HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-12- 9�i
TOWN OF DRYDEN
TOWNROARD =ETING
DECEMMER * 2004
Present. Cl Stephen Stelickp Jr_, Doputy Supenpisor, Cl Martin
Christofferson, Cl Christopher Michaels, Cl Michael flattery
Elected Officials. Baynbi I,_ Hallenbeck, Town Clerk
Other Town Staff: Mahlon R. Perkins, Town Attorney
Henry Slater, Zoning Officer
Dave Puilnom, TG Miller Engineers
Debbie Grass, Environmental Planner
Jennifer Staton, Recreation Coordinator
upv Trumbull opened the meeting at 7;03 p.m_ and led board members and the
audience in the pledge of allegiance.
CUI EAS PRxVUeECxE
Cherrill Wallen has previously provided a memo to the Board and is asking that the
Town consider some type of legislation to prohibit hunting and trapping on or near the Jim
chug trail for the safety of the people who use the trail. She said the trail is used by a lot of
people and is one of the nicest things the Town has to offer. She has enuntered hunters and
has picked up shells off the trail, and has been told that someone saw a trap actually set on
the trail. She said she realizes it is complicated because of the different property owners along
the trail_ Atty Perkins said the 'Town could restrict what kinds of activities occur on the
property owned by the Town, but could not extend a prohibition bi�yond that, and that is pre-
empted by the NY DEC laws. With respect to the part of the trail that is used by liccrrs . With
the S ia.te of New York, because there it is specifically understood that the Town's license to use
the park and the trail through the area was not to be inconsistent with its use as a multiple
use area, including hunting {from Chaffee Road to Lake Road }. There are prohibitions about
not discharging arrns within a certain distance from a dwelling,
Joyce Oerbasi said the trapping situation has come up before and the DEC previously
said that the Town could impose trapping rules, but would have to work with DEC on that and
they would have to enforoe it. D Gross said there could be signs advising dng owners that
there may be traps off the trail. She has done some research and spoken with someone at DEC
who is checking on the trapping and hunting questions. Feedback from the Conservation
l3oard varied with some responses indicating there should be some sort of set back, or perhaps
the trail should be closed during hunting season as the Town of Ithaca does, 0 Grass
suggested a map could be made of the trail showing where there is private land and hurting is
allowed. She also said we need to be careful because there is private land along future trails
and we don't want to set a precedent of doing something that wolQld prohibit hunting rights
there. The board will do some investigation and consider the matter further,
Ron Flynn, Chief of the Dryden Fire Department, recognized three individuals from two
Fire departments in the Town who received awards presented ovOr the summer_ The Ithaca
Journal sponsors awards that focus on the recognition of volunteer firs and EMS providers in
Tompkins County. There are over 300 fire and EMS providers in Tompkins County and this
year three of the four awards were presented to volunteers in the Town of Dryden. He said the
Town Board and the residents ref the Town of Dryden should be proud rif these individuals,
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T13 12 -9 -04
• Roy Rizzo, Chief of the Varna Fire Department, was presented with the Award of Valor
for his heroic actions at the scene of a structure fire in Slaterville that took the life of Bret Neff,
Deputy Chief of the Harford Fire Department.
Ken Vorstadt, Captain of the Dryden Fire Department, received the Firefighter of the
Year Award for his outstanding commitment and leadership in the organization and his tireless
involvement with the local cub scout, girl scout and boy scout troops in Dryden.
Jennifer Wildridge, received the Volunteer of the Year Award, and R Flynn said that she
has extraordinary• efforts behind the scenes in helping the organization run smoothly and is a
great supporter on the fire ground.
Mike Raffe, of the American Red Cross of Tompkins County, spoke to the board about
the Dryden Disaster Partnership Group. He said it is very important that municipal
government, both elected officials and employees, are involved in all phases of emergency
management and have an awareness of what goes on because the local government has
responsibility under Article 2(b) of NYS Executive Law. Incident command will be given to the
chiefs of the fire departments because they are used to running it, but local government needs
to be involved in the human needs issues and urged the board to designate someone to be
involved. Aspects include preparedness and planning, response, recovery and mitigation.
This group evolved through the ongoing efforts of Project Impact, the Pre- disaster
Mitigation Programs, and a fire that occurred in October 2003 in the Town of Ulysses. That
incident made it evident that there was a need to become more involved in geographic -based
human needs response and engaging a variety of partners within the communities and helping
address the immediate verified emergency needs of both residents and employers and
employees in the community. There is a need to develop relationships before disaster strikes
so that the response goes smoother and more cohesive. There is a need for volunteers in both
the human needs side and the administrative side, and that needs to be dealt with locally.
The first meeting of the Dryden Disaster Partnership Group was July 14, 2004 at the
Dryden United Method Church. Representatives include the local Red Cross, Salvation Army,
TC3, local churches and clergy, Dryden School District, Dryden Kitchen Cupboard, William
George Agency for Children's Services, Neptune Hose Company, Sertoma, Serteens, and others.
Next to nothing gets done with all the visiting done here. The aims are to increase
communication, information and collaboration. They want to help implement more volunteer
programs. One of the programs they want to support is Community Emergency response Team
(CERT), and M Raffe provided information on that program. A long -term goal is to form an
"Emergency Club" at the Dryden Schools and encourage students to recognize the potential for
a career in uniformed services. They have identified a need for more local government
involvement.
The group held a brief overview of the Incident Command System on November 17,
2004 for the partners so they understand their role in relation to first responders' roles. An
AmeriCorps member in service to the Red Cross is attempting to compile a local resource list
for distribution to the group, which would aid in communications in an emergency. They are
building relationships between key players, and TC3 has held Red Cross shelter training
courses where students included TC3 staff, Red Cross volunteers, local clergy and a
representative from the Kitchen Cupboard.
M Raffe asked the Board to identify someone to be involved and be a point of contract
and/or be involved in moving the group forward and stated again that it is important to have
government representation in these partnership groups. The Town also needs to decide who is
in charge under Article 2 -B and how they fit in with the 'town's emergency plan, and how to
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TB 12 -9 -04
Isinteract with law enforcement, fire and EMS, and public works, department of health and
emergency management.
M Raffe thanked the board for the opportunity to speak, and congratulated Ron Flynn
and the Town's fire departments, saying they do the Town an honor. Supv Trumbull said they
would discuss it and appoint someone.
No report.
COUNTY BRIEFING
Martha Robertson said the County passed it's budget: on Tuesday. The levy is increased
6.59% over 2004 and the rate is going down 3.9% ($7.17 per thousand of assessed value).
More than half of the increase in the levy is due to capital projects, primarily highway
reconstruction and public safety communications system. The legislature voted to cease
design work on the jail expansion project. There had been $250,000 set aside for 2005 for
design work and they took that out and moved $400,000 into the contingency for board out of
prisoners.
M Robertson said they had a presentation on the County's Comprehensive Plan and
said she hoped the 'Town would adopt a resolution supporting the plan. Joan Jurko «rich of
County Planning has made a presentation with the Town's Planning Board. The County
Legislature will consider adopting the plan on December 21, and they have resolutions
supporting the plan from the Town of Lansing, Village of Lansing, City of Ithaca and the Village
® of Groton.
Supv Trumbull asked M Robertson if she had any information on the progress of the
relocation of the NYS DOT facility to Ellis Drive. She said she understands it is held up
between the Syracuse and Albany DOT offices, and that the arrangement with the National
Development Corporation is sort of unusual. The plan was that they would develop the project
and lease it back. Cl Hattery said he was in support of the project because of their involvement
and that they would be subject to site plan review, which he thinks is important in this case
because there are a lot of citizen concerns. Cl Hattery said his concern is that he heard that
because of the trouble with DOT that representatives from the County were backing off from
the project and he said that would be very bad, given that the City of Ithaca now has the lake
front property they want. He said it would be a very bad thing if after the Dryden Town and
Village Boards acted very expeditiously on this that the County backed off. M Robertson said
the County hasn't backed off, but it is hard to know what the County can do at this point, that
the DOT really wants it to go ahead and the County wants it to go ahead. She said County
officials were going to talk to Jim Seward.
CI Stelick said he had spoken with Jim Seward and he didn't know anything about
there being any problems two weeks ago. M Robertson said that last week the County was
looking for an okay to extend a purchase option on the land and she will check into the matter.
She said it is very frustrating, that the money is there, and it seems to be hung up with
attorneys. Cl Michaels said that he had previously stated he had some concerns about
whether or not many of the things that were anticipated would pass muster under review, and
that seems to be the case.
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D Putnam reported that he has met with Henry Slater, Jack Kush and Jim Connors,
and they are trying to get the Virgil Creek Project up and running again. They will have a
further report and plan probably by the January meeting.
The water and sewer lines on the old railroad bed between Route 13 and Monkey Run
Road are being threatened by drainage problems due to natural processes and beavers. The
ditches are plugged and D Putnam is working with J Bush on a plan to take care of that and
stabilize a couple sections where overflowing water is starting to wash away the railroad
embankment. It has been an ongoing problem.
Cl Christofferson thanked Dave Putnam and Henry Slater and others involved in getting
the funding restored for the Virgil Creek project and getting the project back on track. He said
it took a lot of people, a lot of resources, some significant and some spearheading and he was
impressed with how well it went.
RECREATION DEPARTMENT
Jennifer Staton submitted her monthly report and said with respect to the ball field on
Wall Street, a grant has been received from Albany, and she had drafted a proposal for review.
The Dryden Kiwanis Club would like to change the administrative fee that is given to
the Town for work done by the Recreation Department collecting registrations and doing
scheduling. Currently for each registration the Town receives $3.00 and they would like to
decrease the amount. She will negotiation with Kiwanis with respect to that.
0 Club Dryden is tentatively scheduled for January 8 and the Dryden Youth Opportunity
Fund will assist in the expense for that.
ATTORNEY
Atty Perkins has sent a letter to the board concerning his review of the
telecommunications consultant's proposed contract, saying that he thinks it needs some work.
Cl Christofferson said he pretty much agrees with the points made by Atty Perkins. One of the
ones that concerns him the most is that this consultant has worked with providers of service
before and if we have a need for a consultant in the Town, then this person will have to make a
decision one way or the other, and it should be pretty clear who they are going to support or
not support. Cl Christofferson said these points need to be worked out, and he said these
concerns should now be sent to the consultant in order to resolve them. The amount of
professional liability needs to be resolved, as well as who they will represent in the event a
provider they have represented in the past comes to the Town for permission to locate here.
Atty Perkins said with respect to the limits of professional liability insurance, there is a
movement in the engineering Geld to attempt to limit their professional liability, either to the
amounts of the contracts for which they are engaged, or the limits of their professional liability
policies. They think they can control costs this way by limiting exposure. Atty Perkins said the
first thing the Town needs to do is determine whether it wants to do business with someone
who is concerned about limiting their liability to some number, and then whether that number
is adequate. The consultant currently has two million for professional negligence and a four
million aggregate, and Atty Perkins said that is probably adequate. Cl Christofferson said the
committee had trouble finding someone who had any liability insurance, and thought the
amounts were probably adequate also. He said he was concerned about who they would
represent with respect to carriers they had formerly represented, and Atty Perkins said the
Town could require disclosure from them on each particular application. Atty Perkins will
contact the consultant and try and resolve the matter.
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TB 12 -9 -04
0 ZONING OFFICER
With respect to the infiltration in the Cortland Road Sewer District coming from TC3,
ZO Slater reported that TC3 hired a consultant to do an analysis of their entire severer system.
The report indicates that: their underground lines seem to be in pretty good condition, but that
every one of their 13 manholes was defective in some way. TC3 is about ready to contract for
repair of those 13 manholes and that should help to alleviate the overburden on the Village
sewer plant. Cl Christofferson asked if an upgrade of the sewer plant will still be necessary
and ZO Slater said that he believes the Village's position is that they need to upgrade for the
future. TC3 will also take a look at other ways to reduce their contribution such as replacing
their older toilets.
ZO
Slater reported that the pet
cemetery matter,
Jon
King
has gone to Florida for the
winter and
that gives them more time
to consider things
and
form
a recommendation.
Now that the funding for the Virgil Creek project has been reinstated and the work
season doesn't start until May 15, they will continue meeting to plan completion of the project.
They may have to apply for some funding extension. He noted the project was costed out in
1998 and the work performed in 2002 and 2003 and now in 2005, and there have been some
tremendous increases in costs. Scott Cook of Water Quality Management in Syracuse has seen
the Lake Road embankment and said in his estimate, that is one of the best restoration
projects he has ever seen. The unique thing about the project is that no staking and matting
effort was necessary due to new technology of spray -on mats. Erosion has been negligible.
Cl Michaels said he would be interested in seeing a report on construction in the Town
for the year. ZO Slater said they will prepare an annual report.
® ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNER
Debbie
Gross said
there will be
a symposium
and presentation
on the monitoring
project for Six
Mile Creek
on December
15 at
7:00 p.m. at Cooperative
Extension.
The test well drilling for the aquifer has been done. The well is located near Dryden
Lake. The well is over 200 feet deep and there may be some funding left over. That could be
used toward possible additional test wells. Todd Miller of USGS .vil.l be sharing the information
gathered there.
The Conservation Board would like to focus in the near future on developing a
stormwater ordinance. This is something that is part of the requirements under the DEC
regulations and is also something that the County Water Resources Council has been working
on, to develop a model ordinance for the County. The Conservation Board thought that
perhaps Dave Putnam could take a look at it as well in terms of the engineering aspects. Cl
Hattery said it was a good idea for the Conservation Board to take a look at it in terms of
concept and what they think would be useful and not useful. This needs to be done as part of
the Town' s compliance with the new stormwater regulations. There are a lot of issues that
come up about stormwater and this would help. Cl Michaels said that given the expertise on
the Conservation Board, perhaps they could provide comments on implementation as well. D
Gross said the Conservation Board could get things started, then bring it to the Town Board
and Town Attorney for review and finalization.
D Gross said the group of farmers that have been meeting to help make
recommendations on the Town's Comprehensive Plan had a three hour meeting last night.
Tom Hatfield of the Town of Dryden Planning Board attended as well George Frantz, the
consultant working with the Planning Board. She said a lot of areas of some disagreement
were resolved, and the few areas that need more focus and thought were more clearly defined.
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At this point there is talk of aiming for a public hearing in February. The agricultural group is
interested in hearing the Town Board's thoughts on a more permanent agricultural committee
and George Frantz suggested looking at what; other communities have done and how their
committees are structured.
M Robertson asked what the things were that the farmers thought needed more work
and D Gross said she thought the main question remaining is that there may be some benefit
to identifying an area in the Town that is primarily for agriculture and trying to use various
methods to direct residential development away from that area and allowing certain kinds of
agriculture- related businesses in t:he area. The question is what strategies would be used to
imply that. D Gross said there is a group at the County level looking at those types of issues,
and Dryden can be part of those discussions.
TOWN CLERK
B Hollenbeck asked if there were any changes to the minutes and whether they could
be approved.
RESOLUTION #182 - APPROVE MINUTES
Cl Christofferson offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the minutes of the meetings of
November 4, November 11, and November 29, 2004.
2ttd Supv Trumbull
B Hollenbeck explained that it was necessary for the board to approve an amount for
postage for mailing the tax bills. The exact amount will not be available until the bills are
sorted and ready to mail.
RESOLUTION # 183 - AUTHORIZE POSTAGE FOR TAX BILLS
Cl Hattery offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the Supervisor to write a check to
the Dryden Postmaster not to exceed $1,850.00 for mailing the 2005 tax bills on or about
December 31, 2004,
2nd C1 Stelick
Roll Call Vote
DISCUSSION
C1
Stelick
Yes
Cl
Christofferson
Yes
Supv Trumbull
Yes
Cl
Michaels
Yes
Cl
Hattery
Yes
C1 Hattery asked Barbara Caldwell, Chair of the Planning Board, whether George Frantz
had suggested other models for the agricultural group, such as making them an advisory
committee to the Planning Board, and if the Planning Hoard wanted advice, then this group
could be suggested. D Gross asked if they then would work only with the Planning Group, and
said it had also been suggested that it be a group with a core membership of five or six people
with invitations to others to attend at other times. B Caldwell said the Planning Board had not
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TB 12 -9-04
discussed this.
D Gross said they are asking to
be an advisory group, not
a derision- making
board, and they
are interested in feedback from
the Town Board on how to
proceed.
Supv Trumbull said the generator is in place on Beam Hill, with a few minor details still
to be taken care of.
Supv Trumbull explained it was necessary to increase the water rates in order to
increase revenues to cover expenses in the water districts.
RESOLUTION #184 - INCREASE WATER RATES
Cl Michaels offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby increases its water rate to $0.95 per
thousand gallons, combined with Bolton Point's rate making a total of $3.19 per thousand
gallons, a minimum charge of $31.90 per quarter.
2nd Cl Hattery
Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes
C1 Christofferson Yes
Supv Trumbull Yes
Cl Michaels Yes
Cl Hattery Yes
Supv Trumbull said the next item of discussion was moving the fire departments to a
two year contract. Cl Michaels said he had a strong opinion, coming largely from the
® experience with Dryden Ambulance. He said the two -year contract is a good idea because of
the time and effort that goes into negotiating it and putting it off the election cycle. He said a
lot of damage was done to people who were donating a lot of their time and it was a very
political process and things were held up because of an election. The major portions of the
contracts are for equipment financing, that 90% of the budget relates to equipment for
emergency services.
C1 Stelick said both Neptune and Varna
submitted requests for two year contracts with
percentage increases, and when
he spoke with
Atty
Perkins initially about the contracts he left
that out. Cl Christofferson said
he is in favor of
the
concept, but would to know what the Town
is committing to before doing it.
He would like
to see it done for all the fire departments. Cl
Stelick said Varna and Neptune
put together a
good
package and they need to discuss it with
Freeville,
the
Etna situation
is a
little
different.
Cl Stelick said that in discussing the proposed contract for 2005, they were fairly close,
with a few points to be ironed out. They need to decide whether to have a two -yeas contract,
the company would like an increase in the OSHA money. Cl Stelick they are relatively close
and would like to discuss it with Freeville.
Atty Perkins advised the Board that the public notices on the fire contracts did not
reflect two year contracts (notice showed one year amounts), and he will have to look at that
issue. Cl Christofferson asked whether the contracts could be done as one -year contracts, and
the question of two -year contract be dealt with in the next few months. He also pointed out
that an increase in OSHA fiends should have been noted in the budget request submitted. Atty
Perkins said there could in fact be a contract for up to five years, but perhaps not beginning
this year because of the way it was advertised. He will check into it.
The board then discussed the Etna Fire Department. Cl Michaels said that whatever
might be floating around, this really boils down to a volunteerism issue and they have about 10
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t`B 12 -9 -U4
to 15 volunteers that will show up to a structure fire, and a number of pieces of equipment to
try and get to those fires. A very large percentage of their calls though are rescue calls during
the day, and the group of volunteers have jobs out of the area. Some of the concerns are the
percentage of calls they are able to respond to, and after reviewing some of those with the
department, it was determined they were predominantly rescue service calls during the day
that may be heavily mitigated by the fly car recently placed in Varna. Cl Michaels said he
would like to make clear that whatever concerns there are in general, the volunteers that do
show up are putting forth a tremendous effort. National statistics show that volunteerism is
down, paid staff is down, and the population keeps growing. He said on the positive side they
have some good new volunteers. Every department, though, has said that they can get lots of
volunteers, but when they find out what they really have to do and the kind of work they are
going to be doing, they have a lot of people leave. Roughly 80% of the calls are rescue calls.
Cl Michaels said that another issue the board may be able to take some action on is
that a good percentage of the calls that Etna responds to, and Dryden Ambulance responds to,
are for people who are looking for a ride to the doctor, clinic or hospital. There are other
services in the community that provide that type of thing, but require 24 -hour notice. He said
it might be worth seeing if they can make an exception to those policies, and said there is work
the Board can get involved in and encourage other community members to do to relieve some
of the concerns in the department. Freeville has put a joint response program in place during
the day for rescue calls.
They are trying to coordinate a meeting among the chiefs and involving whoever might
be helpful to work out some of these issues. Cl Michaels said these issues are not just coming
up for one of the departments, but a lot of the volunteers are spending a lot of time doing
various things. He said the Town could benefit here from having a consultant who could
® attack this and said he thinks there are lot of little things that could be done that could have
big impacts in terms of relieving the burden on the already stressed volunteers.
C1 Christofferson said in looking at the numbers for Etna, the total EMS calls were 66
and 37 of those had no response at all, and in the same period of time (8 months) there were
13 fire calls and for 7 there were no response. Cl Stelick said motor vehicle calls are also
included in the fire numbers. He said on the surface the numbers aren't very good and there
are a number of reasons why those numbers are the way they are. Sometimes the responses
are being done, properly or improperly, in their own personal cars and they are not able to tone
out and tell somebody they responded to the call. A lot of the calls are DSS issues, where they
are going to the trailer park on Hanshaw Road where somebody is needing a ride to the
hospital. Cl Stelick said certain locations are 80% of the calls, and the situation is unique
compared to other areas of the Town. Cl Michaels said that according to Etna, the Chief of the
Freeville Department purchased his own communication equipment so that he can respond
and gone out their calls. He noted that Freeville had had a similar issue with pulled alarms at
the Freeville school, etc., and they were able to substantially reduce the number of calls with
management practices.
Cl Michaels said his point is not that there isn't a concern, because there is, but the
reason Cl Stelick is proposing the meeting among the chiefs is to say there are certain types of
calls coming in and we might be able to solve that through the work of other departments and
people who are able to respond. He said there is still a core group of volunteers that are
putting in a tremendous effort and however few calls they show up on, if you take that and look
at how many of the calls are answered by any one individual, there are a tremendous number
of hours they are volunteering. Cl Christofferson said it sounds like they are working to find
the best solution and that makes sense, but asked that in the meetings they find out who is
responsible for all the different points, and make sure there are checks and balances. There
were no improprieties found in the audit, but there is not a good checks and balances system
in place.
Page 8 of 15
TB 12 -9 -04
Cl Michaels said they also needed to have an o pe n discussion about what type s of
equipment they have. For instances they have a total of 20 SCBA breathing appliances and
recently upgraded seven of them, but they only have 3 people certified to go into a structure
fire.
Cl Stelick said they have a complex problem with a lot of issues. He came up with a
five -point plan after their meeting to look at it. There are four fire departments that he refers to
as being on different locations of an evolutionary track, some being further along. The
evolution starts with a viable department and goes down to not being able to cover calls any
longer, which is a recruitment/ retainment issue, and then it goes to absorption by existing fire
departments and eventually into a pure paid fire department.
He said in Etna's situation, they are further down the track than other departments.
He has absorbed a lot of information from the departments in the last three years and each one
is on the track going toward the same end at different rates. Etna's situation has been allowed
to fester because they've had the 2% rule where every year they got their contract with a 2%
increase, and he said the Town is partially responsible for this.
Cl Stelick has asked Ron Flynn to schedule a Chiefs meeting. The point is cooperation
and every department in the Town is going to buy into this. This issue is not limited to Etna;
it's for everyone within the Town of Dryden. He said they will need a commitment from all of
the departments. One of the areas that has been turned around is the lack of communication.
There is a lot of pride out there and not a lot of communication. Cl Stelick said since Ron
Flynn has been in place as Chief of Neptune they have started to turn that. The next meeting
will be frank and open; the problems will be discussed and there will be no hiding anything.
isThe other is education, and one thing that can be learned from Etna is that the Board
can educate the other departments on what has happened with Ftna and how to avoid those
pitfalls and continue to follow up. That will happen through the current Emergency Services
Committee and the eventuality of having someone in place with more knowledge, but working
very closely to save this and keep it viable.
Cl Stelick said he wanted it clear that this was not about money- share. He said he is
not going to the table to talk about who is doing what or not doing what, and who's going to get
paid what. The issue now is to make sure there is adequate emergency services coverage, and
we know that is not: the case right now. He is going to ask for and get, from especially Varna
and Freeville, help and commitment to help with the situation. The flycar is relatively new,
having only been in place for about a month, and one of the issues EMS coverage, and that
flycar is there during the day when they are weakest in Etna.
As far as recruitment and retainment, Cl Stelick has asked the Chiefs of the Fire
Departments to get a plan in place that they can buy into that they figure will work. We need
to come up with a plan where recruitment and retainment are going to happen.
Cl Stelick said ultimately, he sees us going down the road, but in the meantime if we
put that information together, and work together with Etna, we can cover it. He and Ron Flynn
have come up with a temporary situation, a first alarm assignment, automatic mutual aid, that
will cover the weakness that we have currently. This is only a short-term plan. The long -term
plan is everybody at the table coming up with ideas, and he considers the Chiefs of the
Departments the specialists. The will come up with something for long -term viability, and he
said it is not going to be easy, but the most important thing is that it is out on the table,
instead of innuendo, anecdotal information.
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TIl 12 -9 -04
Cl Michaels said that a few volunteers that work in the area get toned out for two
different fire departments as a way of helping out. Before the Town ever thought about
worrying about these issues, individuals were volunteering to help back that up. He said we
are not trying to assign blame, and the guys at the table are obviously the guys that are
showing up.
Cl Hattery, suggested this is a good time to be looking for a consultant. It is in the
budget and he asked if there had been any feedback from the departments in that regard. Cl
Stelick reaction had been minimal, mostly wanting to know exactly what it was, and was
working on a first draft on what the Town would be looking for in that area, that a lot came out
of their last meeting to give them some direction. He and Cl Michaels will work on an RFP for
approval at the January meeting.
Supv Trumbull asked how the board felt about giving Etna their money for this year. Cl
Stelick said he felt that for 2004 the Town should abide by what was budgeted for 2004, but for
2005 there will need to be a lot of discussion as far as coverage goes, but one of the things they
may be looking at is not additional funds, but moving funds from one department to another
for the flycar coverage or other things, but there are a lot of discussion that have to go along
with that, and they need to have a beginning, and he thinks that beginning is closing out 2004.
Cl Christofferson said we ought to look at what the expenses and things were before we
carte blanche handed over the money. Cl Michaels said he would propose that we ask them for
their actual budget and expenses for 2004 and cover at least that, if not their entire contract
amount. He said it needs more discussion, and he is not negative or trying to keep them out of
money, but thinks we need to look at further. Cl Christofferson said if the money has been
used and is needed, he has no problem with it, but if because they haven't been able to
® respond to calls, their expenses and other things normally provided isn't there, then he doesn't
think they the Town should be padding their budget with extra.
Cl Michaels said Etna has some relatively new equipment and didn't sell one of their old
pieces of equipment. He said he needs some more information and understands that other
departments are also called out for a structure fire, and Etna's trucks might be needed for
water. He would ask the consultant to make a recommendation of what pieces of equipment
that particular department should utilize. The biggest share of their budget is not for
expenses, but to save for future equipment purchase, and he would like to see a plan for that.
Etna does have one piece of equipment that doesn't. get a ton of use, but the reality is that that
may be a necessary piece of equipment in some instances, and other departments have utilized
that piece of equipment.
Cl Stelick said this criteria has not been in place previously. We have four separate
departments that have to be treated as similar as possible. We have no information from the
other departments to see what percentages they cover, but that can be obtained. Cl Stelick
said in the past we have received a contract request and paid them. Cl Christofferson said he
understands that we have always had departments that responded to a majority of the calls.
Cl Michaels said whether they responded to five calls or five hundred, the reality is there cost
basis, their equipment purchase, and their savings for the future. In terms of the budgets and
what the Town provides to them, it isn't so much what they are able to turn out. The big
question for him is what the future looks like for the department, what future equipment
purchases will be. We need to make sure they can fund the equipment purchases they already
have.
Cl Christofferson asked if the current contract addressed what would happen if the
departments don't respond to calls or perform as expected. Atty Perkins said they are to
provide fire protection. Cl Michaels said the 2004 contract was not signed and no funds have
been disbursed. Cl Christofferson said he looks at it as if we are contracting for a service, and
Page 10 of 15
TB 12 -9 -04
® it doesn't feel right to pay something and not get the service back. He understands that the
Emergency Services Committee is trying to make this better, so he'll go with whatever they
decide.
Cl Michaels said he thinks there will be more information and the Chiefs will work
together to find a solution. Cl Stelick said he wants to see the reasoning for Etna wanting the
money and if there is a real need; they recently got a new truck, and he doesn't want that to be
the straw that breaks the camel's back. He said one of things that he hopes to see through
this is more cooperation instead of four departments working independently (and there has
been some change in that). Having a ladder truck in each department is not a necessity, but
having generators at each department makes a lot of sense. These things need to be discussed
and ultimately the board deciding what is necessary, and there is more accountability from the
Town Board. Cl Christofferson said he understands what they are trying to do, but before we
hand over the money, we should say here's the plan and here's what we would like to see
accomplished. Cl Stelick said there are tough questions that need to be answered, and that's
what they are going to do.
Cl Hattery said if the new contracts do not have some more tight conformance criteria,
we will be at the same place in 2005. Cl Stelick said this is something the consultant can deal
with, and perhaps recommend a percentage. C1 Michaels said fire departments may end up
going the way of the ambulance service, with a mixture of paid and volunteer staff. Volunteers
are very committed and do a lot, but adding a little bit of staff in the right places can go a long
way. He added that with the Chiefs working together, there has been a lot of creative work
already and there is still work for that to reduce the load on the volunteers. The board will
hold the money and contract for 2004 for Etna and discuss the matter again in January after
the chief s meeting.
® Supv Trumbull asked if the board wanted to pass the County's proposed resolution on
their comprehensive plan. Atty Perkins said he thinks the plan is approved, that in those
circumstances that that the Town has to send notice under General Municipal law §239 to the
County about proposed action, if the County doesn't like it they will be quoting their plan as
reason the Town shouldn't do it, and if the County doesn't approve it, then the Town has to
pass the project by a super majority (4 votes instead of 3). He said the document does refer to
the planning function being at the local level rather than more centralized, but then goes on
and has this plan. Cl Michaels asked if the Town's Planning Board has commented on it, and
B Caldwell, Chair of the Planning Board, said the Planning Board has had two presentations
and one meeting where they discussed it. Because they have recently had a new member
added to the Planning Board, they did not take action after their last meeting, but have it on
the agenda for later this month. She said in general the questions they had were answered by
Joan Jurko «Rch of Tompkins Country Planning, Cl Michaels said he would like to hear from the
Town's Planning Board, and perhaps the Conservation Board would want to weight in.
Joyce Gerbasi said the Environmental Management Council did pass a resolution in
favor of it, but one of the concerns some members had were exactly as Atty Perkins had said.
It was explained to them that the County would not be able to do anything about anything
within the Town's political boundaries, and the only the time the County would have any
possible authority to act would be if it crossed town lines, and that they could not actually do
anything to prevent the Town from doing something within its own boundaries.
Cl Hattery said he thinks these things provide a template for County action on totally
County purposes, as well as the issues mentioned by Atty Perkins, and that municipalities did
not have sufficient opportunity to comment. He said there are some specific areas where he
disagrees with the objectives of the plan, on transportation and housing. He is not in favor of
supporting the document and encouraging the County to act on behalf of what the document
says. He was unhappy by the process with which the plan was developed. Cl Stelick said the
Page 1 I of 15
TB 12 -9 -04
Town of Dryden was referred to in the document four times, and it is a pretty big part of the
County and recreation, which he is a big proponent of, has one paragraph. He said there is a
lot of fluff in it and it contains a lot of nice information in it, but he doesn't know how it
pertains to the Town. Cl Michaels said he did not want to move the resolution tonight, but
asked that it be added to the agenda for January, and that the Planning Board provide its
comments prior to that time, as well as the Conservation Board if they would like to do so.
Joyce Gerbasi said she disagreed about municipalities having input; that when the
focus groups started several years ago, municipal participation from every town was requested,
and there were a lot of public meetings with citizens, developers and municipal representatives.
She said Dryden in its prior administration did not become very involved, but there were
opportunities to do so. She said this is not meant to be a plan to be followed line by line, but
meant to be a general plan that hopefully the County will choose to follow in order to have open
space and less sprawl, with more dense development, more public transportation, etc. It is not
a definitive set of orders. Cl Hattery said he agreed there has been no lack of public meetings.
Mike Raffee said there were clearly invitations to participate. Cl Hattery said the County takes
a lot of initiatives on behalf of the County as a whole, and they don't deal with the reality that
the county is made up of constituent and there is no County without cities, towns and villages.
He said there is a series of ways that there is some useful activity for the County to do to
actually help with real cross - boundary issues, and it has something more to do with dealing
with the municipalities as entities and the leaders as leaders and not just inviting a lot of
people to a lot of public meetings.
Cl Michaels apologized for not attending the meeting inhere the amendment to the
union contract where approved. That will save the Town quite a bit of money in health
insurance premiums. He said in general the Town tends to look at its employees, both union
® and non - union, as a whole and try not to treat those employees with disparity. The reality is
that they are seeing savings because all the employees in the Town are beneficiaries of that
health insurance. He had assumed that all employees would be treated the same in terms of
the bonus. Cl Christofferson said that there are pending resolutions for adding personal days
and holidays, and sometimes it is not tit for tat. One group pays union dues and one does not
and it is a fine line to try and keep both groups happy when there are some differences. He
said some people were receiving nice raises for next year where there were some inequities that
normally would not have been done without some serious negotiations with the union, if there
was a union for that group. He said he doesn't think that everything has to be exactly the
same and the Town should be careful about setting a precedent for that.
Cl Michaels said that it was worth pointing out that largely the bonus contingent was
entirely a town development. In the union contract their proposal was basically to have all of
the benefit they were asking for received in the wage agreement a few years out. They took a
similar amount of money and provided it as a bonus to the people currently in the union. The
concept at the time was that for all of the employees that were receiving these benefits that the
Town committed to pay for, the union was willing to give a reduction in those costs. Because
there was a reduction in cost for all employees, not only those in the union, they took some of
the money that would otherwise go to the union, and they agreed to lower some of that because
they understood the contribution. Cl Michaels said it didn't occur to him that the Town would
provide the bonus to the Town employees also. Cl Christofferson said some of the personal
services for this year and the benefit increases that were being given to staff, they are
significant. Employees do not contribute financially to those. He said it has not been fully
processed in the Human Resources Committee as a whole package. They have recently added
a couple of personal days and a floating holiday to try to help.
Supv Trumbull said this is a one -shot deal, and they will receive money enough to cover
all employees. Cl Stelick said even after they have given this one -time stipend to the non-
elected, non -union employees there is still a substantial savings to the Town ($130,000).
Page 12 of 15
01113 12 -9-04
Cl Christofferson said the Human Resources Committee had looked at what other
agencies have for holidays and tried to set up what they felt was appropriate. Board members
have a copy of the resolution.
RESOLUTION #185 - AMEND PAID HOLIDAYS
Cl Christofferson offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
WHEREAS, most government: employers have at least twelve paid holidays per calendar
year; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Dryden currently only has eight paid holidays per year, and the
Town of Dryden desires to offer this same benefit to its employees, therefore be it
RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS:
The Town Board does hereby change the paid holiday policy for employees of the Town of
Dryden to include the following days (excluding the Town Highway /DPW bargaining unit
employees, Deputy Supervisor, and Highway Clerk - they must follow the holiday schedule set
forth in the Labor Agreement with Teamsters Local 317:
New Year's Day
Martin Luther King Jr.
President's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Floating Holiday
_ .. =4
Day Columbus Day
Veteran's Day
Thanksgiving Day
Day after Thanksgiving
Christmas Day
* Must be approved in advance by supervisor. Day does not carry over to next year.
The employee handbook will be amended to reflect the same effective January l , 2005.
2nd Supv Trumbull
Roll Call Vote
C1
Stelick
Yes
Cl
Christofferson
Yes
Supv Trumbull
Yes
Cl
Michaels
Yes
Cl
1-lattery
Yes
Cl Christofferson explained that presently employees are able to take some of their sick
time as personal time and that is a record - keeping nightmare. The committee looked at what
other municipalities were getting and based on that decided it was fair and equitable to give
employees a couple of personal days in addition to what is allowed for sick days (12 per year).
For those employees who are maxed out on sick time (960 hours accumulated) and losing time,
they will now be able to convert sick time to an additional two personal days per year. Cl
Michaels said one of the things they try to get their clients to do in labor management is move
to a set number of total vacation, sick and personal days, thereby eliminating any record -
keeping nightmare. He said all you have to do is keep track of the number of days and
eliminate any distinctions between them other than the expected notice. There is usually a
decreased cost in terms of record keeping expenses. Cl Christofferson said he understands,
but the employees are used to the current system. Cl Michaels said he won't oppose this, but
wanted to offer those ideas.
Page 13 of 15
TB 12 -9.04
® RESOLUTION # 186 - AMEND THE PERSONAL TIME POLICY
Cl Christofferson offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
WHEREAS, the Town's current Personal Time Policy allows eligible employees to use up
to 24 hours from their sick time per year for personal reasons; and
WHEREAS, the Human Resource Committee has researched the Personal Time Policy in
place with other municipalities to compare our policy with theirs. The survey showed that
other municipalities granted personal time in addition to sick time, and the Town of Dryden
desires to offer this same benefit to its employees, therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Town Board does hereby change the personal leave policy (the
sick time policy shall remain the same) to grant eligible employees 2 days of personal leave time
per year to use for personal reasons. Employees that have accumulated the maximum amount
of sick hours allowed will be able to convert 2 sick days to personal days every year.
The employee handbook will be amended to reflect the same, effective January 1, 2005.
2nd Cl Stelick
Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes
Cl Christofferson Yes
Supv Trumbull Yes
Cl Michaels Yes
Cl Hattery Yes
Cl Christofferson moved the resolution providing for a bonus for town employees and
explained that the union employees had not asked for an egregious amount for the raises, and
was leaving the town with a substantial savings. The math they did was to say it was a
reasonable amount they got for the savings and what we got for the savings. They didn't have
to give it to the 'Town at all. The committee's strategy was so that they started from a different
wage at the end of the contract and give some of the amount as a bonus which lowered the
amount of the wages. Cl Michaels said he thinking at the time was remove some of the money
and, since the savings was corning from union and non -union employees, apportion it between
the union and non -union employees. He said it never occurred to him that they wouldn't give
the bonus to all employees, and didn't know how he would have felt about it then.
*15 t IMP
Cl Michaels offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
WHEREAS, the Town of Dryden has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with
Teamsters Local 317 and said Memorandum provides for a $1,000 bonus for employees
covered under the bargaining unit, and
WHEREAS, the Town of Dryden desires to treat all its employees in an equitable
manner,
Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of a $1,000 bonus to
each of its permanent, full time employees not covered under the bargaining unit.
2 ^a Supv Trumbull
Roll Call Vote Cl Stelick Yes
Page 14 of 15
TB 12 -94A
Cl Christofferson Yes
Supv Trumbull Yes
Cl Michaels Yes
C1 Hattery Yes
Cl Stelick thanked the people on the Human Resource Committee for the work that has
been done so far. He asked for this some time ago, and we are finally getting there. Cl
Christofferson said the bonus was well deserved by everybody, and the places he's worked have
sometimes had people represented by different contracts for different reasons, and things are
not always the same for everybody.
Supv Trumbull said he thinks he has someone who may be interested in the Town
Historian position and would like to raise the stipend from $200 per year to $400 for the
coming year. The board is in agreement.
The organizational meeting will be held Tuesday, January 4, 2004 at 7:00 p.m.
Supv Trumbull asked the board if they had ideas for the signs to be put up by the
Chamber of Commerce, to get them to him as soon as possible.
On motion made, seconded, and unanimously carried, the board moved into executive
session at 9:43 p.m. to discuss the potential purchase of property where public disclosure
would substantially affect the value there. No action was taken, and the board moved back
into regular session at 9:58 p.m.
The board is concerned about one voucher for business cards for Justice Valentinelli,
and will remove it from the abstract for payment this month, until the supervisor checks into
it.
RESOLUTION # 189 - APPROVE ABSTRACT # 112
Cl Stelick offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption:
RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves /Abstract #112, as audited, vouchers
# 1135 through 1213, excepting # 1140, totaling $188,886.38.
2nd Supv Trumbull
Roll Call Vote
Cl
Stelick
Yes
Cl
Christofferson
Yes
Supv Trumbull
Yes
Cl
Michaels
Yes
Cl
Hattery
Yes
On motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at
10:12 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
�Bambi L. Hollenbeck
Town Clerk
Page 15 of 15
•
�V
12 -9 -04
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