Work Is Underway On Bath House At The Pool
By Alex Brooks
At its Monday, March 12 meeting Hoosick Supervisor Mark Surdam said the bath house renovation project at the pool is well underway, and the work is expected to be complete in May. To pay for this work, the Board made a budget modification of $345,000 to enable payments to be made on the construction work. Surdam said this money will be coming from the fund balance.
The Board also made a budget modification of $38,130 to be used to pay the last of the payments for the Revaluation project, which is nearing completion now, also to come from the Town’s fund balance.
Surdam said the two budget modifications would just about wipe out the Town’s fund balance, but some of it may be restored later in the year. The Town will be receiving State grant money for the bath house renovation project at the pool, paid on a reimbursement basis, of about $124,000. The Town may also take out a bond to pay some of the cost of the bath house project, but that decision has not been made yet.
HAYC3 Lease
The Town has concluded its negotiations with HAYC3, and the lease agreement was presented for a Board vote this month. It is a three year lease running from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020. The monthly rent will be $2,800, and it includes an annual payment of $14,400 for utilities. The total annual cost of the Town’s occupancy of its offices in the Armory building will be $48,000, or $4,000 per month. Surdam said this is similar to what the Town has been paying to HAYC3 in the past, so a budget adjustment was not necessary.
Emily Sanders Resigning
Town Bookkeeper Emily Sanders will be concluding her service to the Town on July 1. She has received a major promotion at her “day job” at the School District, and she didn’t feel that she would have enough time to continue as the Town’s Bookkeeper. Supervisor Surdam thanked Sanders and said she has been a great help to him and the Town. “She knows what she is doing, and she will be hard to replace,” said Surdam.
Surdam said he will start looking for a new Town Bookkeeper now, so as to have someone in place when Sanders leaves.
Purchase of New
Pickup Truck
Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland told the Board he wanted to order a new pickup truck for the Highway Department, which would be $51,843, including the plow and sander. He said it is on State bid, so it does not have to be put out to bid, and the cost was included in this year’s budget. The Board approved the purchase.
Supervisor Surdam said the State has added a new requirement that consulting engineers on bridge projects need to be chosen through an informal bidding process. Last month the Town sent out letters to a number of engineering firms notifying them that the Town plans to rehabilitate or replace the Cottrell Road bridge and inviting them to submit their qualifications if they would like to be considered as the Town’s consultant on the project. Surdam said he received five letters from engineering firms offering to help the town with the project. After reviewing these, he recommended Creighton Manning Engineering. The Town has worked with them on several recent bridge projects and found them to be competent and reliable. The Board approved hiring Creighton Manning as the engineers for the Cottrell Road bridge project.
Foxhollow Road Again
The meeting began with residents of Foxhollow Road again asking the Board about plans to fix the road. Since last month’s meeting, the Town has filled some of the bigger potholes on the road, but the overall condition of the road is still not good. Supervisor Surdam said they have had some discussions about the road over the past month, but they have not come up with a written plan, or estimates of what it would cost to rebuild the road, or a clear idea of when the resources to do it might be available. Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland said, “we’re doing cold patch there, but it doesn’t last, and it is expensive. The road needs to be ditched from end to end.” But beyond that, Shiland had no comprehensive plans or any indication of when he could do significant work on the road. Residents were insistent that they would like to know what will be done and when it will be done, and they promised to be back at next month’s Town Board meeting. Later in the meeting Bill Hanselman said he and Jerry McAuliffe had taken a ride around town to look at roads, including Foxhollow Road, that need work. He said he would like the Board to do something to bring the roads up to a uniform and higher standard. Surdam said he thought that is a good idea, and asked Hanselman if he would take the lead on that issue. Hanselman agreed to do so.
Dog Control
The dog shelter operated by the Town of Hoosick’s Dog Control Officer, Nancy Quell, and her company, Animal Safe-Home and Rehabilitation, LLC had a problem recently when a tree came down on their shelter building not long before a state inspection.
The inspection “didn’t go well.” Repairs are estimated to cost $10,000 or more and they need to be done soon to satisfy State inspectors. Quell has asked the Town of Hoosick to contribute something as a maintenance fee for the facility. Town Attorney Jonathan Schopf said in view of the new fee structure, the Town ought to have a more formal agreement with the company, which he provided.
Surdam said the Town is required to maintain a dog shelter and it would probably be more expensive for the Town to create its own than it would be to contribute to rebuilding the facility maintained by its dog control officer. He said the Town has been satisfied with the services provided by Nancy Quell and her company. The Board agreed to pay $1,000 to help rebuild the facility. The company will be able to get some funding from a number of other municipal entities that use its services, of which there are 14 or so, so they were confident they could raise enough money to get the repairs done expeditiously.
Supervisor’s Report
Supervisor Surdam said work is continuing on a law governing solar installation in town, and he hopes to bring it forth and hold a public hearing on it in a month or two. He said he is trying to arrange a Special Meeting to hold an executive session of the Board with the Town’s environmental attorney Dean Sommer, to discuss the Town’s stance in relation to ongoing PFOA cleanups, taking into account the questionnaires that have been received from residents on this subject. Surdam said he had attended a Hoosick Rising meeting held at Iron Coffee recently, and was impressed with the turnout and the energy of the group. He also said High School Principal Patrick Dailey had helped arrange a meeting with a grants consultant named Dan Barrett, who is interested in working with the Town to apply for State economic development grants, and he hopes this will develop into a productive relationship.
In other business, the Board:
• approved Local Law #2 of 2018, allowing the Town to accept credit card payments,
• agreed to continue exemptions for Cold War Veterans,
• authorized Surdam to sign a consent form allowing the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery to be the lead agency for SEQR review of a project to repair and rehabilitate the dam on the Walloomasc River next to Brown’s Brewery in North Hoosick, which was built in 1910 and now will be repaired with grant funding,
• authorized Surdam to sign and return an owner approval document for the first phase of the work on the bath house renovation project at the pool, which will allow the contractor to bill the Town for work done though February 28, 2018, amounting to $86,886.