Town of Vienna

Town Board Special Meeting Minutes

Budget Workshop

October 21, 2026

 

ATTENDANCE:

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen

Councilman Darrin Smith Councilman Doug Jordan - Absent

Town Clerk Carol Huber Councilman Theodore Learned

 

CALL TO ORDER:

Supervisor Spellicy called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

TENTATIVE BUDGET: Budget Officer, Ben Gasser

 

The following changes are as follows and were all agreed upon.

 

SUPERVISOR

A1220.1 PERSONAL SERVICES 0% INCREASE $25,600.00

ANIMAL CONTROL

A3510.11 PERSONAL SERVICES 4.01% INCREASE $12,500.00

TRANSPORTATION

A5010.11 PER SERV CLERK 4% INCREASE $16,061.40

CULTURE AND RECREATION

A7510.1 PERSONAL SERVICES 4% INCREASE $1,816.00

ZONING OFFICER

B8010.12 PERSONAL SERVICES (Building Inspector) 3.77% INCREASE $21,000.00

TRANSPORTATION

DA5120.0 BRIDGE MAINTENANCE 100% INCREASE $100,000.00

This amount was increased because there will be bridge work started in April which will be needed to help offset the costs.

 

The Continuation of the overview of the Summary Budget:

The following were discussed and all agreed upon.

 

DB FUND:

Street Maintenance Contractual, no increase. Payroll was adjusted and will work with the new labor agreements. Permanent Improvements covers a list of items that was shared with the Board for the Highway. The Equipment Capital Outlay will be used for a new truck. Road Sand is up $30,000. This fund is being funded by sales tax and CHIP monies.

 

LIBRARY:

This is the Oneida City Library. Last year their budget did not include the debt figure from the last 4 or 5 years. The County gives us the number. The number in the 2027 Budget is what was paid this past year. It might go up slightly. Only the residents that pay taxes to Oneida City School are the ones who are taxed for the library.

 

FIRE DISTRICTS:

Sylvan Beach has not submitted their final numbers yet. All Fire Districts submit their Budget and that is what the Residents pay.

 

LIGHTING DISTRICTS:

Adjusted lighting districts according to increases that we have been seeing.

AMBULANCE:

The ambulance is a contracted amount. The Cleveland, Camden and the Ambulance contracts are all up in 2027.

 

SEWER DISTRICTS:

The sewage treatment and disposal, which Sylvan Beach bills, have gone up about $20,000 a district.

SS1- Line maintenance has gone down 47%, and the contractual went up 31%.

SS2- Line maintenance has gone down 50%, and the contractual went up 27%.

 

WATER DISTRICTS:

The final bill was paid in October. The budget numbers were able to be better adjusted.

Water Districts are trending up each year. The final water charges for 2027 will not be available until December.

OCWA numbers have to be approved by the legislature in Onondaga County.

 

Darrin Smith explained that in the Budget the North Shore Ambulance title describes the district and not the ambulance name. We are contracted with Vineall. The district pays for that service.

 

All agreed that the budget as presented at this meeting will become the final budget.

Councilman Smith made a motion to put the Legal Notice in the paper for the Public Hearing on November 4^th, 2026 at 7:05 pm. Councilman Jordan Seconded the motion.

 

VOTING RECORD MOTION CARRIED

Councilwoman McEwen Aye

Councilman Jordan Aye

Councilman Learned Aye

Councilman Smith Aye

Supervisor Spellicy Aye

 

National Grid Holiday Decoration on Poles: Jason Spellicy

We as the Town do not use decorations with electric, so we need Board Approval for the Supervisor to sign the form to send back to National Grid that we do not need electric for decorations.

 

Councilman Jordan made a motion to sign the form and Councilman Smith seconded the motion.

VOTING RECORD MOTION CARRIED

Councilwoman McEwen Aye

Councilman Jordan Aye

Councilman Learned Aye

Councilman Smith Aye

Supervisor Spellicy Aye

 

Philip Johnson Memorial: Town Clerk

The Pomeroy Foundation needs the exact location for the marker in the North Bay Park. A map is needed of the park with the exact coordinates/location the marker is to be placed. They did not give a specific time frame, but just as soon as possible. Highway Supervisor suggested to make sure it is back far enough to prevent plowed snow to push it.

 

Union Contract: Supervisor Spellicy

Per text messages yesterday, to approve the Union Contract, we need to do a little more parliamentary procedure. I reached out to Evan for approval of verbiage to make the motion. The contract was emailed out to everybody last night to read over. The part that was missed was coming out of Executive Session and saying we have agreed as long as the terms are this, we give Jason the ok sign the contract. Basically, the only things that have changed are the items we have discussed. Everything was included in the email that was emailed to the Board on September 23rd, and what we did actually discuss in the Executive Session on September 30^th. There was only that one piece that was either/or about the slight rate increase verses an OT inclusion. They chose the 50 cents more. Then we met and signed the contract. Per Evan, I make a motion to accept and approve the Teamsters Union Contract for the Highway Department employees signed on October 7^th. The signed contract reflects the desires of the Board and the acceptance of all negotiated terms.

 

Councilman Doug Jordan seconded the motion.

VOTING RECORD MOTION CARRIED

Councilwoman McEwen Aye

Councilman Jordan Aye

Councilman Learned Aye

Councilman Smith Aye

Supervisor Spellicy Aye

 

Councilman Jordan:

I was shocked at how the last Budget meeting ended. Everybody was at the Union Contract Budget thing. I just hope this does not hurt the Board moving forward if some of this stuff is true.

 

Councilman Smith:

I think we were all caught off guard when Jason read a handcrafted letter making some pretty heavy allegations. It is a little shocking that the Board Members were not approached individually or privately to have that discussion based on reading through the minutes in the letter. I would like to point out a few things that were quoted and some things that were stated by the Union Rep. In my opinion are false. We just got this contract last night. We never laid eyes on the contract that is 19 pages long. I looked at the minutes from August 5, September 2^nd and that was a total of 35 minutes in Executive Session. For 19 pages, we did not completely review this contract. That is my opinion of falsifications of that statement.

 

Jason Spellicy:

Point of Clarification, we did not rewrite 19 pages of the new contract. We were given a point of 8 items by the Union Members and their representative, that they wanted to be reviewed and negotiate. Those items were presented at the very first time we had a meeting. The Board met in Executive Session multiple times. When we first met, here is the initial proposal from the Union guys. Everybody quickly said no to everything on it. So, we presented it to the Union and they responded with a counter, which was the second meeting. There was a third meeting, I emailed everybody the agreed upon changes on the 23^rd. Following the email on the 23^rd, we had a special meeting on the 30^th when we first got our copy of the Budget. We were in a 27- minute Executive Session, I then emailed the Union Rep 12 minutes after the meeting to let them know the Board agreed to the final terms.

 

Darrin Smith:

I am not disputing that we did not have discussions, I am disputing what was in the letter you read. Never have I been invited to a meeting. There are a lot of meetings that no Board Members have been invited to.

 

Jason Spellicy:

The point is only one Board Member was in breach of contract by talking to a Union Member outside of representation during contract negotiations and I appreciate and am very thankful that MaryBeth caught the fact that we had done something wrong and got that corrected.

 

Public Comments:

Rick Mansfield-Did the discussion outside the Board have a negative effect or did you have to make changes to the contract because of the talk?

Answer: No negative effect. Nothing changed in the contract. Just made for a more contentious meeting.

 

Rick Mansfield-Ambulance response time is taking too long. Why can’t Camden get involved and reduce that time in half? Have we made any improvement in that?

Answer: We are contracted with Vineall. North Bay and Vienna Chiefs reached out to Oneida County Emergency Management for a way to improve their ability for emergency response. When there is a 911 call now, both Vienna and North Bay will be dispatched, because of Paramedics and EMT supports. Bill Vineall would be able to answer response times. 2027 will be the last year of the contract. We can discuss those concerns at negotiation time.

Councilman Jordan explained how calling 911 does not go directly to Oneida County. It actually goes to other counties first.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Not entered

 

ADJOURNMENT: Supervisor Spellicy made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:53 pm and Councilman Jordan seconded the motion and all were in favor.

 

Respectfully,

Carol L Huber

Town Clerk