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Scipio Town Board Meeting The regular public meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM on Wednesday October 4, 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 - Absent Guests: None. 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. None. Motion to approve the minutes of the September 13, 2017 town board meeting. (Mutchler / Baxter) All in favor. Town Board Members reports: Leslie Baxter: 1) Leslie informed the board there will be a meeting of the Watershed Rules and Regulations Stakeholders at the Cayuga County Soil & Water building on County House Road in Auburn at 6:30 PM on October 5, 2017. The meeting is to discuss the updated rules and regulations regarding Owasco Lake, as well as to discuss the problems presented by two new toxins found in Owasco Lake. 2) Leslie voiced concerns the number of new farm barns, parlors and or holding ponds being constructed in the town may be adding to the problem. Mick Piechuta, the town’s code enforcement officer, told the board the town’s zoning does not cover any farm structures other than dwellings. Any regulation and oversight of such construction projects is the responsibility of the state DEC. 3) Lastly Leslie told the board the rabies clinic is all set up for Saturday October 7, 2017 and Dr. Tyson Benson will be at the town highway barn from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on the 7th. Mark Ferrari: 1) Mark handed out computer generated drawings to the board members which showed an addition being added to the south end of the existing building. The planned addition would be approximately 700 square feet with a cost yet to be determined. Questions came up concerning the cost of the project and the bidding process the town needs to follow to comply with state law. How many bids does the town need to consider and must all the bids be at prevailing wage? Is there any grant money available to the town to help offset some of ---PAGE BREAK--- the costs? Mark Ferrari will contact the Association of Towns to see if they can offer any insight into this. 2) Mark has sent out a request for quote for a new door with a bulletproof window for the judge’s chambers. To date he has not gotten a response back. 3) Lastly Mark informed the board that there is no grant money available for the construction of the solar panels on town buildings. . Howard Nelson: 1) Howard updated the board on the contract for the solar panel project. He had contacted Chris Carrick of CNY Regional Planning & Development but was told by Chris the contract between the town and Abundant Energy had not been finished but Chris hoped it would be by the end of November. Chris will be coming to the town board meeting on November 8, 2017 and he will address the progress of this initiative at that meeting. Howard read a letter to the board from Chris Carrick in which Chris cited Abundant Energy as being a very good company and a good choice for the town. Howard also told the board that Abundant would make a site visit prior to implementing the project, hopefully sometime in early 2018. Lastly Mick Piechuta, the town code enforcement officer, will draw up a resolution to be presented to the town board for approval. This will need to be passed by the town board prior to the building permit can be issued. 2) Howard told the board that everything is in order with WeCare for Fall Cleanup Day on Saturday October 7th. He also told the board that compactor needs some repairs which he estimated to be $500.00. Motion to approve these funds for the repair of the compactor. (Mutchler / Ferrari) All in favor. Town Supervisor’s report: 1) Supervisor Mutchler talked to the board about the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium saying it continues to grow, and strengthen, having recently added three new municipalities. He sees a 4% increase in the town’s health insurance costs for 2018 but pointed out this is lower than the 10% or more increases non-consortium municipalities are expected to see for 2018. 2) Gary went over the financial report telling the board everything was in order and as it should be. Motion to approve the financial report. (Whitten / Nelson) All in favor. 3) Gary discussed a larger than normal transfer of funds explaining this was due to the needed repairs to the trucks. Transfer from: DA5110.4 Repair of Roads Contingent $1,600.00 To: DA5130.2 Machinery – Equipment Motion to approve this transfer of funds. (Mutchler / Nelson) All in favor. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4) Gary met with Bill Street, of New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR), for the annual review of the town’s insurance policies, and was told everything was in order. Mr. Sweet also offered to provide cyber security to the town at an additional cost to the town. After a short discussion among the board members it was decided not to go with the additional coverage. Town Officers reports: Assessor: No report. Town Clerk: 1) Tom briefly reviewed the cash receipts from the weeks, May through September, the transfer station was open on Wednesday nights with receipts from the same time period in 2016. Although there wasn’t a significant increase in sticker sales, Tom told the board all of the feedback he’d received from town residents was positive with everyone hoping the town would continue this practice in the future. 2) Tom also presented a copy of the 2018 Tentative Budget to be review, amended and approved at the end of the meeting. Highway Superintendent: 1) Mark Chamberlain told the board he had hired a replacement to fill the vacancy left when Tim Weir resigned. The new hires name is John White who has a Class A CDL license as well as Heavy Equipment Operator license. Mark pointed out John does not live in Scipio but the only requirement the town has in this regard is that a town employee live within 30 minutes of the town’s highway barn. Mark personally traveled the distance between John’s home and the town barn and found it to be a 12 ½ minute drive. 2) Lastly Mark told the board the town highway crews have been busy replacing cross-culverts as well as assisting other towns. Code Enforcement: 1) Mick submitted his report listing the building permits issued, the inspections and site visits he made for the past month as well as his comments, questions and concerns regarding his report. 2) Mick also told the board he had met with Judge Dugan and the town attorney regarding the Sherwood School property. He has not yet gotten a response from TUSEF, the property owners, regarding their non-payment for lawn maintenance services preformed over the past years. Dave Thurston, the town attorney, will attempt to contact TUSEF. If unsuccessful a second appearance ticket will be issued. If a TUSEF representative does not show up for this court date fines will be assessed. Other Business: ---PAGE BREAK--- 1) Supervisor Mutchler reviewed, with the town board members, the tentative 2018 budget for the town as well as for the highway. Each line of the budget was reviewed with the following changes. Town: Page 7 / Public Health / Contractual / A4020.4 Reduce from $290.00 to $200.00 Town: Page 14 / Real Property Tax Item / Interest & Penalties on Taxes / A1090 Reduce from $1,135.00 to $1,000.00 Highway: No changes Motion to approve the tentative town 2018 budget with above noted changes. (Mutchler / Ferrari) All in favor. Motion to approve the tentative 2018 town highway budget as written. (Baxter / Mutchler) All in favor. Approval of vouchers: General Fund 150 – 163 totaling $18,081.50 (Mutchler / Nelson) All in favor. Highway Fund (DA) 86 – 96 totaling $20,559.64 (Nelson / Mutchler) All in favor. Motion to adjourn: 9:57 PM (Baxter) All in favor. Respectfully submitted, Thomas J. Olenych Scipio Town Clerk