AUGUST 9, 2021
The fifteenth regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lakewood, N.Y., was held Monday, August 9, 2021, 6:30 PM, with Mayor Randall G. Holcomb presiding. Trustees Ellen E. Barnes, and R. Richard Fischer were also present. Trustees Edward J. McCague and Douglas L. Schutte participated via Zoom.us. Also present were Village Clerk Mary B. Currie, Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman, DPW Supervisor Thomas Pilling, Fire Chief Kurt Hallberg, Police Chief Christopher DePonceau and Village Attorney John I. LaMancuso. Absent was Building Inspector Jeff Swanson.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer, to approve the minutes of the last regular meeting of the Board of Trustees held July 26, 2021.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
AUDIT OF CLAIMS
Motion by Trustee Fischer, seconded by Trustee Schutte, that the claims as audited by the Board of Trustees for the abstracts dated August 9, 2021, be approved and that the Clerk shall execute said abstracts (#10 & #10) and direct payment by the Treasurer. General Fund: $ 102,722.07 (checks #18080 through #18117) Trust & Agency Fund: $ 59,438.34 (checks #5789 thru #5793).
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
REPORTS
DPW Supervisor Thomas Pilling said his department has completed pouring approximately 160 ft. of new sidewalk on E. Terrace Ave.
Mr. Pilling updated the progress of the Chautauqua Ave. Green St. Retrofit Project by saying the contractors poured more curbing on the west side of Chautauqua Ave. in front of Bag and String Wine Shop and are currently working in front of the Watch Shop.
Trustee Barnes asked Mr. Pilling if he has heard of any projected end date for the Chautauqua Ave. project.
Mr. Pilling said he hasn’t heard when this project is expected to be completed, and therefore suggested to Trustee Barnes that she reach out to the contractor, Kingsview Enterprises.
Mr. Pilling said with the recent heavy rain we had a few weeks ago, it appeared the Crescent Creek project worked very well.
Trustee McCague said right after that storm he went to look at Crescent Creek and it was phenomenal on how well that project is working, he wished to commend DPW Supervisor Pilling on what a great job he and his crew did on that project.
Trustee Fischer asked Mr. Pilling where he is at with the “No Parking” spaces at the corners of W. Summit Ave. and Bucket Alley.
Mr. Pilling said they have the paint for those two spaces and weather permitting hopes to have that done by the end of the week.
Trustee Fischer also asked Mr. Pilling if he has any idea when the “Welcome to Lakewood” signs will be going up.
Mr. Pilling said he has some site line placement issues with the signs that are to be placed on Fairmount Ave., but shouldn’t have that problem with any of the other ones. He indicated the new signs should be installed within the next two weeks.
Police Chief Christopher A. DePonceau reported that there were four hundred thirty-four incidents reported from July 26, 2021 to August 9, 2021.
Fire Chief Kurt Hallberg reported the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department has had five hundred sixty-eight calls year to date, one hundred four of which have been in the month of July and thirty-two so far in August.
Chief Hallberg said the Lakewood Fire Department assisted Celoron Fire Department with the structure fire at Celoron’s DPW garage on Sunday morning and said everyone did a great job.
Trustee Barnes asked Mr. Pilling if the village DPW will be assisting Celoron DPW in any way.
Mr. Pilling said he has offered their help at any time and said Town of Ellicott brought them a couple trucks to use for the time being.
Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman reported on a water bill the village received from the City of Jamestown for a very large amount of water used at the Lakewood Beach house, which puts that account over budget. She said, however, the village will be reimbursed the money from the Chautauqua Lake Community Sailing Foundation (CLCSF) in November. She said Mr. Pilling discovered a toilet had been running and has since been repaired.
Treasurer Troutman said she has filed the Annual Updated Document (AUD) which is required through the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) on July 29, 2021. She has distributed copies to everyone and there is a copy in the Village Clerk’s Office.
Ms. Troutman said she has recently received the Chautauqua County Sales Tax payment for the 1st quarter in this fiscal budget and said it is for $ 235,797.04, which is about $ 73,000.00 more than the Village of Lakewood received for the corresponding quarter last year.
Mayor Holcomb reported for Building Inspector Jeff Swanson saying he continues to be busy with maintenance complaints and building inspections and Fire Inspector Dave Wilfong has also been busy completing fire inspections within the village.
Mayor Holcomb said Mr. Swanson has been trying to find a contact person for the vacant piece of property on W. First St., which is owned Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad and appears to be slowly becoming used as a landfill.
RESOLUTION #139-2021 –AUTHORIZE BID REQUESTS RE: L-BPD GARAGE ROOF REPLACEMENT/REPAIRS
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer, to authorize Village Clerk Mary B. Currie to request sealed bids for the replacement or repairs to the existing rubber roof over the Lakewood-Busti Police Garage. NOTE: The roof is approximately 20+ years old and part of the metal decking has been rotting away for several years now.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #140-2021 –APPROVE RENEWAL OF THE SNOW REMOVAL & ICE CONTROL AGREEMENT
Motion by Trustee McCague, seconded by Trustee Fischer, for the Board of Trustees to approve the renewal of the Snow Removal & Ice Control Agreement between the Village of Lakewood and the County of Chautauqua, regarding ice control and snow removal along a 3.3 mile section of County Highway #110 (Summit Street) for a term commencing October 1, 2021 and ending on April 30, 2024, and authorize Mayor Holcomb to execute the same.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #141-2021 –MID-YEAR BUDGET TRANSFER
Motion by Trustee Fischer, seconded by Trustee McCague, to authorize Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman to make the following mid-year budget transfer to pay for the unbudgeted perennial plantings at the intersection of Chautauqua Ave. and Summit St. $ 1,399.70 from T1093.10 {Mayor Beautification Fund} to A8510.40 {Community Beautification – Contractual}
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
Mrs. Mary Jane Proctor, 120 Sunset Ave. said she doesn’t think the choice of flowers planted are very attractive and some even look like they are ready to die, she thought there should be something a little more attractive for the center of the village. Mrs. Proctor asked who was responsible for picking out the flowers and planting them.
DPW Supervisor Pilling said the choice of flowers were what was recommended from the engineering firm working on the Chautauqua Ave. project.
RECESS
Motion by Trustee McCague, seconded by Trustee Barnes, to recess the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees so as to conduct a previously scheduled public hearing.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
PUBLIC HEARING – 6:45 PM
OPT-OUT OF RETAIL SALES OF CANNABIS
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DISPENSARIES
AND CONSUMPTION LOCATIONS
Mayor Holcomb opened the public hearing at 6:45 PM saying the public hearing tonight is to give village residents an opportunity to voice their opinions on retail sales of cannabis, the establishment of dispensaries and consumption locations within the Village of Lakewood limits.
Mayor Holcomb said there are three (3) options the village has.
The first is for the Board of Trustees to do nothing and allow cannabis retail dispensaries and consumption locations within the village limits.
The second option is to pass a local law to opt-out of allowing cannabis retail dispensaries & consumption locations within the village limits, this would give village residents the ability to circulate a petition to hold a permissive referendum vote to overturn that local law.
The third option is for the village to pass a local law to opt-out with no permissive referendum petition being circulated to overturn the board’s vote.
Mayor Holcomb asked if there was anyone present that has questions or comments on this matter.
Trustee Barnes introduced Mr. Steve Kilburn, Grants Project Director with Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene and Director for Chautauqua Substance Abuse Partnership., and asked if he would provide some information about drug abuse.
Mr. Kilburn said there are some things that need to be considered when making a decision on something like this. He said although this will not impact every person, there is some well documented scientific literature for three vulnerable populations.
Mr. Kilburn said the first risk is young people. He said a brain will continue to develop up through the mid 20’s and there is substantial evidence that use of marijuana in younger people will increase the risk of mental health problems later in life. He did point out, this is not the case in every young person.
Mr. Kilburn said the second high risk group are people who are vulnerable to mental health issues.
He said the third risk is those who currently have substance abuse problems, marijuana is considered a schedule one FDA drug which is an addictive drug. He said there are correlations between early on use and substance abuse later on in life.
Mr. Kilburn said the level of concentration of marijuana made available today is much higher than it was in the 1970’s.
Ms. Penny Miller, visitor from New York City, asked Mr. Kilburn if there was a study presented to the legislature that could tell her what the legislature found to be in favor of having marijuana dispensaries being made legal.
Mr. Kilburn suggested to Ms. Miller that she could google “Assessment of the potential impact of regulated marijuana in New York State” where she will find a document which was published in 2018.
Ms. Mary Jane Proctor, 120 Sunset Ave., said she is against it and feels there’s already enough dope in the village and said we don’t need more of it right now.
Mr. Bob Schlick, 35 Marvin Ave, said he doesn’t think it is as destructive as some people think it is and said he would not have a problem with having dispensaries in the village.
Ms. Emily Garrick, 46 Marvin Ave., said she would urge the village not to opt-out of retail sale of cannabis within the village, she said if anyone is thinking of this as a seedy business they need to rethink that and she believes having marijuana legal will help reduce opioid addiction. Ms. Garrick thinks this would be an extremely lucrative taxable industry which could be beneficial to the village.
Mr. Jaren Pollino, co-owner of 71° & Cloudy, 50 Chautauqua Ave., said it would be illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to go into a dispensary and said Chautauqua County as a whole has a drug problem. Mr. Pollino said recent studies have shown there is a direct correlation between using marijuana and being able to get off drugs permanently without having to use suboxone or whatever else you may be addicted to long term.
Mrs. Marian Anderson, 115 W. Terrace Ave., said right now she is against it but would like to hear from Chief DePonceau on how the police department feels about it.
Chief DePonceau said he is against it and has seen where states that currently have legalized dispensaries are having increased problems with armed robberies at the dispensaries as well as areas around them.
Mr. Dave Switala, 9 Crawford Lane, said several years ago he got a medical marijuana card for pain relief and thinks it is important to have dispensaries for people who have the cards. He said it would be illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to be able to enter a dispensary, they will just get it elsewhere.
Mr. Switala said he has spent a lot of time researching tax revenues from states that currently have legalized marijuana dispensaries and was very impressed with the increasing revenue stream that have been granted from the retail sales of marijuana. He said this is just like years ago when people tried to wipe out alcohol, that didn’t work, society is moving forward with this. Mr. Switala said Mr. Kilburn referred to problems with 10% of people and asked what about the other 90%, maybe they have had positive effects.
Mr. Switala said if anyone was to do research on where the medical dispensaries are right now they would be surprised as to the nice locations they are in and that they look like an upscale department store.
Ms. Nancy Jones, 215 Locust St., said she is against making cannabis dispensaries legal and noted medical marijuana doesn’t get one “high” like smoking it does. Ms. Jones said she is all for medical use of marijuana but is against smoking it. Right now it is illegal to smoke cigarettes in any public places, so why should there be consumption locations.
Dr. Jim Larson, 98 W. Summit St. said he is against this completely, adding he doesn’t want to see an increase in criminal activity or promote more drug use by young kids.
Ms. Ruth Wahl, 106 Winchester Rd., said she is also against dispensaries.
Ms. Mackenzie Shults, 295 Shadyside Ave., said she is currently a cannabis operator in the state of California and has been since 2018.
Ms. Shults said she believes New York will have the same regulations as California has as far as rigorous testing being done on the plant materials. She said the plants have to be pesticide free and free of any heavy metals, therefore people are consuming very clean material.
Ms. Shults said there is an important distinction between medical & recreational marijuana, many people are sick due to stress related diseases, cannabis has proven to relieve stress in very unique ways.
Ms. Shults said it is now known that historically all government research done on marijuana was only approved to demonstrate harm.
Ms. Shults said she personally has found a great deal of relief in being able to sleep better and not having to use toxic pharmaceuticals that we know can create harmful side effects.
Mrs. Dorothy Larson, 98 W. Summit St. said she hasn’t heard enough positive things and doesn’t think any good things that can come out of this.
Mr. Dave Card, 36 Chautauqua Ave. asked if there is anything in this law that says you can’t have grow operations.
Ms. Shults says the way it is written right now, municipalities can opt-out of dispensaries but cultivations, distributions, manufacturing and deliveries will be allowed within city limits.
Village Attorney John LaMancuso said that is correct.
Mr. Kilburn said the harm reduction benefits of it are based on a study dated from 2010 to 2017 saying there was a 25% reduction of Opioid over doses or fatalities. He said in 2019 there was a follow up study from Stanford saying Opioid over doses have gone up.
Ms. Ruth Wahl asked if there has been an increase in car accidents since it has been made legal.
Mr. Kilburn said a study out of Canada, where it is legal nationally, does show an increase in DUI’s since becoming legalized.
Trustee Barnes said it affects your coordination so there would be a higher rate of DUI’s.
Mr. Pollino said one thing he has read extensively about is the use of cannabis with cancer patients. They have found that the use of cannabis is helpful in reducing tumor size, helps to lessen the pain when going through chemotherapy treatments, increases hunger so people are able to eat and gather strength to get through the day.
Mrs. Mary Jane Proctor said if someone needs a prescription they have to go to a doctor and get it, a person should not be able to just go to a dispensary and buy it without a prescription.
Mr. Pollino said in order to purchase medicinal marijuana a person needs to get a card from their doctor and when they go to the medicinal part of the dispensary they must show their card along with their license, then they are only able to get the strain of marijuana the doctor has prescribed for them.
Ms. Shults said every dispensary she has ever been in has been very controlled. When you arrive you enter into a foyer first where there is a person screening you, you have to show your license, are not allowed to have your phone out and there are only a certain number of people allowed in at a time.
Ms. Marg Switala, 9 Crawford Lane, said as a two time cancer survivor she has had the medical marijuana card issued by her doctor, but New York State is so far behind other states with the amount of variables they have to offer, she couldn’t get the right combination to ease her pain so she never stayed with it.
Ms. Switala said the stores do have very educated counselors who guide you when you are in there.
Mayor Holcomb read a letter he received from Mr. John Jablonski, 213 Spruce St.
To: Lakewood Village Board,
I encourage you to NOT opt out of allowing cannabis to be sold at retail locations in Lakewood.
I suspect that there is already a strong demand for this in our community. Going forward, you should make it possible for persons who gain therapeutic benefit, especially those suffering from chronic illnesses and elderly suffering from chronic pain to comfortable and conveniently access these products right in our own community, from appropriately-regulated retail stores.
I believe that persons who choose to use cannabis for recreational or therapeutic reasons will get it one of 4 ways going forward:
1) Buying it legally in a convenient local retail store benefitting the merchants and taxpayers of Lakewood.
2) Buying it legally in a neighboring jurisdiction that allow its sale.
3) Buying it illegally from unauthorized drug dealers competing with legal retail establishments.
4) Buying through a medical dispensary.
I ask you to allow this to be sold to benefit local, taxpaying merchants in our community and supporting the local tax base.
Thank you, John Jablonski, III
Mr. Switala asked what about the revenues.
Trustee Barnes said the revenue is not typically what they project. She said there is revenue there however the black market still exists and undersells the legal marijuana.
She said she has had lots of experience dealing with people who are under the influence and the revenue is not guaranteed to any community, they promise you this because they dangle that carrot in a politicians face. She said she is not convinced, at this point, that the money is there to be made.
Mr. Switala said he has looked at graphs from Colorado, California and Oregon, all of those graphs from 2005 and up show a steady stream of revenue.
Trustee Barnes said she does not want to go after revenue at the expense of someone’s health and mental wellbeing. She said she didn’t bring the information she has on the revenue with her this evening since she didn’t plan to address it at this time.
Trustee Barnes said there are many things the board needs to take into consideration, on what is in the best interest of the village, when making these kinds of decisions.
Trustee Fischer said the village will get only 3% of the sales tax, the rest will go elsewhere.
Trustee Schutte said the public hearing tonight was scheduled to hear from the public not the Board of Trustees, the board has some research to do and contemplate what we heard to night, this is just the beginning, no decisions have been made.
Trustee McCague said he agrees with Trustee Schutte and said he has taken notes on everyone’s comments and appreciates them coming in, he will take time to process all he has heard and make it a fair hearing.
Motion by Trustee Fischer, seconded by Trustee Barnes, for Mayor Holcomb to close the public hearing at 7:32 PM and to re-open the regular meeting.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #142–2021 – SET TIME & DATE FOR PUBLIC HEARING
RE: PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2-2021
Motion by Mayor Holcomb, seconded by Trustee McCague, to set 6:45 PM, Monday August 23, 2021, as the time and date for the Board of Trustees to conduct a public hearing on proposed Local Law #2-2021, Opt-out of retail sales of cannabis, the establishment of dispensaries and consumption locations within the Village of Lakewood.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
DISCUSSION ON FULL TIME DEPUTY CLERK/TREASURER POSITION
Mayor Holcomb said he has been working on re-establishing the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer position back to being a full time position the way it always had been. He said he sent the Trustees a breakdown of what will be needed financially to cover the extra hours and benefits with ideas of where to get the money to increase the budget.
Trustee Barnes said she would like to see this position go back to full time, she thinks there is plenty of work and modernizations of records that needs to be done. She just wants to go into this with her eyes wide open and see what all the costs going forward with this position and what the new police contract will be, plus how it will affect the budget before moving forward.
Mayor Holcomb said Village Treasurer Apryl Troutman received notice that the sales tax for this quarter is approximately $ 73,000.00 more than last year at this time, which is extra revenue the village hadn’t planned on.
Trustee Barnes said we can’t project what the sales tax is going to be each year and if it plummets, then what do we have to cover the additional expenses without that tax. She said she is looking at the long term affect.
Trustee McCague said he also would like to see it become full time but we can’t use a non-recurring income to cover a recurring expense with no plan in place for the future.
Trustee McCague said it is a budgeting question. Did we budget enough this year to cover a full time position in that office. If we didn’t, we cannot do it until we amend the budget by going through the budget amendment process to up that number to show full time in that office. He said once that is done then we can take funds allocated to the budget.
Treasurer Troutman said that position was not budgeted and Trustee McCague is correct, you would have to make a budget amendment with the exact amount of money needed put into the amendment. If you want to use the increased amount for the sales tax revenue, you would have to modify the budgeted amount from the revenue side in the sales tax account then the expenditure account could be increased in those areas.
Trustee Schutte asked if any details on the source of the sales tax revenue, such as was it due to real estate, retail sales or automobile sales.
Treasurer Troutman indicated she would reach out to Chautauqua Count to see if there is a driving force for the increase.
RESOLUTION #143-2021 – TABLE RE-ESTABLISHING FULL TIME DEPUTY CLERK/TREASURER POSITION
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee McCague, to table re-establishing the Deputy Clerk/Deputy Treasurer position back to a full time position until a budget amendment has been made at the next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees on August 23, 2021.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
RESOLUTION #144-2021 – CHANGE VOTE ON RESOLUTION #138-2021 DONATION OF PROPERTY
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer, for the board to approve Trustee McCague to change his vote from an aye vote to a nay vote on the donation of property on Chautauqua Ave. to the Village of Lakewood from Dr. Robert Siegel and Ms. Barbara Gellman.
Adopted: 3 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, Schutte) 1 abstain (McCague)
ANYONE TO BE HEARD
Mr. Dave Card, 36 Chautauqua Ave. said he is pretty confident he has found someone to manage the Farmers Market next summer and is currently working on some women to do Christmas in the Village.
Motion by Trustee Fischer, seconded by Trustee Barnes, to recess the regular meeting at 7:50 PM, so as to enter into executive session to discuss a personnel matter.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Present at the executive session, were Mayor Randall G. Holcomb, Trustee Ellen E. Barnes, Trustee Douglas L. Schutte, Trustee Edward J. McCague, Trustee R. Richard Fischer, Village Attorney John I. LaMancuso, Village Clerk Mary B. Currie and Village Treasurer Apryl L. Troutman.
EXECUTIVE SESSION (Adjournment)
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer and unanimously carried to adjourn the executive session and re-open the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees at 7:56 PM.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
REGULAR MEETING (Adjournment)
Motion by Trustee Barnes, seconded by Trustee Fischer and unanimously carried to adjourn the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees at 7:56 PM.
Adopted: 4 ayes, no nays (Barnes, Fischer, McCague, Schutte)
_______________________
Mary B. Currie
Village Clerk
