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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12_09_2020 Transcript Regular MeetingRestored copy of Restored copy of 12092020.mp3 at 15 December 2020 2:05:20 at 15 December 2020 3:11:07 [00:00:00] All right, let's close this public hearing and then I'm going to call our board meeting to order. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:00:08] This is a Regular Town Board meeting for the Town of Enfield on Wednesday, December 9th at 7 pm. Via Zoom. Just a reminder again, we are recording this meeting. [00:00:18] And first, we will start with the privilege of the floor. If you would like to speak for privilege of the floor, please use the raise your hand button if you cannot, because you're calling from a cell phone. Please do this by pressing the * 9 buttons. And again, I will unmute everyone at the end of Privilege of Floor to make sure everyone has had a chance to speak. Just a reminder again, to please address your comments to the Town Board and you will have three minutes to speak. So please wrap up your comments during that time. [00:00:48] Would anyone like to speak for "privilege of the floor"? [00:00:56] All right, I'm going to go ahead and unmute all again in case anyone who has not had a chance, everyone is unmuted, if you could not use the raise you hand and now is your chance to speak. [00:01:14] Julie. [00:01:16] I'm going to ask you to start your video if you'd like. Julie Schroeder [00:01:23] I'm not going to start my video, but I have to two things to comment on. [00:01:30] I know that the TOWN CLERK has concerns about being exposed to COVID, especially during tax collecting season, and wondering if there's a way to put a notice out, either on the Web site or through email contacts for encouraging people to "mail in their taxes" this year, if that's a possibility, if you pay by check. [00:01:52] Secondly, I seems like from the comments earlier that there is a "drop box" and that people could perhaps use the Dropbox to leave their taxes and that could be a way to avoid contact. If the Dropbox doesn't work, perhaps a mail sl ot could be added to the door of the Town Hall and at the very least a sign should go up to the limit "one person at a time" to be "in the office" with her. It usually doesn't take more than five minutes max to pay your taxes. I've done that many times and the exposure is very reduced if you have less than 10 minutes of contact with any person, really. [00:02:32] So that's my comment on that. I would also like to encourage the board to go to "full board membership" by taking advantage of the second candidate that proposed themselves, James Ricks, for a position on the board as a board person. [00:02:53] And the only way to do that is to advance Stephanie to Town Supervisor so that her position can be available. I think that he would bring a really much needed point of diversity and an informed opinion to the board. [00:03:08] That's it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:03:09] Thank you, Julie. [00:03:12] Greg,. Fire Chief Greg Stevenson [00:03:14] I am guessing everybody can hear me. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:03:17] Yep. Fire Chief Greg Stevenson [00:03:17] Good. I just wanted to introduce myself. I know most people know who I am, but introduce myself as the fire chief of the Enfield Fire Company. I assume that role late last week. I'm working to try to get up to speed. For tonight. I think Assistant Chief Alan Teeter is going to have a report for you regarding this past months incidents, incident responses, those numbers. [00:03:56] And hopefully moving forward. I will see you to give you some of those numbers and some of that information and work together and some of the quarterly meetings and things that we've discussed during the contract negotiations. So that's that's it. I don't have much to say other than that tonight. So thank you. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:04:22] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:04:23] Congratulations Greg. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:04:25] Congratulations. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:04:25] Very Qualified. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:04:25] Very,. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:04:25] Ok is there anyone else who would like to speak for the privilege of the floor. [00:04:42] OK, I'm going to go ahead and mute everyone again. [00:04:57] OK, I got yours, Michael, I'm not really sure. Raise your hand if you can't unmute yourself, Michael. [00:05:06] OK, so the next thing that we have are additions or changes to the agenda. The one thing that I will do is move actually to things. I will move the fire contract onto the consent agenda. The resolution for that, since we've already moved and have a second for that and had a discussion about it. [00:05:22] And then another one that I'm hoping that the board members saw there was a resolution that I added kind of later in the day. Buddy would like to authorize the transfer of funds to the equipment reserve. [00:05:34] So I actually put that under new business so that we could have a discussion about that. So hopefully Buddy will show up for that part of the discussion, because I have just a couple of questions about that. [00:05:45] You have your hand raised, is it not unmuting? Councilperson Michael Miles [00:05:49] I've... Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:05:55] OK, were there any other additions or changes to the agenda? [00:06:02] OK, then, as far as correspondence goes. There were a couple of things that I got. [00:06:12] One is from the Haefele contract, our basic cable will increase two dollars per month as of January 1st. 2021. It's typical every year that they have a small increase like that. Local station fees will increase as per negotiated and negotiate a contract that says we do not know what exact local station fee increases. We will only pass along the exact amount charged to us without additional added increases from Hafey TV. So that was one. [00:06:45] And then another exciting little bit of news is that with Jean Owen's help, book delivery Enfield has is is going forward. So anyone with a library card, a library card holders can get a book sent to them or books brought them to Enfield from the Tompkins County Public Library. [00:07:07] People can register for new library cards. They also accept returns. You can email abirdsall@tcpl.org to select holds and to pick them up at the Enfield food distribution. Notification that your holds are ready. You get a notification that your holds already holds are available by Wednesday at five p.m. and will be available the following Sunday or Monday. [00:07:39] Any notifications received after Wednesday at 5:00 will be delivered the following week. To pick up your hold. You should go Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or Monday from 11 a.m. to one p.m.. [00:07:51] Excluding Christmas. Masks must be worn for pick up. Social distancing must be observed. Patrons may be required to wait in line. Um, Let's see. And. [00:08:10] There is a phone number that you can contact to 272 -4557 x 234, extension two, three, four, if you cannot get through otherwise, or you can call to the library directly at 272-4556. And we will put up a notice about that on our website as well. So that's really exciting. We're really excited to start getting library services in Enfield. So those are the two correspondences that I have. Does anybody else have correspondence about that or about anything? Councilperson Michael Miles [00:08:45] No,. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:08:45] Okay. So the next thing on our contract is the Enfield fire company, new member approval, and we have three new members that we'd like to acknowledge tonight, Joshua Carmack, Asher Manley and Cody Middaugh. [00:09:05] There are a couple of things I just would like to say that the Enfield Town Board are excited to approve and honor these new volunteers to serve with the Enfield Volunteer Fire Company, and we would like to acknowledge their service to the community. [00:09:21] We're proud to see so many local residents, and youth join the fire company, and we feel that it's a great mentoring situation. They're always looking for more volunteers. It's a very welcoming and safe atmosphere. We will be presenting them with a certificate of appreciation and a letter that I am signing on behalf of the Town board. [00:09:44] And we will be announcing the approval of their membership of the volunteers in a little introductory paragraph about them on the Town website, and within the town hall. [00:09:57] But I was hoping that, Greg, are you available to say a couple of words about these members? Fire Chief Greg Stevenson [00:10:06] Sure, I'll make it brief. All three of them are relatively young, which is good for us. Some of us who have been around a long time appreciate some new blood. So these these folks will help us help us with that. I know that they're excited and pleased to be recognized by the board. So thank you for doing that. [00:10:39] And that's about it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:10:44] Well, I would so love to be able to get them their certificate and their letter in front of the entire town. Oh, thank you, Ellen do you have their certificate there. It turned out really nice. So we put a bit of work into that. It turned out beautifully. Thank you,. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:11:00] Ellen did you want to say anything about the fire company's new members? [00:11:04] I know you've been involved with that, so I'm asking you to unmute yourself now. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:11:12] I was just going to share a fun fact about two of the members Asher, one of the new junior members, is in one of my son's classes at LACS. [00:11:26] And so he has my son loves to see members of the fire company in his classes. [00:11:33] And then Josh Carmack actually has been largely responsible for providing the transportation services like not directly, but he manages the transportation services to the COVID testing for our county. So his company has had that contract and it's been very helpful to our county. So he serves in a number of ways. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:11:58] Thank you. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:11:58] Thanks Ellen Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:02] So let's go through them one at a time, just because I feel like they all deserve their own, their own resolution, lets say, so the first resolution will be approval of new member Joshua Cormick for the Enfield Fire Company. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:17] And I'd like to move that. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:12:18] I'll second it. . Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:20] OK. [00:12:22] Is there any discussion before we call the vote? [00:12:27] OK, Ellen I'm going to ask you to unmute yourself. [00:12:32] And will you please call the vote for Josh Cormick, Josh Carmack sorry,. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:12:36] Councilperson Bryant. Counciperson Bryant [00:12:38] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:12:39] Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:12:40] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:12:42] Councilperson Miles. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:12:43] Aye Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:12:45] Acting Supervisor Redmond. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:46] AYE. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:55] I'll go ahead and move that one. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:12:57] Second. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:12:58] And any discussion. Ellen, would you please Call the vote? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:03] Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:13:05] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:07] Councilperson Lynch,. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:13:08] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:10] Councilperson Miles,. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:13:11] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:12] Acting Supervisor Redmond,. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:14] Aye. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:15] Okay, and last but not least, we have Cody Middaugh, so approval of new member Cody Middaugh of the Enfield Fire Company. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:22] I'd like to move that resolution. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:13:23] Second. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:26] Any discussion... And Ellen, please, call the vote. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:30] Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:13:33] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:34] Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:13:36] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:37] Councilperson Miles,. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:13:39] Aye. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:40] Acting Supervisor Redmond. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:42] Aye. [00:13:44] Thank you, everyone. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:13:47] So those would be... Eighty six, eighty seven and eighty eight? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:13:53] Yes. [00:13:58] They were I don't know, you probably can find it from the minutes, but it was Joshua, Asher and then Cody. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:14:05] OK, the next thing would be the quarterly reports is Maureen Bolton on here? [00:14:19] We do not see her. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:14:23] I know from my talk on the EMC that I'm not sure if the meeting conflicts, but the EMC always met the same night as the Town board. [00:14:35] So I'm not sure if they're still meeting at the exact same time. So she probably is there. If that's the case. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:14:40] They are at their meeting tomorrow. I've been attending some of their meetings, so. OK. [00:14:45] OK, well, we will hold off on that one. How about the Enfield Community Council? [00:14:51] If Maureen shows up, please. If someone sees her show up, go ahead, notify me. We can have her give a report. But let's go with the Enfield Community Council. I'm going to unmute Ann Rider and ask you to start your video Ann. Ann Rider [00:15:12] Hi again. [00:15:18] There,. [00:15:19] The Enfield Community Council has had a very exciting Fall with much, much business, we have entered into a purchase contract with the. A local resident to purchase the former Living Waters Church. [00:15:45] The Closing will be soon. [00:15:56] When the lawyers get all the paperwork done, this building will is the answer to a 20 year search and none of us that are concerned about the Community Council can say that the COVID pandemic was worthless. [00:16:26] Things and good things can happen even in dark times. And this certainly is one. This building is I shouldn't say this probably, but it's more than adequate for our programing needs. And also as a real community center for this community, which is needed this so long. our, we will have a media center in the community, the new community building, and we will be part of the Tompkins County Public Library drop off and pick up point. [00:17:14] Similar to what, Stephanie reported earlier, so Enfield residen ts will have two options for library service as well as internet. [00:17:42] Our youth programing has continued, although at a lesser level than pre - COVID, but we continue our weekly programing and we will continue that during the winter months and after we legally take ownership of the building, we'll be able to expand their programing and. [00:18:19] We adhere to following all. COVID guidelines. Thank you. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:18:32] Thanks, Ann. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:18:33] Thank you. Ann. Thank you for a job well done and a good project for this community. Ann Rider [00:18:40] Who we are, we are out hitting the community up for money. [00:18:47] So do not be surprised by any thick envelope in your mailbox or a call to ask for a face to face. [00:18:59] And we are also getting our pens ready to write the grants. That they're going to be necessary to make this own, but I'm thinking the community in advance, we're wildly excited about this. [00:19:24] Wonderful thing that has fallen into our lap in the middle of the community. [00:19:30] Michael? Councilperson Michael Miles [00:19:31] Yeah, this is this is good news. Thank you, Ann. And the location is perfect because it's going around the same area as other Town facilities. [00:19:41] So this is perfect. And thank you for taking that on. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:19:46] How soon do you hope to have the operation going there. Any idea, timetable? Ann Rider [00:19:53] Well, we try to contain ourselves only to ask weekly when the closing is going to be, so. [00:19:59] This week, the email was sent earlier today, when is the closing? So I haven't gotten a reply. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:20:08] Ann will you continue to be their representative for the Enfield Community Council in the coming year? Ann Rider [00:20:14] This year? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:20:16] In twenty twenty one year? Ann Rider [00:20:19] I'll commit to that this year. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:20:21] OK, and Virginia, you are an alternate for that. Will you continue to be the alternate for the ECC in 2021? Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:20:29] I'm extremely, extremely interested, especially now that I'm more able to perhaps help with grants and so in the future, planning, getting money for a kitchen, etc. also beating the bushes for local contributions, which are tax deductible. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:20:47] Great. And just to backtrack a little bit, I already talked to a Maureen Bolton, heard from Maureen Bolton that she will continue to be the representative for the EMC in the in 2021 as well. [00:20:59] OK, is there any other question, are there any other questions for. Ann before we finish up. [00:21:07] OK, thank you and I appreciate it,. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:21:08] Thank you Ann Councilperson Michael Miles [00:21:10] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:21:14] OK, and next up, we have the Tompkins County Youth Board, Lisa Monroe, who I saw the other day, getting ready for some youth programing, but I don't see her on here unless she's one of the laptop or iPhones in that case. Raise your hand. OK, well, we'll skip over her as well. And if she comes on, well, we'll go ahead and get a quick check from her. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:21:47] I don't see Becky Simms on here, but she did send a letter along to us with a report for the fourth quarter, 2020 report for the IO (the inter municipality organization). So I will go ahead and read that. Now, let's see. Here's her fourth quarter 2020 report,. [00:22:06] The Cayga Lake Watershed intermunicipality organization I. O. Has continued to meet Via Zoom monthly throughout the pandemic. Virtual meeting options had been implemented for the group in late 2019 and is proving to help increase participation in meetings, especially from far flung municipalities that are less likely to or do not attend in - person meetings in Ithaca. [00:22:28] The I. O. Continues to work on implementing the Restoration and Protection Plan RPP, where the watershed developed in 2017. Multiple members are working on increasing participation and engagement, particularly from non Tompkin s County Municipalities. [00:22:46] I.O. subcommittees that have been less active in the past have been reinvigorated and will continue to be active throughout the next year. [00:22:54] If the Town of Enfield wishes to continue to have Becky as a repre sentative on the I.O. In 2021, which she is willing to do, she will be either the technical advisory the on either the Technical Advisory Committee or the Finance Committee. News for 2021 the I.O. will be contracting with Ian Smith, who is the Senaca Lake Watershed manager for a part time position to be the Cayga Lake Watershed Manager. [00:23:20] The IO has not been able to employ staff on any regular basis and will benefit tremendously from having a dedicated staff resource, dedicated staff resources t o work on and coordinate water quality improvement projects. He will also work to identify possible sources of continued funding to keep the position in future years. [00:23:40] The I. O. voted to endorse and support the adoption of the draft watershed rules and regulations for the Owasco Lake Watershed. These regulations have been under development for the last several years and will probably serve as a test case to see if the New York State Department of Health is going to support such update d regulations to be under local control if the decision is favorable to the watershed the Cayuga lake Watershed Network will considering developing W.R.R. As well this well, that means water resource, watershed rules and regulations. There we go. This will be substantially a more difficult process as the watershed is much larger and encompasses multiple municipalities and counties. [00:24:27] As a local health department employee, I abstained from this vote as I will be directly involved in the enforcement should it be approved. Stephanie Redmond, myself, Enfield alternate, joined in the unanimous vote. \. [00:24:38] So I took her place as in that vote, because she had abstained. [00:24:42] The I.O. Will meet again on December 16th at 7:00 pm, respectfully submitted Becky Simms,. [00:24:49] So she will continue to be the representative for that in 2021. [00:24:54] The next up is the Tompkins Health Consortium from in the report will be from Ellen Woods. You had your hand up here. I'm going to go ahead and ask you to unmute. [00:25:07] I'm sorry. There you go. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:25:11] So I don't actually sit on the Health Consortium I did originally, but as soon as it became apparent that I wouldn't be able to fulfill that with the workload of the Town Clerk I had, we are still looking for someone to represent Enfield on the Health Consortium. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:25:28] OK, I actually did attend their last meeting and basically they had they had a new sort of campaign that they were putting out that that was talking about trying not to gain weight during the holidays. And so they had a number of sort of healthy ideas that they were passing around. And that was the main focus. And they were kind of looking at different ways to to reward people if they participated in that program. So that's that was the majority of the meeting for that one. [00:26:02] So we will look for someone for the Tompkins Health Consortium if we can put another notice out. [00:26:09] I know we did on the website before, but maybe we could do that again. And there are actually a few different committees and stuff that could use some help. So maybe we can make a larger plea to the community to get involved. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:26:20] So next up is the cemetery committee. [00:26:22] Robert, you want to go ahead with that report? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:26:25] Yes. Cemetery Committee has not met since our last report. Cemetery Committee is still looking for someone to lead it. And we are going to be working on that. Obviously, this is not the most active time for the cemeteries. The most active time is in the spring when they have to be cleaned up and they have to be mowed. So we will progress in that. There have been a lot of other things going on here in the town, of course, COVID and everything else. So it has been a bit of a challenge, but we will get to work on that. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:27:01] Robert, I just have one question and a comment that I did not receive an invoice from Matt Lincoln this month, was that just an oversight or does he not do work in December? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:27:13] He does not do work in December. I think the contract, if you look back on the resolution, it is a monthly basis through perhaps October. [00:27:23] And I think that's the last because there's no need for mowing when the grass doesn't grow back. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:27:29] Great. And then I would love to meet with the cemetery committee because I need to get a really good handle on the cemeteries and how the payment processing and the billing all works. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:27:42] All right. We will we will arrange that. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:27:45] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:27:46] And Robert, will you continue to represent for 2021 for the cemetery committee? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:27:52] I would be glad to. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:27:53] OK, Ann I just noticed that you had your hand up. So I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to find you again. Where are you? There you go. I'm going to go ahead and unmute you. And if you had something to say,. Ann Rider [00:28:06] I wanted to add to the Health Consortium. I believe they forgave they forgave my December co-payment. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:28:23] OK. [00:28:26] I don't ber. [00:28:33] Your audio Ann,. Ann Rider [00:28:35] I believe that also impacts the Town in a positive way. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:28:39] Yeah. [00:28:41] That actually that's funny, because we were talking about how that wasn't that our things are vouchers were a little late this year or this month and I was noticing there was that was missing. So I'll have to get a hold of them and figure that out. Ann Rider [00:28:54] I believe it's forgiven. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:28:57] That's good to know. Ann Rider [00:29:01] Taxpayers. This is the greatest health care program going at least in New York State of the nation, and we need to do everything we can to support it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:29:16] Thank you,. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:29:18] Thank you,. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:29:20] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:29:24] OK, let's see. [00:29:27] You know, I actually skipped right over the Food Pantry, but I haven't seen Jean Owens on here. maybe, we will have to pass over her as well for now,. [00:29:39] did you want to give a an update for that, Robert? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:29:42] I just volunteer and he's talked with Jean about this numerous times. [00:29:47] The Food Pantry is doing a lot of business. And by business, I mean patr onage is way up. And the unfortunate thing is I think it's because of the economic downturn that's been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But we have seen a great increase in weekly use. [00:30:06] In fact, we had a record patronage, according to Jean, the weekend before Thanksgiving. I think between Sunday and Monday, there were 570 patrons who came to the Food Pantry. And we made a joyous Thanksgiving for a whole lot of people and again, patronage is up. And we appreciate the Town's efforts to accommodat e that space and accommodate that need. [00:30:36] As I see it, it's probably the number one social program that we in Enfield do. It's it's those who believe in social welfare and taking care of one another. The Food Pantry is a front line to doing that. And hats off to Jean for all that she does and the volunteers for what they do. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:30:56] Thank you. I'll reach out to her as well. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:30:59] Mm hmm. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:31:00] And as posted something here saying the health consortium had a build up of Via zoom you so far gave December payments to reduce their cash on hand. So that is very nice. That would explain a lot, as to our, vouchers this month. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:31:15] Mm hmm. [00:31:17] OK, so the next we have Water Protection Committee report from Nancy Spero. I'm going to ask to unmute and ask to start your video. Nancy Spero [00:31:31] I'm one of the members of the Enfield Water Protection Committee and we've been meeting monthly and there's approximately 12 members on the committee. [00:31:48] We have people representing various sectors of the community, the planning board, public health, agriculture, engineering. We have a lawyer. We have citizens. We have 2 Town Board members on the committee. Nancy Spero [00:32:03] And we're working with Steve Winkle from the New York State Water Association, who's providing free services to us to help get our water protection plan together. [00:32:17] And what kind of possible action items might be useful to the Town to help protect our waters. And he's very knowledgeable and he's worked with other Tompkins County towns, I think specifically Dryden and Caroline, maybe some other ones also. [00:32:34] And he's really putting our aquifer study to good use and really getting very concrete and complete information about what's going on with water in Enfield. [00:32:51] And one of the first one of the big tests we've been working on the past two meetings, two to three meetings, I guess is two meetings is our vision statement and goals. [00:33:04] And I'll just read the vision statement to you folks. [00:33:08] "The Town of Enfield is committed to protecting its groundwater resources, including the Enfield Creek Aquifer system and all drinking water sources through a comprehensive program which focuses on protective and corrective initiatives to ensure the entire town has a sustainable quantity and high quality supply of water now and in the future". [00:33:30] So that's the goal. And it's a committee. We're open to more members and or if you'd like to come to a meeting, you can contact me or Stephanie or any of the other members of the committee. [00:33:45] There is links to the aquifer study on our website from the USGS, their whole link. If you're interested in finding more about our water and the aquifer and Enfield and the waters of all the water around here. [00:34:06] And the next meeting is January 7th at 6:30. And we're meeting on Zoom and hopefully within six months we'll have something concrete to bring forward to the Board for discussion. [00:34:19] And and Steve has also made it very clear, and we're excited about the fact that part of this whole initiative is for public information and public education, really as integral to the whole water protection. And, yeah, I think that's the main information is does anybody have any questions? Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:34:47] For me, I just want to thank you. I'm sorry I missed the last meeting, I really appreciate your minutes so much, I had a dying cat. Nancy Spero [00:34:56] Well, I'm happy to just help facilitate however I can. There's many people on the committee much more expert than me on water issues. And I'm just hoping to help facilitate and I feel so blessed to have our well, as most all Enfield residents do, that we have good drinking water here and I want to see it stay that way. So. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:35:19] Yeah. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [00:35:19] I'll be touch with you. Thank you. Councilperson Michael Miles [00:35:23] Thank you, Nancy. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:35:25] OK, so on to our monthly report Anne Koreman and Dave McKenna. [00:35:33] I'm going to ask to unmute you and ask to start your video. [00:35:41] There you go. OK. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:35:48] Here's Dave. David, you want to start or you want me to? County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:35:55] Soon as I can get unmuted. OK, OK, we're all set. Yeah, I'll start Anne you've been holding down the fort for the last couple of months. So. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:36:08] Go ahead. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:36:09] OK, legislature accepted a grant for 6,230.70 for emergency response for computer equipment. We set the twenty twenty one organizational meeting to January 8th and also passed several housekeeping resolutions for the beginning of the year. And. [00:36:42] Probably the thing that's most important is the new Solid Waste Fee, which will be 70 dollars this coming year. And will increase five dollars a year over the next five years. And the reason for that is the building is getting quite old and there's a lot of work that has to be done. So I figure I don't have the number right in front of me, it's well over million worth of work to be done so in order to keep things from running a deficit. [00:37:22] And to maintain an 18% contingent fund, we decided to set an option 4 with the 6 options that were presented to us. And we accept that option 4, which basically restores that 18% contingent fund at the end of five years and does not put us in deficit spending, so was basically my report. [00:37:55] Anne have you got anything else you want to add. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:37:58] Sure, I can add a few things more. [00:38:01] So the other a couple of days ago at the HED, which is our Housing Economic Development Committee, we passed a resolution changing on the IDA, the industrial development agency, the number of legislators from four down to three, and instead of the other legislator, adding a representative from labor. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:38:28] So I think that's a big step to helping get more stakeholders at the table that will go for the through or go in front of the legislature for final approval on the 15th at 5:30 of this month. And if people have opinions about it one way or the other, they're welcome to send it on to the l egislators. We have been getting a lot of feedback so far. It's been all positive about doing that. And of course, you can always call me if you want more information about that. [00:39:06] We're continuing on with reimagining public safety, having some focus groups. [00:39:13] And do you want the sales tax report for October? [00:39:17] I know you get those directly, but I mean, you just say the summary. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:39:21] I'm sure the residents would love to hear,. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:39:22] OK, October, the county was down 10.69% Year to date. [00:39:31] The county was down eleven point eight percent for sales tax. The on average, the smaller municipalities were only down for the month of October, on e point three six percent for some reason. I'm not sure why, but what. That's good. [00:39:49] And year to date, the smaller municipalities on average are down eight point five two percent. I was at the Ulisses meeting last night and they said they're actually caught up there, so I am not sure why, but they're caught up. So they're not behind anymore for the year. So I'm I'm glad for them. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:40:10] And I believe all the rest that I have is a CoVid update, which you've probably been hearing a lot about is right now we have so from being here last month, we're more than double the number of active cases that there's now. [00:40:28] Two hundred and ninety one active cases that we know of of covid. We have ten people in the hospital. And last month I reported what we've only had one person die and now we've had five people die and the other four people were residents of Oak Hill Manor, which is a nursing home on the other side of Ithaca.. [00:40:53] We've also had cases of employees working at the restaurant Chiao, Home Depot and Wal-Mart, and that's just in the past week. Each week there's stores and restaurants where there's positive cases, so. [00:41:12] We're not going in the right direction, and so we're just we're, again, pleading with people. A lot of people think, well, I'm OK and I don't feel sick. And what we're finding out is someone people have been having family gatherings around Thanksgiving and one person sitting there for a couple of hours. That fee ls fine, and then they wound up infecting their whole family, including extended family, so we're finding a lot of cases like that. [00:41:44] Also people out at restaurants and bars, not so much at the stores because people aren't as sitting around is in close contact. So that's good for because people need to shop and because the sales tax is down. I'm always encouraging people to buy local. [00:42:04] But you can have curb up almost all stores. Do Curb Pick-Up or delivery. [00:42:10] Vaccinations for the CoVid are in the pike, but we don't know exactly when they're going to be coming unless Jason has our administrator has more information. But last I talked to him, we don't know how many we're going to get. [00:42:26] It might be priority for areas like New York City or other or Erie County that are even that are really hard hit. [00:42:34] So we're not sure when any vaccinations are going to come this way. And let's see what else. [00:42:47] There was a community forum that was held like a town hall that Jason held at nine today at four p.m. and so you can you tube go to our YouTube channel. It's a Tompkins County. Just search that and YouTube and you can see the latest updates are on that. I had a meeting, so I didn't catch it today, but I'm going to go back and watch that. [00:43:12] We've directed our departments to begin implementing density reduction plans so that we're having the least amount of of people working on site. [00:43:23] And for people, this is majority for people living downtown in Ithaca.. But there is a new testing site for CoVid, and that's on Tioga Street. And you do the same thing as you go to the website or you call the health department I'm sorry, you call Cayuga Health Services to make an appointment. [00:43:45] And so that's, of course, better for people that don't have transportation. And as a reminder, if you need transportation, once you set up getting a test, you can call 211 and they will arrange to pick you up in a secure vehicle and bring you back. [00:44:04] And we are continuing at Tompkins County to make sure we're covering any extra costs to testing to make sure that they're still free to people in the county. [00:44:16] And that's about it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:44:19] Thank you. Anne and Dave, does anybody have any questions for them? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:44:22] Got a couple of questions. [00:44:23] And I don't care which legislature and legislator answers, one concerning the IDA at the last county legislature meeting, there was talk about expanding the number of members on the IDA to accommodate organized labor. And perhaps also and this is my concern, to accommodate municipalities and perhaps school districts, but that would take state home rule legislation. Is there any movement on that idea of expanding the IDA membership? County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:44:58] Do you want me to take that one Dave? Since I'm on the IDA,. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:45:02] As far I know there's nothing, but maybe you know more about the. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:45:06] Yeah, so so we haven't gone anywhere with it yet, to my knowledge, but so there's seven members we're looking at. Can we increase it to nine? We're not even sure we want to increase it to nine. [00:45:21] But that's something that we that the discussion started because some legislators felt they still wanted at least four legislators on it. [00:45:32] So we'll we'll we're going to look into that. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:45:36] I remember back in 2009, there was a proposal to designate members of municipalities and also of school districts to have dedicated seats on it. [00:45:49] I mean, we've got a multi-million dollar solar farm that's being proposed up in Applegate Road. And it would be nice if the municipalities, some municipality and Tompkins County had a representative on the IDA to stand up for municipal interest. [00:46:04] And I'm just looking at it that way. And that might be a long range objective to expand the IDA membership, even if it takes a state law. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:46:13] Right? That's a good point. The there is one municipal position. Traditionally, it's been given to someone from the city of Ithaca., from their county city council. But I would definitely argue that it's about time that somebody from a rural area got on there. But if we did expand it, that could be you know, I. [00:46:39] I would like to see somebody from the school districts because any any agreements or tax abatements affect school taxes. So I would definitely agree with that. [00:46:49] And then if we had, then so that would be one extra seat and then another seat, you know, we could have two municipality seats, like one from the city of Ithaca. and on e rural even so that it was designated so that you, someone from the rural areas, always got on there. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:47:05] I'd like to see that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:47:08] And I agree. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:47:09] And in January, they'll be selecting the people, I'm waiting for an email back, but I'll forward it to you guys about how you apply to be on the IDA, because I know there's been some interest. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:47:24] All right. Thank you, Ellen. Did you say you had a question? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [00:47:27] I did. I had two questions or a question and a comment. [00:47:33] I'm very concerned that with the increase in the solid waste fee that there's going to be an increase in trash incineration in our rural areas. And I was wondering if that was discussed by the County and what I should tell residents who want to dispose of their trash properly but are having trouble affording that service. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:48:03] Well, I'm not sure what to at this point to increase in the fee unfortunately, it's still the only way we can do that and maintain the services that we have available, so. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:48:27] And then that's that's a mandatory fee to date, right, so that,. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:48:31] You know, comes on your tax bill. [00:48:34] Right. [00:48:35] So as far as like taking your trash to the solid waste department, I think that's what you're that's where it would hit people more. I know I went the other day, I tried to recycle as much as I can. So I only go like twice a year and I compost. So I went and it was two dollars and 40 cents a bag. [00:49:03] So I, I thought, well, I'll make sure I get the biggest bags buy the biggest bags that I can find because I had just regular sized bags. [00:49:16] So I mean that's a big hit when it's like twelve dollars for and I had to have a car so it's twelve dollars just to have a few bags in my car. That's you know it's, it's quite a lot of money. I don't know if that fee is going to go up. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:49:30] I think it was reported in the meeting the trash bags are going up to I think it's going to be like three dollars a bag now. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:49:36] Three dollars a bag. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:49:38] I think that's correct. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:49:40] So it's an increase in taxes and an increase in a drop off or pick up or whatever, it's both? County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:49:51] And you know, the one. [00:49:57] Covers the curbside pickup as well. OK. And, you know, it's like everything else everybody wants a raise. Well, the money has to come from someplace. It doesn't just happen. And that's a reason to go. That's part of the reason it goes up, the contract. [00:50:19] Bear with me for a minute, said, because, County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:50:23] Yeah, I think the increase was like over five hundred thousand dollars. [00:50:29] In the weeks and weeks, right then then we then we thought it was going to be we thought it was we were only going to have to raise it from 60. So that's a 60 a year to sixty five. But it came in even higher than we thought. [00:50:43] And so we had to raise it up to 70 for next year. Counciperson Robert Lynch [00:50:49] And as I remember from the way it was discussed at the legislature, that in five years that per household rate is going to go to ninety dollars. Right. And that figure did was only for the one year. But the plan that they endorsed would have stepped it up, will step up five dollars every year to twenty twenty five, right? County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:51:15] That's correct. And that's the reason. The reason for that is so that we can get back to having basically a slush fund in their cover. Unexpected expenses used in. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:51:31] Landfills that landfill prices have gone up, plus recycling prices. [00:51:36] The cost that that the contractors get for the recycling has gone has gone way down. So we're not getting as much for our recycling. Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:51:46] Is there any concern by the legislature that this is becoming a very regressive tax on homeowners, that the impoverished person pays the same as the millionaire does, regardless of how high the home is valued? What the assessment is, you're still charged to seventy dollar fee. Is there any possibility of revisitin g the way that that is apportioned to people perhaps putting a greater burden on the county tax and less on the fee? County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:52:22] That was brought up actually at our I think the F and I meeting and the facilities meeting, and I believe they said that we cannot put it in as a tax, that it has to be a fee, a separate fee. So we would have to somehow figure it out with tax. I think, I don't think it can be, we did ask that. [00:52:47] And there's there is a reason why it can't be added to the taxes. County Legislator Dave McKenna [00:52:53] So what I have here is the overall annual operating cost is six hundred twelve thousand dollars above budgeted cost. [00:53:12] We were. [00:53:16] That was in my mind, the best deal that we could get on it... [00:53:23] There were other things or other options, obviously, if of were even higher than the one that we accepted the one we accepted just made the basically the million and a half dollars at the end of five years and comes back to that level. And quite frankly, in today's world, a million and a half dollars go too far in a facility like that, if something happens. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:53:58] Thank you. Are there any other questions for Anne or Dave? Thank you Anne thank you, Dave. County Legislator Anne Koreman [00:54:05] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:54:17] OK, so next up, I'm going to give the Supervisors report for December 2020. Over the past month, I worked on developi ng the plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease, which we will pass a resolution to accept tonight, I spent some time researching grants for various Town projects such as the Grange and Construction of Sidewalks. I attended meetings for the I. O. And the Health Insurance Consortium, as well as the Water Resource Council. [00:54:45] I've been sorry, the Water Protection Committee, getting my water groups mixed up. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:54:51] I've been in contact with the New York State Department of Transportation to discuss concerns regarding safety of pedestrians. On Route 79, I sent a letter to Norbut Solar Farms to notify them that the Town opted out of the exemption for solar and other renewable energy systems provided for by the law four eighty seven discussed the Norbut's solar development and shared the twenty twenty one Town budget with the IDA. I attended the planning board meeting and met with the sorry Water Prote.... Had that on my list twice. I participated in calls with the county and the southern tier to discuss covid issues. [00:55:30] I met with the fire company to negotiate the new contract by the New York State mandated paid family leave and the disability benefit law forms. [00:55:38] Set up the new Councilperson Michael Miles in Paychex. So you'll be getting a paycheck now. [00:55:43] Discuss the community solar project with Renovous. [00:55:46] Along those lines. I want to let everyone know that they are actually able to look at the highway building roof as a potential sighting. [00:55:54] So that mitigates a lot of the issues that we were looking at as far as where the placement of the solar panels and they do believe that that roof line m ight work out for them. So they still have to finalize, you know, site plan of our site examination of that. But that's that's their hope. [00:56:15] Let's see, I updated the payroll certification for twenty eight forms submitted to hazard mitigation plan and. [00:56:22] Met with the Parsons Consulting regarding the landfill on Waterburg Road and met with NYMIR for the Town risk review. [00:56:28] As far as training's I did the OSC's local official training seminar for local officials. Aside from the items listed above,. [00:56:36] The town supervisor completes the following task throughout each month, reviews all bills, repairs, vouchers for board review and payment correspondence, payroll and abstract review, budget monitoring, modifications, deposits and transfers. [00:56:49] Documentation for all meetings resolves legal issues, trainings, attendance to county level meetings, communication with employees and department heads regarding daily uptown operations, budget concerns. Building maintenance and upgrades purchases. Resident complaints and concerns, employment and benefit administrations. [00:57:03] All actions dedicated the Town board, the supervisor and all other daily tasks that arise. [00:57:09] And I would like residents to know that we are still looking for delegates to represent the town of Enfield on the Recreation Partnership, the Health Consortium and the New York Stretch Committee. As far as the New York Search Committee goes, it would be great if we could have a person that is involved full time in real estate. [00:57:27] That's one of our our rules for our resolution that we passed for the NYSTRETCH committee. [00:57:36] Committee appointments will be renewed at the beginning of the year. [00:57:39] So if you are interested in serving your committee in some way in twenty twenty one, please reach out and let us know your interest. There are many varied tasks from youth concerns to beautification, town finances, renewable energy and environmental concerns, insurance and much more. [00:57:54] There may be other opportunities to share your talents, aside from committee appointments for short term projects and gatherings. And along those lines, I would like to say that in the past, the Beautification Committee has been headed up by Debbie Teeter and Anne Rider and Helen Heatherington, and I'm sure that they would like to have some added help with that. And there is still is money within the budget for the beautification committee. So it'd be great to sort of reinvigorate that committee. [00:58:23] As well as the Finance Committee used to be established a while ago, but many of the members like Alice Linton and Beth's McGee and Debbie Kelly have left their offices. And so it'd be great to get the Finance Committee up an d going again and maybe look into some investment policies so that we can take some of the money that the Town has in some of the savings accounts and and actually utilize them to gain interest during that time. [00:58:52] So that's it for the supervisor report. [00:58:54] If anybody has any questions? Councilperson Robert Lynch [00:58:56] That the way I did,. [00:59:00] I thought it was I thought it basically that the the scope of that is east and west rather than north and south. How are they going to put the solar panels on that roof? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:59:10] They actually looked at that roof and they said that it was not going to have that much of a decrease in in in their capacity, so they're going to look at it further. But they felt like it would work. So sorry. Michael I feel like I'm always unmuting. I don't know why it won't let me... Councilperson Michael Miles [00:59:32] Or facilities break. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:59:36] Sorry, did you have a question, Michael? Councilperson Michael Miles [00:59:38] Just wanted to unmute myself, but also I actually do have a question. If the solar panels would be on the roof of of the. So can the roof sustain the structural weight or the weight of the solar panels without being looked into as an engineer signed off on that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [00:59:56] They they have not signed off on it. [00:59:58] They are getting the drawings from the from the the building. The Buddy has them at the place. So they're going to look into that further. So they're not 100 percent sure, but they do think that it's probably going to be able to work there. But don't take my word on it yet, it was exciting that they were able to look into it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:00:20] OK, let's go ahead with the Town Clerk report, Helen or Ellen, sorry, I'm going to unmute you. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:00:32] So the month of November, we got the alarm system working and underway and the town h alls always alarm now and just wanted to thank everyone who's been patient with that process and learning how to do that. [01:00:47] We have the new copier that is up and running. So that's pretty exciting. [01:00:53] We've been working Councilperson Miles and I have been working on the IT committee, and we he was able to network the computers in the town hall, which has never been done. So that's great. And we're continuing to work with Williamson to come up with a solution for that software. [01:01:13] I have been working with assessment to prepare the twenty twenty one tax bills. Those will start to go out at the end of the month. And we're working on a plan in the town hall for minimizing exposure while collecting taxes and to make the electronic and online payment options very accessible for our residents. [01:01:36] At the end of the month, I am going to have to conduct a yearly dog audit to see who which dogs did not get their rabies renewed in 2020. So I'm just encouraging residents to reach out to me. If they're struggling with that, I will have to start issuing tickets because rabies control is really important and it is something that can surge in a pandemic. [01:02:02] So most municipalities have been because all the rabies were ca nceled. [01:02:07] Yeah, all the rabies clinics were canceled in the local municipalities. [01:02:12] We've been really lax about that. But at the end of the year, we're going to have to take a good look at which dogs really still need to be protected. [01:02:22] During the month, I did public information on the website, Councilperson miles through working with him, I was encouraged to sort of go further with the wordpress and integrate some block editors. So that was exciting, doing some new things with the website. [01:02:38] A lot of residents had been asking to have links. When we send out links. Previously, the emails that went out to residents, just sent a little summary and it did not have the links "live". So I was able to figure out how to make it, so you can just click the links right from your email. So that was exciting. [01:02:56] And I did my first swift nine one one announcement. So that's a great tool for communicating with residents. Just for comparison, something on the website goes to three hundred and fourteen residents, something with nine one one goes to over a thousand residents, including landlines. [01:03:17] So we have transcripts of all the meetings that have happened so far up on the website and our minutes are caught up, those have to be posted. I just ran out of time today, but we have them on. Those will be posted very shortly. [01:03:34] We've been issuing hunting and fishing licenses and. We're just I issued marriage license number 13 and they were very excited to have that number. So that's about it. [01:03:50] Any questions for Ellen? Councilperson Michael Miles [01:03:53] Just just one slight modification or comment is that the I.T. committee technically has met but Ellen and I have worked together to at least try some of the media issues that that are in the Town Clerks office for network. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:04:09] Is great. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:04:10] I can I can talk more about that. There's one issue. There's one new business on the Tax Collection software that I'll speak to later as well. So. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:04:21] Great, thank you. Thank you Ellen. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:04:23] And I happen to mention that when those prospective newlyweds were walking into the town hall, I was walking out and they were smiling ear to ear. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:04:37] And so I don't see Buddy on here, unfortunately, and I had some questions for him, I know they had some is sues with the heater in the highway building. [01:04:50] Robert, did you happen to talk to him any further? Do you know if they had that resolved? Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:04:54] I know him just that he wanted to have his furnace cleaned and he was questioning about how he should go about doing it. And I suggested that he go ahead and get the furnace cleaned. that's my advice. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:05:09] I spoke to him and actually the overhead radiant heaters were not actually working. So he was going to have Norm come and help him fix it. And if that couldn't happen, if they couldn't figure it out, then they were going to try to hire out. And I didn't know if they had gotten HALCO or someone like that to come. And take care of that? Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:05:29] I have not heard any more. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:05:32] I do see Gabe Newhart on here, and I know he's not technically supposed to give the report. But Gabe, if you're able to tell us if the heaters got fixed. [01:05:41] Raise your hand. We asked to unmute you for a minute, just so. He could let us know if it if they're fixed? [01:05:50] All right, maybe not. OK, so the next thing that we have is the Code Enforcement report from Alan Teeter. [01:06:01] I asked to unmute you and I'm going to ask to start your video. Code Officer Alan Teeter [01:06:10] OK, I think I've done both. For the month of November, I issued 6 Building permits, three of those were for new houses, which brings us up to a total of fifty three for the year, which is about on par for what we normally do is probably a little bit less this year than some past years, but pretty close. [01:06:30] I've been having some issues with my printer as Stephanie knows, b ut actually that was more of a computer issue and not communicating with it. So that was all resolved the last couple of days. So it's all up and running a good few other things. [01:06:46] I think next month I'd like to bring the fee schedule back to the board to take a look at. There's one correction I would like to make on the one change. Right now we're charging, the minimum fee is for any building or project a thousand dollars or less. And I would like to see that raised up to maybe two thousand or five thousand. The fee would be the same, but right now pretty much nothing. We get the minimum fee. I guess what I'm trying to say, everything goes up to the second level. So I have a recommendation for the Town next month about that. [01:07:24] One thing I heard is I think the trainings or in-person trainings will probably be canceled next year. So I think we're going to do online trainings again. [01:07:33] Starting in January, the solar project, I turned the two-thirty-nine review into the county and they said they will get that back to us the next couple of weeks. So they're going to take a look at that and get it back before the next planning board meeting. I have one other situation I want to mention. [01:07:55] There's a lot on the parcel on Hayts Road, which is landlocked, and there's a law that does not allow building houses on land locked parcels. This one has a shared driveway which goes back to some other houses on the parcel. And it's possible the planning board can look at that and approve it. And as they build a lot, then it also has to go to the town board for approval after that, I try to speak to Dan Walker about that, but I don't think he's available right now. So there'll be the next Planning Board Meeting and they'll probably be coming up at a town board meeting next month or two. [01:08:36] That's pretty much what I have just mentioned on the roof of the highway garage, to answer Michael's question usually of solar panels don't weigh that much and they only add about two pounds per square foot of load on it. So it's probably not a concern. I think Buddy was looking for that information on what the roof was designed for, but I don't think that'll be a problem, that the building itself had other issues when it was built that had to be correct. [01:09:03] And I was just curious if that the trusses or the structure was going to be an issue as well, too. [01:09:11] I think the structures I'll find the issues are more of the insulation and the vapor barrier and doors and things like that. But as far as the structure itself, I think that's in pretty good shape. [01:09:22] OK, thanks. Questions for a code enforcement. OK, how about the volunteer fire company report? 1st Ast Fire Chief Alan Teeter [01:09:36] So total calls from November were 30 for their 15 EMS calls, six service calls, three motor vehicle accidents, total of 10 fire calls. Five of those were mutual aid to Trumansburg and Mclroy Clerk the trainings for DEC. Last Thursday, we had our general meeting with elections. This Thursday, we're having a training on hybrid vehicles. [01:10:06] The 17th is open right now. Usually it's not a big turnout in the middle of December. Then obviously Christmas is New Year's Eve Beth's site. The twenty fourth is New Year's Eve, which is Thursday, followed by the next Thursday is New Year's Eve. So we won't have any trains on either of those. The last thing I had, as Greg mentioned, we're going to be doing a little bit different reports that are next month going forward. We're s till going to do a report on the calls and trainings. Beth's will also be a separate report on administrative what's going on generally with the fire department. So that will be forthcoming. Thank you. [01:10:46] Very nice. Any questions about the volunteer fire company report? [01:10:52] OK, so Dan Walker, it looks like it's not here to you. Can you give any sort of planning board report for him? [01:10:59] Sorry to put you on the spot like this. If you don't feel comfortable, that's fine. [01:11:04] No, it's OK. I really don't think I think they discussed was a Norbert's solar farm going forward with that. I think that it's going to be a process over the next couple of months. [01:11:18] And I don't have to report unless you have something to do with the meetings. I'm recalling that from memory. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:11:26] Three of the four board members of the Town board sat in on that planning board meeting. Isn't there going to be a public hearing in early January? The planning board meeting regarding the Norbut project seems like that was on my mind, that that was that that was scheduled at the last meeting of the planning board meeting. And the planning board also is going to be the "lead agency" in the SEQR review for the Norbut Project. Code Officer Alan Teeter [01:11:59] Yes, I believe that both is correct, the planning board is almost always lead agency for the SEQR and I think there is a public hearing with the first meeting in January. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:12:09] So. Code Officer Alan Teeter [01:12:10] So that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:12:13] I have the planning board public hearing at 7:00 p.m. or sorry, seven, 15 p.m. on the 6th of January. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:12:20] That sounds right. [01:12:23] And the reaction by the planning board was very positive to the Norbut project. There were questions, but there weren't any objections. And I think that the project is moving ahead. And as I also recall from the representative of Norbut, who was attending the planning board meeting, that they are planning to go before the industrial development agency of the county, I think maybe in March, perhaps to seek a pilot agreement, which is part of their taxing procedure that they use. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:13:00] I guess the question is, what point do we work on a host agreement, I assume that's at Town boar issue? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:13:07] That's true, I do believe that happens after things get started with the IDA, but I do need to look into that further. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:13:14] To make sure we get a good a good deal. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:13:18] Yeah, they seem very amicable to really trying to do as much as they can for the Town. [01:13:22] So I do feel good that they they seem like they're going to. [01:13:28] To consider us. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:13:29] Well, I appreciate that in their plans that it's mostly going to be out of sight. [01:13:35] I think it's going to be there's kind of there's a lot of space around this, the solar panels, because it's pretty big. It's a pretty big site. And but there isn't enough there's a lot of green space around it as well too. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:13:51] One thing in the discussion with the planning board, remember that, Michael, was that I would like them to keep as much of the unused area agricultural so that it looks as much like it does right now as possible becaus e the panels are largely going to be set back from the road quite a bit well,. [01:14:14] Out near the road near Applegate Road. [01:14:17] There are farm fields right now and I see no reason why they can't remain to be farm fields if there's no industrial use for them. I'd rather see that that than just growing up to honeysuckles and Hawthorns and Golden Rods because it makes the town look more like the agricultural community we want it to be. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:14:37] You know, I think it's important that Mansfield, as an agricultural town, I mean, it's a Enfield, but I mean, there's other uses that we could I mean, there's lots of ideas that we could have for that. And that's that's one of them. [01:14:51] One of the other ideas that I thought is this is this is really Norbut that that has proposed some of these things eventually is what to do with the remaining part of the property that they're going to acquire. And I think that's probably more more questions coming of that that, actually the solar farm itself is what happens to that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:15:20] Ellen did you have a question? Councilperson Michael Miles [01:15:22] So she may need to be unmuted? [01:15:24] I think she's.... Town [01:15:26] I did so in my notes from the planning board meeting. I had the public hearing set at seven 15, which was weird. I didn't know if there was a reason for that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:15:39] I was wondering the same thing, but I have it in my notes 7:15 as well. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:15:44] OK,. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:15:44] But, you know, that was 7:15. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:15:47] Now and then, I just have a technical question, I can reach out to Dan about that and then I have a question about I know usually the person proposing the project pays for the public hearing announcement in the newspaper. How, do we pay for that and then they reimburse us? Code Officer Alan Teeter [01:16:09] So I can answer for that, I reached out to Dan Huntington and told him we charge a seventy five dollar fee to cover the cost of that and then any additional cost would be charged to the project. You should be a check at some point, but apparently hasn't done that yet. But yes, you are correct. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:16:28] OK, so I, I, I invoice that to what line? Code Officer Alan Teeter [01:16:34] That I don't know. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:16:35] OK, OK, OK, so basically they or the Town. Yeah, and that's great to know that. No, because we can write it with seventy five dollars in mind. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:16:56] OK, so let's move along to the Tompkins County Council of Governments report. Robert, you want to go ahead with that report? Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:17:04] Yes. As board members know, I sent you a written copy of my TICAD report earlier today. But for members of the public, I'll read an edited version of that for you. [01:17:15] Now, the Tompkins County Council of Governments did not meet in November, so there have been no meetings since. Last month's report will meet on December 17. Nonetheless, you'll recall that I touched briefly in September on a subject presented at our August meeting. Given its relevance today, I'll revisit it, inform you of recent discussions on November, I should say, on August 22, Nina Seeley, who has since left her employ with the Tompkins County Health department, informed us of the Medical Countermeasures Plan, a plan to facilitate medication distributions in the event of a fast spreading or lethal natural occurring or terrorist inspired biological attack as it applies to vaccine inoculations. [01:18:08] We were told health officers would assess vaccines, would access vaccines from national stockpiles and then have points of distribution otherwise known as pods ready at a moment's notice. With that in mind, I initiated discussions this past week with nine of Seeley's successor, Patricia Mason. [01:18:30] The County Health Department's newly appointed preparedness coordinator, Ms. Mason is attempting to adapt the long dormant medical countermeasures plan to the likely need for community based inoculation centers once a vaccine against covid -19 becomes readily available to the general public. Both she and I want a so-called open pod that's a site available to everyone to be made available in Enfield. [01:18:57] As a potential location, I first suggested to Mrs. Mason the meeting room at the Enfield fire company. [01:19:05] We're involved. We're involved fire company officials in the discussions as those discussions evolved. [01:19:12] We learned that the health department is most interested in establishing drive through vaccination facilities, somewhat like the drive thru CoVid testing site at the Lansing Mall, where company representatives raised concerns about available parking driveway space and possible obstruction for their emergency operations. [01:19:33] Talks will continue and we're looking elsewhere. [01:19:37] One alternative for us to consider is the Enfield Elementary School. The school has paid parking lots and driveways, yet both see heavy use when school is in session. [01:19:49] I've also suggested driveways leading to the Enfield Highway garage and perhaps the garage itself. Our discussions remain in the preliminary stage as talks continue will keep the Town board informed. And that's my report. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:20:04] Hey, any questions for Robert? Councilperson Michael Miles [01:20:09] OK, thank you, Robert, for that report. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:20:11] Thank you. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:20:11] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:20:14] So the next thing we have to do is move the consent agenda with out of the fire contract resolution to that agenda. But also we have on there the audit claims, the resolution for the twenty twenty one agreement for legal representation with Guy Krogh, as well as the resolution to adopt the plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving communicable disease. [01:20:39] Ellen, could you please read the audit claims? [01:20:43] Let me go ahead unmute you. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:20:47] The. The Town board authorizes the supervisor to pay general fund vouchers, two hundred and sixty three to two hundred and seventy eight stated twelve nine twenty twenty in the amount of fourteen thousand two hundred and thirty seven dollars and ninety seven cents. Highway fund vouchers, one hundred and seventy seven to one hundred and ninety five dated December 9th, twenty twenty in the amount of twenty eight thousand six hundred and six dollars and thirty one cents. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:21:25] Thank You, OK? [01:21:26] Yes, I'm going to go ahead and move the consent agenda, is there a Second? Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:21:30] I'll Second Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:21:32] Is there any discussion? [01:21:36] OK, Ellen, would you please Call the vote? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:21:39] Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:21:41] AYE Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:21:43] Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:21:45] AYE. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:21:46] Councilperson Miles. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:21:48] AYE. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [01:21:49] Acting supervisor Redmond. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:21:51] AYE. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:21:53] All right, past the next on our agenda is the Supervisor and Councilperson discussion, for the most part, I will be removing myself from this conversation. [01:22:08] The only thing that I would like to remind folks is that as I hold these positions as the acting supervisor and the deputy supervisor and the Councilperson position, at this point, we cannot have a fully reconstituted board and I cannot appoint a deputy supervisor, which makes that's actually the deputy supervisor makes me the most anxious because while I am young and healthy and almost never get sick and haven't had so much as a sniffle during covid, my kids are in school now and should they be exposed to covid, our entire family would have to quarantine, which would make at least two weeks that I would not be able to leave my property, which could make bills behind for the Town. [01:22:51] So I'm concerned. I feel like that's rather irresponsible, but that's all I want to say on this matter. And from here on out, I'm going to let the other board members go ahead and discuss this. If you would like. I can even remove myself from you myself. Closed my video, so just let me know how you would like to plan it. But I will otherwise step out of this conversation. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:23:13] I'm not sure if who wants to start talking, so I guess I'll start it. We just received and we know Bob and the board received advice from counsel just only two days ago. And we've been trying to interpret or understand what his advice is. And I think the pretty much the gold standard of his advice with the conclusion that I come to is that in order to appoint Stephanie, she would first need to resign her Councilperson position. She would still retain the deputy... [01:23:59] But the Councilperson position first before the board can consider her appointment as the supervisor. So I'm you know, I support Stephanie being the supervisor. [01:24:16] I think she has been doing a great job and and, you know, I'm actually even willing to nominate her, but I can't do so. [01:24:26] until, you know, according to council advice that Stephanie stepped down from that Councilperson position first. But. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:24:38] I if I can say something, I echo what Mike says. I agree that, you know, the procedure has to be followed. I totally support her to be nominated to be a supervisor because he's been doing an excellent job and community communication and collegiality and so on, but I think we have to move along and quote the legal steps you have to take. [01:25:08] And that's where I'm at at this point. But I would really like to see the board become as as I feel is becoming more collegial and working together and then being able to become a full five person board, even if it isn't until January or whatever, because we've been then given legal advice that we don't have to move like crazy to fill a board. [01:25:38] I mean, that that was pointed out very I thought very clearly by legal advice, our legal advice, maybe maybe somebody can correct me, but I think that's how I read it. And, you know, there's a period of time between January and the next election period. [01:25:57] We need to function as a full board. And we're really I f eel that if we could do this in an orderly, collegial manner, that that that would mean, appoint, Stephanie, to be the Town supervisor and then we have another board seat to fill, we wouldn't have to jump on it like crazy people. Maybe that's a little too simplistic. I don't know. Michael, help me out. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:26:27] I think I think that's right. The other part of that advice, and it's kind of a two part advice, is that the and Bob can correct me. All of us on this is that, the time constraint, which we originally thought was December thirty first, you know, our council did a lot of research on this and did a lot of good work and researching and looking at case studies. [01:26:51] And the conclusion is that, no, we don't have to December 31st. We can make that decision afterwards. And given that we just got the counsel position advice two days ago, I asked the public to be patient with us. I know they want this to happen immediately, but I think it's also important that we do this correctly. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:27:11] Nd transparently and openly and so on. But I still think there's a way we can do it in an orderly fashion. [01:27:21] And end up by the first, you know, not the first of the year, but by January or February with a full board. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:27:31] yea, that would... Go ahead Bob. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:27:33] I think one thing would help the community and then we're we're the clients we're the clients of of Guy Krogh. And we paid for this legal research. And we if we as a board want to divulge the results of his findings, there's nothing to stop us from doing so that perhaps his legal opinion, if if all these three board members who are right now involved in this discussion would agree that maybe it could be made public and posted so that the community would know why we have to do it the way we have to do it. [01:28:13] And the key issue right now is Guy Krogh is recommending and my look as a as a layman on the law, as a paralegal is the same that to make it really legal and squeaky clean, that if Supervisor Redmond is elevated to supervisor, if she is right now, she's acting supervisor, but if she is elevated from Councilperson to supervisor, she first has to resign as Councilperson and probably even before we vote on it. [01:28:49] So the problem is, if in the discussion in the course of our debate, we decide that not all three of us want to support her elevation to supervisor, she's out in the cold. She's already resigned Councilperson and that's not fair to her. And so that's a concern that I've got. It's kind of a catch twenty two and it puts me in a bind. And if we get some of these other discussions done with, I wanted to share my thoughts before we conclu de this discussion, but I'll let others continue right now. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:29:26] Yeah, I can't tell Stephanie what to do because that's a huge risk that something that she would have to decide, you know, to be able to do the and again, the gold standard was, you know, resign and then appoint from Guy Krogh. And we can't tell someone what to do. And I think we all understand that's a huge risk. I know, you know, at least for myself, I can state, you know, to give her some level of comfort is the I will vote for her if it comes to a vote to be the supervisor. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:30:00] As will. I and. I have read, unfortunately, my phone with my eyes crossed, all the emails, including the the transcripts from Town of Ulysses you know, when I don't feel they quite did it the right way and they open, it was kind of like, I don't know, somebody in weighing and weighing-in line or the next in line or the crown prince's. But whatever that is, you know, I want it to be open so that the Town. But I still totally support moving Stephani into the Town supervisor position. And then we have, again, two vacant board seats. [01:30:44] As I understand it, and we have someone I don't want to be like a director, but in the wings who would be willing to serve you, he wants to learn about being a board member. He would be a terrific addition. And then we would also be able to advertise for yet another board member, is my math wrong? Councilperson Michael Miles [01:31:07] Several steps, but now there's four council people right now and we're missing it. So we only have one. Technically right now we only have one vacancy. That is a supervisor position. Straight forward to show that the Councilperson position held by Stephanie, she would need to resign first for us to consider a supervisor. So if she is elevated to supervisor, that would leave. If we vote to do that, that would leave one Councilperson position left. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:31:40] I know. I knew my math was wrong. I was never good at it. I'm sorry. But but but nevertheless, you know, that seems to me in the next part of what's you know, beginning in January, through the next election period, we would have a fully functioning Town board with someone who has experience on board for three board members who had board experience and passport experience. And we could bring on a new board member, which to me seems to me personally seems like an appropriate approach. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:32:20] And given that this is a twenty twenty one is going to be the 20th anniversary, the 200th anniversary of the Town Town and the celebrations of the committee, I think working on the celebrations of first. [01:32:34] So it'd be great that. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:32:35] There are lots of things that would really figure into being a terrific addition to that celebration. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:32:41] Yeah, yeah. And Stepahnie... [01:32:44] I think it's done a great job and I think it's definitely become more collegial and less blustery and confrontational as opposed to most of this past year. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:32:55] Definitely. I mean, Stephanie is a businesswoman and part of running a company and knows about budgeting. I have to say, I know about budgeting. [01:33:05] I've been kind of in the background, as I've said before, unfortunately, when my husband was so ill. But I know all about budgeting. I'm not a dummy. And, you know, after twenty twenty one, I'm gone. The old lady's gone. Somebody else, new and young, can come on board. We can move forward. And it's a really positive thing for the Town anniversary to have a functioning board and having everybody who's involved in this town, whether they're an employee or an elected official, to be part of that team. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:33:39] Yeah, and and in the end, this is really only for twenty, twenty one, so like three of these positions are mine, Virginia's and the supervisor position is up for election in twenty, twenty one. Definitely. The Stephanie resigns her position as Councilperson and takes on the supervisor position. They'll make four positions that are up on the ballot. [01:34:03] Three, if nothing happens for if we do elevate Stephanie to to the supervisor position so the public will weigh in, weigh-in,. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:34:14] Right and they have been weighing in more during these meetings. We've had as much as I dislike the fact that I can't be in the same room with other people. It's been great to have more people involved from the Town who are weighing in and speaking up or at least listening to our Town board meetings. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:34:34] Yeah. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:34:38] And I think other Town boards would say the same thing, at least I know I wouldn't I don't know that, but I know it for I mean, I don't know that. But I have talked to other Town board members who say that their few meetings have produced many more participants. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:34:57] No one should ever say that being a Town board member is easy now. [01:35:02] Times like this I'll tell ya, you know, and if you give me a couple of minutes, I'd like to share my thoughts on this, because I think they're important to this debate. And best start here. A few days ago, I stumbled upon a quote from the writings of the late Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, you dissented in the case whose circumstances really don't matter here tonight. [01:35:29] Justice Douglas was speaking of juries when he said the following, and it's a quote, Human experience teaches us that polite and academic conversation is no substitute for the earnest and robust argument necessary to reach unanimity that she's, quote, close quote, taking Justice Douglas at his word. [01:35:50] We recently survived quite well with the bare minimum number of members on our Town board. Now, with a membership of four one member dispair, we still do quite well with fewer members to throw overboard and marginalize. [01:36:07] We're forced to listen to and respect our colleagues as we always should. So a four person board is sufficient is just a little inconvenient at times. Fellow members I've agonized these past 10 weeks agonized more than you might imagine, more than my spoken words and writings might reveal. And I still agonize. I agonized tonight over whether and how to fill our vacancy of Town Supervisor. [01:36:34] I sense each of my fellow board members, each of you know which way to turn, but I do not. It would be so very easy for me to pull the ripcord, to take the safe path of least resistance, the path others on this board have urged me to take and to elevate one particular Councilperson to finish the supervisors unexpired term, it might buy peace on this board, at least for a time. Our vote tonight would likely be unanimous. Yet we do not merely vote to please ourselves, we are here as representatives of the constituents we serve. [01:37:18] During the two weeks prior to Election Day, I visited, if you can believe it, six hundred four Enfield residences, homes to a majority of our voters. I talked with three hundred eighty nine of them. I counted them up. For those permitting me to linger, I ask them what they wanted us to do about supervisor succession overwhelmingly without prompting, most told me to keep the seat open until next year's elections. Holding a special election was their second most popular choice. [01:37:54] So if I pull that ripcord tonight, if I go with the flow, I'll be cashing in a ton of political capital. I still do it if it's the best thing for Enfield, but it may cost me reelection in twenty twenty three. Furthermore, it may cost each of you the same when your date at the polls comes to. Let me stop here for a moment to make one point crystal clear. Personality conflicts or political ambition plays no role in my decision or indecision, never confused political disagreement with personal animus. There is no animus here. [01:38:34] I respect Councilperson Redmann. We worked well together, constructively, amicably to negotiate the fire contract that's on our agenda tonight. And we've adopted I respect Councilperson Redmond's dedication to the office each of us holds. I turn to her for advice on environmental matters. She's amply qualified to sit on this Town board as my as our governing equal. I recall that in the last election, she even got a few more votes than I did. I'd rather not lose Stephanie as a member of our team. Please don't resign. And no, Stephanie decide to run next year for Supervisor, as I suspect she will. I have not decided whether to run against her for that office or only the passage of time. [01:39:23] And the events and the grasp of public sentiment will someday chart my course. What you're hearing tonight is Bob Lynch three point of words representing my third change of heart in the past 10 days. Yes, it has changed. I've weighed many options, written alternative statements to justify continuing choices, contrasting choic es. Most of those words you will never see or hear. At times, I find myself ready to pull that ripcord. [01:39:53] But then but then something tells me to stop. So here I am tonight, asking you, my board colleagues, to take a deep breath, give the matter some more thought. Talk to constituents and maybe revisit supervisor succession a month or two from now. [01:40:14] Each of us in this Town board stands equally qualified to serve as supervisor, not one of us, not one is more fit than any other. Maybe t hat's a good way to keep it keeps us humble. And yes, it also allows time for some of us to work out differences with other members of our governing team. Our constituents may not grasp the magnitude of the problem, but we on the board do for me, resolving those differences professionally and as adults. [01:40:45] Will greatly influence any vote that I later cast. Fortunately, our Town attorney has advised us, informed us we no longer face a year end deadline. We can revisit the question in February or March. We're never if we so choose. I believe things happen for a reason and maybe my stumbling upon Justice Douglas's writings last weekend made more was more than just coincidence. As he observed, sometimes earnest and robust argument in search of unanimity works best. He focuses the mind. The foster respect gets the job done. Let's try it for a while. It's what the public tells us we should do as a board of equals maybe until the next election. Thank you. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:41:40] Thanks, Bob. Thank you. I should add to that that, you know, you know, this is a big ask for Bob and it is ironic. [01:41:54] I mean, for me, I haven't been part of the 20 20 discussion for the most part or the activities of of of the board this year, which has been very contentious and alienated. A lot of people, most of the models, a lot of things resulted in four to one vote, often without any seconds by Bob's, you know, Bob's resolutions and movements. And it is it is a bit ironic that we come full circle to that, that now, Bob, is the deciding vote on this. So I'll just say that. All right. You know, it is there is a bit of irony in this. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:42:45] It's not an easy decision to make, but it was a decision that I had to make and again, it may change over the course of the next few months. I'm not casting my opinion in stone. As I said, I'm coming to the board tonight asking for your advice and your help. [01:43:00] And I just think that since we don't have to make a decision for yea rs end. That we give it a little time, talk to our constituents a little more and maybe search our own souls a little bit and determine what's the best course of action. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:43:17] I don't completely agree. I would like us to understand that point of view, and I appreciate Bob's input on this. I would prefer that we come to a full board. But, you know, if this goes out to January, February, then so be it. You know, I don't want Stephanie to you know, I think she's been doing a great job and been very valuable. I don't want to I don't want to lose her the Councilperson or as acting supervisor. But. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:43:51] If I can speak, neither do I. And if we can if if you're bringing more collegialiality, and more team discussion on this whole matter if we can do it. Within the next few months, I'm not in favor of that. I just don't want to see us prolonging something. But I have this feeling deep down inside, and this is not for me to say that I'm seeing the board, such as we are now, at least working on working towards problems together, listening to each other, I hope, which is what we need to do and working together on problems that are not just this one, but other ones that are coming up. But I know I'm and I've listened to you, Bob, and I appreciate the way you're able to put your words forth so well because you had that training and your legal paralegal background. [01:44:54] And I'm not because I listened to you on the news. You know, I know you have that capability. I don't have that. But I also know how I feel that Stephanie has been doing an excellent job. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:45:07] She's been and you and Stephanie has been doing a superlative job in terms we when I came on the board, I really want to talk about the fire contract. So now to be able to be where we are now with fire contract and the fire company and the members is it's a huge plus and other things more than I wanted to take time to name. [01:45:30] But I also don't want to see us linger along if at some point the next few months we could bring the board to full strength. [01:45:39] And I certainly do not support going to some kind of special election to me is a question that's just too expensive. I mean, I think I'd resign on the spot. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:45:51] So that's my you know, I don't support the, you know, the special election that's going to cost me, especially when we got one. We have the election, then we'll have another one immediately. And a few months later, it doesn't really make absolutely despicable. Yeah, that's a it's kind of a waste of money. And one thing to note is that no one's, you know, hurling superlatives at each other. You know, at least we are beginning to make progress in that regard, that we can disagree on the path forward. But still, they'll be screaming over each other. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:46:32] Or, you know, I felt that I could have a discussion with anybody on the board or in the Town o ffice without and I've never been a screamer anyway. But I feel that I could be honest and open. And there have been past times when I just kept my trap shut because I knew that was the best route. And that's not, you know, recently that's been in the past. [01:46:56] I mean, I think this is really kind of in Bob's hands right now, and I don't really I want to ask you I mean, I want to suggest I resign until, you know, Bob is clear about this because that's a that's a huge risk for her to be able to do that. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:47:14] And, yeah, I think that's that's her decision. Yeah. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:47:21] You know, I've got a pretty thick skin, and I was hurled quite a few things during the past year, not by Stephanie, but by others, people who aren't here anymore. And I guess maybe it takes a little time for the scars to heal. And I'd like to see tonight we've done an excellent job of handling Town business as a board of colleagues who respect one another, and I appreciate that. And maybe we get through a couple more meetings, get through our organizational meeting in January, get Januaries introductory business squared away. [01:48:03] And I think we can do that as ladies and gentlemen here. And as I said, maybe have some people in our governing team work together to try to resolve their differences. And if everything looks like we're headed in the right direction, then maybe I will be prepared to change my mind. I'm not casting anything in stone. As I said, the past 1 0 days, I've had three different changes of opinion on this. And I think it just takes time. And I don't think tonight's the meeting to make that decision. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:48:36] But I think we and our constituents should think about it and constituents should get in touch with each and every one of us on the board if they have an opinion so that we are not casting votes blindfolded. Right. I think that would work and maybe we can resolve this in the next couple of months. [01:49:01] And this is very this process is also fair to the public. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:49:05] It's not like any like no one's been blindsided. There's no surprises here that are happening. So this is fairly transparent process and and discussion that we're having on this. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:49:19] Right. This is all open to the public like all of our fellow House members. And this is of the minutes if they're not on board online doing a meeting. And it was a really refreshing to hear from several Town board members and other channels that I know that I talked to. But they have to said that their attendance at Town Nformities, I'm not laughing, but I'm just delighted that their attendance has gone markedly up, even even when there's nothing, quote unquote, sensational on the minute or on the agenda, the opportunity to zoom in and just listen to what's going on. I don't want to recommend zoomIn forever, but it's great to have that participation. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:50:09] I just think it's great. So there's that. And I'm I'm willing to say let's and let's see how it goes. [01:50:19] Like we're wandering out there. But take a firm hand hand, just a Town board to look at what we're looking at of the future, our budget and so for th and our organizational meeting. We go from there. I mean, we're all going to have to work together on various various aspects of the budget for the next year and so on. That's where I'm coming from. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:50:42] You know, a lot of on a lot to discuss and work out a lot. And if the public is were to give us their input, the email, I believe it is townboard@townofenfield.org and it's on the website to look on the website, they can just send it to us. It'll get to all of us. [01:51:04] Right. I would welcome it. I don't mind having constituent emails in my inbox. I learn from them and I grow from them. Coucilperson Virginia Bryant [01:51:12] I go on my and my iPhone that I'm I go on it every day and I look at my emails. I look at I mean, look at everything. I mean, I'm home alone. What am I going to do? It's not what am I going to do, but it's like part of my day doing work and listening to Town board members and also my phone numbers there as well as my email. I think I've shared my private email, which I probably shouldn't have done. But anyway, I'm available so somebody can call me or anybody can call me. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:51:52] So I do have a procedural question. [01:51:57] I have been working in a capacity as the supervisor all along here. However, I am turning to you now as the board to decide what would happen if I were quarantined for two weeks or longer and how the bills would go out. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:52:12] Are we just going to choose then to be late for bills? How far are we going to be late? If I should get a positive test, who knows how? I mean, it could be months that I'm quarantined at home. It'd be great to have a deputy supervisor in place to be able to be assigned around these accounts and to be able to take over to pay these bills if I'm unavailable. So I'm leaving it to three of you since it's clear that I'm not going to be moved to the appointed supervisor and therefore cannot designate a deputy supervisor. I would like to know how you plan on handling this. [01:52:42] Well, if I may suggest in the past we have a deputy supervisor and I hate to put this out there because it's a matter of contention. But one, how straight was deputy supervisor if the current the current supervisor was not available, she was qualified to sign vouchers and deal with those things. And even if you're quarantining, you can be email. I mean, people are working at home. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:53:13] Not that I need to be able to print checks. I have to go to the town hall and print the checks and send them out. And I have to be able to to deposit the vouchers at the town hall for everybody to sign. That's my job that I do every month. If I am unavailable to do this and I do not have a deputy supervisor because technically I am the deputy supervisor. How do you plan on handling this? [01:53:36] What role he played in an attempt to not sign checks that the only people that can sign checks are myself and a deputy supervisor. However, I am feeling that role right now. Councilperson Michael Miles [01:53:49] Yeah, and it's not a role for the deputy supervisor. No, this is a risk. And I think this is why we need to get to a full board because we are at risk. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:53:59] It's actually a really big risk. There have been daily instances of covid in our schools. Entire classrooms are quarantined as as well as their entire families for a minimum of two weeks. Coucilperson Virginia Bryant [01:54:13] So what I'm hearing you say, maybe correct me if I'm wrong, and so we need to have a deputy supervisor in place and the only way to do that is if I am appointed supervisor, so. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:54:27] I definitely need to be able to. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:54:33] No, someone cannot sign checks from the Town board without being the deputy supervisor. They cannot. I've looked into this. [01:54:41] Just to make that clear. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:54:43] It is of the only people that are able to do that are the signers on the account and the only people that would be able to do that are the supervisor and the deputy supervisor. They need to be seiners on the account for the checking account and the savings account. The only way for that to happen is if I'm appointed supervisor, if I'm quarantined. [01:54:59] How did three of you plan on handling this? [01:55:06] But we haven't decided yet, but the details on that. [01:55:11] Well, there is an alternative and it's an alternative that some people have mentioned, and I'm not going to raise it tonight, I'm not going to propose it tonight. I'm not going to move it tonight. [01:55:25] And that is to avoid. One of us getting an advantage over another person in the course of the next year of using it as a way of, let's say, catapulting us with some degree of incumbency. Would be to appoint a person who is not currently a member of this board to be supervisor for the course of the remainder of the of Supervisor McGee Fische term. [01:55:58] So then they would be the incumbent instead of me and it was there, and who would train them, by the way, to do all the accounting software and things like that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:56:08] I mean, I took six months of training from Beth's, she was very generous with her time to train me for six months and I had a lot of effort into that training to be able to learn all the accounting software, to know where each line comes from, who gets paid out of what. That's a big job. And it took a long time to know all the files that need to be filled in and forms that, you know, filed with the county and the state. And it's a lot to learn. So I'm just putting it out there that this needs to be done and I want to know who is going to train them. [01:56:41] But is that training online through? [01:56:47] Norwich say they can go through, OK, I've been working my tail end off for the last six months to go to all the resources available through O.C.F.S AOT to learn all of these things. [01:56:58] Also with the Williamson software. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [01:57:03] Yes, the log ins, everything. Someone needs to have the official logins for tho se accounts. And I'm not willing to give those logins to anyone who is not already assigner on those accounts. They need to be legally. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [01:57:15] Maybe this is ridiculous, but what about somebody who is. Intending to retire or resign at the end of her term in May. I mean, I'm not stupid. I can learn stuff online and I have taken many courses online. But I would do that as. [01:57:34] You would have to be a spider on the account, and the only way to do that is to make you the deputy supervisor or the supervisor. [01:57:41] We try to find a way to to make this happen, so we get through, you know, the next thing also that I am seriously considering resigning right now because we have an opportunity to have the first black man ever on this board. And I think it is absolutely essential that we make a movement of inclusiveness on this board. I think it is incredibly disgusting display of white supremacy that we can sit here with a willing and capable individual who is cares about this town, who has lived here for 14 years, who has multiple children and grandchildren in this area, who has a vested interest in the future of this town, who is willing to serve on this Town and make us at least some semblance of appearance, of incumbent of inclusiveness. [01:58:28] And we're in agreement. [01:58:30] I've had several conversations with strongly considering removing myself from the seat to make the seat available to him, because I think he deserves it. [01:58:40] And I think that our Town deserves to have some semblance of inclusiveness. Councilperson Robert Lynch [01:58:46] It is my opinion that if we have a resignation from this board and we have an open Councilperson position, I will insist that we re advertise on our Town website for a period of time for someone to step forward. You have one candidate we should perhaps there are others out in the Enfield community now who are interested in Shervin, and we should give them that opportunity to step forward and at least be considered. Otherwise, we do not have transparency on this board. [01:59:25] Yes, and I will definitely be resigning that I'm so appalled that we have this man available to us and we have already put this out there and he has already come forward to us. He has put another chance out of his bones to make himself available to us over and over again. And we have turned our nose up to him. [01:59:43] And it's just it's just everything, to be honest. It's humiliating. [01:59:49] I just can't believe that's about making that sort of thing of Enfield to the world. It's just it's so inappropriate. [01:59:58] Stephanie, please do not resign. Please do not. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:00:02] I am definitely going to resign. I'm definitely going to resign. I will still act as this deputy supervisor and therefore be the acting supervisor. However, my seat will be open and I will make this available to James Rix because he fully deserves this. And the Town fully deserves a level of inclusiveness from this man. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:00:21] Stephanie, you have no right to bequeath your office to someone else. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:00:26] I'm not bequeathing my office. I'm opening this seat up. And if you do not vote for h im, you will show your own cards to this Town. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:00:36] Well, I think personally back to collegially, that it's really inappropriate at this point to have this man available to us and not allow him to serve on our board, to have me in a position where if I get so much as a sniffle, I'm quarantined at home and all the bills get stacked up for the Town and we're late and we have to pay fees. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:00:55] There's no reason. There's no reason not to appoint me. I am highly educated. I have years of experience in community organizing. I have dedicated so much time and I'm in a privileged position with a spousal income so that I can work tirelessly for several hours a week. Many, I mean, an enormous amount till like midnight every night for a minimal income. It's ridiculous. I mean, I grew up in Tompkins County. I have three children here. I have a vested interest. There's no reason not to move this except for Robert Lynch wants to move t o be a supervisor and therefore doesn't want to have to run against me as an incumbent. That's the only reason he's holding me to this position and keeping it so we can't have a deputy supervisor and we can't have the first black man on this board ever. It 's just humiliating for our Town. I can't be I can't partake in that. I mean, it's just it's heart wrenching. Honestly, we have to take a stand to be anti-racist. We have to look that we have this man. We have no black man that has experience on this Town work because we've never had a black Informities Town board. And now we have one that is willing and able and cares to be to be willing to serve. And yes, we can go through the the steps of making this available to other people in the Town. But when we did this before only two people came forward, you, Michael, Anne him. [02:02:21] You know, and so we Anne that's available here, I'm definitely going to resign to open up my seat and it will just be humiliating if he is not actually the person that is accepted to this board. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:02:36] No, I was actually surprised that there were only two of us that put in our letters and and one of the reasons why I did so, I mean, I'm not privy. I mean, I haven't listened to all the previous meetings and I listen to part of them. And it's hard to listen to the meetings is that I want to help Enfield move beyond that. And it seems like we've got a lot of we've got a lot of distrust in this town. [02:03:09] And I think we need to move beyond that, that I'm only one vote and there's only so much I can do. This is pretty much in Bob's hands. You know, I think Virginia, Virginia and I have stated our positions, and I think this is really about Nunn and how to move forward on this. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:03:31] And it's a total power play, and if that's the hill that he wants to die on, he's welcome to do it. But I will not partake in this kind of really qualified, wonderful person that is definitely cares about thi s Town who is willing to step up on our board. I'm not going to block his appointment now. [02:03:48] He's he's right. [02:03:50] He's totally he cares about this Town. He cares about his family and his fellow Town members. I mean, I've talked to him several times, so I. I don't know what to say this just beyond me, that someone can block us moving forward. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:04:12] We were so collegial up to this point, right? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:04:15] I wish with only collegium when you get your way, Robert. [02:04:18] I wish we had continued to be lead up to this point. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:04:23] Now, with what happened the past five minutes, you might be able to sense why have been reluctant to ele vate Councilperson Redmann to supervisor. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:04:35] Now, I know I have been reluctant and I want to have to run against me now. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:04:40] I do not intend I don't I don't really. I think if I were drawn, I would not be running for supervisor next year. OK, that's that's how I feel right now. Now, I don't know what I'm going to feel like later. One of the things I've been waiting for this for Councilperson Redmond to step up and be her own woman, to be her own leader. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:05:04] And I am. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:05:05] And that is why I am choosing to resign the puppet of Beth's McGee. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:05:10] Oh, for God, this has nothing to do with Beth's McGee. This has nothing to do with Beth's McGee. That McGee has nothing to do with this. This is me looking at a moral obligation. We have a moral obligation to become more inclusive, to become anti-racist in our Town and to safeguard our Town from the possibility of me being quarantined. You have an obligation, Robert. You have a moral obligation to serve this Town instead of yourself. And it's just I am so upset that you would block James's appointment. I'm so upset you would keep us in a position where I could be quarantined for months on end and leave us months behind. Anything could happen to me. And what would happen to these bank accounts? What would happen to paying all these things? I work like literally from 6:00 a.m. till midnight every day to make sure this is being done. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:06:00] And I know that you're not really privy to everything that I'm doing all the time, but it's just it's I'm so frustrated at this point. It's just. [02:06:11] I can't even I'm I'm definitely going to resign and open up this seat so that James has a possibility of being on this board. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:06:18] Ann IDA works attending tonight's board meeting. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:06:22] No, he is not he did not want to be a point. He did not want to be part of this conversation. He did not want it to appear as though there are some sort of conspiratorial sort of thing. And I assured him that it would be because we have all heard his willingness to participate in the board, but he did not. He wanted to make sure that he stayed away from this. [02:06:44] It's. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:06:47] He's really trying to do this the best way possible and so am I. And I've tried so hard to stay out of this conversation. And I having heard you tonight, Robert, and the way that you keep pushing this off further and further for no reason at all. I can't participate participate in this an y longer. We have to be anti-racist. We have to elevate the people who are disadvantaged in our community to become voices in leadership roles. This has to happen. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:07:18] Our Town has an extremely low income rate. We know it's not the lowest in the county, one of the lowest. I haven't kept track of that. But, you know, talking to James over a period of time, I for the first time I talked to I thought, oh, great. [02:07:36] And he has a perspective that none of us have. None of us have his perspective. He will be a voice for our community that none of us can be. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:07:47] I would love to see James on the board, but I have a feeling that the last 10 minutes of this course is only makin g people so Mentored in their own decisions. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:08:01] I think there's a Mentored anyway. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:08:03] But, you know, it was going well up to that point. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:08:06] And I wasn't, though it really wasn't. And you were just letting Robert do whatever he wanted to do. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:08:12] I'm not going to play into the motivations of that. And I realize that this whole year has been filled with a lot of distrust and motivation, some of some real some some not. And but we still I still wish and again is probably unrealistic of me to hope that we can move beyond this. But I have a feeling that the last 10 minutes have helped change that discussion. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:08:42] It wouldn't have changed it either way. I've been we've been we've been going through this for three months. What is four months now? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:08:51] There's not going to change pushing it off another month, another to another three, what's what's the point? Just the way I mean, if we do this with James now, he has the possibility of being at those AOT training meetings. If we wait, he doesn't. And then he goes into these blind, he can't get into the February AOT meetings. If we don't do this now, he cannot be properly trained to do this job properly. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:09:15] Michael, I have a question. Yes, and this wasn't planned tonight, but I'm going to ask you to review of what's happened here in the past 10 minutes. [02:09:24] Would you like to be when the next year supervisor? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:09:29] I don't have the capacity to do that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:09:33] You know, you would really move to have a less qualified man take a position of a woman. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:09:40] And I don't think it would be appropriate. You know, I, I, I'm not even elected. I'm appointed. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:09:48] Plus, I don't know how. I mean, it's one does it. And I appreciate Stephanie's commitment because I, you know, is one thing as a Councilperson the time commitment, which is a lot, but it's a lot more than people think that there is, you know, the few hours you see at these regular meetings, it's just the tip of the iceberg. It's the whole lead up and and a lot of work up to that point. And that's just what Councilperson that's not even the Councilpe rson plus supervisor position. You know, I have a full time job. I have not you know, I would say no, I would not accept that role for for many reasons, time, commitment. And also I am not elected. And I think there are and we have a good candidate willing and ready to to take on that role that is elected. So I appreciate your ask, but I would decline that nomination if that were to be. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:10:50] Fair enough, or. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:10:55] Well, I think it's clear that this this conversation is not going to move any further, I will be tendering my resignation as soon as I am able to write it up. [02:11:04] I will be resigning from this Councilperson position. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:11:06] So in the January meeting, you will have to have another Councilperson election or discussion. And I assume that you're going to want to have some sort of notice to go out to the Town that this position for Councilperson, my seat is open and I'm sorry because I'm sorry that you are resigning is Councilperson. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:11:29] I am sorry. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:11:31] No you're not Councilperson Virginia Bryant [02:11:33] Yeah, right. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:11:36] OK, let's go ahead. Tax collection software. Michael, would you like to talk about that? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:11:44] And now for something completely different. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:11:47] Yeah. There's there's no point in this conversation. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:11:51] We can we can move on to that. As I mentioned previously, I was working with her and having conversations with with Williamson. And part of the problem, and you may want to be in for part of this discussion is that we have three computers in the Town Clerks office. They are not really networked. We don't have a network. They're connected to a router. I'm able to set up a peer-to-peer network. But but we shouldn't have to do that to connect the software, the software that runs on Ellen's computer, the software that runs on the counter computer. This is the digital software that runs on the deputy Clerks computer is as well. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:12:42] And they need to be running the same software. In other words, if you're at the counter then and someone's paying their taxes and it's tax season is is almost upon us, is that, according to my understanding, is that you know, or to when someone someone gives a check or gives a payment that has to be recorded in two different Williamson software products, only one of which is like on the computer. So, so so these computers really do need to share the same software. The the solutions really are really not the best. These are sort of legacy desktop software. And when we're talking and there are two options, we can we could connect them via this peer-to-peer network, which is not ideal, or we can connect them via cloud acce ss, which is what we're doing for another Williamston software in the same office. [02:13:46] The now when I say cloud version, this is really not separate versions. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:13:55] This is actually the same desktop software bug being run in a virtual environment. I don't want to get too technical, so even that's not ideal. These are not when I say cloud, these are not truly Web based versions of the product. It is the same product. But being virtualize or being put in a virtual environment where it's run, that is a slightly better option or better option than creating a peer to peer network, because the peer to peer network does have security concerns, security concerns. So the end result is we did get an estimate for Williamston for doing this and an estimate both on the peer to peer network version or option and and then on the cloud version and the results I see there on the network. If we're going to do an upgrade to peer network, that is connect all three computers together via this peer to peer network where L Lynch the Clerks office would as the host for the files. Again, this is not ideal. There is an increase in the annual fee for that software to run them on all three computers of of four hundred and eighty dollars for the cloud version. We can run all three of them for slightly more. There was a there was a one time setup fee to do that, to do both pieces of software. This is both the Town clerk plus and the tax collection software. The one type set up is six hundred ninety five per se, where for one thousand three hundred ninety one time software cost plus there is an annual access. Fifty five hundred forty two thousand five hundred forty dollars per program, which amounts to one thousand eighty dollars for an increase in annual access fee, and a difference between those options, I believe, is about six taken out. The one time at the one time setup fee is is about 600 dollars an annual cost. In other words, the CoVid version is 600 dollars more per year than the network. And I as a technical person, I would recommend the cloud version because you're not depending on some wonky peer to peer network with with potential security issues. [02:16:37] So any thoughts on that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:16:41] You're saying it's like 4000 sorry, four hundred versus a thousand, but a thousand is better. I didn't quite understand why the thousand is better, just less clunky. What does that mean exactly? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:16:55] The the peer to peer network is really sort of what I would consider a last resort connecting. You're not creating really a true network here. You're you're you're you're creating like one computer that acts as a server, as a peer. This is not ideal. Your networking computer, is that really the way it gets networked? I did not have a lot of confidence in terms of security. And plus, it requires there's a lot of requirements. First of all, Ellen's computer would have to be on for any of the other software to to work because that would be basically acting as the server part of it. It is a less ideal setup and it is could cause problems if that network connection, you know, is not reliable. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:17:51] OK, the only issue is we don't really have a lot of money and trying to find in the budget right now how much we have left in our contractual line, you know what I mean? [02:18:04] I get a out of buildings contractual versus I mean, I have to check with Brian whether he would like it to come out of the Clerks contractual line or whether it would come out of the building's contractual line. We definitely have more money in the building's contractual line, but I'm not sure if that would be appropriate. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:18:26] Yeah, the contractual line for the Town clerk, I'm not sure it has some contractual Williams program coming out of the contractual line. That's a one four eight one four one zero point four four. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:18:41] Yeah. And we have about a little over. We have about one thousand six hundred dollars in there. But I think some of it's encumbered or sorry. No, no, I'm sorry. We only have about seven hundred dollars left in there. Sorry. And so we don't really have enough money in that contractual line for it. [02:18:59] So I will we'll have to check with him to see if it can come out of the building line or whether we'll have to maybe just do some some budget modifications for that. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:19:11] What's a couple thoughts on that? [02:19:13] For the twenty twenty one budget increase that lined five hundred dollars from twenty five hundred dollars to three thousand. So that's not that increase is not going to cover that cost, that cost difference. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:19:26] There is an I.T. line somewhere. I can't remember which line that's in, but I did see that. Yes it is. And I Teets emails, such website hosting that increase from four point fifty dollars to seven thousand dollars. So but I don't think is a I'm not sure. So this is a question of where that comes out of both in terms of immediate funding or to do that, and also in terms of what line should it really come out of. It probably should come out of the contractor Lynch Williams for the TOWN CLERK because this is very directly related to that. But there's probably not enough money in the in that fund at this point to do that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:20:12] Well, I know we have to change some of the servers over before the end of DEC, and I'm not an 80 percent, so I'm hoping you can guide us through that to some extent. But I'm not really sure whether that would be in a twenty, twenty one budget. The expense that you're talking about, can that wait until twenty, twenty one? Is that separate from dealing with the server? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:20:35] And I, I'm not sure how Williams handles whether they can fix weights. I'm not sure whether they, they get the money first and then they do the work or they can be built subsequently for that. I'm not sure. I didn't ask that. I did not ask that question. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:20:50] I'm saying, can this changeover happen in twenty one, twenty, twenty one. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:20:54] The problem is, is that the tax software is one of the one of the reasons for that is that is that we're in tax season. So ideally that should happening. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:21:04] There should be happening now, although, you know, since the I.T. line went from four hundred fifty dollars to seven thousand, we could use part of that if we wanted to. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:21:15] But that's not till the twenty, twenty one budget. That's what I'm saying. [02:21:18] We don't really have much left in the twenty twenty budget yet, so I would have to come out of it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:21:25] I mean I'll have to ask Brian about it, but I have to be clear with him what we can move around out of t he contractual line, whether, whether we could take it from building contractual for now in the twenty twenty budget, because there really isn't much left in those other lines for these. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:21:44] Yeah. And plus if I'm speaking for twenty, twenty one that there will need to be some other upgrades. You know, this is just a more immediate need of connecting the software across those three computers in that office. But there are other issues. A lot of the hardware is is older and we and there needs to be some you know, some some infrastructure changes in that office, too. If you go in there now, they have those modems and routers, you know, on the on the for the router needs to be replaced. It was a it was a cheap router when it was put in and it needs to be replaced as well. But that's that's a separate issue. And that could probably wait to twenty, twenty one or twenty, twenty one. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:22:34] But we do need to replace some of that. So we do need so we will need part of that I.T. line to, to upgrade some computers. Plus not to make this a full AOT discussion is that we should develop a plan to upgrade and replace the. Computers, especially if they go out of warranty, that we don't want all of them comi ng up in the same year, but we need to stagger them so that, you know, computers will be replaced on a regular schedule. Right now, we have computers in our office running Windows seven and two others are running a version of Windows 10. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:23:15] So certainly the window will also need three thousand dollars about for the email and the website HOSTEEN as my understanding, I haven't looked into that, so I will need to talk with you or Ellen about, you know, are we paid up for I mean, what is the immediate need for that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:23:36] Are we paid up as my understanding that we have to deal with some of that by the end of DEC. So that was my concern with this, is that some of the hosting agreements and and like I said, I don't really understand the AOT stuff as much. So we'll have to work on that together. But we can I I'm OK with the Echeck software, but I do think we have to have a discussion with Brian about the payment of it. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:23:59] OK, do you want to bring that up with him? Or maybe we can have the discussion together if you want. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:24:05] So, yeah, I mean, if it's just the two of us, then we're allowed to do with him. We can't have more than we can the two of us. But I know the website and email hosteen both expire this month. So, you know, they're basically going to disappear if we don't do something about it. Well, the board already approved the changes. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:24:26] OK, what's that? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:24:29] My recommendation is to keep on until we're able to replace them immediately because I mean to replace the web hosting and email all of a sudden. I think that needs to be planned out a little bit more. I would at least pay them up again so we can probably deal with changing that over if they need to be changed over some. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:24:53] OK. So I think there is I think that was part of our resolution that we passed. I don't know if Robert Virginia remembers that discussion, but we did pass a resolution a while back, I mean, earlier in the year. So I have to go back through our resolution of exactly what we chose. But it was d efinitely within our resolution. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:25:16] OK, someone can dig that up. I appreciate it. Was there a time frame put on that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:25:21] Well, it goes until the end of December, but that's my understanding of digital towpath for email and WordPress for the website at GoDaddy. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:25:33] Yeah, and that's those are major changes. And not just in terms of hosting, but they don't happen immediately. They have to b e converted over. [02:25:44] I'm not sure who or how that's going to happen. I know there was a lot I think I look back through an email, but there was a discussion with a consulting company that. Maybe help us, that does work for the towns. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:26:01] So I don't have to go, daddy will do the transfer for one hundred dollars, and that was already approved for. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:26:08] For the hosting. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:26:11] Yes. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:26:14] OK, so we'll have to dig out that resolution and look at the wording exactly for that, but we'll have to yeah. For the. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:26:26] OK, I'm not sure if we want them, but maybe that's a discussion that we can have with our I.T. committee beyond this. But I'm OK personally with the tech software if others are. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:26:39] I mean, I guess I won't have a vote after tonight because I'm going to resign effective immediately at the end of this. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:26:46] Well, do you want me to make a motion to go with the cloud based version of I mean, I can do that if others are supportive of that. [02:26:56] It does increase the annual cost a little bit for the line. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:27:04] So actually, I will just go ahead and I personally don't understand you very well, so I'm going to trust you that you know this better than myself. But I'll let others weigh in on this. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:27:14] The Clerk based version is going to be better than the peer to peer network version, but I know that the cloud based version would be far better. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:27:30] So I will actually I will make a motion to authorize Williamson to go ahead and set up the cloud versions of both Town clerk + and Town collection software at a cost of one thousand three hundred ninety dollars for one time setup fees and an annual support of one thousand eighty dollars. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [02:27:53] A Second. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:27:54] Second. OK. All right, is there any more discussion on that? [02:27:59] We just offered the opportunity for Kirkwood's to weigh in with her opinion on it, since she is involved in tax collection and these sorts of matters. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:28:13] Yes, I've unmuted her. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:28:17] I would just like to thank so much, Michael Miles, for your work on this project, it's really important to having an efficient tax collection season right now. [02:28:26] My deputy and I are also having to share a computer, which is obviously not ideal for covid reasons. Whenever she's going to input dog licenses or anything, she has to actually get on my computer. So I really, really appreciate this. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:28:41] Thank you so much for doing that. I will say that it is. Definitely impossible for me to transition the website and the email this month, I'm already trying to figure out how I get a few days off around Christmas and it will only be by not doing stuff I'm supposed to be doing. So I just there's no way that we could do a transition of a website, Anne email server in the same month that I'm preparing for my first taxes. This is my first DEC in office. So this is the first time I would be preparing. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:29:18] But anyway, thank you so much for the Williamson updates and doing that research and I really appreciate that the board working with me on th. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:29:27] Is. So what do you think? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:29:29] I would like to add that GoDaddy will handle the transfer of the website. [02:29:33] That's not something that we have to handle. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:29:36] Respectfully, acting supervisor Redmond, since you just stated that you don't know much about tech stuff, there is zero percent chance that that will be seamless. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:29:49] I know it's my understanding from GoDaddy, though, my. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:29:53] Experience of these matters is they're usually more complicated than than doing than doing that. So I will agree with Elena on that just for my technical OK, usually. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:30:04] I thought it was just a matter of Hosteen, though. [02:30:06] I thought it was just like you basically sign up for the contract. I didn't think you'd actually change the website significantly. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:30:12] I can I can get technical on what's involved in these things. You know, Mimi sort of dove into that. Now, first of all, we have a domain name which is Townofenfield.org. That domain name is registered with the domain registrar. I'm assuming that's GoDaddy. The. [02:30:35] The website hosting is separate from that. I mean, they can be on the same host, you know, a lot of a lot of domain registrars are also host as well. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:30:46] But the two are separate, the domain is separate, the hosting a separate and it sounds like a changing website technologies as well, going from one platform to another. I'm not familiar with Digital Towpath, although I've heard of it and I know other Town do use that. I just haven't looked into that. But it is more complicated to do that. [02:31:13] As far as the email, that may be even more maybe I'm not sure what the hundred dollars is getting us to start getting us both the email and the website. I'm not sure. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:31:24] I think this requires more discussion. I'm not sure what that involves, whether that one hundred dollars that we pay them will do both of those things. And we can talk about this. I mean, really, the the the IT committee is Aye. is at this point, it's just me, Helen and Stephanie. So I don't think any of the volunteers have stepped up and we can't have another board member because that would constit ute a quorum. So we can meet separately on this to hash out the details. But it is more complicated to do these things. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:32:02] So just some things to bring up. [02:32:05] The county currently pays for our tax software. So it really if it's really important, then we have to understand, you know, like I said, you know more about it than I do. So if it's worth a thousand dollars expense, that's going to be something extra in our budget that we did not for. So we'll have to think about that. But it's my understanding that the TOWN CLERK does not actually do stuff with that. The WordPress sites are, as I understand it, are pretty easy to change over basically the domain registrars blue host and I'm looking at it now. It goes basically go to GoDaddy. And GoDaddy says that they they handle it. Digital Towpath is a shared service in New York State and they do the transfer. [02:32:55] So like I mean, like I said, I'm not the technical I.T. person, but that's. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:33:03] It's all technically to go and someone's got to do it. [02:33:06] That's familiar with this. And you're changing posts. [02:33:08] That means that databases and files and stuff have to be transferred over to whatever whatever new host that is, as well as dealing with the domain registrar. So if you're if you're on a new host, that means you have to switch the domain name as your registrar level to a new host as well. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. [02:33:30] I don't know who's doing what, actually,. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:33:34] If I may, actually, at that same meeting where we change, where we suggested that we would move to those softwares, which was right after the AOT meeting. At that same meeting, a r esolution was passed that the website and the email would be administered under the office of the Town clerk, that was also a resolution passed with the Town clerk manifestly does deal with this town clerk. Just got up to speed managing the website that we have. [02:34:08] So, you know, a. [02:34:10] S I understand it, in that resolution, we are sorry,. Town [02:34:14] I'm barely treading water. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:34:15] I'm trying to figure out how to get the twenty third in the twenty fourth off. And as usual, the board wants to push me under and now all drown. [02:34:24] OK, Ellen, decision is not trying to Podunk. [02:34:28] There's an opportunity for you to condescend to me again. [02:34:30] Stephanie. Well, I'm trying. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:34:33] I know more about tech than you and I'm telling you this is more work than I can do. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:34:37] So I am not trying to put it on your shoulders. That's why I'm saying that in our resolution, I believe that we we're going to hire out our contract, this work out to an I.T. professional. That's why we had put the seven thousand dollar. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:34:50] GoDaddy is not an I.T. professional. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:34:52] And Michael Michaels is telling you that this will fall to me and him and the Town. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:34:57] Well, will focus on one at this at this point, given the time frame we have left to do this implementation, I think that's a hu ge risk given the length of time we have left to do this, to perform that implementation, which comes with a lot of risk right before tax season. I would not recommend it. That's why I would say pay off the domain name or the hosting fees that usually pret ty minimal are not that expensive. I'm not sure what those is, but at least get us into twenty, twenty one where we can better plan out this transition and know who's doing what. GoDaddy is just it's just a domain registrar and host to perform other services. But someone else, someone someone's got to do this work on doing that and knows and knows all the technical information, all the logins and you know, to do the right accounting to the right and to the right things. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [02:36:01] I mean, I kno. [02:36:03] W nothing about it, but I agree with Michael. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:36:07] Having built myself, I know, for example, that WordPress, at least not the WordPress I've used, build s it for you. They give you the basic format, but you've got to plug in all the information and all the all the files and format it and choose a theme and all of that. And it's it's time consuming. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:36:28] It's time consuming. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:36:30] Yes, and we had put in our budget to hire someone to do that so it wouldn't fall in the town clerk, I just want to make that clear. It was not you know, she's trying to paint it as though it's the town clerk trying to make her or the Town were trying to make her do more work. We had actually budgeted to have someone handle this for her and not put it on her shoulders. So I wanted to make sure that we know that's in the budget, that we have a possibility for that. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:36:55] Yeah, we've got a special edition on the table. [02:36:58] How is that resolution that Michael Ray is going to affect our ability to meet year end deadlines, or is that going to pose a problem? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:37:12] I think it's complex. I think it's can pose a logistical problem for the Town clerk and a deputy to be able to manage taxis and especially under CoVid and that I mean, they're sharing computers. [02:37:27] And I think it does pose a logistical issue. And I think this is the first or second tax season that Elon has probably gone through. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:37:40] So. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:37:43] Can you just clarify it's my understanding that the the entire database is saved with all the files and it transfers the entire database and the files over to the new website with WordPress. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:37:58] There are multiple ways of moving, moving a WordPress. There are exports and imports into that. So, yes, that is correct. If you have all the administrator accounts to be able to do that, you also have, as Bob mentioned, that there is also a lot of configuration set up. If you're if you're creating a new WordPress instance that you're moving to, there are also plug ins and other things and and things that need to be moved along as well. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:38:33] And I'm not sure I understand is that whole thing transfers is one big file. And people that I know have done this, they have done it in like less than an hour. So I I guess I'm wondering why it takes so much longer to do our website than I mean, isn't it? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:38:55] And it may be that it may be that simple. I just had looked at the website. I haven't looked at the configuration of the website or the hosting, you know, accounts to see I haven't explored enough or investigated enough in that to be able to make that determination. So you may be right. It may be that simple, but I don't think we should. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:39:17] I think we should look into that then and see if that's even a possibility, just because, you know, if we can do that and save ourselves the hundreds of dollars that it would take it, you know, could just do like the plug it to move the whole thing over, you know, within less than an hour. We should do that versus paying hundreds of dollars to go a few weeks into January and then. [02:39:42] It just seems unnecessary,. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:39:44] Is there anything we have to do before year's end? Is something going to expire by year's end that we have to fix right now? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:39:53] Sounds like the host of the pilots will expire. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:39:56] Yes, for the website and the email will disappear if we don't do anything about it by the end of December, which is why I'm pushing for us to either do this or pay the money to continue it. But if it's a less on in our kind of transfers, my understanding was that it transfers the entire website over. It's just a matter of hosting. I'm surprised. I'm surprised to hear Michael say that it's a more significant issue than that. And I also would like to mention that we do have money in our budget to do this. So I'm surprised that people won't spend a few hundred dollars perpetuating it into the New Year when we don't necessarily have to. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:40:32] Why don't we continue what we've got? If we can continue it, at least for several months into the new year, we're going to be having administrative changes here. Board member changes and God knows what CoVid is going to do to us. Plus, we've got tax season. I'd be much more comfortable if we were doing this like the 1st of March or the 1st of April rather than the 1st of January. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:41:00] We have it just seems silly to me to spend three hundred dollars if it takes us less than an hour to move it over. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:41:04] Did you have a contractor in mind that would be able to do this or have someone lined up that you got an estimate from? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:41:12] We'll have to look into it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:41:13] I know that, like I said, there's this old resolution that we had passed earlier in the year and I don't have the details of it in front of me. So I'm just kind of going with what you have. But that my understanding i s it wasn't going to be that intense of a situation. My understanding is it was going you know, that was my conversation was met with Beth's. It would take less than an hour, cost us a little bit on GoDaddy, and we would be able to transfer it over and we could hire out for the help if we needed to. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:41:41] And it may be I just haven't investigated the configuration of setup of this to be able to make that determination. So you may be completely right, but was that the determination based on an I.T. contractor that said that they could do that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:41:59] That is the one who developed that site, so she's the one that has done this before, so I was just going on her expertize. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:42:07] OK. Yeah, I mean, I can look at it. I mean, if I have the account information, I can look at the setup IDA and the tools that would be used to do that. Yes, yes. You can migrate WordPress, you know, sites and reprocess it. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:42:27] So it might just go ahead, beginning with the last meeting of the year here and everything is going to basically the coach is going to be turning into a pumpkin on January 1st. Is there a way we can Limpus along for at least a month or two or three and resolve the details and get it done professionally and get it done right the first time? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:42:54] I would say, Michael, you should reach out to Beth's, I'm sure she would be willing to discuss what she knows about it. I think the email is significantly more complicated. So we will potentially want to continue with that into the new year. [02:43:10] But my understanding with the website is it wasn't going to cost that much and it was going to be well worth, you know, and maybe in that Beth's because she maybe thinks she is more familiar with how this is set up and knows the steps that she would have been planning to do this to keep that minimal cost without any extra contractor work to do that. I don't know the set up. So I like I said, I can't because I've been focusing on Williamson, not part of it. But we can have that conversation. But I think it's like we're turning into a pumpkin at the end of this at the end of this month. And actually it usually happens before that point. They probably have renewals that are in place right now that you would have to pay or to continue that. [02:44:02] I haven't been sent anything just to be clear. But yes, I, I would say reach out to her in the next couple of days and then let us know as the board if you think that this is going to be doable. But let's get back to the sorry. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:44:16] OK, who has the account information? Because I would need to know the account information. Who has the actual account information to GoDaddy, the information to blue host. Do we have that on file somewhere that someone know that? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:44:31] I'm sure that we do. I haven't looked into it well enough to be able to tell you, but I'm sure Beth's would be able to give you more information about it. [02:44:38] So I would definitely reach out to her in the next couple of days and get at least get an idea of what you think would be the best way to move forward. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:44:48] OK, yeah, OK, we'll do that when you have that account information to go Daddy and blue host, I mean, not just the log to the emails, but actual back end account information that manages the. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:45:02] I have it to an extent, but I have to say and I want this deeply, deeply on record, given the aggression that former Supervisor McGee showed to me personally all year, I am very uncomfortable with her having anything to do with Town government. She has resigned. She is no longer part of the Town government. She should not be part of the IT committee and she should not be part of this discussion. [02:45:28] I'm not. [02:45:29] I'm not. As for the accusations, I just I just want to sell the stuff to accusations. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:45:33] It's about my personal safety. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:45:34] What? We're not going to do that. I'm sorry, but we're not going to go and have, like, a tirade about Beth's right now. We're trying to get her help so that we can transfer the account over. That's it. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:45:42] But it is becoming clear that none of us on Aye. Town board or Ellen has that account information,. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:45:50] Which I probably do actually somewhere. [02:45:52] But I would definitely think it would be a lot easier and a lot more informative to reach out to Beth's just to get the information. She's not going to influence you one way or another. [02:45:59] She's just going to give you information and then I'll do that. And that may and that may make it clearer what path we should take, but. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:46:11] We've got to make a decision about what we're going to have on January 1st, and as far as I know, there are no additional meetings scheduled for this month. [02:46:21] And we've got to have something done. And we've got to we're we're in a transition period and we're going to be down to three voting members again. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:46:31] So if it's possible, I would move to amend Michael's original motion by stating that we will authorize the deputy supervisor to continue the existing Web hosting agreements and email agreements with the with the with the various providers for three additional months until the end of March of twenty twenty one. [02:47:04] Yeah, some of it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:47:05] I don't think that that's necessary because we already passed a resolution earlier in the year to move these accounts over. And if it's doable, we should go ahead and do that. There's no need for further resolutions on this matter. We can have a resolution about the tax collecting software, though. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:47:22] Yeah. How about we keep them separate for now? [02:47:27] So I would say keep the original, you know, motion that's on the table, and I'd say that the really separate issues that I think the Williamston one, maybe the easier one at this point, but we definitely need to have conversations in the next few days about the hosting stuff. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:47:49] And does the Town clerk support the basic Michael Milsom resolution regarding Williamson? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:47:58] The of her, I, I, I'm only going to undo her if she doesn't go on a tirade about Beth's if that happens again, I'll be meeting E. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:48:07] Ellen Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:48:07] Do not support what Michael is proposing, a Teets on the floor right now. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:48:12] I do support it. I also do not support being gassed led by the deputies. All right. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:48:19] I said that answers my question. [02:48:21] If if Ellen supports what Michael's proposing, I will vote for it tonight. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:48:28] OK, is there any further so you've moved it all Second it. Is there any further discussion on this? OK, go ahead and please Call the vote. [02:48:41] So person Bryant. [02:48:43] I. [02:48:44] Councilperson Lynch. [02:48:46] I. [02:48:47] Councilperson Miles. [02:48:49] Am. [02:48:50] Acting supervisor Redmond. [02:48:51] Aye. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:48:55] OK, so then next thing is a resolution authorizing the supervisory authority to proceed as facilities manager. Now, let me get into this by saying it was so fun to spend hours and hours going through past minutes to look at perfunctory resolutions like I do every month to look at what sort of things have been done in past years and then pull out the resolutions that I think might be helpful to us and then put those forward only to be met with an incredibly rude a nd accusatory email from Robert Lynch about how I'm on some power play to take over the Town. [02:49:33] It was incredibly inappropriate and it would have been so much nicer if he just reached out to me to clarify why I put this forward. And he could wor k as a team player, but I couldn't see that. That's not what is going to be done. I do not hold any weight on this at all. I don't really care if we pass this resolution. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:49:51] It's clear to me, after looking at previous basically the previous what we call the policies to have the procurement policies, that this is already a part of our procurement policy, not the original procurement policy. But the amendment that was passed in 2014 basically allows for. Let me say, all estimates of purchases. [02:50:21] This less than a thousand dollars, is less left to the discretion of the purchaser. So it is seems unnecessary to pass this, but please don't paint it as some sinister ulterior motive that I'm trying to take over the Town. Robert. I'm just trying to do the job of the supervisor. I'm just trying to work in a capacity of a supervisor. I'm just trying to do what needs to be done here. I was passing this so that if there was an emergency situation, like a broken window or a broken door or something like that, that I would just be able to take care of it without getting board approval and do that. [02:50:51] I did not go back over the amendments to find out that the procurement policy allowed for me to do this anyway. So like I said, this resolution is not necessary. However, I would like to state that it is also unnecessary to treat me that way when I'm spending hours and hours into the late night trying to figure out what resolutions would be helpful to the Town. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:51:16] Do you think it's not appropriate that the decisions on facilities for the Town Highway Garage should be made by the HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:51:28] It is not the legal obligation of Buddy to take care of those, I think you I mean, he does do that, but it's actually our the Town board's legal responsibility to deal with the facilities and the budget. That's our legal responsibility. It's not the Town Clerks legal responsibility to take of the town hall. She can do that. And by all means, she's welcome to do that. And it's wonderful that she does that. But it's not her legal responsibility. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:51:56] It's her legal responsibility to do things like record the meeting minutes and give out dog licenses. It is not her legal responsibility to take care of the facilities. It is our legal responsibility to do that, which is why I put this in. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:52:09] The superintendent leaves a voicemail on my personal phone saying I need my furnace cleaned. Who do I contact? I guess I contact you, Bob. I don't think I'm the facilities manager. I think you should be able to clean his own furnace with his or you hire it out with his own people. You know, if he wants to call in and somebody like that, he should be able to call him FirstLine. [02:52:34] And you can. [02:52:36] He's totally allowed to do that, but ultimately it is our legal responsibility to make sure that those buildings are cared for, the way I read this resolution to come to the facilities manager and get her approval. [02:52:49] That's what I how I read it. [02:52:52] I don't read it that way, so I guess I'm reading it differently than you, I read it as I am taking responsibility for these if it is not being taken care of otherwise. [02:53:07] It was just me trying to take responsibility for the facilities. It wasn't me trying to manhandle the way that the town is run. It's just me trying to say I will take responsibility for these. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:53:18] Clearly, it is unnecessary to have these on as as a separate resolution, because, like I said, there's an amendment to the procurement policy in 2014 that allows for up to a thousand dollars anyway for emergency situations or, you know, any sort of, you know, cost me to with this resolution was and this isn't the first time you've done it in recent months that you call yourself the town supervisor. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:53:45] You're not the town supervisor. Not yet. Until we the board determined that you are the town supervisor. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:53:51] You know. Go ahead. All right. Acting supervisor in there. I just take the old ones and I copy them. R obert, I don't go through and defend every little detail. [02:54:01] You could have said that Town supervisor, OK, that that caused me to put my Joske you say? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:54:10] You know, I'm sure it did. I did that because Beth's McGee had put her and her name in there before. So I just changed it to my name and changed the dates. It's just a matter of going through old paperwork and going in trying to get it ready and organized for the meetings. [02:54:23] It wasn't meant to set you astri thinking that I was trying to push myself in a position that you want. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:54:31] I pe. [02:54:32] Rsonally don't think that the facility manager is such a glorious position that we're fighting over a fence, and I'd be but, you know, from you know, from a practical standpoint, that the Town itself, which the board is responsible for, owns and is responsible for facilities. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:54:55] And ultimately, if a furnace goes or something needs to be painted or or a roof need to be repaired, the town board needs to to deal with those facility issues. So for smaller things, you know, and the price point, which is here, a thousand dollars can be negotiated, but it sounds like a procure ment policy. Take care of that anyway. [02:55:19] It's nice to have a person that's designated that that it's clear that it's designated as that. I don't think it's a power play. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:55:28] I don't I think Buddy and Allen can take care of the facilities just just fine, although I would agree that it is ultimately the Town responsibility to manage Town facilities. [02:55:43] But we're we're happy to defer to people who are willing to do that job and sharing that responsibility. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:55:51] You know, the law gives it the responsibility to the Town board. That's what the law said. And when I saw this, I said, well, it doesn't say in the law that you have to delegate it to anyone. And I guess we've ch ose it in years past, delegate it to the supervisor at the time. And, you know, I'm not going to make a big issue of this. If the majority of the board wants to wants to pass this resolution, I'm not going to stand in the way. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:56:20] Let me just say that this is a standard resolution that's passed every single year, and it's just tiresome to have you treat me this way, Robert. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:56:28] Well, the unnecessary by another member of our governing team was the concern was that this was aggrandizement of power and. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:56:39] Maybe you should just be nice and ask me, you know, like, hey, what is up with this? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:56:44] Instead of being rude and accusatory, it's just so unfortunate that you have to treat me this way. It's so unnecessary. We could be colleagues. We could be the dream team here. We could be working together. I would say I will. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:56:58] Oh, you don't. Because you don't have to be accusatory. You could say, why does this there was no reason to send me that rude email. I had been up all night long trying to get ready for this meeting and only did it like try to get these things out there that are just standard resolutions that are passed by the Town just to be accused by you as though I'm it's just I can't I it's unnecessary. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:57:19] Has this resolution been moved. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:57:22] I'm one I'm not going to move it because clearly it's a power play if I do. [02:57:27] And God forbid, I should actually take some responsibility for this position because it might make you seem better. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:57:35] I will move it if they want to, if you'd like to amend it. So it says acting supervisor. So I don't seem like the incumbent that you don't want me to be. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:57:43] That's not supervisor or his or her designee. That's that's simple. They keep him generic and it lives beyond any particular person on the on the governing board. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:57:58] It's passed, really. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:58:00] All all right, but we're going to have changes, right? Councilperson Michael Miles [02:58:05] OK, I will move the motion with a Mentored language that it says generically, the Town supervisor or the acting supervisor, J. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:58:19] Ack. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:58:19] OK. Is there any other discussion regarding this? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:58:27] OK, Ellen, would you please Call the vote? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:58:32] Halsyville via zoom Bryant. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [02:58:35] . Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:58:36] Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Robert Lynch [02:58:39] I C. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:58:41] Ouncilperson mileAye. Councilperson Michael Miles [02:58:41] S. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [02:58:43] Acting Supervisor RegnantTown. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:58:44] Aye. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:58:46] Thank you. OK, so the next thing we have to decide is the snowplowing for the community building in the town hall. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:58:53] Basically we got an email from Buddy stating that we have a choice on how to move forward with the snowplowing around those buildings because the budget has been changed. And in response, he is wanting to charge us one hundred dollars every single time the highway department chooses to or the highway department is asked to plow around the town hall and the IDA sorry, the community building. [02:59:19] And so we could either do that or we could contracted out somewhere for probably around the same price or maybe even a little bit more. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [02:59:27] I'm not really sure. But he wants to know if we want them to do it and and how much snow is allowable before they come and plow. Having been born and raised in Tompkins County, where we play the game of am I on the road or not, I, I personally don't have a lot of. [02:59:51] Need for snowplowing myself, I'll plow through a foot of snow, no problem, but I know other people are much more cautious about the amount of snow that they are willing to have there. And I want to be sympathetic to our residents that feel maybe less comfortable driving in snow. So I was thinking maybe once there's an inch of snow there that we ask them to plow maybe two inches. [03:00:12] And what and I do think that we should go ahead and pull that out of the fund to go ahead and hire the highway department to do that. But I wanted to get input fro m other board members on what they think we should do. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:00:27] I'm not sure what the eventual goal should be, but it sure sounds appropriate. We need to make sure that it's safe and appropriate because it's not just us. It's the residents that will be coming to these facilities, especially the Town Clerks office. It's tax and is in the middle of winter, which is which is an issue. So I think that's that's fine to have Buddy do that. And I would add the comment that not the firefighters were going to die in the previous discussion is that it is ultimately a Town and Town board's responsibility for the facilities. And that means that the facilities and parking areas and driveways that it owns, that is not technically, as far as I'm aware of, I could be corrected. That's not technically Buddy is responsibility to do that. And so it's been has been great and you know that they've been doing that. But the budgetary change. Well, it was one hundred thousand dollar budgetary change. And that was that's pretty significant. [03:01:42] So I don't disagree with Buddy taking this approach. I understand that. [03:01:50] But I would agree with you that if he's willing to do that and the one one of the eight fund accounts, you know, take care of that, then that's fine. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:02:03] This is just an accounting transfer, really, I'd rather have Buddy do the work than have to contract it out to somebody where that is not money that is kept within the overall Town budget. And Buddy wants to charge you, so be it. I'm not particularly happy with it, but that's the way that he is chosen to assess it. I'm willing to go along with it. I think maybe an inch of snow is a good rule of thumb. Remember, we do have clients coming to the town hall to pay taxes. We do have food pantry patient patrons, and we do have to keep that area free of snow. So I would say maybe the each standard would be good. And I think we should do the transfer internal transfer rather than farm office work. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:02:55] So I would say we have the fire company president, as well as Gabe Newhart on here, and they both have much more experience with snow removal than all of us. So if you don't mind, I'm going to ask to mute them. [03:03:07] And if they would like to give input, they are welcome to do so, to give a recommendation for how much snow they feel is appropriate for us to ask them to to plow. [03:03:26] So. If either of them would like to weigh in here, we'd love to have your advice. IDA, any help, I thought I asked. [03:03:38] There you go now muted Look, I do know that the fire company actually when we get. Fire Company President Dennis Hubbell [03:03:49] You know, about an inch or anything that covers a blacktop, we usually have to take care of it. So we do push across the property line. Obviously over there is very close to the back of the community building. We so we do clean the portion of the parking lot off, but we don't go down the hill, so. My experience in the past with the highway department and what we do here, I think in inches is probably a good, good gauge to use. I don't know how much we got today, but that was definitely worth plowing today. So that's my opinion on it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:04:30] Very good. Thank you. [03:04:32] OK, so I mean, I don't know that this really needs a resolution because he was just kind of asking offhand, but let's go ahead. And if you I think it might be good to get i t on the books for now. So I'll kind of patch one together. [03:04:48] Resolution number or resolution 20, 20. I'm not exactly sure what the numbers were in the 80s. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:04:54] I believe somewhere that authorizes the highway department to plow around the community building in town hall, whereas the town hall and community building are needed for need, or it is needed that the town hall and community building are accessible to residents. And whereas the snowplowing ca n be contracted to the highway department for one hundred dollars per plow, therefore, be it resolved that the town board authorizes the transfer of one hundred dollars for every plowing. I'm not really sure of the wording there to the highway department and therefore also be it resolved. It's getting a little muddled here that we would like the snowplowing to. [03:05:57] The snowplowing should be done when? Snow has accumulated to one inch, does anybody want to amend that to make it prettier? [03:06:07] T. [03:06:07] Oo long a meeting, I'll just go and I'll Second it, all right. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:06:12] All right. Any discussion? All right, Ellen, do you want to go ahead and call that vote? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:06:20] Councilperson Bryant. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:06:23] I. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:06:25] Councilperson Lynch,. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:06:26] I. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:06:28] Councilperson miles,. Councilperson Micheal Miles [03:06:30] I,. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:06:31] I think Supervisor McGee. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:06:32] And I OK,. [03:06:36] So the last thing on our agenda tonight is a resolution which I sent kind of late. [03:06:41] I hope you all had a chance to look at it. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:06:44] I'll read it so that residents who may not have had a chance to look at it, get an idea of what it is. Basically it's authorizing the transfer of funds to equipment reserve account, whereas the HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT has requested funds from the sales of equipment through actual auctions, international be transferred to equipment reserve there. [03:07:03] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Town board authorizes the Town supervisor to transfer the balance of twenty seven thousand eight hundred and ten dollars from unresolved fund balance dieser nine 09 to the Equipment Reserve Account Day to thirty one. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:07:21] So I would like to move this resolution. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:07:25] All Second. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:07:27] OK, so the reason that I put this under new business is because I think we need to have a discussion about this. I was really hoping Buddy would be here for this part of the discussion because technically earlier in the year we removed the money from equipment and reserves to pay for other things, other line items. And I wanted to go back to that with him because we do have a couple of things within our capital plan. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:08:00] For example, in twenty twenty two, there's a thousand Mack truck with a plow that needs replacing and the dissipated cost for that is two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So I just wanted to sort of get a budgetary idea from him about how we're going to build that reserves up. And so this does build that reserve up somewhat. But, you know, it doesn't come close to that two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that he's asking. And so I'm wondering I want to get input from him about what other. What other equipment will be sold over time and see if we're going to be able to get closer to that, and then I also have concerns still about the line that this originally goes into is the day 09, which is basically per hour fund balanced policy, supposed to be around 200 to 250 thousand dollars. And it's not that right now. It's, you know, much less it's like 130 or something. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:09:02] I could go back through the budget and find it. But so both of those accounts are pretty short. And I know that we've also allowed a lot to be moved around within the highway department to cover this new or to keep the new person. But like I said, the previously, it is the Town board's legal responsibility to deal with this budget. It's not Buddy responsibility to deal with this budget. So I think that we really need to make a decision about whether it's more important to us to keep this money within our fund balance, to build up our fund balance per the fund balance policy, or to go ahead and move it to equipment reserves like he would prefer and build up those accounts. And I kind of wanted to get input from him about that. Bu t he is not here. So if anybody has any say on this, I'd love to hear what is the urgency of it? Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:09:56] Is it urgent? Can it wait till January? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:10:01] Yes, we can we can move this resolution later. [03:10:03] I mean, it's you know, it's either going to be in the in the fund balance, like the D.A. nine or nine, or it's going to be in the equipment reserves. As far as I know, it doesn't he doesn't need to spend that money right now. It is just just to build up the equipment reserves so we could push it off until January when he has time to give us input. [03:10:23] I moved. The terrible thing we need is something we need to keep our focus on the budget, the Town budget, and not losing sight of our plans to build a reserve for the Town, not just his reserve. So I think it's you know, I would not vote on this motion tonight because I would like to see anybody's input on this as well. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:10:51] But we have to give him the ability at some point to be able to replace the equipment that he has. I know some of the equipment is getting old. I think the the most recent model, new truck is around twenty, thirteen or so. That's seven years old. And that's our that's our newest one for the big truck. So this is a concern giving our giving Buddy the ability to manage that equipment appropriately. So, but yeah, I would like Buddy to Second the input on this before we do that. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:11:23] Now, the gentleman who has been. [03:11:28] Right now, I'm over it, I don't know if we need a vote on that, I guess. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:11:33] I'll go ahead and Second that let's I think we might as well go ahead with the I don't really know that we need a motion or a move to I don't know that we need a vote to table it, but we might as well go ahead just for formalities like Ellen, will you call the vote on tabling this resolution until the January meeting? [03:11:52] Hopefully. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:11:53] Councilperson Bryant Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:11:54] Aye Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:11:55] Councilperson Lynch. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:11:57] Aye Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:11:58] Councilperson miles. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:12:00] Aye Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:12:01] Acting Supervisor Redmond Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:12:06] Aye. [03:12:07] OK, that's that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:12:10] Now we have privilege of the floor. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:12:12] OK, again, if you would like to speak for the privilege of the floor, please use the raise your hand button. If you're calling in a cell phone, you can do this by pressing the Star nine button. I will mute everybody at the end. To be sure, those who wish to speak have gotten a chance to do that. Please address your comments to the Town board as a whole. You have three minutes to speak, so please wrap up your comments in that time. Ellen, you have your hand raised. Did you want to speak IDA? Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:12:41] May I have my video on? OK, go ahead. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:12:45] Oh, I thought that you were able to turn it on. I'm sorry. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:12:54] So I want to say this as nicely and gently as possible, and I believe these are just facts, they're not really that emotional, but. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:13:06] Based on my research, I am the lowest paid Town Clerk in Tompkins County. I am also the lowest paid Town clerk in any thirty five hundred resident Town in all of New York state. And I am the only town. [03:13:22] Clerk that I can find in all of New York state with an equivalent or a negative differential with the Town supervisor. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:13:29] So the Town like what it takes the Town to run the Town is running on the labor of a woman that is making less than minimum wage. And in twenty twenty it's like, oh, she knows what she signed up for. But it's really a moral indictment of the entire board that they are more concerned with adding council people and a deputy supervisor that went from eight hundred to ten thousand dollars in twen ty twenty than they are with paying even New York State minimum wage to the Town clerk. And it's really not self-interested. [03:14:10] As I've stated in previous meetings, I would do better to make this Tompkins County DSS' problem and not the Town of Enfield problem. That's probably a better financial strategy for me, but I'm also concerned with continuity. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:14:25] I guarantee you that no one else can or will do this job for what I am being paid. But it is really, really more. Imperative to me that the differential be corrected, because I think having an equivalent differential makes it so that the board is incapable of understanding that this is a full time administrative elected office, that I don't think like why no one has been able to tell me why we would have the only negative or equivalent differential in all of New York State, the lowest differential in any other Town clerk office in Tompkins is in Danby. [03:15:04] And she has health insurance. Every other Town clerk in Tompkins County has health insurance. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:15:10] So, you know, I really think it's a moral indictment of the board, and I don't believe that it would require one additional penny from the residents of Enfield because the board has given that money out time and time again. Town Clerk Ellen Woods [03:15:23] We insisted on matching Caroline on the broadband study, which actually not hook one single Enfield resident up to the Internet, although I think the study is important. We matched Caroline on that, but we can't match them on health insurance for the Town clerk. We can't match them on a living wage for the Town clerk. But how are we different than Caroline? We're not that different than Caroline, we're not that different than Danby. So why should this be the case?!? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:15:48] Thank you, Ellen. [03:15:54] OK, so it turns out. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:16:03] Is there anyone out, Marcus, go ahead and I'm going to ask you to unmuted and ask you to start your video. Marcus Gingerich [03:16:14] Can you hear me OK? And so I'm a little confused and I'm not a professional, but I do tinker with computers and networks a bit and like, I'm a little confused about. [03:16:33] Why it would be more secure to have a cloud based system where you're going out to into the cloud for all your applications rather than keeping it local in your local network behind a firewall. [03:16:49] I presume there's a firewall. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:16:52] Great, now we need to upgrade some router information as well, so part of this is being an outdated router that I haven't looked at, I haven't configured, and we could probably lock it down. I could probably lock it down so me more than CoVid. So, yeah, you are correct that we could make that option more secure. It's just my opinion that we should go to the cloud based option because we're depending on one computer to be running. And it really and these are these are powerhou se computers. They shouldn't be acting on servers. And they actually all of them probably need to be upgraded themselves. Councilperson Marcus Gingerich [03:17:36] Right, but how much how much a server is typically for you need a server when you've got a lot of access, is a lot of multiple hits from from various other computers. And typically, I mean, if you've got three computers in the network, I don't see how that is going to actually. [03:17:58] Make that habitable world for any one computer. Councilperson Micheale Miles [03:18:03] Yes, you're right, it would be more of a load for the Town Clerks computer to do that. So, I mean, it's still a viable option. I just feel that the cloud based version is a little either way, we're not the best option. [03:18:18] This is a legacy software. And eventually another concern is that with his legacy software, it may have certain technical requirements in order to run into one in a very specific environment. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:18:35] I'm sure there was a lot of old government computers that mainframes that used to run Fortran and COBOL that now have to run in virtual environments because you just can't run those things anymore. So that that's another concern is that we need to upgrade these compu ters as well. I'm not sure how compatible those upgrades will be with this software. [03:19:02] I didn't have that discussion, but yeah, I yeah, your your your concerns are noted. And you and you are correct that we could secure the peer to peer network a little bit better. Marcus Gingerich [03:19:18] Yeah, I just I'm just curious, because just any time you get out of the Internet, you're obviously at risk. And if you have three computers having to make network connections into the cloud, that's everything is being transferred out past the firewall and everything is being exposed. That's just more things being exposed, that's all. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:19:41] Yeah, that is a very good point, Marcus. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:19:46] Marcus, would you be willing to join our I.T. committee? Marcus Gingerich [03:19:50] Yeah, afraid you were going to say that and I would actually consider it. The problem is right now I'm I have such an absolutely ridiculous work schedule that I'm like working 12 hours a day already. So I I don't know. I would I would think about it, but I. [03:20:13] I do have a family that I'd like to see once in a while,. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:20:16] And part of this is that, you know, part of the reason for having an advisory committee is that we get input like yours. [03:20:25] I don't have to be the only voice that's in this and that. We can bounce his ideas against each other. Marcus Gingerich [03:20:33] Well, so, like, how often are you meeting or how long are you meeting or what? Councilperson Michael Miles [03:20:38] I would say probably a monthly meeting or as necessary. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:20:45] Of course, we need you. [03:20:48] Yes, we served on a committee together before, so definitely let us know. [03:20:58] OK, thanks. That was that was pretty much it. [03:21:01] OK, thank you, Marcus. [03:21:03] Thank you. [03:21:05] All right, Patricia, I'm going to ask you, where'd you go? [03:21:13] And asked to start your video. [03:21:18] There. There you go. Oh, no, you're not unmuted. I'm going to ask to unmuted again. All right, very good. [03:21:26] I have a question for Mike and the equipment there. Patricia Speno [03:21:33] The three computers are all very different from one another and at this time, they have different designated software and tasks. And I wondered if there would be any. But I suspect they're going to be glitches just because of the equipment alone. You know, the actual computer hardware, hardware, software differences and whether the hardware could handle the software, the one that the computer that I have. Patricia Speno [03:22:11] I have no doubt that the computer that we have designated for D.C. and kills and Allan's computer could handle it, but I don't know that even the keyboard and mind, you know, we do need to take a look at the equipment and what kind of glitches we're going to run into during tax season. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:22:36] But that's the first thing was one of the first things I noticed is that you're running very different kinds of equipment, which is another reason for me. That's that's another reason for going cloud. Patricia Speno [03:22:44] I mean, I guess it comes down to a head with the inventory, you know, and I'd like to do the serial numbers and and and the inventories and in my former and. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:22:57] Yeah, part of the part of the reason why I also suggest this is because the reason is that you're running different hardware and you may be going through some upgrades. And I'm not sure how a policy that compatible with the legacy platform that Williamson runs on will be compatible with new hardware as we upgrade or how compatible against each of those computers can could run those. When you run in a virtual environment, it's that actually that virtualize computer off in the cloud that's actually running that. And you're just basically interacting with that environment, much like we are in Zumthor or the process that where, you know, it's the environment is doing the processing and it's and that software set up, you know, ideally. So Mouilleseaux ideally set up that environment for that particular software where we're relying on these older computers that that probably should do some need some upgrading to to run the software. And obviously you're having issues with that. Patricia Speno [03:24:01] Yeah. Yeah. [03:24:02] Well, also, is it realistic to anticipate or kind of gauge what kind of what kind of time issues we're going to run into and tick season Mimi when we change over into Clerk? Councilperson Michael Miles [03:24:20] And my understanding is that are you running an accounting software in the cloud already doing this have issue, you know, with with the equipment? Councilperson Michael Miles [03:24:31] So it would run in much the same way as that other software that we're already doing this with. And we're already doing the same thing with these other two packages from Williamston. OK, so if that's after it runs well in virtualize environment, then I assume these other software runs similar and in that vein. Patricia Speno [03:24:54] OK, thank you. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:24:58] Again, I'm just beginning this process, so I have a lot to learn about our set up, and I just needed I just needed a better idea what I was getting into. [03:25:09] My understanding is that it would also take, you know, given some lead time from to a few days free time, and they could do that. So have to schedule that with you. Patricia Speno [03:25:20] And I didn't mean to be pointed or anything like that. I don't have answers for my questions. I needed answers. And you've answered them quite well. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:25:28] Trying to I may not be able to articulate everything. Councilperson Micheale Miles [03:25:31] And perhaps I didn't articulate the cloud versus the cloud versus network option. Really? Patricia Speno [03:25:38] Well, yeah. Yeah. OK, thank you. Councilperson Micheael Miles [03:25:42] There's pros and cons to each other. You. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:25:47] Thank you, Patricia. Thank you. The. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:25:52] OK, is there anyone else who would like to speak for privilege of the floor, please raise your hand now. Julie, I'm going to ask to unmuted and ask to start your video if you'd like. Julie Schroeder [03:26:10] Can you hear me? Yeah. OK, yep, I would just like to say that I'm supremely disappointed in the way that Robert Lynch has conducted his apparent survey of constituents in this town. And I bet that if he presented the facts of dysfunctionality, that would result for not appointing an actual supervisor, th at people might have had a different opinion about how they would like him to proceed. And I don't think that the honesty with which he presented those potential situations really ever came up. Julie Schroeder [03:26:46] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:26:48] Well said,. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:26:49] Thank you. I agree. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:26:58] Is there anyone else who would like to speak for pillars of the floor? Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:27:04] I'm going to go ahead and I can't seem to have raised my hand electronically, so I would OK, go ahead. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:27:12] It's been a long meeting, but almost four hours. If there is anything that I have said against Stephanie Redmond, it violates our civility resolution. That was inappropriate. I apologize for that. I don't know if I did, but I will apologize for girl you might have taken personally. I didn't mean it personally. I would only ask Stephanie that you give your resignation a lot of thought and you sleep on it and not tender it right after this meeting. But give it a few days because I value your service. Others on this board value your service, and I would humbly request that you consider continuing on as a Councilperson in the town of Enfield. I can ask you nothing more if you've made your decision that you want to leave this board. I can't stop you, but I do appreciate your service up to this point. We've had our disagreements, but you shouldn't. As I said, you shouldn't confuse political disagreement with personal animus. There is no animus by me against you. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:28:34] Is there anyone else who would like to speak for college on the floor? Go ahead, Michael. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:28:39] I hope you don't resign your Councilperson position, but if it sounds like we're we're back to the uncivility and all that, I'm disappointed by the agendas of perceived agendas and all side s. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:28:57] But if you do tender your Councilperson position, I will likely nominate you during the next meeting for the Supervisorial. And we can have that discussion. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:29:12] Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:29:14] Is there anyone else who would like to speak for the privilege of the floor? Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:29:17] Yes, I would I would hope, Stephanie, that you would just give it some more thought before you resign. I really very upset to lose you from the from your forward position. So, I mean, you've done a sterling job stepping into acting supervisor and you were doing a sterling job before that. Coucilperson Virginia Bryant [03:29:41] And your position in terms of being concerned about the townspeople of Enfield and our water quality, what you've been doing statewide, all of those things, I just hate to see you leave the Town board or resign from the Town board. So I guess I would just ask you to sleep on it, because it really disturbs me. I'm I'm I'm the ancient Town board member, and I really felt like resigning myself and saying, well, I want to step aside, but I'm not ready to do that yet. Councilperson Virginia Bryant [03:30:16] I'm hoping that maybe you'll reconsider and. [03:30:20] Stay with us and see if we can't get beyond this abysmal meeting where things kind of communication broke down because of one person, not you. [03:30:32] So I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:30:37] Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak for privilege of the floor? [03:30:43] I'm going to unmuted all if you have not had a chance to speak, now is your opportunity to do so. [03:30:53] OK. Seems that nobody would like to I'm going to commute again. [03:31:01] I'm going to Mimi board members. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:31:06] And at this moment, I would like to say it is not my fault that Beth's decided to step down and resign. It is also not Beth's fault that she chose to step down and resign. She had a wonderful opportunity presented to her and we should not begrudge her of that. In fact, we should be proud of her and congratulate on her, on her role. And not only that, but we should give her a sense of gratitude for giving an extra six months that she did not want to give to this board to get us through a pandemic and into through a budget season. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:31:41] And yes, that meant that I was going to serve as the acting supervisor for 14 months instead of nine months. It's a whole five months more. You're right, but you know what, I was trained during that time, so we did not have someone there in that position during a pandemic when we had no idea if we were going to face mass casualties. We had no idea if we were going to have annihilated budget. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:32:06] We had someone now here that's trained to do the Williamson software, all the accounting nowhat, what lines things are supposed to come from, know who to ask that is networked with people from OSCE and the AOT and things like that, that it is actually ready to do the job. And I have put heart and soul into this for the last six months. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:32:26] I have three kids that have only seen me for the last six months because I've been working so hard to make sure this gets done and it's not for the money. It's clear I could go and make a lot more money somewhere else. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:32:38] I'm doing this because I was born and raised in Tompkins County. I'm doing this because I built a house here. I'm doing this because I have three kids and I have a vested interest in the future. And it has repeatedly, repeatedly been negatively politicized by Robert Lynch over and over again, as if I have some sort of sinister ulterior motive. So let me tell you what my sinister is h ere. Your motive is my sinister ulterior motive is to make sure that this Town gets more library services. My sinister ulterior motive here is to make sure that our pedestrians have safe sidewalks to walk off of seventy nine. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:33:12] That's why I've been contacting the New York State AOT constantly lately to see if we can have a traffic study for that area. My sinister ulterior motive is to look into making a financial committee, to look into an investment policy, et cetera, et cetera. I want environmental policies that safeguard our town's water aquifers. There are so many things that are my sinister ulterior motive here that that Robert Lynch is negatively politicizing all over town, as if I'm trying to take over the town. And honestly, I'm tired of it. It's unnecessary. I have tried over and over again to extend the olive branch to work as a team to try to create the dream team here to get things done. And it just gets thrown back at me. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:33:53] I get rude, accusatory emails. I get trashed all over as if I'm just, you know, trying to take over the town. It was this dark secret thing that was trying to be so happen. No, it was Beth's trying to make sure there was somebody that was capable to take over this position in the best way possible. And you know what? I have tried really hard to make that happen. And now we have an opportunity to actually make a proactive step to be anti-racist in this town. And it's being blocked again by Robert Lynch. And it's also putting us in a relatively precarious and irresponsible situation where we do not have a deputy supervisor during covid, during a pandemic, when I might be sidelined for months and we will have to just not pay bills for mon ths. And for some reason, Robert Lynch thinks that that's OK. It's not OK. It's not in the best interest of our Town in any way, shape and form. So in a stance to be absolutely transparent and absolutely antiracist like we all need to do, I'm going to open this board position and I'm going to resign from my Councilperson position effective immediately. Tonight, I will be sending an email to the Town clerk after I get off this this thing saying exactly these issues that Robert Lynch has blocked my position to be appointed, thereby leaving our Town in a precarious situation and also blocking the appointment of the first black man to ever serve. On the Enfield Town board to ever give us this incredibly interesting perspective that none of us are able to otherwise provide for this Town. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:35:35] So I will be resigning effective immediately. [03:35:45] Are there any announcements? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:35:49] I would suggest that one of the council people move to have an announcement placed in the website on whatever. The media outlets that you want to have somebody else take this Councilperson position, because the sooner they get into this position, the sooner they can get trained and be available for that February AOT meeting where they have really important instruction to do this job properly. That's what I would recommend. Would anybody like to do that before? We close this meeting now. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:36:26] I would like to, but I'm not going to because the resignation has to be official first, I think I'm just trying to cut I's and cross T's here, so I will unless someone else wants to do that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:36:44] Well, it looks like you will not be able to have a new Councilperson before that February AOT meeting, and that's really unfortunate that you're putting them in that kind of position. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:36:56] At this point, would anybody like to move to adjourn? Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:37:00] I have a question and the question is, are you Deputy Supervisor Redmond continuing as deputy supervisor beyond your resignation? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:37:12] Yes, I will continue as the deputy supervisor and the acting supervisor, it is not my intention to throw this Town under the bus as it is yours. I will continue to be in this position to take care of the Town in the best way possible. It is not self-serving in any way. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:37:27] So you will still be Kappel excuse me, will still be convening and presiding at meetings? Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:37:34] Yes, I will still preside over the meetings. It will open up this Councilperson position and I really hope, really hope that you all consider. Appointing James Ricks to this position. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:37:46] And don't think that it's because of Beth's McGee, it's actually because he's a really won derful person who really cares about this town and has his own opinions on how this town should be run. Coucilperson Virginia Bryant [03:37:58] Absolutely agree with that. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:38:00] And I disagree on numerous topics, and yet I still want to see him to be in this position because I feel like he has a lot of value and perspective to offer. Councilperson Robert Lynch [03:38:21] I moved to anyone like. Councilperson Michael Miles [03:38:28] I move to adjourn. I'm not sure I've got that. Oh, yes, so it needs a Second Second. Acting Supervisior Stephanie Redmond [03:38:35] OK, great. Have a good night, everyone. Good night.