Town of Mount Hope Town Board Meeting April 15, 2019

The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on April 15, 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: P. Rickard: Police Chief, M. Maresca: Deputy Police Chief, B. 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 Furman 2nd Councilman Carey that the minutes of the April 1, 2019 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. District number consolidation request from NYS Dept. of Health for death certificates
2. Budget modification from Supervisor’s office
3. Resignation from Police Officer Christopher Rose effective May 15, 2019
4. Resignation from Police Officer James Rich effective April 30, 2019
5. Supervisor’s report for March 2019
6. Legal ad for highway dept. ad to go to bid for fiber-mat
7. Library card update from Port Jervis library
8. Building department report Mar 2019
9. Police dept. monthly report for March 2019

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Supervisor Volpe noted he will be going out of order for the agenda. He and Councilman Carey presented Certificates of Achievement – for volunteerism to the Town of Mount Hope & citizenship in the community merit badge to Patrick Cherry & Callan Schultz (2 scouts from Otisville Boy Scouts Troop 1) for their efforts in cleaning the Howells Cemetery.
Councilman Howell reported on the floor cleaning over at the senior center, police and courts offices. Everything is done and there was an added bonus of an extra room done in the PD at no extra charge.
Councilman Carey reported on the little league parade. Line up 1pm. Parade starts at 1:30pm. He left an article on the table from the Times Herald Record about Dragon Springs. He went to this meeting with Councilman Furman on April 10th at Port Jervis High School. There were over 400+ people. The article has a lot of info in it. Summer recreation directors were hired. Early registration is Monday and Tuesday from 5-7:30pm at town hall. He attended the Easter egg hunt this weekend. He was with Councilman Furman. Councilman Jennings was the Easter bunny. Pics were posted. Really good turn-out. He gives Lions Club credit for it.
Councilman Furman reported MV football & cheer league having online registration is now through June 29th. They will have in person registration from April 28, May 19 & June 30. Times and places will be on their website. He noted the meeting with Dragon Springs. There was a lot of people there. It was a long meeting. He thanked the Lions Club for a really good job and congratulated them for the egg hunt this weekend.
Councilman Jennings reported the planning board meeting was cancelled for this month as there is nothing for the agenda. The name plates have been ordered for the board members. The village meeting is Thursday the 18th at 7pm. There were 17 fire calls last month. The village is looking in to a water leak detection system. As of April 1st there were 96 library cards issued. Councilman Carey thanked the Otisville FD for bringing the Easter Bunny to the egg hunt.
Supervisor Volpe reported that tomorrow at 1pm there will be a press conference at the Sweetman Farm for the farm being entered in to the Orange County Land Trust. This makes sure that the land will stay farm land for a couple generations. Concerts schedule will be announced next week.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer requested permission to go to bid for fiber-mat. This is a road process we’ve used for 12 years now. He’d like to have the bid opening on May 9, 2019 at 10:00am.

MOTION TO GO TO BID FOR FIBER-MAT:
MOTION offered Councilman 2nd Councilman to advertise go to bid for fiber mat with bids due May 9, 2019 at 10:00am. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.
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Supt. Hassenmayer continued with his report. Clean up starts Wednesday 4/17/19; weekdays are until 5pm & Saturdays are 8-1. We have 10 scheduled pick-ups so far.
He reported at the senior center the HVAC contractor set the big unit today. He’s got all his duct work in the building. He is ready to go. The insulation guy will be put off – he called Dean last Friday but he was put on hold again until we get this duct work installed. Supervisor Volpe added that he and Dean talked about the foundation that was poured for the addition on that building. He is waiting for the specs then he will go to bid on the framing of that. We’re not quite there yet. Councilman Carey asked how long we are out for spray foam. Supt. thinks about a week. He will call him. He needs Mike to run the power to the HVAC system and then he can spray.
Councilman Carey asked about the tennis, basketball & pickle ball marking. Supt. stated he needs a steady 60 degrees to do it.

THISTLE LANE/HEATHER LANE – STOP SIGN:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Thistle Lane and Heather Lane and no STOP sign being there. On Thistle Lane is where Pete Lazier has been approved to put houses back there. About 6-7 months ago they wanted us to take a road dedication but the road is not done yet so we didn’t do the dedication yet. That will be a little more traffic there. He would like a STOP sign there where the roads meet. Councilman Carey asked about a solar flashing light and if it costs a tremendous amount of money. Supt. said it’s about $2,000. Supervisor needs board approval.

MOTION TO ADD A STOP SIGN AT CORNER OF THISTLE LANE & HEATHER LANE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to have the highway supt. put a stop sign at the corner of Thistle Lane & Heather Lane in Hidden Valley Estates. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

AT THIS TIME, Councilman Jennings asked the highway supt. what the plans are for the volleyball court at the park. Supt. stated he has said before it was put in the wrong location. It’s in a hole. Every time we get heavy rains the sand washes away into the pond. There’s not much sand there. It was asked if we can move it. Supt. suggested when we meet to pick a location for the playground that we talk about that also.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard noted the resignations from Officer Jim Rich effective 4-30 & Officer Christopher Rosa effective 5-15.
Chief Rickard is requesting to hire Cody Hunt as a part time non-competitive police officer.
Chief Rickard met with the DA (District Attorney) himself who met with the Chiefs. Some of these laws and changes are gonna be a challenge. There will be increased costs. The state put in a bunch of mandates for us to follow and they did not come up with the money. The biggest thing is for the victims. One of the crazy things is if your house is burglarized (someone breaks into your house), the defense and his attorney have to be given access to your house – (so the guy that breaks into your house will now be allowed back in your house with his attorney to do an inspection while you are not present) – which is outrageous – Burglary 2, Robbery 2 – automatic release. I don’t know what our legislators were thinking when they passed this. I think there were legitimate concerns about bail but we’ve gone way the other way. The worst part is that if you are a witness to a crime, you’re personal information has to be turned over to the defendant who will no longer be in jail within 15 days – including your address, phone number and your name. The DA is thinking that a lot less people will be willing to come forward. We probably won’t have some of the issues like Newburgh & Middletown in terms of processing evidence and getting it over. But all evidence will have to be turned over within 15 days so he’s gonna have to implement some new procedures which he’ll be doing. There’s gonna be training for officers coming up in Sept./Oct./Nov. Most of this stuff kicks on January 1st. One of the things that already kicked in is that there’s no longer allowed release of mugshots. There will be no more mug shots released of people that are arrested. There’s a few really small ways around it but the DA sent us an email the other day recommending that we no longer release because we would be in violation. I don’t know what the penalty will be because it is an executive law so it would probably be a civil case. You will no longer see mug shots released. Supervisor Volpe asked about sex offenders. Chief: we can still release – the levels will still be the same. We have to post our Use of Force policy online. They exempted the fee for FOIL’s for the Use of Force policy.

MOTION TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION FROM POLICE OFFICER CHRISTOPHER ROSA:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to accept resignation from Police Officer Christopher Rosa effective May 15, 2019. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION FROM POLICE OFFICER JAMES RICH:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to accept resignation from Police Officer James Rich effective April 30, 2019. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

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MOTION TO HIRE CODY HUNT AS A PART TIME NON-COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to hire Cody Hunt as a part time non-competitive police officer effective April 22, 2019. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

AT THIS TIME, Cody Hunt introduced himself.
Chief Rickard added re: Night Out Against Crime; to be held on August 6, 2019. He is hoping the Hometown Helpers will have a table there. Also, Night out against crime is during one night of the concert series.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reported the village spring clean-up starts week of 4-29-19; Items need to be placed curbside by 4-29-19 since once the street is done, they don’t come back.
The village board meeting is this Thursday for the reorganization meeting that starts at 6:30pm. The regular board meeting will follow right after.
There have been complaints about speeding in the village. She did see the speed trailer is up again. Deputy Chief Maresca spoke about traffic hot zones. Every week there’s 2 different zones. Officers are ordered to spend at least a ½ hour there at the zone.
Trustee Loeven spoke re: 14-20 trees in the village (Main Street) with red ribbons tied around them. These will be taken down as they have been infected with the ash bore beetle.
Arbor Day planting ceremony will be on April 27, 2019 at 10am. Three tress will replace all those being taken down.

SUMMER RECREATION:
Supervisor Volpe reported things are moving along.

MOTION TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION FROM BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW MEMBER LAURA MACELLARI:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to accept resignation from Laura Macellari from the Board of Assessment Review effective April 15, 2019. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO APPOINT THOMAS LEICHLEITER III TO THE BOARD OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to appoint Thomas Leichleiter III to fill a vacancy created by resignation of Laura Macellari to the Board of Assessment Review. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

KEYLESS ENTRY DOOR SYSTEM:
Supervisor Volpe right before the last meeting everyone got the packets for this system. He recommends we do not go with the lowest bidder as they have not been very successful in returning phone calls. They also didn’t follow the specs we provided. He recommends Night Watch Security Systems.

MOTION TO APPROVE NIGHT WATCH SECURITY TO INSTALL KEYLESS ENTRY DOOR SYSTEM AT HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve Night Watch Security Systems to install a keyless entry door system at the highway department in the amount of $10,413.00. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE NIGHT WATCH SECURITY TO INSTALL KEYLESS ENTRY DOOR SYSTEM AT THE SENIOR CENTER:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve Night Watch Security Systems to install a keyless entry door system at the senior center in the amount of $5,630.00. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE NIGHT WATCH SECURITY TO INSTALL KEYLESS ENTRY DOOR SYSTEM AT THE NEW YOUTH COMMUNITY CENTER:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve Night Watch Security Systems to install a keyless entry door system at the new community center in the amount of $3,985.00. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE NIGHT WATCH SECURITY TO INSTALL KEYLESS ENTRY DOOR SYSTEM AT THE TOWN HALL:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve Night Watch Security Systems to install a keyless entry door system at the town hall in the amount of $15,091.00. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.
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CONSOLIDATION OF PRIMARY REGISTRATION DISTRICTS WITH VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE & TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE:
Town Clerk (Kathleen Myers) explained the need for this request. As of March 14, 2019 the NYS Dept. of Health has changed the way that death certificates are recorded and received by the registrar. Right now myself and my deputy, Paula, are the registrars for the T/O Mount Hope & the V/O Otisville. What NYS DOH is asking that we consolidate only for death certificates to a single district number. The number for the village would consolidate in to the town number. Everything on the certificate will remain the same – it is only the district number that would be affected. It will be explained at the village board meeting as well so that they will hopefully adopt the resolution. Both resolutions then get forwarded to the NYS DOH & EDRS so they can condense everything in to one district. Supervisor Volpe spoke to the Mayor regarding this today. A copy of the resolution we have that David drafted was forwarded to the village for them to review. Town Clerk read the following resolution into the record:

RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE TO CONSOLIDATE THE REGISTRATION DISTRICTS FOR THE VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE & TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE INTO ONE PRIMARY REGISTRATION DISTRICT (FOR DEATH CERTIFICATES):

WHEREAS, the Town of Mount Hope has been assigned by New York State as Vital Statistics Registration District 3562, and the Village of Otisville has been assigned by New York State as Vital Statistics Registration District 3531, and

WHEREAS, the Town Clerk has requested the approval of the Town Board to formally consolidate the Town of Mount Hope and the Village of Otisville into one primary registration district, namely the District of the Town of Mount Hope under Vital Statistics Registration District 3562, and

WHEREAS, the formal consolidation of the Registration Districts would benefit the public by eliminating questions as to which district records should be filed and not result in the loss of services to either municipality,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope that consolidation of the Registrar functions of the Town of Mount Hope and the Village of Otisville under the registration number of the Town of Mount Hope (Vital Registration District 3562) is approved, pending necessary approvals of all other required entities, including the Village of Otisville, Orange County, and the New York State Department of Health.

Dated: April 15, 2019 By Order of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope
Motion made by: Councilman Carey Motion seconded by: Councilman Howell
Those in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings Those opposed: none.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the modification as follows:
Increase A4089 Other Governmental aid grants by $5,476 and Increase A1620.4 buildings Contr. by $5,476.00 (grant reimbursement for entrance sign) All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Carey, Howell, Volpe; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT FOR MARCH 2019:
MOTION offered by Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve the Supervisor’s report for March 2019 as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

HOMETOWN HELPERS:
Diane Loeven asked the Hometown Helpers that were present to introduce themselves. Members present were: Kathy Card, Richard Gaimo, Karen Hilley, Ken Hilley, Arlene Ketcham, Paul Miedema, Jane Onida, Cindy Rodriguez, Liz Runnalls & Diane Loeven. Supervisor Volpe is blown away by the amount of volunteer hours put in by these volunteers. No one is in it for the recognition but we wanted to acknowledge and thank you from the Town of Mount Hope for everything you do for our residents. He got Paula to make a cake. We’ll have cake and an award after the meeting ends. Please thank everyone who couldn’t be here tonight.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the following bills (Abstract 8):
GENERAL A: #208-242 $64,268.08
GENERAL B: #30-32 $ 6,788.60
HIGHWAY: #51-58 $29,094.81
SEWER: #34-40 $60,731.43
CAP RES GEN B: #1 $24,999.00
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.
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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Diane Loeven spoke re: Community Advisory Board quarterly meeting is tomorrow morning 9:30am. With Dominick no longer on the board, there is no representation from your elected board. That’s not a mandatory thing but if one of the board members wish to join, please let her know.
She added that the seniors meeting was cancelled from last week to tomorrow. Brian Monahan will be a speaker to discuss the school budget.
She spoke on the OC senior council meeting. They were asked to spread the news that the 2020 census is coming and they are looking to hire people. She would like a flier on the community bulletin board. Training is scheduled for June & July. The initial people in 2019- they will be trained to read the census maps and go out to the community if the maps are accurate. It pays $18/hour up to 20 hours/week and .58 cents/mile.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jennings thanked the Hometown Helpers for their continued service. He asked Dean if the chairs and tables were set up again at the senior center. Dean will check tomorrow.
Councilman Furman thanked the Hometown Helpers for their service.
Councilman Carey commented on the blue shirts of most of the Hometown Helpers. He will put applications online for Community Day and they are on table in lobby. He noted the time for Community day is now 2-10.
Councilman Howell thanked the Hometown Helpers. It’s nice to see people in the community taking care of their neighbors.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to adjourn the meeting at 8:20pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, 2019 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

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