November 13, 2023 Regular Meeting

Mayor James M. Jaroszynski
Trustee Anthony Cavallaro
Trustee Timothy Dunn – excused
Trustee Alan Gustafson Jr.
Trustee Annette Miller

Gregory Peterson, Attorney
Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk
Paula Spunaugle, Treasurer
Bryce Webster, Fire Chief
Alan Gustafson Sr., Code Enforcement Officer-excused
Paul Capitano, Code Enforcement Officer
Carl Caprino, DPW Superintendent
Laurie Becker, Library Director

The regular meeting of the Village of Falconer Mayor and Board of Trustees was held on Monday, November 13, 2023 at 6:00 P.M. in the Firemen’s Exempt Hall with Mayor James Jaroszynski presiding.

Pledge of Allegiance & Roll:

Trustee Gustafson, Trustee Cavallaro, Trustee Miller and Mayor Jaroszynski were all present.

Public Hearing

Trustee Gustafson made a motion, seconded by Trustee Cavallaro to open the public meeting for Local Law #1-2023. Mayor Jaroszynski noted that Local Law #1-2023, adding Article IV to Chapter 119 of the Village of Falconer Code, offers Volunteer Firefighters and Ambulance Workers a 10% exemption on their Real Property Taxes. NYS enacted the law in 2022, which gave municipalities the opportunity to give back to the volunteers. Mayor Jaroszynski opened the floor to public comments. No comments made by visitors.

Trustee Cavallaro made a motion, seconded by Trustee Miller to close the public hearing at 6:03 pm.

Visitors

Nina Gustafson

Ro Woodard

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR

VISITORS ARE ALLOWED A MAXIMUM OF THREE (3) MINUTES TO ADDRESS THE BOARD. THIS IS NOT THE TIME OR PLACE FOR A DEBATE. IT IS A MEETING FOR THE BOARD TO CONDUCT VILLAGE BUSINESS. ALLCOMPLAINTS/REQUESTS WILL BE CONSIDERED AND REVIEWED AT A LATER TIME.

Visitor Comments

Ro Woodard, village resident, has contacted Falconer Central School regarding building a new Little Free Library for Coleson Park. The school Tech and Art classes are working on the design and will provide the materials list. The village has agreed to provide the supplies needed for the project. Mayor Jaroszynski had previously contacted the family of the Boy Scout that had made the current Little Free Library many years ago and they gave their approval to have it either removed or rebuilt since it is not usable in its current condition.

Minutes

Trustee Cavallaro made a motion, seconded by Trustee Gustafson, to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2023 Regular Board of Trustees Meeting. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Trustee Gustafson made a motion, seconded by Trustee Miller, to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2023 Work Session Board of Trustees Meeting. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Mayors Remarks

The Santa Parade will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2023 starting at 5:00 pm. The parade will proceed east on Main Street, starting at Dow Street, to S. Work Street and will conclude at Everett Street.
Christmas banners for the Main Street light poles are on order and will be arriving soon.
Will be attending another meeting with Department of Social Services at the end of the month to get an update on transitional housing in the village.
Mayor Jaroszynski met on November 6^th in the chambers of the Appellate Court Judge in Buffalo with the village annexation attorneys and all parties involved (Village of Falconer, Falconer Central School District, Town of Ellicott and City of Jamestown). The Judge is looking for a resolution before it goes to trial.

Fire Chief

The Fire Chief’s October report was reviewed and noted that the department responded to 41 EMS incidents, 12 cancelled in route, 3 alarm system malfunction, 3 rescue or EMS standby, 3 cover standby, 2 motor vehicle accident with injury, 2 building fire, 2 medical assists, 1 smoke detector malfunction, 1 public service, 1 trash/rubbish fire, 1 odor of smoke scare, 1 animal rescue, 1 emergency medical service, 74 calls, 784 total calls YTD.

Mutual Aid Breakdown – October 2023
Given: Jamestown-8, Frewsburg-9, Kennedy-3, Medic 73-1, Celeron-1, total 22
Received: Medic 70 -4, Medic 73-1, Alstar-5, Gerry-1, Kennedy-1, Coroner-2, total 14

Highlights:

Ambulance is out of service for 1-2 weeks body repair. No loaners are available, will be relying on mutual aid, and they have all been notified.
Generator Repair Quote
As part of the new 5-year service agreement with Cummins Buffalo, we received our first annual generator test. They provided a quote with what is needed to bring the generator back up to 100%. Trustee Cavallaro noted that several years back we had a regular maintenance program that we got away from, thus leading to where we are at with the service needed. The new service agreement will get us back on schedule with yearly maintenance. Chief Webster noted that down the road the generator will need to be replaced as it is over 30 years old and some of the parts are no longer available. A new generator, installed with a new transfer switch will cost approximately $95k.

Trustee Cavallaro made a motion, seconded by Trustee Miller, to move forward with the maintenance program and the repairs to the generator at the fire hall as per the quote provided, less sales tax, to be paid out of the building maintenance reserve fund. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Fire Horn update – DPW is working on, may have another horn coming that we can use for parts.
Jr. Firefighter Program – draft copy of the new program that will be voted on at the December Fire Department meeting. The program, once implemented, will also be presented to the school guidance counselors to tie into the Honor Society volunteer program and at the same time bring new potential volunteer firefighters into the program.

Code Enforcement

It was reported that 3 building permits totaling were issued last month.

Highlights:

A meeting of the Planning Board will be scheduled to review the potential re-zoning of the following properties that were mentioned at the September board meeting, Falconer Printing, Crosbys, Hanson Sign and Tony Genco.
Fire Chief Webster requested follow up by Code on 233 W. Main Street – lights are on and ceiling fan running in one of the apartments. Building was previously reported as empty and condemned.
The parking lot has been full at the formers Hultman’s Restaurant and it appears that the downstairs unit is being used. Mayor Jaroszynski asked Code to follow up and find out if the downstairs has been rented.

Department of Public Works

The DPW report was submitted for the period October 6, 2023 – November 9, 2023.

Quotes for garage doors – maintenance program
- Received 2 quotes for the work, Plyer and SI Overhead. Since the job is for building preventative maintenance, multiple quotes are not required but still a good idea. Plyer Entry System is slightly lower in price and Superintendent Caprino has been happy with their work in the past.
Quote for Community Building – steam system repairs
- Requested quotes to have preventative maintenance work done on the Community Building boiler system. Chautauqua Mechanical is the only company in the area that provided a quote as most of the heating companies do not work on these types of systems.
Fire horns have been pulled apart and are being worked on.
Christmas decorations have been put up in the village and continuing to pick up leaves.
The new sidewalk plow was delivered, the leaf machine is due to arrive in December. Superintendent Caprino will check to see if other local municipalities are interested in purchasing and if not can sell via Auctions International.
- Trustee Miller made a motion, seconded by Trustee Cavallaro to declare the old leaf box as surplus. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.
- Trustee Gustafson, made a motion, seconded by Trustee Cavallaro, to declare the old sidewalk plow (12SW48) as surplus. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.
Superintendent Caprino will get prices to compare with the Amish built sheds quoted from Falconer Vac Shop to replace the old shed that was taken down at Falconer Park.
Superintendent Caprino will contact Town of Ellicott to get the accident report from the car that damaged village trees on Main Street to turn into the insurance company.

Library

The October 11, 2023 – November 13, 2023 Library report was reviewed.

Highlights:

Thank you to Chief Webster and the Falconer Fire Department for their presentation to the story hour classes for Fire Safety Week. A new fire safety book was purchased for the library and put in the Fire Department’s honor.
Contractor Nate Goot called and will be starting the front door reconstruction on December 11.
The next Library Board meeting will be held on Thursday, November 16^th at 8:00 am.

Committees:

Finance:

Resolution for Ambulance/EMS Reserve Fund
- A new reserve fund needs to be created to transfer monies received from MedEx. Trustee Gustafson made a motion, seconded by Trustee Cavallaro resolved, that pursuant to Section 6-g of the General Municipal Law, as amended, there is hereby established a capital reserve fund to be known as the “Ambulance/Rescue Vehicle Reserve Fund.” The purpose of this Reserve Fund is to accumulate monies to finance the cost of ambulance and/or Rescue Vehicle acquisitions.
Vanstrom Accounting firm was contacted and a full audit could cost over $10K. Treasurer Spunaugle will check with Bahgat & Laurito-Bahgat, for a recommendation on a basic audit as a result of our change in treasurer.

Legal:

The Town of Ellicott attorney was sent information to review regarding the town’s obligation to pick up stray dogs in the village.

Public Safety:

Dog Control report for October was reviewed. The board appreciates the work done by DCO Matt Abbey in providing the detailed information regarding the town’s legal requirements for picking up dogs according to NYS Law under Article 7.
The Fire Advisory Board will be meeting Thursday, October 12 at 11:00 am.

Downtown Development:

Nothing new to report

Farmers Market:

Nothing new to report

Parks:

Park Pavilion Rental – Set Rates for 2024
- The board tabled setting the 2024 pavilion rates until the December meeting. They were given rates from other local municipalities to review. It was brought up to possibly change the rentals to a set number of hours versus all day as they are now.

Pine Hill Cemetery:

Cemetery crew poured 9 new foundations, removed a large pine tree, planted 8 new trees and are finishing up leaf removal. On December 16^th at 12:00 pm Jamestown Composite Squadron NY402 CAP will be helping the cemetery to Remember and Honor our veterans by laying Remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country’s fallen heroes.

Planning/Zoning Board:

There was a discussion earlier from Code regarding a variance for Falconer Printing that may be coming up in the future.

Old Business:

Downtown Master Plan Project – NY Forward Application
- Application was submitted and awardees should be notified by Dec/Jan

New Business:

Community Foundation Grant Award – Picnic Table Replacement Project
- Trustee Miller made a motion, seconded by Trustee Gustafson to accept the Community Foundation grant award in the amount of $4500 for the Picnic Table Replacement Project. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.
2024 Garbage/Recycling Calendar-review 2023 for recommended changes
- Trustee Gustafson noted that the separate list of recycling items can be eliminated as the same information is listed on the back of the calendar. The “Adopt a Hydrant (winter months)” idea presented by Fire Chief Webster will be added.

Correspondence:

Trustee Gustafson’s letter, dated November 13, 2023, which acknowledged his review on November 12-13, 2023 of the unpaid vouchers for Abstract #6 (FY 23/24) and bank reconciliations from M&T Bank, Community Bank and NYCLASS for the month of September 2023 was placed into record.

Abstracts

Motion: It is moved by Trustee Cavallaro and seconded by Trustee Miller that Abstract #6, General Fund in the amount of $57,675.70 be approved for payment. Trustee Gustafson had a comment on the Home Depot bill for the smoke detectors that were given out for fire safety week. He thought it was a great idea, but noted that when other fire departments have done this, there is usually a grant involved. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Motion: It is moved by Trustee Gustafson and seconded by Trustee Miller that Abstract #6, Cemetery Fund in the amount of $2,878.36 be approved for payment. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Motion: It is moved by Trustee Miller and seconded by Trustee Gustafson that Abstract #6, Library Fund in the amount of $1,586.96 be approved for payment. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Abstain, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Motion: It is moved by Trustee Cavallaro and seconded by Trustee Gustafson that Abstract #6, General Fund Hand Items in the amount of $4,970.76 be approved for payment. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Trustee Gustafson made a motion, seconded by Trustee Cavallaro to approve Local Law #1-2023. Roll: Gustafson: Aye, Cavallaro: Aye, Miller: Aye, and Jaroszynski: Aye. Nays: none. Carried.

Trustee Gustafson made a motion, seconded by Trustee Miller to adjourn the regular meeting at 7:10 p.m. Ayes-all. Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Capestrani, Village Clerk