JUNE 22, 2020
The twelfth regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lakewood, N.Y., was held Monday, June 22, 2020, 6:30 PM. With Mayor Randall G. Holcomb presiding, Trustees present were Ellen E. Barnes, R. Richard Fischer and Douglas L. Schutte. Trustee Edward J. McCague participated through Zoom.us. Also present were Village Clerk Mary B. Currie, Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman and Village Attorney John I. LaMancuso. Absent were Department of Public Works Supervisor Thomas R. Pilling, Police Chief John R. Bentley, Fire Chief Kurt Hallberg and Building Inspector Jeffrey A. Swanson.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Trustee Schutte, seconded by Trustee Barnes, to approve the minutes of the last regular meeting of the Board of Trustees held June 8, 2020.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
AUDIT OF CLAIMS
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee McCague, that the claims as audited by the Auditing Committee of the abstracts dated June 22, 2020, be approved and that the Clerk shall execute said abstracts (#4 & #4) and direct payment by the Treasurer. Trust & Agency Fund: $ 58,234.23, (Checks #5067 and #5071), General Fund: $ 170,247.79, (Checks #16923 through #16952). Voided checks #16935 & #16936 for M&T Bank ACH payments.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
REPORTS
Mayor Randall Holcomb began his report by saying the Village of Lakewood and the Town of Busti have been approved for herbicide treatment of 20.2 acres off the Lakewood shoreline with application of the herbicide scheduled to begin Wednesday June 24th. A Certificate of Insurance has been provided by Glenn Sullivan of SOLitude Lake Management.
Mayor Holcomb said all signage for Lakewood and Busti were put in place at the lake front of the permitted areas by Randy Sargent, Paul Gustafson and himself this past Saturday.
Mayor Holcomb also said all village offices and departments have been running smoothly during the COVID-19 National Pandemic and wished to thank every office in the village for all they are doing.
Department of Public Works Supervisor Thomas R. Pilling reported that the Crescent Creek Project is about seventy-five percent complete and the new excavator should be delivered within the next few weeks.
Supervisor Pilling also said the Department of Public Works will not be participating in the American Legion’s Lakewood parade on July 4th. Mr. Pilling noted this will be the first 4th of July his crew will not have to work so they will be making other plans for that day.
Mr. Pilling asked if there has been a decision made on the NYSERDA grant yet. Mr. Pilling made a recommendation to use the remaining funds on solar panels to be placed on the roof of the DPW garage, as suggested by Solar Liberty.
Trustee R. Richard Fischer commented on what a wonderful job Beichner Disposal Services did on picking up the junk this year and said it was nice they completed it in just a couple days, for less than what was budgeted.
Police Chief John R. Bentley submitted the Lakewood-Busti Police Department’s Incident Analysis Report noting the L-BPD had two hundred eighty-four incidents for the period of June 8, 2020 to June 22, 2020.
Fire Chief Kurt Hallberg submitted his report for the Lakewood Fire Department stating there has been four hundred one alarms so far this year, forty-three of which were in the month of June. He said the department is presently sixty-five calls less than what they were on this date in 2019.
Chief Hallberg said the Fire Dept. participated in the parade honoring Southwestern Central Schools 2020 graduating seniors on Friday night. There were 82 vehicles involved in the parade and was represented was by Lakewood, Celoron & Busti Fire Departments, Ellicott Police, SWCS Transportation and cars with the seniors included. Congratulations to the class of 2020.
Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman reported the 2019-2020 fiscal year has been closed out, with the help of retired Village Treasurer Mrs. Windoft, with a positive impact to the Fund Balance of $ 93,643.07.
Building Inspector Jeff Swanson reported the building permits are beginning to flow and the biggest thing is the demolition permit has been issued for the property at 341-343 E. Fairmount Ave., the former Lydell property.
Mr. Swanson said the old structure is currently on the ground, being loaded into dumpsters and hauled off to the Chautauqua County Landfill.
Trustee Ellen Barnes reported on an incident that occurred on W. Fairmount Ave. a week ago where the Lakewood-Busti police were called to a domestic dispute which turned into a man having a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Trustee Barnes wished to commend L-BPD Police Officers Doug Goodwin and Matt Lundsten on what an outstanding job they did on protecting the people at the scene and applying first aid to the gentleman with the wound.
Trustee Barnes would like to make a formal commendation and resolution at the next full meeting of the Board of Trustees. She indicated it would be nice to have the officers and Police Chief at that meeting and asked that whenever anyone sees an officer to thank them for the wonderful job they do.
RESOLUTION #108-2020 APPROVE HERBICIDE TREATMENT ON LAKEWOOD SHORELINE
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer, for the Board of Trustees to approve herbicide treatment and the total funding cost of $17,221.63 to treat 20.2 permitted acres of Chautauqua Lake, off Lakewood’s shoreline. The Village was awarded (via a grant to the Chautauqua Lake Partnership) $13,000 in Alliance funds for the treatment, which leaves a funding gap of $4,221.63. The total funding gap between Busti and Lakewood is $25,822.39. The Alliance Board approved to reallocate this amount from the unused Ellicott/Celoron share ($26,000), which will be used for the 20.2 acres of treatment resulting in no cost to the village.
Adopted: 3 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, Schutte) Recuse: McCague
RESOLUTION #109-2020 – ADJUST VILLAGE OF LAKEWOOD OFFICE HOURS
Motion by Trustee Fischer, seconded by Trustee Barnes, to adjust the Village of Lakewood office hours from 8:00am-5:00pm to 8:30am- 4:30pm with half hour lunches to be effective immediately subject to the lifting of COVID-19 practices stated by Governor Cuomo.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #110-2020 – PORT-A-POTTY PLACED AT BEACH
Motion by Trustee McCague, seconded by Trustee Schutte, for the Village of Lakewood to have a port-a-potty placed outside the beach house at Richard O. Hartley Park for the months of July and August.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #111-2020 – SOLAR PANELS PLACED ON DPW GARAGE
Motion by Trustee Schutte, seconded by Trustee Barnes, per the recommendation of DPW Supervisor Thomas Pilling, for the Board of Trustees to authorize the remainder of the NYSERDA Grant money to be used for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the DPW garage, 6 Packard Ave., per the specifications suggested by Solar Liberty.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
The Board of Trustees wished to acknowledge and support a new program being introduced this summer by the Chautauqua Lake Sailing Foundation, for young adults ages 14-17. The program will run for seven weeks and will be Monday-Friday from 3-7pm. Information on the program can be found on-line at sailclcsf.org.
ANYONE TO BE HEARD
Ms. Ruth Wahl, 106 Winchester Rd. asked why there was a need for herbicides to be used in the lake this year.
Mayor Holcomb proceeded to read concerns Ms. Wahl submitted to the Board of Trustees prior to the meeting of which were addressed by Glenn Sullivan, Certified Lake Manager of Solitude Lake Management.
1) If the weeds are killed by the herbicides, there will be more nutrients available for algal growth. I’ve heard that the algae is already worse this year than it ever has been. We certainly do not want more harmful algal blooms.
Mr. Sullivan indicated both algae and weeds use nutrients from the lake, so controlling some plants will not add nutrients. In addition, treatment of only 87 acres of one type of plant – Eurasian watermilfoil – in 4000 acres of littoral zone will not have a measurable impact on the lake’s nutrient balance.
2) The new herbicide, ProcellaCOR, is not biodegradable. According to its safety data sheet, it persists in the environment for a very long period of time.
Mr. Sullivan said actually, the EPA Registration data, and NYSDEC’s Registration Decision determined the “overall, florpyrauxifen-benzyl and its major metabolites are not expected to be persistent in the environmental at typical applications rates”. ProcellaCOR EC is one of the few aquatic herbicides granted “Reduced Risk” status by the EPA.
Ms. Wahl asked why the MSDS sheet says it is not biodegradable.
Trustee Barnes said it is biodegradable, in five to eight days it breaks down to metabolites and they are not persistent in the water therefore are not considered harmful, that is why the EPA and the DEC have come up with the reduced risk status.
3) This new herbicide also kills the macrophyte, coontail, which is a native plant and is an important food source for ducks.
Mr. Sullivan replied by saying ProcellaCOR EC can control coontail at higher application rates than used for Eurasian Watermilfoil. At the planned application rates, coontail may be temporarily damaged, but tends to recover quickly in the same growing season.
Ms. Wahl’s question for the board: I’m assuming you read the data from the spring survey done by Solitude a few weeks ago. How much Eurasian milfoil was growing in Sherman Bay this year? A lot? Moderate amount? Or what?
Mr. Sullivan said Sherman Bay was initially surveyed last fall, when 25 of 35 sites had Eurasian watermilfoil. A pre-treatment survey this month found Eurasian watermilfoil at all 10 sample sites.
Trustee Barnes said there is a problem with the Curly Leaf Pondweed right now, but it will be dying off in the next couple of weeks, it will end up in the bottom of the lake and unfortunately will not be harvested before it goes.
Trustee Barnes indicated there is a problem with algae blooms in oceans and lakes around the world, it is not just here.
Trustee Barnes also said because of the late issuance of the permit this year, the Curly Leaf Pondweed was not treated.
Ms. Wahl said we might be seeing more Curly Leaf Pondweed this year because of the application of herbicides last year, because there are fewer weeds to take up the nutrients, the Curly Leaf Pondweeds result in more growth.
Mr. Reid Sorenson, 156 West Summit, indicated he and his wife are veterans of the US Airforce, his wife was recently over in Kuwait as a combat veteran and she struggles with fireworks being set off. Mr. Sorenson asked what is being done with the enforcement of fireworks in the village.
Trustee Barnes suggested that anyone who hears fireworks being discharged to call the police department immediately, fireworks are against the law and people should be charged, however that would be up to the police department to follow up.
Mr. Michael Looker, 15 Owana Way, asked what the date is that the herbicides will be applied in Chautauqua Lake and how long after they are applied will it be before the water is safe for use.
Trustee Barnes indicated the herbicide are scheduled to be applied on Wednesday the 24th from 7am to 7pm and the only restrictions will be during the application.
John Jablonski, 213 Spruce St., commented on the question Ruth Wahl had with the concerns about last year’s herbicide treatment causing worse conditions this year with the Curly Leaf Pondweeds.
Mr. Jablonski indicated there are a lot of abundant nutrients in the sediments in the water column, if you take an element of the eco system out usually something will come in and replace it, being different plants or algae.
He believes that is a question that should be answered before herbicides are used on a large basis like they were last year.
Motion by Trustee McCague, seconded by Trustee Schutte and unanimously carried the Board adjourned at 7:18 PM.
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Mary B. Currie
Village Clerk
