November 3, 2014 Village Board Meeting

NOVEMBER 3, 2014 VILLAGE BOARD MEETING

MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Kurt Wheeler,Trustee Amy Mann,Trustee Dave Porter, Trustee Jim Joseph

ALSO PRESENT: Helen Stacy, Jason Emerson, Lauren Lines, Dan Kwasnowski, Darlene & Bruce Pulkinen, Stanley & Grazyna Kozaczka, Janet Butler, Josie Chiarello, Grace Wheeler, Peter Decew, Keaton Ackermann, Sam Langan, Matt Mistur, Meredith Shephard(see list for remainder present).

The Village Board approved the minutes from the October 6th Village Board meeting.

Mayor Wheelerintroduced Dan Kwasnowski of Applied Planning who gave a brief overview of the Creekside Planned Development District Analysis and Recommendations that he had completed(see attached). The focus is properties along the creek on Chenango St. and Riverside Drive. Mr. Kwasnowski and Mayor Wheeler summarized by saying the three main action steps at this point would be the trail plan, layout of the village parcel and the zone change.

A short discussion followed. Mayor Wheeler proposed to put this item on the December to initiate discussion and review of a potential zone change and create forums for stakeholders to provide input about the trail network and design/future use of the village parcel.

Lauren Lines gave the CACDA report:

Village of Cazenovia –

Carpenter’s Barn/Lakeland Park NYS Parks Planning Grant (2013 CFA) is underway.
Speed feedback signs purchased through the Safe Routes to Schools grant were installed. Yield to pedestrian signs will be ordered and a Walk/Bike to School Day is planned for May 2015 with cooperation from the CCSD and Village PD.
Grant application will be developed for records management under NYS Archives program - met with Kathy Burns to begin discussion.

Town of Cazenovia –

NYS Department of Ag & Markets Grant proposal for implementation of recommendations made under the Farmland Protection Plan was funded and is underway.
Community Development Block Grant was approved ($516,000) for the Empire Brewery Project. This will fund the purchase of equipment and machinery.
Department of State Local Government Efficiency grant ($22,500) to consolidate the Town Sewer Districts was funded and work is underway.
A DEC Water Quality Improvement Program grant for runoff mitigation was submitted on 12/13/13 ($68,086) - NOT FUNDED
Grant application will be developed for records management under NYS Archives program.

CACDA Initiatives

2013 Signature Project –

GoCaz signage should be installed this fall weather permitting.

2014 Signature Project -

BikeCaz committee continues to meet and develop: 1) Snow Bike event for Winterfest, 2) Bike Rack competition, 3) Bike to School Day, 4) Bike Benefits program

Joint Projects with Chamber –

Cazenovia promotional video “The Cazenovia Experience” was released last month and can be accessed at
Submitted a grant proposal to CNY Arts to enhance the summer concert series.

Greater Cazenovia Art Trail

The Art Trail was held on the first two Saturdays in October. Two small grants (totaling $3,100) were received to assist with marketing the trail.

Ms. Lines shared the design chosen for the 2014 Bike Rack Competition and reported another competition will take place in 2015 for design only. The 2014 design would be suitable for either Lakeside or Lakeland Park and the board conveyed its agreement to consider placement in either location.

Mayor Wheeler reported there had been a request to convert the “Loading Zone” parking spot which is located on the corner of Lincklaen and Nickerson St. back to an all day spot as this was used for loading and unloading children at the nursery school that has since relocated.

Motion made by Mayor Wheeler and seconded by Trustee Mann to pass the following resolution:

RESOLUTION 24 # - BE IT RESOLVED that the Village of Cazenovia through its governing body the Board of Trustees, hereby agrees to convert the southernmost parking spot on the corner of Lincklaen St. and Nickerson St. from Loading Zone to all day parkingconsistent with the other spots to the south.

By vote of the Board – Mayor Kurt Wheeler – aye, Trustee Amy Mann – aye, Trustee Dave Porter – aye, Trustee Jim Joseph – aye

Four in favor. Approved.

Trustee Mann reviewed the use of Carpenter’s Barn by the Cazenovia Rowing Club for the past five years as they have requested to use the barn for indoor training this winter along with storage. The club is looking to use the barn from November through February of this year. The Board proposed the rate of $150 per month for using the barn and storing the equipment.This is based on approximately 12 visits a month for 6 hours per day. The proposed dates to be used are November 15th through March 15th.

Mindy Holgate will take this information back to the Rowing Club Board and get back to Trustee Mann with their decision.

Motion made by Trustee Mann and seconded by Mayor Wheeler to approve the usage of Carpenters Barn by the Cazenovia Rowing Club from November 15, 2014 through March 15, 2015 for the price of $150 per month, pending approval of this arrangement by the Rowing Club's Membership and also subject to renewal of their park use permit after January 1, 2015.

Vote taken. All aye. Approved.

Trustee Mann gave a quick synopsis of the paving on the Corwin St. project. During the summer it was determined that there would be adequate funds in the budget to repave Corwin this year instead of next year as originally planned if tip-ups were used instead of separately formed curbs. The street had begun to deteriorate rapidly and if the sub-base became compromised boxing out the street (at a cost of over a million dollars) would have been required. The village has installed tip-ups successfully on many other streets, including Burton St most recently. Granite curbing was not considered on this street. Due to the current budgetary constraints, the village will not be adding granite curbing (which is significantly more expensive) on any street where it is not pre-existing for the foreseeable future. Some Corwin St residents were unhappy with the project, noting that the curbs did not have the finished look as Burton St. did.

Mayor Wheeler added there was money left on the street construction budget so Corwin St. was repaved and sealed this year to save the sub-base.Mr. Carr reported one of the problems the company faced was the street got wider and then narrowed again which made it hard to do. A special paver had to be used to avoid a seam. The street is functional and drainage has not been compromised. The contractor has assured the village that the appearance of the street and tip-ups will improve over time as it wears in. They have agreed to come back in the spring to add a slurry seal at cost to seal and finish the tip ups if needed.

A short discussion followed.

Art Bigsby spoke on behalf of his family who owns 72 Albany St. and Barry Bushneck who owns 64 Albany St. regarding the new parking policies on Bennett Lane and the process that occurred this summer or early fall. Mr. Bigsby asked the Board to hold a special session with the owners of the businesses that are on Bennett Lane.

Mayor Wheeler stated the reason the change had occurred was for years the owners of the buildings on Albany St. wanted to obtain overnight parking and reviewed why this decision was made. After much discussion the Board agreed to make nine spots on Bennett Lane and eleven spots in Peggy’s lot overnight parking.

Mr. Bigsby also stated he has had a problem getting his parking spot adjacent to his building which was part of the CDBG Block Grant done years ago. Mayor Wheeler told a Mr. Bigsby to stop in the office and he will make sure he received the hang tag for his spot.

Mayor Wheeler will exchange e-mails with Mr. Bigsby to schedule a meeting with Albany St owners and residents.

Joanne Harrod, a resident of Mill St. questioned the safety of cars coming out of Bennett Lane to Mill St. Mayor Wheeler asked the Police Chief to look into this.

Tom Hayes, owner of Cazenovia Pizza agreed with Mr. Bigsby. Mr. Hayes brought up his concern regarding the lack of lighting on Bennett Lane. There are two lights there but are not lit. Public Works Administrator Bill Carrcontacted National Grid and is waiting to hear back. Mr. Carr will follow up with this.

Mayor Wheeler gave Trustee Fritz Koennecke’s monthly report:

Parks:

Joint Youth Recreation Committee met on 13 Oct here at the village hall.
Overall, it was a highly successful season. We had 206 kids signed up this year vs 178 last year
Plan is to increase the budget for additional staff to handle more kids (200), add more adult supervision, and to increase lifeguard coverage especially during the late summer.
Overall budget is increasing to $66,082, municipal share total is increasing from $41,610 to $43,000
Currently we have around $25,000 in the account when expenses through the end of the year are factored in. We underran on personnel costs (mostly lifeguards).
Plan to use about $7,500 of the surplus in next year’s budget.
With this year’s distribution of kids (there were 22 more kids from the village this year), the village share is expected to increase to $14,402 from $10,987.
The JYRC approved Elizabeth and me looking into to incorporating more year-round swimming instruction in the program. This would benefit the kids by improving swimming skills and it will improve our summer offerings.
CACDA’s Bike Rack selection committee met on 30 Sep. In order to close out this year’s competition, CACDA has decided to close out this competition by selecting the leading design and helping the artist with fabrication. There is a tentative plan to have another competition next year. Plan is to put the new racks at Lakeland park. Pending Village Board discussions and acceptance of the plan to put the new racks in the park, CACDA will press forward with notifications.

Boat Launch:

Boat launch has closed for the season- 1761 inspections vs 1452 last year.
I will update the summary statistics for the Lake Watershed summit on 22 Nov and for next month’s village meeting.

Lake Association and Lake Watershed Council

Lake Association met Oct 20th
The Madison County Sewer district is looking at various ways to spend $800k in accumulated maintenance and improvement funds. One potential option is to extend sewer lines around the lake some distance.
Most of the meeting was spent planning for the Summit- should see some newspaper ads and articles leading up to the event
I will speak on the launch and police reports for the year.
Benthic mat usage was doubled this year and the harvester was out for 30 days total, removing 3 dump trucks a day worth of biomass.
Next Watershed and CLA meeting is the 22 Nov Summit

Village Court:

Self-audit scheduled for Nov 17th, will bring to the board at the 1 Dec meeting for approval.
I have asked Kerri to develop some long term statistics about caseloads. Anecdotally, the court seems busier than in the past, even without the Town activities.
Monthly totals: Judge Moore $15,819, Judge O’Sullivan $0.

Trustee Jim Joseph gave his monthly report:

POLICE:

1.MAJOR INCIDENTS: Any case that is a felony or is information that is needed to ensure to public safety.

There have been several arrests for marihuana and control substances arrests in September and in October we had a robbery at knife point that is currently under investigation.

2. ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS: Currently we have 9 open cases that are actively being investigated. The cases range from narcotics to burglary to fraud. Any case load that can be worked with the assistance of another agency is and all information is shared at the monthly Madison County Investigators meeting.

3. CALL REPORT: For the month of September we had a total of 81 calls for service , 5 misdemeanor arrests, 2 felony arrests and 5 other types of arrests, 55 vehicle and traffic tickets written, 4 MVA’s investigated, 7 assists to other agencies (town calls) and 212 parking tickets issued. Totals for the year are also attached.

4. TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS: 16 speeding, 2 Aggravated unlicensed operation, 2 seatbelts, 5 cell phone, 10 equipment violations, 19 other violations.

5. BUDGET REPORT: We are on track with the budget as far as percentages of use. Some areas are higher than should be such as part time officers but now that summer is over, full time staffing is back to a previous level, all FTO for part time officers is concluded and most of the details are complete for the year, part time usage should level off.

(see attached list for the Police statistics)

Trustee Joseph added there has been an over run in the Chief/Part Time Uniform budget line and a new system has been implemented for reordering part time uniforms.

Chief Hayes attended a road safety conference and brought back information to be shared with the school.

Trustee Amy Mann gave her monthly report:

TREES

Tree Commission is having its fall wrapup meeting this Saturday, November 8, at 8:30 at Common Grounds. We will be starting to plan our 2015 plantings and educational seminar. We will also be discussing our current organization and distribution of duties. Our workload has picked up in the past couple years and as a volunteer group it can be hard to manage the ebbs and flows of volunteer availability so we want to make sure our functions are divided up effectively.

Also, in preparation for our 2014 Tree City application, I received a report from National Grid detailing all their in-kind contributions to our tree efforts. We include these amounts with the actual dollar amounts expended from the village budget when we report our total investment in trees for the year. I just wanted to report publicly that Grid contributed nearly $11,000 to the village in the past calendar year between participating in Tree Commission activities like meetings, our educational seminar, and Arbor Day, meeting with us to review hazard trees, and also the equipment and labor costs of removals and plantings. This literally doubles the village budget line allocated to Trees ($10K this year) and gives us a huge push toward our goals. Grid has been a strong partner to the village every year, and I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank them.

CARPENTERS BARN

As we discussed earlier on tonight's agenda, the Rowing Club has once again requested to use the barn for indoor training this winter.

Also, I believe LL Bean would once again like to store their trailer in the barn for the winter. I will work with Bill to contact them and coordinate this. I believe that last year they paid us $500 for this service.

Saratoga Associates have been in touch with Ted Bartlett and myself with an update on their Master Plan progress. They have supplied us with initial plans and specs for the remaining restoration of the park walls and iron fencing. Our contact at SHPO is retiring at the end of this week, so we were hopeful that we could get these drawings to them this week for initial review.

Saratoga anticipates finishing initial concept plans for the park in mid November (around the 17th.) At that time they will forward these to the committee for initial review and we will schedule the next public meeting.

Finally, the Miriam Nelson sculpture being loaned to us by the Art Park has been relocated to the barn and is secured there pending installation in the garden. We are awaiting paperwork from the Art Park which would govern the loan arrangement and were expecting to receive a draft by tonight's meeting for our review. If we have not yet received this, I would like to ask the board for their approval of accepting the loaned art pending review and approval of the agreement by Jim Stokes. We are working against the calendar at this point since we are hoping to complete the installation in the next couple weeks, so it would be good to have initial board approval to proceed as soon as the paperwork is executed.

DPW (See Bill's report)

Buildings

DPW roof has been completed

New door has been installed at the Police Department

LL Bean Trailer has been put in storage

Lakeside and Lakeland Park bathrooms have been closed

Work has started on a small addition to the water garage to store the sewer jetter.

Streets

Mahoney Associates has installed the sidewalk from Emick Lane down to base of hill. We will tie in with existing sidewalk in the spring.

Flower pots and planters have been removed throughout the village.

Corwin Street restoration work is complete.

Leaf and Brush pickup continues through November 7th.

Plows and sanders have been installed on the trucks