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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6-13-2023TOWN OF GROTON – MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING TUESDAY, June 13, 2023, AT 7:30 PM Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also, Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Mack Rankin, Dept. Highway Eric Deforrest, Fire Chief Richard Gamel, Councilperson Brian Klumpp, Councilperson Crystal Young, Councilperson Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Ellard Keister, Highway Supt. Robin Cargian, Town Clerk Francis Casullo, Attorney Julie Graham, Bookkeeper W. Rick Fritz, Code Official The meeting was called into session with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:30 pm. MOVED by Councilperson Klumpp seconded by Councilperson Gamel, to approve the minutes of the May 9, 2023 Town Board Meeting. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed RESOLUTION #23-061- -APPROVE HUMAN SERVICES AGREEMENT 2023 MOVED by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp to approve the Human Services Agreement of 2023 and allow the dispersal of the budgeted $1500.00 Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays- RESOLUTION #23-062‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES MOVED by Councilperson Clark, seconded by Councilperson Young, WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #6 for the Year 2023, numbered 226-277 were reviewed and and audited by the Town Board, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby approves said vouchers which will make the accounts in the Total amounts as follows: A GENERAL FUND 34,048.30 B GENERAL FUND PART TOWN 15,750.46 DA HIGHWAY FUND 28,392.24 DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 190,313.60 SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 91.90 SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 146.70 Total $268,743.21 Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Nays - Resolution Passed Town Board Minutes Page 2 June 13, 2023 Monthly Reports Julie Graham, Bookkeeper – You have my report, there is one budget adjustment moving $282 in the General Fund A into A1620.41 because the invoice came in over what it was last year. The auditors were here in May and everything went well. RESOLUTION #23-063- -APPROVE BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp to approve the Budget Adjustments: From: A1990.4 Contingency $282.00 To: A1620.41 Building Alarm System $282.00 Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays- W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer submitted the following report. Building Permits Issued:10 Permits Completed: 5 Fire Safety Inspections: 0 Training: 2 Days of Classes Permits Renewed:0 Building Inspections: 41 Complaints:0 Zoning Permits:0 Certificates of Occupancy/Completion: 2 Violation Notices:0 Site Plan Reviews:0 Subdivisions:0 Life Safety Inspections May 2023 Inspected - 1 Completed - 1 Total 2023 Inspected -14 Total 2023 Completed - 14 Rick presented the shared service information being developed by the Tompkins County Legislature and the County Planning and Sustainability Department. They have invested in a consultant to interview the code officials and gather information to develop a shared services program because it is becoming increasingly more difficult to fill the position of a code officer. There are many reasons for this. The increase of State regarding training, the complexity of the building code test which went web- based, the increase of the responsibility on code officials such as stormwater management safety, FEMA updates, energy code compliance, NYSERDA training, DEC training, some of which we don’t even get credits for towards are required amount of training per year to maintain our certification and any new record requirements for the State and Federal government. You are very unlikely to get someone willing to work for the low wages that have been offered out there. I have spoken to officials in the County of Seneca as they have gone this avenue of a county-wide program and is reported to be much worse for the code official. There may be other valid reasons for the county to do this as it would make it very easy for the assessment department to access the code work that is done. There were some requests to take photos inside homes. This begins to be an invasion of privacy and I am against participating in many of the areas that they are working towards. I am only there to make sure the structure is code compliant and safe, not assist in the work of the assessment department. The other aspect of this is the shared service program will require, if I am called to another community, they are expecting the Town to financially support this. If a service is provided, I feel that other communities should pay the Town of Groton for said service. We help the Village of Groton, we don’t charge them so they can get their code official up and running. The Village official will help to fill in for me when I am on vacation or out. It’s right here and I am here anyway. Councilperson Gamel- Why is the DEC involving you? They used to come out and do their own enforcement of regulations. Town Board Minutes Page 3 June 13, 2023 W. Fritz, Code Official - They still do but they want us to be aware of their rules and regulations in case we are called with a question that is their responsibility. I also am cautious of having several people involved in the inspections as I do not know how another code official is going to know what I told a contractor yesterday. The county is also looking at how it can create county-wide zoning. Councilperson Klumpp- What would you recommend we do? Upstate is filled with Towns like us who complain and are even able to get organized but doesn’t seem to affect Albany. Nothing seems to come from it because we don’t have enough representation. I feel the county agenda looks innocent, fulfilling a lofty goal but in the end, we lose our ability to have a say in our community. Supervisor Scheffler- Was there something we needed to do with this? Town Clerk, Cargian – In your packet is a survey that was emailed which requested the town rate what they would need the most out of these services offered, and if you were willing to share costs. Councilperson Young –I trust what Rick is saying but I haven’t even looked at it to be able to reply now. I would like to take some time to look at it more before we answer anything. W. Fritz, Code Official- Quite a few code officials have gained understanding after these meetings and were unhappy about it. They would prefer to just work in their own municipality. They are worried about what is going to happen when they get older and are ready to retire. Councilperson Klumpp- I think something that gets lost all the time, is looking for more than one solution to the problem. Of course, the county government is going to say let us take over and control the problem. The State government is also going to say the solution is, let us take over everything and the Federal government does the same darn thing. Our whole system of government was based on the people who know the community the best. The best people to come up with the best policies are the people who are in the community. “Home Rule.” The closer the government is to the people the more effective and the less corrupt it is. Councilperson Gamel – We can review the survey all we want but I feel this is a bad idea. I do not want anyone telling me what kind of siding I can have or what trees I can plant in my yard. W. Fritz, Code Official – In my view, Assessment shouldn’t be determining the value on what is inside the home. It should be based on the square footage of the home not if there is a chandelier, an expensive kitchen sink, or a wash tub. They are even using drones. I went to Corning College as I thought assessment was something I might want to do. So I know exactly what they are supposed to do, it should be the square footage. I don’t feel comfortable with all this as it feels like a stepping stone to total county control. Councilperson Young – There are certain things that are good about shared services. Councilperson Klumpp- Every government agenda sounds good, but may not be in our best interest in the end. Councilperson Young- If you do find you are sharing more, we will have to look at the budget and know how many hours you are spending. Town Board Minutes Page 4 June 13, 2023 W. Fritz, Code Official – You can’t do a good job being a part-time code official. I have gone out on weekends before to try to prevent animosity. It is easier sometimes to just go instead of getting there and concrete has already been poured, even if you have made a reservation and I didn’t see it and it won’t pass. Now that contractor has put the landowner in violation. The state has an oversite committee, and they can look at our files and everything I do. I just wanted to give you an introduction to see what was in the works. Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent – Not much going on. We did get the paving done. I am happy with the product. It turns out using the millings stock from the county at $6.50 per ton vs. $74 per ton of asphalt. We did a little over a mile of road for under $100,000. If it was done with hot mix and a binder, it would be close to $230,000-$240,000. We will be using that on lower-traffic roads. The key is to seal it up with oil and stone this year or you will start having problems. The oil and stone that was planned for the year is done. I was a little shy on the fall chips money that we had budgeted for as we had inflation then. This year we haven’t seen inflation as bad. As we are under budget, we can continue to do more projects. The Village has the plan to pave Clark St. As they do that, I would want to take it from our line to Old Stage. I have a bad spot on Champlin Rd. that is just past Elm St. I would like to pave it to St. Rt. 222. The quote for both projects received today would be $92,780.01. If I can have approval, I will get this on their schedule when the machines come to town. Again, we do have the chips money, even if we went over, we would be financially stable. RESOLUTION- #23-064- - AUTHORIZE THE HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TO PAVE CLARK STREET TO OLD STAGE ROAD AND CHAMPLIN PAST ELM STREET TO ROUTE 222. RESOLUTION by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Klumpp to pave the Clark St. and Champlin Rd. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays- Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent – We are still in search of an employee to fill an operator/laborer position. This is not just a local issue. Everyone is having the same difficulty. I have gotten one local candidate who is retired from corrections, who has a CDL- automatic endorsement, which we feel after a permit and road test, can be switched over to a manual endorsement. He is willing to work up to 20-30 hours a week as was not looking for full-time. After some consideration, this 20-30 hour a week can get him comfortable during the summer and create an on-call plow operator. The position will remain open online. Keep in mind we have not paid anyone for this position for over a year. I would like to hire him. He is aware the full-time position is still open. We can discuss keeping a part-time on-call position now or we can have that conversation when it happens. Keeping a part-time position would save you on overtime and the strain long severe weather conditions have on the staff. Other townships give a higher hourly rate to compensate that individual to sit on their couch and wait for a phone call, which is something to keep in mind but nothing we must decide on. I would like a decision on hiring a part-time person as I do not have a solution for the current job market. MOTION by Councilperson Gamel seconded by Councilperson Klumpp approves the Highway Superintendent hire a part-time employee for training towards an on-call plow operator at the rate of $19.50, filling the full-time operator position that is open for now. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed Nays- Town Board Minutes Page 5 June 13, 2023 Robin Cargian RMC, Town Clerk & Tax Collector – We are at the end of the testing and training for the building permit software so we should be able to start using it soon. Fran Casullo, Town Attorney – Nothing to report. Councilperson Young, Representative to Joint Youth Program- The Joint Recreation Committee meeting had to be postponed. I did meet with the Tompkins County Youth Partnership today and the budget was discussed. Our portion will be lower than last year by approximately $160 because we have the lowest percentage of participation. I will have more after the county passes it. Eric Deforrest, Groton Fire Chief - Cresting 500 calls this year, with the fire side being super busy as it has been so dry. People need to be very aware of conditions as they decide to recreational burn. We assisted in the house explosion in Locke where there was a propane leak under their house. This leak had gone on for days and they assumed it was a deceased animal. Every time they took the stove out to check it made the hole bigger until conditions were right and blew the house off the foundation. The occupants survived and I hear they are coming home soon. I don’t think I will ever see anything like it again. There were about 20-plus Groton members attending the fire call for 166 Main St. showing the recruitment and membership efforts are having a positive result. We also had a huge response from Dryden, McLean, and Locke containing the fire to just a kitchen and partial dining room. We got to use our new air packs on this call and are happy to report they are amazing. You forget like it’s even there, so a big upgrade for us. June 16th we will be up at the Elementary school for field days and kids camp is next month. We will have a committee meeting tonight, expecting to change things up as it was getting too predictable. I hope to have Guthrie’s Mercy Flight on the 12th of July. To piggyback on what Rick was describing county assistance, something similar is in the works for EMS. Tompkins County has decided to hire its own medics and purchase some fly cars to intercept calls. I have been against this from the beginning as we have enough agencies involved. If they want to help, they should help us hire people to put the money back into the service that exists. This in turn helps everybody as it keeps those agencies going. Last I knew, they have been unsuccessful in filling the positions as the proposed fly cars were equipped with only jump bags to simply stabilize individuals. This really gains nothing by doing this. The bottom line we are trying to get across is you are funneling resources away from the agencies providing the service, to begin with. Our EMS billing is almost ready to go live so we can recover costs even going out of district. I feel this band-aid fix they are attempting will only make it worse. Supervisor Scheffler- A few years ago the county was going to do truck repair for all the towns in a common shop. That didn’t go anywhere either. Supervisor Scheffler, CSE Solar Update- CS Energy had an informal meeting with some easels, charts, and much better maps than we have gotten so far. They are having two official community meetings on the 22nd in Lansing and the 23rd in Groton. It will be the same meeting in either Town and I encourage everyone to go and ask questions. Things seem to be moving along now. We are getting letters from law offices. Fran Casullo, Town Attorney- I have reached out to Paul Sylvestre and he agrees it is time to set up a meeting with Ed, Guy, Don, and myself to get a game plan together as things will progress very quickly after these meetings. To be proactive, I would like to set up a structure for the next steps to be prepared to protect the interests of both towns. Councilperson Klumpp – What are some of the things we need to protect ourselves from? Town Board Minutes Page 6 June 13, 2023 Fran Casullo, Town Attorney- I think we have some say as to where this information is going. I want to make sure the correct people are seeing any new information we are being sent. Mitch needs to be made aware of this. Both towns need to be prepared for the host agreements. End of Monthly reports RESOLUTION #23-065- -RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH STANDARD WORKDAY AND REPORTING FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS RESOLUTION by Councilperson Young seconded by Councilperson Gamel to establish the standard workday and reporting. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Discussion and Action on Code Changes: Comments from the committee were reviewed to be effective in other Special Permit provisions and will be included in that section. A resolution to hold a Special Meeting on June 27th at 5:00 pm to continue the discussion regarding the section specific to large-scale green energy, solar was made by Councilperson Gamel, second by Supervisor Scheffler. Ayes – Young, Clark, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Fran Casullo, Town Attorney – I Will check to see if you need a public hearing to pass this. You can all get it in the final form and once you are happy with it I need to make sure we are passing it correctly. ARPA Funding Designation RESOLUTION #23-066- -RESOLUTION TO DESIGATE THE USE OF REMAINING ARPA FUNDING. Town Board Minutes Page 7 June 13, 2023 MOVED made by Supervisor Scheffler, second by Councilperson Clark to designate the remaining ARPA funds to cover the salt shed concrete flooring, ADA compliance construction to the building front entry, and any leftover would go to the Box Culvert project on Clark St. Ext. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Voter ID resolution: RESOLUTION #23-067- URGING THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL TO DRAFT AND ENACT LEGISLATION REGARDING A VOTER'S IDENTIFICATION PROCESS The following resolution was offered by: COUNCILMAN GAMEL and seconded by: COUNCILMAN YOUNG WHEREAS, this country was formed on the principles of democracy and our forefathers fought for our right to elect our representation; and WHEREAS, the majority of the states in the U.S. require a voter's identification to increase the public's confidence and ensure a fair election process; and WHEREAS, the Board of Elections may not get notification of a voter registering in another location or of a death of a registered voter; and WHEREAS, in an economy where the Board of Elections may not have sufficient funding or staffing to purge voters rolls of individuals who no longer live in each election district or county, as required; and WHEREAS, in a day and age where the ability to work does not necessarily need to be where you live, this allows for more individuals to be transient in nature and the addition of voter's identification will assist in keeping all voter rolls current; and WHEREAS, in the State of New York the requirement is to compare the signature on file, this doesn't necessarily help maintain current voter registration, as name and address changes are not necessarily communicated in the current process, also this would assist in the purging of the roles of individuals who are no longer active voters in that county; and WHEREAS, the subject of the resolution is not an action as defined by 6 _N.Y.C.R.R. §617.2 (b), and therefore no further SEQRA review is required. NOW, THEREFORE, THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF GROTON, HEREBY REQUESTS that the New York State Legislature and Governor Hochul draft and enact legislation to allow for a voter's identification process to assist with maintaining voter's registration rolls; and BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Clerk is hereby directed to forward certified copies of this resolution to Governor Hochul, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader, Town Board Minutes Page 8 June 13, 2023 Carl E. Heastie, Speaker of the Assembly and the Tompkins Delegation to the New York State Legislature; Assemblymember Anna Kelles, and Senator Lea Webb. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – The Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. At 8:55 pm a Motion to enter into an Executive Session to discuss the proposed acquisition/sale/lease of real property when publicity might affect value was made by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Gamel. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Councilperson Young made the Motion to close the executive session where no decisions were made and resume regular meeting, second by Councilperson Gamel Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Announcements:  Zoning Board of Appeals, Wednesday, June 21st at 7:00 pm  Planning Board Meeting, Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 7:30pm  CS Energy Yellow Barn solar community meeting at the Town Hall, June 23, 2023, @ 7:00pm  There is no primary election in the Town of Groton on June 27th. There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson Clark, at 9:37 pm. Unanimous. Robin Cargian, RMC Town Clerk/Tax Collector