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Town of Vienna
Town Board Meeting Minutes
March 5, 2025
ATTENDANCE:
Supervisor Michael Davis
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen
Councilman Darrin Smith
Councilman Jason Spellicy
Councilman Jason Lamb
Town Clerk Carol Huber
CALL TO ORDER:
Supervisor Davis called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
NOCCOG: Joe Rowland
Still time to register for the NYS Tug Hill Commission Local Government Conference, March 31 & April 1, 2025.
Congressionally directed spending request applications are due Monday, March 31, 2025.
Tug Hill Commission is scheduled to meet March 17 at 10:00 am at the Harrisburg Town Hall.
NOCCOG Executive Committee to meet March 20 at 3:00 pm at the Trenton Municipal Offices.
NYS Town Clerk’s Association Annual Conference is April 27-30 in Syracuse.
COUNTY LEGISLATURE: Norman Leach
Norman Leach was absent. Mary Beth McEwen attended the Legislator meeting in February and gave updates on the meeting.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
A motion was made by Councilmen Smith and seconded by Councilman Spellicy to approve the February 5, 2025 Town Board Minutes.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
AUDITED VOUCHERS:
A motion was made by Councilman Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Lamb to approve Abstract 03 of 2025 vouchers to be paid in the amount of $80,802.88.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis 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 $ 368.25. Taxes remaining to collect are $961, 798.95 until the end of the month.
A motion was made by Councilman Smith and seconded by Councilwoman McEwen to approve the Town Clerk report.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
Town Clerk asked for permission to order Envelopes in the amount of $3,131.60
A motion was made by Councilman Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Lamb to order the envelopes.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
Town Clerk asked permission for her and Deputy Kathy Pavelock to attend the NYS Town Clerk’s Annual Training in Syracuse and to close the office on Monday, April 28th.
A motion was made by Councilman Spellicy to approve the Town Clerk and Deputy to attend the training and seconded by Councilman Lamb.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
The Town Clerk reported that herself and Deputy Pavelock received the harassment & discrimination and workplace violence training. She will work with NYMIR on the NEO.GOV website to enable Town Employees to log on and watch free trainings. She also is working on updating the Town Employee Handbook. The harassment & discrimination policy and workplace violence were updated and handed out to Board Members to look over for next meeting. She asked if any Board Member would be willing to help work on the handbook and Councilwoman McEwen said she would help.
The following trainings are required annually: Harassment & Discrimination, Workplace Violence, Hazard Communication, Bloodborne Pathogens.
ASSESSOR’S REPORT:
Assessor’s Report is filed in the Clerk’s office and will be posted on the Web Site.
CODE’S REPORT:
Codes Report is filed in the Clerk’s office and will be posted on the Web Site.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Highway Superintendent Conover was attending a training and gave his report to Supervisor Davis to read. All paperwork has been filed and approved to appoint Jeffrey Kobler as Deputy Highway Superintendent.
A motion was made by Supervisor Davis to approve the appointment of Jeffrey Kobler and seconded by Councilman Spellicy.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
The highway has been moving snow and cleaning hydrants. All the sand was delivered. They are housing Sylvan Beach Fire Truck until their roof can be repaired. The mini split quote previously approved was lowered by the clean air rebate. They received a new quote from Williamson Law for the Highway Garage program for $13, 785, that had been approved in July.
A motion was made by Councilman Smith and seconded by Councilman Spellicy to approve the new amount for the Williamson Law Program for the Highway Garage for $13,785.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
COUNCIL REPORTS:
Councilwoman McEwen- The Oneida County Planning Board is ready to present the housing report on March 13th for Towns including Vienna. There is a potential to have housing in the Town. She will attend the meeting.
There is also a credit the farmers can apply for paying over time to their employees. Cornell Cooperative Extension has a grant available for $2500 to help with startup costs of in-home childcare services.
Councilman Smith- Planning Board did not have a quorum for their meeting and Public Hearings and rescheduled. Dave Gigon resigned from the Planning Board. He also attended a meeting for the Old Homes Days scheduled for August 2 at the Fireman’s field. There is money in the budget to help with the cost of the fireworks.
William Shaughnessy Jr said they are looking for vendors for August 2nd.
Councilman Smith made a motion to run an ad in the newspaper for the open position and Councilman Spellicy seconded the motion.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
Councilman Spellicy-The Engineering report for the Post Office came in on what needs repaired. I did not have time to read over it, so I will not report on this at this time.
Supervisor Davis- Two volunteers from Planning Board, 2 from the ZBA, 2 from the Board will be on the committee for the comprehensive plan. Councilman Spellicy made a motion to advertise for 4 members of the public that would be interested in being on the committee for the comprehensive plan. Councilman Lamb seconded the motion.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
A repairman noticed that only 1 pump was working at the pump house, we need to order a new pump.
Councilman Spellicy made a motion to purchase a new pump at $3564. Councilwoman McEwen seconded the motion.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
OLD BUSINESS:
Post Office engineering report will be gone over next Board Meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
Phil Amway did a power point presentation on the new water district and Assessor re-appointment. The new water district has 164 parcels but 155.30 water units will be assigned. The new code for the special district will be WD126. The appointment for the Sole Assessor is up at the end of September. Phil went over all his accomplishments, projects completed and, trainings that he has completed. He went over assessment trends and is our assessment roll fair and equitable. Talked about the cost of reassessing and is it worth a revaluation of the assessments or not. The Board agreed that at this time, it would not be affective to spend the money.
Councilman Spellicy made a motion to appoint Phil Amway as the Sole Assessor for the term of 10/1/25 to 9/30/30. Councilman Smith seconded the motion.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
PUBLIC CONCERNS/COMMENTS:
Rick Mansfield: Does the engineering report address the issues with the asbestos?
Councilman Spellicy: Did not have time to review report. We will make it public after it is reviewed.
Supervisor Davis: They did mention there could be a concern with asbestos but the engineer did not test for it.
Rick Roberts: Did we get stuck with the bill?
Councilman Spellicy: At this point we have not heard anything. We have not made any payment for it.
Mike Piper: Thank you Phil Amway for doing an excellent job.
Steve Carpenter: I have heard rumors that postal service wants to eliminate the post office. Does engineering report have an impact on the future of the Post Office?
Councilman Spellicy: We will look at the Lease and the cost of the repairs for renegotiations. We can not pass the cost of the repairs onto all the residents.
Supervisor Davis: If it cost x amount of dollars to fix the post office, they only hold a 5 year lease. There is a 3rd party Post Office entity that takes 30% of the rent.
Rick Mansfield: Does the engineering report cover for the previous repairs to the bathroom? Answer is no.
Councilman Spellicy: We have to look at the future costs to keep the Post Office running.
Dr. Martha Link: I appreciate the new web site but the searchability needs improved. I can not find the comprehensive plan on the site.
Supervisor Davis & Town Clerk said anyone can call into the office or email Town Clerk with concerns or questions about navigating the web site or give suggestion on improvements.
Mike Piper: Had concerns with grinder pump inventory. Who is responsible to hook up grinder pumps of not already:
Supervisor Davis: As of now, district pays for the pump & tap. We need to look into the Local Laws of other Towns.
Billy Shaughnessy: Where are We with the Constables. I do not feel that it is feasible for the Town and there are a lot of back roads to be concerned with.
Supervisor Davis explained everything that has been discussed so far. There will be a presentation next month. We will look again at cost. Talked about possibly moving speed humps and radar signs around.
Supervisor Davis made a motion to place a notice in the paper about the Constable presentation next month. Councilman Lamb seconded the motion.
Voting Record: Motion Carried
Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye
Councilman Darrin Smith Aye
Councilman Jason Spellicy Aye
Councilman Jason Lamb Aye
Supervisor Michael Davis Aye
Mike Piper: Is there an update on the water district?
Supervisor Davis: We are waiting for additional grants this Spring. Next is the Bond Council. Ground will not break until 2027.
Ken Duda: New owners Preston Hill gravel had his guys haul your sand. I had the contract. Next bids that go out should last until a new bid is asked for. Especially in emergency situations.
Supervisor Davis: We have no contract to haul with the new owner. We did not know.
Rick Roberts: Voiced his concerns with how Councilman Spellicy addressed the residents last Board meeting and being disrespectful to the Town Clerk.
Mike Piper: Did we receive the Audit Report yet? Answer was not yet, it will be coming.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: Not entered
ADJOURNMENT:
Supervisor Davis made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:46 pm and Councilman Smith seconded and all were in favor.
Respectfully,
Carol L Huber
Carol L Huber
Town Clerk