May 5th, 2023
from the desk at city hall

From the Desk of our City Manager

Upcoming Legislative Meetings/Discussions: 

• Zoning Work Session - June 13 at 5:30pm
• Committee Review – staff will be providing action items at the July meeting
• Short Term Rental – Recommendations from the Council will be incorporated into a resolution for the June council meeting.

Farmer’s Market and Lakefront Study

• City Staff and representatives from the Farmer’s Market, Visitor’s Center, and BID met with the selected firm – PLAN Architects – to discuss the study for the Farmer’s Market/Lakefront properties. The group will develop a phased in master plan for developing the lakefront/bicentennial park area to include options for a Farmer’s Market, Events, and Boat Launch. From the plan, we will be able to look at grant resources as well as long term support for the maintenance and use of these areas.  

 Recruitment

• Planning and Economic Development Director: We have received a handful of applications at this time. The panels will receive the redacted resumes and begin the interview process in the coming weeks. 
• Human Resource Manager: Application period ends on May 12, 2023.
• City Clerk: Application period ends on May 12, 2023. 
• Assessor: Interviews were held in partnership with the City of Canandaigua and an offer will be made in the near future. 
• Chief of Police, we are still awaiting the test results for this position. 

Staff Training Day

• Staff from all of the City departments attended the staff training day held on Wednesday, April 26. The training day covered topics including sexual harassment, workplace violence, ethics, cyber security, CPR, AED, and Narcan.

Marina

• We’ve finally received both permits for the marina, and are working on next steps. City staff will be meeting with the engineers to discuss phasing of the next potential steps for this project including final engineering, bidding, decisions related to construction and maintenance within the next two weeks.
• Downton Street Lamp Maintenance and Painting
• Although street lamp repair/repainting (lamps were to be removed, powder coated, and painted) was originally included in the DRI it had to be moved out of the contract and is now being worked on by City staff. The original 2018 funding does not meet the 2023 costs and we are working to create a replacement schedule. In the meantime, City staff and our partners at the BID will work to paint the existing street lamps in downtown.

Budget

• The City Manager meets twice a month with all department heads. Quarterly these meetings are finance meetings where we review the previous quarter of spending with each department. At your June Council meeting you will receive an overview of the 1st quarter. 
• Launching the 2024 budget on May 10, 2023. Meeting with all departmental budget staff to discuss expectations and how budget will be forecasted. We will be breaking the budget into two components Capital and Asset Management Budget and Operating Budget. 
• Comptroller will meet with Advisory boards, committees, etc. that have budget advisory responsibilities in May to discuss the City processes. 
• In June Department Fess and the Asset Management/Capital Budgets will be due to the Comptroller and City Manager. 

• In July the Departmental Operating Budgets will be due to the Comptroller and City Manager. 
• In July we would like to hold a special Council Meeting for the Comptroller and I to provide an overview of the Capital and Asset Management Budget. 
• In August we will prepare the overall 2024 Budget. 
• The budget will be finalized and shared with Council on Tuesday, September 26. 
• This will allow 3 Wednesday workshops on the budget and a public hearing (October 11, 18, 25) and and budget adoption prior to the November deadline. 

Recently, the Federal Government mandated that municipalities must inventory all water services to determine where if any lead service pipes are located throughout the community. This information will be utilized to develop plans and begin the process of eliminating them. Lead is usually not present in the drinking water source. It may result from the distribution system or the homes interior plumbing itself. Possible ways lead enters into drinking water could be where there is corrosion in the lead pipes, fixtures, and solder. An impactful way to reduce the risk of exposure to lead in drinking water is to remove the lead service line that brings water to your home from the water main in the street. To help address this issue of identifying the specific homes that have lead service lines, the City of Geneva staff will be conducting door-to-door assessments. These trained individuals will be able to quickly identify if your home has a lead service line. This round of door-to-door lead service line verifications begins this week and continues through May 31 2023. The Geneva DPW workers will identify themselves with an official City of Geneva ID. If you have any questions about this important and federally mandated initiative, please call Public Works and Engineering at 315-789-3101. 

Attention Geneva Residents and Property Owners

Do you have open green space between the street and sidewalk in front or alongside of your property?

The Geneva Department of Public Works with the support of the Geneva Shade Tree Committee is seeking property owners to plant street trees in open city rights-of-way.

•    Trees are beautiful and provide important value to you and to the city. 

•    Trees can increase the resale value of your home and enhance privacy and boost the appearance of your street. 

•    Trees improve air quality and provide cooling shade to lower ambient air temperatures in urban and residential spaces.

•    Trees improve water quality by absorbing groundwater and reducing storm run-off.

•    Trees improve habitat for birds and other important wildlife.

•    Healthy residential tree cover makes people happier!

Healthy young trees are available at NO COST in exchange for a small promise that they will be watered regularly for the first year and protected from trunk damage by mowers and string trimmers.  DPW will provide FREE tree trunk guards and initial waterings. 

You will be consulted to select the species most suited to your planting sites to minimize conflict with overhead and underground utilities and to avoid future issues with sidewalks such as upheaval and cracking.

Planting sites are being created this spring and trees will be scheduled for planting in Fall 2023. DPW will provide tree installations. 

Please call Joe Venuti in the Engineering Department at (315) 789-3101 or contact Mark Perry at markperry@geneva.ny.us to request additional information.