VILLAGE OF CANASTOTA

MINUTES

December 20, 2021

Mayor Warner called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

PRESENT:	Mayor Rosanne Warner; Deputy Mayor Jeffrey Carpenter and Trustee Jeffrey Watkins; Fire Chief TJ Tornatore; Village Historian David Sadler; Code Enforcement Officer Mike Adsit; DPW Foreman Mark Maxwell; Sgt. Sean Barton; Dan Cunningham of New Water Technologies; and Bruce Burke of PAC 99.

ABSENT:	Trustees Bill McDade and Douglas Gustin.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, to approve the attached General Fund Abstract in the amount of $72,359.40. Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Carpenter, seconded by Trustee Watkins, to approve the attached Sewer Fund Abstract in the amount of $30,383.16. Passed 3 to 0.

Public Comments.

None.

Department Heads.

Fire Chief Tornatore reported that the air pack grant was filled out and submitted. The Mayor went an email to Darley today for some changes. The Mayor reviewed the requested changes. The Mayor received a letter from Chief Barker and FEMA does say that this has to go into FEMA Go. The Mayor will try to do that tonight. Chief Tornatore is dealing with some personnel issues, but other than that, everything else is going well. He reported that they are cleaning the kitchen upstairs and they are trying to store the plates and things that they do not use anymore. The Mayor asked if they are planning on doing the fish fry this year. Chief Tornatore advised that they are.

Sgt. Barton reported that the department is fairly busy. They did Shop with a Cop in Oneida this weekend. Sgt. Barton also reported that the server is installed and everything is being updated and should be up and running soon.

Village Historian David Sadler reported that he submitted a letter of intent and documentation for a historical marker for the 1852 National Liberty Party Convention where the Watson Wagon factory was. He is waiting on approval. Dave advised the Board that this is the only presidential convention held in Canastota - it was held on September 1 and 2, 1852. Mayor Warner noted that Marilyn Higgins, a member of the Planning Board, would like to work with Dave Sadler on a grant for something to do with the Gerrit Smith House. She advised the Board that people came into Canastota on a canal boat and went to the Gerrit Smith House to hold an abolitionist convention. The Mayor advised that they have received a $12,000 grant and are putting some historical signage up. Dave talked about the next marker that he will be working on next year. (Suspended at 7:15 for Public Hearing.)

Public Hearing at 7:15 p.m. on proposed Local Law entitled "A local law to amend Chapter 216 (Vehicles and Traffic) of the Code of the Village of Canastota".

Mayor Warner opened the Public Hearing at 7:15 p.m. and read the Notice of Public Hearing out loud. The Mayor asked if anyone was here to speak for or against the proposed local law. Mark Maxwell asked about the time of 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. The Board and Foreman Maxwell discussed the time frame and putting signs up to let people know. The Mayor asked for a second and third time if anyone wanted to speak for or against the proposed local law and received no response.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, to close the public hearing.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, approving the attached Resolution adopting Local Law 7 of 2021 amending chapter 216 (Vehicles and Traffic) of the Code of the Village of Canastota. Discussion: Trustee Watkins wants to make sure that we put up sign as soon as possible. The Board discussed where to order the signs from and getting temporary signs while waiting for permanent signs to come in. The Board discussed with Foreman Maxwell what to do with the signs. Passed 3 to 0.

Resumed discussion under Department Heads.

Historian Sadler thought that the Gerrit Smith abolitionist marker could cause a lot of people to come into the Village once the marker is approved. The Mayor will reach out to Marilyn Higgins for information on when this will be and where.

Dan Cunningham reviewed with the Board the stats from his report. They expect the flows to continue to come down. He reported that there was an issue with dark solids coming from Queensboro, but it has been corrected. There was a problem with the sampler and it may need repairs which could be expensive. The Mayor noted that there were complaint last week of odors coming from Queensboro. Dan will speak with them. Dan reported that the fire alarm was connected to the internal dialer and they can program this to call anyone. There is a problem with the boiler at the treatment plant. Code Enforcement Officer Adsit noted that the code does allow for this monitor. He is concerned that at night we will not know what is real and what is fake. Dan Cunningham noted that they can hook up a heat sensor in the building to know if it is real. Fire Chief Tornatore, Dan Cunningham and the Board talked about notifying the Fire Department on the auto dialer. The Board talked about Fire Department training at the WWTP and doing some confined space training with Jim Cunningham as the trainer for the Fire Department and DPW.

Foreman Maxwell advised that he had some issues with the SCADA system. He had someone come out and got them working again. The system decided to call an alarm out and called Foreman Maxwell several times asking for a password. Foreman Maxwell thinks that this is corrected and a password should not be needed again. Foreman Maxwell asked how long our Intermunicipal Agreement was with the Town of Lenox. He is concerned about what will happen if his department is hit with COVID. The Town of Lenox will be out backup and the County said to reach out and they would help. The Board talked about what will happen and noted that the agreements do help out. Foreman Maxwell advised that the new truck has gone through calibrations - they have work with the manufacturer to change some speeds. The truck has been out - so far so good - it plowed well. Foreman Maxwell advised that with new hires coming in, we will be training people. The new hires will be riding around getting use to the routs and learning others. The F550 was out waiting for parts for over a month. Foreman Maxwell reviewed the problems for the Board. It is back on line. They are still working on the automatic side of the sanding. Foreman Maxwell reported that they had a large tree come down in the windstorm on Third Street. It has been resolved and they cleared the Village four (4) more times this month of bags. The Mayor noted that there was a danger that it would come down on the owner's house. Foreman Maxwell advised that the DPW has been patching pot holes. He wished everyone a Merry Christmas. Trustee Watkins talked about the new people coming on and asked if we are setting up a sidewalk plowing program. Foreman Maxwell stated that if the Board says that we are going to plow sidewalks, the DPW will plow sidewalks. The Board talked /Foreman Maxwell about how to accomplish this. Foreman Maxwell talked about the current types of plowing equipment and when and how the DPW uses it.

Code Enforcement Officer reported to the Board that November was a busy month - 3 violations ended up in court and he is getting down on the junk at the curb. CEO Adsit is trying to get back doing fire inspections - he is getting the commercial stuff done. Mayor Warner asked how many unregistered cars were cited. CEO Adsit believes 17 and 3 of them were coming to court.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, approving an ACH transfer by USDA Rural Development from the Sewer Fund (97107.02 Interest on Debt Service) in the amount of $7,582.50 for payment of interest owed on the 2003 Interceptor Pipe Project. Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Carpenter, seconded by Trustee Watkins, approving a credit in the amount of $350.46 against the sewer charges on the September 30, 2021, OCWA bill for property owned by Michael Schwartz and located at 106 Lewis Street, Canastota, New York. (Note: The reason for the excess water consumption was due to a shower leak that was fixed during this billing cycle.) Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, approving the attached 2022 Annual Air Compressor Maintenance Agreement from Jerome Fire Equipment Co., Inc. in the amount of $1,685.00, and authorizing the Mayor to execute the same. Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Carpenter, seconded by Trustee Watkins, approving the appointment of Douglas Holdridge to the position of MEO with the Canastota Department of Public Works, with a start date of December 22, 2021, at Step 6. Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, approving the appointment of Joshua Holtham as an MEO with the Canastota Department of Public Works, with a start date of December 28, 2021, at Step 2. Passed 3 to 0.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, to approve the attached Interlocal Contract for Cooperative Purchasing with Houston-Galveston Area Council and to authorize the Mayor to execute the same regarding the purchase of the fire truck under the FEMA Grant. Discussion: The Mayor noted that they went through the spec and it seems to match. They did confirm that New York State purchasing requirements have been met. As soon as the attorney is done, we should be ready to purchase a truck. Passed 3 to 0.

Correspondence.

-	Letter from the Mayor to Gov. Hochul requesting an increase in AIM funding.

-	Letter from Fiscal Advisors with regulatory information.

-	Letter from John Corcoran, Esq. of Hancock Estabrook regarding a rate increase beginning January 1. The partner rate is currently $220/hr and is increasing to $250/hr. The Board reviewed the rates from Costello, Cooney & Fearon - Partner rate is $175/hr and Associate rate is $175/hr. The Mayor noted that Hancock Estabrook is working with us on a PBA contract and we will keep using them until that is complete.

Mayor Comments.

The Mayor advised that we are fine with the procurement part of the fire truck purchase- we need a letter of intent and a purchase order now to avoid a large increase. The Mayor would like the Board to do a motion to allow us to enter into a contract with Darley and send a letter of intent and a purchase order pending approval from the attorney. She noted that the last day to order before the price increase is December 31, 2021.

The Board discussed the contract that was received today between the Canastota Fire Department and Darley that the Mayor sent to John Langey, Esq. For review. It needs to be changed to "Village of Canastota" instead of the fire department. The cost of the fire truck is $440,615.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, that we go with the General Contract with W. S. Darley Company pending attorney Langey's approval and prior to January 1 for the purchase of FEMA Grant truck with a purchase price of $440,615. Discussion: If the attorney does not approve, we will need to come back to the Board. The Mayor noted that the truck grant was written for a much larger vehicle than will fit in the door and was over $100,000 more than this truck. The Mayor also noted how much work was done by the Fire Department, Chief Barker and Tim Cowan. We accepted the grant in August and it has taken us this long to build a truck that will fit the grant that FEMA will accept. We should know soon and should be building a truck by January. Passed 3 to 0.

The Mayor is still working on the LWRP Grant. It took her a long time to track hours - it has been hard for the Mayor to track hours and using the Mayor's hours, we will be under what is needed. This is due to the Department of State by December 31. The Mayor noted that the Grant writers were very easy to work with and they did a good job. The Mayor had a meeting with Queensboro Farm Products - they did not like the rates. She will schedule another meeting with them. The audit has come back and the AUD was submitted.

The Mayor advised that she is still waiting on the engineering from Laberge on the UV Project. Dan Cunningham advised that he has not heard anything yet and that DEC gave an extension.

Mayor Warner advised that this year's ARPA money has been earmarked for sewer repairs and next year's money will be earmarked as well.

The Mayor noted that Officer Preuss is working on the CSX Grant application - it is for $25,000. He needs some documents from Clerk/Treasurer Williams and we can use the money for anything we want. They submitted another Grant application to DCJS, also.

The Mayor sent an email to the Board with 14 resumes for the Village Administrator. She would like the Board to send back their top 6 candidates. The resumes were also sent to Clerk/Treasurer Williams and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Galavotti for their input. Mayor Warner noted that there is no one with an engineering background, but we did get financing backgrounds.

The Mayor is still working on the PBA contract. She will try to set up a meeting.

The copiers should be in by the end of the month. The Mayor will see if any other department will need the old copiers.

Mayor Warner would like to start putting a Comprehensive Plan Committee together. She is looking for members.

Mayor Warner advised that we are working with Dutchland on their CDBG grant. She had discussions with them on moving forward with them paying on their grant.

WQIP Grant - the Mayor advised that we did not get the award. She had a meeting with outgoing Supervisor Rocky Diveronica last week. The incoming Supervisor, John Pinard, was also there. Supervisor Diveronica would like to try for a joint grant for sewer and water money. Supervisor Diveronica would like to extend the water line on Main Street from Colton Road to the Treatment Plant and try to get city water to the Plant which would also service residents on Main Street. We could also work the transmission line into the grant. The Mayor reached out to Tim O'Hara for a quote on what it would cost to engineer the transmission line. He will get us a price. With no engineering report, the grant will not be awarded.

The Mayor noted that we have been busy working on a FOIL request from former Mayor DeShaw, searching for extensive documents.

Mayor Warner talked about the County resolution regarding the mandated masks - the County will not enforce and has no personnel to do this. The resolution that they passed encouraged residents and business owners to wear and require masks, but they do not have staff to enforce this. Trustee Carpenter heard that there will be some enforcement on the State level.

The Mayor was advised by Markus Labarbera that we should contact the state DOT for audible crossing markers. The Mayor will contact the State about this.

Mayor Warner advised the Board that we have a problem with the electric car chargers and we have not been getting paid on this. Clerk/Treasurer Williams is working on this.

Trustee Comments.

Trustee Carpenter wished everyone happy holidays.

Trustee Watkins is all set.

Adjourn.

Motion by Trustee Watkins, seconded by Trustee Carpenter, to adjourn the meeting at 8:29 p.m. Passed 5 to 0.

Respectfully submitted,

Catherine E. Williams

Clerk/Treasurer