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Home My WebLink About2003-04-02TS 4 -2 -03 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETWG April 2, 2003 Board Members Present: Supv Mark Varvayanis, Cl Stephen Stelick, Jr., Cl Christopher Michaels Absent: Cl Charles Hatfield, Cl Deborah Grantham Other Elected Officials: Bambi L. Hollenbeck, Town Clerk Jack Bush, Highway Superintendent Other Town Staff: Mahlon R. Perkins, Town Attorney Henry Slater, Zoning Office David Putnam (TG Millers), Town Engineer Supv Varvayanis called the meeting to order at 7:25 p.m. Joseph Calarco of AFLAC gave a presentation briefly describing the programs they would like to offer employees of the Town. They currently work with several other municipalities including the Village of Waterloo, Town of Seneca Falls, Cayuga County, Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse. These programs do not compete with other benefits and everyone pays the same premium. Employees may choose which program or programs they wish to participate in, it can be a pre -tax benefit and payment can be made through payroll deduction. Their plans are not offset by health insurance and there is no coordination of benefits. The Board thanked Mr Calarco for the information and Supv Varvayanis told him he would check to see if there was any interest and if so, he would contact him. Martha Robertson, County Board Representative, reported Hanshaw Road from Sapsucker Woods to Lower Creek Road will be rebuilt and they hope to start next week. Work will continue on Irish Settlement through the summer. Maintenance is planned for Etna Road, West Dryden Road, and a pipe under Etna Lane needs to be replaced. They are still working on the Red Mill Bridge issue and Pete Messmer hopes to redo the bridge as a locally funded project and switch the federal htnding to another project. The Public Works Committee asked him to look at all the bridge projects in the County see where the money could best be used. M Robertson reported that the Human Services Coalition have embarked on a two year project and are surveying employers, faith communities, community leaders, service providers and households (by random phone survey). They are asking what kinds of services the public thinks are needed, what is perceived as the level of services that exists, and the level of service that is needed. There is a program now tilled Volunteer Tompkins, funded by Cornell and Ithaca College. They are setting up a database for volunteering. People can sign up on the internet to volunteer and list the kind of interests they have and time commitment they can give. Organizations can sign up and described the volunteers they need, or a particular event can ask for volunteers. Page l of 3 r� V TB 4 -2-03 M Robertson said that the governor's budget shifts a great deal of costs on to localities, school districts, towns and counties. The County is looking at some very serious budget cuts, and some cuts from the State may be retroactive to JanuaU 1. Cl Michaels told M Robertson that representatives of the County had told the Town Board that they would be presenting a petition for annexation in connection with the relocation of the DOT facility, together with a plan and proposal for public comment, and that to date neither has been received. Supv Varvayanis said he had spoken with Senator Seward who says he is pretty sure he can reallocate the money next year, and the DOT attorneys had some difficulties with the way some documents were written and they are being redone. Ed Marx has said he will come back to the Town Board as soon as possible. Dave Putnam presented the board with information regarding the estimated cost of some methods of providing water to the area north of the Village. Hooking into the Village water supply is economically the best solution ($45,000), followed by hooking into the George Junior Republic wells ($742,000) and finally drilling a new groundwater well. ($856,000). It: is estimated the area to be served would contain 180 households and 20 businesses, a cost of about $4,000 per unit if the most expensive was chosen. If the George Junior option was chosen the well head protection for existing wells is not quite as onerous. The benefit to George .Junior is that they would not have to run the water system and they would gain a new water tank. It is however dependent on the well yield. Added to the last two options would be the cost of hiring someone to operate the water system. Supv Varvayanis said that Bolton Point may be willing to run it under a contract. Cl Michaels said there seemed to be general interest in implementing a flexible spending program and wondered what the Board needed to do. Atty Perkins said there are restrictions on whether the Town can do that under General Municipal Law or Town Law, but he will check into it. Supv Varvayanis said the Town had received information from the Association of Towns and from Tim Joseph asking for resolutions on "operation pushback". The board declined to take action. Supv Varvayanis said there had been a meeting with the CAC and the Dryden bake Park Committee. They discussed what they would like to see happen at the park, but there were some questions about what could be done under the current use agreement. He has contacted the Department of Environmental Conservation and expects to hear back .from them later this week. They may have a problem with dredging the lake deeper, but if they will allow it there is a company that will dredge it for free if they can take the topsoil to sell. Atty Perkins suggested the Town could offer to buy the lake from the State. It was stated at the meeting that if the lake was two feet deeper there would be less trouble with the milfoil. Ron Flynn asked about the status of the fire contract with Neptune Hose. Supv Varvayanis said that as far as he knew, they had a signed contract.and the Town was waiting for them to sign it. The .Eire Department would like the contract amended with respect to the audits. Supv Varvayanis explained that it was the Town's position that the contract did not need to be amended because the Town was paying for the audits it had contracted for. Atty Perkins said that it: was the Town's intention not to amend the contract. Supv Varvayanis explained that the contract says if the Town requests an audit, the Fire Department will pay for it, and the Town is saying they are not going to request one. Outside of the contract the Town is going to have an audit done, without waiving any rights, and the Town will pay for the audit. Cl Michaels said he could see the issue from both sides. The Town is reluctant to change language that's been in the contract for a long time; the Town is paying for the audit., ® and the only scenario he could see of the Town wanting to come back and do that is that if an Page 2 of 3) TB 4 -2-03 auditor that the Town hired looked at a department's books and discovered a serious problem, IM the Town would ask for a further audit. But that seems remote. Cl Michaels he's not sure what risk the Departments are concerned about, especially since the Town has passed a resolution to hire and pay the auditors. Atty Perkins explained that the Town is only asking for cooperation from the Departments for the auditors. The Town has the contract with the auditors, the Town is not changing the contract with the Departments and is not giving up any rights that it has had in the past. This audit is beyond the scope of the contract. R Flynn said Neptune feels there is a. conflict between Sections 14 and 18 of the contract. Cl Stelick explained that the Town has hired the accountant to do the audits for all the departments, there will be no expense to the Departments. R Flynn will take the Town's comments back and ask their Chairman of the Board to consult with Supv Varvayanis and Atty Perkins. Supv Varvayanis explained that most of his budget work is done in August, and he received requests from Varna in October for additional funds. We seem to be arguing about what happened last year, while August is getting close again and there needs to be some forward progress. On motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, r61)t j 14A& CA eex Bambi L. Hollenbeck Town Clerk Page 3 of 3