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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.15.2023-Minutes.1 VILLAGE OF CAYUGA HEIGHT November 15, 2023 Zoom ID # 4118425407 BOARD OF TRUSTEES 7:00 p.m. MONTHLY MEETING Present: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Biloski, Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, and (arrived at 7:42) Salton; Village Engineer B. Cross; Director of Public Works Wiese; Police Sergeant Manning; Treasurer Dolch; Attorney Marcus; Clerk Walker. Absent: Trustee Robinson 1. Call to Order: Mayor Woodard calls the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Approval of the October 18, 2023 Meeting Minutes (Exhibit 2024-103) Resolution: 9508 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees approves the October 18, 2023, Board Meeting Minutes as presented. Motion: Trustee Biloski Second: Trustee Rennekamp Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, and Rennekamp Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried 3. Report of Fire Superintendent Tamborelle: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2024-104) •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that the fire station roof project is complete. •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that the pre-build meeting for the new pumper truck went well. •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states that he presented his annual report to the Town of Ithaca Board on Monday night. •Village Attorney R. Marcus asks if there were any comments from the Town of Ithaca Board members about the Fire Service Contract with the Village. •Fire Superintendent Tamborelle states he did talk about it briefly. Town Supervisor R. Howe mentioned that the Town Board would be reviewing and signing the contract in December. 4. Privilege of the Floor: No members of the public wished to speak 2 5. Report of Treasurer Dolch: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2024-105) •Mayor Woodard states that Treasurer Dolch is having microphone difficulties, so she will read the resolution to approve the abstract. Approval of Abstract 6: Resolution: 9509 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees authorizes and approves Abstract #6 for FYE2024 consisting of TA vouchers #35-43 in the amount of $14,931.52 and Consolidated Fund vouchers #368-448 in the amount of $1,337.399.13 and the Treasurer is instructed to make payments thereon. Motion: Trustee Rennekamp Second: Trustee Biloski Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, and Rennekamp Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried 6. Report of Mayor Woodard a.Village Justice Resolution: Under current NYS Village Law, a Village Justice has to reside in the Village. The Village of Cayuga Heights would like to expand the residence requirements for this elected election to all of Tompkins County. •Mayor Woodard states that the Board of Trustees supports this decision and is asking for the NYS Assembly to introduce it and for the NYS Senate to pass this bill as presented in Exhibit 2024-106 Resolution: 9510 NEW YORK STATE SENATE INTRODUCER'S MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT RESOLUTION WHEREAS, the Village of Cayuga Heights seeks to amend the Village Law and the Public Officer's Law, in relation to residency requirements for Village Justice of Cayuga Heights WHEREAS, Section 1 adds a new subdivision 34 to section 3-300 of the Village Law, authorizing the Village Board of the Village of Cayuga Heights pass a resolution to allow the Village Justice position to be held by someone who lives outside of the Village and that individual lives within Tompkins County. WHEREAS, Section 2 adds a new subdivision 74 to section 3 of the Public Officer’s Law, authorizing the Village Board of the Village of Cayuga Heights pass a resolution to allow the Village Justice position to be held by someone who lives outside of the Village and that individual lives within Tompkins County. 3 WHEREAS, this practice, while an important component to ensure representation within our local governments, can make hiring decisions very difficult in municipalities. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, The Village of Cayuga Heights, a community of less than 4000 residents in a 1.8 square mile area, has requested this legislation to allow for a resident outside of the Village, but still a member of the local community at large, to serve as their Village Justice to ensure a more competitive selection process. Motion: Trustee Hubbell Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, and Rennekamp Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried b. Memorial Tree Discussion: Tabled until Trustee Salton arrives. c. Property Maintenance Task Force: Last month the Board voted to form a task force to discuss the drafted stand-alone local law. •Mayor Woodard states that this task force will address the property maintenance definitions and changes in the current Village Zoning Law and incorporate those changes into the new proposed local law. •Mayor Woodard states that she along with Trustee Salton, Trustee Hubbell, Village Forester Cowett, and Village Historian Szekely have agreed to join this task force and since then she has received several calls from Village residents interested in joining this group. 7. Report of the Trustees: •Trustee Marshall states that the North Triphammer Road trees were planted two weeks ago with the support of the Village DPW Staff. •Trustee Marshall stated that they could not have done it without the help of the DPW. •Trustee Hubbell states that CWIO has found a new director and will be also looking for a new committee chair. 8. Report of Superintendent of Public Works Cross: a. GHD Change Order •B. Cross states that as a follow-up to the discussion at the PWC meeting, GHD is coming to the end of the money that was available in their original agreement to provide construction inspection/administration. Due to the extended construction period caused by the late arrival of the electrical switch panel(s), their staff/subcontractor(s) have had to continue to be engaged in the project over the entire period of delay. 4 •B. Cross states that GHD has estimated that the potential extra cost could be around $76,000 but will be billed at their standard hourly rates. •B. Cross states that we will need to pass a resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign the GHD Agreement Amendment for up to $76,000 to carry the project through the anticipated substantial completion date of 12/22/23. Resolution: 9511 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees authorizes and approves Mayor Woodard to sign the GHD Change order #2 in the amount of $76,000 for services to be completed by December 22, 2023. Motion: Trustee Hubbell Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, and Rennekamp Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried b. Cayuga Heights Road Sidewalk Project design Contract: Cayuga Heights Road Sidewalk Project Link •B. Cross states that Hunt Engineers has provided a proposed scope of services agreement to perform the design work on the Cayuga Heights Road sidewalk project. Their proposal is for services (to be billed hourly) with a not- to-exceed value of $235,564, which is well within the NYSDOT formula that has an allowance of up to $552,960.00. The TAP grant program will be reimbursing us 80% of the actual billed hours. •B. Cross states that this form of agreement that Hunt has provided is a document that has been developed “in- house” by them. Therefore, Village Attorney R. Marcus will be reviewing this document for the first time (unlike other agreements that are boilerplate documents). He may not have finalized his review before tonight’s meeting, but he has agreed that the Trustees could authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement conditioned on his final review. •B. Cross states that he recommends that the Trustees pass a resolution to accept the Hunt Engineers agreement as proposed and authorize the mayor to sign it pending final legal review by Attorney R. Marcus. Resolution: 9512 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees authorizes and approves Mayor Woodard to sign the scope of services for the design phase of the Cayuga Heights Road Sidewalk Project in the amount of $235.654 contingent on Village Attorney R. Marcus' review and approval. Motion: Trustee Rennekamp Second: Trustee Biloski Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, and Rennekamp Nays: none 5 Abstentions: none Motion Carried Walking Safe Cayuga Heights Sidewalk Bids: •B. Cross states that the Village received two bids for this project which were opened on November 2, 2023. At this point, there is no action item for the board to take until Fisher and Associations finish filing some closing documents with NYS. •B. Cross states that the low bid was submitted by a company out of Binghamton named Bothar Construction LLC, in the amount of $382,000 which only covered the first segment of the project which still falls short of the budgeted amount for that segment. •B. Cross states that we will award Bothar’s base bid of $382,000 and once we are in a contract with them, we can discuss the possibility of expanding the scope of work through unit pricing. •B. Cross states that he expects the Board will be able to accept the winning bid at the December Board meeting. •Trustee Marshall inquires whether or not the Village DPW could offset some of the costs to complete more than just the first segment of this project. •B. Cross states that he is hopeful that will be the case, we will know more about that after we enter into a contract. -Trustee Salton joins the meeting via Zoom at 7:42 p.m. and the Board returns to the memorial tree discussion. b. Memorial Tree Discussion: •Village Forester F. Cowett received an email from a family member related to Henry Doney who was a lifelong Village resident who passed away back in May of this year. The family is inquiring about memorizing a tree in Henry Doney’s honor. •Village Forester F. Cowett states that the Doney family was under the impression that the Village has a program for memorization. He informed them that was not the case, but this would still be a Board discussion. •Mayor Woodard states that in his absence, Trustee Robinson supports this but has reservations about the process and criteria for memorization. •Trustee Hubbell states that he is neutral on this subject. •Trustee Biloski and Rennekamp state that they would be against setting a precedent when there are other opportunities outside the Village for memorialization programs. •Trustee Salton states that if there were to be a policy on memorization that prerequisite should be based on the significance of the contribution to the Village and its residents. 6 •Trustee Hubbell agrees and suggests that it is better to approach the Cornell University for this request. •Mayor Woodard states that she agrees with the Board and respectfully declines to put into place a memorizing policy for now. 9. Report of Police Chief Wright: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2024-109) •Sergeant Manning states that Chief Wright had something come up, but he has reviewed the report and is prepared to answer any questions. •Sergeant Manning states that as reported last month we are still waiting for the new patrol vehicle to be outfitted at Bush Electronics. •Mayor Woodard asks if there was anyone hurt in the two MVAs reported in this month’s report. •Sergeant Manning states that no one was hurt, just property damage. 10. Report of Director of DPW Wiese: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2024-110) •Director Wiese states that the Village DPW is wrapping up the year and has presented in this report a summary of all the accomplishments. Director Wiese states that the guys do a great job, and he wanted the Board to be aware of all the hard work that takes place. •Director Wiese states that the was informed that the hydrant located at the Fire Department had broken and needed to be replaced. The depth of the hydrant caused issues with the internal linkage which made the hydrant susceptible to breaking. Due to this, we extended the water main to a higher level to allow a shorter hydrant to be installed. •In closing Director Wiese states that the newly hired laborer is working out well. •Mayor Woodard asks how the leaf pickup is going well. •Director Wiese states that the crew is on course for completing the leaf pickup before winter. •Trustee Salton states that he appreciated the article in the Village Voices on the lead pipes and how the Village was tackling that issue. •Director Wiese states that Deputy Clerk K. Perkins deserves most of the credit for that article. She is very good at putting information together and making sure all the facts are accurate. 11. Report of Clerk Walker: Submitted Report (Exhibit 2024-111) •Clerk Walker states that he has incorporated the final list of property owners who have not paid their 2023 Village Property Taxes. The Board will need to pass a resolution supporting the re-levy of these Village Property Taxes 7 onto the County Tax rolls. Resolution: 9513 WHEREAS Diligent efforts to collect unpaid taxes by the Village of Cayuga Heights of the Town of Ithaca in the County of Tompkins have been made; and WHEREAS, The Collector of Taxes has certified a list consisting of the taxes remaining unpaid upon the Village Tax Roll; and WHEREAS Pursuant to the Real Property Tax Law of the State of New York Section 1442, an alternative method for collection of delinquent village taxes exists. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT: The Board of Trustees requests the collection of delinquent Village of Cayuga Heights real property tax in the amount of $13,202.62 on (6) properties with $1,056.21 in penalties, totaling $14,258.83 to be submitted to Tompkins County. Motion: Trustee Biloski Second: Trustee Marshall Ayes: Mayor Woodard; Trustees: Bilsoki, Hubbell, Marshall, Rennekamp, and Salton Nays: none Abstentions: none Motion Carried •Mayor Woodard states that based on the HRA Exhibit that Clerk Walker has presented represents a savings of almost $25,000 for this year on the HRA Gold Plan Account. •Mayor Woodard states that there will be several retirees moving over to the Medicare Supplement Plan (MS3) for the coming new year. This will be a savings for the Village and the subscriber. •Mayor Woodard asks Village Attorney R. Marcus if he knows if she can force a retiree to change plans. •Village Attorney R. Marcus states he is not sure on that subject and the Village might want to discuss that with the Village Labor Attorney. •Trustee Salton states that Clerk Walker can check with our other neighboring municipalities to see what they are doing. He feels they might be able to force those retirees to change. 12. Report of Attorney R. Marcus: •Village Attorney R. Marcus states he does not have anything to report at this time. 13. Adjournment: Mayor Woodard adjourns the meeting at 8:16 p.m.