Full Text
Town of Venice Board Meeting March 8th, 2018 The regular scheduled board meeting & public hearing were called to order on March 8th, 2018, at 7:00 pm by Town Supervisor, John Grover. All stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. The Town Board made known its sincere sympathies at the passing of the Town of Venice Code Officer, Michael Piechuta and former Town Councilman & Supervisor, Bruce Culver. They further recognized both for their exemplary service to the Town of Venice and its residents and they’ll truly be missed. The Town made a $100.00 donation in memory of both, 1 to King Ferry Fire Department & 1 to Southern Cayuga Instant Aid, and a minute of silence was offered in remembrance. Roll call found the following present: Town Supervisor, John Grover; Councilmen, Stefan McGonagle; Stephen Talcott; Brian Sheils, Highway Superintendent, Stephen Fredrizzi & Town Clerk, Kim Franklin Absent: Councilman Rodney Donald Guest in attendance: Patrick Doyle Public Hearing Cold War Veterans Property Tax Exemption Several months ago the Town Assessor, Heather Garner, on behalf of a several Cold War Veterans, asked the Town to approve a Local Law for a Cold War Property Tax Exemption (9/2/45-12/26/91). The exemptions proposed were ten percent of assessed property value not to exceed $4,000.00 for wartime service connected and $20,000.00 for disabled wartime service connected. There were no questions or responses as no residents attended. Resolution 8-2018 ~ Cold War Property Tax Exemption Motion made by Councilman Talcott and seconded by Councilman Sheils to approve Local Law #1 of 2018 allowing an exemption of ten percent of the assessed property value not to exceed $4,000.00 for service connected and not to exceed $20,000.00 for disabled veterans. Voted: All in Favor Resolved New Cold War Property Tax Exemption Passed. With no further business pertaining to the hearing, Supervisor Grover made a motion to close the hearing at 7:05 p.m. The Town Board seconded the motion. Voted: All in favor Resolution 9-2018 ~ Approval of Minutes: Motion made by Councilman Sheils and seconded by Councilman Talcott to approve the minutes from February 8th, 2018. Voted: All in favor Report(s) of Town Officials: At the recommendation of several different town representatives, our Town Attorney Charles Marangola and review of his qualifications (2008 Certification number 1008-7468 from the State of New York, Department of State, his resume showing active code enforcement for Towns of Owasco, Montezuma, Savannah, Locke and the Villages of Aurora and Moravia and 2018 current training credentials), Patrick Doyle has agreed to be the Town of Venice Code Officer pending the Boards approval. Resolution 10-2018 ~ Code Office Appointment: Motion made by Councilman Talcott and seconded by Councilman Sheils to appoint Patrick Doyle as the new Town of Venice Code Officer effective 3/1/18. Voted: All in favor Resolved that Patrick Doyle is the Town of Venice Code Officer. Code Officer’s Report: Town Board continues to table the decision on using the new Unified Solar Permit, pending Patrick Doyle’s review and possible discussion with the Town Attorney regarding same. Clerks report: 4 dog licenses with receipts of $10.00 paid to the supervisor & $4.00 paid to Ag & Markets for a total distribution of $14.00 through February 28, 2018. A second check for $10.90 was issued to the Town Supervisor for unclaimed funds of $9.50 (resident did not cash check 1456 from 10/3/16 from overpayment of building permit) and $1.40 that was in the account when this clerk took over. Tax collection is going well, the Warrant in the amount of $597,034.85 has been paid in full to the Venice Supervisor. Justice report: shows 6 tickets and $925.00 collected in fines for February which she submitted to supervisor and she’s going to start submitting reports with applicable documentation. Resolution 11-2018 ~ Annual Justice Audit: Be it resolved that the members of the Town of Venice Board have reviewed the records of Justice Melanie Quinn and found them to be accurate to the best of their knowledge. Motion made by Councilman Talcott, seconded by Councilman Sheils to approve the Justice’s Annual Audit and have affixed their signatures to the front page of the report: Voted: All in favor Resolved that the Justice’s Annual Audit has been completed. Assessor’s: report copied to each board member. Highway Superintendent: wanted to know the Town’s interest in mowing for the County at $225 per centerline mile (24.43 line miles total) 3 times per year which would be approximately $5,500/$1,800 per mowing in revenue; tabled pending new up to date contract to be reviewed; he’s working on the Bridge Fund New York Grant that’s due 3/31/18 for Tile Kiln Road; Senator Helming’s office would like to give the Town a $50,000 to $75,000 Capital Improvements Grant, which he’d like to see used to update the Towns Cold Storage Building; dump cylinder went bad on #6 truck and he was asking the board’s thoughts on keeping the 1 ton for another year which was also tabled to the April meeting. He’s going to attend the Ag District workshop for Municipal Officials being sponsored by the Tompkins County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board on March 17th at the Ramada Inn Ithaca. The Supervisor’s: report was reviewed and approved by board members; he’s completed and submitted the Annual Update Document (AUD audit) and he received a Broadband email showing Round III funding which appears to be monies going to Verizon and nothing for Clarity Connect as Venice wasn’t eligible for this round. Councilman McGonagle gave a brief update on the SVL Fire District meeting, the Town of Scipio is still looking to allow the split but not without a lot more information, each fire department submitted their own inventory; he obtained copies of the documents forming the SVL Fire District from the Scipio Historian, which shows the residents petitioned each of the towns and the 3 town boards agreed to form the fire district. Copies were emailed to all board members. Resolution 12-2018 ~ Audit of Claims: Motion made by Councilman Talcott, seconded by Councilman Sheils to accept Audited Abstract General voucher #064 – 094 in the amount of $9,960.16; Highway voucher #032 - 048 in the amount of $18,563.40 & Poplar Ridge Light at $16.33. Voted: All in favor Resolved that the bills of the evening were presented, reviewed & approved. Councilman McGonagle moved to adjourn and meet again on April 12th, 2018, at 7:00 pm at 2479 State Route 34 in Venice Center and seconded by Councilman Talcott. Voted: All in favor Respectfully submitted, Kim M. Franklin , Town Clerk