The workshop meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on April 25, 2016 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilwoman Janet Sutherland, Councilman Dominick Cambareri and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: D. Hassenmayer: H’way Supt., P. Rickard: Police Chief, D. Bavoso: Attorney.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm and asked audience to silence cell phones.
7:30PM PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #4-2016: REGULATING SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
Legal notice available. Atty. Bavoso explained this was prepared by Planning Board and presented to Town Board. Minor changes were made to it. This is a law requiring a permit for small accessory solar generating facilities which are designed to service the structures or other facilities on the property. This gives framework for building department to follow in issuing of permits. Alison Miller asked about the definition of residential up to 12KW roof-mounted, small scale up to 12KW, small scale up to 12KW ground-mounted, large scale exceeding 12KW ground mounted commercial solar energy uses. What about residential over 12KW? Are you assuming over 12KW is commercial? Atty. Bavoso: or large scale for purposes of this law. Doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s commercial. Miller: the wording suggests that large scale and commercial are equal. Bavoso: you’re looking at the definition for large scale? Miller: page 2 of LL#4. If there’s a residential over 12KW, where does that fall? Bavoso: if it’s residential over 12KW, it would fall under large-scale solar. It can be interpreted – it does say: other properties or the commercial electrical grid. If the board chooses to make a change to that, they could. For purposes of this in general, when they were crafting it, was small scale vs. large scale on premises use rather than commercial. Councilman Cambareri: any single family home requiring more than 12KW would go to ZBA & ask for variance. Miller: that provision (inaudible). Cambareri: if a house needs more than 12KW to do their house under residential solar, they could go for variance to go to 14 or 16 – whatever is required to do their house. Supervisor Volpe: is there any benefit to wording that different or upping it? Bavoso: benefit to upping it would be to have more flexibility as far as what is considered for the premises usage. Then you would get fewer applications for variances. If you raise KW restriction, then potentially you would have more properties that fall under the permitting process. Volpe: If they are using it to power their home then…Cambareri: if you raise it to more than 12KW, that puts you out of the state guidelines for the state permit – correct? Bavoso: would have to research this. Cambareri: this all files from a state permit application that’s standardized from around the state, the ceiling on that was 12 which is why we decided on 12 or we’d have to write a whole new permit process. Mike See: Mine is 13.1. It was put in last year. They got a permit but I don’t remember any state regulation over 12…Cambareri: it’s new. The state wrote a permit for all towns to use so nobody has to through expense to hire electrical engineers to do this. The state permit application stops at 12KW. Anything over that, you’d have to apply for a variance. Bavoso: to answer a prior question, the law is not retroactive. So any property that has something above the 12, or doesn’t fall under the permitting process they’d be considered a pre-existing non-conforming use. This means they get to continue and would only get into trouble if they tried to expand or re-configure in some way. Chris Furman: if the homeowner has this and it’s above & beyond and try to sell their home, does that convey to the next person? Bavoso: yes…until someone actually tries to change it. Frank Ketcham: asked about definition of accessory structure. Did you purposely word it so that accessory structure had to be attached to principle building or is that…(he read into record the current definition of accessory). He then read the proposed definition. Bavoso: that was the wording from the planning board. It can be changed. Generally the accessory structure doesn’t have to be attached under any zoning law I’ve seen. Ketcham: is the board considering any maximum size to commercial systems? Cambareri: that’s still in discussion. The planning board is reviewing that. That’ll be part of the master plan. Ketcham: section 5F – he thinks principle is spelled wrong.
RESOLUTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd by Councilman Howell to close the public hearing at 7:41pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried. (Accessory building definition to remove the “attached thereto” language and fix the spelling of principle.)
RESOLUTION TO ADOPT LOCAL LAW #4 REGULATING SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to adopt LOCAL LAW #4 REGULATING SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE with above amendments to be added.) All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
7:42PM PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #5-2016: ADOPTING THE NYS UNIFIED SOLAR PERMIT FOR APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL SCALE, ROOF MOUNTED, RESIDENTIAL SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
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Legal notice available. Atty. Bavoso explained the law. The law is for facilities that were just approved under local law #4 of 2016, the town is adopting the county permit application rather than reinventing their own application. The town will use the same application as the county. Supervisor asked for any questions. There were none.
RESOLUTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to close the public hearing at 7:43pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO ADOPT LOCAL LAW #5-2016 ADOPTING THE NYS UNIFIED SOLAR PERMIT FOR APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL SCALE, ROOF MOUNTED, RESIDENTIAL SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Carey to adopt LOCAL LAW #5-2016 ADOPTING THE NYS UNIFIED SOLAR PERMIT FOR APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL SCALE, ROOF MOUNTED, RESIDENTIAL SOLAR GENERATING FACILITIES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
7:44PM PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #6-2016: CREATING A MORATORIUM OF OPENING, MAINTENANCE & OPERATION OF COMMERCIAL SOLAR USES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
Legal notice available. Orrin Pierson hopes that the board will draft these laws in the next 6 months. There are a lot of other laws in other towns. I want to stay a farm. It will be good for the town. Supervisor Volpe explained to Mr. Pierson that even with a moratorium he could still go to the ZBA. Since this isn’t in the zoning anyway you would still have to go to the ZBA. The planning board can’t help you because it’s not in the zoning. Bavoso: you would have to apply to the building office get denied since it is not in the zoning then go to the ZBA. Supervisor asked for any other questions. We are one of the only towns that doesn’t have solar moratorium. We are working on getting the master plan done. Pierson: I can go to the ZBA and they’ll hear my case? Supervisor: whether or not we had this meeting tonight it’s the only option that you have because it is not in our zoning so the building department is not going to give the ok. The planning can’t. D. Loeven clarified that the ZBA has the power to override the moratorium? Supervisor: Yes. Bavoso: but they would have to issue some interpretation under another section of the building code. Loeven: so they would interpret it to find in the law where it could be covered. Bavoso: right. Rob Garrity (Borrego Solar): he understands that the board wants to take the time to figure out the right way to do this. He understands it’s a new technology at this scale. He hopes they come away with something that does make sense. Ketcham: if it could be a ratable for the town, why does the town see it as a negative? Bavoso: it’s not necessarily a negative. It’s a concern for rapidly growing technology and a safety concern. They want to be sure the regulations have the safety structures put into place. It’s not just the property owner that would be liable. The municipal entity that granted the permit could also be liable. The town wanted the safety precaution in place. Chief Rickard asked isn’t this still a business? Isn’t that the big difference? If I wanted to put an oil rig in my backyard, people would be going crazy. So would I have to go to ZBA and say I want to put an oil rig in my backyard? Bavoso: you’d have to go to ZBA and argue that it fits under another use permitted in the town. Pierson: Borrego would allow him to graze his animals under the panels. It’s energy and it’s farming. I don’t know how it’ll work with taxes but they’re going to allow that and pick up any additional tax taken out of the ag district.
RESOLUTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to close the public hearing at 7:51pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
ON THE QUESTION:
Supervisor asked about the moratorium length. Bavoso: 6 months with two 3 month options by resolution.
R. Garrity would the town board be able to move forward before 6 months? Bavoso: yes, some sort of local law was put into place to regulate these – the town has the option to repeal the law.
RESOLUTION TO ADOPT LOCAL LAW #6-2016 CREATING A MORATORIUM OF OPENING, MAINTENANCE & OPERATION OF COMMERCIAL SOLAR USES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to ADOPT LOCAL LAW #6-2016 CREATING A MORATORIUM OF OPENING, MAINTENANCE & OPERATION OF COMMERCIAL SOLAR USES IN THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE for 6 months with two 3 month extensions. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri; NAY – Sutherland; carried.
RESOLUTION TO APPROVE THE PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilwoman Sutherland that the minutes of the April 4, 2016 meeting & April 12, 2016 meeting are approved as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
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CORRESPONDENCE:
Supervisor’s report March 2016
Police Chief request for resolution to sign NYCOMCO agreement
Police equipment surplus & auction: 2012 Dodge Charger
Police Chief request for resolution to sign MOU with Federal Bureau of Prisons
Budget modification from Supervisor’s office
Copy of letter from G. Plotsky re: United Talmudical Academy
Letter from Senator Bonacic re: Opposing CPV Energy Project resolution
Email from Mike Depolito re: on 3-21-16 he asked Supervisor Volpe if there were any town cuts for the summer rec program; Supervisor said as far as he knew there wasn’t.
Hand drawn diagram of display box for the VFW Post 5497 Charter from L. Maurizzio for approval
Insurance cert. from Dr. Roeder for rabies clinic
Insurance cert. from Pack 169 for soap box derby on May 22, 2016
Police dept. monthly report for March 2016
Letter from Country Fair committee re: inviting board members to be in parade
Letter from US Dept. of Justice re: FCI Otisville Emergency Response Procedures
Letter from NYS Ag & Mkts re: Dog Control Officer Inspection on 3-31-2016 – satisfactory
Complaint received re: property on corner of School House Rd & Carboy Road
Complaint received re: 115 Carboy Road
Mount Hope Fire report 4-25-2016
Copy of 2015 Annual Report
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell: None.
Councilman Carey: Little League thanked the board for coming to the parade and extended the thanks to the village board.
Councilwoman Sutherland: She went to planning board meeting and brought up cluster housing. They are going to do more research on this.
Councilman Cambareri: Supervisor Volpe met with the engineering firm who opened the building for those doing the RFP’s. Several contractors showed up. None of them are in yet. The sewer plant is back in normal operation. There was a problem with some of the controls. New control board was put in. Summer rec started registration today. There will be again tomorrow and 2 days again next week Monday the 25th, April 26th and May 3. 22 families have signed up so far.
Supervisor Volpe asked Dean if he knew about the old school. Dean asked if it was broken in to? Supervisor added that Thursday Kathleen called him and said the alarm company called and said the school was acting funny. He went up. The alarm was set. Saturday he was out and received a call from the alarm company saying alarm went off several times. Police were dispatched. He stopped there Saturday night and had to call the Chief because the door is locked and then we have the hasp with the lock. The hasp with the lock is busted off. The police were sent over they checked out the school. It doesn’t look like anything major happened other than that. Dean will have Roger go up and put a new one on in the morning. Supervisor: we will need new keys.
Supervisor spoke of the CPR class last week. It was a sell-out. We had maximum # of people. Next one is May 19th. There are still 6 spots left. We’ll add more classes if necessary. He thanked Bob Decker for everything.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported: ½ way through trash days. Electronics were picked up this morning because we had so many pallets. They were able to take 8 boxes of electronics away. We’ve already had 2-40 yd. dumpsters of metal removed. We had 12 -30 yd boxes of C&D removed. He’s heard happy comments on the extended hours. The electronics # is a little high this year. C&D is right on schedule. He announced he was elected president for the highway superintendents association last Wednesday.
MOUNT HOPE FIRE: Report was read into record by Chief Masters. Councilwoman Sutherland asked for a total # of volunteers firefighters, EMS. Chief did not know off hand.
POLICE:
Chief Rickard reported: He needs authorization to sign the lease with NYCOMCO. He needs permission to sign the MOU with the prison. New car was delivered by mistake; it’s being outfitted. He needs to surplus and put to auction the old 2012 Dodge Charger. The awards will be at the next meeting. Roger is doing a great job. He noted some of the things that were fixed and did a great job.
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VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reported the village reorg. meeting was last week and she will still be the liaison for the board. Bob Clouse will be liaison for the police. She spoke about the inmate community work crews. She brought it up at the Community advisory Board meeting. They weren’t very hopeful. We can write letters is we want to. She was told that it really comes down to money.
SUMMER RECREATION:
Trustee Loeven: Counselor applications are still being accepted through this Friday. Very good response from the ad in the paper. Arbor Day is Friday. We will be planting a tree in conjunction with the Garden Club. It will be at 10:00 at village park. Everyone is welcome. 3 trees will be planted. Ike Palmer got a grant for 2 of them. The 3rd tree was donated by Rick & Linda Zgrodek in honor of the Mount Hope seniors. Councilman Cambareri added that a couple kids are signed up for the pilot program for the after-hours program for the summer camp. Councilman Carey added the extended hours are 3-5pm. It boils down to $5/hour per child. Councilwoman Sutherland asked how much this program would cost. Carey: $300. Sutherland: how much will it cost the town? Cambareri: we’re looking for it to be budget neutral. Last year the town’s share of the camp was $18,000.We’re not going over that. We may not get enough this year to pay for itself. Sutherland: last time I had asked, you had said it had to be approved by the school board. Supervisor Volpe: that was my misunderstanding. I thought they had to get it approved. He sent out an email letting them know we are using it. I thought it had to get voted on but because we’re paying for it – it doesn’t need to be voted on. Sutherland: what’s going to happen, what will they be doing? Cambareri: Antoinette Coppola is the director. She is certified as the medical director/program director. They haven’t done the layout of what the program will be doing. It will be a continuation of the camp. There will be the same ratio of counselors to students. Sutherland: what happens at 5:00 if the parents are late? Supervisor: the parents will pay a late fee like they do now. Carey: Now it’s just getting the word out there. It’s on the website and there are pamphlets.
HIGHWAY HELP FOR FAIR:
Supervisor Volpe stated he met with Dean, Dominick & Jim all met for the fair committee. We came to a compromise. Last year we had 6 full days of manpower at the fair. This year will be 3 days full manpower – 2 days before and one day for breakdown. This doesn’t affect the police.
RESOLUTION TO ALLOW HIGHWAY DEPT. TO HELP WITH THE OTISVILLE COUNTRY FAIR:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to allow the highway guys to help with the fair for 3 full days; 2 for set up and one break down. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
MASTER PLAN:
Supervisor Volpe: We put the master plan out to bid. We only received one bid from Barton & LoGuidice for $57,600.00. He recommends we go with them.
RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT OFFER FROM BARTON & LOGUIDICE TO REVISE THE MASTER PLAN:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to accept the bid from Barton & LoGuidice and to authorize the Supervisor to sign the contract. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
2015 ANNUAL REPORT:
Supervisor Volpe reported that the 2015 Annual Report has been filed with the State Comptroller office. A copy will be on file in the town clerk’s office. Each board member can have a copy.
CORNELL:
Supervisor previously asked board members to email him with questions re: Cornell one day request to use/sell alcohol at their harvest. He only received one email from Dominick. This will have to be done each year. Councilman Cambareri: no alcohol on town property is the law and we shouldn’t waiver off of it. It would be too much risk. Councilwoman Sutherland: she attended last year and it was a lovely evening. No one was intoxicated. I understand Dominick’s concerns but I believe this exemption should be granted. Councilman Carey: attended last year but do not agree it should be exempt this year. I thought it was a 1 time event. Councilman Howell: not in favor of the exemption. The more exposure to alcohol we have the more chance of a catastrophic event.
RESOLUTION TO APPROVE ALLOWING ALCOHOL @ SEPT. 17TH CORNELL BOUNTIFUL HARVEST:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Sutherland 2nd by Councilman Cambareri to approve the one day event on Sept. 17, 2016 and to allow the sale and consumption of alcohol. All in favor: Sutherland; Opposed: Carey, Cambareri, Howell; Abstain: Volpe. Motion not carried.
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TOWN INSURANCE:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: town insurance. We still have Hutchings. There is a new underwriter. He is a big safety guy. We (Dean & Chad) brought him to all buildings. We went to the park. He recommended we check the rides at the park. He recommended there be a checklist when the guys mow at the park. There should be age appropriate signs by the toys.
RESOLUTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT FOR MARCH 2016:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to approve the Supervisor’s report for March 2016 as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE POLICE CHIEF RICKARD TO SIGN THE NYCOMCO AGREEMENT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to authorize the Police Chief to sign the NYCOMCO agreement. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO SURPLUS AND PUT ON AUCTION SITE (1) POLICE VEHICLE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilwoman Sutherland to surplus and put on auction site the following: 2012 Dodge Charger. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE THE POLICE CHIEF TO SIGN MOU WITH FEDERAL PRISON:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilwoman Sutherland to authorize the Police Chief to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
BUDGET PUBLIC HEALTH LINE:
Supervisor Volpe stated we need to create a budget line to pay Bob Decker (instructor) for the CPR classes. We charge $20 for the class which pays for the card and the instructor. This will be self-funded.
RESOLUTION TO CREATE BUDGET LINE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to create A4010.4 & A1601 Public Health.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Howell to approve the following budget modification: increase revenue budget line A1601 by $200 & increase expense line A4010 by $200. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
NARCAN CLASSES:
Supervisor Volpe advised the board re: someone coming to give NARCAN classes. (This is for heroin.) He has a class scheduled for May 31. It’s 90 minutes. He will open it up to first responders first. It’s free. 2 year certification. When you are done you get 2 full cans of the NARCAN. They have a 2 year shelf life. This is subsidized by the federal government. Initially he would like to open it up to Mount Hope Fire. He called Howells, they don’t do medical calls. They were having a meeting tonight. I’m hoping that as 1st responders they’d like to go to the class. We can have more classes. We can open it the public. Any firemen or EMS that want to take the class can call Angela and she’ll put you on the list. Christine at Village will do the same thing. 40 is class max. This will not do anything unless you overdose. Chief Masters stated they are having their own class for that and also blood borne pathogens on Saturday. Supervisor asked him to pass the info on in case anyone else wants to take it on the 31st at 5:00pm at the senior center.
VFW CHARTER SHOWCASE:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Lou Maurizzio asking permission to hang the VFW charter showcase on the wall at the senior center. He requested a drawing of what it would look like with dimensions. Councilman Cambareri asked: glass or plexon? Mr. Maurizzio: ¼” plexon. Councilman Howell: will it be inside or out? Maurizzio: inside; between the door & window on the Baker Street side of building. He will provide insurance for this. He asked about the cabinet key for the cabinet in the kitchen. Supervisor: he will get a key to each group.
RESOLUTION TO APPROVE VFW CHARTER SHOWCASE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd by Councilman Howell to approve the VFW showcase to be put in to the senior center. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri seconded by Councilman Howell to approve the following bills:
GENERAL A: #203-249$88,853.04
GENERAL B: #37-43$ 6,339.84
HIGHWAY: #49-61$61,993.56
SEWER: #30-36$61,834.80
CAP RES GEN A:#5$ 818.12
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
L. Davoren: Question from last time to Chief: was he hiring? He answered no twice. Davoren then asked about resume to the hiring process for the police department. Atty. Bavoso: asked Mr. Davoren to put his request in writing to him.
M. See: asked if the 4H work was done on grant money or on tax payers money. Supervisor Volpe: done on the contract that was written 4 years ago. It’s tax payers money. See: asked how many man hours went into there. Probably 75% of the town people go to fair and it’s free. At Cornell a lot of functions have to be paid for. It’s town property but gates are locked. There’s a maintenance fee. Someone takes care of the roads. I don’t know how many town people go to these functions and pay for that compared to the fair. And compared to the amount of money we spend as town people for that place. I’d like to know the # of man hours. They did an awesome job. I can’t even go to an event there for free. Councilman Carey: you can FOIL that contract.
F. Ketcham: re: Deerpark Commons – he hopes the town is an interested party. Supervisor: we are. Mr. Ketcham requested that copies of the draft laws be posted on the website. Atty. Bavoso: yes. Ketcham asked the status of the lawsuit with Dragon Springs. Attorney will check on it. Ketcham: toured the school a month ago with the councilmen. We saw the roof drain on the school is plugged. He spoke with Dean about clearing the drain. Dean: unfortunately not yet. Ketcham: it is causing more damage to gym floor. There will be a power point presentation on April 28 at the historic meeting.
C. Furman: appreciates cluster housing being brought up to the planning board. He thinks we should consider doing a moratorium. Councilwoman Sutherland discussed that with them. The board talked amongst themselves for a while. This will come up again at their next meeting. He also has concerns with Mr. Plotsky being part of it. He asked if the UTA correspondence could be read. Atty. Bavoso explained that basically the next scheduled court appearance has been cancelled because they are working towards a settlement. It needs ratification. He will double check with Glenn. Furman doesn’t understand why we’re considering giving a reduction on it. Councilman Cambareri: the assessed value of the lab is not now what it was when they bought it. Councilman Howell: it would be the same if you asked for a reduction based on comparables saying yours should be lower than they are. Furman: the trend is going up in real estate market, why are we giving them a break when they are one of the #1 schools that the FBI is investigating. He understands why they did that with Cornell/4H but agriculture is changing. There is dairy farming but not like it used to be. I understand what everybody’s concerns are with serving alcohol but it’s done in a different taste.
R. Garrity is concerned with comprehensive plan being tied in with the solar. There are solar companies not doing things above board. I’ve been doing solar for 14 years. I believe the way we do it makes sense. He invites anyone to see some of the projects they’ve done. Technology is new to this area. The scale of the project we are talking about is not huge. He would like the opportunity to sit with the board. Supervisor Volpe asked where is the closest place to here that you have something this size. Garrity: finger lakes area. 1 in Ithaca. Supervisor: what are you proposing here? Garrity: 22-44. It would be done in one area. Half of it wouldn’t be seen.
D. Loeven: Seniors have 2 summer trips planned. The invite is open to anyone in Mount Hope. Each trip is approx.. $400 which covers everything on the trips except for lunch. 1st trip is to Lancaster, PA (June 15-17); there are 2 shows involved with guided tour of the area. 2nd trip is to Baltimore and DC(Aug. 16-18). There will be a tour of the war monuments, spend time at harbor another dinner show & Annapolis. She has had complaints from seniors at Devan’s Gate (Janet knows) about the new fans installed there. They are on sensors and they aren’t set quite right. At the last meeting, the woman who had been in touch (with Janet) is frustrated because no one had gotten back to her. If you (Janet) could call her, she would appreciate it. RECAP was to come look at the fans but didn’t get there as of 12:30. Sutherland: had tried to call after the last meeting – after speaking with Patti she would see what they could do. She will try again.
M. Maurizzio: re: April 4th minutes being approved. She talked about Mr. Depolito’s comment not being in the minutes. She doesn’t consider what she said last time as an attack on Janet when there was discussion re: 4H & alcohol. She is against it. She referred to Mr. Furman’s comment about being “tastefully done”. That doesn’t cut it. She thinks the village report should come from Janet as the village liaison not Diane. Councilwoman Sutherland: thanked Mrs. Maurizzio for her comments. With regard to giving the report – she is not pushing her responsibility to Diane. There’s a lot to be said and Diane would say what she feels is the most pertinent. Prior years – Diane always gave the report. Councilman Carey: asked Diane if she gets a report from the town at their meetings. Ms. Loeven stated yes if there is a liaison there she does. Sometimes she adds to it if her board would like to know. Councilman Carey has concerns with the minutes. He asked how long the recordings are kept. Clerk: 4 months. M. Maurizzio asked if Mr. Depolitos comment could be added. Clerk: if the board makes a motion. His comment was read into the correspondence. Town Clerk: part of the issue is when the board is speaking there are side bar conversations going on. This recorder picks up everything.
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Carey: Maybe we could look into some other equipment. Cambareri: added that they started to look into a camera system. Then a video would be put on website. Supervisor: minutes would still have to be done. Cambareri: legally the minutes don’t have to be approved by the board. Town Clerk: legally they don’t have to have all the comments. The only things really that have to be in there are motions of the board, who is in attendance (board), doesn’t have to say the public – all of that is extra that takes hours to do. Maurizzio: was the recorder ever broke and that’s why things didn’t appear. Supervisor: it was an isolated incident it was the end of one meeting. Clerk: it was the March 21st meeting. The recorder was full and didn’t know it until the meeting started.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilwoman Sutherland: how many kids needed to have the after camp pay for itself? Supervisor: approx. 15. Sutherland: the cost of janitors & overtime? Supervisor: it’s all in the cost; not sure of the cost off the top of my head. Supervisor: That’s personnel so it should be executive. You could call Dominick or Brian and ask them & they’ll tell you anything you need to know. Sutherland: I have people asking me on the street thinking as a board member I would know. Councilman Carey: it’s on the website. Sutherland: why be secretive – share the information. Carey: this was brought up as a benefit for the people that live here that can’t get there by a certain time. Sutherland: there’s so many concerns with the highway department and the police putting so much time into the fair that that benefit the community. Cambareri: this will be budget neutral. We have “X” amount of money in the summer rec program and we will not go over it. Sutherland: if this is going to break even how is it going to happen? Cambareri: it will be budget neutral through the cost that the people pay for the service and how we administer the actual budget. Sutherland: will it take away from the money that’s already there for summer rec? Cambareri: nothing is being cut, we are cutting costs. This is a pilot this year. Hopefully it’ll expand next year as long as it stays budget neutral. Carey: what we’ve seen from the people that registered tonight was positive. D. Loeven added that she has been questioned for the cost. For the afterschool it is $300 per child no matter how many. There’s no reduction for more than one. This is in addition to the registration fee.
Councilman Carey has been questioned on the curtains from the old school being borrowed for the play. Will they be returned? Were they returned for a certain amount of time? Councilwoman Sutherland: highway didn’t clean the curtains. They took them down and gave them to the play. She will call Kim Mynders and ask her about them.
Councilman Howell: asked if the insurance person was someone we could use to train employees on safety? Supervisor: yes. He’s a big resource for us. I’m looking into defensive driving for all the people we have on our insurance. Their cost is what they get charged from NYS. $13-$15.
RESOLUTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell seconded by Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 9:14pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for May 2, 2016 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk