Village of Lansing

 

MINUTES of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday, November 5, 2007, in the Village Office.

 

Present: Mayor Donald Hartill; Trustees, John O’Neill, Frank Moore, Larry Fresinski and Lynn Leopold; Clerk/Treasurer Jodi Dake; Attorney David Dubow.

 

Mayor Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:33 P.M. and opened the public comment period. Sorel Gottfried stated that North Triphammer Road looks much nicer and she thanked the Board for all their effort on this project.

 

                       Motion-To Close the Public Comment Period  

 

Trustee Fresinski moved to close the public comment period. Trustee O’Neill seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                 Trustee Larry Fresinski -Aye 

Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                   Trustee Frank Moore-Aye      

Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

 

Approval of minutes was next on the agenda.

 

Motion - To Approve the Minutes from October 11th & 15th, 2007.

 

Trustee O’Neill moved that the draft meeting notes, as reviewed and revised by the Clerk/Treasurer and the Board, are hereby adopted as the official minutes. Trustee Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                 Trustee Larry Fresinski –Aye Trustee John O’Neill-Aye                 Trustee Frank Moore-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

 

Next on the agenda was the return of delinquent taxes to the County. It was explained that if Village residents do not pay their taxes within 6 months they are forwarded to the County and the County pays the Village the amount owing. It then becomes the County’s liability and these delinquent amounts appear on the taxpayer’s County tax bill.

 

                        Resolution#5391 -To Forward the Delinquent Taxes to the County

 

Trustee Leopold moved this motion and Trustee Beebe seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

                        Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye                 Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                                           Trustee John O’Neill- Aye                   Trustee Lynn Leopold- Aye

                        Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye

Each of the Board members then signed the delinquent tax affidavit as required, which will be sent to Tompkins County Division of Budget & Finance. The list of delinquent taxpayers included 14 property owners who didn’t pay their 2007-2008 Village taxes. The total unpaid tax and penalty amount was $5,280.43.

 

The Mayor stated that the Town elections were tomorrow and he encouraged everyone to vote. John O’Neill commended the media, especially the Lansing Star, on their coverage of the candidates.

 

During the Mayor’s comments he stated that he is still hopeful that the City of Ithaca will decide to receive their water from Bolton Point. As to the sewer matters in the Town of Lansing, he reported that they are still trying to recover costs from the bond act funding to cover the expenses that were incurred with engineering and related services. Don is still trying to figure out how to proceed with sewer. He met with Ken Lynch, who is the NYS DEC regional Director, on a different matter last week. He seems like a nice guy. Frank thinks that he and the Mayor should get together to further discuss the intermunicipal sewer issue. Frank previously met with Richard Dick and they discussed the possibility of disbursement points. Frank explained that this is common in England. Frank likes the idea of forming a commission to have a management structure for all of the local area plants. Don agreed that the Ithaca Area Plant and the Cayuga Heights Plant could be managed as one.

 

Don stated that we are making progress on the various dedications and conveyances of roads and easements to the Village. The Bomax sewer line will allow us to help the Town of Lansing with their sewer issue on Warren Road.

 

Don attended the last TCCOG meeting, and reported that they discussed the current issues regarding SPCA support. The outcome was a Memorandum of Understanding between the towns that addresses at least some of the concerns. The cost for SPCA is comparable to other areas. Cats are actually supported by the County. He expressed his thoughts that it is better to contract than to have your own facility.

 

In conjunction with the proposed water and sewer evaluation resolution that TCCOG has circulated to the participating governmental entities, Frank expressed his feeling that we need to get a grip on the septic systems situation in the County. He indicated that there will always be septic systems in certain areas, and a priority should be to understand the problems that exist. Which ones are failing? Which ones are leaking? Frank questioned how anything could be done if you don’t know what the problem is. Why should we apply for funding to carry out a study? Frank doesn’t think a study is the right approach. He believes that we have enough knowledge based upon the extensive work done by the group of six municipalities that resulted in the agreements involving Cayuga Heights Plant and the City Plant.  It was commented that a quarter of a million dollars was spent on the Environmental Impact Statement that was previously completed.  Lynn stated that thermal testing was done in Ulysses.

 

Lynn brought up the deer hunting and NYS DEC deer management program and indicated that she would still like to have a hunt on her property. She stated that the DEC allows for hunting in an area less than 500 feet from a dwelling if you have permission from the resident. The question she had was does this also apply to being 500 feet away from the road. If this does apply, then she will not be able to have a hunt on her property. Jodi indicated that she will research this and email everyone tomorrow. David Dubow explained that since Lynn’s property was listed on the DMAP application, a formal resolution to allow hunting on her land is not necessary. She will, however, have to have a written statement and plan, acknowledgement and consent from her neighbors. Currently, no one else is legally hunting in the Village. Frank questioned whether a hunt on her property would really make a difference. Lynn feels it will have minimal impact if they are the only property owner doing a hunt.

 

Larry stated that all but two streetlights on N. Triphammer are working. There has been an issue with faulty capacitors. The two that are not working are the two streetlights at the Route 13 Bridge that are the responsibility of the State.

 

Motion- To Go Into Executive Session for Matters Involving The Proposed Acquisition, Sale or Lease of Property With Respect to Which Publicity Might Affect Value

 

Trustee Leopold moved to go into executive session. Trustee Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill -Aye                            Trustee John O’Neill-Aye

Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                               Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

Trustee-Larry Fresinski-Aye

 

The Board went into executive session at 8:20pm.

 

Motion- To Come Out of Executive Session

 

Trustee O’Neill moved to come out of executive session. Trustee Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:

 

Mayor Donald Hartill -Aye                            Trustee John O’Neill-Aye

Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                               Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

Trustee-Larry Fresinski-Aye

 

The Board came out of executive session at 9:03pm.

 

Motion- To Adjourn

 

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

 

Mayor Donald Hartill -Aye                            Trustee John O’Neill-Aye

Trustee Frank Moore-Aye                               Trustee Lynn Leopold –Aye

Trustee-Larry Fresinski-Aye

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:04 PM.                                        

                                                                                                                                                            Jodi Dake

Clerk/Treasurer