The Regular meeting of the Sidney Town Board was called to order by the Eric Wilson Town Supervisor at 7:00 p.m. February 9, 2023 in the boardroom at 44 Grand Street, Sidney. Prior to the meeting, bills were audited by the Board.
Present were:
| Eric Wilson | Supervisor |
| James Roberts, Jr. | Highway Superintendent |
| Bill Heath | Councilman |
| Bill Hunt, Jr | Councilman |
| Frank Selleck | Councilman -Absent |
| Paul Muratore | Councilman |
| Joseph A. Ermeti | Attorney- Absent |
| Sheila R Paul | Clerk |
PLEDGE TO THE FLAG
SILENT MOMENT OF REFLECTION/PRAYER
APPROVE TOWN BOARD MINUTES: of Regular & Organization Meeting held on January 5, 2023/ Motion to accepted minutes, by Mr. Muratore seconded by Mr. Heath and carried.
AYES: E. Wilson, B. Hunt. NAYES: None
APPROVE PAYMENT OF BILLS:
General A Fund Voucher: 23-7 thru 23-61 in the amount of $ 98,172.77 Motion by Mr. Heath seconded by Mr. Muratore and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, B. Hunt. NAYES: None
B Fund Voucher: 23-2 thru 23-3 in the amount of $44.26. Motion by Mr. Hunt seconded by Mr. Wilson and carried. AYES: B. Heath, P. Muratore. NAYES: None
East Sidney Lake Voucher: 23-3 thru 23-5 in the amount of $3,358.57. Motion by Mr. Muratore seconded by Mr. Heath and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, B. Hunt. NAYES: None
SL Sidney Center Street Light: 23-1 in the amount of $ 616.66. Motion by Mr. Heath seconded by Mr. Muratore and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, Mr. Hunt. NAYES: None
Total General Vouchers: $102,192.26
Highway DA Fund Vouchers: 23-7 thru 23-41 in the amount of $ 41,291.11 Motion by Mr. Muratore seconded by Mr. Heath and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, B. Hunt. NAYES: None
Highway DB Fund Vouchers: 23-3 in the amount of $ 47.94 Motion by Mr. Heath and seconded by Mr. Hunt and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, B. Heath, F. Selleck. NAYES: None
Total Highway Vouchers: $ 41,339.05
CM Hospital Fund Vouchers: 23-3 thru 23-26 in the amount of $ 35,678.82 Motion by Mr. Heath seconded by Mr. Wilson and carried. AYES: EB. Heath, P. Muratore. NAYES: None.
Total Vouchers paid: $ 179,210.13
CORRESPONDENCE:
REPORTS/DISTRIBUTED:
Monthly reports of Supervisor, Bookkeeper and Town Clerk. Clerk is submitting checks totaling in
$ 516.00 fees collected during January 2023.
Speaker:
Sidney Center Fire Department and Emergency Squad: Captain Jessica Carson asked the Town Board for
$ 10,000 from the American Rescue funds to help purchase a four-wheel drive truck to transport their Utility Terrain Vehicle. The UTV is necessary in many situations including search and rescue missions and accidents where vehicle leave the road. . The Sidney Center fire department currently covers 27.5 square miles across 910 tax parcels. Supervisor Eric Wilson stated that the town has already allocated the American Rescue funds. As the first part of the American Rescue fund was given to the Town Court for lost revenue. But indicated that they still may be able to help. “Everyone certainly appreciates what you do, and we will figure out how to do something”. Supervisor Wilson stated that councilmembers will investigate other funding source.
REPORTS/ORAL
HIGHWAY– Highway Superintendent James Roberts: Mr. Roberts asked the board for approval to place a public notice for Highway Town Superintended position as Mr. Roberts will be retiring in April of 2023. The position is an elected position, which Mr. Roberts term is to end December 2023. The applicants would be appointed until the election in November 2023. Motion was made by Mr. Wilson to place public notice for Highway Superintended and seconded by Mr. Hunt and carried. AYES: B. Heath, P. Muratore. NAYES: None. Ad is to run in The Report February 16 and February 23rd. Interviews will begin on March 3rd and board will appoint at the April Board meeting.
The big project this coming year will be paving of River Rd at a cost of $115,000 and will be paid by CHIPS money.
Winter hasn’t been too bad, there has been 5 call-in and 281 tons of salt have been used because of dealing with ice. The Highway crew is working on getting the summer equipment ready, they are also installing green strobe lights on the trucks, which seem better and are safer.
SUPERVISOR– Eric Wilson- Discussed about having the Town Building insulated as its poorly insulated and the cost of heating is high, but Nate found a leak by the Court’s walk-up window and that would have to be repaired before any insulation work can be done.
BOOKKEEPER– Karen Kropp: Nothing
TOWN CLERK– Sheila Paul: Taxes for January are done and that the Town has been paid in full. Taxes will be collected until May 1st.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Highway-Selleck & Wilson: Nothing to Report
Hospital– Hunt/ Wilson: Bassett has signed the lease for the Clinic building, but the Hospital lease has not been signed at this time, Mr. Ermeti ( Town Attorney) is working on the negotiation and hopes to hear something next week.
Insurance–Heath / Hunt: Sometime between July and August we should look in to doing risk management. .
Zoning & Planning– Muratore/ Selleck: Meeting on Friday February 10, 2023, to discuss Overlays.
Mr. Baker chairperson of the planning board cancelled the Planning Board meeting for Monday February 16th.
East Sidney Lake– Heath/ Selleck: Mr. Nolan park manager reported that the seasonal cost is now $1300 for the summer, there is a new price sheet with updated prices. Motion was made by Mr. Wilson to accept the update prices and it was seconded by Mr. Hunt and carried. AYES: B. Heath, P. Muratore. NAYES: None
Mr. Nolan solicited 3 bids for trash removal, but only received 2. One from Casella and the other from WRE, and WRE was the lowest bid. Motion to accept WRE bid for trash removal was made by Mr. Hunt and seconded by Mr. Muratore and carried. AYES: E. Wilson, B Heath. NAYES: None.
The Unadilla Fire Department purchased a commercial ice maker and has agreed to sell eight-pound bags for $ 2.00, the park will sell them for $3.50.
Mr. Nolan has his truck and tank ready for the season.
Finance-Muratore/ Wilson: Karen the Town bookkeeper will be preparing some reports to monitor our account balances and take some money and invest in Treasury bills to earn interest.
IT– Hunt/ Muratore: New web page was launched in mid-January, still working some of the bugs out. Looking at getting Edmunds gov down to look at their equipment and wiring.
DCO liaison– Heath: Dog officer has been busy with calls.
NEW BUSINESS
Sidney Historical Society has appointed Mike Mason as their Historian.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR
Adjourn: At 7:38 p.m. Mr. Wilson motion to adjourn meeting and it was seconded by Mr. Muratore and carried. AYES: B. Hunt, B. Heath. NAYES: None
Next Regular Board Meeting will be on March 9, 2023, at 7:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sheila R Paul, Town Clerk
