The regular monthly meeting of the Town of Tompkins Town Board was called to order at 7:00 pm in the Town meeting room, Trout Creek, NY.
Present:
- William Layton – Supervisor
- Howard Buttel – Councilperson
- Tim LaTourette – Councilperson
- Peggy Backus – Councilperson
- Carl Stuendel – Councilperson
Others:
- Ronald VanValkenburg – Hwy Superintendent
- Michelle Phoenix – Town Clerk
- Nancy Roberts – Bookkeeper to the Supervisor
- Wendy Layton – Town of Tompkins Assessor
Pledge to the flag was led by Howie Buttel.
Guest Speakers: None
Minutes Approval:
On motion by Buttel, seconded by LaTourette, it was moved to approve the minutes of the July 8, 2013 Board Meeting.
Vote: 4 AYEs – Buttel, LaTourette, Backus & Layton
1 Abstain – Stuendel
Motion Carried.
Monthly Financial Reports:
Town Clerk / Tax Collector Report:
On motion by Stuendel, seconded by Buttel, it was moved to receive, approve and place on file the Town Clerk/Tax Collector monthly report for July 2013.
Vote: All AYEs – Motion carried.
Supervisor’s Report:
On motion by Stuendel, seconded by Backus, it was moved to receive, approve and place on file the Supervisor’s monthly financial Audit dated August 20, 2013.
Vote: All AYEs – Motion carried.
Other Reports:
Planning Board – None
Assessor – August 20, 2013 Assessor report was provided to Board for review.
Highway Superintendent
- Working in gravel bank for DEC Inspection – Required repairs have been made and approved by DEC.
- Abe Boice & Bullock Hill road’s have had 2 inch top done and now are waiting to be sealed.
- Grader broke down and is being worked on. Ron questioned having Castleview road also done with the cost of apx $20,000.
- Some equipment repairs have been done.
- Mowing and weed eating has been done.
- Pipe on Mormon Hollow by Kehr residence has been done. FEMA was here today and they will be reviewing it to determine if it will be paid for from the rain event we had.
- Rip – Rap area on Mormon Hollow is complete.
- Boom mowing has been done on Mormon Hollow
- Have helped Town of Walton and Town of Franklin seal roads. Currently helping Town of Franklin with 2 inch pug mill.
- Chamberlain Brook in the area where the rip-rap was done by LaFever has needed some repair.
- Carcass Brook has had some trees cut.
- Chase Brook has had trees and chipping done.
- New truck came in on 8/12/2013 and is currently sitting in Highway garage – Needs steps, mud flaps and Ron is currently getting prices on box and plow. Ron would also like to purchase 5 more rims and winter tires.
- Ron advised the board the contract with County for plowing is up in October. – Layton discussed with Ron of the possibility of the County adding additional roads for plowing due to the County Building in Sidney Center closing.
Report – Dog Control Officer –
- Numerous calls for the month of July. All were able to be taken care of over the phone.
- Received a call from a resident due to neighbor’s dog killing pet ducks. A harboring letter was sent out to the owner of dog giving them 14 days to license dog. The resident owning the ducks was also advised of their rights if the dog continues to harm/kill the animals.
Report- Supervisor
- Lillian Brown from the Walton Reporter had called questioning the status of the fire tower – Per Steve Brown it is in the states hands.
- At the Public Works meeting the discussion of closing the Sidney Center DPW building and where the Sidney Center crew would now work out of. A discussion also took place on having Town of Tompkins and Town of Masonville cover the plowing of roads that Sidney Center does and being reimbursed by the County.
- Wayne Reynolds from DPW stated that the Town does not need to put salt down on the roads Tompkins currently maintains in the winter. He stated that grit was acceptable and was up to the Town.
- A copy of the stipulation to settle the NYC Litigation relating to the assessment of the Cannonsville Reservoir property was sent by R. Beebe and after being reviewed it was found that at this time the agreement will not be signed due to many items being unclear.
- Department of Watershed affairs Contract. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has identified project(s) in your town they feel is/are eligible for funding under their Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). This program is the result of Hurricane Irene and or Tropical Storm Lee and provides 75% of the funds necessary to address the failure(s) identified. Inside the New York City watershed, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to provide the balance of the funding (25%) on projects they approved. However, outside the watershed as well as a limited number inside the watershed, the responsibility for that match falls to the towns where the failure occurred. To aid in local response, Delaware County was awarded an Empire State Development (ESD) grant to provide funding to those municipalities where the devastating floods of 2011 occurred and as a result the county will be able to cover the 25% match.
On Motion by Stuendel, Seconded by LaTourette to sign the contract between Delaware County and The Town of Tompkins to enable the Town of Tompkins to be reimbursed to cover the 25% match.
Vote: All AYEs – Motion carried.
Correspondence: –
Chamber of Commerce membership – The board declined to join.
Other:
CWMP
On Motion by LaTourette, Seconded by Backus, it was moved to approve CWC payment #8.
Vote: All AYEs – Motion Carried
Change order #4 – On Motion by Stuendel, Seconded by Buttel it was moved to approve change order #4.
Vote: All AYE’s – Motion Carried.
A Letter was sent out to LaTourette from LaFever about the plumbing issue. LaTourette stated he had received the letter and also an agreement to sign stating he was happy with what he had done to fix his plumbing issue he just needed to get it signed in front of a notary and sent it back.
Linda Scott / Court Clerk is in need of a updated computer. On motion by Layton, Seconded by Buttel it was approved to have Linda look into what exactly she needs and to go ahead and purchase the computer.
Vote: All AYE’s – Motion Carried
Today Ron, Nancy, Bill met with FEMA, NYS and HPA. It was discussed that being Ron and Nancy are the Towns FEMA Administrative, they could get paid for administrative fees. In the past it was discussed that the board agreed to come up with a set amount to pay them. Before anything is set Layton will check with other towns and see what they pay for FEMA Administration.
A discussion took place on the Town of Tompkins paying the Hancock Fire District to cover areas in our Town. Michelle and Bill have stated to look into this and will continue to investigate why this is being done and if it can be changed to have Trout Creek Fire Company cover their own District.
Abstract of Claims
On motion by LaTourette, seconded by Buttel, it was moved to approve the Abstract of Claims for August 20, 2013 as follows:
General Fund: $8656.65
Highway Fund: $162,523.42
Vote: All AYEs – Motion carried.
On Motion by Layton, Seconded by Backus it was moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:54 pm
Vote: All AYES- Motion Carried
Next meeting will be held on September 9, 2013 at 7:00pm.
Date: August 20, 2013
Michelle Phoenix
Town of Tompkins
Town Clerk
Town of Tompkins in New York's Delaware County 