TOWN OF FORESTPORT
REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING MINUTES
FORESTPORT TOWN HALL
10275 State Rte. 28, Forestport, N.Y. 13338
February 21, 2024 @6:30PM

PRESENT: Supervisor Entwistle
Councilman Addison
Councilman Scouten
Councilwoman Abrial
Councilwoman Verschneider

ABSENT: No members of the Town Board were absent.

RECORDING SECRETARY: Tracy Terry, Town Clerk
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:30PM by Supervisor Entwistle. The pledge was recited.

ABSTRACTS:
GENERAL:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilman Addison to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #53- #115 in the amount of $40,294.05.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
HIGHWAY:
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #16- #59 in the amount of $75,841.39
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

PLANNING:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to pay Abstract #2, Voucher #7 in the amount of $37.56
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

FIRE:
Forestport: Abstract #2, Vouchers #1 in the amount of $95,759.50
Otter Lake: Abstract #2, Vouchers #2 in the amount of $79,434.00
Woodgate: Abstract #2, Vouchers #3 in the amount of $80,953.50
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #1- #3 in the amount of $256,147.00
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

AMBULANCE:
Old Forge: Abstract #2, Voucher #1 in the amount of $28,500.00

A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to pay Abstract #2, Voucher #1 in the amount of $28,500.00
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

WATER DISTRICT #1:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilman Addison to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #14- #24 in the amount of $1,508.36
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
BUCKHORN WATER DISTRICT #2:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #5- #9 in the amount of $1,749.48.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
SEWER DISTRICT #1:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to pay Abstract #2, Vouchers #9- #17 in the amount of $1,326.04.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
TOWN CLERK MINUTES:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to accept the minutes from the:
January 17, 2024- Regular Town Board Meeting
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
REPORTS
WATER DISTRICT #1
WATER DISTRICT #2
SEWER
TOWN CLERK REPORTS
JUSTICE REPORT
DOG REPORT
PLANNING REPORT
SUPERVISOR REPORT
PLANNING BOARD OF APPEALS
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilman Addison to approve the reports as a whole.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
NOCCOG:
• Lisa Bellinger went over the monthly announcements. Supervisor Entwistle will be reaching out to get the traffic counters as it will be good data.
WATER:
• Lucas Kafka: Lucas has received his certification from Oneida County for both water districts and sewer.
OLD BUSINESS BOARD:
• Buildings and Grounds Truck: The truck is currently out to bid until March 19th. At this time, there have been no sealed bids.
• Phone System replacement: A suggestion was made to look into Northland Communications as the town has been experiencing issues with the current phone system. Councilman Addison has been in charge of handling the inquiry with Northland Communications. Northland Communications has agreed to do a one-time installation fee of $1,000 for both buildings. The monthly bill will be under $500. Frontier’s bill is about $900 a month. Northland Communication is also cloud-based.
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to move forward with Northland Communications.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
Supervisor Entwistle stated he did get in touch with Spectrum, and they will be doing a site survey. That should be done by Friday afternoon unless they have to come out and do work.
• Hometown Heroes: There is a maximum of 55 applicants and there are currently 10-15. Supervisor Entwistle is accepting applications until March 20th.
• Comprehensive Plan: The Committee is making final tweaks. There is a public engagement meeting April 16th at 6PM. There will be a handful of them over the next 6 months to a year. There will be a zoom link for those who can’t attend. The survey should be out in the next month- month and a half. A paper copy will be available around Forestport. Paper copies can be left where they complete them or in the drop box. Once the survey is live, Supervisor Entwistle would like to have the seniors come eat lunch and fill out the survey to get their participation.

NEW BUSINESS BOARD:
• Camp Nazareth: Dave George is the new liaison. Camp Nazareth will be keeping the town’s rate at $300 a child. Last year parents were asked to contribute $50 a child and will do the same this year. It will be open to 20 children, first come, first serve.
• Summer Recreation: Councilwoman Verschneider thinks there should be a minimum number of kids to have it because there were just a few last year. Councilwoman Abrial stated it’s hard because people travel and make plans. Supervisor Entwistle said if they can get 15 kids to actually sign up they will have it. He would like to advertise it soon.
• Art Club: The Art Club will be ending the second week in March. Supervisor Entwistle would like to see what they spent last year and put an actual budget number on it. By the end of March, it would’ve cost $5500.
• Fuelmaster Quote: The Highway Clerk retired at the end of the year and former Board Member, Nancy Kardash along with Supervisor Entwistle have been helping Bill Gardner at the Highway Barn. One thing they utilize is a fill up system, Fuel Masters. The software is over 30 years old and is on a floppy disc. It’s come to Supervisor Entwistle’s attention that the fuel prices aren’t being changed frequently. He has reached out to several companies to replace the software and hardware. Most of the other companies supply fleet cards where each driver has a credit card that can go to a local gas station to fill up. They also require GPS tracking and dash cams. The Fuelmaster quote to upgrade what they do have, is $14,000. Councilman Scouten said the town hasn’t spent a lot of money this year with sand, salt and overtime. It’s a cellular enabled service and Fuelmaster enters all the vin numbers and user keys. Tony Sege asked about having each individual member of the Fire Department have their own unique ID. Right now, the entire Fire department has one ID.
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilman Addison to accept the FuelMaster quote for $14,000.00.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
Supervisor Entwistle stated the money will come out of the Highway contingency fund because it was not budgeted for.
• Summer Maintenance Help: The Board agreed to allow Dominic to return this summer at thirty hours a week.
• Planning Board: The Planning Board has been working on making an amendment to existing Wastewater treatment systems in the Site Review Law. One issue is a lot of smaller lots have been in the ground for a very long time and replacement systems are finding it difficult to meet the setbacks. A couple situations have gone to the Planning Board and the Planning Board of Appeals. Supervisor Entwistle stated he liked all of it except “a designed professional may not be required for an absorption field”. Supervisor Entwistle stated anyone who has a leach field, or an absorption field has to have an engineered plan because it takes the Code Enforcement Officer off the hook from becoming an engineer and mediator. Attached is a copy of the proposal. Supervisor Entwistle will be making changes and giving it back to the Planning Board for their review and they will let the Attorney look at it. There has been discussion that the Planning Board should be taken out of the equation. If they cannot meet the setbacks, it would go directly to the Planning Board of Appeals. They would not review design issues.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to enter executive Session to discuss a Personnel matter.
The board returned from Executive Session at 7:24 with no action taken.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
NEW BUSINESS PUBLIC:
.
ADJOURNMENT:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to adjourn the meeting.
5 ayes/ 0 nays/ 0 absent MOTION CARRIED
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 pm by Supervisor Entwistle.
Respectfully submitted,

Tracy M. Terry

Forestport Town Clerk