The Town of Rochester Town Board held the Regular Meeting April 4, 2023 at 7:15pm
Immediately following public hearings at the Harold Lipton Community Center
15 Tobacco Road, Accord, NY
To View the Meeting
Livestream Broadcast on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg7ykop50cWmqPFUpgDjRSQ
Supervisor Baden called the meeting to order.
RESOLUTIONS:
ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA:
Resolution # 172 -2023:
Motion: Councilwoman Smiseth
Second: Councilwoman Enouen
The Town Board accepts the agenda, as prepared by the Town Supervisor.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
SEQRA DETERMINATION LOCAL LAW SEQRA Determination LL5-2023:
Resolutions # 173-2023:
Motion: Councilwoman Enouen
Second:Councilwoman Smiseth
The Town of Rochester Town Board determines Local Law 5-2023 will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment and should be classified as a Type II Action under the following 6 NYCRR Part 617 criteria. No further SEQRA review is required. 617.5 (c)(26), routine or continuing agency administration and management, not including new programs or major reordering of priorities that may affect the environment.
ROLL CALL:
Councilman Coleman aye
Councilwoman Enouen aye
Councilman Paddock absent
Councilwoman Smiseth aye
Supervisor Baden aye motion carried
CONSIDERATION OF LOCAL LAW 5 -2023:
Resolution # 174-2023:
Motion: Supervisor Baden
Second: Councilman Coleman
The Town of Rochester Town Board adopts Local Law 5-2023, a local law amending Chapter 128, Taxation of the Code of the Town of Rochester, and requests the Town Clerk file notice with the NY Department of State.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
DISCUSSION:
Members of the Board all agreed that they heard the concerns on how this law doesn’t reach everyone and the board is committed to finding some creative solutions to show our support to our volunteers.
SUPERVISOR’S FINANCIAL REPORT:
February and March 2023 report – Filed with the Town Clerk
MARCH 2023 FINANCIALS:
Revenue March 2023
General Fund $TBD
Highway Fund $TBD
Capital Fund $TBD
Expenditures
Abstract 15-2022
General Fund $10,724.84
Abstract 3-2023
General Fund $66,415.71
Highway Fund $110,202.20
Capital Fund $40,000.00
Street Lighting Fund $316.69
Ambulance Fund $0.00
Escrow Fund $5,702.50
Total Expenditures March 2023
General Fund $ 255,578.87
Highway Fund $ 196,574.27
SUPERVISOR’S UPDATE:
Grant Updates
LGRMIF – Building Dept./Code Enforcement record conversion: second payment has been received, huge thank you to Kate and especially Alyssa and Courtney for all their hard work during this process.
NY Rising – Alligerville Firehouse,- waiting on heat register then project will be complete.
Harold Lipton Community Center: finally closed out by NYS
BridgeNY – Boice Mill Road Bridge: making progress, hoping to begin next spring. This is a 1.9999 million dollar bridge that we will be responsible for 5 % of.
JCAP Courthouse bathroom grant: contract has been awarded and work has begun.
Cherrytown Road water: Supervisor Baden stated that a private well spring that was used by residents for many years has now been closed off by the homeowner. There is one well that the owner placed in her deed perpetual use of the well by the residents of the Town and on the other side of the well was a private well and they no longer wish for it to be used. We ask that the residents respect that this was at the will of the owner and a representative of the homeowner told us that they are being met with physical threats and property damage . The Town has no recourse but there is a severe traffic safety issue that the board needs to discuss.
Sylvan Glades Water District – Liberty Utilities: the private water district that serves 38 homes in the development has awarded Liberty Utilities temporary operator of the water district. The owner of the water district passed away and until the estate is settled this company will continue to operate the district.
2022 AUD Report: Supervisor Baden will bring the draft document to submit to the 4/13 meeting.
TOR Agricultural Advisory Committee: Supervisor Baden stated that 15 applicantions were received and he made a proposed schedule for interviews that he wants the Board to review.
O&W Rail Trail: working on finalizing plans
Napanoch Paper Mill – DEC
ATTORNEY FOR THE TOWN REPORT:
Continuing to review proposed local laws.
TOWN CLERK/ TAX COLLECTOR REPORT:
Town Clerk: for the month of March $ 39, 909.08
Tax Collection: YTD total: $ 6,919,807 has been collected with a little over 1.3 million left to collect. Unpaid notices will be ordered by Friday.
HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT REPORT:
Thank you to the Highway Department for helping the Indian Valley Little League with 7 truck loads of fill and some stone.
DEPARTMENT UPDATES/ LIAISON REPORTS:
Councilwoman Smiseth: Housing Committee: meeting the third Wednesday of the month. We filed for the housing smart community. Hoping to do a housing inventory. Eldercare: 2 new applications and one inquiry.
Councilman Coleman: ZBA: still have the alternate vacancy. EMS/ Fire districts: great to hear KAFAS was at 100% response rate. Spectrum: looking to write to the public service commission again and will circulate the letter to the Board prior.
Councilwoman Enouen: CEO: March: $ 20,000 in income collected. 30 c/o’s and c/c’s , 37 permits, 32 misc correspondence, 12 municipal searches, 3 code violations, 48 home inspections, 20 STR inspections, 19 F/S inspections and 13 office consults. ECC: bags to benches project began on 4/1 and will continue the 1st Saturday of each month. 4/20: Nature series: clean energy. 4/22: education of tree planting pollinator trees with guest speaker Judith Karpova. Transfer Station: attended the recycling oversight committee meeting. Planning Board: 3 new applications.
Supervisor Baden:
Recreation Dept.: St. Patrick’s Day was a great event again this year! There were 108 people signed up and we also sent out 40 deliveries to shut ins in the community. The Youth Easter Egg Hunt was very successful this year! 60 children attended with their parents. Everyone had a great time and we were thankful that the weather cooperated. Thank you to the Easter Bunny for stopping by!
Easter Bunny photos took place in the Community Center on Monday, April 3rd. There were about 10 different families signed up! The photos can be viewed on our Facebook page.
Earth Day-Call the Recreation Department to “Adopt-A-Road.” Clean up days will be April 15th and April 22nd. There will be a pizza party for volunteers on the 22nd behind the community Center at 2pm.
Check out the Recreation Department’s Facebook page for information regarding youth and adult paint classes in April. Summer Program will take place on April 17th at 9am at the Harold Lipton Community Center. You must be a Town of Rochester Resident to participate. Paperwork will be available on the town’s website on Monday, April 10th.
Constabulary: These included:
• 11 Neighbor to Neighbor and Quality of Life Complaints
• 2 Resident Traffic Complaints (Samsonville Rd., Cherrytown Rd.)
• 1 Environmental Complaints, (Rochester Ctr.)
• 4 New Building Department Violations
• 0 New Court Cases Opened
• 9 Court Proceedings Remain Open
• 0 Court Proceedings Closed
Interesting Occurrences:
This month, we had quite a few complaints regarding traffic flow and speed on Town roads. Likely this
was due to the few days of nice weather we had. Short term rental properties continue to generate many
complaints, especially on Friday’s and Weekends. This month was no exception and as the weather
continues to improve we expect an influx of short term renters and increased Town Resident complaints.
We continue to work with the building department on these and other issues. Neighbor to neighbor
complaints have remained stable this month and all have been defused without further action necessary.
Assessor’s office: new construction: continuing to review the profusion of new construction permits and recently closed permits and updating assessments accordingly. I am processing numerous splits and merges of properties that have been recently sub-divided or merged into one lot. I will continue to do property inspections( new construction, renovations, fire damage, etc. )for assessment and exemption purposes. All properties are assessed as of their status as of March 1, 2023 and valued as of July 1, 2022. Exemption renewals: exemption deadline was March 1st. We are processing exemption applications dor the 2023 roll. We have several exemption applications we need additional information on. We have been calling the property owners and sent 2nd notices via mail these owners. The tentative roll will be filed my May 1st.
Town Clerk Gundberg: HPC: Working on the year events, discussions of Hamlet talks for 2023, recording of oral history project, suggested recipients for the HPC awards at Heritage day and hope the Town can have the Hamlet signs cleaned, a list was submitted to me for locations. Next meeting is April 17, 2023.
For those interested FHR will be open for a spring openhouse 4/16 from 12-4pm, come check out our museum archives.
I want to commend the Fire Company for their hard work and dedication to the Town. There was a structure fire that took place last week where fortunately everyone was able to get out unharmed. They put in countless hours and get up each morning and go to work on little to no sleep. We are so lucky to have the wealth of training and information within our volunteer departments.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Bea Haugen-Depuy: Thank you for moving the public comment on the agenda it helps when we have more information from the agenda prior to asking questions. What is the $ 62,000 in capital projects? At the 4/1 installation Dinner it was sad to see no representation from the Town. No one that people could ask questions of. They work hard and are reestablished and it would have been nice to see someone from the Board there, it’s an election year and no one was there. Also a reminder when the Boice Mill Road Bridge is completed it should be named after Stubby Dunn.
TOWN BOARD OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO PUBLIC COMMENT:
Supervisor Baden stated that the Capital projects funding is for the ADA bathrooms at the courthouse.
$ 30,000.00 is from JCAP grant and the $ 62,000.00 the Town will cover. We did receive an invite from KAFAS and in the past I have attended this year I had a prior commitment and other Board members had engagements as well.
TOWN BOARD MEMBER TIME:
Councilwoman Enouen: regarding the water on Cherrytown I have found that communication goes a long way and hoping that with more information provided it will diffuse the situation. In regards to the dinner I also had a prior engagement and it’s a great reminder that it’s an important event to community and it is not lost on me either. I would like the climate smart community task force added to to the list of vacancies for boards and commissions.
ACTION ON MINUTES:
Resolution # 175-2023:
Motion: Councilman Coleman
Second: Councilwoman Smiseth
The Town of Rochester Town Board amends the resolution to accepts the minutes of the February 9, 2023 workshop meeting, February 23 Public Hearings, March 2 Public Hearings, March 2 Business Meeting, March 23 Workshop meeting, and March 30 Audit meeting, as presented.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS:
Resolution # 176-2023:
Motion: Supervisor Baden
Second: Councilwoman Enouen
The Town of Rochester Town Board accepts donation of $49.30 from St. Pauli Textiles and $350.00 from the Stewart’s Holiday Match.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS:
Resolution # 177 -2023:
Motion: Councilwoman Enouen
Second: Councilwoman Smiseth
The Town of Rochester Town Board accepts donations of $65.00 from the Kerhonkson Accord Jewish Senior Citizens, $50.00 from Elaine and Melvin Tapper, $50.00 from Alice Gray, and $131.00 in cash donations from various donors at the St. Patrick’s Day luncheon, $ 15.00 Sally Shults, $300.00 Zach Kleinhandler.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATION:
Resolution # 178 -2023:
Motion: Councilwoman Enouen
Second: Councilman Coleman
The Town of Rochester Town Board accepts donation of $2,500.00 from the Michael Oremus Foundation for the 2023 Summer program.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
APPOINTMENT TO BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:
Resolution # 179-2023:
Motion: Supervisor Baden
Second: Councilwoman Enouen
The Town of Rochester Town Board appoints Claude Suhl to serve as a member of the Board of Assessment Review for a term ending September 30, 2027.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
APPOINTMENT TO ETHICS BOARD:
Resolution # 180-2023:
Motion: Councilman Coleman
Second: Councilman Emouen
The Town of Rochester Town Board appoints Stephan Roberts to serve as a member of the Ethics Board for a term ending December 31, 2027.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT POSITION:
Resolution # 181-2023:
Motion: Councilman Enouen
Second: Councilwoman Smiseth
The Town of Rochester Town Board authorizes the Town Supervisor to request a change in employee position to the Ulster County Personnel office changing the Fire Inspector position held by Michael Banach from less than 15 hours per week to 20 hours per week. There is no change required in budget.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
AUTHORIZATION FOR PREPAYMENT OF ESCROW VOUCHER:
Resolution # 182-2023:
Motion: Supervisor Baden
Second: Councilwoman Enouen
The Town of Rochester Town Board authorizes the Town Supervisor to make prepayment for the April audit of vouchers totaling $1,287.81 to be paid to CPL from the Escrow Account.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
DECLARING TOWN OF ROCHESTER AS A POLLINATOR PATHWAY CHAPTER:
Resolution # 183 -2023:
Motion: Councilwoman Enouen
Second: Councilwoman Smiseth
WHEREAS, Bees and other pollinators are a crucial component of a healthy ecosystem and a vital link in our food system, providing the pollination responsible for over three quarters of the world’s plant species, and
WHEREAS, pollinator populations are in sharp decline due to human land use practices that are causing ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation, the expansion of pesticide use by consumers and professionals, and
WHEREAS, guidelines for land management best practice are available which allow residents, businesses, farms, and towns to manage their land in ways that increase pollinator forage and nest sites while decreasing maintenance costs, and
WHEREAS, recent scientific research supports the benefits of restoring and reconnecting isolated areas of habitats.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Rochester is hereby declared a Pollinator Pathway Community and that the town tasks the Environmental Conservation Commission with managing the Town of Rochester Pollinator Pathway project to help establish a network of pollinator friendly properties in the Town of Rochester and authorizes
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town of Rochester will set an example by seeking to adopt the pollinator-friendly practices below:
Plant more native plant species, especially those that provide forage for pollinators;
Avoid the use of insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides for aesthetics; and do not plant flowering plants treated with systemic insecticides or use seeds coated with systemic neonicotinoids;
Reduce area dedicated to managed turf lawns, converting this area to pollinator friendly plantings when possible; and adopt organic or chemical-free lawn and landscaping practices, including allowing plant stalks, seed heads and fallen leaves and pine needles to remain through fall and winter, when possible, to provide habitat, food for birds, soil nourishment, and to give important protection needed by overwintering pollinators.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
INTRODUCTION OF LOCAL LAW x of 2023:
Resolution # 184-2023:
Motion: Supervisor Baden
Second: Councilman Coleman
Whereas, the Town of Rochester Town Board adopted Local Law 3 of 2022 on June 2, 2022, enacting a moratorium known as the “Moratorium on Actions Subject to Building Permit, Site Plan, Special Use Permits, or Subdivision Review”, and
Whereas, the Town of Rochester Town Board has worked diligently to enact a new Subdivision and
Zoning Code since such time, and
Whereas, the Town of Rochester has authored and reviewed change to various subchapters of each code and has held 30 public hearings on the various subchapters these last 10 months, and
Whereas, Local Law 3 of 2022 and subsequent extensions will expire on June 4, 2023, and
Whereas, the Town of Rochester Town Board believes a continued extension of the moratorium not to extend past October 1, 2023 is necessary to complete the review and adoption of the codes,
Therefore, the Town of Rochester Town Board proposes Local Law _ of 2023 be referred to the Town of Rochester Planning Board and Ulster County Planning Board for comment, and further
Establishes the date of May 4, 2023 for public hearing on the matter to be held at 6:30pm at the Harold Lipton Community Center, 15 Tobacco Rd., Accord, NY, and further
Requests the Town Clerk circulate legal notice of such public hearing.
Aye: 4 nay: 0 abstain: 0 motion carried
Paddock-absent
DISCUSSION: POSSIBLE RESOLUTIONS:
Boards and Commissions vacancies: Supervisor Baden is going to advertise for the open vacancies to Boards and Commissions.
UCTC Transportation Funding Opportunities: Supervisor Baden asked the Board to look over the paperwork for any idead for projects we may want to apply for.
Amendment to Chapter 132, Vehicles and Traffic: The Board discussed the severity of the traffic issue at the site on Cherrytown Road. Constables will patrol to see how things are looking.
County wide landfill in Ulster County: The board reviewed the proposed resolution. Councilwoman Enouen stated that she would be in more support if things were done differently. The idea of a landfill on hundreds of acres of land is unsettling.
ADJOURNMENT IN MEMORIAM:
Bobbi Ercoline
Robert Keagle
Neil Zimmerman
Jimmy Ostrander
Donna Coombs
Ron Irwin
Daniel Miller
John Terranova Jr.
The people of Ukraine
Those affected by the shooting in Nashville
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
KATHLEEN A. GUNDBERG
TOWN CLERK