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Scipio Town Board Meeting The regular public meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM on Wednesday January 10, 2018 by Supervisor Mutchler with the following people present. Supervisor: Gary Mutchler Town Clerk: Tom Olenych Town Board Members: Gary Whitten Highway: Mark Chamberlain Leslie Baxter Code Enforcement: Mick Piechuta Mark Ferrari Vivian Cunningham Guests: Dee Allen, Maryl Mendillo and Keith Welch. Motion to approve agenda for the January 10, 2018 town board meeting. (Ferrari / Baxter) All in favor. Motion to approve the minutes of the December 13, 2017 town board meeting. (Whitten / Ferrari) All in favor. Motion to approve the minutes of the December 27, 2017 year end town board meeting. Motion to approve as corrected. (Mutchler / Baxter) All in favor. Issues to come before the board from town residents and guests. Dee Allen wanted to know why the December minutes that had been posted on the town’s website were not the draft of the minutes as was discussed at the December town board meeting. Tom Olenych said the original posting was the draft but after hearing back from the town board members regarding any changes he asked Dan Wentworth, who does the postings for the town, to remove the DRAFT part of the minutes. Tom said he will now wait until the final board approve before removing DRAFT from the posted minutes. Supervisor Mutchler asked to board to adopt the following policies for the 2018 calendar year. A) Roberts Rules of Procedure. B) Code of Ethics C) Sexual Harassment Policy D) Work Place Violence Procedures E) Highway Employee Personnel Policy F) Town Recycling Attendant’s Working Policy G) Approve Resolution for check signing H) Procurement Policy / Procedure J) Schedule for 2018 Town Board Meeting ---PAGE BREAK--- Motion to approve. (Whitten / Ferrari) All in favor. Supervisor Mutchler then asked to board to consider and approve the following appointments. 1) Michael Whitten as chair of the Board of Assessment Review. 2) Dodie Rowlings as deputy Town Clerk / Tax Collector and Deputy Town Registrar. 3) Erin Klipple as deputy Court Clerk 4) Becky Rury as town Bookkeeper. Motion to approve. (Mutchler / Whitten) All in favor. Town Board Members reports: Leslie Baxter: 1) Leslie reported that the watershed inspection of Owasco Lake is still under the Cayuga County Soil & Water District for the time being but may in the future be overseen by the Owasco Lake Water Management Council. 2) there is a link on the Cayuga County Government website pertaining to the Owasco Lake Watershed. Go to Cayuga County, NY and click on Community to access. Leslie will have more information for the February town board meeting after attending the OLWMC meeting on January 16, 2018. 3) Lastly the question of political signs and electioneering on town property came up but was put off until the February town board meeting as the town has not heard back from the New York State Association of Towns. Vivian Cunningham: 1) Vivian spoke to the board regarding some sort of sleeping or rest area for the town highway crews who at times put in long hours while snowplowing during the winter months. Vivian and Mark Chamberlain both feel this is a safety issue because the town crews do not have the time to go home and rest before going back out to plow. Mark Ferrari: Mark has received a second bid to provide a new door with bullet proof glass for the judge’s chambers from Finger Lakes Glass which was approximately $1,000.00 less than the first bid received. The possibility of a buzzer system as well as cameras was discussed with no decision being made. 2) With so much going on regarding the town offices, the remodel, the possibility of the solar panels being put up on the roof, the upgrades to the judges chambers and the request that some sort of bunkhouse arrangement being set up in the town offices, it was decided to hold off on anything for now as it makes more sense to look at all of this as one project rather than look at it as separate projects with separate discussions. 3) Mark asked the board to give him permission to hire out the job of putting in an access door at the north end of the town offices. The door is needed so an inspection of the roof, from inside the building, can be make prior to a decision can be made regarding the placing of solar panels. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mark assured the board the cost of this would be well below $5,000.00 which means the job would not need to go out for quotes. Motion to approve this request. (Baxter / Cunningham) All in favor. 4)Lastly Mark spoke to the board about his looking into the town getting a better interest rate on the town’s money in Chemung Bank. He reported he was able to secure a very small increase in the rate the town currently realizes, up to .25% from .10% but that was as much as the bank could offer due to strict state laws limiting the amount of interest municipalities can receive. Gary Whitten: 1) Gary spoke briefly to say there is no town equipment scheduled to be replaced in 2018. Town Officers reports: Assessor: No report. Town Clerk: 1) Tom Olenych asked Gary Whitten, Gary Mutchler and Vivian Cunningham to sign and date new oaths of office for their terms of office ending 12/31/2019. 2) Tom informed the board that he will need anyone’s submissions for the Spring Newsletter no later than February 19, 2018 so he has enough time to put the newsletter together, get it to the printers and mailed no later than the third week in March. Tom will send out e-mails to everyone no later than the 1st. of February asking for their submissions Highway Superintendent: 1) Mark Chamberlain told the board his crews have been busy plowing snow and moving snow banks back. In addition, there had been several minor equipment breakdowns and a sewer pipe in the highway garage froze. All of which have been taken care of. 2) Mark also told the board his crews worked about 48 hours of overtime, Thursday through Sunday, during the storm. Code Enforcement: 1) Mick Piechuta submitted his report detailing permits issued, inspections or visits made as well as his comments, questions and concerns. Town Supervisor’s report: 1) Supervisor Mutchler asked the board to approve a resolution to approve the judge’s finances for the end of the 2017 calendar year. Motion to approve. (Mutchler / Whitten) All in favor. 2) Gary told the board he attended the fire commissioners meeting on January 9, 2018 and the audit of the fire districts assets was complete and is being reviewed by the fire district commissioners. After which Gary will be able to discuss further at the February town board meeting ---PAGE BREAK--- 3) a motion to approve Mick Piechuta as the town code enforcement officer was discussed as Mick is not a resident of the Town of Scipio. Mick felt this had already been done so the motion was tabled until Supervisor Mutchler could see if this was necessary. 4) Gary went over the financial highlights from 2017 noting the town is $92,771.98 ahead of last year with an ending balance / surplus of $683,177.05. The town’s budget for 2018 is $874,932.00 and the highway department’s budget for 2018 is $553,855.00. Gary listed the town’s income for calendar year 2017 as follows: Property Tax $243,406.00 Sales Tax $425,250.00 County Snow Removal Contract $47,357.00 State Aid $131,264.00 Garbage Charges $10,300.00 Fines $24,614.00 Licenses & Permits $4,867.00 Chemung Bank Interest $758.00 Mortgage Tax $22,030.00 Per Capita Tax $7,579.00 5) Lastly Supervisor Mutchler asked the board to pass a resolution establishing the standard work day for all elected, appointed and hired employees at 8.0 hours per day. Motion to Approve. (Mutchler / Whitten) All in favor. Other Business: 1) Keith Welch spoke to the board regarding attendance at the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings voicing his concerns that anything less than full attendance, all five ZBA members showing up, was a disservice to anyone bringing an appeal before the board. He said it was very difficult finding a day and time that worked for all five ZBA members and for one member in particular. Since the ZBA meets infrequently and this has yet to be an ongoing problem it was thought no action should be taken by the town board at this time. But the issue could and would be addressed if and when lack of attendance becomes a systemic problem. Approval of vouchers: General 1 – 21 totaling $40.5447.10 (Baxter / Ferrari) All in favor. Highway (DA): 1 – 12 totaling $14,707.48 (Ferrari / Whitten) All in favor. Motion to adjourn: 9:28 PM (Baxter) All in favor. Respectfully submitted, ---PAGE BREAK--- Thomas J. Olenych Scipio Town Clerk