Welcome to the official website for the village of Oneida Castle, NY.

The sewer digging is moving right along. They have finished W. Ninth, W. Eighth St. and W. Seventh St. They may jump across to E. Sixth St. once they have finished W. Sixth St. They are sure yet. So I highly suggest those on the East side of the village to get those post in the ground where you want the lateral to come to your property line or they will run the lateral to where the engineer's drawing tells them to. That could be on the complete opposite side of where your septic thank is. If and when they come over to the east side they will start on E. Sixth St. and work up to E. Eighth St. and that includes Steuben Pl. If anyone needs to see the engineer's drawing, myself, Trustee Gwilt and Trustee Ackerman all have maps and will gladly show it to you.

There have been many more residents emailing me to to be put on the village residents email list. I hope it keeps up. You get any news faster than waiting for it to be put on the website. I always end out the email Bcc (blind copy) so no one else can see all the addresses. For those interested you can email me at jdescham@twcny.rr.com. We started a Facebook page for everyone to see and will be putting information on that also. I see that someone used it for advertising and that is not what the Facebook page is for so I hope no one else uses it for that again.

Here are the minutes from our October meeting:

October 5, 2024

The regular monthly meeting of the Oneida Castle Village Board was called t o order by Mayor John Deschamps in the village office at 7:00pm. Also present were Trustees Ackerman and Gwilt, Clerk Canada and Treasurer Meyers. The following village residents were also in attendance: Carolyn Deschamps, Larry Nogas, Judy Mahoney, Mel Mack, Thomas Lenio, Fred Whipple, Cindy Whipple, Denise Corney, John Corney, Bill Sweatman, Jim Chamberlain, Jeffrey Laurin, Patrick Parker, Sandra Healy, Dave DeFrees,Tom Sears, Karen Sarenski, Darcy Bloss, Scott Bloss, Sharon Bognaski, Cody Carnaya, Sherri Stone, Gabriel Stone, Tom Cochran, Taylor Egy, Dean Shlotzhauer and James Smith. Keith Scheibel, Oneida County Legislator was also present to give a report of the County.

MINUTES

A motion was made by Trustee Ackerman and seconded by Trustee Gwilt to accept the September minutes.

B. REPORTS

Mr. Scheible began his report by discussing the agreement made for keeping the schools safer. Special Patrol Officers (SPO) have been requested by 13 school districts and two BOCES . This totaled 55 SPO’s at an hourly rate of $26.50.

The County is also working on better emergency communications with the purchase of two-way radios with related hardware and software. These will be used by policemen as well as fire and ambulance departments.

An agreement with Cornell Extension was also approved to assist county residents in applying for licenses to establish day care sites and to create a fund to defray start up costs.

In closing, Mr. Scheible spoke of the two laws which would crack down on the unlicensed sale of cannabis and regulate retail sales of tobacco and smoking paraphrenia. A fact sheet of cannabis laws and smoking control laws were left with the clerk.

C. PUBLIC CONCERNS

Mayor Deschamps introduced Jim Chamberlain from the Oneida City Water Department who is better able to answer questions regarding the laterals, etc. Judy Mahoney asked what the process was in putting in the laterals. Mr. Chamberlain stated it is important to look in your basement to see what and where your septic system is. Before they dig for the laterals, you will need to mark it with a stake. There will be a year before the sewers are finished and then you will have a year before you have to hook up. You need to get a contractor and a stake in as soon as possible.

Mrs. Mahoney questioned what the out of pocket cost might be. Mr. Chamberlain stated that all would be different but an estimate might be $3500.00. Mrs. Mahoney then asked if there was any possibility of a loan or a grant for homeowners. The mayor said there has been nothing yet but they continue to look.

Mr. Parker asked if you have to run a separate lateral even though your neighbor may be sharing a ditch. Mayor Deschamps stated that this would have to be reviewed by the Codes and a legal easement would have to be given.

Tom Sears stated that he has a large tank that he could fill with water himself. Mayor Deschamaps responded by saying that the tank must be filled with sand and checked by the Codes Department.

Mrs. Bloss of 72 E. Seventh St. reported that there is a tree right where her lateral stake should be. Mr. Chamberlain said that probably the contractor will deal with that before he can do the job.

Mayor Deschamps reminded those in attendance that they should check on anyone they hire to see if they have liability insurance. If a permit is required there will be no fees. The entire system must be done before anyone can hookup and this hook up must be inspected by he Town of Vernon Codes.

Mr. Sweatman was concerned with a notice that was put in his mailbox by the contractor. This notice contained the name and phone number of the contractor should there be a problem. Mr. Sweatman stated that it is illegal to put any mailing in a person’s mailbox. The Mayor cited the cost of any mailings for the village to be over $300 and that is probably why they did this.

D. BUSINESS

The business portion of the meeting began with a report from Gabriel Stone, a Scout who is working on his Eagle badge. He reported that he had met with Todd Schall who has volunteered the use of the water to pour the concrete. Scott Moyer has donated his services to do the necessary digging.. Gabe stated that he is still $1100.00 short for this project and is still accepting donations. He showed pictures of pieces of the exercise equipment and his little free library. Gabe has had seven sales to try and raise this money.

Trustee Gwilt has been working with a groups of volunteers to remove the pipes from the old backstop. They would be dangerous if anyone fell on them and need to come out. Mr. Gwilt will get a price on this removal as they are set in concrete. Mr. Gwilt will also be setting up a Facebook page to make information readily available to all.

E. TREASURERS REPORT

Mrs. Myers requested permission to renew the CD for the Ada Carr Tree Fund. A motion was made by Trustee Ackerman and seconded by Trustee Gwilt to do this. This led to a discussion on what size trees will replace those removed for the sewers. The replacement trees will be 3-4 years old . The village will check with National Grid to see if they have any programs available. Mrs. Meyers added that the village spends over $15,000 a year on trees.

A CHIPS report was given. The total balance available to Oneida Castle is $80,570.79 .This includes the repair of potholes.

Another question arose concerning sidewalk repair. The Mayor answered that yes the sidewalks would be replaced However, they may be a time this winter that if everything is a mess, the sidewalks cannot be plowed.

The Treasurer began her report with the cash flows for September. Inflows were $37,743.52 and outflows were $19,759.49 making an monthly total of positive $17,984.03. Year to date inflows are $63,691.34 while outflows were $87,749.70 making an overall total of negative $24,058.36. (reflects $49,581.50 for sewer)

There is currently $205,066.79 in checking and $105,666..02 in savings making a general fund balance of $310,210.45.

A motion was made by Trustee Gwilt and seconded by Trustee Ackerman to accept this financial report.

G. ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Trustee Ackerman and seconded by Trustee Gwilt to adjourn at 8:15. The next scheduled meeting will take place on November 11, 2024 due to the voting machines being in the meeting room on November 4th.

Respectfully submitted,


Jean Canada