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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 Enfield-Town-Government-Newsletter-Oct Nov 2014.pdf1 Town of Enfield 168 Enfield Main Road http://townofenfield.org October-November 2014 Newsletter Enfield Town Boards Meetings are held in the Community Building, 1st floor Town Board: 2nd Wednesday, 6:30pm Town Supervisor Ann Rider 277-3478 ann-rider@townofenfield.org Vera Howe-Strait Town Council Members Virginia Bryant 387-9376 Mike Carpenter 277-4204 Vera Howe-Strait 273-1413 Beth McGee 229-7870 Planning Board: 1st Wednesday, 7pm Chair, Dan Walker 387-6394 Ann Chaffee 272-6460 Dawn George 273-1247 Steve Givin 273-7434 Calvin Rothermich 272-5930 Red Poney Carpenter 279-2372 Henry Hanstein 727-3746 Town Offices Town Clerk 273-8256 Alice Linton, Town Clerk Sue Thompson, Deputy Town Clerk Town Office/Clerk Hours: Monday-Thursday, 3 pm - 6 pm Highway Department 272-6490 Barry Rollins, Highway Superintendent Town Highway Office Hours: Monday-Friday: 6 am - 2:30 pm Town Court 273-0363 Justice Poole: Monday, 5:00 pm Code Enforcement Office Community Building, 2nd floor Code Enforcement 277-0266 Alan Teeter, Code Enforcement Officer Code Enforcement Office Hours: Monday thru Thursday 8:30-11 am Wednesday 5-7 pm - Community Bldg, dwnstrs 882-9958 Town Historian Sue Thompson 272-6412 Enfield Volunteer Fire Company Roger Lauper, Chief 272-8757 Art Howser, Deputy Chief Tucker Snyder, 1st Assistant Chief Andy Senno, 2nd Assistant Chief Alan Teeter, Captain County Legislators Dave McKenna Enfield/Newfield 564-7243, dmckenna@tompkins-co.org Jim Dennis Enfield/Ulysses 387-4058, jpd821@yahoo.com Report from the Supervisor Dear Residents of Enfield - Ahhh, the sun is over the yard arm, the nights are cooler, the days are shorter, and the tomatoes need to go in a jar….my favorite time of year. The Town Board has been busy wrestling with the question of what to do with excess Town property. After several meetings early in the year with effected people, it has been decided that the old highway facility, the old gravel pit on Rt. 327 and the small parcel across from the Town Hall have little use to the Town in the future. The Enfield Fire Department approached the Town regarding leasing the old highway facility to use as a regional training facility. This would have lessened maintenance costs to the Town but would have put pressure on the Town to relocate the Town Clerk. After some discussion, the Fire Department thought a facility on their land would be more suitable to their needs and our Highway Superintendent has stated that the old highway building is totally adequate for his cold storage and salt storage needs so we will not have to build additional structures near the new Town Highway building for this. Discussion on leasing the old highway building has ceased. The Town Board will still move ahead with the feasibility of housing the Town Clerk, Town Historian, Code Officer, Bookkeeper and Justice Court in an energy efficient building on the Town owned property near the new Highway building. The Town Board is continuing to work on selling the old gravel bank and small lot across from the Town Clerk’s office. We are getting assessments from County Assessment and appraisals from a local real estate agent and will be entering into negotiations with potential buyers. The results of these negotiations will be subject to a referendum on the November ballot so you, the voters in the Town, can approve or disapprove the reasonableness of disposing of these properties and the reasonableness of the specific sales details. As it says in NYS Municipal Law, we need to get “fair value” for both these parcels to be doing our job as your elected officials. Our new bookkeeper, Debbie Kelley, is really taking hold of all the nuances of the job, has instituted lots of “paper trails” and, in general, is getting our financial house in spic and span order. My many thanks to her for her cheerful attitude and patience with me and my limited knowledge of bookkeeping methods, let alone municipal bookkeeping rules. The 2015 Budget is my current priority. I will present a preliminary Budget to the Board at a Special Meeting to be held on September 24 at 6:30 PM. A public hearing will be held on the budget on October 8 at 6 PM. Before I even start, I will tell you that it is going to be very hard for our municipality to hold to the Governor’s 2% requirement and have a livable budget. A lot of people will not like what that looks like and there will have to be some significant changes in how we do business but I will do my best to show you the options. Ann Rider, Supervisor 2 From The Highway Superintendent By the time you read this we should be just finishing up (or done) with our summer projects, Colegrove Rd. East Enfield Center Rd., South Van Dorn Rd. There was a problem with road material on Colegrove and East Enfield Center Rd, not “setting up” or “hardening up”. They are going to try to fix the problem now, if this does not hold up in the winter the company will fix it again in the spring. We are behind in our road maintenance schedule, due to the rain. We still have approximately 4 culvert/road crossing pipes we are hoping to replace before the snow comes. We had very little damage with all our rain storms, the guys and I were proud of the roads holding up so well, with such extreme weather conditions. We did have a few pipes plug up. As home owners check your pipes for debris, branches, recycling containers, etc. A phone call is welcomed if the pipe needs digging out on a larger scale. Your driveway is your responsibility, however we do at times fix the “right of way” portion of your driveway, as this helps maintain the edge of the road. As winter approaches us, I need to remind you of the parking law in regards to the right of way, and the mailbox spec’s all can be found on the Enfield Website, or at the Town Hall, and at the Highway. If we have a dry fall, with no snow we hope to be cutting shoulders, digging ditches, trimming brush & trees. As another reminder call the highway if you would like to be put on the list for fill dirt or wood chips. It never can be said enough, keep your speed down on the roads. Speed is the main cause of accidents. I would like to thank the guys. The Town of Ulysses & Newfield for their help as well. We hope you have a safe winter, see you on the roads. Buddy Rollins, Enfield Highway Superintendent Highway@townofenfield.org/607-272-6490 Wood Available The Town of Enfield Highway Department has accumulated a large amount of wood logs and stumps from all the storms in the past year. The Town Highway Department is willing to deliver these logs to people within a 10 mile radius of the Highway Department at 475 Enfield Main Rd., Ithaca, NY. Please fill out a written request form, available at the Enfield Town Clerk's office, 168 Enfield Main Rd., Ithaca, NY, and submit the completed form to the Town Clerk either by mail or in person. Delivery will be limited to one load every 6 months and is for home use NOT RESALE. Delivery time will be at the discretion of the Town Highway Superintendent. From The Town Clerk Welcome to the fall season! Please remember that the Town of Enfield has a Dog Control Law. The purpose of the law is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare of the community, including the protection and preservation of the property within the Town of Enfield and its inhabitants, and for the peace and good order therein by regulating and controlling activities of dogs within the Town of Enfield and providing for enforcement thereof. A few points from the law to remember are: · Dogs must be restrained by an adequate collar and leash or under full control of a responsible person, when not on the property of the owner… · Dogs must not cause damage or destruction to property... or commit a nuisance other than on the premises of the person owning or harboring such dog. · Dogs must wear a valid and current Town of Enfield dog license while off the owner's property, whether or not restrained by an adequate collar and leash. · Dogs must be licensed when four months of age or older. To view the complete law, please go to the town's website: www.townofenfield.org. Town and county tax bills will be mailed the end of December and can be paid without penalty until January 31. We will have additional hours during the month of January: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings from 9-12. Our October, November and December hours will remain Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. We are always glad to come in extra hours to accommodate your needs, if you just give us a call. Alice Linton, Enfield Town Clerk From Code Enforcement New e-mail for the Code Office: code-officer@townofenfield.org With fall soon to be upon us it's once again time to think about getting our homes ready for winter. Now is a good time to have your heating appliance checked and serviced before the heating season begins. It's better to service and correct everything now instead of in the middle of winter. A reminder if you are considering a new or used solid fuel burner (wood, coal or pellet) feel free to give me a call about possible required permits and installation advice. Most home owners insurance companies need to be informed when a new appliance is installed. Now is also a good time to tighten up the exterior of your home before it gets too cold to work outside. Simple things like weather-stripping or re-caulking windows and doors is not only inexpensive but easy to do with a little practice. Also take a look around the exterior of your home for things like loose siding and trim - it may just need to be reattached. Take a look at your gutters; are they full of leaves or loose from the house? It's much better to take care of them now before they are filled with snow and ice. As always feel free to give me a call with any questions. A large part of my job is on the phone answering questions, giving advice and directing people to the places they can get their questions answered if I don't know. Alan Teeter Code Enforcement Office 607-277-0266 3 Take Care of your Dog and Your Community For the past several months, several hours of my time every month has been devoted to attending dog enumeration meetings. Apparently getting people to license their dogs is a long standing and never ending challenge. Several Towns in the County are trying a new approach. We are not going to do a dog enumeration because it is costly for the number of dogs licensed. So here’s the deal. We’re asking residents who are dog owners to please add this task to your many other tasks in being a responsible citizen. Why did government ever think this was important, in the first place? Well, in the old days (that would be 60 years ago when I was a kid on the farm) it was about rabies. Currently? It’s about rabies. It’s about ensuring that your family and your neighbor’s family are safe from rabies. This is the only way our community can know for certain that your dog is vaccinated for rabies. OK, you own a dog, you take care of your dog; of course he/she has a rabies vaccination, but, we, the public, don’t know this. In the event your dog has a confrontation with a person or dog or cat or farm animal and you aren’t around with the rabies certificate. Our only way of knowing is that you have licensed your dog. You have to show your little slip from the vet to the Town Clerk before she issues the license. Then we, the community, know for sure that your dog can not spread rabies. It ensures that when a dog bite happens, the patient doesn’t have to go through the ordeal of the painful precautionary treatment. It helps to keep our community safe from rabies. So we know you love your dog. Part of dog ownership is getting your dog licensed. Please take 15 minutes between 3-6 PM, Monday through Thursday, to stop in and see Alice Linton, Town Clerk, to take care of this detail. Ann Rider, Town Supervisor Enfield Town Historian Sue Thompson Fall is here and school has started. I will be starting our Enfield Afterschool History Club in October. Hopefully we will be having a few visitors showing off their talent and knowledge of history. On September 13th I met with the Municipal Historians we discussed how some “old” Town of Caroline records had been found by a resident but then placed in auction instead of returning them to the Town. Hopefully most people will return “old” records (at least) to the town historian to keep in their collections. The Tompkins County Civil War Commission events will come to end by summer 2015. The next project for the MH group will be World War I, we have not decided how to commemorate WWI. The group will also work on “redoing” the Touring the Town brochures. Donations to the Historians Collection - 2014 (Thank you all!) · Katie Coyle: Scrapbook which belonged to her mother, Helen Smith. · Helen Hetherington: 3 Black and white photos of Millers Corners School, 1958. Copy of Interview with Helen Jackson, Frances LaBombard, Don and Carol Barnett. March 26, 2004, 1903 Enfield Quilt. · M. Clyde (Jack) Hubbell: Copy of letter from John Calkins regarding Newman family in Enfield. Black and white picture of Katherine and John Calkins, Otho and Gale Newman in horse/wagon about 1946. Archival Reference (Cornell University to documents to Kroch Library) archives regarding School of Military Aeronautics photographs, 1918, Enfield Glen. Copies of pictures of camp at Enfield Glen. Copy of picture of Old Home Day Enfield Center, Schabers Grove original from Jean Trenchard August 18, 2009. Copy of pages regarding Town of Enfield from History of the Seneca Baptist Association with sketches of churches and Pastors by Lewis Halsey. Ithaca NY, 1979. Copy of hand-drawn picture of House at 235 Harvey Hill Road, March 22, 1879. · Jean Owens: 1928 Map of the City of Ithaca, NY Ithaca Chamber of Commerce Ithaca Automobile Club, shows route to Enfield Glen. 1952 Postcard of State and County Tax Notice, Town of Enfield to Andrew and Eva Krayniak, Edna M. Palmer, Tax Collector. · Beatrice Schwoerer: 4 black and white pictures of the Applegate Tavern on Mecklenburg Road, dated 1955. · Sue Thompson: Ithaca Journal March 20, 1987: Article Possible site for landfill made public regarding 4 sites in Town of Enfield. · Alice Linton: Ethelyn Frances Crane (1918 – 2014) Auto-biography · Georgianna Stevenson: copies of diaries of Harvey Family transcribed by Georgianna Stevenson: 1867, 1876, 1882, 1889, 1905, 1906, 1918, 1922. A Note From Enfield Fire Chief Roger Lauper Winter will soon be upon us and so will the use of heating systems. I want to remind everyone that they should have their furnaces serviced, have their alternative heating systems, such as wood, coal and pellet shoves, cleaned; and your chimneys cleaned. Do not put anything flammable near your coal, wood and pellet stoves. This area has snow and ice so be sure your vehicle is in good mechanical condition and that you have good tires. We have been busy this year. Year- to-date we have had 246 calls. We have had all of our trucks and pumps serviced for the year. We have five personnel who are being recertified for EMT’s. We look forward to seeing the community children at the Firehouse October 31st when we give out candy and fire safety-related goodies for Halloween. Be safe and take care, Roger 4 Town of Enfield 168 Enfield Main Road Ithaca NY 14850 Dates to Remember October 1 Planning Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 7 pm 1 Volunteer of the Month nominations due 8 Town Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 6:45 pm November 5 Planning Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 7 pm 5 Volunteer of the Month nominations due 12 Town Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 6:45 pm December 3 Planning Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 7 pm 3 Volunteer of the Month nominations due 10 Town Board Meeting, Community Bldg, 6:45 pm Have you seen the new official Town of Enfield website? It's easy to get around and there's so much information there! Want to know what happened at a Town Board meeting? Find the minutes there. Want to find out what's happening in Enfield this week? Check the Town calendar. Want to contact your local representatives or Town employees? Find their contact info there. Town laws, documents, history and community information are available and easy to find. Now you can subscribe to receive an email whenever there is an update of news or events posted on the Town website, so you can keep informed without having to keep track on your own. We hope you'll check it out and find it useful. Visit the site today at TownOfEnfield.org