Mineola Village Board Notebook: Dec. 14

The Mineola  held a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14. Here are some of the things you may have missed.

Planning Board Codification

• The held a special hearing on the creation of a new section 30-B of the village code, entitled “Planning Board.”
• said that as the village has reviewed its code book in preparation for an , “sudden discrepancies have come to light, one of them is that we don’t have a planning board on the books” and called the addition of the new chapter a “housekeeping” measure.
• Village attorney John Spellman stated that the village does have a planning board, “it’s totally legitimate, it’s legal,” but operates under the state code and “it’s more than appropriate to have a local law in our own code.”
• The planning board reports to the village board with respect to subdivisions, has final subdivision approval and establishes plots among its duties.
• The proposal for the new code chapter was that the current model of five members each with a 5 year term be maintained. The only difference would be that they now “start from scratch” with one board member serving for one year, one for two years, etc. before full 5 year terms so that each year a seat is open.
• A total of up to three alternates was also prescribed to allow for quorums to be maintained should any members be absent for a meeting. These alternates could also be enrolled in a “training program” for future board membership.
• The planning board is completely separate from the board of zoning appeals and members receive a stipend of $100 per meeting. The planning board currently meets once per month.
• “With us going to the , there may be more things like this coming up before us,” village trustee George Durham said. “As we want to take and make sure that everything is out there in the public when the code is put on our website fully in electronics and when somebody looks through the code, they can find out different departments, what’s the staffing and everything will be spelled out exactly.”

Other Board News

• The board approved transfers for the 2011-12 budget in the following amounts: general fund: $15,502.45; water fund: $18,806.88; fund: $2,553. The amounts would come out of the contingency budget for items which were not budgeted for originally.
• A contract for actuarial services for fiscal years ending May 31, 2012, May 31, 2013 and May 31, 2014 pertaining to other post employment benefits in the amount of $5,300 was awarded to USA Consulting Group. Villages are required to hire an actuarial valuation company to “look at actively retiree personnel and come up with a dollar amount,” village treasurer Giacomo Ciccone said, noting the service was performed in fiscal year ending May 31, 2009. “Now we’re at the stage again where the third year expired and we need to do this valuation service again.” The amount of the contract is for the full 3 years.
• The board unanimously approved a location at 42 East Second St. subject to the following conditions: the applicant will not prepare or cook food upon the property; use of a private sanitation service for garbage removal; all putrescible waste shall be refrigerated indoors until pickup.