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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-03-10TB 3-10-16 Page 1 of 7 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING March 10, 2016 Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Linda Lavine, Cl Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, Cl Greg Sloan Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Other Town Staff: Jennifer Case, Bookkeeper Ray Burger, Director of Planning Jennifer Jones, Recreation Director Supv Leifer opened the meeting at 7:07 p.m. Discussion Items Recreation Department Brochure Update – Jennifer Jones explained that pages 1 through 9 are programs offered by the Rec Department. It then lists programs offered by the organizations such as the library and community centers. There is a new trail guide on the back cover. Inside the back cover is a new page about parks in the town. That page will be further developed. She asked the board for feedback and what they are unhappy with or what they like. The Summer/Fall brochure will be out in a few months, and now would be a good time for her to know what the board wants so she can prepare. She is hoping to build on the summer programs with camps for art, hiking, and basketball on top of the dance, karate and golf that have been available for few years. These are typically one week half day camps. She has reached out to the fire department on the camps they offer and hopes to be able to include that information. There will also be information on the camps offered by the Villages of Dryden and Freeville. Cl Lavine said she thinks this is an important function and it is wonderful that our town does this. She was pleased to see the trails and natural areas included. As mentioned, the Dryden parks page needs fixing up. Ellis Hollow has tennis courts that the town pays for and it should be included so people know about it. The Recreation Partnership should also be listed here. Citizens of Dryden are members because the Town pays into it so residents can take advantage of being members. After talking with Nikki Nease of Cooperative Extension and Liz Vance of the Ithaca Youth Bureau, Cl Lavine said she found it distasteful and wasteful to do things that have no obvious place within our mission. An example would be the trip to trampolines in Syracuse. Though the Rec Director said this is revenue neutral, Cl Lavine believes staff time is not accounted for and it doesn’t fit within our mission or goal and has no educational purpose. Cl Sloan said he calls this complete micromanagement from the top. They are doing their jobs and coming up with ideas for people to do. This is only limited by people power. Cl Lamb said our mission is to serve the people of Dryden. This falls on a day there is no school. Having a place for the kids to go that day is important to parents and they look for TB 3-10-16 Page 2 of 7 these options that are fun for kids to do on spring break. It is a wholesome, active, fun activity for kids on spring break. He is proud that our government supports this. Cl Lavine said we can do things that fit the mission of character building and education locally, such as the rock climbing wall at Cornell. Cl Sloan said he feels it is not the Town Board’s job to decide what programs these guys do. He feels like she is picking on this and looking for things to criticize. He doesn’t understand any of these complaints. He feels this booklet is as well organized as other brochures he has seen. Cl Lavine said it should be clearer about the fact that scholarships are offered. J Jones explained there is a statement in the brochure and that children who get free lunch at school qualify for scholarships. It could be in larger print. Cl Lavine would like to see a reference to what kinds of things are offered through the Recreation Partnership, probably on its own page. Cl Lavine said after talking with Liz Vance and Nikki Nease it struck her there is the possibility that we could use the rec van to take people to Ithaca for programs. Some of the programs offered could be merged. If we have plans for things that are already taught in Ithaca, they could try to set it up in Dryden also. We need to take advantage of what is already offered. J Jones pointed out that not all programs offered by the Ithaca Youth Bureau are Rec Partnership programs. Cl Lavine said someone has expressed interest in using the community garden as a camp program. N Nease said they may be able to supply workers through the youth employment program. Supv Leifer said this discussion should happen at the DRYC meeting. The sense of the board is to let the Rec Department do their booklet. The town board should think about a town-wide booklet about Dryden to use as a marketing tool. Cl Lavine would like to see the Rec Department share programming with the Ithaca Youth Bureau and work with Family & Childrens Services. J Jones will follow up with DRYC about Cl Lavine’s suggestions. Cl Cipolla-Dennis said she would be willing to work with people on a town -wide booklet. Supv Leifer stated staff could begin working on a draft and we could budget to print it next year. Yellow Barn Water District - Highway/DPW Superintendent Rick Young distributed a quote for the purchase of cell phone end point readers for the meters in the Yellow Barn district and the software suite for monitoring. This system will enable the department to identify accounts immediately that are experiencing significant usage or no usage. It also eliminates the need for residents to call in meter reads as we will be able to retrieve those remotely and load them to a billing program. Recent significant leaks have just about disabled the system resulting in the expense of having to haul water in and locate the leaks. Two of the three leaks were running toilets, and that actually takes the system down in a matter of weeks. There is also a component with this system where customers with smart phones can set their water account to send them notifications for items they determine. It should result in cost savings to both the town and the customer. The expense of the program and readers would be th e responsibility of the district. After some discussion, the board believes this would result in savings to the district and town. TB 3-10-16 Page 3 of 7 Supv Leifer explained that a few years ago the board authorized a bond in the amount of $685,000 for the new water tank and other infrastructure upgrades. While the work was being done it was in the form of a Bond Anticipation Note (BAN). There is a closing tomorrow to convert the BAN to a bond. There will be a payment of $24,088 and another payment in September of about $12,000. Yearly payments will be $36,000. There may need to be a mid- year assessment to raise funds to cover repairs. If there is a shortfall in the district, we can do an interfund loan to be repaid to the town with interest. Short Road – Supv Leifer said there a private road called Short Road. In 1978 owners of properties there signed a document stating the town has no obligation to maintain that road. New owners contacted R Young believing it was a town road and before he got involved in doing major work he found out it wasn’t a town road and stopped work. It is basically a shared driveway. The property owners contacted an attorney and Supv Leifer will write to the owners’ attorney letting him know it isn’t a town road. Gas meters at highway barn - R Young has been getting prices for replacing the gas meters at the town barns. They are also used by the fire departments and ambulances. This old system runs off a dos system and is not very good. It uses cards assigned to vehicles and people. They don’t hold up well and have to be obtained from Lancaster, PA. He would like approval to upgrade to a key fob system. The price from Cortland Pump to upgrade is around $13,000. This is the same system the school has had for 15 years and they have no problems. The new, more stringent accounting of fuel for DEC can be easily accomplished with this new system because the new one is hard to trace if they are off a few gallons. There is money in the equipment budget to cover it. Supv Leifer asked him to have a resolution for next week. R Young said he would also like to invest in surveillance cameras for out back at the highway barns. This company can hook it up at the same time they do the pump work and get it activated when the pump program is activated. He will have the cost next week. Budget building plan – Supv Leifer distributed a timeline he would like to follow in crafting the budget for this year. By the end of this month the 2015 books should be closed. The AUD will be filed by May 1. In May, June, and July he would like to talk with department heads about current spending and budget development. August 1 he will put out a bare bones budget and the board can discuss what we should and should not be doing. Over the next two to three budgets the goal is to have revenue and expenses close. We need to look at everything. He would like to hit 25% of appropriations as a target fund balance. Early budget meetings will be publicized to accept public comment. Cl Cipolla-Dennis likes this time line and would like to put together a multi-year plan following guidelines from the Comptroller’s Office. She noted that sales tax revenue has been going down. Supv Leifer would like to consider a grant writer for next year to help look for funding. CHIPS money should be going up. He is hoping the trails group will look for money for funding that project. CDBG grant funds – The town has the remainder of money that was paid back from a CDBG grant from years ago. Cl Leifer said he hopes to get that out and ask for more. D Lamb explained we need to renew the MOU with Alternatives Federal Credit Union. There is about $163,000 that was paid back from the Cayuga Press loan. This could be loaned to local businesses and then loaned out again when it is repaid. Supv Leifer said Hopshire is currently benefiting from another grant process now and they want to meet with Dryden representatives about that. Cl Lamb stated HUD economic development guidelines need to be adhered to and it can only be loaned for specific purposes (land, building or machinery acquisition or other capital related expenses and/or creation of jobs). He will look into increasing the total amount that can be loaned, but for a town our size to have a revolving loan fund of th is type is something. TB 3-10-16 Page 4 of 7 There will need to be a resolution to renew the MOU for the Individual Development Accounts. Cl Lamb will follow up with Alternatives on administering the revolving loan fund. Fire Departments – Supv Leifer noted that the Departments were paid on their contracts this quarter. A comparison of response times and call numbers was prepared by the supervisor’s office and distributed to board. Supv Leifer would like to have one budget hearing for fire departments alone so they can tell the public what they are asking for and why. It was noted there is a new reporting format coming out showing actual data from county dispatch. March 17 Agenda Items 1401 Dryden Road – R Burger reported the SWPPP completed last week and it is being reviewed by the town engineer. He has sent draft resolutions and SEQR process recommendations to the town attorneys. As soon as they complete their review, those items will be on web. 902 Dryden Road – The SWPPP was submitted last Friday and the same process is being followed with the town attorneys. Zoning Law Amendment – R Burger reported the SEQR is done and should be on the website on Monday. The part 3 attachment is key. R Burger has completed it for board review. The board can make changes during discussion if they feel it is necessary. This is a full SEQR because there are historic sites in some of the rural residential districts and that creates a potential impact to historic resources. Planning Department Update There will be two special use permits coming before the Town Board in the future. One is a Verizon tower near Irish Settlement and Route 13. The other is a repair garage in a residential neighborhood just north of Freeville. The repair garage h as been operating as a home business for relatives for years and this will formalize that. Neighbors seem to be okay with this. They will be asking for a reduction in parking spaces. ISO Rating – R Burger reported the community rating was likely high because NYS codes are so behind. The new rates will not be published until after the State takes action on adopting the 2015 codes this spring. It should go down to a 3 or 4 rating. It is unclear how that translates to dollars for residents. The Planning Department report is posted on the web. Presentation on Best Management Practices for Road and Highways Charlie Smith would like to arrange for a presentation for board members, conservation board members, planning board members, highway employees and public to talk about road maintenance and highway issues. Rebecca Schneider, of the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell, has been doing research related to road drainage and such for about twenty years. She leads workshops that are generally about four hours. He will ask her to hit the high points in about an hour. He would like to schedule for just prior to a board meeting or a conservation board meeting (5:30 to 6:30) in April or May. C Smith will be in touch with respect to a date. Unfinished Business TB 3-10-16 Page 5 of 7 Hoag Harvey Parcel (Pinckney Road) – Sellers have advised they will hold until June 1 for a closing. Supv Leifer said board members have received some information from the town attorney and if the board wanted to vote on that next week, we would ne ed publication on Saturday. Cl Lavine proposes to vote on a resolution to rescind resolutions #40 and #41 from January and replace with them with a new resolution to purchase the land from surplus funds which does not require a permissive referendum. If the board wants to take a vote on that next week it will need to hold another public hearing next week. Cl Lavine said it is clear that rescinding those resolutions is the logical thing to do. We have sworn affidavits that there was fraud in the form of petitions signed by people who did not witness the signatures on those petitions. If the town were to challenge that in court it will cost the town money. Having a referendum could cost thousands of dollars. Supv Leifer said he contacted Steve DeWitt who said if we used voting machines the cost would be approximately $4,500. If we do a paper ballot election it would be under $2,000. Cl Lavine said the petition would become null and void if the resolution was rescinded. It can then be redone so is not subject to permissive referendum. In this way we can avoid legal fees and the cost of the referendum. Supv Leifer said taking the funds from surplus would reduce what is available and he would prefer to have more of a cushion for budgeting and take the money from the recreation reserve. The r ec reserve money can’t be used for anything else. If the public notice can’t be published on Saturday March 12, the board will hold a special meeting on March 24 to accommodate this public hearing. RESOLUTION #63 (2016) – SCHEDULE PUBLIC HEARING Cl Lavine offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this town board hereby schedules a public hearing for March 17, 2016, at 8:00 p.m. to consider the Town’s acquisition for the preservation of open space and the establishment of a park, nature preserve or recreation area pursuant to §247(3) of the General Municipal Law and §220(3) of the Town Law of an approximately 15-acre parcel of vacant land located on Pinckney Road and bordering on Fall Creek in the Town of Dryden, which parcel is currently designated as Town of Dryden tax parcel number 44.-1-2.323 and reputedly owned by Jean Hoag (“the Hoag-Harvey Parcel”), at a cost to the Town of Dryden not to exceed $62,700, plus paym ent of the seller’s closing costs in an amount not to exceed $7,100, plus property tax and recording charges not to exceed $2,000; and to consider payment of such costs in whole from monies appropriated from surplus funds of the Town, pursuant to §220 of the Town Law. Further, in the event that publication cannot be made on March 12, 2016 for a March 17, 2016 hearing, the notice will be published for a public hearing on March 24, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. 2nd Cl Sloan Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Cl Lavine Yes Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Lamb No Supv Leifer No New business Transfer of highway funds to reserve – when books are closed. TB 3-10-16 Page 6 of 7 Municipal Solar Opportunities – Cl Cipolla-Dennis said Renovus is holding a meeting on March 16 at 6 pm at the Space in Ithaca to discuss options for nonprofits and municipalities to purchase clean electric energy from solar systems. It is kind of like a community solar thing but is specifically for non-profits and municipalities. Might be interesting to see whether we have a gap between what we are producing and using. It is an opportunity to use 100% clean energy by participating. Renovus is putting in solar farms in the county and surrounding area and want to sell that power. Supv Leifer said Solar Liberty is going to review our bills to determine how much we’ve been able to save with our solar panels. Also on next week’s agenda is a request by a couple of residents for late fees to be waived. The County Planning, Development and Environmental Quality Committee will meet March 16 at 3:00 p.m. at legislative chambers to discuss the county energy roadmap. The agenda is on the county website. Supv Leifer said he has a request from DRAC to put an item on the agenda about the transpacific partnership. He has concerns that it may have provisions that might override local law. In the past the board has passed resolution that might touch on local authority. He asked that because of the number of public hearings scheduled for next week, he would rather have a lot of people sign onto a letter than have a lot of people take three minutes each and make it difficult to get through the public hearings. Judy Pierpont said DRAC can do a resolution for the board to pass that can be passed on to Schumer, Gillibrand, and others. Cl Cipolla-Dennis said she believes the TPP could have local impact and she thinks the resolution passed by the County hits several points the town could be concerned about. She will put together a resolution to bring to the board next week. Bob Beck announced that next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Highway/DPW building (old town hall) will be the first rail trail planning meeting of people interested in serving on a rail trail committee. They will be presenting information and bringing people up to date. They have about fifteen people eager to be on a committee to help open up the Ithaca through Varna trails and Freeville to Dryden portion. He asked that the board delegate authority to negotiate easements and apply for grants. Supv Leifer said the town board needs a list of the people interested then the board can formally establish the group so there can be a delegation of authority. He asked B Beck to review the resolution establishing the Ag Advisory Committee and work from that. Cl Sloan said this committee will need to know exactly what the town board and town supervisor needs them to do so that they can organize and report back. Supv Leifer suggested they propose their task and then receive direction. Ray Burger will be attending the Town Gown event on March 31, 2015. RESOLUTION #64 (2016) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #3 Cl Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #3, as audited, general vouchers #104 through #189 ($395,091.03) and TA vouchers #64 through #66 ($59,163.91), totaling $454,254.94. 2nd Cl Sloan Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Lavine Yes TB 3-10-16 Page 7 of 7 Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously approved, the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk