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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-09-2019 Town Board Meeting Minutes ApprovedVirgil Town Board Meeting May 09th, 2019 1 | P a g e TOWN OF VIRGIL REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING May 9th, 2019 PRESENT: Supervisor John Kaminski, Board Members Jereme Stiles, Eric Snow, Matt Denniston, Gary Pelton, Attorney for the Town Pat Snyder, Town Clerk/Collector Alane Van Donsel, David Coish Camden Group, Deputy Highway Superintendent Dan Courtney, Wes Kryger Greek Peak, Sandy Price Cortland County Legislator, Jenae Withy W2Operators, Mack & Sylvia Cook, Carole Rehkugler, Sara Sirois, Matt Hollenbeck 6:00 PM PUBLIC HEARING ON THE VIRGIL SCHOOL BUILDING Sylvia Cook- Sylvia Cook addressed the board. She prepared a packet of material that she presented to the board. She also emailed a copy to the town clerk. Cook is concerned with the possibility of the Cortland Enlarged City School District having control with what happens to the building. She would like to see the town acquire the building and for adaptive reuse. She feels the school district doesn’t have an incentive to maintain or to market the building. She is afraid that the property will become another zombie building. She feels that the town could market it. If the town can obtain the property for a nominal amount, she doesn’t feel there is a reason not to take it over or to sell it. She said that the School District spent millions of dollars to keep the building up to date. They installed elevators, generators etc. She said there is no reason the town can’t reuse it. Some of the ideas that the committee came up with were CAPCO, Family Health Network, latch key kids, an emergency shelter, a place to go if there was flooding again in Virgil, a museum, adult recreation facility, a town hall. She feels that the town could swap buildings. She said the town should get good quality inspection to see how much the current town hall would be worth. Cook looked at the building conditions survey that was done in 2015, it is available on the Cortland City School website. She said it was an eye opener to her. She found that the building is in fantastic shape. She said many of the repairs listed on the BCS were school specific and things the district wanted, but not needed. She didn’t see anything that was non-code compliant. She feels that the BCS should be looked at further and that the town should hire a good commercial appraiser to look at the marketability of the building and to look for prospective buyers. She feels the same thing should be done for the current town hall building. She feels that the current town hall may be easier to sell. She feels this option should be weighed and entered into the conversation. She feels that the Virgil School building could pay for itself. She feels part of this could be achieved by leasing out space, some of this could be done with adult recreational fees. She said there are also grants available for repairs, installing solar or for changes that need to be made in the building. Many of them are 50% matching grants. She feels that long term its worth applying for the grant. She wants to see the building be put back into community use. She said it’s a blow to the community to lose the school which is the hub of the community. She feels the community needs something to bring us back together. We need services for the community. Sandy Price- Stated that she has been a lifelong resident of Virgil and that she loves the Virgil school. She said it broke her heart when she found out it was closing. She feels it’s going to hurt the children educationally and it’s going to be a big economic blow to our community. However, she feels when you get lemons, you make lemonade. She feels that the community needs to think of ways to make living in Virgil attractive. She feels it’s important for the town to take possession of the school, because that is what is best for the community. She feels if residents feel that we don’t need to keep the building, at least we will be able to keep the park. She realizes that the town board members are all busy men and that this endeavor will take considerable work. However, she says there is a committee of folks willing to take on the task of investigating this further and she will be a part of that committee. Lori Megivern- Megivern said she spoke to other town supervisors who took over their schools’ buildings. They said that the biggest people against taking over the buildings were the Supervisors and the highway Superintendents. However, it didn’t work out that way they thought it would. They actually realized that it has turned out to be a money maker. They created a library and money had to come back to maintain the library. The town Historical society uses the space. They use the cafeteria for seniors and veterans and they get grant money for that. The Town clerk maintains the calendar to rent the space and money is being made for the town. She said what was initially perceived as a big job has turned into a huge money maker. She referred to the article that was in the Cortland Standard. She would like to see the community in the existing building. She feels that if the town doesn’t take the building over, we will lose a lot of potential tax money that will be going other places. Mack Cook- Cook said being the City administrator he can understand why a board of trustee wouldn’t want to take ownership of the building. He has over 800 units vacant in the city. You have to maintain site control and the odds of the golden developer doing what you want them to do is unlikely. If you allow someone else to take the building you use sight control and you lose the quality of the property. If you do give it away, you’ll eventually get it back, but it you won’t get it back in the same condition as when you gave it away. Carol Rehkugler – Rehkugler said that she is very interested in seeing the school building become a community hub. She said she is part of a Book Club in town. She said that if you have the courage and the will to involve yourself, you will find people coming out to help. People understand it’s important to do things together and to be part of a community. That is what she prays for. CLOSED THE PUBLIC HEARING: Supervisor Kaminski asked three times if there were any other folks that wished to discuss the matter. No one commented. Member Stiles motioned to close the Public Hearing. Member Denniston seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes- Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None 6:35 PM –THE REGULAR MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER Supervisor Kaminski called the meeting to order, followed by the salute to the flag. RESOLUTION #19-057 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft of the Public Hearing and Regular Board Meeting Minutes dated April 11th, 2019: Member Stiles moved to approve the minutes for April 11th, 2019 regular Town Board Meeting with corrections. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None RESOLUTION #19-058 AUTHORIZATION TO PAY BILLS Virgil Town Board Meeting May 09th, 2019 2 | P a g e GENERAL FUND FOR APR. 2019 NUMBER 005: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the General Fund’s audited vouchers numbered 118-135 in the amount of $51,771.05. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None HIGHWAY FUND FOR APR. 2019 NUMBER 005: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Highway Fund audited vouchers numbered 1085-1102 in the amount of $36,047.64. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None SEWER DISTRICT #1 FUND FOR APR. 2019 NUMBER 005: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Sewer District #1 audited voucher’s numbered 2041-2046 in the amount of $7225.88. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None They questioned 2044- hardware support sees on water district- is it the same bill. Was it paid twice? Probably Billing software. Split in half. WATER DISTRICT #1 FUND FOR APR. 2019 NUMBER 005: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Water District #1 audited vouchers 3021-3024 in the amount of $6,592.80. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None MONTHLY REPORTS SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT FOR APRIL 2019 SHORT FORM: Member Stiles moved to accept the Supervisor’s Monthly Report in short form for April 2019. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays –None TOWN CLERK’S MONTHLY REPORT FOR APRIL 2019: Member Stiles moved to accept the Town Clerks Monthly Report for April 2019. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None TAX COLLECTOR’S REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Tax Collector’s Monthly Report for April 2019. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None SEWER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: Dave Coish was present from the Camden Group. Kaminski asked Coish about a gas leak at the sewage treatment plant. Coish said that there was a leak on the other side of the meter. He said there was some old tape there and the gas company rebuilt it and re-taped. They were going around checking all the meters and they caught it. They were losing gas so checking all the lines. Kaminski said that he is going to check on the delivery date for the tank and then talk to the highway department about preparing the site and removing the old tank. They will need to look into what size they need to prepare the site. He wants to see it moved away from the road right away. There was some discussion about a ditch by the plant. Member Stiles said that he would talk to the state about cleaning it out. Member Snow asked about a potential grease ordinance. Coish said that some towns are implementing a local law to make sure all grease traps are maintained. He said that he can send over a template of what it could look like. Wes Kryger was addressed and told there are issues with grease. Kryger said that there are no grease traps on the town homes. Coish said that there are concerns with the grease that is coming from the kitchens at the hotel. Coish said that he is working with Junior Quail to fix it. Member Stiles moved to accept the Sewer Districts Report. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None WATER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: Jenea Withey arrived a little late, but was present. Kaminski said that he wanted to talk to her about the meter replacement. He said that he would like for her to set up a schedule for replacement. Withey said that her dad, Doug, was out of town teaching, but they will start the schedule soon. Member Stiles moved to accept the Water Districts Report. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER’S REPORT: Member Stiles moved to accept the Animal Control Officer’s Report. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None CODE ENFORCEMENT AND ZONING OFFICERS REPORT: A written report was submitted by Code and Zoning Officer Kevin McMahon. He’s been busy the town has collected $7,000.00 plus in fees since January first. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Code and Zoning Officers report. The motion was seconded Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None COUNTY LEGISLATOR’S REPORT: County Legislator Sandy Price submitted a written report and was present. Member Stiles wanted Prices opinion on the town supervisors drafting a letter. Price said that they had legitimate questions that need to be answered, however there were conflicting responses. Price said the legislators will have an answer on the second Tuesday of the month, for as many people that will come. She said this item wasn’t removed from the agenda and it was filed. Stiles said that it was on the agenda and the Legislative Clerk asked the Mayor of Marathon how long he would speak. Price said that a determination was planned before hand by the chair. The Legislators were shocked that they didn’t let the mayor speak. Stiles said a lot of people were shocked. He said that no one faulted the legislators, but they were surprised that they didn’t speak up. It was stated that all they want to do was to get together and communicate and they don’t want to create problems. Price said that’s why they have CCTVS meetings every month. Kaminski said that those meetings don’t have the full legislator. Priced asked if they were telling her that the CCTVS meetings were a waste of time? Price said that there is a courtesy to hear from that member, but the chair member was the one with the issue. She said that the democrats wanted to let them speak. Price said it is routine to receive the statement and file it. Price asked again if they were saying CCTVS wasn’t a good mechanism for communications. Stiles said he doesn’t think what gets discussed at that CCTVS meetings gets passed on to the whole legislator. Price said that the topics discussed at CCTVS aren’t chosen by the group and she’s Virgil Town Board Meeting May 09th, 2019 3 | P a g e only the messenger. Mack Cook the city business administrator said there was a scheduling conflict for the May 20th meeting and it has been rescheduled to June 11th at 6:00 PM. Price said that when people sign up to speak to the legislator, they are not allowed to respond. Kaminski and Stiles both said that was fine, however other people were able to speak. Kaminski said that he went to the county treasurer and requested a whole bunch of financial information but he wasn’t able to receive it without a FOIL request and the treasurer wasn’t able to answer the questions he asked. Kaminski said he had some basic questions. He wants to know the county debt load, the terms and payments and debit from 2016,2017 and 2018. Kaminski wanted to know where the budget surplus goes. Price said that the surplus goes to the general fund. Sometimes by a resolution transfers can be made. Kaminski would like to know the budget surplus’ by department. Kaminski wasn’t talking about building a cushion, but he would like to see the spending under control. Price said that they need to have a resolution to keep a certain amount of money in the general fund to follow the rules of the comptroller. It was stated that the county is 42 million dollars in debt. Price said that she has a spreadsheet with the dept load and when it will be paid off. She said the document was prepared by Mr. Canfield. Mack Cook said that all local governments constitutional debt limits are available on openbooks.gov. It was asked if the 2018 AUD annual audit updates were filed with the state on time? Price said no. She said they hired Pronexus to get that job done. Price said that each committee member will get a report. Price is hoping Pronexus will have the report done by June. Price said they are diligent about getting the finances in order. They have hired a new Director of Finance, Andrea Herzog. She comes from the Cortland City School District. She is a CPA. Stiles asked about the moving of the 911 center. Price said that is being paid for through grants. Member Stiles motioned to accept the County Legislators report. The motion was seconded Member Snow Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None VIRGIL YOUTH COMMISSION REPORT: Corena Morse of the Youth Commission submitted a written report. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Virgil Youth Commissions report. The motion was seconded Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None HOPE LAKE OPERATIONS REPORT: Wes Kryger reported that copies of park proposal were given to the board members. Kryger said that the only Increase was the price of the pavilion, which is increasing by $100. The price increase now Includes the beach fees. He also Included the alcohol policy. Member Pelton said he did a walk around and it went well. He said it’s a good idea to do this to understand who will do what to keep things up to date. Pelton said there will be a July 5th fireworks celebration. The Fireworks will begin at 10 pm. Kryger said they will keep the park open later on that day and they will produce a flyer. Stiles said the firemen will help and they will have a boot to collect donations. It was discussed that Greek Peak will do the parking, but the firemen will sell hamburgers and hot dogs. Pelton would like local businesses who donated money to be recognized. Also, Individuals who donated as well. Tiles asked if they were still short on money. Pelton said about $1300 to $1400. Kryger asked if the town was getting the goose permit this year. He hasn’t gotten one yet because he is waiting on the town. Kaminski said that Lyncoln shot 8-10. He said the geese got smart and moved to Holler Rd. Kaminski said he will get a permit. Kaminski said the town has a Beaver permit. Lyncoln said he was there and got two already. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Hope Lake Operations oral report. The motion was seconded Member Denniston. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None HIGHWAY DEPT. SUPERINTENDENTS REPORT: Deputy Highway Superintendent Dan Courtney was present and gave an oral report. Courtney said they have been doing a lot of road work. He said they are getting a hot box from state DOT. He said this will save a lot of time and money. It was stated that the compactor at the transfer station has a bad computer box. Battery acid ran on it and ruined the computer. They had to switch with the old compactor. Morse purchased one new computer off of Ebay. Courtney said that was the fastest way to receive one. Dan is not sure if it can be rebuilt. They moved the battery to a different spot, so this won’t happen again. He said when you are driving down the road the battery gets wet and runs onto the computer. They realized when it started going haywire. Stiles asked about the pricing on the rolling fence. Courtney said it was $2300 from Whitmore and $2500 from Atlas. They didn’t think the rolling fence would work at Hope Lake, so they are just going to purchase one for the transfer station. There are two rotten posts at Hope Lake park, they are going to fix them and make it look more presentable. Carol Rehkugler said they made the cable more presentable. She said she can’t see spending money on a new gate at the park. Courtney said that there are some issues with the big sluice pipe on Kohne Road. They will need a new permit to work on it. Soil and water came out and looked at it, they are working on a grant to get rip rap to fix it. Stiles said to get some for Hope Lake as well. They need 2-3 more loads of rip rap for Hope Lake. Kaminski said they will drain the lake again in the fall and work on it. It was stated that Kohne road is a trout stream tributary so they may be able to get a grant to fix it. Grindings are scheduled to be put down on Clute, Van Donsel and Congdon. The State DOT said they will us use a big road saw. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Highway Supervisor report. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. Price hears ongoing praises- Virgil did the very best on the recycling. RESOLUTION #19-059 APPROVE ROLLING GATE PURCHASE FOR THE TRANSFER STATION: Member Stiles made a motion to purchase a rolling gate from Whitmore’s in the amount of $2300 for the Virgil Transfer Station. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes- Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None OLD BUSINESS TRANSFER STATION RULES: This item was discussed, but they didn’t take any action. Kaminski said that as of June first there will be no more construction debris accepted at the transfer station. All wood and furniture will need to be broken down. Construction debris is a problem. Virgil Town Board Meeting May 09th, 2019 4 | P a g e SCHOOL INFORMATION SHEET: Kaminski said that he heard a lot of good ideas. He would like to propose a vote in June. Member Snow thinks we should go to vote at election time. He said that he is torn and he thinks the committee and the town board should come up with the positives and the negatives. It was stated that some people want it back on the tax roll, but that would only be a $1400 increase. They need to figure out a direction and a purpose. Need to document it. They need to talk to more people. It was also stated that there is the option of moving the Town Hall to the school building. The school building is wired for high speed internet. They would need to build vaults. They would need a place to hold court and will rooms would need to be reconfigured. Kaminski said they Need to work on a presentation. He wants the playground, but he is torn because of the maintenance costs. He is hoping they can offset the cost. He knows that once the building is gone its gone. The town needs to get a clear direction. Stiles wouldn’t be opposed to wait until election time, but they need to keep communications open with the school, because he thinks the school is waiting to hear something back. It was stated that their budget already set. Community Member Megivern asked if the town can use the message board at the school. She wondered how they will get the word out. Cook would like to get a package of material posted on the website. Price said she is hoping they are going to strip the building. In the program for Parker they are saying they will use the kitchen. They will not strip it. The school generator is tested every week. Kaminski would like to set a date to get together. It was decided on Wednesday May 22nd 6:00 PM there will be a workshop held. He is looking for ways to generate revenue. It was stated that DeRuyter was most informative. They would like a surface to write on, maybe a chalk board. Attorney Snyder said that the board pass a resolution to go ahead to acquire the building and then go out for referendum. The decision should be made around August first. They need to state what the purpose would be and a notice will go out that there will be a public referendum vote at the election time. It was asked it would be helpful if the supervisor from DeRuyter came, so they don’t reinvent the wheel. They want to advertise in around the towns and on the sign at the four corners and on the Youth Commission Sign. NEW BUSINESS APPROVE FIELD INSPECTION CHECKLIST FOR SOLAR PROJECTS: Member Stiles made a motion to approve the New York State Filed inspection checklist for solar projects. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None APPOINT FRED CARDEN TO THE BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW: Member Stiles made a motion to Appoint Fred Carden to the Board of Assessment Review. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None LETTER FROM SENATOR SEWARD: Kaminski said that Senator Seward sent a letter to the Town and said there is no funding available for the school building, only for economic development. There may be money if they want to move the judge’s bench down there. FIRST QUARTER SALES TAX REPORT: Supervisor Kaminski said they got S109,00 for the first quarters sales tax. TRANSFER STATION OUT HOUSE: Kaminski said that the outhouse at the transfer station hasn’t been billed for in three years. They weren’t sure if they owned it or not. The company is under new ownership and they want to charge $90.00 a month to pump it. Kaminski said they can come get it. He feels it would be less expensive to buy one. BUILDING PERMIT DISCUSSION: Kaminski said that they are having some issues with people not getting building permits. He is getting perturbed and wants to tear down their work if they don’t get a building permit. He said there is one on Washington Street. He’d like to send a message. He said they need to comply with building codes. Some asked if they could just be fined? We don’t want the reputation of tearing down buildings. Kaminski said that the town board is responsible for enforcing the law. He said they are also trying to clean up the junk cars. He said that is a full-time job in itself. Attorney Snyder said that the local law building code has specific enforcement rules and you can’t go around tearing down buildings. He said you can issue a notice of violation, by giving Kevin the plans. And give them a stop work order. Kaminski said that he does do stop work orders, but he would like to take a harder stance. It was asked if the supervisor could call the sheriff if the work isn’t stopped with a stop work order. Snyder said that if they are intentionally violating the law, they can be charged criminally. It was stated that it’s frustrating on the Code officer. It was stated that they need to hire a zoning officer. With no further business to discuss, Member Stiles moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:54 PM. Member Denniston seconded the Motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None Respectfully Submitted by, Alane Van Donsel, Virgil Town Clerk