Town Board Meeting December 20th, 2021
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief Rickard, Dep. Police Chief Maresca, Attorney D. Bavoso, Highway Supt., D. Hassenmayer.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.
7:30pm SUPERVISOR VOLPE OPENED THE HEARING FOR SBL 10-1-46 UNSAFE STRUCTURE:
Supervisor Volpe opened the hearing for the unsafe structure located at SBL 10-1-46 in the Town of Mount Hope. This has been carried over for 2 meetings now. He asked Mr. Mydosh for updates.
Frank Mydosh: I’ve been really sick and going back and forth to the doctors for x-rays and all the tests they do. They thought I had cancer then they thought I had tumor in my brain. We had a lot on our plate.
Supervisor Volpe: how did we make out with our inspection, Julie?
BI Musial: we had set up a meeting for December 8 at 2pm. On the 7th, Mr. Mydosh called the office and cancelled the meeting and said he didn’t want anyone in his home. I made him aware that the town board is looking for a engineer’s report tonight and that if we didn’t go and do it then he’d be responsible to provide that to the town board this evening. He said that he didn’t remember hearing that last meeting and he would show up to this meeting and discuss that with you. I told him again that he’d be responsible to provide that report to you.
Supervisor Volpe: do you have any updated information for the town board as far as utility bill, engineer’s report? (AT THIS TIME, Mr. Mydosh handed paperwork to BI Musial to give to the Supervisor. He looked at the paperwork.)
Mr. Mydosh: did I bring that up about all the letters I sent in to the Town of Mount Hope police and all the letters I sent in to the Town of Mount Hope, notarized and stuff, where people were destructing our house, our property, our cars? You didn’t overlook that, did you?
Supervisor: I think one really has nothing to do with the other. We’re talking about your house being unsafe to live in.
Mr. Mydosh: yeah but I’m telling you that the people that lived in the area did the destroying of my house what it is now. They even went so far as they shot my wife’s cat, gutted it and put a deer sticker in his ear & because they know my wife loved the cat and hung it on Pierson’s fence. If I were to get a hold of the guys that did that, I would have brought something else up.
Supervisor: somebody didn’t break into your property and put holes in your roof.
Mr. Mydosh: yes, they sure did.
Supervisor: they did?
Mr. Mydosh: I had a new roof put in the back.
Supervisor: is there a police report showing that somebody vandalized your roof?
Mr. Mydosh: you can’t say much to anybody because they look at it, they can’t fingerprint nothing that somebody broke in your door because they don’t do it.
Supervisor: so, somebody gauged your roof and made it like that?
Angie Mydosh: they had cleats on their boots.
Mr. Mydosh: no, they didn’t. They didn’t need cleats – they just tore it up. Other things that they did: they destroyed our cars, our trucks. They destroyed other animals. They poisoned them. Our dogs – they did multiple, multiple stuff and all I got to say is whatever your guys got to do, I’ll be fighting against yas and whatever you got to do, you do it. I’ll fight against it right to the Supreme court in the United States of America.
Supervisor: Is this all you have? Do you have any engineer’s report or any improvements that you can show us?
Mr. Mydosh: I got improvements on the house – but the guy that’s doing the house his father got real sick and he died and he was going to lose his job. He works for some concrete thing and the neighbors – they destroyed the property. We had the police come down and check it out where they stole my property. I had my property surveyed a couple times. They dug all my dirt out and they pushed it up towards my property and the next neighbor on the other side got his sewer and his water all discharged all into my property. They flooded it out. So, take the aerial map of it.
Supervisor: what is the constant generator that’s running down there?
Mr. Mydosh: I use that generator outside or sometimes inside charging car batteries and stuff.
Supervisor: it’s not to run your house?
Mr. Mydosh: no. But, if I needed it, I’d run it.
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Supervisor Volpe asked the attorney if he had any recommendations for the board.
Atty. Bavoso: I do. I’d like to discuss it in executive session prior to the board doing anything.
Supervisor: do you have anything else for us Mr. Mydosh?
Mr. Mydosh: whatever you guys gotta do against me – because I did everything possible to beg for help and I didn’t get it. You guys wanted to know about supplies. We’ve spent a lot of money on supplies down there. Down in the yard but I’ve been sick and right now I’m gonna sue the people that did this to me and they ain’t gonna get away with it. You can’t just slowly kill somebody and they got all my arteries plugged. They want me to go to a hospital and unplug them. Am I gonna make it?
Supervisor: Does anyone form the board have any question or comments?
Councilman Howell: I think we should wait to see what the attorney’s recommendation is.
Supervisor: okay, so I’m just leaving this open right now David?
Atty. Bavoso: whenever you can, close it if you choose to. I think 3 meetings is good.
Mr. Mydosh: one other thing, is that they over-rid all my things where I didn’t want these people to do, now the biggest problem we got right now is we’ve got people moved in and people are robbing us left & right. It’s up to the Town of Mount Hope and the NYS troopers and stuff. If they want a body count, I can have that for them when they come in my yard. I let the state troopers check it out then when I catch these guys doing all that stuff. I’m worried that they’re gonna kill my family. You ever sleep at nighttime or go to the hospital and worry about somebody breaking in and kill your whole family after they killed our dog? You couldn’t run in my house in the middle of the night with that dog. That was a blue nose pit bull – one of them big ones. He was trained and I can’t tell you who trained him but it wasn’t me.
Supervisor: Does anyone from the public have any questions or comments on SBL 10-1-46? Hearing no questions. I’ll close public hearing.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to close public hearing at 8:39pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey that minutes of the December 6, 2021 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
1. End of year budget modifications
2. Request from H’way Supt. to purchase a truck
3. 2021-2022 Snow & Ice agreement with T/O Wallkill for approval
4. Supervisor’s report for November 2021
5. 2022 Library agreement
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell: The annual receipt book audit will be done after the calendar year. Will coordinate with Kathleen. He has a possible employee issue for executive session.
Councilman Carey: He has a request for executive session. Dec. 7th the village had their Patriot tree lighting. It went well. Pictures were posted. Wreaths Across America had a good turnout. 128 wreaths were laid. Otisville little league had a tree lighting at the village park parking lot. They had a movie to follow at the youth center. Today is Chad’s last meeting. He thanked him for his support. There will be a personal dinner for him Tuesday. Merry Christmas – Happy New Year.
Councilman Furman: He’s been working on things for HV sewer. He will get with the board after the 1st of the year with. He was unable to attend Wreaths Across America but it is a very moving experience.
Councilman Jennings: Village meeting will be January 6th at 7pm. Town planning board will meet January 19th at 7pm. He asked Dean about the 284 agreement for next year and asked him to get that to the board. Dean explained it will take some time. He has to get estimates on roads. It usually won’t happen until the spring.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer thanked Chad for his last 8 years of service. It’s been a pleasure working with him and the board. He wished the board Merry Christmas. He explained the truck purchase request. He’s got some figures nailed down on a truck. This is A Kenworth – they have a new body out. This particular truck is slated to be built & completed in the 3rd quarter of next year. If we go with this one, we’ll be 15 months ahead of time with any other truck purchase. It’s through ESCNJ. We’ve purchased through them before. It’s a co-op out of New Jersey. It gives us a 35.1% discount on it. Supervisor Volpe asked if the board had questions. He has plenty of money in capital to cover this.
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MOTION TO APPROVE TRUCK PURCHASE FROM ESCNJ:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the purchase on bid from ESCNJ of the 2023 Kenworth T480V 6X4 cab & chassis for $147,986.47. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard thanked Chad for all the work we’ve done together with the police department. You’ve done an excellent job and I think the police department and the town has benefitted from your input & the things you’ve accomplished with us. Good luck in the future. We are looking for approval to hire John Skoufis effective Jan. 2, 2022 as a non-competitive police officer. We finished the speed trailer training. Seems to be going well. The problem we’re facing now is that there’s not as much sunlight this time of year. I’m not sure how long we’ll have it out. It still collects data.
MOTION TO HIRE JOHN SKOUFIS AS PART TIME NON-COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to hire John Skoufis as a part time non-competitive police officer effective January 2, 2022. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven talked about the last 8 years and the changes in the town. From the village perspective, the relationship between the town and village – Chad and Mayor Wona have worked very hard to share their common vision for the community. They have the same goal to do the best we can for our residents ie: inter-municipal agreements, shared services agreements. She has every confidence that Matt will continue with that.
PORT JERVIS LIBRARY CONTRACT FOR 2022 :
Supervisor Volpe asked the attorney about the library contract. He would like to discuss that in executive session.
SHODDY HOLLOW ROAD PROPERTY:
Attorney Bavoso would like to discuss the potential sale of this Shoddy Hollow Road property in executive session. Both discussions will be very brief.
MOTION TO ACCEPT RETIREMENT LETTER FROM JUSTICE JOE HOSKING:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to accept the retirement letter from Joe Hosking effective December 29, 2021. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE END OF YEAR BUDGET MODIFICATIONS:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following:
FROM Police Capital to A3120.2 Police Eq. $16,198.80
FROM A1990.4 Contingency to A5132.2 Garage Eq. $ 4,910.63
FROM A1990.4 Contingency to A7140.2 Pl/Rec Eq. $ 3,025.00
FROM A1990.4 Contingency to A8810.4 Cemetery Contr. $ 493.00.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE THE 2021-2022 SNOW & ICE AGREEMENT WITH TOWN OF WALLKILL:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the 2021-2022 Snow & Ice Agreement the Town of Wallkill as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
BI Musial gave her report which will be on file in the town clerk’s office. She thanked Supervisor Volpe for his leadership and giving her the opportunity to work in the building department and to help re-vamp that department. We’ve gone a long way in educating our residents as to what is needed to keep them safe and to keep all their properties up to date. She requested executive session for a personnel matter.
MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the November 2021 Supervisor’s report as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
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MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve audit of claims Abstracts #50 & #49:
ABSTRACT 49:
GENERAL A: #667-689 $ 80,663.94
GENERAL B: #107-112 $ 10,975.20
HIGHWAY: #218-224 $ 52,528.00
SEWER: #111-115 $ 5,464.00 AND
ABSTRACT 50:
GENERAL A: #690-716 $ 35,590.51
GENERAL B: #113-118 $ 6,396.35
HIGHWAY: #225-238 $ 26,655.41
SEWER: #116-118 $ 537.94
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.
NOT-FOR-PROFITS/CENTER RENTALS:
Supervisor Volpe: Kathleen and I were talking earlier about some of the not-for-profits & when we allow them to use some of the buildings there’s been a few instances where it hasn’t been kept up on afterwards. Long/short of it, I spoke to the board before the meeting & we are going to make changes. There will be an itemized thing going back to that – when somebody comes in, you’ll be able to say “hey, you’re not getting your deposit back because…” We are going to make changes to that and it will be easier to explain and keep track of.
TOWN BANKING:
Councilman Howell: being as we’re going to have a new supervisor next year, part of preparing for that is to notify our banking institutions and to have the change take place as soon as possible for the beginning of next year. What they’ve requested on our behalf in order to make that a little more seamless is just a recognition of the board through our meeting minutes that there’s a change in supervisor this way they can start the process so we’re not waiting on January 3rd for this to start and cause us some issues. If we could just have a motion/second to acknowledge the new supervisor effective January 1st – this way we can start the notification for the banking institutions.
MOTION TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE NEW TOWN SUPERVISOR AS OF JANUARY 1, 2022:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to recognize the new Town Supervisor (Matthew Howell) effective January 1, 2022. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None.
MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to enter into executive session at 7:55pm to go over personnel and many other items. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO RECONVENE THE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to reconvene the regular meeting from executive session at 8:28pm. THERE WAS NO ACTION TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.
LIBRARY CONTRACT:
Supervisor Volpe: the board is looking to have a few adjustments made to the contract. We are very hopeful that at our January meeting the contract will be ready to go.
SBL 10-1-46 UNSAFE STRUCTURE:
Supervisor Volpe: as far as SBL 10-1-46, we are waiting for a legal direction that David is going to write up and we will also be taking action on January 3, 2022.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jennings: It’s been a pleasure working with you the past 4 years. I wish you the best. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
Councilman Furman: Thank you too. You showed me quite a few things especially when I was 1st getting started. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Councilman Carey: Once again, thank you. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
Councilman Howell: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. We’ll see you next year in January. Chad, thank you. For 8 years I’ve worked with you. A lot of good works done for the town. You’ve made so far, the work getting transitioned into the new supervisor’s role – you’re making it easier than it could have been which I appreciate. We will keep the forward progress – thank you and best of luck.
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Supervisor Volpe: I wanted to end just saying it’s been a pleasure working. I had a change of boards a little bit here & there. It’s been my pleasure working for the town. We had a focus and goal when we took office & I think the buildings and everything reflect that. I think the morale of the employees, everything has been really, really good. It’s been my honor to be here.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:30pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.
The re-organization meeting is scheduled for January 3, 2022 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted, Kathleen A. Myers, RMC, Town Clerk
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