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Minutes of the Reorganizational/Regular meeting of the Town Board of Cincinnatus held January 9, 2024 at the town hall commencing at 7:00 PM.


Present: Ronald Constantino, Supervisor

                     Bob Hemming, Councilperson    

Nicholas Constantino, Councilperson 

                     Patrick Wiater, Councilperson

Jonathan McKee, Councilperson


Recording Secretary: Carolyn Nowalk, Town Clerk


Also Present: Steve Mudge, Highway Superintendent

Sharon Wiater

Tyler Mudge, Water Superintendent 

Sharon Constantino, Bookkeeper

  1. Call to Order: meeting was called to order by Supervisor Constantino at 7:00 pm.

  2. Pledge of Allegiance: 

  3. Oath of Office:

Supervisor – Ron Constantino

Councilmen – Jonathan McKee, Patrick Wiater, Nicholas Constantino, Bob Hemming

Highway Superintendent – Steve Mudge

Town Clerk/Collector – Carolyn Nowalk

  1. Approve minutes of Regular meeting from December 14, 2023

A motion to approve Item #4 as presented was made by J. McKee, seconded by B. Hemming.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

  1. Budget Adjustments to 2023 Budget:  attached

A motion to approve Item #5 as presented was made by J. McKee, seconded by B. Hemming.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

  1. Approve the Amended Town Budget for the 2024 tax year – to correct errors made on budget submitted to county used to produce tax bills: Attached

A motion to approve Item #6 as presented was made by N. Constantino, seconded by J. McKee.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

  1. Approve Ron Constantino as Town Supervisor to sign for RP-556B

A motion to approve Item #7 as presented was made by B. Hemming, seconded by N. Constantino.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

  1. Refund the overpayments of the tax payments that have already been processed by the Clerk/Collector – a total of 8 payments

A motion to approve Item #8 as presented was made by J. McKee, seconded by P. Wiater.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

  1.  Approve the refund of $2,842.00 from the Town of Willet for Joint Youth program

A motion to approve Item #9 as presented was made by B. Hemming, seconded by J. McKee.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

 

  1. Order of Business and Organizational Chart: as adopted in 1997

Monthly meeting date and time : Second Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm

Designations: Official Newspaper is the Cortland Standard or Bulletin Board at Cincy Market and Post Office.

Official Depository: NBT Bank

Petty Cash Fund: Established for Tax Collector in the amount of $100


  1. Pay Schedule as follows:

  1. Yearly – Councilpersons (4); Deputy Supervisor; Town Historian; Planning Board (5); Animal Control, Registrar of Statistics.

  2. Quarterly – Court Clerk; Town Justice; Town Supervisor; Water District Clerk; Part Time Budget Officer; Deputy Clerk.

  3. BiWeekly – Highway Superintendent; Water District Superintendent; Town Clerk/Tax Collector; Town Assessor; Code Enforcement Officer/Fire Inspector; All Full Time and Casual Employees.

         12. Work Schedule: Town of Cincinnatus Full Time Employees will work 40 hours per week. Monday – Friday or as scheduled by the Highway Superintendent.   


         13. Contractual Bi-Weekly Pay Schedule: – 25 payroll dates – Jan. 11 & 25, Feb. 8 & 22,       March 14 & 28, April 11 & 25, May 9 & 23, June 6 & 20, July 4 & 18, August 1, 15 & 29, Sept. 12 & 26, Oct. 10 & 24, Nov. 7 & 21, Dec. 5 & 19.

         14. Standard Workday: Monday – Friday; Establishment of Benefit Policy, Vacation, Legal Holidays, Overtime & Compensatory time.

  1. Vacation: full time employees 7 days after 1 year, 14 days after 5 years

  2. Unused vacation will be paid at a regular rate of $22.00 per hour

  3. Overtime:  employers must pay all non-exempt employees a rate of time and on half the regular rate for each hour of overtime (over 40 hours) worked

  4. Holidays:  New Years Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (4th of July), Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve (anytime after 4:00pm) & Christmas Day

  5. Working on an established Holiday: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay only for time worked and compensate hour worked on a holiday at twice the employee’s regular rate. Double time (2.0) for actual hours worked on a holiday.

  6. Personal Days: 3 per year

  7. Sick Leave:  Full time highway/water employees with 1 year of service shall be entitled to two (2) paid days for sick leave within each year, not to be carried over to the following year and not to be taken along with vacation.


A motion to approve Item #10 – 14 as presented was made by B. Hemming, seconded by J. McKee.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried


      15. Appointments:

Animal Control Officer Cortland County SPCA

Dog Shelter Service Cortland County SPCA

Assessor Caitlin Brown

Attorney Coughlin & Gerhart

Board of Assessment (3) Judy Cass, Roberta Fuller, TBD

Budget Officer Ron Constantino

Budget Office – Part- time Sharon Constantino

Code Enforcement/Fire Inspector Tim Bearup

Court Clerk for Justice Mitchell Eccleston

Deputy Clerk/Deputy Tax Collector Cheyenne Nowalk

Deputy Supervisor Jonathan McKee

Fair Housing Tim Bearup

Deputy Highway Superintendent Derek Jack

Historian Cincinnatus Area Heritage Society

Planning Board Jason Tuning (Chair)

David Steiginga

Wayne Landers

Fred Griffin

Sharon Wiater

Registrar of Vital Statistics Carolyn Nowalk

Water Superintendent Tyler Mudge

Deputy Water Superintendent Corey Davis

Water Clerk Shelby Mudge

Director to Greater Tompkins County 

Municipal Health Insurance Consortium 

Board of Directors Ron Constantino

Alternate Patrick Wiater

Benefit Clerk (Insurance) Carolyn Nowalk

Joint Youth Director Cheyenne Nowalk


A motion to approve Appointments in Item #15 was made by R. Constantino, seconded by B. Hemming.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried


      16. Wage and Salaries:

Supervisor $ 4,590.00

Budget Officer 4,437.00

Deputy Supervisor   510.00

Part-time Budget Officer 6,658.56

Justice 7,000.00

Justice Court Clerk     15.00 per hour

Town Clerk/Planning Clerk

/Tax Collector 9,650.00

Deputy Clerk/Tax Collector       15.00 per hour

Registrar of Vital Statistics     450.00

Highway Superintendent           50,000.00

Highway Full Time       23.00 per hour

Highway Part Time                                   18.00 per hour

Code Enforcement/Fire Inspector     16,000.00

Councilpersons (4 @ $850 each) 3,400.00

Attorney hourly

Historian $ 1,000.00

Assessor 7,800.00

SPCA 6,000.00

Water Superintendent           15,785.00

Deputy Water Superintendent 2,400.00

Water Clerk 1,417.80

Planning Board (5)

(4 @ $75, chair @ $100)   400.00

Board of Assessment               400.00

Web Page/Computer Support     30.00 per hour


A motion to approve Item #16, Wages and Salaries was made by J. Mckee, seconded by N. Constantino.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

      

       17. Authorizations:

  1. Supervisor to pay utilities, retirement and any billing invoice to avoid penalties.

  2. Supervisor to purchase postage for town department if needed.

  3. Town Board to audit financial records of: Town Clerk/Tax Collector, Water Clerk and Judicial at each month’s scheduled meeting.

  4. Annual Water District meeting in March held during the regular monthly town board meeting.

A motion to approve Item #17 a-d, Authorizations was made by N. Constantino, seconded by P. Wiater.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried


        18. Charge for Town Records:  The Town Clerk will charge to copy town records at $-/50 per page, of which the clerk would need to do research in order to obtain.


        19. Financial Reports: Town Clerk, Water Clerk 

A motion to approve Items 18 & 19 as presented was made by J. McKee, seconded by P. Wiater.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried

      20. Public Participation:  none


      21. Reports:

  1. Highway – Mack needs power steering pump

  2. Water – report attached – County plow hit hydrant

  3. Planning – report attached – Jason shared that the owner of the old Bank building came to today’s meeting.

  4. Code Enforcement – report attached

  5. Beautification – none

  6. Joint Youth – none

  7. Attorney – none


       22. Old Business: 

  1. We received and have completed the necessary paperwork to start receiving the grant funds for the Highway Department addition.

  2. We have received payment from the Fire Department for their past due water bill.

       23. New Business:

We will be updating the town website with current information

       24. Warrants: – Disbursements from the funds as follows:

AO – Administrative: $ 9,573.56

DA – Highway:           $   119.61


A motion to approve warrants as presented was made by J. McKee, seconded by B. Hemming.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried


       25. Adjournment: 

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:58 pm was made by R. Constantino, seconded by B. Hemming.

Ayes: R. Constantino, N. Constantino, McKee, Hemming, Wiater

Nays: 0 motion carried


The next meeting of the Town Board will be held on Tuesday February 8, 2024 at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall.


Respectfully Submitted,

Carolyn Nowalk

Cincinnatus Town Clerk