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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-02-12148 2 -12 -04 • TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING FEBRUARY 12, 2004 Present: Sumo Stevcn Trumbull, Cl Stephen Stelick, Jr., Cl Martin Christofferson, Cl Christopher Michaels, CI Michael .Hattery Elected Officials: Bambi L. Hollenbeck Town Clcrk Jack Bush, Highway Superintendent Other Town Staff: Mahlon R. Perkins, Town Altorney Henry Slater, Zoning Officer Jennifer Glaab, Recreation Coordinator Debbie Gross, Environmental Planner Dave Putnam, TG Millers, Engineering 1 CITIZENS PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Robin Seeley, 332 Hurd Road, thanked Jennifer Glaab for the new town website saying that it looked great and information was easy to find. She asked about the SEQR done in executive session at the January meeting and asked why it was done that way. Supv Trumbull said they had been investigating possibly purchasing the golf course. Arty Perkins said the SEQR was connected with the potential acquisition of a piece of real property. The action was to authorize the Supervisor to negotiate. R Seeley asked if there would be another SEQR when ' the property was actually acquired and Supv Trumbull said there would. Peggy Walbridge, 123 Hunt Hill Road, said the residents of Huns: Hill Road are eager to work with the Highway Superintendent: on the plans for the road. They had been told the engineering report: was not yet ready and she is asking what the status is. She is also concerned that at the last meeting there seemed to be a rush to get the meeting over fast rather than have citizen input. She is concerned that the eagerness to be efficient doesn't include citizens. Supv Trumbull said there is a half hour at the beginning for public input and at the end of the meeting if people would like to talk they could do that. D Putnam said the plans for Hunt Hill Road are not any farther along and he is going to talk with the people who are doing the field investigation then he can get back to her. Cl Christofferson asked what the issues are with Hunt Hill Road. P Walbridge said there has been about four years of discussion on the road and fixing it. Citizens met with Jack Bush in 1999 and asked that they be part of the discussion. She said there has been a fly over and supposedly the road is going to be worked on quite considerably, as is Genung, and they want to see what the plan is and give input into it. There may be issues that they think are perhaps not a goad way to rebuild the road. Jim Crawford said he just became aware of a proposed amendment to a County local law and a public hearing that is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17. The legislation has to do with protecting individuals from discrimination because of gender identity and expression and he read some excerpts from the proposal. He asked the Town Board if they were aware of this pending legislation (they were not)and asked the County representatives present, Martha Robertson and Michael Lane, (a) what need gives rise to this kind of legislation, (b) what it might cost to enforce, (c) any liability this might open the County up to and therefore Page 1 of 14 T13 2 -12-04 additional costs. He said that with issues such as affordable housing that are being addressed, and an eye toward accommodating people who might want to live here and give them reasons to move here as opposed to other competing communities, and asked whether legislation like this might put Dryden and Tompkins County in the news in a little bit different light to an extent that this is radical legislation. He asked the board to ask the County Representatives whether a delay might be in order so that the public could be aware of this and know the merits. He asked they not vote on the same night as the public hearing. Matty Hamel, member of the Dryden Recreation Commission, distributed the list of the Commission's goals for 2004 -2005 and invited members to attend their monthly meetings held the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Dryden School District offices. Their goals are basically to assist the Recreation Coordinator, Jennifer Glaab, as she tries to improve the quality of life through recreation. They are trying to increase the visibility of her offerings. Bernie Thoma, of Thomas Associates, gave a presentation of what his company could offer the Town of Dryden in the way of grant assistance. The company is in Cortland, New York, and works as consultants for municipalities mainly in the areas of housing, community development and economic development. They do grant preparation and management, mostly for municipalities, but also for some not - for -profit and for - profit organizations. Since 1992 they have helped their clicnt~s collect over $47,000,000 in grants. They work mainly with agencies of the State and Federal governments for funding sources, to fund things such as water, sewer, sidewalks, roads, etc. They also do community development type projects for parks, skateboard parks, records managements, police and fire departments. They are now working on the Tioghnioga Trail in Cortland County and done projects along the canal in Waterloo in Seneca County. The company offers a grant writing service and have been doing that since 1980 for municipalities. They do not guarantee they will be able to obtain a grant for a community. For a monthly retainer of $100 (one year minimum) they will do a needs assessment and seek out grants accordingly. Since 2000 they have received about 3.5 million dollars, excluding housing and community development-type programs. They presently have 14 grant service writing customers including the Town of Locke, Village of Homer, Town of Cortlandville, Village of Dryden and others. Once under retainer, they charge no fee for writing and submitting an application, though they do charge for reimbursable costs such as copies, phone calls, postage. If the grant is awarded the company earns a fee based on a percentage of the grant. For a grant of $30,000 or less they charge a 101/o fee, $30,000 to $100,000 earns a 7.5 %, $100,000 to $400,000 is 5 %, and anything larger is negotiated. In some cases the fee can be paid from the grant funds. Some grants require matching funds and the company informs the municipality of that. If there is no grant award, there is no fee charged. If they earn over $5,000 in fees in one year, the retainer is cut in half. Community development block grants are not done under this program, and a fee is charged for that service. It is not: done on a contingency basis, though there is a reduced cost to grant writing service customers. Mr Thoma said they would like to work with the Town of Dryden. Cl Hattery said it was a worthwhile service for the Village of Dryden. The company secured funding for water service repairs and just received a technical assistance grant. They have been working with the Village for two and a half years. Mr Thoma left some information for the board and encouraged them to contact him with any questions they have. PUBLIC HEARING TIME WARNER CABLE FRANCHISE Page 2 of 14 TB 2 =12 -04 Supv Trumbull opened the public hearing at 7:30 p.m. and said that the public was welcome to ask questions, as well as the board, after the presentation. Tom Doheney, General Manager of Time Warner Cable in Ithaca, addressed the board and explained that they were a part of the Syracuse Division of Time Warner Cable, comprised of about: 380,000 subscribers. In Tompkins County they service about 25,000 subscribers. A franchise agreement has been presented to the board for their review. Items of interest include line extension, franchise fees and participation in the public educational governmental access field. Mr Doheney said they are offering to extend their cable plan at a rate of 20 homes per mile. This is similar to the other franchises in the area_ State law provides for 35 homes per mile. The Town currently charges a 3% franchise fee and by law are allowed to charge up to 5 %. This is a fee passed on to the subscribers and paid to the Town. The public education governmental facility is in the City of Ithaca. There are currently three municipalities that participate in funding that facility (City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, and Village of Cayuga Heights). There are two types of fees involved if the Town chooses to become a participating municipality. This would entitle the residents of the Town to utilize the facility and the equipment there for the production of public educational or governmental television shows. Residents would be trained and allowed to borrow the equipment or produce shows at the studio for broadcast. The fees involved are: '' /a% of the franchise fees would go back to Time Warner for the operation of the facility. The other fee, passed on directly to the subscribers, would be a 15 cent per month fee for the capital expenditures incurred over the ten years of the franchise (to buy equipment in order to keep the facility going). Cl Michaels asked if you needed to part of that system to have our board meetings televised. Mr Doheney said anyone can provide programming to Time Warner to be played. By State law they provide channels for public educational governmental access. The Town could ® purchase equipment and have the meetings produced, give the tape to Time Warner and have it played. Anyone in the Town can produce a tape and take it: Time Warner to be played. A participating municipality could have personnel trained by Time Warner and use Time Warner to do it. Mr Doheney said they were going to set it up so that: anybody in the County could use the facility, and if they don't live in a participating municipality there will be a. fee. They are working on that now and plan to implement it on May 1. Cl Michaels asked if a municipality could change its mind after signing a ten year franchise agreement. Mr Doheney said yes, but they would have to go through another franchising process. Rich Strong of Time Warner said that the Town at any time has the right to designate a public access channel and how it is used. Cl Stelick asked what the Town currently received for its franchise fee was told it was somewhere around $11,000 per year. He asked what other municipalities charged for its franchise fees. The City of Ithaca charges 5 1/o, Cayuga Heights does 3 %, Village of <♦reeville does 5 %, Town of Newfield does zero. R Strong said it is a growing trend to go to zero. Supv Trumbull asked if there a time in which the Town had to respond and was told they are currently under temporary operating authority and have been for some tine. Mike Lane said that one of the reasons they can't come to Dryden and broadcast a live board meeting is because we don't have an institutional network here. When the intermunicipal cable television commission was functioning they were trying very hard to negotiate an external ring which would have included the rural areas being able to have major buildings, such as Town Halls, Fire Department, Colleges hooked up the way it: is for some of ® the buildings in the City of Ithaca. Those negotiations collapsed when the City and Town of Ithaca along with Cayuga Heights decided to go their own way. I•Ie said we desperately need Nge 3 of 14 TB 2 -12 -04 • that kind of a connection, particularly to Tompkins Cortland Community College which has an expanding communications program that is very exemplary. It has young people transferring to Newhouse in Syracuse and Ithaca College Programs, yet they are confused to an internal program there. I-Ie said it was only a few years ago that they were able to persuade Time Warner that TC3 was actually located in Tompkins Community and got them to offer cable television basic service there. He said to give them a ten year franchise for what they are offering in return is much too lucrative for them and suggested that: at most they be given five years and said that the franchise fee ought to be looked at by the Town. R Strong said that the franchise is non - exclusive meaning that any other company could come in at any time and offer the Town a franchise if they find it feasible financially to do so. With respect to the INET, they said the City of Ithaca is going to build a new INET for their business purposes and that is being paid for by a cost passed on to the customers (99 cents per month) and paid for 100" /o by them. The Town of Dryden has not had a franchise for about six years. The Public Service Commission extends temporary operating authority under the last agreement every six months or so. This happens fairly automatically. Not having a franchise does not affect the way business is conducted by Time Warner and they continue to extend service where they can (at 20 homes per mile). Mr Doheney said they want to continue to do business in the Town of Dryden. Cl Christofferson said the board's job is to look out for the best interests of the Town's residents, including TC3, and it would be nice to have some discussions about what opportunities there are for things that would be good for the community and Time Warner would be interested in helping with. R Strong said there is no reason to wait: for a franchise agreement to do that and said they would be available any time. T Doheney said they have a good relationship with TC3's communication department and one of their professors used to work at the news center at Time Warner. Hard tine connections for live broadcasts of meetings or school events and it is very expensive. By law any thing the Town wants them to do should come from the franchise fee and that can't happen with $11,000 per year. Cl Stelick said he would like to discuss the possibility and Cl Christofferson said there are a variety of ways to accomplish that and if TC3 wants it then it makes sense to discuss it. T Doheney said that the teachers at Dryden High School and TC3 know that they can play programming on their educational access channel and they don't, though Time Warner would like to see it happen. After discussion, the board decided to close the public hearing and Cl Stelick and Cl Christofferson will meet with Mr. Strong to talk about some of the concerns. Supv Trumbull closed the public hearing at 8:03 p.m. Martha Robertson and others expressed dissatisfaction with the change in the presentation of local news. COUNTY BRIEFING Martha Robertson suggested the board contact Tompkins County Planning before contracting with Thoma Consultants because the County may be able to provide the same services at comparable fees. 'There was a meeting today sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Tompkins County to talk about housing issues for Tompkins County. There were representatives there from the Town of Dryden. M Robertson said it brought together elected officials, landlords, realtors, non - profit housing advocates and a wide range of people to discuss the issues from a diverse set of points of view. They discussed the impact of the housing shortage in Tompkins County and other issues the County needs to deal ® with. The Foundation will compile the notes taken and M Robertson will distribute those to the Board. Page 4 of 14 TB 2- 12=04 With respect to the State budget, it has been proposed that the date for passage be moved to May 1. She said from what they have been able to discover the Governor's budget contains some serious news for County funding, including cuts to the Health Department. The proposals so far on Medicaid relief are very small. There are also possible federal funding cuts to programs such as Section 8 housing. There will be a meeting at: the Varna Community Center on February 24 at 7:30 with Fernando de'Aragon, Director of the Ithaca Transportation Council, to discuss speed control on rural roads. A similar presentation was made in Danby last month. The public is invited. Michael Lane said the study about the Caswell Road leachate continues and they will be moving forward looking at concepts of whether or not the Freeville wastewater treatment facility could be used for disposal of the leachate, either by trucking there or by piping it there, if Village of Freeville is interested. Currently the leachate is trucked to the wastewater tzeat:ment plant in Ithaca for disposal. There is some discussion going on about reclassifying the roads in the County. This has a significant impact on those roads because those that are upgraded because of traffic or other reasons may become eligible for federal or state funding. Some of the roads in the Town of Dryden proposed to be upgraded to rural major collectors are Nest Dryden Road and part of Turkey Hill Road. Proposed minor collectors include Irish Settlement Road and Caswell Road. This is an ongoing process the classification affects funding eligibility. He said they have been informed by their highway manager ghat while bridges seem to be holding their own, they are losing ground on maintaining County roads. M Lane said that with respect to the local law that is up for a public hearing, it is not ® eleven pages of new text, but an amendment of a local law which has been in effect for about twelve years which bars discrimination in housing, education, employment, etc. This amendment proposes to include in the protected class people who have different gender identities. This covers a large range of people and prohibits discrimination against them. It does not affect churches or other groups that are protected by constitutional provisions. Cl Michaels asked if there was an exception for businesses of a certain size and M Robertson said she believed the law applied to businesses with four or more employees. Cl Hattery said that he finds the new set of defiinitions in the law confusing and believes most citizens wouldn't understand it. He doesn't see how something that confusing could be fairly administered. There are new enforcement powers in the la%v which give power of subpoena to the county attorney and the ability of human rights commissioners investigators to compel witnesses. There are no limitations on those powers and Cl Hattery said that on behalf of the citizens of the Town he is concerned that without any restrictions on those kinds of broad powers there is the potential to infringe on other citizens rights in an attempt to protect other rights. He thinks it is really broad- based. M Lane said he is incorrect about the subpoena powers. They have been added to make this law coincide with the subpoena powers of state law for other kinds of discrimination and can only be issued through the county attorneys office, not by an investigator. He said this is for a small group that has heretofore been unprotected in this community. It has passed in the City of Ithaca in the last year and was pretty uncontroversial. They do not expect a lot of complaints or cases with respect to this and there are some people, including members of the class, who feel very strongly about this. He said people who have this gender identify question should not be discriminated against. This is a discrimination law. M Hattery said he doesn't have any confidence that there are adequate boundaries on the abilities of the human rights investigators or the county attorney. M Lane said they are same boundaries as if they were investigating a racial or disabilities discrimination case, and the subpoena powers are in state Page 5 of 14 TB 2 -12 -04 • law. M Robertson said there has been essentially the same law for other classes of people for twelve years and this simply identifies a class of people that were not specifically protected before, and it doesn't change anything else. M Lane explained this is an amendment to the local law that was passed about twelve years ago, and it was controversial at that point, and Jim Crawford had led a strong opposition to it. They haven't seen a lot: of cases or complaints under the law, but: this is an area they have been requested to look at. The public hearing will be held on Tuesday at the County Legislature and anyone may speak. The County board can act on the local law at any time after the hearing. Cl Michaels said this class of individuals is interesting in terms of the predictability for businesses dealing with it. There is a rational basis when hiring people that will stag a male locker room and you can exclude women from that position and vice versa, but asked what you would do in this case. Are they excluded from both, or neither? There was a lot of controversy when the County first adopted this law, and he said it: has made very little practical difference in terms of the businesses affected. M Lane said we have a very open and tolerant. community. Cl Michaels agreed and said he does like the ways they are characterizing adding protecting classes as something that is relatively insignificant. He doesn't view this as a simple thing and doesn't believe the County is giving it due consideration, either for protection of the class itself, or those who are subject to the enforcement. For the number of members of the class there are probably 1000 tunes as many businesses that will need to interpret this. M Lane said part of the job of the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission is to perform an educational function and perhaps they could help with that. Cl Hattcry said it was typical of the County Board to pass fairly broad significant legislation without consulting the people and then to make statements such as it is insignificant. M Lane said the reason they are holding a public hearing is so that people can be informed. It is the procedure for a local law. M Robertson said that she thinks its safe to say that a guiding principal might be that if somebody can do a job, whether they are a. man or woman or whatever and it's not relevant: to the actual work that's done, then it should be illegal to discriminate against them. Being a locker room attendant is not irrelevant. Cl Michaels asked if a person applies to Court.side for instance, for employment dressed as a female and then dresses, trains, etc in the female locker room, and then someone discovers months later that their biological gender is male. This is a family based center. What would they do under this new law? Is it okay for them to terminate the employee? M Robertson said the owner should call the human rights commission. They spend most of their time helping people with these things. Cl Michaels said he had asked a simple question about a law they are about to pass and they don't know how to interpret it themselves. He said as an attorney, community member, and as someone who represents and participates with businesses in the community, he doesn't think they are doing a fair justice. M Robertson said she felt a court would need to say in that specific instance whether gender was relevant. Cl Michaels said he would encourage the county to be able to answer those questions before they pass a law. M Lane said hard facts make tough law and when you get a case with a lot of tough facts that's when judges earn their pay. M Robertson said it is much more common that people are discriminated against because of a bias or prejudice and she would rather err on the side of protecting people, and in unusual cases the court can look at it. HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT Jack Bush gave board members copies of an article in the Town Topics magazine having to do with intermunicipal cooperation, saying it was a good idea. and asking them to read it. Board members also have copies of a letter sent to someone who piles snow in the middle of the road. Page 6 of 14 TB 2-12 -U4 ® Fle asked the Board to consider changing the current policy for family health care coverage for elected officials. He presently pays $159 per week toward family health care coverage and would like to see that changed. In the past, the Town Clerk and Highway Superintendent received family coverage and that was changed. He said that currently his deputy and the higher paid highway employees make more than he does because of the deduction for health insurance. Cl Michaels asked about a voucher for a post - accident drug test. J Bush said they had an accident on Livermore Road where someone ran into a snowwplow, and policy is that if there is more than $1,000 damage to a vehicle, the driver must submit to a drug and alcohol test. No one was injured. In another incident, on a windy day on Ed Hill Road a snowplow was rear - ended by a car because of white out conditions. `There were no injuries. ENGINEERING Dave Putnam reported that the temporary sewer pump is in on Freese Road and operating effectively. Weather permitting the new pump will be in by late March or early April. RECREATION Jennifer Glaab extended an invitation to elected officials to attend the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Recreation Partnership on March 4, 2004, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Human Services Building in Ithaca. The 2003 Annual Report: for the Recreation Department was distributed to board members. It includes highlights of 2003, goals for the future, and 2003 financial figures. Cl Christofferson that a lot of people benefit from the programs offered and it is good to see that ® they are almost self- sufficient, excluding J Glaab's salary. There are two college students assisting the recreation coordinator, at no cost to the town who are contributing about ten hours per week to the department. They will assist with development of special interest: classes and workshops and program development for teens and young adults. The Village has been helpful in maintaining the ice rink after snowfalls. The light fixtures are broken below ground level and so will not be able to be fixed until spring. Skating hours will be dawn until 5:00 p.m. A donation of ire skates was received from Martha Ferger. Pat: Lynch of the Dryden Caroline Drifters Snowmobile Club has volunteered to groom the Jim Schug Trail from Willow Crossing in to the Village for cross- country skiing. It will be groomed at least once a week during the winter months. Contra Dancing is set for March 14, March 21 and April 1 l , from 2:30 to 4:30, locations yet to be determined. The youth wrestling tournament is scheduled for March 130 at the High School and they are looking for volunteers to help out that day. Registration fee for participants is $15.00, except for youth in the Dryden wrestling program who are not charged. Registrations are currently being collected for the after school ice skating program. The program will run Wednesday afternoons in March at the Rink in Lansing and is open for grades 3 through 5, registration is $30.00. Lacrosse registrations will be available next week. It is a co -ed, ages 8 through 15. They will most likely be sponsoring the modified program as well, trying to reach an older age group. Cl Christofferson and J Glaab are meeting with the Dryden School Athletic Director tomorrow morning. The youth program fee will be $25 or $30. Registrations are available for Kiwanis baseball and softball for grades It through 7. The fee is $18 with $3 going to the Rec Dept. The Rec Dept will assist with advertising, database entry, reports, setting up player and coaches clinic, etc. J Glaab said this is a great opportunity to centralize registrations in the Town of Dryden and hopefully they will be doing the same with other clubs. Page 7of14 `I'B 2 -12-04 Updated and revised 2003 budget and current 2004 budgets %vere distributed to board members. Cl Christofferson said he has been involved with youth sports for several years with his children and he feels as if there has been an explosion of opportunities for people to get involved in different things, covering all age groups. There is a lot: going on that benefits the residents of the Town. J Glaab said she will be expanding and trying to move to outlying areas of the town, providing more programs for teens and adults, and more free programs. She has spoken to someone at the Ellis Hollow Community Center and hopefully will be doing a snow shoeing program there. Cl Stelick commended J Glaab for her work done on the Town's website, making it more palatable and user - friendly, and said he appreciates all the work she has done this past year. ATTORNEY Atty Perkins said the RFP for proposals for consultants for wire telecommunications tower applications has gone out and the responses are due back by March 8. The date was set: in anticipation of the March meeting so that she can send any responses to the Board prior to that meeting. He said that: D Gross did a good job putting together the RFP and he reviewed it. He had hoped to have proposed findings, including alternative findings, on the annexation petition but was unable to get that done. It: will probably be done next week and suggested the board schedule some time for a working session to go over those and come up with a final form for action prior to March 17. A decision could be made at the March 11. meeting. ® A proposed local laws has been drafted to redesignate the Conservation Advisory Council as a. Conservation Board has been drafted. The CAC was established in 2000 and last year they filed and the Town Board accepted their Open Space Inventory. That: triggered a request by them to be designated a Conservation Board. The Town held a public hearing on September 3, 2003, on a proposed law which would designate them as a Conservation Board. There were some concerns raised about some provisions in the local law and how it would work, etc, by both the Town Board and the CAC. A number of revisions were discussed and we now have a form of that local law to be presented to the Town Board. Someone will need to introduce it and schedule a public hearing. D Gross said a packet: of information including the proposed local law was sent to the board members. Cl Christofferson said the flow chart included in the packet was very confusing and it seems like a lot for ordinary people to wrestle through. D Gross said it wasn't written to be handed to an applicant, but mostly to clarify how the process actually works. Cl Christofferson asked if the Planning Board and CAC had met together and said he would like to simplify things instead of making them more complex. They said the things done by the Planning Board, CAC and Environmental Planner are all important and wondered how it could all be pulled together. He would like the process simplified. Nancy Munkenbeek said Conservation Board would actually be helping the other units. If there is something the Planning Board would like help with they would notify the CB, who would then advise the Planning Board. Cl Christofferson asked if they had considered combining the CAC with the Planning Board. D Gross said they could invite the CAC or CB to a sketch conference. It would be easy to forward the materials to both boards and make one meeting, adding more expertise at one meeting instead of another meeting. Cl Christofferson said that would be a good idea. I-Ie is not excited about inserting another peg in the rung, but is excited to have the expertise available. N Munkenbeck cautioned that by combining them you could end up with a ® single entity that is so huge it doesn't function well. Pabc 8 of 14 TS 2 -12 -04 Craig Schutt said the local law as currently written had been reviewed by the CAC members and they felt it was a reasonable way to proceed and assist the various boards in the Town and offer their expertise. Atty Perkins said he feels this will streamline the process and encourage developers that have projects that might. have a si&mificant impact to have them reviewed by the Conservation Board before they submit an application. This would help identify sensitive issues and hopefully able the applicant to plan around that. The involvement of the Conservation Board is any review is totally discretionary with the referring body the way it is proposed. After further discussion the following local law was introduced by Cl Michaels and the public hearing set. for 7:00 p.m. on March 11, 2004. LOCAL LAW REDESIGNATING THE TOWN OF DRYDEN CONSERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL AS A CONSERVATION BOARD Section 1, HISTORY. Local Law No. 4 of the year 2000 adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Dryden created the Town of Dryden Conservation Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC prepared and filed with the Town Board the Open Space Inventory of the Town of Dryden dated May 15, 2003, By Resolution No. 92 (2003), the Town Board accepted and approved the open space inventory as the conservation open area inventory and open space index of the Town of Dryden. Following such acceptance and approval, General Municipal Law Section §239 -y permits the Town Board to designate the CAC as a Conservation Board. Section 2. (RE)DESIGNA,riON. submit a written report to the referring body within such time The CAC established by Local Law No. 4 of the year 2000 is hereby designated the Town of Dryden Conservation Board ( "Conservation Board "). Section 3. PURPOSE. (A) To further assist the Town in the development of sound open area planning and assure preservation of natural and scenic resources on the local level, the Conservation Board shall review each application referred to it by the Town Board, Budding O and Zoning Department, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, or other administrative body, including the Site Plan Review Board. The Town Board anticipates that the Conservation Board will serve as an advisory board, especially for actions designated as Type I under the New York Environmental Quality Review Act (Environmental Conservation Law Article 8) and the regulations promulgated thereunder (6NYCR.R Part 617), or unlisted actions which are likely to trigger a positive declaration of significant adverse environmental impact. (B) The Conservation Board shall submit a written report to the referring body within such time as the body referring the same shall specify. (C) Developers and /or applicants are strongly encouraged to present their proposals to the Conservation Board for review and comment prior to formally submitting their application. There shall be no fee to submit proposals to the Conservation Board. The Town Board strongly encourages such early review and comment by the Conservation Board in order that projects will identify areas of significant environment concern early in the planing process and take appropriate steps to eliminate or mitigate the same to the maximum extent possible. (D) All such reports shall, in addition to review and comment on environmental concerns, include evaluation of the proposed use or development on the open area in terms of the open area planning objectives of the Town and shall include the effect of such use or development on the open space index. The report: shall also make recommendations as to the most appropriate use or development of the open area and may include preferable alternative use proposals consistent with open areas conservation. A copy of every report shall be filed with the Town Board. All such reports shall be available for public inspection. (E) Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to extend the time limits contained in ® any ordinance, local law, statute or regulation. Pagc 9 of 14 TB 2 -12 =04 ® Section 4. ADDITIONAL DUTIES. The Conservation Board shall perform such additional duties as may be assigned to it: by resolution of the Town Board. Section S. CONTINUAT[ON. The Conservation Board shall continue to exercise the functions and responsibilities heretofore granted to the CAC. Section 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. This local law shall take effect upon filing with the Secretary of State. Cl Michaels said he would like to know what additional powers the Planning board might like to have, specifically with respect to site plan review. D Gross will relay that. Atty Perkins said he had given the Supervisor some quotes he had obtained for having both a limited audit and a full blown audit of the Town's records and suggested they discuss it in executive session. ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNER D Gross has provided board members with a monthly report and a list of action items. The County Planning Department is working on a draft comprehensive plan and would like to schedule a public meeting with both the Town Board and the Planning Board to introduce the plan this Spring. The County has suggested the meeting could be held on a regularly scheduled Planning Board meeting date (March 18 or April 15 are good dates for the County). The Town Board felt April 15 would be good. D Gross will check with the Planning Board. In the existing local law that created the CAC, it says the Town Board will appoint the CAC's chairperson. Dan Karig has been chairing the CAC since its inception and he is currently out of the country. Craig Schutt has offered to serve as chair and the CAC members are agreeable to that. RESOLUTION #40. - APPOINT CHAIR OF CONSERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL Cl Michaels offerers the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board does hereby appoint Craig Schutt to serve as Chair of the Conservation Advisory Council. 2nd Cl Stelick Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes D Gross is serving a.s Dryden :s representative to the Cayuga Lake Watershed lntermunicipal Organization. The IO has asked that the Board also appoint an alternate and would prefer to have it be one of the Town. Board members. Cl Hat:tery agreed to serve as the alternate. D Gross gave a brief sumrrnary of what she has been working on for the past month. The Planning Board's last meeting considered three sketch conferences and asked her to provide some maps and environmental features of the sites. She has purchased new mapping • software (inexpensive compared to ArcVicwj and that will assist her in her work. She is continuing to cooperate with the County's Stormwater Working Group. They are planning a. Page 10 of 14 TB 2- 1.2 -04 training about the new storm water regulations in early April, aimed at Planning Boards, Town . Boards, local engineers, Code Enforcement Officers, etc. The goal is to coordinate the efforts of each municipality working on the new regulations. Yes Cl D Gross has done some more research on trail development. She asked if the board would support revitalizing the old trail committee. M Hattery suggested one Town Board member be involved in that committee and that perhaps it be tied to Public Works. Jack Bush volunteered to work with that committee. With respect to building a new Town Hall, D Gross has been looking into some possible funding sources for some renewable energy or energy efficiency features. She has spoken with Pam Kingsbury about this and she is also investigating it. The Town of Caroline has expressed interest in contracting environmental planner services. Cl Hattery has spoken with Todd Town Board, who provided a list of things they were interested in, a few of those things are items which she was planning to do for tl would be a fairly easy to overlap them. Cl Michaels said he would Hattery suggested that he and D Gross meet with Todd Schmitt to with the Town of Dryden for Schmitt of the Caroline D Gross has indicated that ie Town of Dryden and it be supportive of this. CI discuss the specifics. D Gross said the RFP for telecommunications consultants has not yet gone out and wondered if the timeline was sufficient. The board will need a summary of the proposals ahead of the board meeting to review prior to appointment. After discussion it was decided to allow more time, and the appointment can be made at the April board meeting. Cl Michaels volunteered to assist with interviewing. TOWN CLERK B Hollenbeck explained that January is devoted mostly to tax collection. The Town's warrant of 2.2 million was paid off January 27. She delivered to the County today a check for just over $17,000 representing the service charges collected for those taxTayers opting to pay in two installments, and a check for 3.3 million toward the county warrant, leaving approximately 1.5 million outstanding. DISCUSSION Supv Trumbull explained there was $255 left: over from Old Home Days and suggested that it be rolled over for 2004. RESOLUTION #i41 - ROLL OVER FUNDS FOR OLD HOME DAYS Cl Michaels offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED that this Town Board does hereby authorize the rollover of the sum of $255 to 2004 for the Old Home Days celebration. 2nd Cl Stelick Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes Supv Trumbull reported that a. gift of $1,000 was put in a special gift and donations fund for the Town Historian, Cl Christofferson said there had been some concerns about the Page 11 of 14 TB 2-124.)4 Town Historian and that position has not been appointed for this year. He has spoken with some people that are with the Historical Society and asked them for a recommendation. Supv Trumbull has received a communication from Teri Niziol requesting that: more lights be placed in the Meadow Drive /Leisure Lane area. There had been a previous request for lights there and opposition to it. Cl Stelick said there was opposition and Ni.riols claim to have sent a petition in support of the lights, but the board never saw it. The Supervisor will send a letter to the residents of the district asking whether they support additional lights in the district. Cl Hattery said that as he understands, it the lights are to be added where houses were recently built in the district, and those people are paying for lighting but not getting any street lights. Fairness may require that the board initiate the installation of additional lights even if a majority of property owners indicate they don't want them. Atty Perkins said there is a provision in Town Law for the residents to petition for more lights, and to this point it has been handled informally. The Town has the authority to contract for as many lights within the District as it deems appropriate, and if people are dissatisfied there is a petition process people can go through. Board members have received a draft report from Sciarabba Walker on the Fire Departments, excluding Etna. A contract was received from Davelle Office Equipment for hardware maintenance for the town. Cl Christofferson said they are trying to get proposals from other companies for other aspects. There are some long term things we need to consider. And he is unclear just what is covered under the contract. Cl Christofferson will talk with Dave Horton further. He has been looking at what the town currently has and what we were told is a server actually is a workstation. The Court is a separate system. It may turn out that we work with one company for hardware stuff and another for network administration. Cl Christofferson will do some further investigation and report bark to the board. Supv Trumbull said that the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment budget has passed the Commission and the Town Board needs to approve it. Supv Trumbull offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board does hereby approve the 2004 budget for the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Plant. 2nd Cl Stelick Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes Neptune Hose has asked that the April meeting be held at the Fire Department: because they have a presentation and service awards to make. The Recreation Commission has solicited applications to fill a vacancy and after reviewing them recommends that the Town Board appoint Tracy Kurtz to fill the position. RESOLUTION #43 - APPOINT T KURTZ TO RECREATION COMMISSION Cl Stelick offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: Page 12 of l4 '1T13 2 -124A is RESOLVED, that this Town Board does hereby appoint Tracy Kurtz to the Recreation Commission for a term to expire December 31, 2006, 2nd Cl Michaels Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes RESOLUTION #44 - APPROVE ABSTRACT # 102 Cl Stelick offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board does hereby approve Abstract # 102, as audited, Vouchers #87 through #138, totaling $154,683.58. 211d Cl Michaels Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes RESOLUTION #45 - APPROVE REPLACEMENT OF FREESE ROAD SEWER PUMP • Supv Trumbull offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, the Town Engineer has informed the Town Board that due to unforeseen occurrences or conditions the Freese Road sewer pump station has failed, forcing the Department of Public Works to manually pump wastewater on a daily, or sometimes more frequent basis, and WHEREAS, due to winter conditions the manual pumping consists of two employees taking a pump to the site, setting it up, pumping the system out, breaking down the pump and piping, and returning it to the town highway garage, sometimes twice a day, and WHEREAS, due to the unpredictability of wastewater flows, extreme weather conditions and availability of personnel due to snow emergencies, it is difficult to frequently monitor the failed system, and WHEREAS, the installation of a temporary pump and above ground force discharge pipe to an upstream manhole is a very limited and temporary repair which runs the risk of failure due to adverse weather conditions, the risk of the single pump failing, and the risk of the temporary pump and force main failing due to plugging the force main with suspended solids, and WHEREAS, an overflow of the system, or inability to pump out the failed system of the Town of Dryden when needed, would adversely affect public property and the life, health and safety of inhabitants including significant: adverse impacts on Fall Creek, the water supply for Cornell University, and • WHEREAS, the replacement of the failed sewer pump station requires immediate action which cannot await: competitive bidding, now therefore, be it Page 13 of 14 • TB 2 -12 -q4 RESOLVED, that pursuant to General Municipal Law §103(4) the Town Board of the Town of Dryden hereby finds and determines that a public emergency exists in the town arising out of an unforeseen occurrence or conditions whereby circumstances affecting public property and the life, health, safety of inhabitants of the town and others require immediate action which cannot await competitive bidding, and it is further RESOLVED, that it is essential that a sewer pump station be installed at the earliest possible moment in order to protect the property of the sewer district and the life, health and safety of the town inhabitants and others downstream of the Freese Road sewer pump station, including the water supply for Cornell University, and it is further RESOLVED, that based on the estimates obtained by the Town Engineer that a. Flygt (standard pump and controls for the town) solids handling pump station be installed at a maximum cost not to exceed $44,860.00 and that a contract for this public work be awarded consistent with this resolution, with work to commence immediately. 2nd Cl Stelick Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes Cl Christofferson Yes Supv Trumbull Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Hattery Yes Cl Michaels said he would like to investigate the matter of health insurance for the elected officials of the Town. The Town Clerk will see what other municipalities offer their elected officials and the board will consider it at their next meeting. Cl Christofferson asked that the board have financial statements available each month. Cl Michaels said they should have that, but it happens infrequently. Supv Trumbull will see that happens with the new bookkeeper. On motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the board moved into executive session at 10:10 p.m. to discuss hiring a professional person that would not be subject to civil service and reviewing the professional qualifications, and the employment history of a particular individual. No action was taken and the board meeting was adjourned at 10:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Hollenberk Town Clerk Page 14 of 14