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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-09-09 TB 9-9-21 Page 1 of 4 TOWN OF DRYDEN TOWN BOARD MEETING September 9, 2021 Via Zoom Hybrid Present: Supervisor Jason Leifer, Cl Daniel Lamb, Cl James Skaley, Cl Loren Sparling Absent Cl Leonardo Vargas-Mendez Elected Officials: Bambi L. Avery, Town Clerk Rick Young, Highway/DPW Superintendent Other Town Staff: Ray Burger, Planning Director Amanda Anderson, Bookkeeper Supervisor Leifer called the meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. Abstract Approval RESOLUTION #145 (2021) – APPROVE ABSTRACT #9 Cl Skaley offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board hereby approves Abstract #9, as audited, general vouchers #703 through #801 ($387,016.09) and TA vouchers #40 through #42 ($4,678.66), totaling $391,694.75. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes Financial Audit Evan Cleveland and Leslie Spurgin of the Insero Company Audit team reviewed the findings of their audit of the town financials for fiscal year 2020 . They recommended moving from a cash basis to an accrual basis. L Spurgin said the town is doing a wonderful job and they have no major critiques. The audit document and accompanying letters are available in the meeting documents for tonight on the town website and will be filed in the Town Clerk ’s office. Drinking Water Source Protection Program Steve Winkley of the New York Rural Water Association (a non-profit organization that receives state and federal funding), presented a draft Drinking Water Source Protection Program that he prepared using data from various sources. This is a plan to help mitigate the risk of water supply contamination. It identifies source water protection areas and potential sources of contamination, defines priorities and protection strategies, provides implementation TB 9-9-21 Page 2 of 4 tasks, and outlines how to periodically evaluate progress toward go als. A draft was shared with various boards and committees of the town. They received several comments and incorporated them into the new draft (currently available on the town’s website). Fire Coordinator Position Proposal Rick Young has put together a proposed job description for a paid employee under the fire district budget as a part time coordinator to help oversee departments and to help better serve the community. This person will check the records of departments to see where the weaknesses are so that down the road the Town of Dryden will have a plan. It will set the stage for what is upcoming. The last couple of years the town has seen the fire departments and ambulance lose people daily. The town needs to have a plan for the future, so we don’t end up like Slaterville Ambulance who had to shut their doors. The Town Board is going to look at this proposal in further depth during the budget process. Highway/DPW Department Superintendent Rick Young says his crew has gotten a lot of blacktop down and some of the roads striped. The department currently has four trucks down. He has one ordered but he doesn’t know when it will come in. At a meeting with the state, they brought up the fact that they run their frontline trucks for 5-7 years. All his trucks are frontline trucks. He will be looking for some funds to purchase new trucks soon. Mike Lane said he was at the chamber meeting this morning in Ithaca and the manager of Cargill Salt was there. He said they are having a hard time finding employees, which is causing them to be very short handed. This means they are not doing the production of salt that they want to. R Young said he tried to order salt a couple weeks ago and Linda Fenner, who runs the plant, also explained to him that they are short staffed. He says they can’t just buy the salt; they have to bid on it. He does not even know how much it will cost per ton because they don’t tell you until after you tell them how many tons you want. Next week they can probably start having it delivered. He thinks its going to be an interesting winter. There will be a 9/11 tribute on Saturday at the Dryden Fire Station. They are doing a nice ceremony and will have coffee and donuts along with educational opportunities. County Update Mike Lane reported the county is starting their budget work. The administrator’s budget should be out by next week. The county has been having special meetings about spending the American Recovery Plan money. They allocated that money for revenue replacement. It has freed up money in their fund balance and they are talking about having a committee or group established to see how they are going to use that. A big chunk will be used for capital and human services programs. There are many organizations that would like some of the money as well. Mike Hall, the airport director, has retired. They will be moving forward with a search to fill his position. The county is also searching for a new County Administrator. This is a big job for anyone that takes it on. TB 9-9-21 Page 3 of 4 The sales tax revenue is looking better than it was in 2020. They get more casino revenue than they’ve anticipated. The county is forming an independent redistricting commission of ni ne people. Interested parties can submit their application by September 15th to the county legislature office. The TC3 board is looking to appoint an interim president or to go ahead and hire a new president for the college. Census numbers came in and they are low compared to past years. Broadband is quite controversial right now amongst towns who are unhappy with the study the county has been doing. J Leifer says he is very critical on the way the County is approaching this. The only recommendation that made sense to him was to directly compete with other providers. He really hopes the county is not going to give any money to Spectrum. M Lane appreciates his opinion. Broadband J Leifer showed a picture of 3 rolls of fiber (about 5000 lbs a piece) that have been delivered for the project. There are still 2 rolls to be delivered. This is the first piece of the backbone that goes from the village of Dryden to the Cornell line. It will go along Route 366 then continue the loop using the easements over the rail bed. We will begin with hooking up people in the village. Because we entered into an agreement to rent some fiber over in Mt Pleasant, we should be hitting people on the West side at the same time. We are going to directly compete with Spectrum on this. J Leifer displayed a letter from Hunt Engineers (attached) with a summary and information on all bid forms for board review and action and the board discussed the quotes. Hunt recommends awarding the contract to Ciena. Questions/Comments: Is the town hiring someone to manage this project? Not at this time Is the amount of fiber we currently own enough for just phase 1? Yes, there’s enough fiber to reach from here to Cornell. Who’s going to maintain it? A contractor. RESOLUTION #146 (2021) – AWARD CONTRACT FOR NETWORK EQUIPMENT FOR BROADBAND PROJECT Supv Leifer offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Town Board has reviewed the recommendations of Hunt Engineers dated September 3, 2021, for network equipment for the town broadband project and awards the contract to Ciena in the net amount of $788,690.81 with a recurring annual cost of $6,818.99. 2nd Cl Lamb Roll Call Vote Cl Sparling Yes Cl Skaley Yes Cl Lamb Yes Supv Leifer Yes TB 9-9-21 Page 4 of 4 Supv Leifer said because the requirements of the open meetings law have been relaxed again, board members are not required to meet in person. After discussion, it was decided to continue to have town board meetings in the building for those who want to attend in person and those who would attend virtually will be able to do so. Bell Station Property in Lansing This is a large parcel of property on Cayuga Lake owned by NYSEG and there are plans to auction it (likely due to requirements of the PSC). There is a resolution and petition circulating asking that the property not be developed and not be sold by sealed bid. The board will take action next week. Planning Department The VFW has been allowing service trucks to park in their parking lot. A member of the Planning Board has been making a fuss about this calling it a contractor’s yard without a permit. Supv Leifer would like to see the Planning Board come up with a resolution to stay the enforcement of it and to simply make it so if there’s no change to the property and they are already using an existing parking lot. There’s no reason it can’t be something temporary, especially when there’s no room at the construction site. In this case, the ir job site is the whole town. Supv Leifer said he would prepare a resolution asking the Planning Board to come up with a simple solution. The fiber contractors will need staging space also. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Avery Town Clerk