnering with Dryden Rec.
o Thursday nights @ Memorial Park
o Met on Monday to cover rules and logistics
Working with the Village to Plan Groton Olde Home Days events
o Focus on more free kid events/activities
Other Planning
Working with Camille to set up dance lessons for the older population
Working with Girl Scout Troop on service project- plant identification on the trials.
o Sent out a community survey looking for feedback and ideas
o Met to discuss the next step in the project.
My Rec software- Pool membership and pavilion reservation active.
Town Board Minutes Page 4 May 14, 2024
Participation numbers are important in receiving grants. There was a 25% decrease in participants
offered through the Recreation Committee. An inquiry was made into the possibility that the increase
in School camps were creating a participation conflict with the Recreation camps. The school will
decrease their number of camps from 75 to 25 this year. Right now, there is good participation. When
the grant runs out, they will get together with Monica to decide which camps are sustainable to keep.
Previous information included in the May report; the summer concert grant was awarded- $2,100 as
well as the Community Celebration Grant of $1,200. A request of $2,000 was submitted to United
Way.
CS Energy Solar Update, Don Scheffler- Met with representatives from ORES and the Town of
Lansing on May 7th. They updated us on how ORES regulations work and how the reimbursement plan
is supposed to work. Mostly a review from the previous year’s meeting but was very informative for
the people in the Town of Lansing. There was also a discussion of the local Code Officer being used
for inspections and the forceful suggestion that the State of New York do the inspections, not us. We
did not come to any agreement, but we are working on this. They have made good progress after the
major personnel changes on the reimbursement issue and things are getting paid.
End of Monthly reports
Recognition of Groton Chapter FFA AWARD
For generations, the Future Farmers of America has been a cornerstone of leadership and training
for students in the agricultural community. FFA members learn leadership skills as well as gaining
respect for and stewardship of the land and animals. These attributes carry with them throughout their
lives and apply to whatever vocation they choose.
The Groton Town Board congratulates the Groton Jr. Sr. High FFA for placing “ Silver” at the
NYS level for National Chapter Awards. The award recognizes their Program of Activities for the year
that focuses on 3 categories- Growing Leaders, Building Communities, and Strengthening Agriculture.
They will now compete at the National Level in Indianapolis in October.
Congratulations from the entire Town of Groton, and good luck at the National Level! We are
proud of you!
Presentation of “Lifelong”
Liz Burger, the acting director of Lifelong an active community center in Ithaca, presented information
on the benefits and services offered to members over 50 years old in the community. Their goal is
whatever time people have; they want them to spend it in a way they enjoy. The memberships are on a
sliding scale between $20-$40 per year but some of the benefits include discounted passes to travel,
concerts, and bus passes. They have scholarships to help people to attend things that they would like
to. They provide connections to education (a semester-based booklet was provided), health and
wellness such as Tia Chi and Yoga, group activities, travel including day trips, a variety of events,
insurance and Medicare counseling, tax preparation (an all-volunteer service and free), collaboration
with other organizations and volunteer opportunities. They have outreaches in Ulysses and Lansing
and would be interested in connecting with Groton Citizens to expand and partner more. Currently, the
catalog and some classes are at the local library. Although they do get grant funding, it would be
appreciated if the board would consider some financial support for the organization. Information can
be found at www.tclifelong.org.
Town Board Minutes Page 5 May 14, 2024
Senior/Disability Exemptions
The current local exemption laws as well as the relevant New York State Real Property Exemption
laws were provided to the board at the previous meeting for review. The board chose to increase the
50% exemption income limit level to $35,000 for both the Senior and Disability laws with no other
available additions to be made. The drafts for Local Law #2 & #3 of 2024 will be prepared and ready
for the June meeting.
Human Services Coalition
RESOLUTION #24-045 - CONTINUE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE HUMAN SERVICES
COALITION AND SIGN 2024 AGREEMENT
MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler seconded by Councilperson Gamel to continue the Town’s
partnership with the Human Services Coalition, authorize the Supervisor to sign the agreement, and
approve paying the $1500.00 contribution provided for in the 2024 budget.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
USDA European Cherry Fruit Fly Survey
RESOLUTION #24-046 - APPROVE USDA PLACING CHERRY FRUIT FLY TRAPS ON
TOWN-OWNED PROPERTY
Upon positive feedback from the Highway Superintendent, Councilperson Klumpp made a MOTION,
seconded by Councilperson Clark to sign an agreement allowing the USDA to place Fruit Fly traps on
the Town of Groton owned Property
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
Town Board Site Plan Review, South Main St.
Mollie Messenger from Delaware River Solar responded to the issues brought up during the Board
Member’s site visit. Maps were evaluated for moving the panels from the wooded area to the tillable
area of the North Side or Project #1. The company ran the numbers and found moving the panels to the
tillable area for visual purposes would decrease production due to the panels being “fixed tilt” and the
field slopes to the West. The landowner would also prefer the rental income from that tillable area. It
would increase the number of panels to gain the same production. Councilperson Klumpp emphasized
the project design needs to be as accurate as possible to prevent a stormwater situation that leads to
flooding. In his experience, flood systems can fail and when they do it is dramatic. A stronger safety
factor needs to be used because if it fails, it is not failing into an open field, it is failing into people’s
basements and towards a new several-million-dollar athletic field. There could be other spots that
could have less of an impact should they fail. Mollie assured him they are taking the best measures to
prevent that from taking place, plus they will have monthly monitoring and an emergency plan.
Removing the trees should not have a negative effect on stormwater. Ms. Messenger stated the
engineer could look into recirculating the water back into the fence line and keep the water on the
property. A MOTION was made by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel to keep
the panel placement as originally designed within the “tree” area (which was determined the trees were
not top quality) despite the benefit that the trees provide some carbon mitigation, this was not as
Town Board Minutes Page 6 May 14, 2024
valuable as keeping the investments made into the tillable area for farming. Ms. Messenger will begin
the visual analysis of the areas as discussed and set up a work session with Tim Buhl. The Attorney for
the Town advised all of this will need to be completed, as well as the Engineer and Code Official
satisfied the application is complete before it can be moved to the County for input. The public hearing
will be set once the County has time to review and give feedback. The lead agency notices were sent
out to adjoining municipalities regarding the environmental review. As no other agency has stepped
forward, the Town declared itself lead agency.
RESOLUTION #24-047 - DECLARATION OF LEAD AGENCY FOR PURPOSES OF
SEQR FOR SOUTH MAIN ST. SITE PLAN REVIEW PROJECT #1
A MOTION that the Groton Town Board will act as the Lead Agency for the Community Utility Solar
Development project by NY Groton 1 LLC, South Main St. Project #1, was made by Councilperson
Klumpp, seconded by Councilperson Gamel.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
RESOLUTION #24-048 - DECLARATION OF LEAD AGENCY FOR PURPOSES OF
SEQR FOR SOUTH MAIN ST. SITE PLAN REVIEW PROJECT #2
A MOTION that the Groton Town Board will act as the Lead Agency for the Community Utility Solar
Development project by NY Groton 2 LLC, South Main St. Project #2, was made by Councilperson
Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays
Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium Municipal Agreement
RESOLUTION #24-049 - Approval of the 2024 Amendment to the Municipal Cooperative
Agreement for the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium
MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel
WHEREAS, the Town of Groton is a Participant in the Greater Tompkins County Municipal
Health Insurance Consortium (the "Consortium"), a municipal cooperative organized under Article
47 of the New York Insurance Law, and
WHEREAS, the municipal participants in the Consortium, including this body, have
approved and executed a certain Municipal Cooperation Agreement (the "Agreement"; effective date
of October 1, 2010), and
WHEREAS, Article 47 of the New York Insurance Law (the "Insurance Law") and the rules
and regulations of the New York State Department of Financial Services set forth certain requirements
for the governance of municipal cooperatives that offer self-insured municipal cooperative health
insurance plans that requires any amendments or restatements thereto, shall be subject to Board
review and upon acceptance of any new Participant hereafter, and
Town Board Minutes Page 7 May 14, 2024
WHEREAS, the Municipal Cooperative Agreement requires that amendments to the
agreement be presented to each participant for review and adopted by a majority vote by its municipal
board, and
WHEREAS, the Town of Groton is in receipt of the proposed amended Agreement and has
determined that it is in the best interest of its constituents who are served by the Consortium to
amend the Agreement as set forth in the Amended Municipal Cooperative Agreement, now therefore
be it
RESOLVED, that upon receipt and review of the amended Agreement, the
Town of Groton approves at a meeting of the governing body held on May 14, 2024, and
authorizes the Chief Elected Official to sign the 2024 Amendment to the Municipal Cooperative
Agreement of the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium as
recommended by the Board of Directors.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays
NYSERDA Clean Energy Community Program
The Town Clerk verified the threshold of permits to apply for a NYSERDA grant has been reached.
The information was put into the required format for submission by Christopher Skawski who had
presented grant options to the board last month. A certification form will need to be signed if the board
is willing to move forward with that grant application.
RESOLUTION #24-050 - AUTHORIZE THE SUPERVISOR TO SIGN THE
CERTIFICATION FORM AND MOVE FORWARD WITH THE CLEAN ENERGY
PROGRAM
MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp to move forward with the
NYSERDA grant submission and authorize the Supervisor to sign the Community Campaign
Certification form.
Ayes - Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
Privilege of the Floor
Mitch Quine, Yellow Barn Solar: Wanted to touch base and bring forward some difficulties the local
law changes make to the supplemental application needed to be submitted to the Office of Renewable
Energy Siting. The original application proposed plotting the arrays using the old setback distances,
now that there are larger setbacks, this has the potential to change the production output should the
Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) decide to allow the local law standard. They may allow
the local standard, or they may not. We “don’t know who is going to be the unhappy party.” Yellow
Barn would like to work out a waiver to the local law or some kind of reduced setback with an increase
in landscaping screening or some other type of mitigating effect before returning the supplemental
application to ORES. There would be no area where we would be requesting a setback lower as it
existed before this new local law. Complying with the 150’ from the road or the 75’ from the fence
will create a 6% - 7% drop in the total size of the project, which may not sound like a lot but when
these projects operate within the margins it makes it a pretty big deal. I did not plan to turn this into a
complete review of these plans as I know you just got them today, but I wanted to state our case from
where we stand. We have had conversations with ORES, Don and our attorneys about it. We don’t
Town Board Minutes Page 8 May 14, 2024
know what ORES will do if we submit requesting all of these waivers. They have in the past granted
setback waivers, but we don’t know what they will deem reasonable. Our goal is to work with the
Town over the next few months before we must submit that supplement, to drill down to see if there
are other places or mitigating things that we can do to find where we can justify a reduced setback.
Councilperson Klumpp: Most of the discrepancies are with the setbacks?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: Almost entirely.
Councilperson Klumpp: You were aware of our moratorium, and proceeded to make the plot based
on the old standard anyway?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: Yes, to be frank, based on the read of the moratorium, our interpretation of
that was it was going to be on projects that were sub-ORES sized or smaller projects. We were reading
it and should have paid more attention to that.
Councilperson Klumpp: You proceeded believing that you were not going to have to meet our
standards?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: We went ahead believing that there weren’t going to be new standards put
into place that were meant to be applicable to our project. That was an incorrect assumption, we
shouldn’t have made it and I personally own that. We proceeded with our application knowing the
moratorium was out there, but our interpretation of the moratorium was that it was to give the town
time to address the laws that pertain to sub-ORES-size projects. That is obviously not the case and so
now we are in this act of switching and trying to figure this out.
Councilperson Klumpp: And what you have stated before, it really doesn’t come down to our
decision, it is whatever the State says.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: At the end of the day, it is, and I don’t think it is a situation we want to put
ourselves in because regardless of whatever that decision is, we have to work with each other for the
coming year. We want to be able to go into this as an alliance as possible and with eyes open. Now that
we understand the contents of that law, we don’t want to go into a new supplemental submission with
50 areas that we need to waive. We want to mitigate and talk through the areas we can comply with
and the areas we can nearly comply with, and we need to talk through the areas we need to adjust.
Supervisor Scheffler: We don’t have a process for a waiver to a local law the way it is written.
Technically are you asking us for a waiver or a variance on something we don’t even have? We don’t
have an application from you as the State has all this. I don’t know how we can do a waiver for a State
Plan?
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: I just became aware of this this morning. Matt from Harter
Secrest has received this information, and he knows a waiver has been requested. It is good that the
board has received this analysis but my counsel to the board is to wait until your attorney on this
project advises you.
Supervisor Scheffler: I believe he just got this Thursday or Friday. We haven’t had much time to
review this. I am not even sure if we can or how we can address it?
Town Board Minutes Page 9 May 14, 2024
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: The feedback I have gotten from my attorney is this wouldn’t necessarily
be issuing a waiver or variance. The Town could issue a letter or resolution to the effect that they are
aware of this waiver request, and we dispute it on these areas but not these areas because `all the other
things the applicant is willing to do we are ok. It doesn’t have to be an actual waiver. The waiver
request is what we issue to the State. They are the ones who ultimately make the decision. The
feedback we got from the State and our attorney is going into that submission, without the
understanding with the board of what we will be asking for is going to be acceptable throws it into the
state's hands, and puts us all into the positions of waiting to see what they are going to do rather than
coming to an understanding.
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: Why don’t we wait to see what Matt has to say?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: That is fine. I just wanted to give the context of our position to the board
and open up the conversation. It has been a while since we had communication and I think we had
some good open communication during the summer but that has kinda tapered off as we got closer to
application. Plus there was a changeover at Harter Secrest so I am re-engaging and doing better
communicating with all of the board.
Supervisor Scheffler: One of the things we may as well try to clear up is you have mentioned who is
doing the inspections and how much we can charge for that. It is also my opinion that we do not have
the application and Rick, you can correct me if I am wrong, but the State says a code officer cannot act
( do inspections) without an application for a permit. It wouldn’t be our permit, it is the State’s, so why
isn’t the State doing the inspections and they pay for it. I was given a copy of the NYSRR Title 19
Department of State Division of Code Enforcement Rules 1201.2 which says Governmental buildings
and activities. (d) (1) The State shall be accountable for the administration and enforcement of the
Uniform Code with respect to buildings, premises and equipment in the custody of, or activities related
thereto undertaken by, a State department, bureau, commission, board or authority. This kind of tells
me this is a State problem.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: From a code enforcement inspection perspective we are neutral. Whatever
you want to do on that we are supportive of. To clarify, the ORES permit supersedes a site plan permit
that a town would do. ORES projects typically apply for a building permit locally after they get the
siting permit. It is similar to the other solar project you are working on under a Town Board Site Plan
approval in that they take the designs, get approvals from the board, then advance those designs and
get the construction set. Then that is what they submitted to the code official where they would get the
building permit. The code officer then looks back to the siting permit and checks to see if they meet all
the conditions that the town has set. The difference here is that site plan approval is set through the
State. If this board does not want to do that or this code officer does not want to do that I am on board
with what you want to do. I have not gotten feedback from our attorney or ORES on other situations
that may apply. I am used to the typical situation where the building permit is issued by the town.
Typically, as we were discussing last week with Don, the actual inspections are carried out by a third
party that is either contracted directly by the town or in a three-party agreement where we pay but the
town receives the inspections. In terms, if the Town does want to take the approach of hiring third-
party inspectors and getting their own building permit, we would absolutely pay for whatever the cost
of those inspections are. If the Town wants to take the stance that this is a state issue, that is something
I need to explore more of how that would work and what that procedure is.
Supervisor Scheffler: This is the first I have heard or understood that the state is going to come in and
get a building permit.
Town Board Minutes Page 10 May 14, 2024
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: We are applying for the building permit. We are going through a state
permitting process, but we are still a private company. The action is not being undertaken by the State.
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: When will we be getting back to talking about the host
agreements?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: I think the feedback we got from your attorney, they wanted to hold onto
that until the application has been deemed complete.
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: How close are you to being deemed complete? Is the setback
the only issue? Do you have any idea where you are on that?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: There were issues with the Lansing law. My guess would be if we can
submit our supplement in June or the end of June, we might be deemed complete in August. From our
perspective, to be clear we are happy with jumping back into host agreements when you are.
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: One issue that we will be asking Harter Secrest, taking into
account that the board feels as Don does, the Code Officer shouldn’t have to be doing these
inspections. Since Matt and Harter Secrest have done a number of these, I would like to hear what their
feeling is about our local code officer doing these inspections and what happened typically in the past
with other projects of similar size.
Councilperson Klumpp: I also think it needs to be approached that we don’t want that and what are
our options?
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: Yes, obviously if the board agrees as I know how Don feels
and I get a sense that the board feels the same way, that we should ask Matt that we feel is right in our
assumption and what can we do to address this.
Councilperson Gamel: Especially since we are the largest one of this size.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: No, there are several larger projects that are further along in the ORES
process. Out towards Buffalo, and there …the Morris Ridge project, I forget the county but here are a
handful of projects that have done the ORES process and have started construction so we can look at
those as an example. We are happy to support whatever direction the board wants to go on that.
Supervisor Scheffler: You know that is my opinion and as I have said before I don’t speak for the
board.
Councilperson Gamel: It is my opinion as well. I don’t think Rick should have to do that. Nothing
against Rick, I am not sure you are trained to do this. I don’t think that we as a Town should be
responsible.
Code Official, Mr. Fritz: The question is, will you need the town to sign off on it? Is that what you
are after? Like a Certificate of Completion is what you want?
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: Yes Typically, the way I understand from other projects is they get the
State Planning Permit, and the building permit locally, and once construction is done would get a
Town Board Minutes Page 11 May 14, 2024
certificate of completion locally as well. That is usually done with the help of one or more third-party
engineers and inspectors providing you with reports.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine So you would still be looking for us to issue a CC or Certificate of
Completion? They would have to go with our application, and if they want us to inspect, we can,
because it is just a matter of foundation. We go with a third party electrical so that would be a third
party anyhow. I don’t know if we want to be responsible for this large of a system.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: That is the piece that I don’t understand. If you get third-party inspections
there is some professional liability associated there. I don’t know all of the details.
Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: That is the kind of question Matt should be having with
Yellow Barn's attorney and the result should come back to the board. I assume Crystal and Sheldon
feel the same way, yes…then that is what should be done.
Yellow Barn, Mr. Quine: That is all for me.
Supervisor Scheffler: If you want to be on the agenda, give me a call or send it to me.
Code Official, Mr. Fritz: I just want to say I was unhappy that the SWIPP for the other project was so
generic, and it should not go to the county yet.
Councilperson Klumpp: I agree and shared my concerns for the stormwater with Tim.
A brief discussion regarding SWIPP, the panels changing to stationary on the Deleware River project,
and not building on slopes ensued with the Code Official who was willing to do inspections but
cautioned the board on the Town’s liability for larger projects.
With everyone speaking that wished to be heard,
Announcements:
The Planning Board Meeting for Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 7:30 PM has been cancelled.
The Zoning Board Meeting has been cancelled.
There being no further business, Councilperson Klumpp moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson
Young, at 9:06 PM Unanimous.
Robin Cargian,
Town Clerk