by David Flint
In an otherwise pretty much cut and dried Town Board meeting Monday, the bills told the story of the heavy toll the severe weather conditions this winter are taking on taxpayers’ money. The Stephentown Town Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $58,581 from the General Account and $22,547 from the Highway Account. Of that, over $30,000 was weather related in some way, including plowing, materials for dealing with ice and snow and repairing overtaxed equipment.
One of the major expenses was a new furnace for the Town Hall, replacing the 1997 boiler that recently had some temporary repairs. Other expenses included much higher than usual costs for plowing, diesel fuel and heating oil, about a thousand dollars for ice control material, some $7,000 for repairs and parts for Highway equipment and $500 to upright and winch a truck out of a ditch. There was also a bill for $53.47 to replace two resident mailboxes – not too bad for the Highway Department, but, as Superintendent Aldy Goodermote quipped, those were “only the ones that called.”
Fee Reimbursement Law
The Board passed without discussion Local Law #1 of 2011, “Comprehensive Fee Reimbursement,” that spells out more clearly the responsibility of developers to reimburse the Town for all reasonable and necessary engineering and legal expenses incurred in connection with review, inspection and acceptance of their plans. The law also provides for the setting up and use of escrow accounts for this purpose. A public hearing on this law was held last month, but the resolution to pass it was tabled to give residents more time to read the law and offer comments. None were received.
Ayling Appointed To Planning Board
Freling Smith’s appointment to the Zoning Board of Appeals last month left a vacancy on the Planning Board. The position was advertised and one application was received, from James Ayling who has been serving as the Alternate Member designated to fill in when needed on the Planning Board or Zoning Board. The Board accepted his application and appointed him to the Planning Board with a term to expire at the end of 2014. Presumably this now leaves a vacancy in the Alternate position, but the Board took no action on this.
Land Use And Economic Development Committees
Councilman Bill Jennings reported that the Board was working on establishing the Land Use Upgrade Committee that was proposed at the last meeting. The Committee would review and update the 1991 Land Use Regulations and would include as members the Code Enforcement Officer/Building Inspector and his Deputy, members from the Planning and Zoning Boards and volunteers from the community. Jennings said the Board expects to have at least two interested residents at the next Board Workshop meeting to discuss joining the Committee.
Jennings said, too, that a second committee is in the planning stages, the Committee on Economic Development. The purpose of this committee as outlined at last month’s Board meeting would be to develop a Master Plan for the Town looking ahead five to twenty years on matters regarding business, industry, enterprise and housing.
A Danged Rough Road
Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt reported that he and Aldy Goodermote had participated in a phone conference with officials from the State Department of Transportation regarding NYSDOT’s concern about some of the bridges in Town. NYSDOT had been sending emails to the wrong email address and wondered why they had gotten no response. With the communications straightened out, Eckhardt and Goodermote took the opportunity to voice their own concerns about a couple of things. One is the condition of State Route 22 in this area. Eckhardt said he told the officials that, “We are fed up with Route 22 being so danged rough.” He said he has been told by truckers that coming down from the north they are now avoiding this stretch of the road, taking a detour at North Petersburgh on Route 346 over to Pownal and then down Route 7 to the Turnpike. This also represents business lost to the Town, Eckhardt said, because these trucks often stop at Cumberland Farms at the Route 43 intersection.
Eckhardt said he also voiced concern about a dislodged tree that now sits in the middle of West Brook just before the stream passes under Route 43. If high water this spring should cause the tree to break loose and plug the bridge, he believed it would cause some major flooding in the area. NYSDOT acknowledged that that situation would be a concern of theirs and asked for pictures. “We’ll see how fast they are” in responding, said Goodermote.
Dog Report
There was no dog control report, but two of the bills that were approved had to do with two incidents. The Dog Control Officer was paid $22.26 for mileage responding to two calls, one from Griffin Road about a stray dog. That incident was resolved with the owner being found. The second call was about a stray beagle on South Stephentown Road. The owner not being found, the beagle was boarded at Pondview Kennels for a fee of $110 and eventually turned over to a rescue group.
High ERCSWMA Bills
Three bills from the Eastern Rensselaer County Solid Waste Authority generated some discussion as in total they came close to $26,000. They were for two months of hauling charges plus the annual membership fee of about $13,200. Board Member PJ Roder explained that the membership fee is assessed based on population. Stephentown has 12.6% of the total of 22,680 people that reside in the seven member towns and villages. The Stephentown Board is apparently becoming convinced that an arrangement outside of ERCSWMA would be more financially prudent. The current contract, however, runs through 2015.
Wall Of Fame
The Board approved Eckhardt’s request to add the names of two persons to the Wall of Fame in the Town Hall, a plaque honoring those who have served the Town for twenty years. Eckhardt said he would update the plaque to include Court and Zoning Board Clerk Deborah Coppola, who completes 20 years service this month, and Cyril Grant, who has served as a Town Justice for 21 years.
Fund Balance
In response to a query, Eckhardt responded that the Town has a reserve fund in the General Account of $345,596 and in the Highway Account of $106,672, about $450,000 that is carryover from previous years. Some of the reserves, he pointed out, are scheduled to be spent as part of the 2011 budget. Jennings said it is important to note that the bottom line is that Stephentown is not in desperate straits, even in these tough times when governments are hurting all across the country. The Town actually added to the fund balance in 2010 because less was spent than was budgeted. Jennings and Eckhardt noted that the Town had been drawing down the reserves in recent years to reduce taxes, so that the reserves total about a quarter of a million less than they did in 2008. For the 2011 budget, however, the Board did not decrease the reserves.
Thanks For The Sand
Paula Dibble spoke up to say thanks to the Board and the Highway Department for providing driveway sand convenient for residents to pick up as they please. She noted that many others seemed to appreciate it, too, as people have been lining up lately at the Town Garage to take advantage of the sand. Eckhardt agreed that it certainly made it convenient to have the sand available there 24/7 and he had taken advantage of it himself.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk reported she had turned over the sum of $249.65 to the Supervisor for the month of January. The distribution from the office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $2,350. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $3,041.
The Board set their next Workshop meeting for Monday, March 14, at 7 pm and their next regular meeting for Monday, March 21, also at 7 pm.