Link to the PDF file of these Minutes

Town of Vienna

Town Board Meeting Minutes

October 1, 2025

 

ATTENDANCE:

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen

Councilman Darrin Smith

Councilman Jason Lamb

Town Clerk Carol Huber

 

PLANNING BOARD INFORMATIONAL MEETING: 6:30 PM

Orrin MacMurray went over the following Zoning Laws that are being discussed with the Planning Board.

 

Lot Frontage:

Subdivisions are divided in two ways, using a quarter of the lot width or a stipulated amount There is a disadvantage with a person that has a larger property. So, the Planning Board is recommending doing away with the quarter to make it fair. They want to pay attention to the Comprehensive Plan for the RR 1,2, and 3. There is no change in the Hamlets.

 

Billboards:

There is currently a maximum 32 square foot restriction. There is currently no provisions for size when building off premises. Would like to reduce the number of signs a business can have in the Town, not on a private residence. They need to pay attention to the Comprehensive Plan. Existing signs can stay and keep up with maintenance, but can not build any larger. Looking at modifying the lighting recommendations to downward pointing, soft light or no light if possible

 

Battery Energy Storage Systems:

Little or no limitations on smaller systems less than 600 kwh anywhere in Town. Larger systems over 600 kwh will be restricted to Zoning Laws. Would like to adopt a model law already published for Tier II. A problem they have seen is Fire Departments do not have equipment to deal with such fires.

 

Commercial Building Size:

Recommending to go to 20,000 square feet in commercial zones instead of 10,000 square feet. Would like to create a section for retail sales and service commercial. They also need to clean up some wording in this current law.

 

Orrin will come back at next month’s meeting again to go over some more Zoning Laws.

 

CALL TO ORDER REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING:

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

SAND BIDS: 7:05

Preston Hill Gravel proposal:

$5.00 per ton picked up by the Town, $3.16 delivery only per ton by L.P. Trucking & Excavating.

 

McConnellsville Sands and Material Inc. Bid:

$7.15 per yard loaded onto Town of Vienna Trucks

 

K. Duda Trucking & Excavating:

Bid for Hauling from the following;

Preston Hill Gravel-$5.00 per cubic Yard

Matts Gravel in Taberg-$5.00 per cubic yard to Garage

Road Sand from Matts Gravel-$7.75 per cubic yard

Sand and hauling will be $12.75 per cubic yard

 

Comments:

Highway Supervisor Conover likes the sand from Preston Hill, is not hard on the equipment.

Councilman Smith stated the bid from Preston Hill was not correct and should be null and void.

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy would like to verify with Preston Hill if they meant yard or ton.

Concluded to table until the budget meeting in order to clarify the bid.

 

NOCCOG: Joe Rowlands

Annual Fall Dinner Meeting is October 23rd. NYS Town Clerks Association and Association of Towns Local Law Webinar on October 2nd. Tug Hill Commission completed an update to their Planning for Solar Energy Projects issue paper. 31st Statewide Conference on Local Bridges is on October 22nd and 23rd. Short-Term Rentals Webinar, October 23rd. NYAOT 2025 Planning & Zoning School is October 27th. MVCC breaks ground for New Applied Technology Center on Utica Campus.

 

COUNTY LEGISLATURE: Norman Leach

County passed the Air B&B registration and taxation and has a contract to create and maintain the registrations. Chiboni is putting the pressure on farm land. They expanded the original plans and there will be a demand for milk in this area.

 

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy had concerns about the water front property being bought up and used for short-term rentals, which is shortening our tourism season. Oneida County has a shortage of housing. Will the County be able to keep this under control?

 

Mr. Leach said there will be a local home rule for Towns. Local Laws can be enforced by the Police Department. Mr. Rowlands suggested to look at our zoning and rezoning laws and make sure we have a permit process.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

A motion was made by Councilman Smith and seconded by Councilwoman McEwen to approve the September 3, 2025 Town Board Minutes.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Councilman Jason Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

AUDITED VOUCHERS:

A motion was made by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Smith to approve Abstract 10 of 2025 vouchers to be paid in the amount of $149,711.49

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Councilman Jason Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

SUPERVISOR'S REPORT:

Supervisor's Report is filed in the Town Clerk's office and will be posted on the Web Site.

 

TOWN CLERK'S REPORT:

Town Clerk read her report. Monies received for the month totaled $3,465.98.

Attended the Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust Community Picnic on September 20th. Talked about the Land that was donated to the Land Trust on Swartz and Hall Road that is available to the Public to walk trails.

Spoke with Paychex about the capability of using an App on your phone or your computer to clock in and out and the costs associated with that. Also spoke with Paychex about the review of the Handbook.

 

A motion was made by Deputy Supervisor Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Lamb to approve the Town Clerk report.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Councilman Jason Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

ASSESSOR’S REPORT:

Assessor’s Report is filed in the Clerk’s office and will be posted on the Web Site.

Phil Amway presented a power point presentation on the Fire District Assignments, which can be viewed on the Town’s Website. He worked with Oneida County to start fixing these boundaries. He compared Fire District Maps, Tax Maps and 911 mapping and researched all parcels in the Town to come up with the current boundaries. Emergency Response will have no impact because they have already responded to these areas, the tax payer will have the impact if they were not paying to the correct Fire District. These parcels will be notified by the Assessor. These changes will happen with the final 2026 tax roll. The Tax Map will also be revised in the near future.

 

Early mailing of the exemption renewals will start this month.

 

Questions/Comments:

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy stated that 48 parcels were affected.

Mr. Piper explained how there were changes made in the 90’s and it has been an ongoing problem.

Councilman Lamb explained how these divisions may cause some discrepancies.

Councilman Smith asked out of the 48 parcels where was the most impact and the answer was Cleveland.

 

If a boundary goes through a property, it will go to the district that the house and/or driveway would be, so that the emergency personnel would not be directed to a side of the property they can not get to.

 

Mr. Carpenter complimented Phil on the great work he as been doing and how well he does at explaining everything.

 

CODE’S REPORT:

Codes Report is filed in the Clerk’s office and will be posted on Web Site.

 

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Superintendent Clayton Conover

The Highway has been busy patching roads, potholes, and trimming brush. Paperwork has been submitted to the CHIPS program for reimbursement $448,722.41 in December.

 

The study for the Highway for Route 49 needs specifics to be determined for point A-B. Then the Town Attorney needs to create a resolution to go with the form from the State to get a study done to change the speed limit. Mr. Shaugnessy recommended including potential commercial property, so a new study would not have to be done in the future. Maybe Point A could be Sell Electric to the already 40 mph zone and from the Sylvan Beach 30 mph to YHill to make a 40 mph zone.

 

COUNCIL REPORTS:

Councilman Smith:

Attended a Vendor Conference at the Turning Stone and at least 500 Vendors were present. ZBA will hold Public Hearings on October 20th, one of which will include the school property across the road which is looking to be a fabrication shop and apartments. The Planning Board will have Public Hearings on October 16th.

 

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy:

Oswego Road Bridge is still on Budget. BCA submitted an RFQ. Verizon Wireless is re-staking the ground behind the Town Hall and will begin work in November potentially. National Grid needs an easement signed for near the salt shed to allow them to run lines and change poles. Post Office is in negotiations with the Town. Grinder Pump switches were ordered. Will be meeting with Leslie from Gates-Cole Insurance to go over premiums.

 

Mike Piper is interested in being on the Planning Board again. He formerly resigned because he was not sure if he would still be living in the Town of Vienna. He has moved, but is still in the Town of Vienna.

 

Councilman Smith made a motion to appoint P. Michael Piper to the Planning Board. Councilman Lamb seconded the motions.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Councilman Jason Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

OLD BUSINESS:

Handbook:

Industrial UI, who wrote the last Handbook of the Town offered to help update the Handbook that the Town Clerk has rewritten and updated for $500 or less with in a 30 day time frame. They will make sure that everything that needs to be in there will be and approve the handbook for the Town. Paychex had offered a program with them that would be $262.30 per month and could not guarantee a time frame. We will go with Industrial UI and the Town Clerk will be the lead to work with them.

 

Text.Gov:

Text.Gov will be looked at when we go over the Budget Workshop.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

Court Clerk:

We need to advertise for a Court Clerk because Sandy Zorn retired as of October 1st.

Councilman Smith made a motion to advertise for a Court Clerk and Councilman Lamb seconded the motion.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Councilman Jason Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

Budget Workshops:

The first workshop will be held on 10/15/25 at 7:00 pm, the second workshop will be on 10/22/25 at 3:00 pm. The Public Hearing will be held on 11/5/2025 at 7:05 pm.

 

Webmaster Back up plan:

The Town Clerk needs to be able to log into the Website and do simple tasks like putting a meeting in the calendar if Roy Reehil is away and not available.

 

PUBLIC CONCERNS/COMMENTS:

Kelly Walters, Executive Director of 50 Forward, spoke about the programs they offer. Currently have 139 members from Vienna. October 29th is the meet the Candidates. Would like the Board to consider giving more money towards the memberships.

 

Mike Piper suggested to Contact OCWA and see if they will change the rules about using copper piping for the new water district because of how expensive it is and PVC piping is extremely cheaper to use. The cost will be paid for by the residents and they might not be able to afford the expensive copper piping. The role of copper is $1000 compared to PVC $105 per roll. Also, the Acidic soil eats away at the copper.

Bill Shaughnessy thanked the Board for helping with the Old Homes Day Fireworks display. He will start planning something for Christmas next month.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Not Entered

 

ADJOURNMENT:

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:04 pm and Councilman Lamb seconded and all were in favor.

 

Respectfully,

Carol L Huber

Carol L Huber

Town Clerk