Village of Lansing

 

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, March 21, 2005, in the Village Office.

 

Present: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees, Larry Fresinski, John O’Neill and Frank Moore; Attorney David Dubow; Clerk/Treasurer, Jodi Dake.

 

Mayor Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:34P.M.and opened the public comment period. There were no comments.

 

Motion-To Close the Public Comment Period  

 

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

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                                         Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                   Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                    

 

George Gesslein, Todd Mix, Scott Purcell, Steve Oplinger, Dennis Griffin and Anita Sullivan were representing the Lansing Fire District. George stated that they had hired a 3rd party consultant to come in to give a broad perspective regarding the future needs of the Fire District and he has made many suggestions. Issues that he felt needed to be addressed in the Village area were additional recruiting, possibly providing a paid position for during the daytime, and a need for a new station in the Village.

 

George indicated that they believe that the present station is too small and not visible to the public, and corrective action needs to get underway rather quickly. The Lansing Fire Commissioners have hired an architectural firm out of Albany who specifically deals with fire station design. What is needed for a new station is 2 acres with 300 feet of road frontage with a less than 1% slope going out. They felt that the 10 acres that the Fire District owns on Oakcrest Road across from the current station would be a good location. He estimated that they may need as little as 2 acres of that property to build a new station. George asked for the Village’s input on this. The Mayor stated that there is a concern with the financial aspect. The Village is about a third of the tax base and a major expansion is costly. The Mayor would like to understand the total financial picture. Dennis Griffin stated that he was at a conference last weekend and there is grant money available from the US Fire Service and this would be something they would be looking into to take the financial burden off the taxpayers.

 

George stated that there is a 20-year plan and a capital plan. The new station is already in the budget and they also have capital reserve monies. They believe a new station will be about $2 million. They already have the equipment that is necessary for this station. The number of vehicles has been reduced in the last 8 years. An example of this is replacing a pumper and a tanker with one pumper/tanker.  For new equipment they typically finance over 10 years and use the equipment for 20 years.

 

Don is concerned with the long-term liability. Manpower is still needed. There is another subcommittee, headed by Todd Mix that is in charge of recruiting. The Fire Commissioners work closely with Bangs Ambulance to have one ambulance stationed at Station 5 for EMS calls. The OSHA training requirements have increased over the years. The service award program has been very successful and has brought a lot of people back. The service program costs about $20,000 per year. The Lansing Fire Commissioners pride themselves in their level of training.

 

The Mayor also suggested looking into a financial cooperative arrangement with the Village of Cayuga Heights. George stated that there is already a mutual aid agreement in place. The Board had questions on the call volume and this information will be provided to the Board. Don would also like to see their budget and the number of people involved.

Don and George will meet to discuss these issues further.

 

Engineer Dave Putnam reported that the N. Triphammer Road Project started today by TOPS. They are digging an 18-foot deep hole in the ground. Because of all the fill for the Route 13 overpass, the water line is 12 feet down. They hope to maintain ½ road traffic throughout the project. Don has written an article for the newsletter asking people to be considerate as they chose alternate routes through the Village because they will be driving through someone else’s neighborhood. He is also contacting the Sheriff and State Police to ask them to help in controlling speed in the Village. Dave also suggested putting out traffic counters to see if traffic decreases.

 

Don asked Dave where we are with Northwood. Dave and Don need to meet with Tim Colbert. Don will contact Dave to schedule this meeting. Don would like to complete that project this year. There are many loose ends that need to be cleaned up in the Village. Dave has received the survey for Wakefield and will start this once we have a new person in as Supt. of Public Works. Graham Road also needs to be fixed.

 

Motion-Approval of Minutes for March 7th, 2005

 

Trustee O’Neill moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Clerk/Treasurer and the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Abstain   Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                 Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                   Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                                

 

Next on the agenda was budget discussion.

 

Motion-To Set a Public Hearing for the 2005-06 Budget for April 4, 2005 at 7:40pm.

 

Trustee Fresinski moved that the public hearing be set and Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                             Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                 Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                                

The Mayor has proposed a budget that has an increase of 3% in the levy but an actual decrease in tax rate from $1.80 to $1.65. This is due to an increase in assessment values. The taxable assessment value for the Village of Lansing is $327,938,220.The Board went through the budget line by line. The following adjustments were made to the proposed budget:

 

General Fund

A2590-Permits was decreased from $40,000 to $25,000. Jodi had spoken with Ben and he felt that figure was too high because he doesn’t know of any major commercial building. A building permit for a new residence is approximately $500.

A2816-Transfer in from Water Fund- This amount is used to cover the salaries of our staff for work they do on water issues. Larry suggested that the costs continue to increase and therefore  the amount allocated should also increase. The Board increased it from $7,000 to $10,000.

A2818-Transfer in from Sewer Fund- This amount is used to cover the salaries of our staff for work they do on sewer issues. This amount also increased from $7,000 to $10,000.

Boards were given approximately a 20% increase and the staff got 4% with the exception of Carol who received 5%.

A3620.12-Electrical inspector increased to $8,000 along with the income side A1560-the amount collected in fees.

A1440.4-Engineer- increased by $10,000 to $35,000 due to all the construction that is going on in the Village this year.

A3620.4-Code Enforcement Contractual-increased from $3,000 to $4,000 to account for Floyd & Carol’s mileage during inspections.

A5110.2-Equipment- is for a new tractor and A5142.2 is for the snow removal attachment. Before purchasing this equipment, we need to research and see if it is available on State Contract.

A5110.13-Summer Laborer-John stated that Rick would like to have help earlier in the year and asked for an increase to hire someone from a temporary agency. The Board felt that this was not necessary because the new person that will be hired can help with these jobs.

A5410.2-Sidewalk Construction was moved to A5410.4-Sidewalk Maintenance to bring that up to $3,000. The major sidewalk project this year is down N. Triphammer Road and that is already in the Capital Projects contract.

A8510.4-Community Beautification was increased to $3,500 to account for the grant money we are receiving from Tompkins County Room Tax.

A9010.8-NYS Retirement- Increased to $44,000 to account for having to pay for the new Supt. of Public Works and Dennis, who is retiring. We will get a refund next year for the amount of time that Dennis did not work.

A9060.8-Medical Insurance-was increased to $20,000 to allow for the new hire to have a family plan. Dennis is currently on a single plan.

 

Water Fund

F1030-Special Assessment-was changed to $19,114 to reflect the amount actually being paid principal and interest being paid on the BAN.

F8340.2- Equipment & Capital Outlay-This $85,000 is for betterments along N. Triphammer Rd.

F9901.9-Transfer to General- increased from $7,000 to $10,000 to reflect change in general budget.

Sewer Fund

G8120.22-Sewer Capital Projects-This $30,000 is for betterments along N. Triphammer Rd.

G8120.42-Sewer Contract- This $15,000 is for video taping the sewer lines. We think there is a leak in the line that runs under Pyramid Mall.

G9901.9-Transfer to General- increased from $7,000 to $10,000 to reflect change in general budget.

 

After N. Triphammer is complete the Board may want to consider lowering the water & sewer surcharge. This should be considered with next year’s budget. Once Jodi hears from the Village of Cayuga Heights on their rate for sewer, both G2374 and G8189.4 will be adjusted to reflect the correct number. Don added that the Village is in good financial condition.

 

During general discussion the Board decided to further postpone action on the proposed Local Law A concerning the sewer charge for non-water customers. Jodi has not heard back from Borg Warner and the Board wanted to give them more time to respond. Don asked Jodi to contact Brent Cross and have him call Joe Gainy at Borg Warner.

 

Frank Moore stated that the Town Sewer Committee will be meeting again on Wednesday at 5pm.  They are still waiting on the Village of Lansing to have a sewer committee to communicate with.  Don stated that the committee would have a charge by then but won’t have had a chance to meet. Frank urged Lynn Leopold, the chairperson of the new Village committee, to get a hold of Bud Shattuck who chairs the Town Sewer Committee.

 

David Dubow reported that he and Randy Marcus had met to discuss the codification. Their next step is to meet with Carol Willard and go over some final matters. There are also two proposed local laws that will be coming from the Planning Board that should be first acted upon by the Board and then incorporated into the existing Zoning Law before the public hearing on the codification is set. The first concerns the Airport Combining District and the other is an extension of the Human Health Services District. After these two proposed local laws have been reviewed at the Board’s first meeting in April, he would suggest that the public hearings for those laws be set for the 2nd meeting in April.

 

Motion- To Go into Executive Session to Discuss Personnel Issues

 

Trustee Moore moved to go into executive session. Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                             Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                 Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                                

The Board went into executive session at 9:50pm.

 

Motion- To Come Out of Executive Session

 

Trustee Fresinski moved to come out of executive session. Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                             Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                 Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                    

 

The Board came out of executive session at 10:25pm.

 

                        Motion- To Adjourn

 

Trustee Fresinski moved for adjournment. Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                    Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye                             Trustee Frank Moore- Aye                 Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                    

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:27 PM.                                       

                                                                                                                                                            Jodi Dake                                                                                                                           Clerk/Treasurer