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

The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at Town Hall on January 16, 2018 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings & Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
NOT PRESENT: Councilman Cambareri.

OFFICIALS PRESENT: Highway Supt. D. Hassenmayer, Town Attorney D. Bavoso, Police Chief P. Rickard.

Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm following the Pledge of Allegiance. He reminded everyone to silence/turn off their cell phones.

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey that the minutes of the January 2, 2018 meeting as submitted are accepted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Thank you note from Boys & Girls Club for Giving Tree
2. Resolution for Justice Audit
3. Standard Workday resolution
4. Municipal Undertaking resolution
5. Memo from Assessor re: real property exemption changes
6. Copy of proposed Local Law #1-2018 re: cold war veterans
7. Copy of proposed Local Law #2-2018 re: senior citizens tax exemption
8. Letter from KC Engineering re: staff departures
9. Letter from New Windsor Ambulance Corp.
10. Supervisor’s report December 2017
11. Letter from NYS Facilities Corp. re: UV Disinfection System & Post Aeration Tank Installation & Hidden Valley
12. Letter from resident K. Hibbert, 51 Pine Grove Road re: dirt & salt used on the roads
13. Letter from Real Property Office re: BAR re-appointment
14. Letter from Chief Howell, Howells Fire Dept. re: Beverly Road
15. Police dept. report December 2017

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
BOARD REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings has not received any information from the library. Planning Board meeting is tomorrow night. He apologized for missing the 1st village meeting – due to the weather.
Councilman Carey: no report.
Councilman Howell reported that the master plan committee is close to making its delivery of the draft plan to the town board. He hopes for it to be ready for the next board meeting.
Supervisor Volpe reported that he solicited Aileen Gunther’s office before he left for vacation. He is meeting with her Thursday at 3:30 in Monticello office if anyone wants to go with him. He’s meeting with her to hopefully up our grant money significantly.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported that the Orange County highway supt.’s are going to help the 4H transport millings out to their park. There are 2 towns/County of Orange & 6 townships are going to donate trucks for the day for Thursday & Friday. He would like permission to participate. Anything for the 4H has to be approved by the board. He would supply a single truck and a tandem. Towns cooperating are: Crawford, Wawayanda, Deerpark, Minisink, Wallkill, V/O Cornwall on Hudson, V/O Goshen & Orange County DPW. Dates: January 18 & 19. He spoke re: 3 copies and a brochure he gave to board members with a quote for a lift. All these years, we’ve been working on police cars and our trucks on the ground with floor jacks. Every 3 months we service the entire police fleet & building inspector’s vehicle. He would like to make the investment. The lift we have is a 16,000 lb. lift that handles our one ton dump trucks & box van. It doesn’t handle any of the big international trucks. We don’t have the height to raise those anyway.
8
They are on OGS contract. They gave him a quote today. Salesman came today. Quote is $18,054.87 installed. He would like to pay for it out of the garage equipment reserve account. He knows the money is in the CD and will coordinate when it comes due.

MOTION TO AUTHORIZE 2 MEN & 2 TRUCKS TO HELP CORNELL:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to authorize 2 men and 2 trucks this Thursday & Friday to assist with transport of millings for the 4H Cornell Cooperative. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

Councilman Carey asked what the optional equipment is for the lift. Supt. Hassenmayer noted the 3 stage swing arms and 2 inch lift pads. He referred to the brochure at this time. Atty. Bavoso asked if the deal is time sensitive. Supt. Hassenmayer doesn’t believe so. Atty. Bavoso would rather wait to make sure we know which line it will come out of. Supt. Hassenmayer stated it says 30 days. Supervisor Volpe would like to approve it and work out details for when the CD’s are due. Most CD’s are rolling every 30 days. Councilman Howell asked what the installation time is. Supt. Hassenmayer: 1 day. Councilman Jennings asked about the maintenance. Supt. Hassenmayer stated there isn’t really any maintenance. Once it’s installed the cylinders have a lifetime warranty on their seals. There’s no service plan. 25 year warranty on the structure.

MOTION TO AUTHORIZE LIFT PURCHASE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the highway superintendent to purchase the Mohawk lift for $18,054.87. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

AT THIS TIME, Supt. Hassenmayer added that the complaint re: 51 Pine Grove Road didn’t leave a phone number. He could write him a letter to explain the use of the sand and how we’re slowly converting over from use of the sand.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported the garage roof was done yesterday. The snow guards are on both sides of the roof. Payment can be made to them. He spoke about the basement. He checked on it on Saturday. You can hear the pumps running. On one end you can see the water going across the parking lot- on the lower end. He reported that Car 151 was rear-ended on Mount Hope Road. It was turned over to the state police. Ticket was issued.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Supervisor reported that the fuel agreement is on the village agenda for Thursday. Supervisor asked Councilman Carey to ask little league for a key to their room in the police basement. He will take care of it. Supervisor Volpe noted that calls are starting about summer rec. He would like to get started with getting letters out to the directors. Counselors have been calling also. Town clerk asked what the dates for the camp are and if it can be given out. There have been calls already. Dates are July 2 through August 10.

AT THIS TIME Chief Rickard noted solicitors going around trying to sell solar. Town Clerk added that she received a call today. They are supposed to come to get a peddler’s permit.

HOWELLS FIRE:
Chief Brandyn Howell spoke re: Beverly Road. Copies of his letter to the board were previously given to board and town clerk. He spoke about the Beverly Road development put in off New Vernon Road. Town of Wallkill has a Beverly Drive off 302. This is less than 5 miles from Beverly Road. Twice now they’ve been dispatched to calls and extremely delayed because the call has gone to Circleville fire district 1st, not Howells. The 1st case they were delayed by 26 minutes for a car accident with a male subject bleeding from his head. The 2nd case was a 19 minute delay for a carbon monoxide call with illness. Circleville was originally dispatched and couldn’t find the address. They found out it wasn’t theirs & turned it over to us 19 minutes later. His concern is it’s gonna happen again. How long before it’s a fire or heart attack? He thinks the road name should be changed.
9
His understanding is it wasn’t supposed to be Beverly Drive and the builder changed it to Beverly.
Supervisor asked about pinging and calling 911. Chief Howell stated if it’s a cell phone they can triangulate the cell phone. Councilman Carey asked if there’s ever confusion with the California Avenue/California Drive in Middletown and Wallkill. Howell: no. Carey: what has been done in the past to fix this? Howell: does not know. Atty. Bavoso will look into changing road name and what the procedure is. Chief Rickard: sounds like more of a 911 problem. Atty. Bavoso asked if there is a liaison from 911. Chief Howell speaks with 36-1. Bavoso suggested that the attorney for the district also put something in writing to them. Chief Rickard will call Alan Wierzbicki (he’s the radio end of the county). Supervisor would like to draft a letter. Discussion ensued. Councilman Carey suggested something like North Beverly. Chief Rickard explained how the calls are received. Atty. Bavoso believes the 1st step should be the FD lawyer writing a letter to put them on notice of what happened. Discussion regarding the emergency communications process. Councilman Howell would like a letter sent to the county legislator to put them on notice. By the end of the week the Supervisor will have a letter done.

JUSTICE AUDIT & ALL TOWN OFFICES AUDIT:
Councilman Howell reported the audit went good. The justice audit was done as were all departments for the town.

MOTION FOR JUSTICE AUDIT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey that the Justice records have been duly examined, and that the fines therein collected by the Town of Mount Hope court have been turned over to the proper officials of the Town of Mount Hope as required by law. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPOINT ALISON MILLER TO THE BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to appoint Alison Miller to the Board of Assessment Review; term effective 10-01-2017 through 09-31-2022. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

HOWELLS CEMETERY SIGN:
Atty. Bavoso asked who runs the cemetery. Highway department mows and plows and the town clerk’s office takes care of the books. Atty. Bavoso will look into this with the state. There are state guidelines with regard to using the money from a cemetery account. He will touch base with Kathleen then the state. Supervisor Volpe asked Dean to get prices on signs.

PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #1-2018 RE: COLD WAR VETERAN EXEMPTION:
Atty. Bavoso explained the purpose for the proposed local law. The state requirement has a sunset provision. Ten years after that law was adopted by the state that exemption would expire. This March would be the time the assessment period that that would expire. However, the town is authorized by local law to ignore the sunset provision and continue the exemption if you choose to do so.

PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2-2018 RE: SENIOR CITIZENS EXEMPTION:
Atty. Bavoso explained that based on the information the assessor gave, the senior exemptions have a maximum percentage of 50% for seniors that have a certain gross income level. There is a sliding scale. The county recently changed the minimum # to $29,000 but in the code right now is $20,500. There is the potential that it could raise the # of those eligible for the 50% exemption. He suggested setting the public hearing and to have the assessor be present to explain the effect of the current assessment role.

MOTION TO SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #1-2018 RE: COLD WAR VETERANS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to set public hearing for proposed local law #1-2018 re: cold war veterans on Feb. 5, 2018 at 7:30pm at town hall. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.
10
MOTION TO SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2-2018 RE: SENIOR CITIZENS TAX EXEMPTION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to set public hearing for proposed local law #2-2018 re: senior citizens exemption on Feb. 5, 2018 at 7:31pm at town hall. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT SUPERVISOR’S REPORT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey to approve the December 2017 Supervisor’s report as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

RESOLUTION TO APPROVE THE MUNICIPAL UNDERTAKING RESOLUTION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell, seconded by Councilman Carey, to adopt the following resolution approving the form of official undertaking of municipal officers of the Town, pursuant to Section 11 of Public Officers Law, and the manner of execution and the sufficiency of the Town’s insurance company surety:
RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope, Orange County, New York, herein and hereby approves the below form of official undertaking of municipal officers of the Town as well as the manner of execution and sufficiency of the Town’s insurance company as surety under same:

TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK
OFFICIAL UNDERTAKING OF MUNICIPAL OFFICERS
WHEREAS, Chad Volpe, of the Town of Mount Hope, County of Orange, New York, has been elected to the office of Town Supervisor of the Town of Mount Hope; and
WHEREAS, Kathleen Myers, of the Town of Mount Hope, County of Orange, New York, has been elected to the office of Town Clerk of the Town of Mount Hope; and
WHEREAS, Linda Zgrodek, of the Town of Mount Hope, County of Orange, New York, has been elected to the office of Tax Collector of the Town of Mount Hope; and
WHEREAS, Joe Hosking and John Goldsmith, of the Town of Mount Hope, County of Orange, New York, have been elected to the offices of Town Justice of the Town of Mount Hope; and
WHEREAS, Dean Hassenmayer, of the Town of Mount Hope, County of Orange, New York, has been elected to the office of Superintendent of Highways of the Town of Mount Hope; and
NOW THEREFORE, we as respective officers above, do hereby undertake with the Town of Mount Hope that we will faithfully perform and discharge the duties of our office, and will promptly account for and pay over all moneys or property received as a Town Officer, in accordance with the law; and
This undertaking of the Town Supervisor is further conditioned upon that he will well and truly keep, pay over and account for all moneys and property, including any special district funds, belonging to the Town and coming into his hands as such Supervisor; and
This undertaking of the Town Tax Collector is further conditioned that she will well and truly keep, pay over and account for all moneys and property coming into her hands as such Tax Collector; and
The Town does and shall maintain insurance coverage, presently with Travelers Insurance Company in the sum of $150,000 per occurrence plus an additional $1,600,000 in coverage for the Tax Collector, to indemnify against losses through the failure of the officers, clerks and employees covered thereunder faithfully to perform their duties or to account properly for all monies or property received by virtue of their positions or employment, and through fraudulent or dishonest acts committed by the officers, clerks and employees covered thereunder.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

11
RESOLUTION FOR STANDARD WORK DAY:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd by Councilman Carey that:
Be it resolved, That the Town of Mount Hope/Location code 30364 hereby establishes the following as standard work days for elected and appointed officials and will report the following days worked to the New York State and Local Employees’ Retirement System based on the timekeeping system records or the record of activities maintained and submitted by these officials to the clerk of this body: Highway Superintendent, Town Supervisor, Town Clerk, 2 Justices, 3 Council persons & the Assessor for 6 hours per day (copy on file in Town Clerk’s office and on Town Clerk bulletin board in Town Hall entranceway). All in favor; Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

RESOLUTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the following bills:
GENERAL A: #10-40 $ 50,348.88
GENERAL B: #2-4 $ 4,347.32
HIGHWAY: #1-6 $ 42,302.29
SEWER: #2-5 $ 2,172.59
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: None.

TOWN BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Howell reported that a week ago Friday there was an issue at the treatment plant with one of the pumps. Mike was able to get a contractor out there to take care of it. He gave some ideas on how to keep these problems from happening. He spoke of a screen system. The solids got into the pump. Dean and his guys could fabricate one of these and get with Mike on that. Councilman Howell reported of a water line break on 1-10-2018 in Hidden Valley. Jason from P&D was here and checked on it. Everything was in order. Councilman Howell asked the attorney id there is a procedure that the town could have to alleviate the road name confusion. Atty. Bavoso stated that anything like that would be a road dedication. At that point you would be able to dictate the name or indicate to the planning board that maybe they could pick something a little different. The dedication is something the town board does. It would be a municipal decision as to what the road name would be. Councilman Howell next spoke re: planning board alternate vacancy. Supervisor asked if he knew anyone interested. Councilman Howell did not know of anyone. Supervisor suggested putting it on the website and facebook.
Councilman Carey reported there is nothing available for the summer concert series grant yet. He is on the list for when info becomes available. Supervisor asked about the timer. Councilman Carey stated it has not been delivered yet.
Councilman Jennings asked if there was any update on the well issue from last meeting. Councilman Howell noted that on Thursday Dominick at which point she did not have any water yet. She was gonna try to go to the county meeting. Councilman Jennings did speak with her. She has water. He wondered if someone spoke to Middletown. Councilman Carey spoke to the husband and they have water back. Councilman Jennings asked about the Highway 284 agreement. He went to the new officials training and learned about it. Supt. Hassenmayer said he generally does one every year. He does not have it prepared yet because he has to get prices/estimates on all the road work. Usually by late March he will have it prepared it.

MOTION TO ADJOURN:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:26pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 5, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, Town Clerk, RMC

12