Town Board - Regular Meeting

Okay. I'd like to call regular meeting number three of 2026 of the town board to order and ask the clerk to read the role. Councilman Datti here. Councilman Kilmer here. Councilman Garcia here. Councilwoman Deal here. Supervisor Marston here. Uh tonight's invocation will be led by Bible Presbyterian Church Reverend David Chi and the pledge recited by uh Councilman Kilmer. Please rise.

Let's pray. Oh Lord God, you are everlasting and you are infinite and eternal and unchangeable. In your son, we always could have your everlasting love and we thank you for that. Lord, this evening we lift up our town and our town council and its members. We thank you for their service and their sacrifice. and through your Bible you promise us that whenever we ask your heavenly wisdom you will give to us. So Lord grant your heavenly wisdom to our leaders. So when whatever uh business when they deal with it they do it for your glory and for the benefit of our time in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh, next is public comments on agenda items only. There are no public hearings tonight. So, if there's a item on the agenda you'd like to speak on, please come to the mic, give us your name, and you have three minutes. [clears throat] Jim Dler, Staley Road. Um, so this regards this apparent uh motion that might come tonight regarding following seeker and uh this is a comment I had during the public hearing back I think in November. So I just I I wanted to clarify what I think that means. Um, you know, one of the one of the difficulties here, I think, at least from my perspective, is that the applicant is the, you know, the applicant is a town board is the lead agency, and there's no none of the uh checks and balances that normally come into play, say, in private enterprise when you do this type of stuff. Um but but overall what it what it I think it means is that uh someone takes this proverbial hard look objectively and honestly to determine what are the potential adverse environmental impacts. And then uh with that knowledge, this person or this individuals that are preparing the law in this case would do is to write a law that would address those uh potential impacts in a way that the lead agency could determine that you know it could negate and say there are no significant environmental impacts essentially that can't be addressed and

mitigated. And that's I think what uh what's been missing from um from the town government over the past years. I I submitted a couple weeks ago this the mag deck about the comfort solar farm that said there would be no wetland impacts and they got completely destroyed. So um I appreciate the idea that this is still an ongoing discussion and um thank you very much. Thank you. Any other any other comments on agenda items?

Okay, hearing none. Moving on. Uh, next minutes. Um, approve the minutes of workshop meeting number two, January 20, 2026. Approve the minutes of regular meeting number two, January 20, 2026. So move. Second. Motion second. Any discussion? Roll call. Kilmer. Hi. Garcia. Hi. Daddy. Hi. Deal. Hi. Marston. Hi.

Okay. Item five, uh, or six, consent agenda. Uh, make a motion to approve the meeting minute. Meeting minutes of board of architectural review December 16th, 2025. Um, the meeting minutes of comprehensive plan review board December 17th, 2025. Um and Golden Age facility usage October 2025, November 2025, and December 2025. So move second. Motion second. Any discussion? Roll call. Garcia. I. Kilmer. Hi. Daddy. Hi. Deal. Hi.

Mar.

Hi. Uh, next. Councilman Kilmer. Uh [clears throat] this this is dealing actually what what the resident just brought to our attention. Um during the um the long discussion on the battery law between um cab and multiple people having input on it kind of was uncovered that we're not hailing secret on this law in a way that makes sense. Um so I was asked we were actually asked by Mr. D in our last meeting to follow the law. So, I just thought it'd be really simple to pass a motion that we follow the seeker process on the on the new battery law. So, I'm going to make a motion that we follow the process of seeker while implementing and and developing this new law on battery storage.

I'll second that. Okay. Motion and second discussion. I know you're confused because you're an attorney. Yeah. I mean because and I can say this because it's not attorney client because Mr. Dagler was on the email when the attorney said we're following see it's being done appropriately. I mean I so I don't your motion is generic and not necessarily

here's what's happened is that uh part two of seeker is is the adverse effects we're not doing that before we start developing a law. Now, a law like this where we know what the adverse effects are on battery storage. If you do that that form two, you are going to know what the adverse effects are and you can apply it to the laws we're writing. So, basically the draft law we got from our attorney is garbage. We so we spent a lot of money or or some money on a law that had none of the impacts in it because we know it had none of the impacts because GAB basically went through line by line and there are there are plenty of documents out there on these on these battery storage facilities and what could be negative impacts and they could have been written into our law if Seeker was followed at the beginning and that I I it's Ron and I talked today it catch 22 chicken in the egg. It's kind of this is a weird scenario, but we do know because these these systems are throughout New York State what the negative impacts are. And it would have made sense to do your your form two and apply those negative impacts to the law, our draft law. It would have been a lot easier than what we have now. We got garbage in, spend a lot of time fixing it, and now we're going to go through this whole secret process again, page two, and find more. I just I think if we would have done it right the first time, we would have had a better first draft.

I because you're looking at the law backwards. You're looking at it. You're looking at it as a law that's permitting something, not something that's restricting something. No, I we asked we asked an attorney to draft us a battery storage law. And if if you follow seeker and [clears throat] apply what what the negative impacts are, you could have wrote that into the first law, the first draft. I maybe I'm not understanding your question. It's not something that's probably all that appropriate for this anyways, but it's the difference between not having any restrictions on something.

Yep. So despite the negative impacts that you're claiming are caused by permitting it, it's not it's not regulated as it is, it could go anywhere. So it's backwards in the sense that you're looking at it as the negative impact of drafting law that allows something that with no law not permitting it is already allowed to go wherever with no limitations. Right. But what but what our the board's intention was to draft a law that would protect the community. I mean that was that was the marching order I guess I could say for

but it's not again and this goes back to I think the the response that what we're doing is not in any way inappropriate secret I that I don't necessarily disagree with your motion because I'm not saying it couldn't be done simultaneously better but I don't think the way it's being approached and what we're doing is in any way shape or form a violation of seeker so no I don't think it's a violation I just want I want to I basically want to this this law to be handled in a way that there can be no backlash from the community. We handle it properly. We we figure out what the negative impacts are. We write it into the law. But I mean, we've already we're already doing it. Yeah, we are now [laughter]

to actually as an introduction and then we referred it to everybody. We got a public hearing on this. No, it's not done. It's not even like No, wait. Yeah. I thought we had a public hearing on this. Actually, we did have a public hearing. Even if we did, it's not. That's what I'm saying. It came It got to a public hearing, open for public comment, and the draft law was garbage. That's what I'm saying. If the draft law had secret applied to it, there would have been a lot better um protections for our community written into it. Was that public hearing for both or was that for one and then the battery storage was still They were technically two separate public. Yes, they were. Okay. They were the same night tied together. Maybe

again, I just think I know this is one of those if in the end there's no harm, right, to do the second page and see what that would be. There's no harm in it. I'm just trying to reduce legal fees where if we would have done the the doc the page two first and see seeing what the negative impacts were, she could have wrote that into the first draft and it would have been a lot less. You can't but you don't even start looking at seeker until you have a draft. That's what triggers it is having the draft law. No, that I if you don't have a draft law, you don't have anything to put through the secret process. Yeah, I think isn't there what is it? I don't there's two separate secret processes,

right? But the current seeker process is a seeker that's reviewing our adoption of the law. No matter what we adopt, any site plan will go through its own separate secret process. That's what I think you're missing here. See, I'm I'm under the impression that if you're drafting a law, the best thing to know do is do that page two and know what the negative impact. You can't do the page two because there's nothing to do seeker on until you have a draft of the law. Chicken. It's the It's the draft of the law that goes through the seeker process. It's not the concept that we're going to we're going to draft a battery law.

So, so basically we we will pay an attorney to draft a law that's garbage and then come back and redo it. Does that make sense? I mean, we spent some we spent some money and some hours on that draft law that had none of the considerations in it for the impact when Okay, let tell me when we consider the impacts when we're creating law. The We're going through the same process right now that we've done with every law as far as referring it to the boards, getting feedback from the boards, and using that feedback to modify the law. It's what we do every single time. And as you said, it's working. We're doing it. This is the same process we have done with every law except for the fact that this time the boards have far more feedback than they usually do. That is the only thing that separates this from every other law we've adopted. The process is the same. The feedback is valuable, but that's why we have these boards to begin with. And I don't I don't know why we're arguing like no

I don't disagree with this debate. This is good. It is working. I mean, [laughter] no,

but this is the process. It's and this is exactly why nobody here has been in a hurry to push this thing through cuz we I think we all agree that there are big holes that we need to fill and we're lucky to have the talent and the dedication of CAB and the planning board and the other people who have given Jim who have given us the feedback that we're going to use to make this thing a much better version than it was and we got it. I I I guess I guess where I'm confused and maybe I'll I'll get some more education on is when we when we go down a path and this board met and we said hey we get we we met with this attorney and the attorney said you need a law because you can't by not having a battery law you it you need to produce one. So when that happened is when I thought we should consider seekers. So we had had but we'll we'll do we'll we'll we'll have more discussions on this. If if this is a a motion that you guys it's actually a motion just to do what we're supposed to do. So it's really not a motion. [laughter] It's it's

we vote this one down. Right. It's town town engineers uh and the attorney writing it. Just follow the follow the process. Town engineer. Fair enough. All right. So what are we doing here? Nothing because it there's a motion in a second. There's a motion in a second. What do you want to do? What the We're going to follow along. Yeah. Okay. Call the vote. File the process. So the B the motion is to follow the process. [laughter] So So I think like when we talk today, Dan, normally the way I see it, you do a seeker, let's say on a site plan, you know what you're looking at. You know what

A B C and D is in this this site plan. So when you put it through seeker, you're looking to any negative impacts from ABCD. And that's part of the process. Now, we need to go back to that site plan and mitigate these two things. But when you do it before you have a site plan, you don't know what what the impacts are. You're you're evaluating the impacts that that law could have. It's a different evaluation than the sight span site plan specific valuation. theater. Correct me if I'm getting anything wrong here, but right now the seeker and even with the 239, it's a review of the impacts of the law, not of the specific projects that will be built in compliance,

but we don't have the law yet. That's my point. I was using that, but but Dan's comment was we have environmental things everywhere to look at in order to make a determination. I think they're saying that the things that CB's identifying would have been identified if we just followed the seeker before it got referred to them and said, "Yeah, we also saw these other things." But that's what it's a type two action and the action that the seeker process is applying to in this instance is the adoption of the law, not the site plan. And that's where I think the wires are getting crossed here. I I I'm I'm not saying my wires aren't cross. I'm just know [laughter] I just I just know trying to understand this is getting very confusing.

Yeah, I feel more confused now than I was before. [laughter] Sorry. Sorry. Um are we done?

Yeah. Yeah. So, the one thing that that Jim said resonated with me a little bit. um you know when we get a we get a project in here and we uh our lead agency and the seeker and we issue a neg issuing it on a project that we've seen not a project particularly that we've designed. So when we do a law in essence we are as much as we all the other boards weigh into that it's our law. So to say that we should be the lead agency on Seeker on something that we did, I understand maybe maybe there should be another look at it outside the box, you know, because of course it's going to be perfect to us because we're we're adopting it, you know. So, uh I found that interesting that statement. Um I'd like to do more research on that part of it. So, but that's all I got to say. So what are we voting on?

We will call trust process but color inside the lines. Okay. Let's admit that. Roll call. Tagatti. Hi. Garcia. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Deal. I Marston. I guess. Okay. Uh, next. Mr. Kilmer again. Oh, I forgot I was up against. No, no, this was resolved in uh in executive session. So, you want to take refer this back to the board? What's that? Make a motion refer this back to the board. Oh, yeah. Yes, sure. Refer back to the board. Okay. Uh motion refer back to the board. Second. Uh any discussion? Roll call. Kilmer.

I. Deal. I Datti. Garcia. I Marston.

Hi. Um, next up from engineering and department of engineering and water resources, Robert H. Westfall authorized supervisor to sign professional service agreement lift station 5 upgrade job number M-232 uh construction services. Um, honorable town board uh attached you'll please find the professional service agreement for the above reference project. Engineering has reviewed the proposal and recommendations that GHD be authorized to perform bidding construction administration and project inspections services at a cost not to exceed $192,400. The bonding authorization for this project is already in place. We hereby request the town supervisor be authorized to sign the professional service agreement for the construction services not to exceed $192,400. So move

second. Motion second. Any discussion? Is this the one we have the grant for? Yeah. Yep. Um roll call. Garcia. Hi. Datti. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Deal. Hi. Marston. Hi.

Uh next authorize supervisor to sign memorandum of agreement. Western New York. Western New York Stormwater Coalition. Uh attached is the memorandum of agreement the town of Grand Island is required to sign to renew our membership in the Western New York stormwater coalition. This memorandum of agreement went to effect January 1st, 2026 and will expire December 31st, 2030. The town has benefited greatly from being a member of the coalition. The coalition has played an important role in helping the town be in compliance with storm water permit, our storm water permit, and will continue to do so under the new agreement. We recommend the supervisor be authorized to sign this new agreement.

So move. Second. Motion second. Any discussion? Peter, any reason you need to look at this? Yeah, we did. Okay. Um actually there's a uh just there's a meeting coming up on this uh where we are all attending from engineering and myself. Um there has been a a uh bigger movement so to speak. Uh we are not the only town around having storm water issues and I think this group is going to get a little more aggressive in the next uh the upcoming couple years um regionally. So um I look forward to that. the fight. Uh, roll call. Garcia. Hi. Deal. I Datti. Hi. Gilmer.

Hi. Marston. Hi. Next from town assessor Jill Murphy. Request change of date to hold grievance pursuant to RPTL-525. uh request to change grievance day from the fourth Tuesday in May to Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 due to the assessor's shared service agreement. Uh and the second point in this uh no, we'll do that one separate. So motion to accept her date change. So second motion second. Any discussion? Roll call. Daddy. Hi. Deal. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Garcia. Hi, Marston.

Hi. Okay. On number two, and Jill saves paper. So, uh, she'd like to appoint to to new terms for the board of specimen review Jim Kalis for a 5-year term expiring 9:30 2030 and George House to fill a vacated board seat expiring 9:30 2026. Um, does she need our for that or is she be in charge of that one? No, those are boards. I think she the board that they need to be so motion in order to approve her recommendation. So moved. Second. Motion second. Any discussion?

Roll call. Deal. I daddy. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Garcia. [clears throat] I bar. I. Uh. Next. authorized supervisor to sign updated professional services agreement online property uh search program. Um the the contractor systems development group who provides current current online property search program image mate online and outpost anywhere that is one of the town's website uh that is on the town's website was acquired by Schneider geo what do you think that is

geospatial geospatial LLC I am requesting authorization for the supervisor to sign an updated professional service agreement for the new contractor um a Delaware limited liability company whose place of business is 8901 Otis Avenue sweet 300 Indianapolis Indiana. So it sounds like one of our vendors got bought out. Yes. Yeah. Same question. Peter. Yeah. Can you do that? Please do that. Subject to attorney approval. Approval. Yep. So I I Whoever makes the motion can put that in. So move. I'll make it subject to attorney approval.

So move. Motion. Second. Any discussion? I believe we have no other choice in this. Working with them. There's there's no other options. Yeah, we're kind of hard. There's a very slight increase and it's spaced out. I think it's a five or a sixyear term. Yes, just a minimal increase each year. Yep. Roll call. Digatti. Hi. Deal. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Garcia. I

uh the next stuff from code enforcement appears to be an FYI. Um we held our bannual election for members of the electrical board and the following candidates were selected. The electricians have elected George Newman and Dave Roelly uh to the electrical board for a two-year term. And subsequently, the next group uh the plumbing board held their bi-annual elections uh of the members of the plumbing board and the following candidates were selected. The plumbers have been reelect have reelected Eric Arian, Frank Granddaddy, and Daniel Draxilius to the plumbing board for a two-year term. So, I think those are no action required. Just an FYI. Um, next from senior wastewater uh treatment plant operator Timothy Burns uh is requesting that the town board appoint Matthew Wellant to position of wastewater treatment plant operator trainee in the wastewater department at a starting rate of $27.31 per hour as shown in the ask me contract. Matt is eligible on the Erie County Civil Service List, a Grandal resident, and possesses the required grade 2A wastewater treatment plant operator license. I'm requesting that the effective date of the appointment be February 23rd, 2026, subject to pre-employment screening and required paperwork completion.

Second motion and second. Any discussion? Roll call. Tagatti. Hi. Deal. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Garcia. Hi. Marston. I.

Next. Communications general. This one's from um the county of Erie to uh our town clerk, Patty Frenzel. Um, I'm writing to inform you New York State Department of Vehicles will be implementing a comprehensive upgrade to its operating system transitioning to an entirely new processing platform beginning in February. As a result of this upgrade, Erie County Clerk's Office will be unable to deploy the mobile unit, mobile DMV unit to Grand Island Hall on February 18th, 2026. Um, please also be advised that all Erie County Auto Bureau branches will be closed to the public beginning Friday, February 13th at noon. Offices will reopen on Wednesday. Well, that's February 13th and February 18th, and operating by appointment only through Friday, February 20th. Uh, mobile services will resume the following week as scheduled. My staff will provide advanced signage for posting at your location. I would also be holding a press event um in early February to notify Erie County residents of the upcoming closure and reopening dates. Uh thank you for understanding and your cooperation during this transition. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly. Um again, I think that's just a FYI. I am going to recommend that we put that on our town website to to keep the uh people coming in here frustrated not knowing it's going. So add to website

maybe Facebook page too. Yeah. And Facebook. I love having them here.

Okay. Uh next report out of committee. I make a motion to pay the bills from the following funds. From the general funds, uh, $183,8.35. From the highway fund, $119,2369. From the sewer fund, $29,56310. From the water fund, $54,662.30. From the trust and agency fund, $63.92 from the capital fund, $229,696.66 66 from the refu and garbage fund $170,470.13 for a total of $786,518.15.

Second motion second. Any discussion roll call Garcia I deal I Datti Kilmer I Marston hi. Um, next under unfinished business, um, authorized supervisor signed contract Arc Strategic Incorporated. I believe that remains. Have you had any conversations? I I make a motion we refer it back to the board and take it off here. Yeah, let's get it cook. Okay. If it comes back, motion second. Any discussion? Roll call. Garcia. I Datti. Hi. Kilmer. Hi. Deal. I

Marston. Hi. Um, next is public comments. If anybody like to come to the mic, give us your name. Um, and you have three minutes to discuss anything going on. Jim Dler, Staley Road. So I I appreciate the idea that everyone wants to follow the process of seeker, but it seems evident to me based on the discussion there's a little difference of opinion as to what that really means. Um, one of the things I would ask Mr. Datti who I I believe made the claim that there was nothing to review. In other words, how can we review? How can we do significance determination on something that doesn't exist? Was that I getting that right? No, I said if there weren't a law, there weren't a draft law, then there wouldn't be any.

I guess when I heard that, I first thing that popped into my mind was that there was a draft law. There was something to review. It was prepared by the attorney that the town paid and there was a draft law to review and it could have been very easily done um by the lead agency in accordance with Seeker regardless of what you think the process is. cuz you know you can read the regulation uh and so on and it's to be made quickly so that the elite agency can determine whether or not there's a EIS required and the way they would do that is to look at this law and say well holy crap excuse me I agree with Mr. Keller's assessment of what we got from this attorney. Okay. And if you had done secret at that point when it should have been done by the process and by the rule, you would have said, I needed a generic impact statement here because this doesn't address fire, it doesn't address human health, surface water quality, and so on and so forth. So, I guess we'll see what happens. Uh hopefully the next version of the law that we get from this attorney is readily neged with a real negot I'll let you go last.

No, no, I'm okay. Thank you, Mr. Dagler, and thank you, Mr. Dugatti, because actually what I realized, what I did is I was one step off. It is the law starts it, but right after the law, we should have done now. I'm clear at what at what when it should have taken place and it didn't. But we're doing a good job of fix this is going to be a good law when it's done. We're all This is all hands. Everybody has their hands on this. I think it's going to be a good law. But thank you for helping me get a better understanding of seeker myself. Uh drive safe. if it's going on.

Follow up. I think that was great debate and conversation. I mean, uh, there's a lot of knowledge out there and we're getting information all the time and I'm happy to hear and learn anything I can. And echoing that, we've had a crazy stretch of weather. So, hopefully we're getting some breaks here, but everyone stay warm, drive safe. Thanks to our highway department for everything they do. Councilwoman Deal.

Um, so this is our only town board meeting this month because some of us will be going to the New York State Association of Towns for um an annual training program and um I know Dan is going. We have some other staff going. I'm excited for learning um what might be out there, new trends, some great breakout sessions. But I say that because um we won't be here again in February and just want to wish everyone an early Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day. Don't forget the chocolate. [laughter] Lots of chocolate. Councilman Datti.

At the end of the day, I think the nice part is we're all on the same page. And that's Mr. D. We all just want the law to be a law that adequately protects our community. So Jim, I don't know if you saw any of the workshop, but the good news is we're looking at January 23rd or 20 February 23rd or 26th to hold that meeting with, you know, the town board, CAB planning board, and the attorneys to go through all of those comments and have a dialogue and try to to make sure that that next draft of the battery law is one that passes muster. So, you know, at the end of the day, even if there are differing opinions, we're all on the same page. So, other than that, yeah, like Jose said, highway department, I know the I saw the water crew out last week across from my parents house fixing a pretty big main break in this waste water's been out. Um, and I went home and shoveled my driveway in 25 degree weather without gloves or a hat because that felt so bombmy warm compared to the last couple of weeks. So stay warm, be smart, and enjoy your travels if you're going anywhere in a couple weeks.

Before you speak, Pete, can I jump in for one second? Go ahead. You guys you you appointed me as a voting member for the Association of Towns. Yeah. Uh does anyone have a way they want me to vote? [laughter] Do you know the issues or have we discussed the issues or I'll send an email out and you guys tell me what you want to do? I trust your judgment. Okay. I just usually I mean in my previous board they the the top board determines how the they want their voting member to vote. Interesting. Shoot an email like that. Okay. Seems appropriate to send an email out about what the issues are. Okay. I'll take care. I'm sorry for interrupting.

No, it's okay. So, I'll close. Uh to Councilman Datti's point, all of our our departments have been working their butts off. um highway. Uh obviously, um the water department's been chasing big leaks and big problems and those guys got a lot of time in the hole, uh fixing things. The sewer's been crazy. We're having freeze ups, all kinds of stuff. So, the everybody's all hands on deck, doing a good job. Um that's why we love them. Um kids, make sure you watch the Olympics. They start this Friday. Go team USA. So, it's it's funny. I remember things that happened in the Olympics when I was a kid. I can remember 1980 when we won the hockey game.

Huh? What's 1980? That's when we beat the Soviets in hockey. It was a big It was It was a big deal. It was a miracle on ice. That's right. I know what it was. I'm just being a You only get one chance to watch it the first time. So, spend your time appropriately. and to your driving recommendations. Since I'm a snowmoiler, I say drive as fast as you can and get get as much air as possible. Yeah. Uh motion is in order to adjourn tonight's meeting at 8:47. Second.

Motion second. Uh any discussion? All in favor? I. Those opposed? All right, that carries. Please rise. Tonight we we will observe a moment of silence in memory of Elizabeth McDonald uh Beverly Davyy Christine Surard Edmond Colon Cookie Mitri where John