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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-07-14 - TB • TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING JULY 14, 2009 PRESENT : Supervisor Douglas Austic ; Council Rod Ferrentino, David Kerness, Elizabeth Thomas and Lucia Tyler; Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia; Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan; Highway Superintendent James Meeker; Attorney Mariette Geldenhuys . Others Present : Scott Sherwood, owner Spruce Row Campsites, Bill Anderson, Sue Ritter, Ken 1 . Zeserson, Geoffrey Hart, Eilene Guy, Village Trustee Chris Thomas, Bill Coon, Don Ellis, Free Press Reporter Bill Chaisson, Alan Carstensen, and Bill Kappel Note : audio record of this meeting is posted on www. ulyssesdemocrats . com APPROVAL OF MINTUES Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Ms . Tyler the following resolution : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the minutes for the Regular Town Board meeting of June 9 , 2009 as modified and corrected. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted The minutes for the Special Town Board meeting held July 9, 2009 were tabled . APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Ms . Tyler moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following resolution : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the previous examined vouchers #215 through 267 in the amount of $37, 099 . 07 . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES Tompkins County Representative Jim Dennis — absent . Trumansburg Fire Department — Mr. Ferrentino reported about the huge barn fire on the Houghton Farm. Mr. Ferrentino said that the barn burned to the ground which housed old straw and hay and a lot of equipment owned by Mr. Houghton and Mr. Switzer. Planning Board Report — Ken Zeserson, Chairman of the Planning Board stated that the Planning Board is very eager to enact Conservation Zoning. Mr. Zeserson urged the Town Board to approve the Comprehensive Plan so they can get this started. The Conservation Zoning is the corner stone, especially with the gas drilling certain to be in this area. Mr. Zeserson said that one thing they have found are those certain areas can be protected now and that would minimize the damage. Today a Conservation Zone is more important to have then ever before. Regular Town Board Meeting 2 07/ 14/2009 Mr. Zeserson made an informal poll with the Planning Board members and the majority feels the same to start on the Conservation Zone and the Planning Board are totally in favor of the resolution that Ms . Thomas is bringing forward on the gas drilling . Water Needs Survey Chair Susan Ritter reported that the Water Needs Committee was organized a little over a year ago by the Town Board and the main task was to develop and administer a resident survey to assess resident ' s water supply in the Town of Ulysses . Ms . Ritter said that it was a great committee to work with and applauded their efforts . Two of the residents on the committee are Bill Coon and Bill Kappel both working for the US Geologic Survey, also on the committee Joyce Leslie who represented the medical field, Steve Morreale who is a researcher professor in natural resources and a great map maker, and Lanny Joyce a facility manager at Cornell . Ms . Ritter said that the survey went out last summer to 1123 Ulysses residents and 586 surveys were reported for a 52 % response rate which is very good. The Committee recently completed the report and it contains a summary of the survey results . The report is organized in the order that appears in the survey and the survey itself is in the back of the document for reference . The survey highlights are the following : water quantity 24% responded they do not always have enough water, 49% households reported running out of water sometime during the year, 75 % responded that they either do not drink their water or they do not drink their water until it is treated and the most common water quality problem was water hardness (72%) and followed by iron by 55 % . Of those who reported water quality problems 39% reported having 4 or more water quality problems that additionally they had salt, odor, color, sulfur or other bacterial sediment. Ms . Ritter said that the problems were spread throughout the Town and there was no area that was really immune to these problems which is shown on the maps within the report . Ms . Ritter said that from the survey 67% of the residents said they pay less then $ 300 a year to treat their water where other property owners pay over $ 900 per year for water treatment or delivery. Over half of the responders are in favor of changing the water supplies and 56% percent are interested in purchasing water from a municipal water supply system. What they are willing to pay for a municipal water system 34% were not willing to pay anything, 32% were willing to pay $ 300 - $ 500 , 16% were willing to pay $ 500 - $700 , and 16% were willing to pay more than $700 and 8 % more than $900 . Ms . Ritter said these are the highlights and there is a lot more within the report and she would be willing to answer any questions the Board may have. Ms . Tyler said she would like to hear from the other experts here from the committee on what they feel the water quality issues are that are the hardest to address or treat . Mr. Kappel said that quantity wise it would depend on if your well is shallow and unconsolidated materials or rather it goes into bedrock. If it goes into bedrock the chances of getting a lot of water are less then in shale . Once you get into shale you may have a poor quality of water and the deeper the well goes the worse it gets . Mr. Kerness said that what he did not see is a conclusion and a recommendation and he really said with this good group of specialists that was what he was hoping for that would be the final part of this report. Mr. Kerness asked them to put their heads together one more time and give the Board a conclusion and their recommendations or specific areas the Board needs to focus on. Ms . Ritter said that the committee had talked about how they wanted to end the report and they decided that they just wanted to give the Board the results and stay objective . • Mr. Kappel said that he does not think that they were charged with that, they were charged with finding out what is going on. Mr. Kappel said that it becomes difficult for 5 or 6 of them to speak for the 500+ responders and there is no way to do that . The numbers the Board has given them is a concept that a lot of people do not have good quality water. Mr. Kerness said that the committee is going to give the 5 Board members that responsibility and they are the experts . Mr. Kerness said that is asking for recommendations and if they say no that is certainly okay, but they are the experts . Any input would be greatly appreciated. '• 4k4: pi Regular Town Board Meeting 3 07/14/2009 Ms . Ritter said she is not even sure what the question is and what he is asking for. Mr. Kerness said that you have a report and what are their conclusions . Ms . Ritter said that her conclusion is the Town of Ulysses just like much in Tompkins County has water quality and quantity problems that exist throughout the area and so when you think about municipal water for instance you are not going to be able to prioritize based on need because people need it throughout the Town so there may be some other factors you may want to look at in terms of where you are going to identify water needs . Also you may want to think about what other things you can do for the residents that do have trouble with their water. Mr. Coon said that if the Board is looking to the committee to say at one corner of the Town is a problem and another is not by looking at the map you can see that the problem is all spread out. Mr. Coon said that there were some areas that seemed to have larger clusters of problems but it also indicated that more of the people having problems filled out the survey. Ms . Thomas asked about the question on the survey that asks "Does your untreated water have any of the following problems? Which point out iron, salt, color, sulfur, hardness bacteria, sediment, taste, odor, zebra mussels, nitrates, methane? Ms . Thomas asked if the committee could outline which one of these they felt were the most serious . Ms . Ritter said that it is hard to answer because it is a tolerant sort of thing and how much people are willing to pay to treat their water although some problems cannot be treated, like methane . Mr. Kappel said like nitrates it is a matter of determining where it comes from and stops getting into the ground water in the first place. Nitrates can be from a farm or could be from your own septic system and no way to separate them . Ms . Thomas thanked them all and said she knew it was a huge task and everyone volunteered there time and a great job was done. The rest of the Board chimed in with thanks to the committee. Ms . Ritter said thank you from the whole committee and said it was a great project . The Village requested a copy of this survey and Ms . Tyler suggested that TC Planning receive a copy also . Mr. Kappel notes that water problems occur throughout the county. In Ulysses , the best water source is the lake . From across the state there is a growth of municipal systems because ground water is not good as a whole. Mr. Ferrentino suggested that it be posted on the web site also . Ms . Georgia will follow up and get the copies to all. Mr. Austic asked Ms . Thomas how the new web site was going. Ms . Thomas said that the template was finished and the instructions for putting things in . Ms . Thomas has yet to follow the instructions to put the items in. It is built and is ready for testing. Village Trustee Chris Thomas reported that the Byrne Dairy has been completed and is now open and Tompkins Trust Bank has broken ground for their renovations and addition of a drive- through. Mr. Thomas also reported that there may be tenants for the Movie Gallery and the Save A Lot store fronts . The Movie gallery area is to become a 24 hour gym and the rumor for the Save A Lot is bakery related business . Mr. Thomas said that the Village has approved some grant applications for some structures at the farmers market. Also the Village signed on to the County Health Consortium. PUBLIC PRIVILEDGE OF THE FLOOR Mr. Carstensen said he would wait until the topic of the gas drilling came up on the agenda. Regular Town Board Meeting 4 07/ 14/2009 Mr. Ellis wanted to encourage the Board to enact a resolution as a matter of leadership relative to natural gas drilling in the Town. He knows that such an ordinance could be written over by the next Town Board that comes along but the idea is really about leadership and not so much about the substance of it . Mr. Ellis said that it is a foolish undertaking on his prospective to be drilling for gas and it can be argued that the longer you wait the safer that process will be. The drilling companies are going to advance in technology and why not wait. The longer you wait the lower the risk of destroying the water supplies . The money is foolishness because there is no one he has encountered that does not know the cost of petroleum and the value is going to increase. Probably one of the assets the Town has today and why give it away. , . Spruce Row Campgrounds Mr. Sherwood was in attendance but Spruce Row was not on the agenda because Mr. Austic said he was not sure Mr. Sherwood would have the map done . Mr. Sherwood had the map ready and he asked if County had been notified for the 239 l&m, Mr. Coogan said that the request for that had not gone out to the County but would be shortly. Mr. Sherwood distributed the copies of the map and explained what he had done. Later on in the meeting they could set the date for the hearing. Ms . Thomas said that she did not bring her information tonight because it was not on the agenda. It was decided that Mr. Sherwood would give his presentation later in the meeting TOWN REPORTS Highway Superintendent James Meeker reported the following: • Mowed all roadsides • Trim around all signs • Hauled la stone for sealing project • General maintenance of equipment • Shoulder work on Penn. Ave. • Replace driveway pipe on Agard Road • Bridge project — The engineers are looking into sleeving the bridge and cost wise it probably would be less expensive . The County is waiting until they get prices back for this procedure . The start of the project will probably not be until next spring because we are still looking for the stimulus money there has to be a plan in by September. • Town Barn Project — Mr. Meeker handed out a cost estimate on the Town Barn project and schedule. The project is out for bid with a bid opening of July 28th, 2009 at 2pm and will be awarded after that date when Mr. Meeker and the engineer review the bids . There was a pre-bid meeting on site on the 10th of July. • Gas drilling — Mr. Meeker said he would hold his comments to when that comes up on the agenda Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun Mr. Rachun was absent and he left no report. Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported a total of $2165 . 00 of which $649 . 23 was turned over to the Supervisor with her monthly report. Ms . Georgia clarifies how many copies of the comprehensive plan are needed for the public hearing. Board Members and Committees Ms. Tyler reported about the invasive species and the prevention of bringing them into the area in firewood. The committee is working on some outreach programs to educate the area. There are some excellent fact sheets that we could put up on the web . Another bad situation is giant HOG weed and the danger of this spreading. Mr. Meeker said that the State DOT is spraying in the area. Regular Town Board Meeting 5 07/ 14/2009 Ms. Thomas reported that she attended a meeting today and apparently there is Federal money for extending broadband services throughout rural areas and there was a representative from Clarity Connect who is preparing to present a proposal for that grant money. It is somewhere around 7. 2 billion dollars. It will go out in three rounds of funding, the first round they are hoping to be the biggest flow of money. They are already working with several other counties and have talked with Finger Lakes Technology group to do a sub-contract coming up from Elmira. What they are proposing to do is build a structure that would bring the high-speed interne down main lines and would speed up service to rural areas and be more affordable. The problem is the deadline for this grant was going to be in November and for some reason the Federal Government has changed the deadline to August 14`" . One of the things being asked by the small rural towns is to put together a resolution of community support. Having the time period so short Ms . Thomas apologized for bringing this to the Board on such short notice but the meeting just happened today. Ms . Thomas read a sample of the resolution and will forward this on to the Board . Ms . Thomas asked if this could go on the agenda for the Board ' s second meeting of the month for the meeting of the 23rd of July. Also there are many questions to be addressed where this is concerned . Ms . Thomas read the proposed resolution into the record as follows : Where as the development of broadband infrastructure is critically important to our community and Where as the Federal ARRA Stimulus Bill are offering broadband development grants to public private partnerships . The Town of Ulysses wishes to partner with Clarity Connect to apply for a grant for our community as part of the in-kind contribution of the grant to be the extent by the law the Town of Ulysses will waive zoning permits and professional fees related to developing and rolling out this service for our community. The Town of Ulysses will do everything practical to expedite the zoning and rights-of-way approval process . Ms . Thomas reported on the Youth Commission and the possible cutting of funding for next year. Mr. Austic said that the funding is set for this year and these cuts will be discussed at budget time in the fall when the Youth Commission submits their budget. The Town has some extra funds if needed. Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan reported that he met with Region #3 NYS DOT representative, TCAT, TC Planning as part of the Route 96 Corridor plan they plan to re-pave Rt. 96 and one of the things they wanted to look at Jacksonville to see if they can make an improvement when they pave the road and striping walk-ways so that people would have a safe way to walk through Jacksonville. Also cross-walks would be painted which may require curb- cuts and a couple of things moved back. DOT seemed very responsive . Supervisor Douglas Austic previously distributed the monthly expanded version of the operating statement that Mr. Austic explained. Mr. Austic said that the Town is receiving what they budgeted for revenue with sales tax although it is down around 25 -30% from last year at this time but Mr. Austic is still expecting to be on target by the end of the year. Mr. Austic can give the Board a comparison of sales tax for last year to this year. OLD BUSINESS Town Barn Project was covered under the Highway Superintendent report. Set Public Hearing Date for Comprehensive Plan — The date was set for August 25 `" at 7PM to be held at the Trumansburg Fire Department. All of the information has been mailed out to the County for the 239 l&m review. The Town has declared themselves as lead agent and the information has been mailed out to interested agencies . Other Spruce Row Development District Regular Town Board Meeting 6 07/ 14/2009 Mr. Sherwood explained the revised map that the Board requested and reviewed the list of activities that the Board would like to include in the document. Missing is the list of changes noted by Mr. Sherwood. Mr. Coogan reminds the Town to add the changes to the new version of the development district. Ms . Tyler commended Mr. Sherwood on his good management of the campsite and he had mentioned about a water reduction plan in times of drought conditions . The Board worked on the language for this . Ms . Tyler requested that language be added to Sectio n 16 . 3 . 1 (e) Water as follows : Under conditions of drought a water conservation plan shall be enacted that could include reduction of shower usage, prohibition of washing vehicles, campers and pets . Further under drought consideration no watering of lawns or plants shall take place . The document will be posted on the Ulysses web site . The Board reviewed the list of approved activities — Mini-golf, hayrides, arcade, 2 playgrounds (as listed on the map) , swimming pool, fishing pond, paddle boat rentals , geo-caching, pedal cart rentals, golf cart rentals , volleyball, basketball , horseshoes, nature/hiking trails, live music entertainment, ball field and similar activities . Ms . Georgia will make the changes noted at this meeting and send the changes to the board for their review . Mr. Austic noted the Health Dept. is the only other agency that might want to declare themselves lead agent. The Town will send notification to the County Health and the County Planning for their review and comment. Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses declare themselves as "Lead Agent" for the SEQR for the updating of the Spruce Row Development District. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted The Board set a date of August 27th, 2009 at 6 : 30 PM for the Public Hearing on the Spruce Row Campsite Development District. This will be prior to the Town Board ' s 2nd meeting of the month. NEW BUSINESS Corridor Study Resolution Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following resolution: WHEREAS , pursuant to General Municipal Law Section 119-o , the County of Tompkins , the City of Ithaca, and the Towns of Ithaca and Ulysses entered into an agreement to complete a corridor management study of New York State Route 96 within Tompkins County to determine current and projected transportation patterns as they relate to development in that transportation corridor and to make recommendations for mitigation of future traffic congestion and safety issues ; and WHEREAS , a consultant team was hired and completed Technical Reports # 1 , 2 and 3 with technical information, analysis and recommendations, and Regular Town Board Meeting 7 07/ 14/2009 WHEREAS , a survey of residents in the Route 96 Corridor was conducted, focus group meetings with businesses/institutions in the Corridor were held, and two area-wide public meetings were held at the Museum of the Earth regarding the Route 96 Study in 2008 , and comments received from the public participation process were factored into the Route 96 Corridor Management Study reports , and WHEREAS , Draft Technical Report #4 (dated 4/6/09) was prepared by the representatives of the Route 96 Corridor Technical Review Committee, including representatives from the participating organizations . Technical Report #4 draws from the three earlier technical reports to develop an inter-municipal strategy for mitigating the impacts of traffic by promoting a nodal pattern of development in the Corridor and utilizing related strategies of enhanced transit opportunities , improved pedestrian and bicycle connections and systems, better management of access within the corridor, traffic calming measures, infrastructure improvements, and zoning and land use modifications where applicable, and WHEREAS , the Town of Ulysses Planning Board and the Town Board has reviewed Technical Report #4 (dated 4/6/09), and the Comprehensive Planning Committee has reviewed the study and discussed the study in relation to the Comprehensive Plan update, and WHEREAS , the Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee considered and acknowledged the importance of the Route 96 Corridor Study during the update of the 1999 Comprehensive Plan, and now, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town of Ulysses Town Board hereby supports the Route 96 Corridor Management Study and the principles therein as a useful planning tool that can be considered by the participating organizations, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town of Ulysses Town Board recommends that the Town of Ulysses continues the cooperative planning efforts begun during the study among participating organizations . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted Other • Water Monitoring Resolution Ms . Thomas introduced the following resolution for comments at the next meeting : RESOLUTION TO MONITOR MAJOR CREEKS WITHIN ULYSSES Whereas the water entering Cayuga Lake from creeks in the Town of Ulysses should be maintained and cared for not only for Ulysses residents who draw from that supply but to also protect water quality for all municipalities and citizens who rely on water from Cayuga Lake, and Whereas the Community Science Institute (CSI) has recorded Trumansburg Creek to have the second of the highest levels of nitrogen in the County recorded at 1 . 6 mg/1 compared to the lowest of 0 . 4 mg/1 (4x) and the third highest levels of phosphorus registering at 24 . 5 mg/liter compared to the lowest of 10. 7 mg/1, both of which are known to cause algal blooms . Trumansburg Creek is also documented to carry the highest level of E. coli bacteria after a storm event of any other creek in the county. This level (4225 colonies/ 100 ml)is twice the amount of the second highest documented (2203 . 4) and nearly 4 times the lowest levels ( 1343 . 6) recorded after storm events on all other creeks being monitored, and Regular Town Board Meeting 8 07/ 14/2009 Whereas data from CSI shows Taughannock Creek to have the second highest levels of suspended solids (silt) after a storm event of the 7 sites being monitored in the county, measuring 126 . 7 mg/liter compared to the lowest at 26 mg/1 which contributes to the situation of Cayuga Lake, and Whereas CSI uses on volunteers to help reduce costs of monitoring for municipalities , and Whereas the nearly completed comprehensive plan indicates the importance of protecting water sources and assigns special environmental protections to the major waterways within the Town, and Whereas monitoring over time can help pinpoint and highlight areas of concern to help the Town remediate water quality concerns over time, and Whereas numerous other municipalities are contributing monetarily to this effort which affects the water quality for many, and Whereas at the meeting of June 9 , 2009, Steve Penningroth offered the following proposal to the board : • Partner with Stream Watch volunteers to characterize water quality along the lengths of Taughannock and Trumansburg Creeks, including identification of Stormwater impacts ; • Provide three sets of certified baseline water tests for groundwater wells valued at $ 500 per set in connection with gas wells in the Marcellus Shale in the Town of Ulysses, the Ulysses Town Board to designate wells to be tested at the Board's discretion (see attached brochure for baseline tests recommended by CSI) ; • Organize a public forum on water quality by the end of 2009 at the Ulysses Historical Society or the Ulysses Philomathic Library, the topic of the forum to be determined in consultation with the Ulysses Town Board. Therefore, be it resolved that the Town of Ulysses release to CSI the $ 5 , 000 budgeted for 2009 under General Part Town Fund B , General Environment (or Stormwater CE B80224) , to contribute to the Community Science Institute ' s scientific efforts to document water quality over time with the long term goal of improving the quality of water flowing from creeks within Ulysses into Cayuga Lake . Mr. Kerness wants to know whether the sources of pollutants are over state or federal limits . Mr. Kerness says that only phosphorus and sediment are pollutants that might cause the Town to be fined if waters exceed those limits . Ms . Thomas being part of the group already contracting with CSI to do water testing would give the Town a voice at that table. The Town can request more information from CSI if desired. Mr. Ferrentino feels the Town should be approaching the USDA instead. Mr. Austic suggests we need more information. Mr. Kerness asks that his questions be submitted to Mr. Penningroth ahead of time. Mr. Ferrentino will ask his two contacts (one from the USDA) about what stream monitoring is already in place . Mr. Kerness refers to the Guide to Surface Water Monitoring for Cayuga Lake. He feels that there must be others already working in water monitoring. Ms . Tyler feels that using the same lab over time will give consistent results, but Mr. Ferrentino feels multiple sources of information are better. Gas Drilling Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Ms . Tyler and Mr. Kerness the following resolution Resolution to extend the comment period for the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement Whereas the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is currently updating regulations governing gas drilling referred to as the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (sGEIS) and ; Regular Town Board Meeting 9 07/ 14/2009 Whereas the proposed comment period to review the draft sGEIS is only 30-days leaving little time to carefully review what is expected to be an extensive document and; Whereas Town leadership needs to meet and discuss the ramifications of the draft sGEIS as well as adequate time to pass official responses to the draft sGEIS and; Whereas Town residents also should be afforded the time to meet, discuss and respond to the draft sGEIS ; Therefore, be it resolved that by July 20th 2009, the Town of Ulysses shall send the letter below to DEC Commissioner, Pete Grannis ; Deputy Secretary for the Environment, Judith Enck ; and Governor David Paterson, requesting the comment period for the draft supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement be extended to 90 days . Each letter will be written on the Town of Ulysses letterhead and be signed by all Town Board members favoring this request. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted Sample of Letter and Addresses to be Sent Commissioner Pete Grannis 625 Broadway, 14th Floor Albany, NY 12233 Deputy Secretary Judith Enck State Capital Executive Chambers Room 245 Albany, NY 12224 Governor David A. Paterson State Capitol Albany, NY 12224 Dear Currently the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is preparing a draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (sGEIS) which will update regulations governing the gas drilling and extraction technique referred to as hydro fracturing. Recognizing that new drilling is expected to accelerate once the permitting process is in place, it is important to carefully consider in advance the possible negative impact on the environment, especially its impact on water. Concerns over water well contamination, water use, and water treatment abound . Because of the complicated nature of this subject, we ask you to extend the comment period after the release of the draft sGEIS to a minimum of 90 days to leave time for municipalities and citizens to carefully review what is expected to be an extensive document. Both municipal leaders and New York residents need time to meet and discuss ramifications of these regulations, as well as time to respond to the DEC . Respectfully. Mr. Ferrentino said it may be good to recommend TCOG to submit a letter also . Ms . Thomas notes some of the problems caused by gas drilling in other areas of the country and notes the problem with the salt mine being at the same level where hydrofracking is proposed. There are many unknowns therefore asking the DEC to extend the comment period is important . Ms . Thomas said that she feels that any elected official should declare if they have land that is leased she thinks that it be important to have that on the record because there may be consideration of Recusal if that is the case . Ms . Thomas stated that she would be the first to say that her property is not under lease to any gas company. Mr. Austic said that his land is leased and has been for fifteen years when he owned more land and since the sale of land the area left Regular Town Board Meeting 10 07/ 14/2009 would not warrant drilling. Ms . Tyler said hers is not leased and Mr. Kerness said the same. Mr. Ferrentino said he lives in the Village and is not leased but the Board should not make the assumption that because they have a lease they still would not be concerned to protect the Town. Ms . Thomas acknowledges that even people with leases are concerned about the impacts of drilling on the environment and that educating the public is important. Mr. Ferrentino asks if the 30 day extension is normal for the state and whether we should work with the county on this request. This resolution was requested by Mr. Thomas of the Village Board to receive a copy. The Clerk will email a copy to the Village . Mr. Ferrentino feels the Village might want to be involved in this issue . Mr. Meeker said that the Tompkins County Highway and the Council of Government are working on a plan. Broome County already has a plan in and the Town should wait to see what this plan is . Mr. Meeker said that they are the experts and see what they come up with before the Town tries to come up with their own. Mr. Meeker has spoken with several other Highway Superintendents and the County Highway Department about roads etc . and they are going to wait to see what Broome County is coming up with because of more possibilities of drilling in the southern tier then up in our location. He cautions that we not over regulate the roads to treat all industries equally. 100,000 cars won' t do as much damage as one overweight tractor trailer. Mr. Ferrentino feels like going after trucks is only a symptom of the problem, our efforts should be directed toward the hydrofracking fluid and the potential damage to groundwater as a result of drilling. PUBLIC COMMENTS Alan Carstensen had previously emailed the Town Board a copy of an ordinance on local sustainable energy ordinance setting forth policies for energy use from all sources in our town. Copy of the ordinance Alan submitted is on file in the Clerks office and also posted on www. ulyssesdemocrats . com . Mr. Kerness asks Ms. Geldenhuys if a local municipality can rule over issues governed by the state or federal government. She states that this area of law is untested. Mr. Ferrentino suggests we allow hydrofracking as long as the fluid is water and no toxicants are allowed. Ms . Geldenhuys says the DEC regulates gas drilling and we cannot preempt their laws . Even the Attorney Generals office representative wasn' t clear on that line of preemption. If it ' s preempted then a municipality can' t regulate it at all and if you ' re trying to figure out what ' s preempted it ' s never 100 percent clear, there are cases upon cases about this . What towns can regulate is currently being debated in legal circles . Mr. Ferrentino is concerned that we not put the town in the position where we will need to legally defend a law we put in place. He suggests we provide information on drilling from DEC and Cooperative Extension and put the information on our website . Mr. Carstensen notes that the DEC is severely understaffed to monitor gas drilling. Mr. Zeserson quotes there are only 19 DEC inspectors to license and monitor all the drilling across New York. Mr Kerness asks Ms . Geldenhuys to give us guidance for what a Town can and can' t regulate. Mr. Austic feels we need to look more carefully at Mr. Carstensen' s ordinance . Mr. Austic thinks there are only 2 ways Towns can protect themselves : declare critical environmental areas to prevent drilling and pass laws to protect roads requiring a bond for road damage to keep taxpayers from paying for damage due to gas drilling. Mr. Carstensen suggests we disallow some of the chemicals used in hydrofracking but the board points out problems with this proposal . Ms . Thomas suggests the Town request that the Village of Cayuga Heights and the Town of Ithaca not accept liquid waste from drilling. Ms . Thomas and Mr. Meeker are working with others in the County to draft legislation together since it would be easier to . The Board discussed this draft and brought up that the Clean Water Act has exempted gas and oil drilling activities . Ms . Tyler suggested that she draft a letter to be sent to our Representative Michael Arcuri addressing this . 111•111111S■ Regular Town Board Meeting 11 07/ 14/2009 ADDITIONAL ITEMS Ms . Tyler suggested that the Town Board approve to give the Water Needs Survey Committee gift certificates to Shur Save to thank them for all their hard work. Ms . Tyler moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve to give the Water Needs Survey Committee each a gift certificate in the amount of $ 50 to Trumansburg Shur Save as a measure of appreciation for all their hard work. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted ADJOURNMENT Hearing no further business Ms . Tyler moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness to adjourn the meeting. Hearing no objection it was Unanimiously approved and the meeting was adjourned at 9 : 45pm. Respectfully submitted, Marsha L. Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk MLG: mlg