HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-8 2025 Reg meeting & Public Hearing Bid openingTOWN OF GROTON - MEETING MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD
MUNICIPAL BID HEARING
TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2025, AT 7:30 PM
Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also Present:
Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Mack Rankin, Deputy Highway M. Dawson
Crystal Young, Councilperson D. Dawson
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson K. Westerling
Richard Gamel, Councilperson
Brian Klumpp, Councilperson
D. Carey, AG Board
D. Moses, Bullrock
Don Armstrong, Attorney D. Durrett, Ithaca Times
Robin Cargian, Town Clerk M. Carey Planning B.
Julie Graham, Bookkeeper
W. Rick Fritz, Code Official
Ellard Keister, Highway Supt.
B. Siebe, Enviro Council
The meeting was called into session at 7:30 PM with the Pledge of Allegiance.
MOVED by Councilperson Klumpp, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the Meeting
Minutes of June 17, 2025
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed
RESOLUTION #25-056 ‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES
MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Young,
WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #7 for the Year 2025, numbered 261-297, 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 23,187.23
B GENERAL FUND PART TOWN 17,547.23
DA HIGHWAY FUND 4,406.58
DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 24,450.95
SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 117.89
SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 222.99
Total $69,932.87
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Nays -
Monthly Reports
Julie Graham, Bookkeeper – The monthly report was submitted with no budget transfers.
Code/Fire Enforcement Officer, W. Rick Fritz, gave a brief report regarding the status of the
building code updates that would include forbidding the use of any fossil fuel devices This is part of
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 2 July 8, 2025
the “Stretch Plan” has been prepared to be added to the 2025 codes as an addendum slated for
December but is awaiting the results of lawsuits against the State of New York.
Building Permits Issued: 10 New Businesses: 0
Permits Completed: 6 Fire Safety Inspections: 0
Permits Renewed: 0 Building Inspections: 30
Zoning permits: 0 Certificates of Occupancy/Compliance 6
Site Plan Reviews: 0 Violation Notices: 0
Subdivisions:0 Complaints 0
Life Safety Inspections for June 2025: Inspected - 4%; Completed – 4%; Training Hours -0
Highway Superintendent, Ellard Keister, reported the mill purchased for the skid steer is working
very well, and the patchwork is going as expected now that the parts to repair the roller were obtained.
Job completions have been held up for at least a month and a half due to part shipment delays for
several projects. The brush-head mower for the excavator was delivered to CAT for diagnosis of a
vibration, and it is not covered by warranty. He thanked John Mackey’s for their help with this. He
proposed a two-year agreement for three additional road condition cameras, two with the weather
stations at a cost of $13,110. These will be placed at high wind areas such as Upper Elm St. Ext. The
Town of Lansing as well as Tompkins County, also utilize the same cameras and share information to
create faster reaction times to road conditions and decrease expenses from road checks to extra plow
passes. The contract will not begin until January 2026, as 2025 has already been paid. With all
questions from the board having been answered, a motion was made.
MOTION #25-057 –APPROVE THE HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TO SIGN A TWO-
YEAR ROAD CONDITION CAMERA CONTRACT
MOVED by Councilperson Klumpp, seconded by Councilperson Gamel to approve the Highway
Superintendent to enter into a two-year contract for three additional road condition cameras at the cost
of $13,110.0
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed
Nays -
The Highway Superintendent, Ellard Keister, also requested to attend the Niagara Falls Highway
Superintendent’s conference in September, the hotel and conference costs estimated at $850.00.
Councilperson Young added it is important to attend conferences and encouraged attendance.
MOTION #25-058 –APPROVE EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE HIGHWAY
SUPERINTENDENT ATTENDING CONFERENCE SEPTEMBER 23-25TH.
MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Clark, to approve expenses associated
with the attendance of the Highway Superintendent at the Conference in Niagara Falls, NY, September
23-25th.
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed
Nays -
Town Clerk, Robin Cargian, provided a report and highlighted that PERMA would be coming for a
site visit on August 7th and they have asked for several policy-related documents. She also noticed that
the purchasing policy precludes the town from buying at auction, and there was some previous
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 3 July 8, 2025
discussion about being able to do that. She provided two samples obtained from Association of Towns
in the Clerk’s Report packet for board review to make those changes. She also announced that she had
received the New York State Town Clerk’s Association Registered Municipal Clerk Certification after
obtaining several hours of training. The Town Supervisor then read aloud the award letter from the
New York State Town Clerk’s Association congratulating Mrs. Cargian on her recertification.
Attorney for the Town, Don Armstrong – Stated he has spoken with Fran about the information
coming from the South Main St. Solar projects.
Recreation Coordinator, Councilperson Young – The summer programs are going well with good
participation. The fireworks went well, commenting on the giant ball of flame for the opener that
everyone thought was a mistake, but was amazing. The summer concert series starts on Friday noting
that it was her band that will open and encouraged everyone to attend.
Groton Fire Chief, Eric Deforrest, explained that for anyone who couldn’t attend the fireworks, the
explosion was intentional. The firework contractor had previously explained what he wanted to include
in the show which they were on board. It was an amazing mushroom of fire! Kids Camp is coming up
next week with 105 registered kids to be held at the fire station this year which will offer more options
as well as weather protection. The house fire on Smith Road involved an air conditioner plugged into a
50-foot extension cord. The homeowner did all the right things to contain it but as a public service
announcement: An air conditioner needs to be plugged directly into an outlet. Do not attempt to
use an extension cord. The Fire Department has signed a contract to purchase three different electric
extrication tools. These tools run on Milwaukee batteries and are ready to go in an instant with no
setup. They will cut through the latest alloy and steel that car manufacturers are currently using. They
have a lifetime guarantee with no limits. Even if they are submerged in use and the tool saves
someone’s life, they will replace it for free. The Jaws of Life can do 72 “actual” cuts before the battery
dies, the spreader will lift a 5,000-6,000 pound truck, making a significant increase in recovery time
over sub-airbags, and the “RAM “ is used to remove a steering wheel and dash from patients in the
front seat of vehicles. These tools are a great step for our department.
Yellow Barn Solar Update: Supervisor Scheffler did not have anything new to report.
The Supervisor has heard from the Auditors, who suggested a review of the Employee Handbook. A
committee comprised of Councilperson Young, Councilperson Gamel, Town Clerk Cargian, and
Deputy Highway Superintendent Rankin was formed to start the review process. There is a company
offering to complete a handbook for $1000 if an outline is provided.
The Security Camera company that met with Ellard was going to send a quote to Councilperson
Gamel, who has not gotten it yet. He will reach out to him again.
Public Bid Opening Front Entry Renovations
Three bids were obtained by the deadline and read aloud by Councilperson Gamel.
Bidder Bid Form
Quote $
Non-
Collusion
Document
Disclosure
Cert
Bidder
Cert
No
Conflict
of
Interest
Criminal
Non
Involvem
ent
Certificate
of
Experience
Marchuska
Bros. LLX
$286,425.00 √ √ √ √ √ √
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 4 July 8, 2025
Daniel
Lynch Inc.
$507,000.00 √ √ √ √ √ √
Bishop
Brothers
LLC
$159,500.00 √ √ √ √ √ √
The board compared the bids, found no issues with the bids presented, and recognized the lowest bid
was from a local contractor. The Supervisor reminded the board that the expenses are subject to
permissive referendum and asked for a resolution.
RESOLUTION #25-059 – AWARD BID FOR $159,500.00 CONSTRUCTION
AUTHORIZATION SUBJECT TO PERMISSIVE REFERENDUM
Resolution to authorize the construction bid to renovate the Town of Groton Town Hall entry with
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades, for the bid price of $159,500.00, which was the
lowest submitted bid. The said amount to include all necessary expenses will be taken from the Town’s
Capital Reserve, Building Repair Account, was made by Councilperson Klumpp, second by
Councilperson Gamel.
Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed
Presentation – Doug Moses Bullrock Solar
Doug Moses: In the packages passed out is a letter from PWC, which is our civil engineer, just
describing and defining the changes that we made to the sites. Also in the package is a sound study for
both projects and then the Civil drawings of the site plan. The one that's on the front is what is being
proposed for the modification, and the one that is behind that staple is what was approved. Old site
fence lines did not change at all for the modification that we made. The orientation to the racking on
the originally proposed was east to west, and now we're modifying that to run north to south in the
same footprint of the side of the rack. So, where the orientation of the modules is east-west, the roads
are now going north-south. The originally proposed east-west has a fixed tilt system that was two in
portrait, which you stack the panels on top of each other. In two in portrait, the height of that
bracketing is around 18 to 20 feet, with the single-axis tracker is one in portrait. So now it reduces the
height to 11-12 feet. The post height is 7 feet, and then the module sits on the rack and rotates east to
west. The whole row is north to south. By changing the racking, we have reduced the amount of cut
and fill on the site. For the north project with the fixed tilt, there's 127,000 cubic yards that need to be
moved. For the single-axis tracker that's running north to south, that's significantly reduced to 11,000
cubic yards of cut and fill. For the south site, it was 66,000 cubic yards, and that's now been reduced to
2,300 off a cut and then 12,500 of a fill, so both sites…… The original approved had a slope of 10%.
We have modified that to 15% which meets the bylaws. This racking system can handle a 26% slope,
due to the advances in the racking from the original purpose of this project, you can reduce the amount
of grading that's required.
Councilperson Gamel asked how this affected the runoff.
Doug Moses: The runoff is reduced. The SWPPP still meets everything that was approved in the
previous plan and meets and meets the 2025 DEC requirements. They are still the same swales, and
there's no retention pond or anything that's needed. It's still in the same guidelines as the grass swales.
There is no significant adjustment. I do want to make note that the north site access road was slightly
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 5 July 8, 2025
modified to move West. Where it was originally proposed, it was at about a 19% slope for vehicle
access and deliveries and by moving it west, it is now 10%.
Don Armstrong, Attorney: This is for general information for the board tonight, right? And then an
application is going to have to be submitted.
Supervisor Scheffler: Correct, an application will need to be made as this is the first I am seeing this.
I didn’t even know it was sold.
Doug Moses: I appreciate all of the previous work you put into this project and for seeing me and the
project again. The biggest piece that we believe is that the fence line did not change and remains in the
fence line. The project stayed within the footprint of the approved site plan. The major piece is the
orientation of the approved racking from east-west and is now proposed to go North/ South with some
significant reduction in grade.
Councilperson Young: What is it that we need to do tonight? There is nothing we can do because
there is no application. Do we send it back to the original committee that looked at it?
Supervisor Scheffler: I think we can study it and reach out to our attorney and engineer to go over it.
Doug Moses: I know the owner of Bullrock has spoken with Fran and Tim Buell and I believe they
both were on board with the changes. I would just have to follow you guys and your process of making
the change.
Supervisor Scheffler: I am not exactly sure about the process. I don’t think there really is a process to
go over.
Town Clerk, Cargian: Unfortunately, there's no process to make a modification. The code says if
there is a modification, then it starts again. There's no variation of a small change or medium change or
a large change. There is no pathway to follow, but it sounds like all of the work is done.
Doug Moses: Yes, we are ready and were making sure we are following your process.
Councilperson Gamel: I would like to ask one more question if I could. If you would have gotten in
Vermont, what we got for rain last night, you could have floated down here. My house was a river. I’m
just concerned about the runoff changing. I don't know how much more runoff you'd get on a 15% than
you would a 10% agreed, but, one of our concerns prior, with Delaware Solar, was we have a
residential area all the way down South Main Street where the runoff goes by at a brand new football
stadium for the high school. I can't imagine what we got last night running off those panels wouldn't
have created a situation.
Doug Moses: My civil engineer was flying here tonight, but the weather forced him to go to
Richmond, VA. I wish he was here as he's the expert.
Councilperson Klumpp: Another big concern is, there's failure. All plans have a potential for failure.
And in a lot of places where there are solar arrays, the stormwater plan fails. It raises the level of a
stream or a river in the rural area. We need to really make sure.
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 6 July 8, 2025
Doug Moses: Yes, I know our engineers designing to the 2025 DEC SWPPP regulations, they've run
all the calculations and I asked him with the 15% slope, are we going to need a retention pond due to
this? And he said no.
Councilperson Young: So maybe you just take that extra consideration to do it anyway, just to be
sure. Seems like that would be an extra precaution.
Councilperson Gamel: As you've been on South Main Street, you've seen what's below it. You've
seen the grade of that hill. You went with grading to a 10% slope. That's changing the hydrology of
the soil in that area by reducing the amount of grading, you're not changing the hydrology, but. if you
take the grass off the top, you've changed it. Whether you go 10 feet or two inches or from 127,000
cubic yards to 12,000. That's a significant reduction.
Supervisor Scheffler: It's a discussion we need to have with our engineer to sign off on.
Councilperson Klumpp: Looking at how State DEC handled runoff from solar panels, and
because of someone who was in here had said that we aren't creating impermeable surfaces with the
solar panels because it still grabs underneath, a lot of states allowed solar developers to do that because
they wanted these things built and they wanted to keep the cost as low as possible. I believe the article
I read described how Maryland, after several flooding incidents, changed its laws to follow the CDC
guidelines. I don't trust the state agency that's pushing solar.
Doug Moses: Some of those regulations were based on the Maryland law of anything more than a
150% ground coverage ratio of the panel's basic separation from row to row. If it was less than 50 or if
it covered more than 50% of the area then that was creating an issue, so reducing that, anything less
than 50% was adequate and met the guidelines of that Maryland statute and this project.
Memorial Bench Request
Michelle Dawson presented a request for a memorial bench in honor of the former Town Justice
Dewey Dawson, to be placed near the courthouse. She will send photos of the options she has in mind
to the clerk for board distribution.
Privilege of the Floor:
Barry Siebe, 800 South Main St. I want to thank the Town and the Village for a great fireworks
display. The other night I had the benefit of sitting in a spot where I could sit right outside my front
door and watch over the trees as those fireworks go up; it's a fantastic sight. My wife and I sit out there
and enjoy that each year, and truly love it. On that note, while we were there the other night, we were.
hearing voices coming from the Zimmer family who live across the street, sitting behind their home on
the property. And they were talking about the fireworks. And I can hear that as clearly as I could hear
you guys tonight. So just want to plant the seed that someone has decided to change an application for
a project that you've already approved, and they want to put in motors to make those panels move. My
concern is the sound. Like your refrigerator at home, you don't realize how insidious that sound is. It's
there. It's subconscious. It's sublevel. You don't notice it, but it's there and it's constant. Having moved
here from an area where highway sounds were constant, it's amazing here for how quiet it is. I can
hear my neighbors from across the valley, talking, or across the street, talking behind the building. And
they're not shouting; they're talking at a conversation level. I'm not sure where that sound study might
have been done or what the nature of that sound study was, but understand that motors are running and
Town Board Minutes & Bid Opening Page 7 July 8, 2025
humming constantly and will echo through that valley. I just want to make that point forward now, for
the other application coming in. Thank you.
Eric Deforrest, Groton Fire Chief: To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, we
are discussing doing a bigger fireworks show next year. To do that, we will be doing additional
fundraising, possibly raffles, and asking our bigger supporters, such as the bank and other businesses
for extra support. I'm already in the planning stages with our fireworks provider, Young’s Explosives,
to get a date set now so we're not doing it on a Sunday. It sounds like a lot of other places in New York
are planning a big event too, spending $40,000 to $50,000 on their shows, which may get priority, but
we're starting that planning now. It's amazing how generous our community is. When we do a chicken
barbecue and put a boot out, we make almost a third in the boot of what we make in sales from the
chicken. We get donations every single time. This community donates to the fire department endlessly
and it is so appreciated.
Dan Carey, AG Committee: I just want to 2nd what Barry Siebe has said about the solar panels and
the change of use. I was abreast of everything being done with the prior application process and
nothing was ever said about motors being put on these solar panels. I don't find any place where
anything was mentioned about that. If you're going to change the direction of the panel, I think you
may have glare issues. If they're going to maintain that terrain the same elevation that they have now
and not move much dirt, all the trees that are on there now that prevent a lot of erosion…….They're
going to have to take the trees off, going to take the stumps off, they're going to lose some topsoil there
that they say is hydrology. That is, but where's it going and what are you going to put in place of that
topsoil that is going to be gone? It's been there for eons. There are some issues that need to be looked
at.
Monica Carey, Planning board: My concern is runoff and no retention pond. I just can't imagine that
with the rain we had last night, isn't going to go someplace. It has to go someplace. So if there's no
retention pond, where is it going to go? And if they cut the forest, where is that water going to drain off
is my concern and the motors. I'm not too happy to hear that. Thank you.
Announcements:
Planning Board Meeting for Thursday, June 19, 2025- has been cancelled with no new
business.
Zoning Board Meeting on June 18, 2025, has been cancelled with no new business.
There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson
Young, at 8:45 PM, Unanimous.
Robin Cargian, RMC
Groton Town Clerk