Village of Lansing

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Thursday August 16, 2007, in the Village Office.

PRESENT: Deputy Mayor, Larry Fresinski; Trustees Lynn Leopold, Frank Moore, Clerk/Treasurer Jodi Dake; Clerk PT, Carol Willard; Code & Zoning Officer, Benjamin Curtis; Laborers, Marty Moseley & Chris Bishop.

Deputy Mayor Fresinski called the meeting to order at 12:28P.M. Chris Bishop stated that this month they have paved Hampton Hills, Cayuga Heights Road, Beckett Way, Essex Court, Bomax Drive and Tyler Road. Gator bags have been placed on each of the trees along N. Triphammer Rd. These bags water the trees by releasing water slowly over a 5-9 hour period. The bags need to be filled weekly and takes the highway staff a day to do. The new zero turn mower is working well. It has cut down on mowing time since it is very fast and more efficient.

Marty stated that they started working on the Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) pit. John Courtney is on vacation this week so they will resume working on it again next week.

Larry asked about the voucher for a new overhead door. Marty stated that it replaced the broken one on the salt barn. Larry also informed the highway crew of the resident that came to the last Board of Trustees meeting who was concerned with the high weeds along North Triphammer Road. It was confirmed that this week they had mowed down the weeds behind the guardrail and also did the State highway area which they typically do twice a year. Lynn stated that the garden in front of the stone wall at the Pyramid entrance needs to be weeded. It is unclear if this is our property to maintain. Some research will be done on this subject and if it is our property then Lynn will go over and weed it.

Jodi stated that we have not had internet or email service since Tuesday afternoon. She has called Danica and internet should be up soon. John from Danica will be up Friday morning to see why the Village office is not able to connect. Larry will also contact Danica. Jodi has received 11 responses from the letter that was sent out on the Deer Management Assistance Program. There are many positive responses to this program. Jodi has had one call from a woman who would not like the hunt to happen because she likes to have the beautiful deer in her yard everyday. Jodi will have a list of all the comments for the Monday night Board meeting.

Larry reported that he continues to work with Kathryn Wolfe on way finding. The intent is to let businesses drive the interest by paying, and the Village will control the standards. Ben stated that there is a problem with Uptown/Cinema & Sheraton. The Board may want to consider changing Cinema Drive to be a continuation of Sheraton especially now that there is no cinema there. It’s hard to find Cinema Drive off of N. Triphammer Rd. unless you know that Cinema is off Sheraton.

Ben stated that Kohl’s is going in downtown and they are doing the hiring interviews at the Clarion. Kohl’s has placed many illegal signs in our right of way, which have been removed. We have received a new zoning map from Tompkins County Planning which shows the steep slopes and the County route numbers on it. Dr. Arleo’s office building project has just started brush hogging and will probably break ground tomorrow. Crossmore’s will be in the first Planning Board meeting in September for final subdivision plat approval. Pyramid is considering putting in an out building in the southwest corner in lieu of a new store. This would be an all green building. There are new houses going up in the Millcroft subdivision, Jonson’s development and one on N. Triphammer Rd. Colonial Vet’s new building is going up. There will be a rezoning proposal coming to the Board of Trustees for the rezoning of a portion of the current Business and Technology District to the Human Health District up by Convenient Care to allow for the expansion of the hospital offices. The Health Department is proposing to move from the Biggs Building near the Cayuga Medical Center to 55 Brown Road in the Village Business and Technology District. The zoning and permits for this are being done at the County level. Ben has written the County a letter to have them clarify what they are doing for code enforcement.

Lynn stated that she attended the Storm water Coalition meeting. They did a tour of Mike Carpenter’s building on Cherry Street that received a State grant to install a Green Wall, which is a wall of plants that actually cools the temperature inside the building. Lynn asked if the Storm water Coalition bill had been paid. Jodi has not received a bill. Lynn has it and will forward it to Jodi. The Storm water annual membership bill is usually paid to the Town of Ithaca in November. Lastly, Lynn reported that the IDDE Training on Stream Monitoring will take place in September or October.

Frank stated that he sat in on the Monday meeting with John O’Neill, John Bailey and Mr. Banfield regarding the proposed DMAP deer hunt program. John O’Neill will have an understanding with the insurance aspects and assumed liability. John O’Neill has gotten in touch with Officer Dresser at the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department regarding the controlled hunt and having it patrolled. Frank feels that this is something that the Mayor should be doing. John stated that the Mayor is busy and he has had success talking with Sheriff Meskill. It would be nice if during the hunting season there would be more frequent patrolling of this area. Frank asked if the word has gone out to the neighbors. It was reported that a letter was sent out last Friday to the property owners around the Murray Estates property. Lynn worries that if we do too much publication there will be more of a problem. Frank worries that there is not enough publication. Jodi stated that this information is on the agendas and it gets emailed to the papers. It is also posted on our Village website and on the bulletin boards. Anyone that follows our government activities would see that this topic has been discussed many times.

Carol reported that she attended the Census Meeting. At the meeting they advised her to wait until November to sign up which would give the County time to get their information updated.

Lynn brought up the issue of people riding their bikes on the sidewalk. With the N. Triphammer Rd reconstruction we’ve added bike lanes. It was suggested that an article go in the newsletter reminding people that they are not suppose to ride on the sidewalk.

Before approving the abstracts the Board questioned the voucher to pay $637.36 for wheel damage to Fritz Ernemann’s Audi. It was questioned whether or not this was our liability since the Village is not liable for any damage unless it has been previously reported and we have not fixed the situation. Neither John Courtney nor Mayor Hartill was present to explain the situation. The Board did not want to set a precedent, so they pulled that voucher before approving the abstracts. They will table this until they get more information.

Resolution #5372- Abstract of Audited Vouchers

Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 3 for the General Fund, in the amount of $193689.35 is hereby approved for payment with the exception of Voucher #90 to Fritz Ernemann in the Amount of $637.36 pending further information, ($193,051.99) and

Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No.3 for the Water Fund, in the amount of $2,792.15 , is hereby approved for payment, and

Be it RESOLVED, that Abstract of Audited Vouchers No. 3 for the Sewer Fund, in the amount of $1,052.57, is hereby approved for payment, and

Trustee Leopold moved that the foregoing Abstract of Audited Vouchers resolution be adopted and Trustee Moore seconded the motion.

Deputy Mayor Larry Fresinski-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

Lynn stated that whoever last went into the rain garden on the Village office property did not replace the rocks that hold down the fence and a big rabbit was inside. Jodi stated that Sharon Anderson has arranged for volunteers to come in and tend the garden. The next time she sees them she will pass the word on.

Motion- To Adjourn

Trustee Leopold moved for adjournment. Trustee Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

Deputy Mayor-Larry Fresinski-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee Frank Moore-Aye

The meeting adjourned at 1:35 PM.

Jodi Dake Clerk/Treasurer