TOWN OF FORESTPORT
REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING MINUTES
FORESTPORT TOWN HALL
10275 State Route 28, Forestport, N.Y.
December 18, 2024 @6:30PM

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

ABSENT:

RECORDING SECRETARY: Tracy Terry, Town Clerk

CALL TO ORDER:

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

ABSTRACTS:
GENERAL:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilman Addison to pay Abstract # 12, Vouchers #747- #800 in the amount of $47,284.23.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

HIGHWAY:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to pay Abstract #12, Vouchers #330- #345 in the amount of $53,689.74.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
WATER DISTRICT #1:
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to pay Abstract #12, Vouchers #121- #130 in the amount of $4,887.50.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
SEWER DISTRICT #1:
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to pay Abstract #12, Vouchers #73- #76 in the amount of $2,601.08.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
BUCKHORN WATER DISTRICT:
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Verschneider to pay Abstract #12, Vouchers # 31-#37 in the amount of $1,263.99.
5ayes/ 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:
November 20, 2024: Regular Town Board Meeting
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED

REPORTS
WATER DISTRICT #1
BUCKHORN WATER DISTRICT
SEWER
TOWN CLERK REPORTS
JUSTICE REPORT
DOG REPORT
PLANNING REPORT
PLANNING BOARD OF APPEALS
SUPERVISOR REPORT
DOG REPORT
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to accept the monthly reports.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
NOCCOG: Lisa Bellinger went over the monthly announcements.

OLD BUSINESS BOARD:
• Radar Signage: Supervisor Entwistle stated he has emailed customer service for the radar signage and has not heard back from them. He asked Kim, from the Gallery, if she had a direct contact and to have them reach out to him.
• Hero Banners: Those interested I the banner program need to submit the information and money by January 1st.
• Year-End Meeting: Scheduled for December 30th at 8AM.
• Organizational Meeting: Scheduled for January 6th at 6:30PM
• Ski Program: This is currently on hold because of the lack of snow. Supervisor Entwistle will be contacting group sales when he goes to Gore Mountain in regard to the intermediate ski day.

NEW BUSINESS BOARD:
• Front Door Locks: The Town will be replacing the front door locks with a Wi-Fi keypad. This should be completed in a month or two. There are a lot of keys floating around. Each person/group will have their individual code for their allotted day/time. The birthday party code will last for 12 hours. In an emergency, Supervisor can let people in. The main door will be the keypad. The other doors take a different key. Supervisor Entwistle will be giving the Fire departments keys to the other door in case of an emergency.

• Town Clerk/Justice/Tax Audits: Sam Edwards has completed the audits for the last two years.
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to accept the completed audits.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
• LakeView Road: The town has been experiencing some unusual flooding in the past couple of years. There are several spots where it is an issue with properties. The biggest one is LakeView Road in Otter Lake. Supervisor Entwistle has reached out to Plumley engineering to see what they recommend alleviating the problem. Jen, the Grant Writer said there is a lot of money for these types of projects.
• Youth Baseball: Supervisor Entwistle stated the town has paid for the sign-up fees for youth baseball after the Forestport Athletic Association stopped and it is under $2,000.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to approve paying for the Forestport kids sign up fees.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
• KLIA Fireworks: August 2nd is the fireworks display for the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Kayuta Lake. Councilman Addison stated they need to supply the town with insurance. Supervisor Entwistle spoke with Joan and Majestic will be supplying that. They need to shut the bridge down for about an hour. The Fire department has agreed to direct traffic.
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to schedule a public hearing January 15th at 6:15PM.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
• Letter from Old Forge ambulance: Supervisor read the following letter aloud:

Supervisor Entwistle stated this will be a project for 2025.
• Water and Sewer Billing and Collecting software: Jeff, Vicky and Tracy have spent time looking at three programs. They ruled out one of the programs. Muni-link is a good program and offers less time, billing runs, cloud based, create workorders, e-billing, full-service customer portals $14,000 up front with a monthly maintenance fee. Edmunds GovTech is $12,750 up front and an annual fee is $6,500. Supervisor Entwistle stated the upfront fees are always expensive in the beginning. The costs would be split between the two water districts and the sewer district. If anything goes wrong, they can call the company and they take care of it. The other long-term goal is currently some programs are cloud based. The server was replaced 6 months ago. If all the programs were cloud-based, the server could be stored off site and is cheaper. Jeff mentioned the biggest thing is the program is if they property in all three districts they could pay online for all of them together. They should also be able to save postage by sending postcards instead of letters. The town also received discounts from having the Clerk and Codes using one of their programs. Kim asked if there was a company that offered programs for all departments and asked if they checked with other towns to see what they use. Supervisor Entwistle stated Edmunds GovTech is one of them. The readings will come through and issues with leaks can be seen immediately.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilman Scouten to move forward with Edmunds Govtech for the Water and sewer program.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
• StaR Ambulance: They provide 2/3’s of the ambulance service from Forestport to Woodgate. They have struggled over the last ten years. Steuben, Trenton and Remsen created a district. They reached out to the towns for an additional $7,000.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Abrial and seconded by Councilman Scouten to pay StaR ambulance a onetime donation of $7,000.00.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
• Codes Department: Supervisor Entwistle stated he is sad to announce the resignation of Joe Rowlands. The Board is accepting his resignation effective December 31st.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Verschneider and seconded by Councilman Scouten to accept Joe Rowland’s resignation effective December 31st and appoint Ryan Abrial effective January 1st.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
Supervisor Entwistle mentioned Ryan is a NYS certified Code Enforcement Officer and he will be taking over Joe’s duties. Roy Johnson, from the gallery, asked what his duties were, and it was answered certificates of occupancy, reviews of building permits, final plans, fire inspections for businesses and restaurants. Kim, from the gallery asked about Tony and it was answered he is not state Certified yet because he has a Full-time job, he is going to retire from Full time job and do this position into retirement. In the next couple of years, the town will need a Part time codes guy. They do not have a Full Time because of civil service, and they like to keep the positions local.
• Camp Nazareth: They have reached out to the town for the 2025 season. The town’s rates are increasing from $325 to $400.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:
A motion was made by Councilman Scouten and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to enter Executive session regarding a Personnel Matter.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
The Board returned from the Executive Session at 7:09 with no action taken.
NEW BUSINESS PUBLIC:
• Kim, from the gallery, thanked everyone for showing up to the board meeting in the harsh weather. She also mentioned having the board offer workshops on what the town government does. Supervisor Entwistle mentioned her going to the Local Government Day Conference. Kim mentioned having a website that promotes the town. The website has to be its own website with its own domain. Supervisor Entwistle stated when she gets a group together that is interested in doing it, to let him know.
• Laurie asked for an update on a Dollar General. Supervisor Entwistle stated he thought the town could do a moratorium on industrialized business. Laurie also mentioned having a conversation on commercial property being so many feet from residential homes since they do not have zoning. Supervisor Entwistle said the comprehensive plan will finish in July. They would like to take the Comprehensive Master Plan, Site Review Law, Subdivision Law and the survey to create a better land-use regulation document. The plan will concentrate on development. Laurie mentioned neglected properties and asked if you could put a surcharge on new homes built and put that money in a fund to take care of those properties. Discussion took place regarding historical properties.
ADJOURNMENT:
A motion was made by Councilman Addison and seconded by Councilwoman Abrial to adjourn the meeting.
5ayes/ 0 nays/0 absent MOTION CARRIED
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:29 pm by Supervisor Entwistle.
Respectfully submitted,

Tracy M. Terry

Forestport Town Clerk