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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-07-13 - TB TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING JULY 13 , 2004 PRESENT : Supervisor Doug Austic , Town Councilpeople Lee Scott, Robert Weatherby; and Don Ellis ; Councilwoman Roxanne Marino absent; Town Clerk Marsha Georgia; Highway Superintendent James Meeker; Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun; Attorney Bruce Wilson; and Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan. Others Present : Planning Board Chairman John Wertis , Trumansburg Free Press Reporter. Supervisor Austic called the meeting to order at 7 : 30 pm, and led those assembled in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : JOINT MTG 4/1 , RBM 6/8, PI 5/27, SB 5/27, and SB 6/29 Supervisor Austic reviewed the list of minutes that need approving tonight and asked if all the Board Members have them . Supervisor Austic asked if any corrections and/or changes need to be made to the Joint Meeting of April 1 , 2004, hearing none Mr. Austic moved, seconded my Mr. Scott to approve the Joint Town Board Planning Board meeting held April 1 , 2004 as submitted. Mr. Ellis questioned when they had been given the minutes . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis opposed (did not have) Adopted. Mr. Austic asked about the May 27th, 2004 Public Informational Meeting on Stormwater and the Special Board Meeting of the same date. Also the Clerk provided copies of the corrections of the June 8 and June 29th meetings Ms . Marino had email her. Mrs . Georgia stated due to the fact of the extensive changes, corrections and additions to these meetings she had not done them without the Board ' s approval . It was not that Mrs . Georgia agreed or disagreed with the changes, corrections or additions Ms . Marino submitted but there were several of them and needed Board approval. The Board discussed the need of including all of the discussions that transpire at the meetings and it is most important to have a true record of the resolutions and the final decisions. It was a general consensus of the Board all the discussions need not be part of the minutes . The minutes for the May 27th, 2004 Public Informational Stormwater meeting, the Special Board meeting of May 27th, 2004, the Regular Town Board meeting of June 8 , 2004 and the Special Town Board meeting of June 29th, 2004 were all tabled until the Special Town Board meeting on July 20th, 2004 APPROVAL OF MONTHLY CLAIMS Mr. Scott moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to approve the previous examined vouchers #318 through 364 in the amount of $37, 828 . 57. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Regular Town Board Meeting . 2 07/ 13/2004 Mr. Ellis aye Adopted. REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES PETER PEN1NIMAN, Representative Tompkins County Board of Representatives stated the update on the County Budget situation is looking better than it has in a few years where a goal has been set to raise the tax levy not more than 3 % . Some help with the goal is the sales tax revenue is up about 10% over last year, which should also help the Towns. The County is also looking into some long term planning. Mr. Penniman announced the County Highway Superintendent resigned and they are looking to replace him. Mr. Penniman stated one of the hot topics at the County is the "emergency communications system", which he chairs . Mr. Penniman stated a number of county legislators feel this is the number one priority that needs to be resolved as soon as possible. Everyone knows it has been taking a long time to do this and there are a number of reasons for that, the biggest one is the State Office of Technology came to the County about three years ago and said they were building the Statewide wireless network and they would like to work with the County. For a while the County was negotiating with them for a "memorandum of understanding" on how to work together, but they never signed it and then the State fiscal crisis hit and they backed off on their schedule for the statewide network. The State is still moving ahead on this but not quickly enough for the County purposes so a few months ago the County resolved to go ahead on their own, build the new system and hopefully share facilities with the State whenever they are ready. This is a bigger expense for the County but they felt they could not wait any longer. People wonder now "what is happening", the decision is made to move ahead and in the interim the County has identified several technical issues need to be resolved in other communities in building their systems . In order to avoid this the County has hired an expert and he is now helping the County define the specifications so the County will get the best deal for our money. A lot of issues to be worked out before any contracts are signed so the County does not foot the bill for one or two million dollars of extra add- ons to get the job done. One of the issues is the coverage and questions to why does the tower have to go here rather than somewhere else. A very detailed coverage analysis is being done so the sites can be identified and then you can get some final cost estimates and this is also very valuable because when you start building the system in various locations where new towers are going up people will want to know why does it have to be this location, why does it have to be this tall, etc . This will be part of the environmental review the County will have to go through in those communities . Building may start in the spring but will take two or three years to complete and be operational . Mr. Austic asked if the tower would remain in the Village? Mr. Penniman believes so but is not sure. Mr. Ellis asked what the overall budget for the project? Mr. Penniman stated he thinks the County has budgeted in its capital budget about 18 million dollars but he does not think it includes all the user equipment - the handheld radios, the pagers, the mobile radios will all have to be replace by about a thousand users, the fire departments, the police and so forth. However the cost is like computers and other electronic equipment the cost has come down and the quality has gone up . Mr. Penniman feels the cost on the overall system will help cover most of the equipment and the County has also gotten some grants towards user equipment and still looking for additional Monies. In the end Mr. Penniman is hoping the cost will come in around 15 million dollars . Mr. Weatherby asked of how much of that has already been spent? 1 1 Regular Town Board Meeting 3 07/ 13/2004 Mr. Penniman stated it depends if you include the new emergency dispatch center, which is probably about 3 million dollars and than about 1 million in development cost for the new radios and stuff About $ 500, 000 has been spent for engineering in the last five years. Mr. Austic asked if this meant the Towns highway department would need new radios? Mr. Penniman thinks he understands highway departments could get patched in to other areas through the dispatch. He does not think the new radios would be able to call directly. Mr. Meskill was saying his understanding is he will have to carry two radios in each car because the state police will not be able to get a hold of them until the state gets their system in place. Mr. Ellis asked what the urgency is — why not wait the additional years . Mr. Meeker stated he understands the radios will be fairly expensive and how can a small town justify replacing their radios because it is not often he has to call the State Police or the Sheriff and when he does he can use his cell phone. Mr. Penniman stated the County is working on all of that — in a month or two he is going to be going around to all of the Towns putting a presentation on what those cost may be for the users and how the County can help with grants and the County funding part of the costs . Mr. Ellis asked again "what ' s driving the urgency of this ' ? Mr. Penniman states the City of Ithaca right now has its own dispatch/radio system for their police and the Village police in the various Village ' s have their own radio system, highway departments like Ulysses has their own but the County Sheriff and basically all the fire departments and emergency services are on the County wide radio system . The coverage right now is poor when it is working and reliability is poor. The system is sort of a hog pod of aging equipment and hard to find parts for. Mr. Austic stated than we are not on the County system now. Mr. Weatherby asked what the original cost estimate was for this system? Mr. Penniman stated it was originally 8 to 9 million dollars but the problem was that system was not as sophisticated system, did not have the coverage and was more of just a backbone. It would have been an improvement to what the County had and if they had gone a head with that now they would be trying to figure out how to make it better and spending money to enhance it. The County hears from the fire and police all of the time on how negligent the County has been not to get this done. Right now the County is furnishing cell phones to the entire sheriff department . Mr. Weatherby asked about replacing the County Highway Superintendent? Mr. Penniman states the County will be starting a search for a new candidate. Mr. Austic asked if they would search within or go outside. Mr. Penniman stated both and the County is thinking about inviting a Town official to be involved in the committee like Supervisor Austic helped with the search for the Planning Board Commissioner. TRUMANSBURG FIRE DEPARTMENT — no one in attendance. PLANNING BOARD REPORT, CHAIRMAN John Wertis stated Mr. Rachun has been very hard noised the last couple of months so therefore the Planning Board has not had any Site Plan Reviews to deal with, which with adding new members to the board has been a good thing because it has given them time to get to know each other and get to Regular Town Board Meeting 4 07/ 13/2004 . know some of the background information they should know . Part of the last Planning Board meeting was spent going over the Comprehensive Plan. They gave themselves a test and as a result of that the Board had a good discussion about the relationship of the Comprehensive Plan and the new Zoning Ordinance. The general discussion was that there are a lot of good things . problems have been addressed, problems have been identified in the Comprehensive Plan and problems have been addressed in the new Zoning Ordinance. There are some areas the Planning Board are not happy with and resulted in a consensus of five in attendance that the Planning Board does not want to take the whole .draft zoning ordinance and sit down and review like the Town Board is going to do but if there are areas the Town Board would like particular input than the Town Board can let the Planning Board know and they can see about scheduling some meetings to do , that. If there are no Site Plan Reviews for the August meeting they may review the draft-zoning ordinance and particularly identify those good points . No questions were heard for Mr. Wertis. TOWN REPORTS HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT James Meeker reported the Highway Department mowed all roadsides, took down a bunch of trees on a number of Town roads, and helped the Town of Newfield do some stone and oiling. Right now they are doing some hand patching to get ready to seal-coat various roads . CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER Alex Rachun reported two permits were issued for single-family homes and eight permits for additions . He has hired a new staff member and is diligently taking care of zoning violations, which we have a number of. Mr. Ellis asked if the zoning violations were from people making official complaints? Mr. Rachun stated he does not get complaints but they are out there . TOWN CLERK Marsha L. Georgia reported for the month of June a total of $3298 . 00 was collected of which $760 was turned over to the Supervisor with her monthly report, another $ 1435 . was collected for plumbing permits and $ 800 was sent to DEC for sporting licenses. BOARD MEMBER AND COMMITTEES Mr. Ellis stated there is a matter he would like to address . It comes up relevant to the petition for the lighting on Auble ' s property. In the correspondence on June 15th, 2004 from Supervisor Austic to Q & D Management, Mr. Austic is offering Mr. Wilson to assist the landowner in this matter. Mr. Ellis is questioning whether it is appropriate use of the Town Attorney' s time. Mr. Austic stated he told Mr. Quinn he could call Bruce to find out what the specifics of the petition would have to be is all . Mr. Wilson stated he has not got in touch yet but his hopes are he can let him know what he has to do for this lighting district because he does not think he is aware what is involved. Mr. Wilson is only going to explain this. Mr. Ellis' s concern is it not takes Mr. Wilson' s time because he has a limited amount of time available to the Town. Mr. Wilson stated if Mr. Quinn meets with him during his regular hours he would be happy to explain what has to be done . Mr. Ellis feels Mr. Quinn should have his own attorney get this done . Mr. Austic feels if talking to our attorney for a few minutes gets the real jest of what needs to be done and get the lighting petition in right the first time it saves a lot of time. If Bruce was going to spend four or five hours doing this than it would not be worth it but Regular Town Board Meeting 5 07/ 13/2004 if he can contact him and save time . It is the same thing as Alex talks to someone about a building permit or another process — if you can help a person that is the way to go . Mr. Ellis states if you are helping but if it stands in for legal services than the applicant should bear them. The correspondence also implies the applicant can go straight head with out any difficult and assumes the Town Board will not have any objection. Mr. Ellis feels the Board has not addressed this. Mr. Austic stated that was his opinion. The Village of Trumansburg required lights when they did the site plan review on this project so in conjunction with that than it should be a mutual agreement with the Town . Mr. Austic did not tell Mr. Quinn the Town Board would pass this district. Mr. Ellis feels there is some risk in encouraging people without sufficient basic to go a head to spend time and money thinking things will be approved and sail through. Mr. Austic does not think Mr. Quinn feels it is going to sail through because he has been told several times he has to do a petition for a lighting district and he did tell him it is a Town Board approval . He knows there are different aspects he has to deal with. SUPERVISOR Austic previously distributed the financial statement and no questions were heard. Mr. Austic recommended the Board could make the necessary budget modifications . The upstairs of the Town Hall has been converted into useful space at a cost of $ 13 , 800, which is shown in account A1620 . 2 . The budget needs to be modified to return A1620.2 (equipment) back to the original budgeted amount of $ 5800 . This $ 13 , 800 will be moved from the Capital Reserve Fund . Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Scott the following : BE IT RESOLVED the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses increase A1620.2 in the amount of $ 13 , 800 and decrease the General Fund Capital Reserve the same for the improvements of the Town Hall upstairs for the Youth Department. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis opposed (opposed to the original project) Adopted. OLD BUSINESS Supervisor Austic stated at the last meeting it was discussed that Elizabeth Thomas had expressed interest on serving as the Town representative to the Intermunicipal Watershed Organization and asked if anyone would like to make a motion that we do so . Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Mr. Weatherby the following: BE IT RESOLVED the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses appoints Elizabeth Thomas as the representative to the Cayuga Lake Intermunicipal Organization for the Town of Ulysses. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis aye Adopted. The Town still needs to find a representative to Tompkins County EMC . Regular Town Board Meeting 6 . 07/ 13/2004 OTHER . Mr. Ellis reminded the Town Board when the position of the Deputy Supervisor was established a review would be done in six months, which will be up in August so that needs to be puti on the agenda for the August Board meeting. NEW BUSINESS LIGHTING DISTRICT Supervisor Austic stated there is not enough information received for the lighting district, no map , plan and report has been received. COURT ROOM RENOVATION A letter has been received from Ithaca Millwork Company on a proposal for a court bench. The proposal is for an approximate 20 ft . long curved wall/countertop unit at a price of $ 16,000 . The drawing/design work would be in the area of $3000 and no price for delivery or installation was mentioned. Mr. Ellis suggests requesting, as a first step, Ithaca Millwork provide the Town the drawing/design work at the price of $3000 but not limiting the Town to shopping that design, if they so choose. Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Mr. Scott the following: BE IT RESOLVED the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses hire Ithaca Millwork Company to provide the drawing/design work at the quoted price of $3000 and provide a detailed estimate including the cost of removal and installation of the unit . FURTHER RESOLVED the drawing/design will belong to the Town with the right to secure other quotes . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis aye Adopted. Mr. Austic will contact Ithaca Millwork and relay this resolution and than go from there. Mr. Ellis will be glad to meet with Ithaca Millwork along with the Judges to come up with a design. WATER DISTRICT # 5 Supervisor Austic and Bruce Wilson met with the Village of Trumansburg and an agreement in principal was discussed. The Village of Trumansburg would not prefer the Town take over the water lines at this time because they still need the well as a back up source. They would rather have a contract with the Town for two years — the Town forms the district and has a contract with the Village to supply and maintain the district. The Village wants another meeting to firm up the agreement. The Town did advice the Village a couple of other properties on Penn. Ave. would be added to the district and they agreed to that. Mr. Ellis stated at some point it may be the best thing for the Town and the Village to share the cost of a engineering overview of what it is that should happen next and how it should be done. a Regular Town Board Meeting 7 07/ 13/2004 Mr. Austic stated that would be the next step once this agreement of forming the district is worked out. Mr. Austic has mentioned it to Eric Pond and he is looking at the topography and those kinds of things to see exactly where in the future we would want water to go logically to make the water flow better and those kinds of things. After the Town gets District 5 settled the best thing to do is get together and see what in the next five to ten years may happen. OTHER R. MYERS CHANGE ORDER / PAYMENT REQUEST Supervisor Austic reviewed Change Order No . 1 which included the following: • Water Storage Tank Drain Line • Additional Water Services • Rock Excavation • Sampling and Laboratory Analysis Fees • Over & under Adjustment of Estimated Bid Quantities (Detailed explanation of the Contract Modifications is on file in the Town Clerk ' s office. ) Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis the following: ° Whereas, the Town of Ulysses has received Change Order No . 1 for Contract No . lA — General Construction DWSRF Project No . 16097 and Whereas this Change Order is for various items of additional work completed by R. Myers Contractors during the course of the project and Whereas Change Order No . 1 also includes a final adjustment in the Contract amount based on the actual quantities of the various Bid Items installed in the project versus the estimated quantities in the bid documents, on which the original Contract $2,636,769 . 00 was based and Whereas, Barton & Loguidice, after review, recommends the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses to review and authorize Change Order No . 1 for a Contract cost decrease of $28 , 173 .46 , revising Contract lA to $2 ,608 , 595 . 54 and Whereas in the Notice of Substantial Completion for Contract No . lA it includes a listing of minor work items which remain to be completed totaling $ 17 ,220 .00 and Now Therefore BE IT RESOLVED, the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses authorizes Supervisor Austic to issue a check to R. Myers Construction, Inc . in the amount of $260,624 . 20 for the full value of the Contract less the minor work remaining for Town of Ulysses Water District No . # 3 Water System Improvements . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis aye Adopted. Mr. Meeker requested Supervisor Austic check into the removal of the dirt that was stockpiled at the Town Barn. This dirt was removed from the excavation around the gas station. Mr. Austic will make some calls and get this resolved. REQUEST FROM ITHACA TRIATHLON CLUB Supervisor Austic received a fax from the Ithaca Triathlon Club requesting permission from the Town of Ulysses to use Route 89 from the Taughannock State Park to the Seneca County Line . Regular Town Board Meeting 8 07/ 13/2004 James Meeker, Highway Superintendent and the Town Board discussed this request and mutually decided the Town of Ulysses does not need to give formal permission for anyone to ride and/or use a State Highway so therefore the general consensus of the Board was for Mr. Austic to write a letter to Mark Vallely of the Triathlon Club wishing them well in th'e bicycle marathon. The Board and the attorney felt it not wise to do a resolution that may open the Town up to any liability. REQUEST F o R ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR BARTON & LOGUIDICE Supervisor Austic is in receipt (copied to the Town Board) a request from Barton & Loguidice for ``Out of Scope Services" describing the additional engineering services and incurred expenses that were not included in their approved Proposal for Engineering Services dated July 10, 2001 . These expenses and services are described as follows : Description of Additional Expenses Project DelaY t Design and Construction Inspection/Administration of this project was delayed by approximately one year due to funding delays, resulting in additional expense due to inflation (approximately 3 % of$ 334,000 or $ 10,000) . Barton & Loguidice would like to reimburse Hartgen Archaeological Associates for additional out of scope archeological work as required by SHPO . This work, amounting to approximately $2 ,000, included a Visual Impact Assessment of the proposed water storage tank and preparation of a Construction Phase Monitoring Work Plan for the Dann House Site. Additionally, Hartgen assisted B &L in negotiations with SHPO to scale back the required scope of the Phase III Cultural Resources Survey (ultimately saving District Residents approximately $ 10,000) . Description of Additional Service Map Plan & Report Rewrite - Additional time and expense was incurred rewriting and reissuing the Map , Plan & Report and related Boundary Description and Basis of Design to accommodate the exchange of Krums Corners Road for the Jacksonville Road extension. BPS Site Issues - Additional planning and design effort was expended in accommodating resident concerns over the proposed pump station. Services included preparation/attendance at zoning, public info/special board meetings, architectural enhancements) of the proposed station, and pump station site plan revisions . TrumansburE Connection - This service included meeting/discussions with the Village of Trumansburg and Hunt Engineers, incorporation of changes to the Town's water system design, and preparation of an estimate of additional project cost in order to accommodatea future emergency connection to serve the Village. Ductile Iron Base Bid/ PVC Alternate Bid Item - To make the most of the competitive bidding environment and to provide added project value, we revised the Contract Documents to' include Ductile Iron pipe as the Base bid with PVC pipe as an alternate bid. Additional New York State DOT Related Engineering - Additional time and expense was expended to address and incorporate into the design documents NYSDOT comments that were significantly over and above that typically encountered (e. g. five (5) sheets for Maintenance and Protection of Traffic when typically two (2) sheets would suffice) . Additionally, lwe have expended time providing miscellaneous assistance such as addressing easement related questions, assisting with funding/project financing, and working with the Town of Ithaca and Bolton Point toward a final water supply agreement. Regular Town Board Meeting 9 07/ 13/2004 Supervisor Austic needs Board approval to authorize Barton & Loguidice to invoice for the above mentioned fee increase totaling $24, 500 . Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis the following: BE IT RESOLVED the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses authorizes Supervisor Austic to increase the total authorization per July 2001 proposal from $405 ,500 to $430,000 which is an increase of $24, 500 . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Scott aye Mr. Weatherby aye Mr. Ellis aye Adopted. PUBLIC COMMENTS - no comments heard. CORRESPONDENCE USDA Mr. Austic received information from USDA on the availability of grants for affordable/low income housing and he will meet with Donna Collins from there next week. FURNACE / AIR CONDITIONING / EXTERIOR PAINTING Mr. Hubbard of Hubbard Plumbing and Heating submitted an estimate on replacing the furnace and air conditioning in the Town Hall . Mr. Austic reviewed the history of the furnace and air conditioning and back when the addition and renovations to the Town Hall were done the Board decided at that time to use the existing furnace although the Town was told at the time it was undersized. The Town has been able to use this for the last ten years but now it is not adequate . Mr. Austic stated this is something that will have to be discussed in the very near future. Also the exterior of the building needs painting which is just maintenance. Mr. Austic has received a quote from Denmark Painting for this . The Board needs to also discuss this in the very near future . ADJOURNMENT Hearing no further business Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Mr. Weatherby to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved meeting was adjourned at 9 : 15 PM. Respectfully submitted, Marsha L. Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk MLG : mg • es •