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1 Village of Fair Haven Board of Trustees Agenda Meeting December 8, 2016 The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. Board members present Mayor James Basile, Deputy Mayor Walter Krehling, Trustee Holley Webster-Goolden, Trustee Judith Dunaway and Trustee Pete Hanford. Also present Village Clerk-Treasurer Terri DiGregorio, DPW Superintendent Roger Granatiero, Deputy Clerk Johanne Van Der Linden, Ambulance Supervisor/Zoning Officer Stan Bill McVea, Village Attorney Chris Palermo, Mike Federici, Eleen Williams and Steve Williams. Steve and Eleen Williams briefed the Board of Trustees on their plans to build at 602 13th St. They have filled out a request to have a few dead trees in the right-of-way removed for fear the trees or branches could fall on the proposed garage. DPW Superintendent Granatiero will contact Empire Tree Surgeons regarding the removal of said trees. Steve stated he will also be building a new residence at that location and asked if stone could be added to 13th Street as it is presently a dirt road. Mayor Basile advised the Williams’ the Village presently has no plans to maintain or improve that street. Attorney Chris Palermo reviewed the Village’s options regarding 13th Street. If they choose to improve the street, the cost to do so could be assessed to the property owners that would benefit or the cost could be assessed to the Village tax payers as a whole. The Board also has the option to leave the street as is and not improve it at all. Mr. Steve Williams understood and noted that they would work with what was in place and appreciates the tress being looked at. The Board briefly reviewed the DPW report and the Treasure’s report. Stan discussed the November Ambulance report. Ambulance #2 is back after having a new engine installed with a 3 year warrantee. Everything on it is new: injectors, alternator, turbo, new springs and realignment. Trustee Dunaway brought up the topic of running an ambulance service with 2 ambulances. When the service was first started the Village had a 1996 ambulance given to them by the fire department. In 2003 the Village purchased a new ambulance and kept the old one which was used as a back-up. Now the 2003 has a new engine and the 2015 rig is the primary ambulance. Trustee Dunaway suggested when planning the 2017-2018 budget for the ambulance portion, it be handled as a 2 ambulance service for the planning of additional funds for the ambulance reserve. It was also noted the fire department officers believed the engines did not need to be replaced every 10 years. Extending the rotation to 15 or 20 years would help the village budgeted process for all items including the ambulance service. November Code Enforcement report submitted by Stan Stan has been working with Deputy Clerk Van Der Linden, CCWSA Jeanine Wilson and CCWSA Jay Sawyer in putting a list together to keep track of all sewer connections. The homeowners that are in violation are being sent citations advising of impending fines for not connecting to the public sewer. Stan is also updating the code enforcement program to reflect zoning for individual properties to assist in keeping track of properties connected to the public sewer. There is confusion as to how the village residents were informed on the deadlines to connect to the public sewer. The Village will contact the CCWSA office and the Cayuga County Health Department to find out which entity sent the notifications. An application for a waiver to connect to the sewer was created in 2016 and sent by request to homeowners. Several have been submitted to the village office and were reviewed. Mayor Basile suggested these applicants be notified to have their private septic systems inspected (dye tested) if they wish to be considered for an extension and to limit the extension for a set amount of time. In receipt of Village Historians annual report from Susan Parsons. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: The owner of water account B2530 fixed the problem that made the water meter inaccessible. A letter was sent to water account A2580 notifying the homeowner the water will not be turned back on in the spring until the meter is installed in an accessible area. The annual budget for the West Barrier Bar Park will be submitted to Maryanne Adams of the Onondaga Audubon to put together the pre-application for the swallo-wort grant. NEW BUSINESS: December Civil Service report is due. Title changes may occur and will be address in a future workshop before the next civil service report in June. It was noted DPW employee Carrie Bolton was getting more driving time to obtain her Commercial Driver’s License. ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 The manner in which village employees have been paid over the years was discussed. Timesheets had always been turned in on Wednesdays for that week with pay day on that Friday. Mayor Basile stated he was not comfortable approving a payroll for the transfer of funds and hours that hadn’t been worked yet. The Mayor learned from Village Attorney Palermo that Cayuga County had this same practice in effect some years ago and they transitioned in the change to alter the pay schedule. Village employees will be given the choice to transition slowly or to go a week without a pay check to accomplish holding back one week of pay, therefore transferring funds to make the payroll for the week which had already occurred. The Board agreed to allow the DPW employees to go back to their previous work week schedule of 9 hour days Monday through Thursday and a 4 hour day on Friday. If a holiday occurs on a Monday 1 hour will be added to that Friday to ensure they get paid for 40 hours that week because holiday pay is 8 hours. This will start the first week in January. The Board revised the water rate schedule by eliminating the additional fee of $35.00 for a turn on/off with less than 24 hours’ notice. Deputy Clerk Van Der Linden submitted a list of water bills owed by water customers who were late and hadn’t paid yet. She explained the billing process and time frame of when late letters and shut off letters are mailed. In some instances payment arrangements can be made. It was realized after reading the Village of Fair Haven Water Use Law, water customers were given much more time before water was shut off due to non-payment than allowed by law. The Board of Trustees decided starting in January of 2017 the Water Use Law from 1970 will be followed to the letter. Due to a problem with property owners and contractors they may hire breaking village shut off valves, a communication will be printed on water bills to make water customers aware that the Village of Fair Haven owns the valves in the street right-of-ways and these valves cannot be turned on and off by anyone other than Village DPW employees. This may also need to be communicated in another manner. The letter of interest in becoming a Planning Board member submitted by Robert Deming was reviewed by the Board and tabled. An acknowledgement letter will be sent to Mr. Deming. EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Board of Trustee entered into executive session to discuss the work history of a particular employee on a motion by Trustee Dunaway and seconded by Deputy Mayor Krehling. All aye, motion carried. The Board exited executive session on a motion by Trustee Dunaway and seconded by Deputy Mayor Krehling. All aye motion carried. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 on a motion by Trustee Dunaway and seconded by Deputy Mayor Krehling. All aye, motion carried. Approved minutes respectfully submitted. Terri M. DiGregorio Clerk-Treasurer