MARCH 6, 2017 VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Kurt Wheeler, Trustee Amy Mann, Trustee Dave Porter, Trustee Maureen Fellows, Trustee Fritz Koennecke
ALSO PRESENT: Jim Stokes, Mike Hayes, Bill Carr, Ted & Barb Bartlett, Ann Cross & Jack Rooney, Lauren Lines
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m.
Upon a motion by Trustee Fritz Koennecke, seconded by Trustee Amy Mann the Board approved the minutes from the February 6, 2017 Village Board Meeting, and the February 13th and February 28th Budget workshop meetings by a vote of 5-0.
Mayor Wheeler presented Barb Bartlett with the following Resolution of Appreciation which the Board passed at their January 3rd meeting:
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION FOR BARBARA GIAMBASTIANI BARTLETT ON THE OCCASION OF HER RETIREMENT FROM THE NY STATE LORENZO HISTORIC SITE
WHEREAS, Barbara Bartlett has been a valued employee of the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation since 1987, and
WHEREAS, her previous duties included service as the Restoration Coordinator for historic sites in the Central Region, including many of the highly sophisticated restorations conducted at Lorenzo, and
WHEREAS, she has served as the State Historic Site Director at Lorenzo from 2001 to now, during which time she has guided the development of Lorenzo into one of the most effectively operated and forward-thinking State Historic Sites, and
WHEREAS, her exceptional tour as the Site Director at Lorenzo has been the capstone of a career in Historic Preservation and Historic Conservation/Restoration since her graduation from Columbia University’s Masters Program in Historic Preservation, and
WHEREAS, she spear-headed the successful preservation and restoration of the Rippleton School House with its move to Lorenzo and oversaw its development as not only a historic building, but as an active component for outreach to students and other New Yorkers of all ages and as a new venue for creative and engaging programs to be offered, and
WHEREAS, she has worked hand in hand with the Friends of Lorenzo throughout her distinguished tenure, nurturing their outstanding support for Lorenzo, and
WHEREAS, she has been a driving force in her field, not only at Lorenzo, but in promoting grass roots,community and regional efforts in historic preservation and in advocacy for cultural and arts organizations across our area, and
WHEREAS, she has worked tirelessly to develop and promote Lorenzo as not only a State Historic Site but as a cultural, natural and recreational asset that is used and appreciated by the entire Cazenovia community in countless ways,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cazenovia Village Board of Trustees salutes Barbara Bartlett for her invaluable role in continuing and promoting the restoration and conservation of Lorenzo, for tirelessly raising awareness of Lorenzo across the state, region and our local community, for successfully making Lorenzo and its many activities a central part of the fabric of the Cazenovia community, for actively advocating for better understanding of historic preservation, and for her cooperative participation and support of arts and cultural organizations locally and regionally, and
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Cazenovia Village Board of Trustees extends its appreciation on behalf of our entire community for all of her many contributions during her lengthy and distinguished service to our state and local area.
Jim Cunningham, manager of the Madison County Sewer District (MCSD) provided a power point slide presentation to the Village board that described updates to the collection system, as well as, the treatment facility capacity, condition, current sewer rates, and the proposed MCSD asset transfer to the Town of Cazenovia.
The Treatment facility and collection system are designed for both hydraulic and Organic loading limits. The treatment facility is currently at 63 percent of its hydraulic capacity and 62 percent of its Organic loading capacity. The collection system is experiencing high hydraulic flows at times, due to extreme wet weather events combined parts of the collection system being 150 year old clay piping. The treatment facility has observed wet weather flows as high as 5 million gallons per day, and is designed for slightly less than a million gallons per day. The plant has recently been modified to collect extreme flows within an empty tank and slowly pump the collected wastewater back through the treatment system once the extreme weather has ended, however there is a limit to the volume that can be collected. A long wet weather event would fill the tank eventually. Spring thaws with a large snow volume, combined with rain have been challenging. MCSD has also recently added an automated system to help settle solids activated at higher flow conditions. The collection system main interceptors owned by the MCSD have been cleaned and televised recently and found to be in good condition except for two areas identified. One area, near the Clark street bridge was in need of repair. That line was replaced with a larger PVC line. The Line that crosses under Chenango street that accepts a large portion of the community’s wastewater tends to collect grease on the pipes sidewalls. The MCSD has implemented a frequent line cleaning program to keep this vital line fully clean of grease. Jim stressed that commercial establishments not only need to have properly designed grease traps, but that they need to remove the grease from them on a regular schedule, not doing so causes the entire community to pay more for grease removal when it could easily be taken care of at the source.
Over the last few years the community has experienced an increase in building construction. Along with new houses, a new hotel, two distilleries, and a brewery have been added to the system. Cunningham said that it is rather amazing that when the original collection system was constructed so long ago it is still handling current growth and commercial expansion with some of the same clay pipes in place. Of course Jim explained, that there is a limit to how much these old pipes can convey as expansion proceeds in the future. Increasing line sizes under roads and around many utilities is an expensive activity. New technologies have emerged that allow repairs and pipe enlargement without having to excavate large areas, such as pipe bursting and slip lining older pipes, but in some situations due to the pipe’s age and capacity, new pipes may be needed. The treatment facility has seen an increase in organic loading in the last year. For the first time in the history of the treatment system the District was required by USEPA and NYSDEC to issue an industrial discharge permit to the new Empire Farmstead Brewery business, due to the amount of organics that are allowed to enter the treatment facility as a percent of its organic treatment capacity. The Brewery is required to meet specific limits and conditions of the permit, including testing, flow equalization, and pH control prior to discharging into the collection system. The brewery startup period had its typical bugs to be work out, but so far this year the Brewery is well under its permit requirements, and hopefully will be as they anticipate increasing production in the future.
The treatment facility is currently 41 years old. Jim has set up an asset management system that sets out equipment repairs and replacement over the next ten years. Many of the original equipment manufacturers are no longer in business, making it increasingly more difficult to obtain replacement components. Over the last few years we replaced an incoming screen, modern alarm systems, pump replacement, electrical upgrades, replaced a belt dewatering press, and compost processing improvements. The district is in the process of replacing the original equipment that supplies oxygen for microbiological growth. Jim explained that in 40 years many new technologies have emerged that are much more energy efficient than the original equipment. Although equipment is in need of replacement simply due to its age, in many cases it is also cost effective to update equipment to save money through efficiency and increased performance.
Jim discussed sewer rates as being one of the lowest he has observed from national studies conducted. The district sewer rates are on average one half the current national average cost. Recent funding via grants provided by state and federal governments have specific funding requirements that look at existing sewer rates, Medium Home Income (MHI) and treatment facility performance. The original federal clean water act of 1972 funded the treatment plant construction and sewer line improvements at nearly 90 percent State and Federal funding. The past Clean water act funding makes today’s rates much lower than they would have been if only local funding constructed the original facility. Currently the MCSD annual budget is funded only by the connected properties in the district. The MCSD has in comparison to other local municipalities a low sewer rate. Combined with low rates the district MHI, Medium Home Income is higher than the threshold for current state and federal funding, as well as excellent treatment performance, making it difficult to obtain state and federal funding currently. Other funding methods may soon become available which might not have the existing requirements, which could be good for the district, so we will be looking for opportunities if new funding programs emerge.
The MCSD is in the process of transferring all assets to the Town of Cazenovia. Last year Senate Bill number S7016 was passed, and signed by the Governor approving the transfer. Currently Bill Zupan is the Chairmen of the Madison County Sewer District. When the MCSD transfers to the Town of Cazenovia this year, Bill will still be in charge of the system. Bill Zupan has supported maintaining the MCSD to stay in top performance condition to meet regulatory permit requirements by upgrading equipment and I’m confident as the system transfers it will be a seamless transition.
Upon a motion by Mayor Wheeler and seconded by Trustee Mann, the Board scheduled a Public Hearing for March 28, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. to consider a proposed local law entitled, “A local law authorizing a property tax levy in excess of the limit established in General Municipal Law section 3-c for the 2017-2018 budget and fiscal year.” This local law is intended to authorize the Village of Cazenovia to exceed the tax levy cap otherwise provided under New York State law for the Village’s 2017-2018 budget and fiscal year by a vote of 5-0.
The Village Board scheduled a special meeting for March 28, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as may be heard, at the Municipal Building to discuss the 2017 – 2018 budget.
Mayor Wheeler reported the consolidation process is moving forward nicely. The Village expects to hear back on Phase 1 of the process by the end of this month. Phase 2 includes putting a committee together.
Upon a motion by Mayor Wheeler and seconded by Trustee Mann the Board delegated Kurt Wheeler, Maureen Fellows and Bill Carr from the Village, Lauren Lines from CACDA, Anne Redfern from the League of Women Voters, to a joint committee with Bill Zupan, Kristi Anderson and Tim Hunt from the Town of Cazenovia for Phase 2 of the consolidation process by a vote of 5-0.
Upon a motion by Mayor Wheeler and seconded by Trustee Porter the Board passed the following resolution by a vote of 5-0.
IN THE MATTEROF
VILLAGE OF CAZENOVIA ESTABLISHING ENERGY BENCHMARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS / RESOLUTION # 42
The VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VILLAGE OF CAZENOVIA, in the County of Madison, State of New York, met in regular session at the Municipal Building, located at 90 Albany St., in the Village of Cazenovia, County of Madison, State of New York, on the March 6, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Kurt Wheeler, and the following were present, namely:
Amy Mann Trustee
Dave Porter Trustee
Fritz Koennecke Trustee
Maureen Fellows Trustee
The following resolutions were moved, seconded and adopted:
WHEREAS, buildings are the single largest user of energy in the State of New York; the poorest performing buildings typically use several times the energy of the highest performing buildings—for the exact same building use; and
WHEREAS, collecting, reporting, and sharing building energy data on a regular basis allows municipal officials and the public to understand the energy performance of municipal buildings relative to similar buildings nationwide, and equipped with this information the Village of Cazenovia is able to make smarter, more cost-effective operational and capital investment decisions, reward efficiency, and drive widespread, continuous improvement; and
WHEREAS, the Village of Cazenovia Board of Trustees desires to use Building Energy Benchmarking, a process of measuring a building’s energy use, tracking that use over time, and comparing performance to similar buildings, to promote the public health, safety, and welfare by making available good, actionable information on municipal building energy use to help identify opportunities to cut costs and reduce pollution in the Village; and
WHEREAS, as such the Village Board desires to establish procedure or guideline for Village staff to conduct such Building Energy Benchmarking; and
NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED AND DETERMINED, that the following specific policies and procedures are hereby adopted and imposed as active and affirmative financial internal control procedures of the Village of Cazenovia;
Building Energy Benchmarking POLICY/procedures