TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, APRIL 16, 2018

The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on April 16, 2018 at 7:30pm with the following present:  Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Dominick Cambareri and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.

 

OFFICIALS PRESENT:  P. Rickard: Police Chief, J. Corcoran: Deputy Police Chief, B. Bavoso: Attorney.

 

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm & asked audience to silence cell phones.

 

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:

MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2^ndCouncilman Howell that the minutes of the April 2, 2018 & April 13, 2018 meetings are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

CORRESPONDENCE:

1. Supervisor’s report for March 2018
2. Proposed local law for regulating trees
3. Proposed local law for a solar moratorium on commercial solar
4. Building inspector reports for Feb 2018 & Mar 2018
5. Palmer’s Ark impound report March 2018
6. Otisville fire department 1^stquarter financials
7. Otisville Fire Co. monthly report for Feb. 2018
8. Public hearing notice from Mount Hope planning board re: 273 Finchville Tpk Solar 4-18-18 7pm
9. Police dept. monthly report for March 2018

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Councilman Howellreported the next Master Plan meeting is 5/3 at 5pm at town hall.

Councilman Carey has been in contact with Dean about the clay for the fields. Little league is missing their black back drop that says: Otisville little league. If anyone sees it, please advise little league. He went to Devan’s Gate and they asked when the walking path will be starting. He noted summer recreation sign ups coming this Monday/Tuesday 5-7:30pm and May 1^st.  We have 685 followers on facebook. There’s a summer recreation facebook page now. Councilman Carey is working on the music for Community Day. He heard from Rebecca at Dept. of Tourism about the concert series grant. No details for the grant yet. Supervisor Volpe added that the walking trails (Aileen Gunther’s grant) he’s hoping that he and Dean can go over and start mapping things out. Councilman Carey asked what the reason is for not having trash days on the 22^nd. Supervisor: that’s a Sunday/overtime.

Councilman Cambarerinoted that he and Supervisor Volpe had spoken with Jason about the next phase of the community center. He will let the Supervisor speak on that. Sewer plant is running normal.

Councilman Jennings has not received any updates on the library cards. Planning board meets Wed. 4-18 at 7pm. Village had 4 public hearings. One was their budget & they adopted it. Another was to regulate parking in the village – it was adopted. Another was for community development for the Seybolt Ave water main – it was adopted. Last one was for a noise ordinance and it was adopted. Their board approved a correction to the fire contract and authorized the Mayor to sign it. He noted the Highland Avenue bridge. Listening to the Mayor there was a large excavator that went across it and did some damage to it. That’s why there’s signs for the 15 ton weight limit. The bridge will be allocated to be replaced in 2019.  Engineers did some patch work on it to stabilize the bridge. There’s no issue with fire trucks crossing the bridge. The next village meeting is 4-19-2018; it will be their reorg meeting. Supervisor added that the bridge was supposed to be done this year but it was bumped. The village also owns the property to put the temporary road back in. We may be writing a letter to the county in support of it because once the bridge goes out it will be out for a while.

Supervisor VolpeCitizens preparedness workshop will be 6-13-18 at 6pm at the senior center. It was approved at the state level. We can get it on the website as soon as he gets the template. The AED/CPR class and 1^stAid classes are this week. They are 100% booked. The summer rec directors/counselors need to be trained. People calling now are put on a list.

 

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:

Supervisor Volpe reported that Dean is on vacation. The dumpsters were delivered on Friday and they are ready for trash days and the coverage is good.

 

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OTISVILLE FIRE:

Supervisor Volpe reported that the 1^stquarter financials have been received and the February 2018 monthly call report was received.

 

POLICE DEPARTMENT:

Chief Rickard reported he needs a resolution to allow him to sign the yearly contract with NYCOMCO. It’s the same per month $1,205, effective May 1^stthrough April 30^th, $14,460 for the year. After that we should be ready to go with the county system. Basement was dry today except for around the stair area. A little bit came in. He and Jim did a little research. The gutters are blocked. Maybe when things calm down we can get the gutters cleaned.  The county called him about the bridge and asked that it be enforced for the ton limit. They’re not worried about it falling down but about more damage being done to it. The pipeline company is a big concern of theirs. May 7^thwill be the police awards after the regular town board meeting. He has 2 separate personnel issues. He’s looking to hire 2 new officers: Jonathan Chevalier & Matthew Reilly. Chad met with them last week. He requested executive session on a personnel issue and have Jim (Corcoran) come in with us. There should be no action after that. Councilman Howell asked what class they would be hired as. Chief: part time non-competitive.

 

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:

Supervisor Volpe noted Trustee Loeven was not present but Councilman Jennings covered the village report.

 

TOWN OF MAMAKATING(COUNCILMAN Matt Taylor):

Mr. Taylor introduced himself as a councilman from the Town of Mamakating. A couple meetings ago they decided to have unofficial liaisons to the neighboring towns. The T/O Mamakating went to a ward system so they have 6 councilmen instead of 4 plus the Supervisor. There’s 7 surrounding towns. Each person from a ward is going to periodically update Mamakating to what’s happening in the town adjacent to their ward. He will come periodically and bring info from T/O Mamakating that might impact you like the solar projects that are going on. And he will bring info back to Mamakating board from Mount Hope. Usually all we get is info from the clerks about a new law you passed. It’s nice to be in touch with adjacent towns. Supervisor Volpe asked him if the board got copies of the letter we sent to Mamakating clerk. Mr. Taylor received it. Supervisor explained that we wrote a letter to the Mamakating planning board when the Kuhl’s solar project on the ridge – which could potentially impact and run down off of the ridge where we’ve had issues in Howells with roads flooding out – that’s why we became an interested party & sent our letter a year ago. His understanding is they have new legislation on the books about large scale solar – but this one had already started. Mr. Taylor stated that they had applied to the planning board and isn’t sure what the status is because he doesn’t keep track of exactly where they are with the planning board.  That property is pretty much at the far end of Mamakating, he’s not sure if it’s adjacent to the T/O Mount Hope but it would possibly have run-off effects. The fear of the residents in both towns is that there would be excess run-off that would not be mitigated properly. That’s his ward and people have been in touch with him about that. They had a moratorium on solar. A solar law was passed at the end of 2016. There has been a recent amendment to that because there was a concern that our solar law allowed to much clear cutting per solar project per acre. They passed a modified amendment to that solar law. The pending action there is that the 2 solar projects, there were originally 3, all from Cypress Creek including the Kuhl’s project. They asked to be grandfathered in. We will be voting on that tomorrow night as to whether that will be grandfathered in prior to the amended solar law or not. Supervisor: on Friday I met with Kathleen and we drafted a letter and sent it over to their clerk so that it would be read at their meeting. Not knowing if their planning board would advise their town board that we are an interested party. Mr. Taylor did get the letter. We wanted to make sure their town board knew our concerns. Councilman Cambareri: (to Mr. Taylor) we are in the process of re-writing our master plan & a solar law is one of the things that’s on our agenda. Could you possibly forward us a copy of your solar law with the amendment? Mr. Taylor stated: sure and that it’s on their website as well. He will email the link. Mamakating also revised their master plan. They spent about 1 ½ years on it. He was on the committee. They haven’t adopted it yet because they are looking at changes that the town might recommend. We will be doing that in the next month or so. Supervisor Volpe thanked him for coming.

 

SUMMER RECREATION:

Supervisor Volpe asked to spread the word about registration coming up. They received 11 additional counselor applications. Our pool of potential counselors has grown. He will see what the numbers are after the 2^ndnight of registration.

 

COMMUNITY DAY:

Supervisor Volpe stated that community day is coming along.  Kevin Musial has helped a lot with community day & noted that there’s a panel box in the village at the top of the field and we need an additional 220 breaker.  The Mayor said they would take care of this.

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SHERIFF DEPARTMENT 5k:

Supervisor Volpe noted that we are on track for the sheriff department 5k.

 

PROPOSED LOCAL LAW FOR COMMERCIAL SOLAR MORATORIUM:

We need to set the public hearing. This was spoken about at last meeting. David sent everything over.

 

MOTION TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE PROPOSED LOCAL LAW CREATING A MORATORIUM FOR COMMERCIAL SOLAR:

MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2^ndCouncilman Carey to hold a public hearing on a ‘Local Law creating a moratorium of opening, siting, maintenance &  operation of commercial solar’ on May 7, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall at 1706 Route 211 West, Otisville NY.  All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT FOR MARCH 2018:

MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2^ndCouncilman Jennings to approve the Supervisor’s report for March 2018 as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT /  FRIENDS OF THE OTISVILLE SCHOOL:

Supervisor Volpe spoke re: FOTOS. Ken Pinkela contacted him to discuss a public hearing that the FOTOS needs to apply for funding for a community development block grant. Time restraints didn’t allow us to meet today and do it. We called an emergency meeting on Friday 4-13-18. The only thing on the agenda was setting the public hearing for the CDBG. The public hearing is set for this coming Friday. This is the only thing on the agenda. Kathleen got everything in the newspaper and she posted it around town. There will be a member or 2 from the school committee here for the public hearing to answer any questions. There will be no other discussion.

 

TREE CITY GRANT:

Supervisor Volpe stated that everything has been sent in for the grant but we actually need to have a tree ordinance. He sent David 5-6 sample ones. Basically it will say who the administrator is & who goes around and looks at the trees to see if they need to be cut. This only pertains to public trees. It basically is the keeper of public trees. The state requires that we have a law. We have to set a public hearing.

 

MOTION TO SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR A ‘LOCAL LAW REGULATING TREES’:

MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2^ndCouncilman Carey to set a public hearing for a proposed local law ‘Regulating Trees in the Town of Mount Hope’ on May 7, 2018 at 7:31pm at town hall at 1706 Route 211 West, Otisville NY. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

RESOLUTION TO HIRE JONATHAN CHEVALIER AS PART TIME NON-COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER:

MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2^ndCouncilman Howell to hire Jonathan Chevalier effective April 24, 2018 as a part time non-competitive police officer pending passing the drug testing. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

RESOLUTION TO HIRE MATTHEW REILEY AS A PART TIME NON-COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER:

MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2^ndCouncilman Jennings to hire Matthew Reiley effective April 24, 2018 as a part time non-competitive police officer pending passing the drug testing.  All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

MOTION TO AUTHORIZE POLICE CHIEF RICKARD TO SIGN NYCOMCO AGREEMENT:

MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2^ndCouncilman Howell to authorize the police chief to sign the agreement with NYCOMCO for $1,205 monthly/$14,460 for the year. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:

MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2^ndCouncilman Howell to approve the following bills (Abstract 8):

GENERAL A:                 #207-232           $86,733.03

GENERAL B:                 #43-45               $  6,062.41

HIGHWAY:                    #58-64               $20,711.52

SEWER:                        #32-36               $58,715.90

CAP RES GEN A POL:     #3                     $  1,199.98

All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

 

 

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:

Frank Ketcham thanked Mr. Taylor from T/O Mamakating for coming and he looks forward to good relationship & good communication. Mr.Ketchamrespectfully requested the board to write a resolutionsuggesting that the state pass laws that invalidate the state permit for projects tainted by corruption that would retroactively apply to the CPV plant in Wawayanda. As the county has come out against it and many more towns & villages have come out against it since he’s brought it up 2 weeks ago, he hopes the board will consider doing something about it. Our bridge could have been damaged by millennium pipeline travelling through. Big trucks with double trailer of heavy ties that they use may have caused damage to that bridge. Maybe we can talk to the county about chasing after millennium for reimbursement. He asked how long the moratorium would be. Supervisor explained it can only be 6 months with a 6 month extension.

 

BOARD COMMENTS:

Councilman Howell read a letter from the town board to the planning board into the record re: training for emergency services personnel with regard to solar projects:

“At the last town board meeting on 4-2-18 the town board was asked if training is or will be provided for fire fighters by the companies installing commercial solar systems. The town board feels the planning board is the proper entity to address training needs for these personnel. Please feel free to include any other specific emergency services providers in your training requirements as applicable. We feel the training is needed to keep the 1^stresponders safe while serving our community. We respectfully request your response to training requirements.” He would like a motion to send this letter to the planning board.

 

MOTION TO SEND LETTER TO PLANNING BOARD RE: TRAINING FOR EMERGENCY SERVICES PERSONNEL & SOLAR:

MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2^ndSupervisor Volpe to send the above read letter from the town board to the Mount Hope planning board.  All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

Councilman Carey he would like for the town board to consider doing a town run Easter egg hunt next year. He will look into it.

Councilman Cambareri – no comments.

Councilman Jennings – no comments.

 

MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:

MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2^ndCouncilman Howell to enter into executive session at 8:07pm to discuss a contractual issue and a police personnel issue. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:

MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2^ndCouncilman Carey to reconvene the regular meeting from executive session at 9:17pm. NO ACTION WAS TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:

MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2^ndCouncilman Jennings to adjourn the meeting at 9:17pm.  All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

 

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC

Town Clerk

 

                                               

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                       

 

 

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