Starkey approves draft moratorium

    DUNDEE—The town of Starkey has approved a draft of a year long moratorium on hydrofracking.
  The resolution approving the draft was passed during the town board’s regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9.
    Before the moratorium is made active, it will need to go before the Yates County Planning Board for a review.  The town will also need to hold a public hearing on the draft before it can be put into effect.  During the meeting, the town board also approved to hold a public hearing regarding the matter on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m.  
    The town board decided to pass the moratorium draft from Helen Slottje, the managing attorney with the Ithaca-based Community Environmental Defense Council, Inc.  Slottje agreed to assist the town in drafting a moratorium last November.  The town board also considered a draft that would follow the moratorium passed by the town of Barrington last June.  The board agreed to look into drafting a moratorium last October after hearing concerns from residents on potential gas drilling in the Finger Lakes region.  
    In other business:
    • Councilman George Lawson made a motion to appoint Jeffrey Graff as town attorney though Dec. 31, 2012.  Town Clerk Sue Crans will call the law firm Graff works at in Clifton Springs, Riley & Graff LLP, and ask him what must be done to finalize his appointment.  
    • The board authorized Supervisor Jim Ritter to sign the Inter-Municipal Animal Control Agreement between Starkey and Yates County.  
    • Crans announced that around $400,000 in taxes have been collected from 2011.
    The next regular meeting will be on Thursday, March 8 at 7 p.m. in the Starkey town hall.