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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-6-19 Public Hearing and Special Town Board Meeting Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 1 Town of Enfield Wednesday, November 6, 2019- 6:30 PM Public Hearing and Special Town Board Meeting Enfield Community Building Present: Town Supervisor Beth McGee, Town Councilperson Virginia Bryant, Town Town Councilperson Mimi Mehaffey, Town Councilperson Becky Sims, Deputy Town Clerk Sue Thompson Absent: Councilperson Mike Carpenter Public Hearing on 2020 Budget Supervisor McGee called the public hearing to order at 6:34 p.m. Deputy Town Clerk Thompson, read the legal ad that was published in the Ithaca Journal. Robert Lynch of Enfield commended the Town Board on the Capital Plan. He stated it was a positive move looking ahead for 10 years but wondered if it they could legitimately look that far ahead. He feels that a review of the Capital Plan should be reviewed annually. Supervisor McGee answered that both the Capital Plan and Fund Balance Policy should be reviewed yearly. Supervisor McGee closed the public hearing at 6:40 p.m. Regular Meeting: Supervisor McGee called the regular meeting to order at 6:41 p.m. Deputy Town Clerk Thompson lead the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Changes to the agenda: Supervisor McGee asked to add to the agenda the tree removal from the Presbyterian Cemetery estimate and to change the Hearing date for the Comprehensive Plan. Announcements: Supervisor McGee shared that the Town of Ulysses is rescinding their zoning law. A copy of the notice will be placed at the Enfield Town Clerks office. Privilege of the Floor: No one wished to speak. Public Comments on Sheriff Satellite Office Proposal: Supervisor McGee gave a brief explanation of the proposed satellite office for the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. She stated that all the e-mails that were received were positive except for one. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 2 Michael Miles of Enfield, stated he thought it was a great idea. He is also thinks that the officers should be familiar with the many demographics of the town residents. There are lots of people struggling and falling through the cracks. He wondered if a public group/committee could be put together to help with all these problems and connect the dots for all the services. Sheriff Osborne stated he wants people to be comfortable and is not aiming at any one group. He would like one deputy from the day and night shift to work out of the satellite office. He wants the deputies to be community driven. They will not be policing the schools as they are not serving as school resource officers, but may stop occasionally at the schools as a community engagement tool. Supervisor McGee stated she was been talking with Jean Owens regarding the demographics of residents and the challenges they have. She thought Jean Owens would be a good source for any public program. Robert Lynch of Enfield stated he informed the Tompkins County Public Safety Committee he thought it was a great idea. He thanked Darren McGee for the great idea. He suggested that the town request to exchange free rent for the satellite office for paying for fixing the Town Hall Garage roof. Supervisor McGee stated there were no leaks in the proposed satellite office, but 3 leaks elsewhere in the garage. There is an issue with the backdoor, which includes a drainage problem. She feels it is not the County’s problem to fix the roof. She would like to ask the county for half that expense for the heat/air conditioning. Sheriff Osborne stated he spoke with Jason Molino, County Administrator, about funding the satellite office for furniture, phone, etc. Sheriff Osborne said he was not sure going through Jason Molino is the answer for funding, possibly legislative support would be better. Nancy Spero of Enfield stated she would like to have some review of what is going on and how it is working for the satellite office. Supervisor McGee read the concerns from the Briana Binkerd-Dale and Greg English e-mail. Their concerns involved increased police presence, why the sheriff did not have a satellite office in Newfield or Ulysses, long term costs on tax payers. Sheriff Osborne answered that Newfield satellite office has been closed a number of years, because the town needed their space back. Ulysses has their own police presence. He also stated there would not be a sudden large presence of police officers in the community. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 3 Councilperson Bryant stated she has been a long time resident and had many conversations with Jean Owens of Enfield regarding a neighborhood watch Program. She thinks the satellite office is a good idea. County Legislator Anne Koreman stated she spoke with the Ulysses Town Board and they are in support of the satellite office. Supervisor McGee stated they would be replacing the window and lighting in the satellite office. The bathroom would be fixed in the town hall garage. They would like to use a key for the outer door and key pad for the satellite office door. Councilperson Sims Becky read off the names of the emails indicating support of the satellite office. Councilperson Mehaffey shared that she spoke to one resident and they were very much in favor of the satellite, if the Sheriff is seen in the community it helps with school problems. Councilperson Sims asked Sheriff Osborne if the idea of the town helping to choose the deputies for the satellite office would be happening. Sheriff Osborne stated he would be selecting the deputies. They would be was someone that clicked with the community. There is no staff that live in Enfield or Newfield. Councilperson Mehaffey stated that she had spoken with Judge Poole. Judge Poole informed her that she felt vulnerable, which is why she changed the time of the court to morning hours. She would feel more comfortable with the Sheriff close by. Supervisor McGee said she spoke with Jean Owens and Jean was glad to hear about the proposal because they have had problems at the food pantry. They worry about potential drug use in the food pantry area also. Supervisor McGee will put building use for the satellite office on the agenda for next week. 2020 Preliminary Budget Supervisor McGee stated she sent the town budget to Tompkins County Assessor, Jay Franklin, to check over. He did find an issue that was related to the JCAP funds. The town board is moving those funds to a dedicated savings account and it will no longer show on the budget as it has previously. The JCAP line in the expenditure side was removed and on the revenue side was showing zero. Since it was removed on the expenditure side, it was not registering in the final rate change figure at the end of the budget on the expenditure side. This will be corrected by appropriating fund balance so the rate will not increase. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 4 Supervisor McGee stated that the CHIPS money should be in by December 15. She recommended that money should go into a new reserve for Building Construction and Upgrade Reserve and the highway fund. She r ecommended that the Town not move any money until after the Annual Update Document and the internal audit are completed- by February of 2020. Supervisor McGee reported that Highway Supervisor Rollins was concerned about making the CHIPS line higher. Supervisor McGee addressed this by putting the additional funds to be levied in a new line “Unappropriated Revenue” on the expenditure side of the Highway budget, per recommendation of the Office of State Comptroller. Funds may be budgeted to build the fund balance this way as long as there is a Fund Balance Policy that details fund balance requirements and goals. Insurance under the A fund there will be a 4% percent increase for insurance the reason is that the town had claims against the policy for this year. Health insurance amounts were also double checked for accuracy in each fund. Nichole Cervoni of Sprague Insurance will be giving a presentation on insurance renewal at the next regular Town Board meeting. The CHIPS line was decreased by $30,846 and $30,000 was added to the Unappropriated Revenue line. Highway Superintendent Rollins emailed regarding the NYSERDA grant funds and the issue related to over budgeting the CHIPS line. These were answered: Some NYSERDA funds were already received and will need to be appropriated from fund balance to accommodate the expenditure for the solar array that will be installed in 2020. The CHIPS funds issue was resolved by moving the funds to the Unappropriated Revenue line. The Capital Plan is for large pieces of equipment. Purchases of tools and chainsaws and such are purchased through the Tools line. Councilperson Mehaffey suggested adding $500 to the Town Clerk line for trainings. It was also noted that there is a lot of on-line training for all government positions. Supervisor McGee will locate training information regarding new local government officials. Supervisor McGee stated the position for cemetery maintenance and the building cleaner will have to have access to the highway truck to use the trailers, about once every other week. The person would use our mower, trailer and vehicle. They will be hiring this person through the county so the town will follow the process the county follows. Capital Plan and Fund Balance Supervisor McGee made the recommended changes she was given for the Capital Plan. Highway Superintendent Rollins sent an e-mail that he felt the Highway Superintendent should be the person to decide when equipment should be replaced. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 5 He believes unspent Equipment funds should go into the Equipment Reserve and unspent Bridge funds should go into the Bridge Reserve. The time line of the items on the list were adequate, age and recommendation concerns is replacing the equipment. Supervisor McGee stated that the timeline allows us a continuous amount for equipment without burdening the tax base. Councilperson Mehaffey said it is not in stone, it is for budgeting purpose, we will look at things on how they are moved, it is how they will pay for it. This doesn’t tie the Highway Superintendents hands it allows the money to be there when it is needed. Supervisor McGee said this plan is set with the plan to purchase all new equipment. If, in a year that is not scheduled for a large new purchase, the Highway Superintendent finds a piece of used equipment that meets our reserve guidelines, that purchase could be considered. Councilperson Sims said the estimated resale column, minus the trade sale column should be taken out. Funds for resale can be put into reserve. Supervisor McGee stated she added the definition of T and L under road maintenance. As long as we consistently allocate funding at the level in this budget and continue to receive CHIPS funds, we should be able to meet the road maintenance plan provided by the Highway Superintendent and Cornell Local Road’s report. Supervisor McGee reported she had all 3 septic systems pumped this week, town hall, community building, and highway. The highway system had a clogged filter. Supervisor McGee and Highway Superintendent Rollins will put together a map showing where the septic system was in the building. They should be pumped at least every 5 years. Supervisor McGee read sections that were added to for the Capital Plan Draft: page 9 regarding that the town has not planned for the expense of salt/sand storage building. This included a General Fund balance reduction in the amount of $100,000 to be transferred to a reserve fund for Building Construction and Upgrades. Page 12 – Auxiliary Equipment for Highway Department. The Highway Superintendent has a concern because they now use the Town Hall Garage for storage in the winter. It was suggested to eliminate the salt spreader hanger and add cold storage instead. If it was on the backside of the building you would only need two sides. It would be just a gravel floor. Councilperson Sims stated a final piece stating that it is expected to be reviewed and updated annually should be added. She feels it is a huge improvement for the town than what they have been doing with operating on a one year plan. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 6 Fund Balance Policy Supervisor McGee made changes on recommendations based on minimum/maximum on the A fund. CHIPS is approximately $104,000 annually and Extreme Weather funds are approximately $25,000- fund balance should consist of 100% CHIPS ($130,000) and 10% of expenditures (minus CHIPS, Internal Transfers, Unappropriated Revenue,) adding approximately $100,000 to the fund balance minimum requirement for a total of $230,000-250,000 range. Councilperson Mehaffey stated they don’t know until April about the Chip fund payments. Supervisor McGee said the Extreme Weather funding will continue. It’s good to have it sitting in the fund balance, because the State decides if we will get it months after we budget. If you have to readjust because of what you spent then you have the fund balance will be there to cover it. Capital Plan and Fund Balance Policy only require a A resolution of the board by simple majority. They don’t require a public hearing they are just a policy. Look at funding needs during the year and consult the Capital Plan for future needs. This will help determine the budget each year. Supervisor McGee stated she will make corrections and bring it back to the Board. Clean Energy Community Grant – RFP Councilperson Sims stated they needed to decide who they would be sending letters to for installing a solar array at the Highway Facility. They are looking for both solar array and batteries. It was decided to send to the installers on the list provided by NYSERDA that lists battery installers, plus additional companies in Tompkins County that are not on that list. Councilperson Sims made a motion and seconded by Councilperson Mehaffey to have the Town Clerk send out the RFP for the Enfield Solar Project to the energy storage participants list provided by NYSERDA and NYsun contractors in Tompkins County and to change the Site Visit Times to December 9 and 13 th. Vote: Councilperson Bryant aye, Councilperson Carpenter absent, Councilperson Mehaffey aye, Councilperson Sims aye, Supervisor McGee aye. Carried. Supervisor McGee will provide needed e-mails from the list. Dan Walker, of Enfield, offered to check on contacts for solar batteries and will report back to the Board. Enfield Town Board Special Meeting and Public Hearing, November 6, 2019 7 Wind Law- SEQRA- County Review Councilperson Mehaffey reported that the county came back with recommendations for the wind law. The Enfield Renewable Energy Committee came back with comments. Supervisor McGee made a motion seconded by Councilperson Sims to hold a second public hearing November 19 th , 6:30 pm Enfield Community Building, for the proposed adoption of the Town of Enfield Wind Energy Facilities Local Law # ___ 2019. Vote: Councilperson Bryant aye, Councilperson Carpenter absent, Councilperson Mehaffey aye, Councilperson Sims aye, Supervisor McGee aye. Carried. A special meeting was also set for November 12, 6:30 pm, Enfield Community Building to review the Wind Law – SEQRA County Review and comments. Supervisor McGee reported she received the review for the Comprehensive Plan from the county the final Draft of the Comprehensive Plan from the designer. A Public Hearing and special meeting was set for December 18 th at 6:30 PM in the Enfield Community Building. The Public Hearing is on the Draft Comprehensive Plan, and the special meeting is to review the Generic EIS and any possible changes to the plan based on the Public Hearing. Supervisor McGee reported that Ted Schiele, Tompkins County Health Department, will give a presentation on a Smoking Policy for the town at the next meeting. Jean Owens requested the town have a smoking policy for town property. Supervisor McGee reported she has received estimations for removal of the tree in the Presbyterian cemetery. The estimations were from KJ’s Property Care and Thompson Tree and Crane. The town will have to receive right-of-way permission from the Burlews. A truck will have to drive on to their property in order to remove the tree. The Enfield Highway Department will remove the wood. The project will have to wait till the ground is frozen. Clarification will be needed according to the estimates as to who will do the removal of the cut tree. Payment for the project will come from the cemetery savings account. Adjournment: Supervisor McGee adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sue Thompson Enfield Deputy Town Clerk