Town of Mount Hope Town Board Meeting May 20, 2019

The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on May 20, 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: Paula Bird: Deputy Town Clerk, P. Rickard: Police Chief, M. Maresca: Deputy Police Chief, A. Briceno: Sergeant, D. Bavoso: Attorney, D. Hassenmayer: Highway Supt., Police Officer Tom Miller, Police Officer Jim Rich, Police Officer Bob Decker, Police Officer Angelo Vellake, Police Officer John Skoufis, Police Officer Sean Burke, Police Officer Matt Reilly, Police Officer Cody Hunt & OC Legislator Janet Sutherland.

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 Jennings that the minutes of the May 6, 2019 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Complaint re: residence on Brola Road
2. Letter from Assessor re: 105 Main Street
3. Supervisor’s report for April 2019
4. Rose Phillips Gold Award Project booklet

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell updated everyone on the Route 211 (around the corner) testing/preparatory work for the replacement of the culvert pipes which we’ve had discussions about for a long time. Seems our Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther has gotten things moving in the right direction.
Councilman Carey reported summer recreation open enrollment started May 11; for our Community Day he attended the Pine Bush UFO fair & Deerpark Family Festival and recruited some vendors; Memorial Day service is May 27 at Veterans Park at 10am; Flag retirement will be June 8 at 9am at Veterans Park; school budget vote is tomorrow from 12-9.
Councilman Furman reported MV youth football had sign-ups on Sunday and another on the 30th; he attended an event this weekend and met a couple vendors that are interested in our community day.
Councilman Jennings reported there’s a delay on the fire house roof replacement due to weather; there were 4 fire calls so far for May.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported on the bid opening for fiber mat – need to award the only bidder. Follow up on spring clean-up: filled 21 dumpsters for a total of 81 tons of C&D, 4 dumpsters for a total of 18 ½ tons of metal which offset the price about $2,000. We’ve started cleaning ditches last week. 2 summer helpers started trying to keep up on the mowing but with the rain last week – it’s still pretty wet.

MOTION TO ACCEPT BID FROM GORMAN BROTHERS FOR FIBER-MAT:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to accept the bid from Gorman Brothers for Fiber Mat as per bid minutes attached to end of these minutes. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported on the state police officers union came out against ‘green light legislation’ which allows undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses. There’s some dangerous and negative impact. Law enforcement and victims have taken a beating this year from the legislature. Part of this legislation – law enforcement would no longer have access to drivers’ license or license plate information without a judicial subpoena ie: someone almost has their child abducted or a suspicious vehicle at a bus stop and we had a license plate we would not even have access to it. We would have to go to court, get a subpoena & the person driving the car would have to be notified to try to block the subpoena. He’s asking anyone in the public to reach out to your legislators. It may get voted on next week. It’s being disguised as one thing and there’s a lot more to it. The awards will be done at the end of the meeting.

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VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reported that last week she spoke to Paul about possibly installing NO PARKING signs on Sanatorium Avenue to avoid the press areas that we’ve had to deal with in the past. It’s in their law as a no parking area. It’s a county road so we can’t install signs. Frank (Village highway supt.) is going to contact the county and Paul will follow up with his contacts. She also reported that they received official notification from the Supt. at the state correctional facility that Otisville will remain open. That’s wonderful for the community for employment and for the partnership that the village has with them for water.

SUMMER RECREATION:
Supervisor Volpe reported the numbers are coming in.

HOWELLS CEMETERY:
Supervisor Volpe noted there will be a quick executive session on this with David.

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

105 MAIN STREET LETTER FROM ASSESSOR:
Dennis Ketcham, Assessor explained the letter. The property was surveyed in association with a sale – it was actually a foreclosure. The new survey shows that the structure of the house was actually in the town and not in the village where it had been assessed forever. It will be moved – it was too late for it to be moved for village purpose so they are going to get a bill next week. His recommendation to the Mayor would be to continue with water service because the village of Otisville is gonna have to figure out what they’re gonna do as far as cutting the people off or making it an outside user. He doesn’t think the lot is big enough for a well. This is one of the old cottages up at the top by Schobel Street on Main Street.

ROSE PHILLIPS GOLD AWARD PROJECT:
Miss Rose Phillips (9th grade Minisink High School) spoke re: her Gold Award Project for Girl Scouts. She would like to bring a resource room to our proposed new community center. It would have books available to borrow and have volunteers for organized activities ie: craft days, holiday programs, story hours which would be led by other girl scout troops, boy scout troops, honor society students, teachers & other volunteers. She looks forward to working for the town and community to make this room a safe place for learning, assisting & fun. Supervisor Volpe confirmed that she will have to do fundraising for this to happen. Councilman Carey thinks this is an awesome project. Councilman Howell asked what a sensory wall is. She explained that it’s a wall is for young children with all different levels of autism. The wall would have various panels with different textures (smooth, rough etc.) which helps them to relax. Councilman Furman is very proud of Rose. Councilman Jennings agrees it’s a great project and looks forward to seeing the final project. Supervisor called for the motion.

MOTION TO ALLOW ROSE PHILLIPS TO PROCEED WITH THE GOLD AWARD PROJECT:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to allow Rose Phillips to move forward with her Gold Award project at the new community center. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following bills (Abstract 10):
GENERAL A: #276-308 $65,658.80
GENERAL B: #41-48 $19,914.51
HIGHWAY: #68-76 $47,384.86
SEWER: #46 $ 1,048.76
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to enter into executive session at 7:47pm to discuss Howells Cemetery contract. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to reconvene the regular meeting from executive session at 7:56pm. NO ACTION WAS TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Diane Loeven informed everyone the Hometown Helpers orientation will be on Monday, June 10 at 9am. Fliers will go out. Garden Club will be planting tomorrow around the community. She thanked all organizations & individuals that donated money towards flowers. Wessels had always so generously donated all the flowers.
Alison Miller spoke re: Neighbors Helping Neighbors community clothing drive June 23rd: new and gently used clothing, shoes & jackets will be collected. 2 drop off dates at the old school: June 2nd 1-2pm or June 14th 5-7pm. June 23rd from 9-1 the community can come and shop for free. Bags will be given to adults. She would like to have this put on facebook and our website.
Mary Maurizzio asked for the flag drop and Memorial Day ceremony to be put on the facebook page. VFW Post 5497 will be doing the Memorial Day ceremony @10am and the flag drop is joint effort between VFW & American Legion.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jennings – no comments.
Councilman Furman spoke re: opening for alternates on planning and zoning boards. Please let us know.
Councilman Carey – no comments.
Councilman Howell spoke re: a resident about outdoor burning in fire pits. There was an issue within a small community of houses and he gave board 2 packets regarding this with info from surrounding towns and DEC.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to adjourn the meeting at 8:02pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 3, 2019 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

POLICE AWARDS FOLLOWED THE BOARD MEETING:

Chief Rickard gave out the following awards:

Police Officer Matt Reiley – Life Saving Award
Police Officer Matt Reiley – 2018 Police Officer of the Year
Police Officer Mike Hayes (NOT PRESENT) – Life Saving Award
Police Officer Sean Burke – Meritorious Service Award/Medal
Police Officer John Skoufis – Meritorious Service Award/Medal
Police Officer Tom Miller – 2018 Dedicated Service Award
Police Officer Jim Rich – 23 Years of Service Recognition Award
Sherri Jean Clarke – Dedicated Service Recognition Award

Police Officer Angelo Vellake on behalf of PBA presented Officer Jim Rich with a retirement shield.

Certificates on behalf of Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther were presented to officers by Supervisor Volpe.

Orange County Legislator Janet Sutherland presented certificates/awards to officers on behalf of OC Legislature.

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