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Scipio Town Board Meeting The regular public meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM on Wednesday March 21, 2018 by Supervisor Mutchler with the following people present. Supervisor: Gary Mutchler Town Clerk: Tom Olenych Town Board Members: Leslie Baxter Highway Superintendent: Mark Chamberlain Vivian Cunningham Code Enforcement: Howard Tanner Mark Ferrari Gary Whitten – Excused Absence Guests: Maryl Mendillo Motion to approve agenda for the town board meeting. (Baxter / Cunningham) All in favor. Issues to come before the board from town residents and guests. No issues from town residents. Motion to approve the minutes of the February 14, 2018 town board meeting. (Ferrari / Baxter) All in favor. Motion to approve the minutes of the March 4, 2018 special town board meeting. (Mutchler / Ferrari) All in favor. Town Board Members reports: Leslie Baxter: 1) Leslie spoke with Cornell Cooperative Extension to inquire about the possibility of or the availability of grant funds for the town to help defray the cost of maintaining the town’s roads. Due to larger and heavier farm equipment the town’s cost to maintain it’s roads is ever increasing. She was disappointed in this regard because she was told, by the person she spoke to, the reason the roads in towns are in such bad shape is because the towns are doing an inadequate job maintaining their roads. Leslie also contacted the New York State Association of Towns to see if there might not be other sources of revenue available to help in this regard but at this time AOT is not aware of any funding. Also, being looked into is the town establishing axle and load limits for heavier equipment using town roads. Mark Chamberlain will be talking to other towns in Southern Cayuga County about establishing uniform axel and load limits for towns in the county. 2) Leslie talked about using sonar to destroy algae blooms in Owasco Lake. This technology has been used successfully in the Netherlands and could be used on Owasco Lake as well. ---PAGE BREAK--- The cost to position 40 sonar buoys at the northern end of the lake, where the need is greatest as the wind generally pushes the algae blooms north, would be 1.2 million dollars with an additional $40,000.00 a year needed for upkeep. These buoys would produce ultra sound waves that destroy the algae but have no harmful effect on humans or aquatic life. Vivian Cunningham: 1) Vivian installed “lookalike” software on the town’s computers to replace Windows 365 which has an annual subscription fee of $99.00. 2) Vivian contacted WeCare and the town is all set up Spring Cleanup Day on May 5th. 3) It was determined the town would again offer additional summer hours for the transfer station. Like last year the hours would be 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Wednesdays, starting on May 9th. and running through the last Wednesday in September, the 26th. Mark Ferrari: 1) Mark discussed the condition of the roof above the town offices with Howard Tanner, the town’s code enforcement officer, and both feel it is in good condition and would hold up for the 25 years a solar panel contract with Abundant Energy would be for. 2) A representative of Abundant Energy would like to meet with Mark as well as supervisor Mutchler to further discuss the solar panel proposal. The Abundant Energy rep would then like to attend the town board meeting on April 11, 2018 so she can go over with the full board where the project stands and answer any questions the board might have. . Town Supervisor’s report: 1) Supervisor Mutchler asked the town board to review the following local laws, which will be discussed at a public hearing at the May 9, 2018 town board meeting. Local Law No. 1 of 2018, know as “The Zoning and Building Code Residency Requirement Local Law” Purpose: It is the purpose of this Local Law to establish the residency requirements for the appointed of the office of Zoning & Building Code Enforcement for the Town of Scipio. Local Law No. 2 of 2018, known as the “Electioneering Law” Purpose: It is the purpose of this Local Law to prohibit electioneering activities at the Town Barn (as that term is defined in section 3.2). 2) Tim Weir, the assistant fire chief, would like to attend a town board meeting to discuss “new fire district” issues. He is also looking for assurances the town board supports the fire department in it’s efforts to separate from the current fire district. Supervisor Mutchler also informed the board the fire commissioners are putting together a group to look at existing funds within the fire district and how these funds should be distributed among the fire departments in the fire district. 3) Gary reviewed the financial report and as of March 1, 2018 there was a balance in the General Fund of $526,747.00 and a balance in the Highway Fund of $353,409.00. Motion to approve the financial report. (Mutchler / Baxter) All in favor. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4) Gary attended the supervisors meeting where the governor and the newly appointed Cayuga County Administrator wanted to know what towns were doing to have more “shared services” between municipalities. 5) Gary also discussed the idea of appointing the town clerk as opposed to having the town clerk elected. This would give the town board an opportunity to interview potential candidates for the job and appoint the candidate the board feels is best qualified for the job. Tom Olenych, the current town clerk, agreed but noted the biggest draw back is the fact no one ever seems to want the job. He is in his second full term and has run unopposed in both elections. Supervisor Mutchler would like to bring this up for a public vote at the November 7, 2018 town board meeting. Town Officers reports: Assessor: Submitted a written report. Town Clerk: 1) tax season went well with no big issues and no “insufficient funds” checks having been received. 2) Tom is finishing up the Spring Newsletter which he expects to be mailed out sometime the week of April 9th. Highway Superintendent:1) Mark Chamberlain told the board his crews have been hauling some stone but have primarily been concerned with clearing the roads of snow and snow drifts resulting from spring storms. 2) Mark inspected a sinkhole on Ensenore Road which will need to be repaired. He is hopeful the cost of the repairs can be covered with grant money. He will know more about this at the April 11th. town board meeting. 3) lastly Mark told the board he has hired Steve Faatz to replace John White who decided to leave the highway department. Code Enforcement: 1) Howard submitted a written report and is busy getting caught up as some code issues have lagged due to Mick Piechuta’s unexpected passing. Lastly Howard told the board he is working with the ZBA so assure his taking over as the Town Code Enforcement Office goes a smoothly as possible. Other Business: There was no other business. Approval of vouchers: General 44 - 60 totaling $7,981.45 (Mutchler / Baxter) All in favor. Highway (DA): 22 – 32 totaling $16,085.20 (Ferrari / Cunningham) All in favor. Motion to adjourn: 9:08 PM (Baxter) All in favor. ---PAGE BREAK--- Respectfully submitted, Thomas J. Olenych Scipio Town Clerk