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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2015-04-27Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board Monday, April 27,2015 at 4:30 p.m. Minutes Board Members Present: Herb Engman, Supervisor; Bill Goodman, Deputy Town Supervisor; Pat Leary, Tee-Ann Hunter, Eric Levine, Rich DePaolo, and Rod Howe Staff Present: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning, Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Judy Drake, Director of Human Resources; Paulette Terwilliger, Town Clerk; and Jim Weber, Highway Superintendent Absent: Mike Solvig, Director of Finance 1. Gail to Order - Meeting was called to order at 4:32 p.m. 2. Town Historian Discussion - David George, Assistant Town Historian who is interested in being appointed as the Town Historian. Mr. George gave a summary of his background and interests as well as projects he has worked on with Ms. Johnson-Kelly in the past. Mr. George studied Archeology as an undergraduate and did a project with the Ithaca City High School to research the town's history and produce a lobby display and brochure. He also attends the municipal historian meetings monthly to see what others are doing and has been involved in joint projects with other municipal clerks. He was also involved in the Tutelo Park research and opening and he has been talking with Rod How in his new position as Director of the History Center about putting displays in the Town Hall Lobby. Mr. Howe added that the County's bicentennial is coming up and municipal historians will be heavily involved in that and Mr. George added that the Town's Bicentennial is also coming up in 2021. Mr. Howe added that he would also like to see the town newsletter to also have a small article on the history of the town in each publication. TB Resolution 2015- 045: Appointment of Town Historian - David George Whereas there is a vacancy in the position of Town Historian and David George is currently the Associate Town Historian and has expressed interest in being appointed, and Whereas Mr. George attended the Town Board meeting on April 27, 2015 to answer any questions and meet the Board, now therefore be it Resolved that the Town Board hereby appoints David George as Town Historian for a term beginning May 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015 Moved by: Eric Levine Seconded by: Rod Howe Vote: Ayes - Levine, Howe, DePaolo, Hunter, Leary, Goodman and Engman Added item - Appointment to the Ethics Board 1 IP ag e TB Resolution 2015- 046: Appointment of Ethics Board Member - Teresa Bulatek Whereas there is a vacancy on the Ethics Board and Teresa Buiatek has expressed interest in being appointed, and Whereas Ms. Leary and Ms. Terwilliger interviewed her on April 21, 2015 and recommend her appointment, now therefore be it Resoived that the Town Board hereby appoints Teresa Wagner Buiatek to the Ethics Board for a term beginning April 27, 2015 through December 31, 2019 Moved by: Pat Leary Seconded by: Eric Levine Vote: Ayes - Levine, Howe, DePaolo, Hunter, Leary, Goodman and Engman 3. Review Draft Agenda for Regular Meeting - Mr. Goodman reminded the board that the County has asked for a resolution in support for the development and submission of a singie countywide government efficiency plan and establishing the County as Lead Agency in the deveiopment of the pian. Approved for the agenda. Added Item - Approval of and Authorization for a Revocabie License for removal of illegal fill impacting the East Hill Recreation Way. Mr. Weber gave an overview and noted that there will be more details added and the authorization would be subject to Ms. Brock and his approval. TB Resolution No. 2015-047; Approval of and Authorization to Sign a Revocable License between Cornell Universitv. David Church and the Town of Ithaca for remediation of fill deposit affecting the South Hill Recreation Wav Whereas Cornell University granted the Town of Ithaca a Revocable License in 1978 to the abandoned Lehigh Valiey Raiiroad right-of-way for the purpose of a public bikeway now referred to as the South Hill Recreation Way (Way), and Whereas David Church has deposited iarge amounts of soil and fill on adjoining properties which are adversely affecting the drainage onto the Way, and Whereas David Church has agreed to remove the fiil to prevent future detrimentai drainage issues, now therefore be it Resoived that the Town Board hereby approves the Revocable License, subject to the approval of the Attorney for the Town and the Highway Superintendent and authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign the License on behaif of the Town. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Bill Goodman Vote: Ayes - Howe, Goodman, Engman, Leary, Levine, DePaolo and Hunter 2 IPage 3. Municity Presentation - Mr. Bates and Ms. Kofoid gave a presentation of the Municity program showing the Board all the features and displaying the actual program on the large screen to show how it works. Ms. Carrier-Titti was also available to answer Board questions. The Board had questions on the costs or annual fees and whether the information will still be there if Municity is not in business. Ms. Carrier-Titti responded that it would always be accessible and the service contract is approximately $5,400 a year. The board was impressed with the capacity of the program and recognized that it will take a while to get all the information in there correctly. Ms. Kofoid added that incorrect information is being found in both town records and county records and reconciling them all is time consuming but once it's done, it's done and will save enormous time. 4. Discussion Items Payments to Community Groups Mr. Howe gave an overview by saying this came from the budget meetings last year where we were still debating to the end the contributions to community based organizations and an adhoc committee was formed to see if there was a better way to get the information together and begin discussions early enough to avoid that in the future. Mr. Howe thought the committee had gathered some information and they thought they could do a matrix to prioritize the contributions but that was harder than one would think and he felt that it comes down to a philosophical question but this should get the board talking about it now. Mr. Howe reviewed the handouts which listed the organizations, the contributions and the contribution as a percentage of the organization's overall budget as well as if they get contributions from other municipalities. The Board discussed the contributions in general and then specifically. Mr. DePaolo asked why the Community Science Institute isn't on here and Mr. Goodman thought it might be because we do not have a contractual relationship and it is paid for by water fees and it is not a direct service to residents. Mr. Engman added that a number of municipalities contribute to the Institute. Mr. DePaolo responded that it is still discretionary so it should be looked at too. Mr. Howe again stated that it comes down to a philosophical question; do we continue to support these programs or do we use this money to support some of our own programs. Mr. Levine added that the handouts are not recommendations but rather to start the conversation earlier in the budget process so the Budget Committee has a sense of the Board. Ms. Hunter asked the Board what they felt was the Town's responsibility for recreation services and she asked for an update on the City Parks contribution and discussions that were going to happen. Mr. Goodman responded that the contribution was cut by 25% and discounts valued at approximately $36K were given to Town residents. He added that there was an ad hoc committee on this contract and he, Mr. Levine and Mr. Solvig have met with some representatives from Common Council and the Youth Bureau and the City Comptroller to talk 3 I Page about the numbers and the need for other municipalities to contribute. The Mayor's Chief of Staff has started talking to the County and trying to set up a meeting but it hasn't happened yet. Ms. Hunter asked Mr. Howe if the committee had come up with any philosophical guidelines to start with and he said they didn't. He added that each organization did send in information on their budgets that could be sent out to the board. Mr. Goodman thought that it seems that Gadabout serves a lot of Town residents and they also get contributions from other municipalities and the one that he has more of an issue with is the contribution to the City for parks because they don't seem to be interested in saving money with fire services and we have our own parks and trails we spend money on instead of giving a gift to the city. He also thought many city residents use our parks and trails and they don't contribute to that. Mr. Engman added that we also pay the city a sidewalk and Stormwater fee and the question in his mind is should we be giving away this money when we don't have primary responsibility for the services and ou r amount is a infinitesimal amount of their budget; Gadabout is S1.5M and our contribution is $12K. He thought these are feel-good contributions and he would rather see us not make extra contributions for not extra services and would rather be taxed through the county. It is time to force the issue of the county taking some of this support over or they will have to absorb the loss. Mr. Howe stated he would be more comfortable if we could say we are not giving this money here, but here is where it is going, to build services for our own residents. Ms. Hunter stated that she thinks the parks are used a great deal by Town residents but that county should be involved in supporting them. She wanted to hear what the board was interested in providing to residents for recreation. She thought we should really try and get access to the college's facilities. She understood the point regarding the city but we do not provide recreational infrastructure anywhere unless you pay. Mr. Engman thought our parks and trails provide recreation and probably more city residents use our South Hill Recreation Way than town residents as well as other trails and we have reached the tipping point where we provide just as much service to the city for their residents as they do to us with their parks without any contribution from them. He also wants the county to live up to their responsibility and in particular they are the only entity large enough to even attempt to get any lake access. He has been working on getting a study done that would compare what Tompkins County supplies and/or supports compared to other counties and how those costs are spread out. That is ongoing and coming so there are still attempts being made. Mr. Goodman thought one of the reasons for bringing it to the study session was to get thoughts from all the board members and he asked those who haven't spoken yet to give their thoughts. 4 I P a g e Mr. DePaolo responded that it seems most of the money is involved in youth services and contracted for the next couple of years and specifically designed to serve town youth. We will have to think long and hard about what our priorities are and we finally have a system that is kind of working and we have added another municipality and we need to see how that goes. Mr. Engman added that those are not on this list because they are subcontracted out since we don't have the Youth Coordinator position anymore. Mr. DePaolo noted it because they are listed with the discretionary programs under consideration for reduction or elimination in the 2016 Budget. Mr. DePaolo added that he is less sympathetic to the city right now because they seem to expect that the town should be the green space for the city as they attempt to fit as many people and taxable housing in the smallest area possible. Ms. Leary stated that we do have an aging population in the town and that is why she supports Gadabout and we can support that percentage but she does like the idea of starting a fund for future sidewalks and parks. Mr. Goodman asked about the library and Ms. Hunter responded that she would cut the library because town residents pay for that through the county tax too and they are not open to volunteers which would save them money and they use our funds for a Sunday instead of looking at lesser used days and Mr. DePaolo responded that the library has become a safe place for youth to go after school until parents can get them. Mr. Howe said he is more supportive of them because other municipalities have smaller libraries and we do not. Discussion on pools and Ms. Drake noted that the high school has a pool and TC3 has public access to their pool. It was agreed that municipal pools are extremely expensive and they seem to be a money pit. This is the start of what will be an ongoing conversation about these payments prior to the budget discussions. Oversight of Rental Properties Mr. DePaolo reported that the ad hoc committee asked for legal opinions from Ms. Brock and there is not a lot of case law in New York dealing with owner-occupancy. Some of the case law seems to recognize the right of a municipality to use owner-occupancy requirements as a means of regulating rentals in some areas under the umbrella of zoning as long as the stated purpose is a government purpose. It becomes a question of how important the board feels this issue is and to what extent we want to go to create a mechanism by which the board has the authority to regulate property in this way. We have some areas in the town that are easily identifiable as areas that we might want to look at. 5 I P a g e Discussion followed and the focus of this exercise is to prevent historically single-family home neighborhoods from becoming non-owner occupied rental areas where owners have less of a stake in the upkeep and maintenance and operation of the property. Mr. Bates added that they did a quick search of 2-family homes and came up with 485 and of those, 282 of those, the address of the owner does not match the address of the property. Discussion followed on how our code allows accessory apartments that are supposed to be 50% of the main house and builders have been building larger and larger houses to allow for larger accessory apartments. There are state and town code violations as far as occupancy but they are hard to enforce and prove and take a lot of staff time. The concern about regulating to an extent that would prevent someone going on sabbatical or taking a new job where they rent their house for in the meantime would be prohibited. Mr. DePaolo stated that the Idea is that restrictions would be based on a petition from a certain percentage of owners in an area not just arbitrarily doing it. It is an interesting point because if you don't classify different renters into certain groups it can get tricky. Some municipalities in other states do specifically ban student rentals and those restrictions have survived court challenges but there are none in New York and that isn't necessarily what we want to do, but we want to mitigate some of the problems of landlords not maintaining to a certain standard and not informing their tenants about our codes. Mr. DePaolo thought there are certain areas in the town that are already far along in being areas of rental property markets and we may stipulate as a community that certain areas are already rental heavy and we may want to incentivize those. The transitional type neighborhoods that are close to these heavily rental areas should be protected or have some say in their neighborhood character. If there is a neighborhood where everyone wants to stay up late and party, so be it and the neighborhood near it wants to go to bed at 9pm then that should be allowed. The board was interested in continuing to look at this and see where it leads for options in maintaining the character of some neighborhoods while allowing other characteristics in other neighborhoods. Air B & B Meeting Mr. Bates reported that last fall he met with representatives to try and figure out a way to make it legal and allow some oversight. The State Attorney General has stated that they are illegal according to State Codes; it is either a B&B or a hotel/motel and this is neither. A registered BSiB has to be registered and follow certain rules and regulations and Air BStB has their own regulations to belong to their group but not state or local codes. He asked the representatives for information on how other states are regulating them and there are none in New York but they would get him examples of other states. Discussion followed with examples of lake front rentals as well as a person who was buying up adjoining properties and using them all as this type of rental. We get a lot of complaints from increased traffic, late night check-in associated noise, partying etc. If we know about it at a specific location and don't enforce it and something happens, we would be liable. They should 6 IPag e be held responsible for health and safety and It Isn't fair to the B&B's who are following the laws and paying applicable taxes and doing It legally. Air B&B wants to legitimize them and seems to want to work with municipalities In finding a way to make this work. Adhoc Committee for Website Redesign Mr. Goodman reported that this came out of the P&O Committee and our site is not ADA compatible and departmental staff want to Increase some of our capabilities and Ms. Carrler- Tltti looked at one vendor and the committee thought it would be good to have an ad hoc committee look at vendors and look at other websites and gather Information. 5. Committee Reports - Postponed to regular meeting 6. Consider Consent Agenda Items TB Resolution 2014 - 048; Adopt Consent Agenda Resolved, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby approves and/or adopts the following Consent Agenda Items: a. Approval of Town Board Meeting Minutes of April 13, 2015 b. Approval of Town of Ithaca Abstract Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Eric Levlne Vote: Ayes - Goodman, Howe, Hunter, Engman, Leary, DePaolo, and Levlne TB Resolution 2014 - 048a: Approval of Minutes of April 13,2015 Whereas, the draft Minutes of the April 13, 2015 meetings of the Town Board have been submitted for review and approval, now therefore be It Resolved, that the Town Board hereby approves the submitted minutes as the final minutes of the meeting April 13, 2015 of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca. TB Resolution No. 2015-048b: Town of Ithaca Abstract Whereas the following numbered vouchers have been presented to the Ithaca Town Board for approval of payment; and Whereas the said vouchers have been audited for payment by the said Town Board; now therefore be It Resolved that the governing Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of the said vouchers In total for the amounts Indicated. VOUCHER NOS. 421-502 7 I Page General Fund Town wide 24,123.90 General Fund Part Town 9,452.70 Highway Fund Part Town 9,817.66 Water Fund 18,939.38 Sewer Fund 13,232.50 Fire Protection Fund 264,792.00 Forest Home Lighting District 221.86 Glenside Lighting District 77.10 Renwick Heights Lighting District 96.55 Eastwood Commons Lighting District 192.19 Clover Lane Lighting District 23.09 Winner's Circle Lighting District 66.26 Burleigh Drive Lighting District 79.02 West Haven Road Lighting District 258.52 Coddington Road Lighting District 152.98 Trust and Agency 10,372.00 Debt Service 377.00 TOTAL 352,274.71 7. Board Comments, Officiars Reports and review of Correspondence - None Meeting was adjourned at 7:11 p.m. Submitted Paulette Terwilliger, Town Clerk 8 I Page