Link to the PDF of these minutes

Town of Vienna

Town Board Meeting Minutes

April 1, 2026

 

ATTENDANCE:

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen

Councilman Darrin Smith Councilman Doug Jordan

Town Clerk Carol Huber Councilman Theodore Learned

 

CALL TO ORDER:

Supervisor Spellicy called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

NOCCOG: Not Represented

 

COUNTY LEGISLATURE: Norman Leach

Mr. Leach was absent and Supervisor Spellicy talked about Project Life Saver, the Yellow Dot Program, and the Blue Envelopes for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. These all have to do with people with Disabilities and helping emergency personnel to understand medical issues in emergency situations.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

A motion was made by Councilman Smith and seconded by Councilman Jordan to approve the March 4, 2026 Town Board Minutes.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

AUDITED VOUCHERS:

A motion was made by Councilman Learned and seconded by Councilman Smith to approve Abstract 4 of 2026 vouchers to be paid in the amount of $58,849.09.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

SUPERVISOR'S REPORT:

Supervisor's Report is filed in the Town Clerk's office and will be posted on the Web Site.

 

TOWN CLERK /TAX COLLECTOR’S REPORT:

Town Clerk read her report. Monies received for the month totaled $1839.34.

Total Taxes collected to date is $3,904,932.06. Remaining to be collected $863,788.16. Payments will now have to be paid to Oneida County Finance.

 

A motion was made by Supervisor Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Learned to approve the Town Clerk report.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

ASSESSOR’S REPORT:

Filed with Clerk and uploaded to website. The tax roll is prepared and ready to go to the County.

 

CODE’S REPORT:

Filed with Clerk will be posted on Web Site.

Reay Walker turned in his letter of resignation stating his last day would be June 27, 2026. Supervisor Spellicy made a motion to advertise for the pending Codes Officer position for 2 weeks, to be turned in by April 30th at the end of the business day. Training would start June 1, 2026. Councilman Smith seconded the motion.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

Mr. Walker stated that he would work with whomever is hired to have a smooth transition and help find a candidate for the position.

 

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT: Superintendent Clayton Conover

The Highway Department has been busy patching potholes, sweeping roads and cleaning up trees. The new truck is in getting new plow and will be ready in June or July. Another new truck has been approved and will need to order soon before emission prices go up. Clayton needs permission to advertise for bid proposals for repairs to the roof on the town garage. There are leaks above the shop, lunch area and office. Campaign Roofing is coming out on Friday to take a look.

 

A motion was made by Supervisor Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Smith to approve request for proposal for roof repair advertisement for highway garage.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

Supervisor Spellicy would like to use the remainder of the ARPA money to help with the repairs and not use for the door project in the Town Hall.

 

COUNCIL REPORTS:

Supervisor Spellicy:

There is a new collaboration with the North Bay and Vienna Fire Department. This collaboration is to help provide more consistent care for life threatening calls, which will launch a response from both departments. Vienna has BLS and three paramedics and one advanced. North Bay has more equipment. The very first call that went out caused more paramedics than actually needed. A little tweaking will need done. Oneida County moved quickly on establishing how the calls go through.

 

Senator Griffo is hosting an emergency preparedness meeting for families on April 14, 2026. Supervisor Spellicy reached out to Oneida County to receive the newest edition of the Oneida County Hazzard Mitigation Plan after the Town Clerk noticed that the current one is outdated. The 2022 hard copy edition is ready to pick up. The DEC flood mitigation report was looked over by Spellicy and Councilman Smith. Supervisor Spellicy reached out to Sylvan Beach and they are already in contact with DEC and are looking for a funding source. The first agenda for them is dredging Fish Creek. The goal for the Town of Vienna will be to write a letter of support to help get funding.

 

Leon Vanwie is a member of the Oriskany Battle Chapter of the Empire State Society, Sons of the American Revolution. He would like permission to place a Pomeroy Foundation historic marker to honor Patriot Philip Johnson, for his contributions in securing our freedoms. Philip died in Vienna on March 18, 1845 in Vienna at the age of 99.

Supervisor Spellicy and the members of the Board all agreed that the Memorial Park would be the best place for the marker.

 

Vienna Far East Water District update: Congressional Direct Spending applications have been submitted to all of our Federal Officials. Asked for and received letters of support from our County Legislator as well as Assemblyman Blankenbush. Those were sent in. Zoom call with BCA and Representative from Washington to help with application. Zoom call with USDA about the two-million-dollar grant application that we did not get awarded because we scored ones and twos. We can reapply in June and BCA will do that. There will be an additional fee for their service. There are grants also available to help residents with water hook-ups.

 

Oneida County Association of Towns meeting was attended by Supervisor Spellicy and Councilman Smith. This was only a get back together meeting in hopes of starting quarterly meetings again.

 

Bridges: Supervisor Spellicy spoke with the Annsville Supervisor about collaborating with them on the repair of the Hardens bridge. Oswego Road Bridge project is ready to enter into the bidding phase.

 

Councilman Smith:

Invitations were sent out for the Memorial Day parade which is May 25th at 9:00. He attended the last Planning Board meeting and the next one is scheduled on 4-16-26. Old Homes Day meeting is scheduled for 8-1-26. Next ZBA meeting is 4-29-26. Oneida County Planning has 250th anniversary banners for the Towns. We have requested approximately 14 to use for the parade route.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

UDIG: tickets are still being taken care of by Sylvan Beach for now. Maybe when hiring a new Codes Officer, we can ask if they would be interested in taking care of the tickets.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

Lead Constable Matt Mallory’s pay rate was discovered that it was lower than the newly hired Constables. A motion was made by Supervisor Spellicy to change the payrate to $25 per hour. Councilman Jordan seconded the motion.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

Gates Cole Insurance premiums will not be going up because of the newly hired constables.

 

Emergency Evacuation Plans: The Town Hall and Highway Garage plans were updated by the Town Clerk and Highway Clerk.

 

PUBLIC CONCERNS/COMMENTS:

Tom Moore- What is the status of the Verizon Tower? Answer-it is all intact but not working as of yet.

 

Brian Kirch-The requested funding of $2,000 was tabled from last meeting. The money is to go towards the advertisement in the Queen Central and the Rome Sentinel for the opening day and not towards the new shed.

I am trying to work on collaborating with another advertisement on Big Frog 104. The market provides SNAP benefits, EBT, and Fresh Connect Coupons.

 

Mark Corey asked if the Queen Central could advertise for them that they are seeking donations.

 

Councilman Smith is in support of Community Program Funding but maybe not $2,000.

 

Supervisor Spellicy- A letter received relating to the $2,000 request, stated, if the Town is considering giving $2,000 to Vienna Farmers Market, then the Town would need to fund all Vienna Farmers Markets. The Resident is in support of the Vienna Farmers Market, just not funding only one and not all. The Town Attorney advised it could be a slippery slope to support a private entity. The Board will discuss more and make a decision by next meeting.

 

David Carpenter-Vienna Market promotes a lot of Vendors in Vienna, not just supporting themselves privately.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

A motion was made by Supervisor Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Smith to enter into executive session at 8:09 pm for personnel issues.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

A motion made by Supervisor Spellicy and seconded by Councilman Smith to come out of executive session at 8:43 pm.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Aye

Councilman Doug Jordan Aye

Councilman Theodore Learned Aye

Councilman Darrin Smith Aye

Supervisor Jason Spellicy Aye

 

No Action was taken at this time.

 

ADJOURNMENT: Councilman Jordan made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:44 pm and Supervisor Spellicy seconded the motion and all were in favor.

 

Respectfully,

Carol L Huber

Town Clerk