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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-14TB 9-14-17 Page 1 of 4 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING September 14, 2017 Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl Deborah Cipolla-Dennis, Cl Kathrin Servoss Absent: Cl Linda Lavine Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Other Town Staff: Ray Burger, Director of Planning Jennifer Case, Bookkeeper Supv Leifer opened meeting at 7:10 p.m. and said Cl Lavine is absent for medical reasons. RESOLUTION #117 (2017) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #9 Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #9, as audited, general vouchers #600 through #668 ($424,975.92) and TA vouchers #23 & #24 ($4,141.42), totaling $429,117.34. 2nd Cl Cipolla-Dennis Roll Call Vote Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Servoss Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes BridgeNY Grant Update – A new budget line will be set up for expenses for this year and future years. Barton & Loguidice will be here for a meeting tomorrow morning . They will be doing the SEQRs for Freese Road and George Road. The SEQR needs to be done for the bonding. They estimate the cost of this at no more than $30,000. Since the money has been released we can be reimbursed and this initial part will likely not need to be bonde d. K Servoss suggested a separate internal meeting so that everyone knows what needs to be done, when and why. They have Dave Weinstein’s letter regarding the community concerns about the Freese Road bridge. There haven’t been any comments from the community about the George Road bridge. There has been a request to lower the speed limit on George Road to 40 mph. There has also been a request to reduce the speed limit on Malloryville Road to 25 mph from Fall Creek Road to Red Mill Road. Article 78 regarding Salt Mine – Supv Leifer said some towns are signing on to an Article 78 proceeding alleging that the review was done improperly. There may danger of a collapse if they go underneath lake. They are requesting a resolution of support from the town of Dryden and cite a few salt mine collapses that have happened. Board members have been provided with an email and proposed resolution. They are not asking for a financial obligation on the part of town. Town residents are served by Bolton Point water from Cayuga Lake and there is a risk to the drinking water. Cl Cipolla-Dennis said the salinity in Cayuga and Seneca Lakes continue to rise. It’s difficult to prove whether it is due to r oad runoff or from salt mining. TB 9-14-17 Page 2 of 4 There is some scientific data for Seneca Lake that connects times the salt mines were expanded to jumps in salinity in the lake. She will contact Liz Thomas of the Town of Ulysses and look into it further. Other municipalities that get their water from the lake have signed on to this. It was suggested she also talk with the town’s representative to the County EMC. Planning Board alternate – Hilary Lambert has resigned as alternate to the Planning Board. Jim Skaley has submitted an application. The appointment would be to finish the year since appointments are made on a yearly basis. Supv Leifer said the Planning Board has a meeting coming up and J Skaley has done planning work in the past . RESOLUTION #118 (2017) – APPOINT PLANNING BOARD ALTERNATE – SKALEY Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby appoints James Skaley to serve as an alternate member of the Planning Board for a term to expire December 31, 2017. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Cipolla-Dennis Yes Cl Servoss Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes There was discussion of members attending a meeting via Skype when they are out of town and unable to personally attend a meeting. Budget meetings – The tentative budget due September 30 to the town clerk who will provide it to the board by October 5. This budget will be what the department heads give to the board. The board discussed a budget meeting schedule. Meetings will be held: September 27 at 5:00 p.m. to craft the tentative budget. October 6 at 1:00 p.m. to meet with department heads (except highway) at town hall. October 13 at 1:00 p.m. to review the highway budget. Supv Leifer would like to have a meeting with fire and ambulance representatives about their budget requests. He will check to see if they can attend the agenda meeting. A public hearing on the preliminary budget will be scheduled after meetings with the department heads. Next week Supv Leifer will introduce a local law to exceed the tax cap and schedule the public hearing for October 19. There may not be a need to exceed the cap, but every special district counts in the computation so any anticipated large expenditure there will have an impact. He said the goal is to reduce fund balance usage in the budget to zero. The tax levy cap number is 1.8% this year. Some of the new construction this year was not completed in time to count for next year. FH Fox Bridge – Mahlon Perkins is willing to turn over whatever interest he has in the bridge to the town. Supv Leifer will draw up documents for the transfer. The town will assume liability for the bridge. Farmland Protection Plan – The Ag Committee will review the most recent version next Wednesday. If there are no changes the board may be able to approve it in October. The Ag Committee would like to hold a public information session on it. Cooperative Extension may do a presentation to the town board in October. TB 9-14-17 Page 3 of 4 Southworth Library will do a presentation at next week’s meeting. They would like a restoration of their funding to its level prior to last year. Electrical Inspectors – The town keeps a list of approved inspectors. One of them has retired. There is more construction activity and we need make sure we have enough on call so projects are not held up. R Burger will bring a resolution to approve three more inspectors next week. Delaware River will make a presentation next week for a 4 MW proposal for 2243 Dryden Road, between Ferguson and Route 13, on the Carpenter Farm. They did an introduction of the project at the last Planning Board meeting. R Burger said they had an earlier application for 2 MW, are going for 4 MW now, and will get that application to us next week. We’ll get some materials and an introduction, then send it to TG Miller for SEQR evaluation. There is no possible action in October, but likely after that. They h ave requested a letter from the town to the IDA asking for negotiation of a PILOT. R Burger will call the IDA and find out that would they need to execute thei r process because he understood there was a county-wide IDA established and this should be tied to that. Supv Leifer noted that we want the schools to get what they are supposed to get, but we want an equal distribution between the town and the county. K Servoss said she received a couple of emails about grant opportunities. The state has 1.5 billion dollars available for projects to address critical issues facing highways and bridges. There is a TIGER grant opportunity with 500 million dollars available for transportation grant funding. Ray Burger will get in touch with our grant writer to see if there is a good fit for any of our projects. Cl Lamb announced that there will be a meeting with Borger representatives and stakeholders next Thursday from 5-7 p.m. Katie Quinn-Jacobs, Stu Berg, Chuck Geisler, Lizzie Evett, Dana Magnesun will attend. Dominion will bring their regional manager and site manager for Borger and a couple of engineers. It’s an opportunity for dialogue and they will ask for a tour. There is a bit of mystery about the plant with neighbors and he is hoping this will help tamp down the worry. Cl Lamb said he has started talking with Tompkins Trust Company about our revolving loan fund because he feels Alternatives is moving too slow. The Trust Company does this sort of thing and they seem eager to hear more. He may also talk with CFCU. B Avery submitted her budget request to the Supervisor. Everything is increased 2% except in records management where a larger amount is budgeted to begin the codification process with General Code. Performance review for the full time deputy town clerk was given to the Personnel Committee. Yellow Barn Water update – The town clerk, highway superintendent and some of the DPW employees received training on the new water software program. During the training we were able to identify three accounts that may have a leak and that afternoon those properties received a visit from DPW employees. The bill that goes out to users in October wi ll contain instructions on how to install the Eye on Water app and they will be able to set their own alarms for usage limits and such. Supv Leifer reported that a new filter will be installed on one of the wells and if that takes care of the problem it may not be necessary to drill a new well. An engineer is helping with an issue along one area where there is an issue with colored water. He cautioned that the fund balance in that district may be further diminished. B Avery noted that we need to hav e some rules in place for the district and R Young has some samples of what is used in other TB 9-14-17 Page 4 of 4 towns. There should be rules about filling or not filling pools and what happens when a meter is tampered with for instance. Supv Leifer said he is meeting Monday with TG Miller about the apple orchard PRV, a pipe that will supply water to Varna. With the new development there needs to be a new water source. There will be an agreement with the Town of Ithaca that we take over this pipe that is already in place. The water will be allocated to Varna so that new development can happen. The Sapsucker tank built by the town of Ithaca didn’t account for development in Varna. The cost of this will be spread across all districts because they will benefit from access to the new water source. Those districts will eventually be consolidated. There being no further business, no motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk