The Village of Franklin held a special meeting on March 11, 2024, at the Village Hall office (141 Water Street) at 7:03PM. Present: Mayor Tom Briggs, Trustee VanDeusen, Trustee Wilson, Clerk/Treasurer Niebanck, Deputy Clerk Martin, Superintendent Kingsbury and Trustee Elect C. Martin. The meeting was streamed and recorded on the video platform Zoom.
Special Meeting to Discuss Strategic Planning:
- Mayor – email has been shifted to Yahoo and has lost his history of emails. His new email is plutarch@myyahoo.com.
- Mayor Elect VanDeusen would like to have email addresses issued by website administrator for Mayor and Trustees. Clerk will contact administrator to set them up.
- VanDeusen contacted Town Supervisor to discuss oversight of Recreation Commission; she passed out a document detailing the conversation. At 6:10 VanDeusen moved and Wilson seconded going into executive session. So moved. At 6:23 Wilson moved coming out of executive session, VD second. So moved. RC – board has decided to disband current committee and hire Pool Director and FS Director; oversight committee would be made of Village/Town Board members.
- Water Main – apply for grant
- Well – quote is for $35K
- Sewage Disposal – need engineering report; may cost $50K and Restore NY may be able to help pay for some of this.
- Electronic Water Meters – we pump 9-10 million gallons and average 2-3 million gallons lost on faulty meters. Could plan to do a certain number per year; apply for a grant. Super will find out if it can be done in phases.
- Sealing Cracks vs. Re-paving; CHIPS will cover paving. Crack sealer and tar purchase would be about $3K.
- Can’t get street sweeper because our equipment won’t support it; there is a company that does street sweeping; would need to be done 3x per year.
- Trees on Main St – DOT or property owner takes care of them; homeowner is responsible for lawn between sidewalk and street.
- Sidewalks – concentrate on getting equipment to repair broken/heaved sidewalks (demo saw and water tank to mix cement). Village Laborer can help with projects.
- Will get bids for paving in front of CB Church.
- Water Tank – after 5 years maintenance should be scheduled; 1st year maintenance of mixer is free.
- Superintendent will get a price for a new Skid Steer.
- Clerk will call re: Truck and tell them we need by May 1.
- Need to increase water rates; availability fee to $50.00 and rate per 1,000 gallon to $7.00.
- School – if it closed, what would the impact be on the Village?
- Wooden “Village of Franklin” signs need repair; need to find a group who is willing to refurbish them; should be brought up with Improvement Club.
Mayor Briggs adjourned the meeting at 7:16PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Paula Niebanck
Clerk/Treasurer