Library resolution removed from Town Board agenda; grant consultant renewed 3-2

The town removed the library resolution from the Sept. 17 Town Board agenda on the day of the meeting, and the board took no vote on it. The Ledger's preview that afternoon had said the board would vote on it.

The resolution would have declared the town's intent to pursue a new library building by 2032, when the library's lease ends. Neither the revised agenda nor the recordings of the 6:30 p.m. workshop and 7:30 p.m. meeting state a reason for the removal.

All five board members were present.

At a glance

• Library resolution: removed from the agenda; no vote.
• 2027 budget: tentative budget made the preliminary budget, 5-0.
• Budget hearing: set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, 5-0.
• Grant consultant: two-year renewal of J. O'Connell & Associates, 3-2.
• Arbitrage calculation: engagement letter with PFM Asset Management, up to $7,500, 5-0.
• Lake Road fill permit: environmental finding, 5-0; permit approved.
• Comprehensive plan: the board approved a resolution on leading the plan's environmental review.
• Also approved: the Sept. 3 minutes, bills, a prepaid warrant, purchase orders, a credit card policy, an Association of Towns delegate, a Colliers Engineering contract of up to $35,000 and a Justice Court grant application.

The town's results agenda, posted by the morning of Sept. 18, marks every item approved and gives no vote counts.

The library workshop

At the workshop, Library Director Adam Traub and Town Engineer Keith Mortimer presented a cost comparison of leasing and building. According to the presentation, which the town had linked from the workshop agenda by that night, a new 45,000-square-foot library on town-owned land would cost about $32.2 million, excluding inflation. The presentation puts renewing the lease and renovating at about $28.8 million through 2062, counting 30 years of rent at the library's current rate of about $11 a square foot and the low renovation estimate, $11.3 million. The high estimate is $20.3 million, and the presentation cites an average rent of about $23 a square foot.

Questions from the board covered the town's debt load, whether the library needs 45,000 square feet and whether the renovation estimate is too high. One member who raised the debt load said a town-owned library would benefit the community eventually but that the question was timing. The member asked whether the finance director had been involved in the modeling, and the answer was not until that day. Another said committing now would put financial constraints on a future board, saying the current members would not be serving in 2032. Traub said the landlord has not yet shown an appetite for lower rent.

What speakers said about the library

Under rules the chair read, questions from Open to the Floor are not answered that night.

One speaker said a library vote that night "would have been an opportunity for the entire board to do right by the residents and vote in favor."

A speaker who backed a new building said "taxpayer money builds equity for a private plaza landlord and not the town of Webster." A new building "requires a higher initial investment," the speaker said, but would be a permanent town asset.

A West Webster resident who bikes to the library said the concern "isn't necessarily the cost of it, it's the location of it." The resident said one possible site would double the trip and asked for "some accountability for what is under consideration for the location."

Another speaker urged the town to start charging groups that use library meeting rooms. The speaker said the rumor was that the library would go to Parks and Recreation, and called that "not a good idea," saying people would find it too far out. The speaker said a $30 million library bond would be subject to a permissive referendum and predicted one would be filed. At the workshop earlier, a board member had said residents would get a vote if the board decides to bond for a new library.

Grant consultant renewed 3-2

The renewal keeps J. O'Connell & Associates as the town's grant consultant through Sept. 30, 2028. The rate is $4,000 a month, up from $3,900 under the 2025 extension, according to the two contracts.

Josh Artuso, the town's director of community development, said eight of the 15 grant applications the town has made with the firm have succeeded, and three are pending. "For every dollar spent by the town we're receiving approximately $11.73 back," Artuso said.

A board member who raised the cost question said it "has nothing to do with whether or not she's done a good job," referring to the firm's president, Jean K. O'Connell. The member suggested seeking other quotes. Asked whether anyone had tried to renegotiate, a speaker said no, because the firm's price had gone up $100 a month from its original contract. The board also discussed a one-year term instead of two. The contract lets the town exit on 10 days' notice, though a member said that is hard to use as leverage mid-term.

A member speaking in favor said the firm had been chosen through a competitive process and called $4,000 a month "extraordinarily competitive" because many grant writers charge a fee plus a percentage.

Supervisor Alex Scialdone, Councilwoman Jennifer Wright and Councilman Nick Hunter voted yes. Councilmen John Cahill and Garrett Wagner voted no. One of the two members who voted no said the vote had nothing to do with the consultant's work. "We owe it to the taxpayers of Webster to once again get competitive prices," the member said.

The 2027 budget

In the preliminary budget, the amount to be raised by taxes would be $23,567,025, including sewer and special districts. That would be up $711,882, or 3.11%. The budget summary estimates tax rates rising 3.99% for village property and 4.18% outside the village.

Finance Director Paul Adams said the town is using "a substantial amount of fund balance to balance this year's budget and to keep it under the tax cap." That is affordable for 2027 but "not sustainable long term," Adams said.

The budget hearing is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Town Board Room at 1002 Ridge Road.

Comprehensive plan

The board approved a resolution classifying the comprehensive plan update as a Type I action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act and declaring the board's intent to be lead agency. In a Sept. 15 memo to the board, Artuso wrote that the resolution "starts a 30-day period during which other agencies may express a desire to act as lead agency, though this is uncommon." "The Board is not determining environmental significance at this time," the memo says.

A speaker who raised rezoning along Five Mile Line Road said the draft map would designate the speaker's own land for residential use. That "would literally take millions of dollars" in value and "force me to close my farm and my daughter to close her store," the speaker said. The speaker also asked who had made the map's decisions and whether anyone had asked residents on either side of the road. Under the rules the chair read, such questions are not answered that night.

A town timeline, marked "subject to change," lists a Comprehensive Plan Committee public hearing Monday, Sept. 28. It gives no time or place.

Other business

Fill permit. The board voted 5-0 on an environmental finding for a fill permit at 1636 Lake Road, then approved the permit.

AI tools were used in drafting and research.