Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-12-2023 Reg meetingTOWN OF GROTON –MEETING MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD – TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2023 AT 7:30 PM Town Officers Present: Town Officers Absent: Also Present: Donald F. Scheffler, Supervisor Chris Neville, Village Mayor Crystal Young, Councilperson Betty Conger, Village Board Sheldon C. Clark, Councilperson Terry Walpole, Village Board Richard Gamel, Councilperson Jean Morey, Village Board Brian Klumpp, Councilperson Lee Shurtleff, County Legislature Robin Cargian, Town Clerk Eric Deforrest, Groton Fire Chief Julie Graham, Bookkeeper Glen Morey Ellard Keister, Highway Supt. Mack Rankin, Dept. Highway W. Rick Fritz, Code Official Francis Casullo, Attorney 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 Town Board Meeting, Public Hearing minutes of November 14th and. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Motion Passed RESOLUTION #23-109‐ APPROVE PAYMENT OF INVOICES MOVED by Supervisor Scheffler, seconded by Councilperson Young, WHEREAS, vouchers for Abstract #12 for the Year 2023, numbered 477-520 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 27,568.97 DA HIGHWAY FUND 55,862.34 DB HIGHWAY FUND PART TOWN 6,002.10 SL2- PERUVILLE LIGHTING DISTRICT 91.88 SLl- MCLEAN LIGHTING DISTRICT 211.42 Total $89,736.71 Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Monthly Reports Julie Graham, Bookkeeper – My report has been submitted. There are Budget Adjustments as well as a policy addition. Changes to direct deposit of payroll will have to be made in person for the account in question. DB5110.4 General Repairs Contractual $2,075.00 To: DB5130.4 Machinery & Equipment Contractual $2,075.00 Town Board Minutes Page 2 December 12, 2023 A1990.4 Contingency $8,491.00 To: A1420.41 Attorney- Misc Contractual $7,874.00 To A1420.4 Attorney- Contractual $617.00 RESOLUTION #23-110- -APPROVE BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS MOVED by Councilperson Gamel seconded by Councilperson Clark to approve the Budget Adjustments as presented. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer submitted the following and reported the office will prepare to use the Cloudpermit software in January. Building Permits Issued: 6 Permits Completed: 0 Fire Safety Inspection 2 Training: 2 hrs. Permits Renewed:0 Building Inspections: 29 Complaints: 2 Zoning Permits:0 Certificates of Occupancy/Completion:0 Violation Notices:0 Site Plan Reviews:2 Subdivisions:0 Life Safety Inspections November 2023 Inspected - 1 Completed -1 Total 2023 Inspected -31 Total 2023 Completed - 31 Town Clerk, Robin Cargian: Denise and I attended the regional meeting in Geneva discussing Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). You always learn something new at those meetings and I appreciate going. Thank you very much for that. Country Acres Animal Shelter is applying for another Companion Animal Project Fund Grant. It was the same one they applied for last year. I have already sent them a letter of support. Taxes are coming, probably next week, all hands-on deck for that. With Rick’s software for Cloudpermit, do you want to discuss getting a tablet, a cell phone or data connection for that now, or wait until we get into that later? The software can input inspections on-site, which would need a data connection. I priced out a two-year contract for a business service cell phone the town would own, and a tablet was $3,000. Councilperson Gamel: Let’s give it a month or so and see how it goes. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer: I agree with that, I went to Verizon because we need the Wi-Fi in the field and the Town would need to purchase a tablet with a cell phone plan. We could try to do things from my phone, I would need to upgrade my plan and see how much that would cost. Supervisor Scheffler: See how it works and see if you are getting the right equipment. Town Clerk Cargian: He won’t be able to see how it works if he doesn’t have the equipment. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer: I have gone to other towns, and they are using just basic tablets. Town Clerk Cargian: Cloudpermit is web-based, he just needs to get online, there is no special software for the tablet itself. Councilperson Gamel: Can he use his phone as a hotspot? You can get the tablet. W. Rick Fritz, Code/Fire Enforcement Officer: Verizon says we could do that. Town Board Minutes Page 3 December 12, 2023 Councilperson Gamel: That would be a lot cheaper than spending $3,000.00 on a business plan. Town Clerk Cargian: Are we tabling this? We are ready with the program to launch to the public and get people into the swing of using it. Councilperson Klumpp: Having a mobile hot spot shouldn’t be $3,000. Town Clerk Cargian: It was a two-year business plan, cell phone, service, and tablet for $3,000 that would be owned by the Town. Councilperson Gamel: You have done most of the work on this, are you saying it is needed now? Town Clerk Cargian: I am throwing it out there that this is an expense you could see next month. Ellard Keister, Highway Superintendent: We have quite a bit going on rebuilding some of the trucks as salt is spreading more through the pans than out the auger. Tyler has been welding for two weeks on one and is finally at the point where it is functioning. Without a lot of snow thus far this year, we have been exercising these trucks every week to keep them up and running to find those problems before a snowstorm. This has become a task as 5 hydraulic lines blew in one day as we were doing that. It is one of the many things we are battling, which is why you will see an overdrawn repair budget. Everything from late September on has been on an emergency basis only. The preventative maintenance has been done. Dale has done one heck of a job with that this year including replacing a clutch in-house two weeks ago. We have two trucks on order. The one ordered three weeks ago has been pushed back to an April build, which will be the 9th new date I have gotten for that truck. We will have waited 4 years for it if it doesn’t arrive then. We will just keep going along the best we can. The brush head came in and is working great. We did some trials with it on the high lines for the Village, getting used to it and mowing with them. It is doing an excellent job and are pleased with that. I know we agreed to sell it and set up the auction to end today. It brought more than I anticipated at $3,700. I will need board approval to sell it at that or we can relist it and see if we can get more. RESOLUTION #23-111- -AUTHORIZE HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT TO SELL OLD BRUSH HEAD FOR $3,700. MOTION by Councilperson Klumpp, seconded by Supervisor Scheffler, authorizing the Highway Superintendent to sell the old brush head to the bidder on Auctions International for $3,700. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Superintendent Keister: We talked about reaching out countywide on the proposed highway cameras, I have done that and a few of the Superintendents are on board. It showed a high amount of interest. Lansing and the County are on board to do a couple and by doing so the cost has come down to $2,800 per camera. With the lack of snow this year, I feel we can work this out in this budget. The county has someone in charge of going over contracts, so I am leaning on them to review the liability. Once they are content, I will sign ours and get it in. We talked a few years ago about culverts, particularly on Clark St. Ext. I have been looking into an outside funding source and have even talked to State Legislatures about it. Bridge NY is an available funding opportunity. We try to do everything in-house, as we can do everything in-house. The problem becomes a budget issue as this is a very large bill, even doing it in-house. Much larger if you plan to complete it by contracting it out. Through these funding options, you almost have to contract it out. I Town Board Minutes Page 4 December 12, 2023 have been working on this through phone calls and emails for over a year. The County knows my situation and has reached out to me. They can get funding for three bridges and possibly five culverts a year. The county owns all bridges and is responsible for all the bridges in Groton. What they are asking the towns to do is to put forth towards their bridge NY Project. They are asking me to apply, put in all the paperwork and footwork for the Cemetery Lane Bridge. We as a town would then have to bond for the money. If we were awarded the grant, the State would pay 80% and the County would pick up the rest and anything over that amount. It would be a huge amount of work on my end. If I put this through along with some other towns, it would save the county enough to be able to repair/replace three others. Councilperson Klumpp: Why are they limited to three? Superintendent Keister: State Rules, three per year for region three. The grant would be up against the City of Ithaca’s requests. I don’t have the exact numbers, but I think the County gets 4 million which gets used up quickly on those bridges along with the culverts. Some of the other towns have bigger budgets. After my phone call with Jeff this morning, we decided we will have to let those other townships take this on as they have 4 people doing a job, whereas here, it is just me. We don’t have the grant writers, the lawyers looking at these things, these different aspects that would just get snowballed here. The Cemetery Lane Bridge is going through with the County instead of just me. We are also working with the County Soil and Water Engineer to do some diagrams for me for the past year and a half on the Clark St. Ext. culvert. The DEC wants everything 1.25 times the stream bed. What were two 7-foot culverts they will want ones that are 26 feet wide. Councilperson Gamel: Are you taking the Peg Mill culvert? Superintendent Keister: No, almost to the end by Champlin Rd. on the flats. It is just a floodplain. In the summer it doesn’t even run but it takes a substantial amount of runoff in your thaw season or storms. Those two seven-foot pipes will back up maybe once a year. It’s nothing into the road, it backs up into a field and dissipates out as soon as the water can catch up. But with DEC regulations and the Clean Water Act, you still have to go through the Army Corps of Engineers just for something that seems simple, and we could rip it out and replace it in two to three weeks. There are so many hands in it, You just can’t do things the way you did 30 years ago. I am actively working on that and have been sent a short list of approved consultants that will come out and look and give a free estimate. The only drawback to those consultants is they usually take over a job once they are granted the funding. I am still working with soil and water as far as size, to prolong it a year or two and see if we can budget that out and do it ourselves. Right now, without having the measurements from the engineer’s standpoint, I can’t make a decision on which way we should go with that. If it goes bridge-wise, we definitely can not fund this out with our budget. We will have to reach out to the Bridge NY Program and try to get on the list for funding, get the consultants, and get the engineers. Yes, it is the more expensive way, but the reimbursements are good. I will continue to keep you up to date on this process. It will be quite a large financial burden to us in the near future because the road is starting to deteriorate underneath that. Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo: Nothing to report. Recreation Coordinator, Councilperson Young: Nothing new to report. County Legislature, Lee Shurtleff: I am glad the Village Board is here because that saves me from giving the same report next week. I want to apologize for not making the meeting last month as it conflicted with the County’s Budget which was passed with an increase in the levy of 2%. Ultimately Town Board Minutes Page 5 December 12, 2023 with the change in the assessment base which has come on in the last few years, we are seeing a drop in the tax rate of over thirty cents per thousand, and over five years the county rate has dropped ninety cents or a dollar. However, your assessments have gone up significantly with a calculation being the average tax increase was $50 for a median-valued house of $249,000. Our median valued home in Groton is $150,000 so the impact isn’t as great out here. I wavered on supporting it with significant issues at play. The county has a significant reserve and is dealing with fallout from the pandemic, using the Covid reserve is keeping the airport and TCAT afloat. They have not raised the property tax levies but there may be a debate moving forward if those departments don’t recover. The Board, the Village Board, Glen, reached out to me regarding Youth Services Programs and there was funding put in permanently to support youth partnership participation. This also added staffing to the county Youth Bureau. I also moved and the county went along with, funding two sheriff deputy positions on a continuous permanent basis, where they have been renewed on a one-year basis each year. We also moved to add staffing and veteran services and the youth Bureau as well as early intervention programs within the health department to the rural communities. With those things considered and that advocacy, I thought it would be a little disingenuous to vote against the budget when there was a move to fund some of the rural initiatives that I had heard directly from some of our boards on. Given that, that's where the county ended with its budget this year. A couple of major projects going on is a move to create a rapid emergency response program. Don’s part of that discussion, Chris and others, trying to augment some of the weak responses we have gotten in emergency medical services in particular from some of the rescue squads around the county. I don’t know if any of you have read the Ithaca Voice articles, which state there are about 45% of calls, where first response rescue squads are not able to get out the door. This is shifting almost the entire burden onto the ambulance services. At the same time, you're seeing historic levels of EMS responses to older populations, mental health issues, you name it, it's all manifesting. The problem is we aren’t increasing those paramedic ranks. Very few people are taking the classes. Those that have paramedics had better incentivize them to keep them. It's getting tough. All the ambulances are backing each other up. We're starting to respond to areas over into Lansing, Cayuga County, and Cortland. At the same time, we're getting hit sometimes with two or three calls within 15 to 20 minutes period and we have ambulances coming in from Dryden and Four Town to back us up. This trend is going on all over the region, all of the state. It is directly related to the limited number of paramedics and advanced life support that are out there. The hope with this rapid response program is to get these basic EMTs out of some of these scenes and be able to hold them while the ambulances are being responded to. Also, in many cases, you have sign-offs of people who just need a quick evaluation. There are a lot of falls where we're helping people back up. In many of these cases, you may be able to save the ambulance response by adding that County element. This is factored into a shared services proposal that the Council of Governments was considering last night, and that the County will be voting on next week. There's hope that an expectation that with a joint approach, the first year's funding will come through a shared services grant. The County placed 50% of this program funding into the budget for 2024 and also placed the other 50% into contingency, in case these partnerships and the State Grant did not come through. I don't know, but you may have an update on that Don? Supervisor Scheffler: They voted to continue the research of the grant and apply. County Legislature, Lee Shurtleff: It is the prime candidate for a share services proposal that went out to municipalities. They're hopeful and they think that it’s a strong application. It could be considered a pilot program, there's not anything quite as similar. I applaud the County for coming at it from a basic life support stance as that's 50% of the work we do. Town Board Minutes Page 6 December 12, 2023 Supervisor Scheffler: Some questions from certain municipalities feel they will never use it, so they don’t want to pay for it. County Legislature, Lee Shurtleff: I have been in the midst of that argument as well. There are certain legislators who are strongly advocating for a cost-sharing proposal. I find it difficult to come up with an equitable formula. It has been laid out to them that in particular that the Village of the Groton, the Town of Groton, The Village Trumansburg, the Town of Ulysses, The Town and Village of Dryden, all, very heavily spend property tax dollars specifically for emergency medical services to ensure that there are emergency life support and ambulances services. These are towns that do invest to the tune of hundreds of thousands, actually millions of dollars by the time you add Groton, Dryden, and Ulysses together. I don't know that a cost-sharing program would be fair to come back to Groton to supplement that, other than the fact that the response may relieve us in other areas. The other argument gets made that the city has a full-time paid Fire Department, and they typically have a first response at a basic life support level where we are funding EMS indirectly. At the same time, you've got some other towns that have very small budgets, and small reserves, that are most going to benefit from this program and can least afford to do the cost share. This is going to be a protracted conversation. My hope is they can get the grant, fund it for the first year, and come next fall have some valuable numbers. Other than that the Sheriff’s Department is starting with a crisis support team in partnership with Mental Health to respond to certain calls and will hopefully alleviate some of that stress on EMS, emergency rooms, and some of the more violent situations that they have had to deal with. Ellard mentioned the Bridge NY Program and one of the bridge projects that is coming up is West Cortland St. I think it goes to design this year. Hopefully, construction in 2025 if they can't bump it up. The County is bidding on it. So the bridge by Baker Miller will be replaced. A lot of coordination will have to take place because of the traffic patterns that originate here and from TCAT. Groton Fire Chief, Eric Deforrest: I don't have a whole lot to go over but as Lee mentioned, we have been busy. We are at 1042 calls to date with a couple of weeks left in the season, which could be a historic high for us. With the way that conditions have been in the region with staffing our volunteers are being asked to step up more and more. As Lee mentioned about the second and third calls coming in, we are covering most of them in-house. We have done an amazing job with getting crews out. We have EMTs going through class right now. Plus, seven or eight active EMTs jumped in a rig as long as they got a driver. We are covering calls without having to bring in Bangs or Dryden. Hats off to our department for stepping up when they needed to the most. We had one member who just graduated from boot camp in Cortland, gaining us an interior firefighter that is very hard to come by these days. She is young, she is eager, and she replaces some of those who don't want to go into the buildings anymore. We have a couple more signed up that are going through the default with the anticipation of going through the interior class taking place next summer. Something that Tompkins County has struggled with for years is having fire instructors within our county that offer classes. Instructors either come out to us or they offer everything in Montour and we travel there. Right now, the County has up to five instructors, and we have been paying for two outside instructors in the past. With this increase of instructors, there will be an increase in available classes that a lot of these newer members need to advance in extrication, survival, or if they want to become officers someday. Lots of community events are coming up. We just did the tree lighting down here on the Boulevard. It worked out well to have the road to ourselves. We probably had 100 people down here which is a little low from what we typically see. Saturday the 16th we're doing our second year of the food drive around town. We just got it on Facebook. There is going to be a town drop-off location at the fire station. Last year we didn't incorporate the Town. The Town residents can drop off at the fire station between 11:00 and 2:00. Starting at 11:00, Santa will be driving around the Village on the fire Town Board Minutes Page 7 December 12, 2023 truck to see the kids and collect food for the pantry. Hopefully, it will be warmer than it was last year. We are trying to grow this event every year as the need is there. Scott Land Lights, up on Rt. 38, is sponsoring us again this year with his shirt sales. We get a portion of the proceeds that last year brought us a $750 check. We agreed that we would put this towards our kids’ camp to make it bigger and better. Last year we were able to add activities for the kids that were a huge success. Nominations will be held with the same five chiefs running. The 865 spot remains uncontested, so you are stuck with me for another year. Supervisor Scheffler, CS Energy: Just a bit to report. We through the attorneys, have applied for the intervenor funds through the State ORES. We are waiting for a reply. Organizational Date & Time RESOLUTION #23-112 – SET ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 2024 MOTION BY Supervisor Scheffler second by Councilperson Gamel to set the 2024 Organizational and Board Meeting for January 9th at 7:30 PM. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays - Village of Groton Board Village of Groton Mayor, Chris Neville: Thank you all for allowing us to meet with you tonight. As most of you know by now, we will be taking on a serious debt load to pay for the new facility on Main St. that was going to house the Village Clerk’s office, the Fire Department, and the Ambulance. That Debt, though the exact payment, is not known, will have a significant tax impact on the Village. In my thinking on this issue, as the Fire Department covers 3/4 of the Town of Groton and the Ambulance covers the entire Town of Groton, is that the town taxpayers should make some contributions towards this project. This building will house the Fire Equipment and the Ambulances, provide bunking and training space, and also provide space for public use so that town residents will get the benefit of this new facility as much as the Village Residents. Plus it will be used as a Fallout Shelter in case of a disaster with a total commercial kitchen being built into it. Until we know what the payments will be at this time, it is somewhat hard to determine what we should ask of the town. I think it is to be thought out and not so high that you will outright reject it or the town will. Enough that it will have a positive impact on the village. I am thinking somewhere in the $50,000 or $70,000 range for your 2025 budget. Just to use for an example, say we borrow in the neighborhood of 3 to 3.5 Million dollars, even at zero percent interest for the village that calculates to about $117,000 per year, for 30 years which is the max you can borrow on a municipal building. Any contribution that you all may consider would help tremendously. I want to thank you again for your consideration on this matter. We would have gotten to you earlier but there were some health issues. So at this time, is there anybody else, Terri or Lee who would like to speak on behalf of the Village? Trustee Walpole: I just like to reinforce that figure you spoke of, $117,000 on principal - the 0% interest, it would be impossible to know what the interest rate is going to be until the bond is put out there. It will be significantly more than that figure. Councilperson Klumpp- It is after the fact but why wasn’t the Town approached before the project was proposed or during the planning stages? Councilperson Gamel- That was going to be my question too. Typically, if I am going to build something, I would know where the money is coming from before I start putting things together. Fire Dept Rep, Lee Shurtleff: We talked about it at the (Village) budget presentation for the Capital Reserve program. I will give you some background and add some context. In 1990, we had a consultant come in and do Town Board Minutes Page 8 December 12, 2023 some long-term planning for the Fire Department and give us some ideas. Our focus at that time was equipment needs, fire apparatus, and a little bit on the ambulance. The things that came out from the consultant who had been head of the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control for many years said you guys are not thinking about the most important and most expensive consideration you can have and that is a building. You are in something that is 30 plus years old that is not in good shape, that doesn’t have the room for the expansion that you may need in the future with equipment and everything else. We took that to heart and the fire department established a capital reserve fund the first year I was Fire Chief. I hate telling you how many years ago that was. We have been building that capital reserve fund since 1991. The Village has been working with us throughout that time. We have been looking at dozens of locations. By the time we got done, we thought we might be able to establish a building. The next part of it was to take a look at the building itself. In the late 1990’s we hired Agner Architects to come in who designed the rehab of the current building with an expansion on the south side. In 1997-1998 it was short of a 3-million-dollar project, and we weren’t going to gain any more space or more parking and it wasn’t practical to move forward to put money towards the building. Slowly moving forward, we evaluated another dozen sites within the community and even looked at the Fish Farm on State Route 222. I know I spoke with you guys about that in budget hearings in the past. As that turned out the Village stepped forward and we don’t want to have this on the hill. It needs to be centered down (in the village), and they committed. The Groton Bank made a very generous offer to sell Walter’s site as a potential, and we have moved forward on that. Four years ago, we went out to bid on the building, and we hired an architect, we, the Village and I am speaking as a Fire Department Representative, hired an architect. Beardsley came in and a 20,000 sqft structure was proposed. I know we have talked about that at one point or another, as it was quite publicly known. The project was estimated to cost 4.5 million dollars. The Village Board discussed it at the time, and the impact if we were to move forward with it, could potentially raise the tax rate by 30%. However, they would look into several different funding scenarios including selling various properties, seeking grant monies, and using capital reserve funds that had been started within the Village budget. The project went out to bid and 4.5 million came back at 8 million at which point the Village Board stopped the project and said we can’t do this. The Fire Department acknowledged this as well. So we took the 20,000 sq ft structure, changed the style of construction, looked at several different scenarios, cut the Police Department out, and shrunk it down by 6,000 sq ft so we are at 16,000 sq ft. Bids came in at 3.6 million dollars. We have three options as to the type of heating. The desire amongst all parties was to electrify it and take advantage of the Village Electric system as much as we could, with some thought that if we were to use some underground heat exchange or Geothermal options then we would become eligible for some NYSERDA funding to help. The problem was once we got down and opened up the site, it turned out there was a lot of concrete, steel, and a lot of foundations underneath there as well as underground utilities. This was not practical to move forward with Geothermal and that option came off the table. We are sitting at 3.6 million dollars. The Fire Department, during that same period we have talked about from 1990 moving forward has set aside and raised in capital reserve funds an excess of $800,000. We have transferred that $800,000 to the Village, as a down payment on this project. We have also committed that any change orders or enhancements that the Fire Department adds to it, overhead doors some other decorative additions, we are also putting towards that capital reserve fund, the money to cover those cost overages. They are using the number of 3.6 million dollars; it may end up there. I think they will probably be bonding for less. There are two points I want to leave you with. This project has been significantly amended from where we were four years ago when we were talking 22,000 sqft. We have gone to a very basic design. It should meet the needs of the Fire Department and the Village office moving forward as well as the community center which we have heard continuously from several partners. They want to see a facility that can be used for community purposes as well as a fallout shelter that the mayor has alluded to. The second part is that the contributions that the Town has been making towards the fire contracts have been applied to the capital reserve and are being turned over along with many thousands of dollars of donations that we have gone out and solicited and fundraised for. This is a thirty-year program that has been coming forward and is reflected in the budget deliberations that we have with the Town and Village. We are at the point where if we are going to stay in the ambulance business, and I think we need to stay in it if we are going to provide the level of response you have, we have got to move forward with these facilities and have moved forward. I wanted to give you the broader picture of where we started, where we are today, and what we have done to bring this down to a reasonable scope of work. There is a significant downpayment the fire department has put down and the Village is bringing forward in Capital as well. There is a lot to see here as we move forward but they are on top of it. Someone is Town Board Minutes Page 9 December 12, 2023 down there every day watching the contractors. As far as I know, there have been no change orders requested by the fire department, and have agreed to pay. So, there is a little more background as we have a conversation. Councilperson Young- Why did you decide not to go with any geothermal system? You can do the air source system. NYSERDA does give significant funding for that. Trustee Conger – We don’t qualify for NYSERDA because we are a municipal electric. Councilperson Young- They can still give you points that would give you…I can talk to you more about the point system where you can get kickbacks based on energy savings. Fire Dept Rep, Lee Shurtleff- I think with the electrification the Village is entitled to some of that funding. It is a solid electric structure. There are no gas-supporting facilities in there. My point to it was that we have reduced $150,000 of the estimated cost by not being able to go with the geothermal. Mayor Neville – Crystal, I am sure we have been told that we do not qualify for NYSERDA because we go through another program called IEP, the Intermunicipal Electric Program. We can check into it. Councilperson Young- You stated you took the police department out of it, are they staying in the old building? Mayor Neville- Our long-term goal is to move them down there on the same site eventually. Trustee Walpole- Going back to the Geothermal, in the early stages of this project there were test borings done across the site. With my experience with Empire Soils a few years back, I was afraid that those test boring would not do the job of showing what was down there as they could miss a lot. When the contractors started digging, I don’t remember the exact footage, but it was something like six to eighteen hundred feet of trenching that had to be five to six feet deep, once they started with the excavations, they ran into so many chunks of concrete and steel. All kinds of things that the cost to do would have gone up exponentially. Councilperson Young- That is with a ground source, but I know there is an air source heat pump system too. I just didn’t know if there was any difference. Trustee Walpole- The good news is the building will never sink. Supervisor Scheffler: Are there any more questions on it? I think this is something we are going to have to think about and talk about further. The budget is done for this coming year already. Trustee Walpole- If we could go back to Brian’s statement that he made a while ago. I would have to agree that we, and not that anyone in particular, including me, I think we should have come to you considerably earlier with this request. Councilperson Klumpp- I one hundred percent support the program, and the building without a doubt. I lived in the Village for plus 30 years and have a building right next to it. It is just a little disappointing, if we are being asked to pay a significant chuck, that it would have been nice to have someone at the table when things were being presented. To have a say in the design when all of this was in process. Trustee Walpole- I happen to agree but I think even though that is not the case, your help in contributing would be greatly appreciated. Councilperson Young- Well I think it is necessary. More than just greatly appreciated, I think it is expected and necessary because the Town does benefit from the ambulance and fire services as well. Town Board Minutes Page 10 December 12, 2023 Mayor Neville- Glenn correct me if I am wrong, but years ago when you were in Don’s position, which Lee kind of hit on that, we had a few discussions about the fire station and building it back a while ago. I do get your point that we should have come to you sooner and at least kept somebody informed here, from the building committee. We had a whole separate committee that worked on this. Councilperson Klumpp- Or had a member from the town on that committee if we are being asked to pay for it. That is too late now, and it is all water under the bridge. I am sure you have full support here, at least from one of us. Supervisor Scheffler- We will consider it. We are not flush with money either. Councilperson Klumpp- To clarify, I did not mean the financial aspect but that we understand the situation. Supervisor Scheffler- I get it too, I do. I buy chicken every time I drive by because we want you there and we want the fire department to succeed. It is one hundred percent necessary. Trustee Walpole- Our fire department and ambulance service have had one of the best response times as anyplace in the state. They do a great job. Privilege of the Floor No one wished to speak. MOTION TO Enter into Executive Session for a contract discussion was made by Supervisor Scheffler seconded by Councilperson Gamel at 8:32 PM. The attorney and bookkeeper were asked to be present. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – THE MOTION TO reconvene the regular session made by Councilperson Gamel seconded by Councilperson Klumpp at 9:10 PM. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – MOTION TO allow payment of outstanding fees for Harter Secrest Legal services rendered, should the funds from CS Energy not come as previously agreed upon., made by Councilperson Gamel, Second by Councilperson Klumpp. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – A MOTION once the legal teams are paid, the Groton Town Board halts all activity until CS Energy (Yellow Barn Solar) or the Intervenor funds are approved, unless there is something detrimental to the Town of Groton, made by Councilperson Gamel, Second by Councilperson Clark. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays – Attorney for the Town, Fran Casullo - Starting in January, a bill will need to be sent to the agreed upon bookkeeper, who needs to pay these within 30 days. Councilperson Young – I am wondering where the money will come for the equipment for Rick. I did not see it in this year’s budget. Councilperson Gamel: I am reluctant to pay for something without Rick seeing if it will work or not. Town Board Minutes Page 11 December 12, 2023 Town Clerk Cargian- There is roughly $1600 left in accounts he can use. It is going to take overcoming technology for everyone. Nothing special, just Wi-Fi service via a hot spot would work. His phone is too small. The software is web based and is set up for a desktop, so having a tablet makes things larger and easier to maneuver. Inspections can be requested from this platform and can be done on-site which allows for instant accountability. We can encumber that money to use it the following year. Councilperson Young- It will be important down the road, and I think once everyone gets used to it he will like it. I just want to make sure he doesn’t need an iPad or a MacBook Pro as that is a huge difference in cost. I think there are plans you can buy monthly that include those. A MOTION TO encumber $1400 from Zoning Equipment and $245.90 from Zoning Contractual to 2024 budget Zoning Equipment, to purchase technology or internet plans to operate Cloud permit, made by Councilperson Gamel, seconded by Councilperson Young. Ayes – Clark, Young, Klumpp, Gamel, Scheffler Resolution Passed Nays Announcements: • The Zoning Board of Appeals, December Meeting has been canceled. • Planning Board Meeting, Thursday, December 21, 2023 @ 7:30 pm There being no further business, Councilperson Gamel moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilperson Clark, at 9:20 PM Unanimous. Robin Cargian, RMC Town Clerk/Tax Collector