Paul Szmal: It is 8.15 on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio, sun and clouds, temperature is up to 39. I know that doesn't seem like that big of an increase, but we were at 36 when we started the morning. Proud to welcome back Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Vinuti for a visit. We've missed you, sir. It's been a while. Thanks for coming back.
Mark Venuti: Appreciate it. Thank you for having me.
Paul Szmal: Let's get right into some of the resolutions from the most recent town board meeting that happened on the 14th of the month. One of them was to schedule a public hearing on what's called amendments to the comprehensive plan.
Mark Venuti: Yes, so the town's comprehensive plan dates to 2015, so 10 years have gone by and we like the plan, so we're not starting over, but we had a group that spent this year going through the plan and we have an update. They call it amendments, but basically it's an update to the plan. We had a public hearing at this meeting that we just had, but we've scheduled, you've got to have two public hearings on a comprehensive plan, so there's another one at our November meeting and the plan is available on our website, or you can get a hard copy at the town hall. So we've updated some things. Some things have changed in 10 years and of course everyone's aware of the housing shortage that's a national problem, so we're looking at ways to increase, be more flexible, allow different kinds of housing on properties.
Paul Szmal: And what is a comprehensive plan for people that may not be familiar with the terminology?
Mark Venuti: Well it's really a, it's a road map basically, and every municipality is required by law to have a comprehensive plan. So basically it starts out and tells you who you are, what's the demographics, what's your population, what do they do, what's their age range, what's your road miles, all about the town, and then you talk about broken down into different areas like transportation, what do you want to be doing with that, housing, environmental issues, parks. So really it's basically an aspirational document that says this is where we are and this is where we want to go. And then you should conform your zoning code and things like that with the comprehensive plan so that you can actually do what in the plan you're saying that you want to do.
Paul Szmal: Ah, okay. So that leaves room for some changes, it's kind of flexible.
Mark Venuti: Yeah. It's really, the plan itself is not law, but it's kind of guiding you.
Paul Szmal: Okay. And we're talking with Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Minuti this morning here on FLX Morning. We're going over some of the resolutions from the most recent town meeting. There were a couple of resolutions for appointments. One of them was for Thomas Bonacci, approved to the Town Planning Board for a five-year term.
Mark Venuti: Yeah, so we've had both our Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals have been understaffed. There's supposed to be five and an alternate and some people have retired and so we've needed some people and we reached out and we got people that were interested. Tom's been on our Comprehensive Plan Committee actually in the last, the one we did in 2015 and the update. He's been active in the town and so, and he's also had a long career in building for Hobart and William Smith and other places. So we're very happy to see his application and put him on the Planning Board.
Paul Szmal: And there was also a resolution to appoint someone to the Town Zoning Board of Appeals.
Mark Venuti: Right, and again we, that was a, we had an opening there. We had applicants and actually we have more that we'll be putting on in the next couple of months to increase those so that we even have an alternate and we've got some people that are going to retire at the end of the year. Those are important boards. It's not easy work because sometimes, you know, a lot of the meetings are pretty routine but then you're going to get some where the room's filled up and you got angry people telling you you shouldn't be doing what you're doing.
Paul Szmal: Right, and I imagine things like zoning request changes, stuff like that are some of the things that come up.
Mark Venuti: Yes, so the Planning Board looks at site plans. So when you want to do a development, you have to go through the Planning Board. The Zoning Board of Appeals looks at requests to get out of the zoning code and, you know, for variances, things like that. Or if you're unhappy with the decision of the Code Enforcement Officer. So they have different roles and they're independent too. The Town Board does not control those boards other than to put people on them.
Paul Szmal: Okay. The big one, the centerpiece, I guess, if you will, of the Town Board meeting was the approval of the Town Budget.
Mark Venuti: Yes, so we had a public hearing on the Town Budget that we go through stages. So first there's the tentative budget that I, as Supervisor, prepare. I'm the Budget Officer. That's given to the Town Board. Then we had a work session on that with the Town Board, a special meeting that we had in late September. And then the outcome of that is called the Preliminary Budget. And that was up for a public hearing at our meeting on Tuesday. Actually, nobody showed up. So there wasn't any concern about that. And we passed the budget. So we're in good shape. There's no big surprises. There's no new taxes or spending. We're pretty much staying in line. We've got things that we want to do, and we're able to basically make it with our income that we have. And this also included the fire contracts and the special districts, too.
Paul Szmal: Right. So the town contracts with three volunteer fire companies that each have a section. So we've got Northside over on Carter Road. We've got White Springs in the middle there on County Road 6. And we have Westlake Road way down on the south end. And so we contract with them. And that's basically the tax that you see on your tax bill if you're a town resident. Most of it is basically to pay for those contracts, which we're very grateful. Because those aren't paid. They're volunteers. And this is helping them with their equipment and their fuel and their utilities and things like that, their gear, which is very expensive. And if we had paid fire folks, I mean, it'd be a whole different story. So we're very grateful and try to support them as best we can.
Mark Venuti: And then in your supervisor's report, you had a meeting with the Phelps supervisor on a sewer project.
Mark Venuti: Yeah. So one of the things in order for Route 14, which runs, you know, through the town of Geneva and right into Phelps around the thruway there, you know, that's zoned industrial. And I think both towns are looking at that as a place for development. Well, you've got to have, we did water a few years ago. So we've got water there, municipal water, and sewer is another piece that will really allow it to be developed. So Phelps, the town of Geneva took the lead several years ago and tried to get grants and we're unable, we were unsuccessful at the time. Phelps has taken the lead this time and they've been quite successful. It's an expensive project, most of it though in Phelps, but they've gotten millions of dollars in grants. So we're, it's really going to defray the cost. And this is, you know, this is, we're still a year or two out of construction and it's got to be approved by both towns. So we'll have to go out to our people on Route 14 in the north side to see if they're willing to help. Because when you put an improvement like that in, the people that are affected have to help pay for it. So after the grants are subtracted, it'll be down, and the towns of Geneva's part of this is only about 15%. It's still going to be, you know, an expense that people will see on their bills. So we'll be going out probably, my guess is early in 26, to survey and see if we can get people that are willing to sign on to this project. But it'll really help to develop it and, you know, septic systems are much more expensive than they used to be. So people will, that have septics out there now, will be able to tie into municipal sewer and it'll be a lot easier for them.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and this is basically acting as kind of a bridge between Phelps and the town of Geneva and the wastewater treatment plant?
Mark Venuti: That's right. So Phelps has to get through the town of Geneva to get to the city's wastewater treatment plant. And that all should work because the city is in the process of expanding the plant, which will double the capacity of the solids handling, which was the problem there. And that'll be done in the next couple of years. So it'll all time out about, correctly, so that the city's plant will have the capacity at the time that this might be coming through.
Paul Szmal: Anything coming up in the November town meeting of note or interest?
Mark Venuti: Well, just that we've got the hearing on the comprehensive plan. We've already passed the budget. So nothing really, no hot topics that I'm aware of.
Paul Szmal: Okay. And that next town meeting is?
Mark Venuti: Second Tuesday. It's always the second Tuesday of the month. What day is that? The second Tuesday of November is November 11th.
Paul Szmal: Ah, Veterans Day. Okay. All right. And that is at the town hall?
Mark Venuti: Town hall at six o'clock.
Paul Szmal: All right. And we also, we get there about 530 in case people want to chat before the meeting.
Mark Venuti: Okay.
Paul Szmal: All right. As always, pleasure having you on board, sir. We'll chat with you again after the November meeting.
Mark Venuti: Thanks, Paul. My pleasure.
Paul Szmal: All right. That's Geneva Town Supervisor Mark Vanuti joining us here on FLX Morning. It's 825.
