REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, December 4, 2017

The regular meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at Town Hall on December 4, 2017 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilwoman Janet Sutherland, Councilman Dominick Cambareri and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.

OFFICIALS PRESENT: D. Hassenmayer–H’way Supt., Chief P. Rickard, D. Bavoso-Attorney.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. He asked for everyone to silence their cell phones.

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered by Councilwoman Sutherland 2nd Councilman Cambareri to approve the minutes from Nov. 20, 2017 as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Two highway budget modifications
2. Letter from Lois Adamson
3. Complaint re: 2279 Mount Hope Road
4. Meeting agenda for Mamakating planning board
5. Letter from HV Water Co re: flushing of mains 11-29-2017
6. December 2017 impound report from Palmers Ark
7. Greater Hudson Bank 2016 Annual Report
8. Corres. from Cohen Law Group re: free legal assessment for the cable franchise
9. Building Inspector report November 2017
10. Proposed new capital accounts
11. Memo from J. Musial, B.I. re: 2018 department hours
12. Proclamation re: School Choice Week
13. Proposed 2018 town board meeting dates
14. Request from police dept to surplus & destroy old computer equipment
15. Quote for columns from CJBD

BOARD REPORTS:
Councilman Howell – no report
Councilman Carey – football league won the division 1. They are super bowl champions. Congrats to them.
Councilwoman Sutherland – the Christmas tree lighting was awesome.
Councilman Cambareri – nothing to report; everything running smooth.
Supervisor Volpe – thanked the board members for coming to tree lighting. He thinks we should plant a tree over at the senior center; we are outgrowing town hall. He noted the new windows for town hall are complete. The new roof at the future community center is done. Looks good.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer asked Councilman Carey if the football league is done because he would like to take down the flag. Councilman Carey: yes. Supt. Hassenmayer reported that Orange County is raising their rates on televisions collected from $5 to $10. He thinks we should follow suit.

MOTION TO RAISE TV COLLECTION FEE TO $10/TV:
MOTION offered by Supervisor Volpe 2nd Councilman Carey to raise the fee to collect old TV’s from $5 to $10/TV unit. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Cambareri to approve the following budget modification:
FROM: D5140.1 Misc. Brush & Weeds TO: D5110.1 General Repairs PS $7425.59
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Sutherland; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following budget modification:
FROM: D5140.2 Misc. Brush & Weeds TO: D5140.4 Misc. Brush & Weeds Contr. $767.44
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Sutherland; carried.

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OTISVILLE FIRE DEPT.:
Supervisor received a call from Tony today. Supervisor read report into record. Pump and ladder tests were done and they’re good. (report will be on file in town clerk’s office)

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard explained the surplus & dispose request for old computers. The waterproofing of basement is done. Ran into some electrical issues. Mike Romano will come and get this done. Little league removed their stuff. Contractors had to remove their shelving. Roger offered to help if they come back on a day that he is around. Contracts were drawn up for the snow guard. They haven’t been returned yet. County radio project was pushed back to the 2nd quarter of 2019. They’re looking to go live then. Chief Rickard further explained some phone issues with regard to the 9442 phone number. Calls now go directly to the 911 center.

MOTION TO APPROVE SURPLUS & DESTROY REQUEST FROM POLICE DEPARTMENT:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Sutherland 2nd Councilman Cambareri to surplus & destroy the following:
Two HP desk top computers serial #2UA20109RZ & #2UA20109RX AND
Two Dell latitude computers Serial #463D3R1 &# D7JR3Q1.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Sutherland; carried.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reminded everyone that the patriot tree lighting is 12/7/17 @ 5:30pm. Also, Santa will arrive on 12/9/17 at 5:30 at fire house. Christmas choral rendition will be at the Presbyterian church @ 4pm. Live nativity to follow.

JUSTICES DEPARTMENT:
Justice Joe Hosking requested, as discussed at budget time, another officer on the call list for a court officer.
Once in a while the alternate is not able to alternate so this would be an extra officer. Her name is Lisa Brattesani. She’s from Middletown. Councilman Cambareri asked Judge Hosking to provide the supervisor with all her contact information. He gave the application copy to the Supervisor.

MOTION TO APRROVE HIRING OF LISA BRATTESANI AS A PER DIEM COURT OFFICER:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell to approve hiring Lisa Brattesani as a per diem court officer effective 12/4/2017. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Sutherland; carried.

BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
Building Inspector Musial requested to modify the fee schedule to raise the logging permit fee to $150 from $50 and the commercial solar fee to $100 commercial solar + $8.00/thousand from $5.00/thousand. The complaint that Kathleen spoke about in correspondence has been taken care of.

MOTION TO APPROVE RAISING LOGGING PERMIT FEE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve raising the logging permit fee to $150.00, effective January 1, 2018. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Sutherland; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE COMMERCIAL SOLAR PERMIT FEE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd by Councilman Carey to approve the raising the commercial solar fee to $100 plus $8.00 per thousand, effective January 1, 2018. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

MOTION TO CREATE PETTY CASH FUND FOR THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell to create a petty cash fund for the building department for $100. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

GREATER HUDSON BANK:
Supervisor Volpe: we received a proposal from Greater Hudson Bank. They offered basically pretty much double on interest rates. He would like to add this bank to the investment policy effective 2018.

MOTION TO ADD GREATER HUDSON BANK TO THE INVESTMENT POLICY FOR 2018:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to add Greater Hudson Bank to the 2018 Investment Policy. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT:
Atty. Bavoso reported that the board needs to adopt the motion to either opt in or opt out of the program. The basics for the family medical leave act are required of the town but this would be additional potential benefits to someone who is out under that act.

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Supervisor Volpe understands is all of the protections by opting out (Kathleen called a bunch of places and they’re mostly opting out) the only difference is we wouldn’t pay them in addition for the additional time. Our handbook now says you’re entitled to take the leave and you could use any of your other time IE: vacation, personal, sick; this would be an additional clause that would allow us to pay you. He’d like to opt out. Councilman Cambareri added that no one loses anything under this. Everybody is covered under the act no matter what; this would be an additional coverage that we could opt in to. Councilwoman Sutherland asked if any municipalities in the area are opting in. Town Clerk stated that none of the local towns are opting in, they’ve opted out.

RESOLUTION TO OPT OUT OF THE FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to OPT OUT of additional coverages for the Family Medical Leave Act. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

2018 TOWN BOARD MEETING DATES:
Supervisor explained the meeting dates for 2018. He would like to keep the last meeting of the year for 2018 at the December 17 regularly scheduled meeting date.

MOTION TO APPROVE 2018 TOWN BOARD MEETING DATES:
MOTION offered by Councilman 2nd Councilman to approve the 2018 town board meeting dates with exceptions as follows due to holidays: first and third Monday nights at 7:30 except for January 2nd & January 16th, February 20th, September 4th & November 8th. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri; abstained – Sutherland; motion carried.

PROPOSED NEW CAPITAL ACCOUNTS:
Supervisor Volpe explained the packets for the new capital accounts. Tiny writing are the ones we have now. Funds are not changing – we are just renaming them.

MOTION TO APPROVE PROPOSED CHANGES TO RENAME CAPITAL ACCOUNTS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the proposed name changes as presented. (copy on file in town clerk’s office). All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Cambareri, Nay – Sutherland; motion carried.

COLUMNS FOR POOL BUILDING:
Supervisor Volpe explained that he made several calls to have columns replaced. The problem is not many people do that type of work. Footings have to be on steel. One person out of 8 could give a price. The quote he received was broken down into 2 parts: bases/hardware will be $6,520.00 and the removal of damaged materials is $9,100.00. Councilwoman Sutherland asked who the other 2 companies were. Supervisor stated none; he’d have to ask Angie because he doesn’t recall the names. Sutherland: they came & looked and didn’t give us anything? Supervisor: they gave us nothing because I think it’s out of their scope. Councilman Carey asked how long the job will take. Supervisor stated probably a 2 week turn around.

MOTION TO APPROVE “CJBD” FOR THE COLUMNS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve CJBD Construction Specialist for $15,620.00 to repairs the columns at the pool building. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to audit the claims: Abstract #24 as follows:
GENERAL A: #703-739 $ 81,136.74
GENERAL B: #98-102 $ 5,459.93
HIGHWAY: #185-196 $ 31,268.08
SEWER: #98-103 $ 3,753.96
CAP RES GEN B: #15 $ 2,880.00
CAP RES GEN B PARKLAND: #1 $ 13,300.00.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Alison Miller asked the square footage of the pool building. Supervisor doesn’t recall. Mrs. Miller asked his long term vision for the building. Supervisor stated the left side as you’re facing it – he would like to have exercise equipment, maybe a larger book exchange. The right side he would like to have more for the youth ie: basketball hoops & some fun stuff like air hockey – someplace for them to go after school. Mrs. Miller asked ages for the youth. The old school community center is in plans to serve the community with a # of resources so we don’t want to replicate.
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She asked for the time frame until it’s opened. Supervisor is hoping for end of summer 2018.
Lou Dodd wanted to clear up rumors he’s heard about he and his wife and stolen ambulance corporation money. He showed photo copies of bank statements and explained each one. He gave the copies to the attorney and his cell phone number as well. He thought this was cleared up 2012-2013. Supervisor asked if this was ambulance corp. money. Mr. Dodd stated when the ambulance corp. was shut down, there was money left over. They hoped to turn it over to a joint fire district. It did not happen. Supervisor: the money that was from the ambulance was given to Mount Hope fire company? Mr. Dodd: yes, to serve the tax payers. Councilman Howell asked who did the ambulance corp serve. Mr. Dodd: residents of Mount Hope except Howells & Village of Otisville. Mr. Dodd further stated that the lawsuit against the 19 firefighters that left the Otisville fire dept and the Otisville Fire Department has not been settled. They’re being sued for $50,000 each. The 19 firefighters agreed unanimously to their 1st offer. Since then nothing has been resolved by their attorney. Councilman Cambareri doesn’t know why he’s bringing this up because it has nothing to do with the town. Mr. Dodd stated it’s a town meeting and he’s free to speak. Councilman Howell asked if the ambulance $ was raised as fundraising $. Mr. Dodd stated the $ was raised by soft-billing. If you had insurance the ambulance corp would bill you. If you didn’t have it, they wouldn’t bill you. Howell asked if there was an agreement after they closed as to where the funding would go. Dodd: no. It just ended. Mary Maurizzio asked how much money was in the account. Atty. Bavoso: it’s not our account. Mr. Dodd. Roughly $70,000.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Cambareri thanked Dean for the tree lighting. It went really good.
Councilwoman Sutherland requested that Kathleen forward the minutes to her in the county. She will provide email address once she gets it. She spoke re: the last 6 years as councilwoman. It’s been an honor to have served on the town board. She thanked Kathleen Myers for what she taught her; she thanked Chief Rickard for being kept in the loop for police matters & being allowed to take part in the active shooter training; she thanked the highway guys for going above & beyond to the town residents; she thanked the town attorney for teaching her to be resourceful. She thanked Mrs. Maurizzio & other supporters for pointing out inadequacies. She thanked fellow board members. She spoke of creative communication & thinking on her feet. She thanked her opponents in the legislative race.
Councilman Carey – no report.
Councilman Howell thought the tree lighting went well & tree looks good.

MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION offered by Councilwoman Sutherland 2nd Councilman Howell to adjourn the meeting at 8:27pm. All in favor: Howell, Ketcham, Volpe, Sutherland, Cambareri; carried.

The last meeting of the year 2017 is scheduled for December 28, 2017 at 7:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMO
Town Clerk

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