Town of Mount Hope Town Board Meeting April 1, 2019
The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on April 1, 2019 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Chris Furman and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT:Deputy Police Chief M. Maresca, Police Chief P. Rickard, Attorney D. Bavoso, Highway Supt. D. Hassenmayer.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm & asked audience to silence cell phones.
7:30PM – PUBLIC HEARING FOR ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT:
Supervisor Volpe opened the public hearing at 7:30pm. It was noted that the legal ads for the public hearing was on the front table in English and Spanish. He asked if any board members had any questions. Councilman Howell wished the FOTOS luck with obtaining the grant. The other board members agreed with Councilman Howell. Supervisor asked for someone from the committee to tell us about how successful they were last year. Ken Pinkela came to podium to explain last year they did an application and they had great support. They looked at it from the standpoint that the village had a block that was always eligible and they’ve been using it for water & great repair. We expanded that and worked with the director of the CDBG office and some HUD folks down in DC that the encompassing town applied before and didn’t make it. Where the school fits and the programmatics for the 1st5-10 years will assist the town and the village. That’s how we wrote it and we got $50,000. There’s some public things coming out – there was a review across the county and if you didn’t know – with the shutdown the money will not be delivered yet. The county is in a bind. They haven’t even delivered 2018 money yet. We do have some ’19 money which has led to re-appropriations. All the projects will get looked at for additional funding but we just had a great visit with the new director on Friday. She came and saw the building which she had not seen before. This next year is another big deal – not with just the gym floor and gym roof hopefully with this money that we got approved for but they’ve seen the ADA approvals that were already done by the NYS school board years ago at the end – they’re letting us expand on that which may help us with water and accessibility – and the elevator to get access to the 2nd& 3rdfloor and the library. The building is still a gem. People can’t believe what great it’s in. Hopefully this is another good year for us. Councilman Carey asked how much money is allocated for projects this year. Mr. Pinkela – the single year grants are still $125,000. The county is being reviewed – I think some of you might know that. There were some projects in the past that were not qualified. We were the 1stones to be interviewed by the federal auditors and the 1stones to pass without a blink. Supervisor asked for the resolution. Ms. Loeven asked about the money asked for last year being specifically for the gym floor and roof and have they picked another specific area they are looking at. Mrs. Miller: an elevator – ADA accessible to the 2ndfloor. Mr. Pinkela “pimped’ out the Otis family. He called them – he called the old Otisville company – he did not know they were purchased years ago. They’re actually in the process of taking back the company as an independent elevator company. They gave free engineering quotes – they quoted us the elevator – we just need to get the shafts built. It’s a huge deal.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Howell to close the public hearing at 7:39pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF MOUNT HOPE AUTHORIZING SUBMISSION OF THE FY-2020 ORANGE URBAN COUNTY CONSORTIUM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey that:
At a meeting held on April 1, 2019, the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope adopted the following resolution:
The Town of Mount Hope is in support of submitting the application on behalf of the Friends of the Otisville School for consideration under FY-2020 Orange Urban County Consortium Community Development Program and the Town Supervisor is hereby authorized to submit this application for the Friends of the Otisville School as described in the proposal. Input from citizens and groups has been received and considered and an application has been prepared which addresses their community concerns. They further certify that they have read and understood the Orange Urban County Consortium Community Development Guidelines for the FY-2020 program year and have met all of its applicable requirements and that the information contained in the application is true to the best of their knowledge. If awarded CDBG funds, the Town of Mount Hope shall implement the activities in a manner to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state & local laws and regulations.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings. Abstained: Furman. Motion carried.
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MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2ndCouncilman Furman that the minutes of the March 18, 2019 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
- Budget modification for grant reimbursement money
- Request from Chief Rickard re: needing authorization to sign the MOA with the federal prison
- Bid results for the roll-off dumpster service & tire recycle
- Contract of sale for the additional acreage for the Howells cemetery
- 3 quotes for a door access system
- Legal notice from T/O Mamakating re: public hearing on 4-16-19 at 6pm for their DGEIS & draft comprehensive plan
- Palmer’s Ark impound report March 2019
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Jenningsreported on the village meeting will be Thursday at 7pm. Last meeting they had 3 public hearings: 2020CDBG, the proposed 2020 budget for the village and the cold war veteran’s law. The planning board will meet on 4-17-19 at 7pm. Met with John Burke at the park re: playground equipment. He designed a playset for us. It came back at $110,000 – it was 42’x98’. He found one online Venetian Shores Youth Zone – it’s 40’X51’for $24,999. It holds up to 36 kids. It has 5 slides and 6 climbers, 2 sets of monkey bars; does not include installation – that’ll be done by our guys. Councilman Carey asked for an estimate of a cost to install it. Dean: yes. Councilman Jennings – it will take about 6-8 weeks to get here.
Councilman Furman reported the MYFL sign-ups are starting. He will give info to Brian for the website. He still needs to meet with Dale up at the field. As president of FOTOS he appreciates the town board and community support behind what they’re doing. This will help greatly on their mission. He went with Councilman Carey to an Assoc. of towns, cities, villages meeting last week. It was very interesting for the support of the different projects going on.
Councilman Carey reported on the Assoc. of towns, cities, villages meeting as well. They get together 1x/month. One project he found interesting was that from Central Valley Harriman exchange up to Monticello- they’re trying to get every town that 17 would go through to sign a resolution of some sort to widen it to 3 lanes. They want to make 17 before it becomes interstate 86- three lanes. They had engineers look into it. Supposedly, they can widen it without any major construction. He noted that he has not yet spoken to Chief Rickard about the line-up for the parade for the little league. He added that under no circumstances are they allowing anyone on the old school property. It’s privately owned. There’s issues with the parking lot. He talked to the little league people and there’s no issue there. Line-up will be on School Street. Parade is on April 13; line-up on School Street at 10:30am; parade starts at 11am. Games start at 12. He also spoke with the Otisville fire police. Chief Rickard added: there’s a new plan.
Councilman Howell explained the cleaning for the police station and senior center has started. Last week the cleaning company was in and started the court and police station & Monday they are slated to finish that and the senior center. We are currently going through our interview process with summer recreation – we’re still accepting the counselor applications.
Supervisor Volpereported he’s been working with Chief Rickard on having a ‘Night Out Against Crime’ on August 6th. It’s going to coincide with the concerts that are going to be there. This will be the public’s chance to get out and meet the police. It will be advertised.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported he has decided to fill the position in the highway department with Brandyn Howell effective April 15. Angie got all his paperwork today. Trash days bid opening: Middletown Carting is the best price on C&D: $145/dumpster & $89/ton. They were also the only bid for scrap metal: trucking is for free and they pay the town $100/ton. He got 2 prices for electronics: New company called SAMR out of Jersey – he proposed putting a dumpster here and no matter how much material we put in it – he proposed $2,750 set fee. In the past we’ve used E-Waste & their price is .35 cents/lb for anything that creates a video screen; everything else is free. He suggests E-Waste. Only received 1 price for tire recycling from Empire Tire out of Connecticut. We’ve used them the past 2-3 years. Prices the same as last year for passenger car tires, truck tires. He has an individual list for farm tractor tires. We had another bidder for C&D from Marangi at $149.50/dumpster & $91.50/ton.
MOTION TO APPROVE MIDDLETOWN CARTING FOR C&D AND SCRAP METAL:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve Middletown Carting for C&D and scrap metal for the 2019 spring and fall clean-up as follows: C&D: $145/dumpster & $89/ton & scrap metal: trucking is free and they pay the town $100/ton. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
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MOTION TO APPROVE E-WASTE FOR ELECTRONICS RECYCLING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2ndCouncilman Howell to approve E-Waste for the electronic waste for is .35 cents/lb for anything that creates a video screen/everything else is free. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE EMPIRE TIRE FOR TIRE RECYCLING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2ndCouncilman Jennings to approve Empire Tire for tire recycling – same prices as last year. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE HIRING BRANDYN HOWELL AS HIGHWAY MACHINE EQUIPMENT OPERATOR:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve hiring Brandyn Howell to fill the position in the highway department as Highway Machine Equipment Operator effective April 15, 2019. All in favor: Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; ABSTAINED: Howell – Motion carried.
Highway Supt. Hassenmayer added that our CHIPS increase did not go through. The Governor and his cronies also took away our winter recovery money and our PAVE NY money. The last 3-4 years we’ve gotten close to $125,000 from the state – we’re going back to $85,000 and change.
Councilman Howell added that we’ve had contact with Assemblywoman Gunther regarding the bump on Route 211. There will be a temporary patch fix to the bump on Route 211. Chief Rickard added there was a DOT survey crew out there today. Supt. Hassenmayer has rented some heavy equipment for the gravel bank. We have to have our permit renewed this year. The firm we hired to do it all is moving along fine with everything. The DEC would like us to reclaim part of what we are no longer mining. It will be turned back in to a hayfield.
Councilman Carey asked Dean when the basketball courts will be done. Duffy is supposed to call Dean as we are 1ston their list. (Couldn’t get done in the fall due to cold temps.) Dean has the nets for tennis and pickle ball and new basketball nets. He added that tomorrow morning playground mulch is coming for the swing sets. Wednesday morning baseball clay is coming. Late May the gazebo should get done.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard added to the state budget that was approved yesterday. In terms of for crime victims it’s horrible. They basically got rid of restitution for victims of crimes. The district attorney came out today that they actually passed something they didn’t mean to in haste. They’re trying to get that fixed. There will be no more mugshots or arrest info when we arrest people. He doesn’t have an effective date for that. They passed a law banning the release of mugshots and arrest info and the whole bail situation. You’ll be able to rob somebody [robbery III] and you’ll be released. You won’t be allowed to be held and then in 15 days we have to give the defendant all the witness’ information including their home address and phone number. That’s going to have a pretty chilling effect to witnesses and crimes. He’s disappointed in our legislators for folding to interests that don’t reflect our communities. The belief now is that the marijuana legalization may fall by the wayside because the political cover of the budget is gone so they will have to vote on it with no other things attached. It’s a disastrous state budget in terms of law enforcement. He spoke re: hit and run from yesterday. Tomorrow the state police will have an updated press release. He will put it on the facebook page. We’ve been working with the state police since yesterday. It was our call but turned over to them for their expertise and their accident unit is reconstructing it. We have some good leads we are working on. Night out against crime will be our first year. Going with the concert will be a good combination. He was thinking Hometown Helpers would set up a booth. He noted the mutual aid agreement gets signed every year. This will help the federal prison if there’s a law enforcement emergency or natural disaster. If they request our assistance, they will reimburse us. He would like to get a face painter for the night out against crime. Chief Rickard also noted that the floors came out excellent and the building smells much better.
MOTION TO AUTHORIZE THE POLICE CHIEF TO SIGN THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH THE FEDERAL PRISON:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2ndCouncilman Howell to authorize the Chief of Police to sign the memorandum of agreement with the federal prison. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Furman, Volpe, Jennings; carried.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven thanked Chief Rickard and his staff for completing the application for the county for our yard sale day so we could re-direct traffic that day.
SUMMER RECREATION:
Supervisor Volpe noted that we have several new applications for director positions. Some returning, some new faces. He & Brian interviewed the directors and quite a few of them we are blown away – he thinks it would be a good change for the camp. We’ll have to make adjustments with who we are going with and who we are not.
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MOTION TO APPROVE MS-4 STORMWATER LAW:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve the 2019 MS-4 Stormwater law as presented. (copy on file in the town clerk’s office) All in favor: Howell, Carey, Furman, Volpe, Jennings; carried.
ASSEMBLYWOMAN AILEEN GUNTHER:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Assemblywoman Gunther’s visit with regard to the bump on Route 211. He showed her the new community center. She will give us another grant to finish the building if we need it. We are just tapping in to the original $125,000 from Aileen Gunther. We still have $200,000 on the back burner which with all the plumbing and heating is gonna go fast. He has a target of September to open. Starting Monday the 8theither her or her chief of staff will be here for constituent hours from 10-4. She will do this on the 2nd& 4thMondays each month until further notice.
SPRING AED/CPR CLASS:
Supervisor Volpe noted that there will be a spring AED/CPR class on May 3rdfrom 6pm-8pm at the senior center. Officer Decker will do the class. 1stcome – 1stserved. Mount Hope residents will have no charge.
MOTION TO APPROVE GRANT REIMBURSEMENT BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve modification as follows:
Increase A4089 other government grants $32,316.78 and increase A1620.4 buildings contractual by $32,316.78 for grant reimbursement from the youth center project. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Furman, Volpe, Jennings; carried.
HOWELLS CEMETERY:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Howells cemetery purchase agreement. This was voted on and a check was cut last year for this to purchase the additional 2.1 acres to extend the Howells Cemetery. The contract is ready to sign. There’s no change to price. David reviewed everything.
MOTION TO AUTHORIZE TOWN SUPERVISOR TO SIGN THE CONTRACT OF SALE WITH THE HOWELLS FIRE DISTRICT FOR THE PURCHASE OF ADDITIONAL ACREAGE FOR THE EXISTING HOWELLS CEMETERY:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to authorize the Town Supervisor to sign the purchase contract with Howells Fire District for the additional 2.1 acres to the existing Howells cemetery. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
(Councilman Carey asked the attorney how this gets advertised for the plots that will be available for purchase. Attorney stated however it chooses to. Whatever the layout is for the new parcel – you would come up with it that way most likely engage the surveyor to make sure they are congruent with what’s already there. Once that’s done, you can advertise like you do now. Town Clerk: we don’t advertise. Attorney Bavoso noted that there will be an additional amount due for the title insurance for the town for that property. We don’t anticipate any title issues but he would do the insurance just in case. He expects it would be <$1,000.)
SCAN CARD ACCESS:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: the 3 quotes he gave the board members for the scan card access. He’s not looking for the vote tonight. He would like board members to review their packets for next meeting. The quotes are broken down by each building. This would allow one card to be used at multiple buildings. This would allow certain people to get into certain offices. He gave the example for the senior center that if you rent the senior center on Saturday, your card would not work on Sunday. If the card doesn’t get returned to us, we simply shut off the card and the security deposit is 20x what the card costs. The programming gets done in house. This is broken down into each building. We are 100% gonna do this for the new community center. Since the company was coming out – he thought it would be worth it to get one for each building. The police building already has this. Quotes are: Blue Dragon Connections: $28,253; Knight Watch Security: $35,152; NAS Security $44,650. The lowest bidder has been our biggest thorn as far as trying to make sure it’s apples to apples to get each door done. His recommendation would not be to go with the lowest one. They will train us on everything.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2ndCouncilman Furman to approve the following bills (Abstract #7):
GENERAL A: #176-207 $ 97,023.38
GENERAL B: #29 $ 4,552.61
HIGHWAY: #47-50 $ 21,139.29
SEWER: #32-33 $ 1,203.76
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Kathie Yedziniak asked how the scan cards are powered. Supervisor: it’s electric but it’s backed up with a battery and a generator.
Alison Millerconfirmed the ceremony this Friday for Officers Skoufis & Burke and that it’s open to the public. Chief Rickard: sure.
Diane Loeven confirmed the senior center floors being done on Monday and will the building be available for Tuesday. Councilman Howell: yes. She asked if tables would be re-set after they are done. Councilman Howell has not arranged that with Cory yet. She will cancel the exercise group. She confirmed the town hall hours with Aileen Gunther for Monday 4-8-19 from 10-4.
Mary Maurizzio discussed the bump on Route 211 and the culverts underneath. Supervisor explained that the 4’ wide plates will be replaced by the state with 8’ plates to ease the bump as a temporary fix. They are well aware of the issue underneath. The state will contract out the fixing of the bump. She asked the police chief if they gave any reasons why they changed the rules with regard to witness information & crimes. Chief: they changed the discovery rules. They think the current system is unfair to defendants. She asked Councilman Jennings if any of the playground equipment is local that Dean could look at. Councilman Jennings: no. He researched it online. We thought there was one in Chester but it wasn’t really playground equipment.
Kathie Yedziniak asked Councilman Jennings if the new playground equipment will have a chair swing (handicap accessible). He stated we can get it but it is a separate charge.
Diane Loeven added that they are going to reschedule their meeting from the 9thto the 16thso the floors will have enough time to cure.
PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT:
Supervisor Volpeasked if any board members had questions for Jim re: playground equipment. Discussion on mulch and concrete. Dean stated that concrete would probably be about $800 and mulch about $2,400.
MOTION TO APPROVE STATE OF PLAY FOR PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2ndCouncilman Carey to approve new playground equipment purchase from State of Play for $24,999. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Howell no comments.
Councilman Carey no comments.
Councilman Furman no comments.
Councilman Jenningsreminded everyone the Easter Egg Hunt is April 13 at the town park – rain date is April 14th. He thanked Kathie Yedziniak for her service to the planning board for the past 3 years.
Supervisor Volpestated there’s a lot of exciting things coming up: community day, concerts, night out against crime.
Councilman Careyadded that the meeting re: Dragon Springs is on April 10thand he will go with Councilman Furman. They will report on it at the next meeting.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:40pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for April 15, 2019 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF MOUNT HOPE AUTHORIZING SUBMISSION OF THE FY-2020 ORANGE URBAN COUNTY CONSORTIUM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2ndCouncilman Carey that:
At a meeting held on April 1, 2019, the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope adopted the following resolution:
The Town of Mount Hope is in support of submitting the application on behalf of the Friends of the Otisville School for consideration under FY-2020 Orange Urban County Consortium Community Development Program and the Town Supervisor is hereby authorized to submit this application for the Friends of the Otisville School as described in the proposal. Input from citizens and groups has been received and considered and an application has been prepared which addresses their community concerns. They further certify that they have read and understood the Orange Urban County Consortium Community Development Guidelines for the FY-2020 program year and have met all of its applicable requirements and that the information contained in the application is true to the best of their knowledge. If awarded CDBG funds, the Town of Mount Hope shall implement the activities in a manner to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state & local laws and regulations.
All in favor:
Councilman Howell Aye
Councilman Carey Aye
Councilman Jennings Aye
Supervisor Volpe Aye
Councilman Furman Abstained
Motion carried.
CERTIFIED TRUE COPY:
I, Kathleen A. Myers, Town Clerk, of the Town of Mount Hope, hereby certify that the foregoing is a full, true & accurate copy of a resolution duly and regularly adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope at a meeting duly & regularly held on April 1, 2019 at which quorum was present throughout and the required majority of the governing body voted in favor of this resolution. I further certify that this resolution is still in full force and effect and has not been revoked or modified.
Signature
Municipal Seal
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