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Scipio Town Board Meeting The regular public meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM on Wednesday September 13, 2017 by Supervisor Mutchler with the following people present. Supervisor: Gary Mutchler Town Clerk: Tom Olenych Town Board Members: Howard Nelson Highway: Mark Chamberlain Leslie Baxter Code Enforcement: Mick Piechuta Mark Ferrari Gary Whitten Guests: Bruce Besner and Brian Dugan. Motion to approve agenda for the town board meeting. (Nelson / Ferrari) All in favor. Issues to come before the board from town residents and guests. 1) Brian Dugan, the town's justice, asked the town to consider replacing the door to the court with a door with a bulletproof window. Since the town is in the process of remodeling the town offices it was felt this request could be incorporated into the remodeling plan. 2) Brian also asked the board to approve Eron Klipple as the deputy court clerk. Brian feels this is needed to ensure that clerical matters are dealt with competently in the event the current court clerk is absent for any reason. Brian feels Eron would do a good job and cited her willingness to come to court night, without any compensation, to learn the system, which she has been doing for some time. Motion to approve Eron Klipple as deputy court clerk at a salary of $12.50/hour. (Mutchler / Whitten) All in favor. Motion to approve the minutes of the August 9, 2017 town board meeting. (Mutchler / Baxter) All in favor. Town Board Members reports: Leslie Baxter: 1) Leslie told the board the algae levels in the lake have been lower than normal due to lower water temperatures. 2) She also reported that OLWMC had broken up the rules and regulations committee into three smaller work groups. Those groups being; farmers and agriculture, lake property owners and recreational users as well as contractors, landscapers and highway crews. 3) She also told the board the last grants for the “Owasco Flats Project”, the cleanup of the south end of Owasco Lake have been received. 4) She told the board that OLWMC has voted on taking over the watershed inspection program for all of Owasco Lake. This measure passed OLWMC but has not yet been implemented. ---PAGE BREAK--- 5) Lastly Leslie reported that Dr. Tyson Benson would be holding a rabies clinic, at the town highway barn, on Saturday October 7, 2017 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Mark Ferrari: 1) Mark told the board he has taken all the measurements he needs for the town offices remodeling project and he expects to be able to present a digital presentation to the town board at the October 4th. town board meeting. . Howard Nelson: 1) Howard and Mick Piechuta met with Chris Carrick of CNY Regional Planning and Development on September 11th. to discuss the town’s solar panel project and Howard expects to have a copy of the contract to review at the October 4th. town board meeting. Mick Piechuta told the board the town would need to amend its current solar panel resolution and permit application to allow the town to install solar panels with a higher KW rating. Abundant Energy, who will furnish the solar panels to the town, estimates the cost of a KW hour for the town of Scipio will be significantly less than the cost of a KW hour through NYSEG, .07 cents compared to .11 cents for NYSEG. The next step is to review the contract at the Oct. town board meeting and if approved by the board the contract would then go to Dave Thurston, the town attorney, and if there are no problems the contract would be voted on at the Nov. town board meeting. 2) Howard reported WeCare is all set up for Fall Cleanup Day and the town highway department will have a driver on site for the day. Howard also suggested the town contact Southern Cayuga Central School to see if any students would be willing to volunteer to work on Cleanup Day to earn community service credits. Gary Whitten: 1) Gary briefly discussed the unexpected repairs to two of the highway department’s trucks to say there isn’t much the town can do to prevent these types of repairs and Mark Chamberlain did the job correctly by doing a complete repair and not cutting corners. Town Supervisor’s report: 1) Supervisor Mutchler informed the board there will be a meeting of Cayuga County Water and Sewer Authority at 1:00 PM on September 19, 2017 at 7413 County House Rd. Mick Piechuta and Howard Nelson will try to attend. 2) Supervisor Mutchler reviewed the financial statements for the past month with the town board members and everything was found to be in order. Motion to approve the financial statement for the month of August. (Nelson / Baxter) All in favor. 3) Supervisor Mutchler then requested an amendment to the budget for the following transfer of funds. Transfer from: A1990.4 Contingent $1,000.00 To: A1620.4 Building – Contractual. Transfer from: A1990.4 Contingent $514.00 To: A8160.41 Landfill – Contractual. ---PAGE BREAK--- Motion to approve these funds transfers. (Mutchler / Nelson) All in favor. 4) Gary plans to attend a meeting of county supervisors at the Hollywood Restaurant in Auburn on September 19, 2017. Some of the topics to be discussed will be shared services among municipalities, snow removal, the new Cayuga County administrator and a discussion about landowners leasing their land for renewables. 5) Gary informed the board the budgeting process for the 2018 budget has begun with a tentative budget to be reviewed at the October 4, 2017 town board meeting. 6) The audit of the books for the Scipio Fire Department is not complete but should be in time to be reviewed at the October 10, 2017 fire district meeting. 7) Lastly Gary told the board the inspection of the landfill on Bergerstock Road, by Microbac, was complete but when he called Microbac to inquire about the results he was told the State Regional DEC was given the inspection data and they would supply the results at a later date. Town Officers reports: Assessor: Heather submitted a written report. Town Clerk: 1) Tom talked about the fall newsletter saying things went well although there was a week’s delay in getting this mailed because the UPS Store in Auburn needed payment in advance. Although there was a delay the newsletter would still be mailed so that residents would have a month to get ready for fall cleanup day. Highway Superintendent: 1) Mark Chamberlain told the board his crews have been busy ditching and mowing and the 2nd round of mowing has been completed. 2) Tim Weir has informed Mark he will be leaving his job with the town to pursue another opportunity so the town will need to find a replacement for him. Mark has some people in mind who he will be interviewing for the position. During this discussion Mark brought up his 2018 budget saying he feels there should be a 6% increase across the board for all town highway employees. He cited the fact that pay for the Town of Scipio highway employees is in the lower third (1/3) of similar employees in Cayuga County. Mark and supervisor Mutchler will meet together to discuss this and will update the town board members at the October 4th. town board meeting. 3) Mark informed the board the PESH inspection, which looks at highway department records, went well with a few very minor citations or recommendations. Code Enforcement: 1) Mick Piechuta submitted his report which details permits issued, inspections and visits made as well as Mick’s comments, questions and concerns. ---PAGE BREAK--- 2) Mick also brought up the lawn maintenance at Emily Howland School which Brian Dugan had been mowing but no longer does because he has never gotten paid. As a result, this property is now in violation of the town’s property maintenance code. A registered letter was mailed, received and signed for by the property trustee but Mick has heard nothing in response. Mick had issued a notice of violation to the property trustees but they did not appear in court so Mick will now turn this matter over to Dave Thurston the town’s attorney. Other Business: There was no other business to discuss. Approval of vouchers: General Fund 129 to 149 totaling $12,360.97 (Nelson / Whitten) All in favor. Highway Fund (DA): 72 to 85 totaling $155,038.39 (Mutchler / Whitten) All in favor Motion to adjourn: 9:24 PM (Baxter) All in favor. Respectfully submitted, Thomas J. Olenych Scipio Town Clerk