The Dryden Renewable Energy Workgroup (D.R.E.W.) will meet on Tuesday, July 22nd at 7pm at the Varna Community Center (943 Dryden Road in the Hamlet of Varna - - aka. Rt. 366).

Please join us!

Dryden Renewable Energy Workgroup

Are you concerned about the cost of fuel for your home or vehicle?
 
Do you want to work on developing renewable energy solutions in Dryden?
 
Do you want to help Dryden become energy independent?
 
 

Join Dryden residents for the kickoff of the “Dryden Renewable Energy Workgroup”
 
Monday, June 23rd, 7pm
Dryden Community Center Café
1 West Main Street, Dryden

http://davidmakar.com/drew/

This morning I went out to get the paper and made sure to get a photo of the house for the season. I’ve been taking house pictures from about the same place since I moved to Dryden. This one is the first of the 2007 election season.

Monday night, before Arjan got home, I put out about 25 signs from the 2006 campaign. I’ll be using these throughout Dryden, but mostly I’ll be using the new signs that we have for 2007 focusing on the complete democratic ticket. Simon posted a picture of the new signs on his blog. The signs feature Town Supervisor candidate Mary Ann Sumner (current town board member), Joe Solomon (candidate for town board - 4 year seat) and me (candidate for a full four year term on the board).

Last year I ran for the final year of a four year term - in a seat that was vacated. This year I’m up for re-election to keep the seat for the next four years. The election is Tuesday, November 6th and I’m asking for your support to continue the work I started on January 3rd when I was sworn in.

Three things to look to:
-What I’ve been working on and accomplished in the first 8 months
-What I’d like to do as your board representative for the next 4 years
-How you can support me if you are interested in making Dryden a better place to live

On Wednesday, June 27th, the Dryden Town Board met for a special public meeting to review and accept change orders for the new town hall, to pass a resolution on the selection of a phone network installer and to review and decide on submitting an application to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Places (OPRHP) for a grant.

The town hall change orders were all accepted, save one and the total cost of change orders to date is $77,600. The contingency budget for the town hall was set at $75,000 or roughly 2.5% of the total $2.9 million project. The architect (and lead contractor), Egner Associates, had stated at the beginning of the project and stated again on Wednesday that the contingency budgets for their projects is between two and five percent. As I talked to other construction agencies in Tompkins County I found out that contingency budgets are usually set between five and ten percent. A line does need to be drawn – a line that we can afford – a line that makes sense fiscally. We have now gone over the budget for the building and it isn’t slated to open for two more months (on or around September 1st). I believe there will be more cost overruns based on the traditional experience of our resources here in Tompkins County. I believe we will land somewhere close to five percent. Where will the town come up with this extra money? The general fund? Our rainy day fund? The 2008 budget? I’m told not to worry, the town has the money.

I can’t be a responsible representative or legislator if I can’t tell my fellow taxpayers how we are going to pay for the things we are buying and building.

The Town of Dryden accepted the town’s Comprehensive Plan in December of 2005. Within that plan there was a call for 10 parks throughout the town. These parks would be made up of 9 small community parks “about one acre in size – nested within existing and future Hamlet or Suburban Residential areas.” The tenth park would be a larger community park with a minimum recommended size of 20 acres. This park was recommended to have the goal of being “a large facility designed to serve the entire town and feature areas for organized athletics as well as areas to accommodate a wide variety of informal recreation activities”. This park called for ball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, picnic pavilions, picnic tables, charcoal grills, play structures, restrooms, drinking fountains, parking for 100 to 120 cars and “acreage on the perimeter of the park should be reserved as a buffer area between the park and nearby residential areas.”

Map: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/comprehensive_plan_700.jpg

A location was chosen and added to the Comprehensive Plan, this location turns out to be unworkable, based on the current owner, but it did have five goals that were met:
1. It would be at the approximate center of population for the town
2. It would astride the future bicycle/pedestrian path between the two communities, and hence be easily accessible via that path and others (the two communities of the village of Freeville and the village of Dryden).
3. The riparian corridor along Virgil Creek would be an ideal natural area component for a community park.
4. The park would be easily accessible by automobile from both NYS Rte. 13 and NYS Rte. 38 via George Road.
5. There is very little residential development in the area that could be negatively impacted by noise and traffic from major athletic or other events at the park.

So now we have a strong definition from the comprehensive plan of what should be in the 10th community park – the larger park. We also have a definition of qualifiers primarily based on location and proximity to rt. 13 and rt. 38, the bike trail and the population of the town.

Wednesday night the town board passed a resolution to apply for a grant to develop land behind the new town hall into a community park that had a rough drawing of ball fields and parking on a map. The ball fields include a baseball diamond, a softball field, and a soccer/ lacrosse / football field. There was also notes for a BMX track with dirt jumps, a skate park, pavilions, a playground, parking, additional pavilions, a community center, a community garden, another playground area, and additional parking. This single map was all the town board had to go on to approve or reject as a proposal to go to the state of New York. We did not have a copy of the proposal or of the grant application that we hired Thoma Associates to write. We voted on the plan based on hand written notes in pen and pencil on a map. The motion carried 3-2. It was the first non-unanimous vote of consequence for the 2007 town board. I joined Mary Ann Sumner in rejecting this proposal. I would like to tell you why.

The map we were given to decide with: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_600.jpg

Close up of the property to be developed: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_zoom.jpg

Close up of the notes and the property to be developed: http://www.davidmakar.com/maps/new_park_plan_notes.jpg

This development plan is flawed because of the location, the lack of partnership with the village of Dryden, the poor amount of planning, and the fiscal irresponsibility.

The location is exactly wrong for this type of development. It sits behind the new town hall on a parcel of land that is about 1.5 miles west of the Virgil / Dryden town line. That puts this property 9 miles east of Varna, 9 miles from Ellis Hollow, 4 miles from Freeville, 7 miles from West Dryden, 10 miles from Bethel Grove, and just 1.5 miles from the western border of the village of Dryden, 1.2 miles from the southern border of the village of Dryden, .7 miles from the northern border of the village of Dryden, 1.3 miles from Dryden High School, .6 miles from Dryden Elementary School, and .7 miles from the rt. 13 and rt. 392 intersection in the middle of the village of Dryden.

This is not the location of a Town of Dryden community park – this is the perfect location for the Village of Dryden community park. The Village of Dryden had a population of 1,832 as of the 2000 census; the town of Dryden had a population of 13,352 as of the same census. That puts approximately 14 percent of Dryden residents in the village. This park is wholly contained within the Village of Dryden. When I inquired about the Village’s participation in our planning for this park I was told they were ok with it. Of course they are! We’re going to take town-wide property tax to build a large multi-use community park that is primarily in walking distance of everyone that lives in the village. We haven’t asked them to be partners. We haven’t asked them to assist with funding. We haven’t offered to sell the land to them for use. We are taking it on our own to develop land that is far away from a majority of people that live in the Town of Dryden. This is a mistake and a disappointment.

The Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan called for future parks. To realize this goal a concrete recreation plan for the entire town must be created. It must take into account all residents of the town of Dryden. It must make use of ideas from people from across the town of Dryden. As of today there is no defined recreation plan. There is however a series of events being set in motion to build a large community park that doesn’t even fit with the comprehensive plan’s idea of future parks.

Finally, the dollars, the amount that the town will have to contribute to making this park a reality. It is at this time almost completely unknown. The town board passed the resolution to submit this proposal without even having the hard figures for what we were asking for in total and what our share would be. The grant’s maximum allowance is $500,000 matching. We would have to provide $500,000 in dollars and in-kind services to get that amount matched. I don’t believe we asked for that entire amount. The word was somewhere between $200,000 and $250,000. That puts the project between $400,000 and $500,000 to develop this land. Half of that would be paid by the state. A majority of this amount will go to engineering the project, grading and leveling-off the slopes and working around the existing wetlands. This is a sizable investment. This is an investment that is being put in motion without any budget considerations.

When I asked how this would be paid for I was basically told the town “has money for this”. I’m not sure where, but I think it is from the same fund that will pay for the town hall construction overrun costs. If the town has a piggy bank stashed away (earning 4% I hope) then that amount should be made public. The town’s people should know how much is in there and how the town plans to use that money. If it is to pay for community park projects – let’s make sure they are equitable for all the residents of the Town of Dryden. We need a long term recreation plan. We need to make sure that a single large scale park is accessible to all of Dryden and that if we build within the village – that the village is a partner in the project.
Cl Mary Ann Sumner wrote about this issue at the Dryden Democrats blog here: http://drydendems.blogspot.com/2007/06/recreation-and-community-center.html

The complete Town of Dryden comprehensive plan is here: http://www.dryden.ny.us/compplan.html

I’ve been working for the last few months gathering information on Broadband Internet Access. It has been a challenge and a goal to overcome since I moved to Dryden in 2004. I’ve put together a draft of information regarding Broadband Internet Access for Dryden. If you have anything to add, please email me (dave@davidmakar.com) or leave comments on this post. I’ll be cross-posting to davidmakar.com and to Dryden Democrats.

http://davidmakar.com/broadband/

Check it out, learn, share information, get hooked up!

My fourth town board meeting is on Thursday. So far we’ve made slow progress on a lot of different projects. Mostly this has been an educational and “Fact-finding” two months.

I’m trying to keep ahead of everyone’s requests and hope to have some time to really detail issues on here soon. Today the temperature in Dryden is -1 and -22 with the wind.

See the attached file for the agenda for Thursday night.

http://www.davidmakar.com/agendas/Mar_8_2007.doc

http://www.davidmakar.com/agendas/Mar_8_2007.pdf

Truck Check on Thursday night at the Varna Volunteer Fire Company

I’d like to continue with my own reporting on the Wednesday, January 3rd Town of Dryden organizational meeting that I started discussing here. Beyond discussions of the resolutions we also spent some time reviewing and modifying the existing committees.

The assignments:

Appointment and committee assignments for 2007 by the Supervisor as follows: 

Bookkeeper to Supervisor——————————-Dawn Bogdan

Deputy Supervisor—————————————–Cl Stephen Stelick, Jr.

Town Hall & General Fund Bills Committee——–COMBINED TO NEW FINANCE COM.       

Highway & Hwy Fund Bills Committee—————COMBINED TO NEW FINANCE COM.

FINANCE COMMITTEE: Cl Mary Ann Sumner, Supv Steven Trumbull

Highway & Public Works Committee——————Adhoc committee, Cl Stelick, Cl Sumner

Assessment Review Committee———————–Cl Stelick, Cl Sumner

Insurance Committee————————————Cl Sumner, Cl Marty Christofferson

Representatives to Planning Board——————–Cl Sumner

Representatives to Zoning Board of Appeals———Cl Christofferson 

Representatives to IAWTF——————————-Cl Dave Makar      

Representatives to Fire Depts & Emergency Services—–Cl Sumner, Cl Makar

Representative to Recreation & Youth Services Comm—RENAMED to include Community Centers: Cl Stelick, Cl Makar

Community Block Grant Review Comm————–COMBINED with GRANTS COM.

Rep to MPO Policy Comm———————————Supv Trubull 

Human Resources Committee————————–Dawn Bogdan, Cl Christofferson, Cl Sumner

Town

Hall

Building

Committee————————–Cl Stelick & Cl Christofferson 

Representative to Conservation Board—————–Cl Sumner    

Representative to

Cayuga Lake

Watershed IO——-Dan Kwasnowski 

Liason Officer to Bolton Point (SCLIWC)—————-Supv Trumbull & Steve Lipinski

Grants Committee——————————————-Cl Stelick, Cl Makar   

Telecommunications, Cable TV & Internet Committee—RENAMED “Technology”: Cl Christofferson, CL Makar

 

If you are keeping score at home:

 

Cl Christofferson: Technology; Insurance; Town Hall Building; Human Resources; Zoning Board of Appeals

Cl Makar: Recreation/Youth Services/Community Centers; Grants; Technology; Emergency Services; IAWTF

Cl Sumner: Finance; Human Resources; Emergency Services; Conservation Board; Assessment Review; HWY/Public Works, Planning Board 

Cl Stelick: Recreation/Youth Services/Community Centers;  Grants; Town Hall Building; Assessment Review; HWY/Public Works

 

Supv Trumbull: Finance; MPO; ITCTC; Liason to Bolton Point

 

I was fortunate to be accepted to every committee I wanted to get to work on. The platform from the campaign included improving cell phone coverage and broadband internet access - both of which may be covered by the technology committee. I also want to support the community centers which the Recreation/Youth Services/Community Centers will be working with. In addition I was hoping to be involved in economic development which the grants committee will be responsible for. Finally, for my interested in the fire companies as well as the emergency plan discussed with the Varna Community Center the Emergency Services committee looks like a good fit.

I have a lot to learn, a lot of people I’m interested in meeting with and hopefully a lot will get accomplished. I’m excited and hopeful going forward with this process.

Cross posted at Dryden is Home and Dryden Democrats   

Wednesday night the 2007 Dryden Town Board met for the annual Organizational Meeting. The meeting’s purpose is to officially approve of the operation of the town of Dryden (TOD) and to assign members of the town board to committees and as representatives to other boards.

In the next hour and forty minutes we passed 27 of 28 resolutions and redefined a few committees.

Resolutions passed included:

RESOLUTION #1 - APPROVE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS

RESOLUTION #2 – RULES OF PROCEDURE

RESOLUTION #3 – MILEAGE

RESOLUTION #4 – DESIGNATE OFFICIAL DEPOSITORIES

RESOLUTION #5 - AUTHORIZE SIGNATURES ON ACCOUNTS

RESOLUTION #6 - OFFICIAL ADVERTISING

RESOLUTION #7  - ADVANCE PAYMENT OF UTILITIES

RESOLUTION #8 - PETTY CASH

RESOLUTION #9 - APPOINTMENTS

RESOLVED, that this Town Board appoint the following:

·         Town Supervisor as Service Officer and Fire Warden

·         Town Supervisor has the power and duties of administration and supervision of the Town of

Dryden

on Special Assessment Fund functions to be performed on behalf of the Town Board.

·         Town Supervisor is authorized to pay Fire & Ambulance Contracts

·         Town Supervisor has the power and duties of administration and supervision of the Town of

Dryden

on Special Improvement District functions to be performed on behalf of the Town Board.

·         Bambi L. Hollenbeck as Receiver of Taxes and Assessments

·         Bambi L. Hollenbeck as licensor for Games of Chance and Bingo.

·         Henry Slater as Subdivision Control Officer and Multiple Residence Inspector.

·         ________________ as Bingo Inspector ($150 annual salary) 

·         Patricia Millard as Secretary for Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Conservation Board

·         Barbara Caldwell as Planning Board Chair ($400 annual salary)

·         Oers Kelemen as ZBA Chair ($400 annual salary)

·         _________________, Historian, ($400 annual salary)

 

 

RESOLUTION #10 - APPOINT TOWN ENGINEER

RESOLUTION #11 - ANNUAL SALARIES FOR TOWN OFFICERS

Town Supervisor                     $16,224

Council (4)                                $5,682

Town Clerk                             $24,813

Highway Superintendent       $56,809

Town Justice (2)                     $16,863

 

RESOLUTION #12 - 2007 ANNUAL SALARIES

RESOLUTION #13 - CONTRACTS

 

RESOLVED, that this Town Board contract with the following:

 

Mahlon Perkins as the Attorney for the Town at an annual contract amount of $27,600 (paid monthly) to do regular agreed upon Town business, with other business and reimbursable business at the rate of $180 per hour, when signed contract received.

Randall Marcus – Attorney for Zoning Board of Appeals – paid monthly at a rate of $210-225/hr

S.P.C.A. - $18,751.78, paid monthly.

Gadabout at a rate of $6,500 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

T.C. Seniors - $3,600 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

Dryden Seniors - $500 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

Southworth Library - $11,500 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

Learning Web – $1,100  - when funds are available, when signed contract received

Women’s Opportunity of Tompkins Center - $500 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

Dryden Historical Society - $1,100 – when funds are available, when signed contract received

 

RESOLUTION #14 - APPOINT BUDGET OFFICERS

RESOLUTION #15 - APPOINT PLANNING BOARD MEMBER

RESOLUTION #16 - APPOINT ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MEMBER

RESOLUTION #17 - APPOINT RECREATION COMMISSION MEMBER - not passed on 1/3/07

RESOLUTION #18 - APPOINT CONSERVATION BOARD MEMBERS

RESOLUTION #19 - APPOINT RECREATION PARTNERSHIP REPRESENTATIVE

RESOLUTION #20 - APPOINT YOUTH COMMISSION MEMBER

RESOLUTION #21 - VOUCHER/INVOICE SUBMISSION DEADLINES

RESOLUTION #22 - MANDATORY JUSTICE SCHOOLING

RESOLUTION #23 - INVESTMENT POLICIES/GUIDELINES FOR TOWN OF DRYDEN

RESOLUTION #24 - TOWN OF DRYDEN FAIR HOUSING OFFICER

RESOLUTION #25 - TOWN BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE

RESOLUTION #26 - VEHICLE BENEFIT

RESOLUTION #27 - REQUEST EXTENSION TO FILE ANNUAL REPORT

RESOLUTION #28 - APPROVE ABSTRACT #13

What parts of this do you have questions about? I will do my best to explain what is what (as it was explained to me).

 

Specific Notes on Resolutions:

Resolution #3 - Mileage: The IRS/Federal Government has different rates for cars than motorcycles. Town employees that report mileage on personal vehicles should specify if the miles are for an automobile or motorcylcle so they can be paid the legally correct amount. The cost to the town for this is minimal as discussion came up that there is just one town employee that might use a personal motorcycle for town business travel. To be fair and legal this will need to be distinguished and reviewed.

Resolution #9 - Appointments: The Town Supervisor as the “Service Officer and Fire Warden” –  as of the meeting time noone knew what the service officer did. Steve Trumbull was planning to ask the town attorney. The “Special Assessment Fund” was also unknown. Mary Ann Sumner agreed to look it up. The “Special Improvement District” includes water and sewer (as well as lighting I’m guessing). The Bingo Inspector’s position is open and there was some discussion as to filling it. The town’s Historian position is available and the tentative thought was to increase the annual salary from $400 to $1000 as the county recommends.

Resolution #13 - Contracts: “Learning Web” has been contacted and there has been no year end report furnished in the recent past. All other contracts have been authorized. Once “Learning Web” makes contact with the town board their contract will be signed and money will be dispersed. Do you know what Learning Web is and are you involved at all? Here is their website: http://www.learning-web.org/ I can’t seem to find out what they are doing for the people of Dryden. I am hopeful we will get some details.

Resolution #26 - Vehicle Benefit: There was some discussion over the benefit add on to income tax. If your vehicle benefit in one year is $10,000 then you will need to pay taxes on that vehicle benefit. Obviously we have to follow IRS rules on this and it is primarily up to the employee gaining the benefit to take care of this. Dawn will need to look to see if they need to pay.

Resolution #28 - Approve Abstract #13: The town spends a lot of money each month as does any business. At the beginning of each meeting a stack of reciepts about two phone books high is available for review by the board and then the vote on the abstract is the final resolution of the evening. While the town board members are reviewing the abstract they are unable to listen to everything else that is going on with their undivided attention. A finance committee that reviewed the abstract ahead of the meeting may make more sense, but more of that in the next post.   

Cross posted at Dryden is Home and Dryden Democrats