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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-19 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING March 19,2014 A Regular Meeting of the Lansing Town Board was held at the Town Hall Board Room, 29 Auburn Road, Lansing,NY on the above date at 6:05 p.m. The meeting was called to order by the Supervisor, Kathy Miller and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Roll call by Debbie Crandall, Town Clerk, showed the following to be PRESENT: Kathy Miller, Supervisor Robert Cree, Councilperson Ruth Hopkins, Councilperson Edward LaVigne, Councilperson ABSENT: Doug Dake, Councilperson ALSO PRESENT: Jack French, Highway Superintendent, Steve Colt, Parks and Recreation Supervisor, Carli Teitelbaum, Kaela Teitelbaum, Donna Scott, Dan Veaner, Lansing Star, Ted Laux, Pat Pryor, John O'Neill, Village of Lansing, Charles Crum, Ed Wagner, Gary Tyrell, and Glynis Hart, Lansing Ledger. TOMPKINS COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE—MIKE SIGLER Representative Mike Sigler was unable to attend the meeting. The following report was made available to the board and the public. County Update for March 19th Town of Lansing Board Meeting First, my apologies for not being here today, but the Planning, Environment and Energy Committee is meeting right now downtown. There shouldn't be many conflicts between County business and Town Meetings, but today there is one. Congressman Tom Reed was in town last weekend and thank you all for coming. It was a great show of unity I thought on the power plant and showed that this issue is truly bipartisan in the town and I think for much of the county. There were of course opponents, but I was glad to see the Congressman defend refitting the plant for natural gas and keeping it open. The petition is going well with hundreds of online signatures and many more on paper. I'll know better as the month comes to a close on our totals. The county continues to push for an alternative to the Governor's property tax freeze proposal. While I fully support what the county passed, I'm not sure if the tact we are taking is the correct one. I signed on to a letter in support of the state taking over mandates as well, but it seems to me we should have someone at the county level with ties to this state administration who could take this plan to the governor directly. I don't see this happening unless the governor truly sees this as transformative and takes ownership of it. If he does, I believe he'll have a legacy to overshadow his father's. I won't go over all the benefits, but even if the state took over Medicaid, it would be a significant savings for the county taxpayers. Under the governor's plan, the average taxpayer would see a check for $7.31. If the state took over Medicaid payments, county taxpayers would see a 26% reduction in County taxes saving the average taxpayer $294. The legislature weighed in on the state's energy plan. Overall I thought our resolution was great. However, in the end I sided with Peter Stein who also believes, as does NYS, that we cannot get close to reducing our carbon footprint goals without an expansion of natural gas infrastructure. This plan asked the state for no more "significant"natural gas infrastructure investment. It's unclear what significant would be. It's curious to see "union supporters"vote for something that would clearly cost union members opportunities for work. The jail alternatives task force met for the first time on Friday, March 14th. I'm waiting on a report on that. There was also a presentation on the expansion on March 18th, yesterday, but there will be another presentation on April 1st about the expansion. While torn on this issue, I still would like to see a preliminary report from the task force before moving ahead with a near million dollar expansion and I'm not convinced that the area March 19, 2014 1 these beds will be going, is not used. My bigger question is, if this recreational area in the jail is not used,why is it not used? One would think someone in jail would opt to get out of their cell. With this space gone, it's my understanding the only recreational space will be outside. The expansion will go up for a vote April 1St. If you have any questions or just want to give me your opinion, give me a call. We had a meeting again yesterday and I'll update you on that next month. The only standout on the agenda from Tuesday the 18th, was the State of the College in regards to TC3. I should also mention to keep an eye out for the new Ithaca Airport marketing campaign. The W(ITH) us campaign's first commercial is with Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick. Thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing you next month. Mike PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR No one addressed the Town Board. PARK and RECREATION DEPARTMENT REPORT Parks & Recreation Department Town Board Meeting 3/19/14 RECREATION • Most all of our winter programming has concluded for the season. Currently we are almost finished with our Hot Stove Baseball camp that takes place at The Field on Sundays. We also have a couple of sessions remaining for our early spring Football Camp also taking place at The Field. • LBP baseball and LSP softball registrations forms are coming in now and are all due at the end of this week. We will need to determine player totals, which will indicate how many teams and coaches we will need for the upcoming season. • Player selection meetings are set. The LSP team selections will take place on Tuesday, April 1St and the LBP selections will take place on April 2nd. These meetings will also include coaches' clinics so that we are ready to go when the snow melts! • We are also currently accepting registration forms for a one day Baking Class, Karate classes and a 4th session of Gymnastics. This will be the first time we have ever offered a 4th session. This has been a very popular program for us. • We are starting to consider summer programs for the booklet. We are hoping that some of the school's locations will be available for this summer. Last summer was a challenge. We also continue to increase new offerings. PARKS • The boat slip lottery took place on February 5th and we are full with a waiting list. Hopefully they will all fit in the slips. The first year of the new term always can be interesting when the boats actually go into the water. • Several dangerous trees have been taken down in Myers Park and we hope to have the stumps ground this week. Many new trees were planted this past fall and should be beautiful this spring when in bloom. March 19, 2014 2 • I have a Salt Point volunteers meeting planned for Wednesday afternoon to go over plans and discuss the area. A new "Little Free Library" is planned for installation later this spring. • I have one date to fill and the Myers Park Concert Series will be complete, and the Ludlowville series is almost confirmed. It should be another really great summer line-up! • Park revenue numbers look really good so far to date. We are currently running ahead of last year's record breaking season. Currently we are at $88,413.00. This said, our camping and pavilion numbers should get better as the weather improves and people think to make summer plans. CONSIDER RESOLUTION CHANGING THE NAME OF THE PORTION OF WEST GROTON ROAD LOCATED IN LANSING TO WEST ROAD DISCUSSION Supervisor Kathy Miller tabled the Resolution until a different name besides West Road could be determined. She stated it was not a big enough change from the current road name. APPROVE AUDIT RESOLUTION 14-58 Councilperson Robert Cree moved that the Bookkeeper is hereby authorized to pay the following bills. CONSOLIDATED ABSTRACT # 003 DATED 3/19/14 AUDITED VOUCHER #'s 0179 - 0254 PREPAY VOUCHER #'s 0179 - 0179 AUDITED T & A VOUCHER #'s 021 - 028 PREPAY T & A VOUCHER #'s 000 - 000 FUND TOTAL APPROPRIATIONS GENERAL FUND (A&B) $ 41,763.55 HIGHWAY FUND (DA&DB) $ 35,916.03 LANSING LIGHTING (SL1, 2 &3) $ 1,368.49 LANSING WATER DISTRICTS (SW) $ 81,819.65 TRUST & AGENCY (TA) $ 37,322.79 LANSING SEWER DISTRICTS (SS1, SS3) $ 319.10 DEBT SERVICE (V) $ 0.00 Supervisor Kathy Miller seconded the motion and it was carried by the following roll call vote: Councilperson Robert Cree - Aye Councilperson Ruth Hopkins - Aye Councilperson Edward LaVigne - Aye Supervisor Kathy Miller- Aye March 19, 2014 3 Accordingly, the foregoing Resolution was approved, carried and duly adopted on March 19, 2014. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Edward LaVigne Nothing to report at this time. Ruth Hopkins Tax Freeze Ruth asked the board if they would like to follow the County's lead in contacting the Governor objecting to the proposed tax freeze. After further discussion Ruth will bring sample letters for the board to review. Robert Cree Planner's Position Robert questioned the email from Sharon Bowman that included a copy of the Planner's description that was on the county and town websites. He stated the job description that was posted was not what was agreed on or shared with all the board members. The email stated it was also posted on the Planner's Federation website and it does not appear there. Kathy stated that there were subtle changes made based on Steve Estes' recommendation. She stated that Sharon did post it on the Planner's Federation website and maybe it did not have enough time to appear. Robert stated that before posting the description with changes, it should have been emailed to the board for approval. After further discussion, it was decided that it could be discussed further in the work session portion of the meeting. Robert asked Guy Krogh at what point can the board say to Steve Estes this is our hire and this is what we want. Guy stated you can do that at any time. Kathy Miller Congressman Tom Reed Kathy stated that the meeting held by Tom Reed on March 15th at the Town Hall was standing room only and lasted 2 hours. She hoped that more representatives will hold open meetings in the town. Monthly Report The Supervisor submitted her monthly report for the month of February, 2014 to all Board Members and to the Town Clerk. TOWN COUNSEL REPORT Guy Krogh Hazard Mitigation Plan Guy stated that other towns have referred and adopted the resolution in regards to the County's Hazard Mitigation Plan but Lansing has not. Kathy stated she received an email but has not opened it. The board will look at the plans and make a decision at a later date. Robinson Road Litigation Guy informed the board that within 30 to 90 days the Robinson Road litigation should be officially ended for all purposes when the decision is documented. Adjourn Meeting Regular meeting adjourned at the call of the Supervisor at 6:35 p.m. to enter the Work Session to discuss the Land Use Ordinance. Minutes taken and executed by the Town Clerk. Respectfully submitted, Debbie S. Crandall March 19, 2014 4