Village of Lansing

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, January 21, 2002, in the Village Office.

 

PRESENT: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees Larry Fresinski, Lynn Leopold and Frank Moore; Ned Hickey, Planning Board chairman; Bill Troy, Village Attorney.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:40P.M. He opened the public comment period. Ocksoo Lee was present to request the Board give the clerk permission to remove her finance charge of $3.86 due to the payment being lost in the mail. She pays her bills over the computer and M&T says they sent it but it is nowhere to be found.

 

Resolution #3825- To Refund Ocksoo Lee’s Finance Charge on Sewer

      Bill N1772 in the Amount of $3.86 Due to a Small

       Problem with M&T Bank

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to remove Lee’s finance charge. Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Janet Beebe- Absent                Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

 

Ned Hickey announced that Edward Marx, the newly appointed Commissioner of Planning for Tompkins County, will be attending the next Planning Board meeting. Ned gave the Board a letter, which Ed sent to Ned introducing him. Ned also invited the Board of Trustees to attend the next Planning Board meeting so they could also meet Mr. Marx.

 

Motion- To Close the Public Comment Period

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to close the public comment period. Trustee Frank Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye                  Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

Next on the agenda was the engineer’s report. The sewer consultant has completed the cleaning and video of the sewer lines. Dave Putnam is currently reviewing the tapes. There were two back ups which occurred during this process because when the sewer lines were originally put in they didn’t install traps. The problem is between the street and the house. A 40- gallon per minute leak was found at the intersection of Craft Rd. & Brook Drive. If we get this fixed it could result in 60 sewer units. Don feels we need to get back on track with sewer maintenance. It was very important that we got this done. The company we hired was very helpful and worked hard. The cost to have the sewer lines filmed and cleaned was $2/ft. We have a large commercial base and the grease is greater here than in a mostly residential area such as the Town of Lansing. The films are very useful.

 

The Village is getting new flow meters. Dave & Dennis have an appointment Thursday morning with a different flow meter supplier. These new flow meters are more user friendly. The Mayor will move the task of data logging from Dennis to Carol.

Dave has checked into the issue of having a sidewalk that would connect from M&T to the Village of Cayuga Heights sidewalk in front of Kendall. The best way to accomplish this is to get an easement from M&T. Kendal has made a strong request for a sidewalk but nothing will be done until N. Triphammer is rebuilt. Ned suggested that there was a sewer line that ran right on the line between the Village of Cayuga Heights and Lansing and that this might be a good place for a trail. The Mayor suggested getting in touch with Kendall to see if they would be interested in joining to the trail. The Mayor feels we should consider having a connection to Highgate Circle. Don asked Dave to put it on the schedule for next year.

 

Next on the agenda was the approval of January 7th minutes.

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for January 7, 2001

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Frank Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                            Trustee Lynn Leopold- Abstain             Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

           

Jodi had suggested that the employee handbook be updated to reflect the Village joining the New York State Retirement System. Currently the handbook states under the retirement section that the Village adds an amount equal to 10% of a permanent employee’s gross salary for retirement. As of January 1st the Village became a participating entity and as of Jan 25th paycheck the employees joined the retirement system and had the extra 10% taken away.  A change is also needed in the Copeland Plan (Deferred Compensation Retirement Plan) section of the manual. Employees may still choose a percentage of their salary to be placed in this retirement fund but the “over and above the 10% contribution by the Village” should be removed. Finally, the BZA section states that regular meetings are held on the third Monday of the month when in actuality they are on the third Tuesday as required. The Board agreed that these three things need to be updated. The following is the text that will now appear in the Employee Handbook:

 

 

 

Page 3

Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)

 

-  Regular meetings are held the third Tuesday at 7:30, if an appeal has been submitted   

   for consideration.

-   Members include a chairperson and 4 members each holding 5 year appointments

-  A secretary hired by the Board of trustees transcribes Minutes

-  This Board’s purpose is to hear and decide appeals and to decide matters referred to it

    in accordance with the terms of the Zoning Law.

 

Page 8

Copeland Plan (Deferred Compensation Retirement Plan)

 

All employees may opt to join this plan. Employees may choose a percentage of their salary to be placed in this retirement fund before taxes are taken out up to a maximum per year set by the State. Interested employees should contact the Village Clerk for the necessary paperwork.

 

To update the numbers in Flex Plan (Life & Health Insurance) the first paragraph will read:

 

Through the Fingerlakes Association, Flex Plan is available to all employees working at least 20 hours per week. The Village will contribute $1550 per employee annually plus 55% of additional cost above that amount for individual or family insurance coverage to either:

 

Page 9-This paragraph will replace the current one under Retirement.

 

As of January 1, 2002 the Village became a participating employer in the New York State and Local Employee’s Retirement System and approved inclusion of its officers and employees in such system in accordance with any and all of the laws governing such participation as set forth in the Retirement & Social Security Law. All full time employees must join if hired after this date. All employees are offered the chance to participate.

 

 

Resolution #3826- To Change the Employee Manual As Proposed to Acknowledge the Village’s Joining the New York State Retirement System and the Change in BZA Meetings and Insurance Allowances.

           

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to adopt this resolution and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye                  Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

The Planning Board has revised the Landscape Policy. Bill Troy stated that they changed the language to be less proscriptive. It was asked who did the landscape inspections. Ned and Carol do landscape inspections since Ben doesn’t have the time. If there is ever a problem, Ben should actually look at it. The trustees reviewed the document made one spelling correction and the Mayor proposed accepting this policy.

 

Resolution#3827- To Adopt the Landscape Policy as Revised to Go Into the Village’s Policy Manuel

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to adopt the Landscape Policy and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye                  Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

The date and resolution number will be placed on the policy.

 

Next the Board discussed the Codification. As a group they looked at the table of contents and wondered why the chapters did not go in order and discussed renumbering them. Bill will ask Randy why they are numbered the way they are. Ned feels renumbering would take too long and we need to complete this project soon. The main question was whether policies should be removed from the codification. If policies are left in they become law once the code is adopted. Bill suggested that many of these laws might not be necessary because State Law already covers them. Don identified some other problem areas. It was decided to take the codification and divide it up by chapter and each trustee review a section. The Mayor will divide the codification up at the next meeting and hopes to have everything ironed out in the next two months and adopted before summer.

 

By memo, Ben recommended that the Trustees authorize a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the YMCA Addition, with a $10,000 deposit, which would expire July 25, 2002. Issuance of the Temporary CO would be contingent upon satisfaction of all other code and life safety issues. The actual building is complete but site work and landscaping will not be completed until the spring.

 

Resolution#3828- To Authorize a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the YMCA Addition, with a $10,000 Deposit Which Would Expire July 25, 2002.

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to adopt the Landscape Policy and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye                  Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

The Mayor entertained a motion to approve the vouchers.

 

Resolution #3829- Abstracts of Audited Vouchers

 

Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 8 for the General Fund, in the amount of $338,542.50, is hereby approved for payment, and 

 

Be it further RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 8 for the Water Fund, in the amount of  $841.63, is hereby approved for payment, and 

 

Be it further RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 8 for the Sewer Fund, in the amount of  $19,581.91, is hereby approved for payment, and 

 

Be it further RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 8 for the Special Assessment Sewer Fund, in the amount of  $21,097.50, is hereby approved for payment

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to approve the vouchers and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

Mayor Donald Hartill - Aye                              Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

                        Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

An independent cell company has presented a proposal to put an antenna on an existing NYSEG pole and have the electricals on the ground near the play area across from Dankert Park. The Village can not sell or lease parkland but we can give a revocable license. NYS law is very strict on this and it’s the only way it can be done. Larry feels it is an aesthetic issue as well. Don is in favor of using existing facilities but questions whether we want it in the park. Frank suggested we get the Planning Boards input before we make any decisions. Ned will put this on the Planning Board agenda for January 29th. Frank would like to know if the Planning Board has their own ideas of what that area is going to be used for. This issue will be discussed at the next meeting after the Board receives a recommendation from the Planning Board.

 

Mayor Hartill has received a call from Don Edwards requesting that the Village install a fence along the back of our property to shield his property from the garage activity. We previously constructed a fence along the adjacent property owners but at that time the owner of the property now owned by Don Edwards had declined having a fence. Now that Don has acquired the property he would like a fence. The Board suggested that Dennis go forward with installing a fence just like the one installed for the adjacent property owner.

 

Don informed the Board that there is another sewer meeting Thursday. They are working on the wording of the agreement. If the whole thing fell apart we would go ahead with the Kline Road Bypass and still be in good shape.

 

The Recreation Partnership Board has proposed a set of bylaws and an agreement, which they would like Board approval on. Janet Beebe has been our representative through the draft process and Don is confident with this. The Board reviewed the document and passed the following resolution.

 

Resolution#38230 To Approve the Recreation Partnership Board’s Proposed Set of Bylaws and Agreement

 

Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to adopt the Landscape Policy and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill- Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                                           Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye                  Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

 

It was suggested that we have reports from John Dennis on EMC, Mike on Water Commission and Barbara Nosanchuk on the Youth Commission. These are all volunteers that are representing the Village in different areas. It would be nice to have an update. The Mayor suggested having them come in after budget time.

 

Motion- To Adjourn

 

Trustee Larry Fresinski moved adjournment. Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye                   Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

                       

Meeting adjourned at 10:10.                                           

 

 Jodi Dake

Village Clerk