TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, JUNE 18, 2018
The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on June 18, 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, 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 2ndCouncilman Jennings that the minutes of the June 4, 2018 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- Bid specs from Pitingaro & Doetsch re: Recreation Center Fire Alarm System
- Email from Val Whittier re: Offense-Defense 4 Day Football camp July 15-18, 2018
- Fireworks application from Todd Lyons
- OU BOCES resolution for clinical experience contractual agreement
- Police budget modification
- Supervisor’s report for May 2018
- Surplus/destroy request from court
- Letter from Viola Rutkowski re: lowering her cable bill
- Complaint re: 1641 Route 211 West
- Police dept. monthly report for May 2018
- Otisville Fire Co. monthly report for April 2018
- 2018-2019 County Executive Arts, Heritage & Tourism Grant resolution to participate
- Letter from Neil Winter (O&R) re: sharing our paving & road improvement schedules
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings wished everyone a Happy Father’s Day. He apologized that the last meeting he forgot to thank Otisville fire company for going to the horse fire call. Planning board meets 6/20 7pm. Village board – the fire company had 23 calls for May. They have a request for the speed trailer on Kelly Hill Road. There were improvements made to the fire house: They’re working on the roof ($32,000) of the rec hall & they’re updating the overhead doors to make it more safe ($17,000).
Councilman Cambarerireported the bills are in for the inspection & repair of the generator system at the sewer plant. We haven’t done this at the community center for a while. The sewer plant is on a preventative maintenance schedule. He asked Dean to tie this in to the same company to get all 3 done at once.
Councilman Carey thanked Dean for the little league for all the clay over to the fields. Dean added the clay was from a new supplier. He reported there are 108 kids registered. CPR/AED training was complete. Supervisor Volpe added that the directors all had their training & counselors will be the 28thand 29th. The tour for the school will be on the 25th. Dean asked when the supplies will need to be moved. Discussion ensued for a date. 28this the day they will start to set up. Dean should let Dominick or Chad know and they can meet up. Councilman Carey spoke re: tourism grant. He hopes the resolution can be passed tonight. It’s due Thursday the 21st. It’s up to $5,000. The flag drop box is now lettered and not a mail box. There will be a flag retirement on the 4thof July at the village park. The scouts will be involved.
Councilman Howellreported the next Master Plan meeting is 6/28 at 5pm at town hall.
Councilman Carey spoke re: citizens preparedness class. He thanked Justine Dooley for bringing it to the boards attention. Mrs. Dooley reported that there was close to 100 in attendance. People will be prepared for whatever comes their way whether they have warning or not. Hopefully some of them will share with others. Bags were handed out to those in attendance. Mr. Carey showed the audience the bag he received.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported that he has 4 more kids to fill the summer help positions. The 1st2 are basically highway – doing highway jobs in the garage. The 2nd2 are in the parks. Aaron Robinson, Jack Rich, Gavyn Crance & Shane Stoebling. Jack Rich will start June 25th. The other 3 will start June 18th. They are all at minimum wage. Fibermat scheduled for tomorrow: Spruce Road & Whispering Hills development. This month the guys hauled 1355 tons of stone for the fibermat & oil/chip projects this year. We started ditching. Half the town road is mowed. We kept up with all the repairs. We had a police car for a month – that’s finally straightened out. We should have the estimates back for the tennis courts repairs. One estimator came today. The other will come Wednesday morning.
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HIGHWAY DEPT. CONT.:
We’ve gotten all the lumber and today he got some tools to frame out the new community center. If all goes well, he will have some highway guys start on it next week. Councilman Cambareri asked if 2 guys to mow is enough to keep up with the parks. Dean: no, I have 2 currently that started in May. They are my college repeat guys. These guys are all new so I’ll have 2 of them work with 2 older guys. I lose them early for college. 6 guys weed wacked the cemetery for 5 hours.
RESOLUTION TO HIRE 4 SEASONAL SUMMER HELP WORKERS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Howell to approve hiring 4 seasonal summer help workers for the highway department at minimum wage:
Aaron Robinson, Gavyn Crance & Shane Stoebling start date to be June 18 and Jack Rich start date to be June 25. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported on the BOCES agreement is for the ridealongs that we do in the spring. This is authorization for Chad to sign it. David reviewed it and we are good. We’ve been doing interviews to fill the deputy chief position. For the next meeting we hope to have someone to fill the position. We are getting a lot of feedback on the speed trailer. Kelly Hill Road will be put on the list. Today it was at Field & Schobel. Last week was State Street. Discussion on different area placements of the trailer and speeds. He is looking to hire a new officer – Savannah Dooley. Conditional offer of employment. She has to pass the drug test. Her hire date would be 6-21-18. She lives in the town. She interviewed with Chad & Dominick. She’s graduating the police academy June 29th. Ms. Dooley introduced herself to the board at this time. The board thanked her.
RESOLUTION TO HIRE SAVANNAH DOOLEY AS PART TIME NON COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Cambareri to hire Savannah Dooley as a part time non-competitive police officer effective June 21, 2018 pending passing a drug test. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven had no report. Jim covered it all. Next village board meeting will be Thursday. She noted the last trip was a rough start. One member went to emergency room and another member collapsed and 911 was called. Councilman Carey noted the pancake breakfast was great at the fire house. He asked the date of the yard sale. She stated August 4.
SUMMER RECREATION:
Supervisor Volpe reported that everything is moving along great. He and Brian talked about lunches on Friday and they nailed it down today. He expects to get more applications in. There are 108 kids. This year we had 32 applications for counselors.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS CLASS:
Supervisor Volpe is glad we did this class & would like to add this to the arsenal for next year.
2018 COMMUNITY DAY:
Supervisor Volpe reported that applications are coming in. Everything is looking pretty good. The smoke trailer is taken care of. Main event will be the bears. We may change the set up a little this year. Councilman Carey is organizing the music.
BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:
Supervisor Volpe stated there is someone else that’s going to be resigning. He asked the attorney if we have to wait to appoint someone. It’s been 2 weeks and haven’t received a letter of resignation yet. Attorney Bavoso asked if his verbal resignation was in the minutes of that board. Supervisor stated it was to the Assessor. Attorney stated if you would like to do an appointment tonight then do it subject to receiving the letter then ask the Assessor one more time to reach out to the individual to see if he can get an actual letter. If we don’t have it in 2 weeks, we can consider it a constructive resignation. Councilman Howell asked if we can hire them as an alternate like we do for the planning board. Attorney asked if the local law for the BAR allow for it. He will look into it tomorrow. He would rather wait until next meeting.
SCHOOL TAX INCREASES:
Supervisor Volpe is sure everyone got the emails on this. He received multiple emails. Paula was bombarded with calls on this. Councilman Cambareri thinks it had to do with an article that was in the paper. He got back to every call and email. We have nothing to do with school taxes. We steered them all to the school board and school tax collector. He believes it is all taken care of now. All board members responded to the emails they received.
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RESOLUTION TO AUTHORIZE THE TOWN SUPERVISOR TO SIGN THE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT WITH OUBOCES IN EFFECT FROM 6-30-2018 THROUGH 6-30-2021:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Jennings to approve the Supervisor to sign the OUBOCES Clinical Experience Contractual Agreement for the ride-a-longs. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE POLICE DEPT. BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve the following modification:
Increase revenue A2650 by $3,800.00 AND
Increase police contractual A3120.4 by $3,800.00. (for the sale of a police vehicle)
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO AUTHORIZE TO SURPLUS & DESTROY BATTERY BACK-UP & SURGE PROTECTOR FROM COURT OFFICE:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Howell to surplus then destroy the following as it is no longer working:
APC Battery Backup (BE550G/ barcode #3B1023X77106/FCC Reg. No. 1XHUSA-25571-XP-N) & Surge Protection ES 550. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT FOR MAY 2018:
MOTION offered by Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve the Supervisor’s report for May 2018 as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
FIREWORKS APPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY DAY AND OTISVILLE LIONS COUNTRY FAIR:
Supervisor updated that he was waiting on certain things for Mike Romano who does for Community Day and for the Lions Club fair. There were a few documents still needed. All of his information is now in. Their application was approved back in January and ours for Community Day.
FIREWORKS APPLICATION FROM TODD LYONS:
Supervisor Volpe reported he received an email on Thursday or Friday from a resident looking to do fireworks on. He directed the resident that he could get the application on the website. He told him that when he got the email, he would forward it on to the board. The application was dropped off today. He thinks there are a couple issues with the application after talking with David. Attorney added that the cap on the # per year per statute and the statute prohibits the firing of a public fireworks displays from properties that are a location for a single or 2 family dwelling which this one is for a single family dwelling. Based on the information provided in the application it is not permitted under the existing statute. Councilman Carey asked if someone applies for a fireworks permit, I realize that was approved that we only do 2 back in 2016, once someone has a piece of property that’s not in the town park and not the 4H that’s away from that area that applies for a permit. Attorney: if there are 2 that are already that have been approved then they’re not permitted to do it. Carey: so there’s no if, ands or buts about that. It’s 2 per year no matter the location. Councilman Cambareri added that Section 120-4 Permit Requirements: states that the T/O Mount Hope shall issue not more than 2 permits per year for use of display of fireworks. Section 120-5 under regulations it says no public fireworks displays shall be conducted in the T/O Mount Hope on a lot containing a one or 2 family home as a principle use. Supervisor: if you look back to the Lions Club application, you see that it is dated January. Obviously, people that are veterans of this law know that you gotta get it in early. At this point under the application that’s turned in there’s no possible way that we can entertain this. Attorney: that’s correct. Councilman Carey: what is our approach if this person probably and I am not talking for him because I have no – I don’t know this person – he applied a fireworks permit to shoot fireworks off, it’s not approved, it’s not gonna be approved, what are we gonna if this guy starts shooting fireworks? Attorney: send the police. Councilman Carey asked the Chief of Police: I know we had some issues in the village last year/2 years ago – this person applies for a fireworks permit, you can buy fireworks in Pennsylvania – what is our approach if this guy starts shooting fireworks? Chief: if he is there, we can issue a summons or arrest him depending on the volume. He looked at the application – that’s gonna be felony fireworks, that’s 800 rounds. That proposal is 3X what the fair does. If he has that many fireworks he’s shooting off…..Bavoso: not to mention the county has its own provisions as to restrictions on fireworks. Chief: that’s a large amount of shells in comparison to the fair – its 3X the #. The problem in the village was the guy would run in his house. We can’t follow him into his house. This sounds like it’s a party and this is a professional company. We would issue summons to keep from firing them. Supervisor: if it’s anything like the others, Fireworks Extravaganza is the company that does the other shows, they won’t let Mike do anything unless they have authorization from the town. They need a blanket from us saying that it’s been approved. Bavoso: our law was modeled after the Greenville law. The county has their own ordinance which takes it further than the state. Local police, state troopers all kinds of different agencies they can call. Councilman Howell asked if the attorney could draft a letter to the applicant as to why he was denied. Councilman Cambareri added that it’s a requirement of the law.
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He further cited the section in the law. Bavoso: will do.
2018 NEWSLETTER:
Supervisor explained the newsletter to Jim. This will be our 3rdnewsletter. He explained that he can write whatever he wants to get out to the public. All departments may submit something to go in the newsletter. He would like for it to go out in August. He would like submissions in by July 27th.
RECREATION CENTER FIRE ALARM SYSTEM:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: fire alarm system proposal to go for bid. Our engineer Jason wrote a proposal for the fire alarm system for the new community center. The whole proposal is written up. Kathleen has it. He wanted a motion to put this out to bid.
MOTION TO GO TO BID FOR THE RECREATION CENTER FIRE ALARM SYSTEM:
MOTION offered byCouncilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Cambareri to go out to bid for the fire alarm system for the community center.All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
Discussion on date for bid return.
MOTION TO AMEND THE PRIOR MOTION TO GO TO BID FOR THE RECREATION CENTER FIRE ALARM SYSTEM:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Cambareri to amend the prior motion to have the bids due on July 25, 2018 by 11:00am. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION TO APPLY FOR THE 2018-2019 COUNTY EXECUTIVE ARTS, HERITAGE & TOURISM GRANT:
MOTION offered by Councilman Carey 2nd by Councilman Howell to approve applying for the 2018-2019 COUNTY EXECUTIVE ARTS, HERITAGE & TOURISM GRANT for the concert series. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
OFFENSE-DEFENSE FOOTBALL CAMPY JULY 15-18, 2018:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: the email he received for the offense-defense camp for football. Board members received the email. An insurance certificate was sent over. Councilman Cambareri doesn’t think we can provide them what they are looking for. We don’t have air-conditioned classrooms, ice, bleachers. They are looking for a bigger stadium than we have to offer. Councilman Howell questioned the dates being the same as community day. Supervisor: thinks it is right after. Attorney Bavoso recommends a phone call to let her know the facilities that are available to see if it is work-able in the 1stplace. That may end the inquiry on their end. Supervisor doesn’t think we can accommodate this.
FLAG POLE:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported that the new flag pole arrived today. He will try to get that up in the next 2 weeks. Supervisor asked if the old flag pole could be put at the senior center. Dean: yes. The new holiday tree will be planted Friday at the community center.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve the following bills (Abstract 12):
GENERAL A: #327-365 $75,774.67
GENERAL B: #71-74 $ 4,159.68
HIGHWAY: #88-98 $67,760.86
SEWER: #48-52 $ 3,764.73
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Diane Loevenreported that the seniors were excited that the curtains went up at the senior center. She also reported that there is a haze on the dark wood portion of the floor. You may want to check it out. The Hometown Helpers is having their volunteer recognition luncheon on the 26thof this month. She is asking that the board allow the 3 clerks from the town hall to attend.
Kathleen Myers inquired re: speed trailer placement. Chief stated it is moved on request because we have a back log of requests. So far everything has been based on requests.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Howell spoke re: cable bill letter from a resident. He noted a “special deal” with cable that the residents from the senior place from Wawayanda have. Is there anything we can apply for or negotiate for? Bavoso: the place in Middletown is probably a private facility and they may have negotiated on their own. It would be changing the cable provider. Supervisor: their lease doesn’t allow them to use satellite. Councilman Carey asked if everyone at Devan’s Gate has basic cable.
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Supervisor stated 80% at least went to Netflix.
Councilman Cambareri – nothing.
Councilman Jennings – nothing.
Councilman Carey – nothing.
Councilman Howell updated that there’s nothing new with the Indigot Water system. There’s been no activity from the city of Middletown or the county. Supervisor added that he’s received several phone calls that we signed a contract with C/O Middletown and the county to take our water. We did not. A week and a half ago he spoke with the DEC – there are no existing permits. Our hydrogeologist will monitor it. We are on it.
Diane Loeven added that she has farmer’s market coupons for low income seniors. She will be going to Devan’s Gate on Saturday with them. If you know anyone who could use them, let her know.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:29pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 2, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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