HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-10-11-RTB TOWN OF ULYSSES
REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING
OCTOBER 11 , 2005
PRESENT : Supervisor Doug Austic ; Councilpeople Lee Scott, Roxanne Marino , Don
Ellis and Robert Weatherby; Town Clerk Marsha L . Georgia; Highway Superintendent
James Meeker; Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan .
Others present : Mark Dresser, Ed & Laverne Gatch, Del & Bonnie Champion, Bill Luce,
Tammy, Keith and Katie McMillen, Lucia Tyler, Kathy Beauregard and Ken Schlater
Supervisor Austic opened the Regular Town Board Meeting at 7 : 30 pm and led those
assembled with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.
APPROVAL OF MINTUES — RTB8/9/05 AND 9/13/05 — PH 8/23/05 — PI 8/16/05
STB 7/13/05, 8/23/05 AND 8/30/05
Ms . Marino requested to table the Special Town Board meeting of 8/30/05 to further
review. She finished the review of the Regular Town Board meetings of 8/9/05 and
9/ 13/05 but had not had time to email the corrections and changes to the Board .
Mr. Austic asked if the Board had any minutes that they would pass?
Mr. Ellis moved to pass the Public Hearings of 8/23/05 , the Public Informational meeting
of 8/ 16/05 , the Special Town Board meetings of 7/ 13/05 and 8/23/05 and table the
minutes for the Regular Town Board Meeting of 8/9/05 and 9/ 13 /05 and the Special
Town Board meeting of 8/30/05 . Mr. Austic seconded this motion.
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Ellis aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms . Marino abstained from the meetings she was absent for
Adopted.
Ms . Marino stated that she would email her changes and corrections to the other minutes.
APPROVAL OF CLAIMS
Mr. Scott moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to approve the previous examined vouchers # ' s
461 thru 510 in the amount of $67, 849 . 97 .
Ms. Marino had a question on voucher #505 presented by Attorney Bruce Wilson for
additional charges not covered by his retainer. Mr. Wilson presented a breakdown on the
additional charges and explained . Explanation is attached to claim #505 for public
review.
Mr. Ellis asked to have additional charges in the future presented on a monthly basis .
Ms . Marino asked which fund this additional money would come from .
Mr. Austic said the fund balance and may take some out of the B fund .
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Ellis aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms. Marino aye
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October 11 , 2005
Adopted.
Mr. Austic said that some budget modifications needed to be addressed . The Buildings
CE account A1620 .4, the Printing and Mailings account A1670 .4, Town Barn Garage
account A5132 . 4 needs increasing totaling $2500, which he purposes to transfer $2500
out of the Contingency account and take the funds for the additional Attorney fees from
the Fund Balance .
Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Scott to increase the above accounts for a total
of $2500 and take from the Contingency account .
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Ellis aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms . Marino aye
Adopted .
REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tompkins County Board o Representative Peter Penniman-absent
Trumansburg Fire Department — no one in attendance.
Planning Board Report — Chairman David Tyler absent.
Cooperative Extension Representative Ken Schlater
Mr. Austic introduced Mr. Ken Schlater from Cooperative Extension who wishes to
discuss a p rogram that he would like the Town Board to consider funding.
Mr. Schlater read into record :
Projected Increased Heating Costs for Low Income Households and all Households in
County; Impact on County
Impact on Low Income Households:
There are about 7, 000 non-student households in Tompkins County with incomes less
than 200% of poverty. It difficult to come up with a total price for heating fuel for those
households, but we can come up with some idea of the level of increases those households
are going to face this winter. We can be pretty sure that the average price to heating last
winter for households was more than $800. And we can be pretty sure. that for oil and
natural gas customers the prices will be at least 50% higher than last winter (heating oil
is already 60% higher than last year at this time (6, 000 households) ; natural gas is 65 %
higher than last year at this time (20, 000 households) . NYS estimates (developed before
Katrina) used for HEAP place heating costs at about $2, 300 per household.
Based on those assumptions we estimate at a very minimum the average household will
see an increase of $400 in heat costs, and more likely the increase will be $ 750-800. Mr.
Schlater pointed out a table showing what costs would be at two different base costs from
'04- '05 and for two different percentage increases.
How this will impact the TC government social services budget is currently_being
assessed.
Mr. Schlater distributed a hand out that outlines various different things people can do to
reduce energy ,costs in their homes some are no costs , low cost, or may require
professional assistance .
What Mr. Schlater is looking for is some people that can do this work themselves but
there are going to be elderly or disabled who can not do this work and so what they are
proposing is to distribute this information widely as possible throughout the Town . What
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October 11 , 2005
will be critical is the one on one word of mouth education because if a friend tells you
this people tend to listen more . For those people that cannot do the work themselves
Coop . Ext. are proposing to train volunteers, town by town, and have a team of two
people come into an elderly persons house, by appointment, to do the work by local
volunteers that are known in the neighborhood . What the Coop . Ext. needs is the
resources for those households to purchase some of the things needed to do this work. In
general on average you are talking from anywhere ' s from $60 to $ 120 per house to do the
kinds of work needed. Coop . Ext. is also trying to negotiate prices with larger stores to
get better prices on the things they would purchase . What Coop . Ext. is looking at doing
is asking town governments for money. They know that town governments are not going
to have enough money to cover the costs of all of the households that will need this in
their towns, so Coop . Ext. is also looking at negotiating prices down from the places they
will purchase and also mount a campaign County wide looking for additional resources to
cover the costs . So that anybody that is elderly or disabled who wants to have this work
done and can ' t afford to do it themselves can have access to this resource and be taken
care of this winter.
Mr. Austic asked when they planned on starting this program?
Mr. Schlater said that they are talking about doing this now, saving money for people this
winter.
Mr. Austic asked what kinds of funds are being requested?
Mr. Schlater said that he does not know how many elderly or disabled households there
are in Ulysses. He is interested in finding out what may be possible or a contribution . He
said that in the Town of Caroline they are talking around $ 10, 000 and he would like that
from Ulysses .
Mr. Austic said that all this makes sense but the Town would have to consider what they
would have to use and asked how long before Mr. Schlater would have to have an
answer?
Mr. Schlater said that one of the things they have talked about doing is getting something
started as soon as possible in a rural community and generate publicity around that. The
Ithaca Journal is interested in doing a story on this . For example one of the thoughts is if
there was a neighborhood here of 60 to 70 households in Ulysses where maybe 20%
would need this kind of work done, then at the end of the day point to those households
and say that for one day of work these houses saved x amount of money for the winter.
So other communities throughout Ulysses or throughout the County could than say yes
we are interested in doing this and can you come and help us put this together to help our
elderly or disabled . Ulysses would be a good place to start if people are willing to do
that . You could even start small and if you like what you see more could be done .
Ms . Marino asked what part of this would Cooperative Extension play in this?
Mr. Schlater said that Coop . Ext . is working with a whole range of other groups on this
and it is not just Coop . Ext. but there will be a coordinating mechanism .
Ms. Marino asked if Cooperative Extension decided who really should get this or how
would it be decided if the people really cannot pay for this .
Mr. Schlater said that they were not going to do any kind of screening for anyone that is
elderly or disabled . They feel that they cannot go into any kind of screening and try to
figure out if they are income eligible or not. Local level could do that interfacing.
Mr. Ellis asked if the Cooperative Ext . coordination part of this is being funded elsewhere
or is it funded out of the funds Mr. Schlater is looking for?
Mr. Schlater said that the coordination is funded elsewhere .
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October 11 , 2005
The general consensus of the Supervisor and Town Board was that it is a good idea but
they would have to see what they might come up with in the next couple of weeks during
work on the budget for next year.
Mr. Ellis has a couple more questions . Mr. Ellis said that Coop . Ext. has thought about
the numbers some but he ran some quick numbers where Coop . Ext . has a profile in the
County of 7 out of 30 households that they thought might be eligible and if that was true
in Ulysses working with 1200 you would come up with and they were all satisfied that
would be $23 ,000 . Mr. Ellis asked if that sounded like an appropriate number. The
$ 10,000 in Caroline does not go that far.
Mr. Schlater said yes the number for Ulysses sounds close . In the Town of Caroline they
had a fund that they had done some energy, low interest loans or grants to people in the
past with the stipulation if the home was sold within five years it would have to be repaid
and that is what happened and the money had to be returned and that is what they are
looking to use . The number of $23 ,000 for Ulysses strikes him as a realistic number and
Coop . Ext. thinks maybe Cornell could contribute because they have around 7000
households throughout the County.
Mr. Ellis said what if the Town could give $ 10,000 towards the $23 ,000 .
Mr. Austic said he would caution against that at this point.
Mr. Ellis said he would caution against that also because it seems a little slippery to him.
Mr. Austic said he couldn ' t commit to giving away money that the Town may not have .
Mr. Schlater said that anything that came from a Town would stay within the Town .
Because it would be impossible for Coop . Ext. to go out and organize or contact every
household and the way that would work they would do this work where there is interest
in having the work done, where there is a local counter part saving yes we are interested
and we can work on this, I think this is a great thing for my neighborhood, my church or
what ever and if the Town of Ulysses committed $ 10 ,000 and in the end $7000 was used
in the Town than the other $3000 would stay here and go back to Ulysses ' general fund .
Ms . Marino asked how it would work for the supplies?
Mr. Schlater said they would have a line of credit somewhere .
Mr. Austic asked if anyone had any further questions for Mr. Schlater and thanked him
for coming but the Board needs to think about what they are doing here .
Mr. Schlater said that he wanted to add that for next year and he knows there are issues
that the Town is facing energy issues for buildings and stuff like that there are actually
resources available that you could not access this year because getting a contractor to do
anything this fall may be impossible but there are possibilities for that kind of thing next
year.
GROUP FR 0 M JACKSONVILLE
Mr. Gatch entered a petition into record with 47 signatures he presented to the Board.
(This petition and Mr. Gatch ' s letter is on file in the Ledger file folder in Mr. Rachun ' s
office) Mr. Gatch read the following statement into record .
TO: Town of Ulysses Board Members
October 11 , 2005
My name is Ed Gatch and I live at 4256 Jacksonville Road. I have lived in Jacksonville
for a period of 42 years.
I
Regular Town Board Meeting . 5
October 11 , 2005
In the last 10 years or more I have witnessed the rapid decline of our community. While
some may say. these changes are being brought about by the change in generations or the
new type of permissive society that we now live in, I disagree. I firmly believe that the
decline is being caused by the lack of enforcement of our laws. You only have to take a
short drive around our community to see the changes and the impact that they are
having. These changes are occurring throughout the Town of Ulysses some locations,
. more than others. I will address the Jacksonville issues.
I would like to read two short paragraphs from a letter I wrote concerning one of the
most flagrant properties in our Town
The letter I read from was written in September of 200 1 and sent to the Town Supervisor
among others. The point lam trying to make is, fines did not work then and they won 't
work now. Here we are four years later and still dealing with the same issue and being
told the same old thing. And, if I was given the correct information about the property
owner being fined in 2001 then by now we should have collected enough monies to pay to
have the property brought into compliance.
I also want to state that our petition speaks to other properties in our town. I am talking
about the properties that contain (in view) more than one unlicensed motor vehicle and
the former Jacksonville Motel whose residents seem to have moved their living and
dining rooms outside to the front lawn, which I might also add is slowly becoming a
hayfield, used car lot and a marina. ,
How embarrassing it is to be told that we should change our name to slums Ville. 1 feel
deeply offended when lfind that it is our elected officials who have allowed this to
happen and continue to do nothing about it in spite of having zoning laws. On many
occasions the residents have called the Town offices (0 complain only to be given excuses
that boggles ones mind. Excuses such as : " he is being fined and we can 't afford to lose the
money ", or" he's not right andlfeel sorry for him and hate to do something about ", or" the
town doesn 't have the money to pursue any actions " and better ye t "1 talked to the town
board and they didn 't seem to be interested. " .
This next one really jerks our chains and was the most consistent complaint while
gathering signatures. When called and a message is left, our zoning officer for whatever
reason doesn 't even bother to return the calls. As the saying goes " What 's up with this "?
Maybe his superiors should go over his duties once more and explain to him that this is a
very important part of his job and is not an optional part. The message that we get from
this is one that says, we have become second-class citizens in their eyes and therefore do
not have to be responded to. This really could be true because I don 't see the same things
happening in Trumansburg.
When going around with the petition that I am presenting to you, I want you to know that
it took an average of 1 0/20 minutes for each home. The reason for this was that besides
the issues in the petition, many of their complaints bordered extreme frustration. Among
the other many complaints was the speeding on the Jacksonville Road RT 96 and the
Perry City Road. Trailers in our community were another big issue and also doublewides
Regular Town Board Meeting 6
October 11 , 2005
without any kind of storage facilities. Because of our talks I started to wonder if our
elected officials are even in touch with the community or if they even cared. Or do they
only care at election time ? Hmmm ! That has a familiar ring to it.
also want to state that the 47 plus signatures were accomplished in two days. So, you can
see just how important these issues are to the community. The number of signatures in
such a short time demonstrates just how upset the community is with the direction you
are taking us in. Had 1 more time there would have been many more pages of signatures,
given how our Jacksonville residents currently feel.
Along with what unsightly properties bring to our community let me address another side
effect. In the same timeframe of our town 's noticeable decline, I also noticed an invasion
of the criminal element. It is my belief that there is a direct correlation between the lack
of zoning enforcement and the seeding of the criminal element in our community. The
only thing spreading faster in Jacksonville is the dandelions.
Prior to the start of the decline, we had a community that was peaceful, quiet and
somewhat boring. But we liked it that way. It was our comfort level. In a days time you
would see walkers, joggers and bicyclists go by my home. now, nothing. They say they
are too afraid to travel the road near my home because it 's too scary. The same for the
areas near the center of Jacksonville. It is nothing to see males walking the street (RT 96)
hollering and carrying open quart beer bottles. I could go on and on but I would like to
turn my time over to Mark Dresser who will address the Criminal Element issue in our
neighborhood and its effect.
In closing, I want to state that something must be done and done quickly. More new
zoning laws are not the answer if the current ones are not enforced. A Town Board
Member meeting in Jacksonville for Jacksonville residents concerning the Jacksonville
area might be very helpful. You must understand this, the problems will not go away by
themselves and neither will I.
Thank you for your time.
Mr. Gatch turned over the comments to Mark Dresser.
Mr. Dresser stated that for the folks that don ' t know him he is a police officer in this
County for over 28 years and takes a lot of pride in the things that he has accomplished,
lives on Perry City Road and has lived there for 24 years . Mr. Dresser said the Orson
Ledger residence has been a talk in our community for quite awhile and also other places .
Mr. Dresser' s point in coming tonight is to talk about some criminal issues he has seen,
mostly at the Ledger residence . It came to Mr. Dresser' s attention that there was a person
squatting there basically in a truck camper that was on stilts in front of Ledger' s house .
This came to Mr. Dresser' s attention through a call that the police handled there when
this person was transported to the hospital in a very violent type condition. When Mr.
Dresser did some research on this person Mr. Dresser found out that this person is a real
bad guy, done '.time in State prison twice, he has been very assaultive against women
mostly, been convicted for assault and again he has been in either Elmira State prison or
Willard on two separate occasions for almost five years . He is now squatting on Ledger' s
property. When you drive by there at night there is a truck camper on stilts with a power
cord running into the camper from the house and that is where this person is living in my
community. Mr. Dresser said that he takes great offense to this. Mr. Dresser said that his
wife used to walk the block, but now he will not allow her to walk Mekeel Road. This
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October 11 , 2005
person has a history of unlawful imprisonment and he has a history of assaulting of
women . Mr. Dresser finds this pretty sad and he thinks he knows everyone that sits on
the Town Board and he finds it very sad that his wife cannot walk a road in our
community while there is a fear when she is walking by herself around a block. Mr.
Dresser said that he has a lot of resources legally and he will commit whatever resources
he can to help with this issue. Mr. Dresser said that he knows Mr. Rachun has helped,
and Mr. Dresser is not sure what the answer is but he thinks a very strong stand could
make a point with this individual . We need to take a stand together and make Mr. Ledger
clean up this location and move forward . Mr. Dresser said that what you see out front is
nothing, go in from the back not only the junk but also the animals .
Ms . Champion stated that she has taken several cats to the SPCA and paid to have them
turned in. Also her elderly Aunt lives directly across from Mr. Ledger and this man
keeps coming to her Aunt ' s house and threatens her Aunt ' s caretaker because she
wouldn ' t drive him someplace or because she wouldn ' t let him use the telephone . Ms .
Champion said that they now have to keep all the shades pulled and the doors locked for
their safety. Ms . Champion feels that it is the Town Boards responsibility to take care of
this .
Mr. Dresser said that in a closing note there also is another place in Jacksonville and that
is an apartment house that had its first stabbing in this summer and Jacksonville has never
seen a stabbing ever. Let ' s work with Ledger' s house and than move forward on the
other places . Mr. Dresser thanked the Board for its time and looks forward to any
comments or help that he can offer.
The neighbors continued to express concern .
Mr. Wilson said that there are three options ; our Zoning Law does not set the fines so that
you defer to NYS Town Law where it sets the fine and or jail as an option for Judge
Rector to enforce . You also could have a civil remedy, which would go to Supreme
Court and get an injunction , which could order the removal of something and than that
would have to be authorized by the Town Board and go to Supreme Court to do it. Mr.
Wilson wanted to make the point that you have to file a violation for each and every
week.
A question was asked to how much has the Town actually collected in fines . Neither Mr.
Austic nor Mr. Rachun knew the answer. Mr. Rachun said Mr. Ledger has been in court
four times since 1991 .
Mr. Rachun said that the reality of this is that Mr. Ledger will not clean the property.
Mr. Austic said that the Board will see what they can come up with to do and there are a
lot of limits as to what the Town can do unless the Town cleans it up and Mr. Austic is
not sure that tax payers would want to pay that .
Mr. Dresser felt that Mr. Wilson may have a good idea of taking Mr. Ledger to another
court, which may add a little more teeth to it, but again Mr. Dresser offers his help .
Mr. Austic said that it is not that the Town Board does not know about or care about it .
The neighbors spoke to that it does not appear to them that the Town cares or have they
done anything about it when they see year after year no changes .
TOWN REPORTS
Highway Superintendent James Meeker reported the highway crew finished up the
bridge project on Maplewood Road , worked on Durling Road bridge with the County
Bridge crew, and right now the crew is working on the bridge on Cold Springs Road .
The I beams for the Cold Springs Road were delivered today and Mr. Meeker is
supplying the company with a man and truck to work on the project. The highway crew
helped the Town of Enfield do some paving and the Town crew paved Brook Road .
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October 11 , 2005
Mr. Meeker stated that for anyone interested in the municipal sharing for the highway' s
paving project on Brook Road the crew hauled in roughly 1 ,250 ton of type 6 top in two
days and placed it, Mr. Meeker used one truck and man from the Town of Covert, three
men from the Town of Enfield, three men from Tompkins County Highway, three from
Ithaca, two from Newfield, three from Lansing and two from the Town of Ulysses . This
was all accomplished in two days . The Town of Ulysses highway crew also shimmed
Cold Springs Road from the bridge to Halseyville Road. Right now the crew is working
on hauling shoulder materials so that they can put down shoulders before winter.
Mr. Meeker handed out an hourly state rate for bridge repair, but what Mr. Meeker has
done is make a deal with the bridge crew for Tompkins County Highway and they are
actually doing the Cold Springs bridge, which will end up a work swap deal . Another
words the Town of Ulysses will haul material for the County Highway; mow roadsides
and other jobs . If the Board compares the hourly rate that Mr. Meeker handed out they
can see the savings .
Mr. Meeker said that Fingerlakes Construction Company contacted him about the repair
or replacement of the roof on the highway garage.
Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun reported that three building permits have been
issued for the month.
Mr. Rachun asked Mr. Ellis to sit down with him and discuss the format of how he would
like to see the monthly permit report.
Mr. Ellis said he would be glad to .
Mr. Rachun said that he just had a talk with Mr. Dresser outside about the Ledger
property and there may be a different venue the Town can use .
The Board discussed condemning the Ledger property and other options . The Town
Board felt condemning the property under the State public health law would be a start to
solve the immediate problem of the dangerous person living in the trailer, as no one can
live on a property once it is condemned. Mr. Rachun said that Mr. Ledger is not living in
the property now . Mr. Rachun said he would look into the Jacksonville motel as well .
Local law gives authority to condemn properties for building code violations . The Town
Board will begin working through options for Town action to get the property cleaned . It
was suggested ;the Board have a meeting with Jacksonville residents once some progress
is made on this .
Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported that a total of $7 ,324 was collected for fees
and of that $ 787 . 75 was turned over to the Supervisor along with the monthly report.
One plumbing permit was issued for a fee of $ 125 and $6 ,269 was turned over to NYS
DEC for conservation licenses .
Mrs . Georgia said that she has been working on the list of residents that are in Water
District #3 and #4 and that will be provided to the Tompkins County Assessment Office
for the tax levy. There will be a couple of additions to that. Mrs . Georgia has been
getting several inquires on the commercial tax levies based on units and when the Town
will reevaluate ' these units that they are charged. One inquiry came from The Paradise
Café where they are assessed 3 units .
Mr. Austic said that after a year ' s use these commercial accounts will be evaluated and
some may change based on their water use.
Mrs . Georgia reported on the DMP permits for the hunters who wish to apply.
Mrs . Georgia said that she understands that the Planning Board has approved two Site
Plans and she is reporting that to date she has not received any resolutions or signed Site
Plans to be forwarded as it states in the Zoning Law .
Regular Town Board Meeting 9
October 11 , 2005
Mrs . Georgia also reported that her office is helping Mr. Rachun with the legal filings
and the notifications to the Board of Zoning Appeals and adjacent neighbors for the up
coming variances that he has scheduled .
Ms . Marino asked if someone was going to follow up with the filing of Site Plans with
the Clerk because she knows that there is a time frame to follow.
Mr. Rachun said he would call David Tyler the Chairman of the Planning Board.
Board Members and Committees
Mr. Scott reported that he attended the Planning Board Public Hearings on Site Plan
Review for the Cone property on Krums Corners Road and the West Hill Church on
VanDorns Corners Road. There was a discussion of lighting on the Cone property but
with Mr. Rachun ' s help that was resolved. The second public hearing was on the West
Hill Church and there was a problem with not enough front yard set back. The Church is
building at the corner of VanDorns Corners and Iradell Road and the Planning Board was
assuming that they had two front yards, which Mr. Scott does not feel is correct, but to
avoid any problems the Church decided to move the whole Church assembly and parking
lot back 25 feet so that they had the same amount of set back from both roads .
Mr. Wilson said that he had given Mr. Rachun an opinion that the owners can pick their
own front yard . Mr. Wilson said that there is nothing in the Town ' s Zoning Law that
does that.
Mr. Scott said that they were willing to work it all out by moving the whole parking lot
and Church back 25 feet.
The Planning Board approved both Site Plan Reviews .
Supervisor Report - Mr. Austic asked if anyone had any questions on his Supervisors
Report previously provide to the Town Board . No questions were heard .
Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan reported that the Planning Advisory Board is
starting to work on the Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan work plan; it is a five-year
plan for implementing the things that came out in the Comprehensive Plan. The three
initiatives that are underway are affordable housing, natural resources and scenic
inventory. Mr. Coogan is working on the scenic inventory committee and they will be
going out with RFPs and starting initiatives . What the committee for scenic inventory is
trying to do is make sure that the information is usable for Town ' s as a planning tool .
Mr. Coogan is not too familiar to what the other committees are doing. Mr. Coogan said
that the Planning Coalition is looking at using the time to interface more with
municipalities and with the County, so that municipalities and the County are in step
when they are looking at these initiatives .
OLD BUSINESS
None heard.
NEW BUSINESS
Reschedule Novembers ' Regular Town Board Meeting
Mrs . Georgia reminded the Town Board that the November Regular Town Board meeting
is scheduled for November 8th and that is Election Day so therefore the Board needed to
reschedule the meeting.
Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Weatherby the following :
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses reschedule the
November Regular Town Board meeting for the 2nd Wednesday November 9 ,
Regular Town Board Meeting 10
October 11 , 2005
2005 at 7 : 30 PM and also have the Public Hearing on the 2006 Budget the same
evening at 7 : 00 PM .
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms . Marino aye
Mr. Ellis aye
Adopted.
Budget
Due to the lateness of the meeting the Board felt they would not have time to address the
budget. The Board scheduled a budget meeting for Thursday October 13 , 2005 at 8AM .
Road Abandonment
Mr. Wilson previously provided all the information on the request for this road
abandonment to the Town Board. Mr. Wilson reviewed the materials .
Mr. Ellis thanked Mr. Wilson for the materials and stated that the Town Board should go
ahead with the resolution to abandon the road/gravel driveway.
Mr. Meeker commented on the materials .
Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Scott the following :
Whereas ; a request has been made by the owners of the property at 1359
Taughannock Boulevard, Frances Littin and Arthur C . Tauck III, as trustees of the
Frances Littin Revocable Trust; through their Attorney James Miller, Esq. for
abandonment of a claimed Ulysses Town Road; and
Whereas, the Town Highway Superintendent, James Meeker, has informed the
own Board that the gravel driveway requested to be abandoned is not a Town
Highway; and
Whereas, the Town Attorney, Bruce Wilson, has reviewed and commented on the
issues raised and sees no liability on the part of the Town by abandonment; and
Whereas, adjacent owners to the gravel driveway will not be harmed ; and
Whereas, the Town Board has fully reviewed the correspondence, deeds and
maps involved including Highway Department letter of June 28 , 2005 and survey
re-surveyed June 17 , 2005 relating to the gravel driveway and its location, and
heard from the Town Attorney as to legal issues ; and
Whereas, the Town Board has found no Town use for the gravel driveway nor
has the Town ever maintained the alleged Town Road at least in the last 10 years ;
and
Now Therefore Be It Resolved, the gravel driveway (unnamed) adjacent to New
York State Route 89 as shown in the survey map of Robert S . Russler, Jr. re-
,
surveyed June 17 , 2005 is hereby abandoned, and any claim of the Town to said
road discontinued .
Mr. Ellis commented that the abandonment of the gravel driveway would not harm the
adjacent owners and Mr. Wilson agrees to that .
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms. Marino aye
Mr. Ellis aye
i
Regular Town Board Meeting 11
October 11 , 2005
Adopted.
Mr. Austic asked if anyone from the public had any comments before the Town Board
adjourned to executive session?
No public comments were heard .
Executive Session - Personnel
Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis the following:
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses adjourns to
executive session to discuss a personnel matter.
Mr. Austic aye
Mr. Scott aye
Mr. Weatherby aye
Ms . Marino aye
Mr. Ellis aye
Adopted.
The executive session was adjourned and the Regular meeting was reconvened .
ADJOURNMENT
Hearing no further business Mr. Weatherby moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to adjourn the
Regular Town Board meeting. Unanimously approved . Meeting adjourned at 10 : 10 PM .
Respectfully submitted,
Marsha L. Georgia
Ulysses Town Clerk
MLG : mlg