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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-09-08 - TB TOWN OF ULYSSES REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 8 , 2009 PRESENT : Supervisor Douglas Austic ; Council Rod Ferrentino, David Kerness, Elizabeth Thomas and Lucia Tyler; Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia; Highway Superintendent James Meeker; Attorney Mariette Geldenhuys. Others Present : no others present. 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 Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Austic the following: BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the minutes of the Regular Board meetings of July 14, 2009 and August 11 , 2009 as corrected and changed per Ms . Thomas and Ms . Tyler. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Mr. Ferrentino the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approved the previous examined vouchers #302 through #340 in the amount of $40, 530 . 12 . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms. Thomas aye Ms. Tyler aye Adopted REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES Tompkins County Representative Jim Dennis - Mr. Dennis was absent. Trumansburg Fire Department — no one in attendance from the Fire Department. Planning Board — no one in attendance from the Planning Board but Mr. Kerness reported that the Planning Board has submitted language for a Conservation Zone to Mr. Rachun to look at and review. When the language is settled on, the Planning Board would like to hold a public workshop on the Conservation Zone and get feed back from the public. Mr. Kerness thinks that this will be ready in about 3 weeks or so . Mr. Kerness is recommending that they hold a public workshop, and send out notices to the effected areas that are in the Conservation Zone. Mr. Ferrentino said he is all for that but would suggest that it may be a good idea to hold 2 workshops so more are informed. Regular Town Board Minutes 2 09/08/2009 Mr. Kerness will work on getting a notice written up to be sent out. It was suggested that it be held at the Racker Center that is located in that area. The Planning Board will be meeting on September 15 , 2009 . Ms . Thomas asked if the Planning Board is working on the requirements for the Grassroots operating permit. The Planning Board is working on this . Ms. Geldenhuys said she is waiting on this also . Public Privilege of Floor — no public in attendance. TOWN REPORTS Highway Superintendent James Meeker gave the following report : • Cleaned out old Town Barn shop and moved to temporary shop above in cold storage building • Set-up office and lunchroom trailer rented from Averd • Tear down old shop and truck storage building • Cut and grade sub-base for new building • Working on temporary electrical service for trailer • Spread (creek gravel) for base for new building • Top dress to grade with Item #4 and Crusher Run • Finished mowing all roadsides • Fingerlakes Construction meeting was August 31St and they will start building on September 21St or before. • Town pick-up truck had necessary body work done and re-painted Mr. Meeker noted that because of the nice weather that the Town crew is ahead of schedule getting their part done on the Town Barn project and it is most likely that Fingerlakes will come earlier then anticipated. Mr. Kerness provided some pictures of the Town Barn project during demolition. Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun — Mr. Rachun absent and Mr. Austic read his report. There was only one building permit issued for the month. Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported that $ 6837 . 66 was collected for the month of August and $ 1184 was turned over to the Supervisor along with her monthly report. Ms . Georgia said. that $6547 is being sent to DEC for sporting licenses . Ms . Georgia also reported that the quarterly meter reads have been completed and the water bills will be mailed out. Ms . Thomas asked if Ms . Georgia could send the Board the minutes after the changes and corrections have been made. Ms . Georgia will be glad to do that. Board Members and Committees Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan- Mr. Coogan was absent tonight. Supervisor Douglas Austic asked if all of the Board members had received the operating statement for the month and if anyone had any questions. Mr. Austic distributed a pre-budget folder of information to the Board Members that they had requested he provide for them after the last budget process in 2008 . Within the folder is a balance sheet that Mr. Austic reviewed . Mr. Austic said that he has distributed to the department heads the request for their budgets and they are due back to him by September 20th, 2009 . Mr. Austic said that he awill be gone until September 22nd, 2009 so he will not be working on the budget until then. 'son • Regular Town Board Minutes 3 09/08/2009 The Board discussed cancelling the 2nd Board meeting of the month that is scheduled for the 24th . The Board rescheduled the second Board meeting for September 28th, @ 7 pm. Ms. Thomas said that she has some budget requests that she will submit to Mr. Austic and also Mr. Kerness said he had a couple of budget suggestions he would get to Mr. Austic . Mr. Austic is requesting prices from other insurance companies. The Town is now with E . C . Cooper and they have not increased the prices in a couple of years . I OLD BUSINESS Town Barn Project Previously discussed under Mr. Meeker ' s report. Comprehensive Plan Decision The 239 1&m review has not been received from Tompkins County Planning Department. They attempted to fax it so the Board would have it tonight but the fax machine mal- functioned . Although the message was that the TC Planning Dept. had no objections they may have recommendations . The general consensus of the Board was to table the decision until they could review the Tompkins County Planning recommendations . Ms . Geldenhuys said that it would make a lot of sense to wait because it could mean that the vote would have to be a super majority. She said that legally you probably could go ahead but she said it is not the wisest course of action . The Board said that they could wait until the 28th meeting. Ms . Georgia will contact them tomorrow and have them email their recommendations . NEW BUSINESS Health Care Consortium Appointment to Board of Directors Mr. Austic said that the Board really needs to appoint someone to the Board of Directors for the Healthcare Consortium. At this time none of the existing Board members felt they had the time. It does not have to be someone on the Town Board. After a lengthy discussion; Mr. Austic moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses appoint Richard Coogan to the Board of Directors for the Healthcare Consortium and, Further Resolved that Alex Rachun be appointed as the alternate to the Board. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted Supervisor ' s Budget Information Previously discussed under the Supervisor' s report. Mr. Ferrentino said he would like to see a very low 2010 budget. Mr. Austic said that he is going to try and thinks that it can be done. Mr. Austic said that this is not the time to be spending a lot of money because you don ' t know what is really going on in the real world such as what the Town may receive in mortgage tax or some of the bigger revenue Regular Town Board Minutes 4 09/08/2009 like Chips . Mr. Austic said that the sales tax revenue that was budgeted will come in this year over budget. Mr. Austic distributed information on justifying the purchase of a truck for the water department. It points out the cost of buying a vehicle, insuring the vehicle and the cost of gas is less then paying for reimbursement of mileage . Also, insurance companies do NOT want people using their personal vehicle for company business . Mr. Austic said that there is an auction for municipal equipment being held on Saturday the 12th of September and they are offering a couple of trucks and several jeeps . Mr. Austic and Mr. Meeker are planning on going over to Lansing to review the vehicles prior to the auction. Ms . Tyler said she feels this is a better idea to purchase used then a new truck. Mr. Austic said that he would like the Board to adopt a resolution authorizing him to go to the auction and spend up to $ 10,000 for a used truck. Mr. Austic said that also the Town will be getting money for the damaged vehicle from the insurance company. Mr. Ferrentino moved, seconded by Mr. Austic the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses authorizes Supervisor Austic to attend the action and spend up to $ 10,000 on a used vehicle . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted Other Web Page Ms . Thomas said that she still has not had the opportunity to fully review the new web page. Spruce Row Campsite DD Ms . Thomas said that she had promised at the last meeting to draft a response to Liz Cameron at Tompkins County Health Department in reference to her comments on the Spruce Row Campsite DD . Ms . Thomas said that the Board passed this and there is some language that was not changed and she is not sure what can be done about it now. Mr. Austic said that if the Board was to change the language there would have to be another public hearing because it is a zoning change. Ms . Geldenhuys agreed. The one area was about sewage disposal that she had a complaint about. The Board felt that it could be explained to Ms . Cameron in how they were interpreting the area. The following is the sample letter Ms . Thomas has drafted for the response to Ms . Cameron : Re : Spruce Row Campground Development District Review Thank you for your responses regarding the Spruce Row Campground Development District. We wanted to answer your concerns stated in your letter dated July 30, 2009 . 1 . 16.3 . 1 (a)3 The definitions for Recreation Vehicle and Recreation Park Trailer are identical. I . Regular Town Board Minutes 5 09/08/2009 While the definitions for Recreational Vehicle (RV) and Recreation Park Trailer (RPT) are almost identical , the subtle difference stated is that an RV cannot be wider than 8 feet and the RPT can be between 8 and 12 feet wide. 2 . 16.3 . 1 (c) 1 : It is not clear what requirements are meant to govern camp site size- 30 ' x 50 ' or the NYSDOH requirements. The NYSDOH requires campsites to be a minimum of 1250 square feet. Indeed the Spruce Row campsites are required to be larger than the requirement for the NYSDOH which is more restrictive. That should guarantee that all the campsites will easily meet NYSDOH requirements . 3 . 16.3 . 1 (c)2 : it is not clear from the map which, if any, campsites are closer than 275 feet. The map scale is 1 " =100 ' but that depends on the size of the original map. This section states , "No campsites will be permitted closer than 275 feet from the center line of Kraft Road". Certainly indicating this on the map would have been helpful, but this statement clearly outlines that no campsites are within that 275 ' border. 4 . 16.3 . 1 (d) 1 : Sewage and Garbage Disposal shall meet all requirements of the Tompkins County Health Department. The language has been changed to read, "Sewage disposal shall meet all requirements of the Tompkins County Health Department. Garbage disposal shall meet requirements of the TC Solid Waste regulations". 16.3 . 1 (d)5 : Regarding the 100 ' setback of septic systems from the stream. All the current septic systems comply with the 100 foot setback. No septic systems need to be moved. 5 . 16.3 . 1 (f)2 : A monthly visual inspection shall be conducted of the sewage holding tanks of all RV and Rot 's located along and up gradient of Willow Creek. 1 The owner of Spruce Row will make these inspections . 6 . 17.3 . 1 (1)3 : Chlorinated water from the swimming pool will not be discharged in excess of 100 gallons in a 24 hour period for maintenance purposes. The health department ' s concern that this conflicts with TCHD requirements in the event that a public health hazard is identified at the facility is understood. If a public hazard is identified, it would not be considered "for maintenance purposes" as stated in this section but rather is a "public hazard" that would fall under TCHD purview. The Board discussed this letter and it was determined that Mr. Austic will issue a letter explaining what the Board voted on. Ms . Geldenhuys said that the Health Department does not regulate garbage and the way the Board passed it is not ideal but she does not think it implies that the Health Department regulates it . Mr. Kerness said that the response Ms . Thomas has written should be smoothed over. Mr. Austic will re-write it saying the Town may not have split it out but the Health Department is only responsible for what they are responsible for. Ms . Thomas said that under #5 the language that Mr. Sherwood would be responsible for the inspections did not make it into the language of the DD . Ms . Geldenhuys said that although it does not say in the DD who inspects, the Town could say to the owner that it is a requirement and you have to show that it is done. Resolution to Monitor Major Creeks Within Ulysses Regular Town Board Minutes 6 09/08/2009 Ms . Thomas said that she had previously emailed a copy of a resolution in reference to the Monitoring Major Creeks but had updated that resolution after Board discussion. Ms . Thomas distributed that to the Board tonight. Ms . Thomas does not expect it to be voted on tonight but asked for it to be considered at the next meeting. Resolution follows : 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 average 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 average 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 algae 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 Whereas data from CSI shows Taugharmock Creek to have the second highest average 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 siltation of Cayuga Lake, and Whereas CSI relies 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 : 1 . Partner with Stream Watch volunteers to characterize water quality along the lengths of Taughannock and Trumansburg Creeks, including identification of stormwater impacts; 2 . 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) ; 3 . 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 funds to CSI for the remainder of 2009 from 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. 'r. Regular Town Board Minutes 7 09/08/2009 Be it also resolved that the Town of Ulysses shall request CSI to provide the Town with the federal and state acceptable limits for phosphorus, nitrogen, E . coli, and suspended solids in bodies of water. This work is in addition to the work specified in the original CSI proposal. BE it also resolved that the Town of Ulysses shall request that CSI assist the Town in planning future steps to locate the sources of water contamination above state and federal limits for water quality. I Mr. Austic said that at the time of the budget process the Board did not designate this $ 5000 to CSI. The Board had said that they would investigate. Ms. Thomas feels that is what this is doing and that this is a starting point. Mr. Austic said should we pay CSI without investigating somewhere else . Ms. Thomas said that the response of the CSI group was that there are two different kinds of limits as far as federal and state limits for water. There are point sources for sewage treatment plants and factories that have to comply with SPEDEY permits . Which the Village has . Mr. Austic said that would be Trumansburg Creek. Ms . Thomas went on to say what CSI does is a different kind of limit which is part of the Clean Water Act and consists of anti degradation provisions . Ms. Thomas went on to explain that each body of water is classified as to its use such as drinking water or contact recreation, fish reproduction and such. Under the Clean Water Act each body of water is designated that way and if it is designated for drinking water it can not be degraded it has to meet the drinking water standards and if it is degraded then it has to go through a whole public process where the state is required to change it but it also says that if a local government wants to protect a stream from degradation then they need to gather evidence that it is being degraded, present the evidence to the state and effectively challenge the state to either fix the problem or reclassify the water body to a lower classification. Ms . Thomas said that CSI feels that they are doing that base work. Ms . Thomas went on to explain the levels . Mr. Kerness said that CSI did not answer his question because he did not give federal levels . Ms . Thomas asked Mr. Kerness to send her his question again. Mr. Kerness said he is back to getting to the point of "if there is a regulation which the Town should be testing for and do something about it". Ms . Thomas feels that the state is the answer and she thinks that the EPA is the state program to do that testing within the state. Mr. Ferrentino asked how often this testing is done . Mr. Kerness said he is not talking about testing he is asking for the regulations . He believes there is an EPA regulation for phosphorus and sediment for Cayuga Lake. Mr. Austic said that the question is — if Taughannock Creek or Trumansburg Creek has higher levels of phosphorus it does not necessarily say that the lake is going to have that level because it will be diluted. Mr. Austic said that if there is a spot that tests a little higher what you would do . Mr. Ferrentino said that if the worry is about the lake then why isn ' t it just tested at the lake . Ms . Thomas said that CSI points out how the source is pin pointed by doing multiple testing along the creeks and streams to see how the levels are doing repeated times of the Regular Town Board Minutes 8 09/08/2009 year during base flow and stormwater conditions . When the levels get above the area where the point source is coming in they will know to start looking around. Mr. Ferrentino said he would rather see the money spent on educating people on how to prevent stuff from getting into the water and utilize the system in place. Mr. Austic said that this is one problem, and not to slam the Village but continuously they have had more E Coli coming from the sewer plant then there should be and what could the Town do about it . Ms . Thomas agreed and said that the Town could put pressure on them . Mr. Kerness said that there are very good people that are experts, and he does not feel that this Board are the experts . Ms . Thomas read a statement from Bill Coon (Ms . Thomas will email this statement to be entered into the minutes) . Mr. Kerness stated again that there are specifics and there are many people within the Town and County who are somehow trying to manage all of this . Mr. Kerness would like to see the whole picture and have the people who were on the Water Survey Committee and some others . Mr. Kerness suggested putting a group together and ask them to tell the Board what they should do . Mr. Ferrentino said he would rather see that. Mr. Austic said that there also is the Water Shed. Mr. Kerness said that there are many of these groups. Ms . Thomas said that in order to move this along who would the Board recommend being on that committee. What she understands from what Mr. Kerness is saying is that gather a group of professional people to decide how or whether we should be monitoring our creeks . The following were listed that Ms . Thomas knows are water resource people; • Bill Coon • Bill Kappel • Rebecca Schneider • Lanny Joyce • Bob Howarth • Cooperative Ext . • Water Shed Group • Someone from the local school Mr. Austic said that what needs to be done once a group is put together is tell them what the Board is looking for, why are we looking for it, what are the amounts that need to be worried about and how to go about it. Ms . Thomas asked if she should approach the group that she listed. Mr. Ferrentino suggested that someone from the school be a part because of the educational component and also the Town of Hector should be included because of a large farm that borders Ulysses . Ms . Thomas said that a base program recommended and they can be the ones to recommend going to Hector. Ms . Thomas said that this group ( the Town Board) are not the experts lets talk to the experts and find out what we are looking for, why we are looking for it, what amounts are acceptable and how to proceed. Mr. Kerness suggested maybe only three people would be needed. AMIE Regular Town Board Minutes 9 09/08/2009 Ms . Thomas will look into forming this group because the Board all agreed that they want to do something but they are not clear as what that should be . Ms . Georgia asked Ms . Thomas to provide her with copies of the emails that she read into the record . Better Housing Grant Ms . Tyler asked Mr. Austic if the program for the Better Housing Grants was coming to a close. Mr. Austic said that he is trying to get all the accounting finished up . Ms . Tyler said on another note she thinks it would be nice to have some information to the community. She said that Mr. Spence had offered to bring some of these posters of before and after pictures and have a little celebration and serve hotdogs or something like that. Invite the people that got the grants and also invite the ones that were interested in the project . Ms . Tyler said the homeowners could be invited if they would like to come. It would be a celebration and she was thinking that the Town could use the road tax from the B &B ' s which comes back to the Towns as the Celebration Grants and the Town could apply for that. Ms . Tyler asked if the Board could authorize spending up to $300 for hotdogs and supplies . Ms . Tyler moved, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town authorizes to spend up to $300 for a celebration of the completion of the Better Housing Grant program . FURTHER RESOLVE that the Town applies for the Celebration Grant. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms. Tyler aye Adopted. EMS Mr. Kerness wanted to talk about this tonight. He has asked if they were presenting a budget that would be segregated from the total budget so he can see a total of the EMS and/or the Fire Department. Mr. Austic said that yes the budget should be presented that way but it is stated in the Villages " budget that the money goes into their general fund. Mr. Kerness said that the second half of his thought tonight is that an advisory board be established to oversee so that all of the people contributing can have a say. Mr. Ferrentino said that the firefighters have discussed something like this and now they may be very open to a board of directors . Mr. Ferrentino said he would strongly recommend that all the Town Supervisors get together and as a group you propose that as an option. The Board discussed a few options and the proposed budget for the Ulysses Fire Contract. Mr. Kerness said that under issue is the billing and that he feels that the Town should go on record and say that is something that the Town feels they should look into . I . . . Regular Town Board Minutes 10 09/08/2009 Mr. Austic said he feels that billing is the only answer. Mr. Ferrentino said that through the billing discussions there has been a lot of miss information given out to the people on both sides . Mr. Kerness said he feels that it can be done better and more fare. Mr. Kerness said that the Town needs to do a vote on billing because the Village wants some response in the next 30 days . Ms . Thomas said she is not ready to vote on recommending the Village goes to billing without knowing more about the billing system. Mr. Kerness moved, seconded by Mr. Austic the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses support the Village of Trumansburg to investigate billing and work out the details that are associated with that billing and present that to the Town of Ulysses in the next 30 days . Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms. Thomas nay Ms . Tyler nay Adopted The Board discussed the option of forming a fire district. Mr. Meeker said why you would ask the Village about considering forming a district ; they could just say no the Town should demand that they come up with something seeing that the Town is the largest contributing dollar value . Ms . Geldenhuys said it is all the participants who are in the district would form the district. She said that the Town could form their own district without the other Towns and Village but then you would have more power. Or another approach is just talk to the Towns and when the other Towns are on board go to the Village and say this is what we want to do . The Town really does not have any alternative but stay with the Village. Mr. Kerness moved, seconded by Mr. Austic the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses along with the Village of Trumansburg, the Town of Hector and the Town of Covert investigate developing a fire district or an advisory board ( made up of municipal representatives based on contributions) to oversee the expenditures for both EMS • and the Fire Department. Mr. Austic aye Mr. Ferrentino aye Mr. Kerness aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Adopted Hearing no further business Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Mr. Ferrentino to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved. Nen Regular Town Board Minutes 11 09/08/2009 Meeting adjourned at 9 : 50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Marsha L. Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk 1