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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2019-10-03 Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. BUDGET MEETING AGENDA 1. Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance 2. Presentation of the Town Supervisor's Tentative Budget for 2020 a. Discussion and consider any amendments 3. Consider approval of 2020 Elected Officials' salaries 4. Discuss and consider setting a public hearing regarding adoption of the appropriate local laws to establish the division of the Public Works and the Engineering Departments throughout the Town of Ithaca Code 5. Discuss and consider setting public hearings regarding: a. Discuss and consider setting a public hearing regarding a proposed increase to the Town of Ithaca Water Rates and Sewer Rents Effective January 1, 2020 b. Town of Ithaca 2020 Preliminary Budget 6. Discuss and consider award of contract—Invasive Species Control 7. Consent Agenda a. Approve Town Board Minutes b. Town of Ithaca Abstract 8. Adjournment MEETING OF THE ITHACA TOWN BOARD Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. Budget Meeting Minutes Board Members Present: Bill Goodman, Supervisor; Members Pamela Bleiwas, Pat Leary, Tee-Ann Hunter, Rod Howe and Rich DePaolo Absent: Eric Levine Staff Present: Mike Solvig, Director of Finance, Judy Drake, Director of Human Resources; Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk; Jim Weber, Highway Superintendent; Marry Mosely, Codes; and Donna Shaw, Finance 1. Call to order —Meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Presentation of the Town Supervisor's Tentative Budget for 2020 Mr. Goodman thanked Mr. Solvig for all his work on the budget and Ms. Shaw for her help. Mr. Goodman reviewed his Supervisor's Highlights (Attachment 1) (Attachment 2—comment by Brittains) Comments Mr. Goodman stated that it always surprises him when you see the figures in writing; the total Town assessments are $2.8 B with $1.213 of that being tax exempt and $825M of those exempt are for educational institutions, Ithaca College and Cornell primarily, which really gives you a sense of the economic climate we deal with living in a college town. Mr. Solvig stated that the total budget decreased from 2019 which is attributable to the reduction in the number of capital projects slated for 2020. This will not always be the case; Public Works and Engineering are doing studies to prioritize capital projects so the budget will increase again. We have done well with sales tax collection and we have had an increase in interest earnings. Mr. Goodman asked if Ms. Rosa wanted to add details to the records management funds she is requesting. Ms. Rosa handed out a memo detailing the requests. She added that she hasn't asked for a lot of funds for a few years because she knew this was coming and wanted to wait and make sure the Laserfische program was moving forwards. TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 1 The licenses have the initial fee which is substantial, but years forward the user fee is not. The scanners are the model that work the best with the Laserfische program, and it is important that everyone has one at their desk to facilitate the move to digital record keeping. Bulk scanning continues with Challenge Industries. Ms. Drake noted that the GIS position for Engineering was not listed on the highlights, and this is an important position to fully use the GIS software and assist with the water and sewer studies as well as useful to Planning, Engineering and other departments. Ms. Drake added that the request is to bring the Deputy Finance Director to full-time. The reasoning is two-fold; the investments that are earning us interest does take a lot of time to administer and manage and the deputy is taking over more of the day-to-day work and the added level of checks and balance on vouchers. Mr. Solvig said that having Ms. Shaw has allowed him to get back to doing things the way he wants to do them and meet deadlines he is comfortable with. She has been able to manage a lot of the auditors and it has been great to have that time to focus on what he wants to get done. He added that he does intend to retire in a year and a half and this is the best way to transition into that position. Ms. Drake added that we need to upgrade our software and that will also take a lot of time and effort. Ms. Drake added that the Health Consortium just adopted a 5% increase; she had put in a 7% increase because that was the projected increase. Mr. Weber reported that the raw salt prices came in high this year which translated into about $250k increase. Mr. Mosely stated that the only line item change of note was an increase for manuals because the State is not supplying them anymore. Mr. Howe asked about the Post Office lease and Mr. Goodman explained that the extension was for 2-years but they have a 30-day notice clause to leave and since we have heard they may be looking, he did not want to count on all of that income for 2020. Mr. Howe asked about the Sidewalk District line and Mr. Goodman said there is $50K in there are some funds allocated for a study, but he is still interested in establishing a sidewalk district. Ms. Hunter asked about the Information Technology-Personnel; is that one person's salary? Mr. Goodman responded that it is not; as we develop a new job description we will figure that out, but what is shown is a few months overlap before her retirement in 2021. TB 2019-10-03 Pg.2 Ms. Hunter asked if the Deputy Director of Finance line was similar in that the thought isn't to keep two positions, but transition through Mr. Solvig's retirement? Mr. Goodman responded yes, the IT Personnel line would be one person after Ms. Carrier-Titti's retirement. He added that we have begun investigating outsourcing some IT services. Mr. Goodman reviewed the Codes Department personnel staffing history and future. Mr. DePaolo asked about the IT lines and whether we expect to pay the same or less with the outsourcing and inhouse support? He thought the amount seemed a bit excessive for the outsourcing under"network support."Are those program subscriptions also? Mr. Goodman said he thought the line amount would remain the same, but the salary of the person will probably go down and those funds used for outsourcing support. Mr. DePaolo asked about the Supervisor's salary line which is a 45% increase. He said he is assuming this was decided upon as more in line with a department head salary. Mr. Goodman deferred to Ms. Bleiwas who is on the Personnel Committee and Budget Committee. Ms. Bleiwas said that the committees came to this number by comparing what the salary is now to what it would have been had the Supervisor's salary been increased along with the Town Board members salary a number of years ago. We recognize that this is a full-time position which is often shared with the Deputy and the current level was completely out of line with the other department heads and the amount of responsibility of the position and the low salary made it impossible to share the position if that is what the Supervisor chose to do. She said the committee went back to what it would have been several years ago had the former Supervisor accepted a raise, and we put it in line with the current Town Board members salaries by percentage of increase(s). Ms. Leary added that the Supervisor is full time and board member is part time and we did a salary comparison back at the time of the raises for the board and Mr. Engman was philosophically against raises for the board and although it didn't pass then, the board thought the principal was the same. Mr. DePaolo said his recollection is similar except that the thought was to reconcile the fact that the Town is a living wage employer and board members were not getting a living wage. Mr. DePaolo said that if the suggestion is that a board member is part time and a supervisor full time and therefore double, then the proportions still don't work in the other direction. Ms. Leary responded that we wanted to be competitive for similar positions in this area; we want people who would be a lawyer or high-level executive to be the supervisor and not just open to retirees. TB 2019-10-03 Pg.3 Mr. DePaolo responded that ok, then it was a recruiting tool and if so, when was this discussed? Ms. Bleiwas responded that it was after our current candidate decided to run and Ms. Leary added that we were not just looking at this year, but the future. Mr. DePaolo said he is not arguing against the salary so much as we are creating a paradigm that is commensurate with similar positions throughout the State; you looked at it as more of a town manager/mayoral type salary? Ms. Leary agreed, and added that it is less than the City pays the City Manager. Mr. DePaolo said he just wanted to have the discussion. He thought it makes sense to pay the supervisor a wage that is commensurate to the job that is being done, that isn't the problem, but justifying it on past board member salaries doesn't make a lot of sense. Mr. Goodman added that we should start thinking about the future now; should we have a town manager? This is like a steppingstone toward that and we should spend the next few years thinking about that. If we decide to go that route, the amount will most likely increase. Mr. DePaolo asked about the planning consulting line and is that preexisting? Mr. Goodman responded that it was, and it has fluctuated while it follows the progress of our Form Based Zoning and shurettes and some for the Inlet Valley. Mr. DePaolo asked about the legal expenses and whether we have an aggregate amount from all lines. Mr. Solvig stated that we budgeted $95K and last year we spent$65K. Mr. DePaolo said similar to the Town Manager discussion, at what point do we talk about having an in-house attorney. Ms. Drake thought that we are fortunate to have two attorneys to call on for the different issues we need, and it is hard to find one person who knows it all; town law, real estate,personnel, etc. Mr. Goodman said he doesn't know what the city counsel makes but he assumes it would be more expensive than what we do now. Mr. DePaolo turned to page 7, summary of salaries and wages, and stated that our personnel costs as a parallel measure to our population, have absolutely exploded over the past 10 years and some of it is salary and some is fringe, but if we are looking at approximately a 5% increase compared to a 39% increase in personnel costs, that is not a sustainable trajectory. Some of it is out of control, but can we speak to that? If our population increases 5% every 10 years, the number or full-time positions in the town should roughly correlate with that shouldn't it. TB 2019-10-03 Pg.4 Ms. Leary said she is on the Budget and Personnel Committees and she doesn't think it needs to correlate with the population. We are a growing town and we are not growing just in proportion of the population. There are other aspects of our growth that have nothing to do with population. There is work on the Comprehensive Plan and zoning, the colleges expanding, the infrastructure etc. There is a lot of catching up to do that doesn't grow linearly with the population. Mr. DePaolo asked if she thought we could absorb a 39% increase in personnel costs every 10 years and Ms. Leary responded that it doesn't have to keep going at that percentage but percentages are very slippery; you can make anything look outrageous if you quote it by percentage. Mr. Goodman said that although the population itself might not be growing as much, but household size has been decreasing and so there are more housing units being built occupied by less people; the growth of the physical structures in the town are increasing by more than the population growth. He added that when the businesses or educational institutions get bigger, they require more Codes involvement. He didn't think the population growth was the defining factor. Mr. Goodman said he tries to think about the growth in buildings and infrastructure and more the assessments because that is what drives our staff growth. We are not necessarily attending to all of our infrastructure needs due to staffing needs. Some discussion followed and Mr. DePaolo said it was just an observation, and people are being priced out and a consideration we should note. Mr. DePaolo asked about the senior services on pg. 14 and they seem to be the only ones not getting an increase and Mr. Goodman responded saying that the Budget Committee discussed this and if they don't ask, it shouldn't be automatic. Mr. DePaolo asked what the budgeting assumption was for non-collective bargaining and Mr. Goodman responded that it was the same as collective bargaining at 3% and it will go down over the next two years according to the union contract. Mr. DePaolo asked about the Laserfiche licenses submitted by Ms. Rosa and whether they are annual at $1,200 and Ms. Rosa responded that it is a one-time initial cost of $1,200 per license followed by $200 a year each for unlimited support. Mr. DePaolo asked about Nick Goldsmith's line for consultant at$20K and what is that for? Mr. Goodman responded that he put that in there; when he heard that the Mayor was putting $100K for consulting services for the City and he assumed that some of that work we might want to partner on. He added that Mr. Goldsmith is looking for grants for green building associated with existing buildings. Ms. Hunter asked about youth services and who runs those programs and are they under one umbrella? She wondered if the committee got a report about who has been served by these TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 5 programs. Do we know how much we are spending per child because these numbers seem large? Mr. Solvig responded that those are the JYC programs and they are summarized on pages 12 & 13 with participation numbers from 2018. It can be as much as $2,000 per child with Coddington Rd Youth Employment as low as $200. He added that the JYC committee has been discussing this. Mr. DePaolo added that he is the liaison, and the JYC has determined that they are getting very good value with youth employment services that are run out of the Youth Bureau and there have been some historical problems with Cooperative Extension and the Learning Web seems to be doing ok. Mr. DePaolo said you have to look a little deeper to compare apples to apples because there are different levels of preparation and the question is do, we want to pay one child for a 6-8 week job or 4 kids for a 2 week job? Coddington has been under scrutiny and so we have regular oversight and people come on a rotating basis to the JYC and report. Some discussion followed and Mr. Solvig added that this is a tough one to pin down and as he has attended meetings, he had to say the people are very passionate about what they do. Mr. DePaolo said there is some concern about why we are still paying Cooperative Extension because they aren't doing any administration anymore, but Cooperative Extension treats it almost like an entry fee, so that question is ongoing. Mr. Goodman turned to the library and discussion regarding raising the amount. He said that this was a topic last year also, with an original increase of $500 and the Library wrote to us asking for a total budgeted amount of $20K and it came to the full board. There was no agreement at the committee level and so it was left at$12,500 in the tentative for discussion here. Mr. Goodman noted that the Mayor did increase the City's contribution by $5k; the base they give to the library out of sales tax income is $17K and then they add additional to that if they want to. Last year they added $3K for a total of $20K. It seemed the additional $2k was a consolation for moving all the busses in front of them. Mr. Howe said that Mr. Solvig did a per capita on the City's amount and if we want to be on par, our amount would be $13,200 which is interesting. He said he would be supportive of that or $13,500. Ms. Bleiwas said they are asking for $15K. Mr. Solvig stated that they had asked the City for $17K plus $10K this year and the Mayor is giving them half of what they asked for. Ms. Bleiwas said she supports giving the full $15K because the library is a very positive thing in our community and it is money well spent. TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 6 Ms. Leary asked if we have a breakdown of town residents that utilize the library and Mr. Goodman said we do not have that. She was in favor of$12,500. Ms. Hunter would like to have some rationale for the increase and the per capita is a rationale she is comfortable with. She said she would support going to $13,300 based on per capita. Mr. DePaolo said we should give the $15K. He said compared to what we spend in other areas, this is not a lot and we know our residents use it and we all know it is a great library. The majority of the Board was in favor of increasing the allocation to $15K. Mr. Goodman turned to the topic of the Forest Home Bridge. He asked Mr. Weber to give an overview on the recent email received from the Brittains' regarding the bridge. Mr. Weber stated that the town does not own the bridge, we have a lease for the walkway components so any work we do on the structure needs to go through the County. Mr. Weber said the work that would be needed would require it be encapsulated to contain the material and it would need to be done in conjunction with the whole bridge. The State does do a bridge inspection about every 2 years and they have not identified anything significant at this time. He said he wouldn't know what kind of number to put on this. Mr. Howe asked about the agreement they reference; did we agree to any maintenance? Mr. Weber responded that we do have some responsibility for the decking and some painting, but these are components only associated with the walkway that has been attached to the bridge structure. Mr. Goodman said it sounds like it needs a lot more analysis before adding anything to the budget, but now that we are aware of it, we can discuss it when talking about our 2021 CII'. Ms. Leary thought this is the type of thing we should spend money on; our residents use it. Ms. Hunter asked if there is some process where bridges are identified for work and a way to alert the County? Don't they get money for that? Maybe we should refer this to the County because there is a process for evaluation and funding through the State. Some discussion followed, and this will be followed up after review of the agreement and processes available. Mr. Goodman asked if there were any other items of discussion that members wanted to bring up for changes or amendments to the preliminary budget? TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 7 Ms. Leary said this isn't an amendment, but she recently became aware of a housing fund that the City, the County and Cornell contribute to and it sounds like it is for support of affordable housing and she would like to look into that. It has been a concern for us but we do not contribute to it. Mr. Goodman added that the Mayor is doubling their contribution up to $200K and Cornell has also doubled it to $400K. He said nobody has ever asked us to contribute to it. There was nothing else and Ms. Bleiwas moved increasing the Library contribution from $12,500 to $15,000 seconded by Mr. Howe, unanimous. 3. Consider approval of 2020 Elected Officials' salaries TB Resolution 2019-136: Approval of 2020 Proposed Elected Officials Salaries Resolved that the governing Town Board of the Town of Ithaca does hereby approve the below proposed salaries for the elected officials for the year 2020; SUPERVISOR $ 58,019 (Paid Biweekly) (includes Supervisor's Administrative Function pay) DEPUTY TOWN SUPERVISOR $ 40,032 (Paid Biweekly) (includes Board Member pay) TOWN BOARD MEMBERS (5) $ 15,167 Each (Paid Biweekly) TOWN JUSTICES' (2) $ 25,184 Each (Paid Biweekly) ; and, be it further Resolved that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the said proposed salaries as required by Section 108 of the Town Law. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Pat Leary Vote: ayes —Howe, Leary, DePaolo, Hunter, Goodman and Bleiwas 4. Discuss and consider setting a public hearing regarding adoption of the appropriate local laws to establish the division of the Public Works and the Engineering Departments throughout the Town of Ithaca Code Ms. Drake noted that there will be additional action items establishing titles and rates at the next meeting. TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 8 TB Resolution 2019 - 137: Setting a public hearing re2ardin2 proposed local laws to establish the separation of the En2ineerin2 Department from the Public Works Department throughout the Town of Ithaca Town Code Resolved, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca will hold a public hearing at the Town Hall, 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, New York on the 21" day of October, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. for the purpose of considering proposed local laws to establish the separation of the Engineering Department from the Public Works Department throughout the Town of Ithaca Code, and be it further Resolved, that at such time and place all persons interested in the proposed local laws may be heard concerning the same; and it is further Resolved, that the Town Clerk of the Town of Ithaca is hereby authorized and directed to publish a notice of such public hearing in the Ithaca Journal and to post a copy of same on the signboard of the Town of Ithaca. Moved: Pamela Bleiwas Seconded: Tee-Ann Hunter Vote: Ayes —Bleiwas, Hunter, Goodman, Leary, DePaolo and Howe 5. Discuss and consider setting public hearings regarding: TB Resolution 2020 - 138: Setting a public hearing re2ardin2 the proposed increase to the Town of Ithaca Water Rates and Sewer Rents effective January 1, 2020 Whereas, the Town Supervisor filed his 2020 Tentative Budget with the Town Clerk on September 27, 2019 and the Town Clerk presented it to the Town Board at its October 3, 2019 meeting, and Whereas, the Town Board discussed and considered the proposed increase to the water rates and sewer rents; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board will hold a public hearing at 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY on the 21" day of October 2019 at 5:30 pm, for the purpose of hearing public comments on the increases to the Town of Ithaca sewer rents from $4.91 to per 1,000 gallons to$5.16 per 1,000 gallons and the water rates from $7.59 per 1,000 gallons to $7.97 per 1,000 gallons. Moved: Tee-Ann Hunter Seconded: Pat Leary Vote: ayes —Hunter, Leary, Goodman, DePaolo, Bleiwas and Howe TB Resolution 2019- 139: Setting a Public Hearing Re2ardin2 the Town of Ithaca 2020 Preliminary Budget TB 2019-10-03 Pg.9 Whereas, the Town Supervisor filed his 2020 Tentative Budget with the Town Clerk on September 27, 2019 and the Town Clerk presented it to the Town Board at its October 3, 2019 meeting, and Whereas, the Town Board discussed and considered the 2020 Tentative Budget; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board accepts the 2020 Tentative Budget as the 2020 Preliminary Budget for the Town of Ithaca; and be it further Resolved, that the Town Board will hold a public hearing at 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY on the 21" day of October 2019 at 5:30 pm, for the purpose of hearing public comments on the Town of Ithaca 2020 Preliminary Budget. Moved: Pat Leary Seconded: Tee-Ann Hunter Vote: ayes —Leary, Hunter, Howe, Goodman, DePaolo and Bleiwas 6. Discuss and consider award of contract—Invasive Species Control Mr. Goodman stated that this is under a grant and the lowest bidder was not able to meet the requirements for insurance and therefore that contract needs to be rescinded and awarded to the other bidder. TB Resolution 2019 — 140: Rescind TB Resolution 2019-099 and Authorization for Supervisor to Sign Agreement for Services with Jim Engel of White Oak Nursery as part of the Town of Ithaca South Hill Recreation Way Invasive Removal & Native Replanting Grant Whereas, the Town of Ithaca received a 2018 Urban and Community Forestry Grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for removing woody invasive plants and replanting with native trees and shrubs along the South Hill Recreation Way, and Whereas, the funding provided by NYSDEC is $38,250, which requires a local match of $12,750, and Whereas, the Town of Ithaca Public Works Department had received a proposal from Zeb Strickland (Forest and Water Solutions) to cut down the woody invasive plants and treat the stumps with a herbicide along both sides of the South Hill Recreation Way (approximately 3.4 miles)with a total cost of$8,840.00; and Whereas, the agreement with Forest and Water Solutions, authorized by TB 2019-099 was never completed due to the contractor not being able to meet certain requirements, and TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 10 Whereas, the Public Works Department has determined that the second response to the RFP from White Oak Nursery, can meet all the requirements, now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca rescinds TB 2019-099 that authorized an agreement with Zeb Strickland and hereby authorizes the Town Supervisor to sign the Agreement for Services with Jim Engel of White Oak Nursery, in an amount not to exceed $36,000.00, as part of the Town of Ithaca South Hill Recreation Way Invasive Removal & Native Replanting Grant. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Pamela Bleiwas Vote: ayes —Howe, Bleiwas, Leary, DePaolo, Hunter and Goodman 7. Consent Agenda TB Resolution 2019 -141: Town of Ithaca Abstract No. 19 for FY-2019 Whereas the following numbered vouchers have been presented to the Ithaca Town Board for approval of payment; and Whereas the said vouchers have been audited for payment by the said Town Board; now therefore be it Resolved that the governing Town Board hereby authorizes the payment of the said vouchers in total for the amounts indicated. VOUCHER NOS. 1254 - 1329 General Fund Town Wide 47,399.62 General Fund Part-Town 7,903.03 Highway Fund Town Wide DA 1,410.32 Highway Fund Part Town DB 8,556.21 Water Fund 14,602.11 Sewer Fund 267,695.07 Gateway Trail—H8 1,625.84 Risk Retention Fund 3,798.10 Fire Protection Fund 46,626.40 Forest Home Lighting District 145.50 Glenside Lighting District 63.43 Renwick Heights Lighting District 72.61 Eastwood Commons Lighting District 162.69 Clover Lane Lighting District 18.63 Winner's Circle Lighting District 65.72 Burleigh Drive Lighting District 63.13 West Haven Road Lighting District 185.18 Coddin ton Road Lighting District 110.75 TB 2019-10-03 Pg. 11 fAC AI0,5Q1,34 Moved: 'lee-Ann I lunle, Seconded.: Pal Leary Vote: ayes— Hunter, Leary, DePaolo, Goodman, Bleiwas and I lowe R. Reports of Town Officials Mr. Goodman reported that he met with Cornell on Monday regarding the Forest Home Walkway in relation to the letter from Botanic Gardens. Mr. Bitner, Mr, Roberts, Ms. Schill, Ms. Supron and Ms. Gutenberger were present, and they said they are willing to give us an easement to keep the walkway in its present usage location and even as bigger easement to accommodate the drainage swate, This will allow LIS to move forward with the option we wanted but we will need follow-up meetings with Cornell to be clear before moving forward with design drawings and the associated costs, 9. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned upon atriotion and a second at 7:24p,m. Subn at Paulette Rosa, Town (.1erk TB 2019-10-03 Pg, 12 TOWN of ITHACA BUDGET MEETING for 2020 BUDGET, October 3, 2019 Supervisor's Highlights 1. Supervisor's Salary increases to $83,000 (30% shared with Deputy, $24,900) 2. Apprenticeship Program with County and City increases from 25K to 55K 3. Deputy Finance Director increases from 35.5K to 69K (part time temp to full) 4. Sustainability Planner increases from 57K to 67K (half to be paid by City) 5. Sustainability Consulting funds increased to 20K 6. Planning Consulting funds at 200K for new Zoning implementation 7. IT Dept includes extra funds for outsourcing and transition overlap 8. Records Management $63,500 for Scanners for everyone 9. LED Streetlights at 140K for Town wide, 70K split among the Light Districts 10. 1 Watermain project (Winston-Salem) 1 Road project (Winthrop) 11. Water Tank & Pumpstation Maintenance from 40K to 90K 12. FH Sidewalk & Walkway details still need to be figured out 13. PW Office Addition in at 1.4M bonded, that could change 14. Post Office rent in at 40K instead of 80K in case they move 15. Interest income at 287.5K 16. Requests for TC Public Library and FH Downstream Bridge increases From: Bill Goodman To: Paulette Rosa Subject: FW: 2020 Tentative Budget Date: Thursday,October 3,2019 4:37:06 PM From: Bruce Brittain [mailto:brucebrittain@verizon.net] Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 3:38 PM To: Bill Goodman; pll7@cornell.edu; TeeAnn Hunter; Pam Bleiwas; rlh13@cornell.edu; rd@richdepaolo.com; ELevineTown@gmail.com Cc: Jim Weber; Mike Solvig Subject: 2020 Tentative Budget DATE: October 1, 2019 TO: Town of Ithaca Town Board CC: Jim Weber, Mike Solvig FROM: Bruce Brittain RE: 2020 Tentative Budget Here is a thought for you as you begin to consider the Town's 2020 budget: It is my understanding that the Town is, and has been, responsible for maintenance of the trusses and the pedestrian walkway on the downstream Forest Home bridge. (I believe that the Town and County signed a Memorandum of Understanding relative to bridge maintenance back in 1996, but I have not been able to find a copy of it.) I hope that you will consider putting money into the 2020 budget for painting and repairing the trusses and walkway. Repainting has been postponed year after year, with the result that some of the smaller members have deteriorated to the point that they will now need to be replaced. See attached photos. I'm afraid that continuing to postpone will only increase the cost of eventual repairs and repainting. Thank you very much.