Source Water Protection Plan
At its July meeting the Town Board unanimously passed a resolution to invite the New York Rural Water Association (NYRWA) to assess the sources of drinking water in town and propose a plan to protect these sources. NYRWA is federally funded and conducts its studies at no charge in rural communities throughout the state. The Town Board also appointed an advisory panel to assist Steven Winkley of NYRWA in his work in New Lebanon, which is likely to take 18 months. The panel consists of the full membership of the Conservation Advisory Council – Cynthia Creech, David Farren, Jack Lancto, Peg Munves and Craig Westcott – and Bruce Shenker, the town’s delegate to the county Environmental Management Council, together with Mark Baumli, Town Board member, and Phyllis Stoller, Zoning Board of Appeals member. On October 2 at Darrow School, the panel met with Steven Winkley for the first time to review the tasks ahead and will likely meet another 5 to 6 times during the course of the project.
As a first order of business, Steven Winkley asks town residents to complete an online survey about their well water. The link through SurveyMonkey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8DY98TX.
The survey responses will be confidential. Completing the survey should take 15 minutes or less.
Steven Winkley thanks in advance the households of New Lebanon for their cooperation in an important study. Preventing contamination of well water through a Source Water Protection Plan is both a sound economic approach for the town and vital for the health of town residents.
New Lebanon
Holiday Gift Drive
Last year’s holiday gift drive was such a success I am continuing it on into the second annual holiday gift drive! A huge thank you to everyone who made it so successful. There were a lot of happy smiles on Christmas morning last year thanks to all of your generosity and kindness.
For this year’s holiday gift drive so far I have received a request for gifts for 14 children here in New Lebanon and 5 people have signed up to donate gifts. If you would like to sign up to donate, please contact me at 794-8888 or townclerk@townofnewlebanon.com for more information. I have a list of all the children’s age, gender, clothing size, shoe size, specific needs and what type of interests they have for toys. If you would prefer that I do the shopping for you, you can also make a monetary donation and myself and Michelle Bienes will take care of the shopping. We are hoping to have all donations in my office by the end of the day on Friday, December 15 so we can wrap and deliver them in time for Christmas. We are having two wrapping parties here at the Town Hall on Sunday December 17 at noon and Wednesday, December 20 at 5:30 pm. If you would like to sign up to help wrap, please email me with which date you plan on being here.
I will also be putting out two collection boxes at the New Lebanon Post Office and Berkshire Bank in New Lebanon. You can drop gift donations at the Town Hall, Berkshire Bank or the Post Office. Monetary donations can either be dropped at the Town Clerk’s Office or mailed to the Town of New Lebanon, Holiday Gift Drive, PO Box 328, New Lebanon, NY 12125. Please make checks payable to Tistrya Houghtling and put Holiday Gift Drive in the memo line.
Also, if you are a family in need of assistance this holiday season, please contact me with your information.
Thank you all for your kindness and generosity! It really does take a whole village and I am so grateful to be a part of ours!
Tistrya Houghtling, Town Clerk
Town of New Lebanon