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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-10-12TOWN OF GROTON — MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021 AT 7:30 PM THE TOWN HALL, 101 CONGER BOULEVARD Town Officers Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Richard Gamel, Councilperson Crystal Young, Councilperson Brian Klumpp, Councilperson Michael Perkins, Highway Supt. April L. Scheffler, Town Clerk Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper Francis Casullo, Attorney Town Officers Absent: Also Present: Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Mitch Quine John Norman, Town Justice James Wayne W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Ellard Keister RESOLUTION #21-056 - APPOINT RICHARD B. GAMEL AS TOWN COUNCILPERSON MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby appoints Richard B. Gamel to the position of Town Councilperson to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Richard B. Gamel. Said position to begin October 12, 2021 and end December 31, 2021. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed The Oath of Office was then administered by the Town Clerk. MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp, to approve the minutes of the September 14, 2021 Town Board Meeting as presented. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Scheffler Abstain - Gamel RESOLUTION #21-057 - APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #10 for the Year 2021, numbered 427 - 475 were reviewed and audited by the Town Board, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves said vouchers for the accounts and in the Total amounts as follows: Town Board Minutes Page 2 October 12, 2021 Code -Fund T r A 0ENTER AL FUND, 152&,46 TOWN DA HIGH W ANFUND 13,708.34 HIGHWAY AY FUND PART TOWN 56o%35.02 . - MCLEM LIGHTING l .�CT 13934 Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Monthly Reports: Charles Rankin, Bookkeeper - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review and requested a budget transfer. We are in pretty good shape going into the last three months with about 1.7 million in the bank, which includes the American Rescue flan, which has not been appropriated in the Tentative Budget. RESOLUTION #21-058 - 2021 BUDGET ADJUSTMENT MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2021 Budget Adjustment: General Fund - Town Wide: From: Contingency, A1990.4 ..................$1,100.00 To: Cemeteries, Contractual, A8810.4.........200.00 Auditing, Contractual, A 1320.4 ............ 900.00 Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #21-059 - 2021 BUDGET ADJUSTMENT MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves the following 2021 Budget Adjustment: Highway - Town Wide: From: Bridges, Personal Services, DA5120.1......... $10,000.00 To: Snow Removal, Sick Time, DA5142.12......... 10,000.00 Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 3 October 12, 2021 W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer - Was not present but had submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Michael Perkins, Highway Superintendent - We've been mowing roadsides; hauling in salt and sand for winter; installed some culvert pipes; mowing cemeteries; ditching; mowing around Town buildings; helped Village do their paving; completed stoning on Sincerbeaux and Sovocool Hill; repaired some road signs; picked up a few dead deer; helped Village of Dryden with some paving; helped the County with some shoulder work. PERMA classes are scheduled for October 26. I'd like to request that we move Tyler from Laborer to Motor Equipment Operator with $1.00 raise. RESOLUTION #21-060 - APPROVE PROMOTION AND PAY RAISE FOR TYLER MURRAY MOVED by Councilperson Young, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves promoting Tyler Murray to Motor Equipment Operator with a raise of $1.00 per hour. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Discussion took place on the replacement of some heaters in the Highway Garage. Consensus of the Board was that if they needed to be replaced, then it should be done. April L. Scheffler, RMC, Town Clerk/Tax Collector - Submitted monthly reports for the Board's review. Clerk Scheffler is retiring in December and Robin Cargian will be the next Town Clerk as she is running unopposed for the position. Ms. Cargian has chosen someone whom she plans to appoint as her Deputy in January. Clerk Scheffler would like to appoint this person as her Second Deputy, beginning November 1St, so that she can be trained for the position before January. RESOLUTION #21-061 - APPROVE WAGE FOR SECOND DEPUTY TOWN CLERK MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby sets the wage for a Second Deputy Town Clerk at $18.00 per hour for a maximum of 35 hours per week, for a term beginning November 1, 2021 and ending December 31, 2021. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Francis Casullo, Attorney for the Town - Had nothing to report. John J. Norman, Town Justice - Were not present. Councilperson Crystal Young as Representative to Joint Youth Program - Lots going on with recreation. Trunk or Treat will be October 31St at the pavilion on Main Street. Youth football, cheerleading, and soccer are all moving along smoothly. Yoga classes will be moving indoors Town Board Minutes Page 4 October 12, 2021 with the schedule and location to be determined. There is a dance class with Camille on Mondays at the Elementary School, ages 3 - 16, and includes ballet, tap and interpretive classes. Registration for youth basketball opens tomorrow for grades 3 - 6. Youth wrestling is to be determined based on coaching availability. There will be a sewing program this winter, karate and possibly Zumba. A summer concert committee has been formed consisting of myself, Jennifer, and four Legion members. We had our first meeting a couple weeks ago and will try to meet at least monthly to discuss ways that we can collaborate and make that a better program for everyone. We also had Margo Martin and the director for recreation at Groton School, Mr. Triolo, come and talk to us about the new capital project at Ross Field and the baseball field at the Elementary School. They gave us some information and a flyer and you can go online and see a video presentation of what the field will look like when it's completed. They are asking that the information is distributed and that people get out and vote. It's 0% tax levy and 89% State aid that is being used towards this project. Capital project information sessions: there will be one tomorrow night at the Junior/Senior Highschool PTO meeting, at the Groton Fire Department on November 3rd , and several others through November. RESOLUTION #21-062 - SET DATE FOR SPECIAL MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING ON 2022 BUDGET MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Young RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby schedules a Special Meeting and Public Hearing on the 2022 Fiscal Year Preliminary Budget for November 4, 2021 at 7:30 pm. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Supervisor Scheffler - April has given copies of the Tentative Budget to the Board. One thing that I completely forgot about was that Ron Beck asked around six months ago if we could budget money to donate to the McLean Cemetery on an annual basis. I told him we couldn't do it then and at budget time I completely forgot about it. I gave everyone a copy of the letter. I told him we are more than willing to help out with in-kind services from time to time, but I don't know about giving $5,000 a year. Ellard Keister said that they had recently done some brush cutting and helping out at the West Groton Cemetery. After some discussion the Board felt that it might cause a problem to give money to one cemetery and not the rest of the cemeteries in the Town. It was thought that some of the stimulus money that the Town was receiving could be used for a one-time grant to the cemetery and/or other non -profits. Attorney Casullo will look into how this might be accomplished. Supervisor Scheffler asked if anyone had any changes that they wanted to make to the Tentative Budget. RESOLUTION #21-063 - ACCEPT 2022 TENTATIVE BUDGET MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby accepts the Fiscal Year 2022 Tentative Budget as presented, which now becomes the 2022 Preliminary Budget. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page S October 12, 2021 Mr. Rankin let the Board know that the proposed budget was $15,000.00 under the tax cap. Councilperson Young - (Reporting on Heat Smart Tompkins). After Lisa was here last month, she felt bad that she was unable to show her slides, so I forwarded them to all of you. There's some really good information in there. She also sent along a tri -fold pamphlet to see if that is something we would want to do when we start promoting this. Lisa and I went through the scoping document and she is still looking at it to see if there is something we want to add or modify, so it's not finalized yet. I did think that as a local partner organization, maybe the library would be a good one, because they have a great website and are doing lots of programs there, so they might be interested in helping us promote this program. The next step is for us to let her know what a good night is for possibly a Town webinar. She will set it up through Zoom and a Facebook event. She will bring other people in, maybe some who have installed some of these units in their homes or businesses, also some of the installers, and the grants that go along with it. Actually, one of the people who recently installed one of these in their homes, it was a $40,000.00 system and they got it for pretty much free with all of the grants that were available. There are income limitations. We can talk about when we'd like to do a webinar, post on our website or social media, maybe a newsletter, yard signs, press releases, etc. Heat Smart will help fill out the scoping document; track leads; provide materials; present the webinar; and make the process, as they call it, "fun and easy." I forwarded you some websites that they are doing webinars through October and November, if you want to sign up and get more information on it. After some discussion, it was thought that during the November 4th meeting might be a good time for a webinar. Supervisor Scheffler - We need to approve the Municipal Cooperative Agreement for the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium. The only changes are the addition this year of four municipalities: the Town's of Erwin and Throop, and the Villages of Minoa and Fayetteville. Otherwise, it's the same as last year. RESOLUTION # 21-064 - APPROVE 2022 AMENDMENT TO THE MUNICIPAL COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT FOR THE GREATER TOMPKINS COUNTY MUNICIPAL HEALTH INSURANCE CONSORTIUM MOVED by Councilperson Klumpp, seconded by Councilperson Gamel WHEREAS, the Town of Groton is a Participant in the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium (the "Consortium"), a municipal cooperative organized under Article 47 of the New York Insurance Law, and WHEREAS, the municipal participants in the Consortium, including this body, have approved and executed a certain Municipal Cooperation Agreement (the "Agreement"; effective date of October 1, 2010), WHEREAS, Article 47 of the New York Insurance Law (the "Insurance Law") and the rules and regulations of the New York State Department of Financial Services set forth certain requirements for governance of municipal cooperatives that offer self-insured municipal cooperative health insurance plans, and WHEREAS, the Agreement sets forth in Section Q2 that continuation of the Consortium under the terms and conditions of the Agreement, or any amendments or restatements thereto, shall be subject to Board review and upon acceptance of any new Participant hereafter, and Town Board Minutes Page 6 October 12, 2021 WHEREAS, by motion 001-2021 the Consortium's Board of Directors recommends approval of the 2022 Amended Agreement, and WHEREAS, the Municipal Cooperative Agreement requires that amendments to the agreement be presented to each participant for review and adopted by its municipal board, WHEREAS, the Town of Groton is in receipt of the proposed amended Agreement and has determined that it is in the best interest of its constituents who are served by the Consortium to amend the Agreement as set forth in the attached 2022 Amended Municipal Cooperative Agreements, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton approves and authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign the 2022 Amendment to the Municipal Cooperative Agreement of the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium, and be it further RESOLVED, further, that the Clerk of the Town of Groton is hereby authorized to execute this Resolution to indicate its approval, transmit a copy thereof to the Board of Directors of the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium, and take any other such actions as may be required by law. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed RESOLUTION #21-065 - ADOPTION OF THE TOMPKINS COUNTY HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN: 2021 UPDATE WHEREAS, all jurisdictions within Tompkins County have exposure to natural hazards that increase the risk to life, property, environment, and the economy; and WHEREAS, pro -active mitigation of known hazards before a disaster event can reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property; and WHEREAS, The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-390) established new requirements for pre- and post -disaster hazard mitigation programs; and WHEREAS, a Planning Partnership of all Tompkins County municipalities has been formed to pool resources and create consistent mitigation strategies within Tompkins County; and WHEREAS, the Planning Partnership has completed a planning process that engaged the public, assessed the risk and vulnerability to the impacts of hazards, developed a mitigation strategy consistent with a set of uniform goals and objectives, and created a plan for implementing, evaluating and revising this strategy; and WHEREAS, Town of Groton will consider this Plan during the implementation and updating of local plans, and will incorporate the hazard assessment data, hazard vulnerabilities, and mitigation actions in these plans, where applicable, now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Town of Groton, as a participating jurisdiction in the Plan's development, adopts the Tompkins County Hazard Mitigation Plan: 2021 Update (the "Plan") as the Town of Groton's Hazard Mitigation Plan. Ayes - Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 7 October 12, 2021 Supervisor Scheffler - I'd also like to thank Robin Cargian, Rick Fritz, Dan Carey, Ellard Keister, and Mack Rankin. They did a lot of work on this. Ellard Keister - I just did a survey for the Town's equipment last weekend, what we have for trucks, loaders, excavators, things like that. Apparently, once a month, they do an online video chat with all the townships. I was made aware of that by another Highway Superintendent, and so we are getting on board with that. Supervisor Scheffler - That's so if we need something or they need something immediately, they know where they can get it. Mr. Keister - Correct. Mitch Quine, CS Energy - Just want to give you a quick update of where we are with the Yellow Barn Solar Project. The last meeting we attended, we let you know we were going to bid that into the NYSERDA RFP process. We did bid that in. We have not heard back yet from the State. That usually takes a couple months for them to respond so we are expecting to hear back maybe this month or next month. They usually reach out to someone on the Town level to confirm the details of our bids, to see if we have been to meetings and the dates. We just got these, but I wanted to share a very preliminary sketch of the project as currently planned. (He passed out maps.) You will see outlines of parcels in pink, where we have negotiated agreements. The overlay on that in blue is what they are calling usable or fillable area. It's going to be subject to a lot of change as we do our field studies, get weather information, and any other requirement or information. We also definitely expect it to change based on feedback from the Groton Town Board, the Groton Planning Board and if there's particular areas we need to pull back from or have more of a setback. That's part of the process that we're hoping to engage in with the Town prior to submitting to the State. So, understand that this is still very rudimentary. Councilperson Klumpp - Do you guys expect to pay full taxes? Mr. Quine - Yeah, so, we expect that the project will pay its correct tax value. These projects, for financing, they do need a fixed payment amount, so we do expect that to be in the form of a combination of a host community agreement and a PILOT agreement. Our expectations are that payment will equal what we would be expected to pay under taxes. Councilperson Klumpp - Why do you need a fixed amount? Other businesses don't have that fixed amount. Why do you feel that your company deserves that special treatment? Mr. Quine - For power projects like this, solar, wind, natural gas projects, the up -front investment requires such significant financing that they need to have a certain amount of time of fixed operating expenses so that.... Councilperson Klumpp - But doesn't any business that's looking to expand or start up, don't they have the same situation? Mr. Quine - There are a lot of differences in those situations. One of the big ones is a solar project doesn't have any opportunity to change its prices, or move its business location, or turn itself off or on. We're effectively price takers, whereas for a standard commercial business, if property taxes were to increase, that business owner would have the opportunity to change their prices, modify their business model, or even move out of the Town. For a project like this, you're fixed into long term income, a fixed income streaming, so that financing process, that up -front investment, requires those operative expenses as well. Supervisor Scheffler - I think I would argue that. I don't think farmers can just turn the cows on and off when the price goes up and down, and they can't just move any easier than you can just pull the stakes out and move someplace else. Town Board Minutes Page 8 October 12, 2021 Mr. Quine - Farmers also do have a pretty significant tax break. Councilperson Klumpp - But any business, especially a small business, isn't looking to move. More often than not, a small business owner is part of the community and doesn't want to move to another state or town. Mr. Quine - Absolutely, and I recognize that, but the difference is to have the project pay itself back, and those long-term investments, for a financing entity, like a large bank, those property taxes can be a significant portion of the operating expenses. So, we look at the equity over time and look for a long- term predictable escalation. It's not like taxes aren't' going up over time, but they do look for them to be predictable. Councilperson Young - So, what would a host community agreement typically look like? Mr. Quine - So, that would be separate from the tax situation. We would directly negotiate and agreement with the Town; potentially also with the school district. That would be called an Education Contribution Agreement. That would be an agreement between the Town and the project company and could take a lot of different forms. We've had situations where we've agreed to make direct payments into a fund for 20 or 30 years. We've had situations where the town has requested a significant up -front payment and a smaller long-term payment. Then we've had a situation where a town has a specific project in mind that they want to do now with the money. We've also committed time and resources to a specific project, so rather than paying the town money, we've brought in our equipment and men to build a park or some other project. There's a lot of things like that that we can do. It really comes down to whatever the two willing parties are willing to contract around. There's not a lot of restrictions on that. Councilperson Klumpp - Where are the solar panels that you install manufactured? Mr. Quine - Most of the panels that we're buying right now are manufactured in Southeast Asia, not in China. Some of the solar panels have come from China but they are currently manufactured in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Korea. That's at the moment. The market is all over the place and things are rapidly changing. So, in terms of where the panels from this project are going to come from, I don't know. Councilperson Klumpp - But not in the US? Mr. Quine - It's possible. We are starting to see some manufacturing of solar panels start to pop up in the United States, but not likely in time for this project. Councilperson Klumpp - Are the employees of the manufactures making a "living wage"? Mr. Quine - I can't speak for the wages of the manufactures. I know that we're not buying, under the new tariff rules, you can't be buying solar panels from some of those places that have been in the news lately with the forced labor issues. Councilperson Klumpp - Well, there's a large gap between forced labor and a low wage. How about raw materials, where do they come from? Mr. Quine - Yeah, they are sourced from the countries who have them, so I think China is a large producer right now of the silicone for those panels, and the other raw materials. These are things that we are seeing massive and rapid changes in those markets. So, I think it's safe to say that the places that are building and selling panels right now might not be the same then. Councilperson Klumpp - But nothing in the US. So, our tax dollars are going to purchasing these. And your industry is subsidized significantly by taxpayers. Mr. Quine - That's correct. Councilperson Klumpp - Not only are you getting the PILOT agreement, basically forced on us by the State, does you company also receive tax credits, the company itself, from the Federal and State government? Town Board Minutes Page 9 October 12, 2021 Mr. Quine - So, the Federal income tax credit, which has been in place quite some time now, will probably help fund this project as well. It's a tax credit that is accessible to anyone who is installing a solar project and that currently is still in place and we expect it to continue. Councilperson Klumpp - I just see our money going overseas and into the pockets of your company. Could you give us an overview of your company; how big it is; where it is; if it's an international company; how many employees? Mr. Quine - Yeah, so CS Energy was formed out of the Conti Group, which is a family-owned construction business. We stepped out on our own as Conti Solar a few years back. We sought some private equity investment. American Securities currently owns the majority shares. We're based in New Jersey and operate primarily in the North East. CS Energy as a company has just under 200 employees. I've been working with the company for about 5 years now. We've been growing significantly over the last 5 years. When I started, we had about 60 employees. We've been building solar projects for about 15 years and developing them for about 6-7 years. We are an American company. Supervisor Scheffler - I have to wonder why, and if it doesn't seem right, it makes me think there isn't something right. If you are like 80% subsidized and you can't make it without a tax break, why are you doing it? And you say you can't make much money at it, but your company is growing like crazy. So, you've got to be making money if you are growing. Mr. Quine - Yeah, absolutely. It's a growing market and we've been sort of growing with the market. The individual project profit margins are slim, but there's a lot of projects going on. Supervisor Scheffler - So, you lose on every job and make it up on volume? Mr. Quine - Well, I'm not saying we lose on every job....... Councilperson Klumpp - But isn't your profit margin controlled? Isn't that why you need to know your annual cost? You basically go to the government and say we'll build this project but we need to give our investors as 10% return. Therefore, we need X, Y, and Z into our formula for profit. So, there isn't really a risk. The only risk is whether or not the politicians, in the case of New York State, change the rules so that the towns don't have any say on what kind of taxes they can collect on the project or even whether or not the project can be approved. Mr. Quine - Yeah, so our bid process in the State is a competitive process. We're up against other developers in the State. Based on our design and other things that we have on the market, we say that we think we can sell electricity for years at this rate and that is sort of what locks us into that fixed income stream that we talked about. So, I understand that it is a little circular, and I'm not here trying to claim that it's not. Councilperson Klumpp - And I'm not here to, although I am kind of hammering you a little bit, but I want this stuff to be written down so that if someone sees what's going on with a solar project they don't say that, well we have these beautiful green energy panels going up, there's a lot of not so straight forward stuff going on. Don has a good point. You are selling a product that just can't work without taxpayers paying for it. I also realize that other energy companies get subsidies and breaks too, and I think that's terrible too. I don't think the government should be deciding whose product succeeds and whose product doesn't, and this is a perfect, very expensive example of the government choosing who gets to build an energy product and who doesn't. Mr. Quine - I don't disagree from several standpoints. I think two points, one that you raised, is that other oil and gas companies also get very significant subsidies. The other point I'll raise, is that solar, if you look at the nationwide numbers just purely in terms of costs, dollar for dollar and dollar per megawatt, building new solar is cheaper than building new natural gas. It does work and it is a cost- effective measure. The reason that these tax incentives are in place is because the various governments, the Federal and State governments, want this to move faster than it would normally. They want it to move faster than the rate of natural gas replacement right now. So, those clean energy goals, trying to Town Board Minutes Page 10 October 12, 2021 hit those goals by a certain date, that's why those incentives are in place not because the project can't stand on its own but because they want it to outpace the natural rate of replacement of those other producers. Councilperson Gamel - How many projects this size have you done in New Jersey where the company is based? Mr. Quine - We haven't done any projects this size in New Jersey. Councilperson Gamel - Do you understand how that's upsetting? Companies from New Jersey, they don't have this in their backyard. Mr. Quine - It's true. We do have some pretty large projects that we have built in New Jersey, not of this scale, because the land situation is different. There is not the available lands. Councilperson Gamel - So, a community host agreement could entail building a solar panel manufacturing facility here in Groton, right? Mr. Quine - I don't know that we would be able to fund entirely, but if that's something that.... Councilperson Young - But it could mean that they might bring their equipment to build a park, you know, that we could rent out for people for weddings and things like that. That would generate some revenue for the Town. Supervisor Scheffler - I'd like to see you replace all this land with something we could use for something useful. You're taking up a lot of wildland and farmland and not only are you taking it up, but for people who want to hunt, they won't be able to hunt near this. So, you're taking more than what's blue here. So, how do you replace what you're taking away? Mr. Quine - Well, you absolutely can hunt near the project. We hope nobody shoots at the panels. Councilperson Young - You're just leasing from the landowners, right? Mr. Quine - So, we'll have a mix, depending on the landowner preference, whether we lease the land or buy it. Most of it is leased. Councilperson Klumpp - I would think that would be a pretty big issue to tell a neighbor you can't shoot towards the panels. How far away would you need to stay? I'm not a hunter, so I don't know. Supervisor Scheffler - Hundreds of yards. Councilperson Gamel - Landowners are doing what they want to do with their property. They could post it and keep you off it anyways. I'll go back to my original statement: the fact that you're taking farmland and woodland and clear -cutting for green energy is an oxymoron. To clear-cut trees to put up solar panels to be green is not green. I know there is quite a bit of woodland in this project that will be clear-cut, correct? Mr. Quine - I think on the layout that you have there, I think about 10 or 15% of the land of the total of 1,000 acres of land. Supervisor Scheffler - This is spread out over a big area. You want to be near a transmission line, but there's no transmission lines around a lot of this. You're looking at 5 to 10 miles of lines that you're going to run to hook these together. Mr. Quine - So, there is a transmission line in the southwest corner of the project. There will be a lot of underground. Supervisor Scheffler - You're going to tear up a lot of stuff before you get this done and run a lot of lines. Wouldn't it be more feasible, especially if you're on a tight budget to offer somebody a heck of a lot more and put it all in one block? Then if we don't want to see it, we can drive around it. But I live here, and no matter where I go, I'm going to see solar panels whether I like it or not. I can't go the other way and ignore it. Town Board Minutes Page 11 October 12, 2021 Mr. Quine - Yeah, a tighter together project is a more efficient project, but it comes down to who wants to be a part of the project and what landowners don't. It will work. There are projects being built that are a lot more spread out than this one. Supervisor Scheffler - Are there any height limits or restrictions, or how high do you put these panels off the ground. Mr. Quine - Typically for a tracking system, at their maximum tilt they will maybe 12 feet off the ground. The post itself will be 6 or 8 feet out of the ground and then the panel sits on it. Councilperson Gamel - I can't convince you to put it on Walmart roofs? Mr. Quine - A lot of that is happening, but like I said in one of the previous meetings, to hit the goals, whether it's Federal, State or whatever, the clean energy goals, all of these different methods of solar are required, small scale, community solar, and large scale. Councilperson Klumpp - Does CS Solar donate to political campaigns. Mr. Quine - Not that I know of. (Mr. Quine said he would look into it and get back to Councilperson Klumpp on that.) We have a lot of work to do yet on the field research side of it. Starting this winter, we're going to have wildlife scientists out on the site as part of the standard practice for wintering raptor birds. They will probably be out starting in mid-November taking pictures of birds. In the spring, we'll start looking for wetlands, do a topographical survey, and sort of in the midst of all this, we'll get a new report and send that into the State. In the meantime, our hope is to refine our design and work with the Town and Planning Boards and do our best to make it tolerable. Then if the schedule goes to plan, we'll be submitting a full application to the State for permitting. Councilperson Klumpp - Are we allowed to have access or copies of all the application material that you're sending to the State? Mr. Quine - Yeah, once we have an official docket, a lot of that information will be posted publicly on the license website under our docket number. Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. Announcements: ➢ Planning Board - October 21, 2021 at 7:30 pm ➢ Zoning Board of Appeals - October 20, 2021 at 7:00 pm ➢ PERMA training October 26, 2021 There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Councilperson Young, at 8:45 pm. Unanimous April L. Scheffler, RMC Town Clerk