Village of Lansing

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, February 3, 2003, in the Village Office.

 

PRESENT: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees Janet Beebe, Larry Fresinski, Lynn Leopold and Frank Moore; Planning Board Member, Maria Stycos; Bill Troy, Village Attorney.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:40P.M. He opened the public comment period. Don Edwards of 9 Bush Lane had a conversation with Dennis about a month ago regarding the snowplow breaking his paper tube. Dennis told him that the Village has a policy where they will replace a mailbox or the post if it is hit by the snowplow. This policy does not include replacement of paper tubes. Don Edwards was not happy with this answer so he has come to the board. Don stated that his Plexiglas paper tube with his name on it was hit once before and the village paid him $75 for it. The Mayor stated that there have been no rule changes since 1994 and if this incident happened before that this 1994 policy takes precedence and we would not pay for the tube. Don Edwards stated that he also does snowplowing and if he ever did this he would replace it. Mr. Edwards feels it is the principle. The Village contracts with the Town so it is our responsibility and this issue falls under our policy. Bill Troy pointed out that the mailbox is in the Village right of way. Unfortunately if you move the mailbox out of the right of way the mailman will not deliver your mail. The Village has compromised by allowing mailboxes to be in the right-of-way but limited reimbursement for box damage to $75. Mr. Edwards will check through his paperwork to see when the last paper tube was destroyed and get back to the board at the next meeting. Lynn ask Mr. Edwards if he has considered moving his paper tube since the position of it now seems very vulnerable. The Mayor thanked Don for coming and expressing his concern.

 

Bob Deluca is looking into purchasing property on Coventry Walk and wanted to know what the future plans were for that area. The Village has been working for the last year and a half on making the road in from Warren a public street. There are issues to work out but eventually it will be a public road. The land the Village received from the Edelman’s is not likely to be developed in the near future. There will be a walkway from Coventry Walk to Wakefield and then on out to Graham Road.  The future plans will probably involve a park. The land to the south is private property owned by Mrs. Dart so we have no idea what will be done there. Eventually there probably will be a road that goes through to Janivar Drive.

 

Motion-To Close the Public Comment Period

 

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

 

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

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Brent Cross, engineer for the Village of Cayuga Heights, submitted a letter suggesting how the sewer units for the Ornithology Lab should be dealt with. The new Ornithology Lab building is completely in the Village of Lansing and requires four sewer units. The Lab purchased two units from us and had two units from the Town of Ithaca for existing use.  Since the existing building is mostly located in the Town of Ithaca, the Lab is currently paying sewer rents to them. Although the new building is entirely within the Village of Lansing, the sewer lateral will still be connected to the Town of Ithaca sewer main on Sapsucker Woods Road. Even though the Lab’s sewer will not use any Village infrastructure, the Town of Ithaca has generously agreed to relinquish the existing 2 units for reallocation to the Village of Lansing. It is the Town of Ithaca’s expectation that the Village will then apply those units to the Lab so that they will now have a total of 4 units from the Village. Since the water meter for the new building is located in the Village of Lansing, the lab will be considered a Village customer and we will include them in our annual total for sewer rents. Brents  intentions are to only charge the Lab for the two new Lansing units since the 2 units from the Town of Ithaca have previously been billed. The Board agreed to handle this issue as Brent has suggested.

 

Resolution #3928-To Follow Brent Cross’s Recommendation to Accept Two   

                              Sewer Units From the Town of Ithaca and Reallocate Them

                              to the Ornithology Lab at No Charge

 

Trustee Fresinski moved this resolution. Trustee Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Next on the agenda was the outstanding intermunicipal sewer bill that the board pulled at the last Wednesday meeting. The Mayor explained that the bill for shared legal and engineering expenses was correct. Originally it started out to be $6,000 for six months. Unfortunately this amount has ended up being more than originally anticipated due to the length of time it has taking to get to an agreement. There will need to be a budget transfer at the end of the year to accommodate this large amount.

 

Resolution #3929-To Pay the Town of Ithaca for the Village’s Share for

                              Sewer Legal Services and Stearns & Wheeler Engineering

                              Report in the Amount of $29,504.

 

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

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

Next on the agenda was the approval of minutes.

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for January 6, 2003

 

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

 

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

                        Trustee Lynn Leopold- Abstain

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for January 15, 2003

 

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

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

 

Jodi has suggested that the employee handbook be updated to reflect the Premium Only Plan (POP) which the village started on January 1, 2003. There is a one-time administration fee of $200 payable to Support Services Alliance. This will allow the village employees to pay for their insurance with tax free dollars. The village will save on the amount of Social Security and Medicare that it has to pay. This is a win-win situation for everyone. This will be added under the Flex Plan (Life & Health Insurance) section.

 

Resolution #3930-To Update the Employee Handbook to Reflex the Addition

                              of the Premium Only Plan Which Started January 1, 2003

 

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

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

The next item on the agenda was to set the date, time and place of this year’s election. Mayor Hartill, Trustee Fresinski and Trustee Leopold are all up for reelection.

 

 

 

 

Resolution #3931-Set the Election Date for April 22, 2003 from 12pm to 9pm

                              at the Oakcrest Fire Station

 

Trustee Leopold moved to accept this resolution and Trustee Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Kathy from Tompkins County Planning Department called to inform us that John Dennis has applied for reappointment to the Environmental Management Council (EMC). She needs a resolution, letter or a copy of the board minutes to reflect that the board approves this appointment. Lynn stated that he took over after she resigned and thinks he is doing a nice job.  It was suggested we invite him to speak at a meeting in the spring.

 

Resolution #3932-To Appoint John Dennis as the Village of Lansing

                              Representative on the Environmental Management Council

 

Trustee Leopold moved to accept this resolution and Trustee Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Larry suggested this becomes part of the organizational meeting in May.

 

Janet stated that Earl Westbrook has volunteered to serve on the County Youth Board

 

Resolution #3933-To Appoint Earl Westbrook as the Village of Lansing

                              Representative on the County Youth Board

 

Trustee Beebe moved to accept this resolution and Trustee Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

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

Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye

 

Next on the agenda was an overview of the budget. Each Board member received a Budget Prep booklet in their packets. The Mayor sees an increased expense in snow plowing due to this year’s snowfall much which fell on weekends and required overtime payments to increase. On the income side he feels that the increase in sales tax compensates the decrease in interest income. There is another reassessment that will be taking place on property. The village income comes from roughly 1/3 sales tax, 1/3 gross receipts and 1/3 property tax. The Mayor would like to divide up the budgets into sections as he did last year.

 

Janet-recreation & personnel

Lynn-planning

Frank-water & sewer

Larry-transportation

 

Memos have already been sent to department heads, engineer, legal, accountants and the various other organizations, which submit proposals. All of the recommendations need to be to Don by the February 12th meeting. Don will then compile all of the recommendations and have it ready for the first meeting in March. Then the first meeting in April he would like to have a public hearing on the budget.

 

As far as funding the N. Triphammer Road project the village will have to decide if we will get a Bond Anticipation Note or use Capital Reserve monies.

 

Larry stated that he, Dave Herrick and Dave Putnam met with a NYSEG engineer, Doug Volbrecht to discuss underground utilities and now he thinks it may not be such a good idea to move the utilities underground. After speaking with the engineer it sounds like it would worse because there would be 6’x 6’x 6’ boxes along the road which house the equipment and then large poles on the connecting streets where the utilities will come back up. They really didn’t get into cost, only engineering and aesthetics. Following are the notes of this meeting.

 

1. D. Volbrecht comments relative to relocating the electric underground –

·        There would need to be transformer and switch gear cabinets (6’x6’x5’ in size) for each customer.  He produced a quick sketch of where these would be needed.

·        Additional R-O-W could be required for the installation of these cabinets.

·        All existing overhead services and primary crossings of the road would require riser poles at or near the edge of the new R-O-W to bring the underground electric back overhead.  These riser poles will need to be a minimum of 30 – 35 feet tall.

·        Herrick questioned whether a single cabinet could be located in such a manner that two or more neighboring parcels could share them.  This would be possible, however there will be additional right-of-way, wire, conduit, and landowner responsibilities required.

·        Some adjacent properties might be able to share switchgear, but sharing transformers was unlikely for most properties due to the differing voltages. 

·        Obtaining easements to install electric conduits (services) across neighboring properties to access switchgear might also minimize switchgear.  This would require additional wire and labor.

·        He informed us of a location on Catherwood Drive where we could view the boxes.  He also gave several locations for switchgear and transformers and a location where overhead had been relocated underground.

·        Questioned who pays for the reconnection of customer services.

·        Informed us that the poles along the road were located on easements not in the R-O-W for the most part and they would need to be reimbursed to relocate them.

·        Thought he might be able to eliminate some poles if relocated overhead depending on Verizons needs.

 

2. B. Nelson comments relative to gas main –

·        NYSEG does not anticipate any need for upgrades or relocations unless conflicts with new work.  He also stated that any gas work would be temperature dependent since the pipe is the main feed to the north.

 

3. General discussion items

·        Time Warner will generally follow NYSEG wherever they go with poles, but Verizon is another story and we would have to have another meeting with them.  Volbrecht knows that they have extensive underground in the area along with the overhead.

 

A map will be brought to the Friday meeting with the design firm to discuss this further.

 

Lynn asked about the audio/visual equipment for the conference room. It is in this year’s budget but nothing has been done. The mayor suggested that we get a LCD projector ($1,300), a good digital video camera ($1,000) and a decent audio system ($500). Greg Bronson was the consultant that the Village originally hired to advise us on this issue. Larry and Don met with him and this seems to be the most practical way to go.

 

The Mayor reminded everyone of the open house on Wednesday from 2:30-7:30pm. Fisher Associates, the consulting engineering firm we hired to develop concept designs for N. Triphammer, will be there and they will have information on the project and answer any questions that may arise. Lynn will be here from 2:30-4:30pm to represent the Village and Don will be here from 4:30-6pm. Don asks Jodi to contact Rich Brauer to see if they need a screen for the presentation.

 

The Mayor and Rich Brauer went to NYSDOT last Monday to share our summary of concerns of the Rt. 13 bridge. Rich will bring a copy of this 3-stage proposal to the open house. The preliminary design should be done by the end of March. Then it will go to the NYSDOT. Once it is accepted it will go to bid, probably in late summer or early fall. Construction on the N. Triphammer Rd. Project should begin in 2004.

 

Lynn stated that Cayuga Heights Road has some ripples in it. The Mayor stated that once the topcoat goes on you would not have this. We are waiting to do the topcoat once a decision is made on where the sewer is going to be run. Don also noticed that Oakcrest was starting to break up in places.

 

There is a draft Intermunicipal Wastewater Agreement among the 6 municipalities to agree to share environmental costs. When you get down to the details then there are two separate agreements. One with the Village of Cayuga Heights, Town & Village of Lansing and the other with Dryden, Town & City of Ithaca. It is proposed that the Kline Road Bypass be put in to take all of the Town of Ithaca sewer flow to the Ithaca plant which in turn will free up capacity at the Village of Cayuga Heights plant for the Lansings. This will create two districts instead of one. At worst we are looking at a 30% increase. Once we do the Kline Road Bypass we will no longer have a sewer moratorium. Jodi will email a copy of this draft agreement to all the trustees and the attorney.

 

The facilitator has contacted the Mayor to have him reopen the good water issue on the City of Ithaca’s behalf. Cornell is staying with its own water plant. Recent tests of combining organic material and chlorine have generated some concern and the City plant is on its last leg. Don feels if they will meet the four conditions that are set by the commission then they will move forward.

 

The mayor signed the cable franchise renewal agreement, which the board had approved on January 6th.

 

Lynn stated that she would not be at the first March meeting. Lynn will be attending the Stormwater Permit for Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer Systems (MS4s) broadcast at Cornell Cooperative Extension on February 13th.

 

Motion- To Adjourn

 

Trustee Fresinski moved adjournment. Trustee Leopold seconded the motion.

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Frank Moore- Aye

                        Trustee Janet Beebe-Aye                      Trustee Larry Fresinski- Aye

Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:45pm.

 

                                                                                                            Jodi Dake

                                                                                                            Village Clerk