The regular meeting of the Varick Town Board was called to order by Supervisor Robert Hayssen at 7:00 p.m. Present at this meeting were Councilmen Richard McCulloch, Tom Fox and Eric Riegel, Town Clerk, Donna Karlsen, Bookkeeper, Angela Testa, Attorney for the Town, Joe Midiri.

Absent: Councilman Richard Peterson

Privilege of the Floor: None.

Abstract: A motion by Richard McCulloch, seconded by Eric Riegel and so carried unanimously to approve Abstract 7, Vouchers 577 to 614 in the amount of $132,487.62.

Highway: No report.

Judge: No Report

Supervisor/Bookkeeper Report: A motion by Richard McCulloch, seconded by Eric Riegel and so carried unanimously to approve the May 2023 Supervisor’s Report.

Bookkeeper: Angela Testa discussed with the board the two part-time, hourly secretarial positions registered with Seneca County Personnel office. Courtney Andrews fills one of these slots as court clerk. Donna Karlsen previously filled the second slot for her secretary to the supervisor part time, hourly rate duties which were not included in her duties performed under her salaried secretarial position that was created when the town took over the water and sewer billing. Mrs. Testa explained that when Julia Stanley was hired as Planning/Zoning Board secretary, a part time secretarial slot was required by the county personnel office, so she removed Mrs. Karlsen from the part-time hourly secretarial position and put Julia Stanley in that slot. She suggested the board approve amending Mrs. Karlsen’s part-time hourly position for secretary to the supervisor duties which included her keeping the data base for the One Call system to a salary position. An average of hours over a year’s period of time was calculated and multiplied by the 2023 hourly rate (136 hours X $22.63) and recommended that that figure be added to her salary position. This would result in no change to the overall 2023 budget and can be completed through a budget amendment with a decrease in expense line A1220.104 Administrative Assistant and an increase in expense A1220.105 Administrative Assistant Salary in the amount of $3,077.

A motion by Eric Riegel, seconded by Richard McCulloch and so carried unanimously to approve amending Donna Karlsen’s hourly secretarial/onecall position to a salary position as secretary to the supervisor and decreasing A1220.104 Administrative Assistant in the amount of $3,077 and increasing her established salary expense line of A1220.105 Administrative Assistant Salary in the amount of $3,077.

Mrs. Testa will prepare a budget resolution for the August board meeting reflecting these changes.

Code Enforcement: No report.

Water/Sewer Operator’s Report: June 2023

· Marked Out Dig Tickets as requested.

· Called in Dig tickets for upcoming jobs.

· Changed out meters.

· Read each master meter and did calculations of daily usage.

· Answered customers question in each sewer and water district.

· Did final reads as needed.

· Turned on water services as requested.

· Changed out grinder pumps as needed.

· Took Bac T samples in each water district.

· Filled out and submitted monthly report to health department.

· Ordered parts for upcoming projects.

· Repaired broken air release valve for sewer on driftwood.

· Hooked up and run generator for sewer pump station.

· Weeded Var 3 hydrants.

· Exercised and painted hydrants on East Lake Road.

· Exercised guard valves in Seneca lake water district.

· Read water meters in all 4 districts.

· Ordered more water meters.

· Torn down and scrapped old sewer pumps.

· Cleaned shop.

· Looked into broken hydrants in var 3 with salesman.

· Cleaned up yard on rt 89 due to fixing curb box.

· Finished yard with seeding and topsoil in Var 1 where mainline valve was replaced.

· Re-wired circuit board for sewer pump.

Varick Water District No. 1: Nothing further to report.

Seneca Lake Water District: Nothing further to report.

Varick Water District No. 3: Nothing further to report.

Varick Water District No. 4: Nothing further to report.

Varick Sewer District No. 1: The Town of Romulus provided a proposal to replace 2 impellers, 2 ring, wear stationary steel/NBR and 4 hours of field service in the amount of $9,793.40 from Fleet to repair both sewer pumps. This cost will be split 55% Romulus, 45% Varick based on the agreement between the two towns.

A motion by Richard McCulloch, seconded by Eric Riegel and so carried unanimously to approve to repair both sewer pumps with the replacement of 2 impellers, 2 ring, wear stationary steel/NBR and 4 hours of field service at a cost of $9,793.40 to be split at 55% Romulus and 45% Varick.

Varick Sewer District No. 2: Nothing further to report.

Town Clerk: Amotion by Eric Riegel, seconded by Tom Fox and so carried unanimously to approve the Town Clerk’s report: Supervisor: $397.50, NYS Ag & Markets: $9, State Health Dept.: $22.50, Total Disbursements: $429.

Minutes: A motion by Richard McCulloch, seconded by Tom Fox and so carried unanimously to approve the minutes of June 6, 2023.

Personnel: Mr. McCulloch reported Ashley Chambers did accept the position as director of the Summer Recreations program. The program began July 3 with 34 children attending and a total of 57 children registered as of this date. She retained four out of the five councilors that worked the previous year, and Ms. Chambers is willing to do a presentation at our the September meeting if the board would like.

Assessor: Nothing to report.

Zoning Board: Nothing to report.

Planning Board: Thomas Bjorkman reported that in reviewing the Zoning Code there was text in Section 315. Short-term rentals duplicated in section 314.4 that he would like removed from Section 315 Short-term rentals. He also noted that he is moving some of the text within Section 315 around within that section. He understands that since these are not major changes to the code, it would not require a public hearing/local law to complete, just a motion from the board for approval. The board reviewed the areas indicated by Mr. Bjorkman and made the following motion.

A motion by Eric Riegel, seconded by Richard McCulloch and so carried to remove duplicate text from Section 315 Short-term rentals which already exists in Section 314.4 and move some of the text within Section 315 around within that section.

New Business, Old Business, Correspondence:

Mr. Fox questioned an article he saw in the Finger Lakes Times regarding Seneca County establishing a water authority and the stance the Town of Varick was going to take on this. Supervisor Hayssen reviewed what little information the county has on this proposed formation and at this time, based on the lack of information, the Town of Varick would not be in favor of this formation.

The board discussed the proposed local law adopting the ten percent tax exemption for firefighters and felt, after reviewing a video pertaining to this exemption, the proposed law may be too general and needs further consideration. Mr. Midiri will contact the Association of Towns for further directions. This discussion was tabled until the August meeting.

A motion by Eric Riegel, seconded by Richard McCulloch and so carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted: Donna Karlsen, Varick Town Clerk