by David Flint
The Town of Stephentown has paid out a considerable amount for legal advice and representation over the years but has not, at least in recent years, had an appointed Town Attorney. Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt said at the Town Board meeting Monday that in his 13 years on the Board that position has never been filled. He said that he has been advised by both the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer and the Assessor that they are required by law to use an appointed Town Attorney for legal purposes. Craig Crist of the Albany law firm Dreyer Boyajian has been for a number of years the attorney that the Town relies on, but he was never appointed Town Attorney.
[private]Last month the Board authorized advertising for the position. Three resumes were received, one from Craig Crist, one from Michelina Wojton of West Sand Lake, who currently handles traffic cases for the Town Court, and one from Stephentown resident Brian Baker. Crist, although expressing interest in the position himself, recommended that Wojton be appointed and that was the action that the Board took, pending submission of a fee schedule from Wojton. The position pays a salary of $1 a year plus hourly and travel fees. Craig Crist was appointed alternate Town Attorney, and the Board agreed that the services of Brian Baker could also be called upon should the need arise.
Eckhardt said that both Code Enforcement Officer Dean Herrick and Assessor Tom MacVeigh were agreeable with the appointment of Wojton, who works for the City of Albany and is involved in assessment and building code enforcement cases among other things.
According to the City of Albany web site, Michelina C. Wojton, Esq. is a graduate of the State University of Geneseo. Graduating from Albany Law School in 2002, she joined the Corporation Counsel’s office in May of 2006. At Albany Law School, she was a member of the Trial Team and Vice President of the Italian-American Law Society. Prior to joining the Albany Corporation Counsel, she worked as a Prosecutor for the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office.
Tidying Up The Year End Books
The Board passed a resolution to transfer money among various accounts so as to balance the year end funds. Eckhardt said there was one big minus of close to $50,000 in the General Account because of the expenditure to purchase property across the street from the Town Hall for which there was no budget line. Another negative balance was due to not yet reimbursed legal and engineering costs for the Zoning Board’s Motocross proceedings. But the Town ended the year in pretty good shape. In the General Fund expenses for the year were about $5,000 less than budgeted, while revenue, mostly from mortgage tax and sales tax distributions, turned out to be about $35,000 more than anticipated. And due to the mild winter last year, the Highway Department ended up spending about $60,000 less than expected while taking in, largely from FEMA and CHIPS, about $29,000 more than was budgeted.
“We plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Eckhardt said, adding that, “I feel very fortunate that we were able to keep costs under control and come out with a little bit left over.”
Truck Purchase
The Highway Department is on a 20 year cycle for replacing trucks, meaning that a new truck is purchased every five years, so that in 20 years the entire fleet is replaced. Accordingly, Highway Superintendent Aldie Goodermote is requesting the purchase this year of a new truck. The Board approved the request for a 2014 International Model 7600 6×4 heavy duty tandem axle cab and chassis to be purchased from Navistar, Inc. in Loudonville for the price of $118,750. The Town Supervisor was authorized to enter into a contract with First Niagara Bank to pay that amount over a three year period.
The Town will take advantage of a new State law on cooperative purchasing known as “piggybacking.” The law allows towns to jointly contract for goods and services with another federal, state or local government agency, in this case, Oneida County. Multiple jurisdictions using the same contract lowers costs on the purchase price as well as bidding and advertising costs. Eckhardt said that while payment goes to Navistar, DeLurey Sales & Service of North Hoosick will handle for Navistar the servicing, prepping and delivery of the vehicle.
Next month the Board will consider a proposal to piggyback on a bid through Washington County to purchase plow and sander equipment for the truck from Zwack, Inc. of Stephentown.
Bert Hager Bridge
The Board approved awarding a contract for engineering services to Hudson River Valley Engineers PLLC and Peak Engineering PLLC to advise on repairs needed to a bridge on Bert Hager Road. Goodermote had received three quotes for services and selected the lowest one in the amount of $25,750. Eckhardt said that since some of the cost of the repairs is expected to be reimbursable from FEMA, the involvement of an engineer is necessary.
Land Use Regulations
Eckhardt said that he reviewed with Linda von der Heide from the County Planning Department the Environmental Assessment Form for amendments to the Land Use Regulations. The proposed amendments and the EAF now go to the Planning Board for a 30 day review. The Town Board can then hold a public hearing regarding the necessity for an Environmental Impact Statement.
Protesting The SAFE Act
WW II veteran Vince Devlin spoke up with a request that the Board consider a resolution to declare the New York State SAFE Act unconstitutional and that it should be repealed. The law recently passed precipitately by the State Legislature purports to keep guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous mental health patients and ban high capacity magazines and assault weapons. Supporters maintain that the law does not affect rifles and shotguns used by traditional sportsmen and hunters, but Devlin declared that he has always understood that the second amendment was put in the Constitution not to permit hunting but rather to “protect ourselves from the federal government.” Devlin feared that, “We are reaching a point where we are really losing all of our rights and privileges.”
Eckhardt said that he expected someone would bring this up but he wanted to give the Board some time to consider the matter and decide whether it would be appropriate for them to take any action. The Board would look at what other towns have done and decide if they want to be on one side or the other, or not take any action at all.
Kevin Carpenter said he would have a problem with the Board taking a stance because he didn’t believe the Board could really know who in the Town was on which side of the issue.
Transfer Station Still Costly
Councilman Bill Jennings provided a detailed year-end report on income and expenses at the Transfer Station. “We have made a dent in costs but only a small dent,” he said. With an increase in the price of bags charged to residents, costs are down from what they were a couple years ago but he acknowledged that it is still an expensive operation, with the net cost to the Town running about $45,000 a year. In 2012 income from recyclables, stickers and bags was about $70,000 and expenses were about $115,000. To break even in the current arrangement the Board would have to double the price charged for bags. The Board is not inclined to do that at this time. In the past they have discussed the possibility of a setting up a more cost efficient hauling arrangement after the current contract with ERCSWMA expires.
Youth Commission Report
Councilman PJ Roder reported that the Youth Commission is planning an Easter event in conjunction with the Stephentown Library to be held on Saturday, March 30. The Commission is also currently planning the Summer Program. They will work with the Library on that, and they plan not to use the former Stephentown School as in the past but will use both the Town Hall and the Fire Hall. They hope to revive the Swim Program which was not held last year, but it will probably be shortened to one or two weeks instead of three to four weeks as in the past.
Historian’s Report
Town Historian Pat Flint reported on a recent meeting of Rensselaer County Town Historians. One item of interest discussed was how towns can take advantage of a recently enacted General Municipal Law that permits them to help struggling local cemeteries so as to avoid a more costly town takeover. Currently the State requires towns to take over care and maintenance of cemeteries that are no longer able to function or become abandoned. The new legislation provides towns with the legal ability to grant assistance to a struggling cemetery to avoid a full takeover. The assistance may be either monetary or in-kind, such as providing mowing services.
Flint noted that at this meeting she had also received copies of handwritten tax rolls for the Town of Stephentown for the years 1787 and 1788, along with a map of properties or tax parcels for those years. These documents are being stored at the Heritage Center.
With the Stephentown School back on the market, Flint expressed concern about a time capsule that had been buried on the front lawn in 1984 and was scheduled to be opened in 2034. Eckhardt said he would speak with BCS Buildings & Grounds Superintendent Cyril Grant about what steps should be taken to preserve the capsule should the property be sold.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $578.10 to the Supervisor for the month of January. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $1,480. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $3,964.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $190,358.87 from the General Account, including a check for $137,000 representing taxes collected for the Fire District, and $24,719.64 from the Highway Account.
The Board set its next regular meeting for Monday, March 18, at 7 pm.[/private]