HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 1977-03-08 TOWN OF ITHACA
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
March 8 , 1977 - 7 : 30 p . m .
At , a Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca held
on the 8th day of March , 1977 , at 7 : 30 p . m . , at the Ithaca Town
Offices at 126 East Seneca Street , Ithaca., New York , there were :
PRESENT : Walter J . Schwan , Supervisor
Andrew W . McElwee , Councilman
Robert N . Powers , Councilman
Catherine Valentino , Councilwoman
Shirley. Raffensperger , Councilwoman
ALSO PRESENT : Lawrence P . Fabbroni , Town Engineer
Len Bower , Lozier Engineers , Inc .
Stuart Richardson , Ecology and Environment , Inc .
Jerry Strobel , Ecology and Environment ; Inc .
James C : Dunlap , Lozier Engineers , Inc .
Liese Bronfenbrenner , 116 McIntyre Place
Arthur L . Berkey , 128 Christopher Circle
A . P . Cook , 209 Coy Glen Road
John Hertel , 127 Warren Road
Eva Hoffmann , 4 Sugarbush Lane
Daniel P . Loucks , 116 Crest Lane
Herbert Mahr , 103 Judd Falls Road
Harold G . Smith , 509 Coddington Road
Beverly Livesay , County Representative
Hugh S . MacNeil , County ' Representative
Representatives of the Media
ABSENT : Noel Desch , Councilman
Victor Del Rosso , Councilman
PUBLIC HEARINGS .
7 : 30 - FACILITY PLAN
8 : 00 - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Proof of posting and publication of - notice of public hearings
and affidavit of service by mail on certain interested parties ( list
attached to these minutes ) having been presented , the Supervisor
opened the hearings which were held concurrently .
Schwan . - These are public hearings on the Facility Plan ,
the Environmental Impact Assessment , and the archeological study
relating to the Town -wide sewer project which involves sewers in
five different areas of the Town of Ithaca - - Forest Home , Slater -
ff
ville Road ( beyond the City watershed as far as Burns Road ) . It
includes houses on Coddington Road , Elm Street , and Glenside . The
total estimated cost in 1973 was $ 970 , 000 .
We are holding these hearings as part of the Department of
Environmental Conservation and Environmental Protection Agency re -
quirements to obtain a construction grant from EPA and DEC in the
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amount of 75 %' of the 1973 construction cost ( $ 640 , 000 ) . The
estimated grant is roughly $ 500 , 000 . . Most of you who are here
are aware of the project . I see most of you live in the area
proposed to be sewered . The proposal has been worked on by the
Town of Ithaca for four years . It has been stalled by an increase
in interest rates on our unbonded sewer debt , which went from 4 %
to 7 % and , as a result , dried up the surplus capital we had to
help fund this project . We have sold our Town sewer bonds now at
6 % and that indebtedness at least is pinned down for the future ,
and with this grant it would seem that with a modest amount of
revenue sharing we can balance the budget and build the project .
Powers . One question . Estimated- construction cost is
$ 640 , 000 . The $ 970 , 000 figure we have used is total cost ?
Schwan . The $ 970 , 000 includes engineering , contingencies ,
legal and bond counsel , selling bonds , etc .
Fabbroni . , - I have some updated figures .
Schwan . ( After . brief discussion with Fabbroni ) Total area
cost at this time has increased from the 1973 costs to a total area
construction cost estimate of $ 823 , 000 , with $ 284 , 00 ,0 added for over -
head , legal and bond counsel , engineering , inspection , financing ,
and administration , and a contingency of $ 78 , 000 , for a total project
cost of $ 1 , 185 , 399 .
Bower . The original engineer ' s estimate was made in 1973 .
The grant being applied for is a little in excess now of $ 800 , 000 ,
so that the local share will be about $ 371 , 000 .
Schwan . I thought the grant was 75 % of the construction
cost - - not of the project cost .
Bower . No - - elibigle- costs . Some of the construction
costs are not eligible . For instance , the lateral pipes from the
main line to the right of way line are not eligible for sewer par -
ticipation and anything involved in laterals is not eligible .
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Schwan . The engineering which is included in the City
of Ithaca Stage I Study is eligible for financing , pretty close
to $ 100 , 000 , right ?
Dunlap . Yes . And engineering and so on in the project
itself is eligible .
Richardson : I am Stuart Richardson and I represent
Ecology and Environment , Inc . , the company which was hired to do
the local environmental impact assessment that was put on file two
weeks ago in the Town Hall . Our company also prepared and did the
archeological assessment and study approximately one week ag.o .
This has not come down to the Town Hall yet , but should be in the
Town Hall next Monday . So , the environmental assessment is in the
Town Hall right. now for - review and approximately next Monday the
archeological assessment should be in .
(Mr . Richardson now made a presentation using aerial map . )
Richardson . Initially the Supervisor went over the project
area and in front of you you all have a map delineating the three
major areas and one of the sub- sets of those .
Basically the project entails constructing 25 , 000 feet of
local sewer which is - 8 - inch force main and five pump stations . The
most complex area is the Forest Home area which we call the Northeast
Section . As you are well aware , . it is surrounded by Cornell Univer -
sity property . Development in this area is basically stopped and
we see no future development in this area . So , what we are talking
about is no secondary impacts , just sewering the existing facilities .
This is the most complex area to sewer mainly due to its topography ,
terrain , and the close proximity to housing , to the creek , and con -
necting up with the Cornell sewer system .
Right at this point / indicating/ is the Forest Home area
entailing three or four lift stations and one major pump station
to bring it up from the north bridge up into the force main uptinto
the Cornell system . This portion of the system primarily uses roads .
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We will just go right through it working from the east and going
north and west at the same time . We start up here / indicating/ .
This is the Cornell University golf course , down Warren and then
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it drops down and catches all the houses on Warren, Crest Lane ,
Halcyon to a point , and we are still up on the slope , and then it
drops down the slope , which is a very critical area - right down to
Forest Home . The other extension comes down- Forest Home , comes
into a pump station , and then it goes into an insulated aerial ( 7 )
crossing across the south crossing the upstream crossing of Fall
Creek down Warren to the pump station .
The West Section is sewered approximately in front of
the homes on Judd Falls Road , . heading south , west on McIntyre ,
and force maining back up across Forest Home down to the Byway ,
around the Byway , across the bridge at -another insulated crossing
to the pump station and then force mained up into the Cornell system ,
and eventually down into the City municipal system . All the ease -
ments for this portion of- the - right of . way have been granted . The
locations of the pump station . easements have . been granted and as ._
far as we know there are no local owners who have any serious objec -
tions to this . The most critical area is coming down from Warren
to the Forest Home , coming down approximately a 28 degree slope
through the back yards of people on Warren Road as well as the
people on Forest Home Drive . This area is being worked out with the
land owners . All the trees in this area have been protected and
everybody knows which trees are going to be removed . Throughout
this project area we don ' t see any trees greater than 10 inches to
be displaced or removed . There was some conflict here on Forest
Home Drive where the owners were worried about their foundations
and their stately trees in front of this , but this. has been worked
out and the line has been moved into the road right of way . This
is also the case ` on Judd Falls Road where originally the line went
in front of the houses , in front of the homeowners property . Now
it has been moved into the center of the road on Judd Falls and we
do not anticipate any impact there .
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The second area which you will find on your hand - out is
the Southeast Area. This entails sewering Slaterville Road and
Coddington Road . Originally two things were looked at here :
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dividually pumping a series of maybe two houses on one pump station
across the road to . a gravity main on the east side of Slaterville
. Road . This was dropped due to costs . and the compound problems of
having that many pumping - stations , So , a gravity line was placed
behind the houses down to Burns Road and then one pump station
across Slaterville Road and then back up into the City system .
Likewise on Coddington , these particular houses , in theory , were
decided to be sewered simply because this is where the gravity
break-off occurs . There are additional houses on . Coddington Road
which could be sewered at a later date . These would probably be
sewered to the south and then a gravity main placed back along the
railroad tracks . There are approximately eight houses on Coddington
that are in this gravity system . You can see why we are sewering
this area and why all of these transfers heading south would re -
quire sewering . The lot sizes in here / indicating/ are not especially
amenable to a good septic system in that they are close to the road
and very narrow . These appear to be one - third acre lots . The same
problem has also occured in the Forest Home area , where we are talk -
ing about houses built in Civil War days , and houses built between
1820 and 1900 , going back to the " privy " days . There has been evi -
dence on Fall Creek of leaking phosphates . In the 1972 studies
done at Cornell University with a direct tie -up of leachate coming
from domestic septic tanks right into Fall Creek . The fecal coli -
form counts do not indicate immediate condemnation . However , the
coliform counts have gone over the State standards , but any creek
in the State is doing the same thing at one time, or another .
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The third area is what we call the Southwest area . This.
entails Elm Street Extension , West Haven from the top of the hill
where it dog legs to the right , and the Coy Glen area and Floral
-- � Avenue . Elm Street is the area where there is a definite expansion
out on the West Hill of the valley . Right now the houses in here
/ indicating/ are on a steeply inclined valley sloping to the south -
east . All you have to - do is look at the drainage problems and you
can see that it is probably . impacting everybody down the slope .
Any further development on the hill and the whole drainage is visibly
from this point probably going to be impacted . There is no water
on the hill right now . It comes up here / indicating/ to a point
at Haller Boulevard and so the people residing on wells definitely
will receive benefits from the project . The Coy Glen area , again ,
is similar to Floral . This is an older area in comparison to Elm ,
exhibiting small lot sizes , shallow soils , and houses built back
in the early 1900 ' s , and having impermeable soils . The soil per -
meability problem is no.t so - much surface permeability , but the
underlying high ground water table .: In the archeological study
we conducted last week .we were drilling in water a lot of the time .
In the septic systems , basically at this time we are not getting
free flows . The archeological study has been basically conducted .
First it entails a literature search . We are looking at historical
buildings , anything that has historical significance , and then sub -
surface investigation of digging pits along the prospective routes .
Since this would involve removal of houses or other impacts, this
was immediately eliminated . We did do a study to find what was
historically significant and the two areas that we felt . will be
impacted are the two bridges . We feel these have historical sig -
nificance in the Forest Home area . These are significant architec -
tural bridges which we do not see too much any more in this area .
The pipe lines will be hung on them and we don ' t see any structural
integrity being . wasted from the bridges . The sub - surface investiga -
tions were conducted with a hand auger , an 18 - inch auger , and these
were conducted at approximately 250 feet on center , even in the back
yards of the houses on Slaterville Road and basically nothing was
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found from these investigations . Some bricks were found in the .
Forest Home area but no foundations or anything left from the old
mills in the Forest Home area were discovered . Some pieces of
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bone chips were found , I believe , in the Slaterville Road area but
these were identified as animal and not man .
That ' s basically it . If there are any questions .
Schwan . If I could interject one thing in addition to
what has been said here , it should-be.- noted that since we proposed
this project in 1972 or - 1973 , there have been temporary fix -up per -
mits issued by the Health Department to a large number of homes in
the project area who already had septic problems and they are on
permits allowing them to be fixed up until the sewers went in .
One of the requirements of this grant was . that the housing in the
area proposed to be sewered had to be prior to 1972 and Larry
( Fabbroni ) did a break-down of the housing and , interestingly enough ,
the majority of the houses . have been built prior to 1960 and a lot
of them prior to 1900 . So , it is safe to say we are . talking about
sewering areas which are quite . old and , , therefore , probably have a
lot of problems because of-- age . The other thing would be , as those
of you who live there are aware , before we proposed this project ,
we mailed a letter to each person living in the area we proposed
to sewer with a post - card - which was stamped and self - addressed back
to the Town . We explained the cost -of water and sewer to each of
them on their individual frontage based on our benefit roll assess -
ment formula and asked them to return the card and check the appro -
p riate boxes with water yes " , sewer " yes " , " no " , no "
,
as the case may be , and the only areas we then proceeded to designate
as the areas to be sewered were the ones where we received over 50 %
response , .indicating that they were interested in something , and
the ones we are talking about here were over 65 % to 70 % in the
affirmative for sewers .
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Mahr . You have given us a detailed study . I don ' t
know about these things . My question is : Who gets this ? What
is the summary of the study ? What was it for , who gets it , who
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will assess it , who will read it , and who will act on it , and then ,
if so , what is your conclusion ? Do the benefits outweigh the bad
things ?
Schwan . All of this relates to the construction grant
which we are hopeful of obtaining from DEC through EPA funding .
This goes to DEC , who - have to approve it . Then it goes to the
EPA , and the Federal government will have to approve it .
Mahr . Why does it go to DEC? What do they want to hear ?
What are the conditions which will govern ?
Strobel . This .. is under the terms of the national . environ -
mental policy pertaining to licensing or Federal funding expended ,
which has to include an environmental assessment - of the probable
impact both beneficial and adverse . of the project on the environment .
The mechanism is through New York State DEC and on this summary
sheet we have presented an overall summary of the impact of the
which are included in the report .
project/ Essentially we see it having a short term impact involv -
ing the construction , local impact , some short term turbidity ,
restoration plans and right of way easements obtained by the Town .
The overall improvement anticipated for areas with bad soil con -
ditions and failing systems will be an overall benefit which will
outweigh the short term costs .
Schwan . The grant is a situation that developed last year
where the State had $ 1 . 1 billion left over Federal funds . This
is the first time there has been any money available for collector
sewers . There has always been money available for sewage treatment
plants and interceptors , but nothing for collector systems such as
this . They were given a time table by the Federal government .
What it basically says is they will have granted and approved
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$ 1 . 1 billion by September 30th of this current year or the money .
goes back to Washington . Right now it is a New York State allocation ;
if they can process enough applications , they will keep it all in the
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State .
Berkey . How many additional units will be brought into
the sewer total as a result of the project .
Schwan . About 300 .
Bower . 200 .
Schwan . I guess that ' s right - - 2000
Berke What , is the total number of sewer units in the
Town without this project?
Schwan . About 4 , 000 -.
Berkey . How much revenue sharing money do you plan to
put in ? I notice from what you said before that the local cost
is $ 371 , 000 . How are we going to pay this - - over a 30 -year basis ?
Schwan . On the basis of bonds selling today , I would not
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recommend the 30 -year bond issue . You would get a better interest
rate on 20 years . We could bond for 5 . 6 % or 5 . 7 % interest for 20
yearsf right now , from all indications
Berkey . How much , revenue sharing money will we put in
each year ,. to make up that difference ?
Schwan . I can ' t answer on that basis . If you want to
look at the breakdown prepared for the Town Board about � two' months
ago , it shows the exact amount of surplus . being generated by the
existing units and that surplus increases every year as we continue
to pay off principal and interest on our existing bonded indebtedness .
Berkey . Well. , what ' s a ball -park figure - - $ 100 , 000 ? or
$ 150 , 000 ?
Schwan . I figured it out - - without allowing for any grant
at all , my " guesstimate " was it would take $ 250 , 000 of revenue shar -
ing to balance the budget through 1988 . After that the system would
carry itself . In this case , we are not talking about bonding $ 970 , 000 .
so
Berke . You are telling me that the money , the revenue
sharing money for the next four years has both been authorized
and appropriated ?
Schwan . The certainty , I would say , of four more years
of revenue sharing is as good as the notice we received five years .
ago that we were going to get five years , and I got a letter from
Matt - McHugh saying that the Town of Ithaca ' s revenue sharing for
the years 1978 , 1979 , 1980 , - and 1981 is the following , and he
gave me numbers of dollars per year .
Berkey . I think that ' s authorized amounts rather than
appropriated amounts because I think the Federal budget is
appropriated on an annual basis .
Dunlap . In answer to that ; PL92 - 500 which we are talking
- - - about indirectly here tonight was both authorized and appropriated
for the three _year period .
Berkey . Good , I ' m glad to hear that because otherwise
if it wasn ' t-, and -if that should not come through for some reason ,
we would . have a crisis .
Schwan . On that basis , I would agree with you , but when
I have been told we are going to get $ 323 , 000 , I believe them .
Berkey . So , then , we are committing over the next four
years approximately one _ third of our revenue sharing money for
this ?
Schwan . Yes , and the only reason we can commit revenue
sharing to this project is because we dissolved our districts
and made water and sewer a Town-wide function . If we were still
under the old district concept , revenue sharing could not be used
for that purpose .
Berkey . Thank you .
Schwan . Anybody else ? This is a public hearing . We
would like to have your input for or against , or answer any
questions you may have .
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Cook . On this map here in the planning for this sewer.
project , the biggest area on West Hill is developable in this
area south of Elm Street and above Coy Glen Road and the rest
is taken up with cow barns and gravel pits , etc . . In the pro -
vision for water and sewer , primarily sewer , , have you considered
that this area is very steep with drainage both into Coy Glen
and down into the valley . Is there provision being. made in the
planning for development of that area ? It is being held now for .
development . It is 50 - odd acres . The rest over here on the
other side and past the cemetery is not a problem . But a lot
of housing could suddenly pop up in this developable area .
Schwan . Are' you thinking in terms of the size of the
main ?
Cook . Yes .
Schwan . It will be an 8 - inch main and the slope would
appear to handle it .
Fabbroni . It . is designed according to the Town Master
Plan to . serve the whole drainage area .
Cook . Well , that ' s different .
Schwan . I don ' t think you will see - much development
until somebody puts water up on Coy Glen .
Cook . This is another thing . City water won ' t even
go in our cellar . Everybody has pumps on the end of the line .
Schwan . When we did the survey that was one of the
things that showed up , where people voted for sewer on Elm Street
they did not vote for water , and on West Haven ' Road it was NO
to both of them , and , you see , the idea of the water was that
Of we were to try to water West Hill more than it is the idea
. would be to Well ,- you know where the Hospital standpipe is .
Well , between the standpipe and the Hospital there is a 10 - inch
main . We could come back down Trumansburg Road to Bundy Road
with _ a 12 - inch main , up Bundy , then across the end of West Haven ,
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down West Haven and back down to the foot of Coy Glen . And
that would have watered West Hill , but we got nothing but " noes "
on Route 96 on the uphill side , on the Bundy Road and on the West
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Haven Road .
As part of this project , in order to get the water main
out of the way down on Floral Avenue , we are going to run a new
8 - inch main from the City line up to the foot of Glenside which
should increase the volume of the . flow there , but it is not going
to help the pressure a bit .
Cook . Well , I haven ' t heard much against this project .
Schwan . The interesting thing about this project is
that - we are talking about the three oldest areas in the Town of
Ithaca - - Forest ' Home ; Glenside , and Elm Street . This is probably
the oldest housing in the Town ., and yet they are the last ones
to see any sewer .
MacNeil . It ' s nice to see you are putting a water main
to the foot of Glenside . What are the chances of the people
living on Glenside getting rid of the iron pipe and putting in
new copper ?
Schwan . We recorded on a tax map the results of the
post - card survey in your area . We put the " yeses " in red and
the " noes " in in purple . I think in your area of Glenside
specifically there are two " noes " . The rest is solid red " yeses " .
But we do understand your problem .
Cook . I might add one other thing - - about . the main
going up Glenside . The only house on the south side of Glenside
that ' s got easements to all the houses on Coy Glen Road , because
you have to have easements to everybody ' s back yard to get the
water from Glenside over to Coy Glen Road , which has 14 to 16
houses .
Schwan . If we could ever get it up on the hill on
West Haven Road , and we could supply adequate pressure down
below , we would come down Coy Glen and hook up with this new
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main at the corner , but we have got to get some people on West
Haven Road and other places to say they want water .
MacNeil . Are you saying that if you put a new water
main to the foot of Glenside , the individual property owners
will pay for supplying copper pipe to replace the old black pipe ?
Schwan . Town policy as it relates to water mains which
the Town either acquires because of a district or which the Town
has dissolved is that we own the main and the service to the
corporation cock at the property line : That ' s ours . From the
shut- off valve at the edge of the right - of -way to the house belongs
to the property owner .
MacNeil . . You will put the new water main up Glenside ?
Schwan . No , we are not going to put a new one up Glenside ,
not- as part of this project : - We4are going to run it -from the
City line up Floral Avenue, - to the corner of Coy Glen and Floral
Avenue , that ' s all , which will give you a new 8 - inch supply for
the one that comes up to Glenside .
MacNeil. If we have a new . pipe up Glenside , if we are
talking Glenside Road , which is not very - far , we would amortize
the cost to the people .
Schwan . We could get an . estimate on it . The trouble
with just putting that piece in now is that it isn ' t going to
do you any . good in terms of any more pressure . It might give you
more volume , but it will not improve your pressure a bit . Your
pressure relates to the head of water in the City of Ithaca where
the water comes from , plus that awful long run on Floral Avenue
in the City from the Octopus all the way out .
MacNeil . We had one recent experience where a gentlemen
broke his water pipe with a bulldozer , and put in new copper , and
his volume did increase measureably . We are interested in that
piece of line .
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Schwan . I would say if your services date back to
the thirties when Glenside was developed there is no question
but what you have corroded pipes . And another thing that ' s in -
teresting is that if they are galvanized they tend to pick up
any impurities and they create bumps inside the pipe which then
creates turbulence in the water and cuts down your flow remarkably .
In fact , the best pipe , while you can ' t use it for water service ,
is plastic , because of its smooth wall , but copper approaches
plastic in terms of the low turbulence within the pipe .
Loucks . On your post - card survey , I ' m sure Forest Home
was all " red " / indicating affirmative desire for the sewers /
Schwan . To be honest with you , Forest Home was not
polled . I had already been to your Civic Association meeting ,
and knew the sentiment . I didn ' t have to convince anybody .
Loucks . The surface water and ground contamination is
not only surface water in Fall Creek , but surface water from the
roads and sidewalks . Furthermore , there is road damage because
of drainage on the road , so we are waiting patiently . We are in
support of the project . When will you know if you will get the
Federal money ?
Schwan . When we get through with these .hearings and
get the papers to Albany we should know by the end of April whether
the time table they gave us up there will produce a grant . The
only problem with the grant is we cannot bid the project until the
Federal government has officially notified us that we have received
a grant , which means. September 30th , so that we would then put
it out to bids , but you won ' t see much construction this year .
It puts us back one year because of the grant time table they have .
In other words , what they told us , - in essence , was they will not
grant any money to a project already under construction . So you
can ' t bid it until they make the grant .
Mahr . What happens if you don ' t get the grant ?
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Schwan . My recommendation is to go on ahead with it
and use all the revenue sharing money , if necessary , to build the
sewer . I have already told that to the Town Board and broke it
down so they could see what it would do . I think it is a very
viable and a very honest use of revenue sharing .
Mahr . It ' s - better than buying a Town Hall .
Schwan . We . will know by the end of April if the time
table will produce a grant .
Loucks . If you don ' .t get the money - we - could put it out
to bids sooner .
Schwan : We could put it out to bids after public hear -
ings on the use of revenue sharing money , yes . That would be
the alternative .
Berkey : Everything , though , indicates , as far as we know ,
the
. grant is going , assuming everything works out .
Schwan . Yes . At the eligibility meeting in Albany they
went through the plans , gave us a project number , and told us how
to go - ahead with the rest of it . We had fine support from Congress -
man Matt McHugh , Jean Angell , and Assemblyman Gary Lee . I would
say it looks definitely favorable .
Mahr . I would like to make ' a suggestion . Is it possible
once a year to hold a public hearing on how the Town Board intends
to spend revenue - sharing money for that particular year ? I under -
stand there is no legal obligation , but I think it would be an act
of good faith .
Schwan . In the new revenue sharing law there is a require -
ment of two hearings .
Mahr . Oh , that is required now . Because previously it
wasn ' t . I never heard anything discussed in the budget with respect
to revenue sharing .
Schwan . We had a public hearing on it .
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Mahr . No , - no * I am not talking about that . I am talking
about when you discuss the budget . It is very hard to keep these
numbers all together and to know . The best time would be . at the
time you have the annual budget meeting , because that ' s when you
make the decision anyway . That would be a very good time . Maybe
not even a public hearing , just to notify the public at that time
how the monies are going to be allocated .
Schwan . When revenue sharing was new we really did not
have it in the budget . Now it is a page in the budget . We added
another page this year which is sales tax which says what the Town
sales tax dollars do for you in the Town of Ithaca . So , it is in
there . And we can indicate - - I concur - with . your suggestion - -
where we have held hearings and 'have obligated the money , what the
money in there is going to be used for .
Anyone else ? If not , we will close the public hearings
on the Facility Plan and the Environmental Impact Assessment for
the 5 - area sewer project .
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ELEMENTS OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY
OF ITHACA AND THE TOWN OF ITHACA FOR
SEWAGE TREATMENT AND . RELATED SERVICES
Mr . Fabbroni distributed draft of Elements of Agreement
between the City of Ithaca and the Town of Ithaca for Sewage Treat -
-" ment and Related Services .
There was long discussionl . of this document , particularly
Paragraph I . ( Intent ) . It appeared the Board would like to have
the word " thereafter " deleted . Mr . Fabbroni agreed this would be
desirable but it was not likely he City would agree to such dele -
tion . Mr . Fabbroni felt that thi!! s is the best agreement which can
be reached at this time ; that there are sufficient safeguards writ -
ten into the remainder of the document to protect the Town for the
long - term future _. It was established that these elements of agree -
ment are not the agreement ; thatlthe attorneys for the City and Town
will put it in legalistic terms . But these elements of agreement
will be operative until the lawyers have finalized the legal language .
Mr . Fabbroni suggested that the last sentence in the para -
graph of intent might tend to negate the effect of the word " there -
after " . There - was not general agreement that this was so . Council -
woman Valentino indicated she had reservations about the paragraph
o intent , that the Town should make it clear to the City that the
Town ' s long - run position is that there should be joint ownership of
the system .
Mr . Fabbroni pointed out that there is clear reference to
the cost studies in the Federal program ; that this agreement calls
for unequal user rates . On the other hand , the EPA program calls
for equal rates to all customers .
Councilman Powers inquired if the City considered this an
interim agreement in the same way it appears the Town does . Mr .
Fabbroni said there is a basic difference in philosophy between
the City and Town . The City would like to operate as a utility
owner and offer to connect whatever amounts of sewage the Town
wishes to the City system and , further , they will provide for ex -
pansion as needed . Councilwoman ^Valentino pointed out that that
philosophy has failed with respec't to the water contract . Council -
man Powers did not feel the last sentence in the paragraph of intent
negates the effect of the word " thereafter " or the City would not
have accepted that wording of the 11 paragraph . They could have worded
it so this arrangement is pertinent only until such time as the re -
suits of the cost studies are available . Mr . Fabbroni noted that
the proposed agreement is written'' in the only way that both the City
and Town will agree to at this point . Councilwoman Valentino . did
not agree that this is the best that can be done . Mr . Fabbroni said
that when the City insisted upon 'ithe 20 - year term , with 5 - year re -
newals , he and Councilman Desch and Supervisor Schwan had attempted ,
to put as much into the agreement''' as possible to soften the effect
of these provisions , citing the sentence , " It is recognized that in
connection with preparation of the Facility Plan under Federal man -
date , there are studies being made of the actual costs of owning and
operating the sewage treatment plant and that long range negotiations
relating to the same costs will require an expanded or new contract
which may change the terms of this contract . " Supervisor Schwan said
the City has agreed to this wording and the BPW of the City will con -
sider it March 9th .
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19 -
The consensus . of the Board was that every effort should
be made to remove the word " thereafter " in the paragraph of intent .
Further , that a provision for 90 days ' notice of a change in rate
structure should be included . With these understandings , the Board
acted as follows :
Motion by Supervisor Schwan , seconded by Councilman McElwee ,
RESOLVED , that this " Town Board hereby approves the Elements of
an Agreement between the City of Ithaca and the Town of Ithaca
for Sewage Treatment and Related Services , copy of which is appended
to these minutes .
Raffensperger , Aye , McElwee , Aye ; Powers ., Aye ; Valentino ,
Aye ; Schwan , Aye . Nay - none .
The Motion was thereupon duly carried .
LEARNING WEB
Motion by Councilwoman Valentino , seconded by Councilwoman Raffens -
perger ,
RESOLVED , that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor
to execute agreement with the Learning Web and to also execute
the New York State Application for State Aid in the amount of
$ 2 , 400 . 00 for the year 1977 .
Schwan , Aye , McElwee , '. Aye ; Powers , Aye , Raffensperger , Aye ,
Valentino , Aye . Nay - none .
The Motion was thereupon duly carried .
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was duly adjourned. to 12 : 00 o ' clock noon on
March 14 , 1977 :
�w
Edw L . Bergen
Town Clerk
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