HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-06-08-RTB TOWN OF ULYSSES
REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING
JUNE 8 , 2010
Present : Supervisor Roxanne Marino ; Council persons David Kerness, Kevin Romer,
Elizabeth Thomas and Lucia Tyler absent; Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia; Highway
Superintendent James Meeker; Deputy Supervisor Sue Poelvoorde; Attorney Mariette
Geldenhuys .
Others Present : Ed Sawester, Debbie Watkins Village Trustee, Diane Hillman, Bill
Chaisson Free Press reporter and Ithaca Journal reporter Aaron Munzer.
Supervisor Marino called the meeting to order at 7 : 30 pm and led those assembled in the
Pledge of Allegiance .
APPROAL OF MINUTES
Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following :
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the minutes as
edited for the Regular Town Board meeting of Mayl 1 , 2010 and the two (2) Special
Board meetings on March 27 & 29 , 2010 .
Ms . Marino aye
Ms . Thomas aye
Mr. Romer aye
Mr. Kerness aye
Adopted
APPROVAL OF BUDGET MODIFICATIONS
Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Ms . Thomas the following :
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the following
2010 Budget modifications :
Budget Modifications
A Fund
Appropriation line 1920 . 4 Municipal Association Dues increase $925
Appropriation line 7450 . 4 Historical Society CE increase $ 35
Appropriation line 5132 . 2 Town Barn Capital decrease $ 960
B Fund
Appropriation line 9040. 8 Workers Comp increase $ 165
Appropriation line 1990 . 4 Contingency decrease $ 165
SW3
Appropriation line 8340. 2 Transmission/Distribution EQ increase $ 395
Appropriation line 9040 . 8 Workers Comp increase $ 1086
Appropriation line 8340 . 4 Transmission/Distribution CE decrease $ 1481
Ms . Marino aye
Ms . Thomas aye
Mr. Romer aye
Mr. Kerness aye
Adopted
APPROVED CLAIMS
Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Ms . Thomas the following :
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BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the previously
examined vouchers in the amount of $ 13 ,920 . 31 .
Ms. Marino aye
Ms . Thomas aye
Mr. Romer aye
Mr. Kerness aye
Adopted
PRIVILEGE OF FLOOR
Bill Chaisson said he had been working on a story about the Village sewage problems
and was speaking with Steve Penningroth of the Community Science Institute in regards
to funds he had requested from the Town in the amount of $ 5000 . Mr. Penningroth was
complaining that he had never received these funds and his understanding was they were
put into the budget. Mr. Chaisson said that he thinks it is a good program and a good
value.
Ms. Marino said that the Town did receive a letter from Mr. Penningroth reminding the
Board that they would like $ 5000 for the stream monitoring and it will be on the agenda
in July.
REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tompkins County Representatives neither Mr. Dennis nor Sheriff Meskill were
present.
Trumansburg Fire Department
A written report was submitted from the Trumansburg Fire Department and Mr. Romer
had distributed it to the Board.
Trumansburg Village
Ms . Watkins said she had nothing to report. But she did say the Village had contracted
the Boy Scouts about four locations for drilling test wells for a second source and the
Village has to prepare a proposal for the Boy Scouts by June 23rd so they can present it to
their Board and then will go from there . The update on the sewer; the Village received a
letter from DEC where they had six recommendations for the Village Sewer Plant; the
Village is going forward with two of them, two are coming up for a vote by the Village
Board and the other two the Village will follow through with discussion.
TOWN REPORTS
Highway Superintendent James Meeker reported on the activities of the Highway
Department for the month. Mr. Meeker announced, at the Highway School he is
attending, they got word that the CHIPS money is coming through from the State .
Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported the monthly fees for May. The quarterly
water bills were mailed out .
Code Enforcement Alex Rachun was absent and left his monthly report with the Board.
He also included a letter received from Tompkins County Health Department that the
Cayuga Nature Center had applied for and received a permit for camping for the summer
of 2010 . Mr. Rachun advised the Health Department that the Nature Center did not meet
the fire safety requirements under NYS Building Code and that the Nature Center would
be in violation of the Code. The Health Department has since revoked the camping
permit and Mr. Rachun has met with the Director of the Nature Center and discussed
what needed to be done to meet the requirements for camping in the buildings .
liNEME
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Planning Board - no report.
Agricultural and Farmland Protection - Ms . Thomas said that they will be meeting on
the 17th of June . Ms . Marino said that at that meeting a representative from Bergman will
attend to facilitate the meeting toward the goal of getting the necessary information
together to draft part of the plan .
Citizens Advisory Board on Gas Drilling - Ms . Thomas said that all of the people that
are on the Ulysses Advisory Board are working with the TCCOG gas drilling task force
and they have all elected to be on the land use sub-committee. The next meeting is June
10`h
Supervisor Marino previously distributed to the Board copies of the Fund operating
statements and after the Board gets a chance to look it over she will be glad to answer any
questions . Ms . Marino also wrote a report on the operating statements and reviewed this
with the Board .
Ms . Marino also reported that at the TCCOG meeting a presentation was given by April
Scheffler representing the Tompkins County Clerks Association on dog licensing because
the State is getting out of the dog licensing business .
Deputy Supervisor - Ms . Poelvoorde reported that she has been working on the MS4
annual report for Stormwater. She feels that she has finished the report and she will
review before mailing it to the State and putting it on the Town ' s web page . There has to
be a Public Hearing on the report.
The Board set a date for the Public Hearing to be held July 13th at 7 : pm prior to the
Regular Board meeting.
Town Board Members and Committees
Ms . Thomas said it is unclear to her who are the voting members at the Trumansburg
EMS committee .
Mr. Romer said he is going to ask for minutes for these meetings. Mr. Romer asked if
there has to be a Local Law for the Town to go to billing.
Ms . Geldenhuys said earlier she had circulated a memo about this that she would review,
but thought that the Town would have to pass a Local Law.
Mr. Romer said that there are a lot of unanswered questions still to be addressed.
Ms . Thomas said that a draft should be established .
Ms . Watkins suggested that the Task Force put a draft together.
8 : 25 PM OLD BUSINESS
Health Care Consortium Reserve Capitalization
Ms. Marino had previously distributed information to the Board. One issue is the union
matter and she heard at the most recent Health Care Consortium Board meeting that has
been resolved . The other issue is that if the 2 . 2 million dollars in reserves the State is
requiring must come from municipal assets, then the Consortium Board would like to
have the option for some of its members to pay their share of the reserves over time (5
years) when they can build this expense into their budgets . The Consortium has
requested NYSID allow this process to meet the necessary reserves .
The minimum to achieve the needed reserves in 2010 to begin operation, IF all
municipalities could pay the full amount right now and IF the State will allow
capitalization over 5 years requires $2 ,096 from Ulysses . It would be very helpful to the
Consortium if the municipalities could pay the full Prorated in 2010 ($ 10,478 for
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Ulysses), or even more than that if there were the cash in Fund Balance (A and DA funds
can be used for this) .
The Board discussed authorizing payment of the full Prorated of Total Reserves, or
possibly more, should the Consortium be allowed to begin operation in 2010 . Ms .
Marino believes the Town has the funds for the $ 10,478 without a problem, and can
consider more . Ms . Marino said that the Board can refer to the summary sheets she
distributed to them for the May 11 meeting, with the YE Fund Balances (A and DA) .
After a long discussion by the Board, Ms . Thomas moved the following:
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses would be willing to
tentatively commit a contribution of $ 10 ,478 and possibly go up as high as $40 ,000 based
upon how the money will be paid back over time to the Town. Mr. Kerness seconded
this.
Ms . Marino aye
Ms . Thomas aye
Mr. Romer aye
Mr. Kerness aye
Adopted
8 : 51 pm Special Events Permit
The Board reviewed the permit application along with Ms . Geldenhuys . There were
many changes made to the application . Ms . Poelvoorde volunteered to work with Mr.
Rachun to update the application and bring it back to the Board.
Town Website — update on response to quotes
The Town has received three quotes from the following:
Holly Bailey $ 1 ,600
Susan Henninger 2 ,980 .
Judith Pratt 8 , 860 .
The Board discussed the quotes in detail. .
Ms . Marino and Ms . Poelvoorde will review the quotes and look at the sites that they
referred to in their quotes . The Board tabled action on this .
Delta Engineering / RUA
Ms Marino said that she had heard a presentation from Delta. The Town of Newfield is
having Delta come and do a presentation on June 10th at 7 pm and this could be a good
opportunity for any Ulysses Board member to listen to more details .
NEW BUSINESS
Analysis of 'Town Zoning / Comprehensive Plan
Ms. Marino said the contract was signed with Bergmann for this review and part of that
included one meeting with representatives in the Town — Town Board members and other
representatives that use the Zoning Law on a regular basis or who are looking at
particular aspects of it to get an overall idea as to what' s working and what ' s not .
I Kimberly Baptiste of Bergmann will be doing that meeting, scheduled for June 21st at 9
am . Ms . Marino and Mr. Kerness will attend along with Ken Zeserson, PB Chair, Mr.
Rachun, Code Enforcement officer, the FaChair of the Lak Sore Zoning rmland Protecteonh Rod Hawks, PB member,
and Smith, John Wertis, Chair of the Ag
and Ms . Poelvoorde .
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Request from Cayuga Breeders - WD#3
The Town received a letter from the attorney for Cayuga Breeders, asking about the
possibility that Water District #3 could reduce the number of units they are charged for
water on their tax bill . They are currently charged for 10 units and they are not hooked
up and use no water. They are also requesting an explanation as to how units were
defined and why they are assigned 10 units . . . This number was originally established by
the engineer and is in the original Map Plan and Report.
Ms . Marino has asked Ms . Georgia and Mr. Austic to pull out any information they have
and both contacted Eric Pond to see if he had any additional information.
Ms . Geldenhuys has looked the available information over and researched the possibility
of changing unit allocations in a special water district and if so what the process would
be . Ms . Geldenhuys said that the district was formed through Article 12A (Town
initiative) . Ms . Geldenhuys has also contacted the NYS Association of Towns and so far
has found that under Article 12A there is no provision to change the Map Plan and Report
after district approval . Ms . Geldenhuys will look into this further and draft a letter of
response to the Cayuga Breeders attorney.
Public Comments
Ms . Watkins asked if anything further had been done with the Town of Ithaca and water.
Ms. Marino said that this will be the main topic for discussion at the June 23rd meeting.
9 : 41 pm Other
Schedule Meetings for June / July/ August
2nd Board Meeting in June rescheduled to June 23rd at 6 : 30 pm from the original date of
June 22nd.
7/ 13 , 2010 is still a good date for the Regular Town Board meeting. The Public Hearing
for the annual Stormwater on 7/ 13 at 7pm.
2nd Board meeting in July will be July 29 at 7 pm .
The August Regular Town Board meeting moved from August 10th to the next week on
August 16th at the same time. No second meeting scheduled at this time .
Appointment of Intern
The Board discussed hiring an intern for additional help .
Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Ms . Marino the following;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses appoint Eliza Newman
as Project Assistant at $ 12 per hour up to a 30 hours per week.
Ms. Marino aye
Ms . Thomas aye
Mr. Romer aye
Mr. Kerness aye
Adopted
Hearing no further business Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Mr. Romer to adjourn the
meeting. Unanimously approved and meeting adjourned at 10 : 07 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
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Marsha L. Georgia
Ulysses Town Clerk
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