Village Board approves CEC grants

The Village of Owego Board Meeting on Jan. 16 started with a Public Hearing on Local Law #1 of 2024, to require an application and permit to place storage containers on properties in residential areas and the Central Business District. The board will conduct an environmental review (SEQRA) on the law at their next meeting.

Paul Cole, EMS manager, reported 70 emergency calls from Jan. 1-16. DPW Superintendent Fred Ulrich reported ongoing activities of snow removal; parking lot signs have been installed for the lot behind the theater, and reviewed the Village Annex to the Hazard Mitigation Plan with Trustee Laura Spencer and consultant Julie Nucci.

Fred urged the board to consider and institute alternate side of the street parking to facilitate timely and through snow removal. Trustee Fran VanHousen asked about repairing the roads in Evergreen Cemetery, especially the entrance road and the road descending from the SaSaNa Loft Monument. 

Historic Owego Marketplace representatives Pat Hansen and Katie Chandler presented the board with event dates for this year’s Strawberry Festival, Porch Fest, Halloween Fest, and Lights on the River. The dates were approved after discussion about issues with some past events. The village board approved the Strawberry Festival date of June 15. 

Mike Brown, Clean Energy Communities (CEC) coordinator for Tioga County, presented a funding opportunity because of our participation as a Clean Energy Community. Thanks to efforts by Owego resident Gerri Wiley, the village joined the CEC in 2021 and was awarded $5,000 by the CEC program in 2022. Brown said that the village could access up to $502,000 of grant funding with no matching village funds required.

Reaping the benefits of the CEC grant also gets the village points in the Climate Smart Communities Program; completing the Village Annex to the Hazard Mitigation Plan and submitting for clean energy projects that have been completed gets the village to the next level and eligible to apply for a $90,000 grant. Investing that into clean energy projects can qualify the village for a grant for up to $150,000, and another one for up to $262,500.

Brown stressed that funding for these grants will decrease in the fall, so the village should move ahead quickly to take advantage of these grants. The village board asked questions about the program and agreed to move ahead with it. To that end the board appointed an ad hoc committee of trustees and residents to look at possible projects to address. The board appointed Mike Brown, Julie Nucci, Kevin Millar, Fran VanHousen, and Gerri Wiley to look at what project(s) would best serve the village. 

The board passed a resolution to join the Municipal Cooperative Agreement (MCA) for Tompkins County Health Insurance Consortium. 

The board appointed Jacque Millar to the Village Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). There is now one vacancy on the ZBA and one opening on the Village Planning Board. 

Oh, and Mayor Mike Baratta bowled a 300 game!