HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-24TB 4 -24 -00
• TOWN OF DRYDEN
TOWN BOARD MEETING
APRIL 24, 2000
Supv
Varvayanis called the
meeting
to order at 7:30
p.m. Board members and guests
participated
in pledge of allegiance
followed
by a moment of
silence.
Present: Supv Mark Varvayanis, Cl Ronald Beck, Cl Thomas Hatfield, Cl Deborah
Grantham, Attorney Mahlon R. Perkins. Absent: Cl Charles Hatfield
Atty Perkins distributed a memo regarding the proposal of Clough, Harbour &
Associates, LLP to provide additional work in connection with the SEQR process for Stephen
Lucente's Varna II project (copy attached, together with CHA's proposal).
Atty Perkins - You only have a proposal from Clough Harbour so we have no idea
whether or not what they are proposing to do and the projected cost are reasonable or not.
This is pointed out because the Town may be picking up a portion of the fees for Clough
Harbour. However they are familiar with the project and so have a leg up because they were
involved in the scoping process. Under the SEQR regs the project sponsor is only responsible
for a part of the fees and because this is a residential project the maximum we can charge back
is 2% of the cost of the land plus the site improvements. The only thing that isn't included in
that is the actual construction of the buildings. I tried to get ahold of Mr. Lucente's
representatives today to find out what the purchase price was and what the projected site
improvements were, but did not have any luck getting that information. In the early
application process he indicated it was a $8,000,000 project. We can work from that with kind
of a best guess and work backwards. Basically you get to charge the project sponsor for either
the review or the preparation of the draft and final environmental impact statements. If you
charge for the review, you can't charge for preparation, and vice -versa
In point two I set forth where I think you are going to want to charge him. More
expense in the Clough Harbour proposal is related to their review of the draft and the final
than the preparation and it looks like you can probably charge back about $8,500 of their total
fee, plus a proportionate of any meetings that related to the review. They have allowed three
meetings for about $11,000 all together, so if one of those meetings is related to the review of
the final or draft then a proportionate amount ought to be added to that $8,500. It should be
clear that the Town is going to be responsible in the first instance for the payment of Clough
Harbour's fees and then the project sponsor is billed by the Town. The fact that we don't have
another proposal to gauge it by means that we will have to take it on faith that these are
reasonable fees that they propose to charge and so forth.
I think that the time frames are fairly straight forward. They propose to charge $800.00
for keeping you apprized of what the time limits are and so forth. I don't really make any
recommendation with respect to that. I do want to add that I think it is important that we keep
in mind as we go along what those time limits are and more importantly, I think we should
build into any agreement with Clough Harbour that we get their work product sufficiently
ahead of time so that we have a chance to review it and are not having to sit here the night of
the public hearing and read it for the first time. There are some time frames that you will have
to deal with. I want to correct something I said the other night. We have 45 days from the date
he filed the draft EIS to determine whether or not it is suitable for public comment and review.
That is the first step and they have in their proposal said that it what they are going to do first.
They will give us their recommendation whether or not it meets the scoping docuaterrtS
requirements and the standards set forth in Article 617. That clock is running at this point. If
this was filed a week ago, we are down to 38 days. I would think you would want things riot
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days or so ahead of time so you would have a chance to look at them and be prepared to
comment on them. If the draft EIS is not ready for public comment because it does not meet
what you expected it would be based on the scoping document and the standards set forth in
Part 617 you have to give him a statement and tell him where it is deficient. Then he
resubmits it and there is no time on when he can resubmit it. Then you have 30 days from
when he resubmits it to determine whether it is suitable for public comment and that starts
your hearing process and so forth. That may be money well spent if CHA continues to be able
to adjust that time frame as we go along. That thing is not set in stone because there are some
things that may be done within certain periods of time. So you'll have to decide whether that is
money well spent.
The responsibility for the preparation of the final Environmental Impact Statement is
with the Town Board. You can hire Clough Harbour to do that, which is what I think you are
proposing to do, and I think that's a wise move. I'm a little confused about what they are
talking about under item 3(c) (3). They say "Upon receipt of the project sponsor's first draft of
the FEIS ". It will be your draft, not the project sponsor's draft. I think what they are intending
to say there, and it should be clarified, is upon receipt of the project sponsor's comments to the
first draft of the EIS, Clough Harbour will review those responses and summarize them and
finalize your EIS.
Other than that I think that the most important part that will help you here is if you set
in some time frames that you want to see things ahead of time, whatever is reasonable under
the circumstances and which will give you enough time to adequately review their comments.
Dave Putnam - The scope of the work is fairly covered and their fee schedule is what it
is. It's different than ours and probably different than somebody else's.
Atty Perkins (answering question from audience with respect to fee) - They are
proposing an estimated total fee of $18,400 with reimbursable expenses not to exceed $950.00.
This is their estimate and they will bill the Town on an hourly basis.
Cl Beck - They have a scope of services outlined here as to how many meetings they will
conduct, a review with comments to the board, a meeting with the board, etc. If it goes over
and above that, if it's more of a demand, it's billed hourly.
Atty Perkins - The whole thing is billed hourly. This is their best guess.
Cl C Hatfield - A best guess of human resources from their firm as far as what areas of
expertise and what the costs of professionals are. It's a cost plus, basically, approach for the
review.
Cl Beck - The hourly rate sheet is dated through March 31, 2000 and the contract they
ask us to sign was drawn up on January 21. Was that when we talked to them first about
doing the scoping document?
Atty Perkins - This is really kind of an addendum. It's bigger by several fold than the
original agreement of January 21. This is extra work which is contemplated by this agreement
here. Certainly we'd want some representation of how long those fees continue to be accurate.
We presume we're not talking about a lengthy process here, that they won't be changing their
fees.
C1Beck ' q�jo , but its already after the date on this rate sheet now, before we've even
rcess We need to note that.
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Cl T Hatfield - This thing (Draft EIS) is dated April 14. When did we actually get it?
When was it actually filed?
Supv Varvayanis - Monday, the 17th.
Cl T Hatfield - That's important because we have 45 days from that date to respond. If
we fail to meet that deadline, what happens?
Supv Varvayanis - It gets accepted.
Atty Perkins - I never anticipated that we wouldn't meet that deadline so I don't have a
good answer for you without checking.
Cl Grantham - It's accepted.
Cl T Hatfield - It looks to me like to
the scoping document and as Mahlon said
schedule of fees. They are proposing to do
out in this letter, Mahlon, do you feel what
above and beyond what they should be doi
a certain extent the die is cast. They got us through
they've got a leg up. They've got a professional
it on a cost basis. Other than the things you point
they are saying has to be done? They are not doing
ng?
Atty Perkins - I think Dave's in a position to comment on that more than I am, but it
would seem to me that this is what you want. You need experts to assist you in the review of
this draft environmental impact statement. You need someone to review the technical aspects
of it and so forth. They are probably as good as anyone to do it.
Dave Putnam - Dave Herrick and I spent quite a bit of time going over their proposal
• and what they are proposing to do meets the criteria of the law. It would probably be an
acceptable procedure.
Cl Beck - I
assume we need
to modify some
of the
language here and specifically about
the payment. You
point out that is
not the way it's
going
happen.
Atty Perkins - Right.
Cl Beck - So that would have to be modified.
Atty Perkins - I think it can be done by a simple letter.
Cl Beck - What does the board think would be an appropriate lead time?
Cl T Hatfield - they are going to give us a report back on the completeness of this as a
draft EIS. We'll have to plow through to understand it. Is that going to be document that is
somewhat a summary of this? Is this going to continue to get bigger? We asked about a time
frame. You've got to read it and understand it. You've got to critically review.
Cl Grantham - What we are doing in this step is accepting the draft EIS for public
comment and comment by involved and interested parties. So they are going to make a
recommendation. Is it complete and suitable for review? And then once the Board accepts it
they will review it for technical content and give us that review. As well as we'll be accepting
public comment at the same time, I guess.
Cl Beck - Now our action to accept this is number one, or does it include number two
• also, Mahlon?
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Cl Grantham - Action to accept the draft environmental impact statement?
Cl Beck - They are going to review the document and then provide a written
recommendation regarding acceptance to the Board. Then we act on that, right?
Atty Perkins - That's correct.
Cl Beck - And so then it is accepted as suitable. But that's not saying anything about
technical comments or critical review, is that correct?
Cl Grantham
- As soon as we
accept
it then it is open for comment by the public and
that's when they are
saying they will
also
do
the
technical
review.
Cl Beck - And then we have a chance to comment on the technical part of it.
Atty Perkins - When you've accepted it, then it is adequate for public review. That's the
first statement. You issue what's called a Notice of Completion. That starts a public comment
period. That public comment period has to be at least 30 days. Right now what they are going
to do is take a look at what has been submitted, compare that to the expectations of the
scoping document to see if it complies.
Cl Beck - So when the public is reviewing it they will also be doing a technical review.
B Hollenbeck - Just so I'm clear, we don't release this now?
Atty Perkins - No, we haven't accepted it now.
D Weinstein - It's not available for the public to look at now?
Atty Perkins - Right. When the Board has accepted it, there will be copies available and
a Notice of Completion will be published in the Environmental Notice Bulletin, published in the
paper, it will be posted here at the Town Hall. I don't know whether it is something we can get
on the web or not. We could probably get an executive summary or something like that. Then
you get your crack at it.
D Weinstein - Once the Town has accepted it as legitimate for review and the
engineering firm starts reviewing it, suppose they at that point see big, technical flaws in it?
Do they go back to the sponsor and say you should rewrite this section of it or is the sponsor
out of it at that point?
Atty Perkins - The purpose of determinirig whether or not it is adequate for public
review is hopefully to not have to go back and do that. After it is accepted as adequate for
public comment, CHA and their staff will critically review the contents of it and they are going
to provide the Town with written comments on what is there. All of this, of course, culminates
in a final environmental impact statement and findings and then based on all of that the Board
is eventually going to have to make a decision.
D Weinstein - So they are looking at that technical detail during this first 45 days. They
are just not making a.,.
Atty Perkins - They are not doing a thorough check on the numbers. They are going to
look to find out whether or not based on the scoping document they have submitted the kinds
of studies or reports or comments that were called for there. There are certain technical
requirements in the regs that have to be met. Then there are the more substantive things that lie
the scoping document does.
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• Supv Varvayanis - After this is accepted we have to release it for public comment.
Atty Perkins - That's correct.
Supv Varvayanis - But before it's accepted, it's still an official document that we are
keeping here. Couldn't someone FOIL it if they wanted to?
Atty Perkins - I don't think so. We can check on that, but it hasn't been accepted yet by
the Town. The whole purpose of this review right now in determining whether it is adequate or
not is to save everybody an awful lot of time and aggravation because you don't know if it is
something you're going to review yet, or have them review.
Cl T Hatfield - They might reject it out of hand.
Supv Varvayanis - I realize that, but I thought if a citizen FOILed it, that they'd be
entitled.
Atty Perkins - To tell you the truth Mark, I don't know. I'd be glad to check.
B Hollenbeck - I'll call Bob Freeman in the morning.
Supv Varvayanis - Yeah, I'm sure that's something that's standard knowledge over
there.
Cl T Hatfield - It sounds like we should entertain a motion to authorize the Town
• Supervisor to enter into this contract with Clough, Harbour Associates.
RESOLUTION # 138 - AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO SIGN CONTRACT WITH
CLOUGH, HARBOUR AND ASSOCIATES, LLP
Cl T Hatfield offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor to sign a contract
for engineering services in connection with the Varna II project with Clough, Harbour and
Associates, LLP, said contract to be acceptable to the Town's legal counsel, to commence work
in accordance with the proposal received in reviewing the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement to determine whether or not it is acceptable to the board, and ask that they return it
by May 22, 2000 and further that any material requiring action by the Board be received at
least ten days prior to the time action should be taken.
2nd Cl Beck
Roll Call Vote Cl Beck Yes
Cl T Hatfield Yes
Supv Varvayanis Yes
Cl Grantham Yes
Cl Grantham - We can schedule a meeting for Wednesday, May 31. That gives us a
week and a couple days to look at it and if we have questions for Clough Harbour, we can
check with them. We need to change a couple of things in here.
• Cl T Hatfield - It has to be subject to Mahlon's approval before Mark executes it.
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Atty
Perkins - I think just be
calling
them I can get them to send us a new one with
changes. I
think that's the simplest
way to
do that. 0
Cl Beck - Now this document is not just for review of this. So there are other dates and
meetings and things. I think we should also incorporate in that language that any material
that is to be reviewed by the Board should be in our hands at least ten days prior to any
meeting or action required by the Board because they are going to give us something and they
are going to come down and review it with us. We've got to have some time to look at this stuff.
So it's not just this first period. There will be several other times when we will be getting input
back from them and need to review it. It's the draft and the substantive comments and the
final. We have to review it with them and comment. There's a whole series of different things
we have to follow, so if we don't get this information a sufficient time before we won't have a
chance to familiarize ourselves. Somebody will have to write that up. Do we need to transfer
any money for this?
Atty Perkins - They'll have to voucher every month, just like any vendor.
Cl T Hatfield - We don't need to take any action until we get billed.
Supv Varvayanis - At the April 18 Tompkins County Municipal Officials Association
meeting we were discussing zoning regulations. I told them about our Section 500(7) which
says this ordinance, and that means all our zoning, does not apply to any land now owned by
or subsequently acquired by any governmental entity or educational institution chartered by
the State of New York which lands are used for government or educational purposes. They
couldn't believe that we were giving Cornell a buy on all our zoning. I was wondering how the
town would feel about just striking this section of the zoning law.
Cl T Hatfield - Is that the intent of that Mahlon? O
Atty Perkins - That's what it says, yeah.
Cl T Hatfield - That's Cornell, the high school, the elementary school, TC3.
Cl Beck - Do we have the prerogative to make them comply?
Atty Perkins - In certain areas, yes.
Supv Varvayanis - We can't make them follow the State laws. We can at least make
them follow our local zoning regulations.
Cl T
Hatfield - When it
comes to the tower legislation
and some of the other legislation,
would that
exempt them from
our tower regulations that we've
adopted.
Atty Perkins - There is a balancing of interests test on stuff like that. Without giving
you the semester course, what it means for example is that a County doesn't necessarily have a
carte blanche to put towers wherever they want. I don't think that issue is finally settled on
whether they have to comply with our local tower law.
Cl Grantham - But with this provision in our zoning law, we've given them that carte blanche.
Atty Perkins - That's right.
Cl Grantham - And so their authority under State law has some limitations, but we've
removed all the limitations.
Atty Perkins - The original drafters of the zoning ordinance did this.
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iCl Beck - Any idea what was going on then?
Atty Perkins - It was way before my time. You could ask some of the people that were
around then, but I don't know what the thinking was on that particular section of the
ordinance.
Supv Varvayanis - Other town officials were falling out of their chairs when I told them
we did that.
Cl Beck - So that's not consistent with other towns.
Supv Varvayanis - No.
Cl T Hatfield - It's something that ought to be looked at and make the appropriate
adjustments. That's a zoning law so we can modify it and adopt it.
Supv Varvayanis - Why don't we just strike it?
Cl Beck - It might need some legal research. What do you think Mahlon, is it something
we can act on unilaterally without further ...
Supv Varvayanis - We'd have to have a public hearing and all that.
Atty Perkins - I'm not sure whether that was included there originally because they
were trying to negotiate to get TC3 to build here and that was kind of carrot, or not. I just
• don't know. I can ask around.
Cl T Hatfield - Why don't we ask Mahlon to do a little bit of background and see what
was going on then. It certainly doesn't fit today's environment.
Cl Beck - It's probably not the
best
first
act of intermunicipal cooperation and we just
formed the committee. But I agree; I
don't
like
it.
Cl T Hatfield - Doug Smith (Dryden Ambulance) is here tonight. He couldn't make it
because his son was sick the other day. I just wonder if we can ask him to bring forward at
least the one issue which is the mileage that we asked him to do some research on at the
March meeting. I think we can take some action on that and get it going forward if everybody
is in agreement.
Doug Smith - (Distributed memo to Board, attached) Basically, I got ahold of four area
services, two commercial services and two volunteer /paid services (which have formed a
district) and found out what they were charging per patient per call and how much they were
getting for mileage. I found out that we were grossly underneath those people. I can't give you
the exact figures, but can give you the averages. We can't go by exactly what they are getting
because that is considered price - fixing. These are the averages. My recommendation is to go
with what the mileage is for the average right now and we wouldn't have to change it for a
minimum of a couple of years.
Cl T Hatfield - Are you recommending that we institute a $5.44 a mile charge?
Doug Smith - $5.44 per loaded mile.
• Cl T Hatfield - Which is reimbursable by third -party payers.
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D Smith - Right. Medicare and Medicaid and the insurance companies themselves O
(Blue Cross, Aetna) .
Cl T Hatfield - And you've checked the software we've got and we can do this?
D Smith - Right. We have a contract with the software manufacturer to deal with any
problems we encounter.
Cl T Hatfield - On the report BLS is basic life support and ALS is advanced life support
and right now that is the average cost per patient for these services. How does that compare to
what we are charging?
D Smith - We're charging $250 for a BLS call and $300 for an ALS call. That's going to
be a little bit more complicated when we go to raise our prices because we have to notify
Medicare and Medicaid because that affects the going rate of all services. We have to sign a
contract at what we're charging and Medicare figures what the service is worth and gives us
80% of what they figure the service is worth after that. Right now we're getting less than what
everybody else is from Medicare on ALS because we are so much lower than everybody else is.
They are just accepting our $300 and saying okay we'll give you 80% of $300 and not adjusting
that at all.
Cl Grantham - So you wouldn't have to have the mileage approved.
D Smith - No. That's indisputable.
Cl Grantham - And the mileage is in addition to what you charge for a call?
D Smith - Correct O
Cl Grantham - And we're not doing that now.
D Smith - No.
Cl T Hatfield - When we first set the district up the decision was made not to charge
mileage, just to charge the basic and advanced. We've been going through a learning curve the
last few years and making some pretty steady progress on it and it's time to go back and revisit
some of these issues. This is really the first of several recommendations that Doug will be
bringing to the board over the next few months as these issues are looked at and brought
forward. But this one I think we should authorize and take whatever action we need to take to
authorize the district to begin to charge and collect the mileage. You didn't expand on it, but I
assume it's going to be standard mileage.
D Smith - No, we've got to keep track of the actual mileage. When we originally looked
into it, they said that we could give from areas (like from the Village of Dryden or Varna to each
hospital). Now we've got to go from actual scene to hospital. They (Medicaid) are not allowing
an area mileage. We are all set up for it down at the fire station. They've got little scratch pads
that the driver's are being educated on. When they start from the scene they write down the
mileage and when they get to the hospital the crew member in charge writes down the
odometer reading before they leave the hospital.
Supv Varvayanis - Mahlon, we are almost breaking even on the ambulance now. If we
suddenly boost our income by close to 25 %, we have to still spend all the money within that
district correct? How easy will it be to find ways for us to spend money?
O
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D Smith - It will be real easy. Along with researching what people are charging, I was
also asking what they are paying their people and what's expected of their people.
Cl T Hatfield -Those are issues that he was asked to take a look at by the committee.
We've been having some trouble keeping paramedics. There was an issue that I think this
board should be aware of that's come up recently in a service issue that may in fact indicate
that we've got some issues in some of our outlying areas that we need to take a look at with
respect to how we currently provide service in Varna or Etna for example. We've also got I
think an issue that was looked at a year ago on the possibility of a third full time paramedic as
opposed to a lot of part timers. That's one of the reasons why I think we need to do this now.
The part timers that are needed now to provide the service evenings and weekends are
exceeding the line items budgeted for the payroll (we're probably looking at September or
October). That's being looked at by the ambulance committee and the fire department. I don't
think we'll have an issue when we get all done with that. I'm hoping that we can continue to
provide the service with the folks that are doing it and not have to go back to the taxpayers.
When we started the taxpayer was subsidizing this 100% and we've been able to bring that
down to where the users are basically paying for the service. I think we need to be proactive as
opposed to reactive on this one. Let's get this one put in place and then look at some of the
other issues.
Cl Beck - The comment that I have to make as chair of the McLean Fire District, those
residents of the Town of Dryden who are in the McLean Fire District (which includes parts of
the Town of Dryden and Town of Groton) are being charged an ambulance tax even though we
have a fire tax in McLean that supplies a good share of our own emergency medical service.
We don't have transport capability. But maybe we could have a brief comment on how we
resolve that issue, because we're getting some flack about paying twice for the services.
• D Smith - What the ambulance tax is paying for is the ambulance itself, to make sure
that ambulance is on the road. It's not paying for the staff. The staffing is pretty much taken
care of on a user basis. You're going to have an ambulance coming one way or another. The
tax itself is saying yes, we are providing an ambulance for you. One way or another you are
going to have an ambulance show up. Hopefully every time you call it is going to be a Dryden
ambulance. Realistically, if we've got three calls going on at once and you're the fourth call,
you'll get a mutual aid ambulance and you are not going to get billed for that.
Cl Beck - If we had our own ambulance in McLean and could supply all our own needs
then it would be more of a double charge than it is now. But I know there is some concern
there.
D Smith - Some people feel they are paying tax for this and then we turn around and
bill them. What we are doing is trying to get the money from the insurance companies.
Because what you are paying to your health insurance company, part of your contract with
them is for ambulance service, for ambulance transport. What's happened for years is that the
insurance companies are taking that money and putting it in their pocket. They are
distributing it to shareholders because nobody charges except the commercial services. The
people in McLean, Dryden, the rural areas that don't have commercial services were the ones
that were really getting hurt by that. You had to pay for it just like the people that live in the
city.
Cl T Hatfield - When we first started before we started the third party billing process
through the district, everybody in this town was paying twice, either directly or indirectly
through your employer provided insurance coverage whether you paid for it or your employer
paid for it as a benefit, and you were paying for it as a portion of your property tax.
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D Smith - Part of the money that we get from billing and from the taxes goes back to the
rescue squads in their budgets. It doesn't only go to Dryden Ambulance, it goes to all the o
rescue squads that are responding.
Cl T Hatfield - Mahlon, is there any reason why we can't implement a billing change by
a resolution?
Atty Perkins - No.
Cl Grantham - Is all of this billable back to any insurance company, like Blue Cross
Blue Shield, Medicare, Medicaid?
D Smith - Yes.
Cl Grantham - So we are not placing a burden the patient.
D Smith - No.
RESOLUTION #139 - AUTHORIZE AMBULANCE DISTRICT TO BILL FOR MILEAGE
Cl T Hatfield offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Ambulance District to
commence charging for mileage on a loaded basis at the rate of $5.44 per loaded mile, effective
at midnight April 24, 2000,
2nd Supv Varvayanis
Roll Call Vote Cl Beck Yes is
Cl T Hatfield Yes
Supv Varvayanis Yes
Cl Grantham Yes
Cl T Hatfield
- Doug, could
you address some
of the service issues and give
us a general
background that we
are becoming
more aware of.
D Smith - When I first started here a little over four years ago, we office as here and
we'd get an ambulance call for anyplace in town, Varna, McLean, Freeville, etc, before I could
get down to Eckerd's dispatch was announcing that the rescue squad was in route. Yesterday
we had a call for a man that was down (original call for altered level of consciousness). We
started responding and as we are dispatch comes on and says I've got a second call back from
the residents, it doesn't sound good. They toned the rescue squad out again. We get two thirds
of the way there and they talk to the rescue truck and the rescue truck is awaiting a crew,
they've only got one person there. Four years ago that rescue truck would have been gone long
before we got out the door because the paid staff is here to assist the volunteer staff. If the
volunteer staff comes from home, we stay back so we are not out the door and leaving the
volunteer staff standing there, especially on weekends and holidays. We got to the scene and
there was no rescue there. Dispatch comes on and says to the rescue truck Dryden
Ambulance is there; you might as well head over and see if you can give them a hand. It was a
full arrest. I came back out to the truck and called for Dryden to send a second rig out there to
give us a hand because there was two of us on the truck, myself and an EMT who is a
paramedic student who was driving. You need to have help. When the rescue truck showed up
I told him we needed help doing CPR and he didn't know how. The way the system is set up in
Tompkins County is that we have a tiered response. You have fire department rescue first
responders, and you have your ALS ambulance come in and then it's to the emergency room
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physician. Each tier gets a higher level of care. The first responder is supposed to get their
is first and start care, doing the basic life support. If there is a need for help they are there to
give you a hand.
The trend has gotten more and more that the rescue squads are starting to slack off
and I don't know the reason for it, whether it's lack of manpower. Dryden Ambulance went
through it five years ago and that's why we started the Ambulance District. Maybe it's
something we have to look at and talk with the rescue squads and find out if they want us to
put a paid person there. If you get out toward Varna it can be an 18- minute trip on good
roads. We have to decide what kind of service we need to provide.
Cl T Hatfield - I asked Doug to address this tonight because in talking with him and
others involved in the day to day provision of care and operation of the ambulance there is a
suspicion that there may be a similar phenomenon starting to occur as happened with the
Dryden Ambulance five years ago. We need some how to find a mechanism here that can allow
us or more importantly, maybe the volunteer community together with us, to evaluate the total
structure. At one time we discussed the possibility of getting an equipped fly car and having it
stationed in one or other spots depending on how it was put together to get response time into
an acceptable parameter. It's time to start thinking about that again and possibly look at a
way to evaluate these needs and take a look at the whole issue. We need to deliver service that
we hope we don't need, but want if we do need it.
D Smith - We wanted the Board to be aware of the situation. When I started here Varna
had two or three advance life support providers. It was nothing to get on the scene and have
all the work done. They are now down to one that's capable of operating right now because of
educational requirements. They've got another paramedic there, but with her education
schedule she hasn't been able to keep up with the requirements and be able to practice.
Supv Varvayanis - Does anyone else have anything they'd like to bring up?
Cl Grantham - The Fall Creek Watershed Committee is sponsoring are agricultural
practices, protect water quality workshop at 4H Acres April 25, 2000. Craig Schutt of the Soil
& Water Conservation District will be doing the presentation. There were some people in the
Freeville Area who were interested in doing some cleanup along side the roads and the streams
and were wondering if the Town could pick up the dumping costs if they did the cleanup. They
may have done this cleanup this weekend. I'd like to be able to tell them that if they did
cleanup in Dryden that we'd pick up the dumping cost. They'll take it to the landfill if we pay
the fees. I guess we could reimburse them for the fees, otherwise we'd have to make some
arrangement with the County for them to bill us. .
Supv Varvayanis - I already called the County and got a number. I was going to
personally reimburse. We could do the same thing for the Town. They get a number and when
they're down they say bill it to whatever number and the County could bill us.
Cl T Hatfield - They'd have to call and let us know they're doing the work. I think its
great and in the public interest to have the clean up, but we need to know what they're doing.
It seems there's an opportunity there for a lot of mischief if we don't keep a handle on it.
Cl Grantham - I think if it's being sponsored by an organization like the Fall Creek
Watershed Committee, not an individual.
RESOLUTION # 140 - AUTHORIZE SUPERVISOR TO RESPOND TO CLEANUP
REIMBURSEMENT REQUESTS
isCl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
Page 11 of 12
TB 4 -24 -00
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor to allow
reimbursement to certain organizations for cleanup efforts upon his receipt of correspondence
requesting such reimbursement, or to allow organizations to use the Town's landfill permit.
2nd Cl Beck
Roll Call Vote Cl Beck Yes
Cl T Hatfield Yes
Supv Varvayanis Yes
Cl Grantham Yes
B Hollenbeck - Has received a request to put the Planning Board minutes and Zoning
Board of Appeals minutes on the web and will do so unless the Board feels otherwise. The
Board agreed that those should be on the web.
Cl Grantham - Would like an announcement made that the deadline for the master plan
survey has been extended. Town Clerk will ask ZO Slater to send that announcement to the
media originally notified.
On motion of Cl Grantham, seconded by Cl T Hatfield, and unanimously approved the
Board moved to executive session at 8:30 p.m. to discuss the discipline of a specific individual.
No action was taken. The Board moved to open session at 8:47 p.m.
Jack Bush - I've written you a letter about possibly hiring part time people and the
truth of the matter the people that I wanted to hire have already been hired. I didn't realize
that the money they get paid in the winter time is in a sense no different than the summer time
so I don't have to go through that process because the money is already there to pay them. I
do feel at this time that I need to hire a full time person and again, the money is already in the
budget and we don't have to move any funds. We need to talk to with Joe Steflick and make
sure that there is not going to be a union issue here. It would be a MEO position in the
Highway Department. The other issue is a full time secretary. Again, I didn't realize that the
money the temp is getting isn't coming from the same line item in the budget. So I actually
already have the money to hire a full time person to get through this year.
Cl T Hatfield - Do it according to the policy so we don't get caught crossways in the
union negotiations. You'll get ahold of Joe Steflick and make sure we do it the right way.
J Bush - You gave me permission to sell the 1988 Dodge pickup. When I mentioned it
before I thought I would wait until I got the next pickup and I don't see any reason to wait. I
went ahead and put the truck out front and got four bids on it. I'm going to go ahead and sell
the truck. The highest bid was $700. The appraisal from Teitsworth Auctioneer Service was
$700 to $800. So we've saved the advertisement and gotten a fair price.
On motion of Cl Beck, seconded by Cl Grantham and unanimously carried, the meeting
was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bambi L. Hollenbeck
Town Clerk
Page 12 of 12
ri
MAHLONR. PERKINS, A C.
Attorneys and Counsellors at Law
20 West Main Street
P.O. Box 27
Dryden, New York 13053
MAHLON R. PERKINS TELEPHONE
(607) 844 -9111
li•1N►r[� ►It lu
TO: Town Board, Town of Dryden
FROM: Mahlon R. Perkins, Town Attorney
DATE: April 24, 2000
RE: Clough, Harbour & Associates, L.L.P. Letter Proposal of March 23, 2000
In a letter proposal dated March 23, 2000, Clough Harbour & Associates, L.L.P. proposed to provide
• extra work in connection with the SEQR process for the Varna II Project. This memo summarizes
my comments regarding that proposal:
1. You have only obtained one proposal for the scope of work to be conducted. Without
another proposal, you have no way of measuring whether or not the schedule of professional fees and
rates are reasonable.
2. The project sponsor is only responsible for a portion of the CHA fees billed to the
Town. Based on the January 21, 2000 agreement and the letter proposal of March 23, 2000, the
most the Town can hope to charge back to the project sponsor is approximately $8,500.00. Under
the SEQR regulations, the Town may not charge for both review and preparation of the draft and/or
final EIS. More expense is related to the review of the draft and final EIS than the preparation and,
accordingly, from the March 23, 2000 proposal, it appears that maximum charge back will be
$8,500.00 plus a proportion of the meeting charges that relate to the review.
There is no provision in the regulations and there is no local law or ordinance which requires
a project sponsor to escrow the estimated amount of the fees with the Town Clerk. Payment should
be made to CHA only upon a properly submitted and audited vouches consistent with Town policy
for paying all vendors.
3. The SEQR time frames are relatively straight forward and I make no recommendation
with respect to the scope of services included under II(A). However, emphasis should be placed -.on
• the timely receipt by the Town of the CHA work product. You should allow adequate time for
• receipt of the work product by the Town, distribution to the Town Board and others, and an
opportunity to review the CHA work product prior to any public meeting or SEQR deadline.
4. Under III(C)(3), the proposal seems to misunderstand the role of the lead agency. The
preparation of the final EIS is the responsibility of the lead agency. The final EIS will be prepared
for the Town by CHA. It is not up to the project sponsor to prepare the final EIS. This item probably
is intended to refer to receipt of the project sponsor's responses to the first draft of the FEIS rather
than the project sponsor's preparation of an FEIS. This item should be clarified.
5. I suggest that you build in time frames for the receipt of CHA work product several
days prior to any scheduled meetings, public hearings or SEQR deadlines.
- CLOUGHs HARBOUR
& ASSOCIATES LLP
ENGINEERS, SURVEYORS, PLANNERS
6. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
THE GALLERIES OF SYRACUSE
441 SOUTH SALINA STREET
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 13202 -2424
TEL: 315-471-3920 • FAX: 315-471-3569
www.cloughharbour.com
March 23, 2000
Mr. Mark Varvayanis, Supervisor
Town of Dryden
65 East Main Street
Dryden, NY 13053 -9505
RE: Varna II Apartment Complex- SEQR Technical Review
CHA File Number 9066 — Extra Work Authorization #1
Dear Mr. Varvayanis:
:�
MA R 2 7 20��.
DRYDEN TOWS! SUPER�lISOR
As discussed, Clough, Harbour and Associates LLP (CHA) is pleased to provide you with this description
of proposed extra services associated with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) process
in connection with a 170 unit apartment complex proposed in the Hamlet of Varna. CHA will serve as the
Town of Dryden's (Town's) technical advisor on SEQR- related matters and will review and prepare
certain SEQR - related reports and documentation.
I. Understanding of the Project
The Town of Dryden will serve as the Lead Agency for this project. At this time there are several other
Involved Agencies (NYS Department of Transportation, NYS Department of Environmental
Conservation, Tompkins County Planning Department, and the Dryden Town Board). A positive
declaration has been issued for the proposed action. The Town conducted a public scoping session
January 2000. The Final Scoping Document has been issued. The project sponsor will prepare the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Town will retain legal counsel to assist with the filing and
other legal/proceduralladministrative matters.
We understand that the project sponsor will be responsible for CHA's professional fees. We also
understand that the project sponsor will place our fees in escrow with the Town for disbursement on a
monthly basis by the Town Clerk. The fee estimates are intended to identify an order of a magnitude of
anticipated fees associated with these technical reviews. If at any time it appears that the estimated fee
will not be sufficient, CHA will notify the Lead Agency immediately.
II. Scope of Services
CHA will complete the following additional services:
A. Oversight of the SEQR Process
CHA will provide technical input to the Town on properly conducting the SEQR process and the
appropriate scheduling of SEQR milestones. CHA will prepare and periodically update a schedule
outlining significant milestones and submissions. CHA will coordinate these activities with the Town's
attorney and with the project sponsor.
•
C� Oftes Throughout the �'CL4&m Unified sweS
Mr. Mark Varyanis, Supervisor
Town of Dryden
B. Review of DEIS
1)
Upon the completion and submission of the DEIS by the project sponsor, CHA will conduct two levels of
review of the document:
1. CHA will call upon senior staff in the appropriate disciplines (currently assumed to be Civil
Engineering, Environmental and Earth Sciences, Planning, and Traffic) to review the document
and determine whether the DEIS is complete and suitable for review by the public and the
involved/interested agencies. CHA will use the final Scoping Document and the standards found
in 6 NYCRR Part 617 for the purposes of making this determination.
Product: CHA will provide a written recommendation regarding acceptance to the Town
Board.
2. Once accepted as complete, the senior CHA staff described above will critically review the
contents of the DEIS and will prepare technical comments regarding the description of
environmental impacts; the analytical methods described and implemented; mitigation measures
proposed; and other issues as they relate to the project.
Product: CHA will provide a written summary of these comments to the lead agency by the
end of the comment period for subsequent delivery to the project sponsor.
C. Preparation of FEIS
CHA will conduct the following services:
1. Review all of the comments offered during the public review period and summarize the substantive
issues to be addressed in the FEIS. This will include comments from all sources.
Product: CHA will provide a list of substantive comments to the Town.
2. Review the list of substantive comments with the Town Board during a single working session.
Product: CHA will finalize the list of substantive comments and will forward the list to the Town
and to the project sponsor.
Ouv,
3. Upon receipt of the project sponsor's first draft of the FEIS, review the responses to substantive
comments provided by the project sponsor.
4. Supplement the project sponsor's response(s) and prepare a final draft of the FEIS for review by the
Town Board. Conduct a single working session with the Town Board to refine and finalize the
contents of the FEIS.
Product: CHA will prepare a camera -ready original of the FEIS on behalf of the Town. The Town
will complete reproduction and distribution of the FEIS.
D. Preparation of the Statement of Findings
CHA will provide the following services:
CLOUGH, HARBOUR
�� s ASSOCIATES LL S)
ENGINEERS. SURVEYORS. PLANNERS
6 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Mr. Mark Varyanis, Supervisor 3
Town of Dryden
0 1. CHA will prepare a draft Statement of Findings based upon input from the involved agencies.
2. CHA will conduct a single working session with the Town Board to review and discuss the draft
Statement of Findings.
3. Based upon input provided by the Town Board at the aforementioned meeting, we will revise and
prepare a camera -ready original of the Statement of Findings on behalf of the Town. The Town will
complete reproduction and distribution of the Statement of Findings.
E. Meetings
In addition to the meetings specifically discussed in Tasks "A" through "D ", above, a number of meetings
with iinvolved/interested agencies, the project sponsor, the Town Board, and the public will be required.
We anticipate that no more than three (3) of these additional meetings will be held.
III. Schedule
As noted above, CHA will prepare and update a schedule of activities that must take place during the
SEQR process. We will regularly update the Town on upcoming milestones and will coordinate with the
Town Attorney to assist the Town in meeting mandated SEQR timeframes.
IV. Schedule of Professional Fees
CHA will provide the services described above on an hourly basis based upon our current charge -out rate
schedule (attached). We anticipate our level of effort on the tasks described in our Scope of Services to
be as follows:
A11. meetings (and their associated expenses) beyond those specifically mentioned in the Scope of
Services will be billed separately based upon actual time spent per the attached rate schedule.
The fee estimates, above, do not include reimbursable expenses that will be billed in accordance with the
following schedule. We anticipate that reimbursable expenses will not exceed $950.00:
1.
Task
Billing Tvpe
Fee Estimate
A.
Oversight of SEQR Process
Hourly
$ 800.00
B.
Review of DEIS
Hourly
89500.00
C.
Preparation of FEIS
Hourly
47500.00
E.
Preparation of Statement of Findings
Hourly
31500.00
F.
Meetings (3)
Hourly
11100600
Total $18,400.00
A11. meetings (and their associated expenses) beyond those specifically mentioned in the Scope of
Services will be billed separately based upon actual time spent per the attached rate schedule.
The fee estimates, above, do not include reimbursable expenses that will be billed in accordance with the
following schedule. We anticipate that reimbursable expenses will not exceed $950.00:
1.
Reproduction
@
Cost
2.
Mileage
$0.325/mile
3.
Meal and Lodging
@
Cost
4.
Photos- Film and Prints
@
Cost
5.
Delivery and Overnight Postage
@
Cost
�. CLOUGH, HARBOUR
J( S ASSOCIATES LLP
ENGINEERS. SURVEYORS. PLANNERS
6 I NOSG PE ARCHITECTS
i
Mr. Mark Varyanis, Supervisor 4
Town of Dryden
• If you agree with the extra work as described above, please sign the Extra Work Authorization Form,
attached, and return the original copy along with a copy of this letter to our office.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Attachments
Sincerely,
CLOUGH, HARBOUR, & ASSOCIATES LLP
ENGINEERS, SURVEYORS, PLANNERS
& LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Frank M. Mento, P.E.
Partner
James R. Kent, AICP
Principal Planner
CLOUGH, HARBOUR
A s ASSOCIATES LLP
ENGINEERS. SURVEYORS. PLANNERS
6 LANOSCAPE ARCHITECTS
Mr. Mark Varyanis, Supervisor
Town of Dryden
CLOUGH, HARBOUR & ASSOCIATES LLP
January 1, 2000 through March 31, 2000
HOURLY CHARGE -OUT RATE SCHEDULE
Partner
$195.00
Principal Engineer
118.00
Senior Engineer
95.00
Project Engineer
75.00
Principal Planner
105.00
Senior Planner
82.00
Planner
57.00
Principal Scientist
118.00
Project Scientist
76,00
Scientist 111
60.00
Technical Typist
38.00
t
CLOUGH, HARBOUR
LCH A 6 ASSOCIATES LLP
ENGINEERS, SURVEYORS, PLANNERS
6 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
5