by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on Monday evening Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison said someone broke into the Town Highway Garage on Tuesday night, September 9, but they didn’t take anything. They took out a screwdriver and crescent wrench and removed a radiator grille from an old car back there, but left the tools and the grille lying around. Harrison also said the County paved over the new culvert on East Hollow Road this week and that project is completed.
PVMCC Sets Goals For 2009
Susan Nelsen gave her monthly report to the Board about the Petersburgh Veterans Memorial Community Center (PVMCC). She said the PVMCC Board set goals for itself for the coming year. Among these were completion of the capital project, development of a program expansion, development of some annual fund-raising events, seeking ways to make PVMCC and its building “greener” and continuing to seek grants and develop volunteer programs. Nelsen also noted that from 2006 to the present, the PVMCC has secured $95,810 in grant funding, $20,810 for program and $75,000 for capital improvements.
Rensselaer Plateau Alliance
Jim Bonesteel of the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance gave a presentation about his organization and their efforts to develop a conservation plan for the Plateau. The area he calls the Rensselaer Plateau is more or less the area between Route 22 and the Brunswick Town line on the east-west axis and from Route 7 to Route 43 on the north-south axis. He said it is one of New York State’s largest intact forest ecosystems, comprising about 105,000 acres. He noted that the Audubon Society has designated it as an important area for bird habitat.
Bonesteel said his group advocates for conservation of the Plateau and seeks to preserve wildlife habitat and the rural character of the area and to promote commercial uses consistent with such preservation. Some that he mentioned were recreation businesses, hospitality and tourism, maple syrup, logging and the like.
Bonesteel said his group has applied for a grant to write a Conservation Plan for the Plateau, and if they get it, they will be holding a series of workshops aimed at soliciting input from residents and town officials to be included in the plan. He was seeking the cooperation and participation of the Town of Petersburgh in this process.
After he finished his presentation, Ray Broadwell asked him how he expects the plan to be enforced. Bonesteel said his group’s project is more about creating a plan than creating regulations. He spoke of “raising consciousness” and “energizing non-profits to protect important areas” and said his group is not looking to raise the regulatory burden.
Broadwell remained skeptical and said he thinks there is too much regulation in America and he thinks the conservation plan is likely at some point to lead to restrictions which are going to cost somebody some money.
Bonesteel said the Conservation Plan is an $80,000 project and the grant request is for $60,000. He said it would be used to hire a facilitator to run the public meetings, a GIS mapper and an ecologist. He asked the Town Board to pass a resolution supporting the project. Broadwell said, “I don’t think this is anything we need to get into.”
No one else on the Board seemed much interested in getting involved with the project either, so Supervisor Mason Hubbard suggested to Bonesteel that if his group gets the grant, he should come back and they could talk further about the project.
Clearing Brush In Cemeteries
Ed Jones, who mows the cemeteries for the Town, asked the Town Board if they would like him to clear brush in some of the cemeteries that are not mowed. He estimated it would be about a week’s work and said it would cost $400-$500. After checking to make sure there was still enough money left in the cemetery mowing account to cover it, the Board authorized the work cleaning up the cemeteries. Some Board members also remarked that they were very pleased with Mr. Jones’ work mowing the cemeteries and the grass around the Town buildings.
Bill’s List
Bill Seel had a few things to inquire about. He asked if the Building Inspector’s phone answering message had been changed to announce the hours when he is available at the Town Hall (Saturday mornings 9-12). No one was sure. He asked why there were solar panels on the Memorial Hall – he didn’t recall anything about solar panels in the work authorized there. Sue Nelsen said he should talk to Dave Sadowsky about it. He asked if an inventory of the Town Highway Garage had been done. Everyone, including Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison, looked puzzled. Seel said an inventory is supposed to be done every year, although no one present had ever seen one. Seel said he thought it should be done.
Seel also said it was his understanding that the Board had reached a consensus at the June meeting that they would not commit to a particular sum in the matter of assisting with the purchase of a new ambulance until they were putting together next year’s budget. He felt that the Board’s resolution committing to $20,000 per year at the special meeting last week, which Seel did not attend, took away their opportunity to look at that sum in the context of the overall budget picture. Supervisor Mason Hubbard said that resolution was contingent on approval of the terms of the service agreement by the Town Attorney, so the town is not fully committed until it signs a service agreement.