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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 Page 1 of 12 r f TB 4 -24 -00 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. a e2og12 Yg • TB 4 -24-00 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? Page 3 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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. Page 4 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 • 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. Page 5 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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. Page 6 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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. Page 7 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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 Page 8 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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. Page 9 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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 Page 10 of 12 TB 4 -24 -00 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