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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-03-14 - TB TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING MARCH 14, 2006 Present : Supervisor Douglas Austic ; Town Council Roxanne Marino, Don Ellis, Rod Ferrentino and Lucia Tyler; Town Clerk Marsha L . Georgia; Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan; Town Highway Superintendent James Meeker; and Town Attorney Bruce Wilson. Others Present : James Dennis, Representative County Legislature, Robert Lodder, Planning Board Chair Margot Chiuten, Ithaca Journal Reporter Danise Jean. Baptisle, Joanne Molino, Barry Hayes, Joan Spielholz, Free Press Reporter Bill Chaisson, Joan Ormondroyd, Lee Scott, other residents whom did not sign in. 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 — SPECIAL TOWN BOARD 1 /24/2006 AND REGULAR TOWN BOARD OF 2/14/2006 Mr. Austic asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the Special Town Board meeting of January 24, 2006 and the Regular Town Board meeting of February 14, 2006 . The Board submitted minor changes and corrections to the Clerk for January 24th, 2006 Special Board meeting and the Regular Town Board meeting of March 14, 2006 . Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Ms . Tyler to approve the minutes of January 24th, 2006 Special Board meeting and the March 14, 2006 Regular Town Board meeting with the suggested changes and corrections . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Ms . Marino to approve the previous examined vouchers #85 through 131 in the amount of $45 , 377 . 86 . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. Ms . Marino thanked Mr. Wilson for the outline he submitted detailing what he had done under his retainer for the month. Mr. Wilson stated that it is not his intention to submit monthly outlines of what he is doing, unless he is billing additional time, which is not what his retainer agreement states. Ms . Marino said maybe there is a misunderstanding because at one of the meetings she feels it was requested so that the Board could keep track of what the Town is using an attorney for. Ms . Marino feels that it was great that Mr. Wilson submitted this . Regular Town Board Meeting 2 03 / 14/2006 Mr. Wilson said what he is saying is that it is not part of what a retainer is. A concept of a retainer is that he is doing certain things. Mr. Wilson said that his understanding is if he goes over what the retainer covers he would itemize a monthly bill to explain what he is doing, but otherwise Mr. Wilson said he is on a retainer. Mr. Ellis saidl that is what he re-calls . Mr. Ellis said that his understanding of the discussion was that within the retainer amount there were certain specified things that would be going on and Mr. Ellis felt that was sufficient clarity. The Town Board had a list of what would be covered in the retainer for three hours per-week. Mr. Ellis said that beyond the retainer (the three hours a week) it would be useful to have more information. and a detailed monthly bill . Mr. Wilson said that certainly if he goes beyond the retainer agreement he will submit an itemized bill of what that is and why that is. Ms . Marino continued to state her feelings on how she feels how useful it to be to know what sort of things that the attorney does for the three hours a week so for budgeting purposes it would be clearer. Ms . Marino said that she would like to continue receiving what Mr. Wilson had presented this month of a detailed list of what he did for the month under his retainer. Mr. Wilson said that is not his intention nor was it his understanding with the letter of agreement he has with the Town. Mr. Wilson said the whole purpose of a retainer is not to bill . Mr. Wilson said that if the Town wants an itemized bill he would be happy to switch to an hourly billing which would be a lot more then he receives under the retainer. Mr. Wilson said that the Town Board previously agreed on the retainer and it was voted on. Mr. Ellis is not sure that these kinds of contracts are that familiar to everyone involved. Ms . Tyler and Ms . Marino suggested that Mr. Wilson give an oral monthly report of what he does. Mr. Wilson again stated that is not covered under his retainer to do monthly reports and it takes time, if he was to do that he would have to charge . He has concerns because the whole idea to be on a retainer and not to bill . Most likely if he had billed for what he had done in the month it would be three times what the retainer is . Mr. Ellis feels that the arrangement and how the Town Board arrived at it makes sense to the point of view of someone providing professional services . The retainer provides a space in which time is not spent doing detailed reporting because what are within the retainer are basically the routine recurring kinds of requests so they don' t require particular scrutiny and would not be of interest to the Board. Mr. Ellis said that on the other hand Mr. Wilson ' s agreement to provide additional information when working beyond the retainer is very welcome and useful to the Board. Mr. Wilson said that anything that is in the retainer agreement, that the Board approved, and anything above that the Board would be notified and given an additional itemized bill . Mr. Austic asked if there were anymore comments . Mr. Ferrentino stated to move on. REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES Jim Dennis Tompkins County Board Representative said he had a couple of things and he is also here for the discussion of the Recreation Partnership . Mr. Dennis was recently appointed as the Counties representative to the Recreation Partnership for the County level . Regular Town Board Meeting 3 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Dennis said that the EMC Board that he is on is looking for a member from the Town of Ulysses Board. Ms. Marino thought that Ms. Tyler was appointed to that at the beginning of the year and the resolution should have gone to the County Board . The Clerk will look into this. Mr. Dennis said that he has been contacted by the local Snowmobile Club . At the State level the Budget Office is trying to take 2 . 5 million dollars away from the Snowmobile Club and put it in the General Fund . The Snowmobile Club is looking for support from elected officials, Town Boards , County Boards to ask the Governor not to do that because it is something they have worked hard for to get that money and if it was put into the General Fund it probably would be lost to them. Mr. Dennis said that there is an effort across the State from all of the snowmobile clubs to try and get the Governor to keep that money where it is . Mr. Dennis said that there is a workshop coming up on March 30th called Better Housing for Tompkins County and they are looking for representatives to attend. Mr. Dennis said that new assessments did go out to some residents of Ulysses and he has received calls from the people along the lake. Mr. Dennis asked if anyone had any questions . Mr. Ellis asked if Mr. Dennis had any additional information from the snowmobile clubs so that the Board could respond. Mr. Dennis will make that available . Trumansburg Fire Department Ms . Hilbert, Trumansburg Village Trustee gave the monthly report for the Trumansburg Fire Department as follows : • Village had 11 fire calls / 246 hours — ambulance calls 7 / 34 hours • Ulysses had 12 fire calls / 159. 9 hours — ambulance calls 16 calls/ 57 hours • Covert had 4 calls / 130 hours — ambulance calls 3 / 9 hours • Hector had 2 / 26 hours — ambulance calls 1 / 8 hours • Mutual aid 1 call / 16 hours • Total calls fire 30 / 579 hours — total for ambulance 29 calls / 115 hours • Training hours 465 • Total hours for the combined service 1158 The total calls and hours are greater for this time this year compared to last year. Mr. Ellis thanked Ms . Hilbert and said it is very helpful but what would make it more helpful to him would to have the average compared to last year at this time for reference. Ms . Hilbert will pass that suggestion on to Chief Fulton. Planning Board Report, Margot Chiuten Chairman - said that the Planning Board will be meeting this Thursday to continue with the discussion of the Washington Street Partners, Trumansburg Commons Project to discuss the comments received from Tompkins County Planning on the 2391&m . On Tuesday March 21St the Planning Board has a Sub-division to review and following that review the first of the Planning Board ' s training will begin Joni Spielholz - Recreation Partnership . Mr. Austic introduced Ms . Spielholz, Chair of the Recreation Partnership . Regular Town Board Meeting 4 03/ 14/2006 Ms . Spielholz distributed information from the Recreation Partnership to the Town Board and introduced Janice Johnson from the Youth Services of Tompkins County. Ms . Spielholz stated that she is here tonight because Ulysses has given the Recreation Partnership a fifteen month notice to withdraw from the partnership . The Recreation Partnership is starting its eleventh year and has ten municipalities as members . The Ithaca Youth Bureau Recreation Division is the program provider and financial coordinator. The contributions of the County and the participating municipalities help keep programs affordable and accessible. If you are a resident of participating municipality residents can participate in the programs at a reduced rate . Ms . Johnson reviewed some of the statistics that the Ithaca Youth Bureau provides, which gives you the number of kids that participated in the individual programs . The last couple of years some programs had to be reduced because in 2005 the County gave the partnership a significant cut, but 2006 the County increased their contribution to their original commitment and about 20 programs have been added back in to be offered. In 2005 the numbers of participating residents have gone down but they expect that to increase again in 2006 . Ms . Johnson said that one of the things the Youth Bureau did was to plot out using the County' s GIS System showing where the residents live who used the programs . There has been a new software program purchased that will allow better accuracy for identifying who is using the programs and where they are coming from . Ms. Spielholz stated that the main reason they came tonight is to encourage the Town Board to think about staying in the partnership . The Recreation Partnership group is really proud of what they have done in terms of the municipal cooperation. The Recreation Partnership is one of the few things that have worked in terms of municipal cooperation. Ms . Spielholz said a lose of Ulysses should not go on without it being addressed. Ms . Spielholz handed out invitations to attend an informational meeting and dinner on Thursday April 6`", 2006 at the Ithaca Town Hall . Ms . Marino asked if the Town had a deadline to determine if they were going to stay in . the Recreation Partnership . Ms . Johnson said there is no official deadline but in June and July is when they will be doing their budget work so it would be nice to know or have some kind of indication. TOWN ROPRTS Highway Superintendent James Meeker - reported that the highway crew worked on equipment during the rainy days . March started off very windy and Mr. Meeker said that the highway crew spent a lot of time picking up branches . In February the highway crew salted and plowed as needed. During the heavy rains Mr. Meeker said there was some flood damage between Rt. 96 and Rt. 89 . Mr. Meeker figures he has about a weeks worth of labor and about 300 ton of material to be used. When there is so much wind, branches and leaves plug up the culverts and that causes damage sometime . Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun was absent. Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported that she collected a total of $ 798 in Tees for the month of February and of that $666 was turned over to the Supervisor with her monthly report. Mrs. Georgia sent another $ 100,000 to Tompkins County Budget Finance for payment on the 2006 Tax Warrant. A check was issued today to the Supervisor for $ 748 for the penalties and late fees collected for February. Board Member and Committees Board Member Lucia Tyler reported that she attended the Village of Trumansburg ' s meeting in place of Mr. Ellis. Ms. Tyler said that the Village discussed a fallen tree on I . Regular Town Board Meeting 5 03/ 14/2006 the corner of Lake and Main Streets . The Village is going to look into a professional to assess the trees before they fall . The Village also discussed the parking next to the new fitness center on Washington Street and will be putting out new parking signs on Old Main Street so the customers will not be filling up other business ' s parking lots. Ms . Tyler said that the Village would like to get together with the Town Board to talk about moving forward with the proposed Water District #5 . The Village Board presented some dates which are April 3rd, April 6th or April 13th . Mr. Austic asked what type of meeting would this be, should we have the engineer there . Mr. Austic feels that would be important for the Village to understand that. Ms. Tyler said that she thought the intention was just to communicate with each other first before bringing in the engineer. The general consensus of the Town Board was to meet April 3rd at 7 : 00 pm . Mr. Austic felt that the Village should come to the Town Hall to meet. Ms. Marino thought the Village Hall was more conducive for talking because you could sit all around a table instead of some up and some down. The Board discussed this back and forth. Mr. Ferrentino said it does not matter where it is held it is the objective of the meeting that matters. Mr. Ferrentino asked who was advertising the meeting. Mr. Ferrentino said we need to clarify the agenda. Ms . Tyler said the intent is so that the Town and Village are on the same page, that both have the same information on the Water District #5 . The Board discussed having the engineer present. It also was decided to make one of the engineer reports available to the Village . The meeting is basically to inform the Village of what is happening and understand the school of thought about the project. It also was suggested that the NY State Park and Tompkins County Health Department be invited. The meeting was set for April 3rd, 2006 at 7 : 00 pm and Supervisor Austic will facilitate the meeting. Supervisor Doug Austic Mr. Austic previously distributed the Supervisor' s monthly report and asked if anyone had any questions. No questions were heard. Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan — reported he had distributed to the Town Board a draft of a "memorandum of agreement" to create the Stormwater Coalition of Tompkins County, which was originally the Stormwater Group . This will be coming up next month when approval will be needed . Mr. Coogan said the Town Board put $ 1 , 500 in the budget for this . The Coalition can not bill until they have a "memorandum of agreement" from the municipality and a representative who can sign . Mr. Coogan said that Mr. Wilson has looked over the agreement and he saw nothing horrendous in it . The Stormwater Group still is playing around with little parts of the language such as expiration dates and what happens if permits are extended. Mr. Coogan reported on checking housing grants for disabled because he had received a call from a Village resident. Mr. Coogan contacted Stacey at Better Housing and the Town could apply for grant money that would help and it is often good if more then one municipality applies . What Ulysses would have to do over the summer is target between twelve and fifteen houses that would be eligible for the money. Mr. Coogan said that if this is something the Town would like to do they should say yes and start things in motion, if not it is something that can be done any year. Regular Town Board Meeting 6 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Coogan said that the Town of Ithaca came up with "Steep Slopes Conservation District" and Ithe Town of Ulysses has a copy of that. This is one of the things the Town of Ithaca are doing to try and to mitigate problems with water run-off on the steep slopes. Mr. Coogan gave an update on Orson Ledger property and reported he has run into a snag with Tompkins County Solid Waste Division in that they are bulking at the idea that a resident of Ulysses would be bringing trash. Mr. Coogan is trying to find a way around it because Mr. Ledger is ready to haul off several truck loads . Mr. Coogan had hoped that this could have been done by this meeting. Ms . Marino asked what the particular circumstances were that TC Solid Waste had mentioned in their letter. Mr. Austic had handled this in Mr. Coogan ' s absence on vacation. Mr. Austic said that Solid Waste had said that their intent of the Municipal Clean-up Program was to service all of the residents of the Town and their question was how they could do just one . Mr. Coogan said that the Town thought they could get an exemption for three to five ' tons . Apparently it may be possible if it was done in a Town vehicle and by opening an account at Solid Waste . Mr. Coogan has a form to sign up for this . A fee of $20 per ton for a municipality and for a home owner it would be $ 100 per ton. Mr. Coogan is still working on this and also working with Kate Hacket in trying to get money from Stormwater because this property is on a tributary and that could be several thousand dollars that may be used towards this . Ms. Marino feels that the Town should sign up with TC Solid Waste. Mr. Coogan said that several months ago he was talking about an Access Management Plan. Mr. Coogan attended Tompkins County Metropolitan Planning Organization today after their presentation he was talking about that it sounds like a good idea to do a access : . plan in the fact that Ulysses has marked, with new Zoning, their business district that Rt. 96 is considered an area that needs to be mapped and also planned out. They also said that Rt. 96 on the north end of the County is probably one of the lower priorities . They are mainly looking at the Rt. 13 corridor first then looking at Rt. 96 as it comes into Ithaca. If the Town of Ulysses wanted to pursue an access management plan the Metropolitan Planning Organization would give support. They also took time to explain some of the things and stated that the plan on Rt . 13 , going through Dryden is costing about $ 60, 006 for a consultant. MPO did say that there are other ways to find funds especially looking at an access plan from Trumansburg Village line through Halseyville Intersection. Mr. Coogan was given a number of potential partners to check to see who has money or funding and the Town could even do it through Emergency Services and things like that. There are also State resources that you can look into . They also said that the Town could always lean on the political representatives at the State and Federal level to see if they have any money. They did warn that any time you use Federal funds it comes with allot of strings so unless you are going to ask for a very large sum stay away from the Feds . They also said if it is a very small area draft out a scope of work and then come back to the MPO because they have a small amount of money to do access plans as well. Mr. Ellis asked why not include Jacksonville in an access plan? Mr. Coogan said that one of the things that they would look at would be a continuous stretch, so if you were going to include Jacksonville you are now looking at the Village line through Jacksonville and they look at nodes, so Jacksonville is a node, the Hospital is a node and just south of the Village is another. Mr. Ellis had , a question on the housing grants and how a survey would be done to determine twelve or fifteen homes in need. Regular Town Board Meeting 7 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Coogan said it would not be a survey by word of month checking with local organizations and targeting a number of residents that are on lower income levels, condition of the house, who ' s on disability, and who has need. Mr. Ellis asked how this would be done . Mr. Coogan said that Better Housing could help with that. Ulysses would have to ask Better Housing to write a grant which they would charge the Town for. If the grant was successful then the people who qualify would apply directly with Better Housing. The understanding is that the Village would have to join the process so a Village resident could qualify. OLD BUSINESS Training Status Mr. Austic asked Mr. Coogan what is happening with the training. Mr. Wilson said that he is scheduled to give a presentation to the Planning Board on March 21St. Mr. Coogan said it will be an introduction to responsibilities of the Planning Board, legal responsibilities and bringing the new Board members up to speed on what the Town is expecting or tasking them with and then the Town will get into more particular subjects such as SEQR. Mr. Austic said there are also a couple of things coming up the first of April in Lansing on Stormwater. Ms . Marino suggested sending an email to the Town Board and Planning Board members with the dates of these meetings . ° Mr. Ellis said he suspects there is more to the training than Mr. Coogan previously stated and Mr. Ellis is guessing that it will be covered as to what a Planning Board can do and not just what they can not do. Mr. Coogan said that what they are looking at for the first session is giving the Planning Board an introduction to make them understand what the body is charged with, how to interpret the laws, what kind of resolutions and just what the procedures that they need to go through are. Ms . Marino said this sounds like it would be of interest for the Town Board members to hear. Mr. Coogan said that it is scheduled for after 8 pm on March 21St Meeting Rules Mr. Austic asked what the Town Board wanted to do about the meeting rules and suggested that they could follow Robert ' s Rules of Order if everyone was okay with that. Ms . Marino thought that those rules are awfully rigid for a small body. Mr. Austic said that they could be modified. Ms . Marino said that she has a suggestion that came from several people in the public and Ms . Marino had brought this to Mr. Austic ' s attention about the Board considering holding a workshop meeting dedicated to just covering this specific topic trying to develop an understanding of what would work the best for communication and coming out of the meeting with a set of procedures on how to work efficiently and communicate MEM1 ` Regular Town Board Meeting 8 03/ 14/2006 better. Ms . Marino would like to propose the Town Board doing this and hiring a facilitator to help run the meeting and make sure something gets pulled together. Mr. Austic asked for other comments . Mr. Ferrentino said he did not know if this was necessary that Roberts Rules are pretty straight forward and is an accepted way that it is done in most meetings. Mr. Ferrentino said he does not have a problem with having a meeting on how to communicate and work better. . Mr. Ellis said that Robert ' s Rules is a pretty good base and there are some other kinds of things that are really within Robert ' s Rules like "how do we want to regularly allow for participation of the public", at Regular Town Board meetings in particular, Special meetings canjbe taken case by case. There are some other types of these questions that Roberts Rules would not get to that the Board might want to hit on. Mr. Austic said if the Board wanted to set up a meeting it is fine with him . Mr. Coogan said if the Board would like he could contact a couple of organizations such as Cooperative Extension and. Community Dispute Resolution and see when they could do a work shop . Mr. Coogan could come back with dates and possible costs . Mr. Ellis would appreciate that and feels that is a good thought. End of YeariSupervisor Suggestions Mr. Austic asked if everyone had gotten a chance to look at the year end suggestions that he distributed last month, which was tabled at the February Regular Board meeting. They are as follows : A FUND 1 . After all approved year end budget modifications were entered; there was a balance of $ 1404 left in unexpended appropriations . 2 . GAP procedures require that funds transferred to reserves be accounted as inter fund transfers . In most cases, the transfers to reserves are intra 'fund transfers and remain within the funding fund. Therefore, on the operating statement, the appropriation transfer out can be considered as an expense but the revenue transfer in should not be confused with an increase in the total fund balance of the fund. 3 . The only remaining unexpended appropriation was the $2000 not expended due to the lower than estimated cost of the audit. 4 . The 2005 appropriations totaled $ 563 ,316 . 97 and total 2005 revenues were $459,036 . 34, meaning that we received less revenue than the total appropriations by $ 104, 508 . 63 . 5 . Since only $ 83 ,000 of fund balance was appropriated to the 2005 budget, we used an additional $21 , 580 . 63 of un-appropriated un-reserved fund balanced (UAURFB) to cover higher than anticipated expenses occurring after the 2006 `. budget process . 6 . If the remaining $2000 is transferred to a reserve account for audits, the UAURFB would be decreased by an additional $2000 . 7 . SUiPERVISOR RECCOMMENDATIONS : Since the UAURFB is well below the generally accepted " safe" level of 15 -20% of the appropriation budget, and Regular Town Board Meeting 9 03/ 14/2006 considering that we have already appropriated an additional $30,000 to the 2006 budget; I would recommend that we be extremely cautious about increasing the A fund budget or for that mater using the unexpended $2000 to start an audit reserve at this time. B FUND 1 . This fund is the healthiest fund we have . 2 . There is more than the " safe " UAURFB in this fund. 3 . The unexpended appropriation balance is $ 3 ,293 . 11 and unexpected revenues totaled $ 5 ,300. 31 leading to increases in fund balances . 4. SUPERVISOR RECCOMMENDATIONS : Transfer the $ 8 , 600 to the Water Development Reserve. DA FUND 1 . The Bridge Reserve of`$ 115 ,469 . 00 was transferred from the DB fund to its funding source, the DA Fund, to keep the monies in the appropriate fund. Since the money is still in a Reserve Fund the UAURFB of the DA fund was not increased, only the total fund balance increased . 2 . A total of $ 16, 810 . 70 remains in the 2005 appropriations and there were no unexpected increases in revenues . 3 . SUPERVISOR RECCOMMENDATIONS : Transfer the unexpended appropriations to the Equipment Reserve or leave it as UAURFB . DB FUND 1 . The total fund balance was reduced by the transfer of the Bridge reserve to the DA fund. 2 . The remaining unexpended appropriations of $20, 190 . 70 and unexpected revenues of $2 ,944 . 71 will increase the total fund balance by $23 , 135 . 41 . 3 . Due to delays in the Cold Springs Road bridge repair project, Mr. Meeker was unable to complete his projected paving of that road, leading to the unexpended appropriations . 4 . SUPERVISOR RECCOMMENDATIONS : Rollover the unexpended 2005 appropriations to the 2006 budget to allow the work on Cold Springs Road to be completed this year. Increase the 2006 Budget for 5112 . 2 by $20, 191 . 00 WATER DISTRICT #3 1 . A balance of unexpended appropriations of $ 54,261 . 44 and unexpected revenues from services appear to increase the fund balance. 2 . The Town of Ithaca has failed to bill Ulysses for water usage in 2005 . 3 . SUPERINTENDENT RECCOMMENDATION: Since we are awaiting a water bill from the Town of Ithaca, I suggest that we leave the remaining balances in the UAURFB until the bill is paid . Any remaining balance I would suggest transferring to the District # 3 Water Repair Reserve to cover future repairs as needed. Mr. Ellis did not know this was coming up tonight. Mr. Austic said that it is on the agenda. Regular Town Board Meeting 10 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Ellis remembers having a question about $ 12,000 of revenue related to the Court and asked if his recall was correct. It is not in Mr. Austic ' s recommendation list. Mr. Austic said that when Judge Rector submitted his budget that was what he anticipated the revenue to be, but it came in less for the year. Ms. Marino questioned #4 & 5 . under A fund and stated that during the budget discussions it never came up that these funds would be off by this amount of money. Mr. Austic explained that at budget time it is sometimes difficult to determine what is going to happen at the close of the year. Ms . Marino could not understand how the year end budget was adding up and said she would come to Mr. Austic ' s office for him to explain this to her. Ms . Marino said that at budget time using an additional approximately 3 % of the whole A Fund of fundibalance when it was discussed by the whole Board and now finding out that it was not truly available should be explained and she needs to understand this . Mr. Austic said that when it comes budget time and he advises that there is no money the Board should not push him to put more in the budget because sometimes he does and then it is trouble. Ms . Marino said that the Board talked it through and it seemed Mr. Austic had no problem. Mr. Austic explained that when doing the budget it is three months earlier then the end of the year and things happen after that to change what you think. At the time you subtract the amount that you have spent from the amount you have taken in and you come up with a number, two months later it is a lot different. Ms . Marino still questioned the $21 ,000 and said she would like to understand that better for next year. Mr. Austic said that it sometimes happens that way. Mr. Austic said that there is no money left in the A Fund other then that $2000 basically because more, was spent then we thought, not to say that the Board can not cut the fund balance . The $2000 left in there was talked about for the audit or just leave it sit in the fund balance. That was Mr. Austic ' s recommendation and asked what the Board wanted to do . Mr. Austic asked if anyone had any suggestions or just leave this till next time . Mr. Ellis feels that the Board should wait until everyone is satisfied with the explanations and he has asked to have more time to look at Mr. Austic ' s recommendations . Supervisor Austic ' s budget recommendations were tabled again. Audit Discussion Mr. Austic stated that Ms . Tyler asked to have the audit discussion put on the agenda. Mr. Austic said that in his opinion since the Town does not have any extra money in the 2006 budget and uncertain what is going to happen this year and the Town does not have an audit budgeted for 2006 Mr. Austic would like to see the Board budget this in the fall and put the expense in the 2007 budget. Ms . Tyler said she would like to make a motion. Regular Town Board Meeting 11 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Ferrentino said before Ms. Tyler makes a motion he reminded the Board that a motion was already approved not to do an audit and $2000 was budgeted for 2006 . Mr. Ferrentino said that the Board can not undo what the Board already did. Ms . Tyler said that you can bring up another motion. Mr. Austic asked Ms . Tyler where she plans on getting the money for an audit. Ms . Tyler asked if she could make her motion then it can be voted up or down. Mr. Austic said fine make the motion . Ms . Tyler moved the following: Sciarabba Walker be engaged to perform an "Opinion Audit" of the Town of Ulysses books for 2005 including any capital accounts beginning in May 2006 . Ms . Tyler said that is her motion and the reason that she put 2006 because they had agreed to give a 15 % discount if it was done then. Ms . Tyler said that she is not going to repeat all the reasons that she had given for an audit in letters that she has written but she has not forgotten the promises that she made to the voters and taxpayers . Ms. Tyler said that this is a priority of theirs and Ms . Tyler said that the Town has put $4000 aside for it. Mr. Austic said that there is not $4000 put aside for it . Ms . Tyler said that there was $2000 before and it was purposed to put $2000 more. Mr. Austic said that has never been decided by the Board. Ms. Marino said that the Board talked about it but the decision has not been made . Mr. Austic asked for a second. Ms . Marino seconded the motion. Mr. Austic said again that he feels strongly the Town does not have the money in the budget and with the extra money that the Board used out of the fund balance last year it is not a prudent thing to do at this point. Mr. Austic said that this is his opinion knowing what he knows about the fund balances . Mr. Austic said that an audit was scheduled for every three of four years, the Town did one last year, whether Ms . Tyler thinks it was an audit or not. Ms . Tyler said that the accountants say it was not an audit. Mr. Austic submitted a copy of the cover sheet from the Village of Trumansburg ' s audit and asked the Board to read the purpose stated. Ms . Tyler said that "Opinion Audits" give you audited financial statements so that the Town could get lower interest rates if the Town wanted to go for a bond and if the Town wanted to move forward with Water District #5 . Mr. Austic asked her if the Town could get lower then nothing? Ms . Tyler said that there is no guarantee that all of the money would come in grants and the Town might want to be prepared to have some sort of bond and audited financial statements in an "Opinion Audit" can give you a lower rate and she really thinks it is responsible for the Town Board to know where the Town stands financially in order to set the stage or even talk about the Water District, which is a $4 . 6 million dollar project. Ms. Tyler said as far as where to get the money and she understands Mr. Austic ' s concern about that, it is a priority, it is less then 1 % of the budget and she thinks this early in the year the Board can work things around to find that much money it is not that much money out of the total . Regular Town Board Meeting 12 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Austic disagreed with Ms . Tyler. Ms . Tyler said her understanding was that the B Fund had money left. Mr. Austic said that you can not use the B Fund. Ms . Tyler said that the A Fund can borrow from the B Fund. Mr. Austic said you would have to pay interest. Mr. Austic expressed the same concern as he did previously. Mr. Austic also said again that it would be better to put the money in the budget in the fall and do the audit next year. Mr. Austic feels that nothing will be lost waiting another year. Ms . Tyler said that she feels that there is no reason to wait . Mr. Austic said again that the Town does not have the money. Ms . Tyler said she feels that the Town has the flexibility this early in the year. Mr. Austic said that this early in the year if you use the money it is gone and at the end of the year you do not have it when you need it. Ms. Tyler said but Sciarabba Walker also wrote in their letter that in order to come up to the GASBE standards that it would cost even more money in the future. Mr. Austic said that even NYS is not recommending the GASBE any longer. Ms. Tyler read from a letter from Sciarabba Walker stating it would cost more later. Mr. Austic said that the point is if you do not have it budgeted Mr. Austic does not see how you spend it. Mr. Ellis said that the Board does move money around from time to time when there is a need to do it. Mr. Austic said using the interest on bonds is a foolish reason because the Town had no problem getting no interest bonds for Water District #3 , without an audit, the Town got the lowest interest you can get and that was 0%. Mr. Ferrentino said that the Town has some money set aside why doesn' t the Town just wait till the Town puts it in the next budget. Mr. Ferrentino said we have quotes from four or five places . Mr. Austic said that there is only one quote at this time and he would rather have at least two or three different quotes to make sure . Mr. Ferrentino said the Town should get quotes, should get the items that the Town wants audited and see what the differences are and discuss what things the Town wants audited and lay it out and get the audit after the money is put aside during the budget and audit next year. Ms . Tyler said the Town would not tell the auditor what to do that they have accounting standards that tells . Mr. Austic and Mr. Ferrentino said that you can get all different levels of audits. Ms . Marino said that she thinks Ms . Tyler' s point is that she wants a full opinion audit such as the one that the Village of Trumansburg gets and not what the Town had before which is agreeing upon just specific procedures . I Regular Town Board Meeting 13 03/ 14/2006 Discussion continued with pros and cons . Mr. Ellis said he could see tabling this, but that is not what he is suggesting, to get a couple of different quotes . Mr. Ferrentino said that he does not have a problem doing an audit and he supports that but he does not like the idea of not having the money budgeted for it and only having $2000 in the budget towards it and no quotes have been received. Again Mr. Ferrentino expressed strongly of budgeting the money and doing an audit in 2007, which by then the Town could have quotes and have a definition on an opinion audit because clearly in his mind you people think there is something wrong here and you should be defining what you think is wrong and then get your answers to this and then put this audit crap to bed. Mr. Austic called the motion. Ms . Tyler made a friendly amendment to her motion as follows : An accounting firm either Sciarabba Walker or Ciaschi , Dietershagen depending on the quotes received, be engaged to perform an "Opinion Audit" of the Town of Ulysses books for 2005 including the capital accounts beginning in May of 2006 . Ms. Marino accepted Ms . Tyler' s friendly amended motion. Mr. Ellis said he would like to address Mr. Ferrentino ' s statement and does not know who he means by "you people" but it should be very clear it does not include him because he has said a lot of times that he does not think that the Town needs to do an audit because there is any kind of misappropriation of funds or anything of that type and no reason anyone should think that and no reason he would think that from where he has been for more then two years and does not believe that is the case and he thinks the Town should have an audit because it is a very good procedure and should be a standard procedure for a municipality. Ms . Marino echoed what Mr. Ellis said and has said on the record multiple times and said directly to Mr. Austic numerous times in his office that she does not think there is anything underhanded going on and what Mr. Ellis said is also how she feels. Mr. Ferrentino and Mr. Austic expressed their concerns again. More discussion took place. Mr. Austic called the vote . Mr. Austic nay Mr. Ferrentino nay Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted . Mr. Austic said that we can contact auditors and get estimates . Mr. Ferrentino said the Town should get three or four quotes. Mr. Austic said he would like to but the Town can ' t because Ms . Tyler' s motion just says the two . Other Mr. Austic said that the Board needs to decide if they are going to allow Mr. Brown to talk to the employees about the plan he presented. Regular Town Board Meeting 14 03/ 14/2006 The Board discussed this . Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Austic to allow Mr. Robert Brown to present his proposal to the employees of the Town of Ulysses . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Ms . Tyler nay Mr. Ellis aye Ms . Marino aye Adopted. Ms . Marino said she wanted it clear that the Town Board is not endorsing this . Comprehensive Plan Organization Mr. Austic asked if anyone had anything to say about the Comprehensive Plan. Ms . Marino said she is working on it and three or four people have talked to her about this . Sue Poelvoorde has agreed to work on it at least in the early passives to help get it going because Ms . Poelvoorde did a lot of work pulling it together the first time around. Also David Tyler said he would be willing to work on it with Ms . Poelvoorde. Ms . Marino would like to do what the Village did and get a good cross section of people involved. Ms . Marino will schedule a meeting and have it be a pilot meeting to try and discuss a process for formulating a committee and work plan and engaging the public . Ms . Marino said that she has scheduled a meeting for March 23rd, 2006 at 7 : 30 pm to be held in the library community room. Mr. Ferrentino said the Board needs to get the media to advertise that. Mr. Wilson said that this is a request of forming a committee Town-wide of re- organization of the Comprehensive Plan and this should go to press. Ms . Marino said that she did not know if the Town wanted to publicize for the first meeting. Ms . Marino said that she thinks what the Village did was to get a group of people together who had expressed some interest and then published meeting times and had the public come and had it grow from that. Ms . Marino said she is not sure what the best way is to get it going and she is not at all opposed to advertising. Mr. Austic asked why she is not having it at the Town Hall . Ms . Marino said she thought a different venue was nice for a change because she spends a lot of time in the Town Hall . Mr. Austic said it should go in the paper and anyone interested will come in. Ms . Marino said she has interested people and if Mr. Austic knows of interested people she will contact them. The general consensus of the Board was to advertise this meeting. Ms . Tyler suggested flyers . Ms. Marino also said that it seems like when this gets started the committee will need some help to take minutes and organizing, scheduling meetings, and gather information . Ms . Marino said that $ 15 ,000 was put into the budget for working on the Comprehensive Plan. Ms . Marino would like the Board to consider hiring someone to do administrative support and also hire a professional planner. This can be discussed at this upcoming meeting. Regular Town Board Meeting 15 03/ 14/2006 Mr. Ferrentino asked if the person that does the minutes for the planning and zoning could be contacted to see if she is interested. NEW BUSINESS What is next with District #5 ? Mr. Austic said that the Town Board has scheduled a meeting with the Village of Trumansburg on April 3rd , 2006 Mr. Ellis said that he thought it would be good if Eric Pond did the workshop that he offered . Mr. Ellis said that Mr. Pond also offered to bring the information that he has been asking for like the workup that he was coming to the conclusion that the plan would be all five alternatives rolled together. Mr. Ellis wants to see the logic for that. Mr. Ferrentino said he sees this as step # 1 to meet with the Village, 2 . meet with the Park, 3 . meet with the Health Department, which is the joint meeting with the Village. Mr. Ferrentino said the Town needs to get from those entities what their needs are and then from that a working group to meet with the engineer so everyone can grow their knowledge base with the information that is available . Mr. Ferrentino said it is extremely important not to neglect the public . Mr. Austic said that is one of the next steps is to identify the people that would be in this proposed district and notify them and ask if there is any interest . Mr. Ellis said that it seems to him to stay pretty close to what is normal procedure and law regarding these kinds of things and be careful not to come with words and terms for things that fall outside of that range. Mr. Ellis ' s point was not to call it a workshop because some people may feel excluded call it a Special Board meeting. Ms . Marino asked if it would be possible to ask the engineer for a written summary. Mr. Austic said that it had been talked about scheduling a second meeting a month and the first one could be the Special meeting (workshop) . Meetings were set for the second Tuesday (Regular Town Board) and the fourth Monday so the first second meeting is scheduled for April 24`" , 2006 and a tentative meeting for a public informational meeting for May 3rd , 2006 at 7pm (This will be confirmed at. the April Regular Town Board meeting. ) Training Dates Previously discussed and will be March 21st, 2006 Zoning Law Amendments Mr. Austic asked Ms . Marino if she had a list of the changes and corrections. Ms . Marino said that she did not have it done. Ms . Marino said that she is trying to move this forward because the Planning Board passed a resolution that there are a bunch of errors and omissions that they would like to have the Town Board work on, also Mr. Rachun has a list. Ms . Marino met with Mr. Rachun and Ms . Chiuten and they gave her some input and they emailed her some other things . Ms . Marino was going to pull all that together, which she was not able to finish for tonight . The idea is to give this list to the different boards and then the Town Board would have to come up with a suggested amendment to the Zoning Law . Ms . Marino will finish this and email to everyone and then set a meeting. Other Ms. Tyler asked about the suggestion of Mr. Wilson to have a resolution on indemnification and asked Mr. Wilson to come up with a draft resolution. Regular Town Board Meeting 16 03/ 14/2006 Public Comments A resident in the audience asked why the engineer would not be invited to the joint meeting with the Village scheduled for April 3rd Mr. Ellis said that the meeting is about the needs. Ms. Marino said that it is also about the two municipalities sitting down and talking because the Village has not been engaged to date about any of this information. . F Mr. Austic said that was not true because Mr. Austic has met with them three of four times and even the President of Barton & Loguidice was present for a meeting. Ms . Marino said she meant in regards to the current plan. Mr. Ellis feels that having the engineer there could prove to be beneficial and hear what people are thinking and where they are coming from . Ms . Hilbert, Village Trustee asked the Town Board to contact the Mayor to see if he would be interested in hearing from the engineer. Mr. Austic said he would contact Mr. Pond to see if he would like to attend this meeting. Adjournment Hearing no further business Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Ellis to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved. Meeting adjourned at 10 : 05 pm Respectfully submitted, Marsha L. Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk MLG : mlg I 1