TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, JULY 2, 2018

The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on July 2, 2018 at7:30pm 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: A. Briceno: Sergeant, D. Bavoso: Attorney, D. Hassenmayer: Highway Supt.

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 Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell that the minutes of the June 18, 2018meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.

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CORRESPONDENCE:

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Councilman Howell reported the next Master Plan meeting is 7/24 at 5pm at town hall. Supervisor Volpe asked him how we are looking with that. Councilman Howell stated very good hopefully Robert has, within the next 1-2 meetings, a prepared final draft for the committee to review and approve. At that point we take it to the public to get their input on the final draft. As we’ve been going through these committee meetings we’ve had public input on these specific topics/areas. It’s always been taken into consideration – works into the plan accordingly. After we get the draft copy we’ll get it to the public and set a public hearing. Every meeting is open to the public; we have a public comment section, for the public to provide their input. Supervisor asked if people show up. Howell: usually 2-7 people. Atty. Bavoso: the final draft will be on the revised zoning law. We are closing in on finishing the zoning.

Councilman Carey informed the board: grant paperwork was turned in. She looked over our paperwork and everything was in good order. We are waiting to see how far it gets to the county execs office and if he approves it then we’ll get $5,000 from them for next year’s concert series. First day of camp went good. They met 2 days last week, they have their CPR certification. He went to Devan’s Gate, talked to a couple people in the heat the other day & everything was good. No complaints. 747 followers on facebook. Community Day music is scheduled. The concert series – the 1st one – this was the busiest.

Councilman Cambareri spent the previous Tuesday with the health inspector from the Board of Health from the county and everything passed. We had to ask Dean to do us one favor to make things comply out on the athletic field. Dominick was there Friday all day for their training. He thanked Jim for everything to do with the training. Today was a little hectic at camp because we go under the guidelines that the athletic directors use at school and once it hits 90 degrees outside, you have to curtail outside activities. They were inside this afternoon; they did do a movie and other activities in the AC. Concert series went great. A lot of people and the band was good. We do have to do another minor investment for another pump@ sewer plant.

Councilman Jennings reported the ZBA meeting is July 9 at 7pm and the planning board meets July 18.

The planning board has 3 solar farm projects going on at this time. He did not make the village meeting.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:

Supt. Hassenmayer reported that a couple walls are framed out at the pool building. He sent the guys home at 1:00pm today because of the heat. We’ve got 3 light towers from T/O Wallkill scheduled to pick up the Friday before. Arrangements were made to pick up fire trailer the Friday before. It’s not confirmed yet if it’s 2 or 1 from C/O Port Jervis. We have 2 of our own now. Councilman Carey added that summer rec wants to use the trailer that day. Supervisor added that they were hoping to get it earlier. Dean wasn’t aware of this. Supervisor was hoping that the day before community day the fire trailer could be at summer camp and have a fire fighter be there; we thought it would be awesome for the kids to be able to go through the fire trailer. Toni Coppola stated this was discussed at their meeting and she will work it out with John. She doesn’t know what it takes to set it up. Rob usually does that. She knows they are manning it on Saturday.

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HIGHWAY DEPT. CONT.:

Supt. Hassenmayer stated as long as they’re showed where to put it, they’ll put the jacks down and stabilize it. Councilman Cambareri asked Toni if there will be someone there Friday at the school. She said yes. Councilman Carey added that it’s on summer rec schedule for that week. We chose the week from the 9th– 13th. Even if we could get it Tuesday or Wednesday. What’s it take for people to go through it? Supervisor: the whole thing is we have to have the manpower. Cambareri: if we could do it all day Friday…Supervisor: Friday night or Saturday we could move then that would be good. Supt. Hassenmayer explained the bids. Pingotti Blacktop is for the sealcoating for the parking lots here and at police station. There’s 2 separate ones. It’s a new business. He’s seen some of their work so he asked for an estimate. They are high. He does very nice work. They cracked terrible this year and we’ll lose them if we don’t do it this year. He explained the tennis courts bids. There are 2 bids, one from Todd Lyons/1 from Duffy’s. Todd grouped everything together tennis & basketball courts. Duffy’s separated everything out. The prices are all over the place. Lyons estimate does not count the re-striping. Duffy’s did the striping when the courts were new. He would pick option 2 of Todd Lyons estimates. Supervisor asked if this is putting a band aid on it. Dean: yes but it’s asphalt. This is 2 yr old asphalt. It’s not gonna last no matter…the pads for the courts were built up with fill. He’s surprised they lasted as long as they did. Councilman Cambareri clarified about Duffy’s stating basketball court but meaning tennis courts regarding striping. Dean referred to the 2nd page. He doesn’t know who else to call for striping. Councilman Howell asked how long ago the original installation for the courts was. Dean: about 15-16 years ago. Original paving was done by Brian Ford. We hauled material – they did paving. Duffy’s did the original marking. Cambareri noted there’s a ton of work to do. It’s a ton of money. This doesn’t include taking fence down and putting it back up. It’s a huge project from start to finish. Councilman Howell asked if we would get 15 years if we mill it down. Supt. thinks so. He thinks we’d be opening a can of worms to disturb the base now. The latest we could do would probably be October. Supervisor Volpe asked Dean to get a couple more quotes for milling. There was discussion on pickle ball striping.  

POLICE DEPARTMENT:

Sgt. Briceno reported that the Chief would like a motion to hire Mike Maresca for the position of deputy police chief.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:

Trustee Loeven reported things are quiet in the village & their meeting this week was cancelled. Contracts were awarded for the new roof at the fire house and the over head doors. They had a noise complaint from a village resident. Mayor met with resident today. Anna came down and Diane thanked her for coming.

SUMMER RECREATION:

Supervisor Volpe agreed it is off to a great start. There were a few hiccups. Early drop off is up to 20 children. After camp is at 25.

2018 COMMUNITY DAY:

Supervisor Volpe reported he is still receiving applications for community day. He’s not sure of the # of vendors there are. He asked Jim Jennings if he will be here for that day. Jim stated he would be there for ½ the day. Supervisor explained the booth at the entrance to Jim.  There is a car show starting at 10:00am. He will be working on the mapping. Councilman Cambareri asked Dean about the poles with the electrical outlets. Dean has them in the garage. He will get them out the week before. Councilman Carey met someone from the masons that would like to get the masons together for community day. He asked if the board would waive the fee for them. They do something like what the sheriff’s department does a child’s ID program and they also do DNA swabbing. Sheriff’s dept. does photo ID’s for kids – they do this for summer rec for all the kids. It was explained that there’s a data base for this and when they turn 18 everything is wiped out. The masons do almost the same program but they give the parent everything at that point. There is no data saved. They only need one extension cord to power up a laptop. Supervisor does want to waive the fee – he will pay it. He doesn’t want to get into waiving fees.

BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:

Supervisor Volpe stated he does not want to do an alternate for the BAR. He would like to send another letter and to send it return receipt / certified. He asked Kathleen to do this. They gave a limit of 30 days. Atty. Bavoso gave suggested wording.

BILLS:

Supervisor Volpe would like the board members to come in next Monday to sign off on the bills because there are things trickling in for community day and summer rec. Then there’s a 3 week gap between the next two board meetings after that.

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MOTION TO ALLOW BOARD MEMBERS TO SIGN BILLS BEFORE NEXT MEETING:

MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve payment of any vouchers signed by all town board members with the exception of any of those that have outstanding questions from the board. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.  

CORNELL/4H REQUEST TO USE TOWN PROPERTY:

Supervisor asked board members if they all received the Cornell request to use town property. David’s response was that we want to make sure we have certificate of insurance. Councilman Cambareri asked about a hold harmless agreement. Atty. Bavoso stated that we can do one if that’s what the board would prefer. He would do both but he thinks that having the insurance covers us for the most part. He could have it ready for tomorrow. Supervisor will get back to Lucy to let her know about insurance and signature on hold harmless.

MOTION TO ALLOW REQUEST FOR CORNELL/4H TO USE TOWN PROPERTY FOR OVERFLOW PARKING:

MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve Cornell’s request to use town property on Saturday July 28, 2018 with signature on hold harmless and a certificate of insurance. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.  

MOTION TO APPROVE POLICE DEPT. BUDGET MODIFICATION:

MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following modification:

Increase revenue A3389 by $348.56   AND

Increase police personal services A3120.1 by $348.56. (STOP DWI reimbursement)

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

DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF APPOINTMENT –  MICHAEL MARESCA:

Mr. Maresca introduced himself to the board. He is looking forward to coming to work for the town.

RESOLUTION TO HIRE MICHAEL MARESCA AS DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF:

MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Carey to hire Michael Maresca as the Deputy Police Chief effective July 4, 2018. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:

MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve the following bills (Abstract 13):

GENERAL A:  ​#366–403​$68,796.60

GENERAL B:  ​#75–80​​$  4,183.63

HIGHWAY:    ​#99–101​​$19,118.08

SEWER:   ​#53–54​​$  1,169.72

CAP RES GEN A INTERIOR INFRASTRUCTURE: #1​$9,365.00

CAP RES GEN B:​#5​$1,400.00

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

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:

Diane Loeven spoke re: Hometown Helpers 2 fundraisers: Hometown Bounty raffle and an Art raffle in honor of Adrienne Butvinik. Supervisor Volpe noted a call he received about the thermostat at the senior center. It’s possible someone may have messed with it this past weekend. He can normally check on it via his cell phone but there’s a problem with the WIFI there. He sent Cory there who turned it to cool and it came right on. Diane was unable to get it to work. The cooling never happened and the fan kept cutting out. Dean was there today and though he turned it on the cool never came. He also found 4 chairs without protective covers on the feet which he removed.  Councilman Cambareri would like to look into amending the rental agreement to not allow confetti. It is very hard to clean. He also noted that the floors need to be washed and waxed as they are very sticky. This should be done every 6 months or every year. Discussion on the curtains helping with the sound. It’s still loud but definitely better. The ceiling tile pads were also discussed. Ms. Loeven thinks they would be most effective. Supervisor discussed the VFW flag (wooden one) that they would like to hang. It is very heavy. Councilman Carey found a spot to hang it by the VFW box that’s already there. Supervisor Volpe will check on it this week.

BOARD COMMENTS:

Councilman Jennings wished everyone a Happy July 4th.

Councilman Cambareri – no comments.

Councilman Carey noted that the Mount Hope historical society advertised on facebook for their trick tray with a basket of sheer. He cropped out the picture of the basket of cheer and left the remainder of the advertisement.

Councilman Howell reported the VFW flag retirement ceremony on July 4 at 10:30am at the village park.

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Councilman Howell discussed a comment from a resident about fireworks. At our last meeting we discussed an application. Their feeling is there should be some ‘allowability’ for residential fireworks. Mr. Howell explained it’s not one person’s place to say go and do it – it would have to be something handled by the board. He asked the attorney if it would have to be a new law or an amendment. Atty. Bavoso stated it would be to revise the existing law. Mr. Howell added that they feel it’s in more control of the enforcement aspect of it.  Supervisor thinks you have to look at all aspects. We are not banning fireworks, we’re saying we’ll allow 2 shows. He was looking at a professional show more than is done at Community Day and the country fair combined, which, we denied the application and the fireworks went on anyway. The board is in a position – we went through 6 months of litigation and a local law not to be undermined and I think we did what the public wanted us to do with the hardships that occurred from….this particular case would have been denied anyway based on our local law. There are not any clearances to do those kinds of fireworks. Discussion further ensued. Councilman Carey would like to revisit the fireworks law. Councilman Howell agrees. Supervisor Volpe added that you still have to identify what the precautions are. Unless you have an area large enough, he doesn’t see how it could be permitted.  

Kathie Yedziniak asked if they were talking about the fireworks that went off this past weekend. Board – yes. Yedziniak: my windows were rattling. She doesn’t live near where they were going off but they were outrageous. She has no idea who was setting them off – next year she wants an invite.

Diane Loeven asked that at the meeting where the application was entertained, one of the board members raised the question ‘suppose we deny the application and the fireworks go on anyway’ – were there any ramifications to this individual? Sgt. Briceno replied there is an investigation pending. Paperwork will be processed. The court will be notified. Yes, there will be ramifications.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:

MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2nd Councilman Howell to adjourn the meeting at 8:19pm.  All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 16, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC

Town Clerk

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