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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-03-08 - TB it TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 P resent : Supervisor Doug Austic ; Councilpeople Catherine Stover , B en Curtis , Robert Weatherby ; Bookkeeper Jeanne ✓ anderbilt ; Town Clerk Marsha Georgia . O thers Present : Mark Scibilia - Carver , Julia McComb / Free Press . Mr . Austic called the Regular Town Board Meeting of the Town of • Ulysses to order at 7 : 30pm and led those in attendance in the P ledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America . Mr . Austic entertained a motion to approve the minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of February 8 , 1994 and the Special Board Meeting of February 26 , 1994 , moved by Mrs . Stover , seconded by Mr . Curtis and unanimously approved . Report : Trumansburq Fire Department Absent . Report : Representative Peter Meskill Absent . Claims Mr . Austic entertained a motion to approve Claims # 43 - 68 in the amount of $ 16 , 394 . 66 , moved by Mr . Weatherby , seconded by Mrs . S tover . Mr . Austic Aye Mrs . Stover Aye Mr . Weatherby Aye Mr . Curtis Aye Approved . Reports Mrs . Georgia , Town Clerk reported that total fees collected for the month of February was $ 856 . 00 of which $ 674 . 93 was turned o ver to the Supervisor . Tax penalties collected for February $ 284 . 40 which was turned over to the Supervisor . Total to date o f $ 520 , 000 . has been sent to the County . Total of $ 359 , 784 . of unpaid taxes at this time . A NYS Town Clerk ' s Association seminar is scheduled in April and a request was made that both the Town Clerk and Deputy attend . After discussion Mr . Curtis moved , seconded by Mrs . Stover that the Town Clerk attend the NYS Town Clerk ' s Association seminar in Albany at the rates stated . Mr . Austic Mrs . Stover Aye Mr . Weatherby Aye Mr . Curtis Aye Approved . Mr . Meeker , Highway Superintendent reported salting and plowing and more of the same . Roof on salt shed is falling in . One of the highway crew cut three fingers and went to the hospital for stitches . No word from DEC on tank removal . Code Enforcement Officer Mr . Austic reported for Alex Rachun . . . one permit to replace a TOWN OF ULYSSES 2 REGULAR BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 ✓ oof which was approved on March 7th by the ZBA . B oard Members Mr . Curtis said that the Ad Hoc Cable Committee , that he and Mr . Austic had attended , have asked municipalities to vote in support o f a Tompkins County Cable TV Commission . Mr . Curtis said he w ould ask this Board to vote in support . Mrs . Stover moved , seconded by Mr . Weatherby the following : WHEREAS the municipalities of Tompkins County have formed a committee to explore cooperation in administering cable TV franchises in the county , and that committee proposes to start discussion based on a possible revival of the structure of a county cable commission formed in 1977 ; The Town of Ulysses agrees to take part in the formation of an intermunicipal commission to deal with issues of municipal cable television franchising in Tompkins County ; To that end appoints Ben Curtis to represent it in drawing up an agreement to form such a commission ; and Directs that a copy of this resolution be sent to Mayor Ted Wixom of the Village of Lansing , convener of the commission to study group . Mr . Austic Aye Mrs . Stover Aye Mr . Weatherby Aye Mr . Curtis Aye Adopted . Mr . Austic said Family and Children ' s Services or UYU have d ecided [ not sure which ] there is some kind of problem . . . so the County Youth Board is asking for proposals to run UYU . Are also asking municipalities if they would like to be involved . Short d iscussion ensued . H earing of Delegations Mark Scibilia - Carver asked what has been done with the Water S urvey , he would like to have a copy . Also addressed his concern about the Town spraying roadsides . He suggested organizing a ✓ olunteer effort to clear roadsides and keep weed growth down . Mr . Meeker stated that liability insurance should be checked . Tompkins County requires the Town of Ulysses to have a million d ollars in liability insurance . Mr . Curtis asked how that would w ork with the Adopt - A - Highway Program . Mr . Carver asked when the spraying is done and Mr . Meeker said he contracts with a spraying firm and they notify him sometimes a day before they arrive , if that . OLD BUSINESS O P rocurement Policy After a brief discussion , and Mr . Meeker asking to have the monetary figures adjusted , Mr . Curtis moved , seconded by Mr . W eatherby to adopt the following policy as amended in discussion : TOWN OF ULYSSES PROCUREMENT POLICY WHEREAS , Section 104 - b of the General Municipal Law requires the g overning body of every municipality to adopt a procurement ' s TOWN OF ULYSSES 3 REGULAR BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 policy for all goods and services which are not required by law to be publicly bid and WHEREAS , comments have been solicited from all officers in the Town of Ulysses involved in the procurement process , now , therefore , be it RESOLVED , that the Town of Ulysses does hereby adopt the following procurement policy which is intended to apply to all goods and services which are not required by law to be publicly bid . 1 . Every purchase to be made must be initially reviewed to 411 determine whether it is a purchase contract or a public works contract . Once that determination is made , a good faith effort will be made to determine whether it is known or can reasonably be expected that the aggregate amount to be spent on the item of supply or service is not subject to competitive bidding , taking into account past purchases and the aggregate amount to be spent in a year . The following items are not subject to competitive bidding pursuant to Section 103 of the General Municipal Law : purchase contracts under $ 10 , 000 and public works contracts under $ 20 , 000 ; emergency purchases ; goods purchased from agencies for the blind or severely handicapped ; goods purchased from correctional institutions ; purchases under State and county contracts ; and surplus and second - hand purchases from another g overnmental entity . The decision that a purchase is not subject to competitive bidding will be documented in writing by the individual making the purchase . This documentation may include written or verbal q uotes from vendors , a memo from the purchaser indicating how the decision was arrived at , a copy of the contract indicating the source which makes the item or service exempt , a memo from the purchaser detailing the circumstances which led to an emergency purchase , m or any other written documentation that is appropriate . 2 . All goods and service will be secured by use of written requests for proposals , written quotations , verbal quotations , or any other method that assures that goods will be purchased at the lowest price and that favoritism will be avoided . 3 . The following method of purchase will be used when required by this policy in order to achieve the highest savings : • Estimated Amount of Purchase Contract Method $ 150 - 400 Prior approval of Supervisor . $ 401 - 999 2 Verbal quotations . $ 1 , 000 - 1 , 999 2 Written / fax quotations and prior approval from Supervisor . ® $ 2 , 000 - 10 , 000 3 Written / fax quotations or written request for proposal and prior approval from Supervisor and Town Board . E stimate Amount of P ublic Works Contract Method $ 500 - 1 , 000 Prior approval of Supervisor . $ 1 , 001 - 3 , 000 2 Verbal quotations . TOWN OF ULYSSES 4 REGULAR BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 $ 3 , 001 a 4 , 999 2 Written / fax quotations and prior approval from Supervisor and Town B oard . $ 5 , 000 - 19 , 999 3 Written / fax quotations or written requests for proposal and prior approval from Supervisor and Town B oard . A good faith effort shall be made to obtain the required number o f proposals or quotations . If the purchaser is unable to obtain the required number of proposals or quotations , the purchaser w ill document the attempt made at obtaining the proposals . In no e vent shall the failure to obtain the proposal be a bar to the procurement . 4 . Documentation is required of each action taken in connection w ith each procurement . 5 . Documentation and an explanation is required whenever a contract is awarded to other than the lowest responsible offeror . This documentation will include an explanation of how the award w ill achieve savings or how the offeror was not responsible . A d etermination that the offeror is not responsible shall be made by the purchaser and may not be challenged under any circumstances . 6 . Pursuant to General Municipal Law Section 104 - b ( 2 ) ( f ) , the procurement policy may contain circumstances when , or types of procurement for which , in the sole discretion of the governing body , the solicitation of alternative proposals or quotations w ill not be in the best interest of the Town of Ulysses to solicit quotations or document the basis for not accepting the lowest bid : a . Professional services or services requiring special or technical skill , training or expertise . The individual o r company must be chosen based on accountability , ✓ eliability , responsibility , skill , education and training , judgment , integrity , and moral worth . These qualifications are not necessarily found in the individual or company that offers the lowest price and the nature of these services are such that they do not ✓ eadily lend themselves to competitive procurement procedures . In determining whether a service fits into this category the Town B oard shall take into consideration the following guidelines : ( a ) whether the services are subject to State licensing or testing requirements ; ( b ) whether substantial formal education or training is a necessary prerequisite to the performance of the services ; and ( c ) whether the services require a personal relationship between the individual and municipal officials . P rofessional or technical services shall include but not be limited to the following : services of an attorney ; services of a physician ; technical services of an engineer engaged to prepare plans , maps and estimates ; securing insurance coverage and / or services of an insurance broker ; services of a certified public accountant ; investment management services ; printing services involving extensive writing , editing or art work ; management of municipally owned property ; and computer software or programming services for customized programs , or services involved in substantial modification and customizing of pre - packaged software . b . Emergency purchases pursuant to Section 103 ( 4 ) of the General Municipal Law . Due to the nature of this e xception , these goods or services must be purchased 64/ TOWN OF ULYSSES 5 REGULAR BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 immediately and a delay in order to seek alternate proposals may threaten life , health , safety or welfare o f the residents . This section does not preclude alternate proposals if time permits . c . Purchases of surplus and second - hand goods from any source . If alternate proposals are required , the Town o f Ulysses is precluded from purchasing surplus and second - hand goods at auctions or through specific advertised sources where the best prices are usually o btained . It is also difficult to try to compare prices of used goods and a lower price may indicate an o lder product . ® d . Goods or services under $ 150 . The time and documentation required to purchase through this policy may be more costly than the item itself and would therefore not be in the best interests of the taxpayer . In addition , it is not likely that such de minimis contracts would be awarded based on favoritism . 7 . The unintentional failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall not be grounds to void action taken or give to a cause of action against the political subdivision or district or any officers of employees thereof . 8 . This policy adopted by the Town of Ulysses on March 8 , 1994 . Mr . Austic Aye Mrs . Stover Aye Mr . Weatherby Aye Mr . Curtis Aye Adopted . Travel Policy Mr . Austic said the Board has decided to eliminate the Travel P olicy . P ayroll Policy The Board reviewed this at the Special Board Meeting on Saturday , March 5 . Mrs . Georgia asked if this will become part of the P ersonnel Policy since some of these items are already addressed in that document . Mr . Austic said he will check to see if there are contradicting areas in the two policies . Investment Policy Our current Investment Policy does not currently meet all the specifications of the State . Mr . Austic will work on this . B ailey Insurance 411 Mr . Austic said he had received an estimate from Bailey Insurance regarding indemnification . General Star National Insurance Company ; one million dollar coverage , with five thousand dollar deductible would cost $ 3 , 466 . per year ; Farrell - Messier , million dollar coverage with five thousand dollar deductible would cost $ 3 , 265 . Now the question is do we want to do this . . . no budget item for it . Can wait until October and include it in next year ' s budget . The Board agreed to hold this item for next year ' s budget . N EW BUSINESS B uilding Proposals TOWN OF ULYSSES 6 REGULAR BOARD MEETING March 8 , 1994 Tom Reitz is the Town Hall liaison and he is out of town so will talk about this area at a later date . Regarding the Salt Shed , Mr . Austic said we need to get going on it , come up with a plan , get estimates . Discussed funding . Other Mr . Austic said he has a letter concerning Records Retention ; Mrs . Georgia said individual Towns are being asked to write in support of continuing Records Management Improvement Fund grants . After brief discussion this item was tabled . Mr . Rustic mentioned a request from the Mayor of Trumansburg , who is also a Fair Board Member , for a permit for fire works . Asking the Town for permission to have fire works at the Fairgrounds . Anyone familiar with this ? Mr . Curtis said he writes them in the Village of Lansing . . . they have to have approval from Fire Chief , and provide their own insurance . Mrs . Georgia said the Town Board passed a resolution giving the Pyrotechnic Assoc . permission , since we do not have an ordinance to do this type of permit . Mr . Austic said there is no procedure for issuing a permit for this type of thing . Mr . Curtis said if you can wait until the next meeting will bring in what Lansing uses . Mr . Austic said there are two answering machines that have broken ; either need to buy two new machines or sign up with the telephone company and their " voice mail " . Cost is $ 3 . 95 per month for each phone ( 10 calls per line ) . No hook - up fee . The Board felt the " voice mail " was a good idea and Mr . Austic will contact the telephone company . Correspondence Mr . Austic reviewed correspondence received . Available in his office if interested . The Special Town Board Meeting scheduled for Saturday , March 12 is cancelled . Hearing no further business Mrs . Stover moved to adjourn , seconded by Mr . Weatherby and unanimously approved , the meeting adjourned at 9 : 15pm . Respectfully submitted , 0 TOWN OF ULYSSES MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE MEETING TOWN HALL MARCH 8 , 1994 P RESENT : JOANNE MOLINO , RUTH KAHN , DAVID LAURIE , SECRETARY : ROXANNE SMITH ALSO PRESENT : PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS : BUDD STOVER , PETER DEMJANEC AND KRYS CAIL . The meeting came to order at 8 : 00 PM . Ruth inquired of the Members if they had read an article in the Ithaca Journal ( March 8 , 1994 ) on an organization trying to preserve farm land . Peter. ® indicated he had ; the basic premise of their argument was that t he planning process was one of detirming what agricultural land would become . It bypasses altogether the question of why it should become anything other than what it is . Roxanne gave the Planning Board Members a copy of the Master P lan Committee ' s outline for the proposed Master Plan Draft . The L and Use Maps were brought out for their inspection . They discussed t he definitions for the color breakdowns . The Members turned to Topic V of the outline : Economic Features . Item C , " Growth Issues " , was focused on . The lack of water and sewer ( ultimately a Residential issue ) was brought up . Ruth men - t ioned the importance of maintaining a viable center with an ec - o nomic environment . Tom King ' s comments on the need for a " center - piece " as an attractor was discussed . Budd observed that though Trumansburg apparently is lacking in that aspect ( in Mr . King ' s o pinion ) , it ' s interesting the Chamber of Commerce used a photo - g raph of Taugha. nnock Falls on their brochure cover . Ruth said that if we are looking for tourism dollars , we certainly can attract people ( concerts in the park , fire works , grassroots festival ) . She disagreed with Mr . King . Peter suggested that a good response as an economic strategy would be to clear any obstacles ( lack of parking , police , etc . ) . A shuttlebus could be provided ; hiring extra police ; whatever works for the community . Budd stated that a lot of the problem gets back to the rift between the Village and the Town . Ruth t hought that the Fairground Committee should have been present at t he meeting on tourism ( they were invited ) . The music connection is very strong , and the winter craft sale is immensely popular . Ruth commented that she wasn ' t so hep on tourism as much as .. t he need for more jobs ( maybe not tourism jobs ) which gets back to t he B2 . Krys mentioned a comment made by a speaker from the annual meeting at the Chamber of Commerce . ( His company puts together mailing lists , and they ' re based in Ithaca . ) He stated that a large portion of Tompkins County is considered " God ' s country " . A sig - n ificant amount of people are telecommuters ( doing electric work o ut of their homes and offices ) . Her neighbor is in satellites , and he ' s out of the country a lot . ( There are a number of authors in the Town , too . ) Peter mentioned Mike Stamm ' s talk . You can not import jobs , you grow there . You can import people ; if you do it ® often enough , people will stay . If Residential grows , Commercial g rowth will follow . Ruth queried what the factors were that would d raw people . She stated that the school has a good reputation . They do not have a pool however , stated Peter . They do have an excellent track . In the last 5 years the Town has increased by 5 % ( population ) , whereas the Village has decreased by 6 % said Ruth . Budd asked how the completion of the work on the Octopus would. help growth . A common perception is the amount of time needed to get t hrough the Octopus presently is very tedious . A lot of people will n ot drive through the bottleneck presently said Peter . Once that is corrected he thinks there will be a flood of housing along the corridors . Despite the fact of the Octopus , houses do sell in Trumansburg said Ruth . People in the know go to Ulysses said David . He thinks that Al TOWN OF ULYSSES 2 MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH 8 , 1994 t he draw is the low crime statistics . If we have a great deal of d evelopment will that remain , asked Joanne ? David said he didn ' t t hink so ; why would we want more development anyway ? He said let people come here and leave at the end of the day . Ruth stated that she thought that the problem was the Town feels they ' re fighting for nickels and dimes , they ' re worrying about needing a tax base . D avid responded that he ' s never seen a community yet that doesn ' t feel that way . Residential development isn ' t what you want for a t ax base said Joanne . When you have more residences you have more services . Which services , asked Krys ? Our Town services are road work , Town Clerk , zoning , highway department , fire p .rotection , etc . ® It ' s true if you have a lot of services like garbage pick - up , po - lice protection , water and sewer . They can create a disproportion - ate amount of use , but the Town does not offer them . It ' s not clear that houses do create the need for more police or fire pro - t ection . Krys stated that the crime typically shows up in the Commercial Zone ; suburbs don ' t tend to be high crime areas . If you have one murder in a year , then two the next ; your crime rate h as doubled said Joanne . The fire department services is what worries Ruth . The internal problems of the fire department have created the need . They use to be a very viable department said B udd . The county is decreasing expenditures for the fire depart - ments said Ruth . She agreed with Budd that there are personality problems too . The rift occurred when the new fire building was erected , said Budd . The young volunteers require more training too . Peter asked David if he would like to discourage growth in t he Township ? David responded no ; it isn ' t necessary to aim for perfection ( for instance say , everyone is employed , making fifty t housand a year ) . It doesn ' t happen . This Town has a nice balance . He shared with the Members that be grew up in a community in Rhode Island that was very similar to Trumansburg . All of a sudden it became very fashionable . It became a sought after place , the houses were all bought up . All of sudden you saw the people who didn ' t come from a lot of money being pushed out . An interesting , viable community doesn ' t happen when you have one set income level . It amazes him how much homes are selling for in Trumansburg now . Ruth said the median value of a house ( in 1990 ) was $ 91 , 000 . They ( Kahns ) bought their home in 1976 for $ 46 , 000 ( 5 acres ) . Joanne grew up in Long Island . At one time it was all wooded , not it ' s a blight . E veryone is trying to find their own little piece of isolation . D evelopment does increase the crime rate . It might be good , to be a place that the young people leave ( to seek better opportunity e lsewhere ) said David . Krys said that the Town of Ithaca requires that 10 % of the property you develop must be set aside for park land , or if your development is too small you will be required to make a donation in lieu of the of the value of what that will be . The question o f how that is enforced was brought up by Ruth . ( As an example she cited the Auble trailer park that was suppose to have a playground • for the children . ) That ' s development gone awry said David . It t akes caring , careful planning , not necessarily looking for big development and dollars . Krys stated that you have to have laws and plans in place to guard against the predatory instincts of some d evelopers who could care less . Developers go in and put the in - frastructure in place ; the development is then turned over to the Town to maintain regardless if the roads are too steep , etc . and t he developers don ' t care as it isn ' t their problem anymore . The Town of Ulysses is already " upscale " . Trailers , modest homes that look like trailers are already excluded ; we have a gen - e rous minimum lot size . They can ' t put it here , they can only put it in Enfield said Krys . Peter stated that he thought we don ' t necessarily want to legislate restrictions that make it impossible `Y TOWN OF ULYSSES 3 MASTER PLAN COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH 8 , 1994 somewhat to build a modest home in the Town of Ulysses . At the same time we don ' t want to not promulgate our perception of what t his Town is , so that it becomes an area where people own their own homes . You have to work in a publicity vein to say that this is the type of community that we aim for so people will, be attrac - t ed to the idea to come here and live . David said publicize what we are , and hope we will attract those kind of people . Ulysses has the highest number of historical homes in the county , said Ruth . They still determine the aesthetic flavor , t hough 50 % of the homes have been built since 1950 . Peter stated that he ' s an advocate of aesthetic zoning . Communities that have it have been quite successful . Damaged property clearly degenerates t he Village he said . You could have an architectural review said t avid . ( Designed in advance . ) Those ordinances that have been successful , generally restrict people to a pallet of materials which is compatible to homes with historic value . For example you would not have vinyl siding , you would not have board and batten ( barn siding ) said Peter . Saying Town wide that you can not build with this material is dictatorial said David . There are minimal things we can do , that we don ' t do said Krys . You do have to keep in mind that all plans do not pan out though . The next meeting will be Tuesday , March 29 , 1994 at 7 : 30 PM at the Town Hall . The meeting adjourned at 9 : 30 PM .