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Home My WebLink About9-9 2025 Reg meeting 1TOWN OF GROTON - MEETING MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2025, AT 7:30 PM Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Julie Graham, Bookkeeper G. Beldock, Bullrock Corp. Crystal Young, Councilperson D. Carey, AG Advisor Sheldon Clark, Councilperson B. Siebe Env. Council Richard Gamel, Councilperson Brian Klumpp, Councilperson B. Siebe S. Bowen Env. Council Ellard Keister, Highway Super. E. Neuhauser, Planning Board Don Armstrong, Attorney Robin Cargian, Town Clerk D. Durrant Martha Gleason W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Charlotte Moore J. Wetmore, Lansing Town Council The meeting was called into session at 7:30 PM with the Pledge of Allegiance. MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Young, to approve the Meeting Minutes of August 12th Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed RESOLUTION #25-064 ‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #09 for the Year 2025, numbered 341-377, 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 25.049.91 DA HIGHWAY FUND 5,918.63 DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 56,166.47 SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 117.89 SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 11.60 Total $87,464.50 Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Monthly Reports Bookkeeper's report was provided. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer: We are busy but keeping up. Starting Life Safety Inspections. Building Permits Issued: 6 New Businesses: 0 Permits Completed:23 Fire Safety Inspections: 0 Permits Renewed: 3 Building Inspections: 34 Town Board Minutes Page 2 August 12, 2025 Demolition Permits: 1 Certificates of Occupancy/Compliance 23 Site Plan Reviews: 2 Violation Notices: 2 Subdivisions:2 Complaints 0 Life Safety Inspections for August 2025: Inspected - 0%; Completed – 4%; Training Hours -0 Highway Superintendent, Ellard Keister, discussed the upcoming schedule for the highway department. They will be assisting the Village with mill work and paving on four Village roads, and then do roads prepared in the town. The vouchers reflect oil and stone for the year, which unfortunately cut two roads out because of the price. They will proceed with Stauber Road as planned, which will deplete all of the CHIP’s money for the year. There will still be patching and regular maintenance, but this will be most of the spending from that account for the year. The Front Entrance project is moving forward. We have completed the excavation and will now build the sidewalks, which will be a huge help to the taxpayers. Ted passed the inspections this morning, and the concrete is scheduled to arrive next Friday. The Town has been borrowing the Village of Groton’s 3ft road roller for some time. As we have also put money into it this prompted me to look at purchasing one for the Town. He proposed a used 2020 Wacker Neuson Roller with 842 hours for $8500.00. After a brief discussion and confirming that the funds were available, a motion was made. RESOLUTION #25-065 –AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASE OF A 2020 WACKER NEUSON ROAD ROLLER FOR $8500. MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, Authorize the purchase of one (1) used 2020 Wacker Neuson for $8500.00 from the equipment budget line. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Superintendent Keister recommended that the board increase Colin Bossard’s pay fifty cents per hour, which is the performance raise. He is on time, learning the job well, and will pick up the snow plowing. This brings our department to full strength for winter operators. The mechanics position is still open online. RESOLUTION #25-066 –AUTHORIZE THE $.50 PER HOUR PERFORMANCE RAISE FOR COLIN BOSSARD MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel RESOLVED, to increase the pay rate for Highway Employee Colin Bossard by $.50 per hour to begin in the current pay period. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Town Clerk, Robin Cargian, provided a report to the board and had nothing to add at this time. Recreation Coordinator, Councilperson Young – Summer programs went well, and fall programming has begun. Cross Country will run from September 15th to October 27th. Youth Soccer will be from September 3rd to October 19th, and they already have 100 participants. The Craft Club will continue on the second Sunday of each month in the community room at the fire station. Flag Football will start again on Saturday, the 13th, for participants who are 15 years old or older. Just show up at the park at 9:00 am. Trunk or Treat is in the works, set for Friday, October 31st, on Conger Blvd. At least 1800 people attended the fireworks, with planning taking place for next year’s 250th celebration. The Town Board Minutes Page 3 August 12, 2025 pool hours were extended because of the wonderful staff. Credit given to Daniel Z., who has been there for seven seasons. Yellow Barn Solar Update, Supervisor Scheffler. The application has been approved as of August 21st. There are still requirements to be met since it’s finalized, such as the host community agreement and the pilot, which are required to be in place before construction. Cornell Cooperative Extension is pursuing a collective farm program to study the viability of agrivoltaics around and under the solar panels on the Yellow Barn Solar farm. They are proposing to purchase a house and barn to house low- income, marginalized, and underserved farmers and their equipment. This will be called Yellow Barn Counts. We will have a meeting with ORES tomorrow and keep you informed on what is happening with the numbers. Karen Edelstein- Tompkins County Environmental Management Council- Unique Natural Areas Karen Edelstein made a presentation and PowerPoint display of the Unique Natural Area designations in Tompkins County, which is a 25-year-long project, winning several environmental awards. The inventory is to help the public understand the environmental attributes of their property when making choices about their property or for municipalities in zoning and planning. The inventory started roughly 50 years ago with 26 areas identified, then expanded to 96 with the work of Craig Tufts’ Cornell Master’s thesis, doubled in the 1990s to 195 sites, and became an official binder in 2000, which is probably located somewhere on the shelves at town hall. The roughly 15% unique areas of the county, including 44,000 acres, have been updated using GIS technology. An area is designated by looking at private interests such as the Finderlakes Land Trust or Cornell Botanical Gardens. Areas are chosen for their historical, cultural, geological, educational, or botanical importance. Sites do not have to be based on individual rare or endangered plants but may well have substantial old-growth woods or whole plant communities. Also included are sites with recreational value and scenic vistas. An area that came to their attention recently is one called Bell Station, north of Milliken Station. This site is now a DEC Wildlife Management area due to their compelling field work. She encouraged the planning board to make good use of the resource guide. Large Scale Energy – South Main St. Projects The engineer for the Town provided a review letter stating that the new applications are a better overall project. Also included were suggestions for the Town Board to address with the site developer. After a lengthy discussion with the Attorney for the Town, the developer and the code official regarding if the application is new or a modification, the board agreed it is a new application and requested that the suggestions regarding the stream crossing, addition of a temporary stilling basin/sediment trap on the north site, as well as a work plan for erosion control measures be added to an updated drawing or otherwise provided and submitted to the Town Clerk before the public hearing previously scheduled for September 23rd. MOTION #25-066 – APPROVE TOWN HISTORIAN’S ATTENDANCE EXPENSES TO PUBLIC HISTORIANS CONFERENCE IN CAZENOVIA, NY MOVED BY Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, to approve covering the expenses incurred by the Town Historian when attending the NY Public Historian’s conference in Cazenovia, NY, for $643.00, October 5-8, 2025. Ayes - Clark, Klumpp, Young, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays - Town Board Minutes Page 4 August 12, 2025 MOTION #25-067 – 2025 HUMAN SERVICES COALITION AGREEMENT MOVED BY Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the Human Services Coalition agreement for 2025 and authorize the Supervisor to sign it. Ayes - Clark, Klumpp, Young, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays - Privilege of the Floor: Barry Siebe, 800 South Main St. The discussions that just took place a moment ago, I understand that these things can be incorporated into the plan and taken care of as part of the process. However, this application involves a significant change from fixed racks to moving racks. One of the concerns that came up at the last meeting was the sound issues. That is the significant change. That is why you previously made the determination that this had to be a new application due to the significant change. It isn't necessarily what Tim’s got here in my mind, because Brian is right that these are things that can be incorporated in the conditions and then made to happen during the process. But the significant change in the project, while maybe a smaller footprint, which is great, is the movement, the motors and the inverters that hum. That sound is going to vibrate through that valley. Everybody who's in that view of that valley will have that insidious underlying sound like you get from power lines or refrigerators at home; things happen 24/7. That is my concern with what they're proposing for this new project. So in my mind, what you determined once before was that it is , in fact, a significant change and therefore requires a new application. I'm not sure how that suddenly went from it being a new application to now being just simply a modification and approval of the existing plan that was already approved. So that's the concern I bring up, thank you. Gregg Beldock, Bullrock Solar: I'll be quick. It's a good concern, and one of the problems with central inverters is that they're noisy and there are dangers. The technology was improved a decade ago and people still use it because it’s cheaper. I don't use them. The last six of the 57 projects we've built were MF Central inverters. They don't work worth a damn compared to the string inverters, which create less noise. So this new system is less noisy, which is what I'm trying to say. Tim Buell got a copy of the noise study, which is the third one we've done, and he pointed out in his report that there's less. I know Mrs. Young wanted to go visit a site, which I hope you did; it's a distance away, but you'll notice that the central inverters make a darn hum and they're insidious at our farm. We’ve also got a bunch of string inverters in operation, literally 35 feet from the house, and they're much quieter than the central. Announcements: • Planning Board Meeting for Tuesday, August 19, 2025 @7:30PM • Zoning Board Meeting on August 20th has been cancelled with no new business. • Groton Olde Home Days is the 22nd and 23rd. There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson Clark at 8:50 PM. The Motion was Unanimous. Robin Cargian, Groton Town Clerk