TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, SEPTEMBER 4, 2018
The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on September 4, 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: D. Bavoso: Attorney, D. Hassenmayer: Highway Supt., P. Rickard, Police Chief, Briceno: Sgt.
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 Howell 2ndCouncilman Jennings that the minutes of the August 20, 2018 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- Assessor request to attend seminar Sept. 30-Oct 3 $787
- Road dedication request from Thomas Farrell re: Lazier property Hill Road
- (2) Supervisor office budget modifications
- Resolution for the suspension of a Town of Mount Hope Employee
- Letter from O&R re: smart meters
- Notice from T/O Deerpark re: September 11 services @ Deerpark Town Hall
- Email expressing concerns re: ZBA hearing matter for Oscar Soriano
- Palmer’s Ark impound report August 2018
- Letter requesting appointment to BAR from Christopher Santos
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell: the comprehensive plan committee doesn’t have any further meetings scheduled. We are hoping to have draft zoning update prepared by the planning company. When the draft is prepared from the committee level, it will be brought to the town board, will have a public hearing on that for public input on the zoning update. We will keep you informed as that progresses. The Veteran’s Day parade will be on Sat. Nov. 10th.
Councilman Carey: Everything is going great with little league. Football league is going good. Any fundraisers they have, he will post on facebook. Facebook has hit 900 likes.
Councilman Cambareri: We had our final meeting with the master plan zoning laws. Correspondence has been going back/forth when they sent out the final draft. There’s a few things to clear up but will do it in email. It will probably be last meeting as a committee unless we determine we have to have 1 more to straighten things out. We will get the final draft emailed to us, we’ll review it & comment. After we send it back whether approved or not then it will be proposed before the board. Once proposed before the board and it’s been reviewed, we’ll schedule a public hearing which will probably be at senior center. That should wrap it up. It’s a matter of legality. One day we’ll have to dissolve our zoning then same day we have to adopt the new zoning. It will probably be another 2-3 months. He will talk to Dean about Marjam. He had another discussion with them today. We are gonna wind up having to see the engineers 1st. Sewer plant – everything is operational.
Councilman Jennings: ZBA meets tomorrow at 7pm. Village meeting is Thursday at 7pm. The planning board meets 9-20 @ 7pm. There are 135 library cards to date.
Supervisor Volpe: Regarding the Smart Meters – they are starting with Dot Calm & Beverly over in Howells and working this way. He will put it on website. It’s a separate company coming from O&R. Town emails: any one on any board will now have an email address. The ZBA will get their packets tomorrow. He will leave the planning board theirs for the next time they meet. They will all be put on website. Master plan: he thanked Matt & Dom for all their work on the master plan.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported he received updated quotes from Pingotti for the town hall and police station parking lots. He feels they do a nice job. He’d like permission to sign the proposals. The police station/senior center is $8,000 for crack filling & seal coating. The highway dept. will stripe it when complete. Price for town hall/highway is $10,520.00. They both fall below competitive bidding requirement. Basketball courts are scheduled to be paved this Thursday. The striping contractor may not be able to get there until last week of this month. Courts are closed until the 21st. Snow & Ice contract can be approved. OC Highway Supts. Assoc. golf outing is donating $16,500 to the HV Honor Flight and he will be going on the next flight in October. He requested executive session for personnel matter.
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POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported the fair bill went out. Detour has changed. We’re seeing less traffic on Mill Pond & Grange. On Mount Hope & White Bridge they’ve taken out that big sign a couple times. It’s now fixed. The school resource officer contract has been signed. Jamie Johnson will start there tomorrow – she will be there fulltime in that position. He requested executive session to discuss personnel issue which will relate to the resolution that Kathleen mentioned.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
No report. Their next village board meeting is Thursday Sept. 6.
BASKETBALL COURTS:
Councilman Jennings: do the hoops come down for the blacktopping job? H’way Supt.: posts stay up they pave around it. We opened the fence up today. It was easy enough to do. We will have to hire Ketcham to put it back up and make some repairs around it. He will get pricing from Ketcham soon.
SEALING OF POLICE AND TOWN HALL PARKING LOTS:
Supervisor Volpe asked if board members had questions for Dean on parking lot quote. Councilman Carey asked if we have any heavy trucks coming for deliveries. H’way Supt.: not yet. We’ll have them back straight in if we do. Councilman Cambareri: they’re gonna seal coat/crack fill? H’way Supt: they’ll seal coat & crack fill which the cracks expanded last winter. 1stwinter wasn’t too bad but last year was bad. They’ll blow them out crack fill and seal coat entire parking lot. Highway will stripe when done.
MOTION TO APPROVE PINGOTTI BLACKTOP MAINTENANCE PROPOSAL FOR SENIOR CENTER/POLICE STATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to accept proposal from Pingotti Blacktop Maintenance to major crack fill & seal coat entire facility $8,000.00. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE PINGOTTI BLACKTOP MAINTENANCE PROPOSAL FOR TOWN HALL /HIGHWAY DEPT:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to accept proposal from Pingotti Blacktop Maintenance to major crack fill & seal coat entire facility $10,520.00. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
NEWSLETTER:
Supervisor Volpe noted the newsletter was seen by everyone. It will be going out this week.
GRANT FOR MALE/FEMALE LOCKER ROOMS:
Supervisor Volpe: we received a grant for male/female locker rooms from Senator Bonacic. As we move closer, we’re gonna move the little league to where you 1stgo down the steps – we’re gonna build a room there. He called Rob Ketcham today. They were 100% fine with it.
BUDGET MEETINGS DISCUSSION:
Supervisor Volpe and board members discussed dates for the budget meetings. The board members agreed on Sept. 10 & Sept 24 at 6pm.
MOTION TO SCHEDULE MEETINGS FOR 2019 BUDGET MEETINGS:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Cambareri to hold budget meetings on Sept. 10, 2018 & Sept. 24, 2018 at 6pm in the town hall meeting room. Legal notice to go in paper. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE ASSESSOR ATTENDANCE AT SEMINAR:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve Assessor Dennis Ketcham to attend a seminar for the NYS Assessor Assoc. in Binghamton NY sept. 30, 2018 through October 3, 2018; total cost $787 includes hotel, meals & tuition. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
HILL ROAD – ROAD DEDICATION DISCUSSION:
Supervisor Volpe: (to Dean): can you explain how this usually works? What’s the normal process? H’way Supt. Is a little confused with the project. We are not gaining any roadway. Atty. Bavoso: there’s a dedication for it. Supt. Hassenmayer read through the documentation flying around the email. Councilman Cambareri: it has to be they’re building the road off Hill Road to access this. Supt. Hassenmayer: the normal process is they build the road, the construction is monitored by the town engineer, the engineer and myself do a final and approve it then it’s dedicated. Supervisor: then this is way premature? Supt.: yes. There was a couple changes on this project late last year that I didn’t see.
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HILL ROAD – ROAD DEDICATION DISCUSSION: cont.
Supervisor Volpe: off of Hill through Thistle – it’s not where you could drive on car on it. It’s not quite ready to be inherited. David will check with Glenn. This will be tabled.
MOTION TO APPROVE (2) SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve the following modifications:
Increase revenue line B1560 by $12,000.00 for vehicle purchase
Increase expense line B3620.2 by $12,000.00 for vehicle purchase and
Increase revenue A2665 Sale of Equipment $13,900.00
Increase expense A3120.2 Police Equipment by $13,900.00 for police vehicle purchase.
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Carey, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
(**Supervisor Volpe explained that the police car that was inherited is primarily used 20% off the regular town but 80% of the time it’s gonna be used by the building inspector. The money is basically going back to the police line.)
MOTION TO APPOINT CHRISTOPHER SANTOS TO BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to appoint Christopher Santos to the vacancy created by Stuart Carver on the Board of Assessment Review. Term to expire on 09-30-2019. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Howell to approve the following bills (Abstract 19):
GENERAL A: #529-559 $67,173.91
GENERAL B: #94-98 $13,351.49
HIGHWAY: #129-132 $22,930.10
SEWER: #72-73 $ 1,169.72
CAP RES GEN B: #7 $ 1,370.00
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE 2018-2019 SNOW & ICE AGREEMENT WITH COUNTY OF ORANGE:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to authorize the supervisor to sign the 2018-2019 Snow & Ice Agreement with the County of Orange for certain county roads for $4,800.00/mile for a total of 9.18miles. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Cambareri; carried. (Copy filed in Town Clerk office)
**Supervisor Volpe noted that he contacted Lou Ingrassia (T/O Wallkill) regarding the snow/ice contract with them.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Alison Millerspoke on behalf of FOTOS re: article in THR about the Elk’s Club in Middletown getting a grant to purchase the old Otisville School. It is a misprint.
FOTOS is a co-sponsor for the Adrienne Butvinik fine arts scholarship. Art in the park event 9-29-18. Donations to scholarship fund can make checks payable to FOTOS; in the memo section write “for the A. Butvinik fine arts scholarship”.
FOTOS is holding the 2ndannual Tricky Tray on October 20, 2018; doors open 5:00/calling starts 6:30 at the new Otisville School on Mount Hope Road.
Diane Loevenspoke re: A. Butvinik scholarship. That same night at the Otisville firehouse there’s a Celebrate Adrienne event from 7-10. Appetizers not dinner, music, you can bring beer/wine with you. $20 per ticket.
She reported the side doors at the senior center are sticking.
The seniors go on trip to Niagara Falls next week leaving Monday returning Thursday. Anyone interested in joining can contact Diane. There are 2 members unable to go and would like to sell their tickets at less than ½ price. Need to have a passport, passport card or NYS enhanced driver’s license because we are staying in Canada.
Chris Furman asked if there will be more than 1 public hearing for the comprehensive plan. Atty. Bavoso: committee discussed that likely it will be just 1. They’ll hold it then leave it open for a month for any written comments. Unlike the comprehensive plan itself, the zoning portion requires only 1 public hearing.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Supervisor Volpe noted at the end of our last meeting, we had a resident come in. He spent time about going through when a complaint comes in to town hall, Kathleen 99.9% of the time receives it, marks it, he gets a copy and the department it’s going to gets a copy. He could not find any copy of complaint. Our engineer with the building department went out Wednesday and the engineer checked it out.
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MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Cambareri 2ndCouncilman Howell to enter into executive session at 8:05pm for a highway personnel matter and a police department personnel matter. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to reconvene the regular meeting at 8:36pm. NO ACTION WAS TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE FOR THE SUSPENSION OF A TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE EMPLOYEE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Howell to adopt the resolution:
WHEREAS, the Town of Mount Hope has been made aware of alleged criminal matters against Employee # 1228, and that those allegations are of a serious nature; and
WHEREAS, those allegations are currently under investigation by the appropriate law enforcement entities; and
WHEREAS, the investigation into the allegations prevent the Employee from carrying out his responsibilities as an employee of the Town of Mount Hope,
NOW, THEREFORE,the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope does hereby affirm the suspension of Employee # 1228, due to his inability to carry out his responsibilities as a result of the ongoing investigation into his conduct. The suspension affirmed herein shall be indefinite.
Motion by: Councilman Carey
Seconded by: Councilman Howell
Ayes: 5 Nays: 0 Abstentions: 0
Dated: September 4, 2018
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jenningsspoke re: Ed’s (VanLeuvan) fundraiser was last Saturday, a good turn out. He reminded everyone that school will be starting and to be watchful for school buses.
Councilman Cambareri spoke re: smart meters. They will come and put a new electric meter on. There will be no more meter readers. It will have programming features. Kathie Yedziniak asked the length of time it will take as her husband is on medical electric. Supervisor 15-20 minutes.
Councilman Careyadded that every 7-10 houses are on this white transmitter on the poles. The trucks are marked. If your power goes out, they automatically know because they receive a signal.
Supervisor Volpe stated that highway union negotiations have started. There’s another meeting to be scheduled.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:40pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Cambareri; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 17, 2018 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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