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Home My WebLink About2014-12-11TB 12-11-14 Page 1 of 4 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING December 11, 2014 Present: Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner, Cl Gregory Sloan, Cl Jason Leifer, Cl Linda Lavine Excused: Cl Joseph Solomon Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Other Town Staff: Jane Nicholson, Director of Planning Supv Sumner opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m. RESOLUTION #184 (2014) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #11 Supv Sumner offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #11, as audited, vouchers #947 through #1026 ($193,274.18) and TA vouchers #27 and #28 ($3,058.05), totaling $196,332.23, and further authorizes payment outside the abstract to Adhan Piping Company in the amount of $46,477.80 (this is for a capital project for which a budget line has not yet been established). 2nd Cl Sloan Roll Call Vote Cl Sloan Yes Supv Sumner Yes Cl Leifer Yes Cl Lavine Yes Supv Sumner noted that Adhan Piping holds biweekly meetings on the Yellow Barn Water project on site Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. There will be a meeting December 16, 2014. Supv Sumner reviewed proposed budget modifications with board members. RESOLUTION #185 (2014) – APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS Supv Sumner offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves the following budget modifications: From Acct To Acct Amount A1410.101 Deputy Town Clerk A1410.4 Town Clerk Contractual 845.00 A1330.101 Deputy Rcvr of Taxes A1330.4 Rcvr of Taxes Contractual 845.00 DB3005 Mortgage Tax DB1120 Sales Tax 180,000.00 A1120 Sales Tax A3005 Mortgage Tax 180,000.00 DA2680 Misc Insurance Recoveries DA5130.4 Machinery Contractual 587.57 TB 12-11-14 Page 2 of 4 A7330.4 Community Recreation A7310.4 Youth Services 1,986.71 2nd Cl Lavine Roll Call Cl Sloan Yes Supv Sumner Yes Cl Leifer Yes Cl Lavine Yes Joe Wilson asked the Town Board to consider meeting with the Sustainable Tompkins Solutions group that has a proposal on how all the energy needs of the properties in Lansing to be served by the gas pipeline could be served by renewable energy. The presentation would be half an hour to 45 minutes. It may be possible to sched ule that prior to a board meeting. Supv Sumner said she also has a suggestion from Susanne McManus for a solar energy presentation. Because of scheduling problems, she has not yet responded. Supv Sumner has an appointment to talk with NYSEG on Monday to discuss a presentation by them on the West Dryden Road matter. Discussion: Zoning Law – Some necessary changes have been made in the ordinance and the plan is to introduce it and adopt it as a local law. Supv Sumner would like to introduce it next week and set the public hearing for January. She encouraged the board to review the document. Atty Perkins has identified the changes in his accompanying memo. Planning Department – Jane Nicholson has resigned effective December 19, 2014. Supv Sumner has been meeting with Planning Department staff in an attempt to get through this smoothly. The prospect of dividing the workload of four people among three is challenging, but building permits are less active this time of year. Cl Lavine has spoken with David Kay, Susan Christofferson, and Darby Kiley and would like to be on the search committee. Supv Sumner will be meeting with board chairs and hopes to meet with local planners as well. There was discussion about amending the job descripti on and a residency requirement, evening meetings being incompatible with lifestyles of potential applicants, whether there would be one hire or two and budget constraints. It is a very different Planning Department now than a few years ago. Because it is a lengthy process with Civil Service to change the job description, the board agreed that Supv Sumner should go ahead and post the position. Cl Lavine suggested redefining the secretary position requiring someone highly skilled in the software program used. Supv Sumner said she is open to the idea, but we’ll take it one step at a time. Supv Sumner said it is possible that she will work in the planning office a couple of hours a day. The board will need to appoint a Zoning Officer and she recommended David Sprout. Kevin Ezell will take on the Accela software development. NYSEG/Iberdrola Sue Stein said she is interested in the possibility of a NYSEG meeting. They would like to ask NYSEG questions in the presence of the board and public. Supv Sumner would like two separate meetings. One meeting would be for NYSEG to address the board and the second TB 12-11-14 Page 3 of 4 with NYSEG and more public participation. Cl Sloan would like to move this along because he understands they plan to start digging in April. NYSEG may need a special use permit to do this work. There was a discussion about NYSEG’s easements and the use of eminent domain. Supv Sumner said she understands that they must have a certain percentage of easements before they can begin an eminent domain process. Cl Sloan would like to know what percentage of easements they need and what percentage of easements they have. He would like to ask them about the tactics used for obtaining the easements and why they are so open ended. Supv Sumner has an appointment to talk to NYSEG Monday morning about scheduling a meeting and presentation with the board. She will talk with Atty Perkins tomorrow about whether a special use permit and/or site plan review is necessary . J Nicholson pointed out any permitting process or site plan review requires permission of the land owner. Supv Sumner said her understanding is that any use of eminent domain must be approved by a state agency. This is an unregulated action and not subject to eminent domain unless they reach a certain threshold and then they have to apply to the PSC. J Wilson said that eminent domain releases the property owner from liability, where this easement doesn’t do that. If the matter goes to court, property owners would get a more specific easement. J Wilson asked Supv Sumner to keep the group on the road advised of a meeting schedule with NYSEG as early as possible. Supv Sumner will contact Deborah Cipolla Dennis. Supv Sumner asked the board to review the agenda/template for the organizational meeting. The board discussed and set the January meeting schedule: Organizational meeting - January 2, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. Abstract & Agenda Meeting – January 8, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Business Meeting – January 15, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Monthly budget meeting – January 27, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Supv Sumner will ask Jay Franklin of Tompkins County Assessment to the budget meeting to talk about the assessment process and how it affects our budget, and how our budget affects the assessment office. Some of the other boards might like to attend that meeting. Dryden Village Police Dept Report – The Mayor and Deputy Mayor would like the board to review the report and consider the various options. The thing that spurred the study was the expense of the department. The study evaluates ways to reduce the expense. One thing that came to light is that 20% of calls responded to by Village Police are outside the Village. The Village may be looking to the Town for some type of reimbursement. Supv Sumner said she would like to consider the possibility of contracting with them again to patrol Dryden Lake Park for a period of time. After briefly reviewing some of the options, Supv Sumner asked board members to review the report and options so that the town can forward commen ts to the Village. Next week’s agenda items will include two special use permit public hearings – Four Season Storage and Incodema3D. Board members have received the application packets for both. TB 12-11-14 Page 4 of 4 Jane Nicholson advised the board that Incodema was issued a stop work order. The owners wanted to use a portion of the building as warehouse storage space and have applied for permit to do so. It turns out that they have actually been using the space (rented it to another company) since mid-October, which is not allowed under their current permit. This violation will be addressed in the public hearing next week. Board approval can remove the stop work order and they will have to pay a fine. There will be a presentation next week by Finger Lakes Land Trust about a property (25 acres) they are acquiring. They would like the town to contribute to the expense of acquiring the property. Supv Sumner told them it is not likely the town will be able to do that. They would like the Town to write a letter of support for their application for $10,000 in County funding. There may be a presentation by NYSEG. Other items on next week’s agenda: o Brooktondale gauge station o Formation of town Wellness Committee o Introduction of local law changing SS1 sewer rate o Relevy of delinquent water/sewer accounts o Authorize postage for mailing tax bills There being no further business, on motion made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk