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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-02-11-RTB Town of Ulysses Regular Town Board Meeting February 11 , 2013 Audio available at www. ulysses . ny . us Present : Supervisor Marino ; Councilpersons Elizabeth Thomas ; Lucia Tyler, Kevin Romer; David Kerness ; Environmental Planner Darby Kiley; Town Clerk Marsha L . Georgia and Attorney Geldenhuys . Absent : Highway Superintendent James Meeker; Others Present : Heinz and Anna Riederer and Diane Hillman Supervisor Marino called the meeting to order at 7 : 00 p . m . APPROVAL OF AGENDA Ms . Marino modified the agenda with the Board ' s approval . APPROVAL OF CLAIMS Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Mr. Romer the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approve the previous examined voucher # 13 through 74 in the amount of $ 64, 119 . 15 . Ms . Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness aye Adopted BUDGET MODIFICATIONS YE 2012 Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Mr. Romer the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses make the following year-end budget modifications for 2012 : A Fund A1220 . 12 Deputy Supervisor PS increase $ 101 A 1990 . 4 Contingency decrease 101 DB Fund DB9060 Medical Insurance increase $262 . 97 DB5110 .4 Highway Maintenance CE decrease 262 . 97 Ms . Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness aye Adopted APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Mr. Kerness the following : r Regular Town Board Meeting 2 February 11 , 2013 BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses approves the edited minutes of the Regular Town Board meeting of January 8 , 2013 and the Organizational Meeting of January 3 , 2013 Ms . Marino abstained Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness aye Adopted REPORTS OF :REPRESENTATIVES Tompkins County Legislator Jim Dennis not in attendance . Trumansburg Fire Department & EMS no one in attendance . Mr. Romer is in receipt of their monthly report and will email it to the Town Board . Trumansburg Village no one in attendance . Mr. Romer has reached out to the Village to send a representative to our meetings . Jacksonville Association President Diane Hillman expressed her concerns about the Town working on zoning revisions concerning Jacksonville . TOWN REPORTS Environmental Planner/ Zoning Officer Darby Kiley reported :_(report can be heard in its entirety on the Ulysses web site) . Planning Board - Work on the Site Plan Review process for the Shur Save expansion; approved a minor subdivision on the northeast corner of Swamp College and Halseyville Roads ; started discussion on the work plan for 2013 . Ad Hoc Zoning Committee - met on January 29th and the discussion focused on docks ; Next meeting February 28th will include discussion on lot size and stream setbacks . ITCTC - NYSDOT is accepting applications for transportation infrastructure projects through the Strategic Transportation Enhancement Program ; NYSDOT is proposing a reclassification of SR-79 and passed a resolution in recognition and appreciation of Sue Poelvoorde ' s years of service and contributions to the ITCTC . Hazard Mitigation Plan - January 23 , 2013 to discuss the action item prioritization. The mitigation action items that are specific to Ulysses include : Reduce of escarpment erosion along South Street Extension at Taughannock Creek, and how to coordinate any necessary sandbagging along Maplewood Point or Willow Point Roads . Town Clerk Marsha L. Georgia reported that the total fees collected for January were $ 1287 . 50 and $ 1 , 155 . 83 was turned over to the Supervisor along with her monthly report. Ms . Georgia emailed a draft resolution for the Board to consider on property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled property owners . Ms . Georgia met with Tompkins County Clerk ' s Office to discuss joining in a shared grant process for records . She reported TC Health Care meeting was cancelled for January and February. Supervisor Marino distributed the monthly financial statements and gave the 2012 final year- end operating statements to the Clerk to copy for the Board . Other projects that have been previously discussed that are in the works are : • Working with our Attorney and Habitat for Humanity to draft a contract where the Town would partner with them in their Brush for Kindness pilot project for Jacksonville Regular Town Board Meeting 3 February 11 , 2013 • The municipal coalition amicus brief expenses are all in and are closed out. The appeals both from Middlefield and Dryden cases are to be heard in the Appellate Court on March 20th, 2013 • Work on a long range Capital Plan • The resignation of Deputy Supervisor Sue Poelvoorde and with regret Ms . Marino accepted that resignation : Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Ms . Thomas the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Ulysses extends their greatest appreciation to Sue Poelvoorde for her many years of service to the Town as an elected official, volunteer and staff person . Ms . Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness aye Adopted Deputy Supervisor Elizabeth Thomas reported : (report can be heard in its entirety on the Ulysses web site) . • Worked on : Personnel Policies ; Lakeshore and Conservation Zoning; Ag and Farmland Protection; Solar Panels ; Website ; Assist to create agendas ; Prep to attend Association of Towns ; Notify Ulysses Library of funding approved for 2013 ; Discuss options for golf course ; General coordination of board members for items to read, meeting date changes, etc . ; and prep, send out and print documents for TB meetings . Attended : Youth Meeting- • The school has agreed to donate 100 parking spots for a Youth Commission fundraiser during the Grass Roots Festival . Proceeds will be shared with the PTA. • The Ulysses Library is being heavily used by students . While very positive, the quantity of students can stress their services (normally 20-30 kids daily but can be 40) . The library formed a teen advisory group to create programming for teens; The library is participating in the backpack program (food) – providing books (also providing books for WIC and food pantry) ; • Community center discussed again. Grant potential Trumansburg Central School District Foundation – Tara Masters – Their goal is to enhance education, pre-K to 12 ; Funding field trips ; Grants – twice/year – Ulysses Youth Commission can apply for finding . Village of Trumansburg "open house" attended - Many topics Ulysses and Trumansburg could be working on together. Drilling Information - Force majeure still being claimed by Chesapeake – landowners cannot get out of leases ; New health study from PA – overlaying patients and physical addresses ; Dryden, Caroline, Danby – SoIarize Tompkins – target 5x solar installations from 2012 level ; Roads forums in Caroline (Jan 25 , Feb 21 , 3 /21 ) 7pm each at Caroline Town Hall ; Aquifer protection – several towns ; More presentations? Bamberger/Oswald – study on animals in proximity to drilling; Elected officials to protect NY – 602 members – all counties . Association Of Towns - Worked on By-law problems of the Association of Towns Town Board Members and Committees Mr. Kerness and Mr. Romer also attended the Village Open House . Mr. Kerness said that topics discussed were – chickens, golf course, sidewalks, coyotes, EMS , and water/sewer. Mr. Kerness Regular Town Board Meeting 4 February 11 , 2013 said that the Village has had some positive drilling results for their second source of water; the golf course discussion focused on possibly providing some financial support with possible tax abatements and to encourage the golf course to put some kind of residential development with tax abatements ; the sidewalk improvement was discussed in detail . Mr. Kerness felt that it was an interesting way to get the community involved in making decisions . Mr. Romer agreed with Mr. Kerness . CLOSED SESSION Ms. Marino moved, seconded by Mr. Romer the following : BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board of Town of Ulysses adjourn to a closed session for discussion with their Attorney Marietta Geldenhuys . Ms. Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness aye Adopted PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR no one wished to speak. OLD BUSINESS Water Standards — proposed new revision The changes to the Water Standards were discussed at the January 22, 2013 meeting and more information came forward from Michael Boggs . Some changes were made and the information emailed to Mr. Austic and Mr. Boggs . The Board tabled this until the February 26 , 2013 meeting . Personnel Policy Ms . Thomas contacted Paychecks to discuss their proposal for updating the Ulysses Personnel Policy and also contacted Public Sector HR Consultants . The Board discussed both the proposals at length and the varying proposal rates . It was determined to table this discussion until the March Town Board meeting . Association of Towns Resolution Thomas to be the Town' s delegate Board previously appointed Ms . Tho ate at the Annual g Association of Towns Business Meeting . The Board reviewed the resolutions that will be presented at the meeting . The Town Board moved that they authorize Ms . Thomas to vote using her discretion on the proposed resolutions . Organization Resolution #20 Proposed Amendment Ms . Thomas moved, seconded by Ms . Marino to amend the resolution as follows : Resolution 2013-20 : BE IT RESOLVED all hourly employees shall turn in a Town of Ulysses time card by the end of the last day of the pay period . Salaried employees shall report time used for vacation, sick time, holiday or other time off on a Town of Ulysses time card to maintain accurate records of benefit time used. No pay will be issued without a time card that has been signed by the employee and employee ' s supervisor and submitted to the Bookkeeper. If the employee is submitting electronically to the Bookkeeper, the Department Head / Employee Supervisor must give electronic approval as part of the time card submission. Salaried and hourly employees (non- elected) should use this time card to submit sick, vacation, holiday and personal time off It is the responsibility of the employee' s supervisor to assure the time card is accurate . Regular Town Board Meeting 5 February 11 , 2013 FURTHER RESOLVED that to maintain accountability of all employees who work for the town, and to clarify supervisory roles, the following listing specifies employee supervisors. Each employee supervisor is responsible for approving time cards (if required), vacation, personal, and sick days used by each employee . Time off for each employee must be reported to Bookkeeper who will maintain records . Employee Supervisor Employee Deputy Supervisor Town Supervisor, Roxanne Marino Town Board Administrative Assistant Town Supervisor Roxanne Marino, Bookkeeper Town Supervisor Roxanne Marino, Deputy Town Clerk Town Clerk Marsha Georgia, Court Clerk Town Justices Enforcement Officer Town Supervisor Roxanne Marino Deputy Enforcement Officer Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun, Zoning Officer/Planner Town Supervisor Roxanne Marino, Planning and Zoning Clerk Zoning Officer/Planner Darby Kiley, Deputy Highway Superintendent Highway Superintendent James Meeker Highway Machine Equipment Highway Superintendent, James Meeker Operators: Laborer Water Distribution & Maintenance Town Supervisor Roxanne Marino Operator Water District Laborer Water Distribution and Maintenance Operator Doug Austic Ms . Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness nay Adopted NEW BUSINESS EMS Ambulance District Ms . Marino presented the Plan, Report and Map for the proposed Town of Ulysses Ambulance District as follows : PLAN and REPORT For the Town of Ulysses Ambulance District Description of the proposed Ambulance District : The territory of the proposed district consists of the entire Town of Ulysses outside the boundaries of the Village of Trumansburg (map attached) . Service to be provided : Emergency medical service and ambulance service, for the purpose of providing pre-hospital emergency medical treatment and transporting sick or injured persons founds within the boundaries of the district to a hospital , clinic , sanatorium or other place for treatment of such illness or injury, and thereby serving the emergency medical needs of those persons within the Regular Town Board Meeting 6 February 11 , 2013 boundaries described herein. Services to be provided include Basic Life Support transport and treatment and arranging for or providing Advanced Life Support Treatment, which comply with the regulations of the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services . These services will be provided by contract for the Ambulance District, without capital expenditures by the Town. Maximum Amount Proposed to be Expended : For the first year of operation of the Ambulance District, the maximum cost to be expended is estimated as follows : A) Contract for service : $248 ,230 . B) Tax rate for District Property Owners : $ 0 . 729 / $ 1 ,000 of Taxable Assessed Value C) Estimated typical annual cost to a property owner in the District : $ 109 . 30 The maximum cost to benefitted properties in the Ambulance District is based on full funding of the contract costs for emergency medical service from an ad valorem tax levied on property owners within the District territory as described above . The method of calculation of the proposed maximum amount to be expended in the first year of operation (2014) and the typical annual cost to a property owner is given in Appendix 1 . The current (2013 ) tax rate for property owners in the Town of Ulysses (outside the Village) for EMS service (based on the contract with the current service provider) is $ 0 . 669/$ 1 ,000 of taxable assessed value . Conclusions Billing for service may be implemented at some time after initial establishment of the district, upon adoption of a resolution by the Town Board pursuant to Town Law § 198 ( 10-f) (b), fixing a schedule of fees or charges to be paid by persons using the emergency medical and ambulance services , providing for the collection of such fees and charges, or formulating rules and regulations for the collection thereof by third parties furnishing the service under contract. Revenues collected from billing for service in future years would result in a lower tax levy for district residents and as such lower the maximum cost for the District below that estimated for the initial year of operation . An estimate of the amount the District cost could be lowered in future years by implementing billing for service as supplemental revenue to the ad valorem tax is given in Appendix 2 . Savings may in part be offset by increases in the fee for the services pursuant to the contract with the service provider. Appendix 1 Explanation of Maximum Cost Estimate Calculations A) EMS contract costs for proposed district, estimated using past costs for service with the Village of Trumansburg EMS Department the first year of operation of the (proposed) District 2014 The maximum cost of a contract forte st ea ) ( ) Y p (p P was estimated using the last 3 years of EMS budget information received from the current service provider to the Town of Ulysses (Village of Trumansburg), as shown in the table below. This information is used to estimate the cost of a future contract for the service with the current or a different service provider. The cost of a contract for EMS for FY 2014 is estimated using information from the current provider and the following assumptions : increase the average cost to Ulysses for EMS cost for 2013 over the past 3 years ($231 ,623) by 7 .2%, and assume no change in total Taxable Assessed Value for the territory of the proposed Ulysses ambulance district. sr 4[l 7t\ 4q Regular Town Board Meeting 7 February 11 , 2013 ( prey 3 years ) Budget ..___ 9 service YEAR Total EMS Budget Ulysses % Ulysses cost 2010 $475 , 829 49 . 1 $ 233 , 632 2011 $ 520 , 870 45 . 8 $ 238 , 611 2012 _._ . $ 535 , 632 43 . 5 $ 232 ,. 786 2013 ...._.. .. .._. .. . .... __ . $ 573 , 002 39 $ 223 , 471 change 37 , 370 2012 to 2013 7 . 17 % The service percentage for a given year is based on a running average of the number calls in the Town of Ulysses outside the Village (the territory of the proposed Ulysses ambulance district and a portion of the territory of current Towns of Ulysses, Hector and Covert Fire Protection District) for the previous 3 years divided by the total number of EMS calls in the Village of Trumansburg EMS contract area (Village of Trumansburg and the Towns of Ulysses , Hector and Covert Fire Protection District, which includes the entire Town of Ulysses outside the Village and portions of the Towns of Hector and Covert). The maximum cost estimate given here assumes no change in the Ulysses service percentage of EMS calls from the average of 2011 through 2013 , even though this number has decreased over the past 3 years . B) Tax Rate for Ambulance District Property Owners The tax rate is calculated by dividing the estimate for the maximum contract cost for the initial year of operation by the most recent total taxable assessed value for the property in the Ulysses Ambulance District territory as described above ($ 340 , 741 , 106) . This information was obtained from Tompkins County Assessment, for use in the 2013 FY town budget. The graph below shows the total taxable assessed values for the Ambulance District territory ("Town outside Village, Fire Protection District") from 2002 through 2011 . Total Taxable Assessed Value 400,000,000 ,. pillage ofTruniansbtirg 350,000,000 . i . ... . I --e-Town Outside Village Fire 300,000,000 _...__ District orr 250, 000,000 _ .. _ .. , } slope TOV = 3. 3X Village 200,000,000 .A. . . ;. 150,000,000 100,000,000 _._... 50,000,000 { f t . . ,... ,. ..,.... .., r. 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 C) Estimated typical annual cost to a property owner in the (proposed) District This is calculated by multiplying the Tax Rate for District Property Owners (B) by the typical value of a benefited property in the Ambulance District territory . Town Law § 209-a defines "typical property" as "a benefited property having an assessed value that approximates the assessed value of the mode of the benefited properties situated in the district . . . that would be required to finance the cost. " The mode, or most frequently occurring assessed value in the proposed Ambulance District in the latest completed final assessment roll (2011 ), as obtained from Tompkins County Department of Assessment, is $ 150, 000 . 1 Regular Town Board Meeting 8 February 11 , 2013 Appendix 2 Projection of the amount the (proposed) Ambulance District Maximum Cost to be expended could be lowered in future years if Billing for Service was implemented Notes: Ambulance District tax rate is per $ 1 , 000 of Taxable Assessed Value of property Total Taxable Assessed Value of Ambulance District used is from the latest final assessment role (2011 ; see Appendix 1 ) 50% of total EMS budget costs recovered from insurance billing are considered a best-case scenario Projected savings may be offset by future increases in the contract cost. Estimated EMS Portion of EMS cost estimated ' Am" . AmbulIanance District Contract Cost from billing revenue ' billing revenue tax rate 239 , 374 0 % 0 0 . 713 25 % 59 , 843 0 . 535 30 % 71 , 812 0 . 499 40 % 95 , 750 0 . 428 50 % 119 , 687 0 . 356 Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Ms . Tyler the following : ORDER FOR PUBLIC HEARING ON ESTABLISHMENT OF AMBULANCE DISTRICT IN THE TOWN OF ULYSSES WHEREAS , the Town Board prepared a Map, Plan and Report for a proposed ambulance district in the town; and WHEREAS , the Map, Plan and Report was filed in the office of the Town Clerk; and WHEREAS , the boundaries of the proposed district are as follows : The entire Town of Ulysses outside the boundaries of the Village of Trumansburg ; and WHEREAS , the service to be provided is emergency medical and ambulance service ; and WHEREAS , the maximum amount proposed to be expended for the first year of operation of the ambulance district for a contract for service is $248 ,230 ; and WHEREAS , a map, plan and report describing such proposed district and service is on file in the office of the Town Clerk for public inspection; it is ORDERED that the Town Board shall meet at the Town Hall, 10 Elm Street, Trumansburg, New York, on the 26th day of February, 2013 , at 6 : 30 p .m . , for the purpose of conducting a public hearing on the proposal to establish said ambulance district for the services specified above, at which time and place all persons interested in the subject thereof may be heard concerning the same; and it is further ORDERED that the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish a copy of this order in the Ithaca Journal , the official Town newspaper and post of copy of the same on the signboard of the Town, in the time and manner required by law. Ms . Marino aye Ms . Thomas aye Ms . Tyler aye Mr. Romer aye Mr. Kerness nay Adopted r d Regular Town Board Meeting 9 February 11 , 2013 Adjournment Hearing no further business, Ms . Marino moved, seconded by Ms . Thomas to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved and meeting adjourned at 10 : 10 p .m . Respectfully submitted, Marsha L . Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk