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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-13-19 Town Board Meeting Minutes ApprovedVirgil Town Board Meeting June 13th, 2019 1 | P a g e TOWN OF VIRGIL REGULAR MEETING June 13th, 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, Ken Scherrieble & David Coish Camden Group, Highway Superintendent Brit Morse, Wes Kryger Greek Peak, Sandy Price Cortland County Legislator, Jenae Withy W2Operators, Corena Morse Virgil Youth Commission, Mack & Sylvia Cook, Carole Rehkugler, Sara Sirois, Matt Hollenbeck, John & Pam Cincotta, Rick Stressler, Linda Saltsman, Anita Van Gorder, Teri Pelton, Lori Megivern, Donald & Diane Chu, Joanne Hollerer, Gene & Bessie King, Bea Gnirs-Bush, Cynthia Bush, Dan & Judith Malley, Walt Nichols, John Morse, Paul Grunkorn, Anne Culp 7:05 PM –THE REGULAR MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER Supervisor Kaminski called the meeting to order, followed by the salute to the flag. The meeting began late, because there was a work session set up by the board to discuss the future use of the Virgil School building. Many of the folks in attendance were there for the work session. RESOLUTION #19-060 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft of the Public Hearing and Regular Board Meeting Minutes dated May 9th, 2019: Member Stiles moved to approve the minutes for May 9th, 2019 regular Town Board Meeting with corrections. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes- Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None RESOLUTION #19-061 AUTHORIZATION TO PAY BILLS GENERAL FUND FOR MAY 2019 NUMBER 006: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the General Fund’s audited vouchers numbered 136- 172 in the amount of $ 31,119.22. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None HIGHWAY FUND FOR MAY 2019 NUMBER 006: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Highway Fund audited vouchers numbered 1103-1123 in the amount of $34,551.65. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None SEWER DISTRICT #1 FUND FOR MAY 2019 NUMBER 006: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Sewer District #1 audited voucher’s numbered 2047-2062 in the amount of $14,733.36. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None They questioned WATER DISTRICT #1 FUND FOR MAY 2019 NUMBER 006: Member Denniston moved to approve payment of the Water District #1 audited vouchers 3025-3032 in the amount of $5,637.89. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays-None MONTHLY REPORTS SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT FOR MAY 2019 SHORT FORM: Member Stiles moved to accept the Supervisor’s Monthly Report in short form for May 2019. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays –None TOWN CLERK’S MONTHLY REPORT FOR MAY 2019: Member Stiles moved to accept the Town Clerks Monthly Report for May 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 May 2019. Member Snow seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None SEWER DISTRICT OPERATIONS REPORT: Ken Scherrieble and Dave Coish was present from the Camden Group. Supervisor Kaminski said that there is a pump on back order. Coish said that it should be here by the next week and it is a spare. Kaminski said that the tank is done, but has to sit for and cure for 45 days. He said they will call a week ahead of time to give the highway time to take the old tank out. They will provide a crane truck to get the old tank out. There were some questions regarding some trouble with a ditch. Coish said that they have wait to get the old tank removed before cleaning out the ditch. It was stated that they will have the state DOT inspect 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 Withy was present. Withy said that all water samples came back normal. She said that they did a hydrant repair on Kyriotis Drive. She said that the residuals are dropping. She said they are getting ready to start phase one of the meter replacement. They will be starting with the initial 30 meters. They will start the project as soon as the meters come in. She said that they will begin with the oldest meters first. Member Denniston moved to accept the Water Districts Oral 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. Supervisor Kaminski said that McMahon is out of town and he will be back next week. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Code Virgil Town Board Meeting June 13th, 2019 2 | P a g e 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. Supervisor Kaminski asked if there were any questions for Price, there were none. Price thanked everyone for the opportunity. 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. Morse reported that there were a couple of folks that paid off the before and after school debt. There was some discussion about the Cub Scouts. Morse said that there will be no summer meetings. 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 submitted a report and a flyer for the July 5th fireworks. Kryger commented that they need help with the geese. Kaminski said that they have a goose permit and only people that are named on the permit can shoot the geese. John Morse said that his son Johnny is good at goose hunting. Kaminski said that anyone hunting has to have the permit on their person. The board approved the flyer. Pelton said he liked the schedule and he was happy with everything that Kryger has done. Member Stiles motioned to accept the Hope Lake Operations oral report. The motion was seconded Member Snow. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays- None HIGHWAY DEPT. SUPERINTENDENTS REPORT: Highway Superintendent Britt Morse was present and an oral report was given. Morse reported that they are working on ditching and road side mowing. They installed drainage tile on VanDonsel, Clute, Congdon Lane, and Stafford Roads. They are shimmering for cold mix paving and screening the millings. He said they are a little bit behind schedule. He said the machinery is running well and they haven’t had any breakdowns, all the new equipment is holding up well. Pelton asked about the Hope Lake project. Morse said that the Hope Lake work has not been started, they plan on starting that after Labor Day. Member Snow asked about West River Road. Morse said that he thought he had Ron Stanley coming in to help out, but he is not able to. Morse said that after the crew is done paving, they will get it cleared up. 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. OLD BUSINESS SCHOOL BUILDING REFERENDUM: Member Denniston asked about the SEQRA process. Attorney Snyder said that the SEQRA process needs to be followed and that the town board can’t go for a referendum until they have a plan for the building. Snyder said that if they want to move ahead about acquiring the land, they will need to have a public referendum with a plan. Member Stiles said that he didn’t feel they were ready to move forward. Snyder said that they don’t need a vote because their motion is not taking any action. Snyder said that they can’t do the SEQRA process without knowing what you’re going to be doing with the building, they need a rough idea. Denniston said that at this point they have had a loose committee and he feels forming an advisory board would be prudent. Kaminski asked if they wanted to state a purpose now. How about a town community center and then going through an environmental review on that? Member Pelton said he has an issue with buying the building without a plan. Eric says he likes having a town community center. Denniston said that he needs more time to think. Stiles said that he wants to do what the community wants to do. Community member Malley asked if they have gotten any letters of intent from folks interested in renting the property. Kaminski said they talked to some folks, but they have not gotten any commitments or letters of intent. Snyder said that if you are going to rent the property it might null the bond agreement. Stiles wanted to know what the plan is for this building. Kaminski said they will hold on to both the town hall and the school building initially. Stiles said that he would like to make a motion to table this until next month, but he said that they need to have some answers before next month. Member Stiles made a motion to table going out for a public referendum, until next month. Member Denniston seconded the motion. Vote: Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston and Stiles. Nays: Kaminski. WORKER’S COMPENSATION: Member Denniston said that he met with Bailey Place Insurance regarding Workers Compensation. They talked about the cost from Bailey Place. Member Denniston made a motion to approve drafting a letter of intent to seek other options for workers compensation insurance to the county. Member Stiles seconded the motion. JS 2nd. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. CONTINUED DISCUSSION ON WORKERS COMPENSATION: Member Stiles said that looking at the tentative numbers there would be a 30% savings with Comp-Alliance, based on towns budget and payroll. He went on to say that workers compensation has fluctuated the last few years. He said that a savings of 30% would be tremendous. NEW BUSINESS WELLNESS POLICY: A draft wellness policy was sent to the town from Tompkins County consortium. Member Snow said he thought it was a good idea to adopt it, he felt it encouraged the employees to have a healthy life style. Member Denniston said that he will look it over and he will work on a policy based on their sample for the next meeting. Highway Superintendent Britt Morse said there were some issues in the past regarding physical exams. The crew went and got the exam, because they thought it was free, but it Virgil Town Board Meeting June 13th, 2019 3 | P a g e ended up costing them more money. It was stated that they thought that the physical exams through the consortium were supposed to be free. They were supposed to draw blood to find out if there were any health concerns. ZONING OFFICERS JOB DESCIPTION: There was some discussion regarding the Code and Zoning officers’ position. Supervisor Kaminski said that Kevin McMahon is over whelmed with doing both the zoning and the codes positions. Member Stiles said that McMahon has done a tremendous job generating revenue for the town with the codes department. He is overwhelmed with the Zoning part of the job. Kaminski said he would like to look into this further and perhaps hire an officer to take care of just zoning. He said he is going to look at the general budget and set an hourly rate separate from the code officer. Member Stiles made a motion to approve the job description for a code officer and to look into creating a zoning offer’s position. Member Denniston seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None. INSURANCE INSPECTOR: Supervisor Kaminski said that the insurance inspector was at the highway garage. He said that they need to correct a signage issue and they got that corrected. They discussed truck inspections and found there were 7 minor issues. They haven’t had the vehicle lift inspected, but Morse has taken care of that and he is awaiting a sticker. The requirements on sexual harassment training have changed, this needs to be done yearly now. Kaminski is going to set up the training at the town hall. It has to be done before October to be in compliance. He also found out that a background check has to be performed on anyone who works with children. The insurance company will do that at no charge for the people who are part of the Youth Commission. HIGHSPEED INTERNET IN VIRGIL: Supervisor Kaminski said that it has been called to his attention that Carson Road will be getting High speed by the end of the year through Spectrum. Town resident Malley said that they lined up Hafele TV to install service. They have been working with Lee Hafele and residents on the road were going to pay for the poles to be installed so they can get highspeed internet. It was stated that Hafele hasn’t secured all the funding as it hasn’t been released to him. Some of the residents on Carson road are willing to fund part of the project. Malley is wondering if the town can put their finger on Spectrum to expedite the job. Kaminski said he has talked to the Public Service commission and he has gone above and beyond to get it going. Malley’s are concerned because they had it lined up with Hafele and the job was going to be completed in the next two months. They are concerned because they know that Spectrum is behind on their jobs and they too, are having issues with using National Grid’s poles. Kaminski said that the Governor said he wanted them out of New York State and they got the message. Kaminski said that the gentleman running the operation Jim Sloan, he is the director of field operations. Malley wants to find out if this is really going to happen. It was stated that it would be great for the town to have high speed internet throughout the town. GAZEBO- There was a discussion on the price of renting out the gazebo and if they should adjust the price. Kaminski said that the Fire Station is always open to rent. Member Stiles said that he doesn’t want to get in the habit to renting the gazebo. This item was tabled until the next meeting. DISPUTE ON A PENALTY ON WATER AND SEWER BILL: Town resident Joanne Hollerer said she has been displaced from her condo at Greek Peak for quite a while due to a fire that took place next door. She never received the first water and sewer bill and she doesn’t feel she should pay the service charges on the water bill that she just received. Supervisor Kaminski said that he would talk to the bookkeeper tomorrow. DISCUSSION ON TRANSFER RULES AND DUMMPING PERMISSION: A representation from Blue Moose Sanitation Services addressed the board stating that they service customers in the town of Virgil and they would like to be issued a transfer station Id and begin using the transfer station for their Virgil customers. He said he would like to do this because of the increase in tipping fees at the Cortland County Landfilled. It was stated that since the tonnages went up, the town can’t except all the commercial haulers, they can’t maintain that amount of trash. Blue Moose said they have less than 100 Virgil residents on their route and they don’t have a dedicated Virgil run. It was asked of Blue Moose, if their Virgil Customers have Transfer station Id’s, he wasn’t sure. Member Stiles said that passing the increase onto the town will put the town over the budget. John Morse, a Virgil resident and commercial hauler, said that anyone that wanted to use the transfer station had to show the truck before go on the route, then have it inspected when they return. They also submit a customer list to the town clerk and everyone on the list and has to make sure they have ID’s. Stiles said that they already have a volume problem. They may have to open an extra day, but shorten hours. Stiles said this may open up a can of worms, they need to look at the numbers. Stiles also asked if the person dumping has an ID, meaning they would be a resident. Currently, the one commercial hauler is a town resident collecting town resident’s garbage. There is a huge concern with letting all the commercial companies in, because the transfer station is not a landfill, for example the school’s garbage goes to the land fill. The town sends the compactor down two or three days a week currently. Attorney Snyder said that no person can use the transfer station if they are not a resident. Snyder said that he feels the town should prohibit all commercial haulers. Kaminski said that you have to be a resident of the town to use the transfer station. Kaminski said that he heard that the rates will come down, but they never do. Snyder said that the town needs to revise the law to make it clearer and this would require a public hearing. With no further business to discuss, Member Stiles moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 PM. Member Snow seconded the Motion. Vote: Ayes-Members Pelton, Snow, Denniston, Stiles and Kaminski. Nays: None Respectfully Submitted by, Alane Van Donsel, Virgil Town Clerk