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Town Board Meeting April 3rd, 2023

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on April 3, 2023 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Matthew Howell, Councilmember Amanda Davis, Councilmember Jim Jennings, Councilmember Chris Furman and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief M. Maresca, Attorney D. Bavoso, Highway Supt. D. Hassenmayer.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Howell called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman that the minutes of the March 20, 2023 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Resignation letter from Councilmember Brian Carey effective 4/3/2023
2. Requests from country fair re: fireworks, portable lights, traffic cones, barrels, saw horses
3. February 2023 building department report
4. Tax collection summary through 3/29/2023
5. Letter from O&R re: UDig & excavator certifications
6. Shingle installation quotes

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilmember Davis: planning board clerk will be out of the office through April 7.
Councilmember Furman: membranes are in at Hidden Valley. One set of fine screens were put in. The next big project over there is doing the manholes. MV youth football has a new logo. You can see it on their facebook page. He thanked Brian and wished him good luck.
Councilmember Jennings: Easter egg hunt is Saturday 2pm. He asked board members to meet there for set up will be at 12:00pm. He thanked Otisville FD for the donation of eggs. They stuffed about 2,000 eggs last Tuesday. He thanked girl scout troop 771 for their help with the eggs. The next village meeting is April 6, 2023 at 6:30pm with a public hearing on the budget.
Supervisor Howell: The MS-4 report was submitted. He thanked the highway guys for fixing the furnace.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer: the guys have been doing the rough-in electric for the addition. Tomorrow, we pick up the cables to run to the panel board. Mike Romano will be doing all the connections. The roof is the next thing on the schedule. He has 2 estimates for shingles. One from 84 Lumber for $7,014.48 just for the shingles. One from Beacon Materials for shingles, flashing and everything including nails for $3,184.32. He recommends Beacon. Highway department will insulate it. Best price on insulation is from Home Depot. We can put that on the town credit card and pay it – it’s about $3,754. Once that’s done the highway dept. will step away for a while. Sheet rock would be next. Trash days are coming up. The guys started sweeping the roads. There are a few bugs with the new truck.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Maresca congratulated Brian Carey. He requested executive session for a personnel matter.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Lattimer reported that May 1-6 is the village trash pickup.

SIGN QUOTES:
Supervisor Howell reported the proofs came from Lewis Signs. The town park signs quote: $2,159. Hidden Valley sign: $1,105. Municipal complex and town hall signs: $1,565. He will have a new point of contact for this project.

MOTION TO APPROVE SIGN QUOTE FOR TOWN PARK SIGNS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Jennings 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the sign quote from Lewis Signs for the town park signs for $2,159.00. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE SIGN QUOTE FOR HIDDEN VALLEY ENTRANCE SIGN:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the sign quote from Lewis Signs for the Hidden Valley sign for $1,105.00. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

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MOTION TO APPROVE SIGN QUOTE FOR THE TOWN MUNICIPAL COMPLEX AND TOWN HALL:
MOTION offered Councilmember Jennings 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the sign quote from Lewis Signs for the municipal complex and town hall signs for $1,565.00. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE COUNTRY FAIR REQUEST FOR SIGN POSTS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Davis to approve the request from the Otisville country fair for the use of the sign posts from 7/8/2023 through 8/5/2023. All in favor: Davis, Howell, Furman; ABSTAIN – Jennings; motion carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE COUNTRY FAIR REQUEST TO BORROW TRAFFIC CONES, SAW HORSES, BARRELS AND PORTABLE LIGHTS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the request from the Otisville country fair to borrow traffic cones, saw horses, barrels and portable lights for the country fair. All in favor: Davis, Howell, Furman; ABSTAIN – Jennings; motion carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE COUNTRY FAIR REQUEST FOR FIREWORKS SHOW:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the request from the Otisville country fair to hold fireworks display on July 30, 2023 pending completed application and insurance requirements. All in favor: Davis, Howell, Furman; ABSTAIN – Jennings; motion carried.

MOTION TO ACCEPT QUOTE FROM BEACON BUILDERS FOR SHINGLES:
MOTION offered Councilmember Jennings 2nd Councilmember Furman to accept the quote from Beacon Building Products in the amount of $3,184.32 for the shingle materials for the town hall addition. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Davis 2nd Councilwoman Furman to approve the bills (Abstract #12, #13):
ABSTRACT 12:
GENERAL A: #144-149 $ 32,075.36
GENERAL B: #35 $ 579.74
HIGHWAY: #66-71 $ 4,357.82
SEWER: #29-32 $ 61,833.35
ABSTRACT 13:
GENERAL A: #150-160 $ 5,639.89
HIGHWAY: #72-77 $ 8,260.79
SEWER: #33 $ 1,820.00
All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

ROOFING PACKET:
Supervisor Howell received the packet for the roofing contractors from John Fuller. He has 3 written estimates. 3 additional contractors were contacted – 2 declined and the other did not receive the specs in time. The engineer recommends KBL Woodworkers Inc. at $2,300.00. All Steel bid $3,955.00 and Terra Firma bid $5,800.00.

MOTION TO ACCEPT BID FROM ‘KBL WOODWORKS INC.’ FOR ROOF PROJECT:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to authorize KBL Woodworkers Inc. for a roof installation for $2,300.00. All in favor – David, Furman, Jennings; ABSTAIN – Howell (due to be related to someone at one of the firms). MOTION CARRIED.

MOTION TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION FROM TOWN BOARD MEMBER BRIAN CAREY:
MOITON offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Davis to accept resignation from Brian Carey, town board member effective April 3, 2023. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE THE POLICE PBA CONTRACT EFFECTIVE 4/3/2023 THROUGH 12/31/2025:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to authorize Supervisor Howell to sign the PBA police contract effective today through 12/31/2025. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
BRIAN CAREY had to resign his seat on the town board because he was sworn in as the village mayor today. He thanked everyone that he used to work with at town hall. He is having a swearing in ceremony on Wednesday night at 6:30pm at the Otisville fire hall. He welcomed everyone to come. He finalized the summer concert series before he left. He’d like for the village to be a part of this; he will speak to his village board about it. This comes out of the “B” line part of the budget for the town.
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He put an ad on INDEED for summer camp directors. We received 5 applicants. He reported that his son completed his boy scout Eagle project at the youth center. The flag pole is standing.
JESSICA: She met with Matt on 3/21 and shared some info with him. She volunteers with NY Citizen Audit. This is a group of over 1500 volunteers across NY. This group is focused on protecting our voting system in NY. They have a canvass team, research team, data team & FOIL team. NYS BOE has a database which contains 21 million registered voters in NY. There should be security protecting this database. All NY’ers have an 18-digit state board ID number that we use to vote with for life. We also have a county ID number which you can have different ID numbers if you move from county to county. The county ID numbers are linked to your one state ID number. County makes the changes to your information – this is not done at the state level. NY Citizens Audit FOIL requested & obtained the entire database of all 21 million registered voters in NY. The research team loaded it into search software where it can be searched by any means: name, DOB, registration date etc. The research team found over 1 million violations of election law in this database. We need the board members to sign a resolution that we need an end-to-end audit for our NY state board voter roll database. This info was sent to the board members. She asked if they looked at it. Councilmember Furman asked if this covers people that live in the city then also have a summer home here and then vote here as well. She answered with different scenarios. They want the database checked. Supervisor Howell: was the county asked this as well? Jessica: our group is growing and going to every town in every county. Brian Carey added: what they’re doing is a big undertaking. They have to go to each town/village and explain what they have to do. This is a no brainer. Jessica: website is: auditNY.com. Peter: read from a booklet re: statistics. Supervisor Howell would like for the attorney to review the resolution before the board acts on it. He agrees with the process. He is hoping after the attorney reviews the resolution that at the next board meeting the board would pass the resolution. Mrs. Maldonado asked why the information wasn’t given to the lawyer after the supervisor received it. Supervisor: it was sent to the board members.
DIANE LOEVEN thanked Dean and the guys for the senior hall setup. She thanked Amanda for the senior hall long term solution (map of tables/chairs setup after a rental). The final copy of the trip schedule will be sent to Liz once it is finalized.
PATTI SEEKAMP asked about the 6 additional chairs she requested. Supervisor: will get more chairs.
MONISHA MALDONADO spoke re: Juneteenth festival. Last year she spoke with Matt. Board members then were Chris, Amanda, Jim & Brian. Last years request didn’t go as smoothly as she had hoped. The town allowed her to plan the festival in the town park. No one besides Brian had any interest in getting involved and helping her. Last year’s turnout was amazing. She was proud to bring awareness to the community for this festival which is a federal holiday. 9/30/2022 she emailed supervisor “how does she request the town to possibly host and allocate their funds for 2023 & each year after that what would need to be done. She received an email back stating that the request would be to the town board. Any info regarding the proposed expenses for a celebration would be helpful. She’d never planned an event like this. She came up with a budget she didn’t want to exceed because the town board didn’t want any part of it. She reached out on February 2 to Matt asking about this. Supervisor stated he spoke with all the board members. None of them have any knowledge of this type of festival re: food, music, dance etc. to help organize this event.
BRIAN LATTIMER gave a shout out to a lot of volunteer individuals who donated time, materials, energy. He thanked Dean for his assistance. Numbers continue to grow.

BOARD COMMENTS:
COUNCILMEMBER JENNINGS congratulated Brian Carey on his election win. He hopes to see everyone at the egg hunt.
SUPERVISOR HOWELL: Received director applications. They will ow accept counselor applications 16 or older. He thanked OFD for the egg donations for the egg hunt. Effective today, he appoints Chris Furman as deputy town supervisor.

MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to enter into executive session at 8:32pm for a police personnel matter. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to reconvene regular meeting from executive session at 9:10pm. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Davis to adjourn the meeting at 9:10pm. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 17, 2023 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

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Contact

Supervisor:
Paul Rickard
Phone: 845-386-2211
Fax: (845) 386-1100

Town Clerk:
Kathleen Myers
Phone: (845) 386-1460

Address:
1706 Route 211W,
Otisville,
New York 10963

Town Board Meetings:
First and Third Monday of each month, 7:30 p.m.

Planning Board Meetings:
Third Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m.

Zoning Board of Appeals Meetings: Meets as needed.

Town Court:

Clerk: Myrna Macintosh
Clerk: Francine Heppes
Phone: (845) 386-5303