Paul Szmal: We're joined on Zoom as we are each month by the Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Venuti. Good morning and welcome back.
Mark Venuti: Good morning. And I always look forward to this every year. It's my favorite political thing I think that happens or government thing that happens all year and that is the tax cap override where the town of Geneva that has no tax has to vote to override it anyway. So we have the public hearing set that'll be at the top of the hour and the vote will be at one past.
Paul Szmal: Right, so we do this every year on the advice of our attorneys that because the law basically says any district which we have water districts and we have a sewer district so any increases that would violate the tax cap could bring penalties you'd lose your rights to get certain grants so we override the tax cap every year. And I think most all the communities do because it's like you say you could technically be in violation of it because of something that isn't actually a town tax so it makes sense it's just kind of funny.
Mark Venuti: Yep there it is. That's my annual laugh.
Paul Szmal: So you've been talking about some proposals from the DEC for deer mitigation and it's always a tough you know we like our deer but we don't like them eating our garden and we don't like hitting them with our car.
Mark Venuti: Right so we we've had a group a committee that's been working on this and we did a survey and got a lot of feedback from people in the town and really I'm somebody that really doesn't kill anything but this is an ecosystem problem. I mean they basically over browse, nothing's growing, and there's the accidents and people's you know yards are being you know they're right up on the house eating your flowers. So they say that a sustainable deer population is 10 or 12 per square mile. I had 18 in my backyard the other day I counted them.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And it's this this just huge herd. So we've talked to the DEC and we're looking at there's the committee's going to meet again but they have approved us to get a nuisance permit where we could have some extra hunters go out at certain times with bows only and and call some deer. And so we're looking at that something that we might do in a couple of months.
Mark Venuti: Now is there a possibility of that meat being donated to some program? I know they have venison donation programs.
Paul Szmal: Oh absolutely. The hunters will be able to keep some it certainly will not one of the one of the options is actually to take it to the landfill. We will not do that. It'll go to one of these processing places that gives it to people that you know need food.
Mark Venuti: I mean it's always a hazard of mine coming to work in the morning and then when I go to games at Hobart and William Smith and you go down St. Clair Street I've had some close encounters because you get the runners that's it's all right when you can see them by the side of the row but you get the runners that are being chased or something that come right across and that can be difficult.
Paul Szmal: So Jacob Fox who is the town's climate smart and sustainability coordinator he's been I guess more or less on salary but now you're going to move him to a kind of a consultant role?
Mark Venuti: Yes so he's been on salary but just for 10 hours a week and he's busy with other things and so we're going to use him more in a consultant role. He will he does have a position which has a small stipend with it but as a project comes up that he can help us with we'll be using it. In fact you know looking at landfill the end of landfill and more of a press on doing diversion practices he's been in that business for quite a bit so I'm thinking that we'll be using him when we get more involved in those activities.
Paul Szmal: You have your committee assignment you've been reappointed to planning and environmental quality and ways and means committee and also now you'll be chair of the county's traffic safety board and also alternatives to incarceration board and as well as board of directors of the Ontario County soil and water conservation district you'll be busy.
Mark Venuti: I am busy you don't want to try to go to all the meetings that I go to and so when I put that on the agenda and some and it's like I'm running around basically but it's all good stuff and I enjoy doing it.
Paul Szmal: Well and it's great for the town to have representation in that many areas of what the county well you always have representation but I mean deeper representation as a member of all these boards.
Mark Venuti: Yeah and it's helpful I mean since being on the soil and water conservation district board you know I've got those guys in the town helping out quite a bit helping with our water retention projects and things like that because that was something that I didn't really know about until I became a member of the board when I became supervisor.
Paul Szmal: Do you get a chance to just sort of visit and chat with the other supervisors about common concerns and things for towns?
Mark Venuti: We do we do often like after meetings you know we'll sit around and people will say well what are you guys doing or do you have this kind of problem and you know that's when we usually are chatting.
Paul Szmal: You have a couple of events coming up one is a mattress drop-off which you've done the other one is a pumpkin plus I don't is that new?
Mark Venuti: No we've been doing that. The plus is it's not just pumpkins it could be gourds and corn all the stuff the organic stuff that you put around your house at Halloween instead of throwing it in the trash it'll be collected and composted.
Paul Szmal: And then also you'll be taking part in the city's mission zero program and we usually have somebody come in and talk about that. It's April 26th of this year which is Earth Day and that's at the Geneva Recreation Complex the cooler and you have all kinds of vendors and educational displays there so that's going to be one of the fix-it days this year.
Mark Venuti: Yeah so we're going to we always we've been partnering with the city on that mission zero and we we've usually run a fix-it clinic and we will be doing that again this year so hold on to your broken lamp and your wobbly chair you can bring it down there and we'll take care of it.
Paul Szmal: Any progress or news on the reuse center?
Mark Venuti: Still moving along with that we have a meeting coming up and I've made a request to the county for funding we really want to get in order to get some traction going we have to hire somebody we're all volunteers with other jobs and it's just hard for us to take the next step. So we want to hire a director this year who can do grant there's money out there a lot of money out there and we who can do more grant writing for this from the state agencies so we can get a place and get going basically.
Paul Szmal: And then you get uh I know the town qualifies for a lot of different incentives for the things you've done with the electricity savings and environmental initiatives um what's the uh I'm blanking out there's like a green it's not it's a climate smart community thank you that's what it is. And we're also a green energy community but we have the latest is we have this $175,000 grant we're putting in a solar field on the town hall and that'll be done this spring so if you see activity on the north side of the town hall building that's going to be solar panels that's going to save us about $10,000 a year in electricity costs.
Mark Venuti: All right call us if the override fails okay to the meeting next month. Mark Vannuti the town supervisor always appreciate the visit and spreading the news to the folks thanks again.
Paul Szmal: Thank you Ted.
It is now 7 44 on FLX morning.
