Town Board Meeting August 16th, 2021

The regular meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at Town Hall on August 16, 2021 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: Chief P. Rickard, Dep Chief Maresca, D. Bavoso Town Attorney, D. Hassenmayer, H’way Supt.

Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30PM, following the Pledge of Allegiance.

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to accept the minutes from the August 2, 2021 and August 9, 2021 as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. OMHPC request to use youth center on October 16,2021
2. Supervisor’s report July 2021
3. Notification from Police Chief re: contract with MV school district for SRO 2021-2022
4. Snow & Ice agreement with Orange County for 2021-2022
5. Copy of seatbelt regulations for town employees to add to employee handbook
6. Lead Agency info re: Good Dada
7. Lead Agency info re: Pine Grove Road 15 lot subdivision
8. Orange County mortgage tax receipts for July 2021
9. Legalization of Marijuana report update re: executive summary
10. Email corres. from Lisa Dysard re: public hearing on marijuana opting out
11. Email corres. from Ken Pinkela re: Colorado Division of Criminal Justice publishes report on impacts of marijuana legalization in Colorado
12. Copy of letter from Aventine Properties re: 10 SCAR petitions
13. Quotes from Councilman Furman re: pressure washing town buildings

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
BOARD REPORTS:
COUNCILMAN JENNINGS: 84 library cards issued to date; no planning board meeting this month; next village meeting is Aug. 19, @ 7pm; still working on generator quotes.
COUNCILMAN FURMAN: MVYF scrimmages started Saturday; football insurance cert was received; no ZBA meeting this month; no Hidden Valley reports; met with another contractor for pressure washing.
COUNCILMAN CAREY: summer concerts have gone well & tomorrow night is the last one; cleaning person started last week & will do town hall Wednesday at 9:00am.
COUNCILMAN HOWELL: OCDPW completed the Brola Road construction project; duct work modifications will start tomorrow at police station/court; he spoke with Jason & David to get RFP started for the HVAC system at the police /court building; will start on the Veteran’s parade preparations soon.

LEAD AGENCY:
Attorney Bavoso explained that depending on the type of project that the planning board is required to send out an intent for lead agency giving possible interested agencies the ability to challenge their role as lead agency. He doesn’t think that either of those projects are anything that the town board wants to be lead agency on. The board can do a letter back to planning board declining or there’s a requirement that if you wanted to challenge their ability you would have to do so within 30 days. Once the 30 days expires, it’s basically taking it that you’re not challenging it. Don’t need to do anything.

SHODDY HOLLOW ROAD PROPERTY:
Supervisor Volpe: our property on Shoddy Hollow Road contract is running out. We sold the one piece. We still have the one for sale for $150,000.00. The real estate agent is recommending that we re-sign the contract and lower the price to $140,000.00. We haven’t gotten any offers on it. I’d like board approval to sign another contract and lower the price to $140,000.00. Councilman Carey: the company that reached out to us that was interested, will they be contacted? Supervisor: I imagine the agent would do that. Councilman Howell: we had gotten a solicitation from a firm that does auctions. We used surplus equipment auctions. It’s advertised they do real estate. Is that an option? Supervisor: I think we try this one more time, then why not. This will easily pay off the rest of the money from “B” to “A”.

MOTION TO APPROVE RE-SIGNING CONTRACT FOR 6 MONTHS AND LOWERING PRICE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to authorize the Town Supervisor to sign the contract for 6 months and lower price to $140,000.00. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

70
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported on the generator for the youth center. He met with Mike and Brandyn Howell because he does the gas. I spoke to you and told you we could do a generator inside the one room. Evidently, we cannot put high pressure gas inside a building. We could put a diesel generator inside the room but not a gas. The area you thought it could go outside, there’s really no place to run the gas line to it from the tank we have. The guys also floated around the idea of a portable generator mounted on a trailer and we could wire it up to hook it up as we need it. Trailer mounted generators are twice the amount of money as a standard mount.
We started on the parking lot up there. We did the easy section out by Baker Street. We have to remove that pole. To do that, we have to feed the power for the garage from the rec center. They dug a ditch today. Mike Romano already told them what size conduit to run. We’re gonna run a couple extra. Once it is hooked up it’s a day for Mike to hook it up. Then O&R gets called. There was an idea for a propane generator to put in the area behind where the other on is. Either diesel inside or propane outside. Councilman Jennings will get both prices.
The 1st truck body that we removed, is our worst one. I need to declare it surplus. It’s a 2003 Tenco Model TC131 Combination dump body. $31,975.00 18 years ago. It was rusted out very bad.

MOTION TO DECLARE DUMP BODY AS SURPLUS:
MOTION offered Supervisor Volpe 2nd Councilman Carey to declare the 2003 Tenco Model TC131 Combination dump body. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

He’d like permission to attend highway school in Saratoga Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 – total cost $1,806.81. Amy will be going with him and she will sit in on classes.

MOTION TO APPROVE HIGHWAY SUPT. TO ATTEND HIGHWAY SCHOOL IN SARATOGA, NY:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to approve highway supt. to attend highway school in Saratoga Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2021 for a total cost of $1,806.81. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

We are still waiting on our oil/chip contractor. We are scheduled to do it this week Wednesday & Thursday. Depends on the tropical storm on Thursday. He ordered salt. We started mixing – we screened sand for the last month. Getting ready for winter.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported the speed trailer was ordered.
Night out against crime went very well. Very good turnout.
The county is gonna take over the records management system. They have contracts with Niche. Aug 5 was their 1st meeting. This will be a money saver for 2023. It’s about a 14-16 month process to adopt this. Additionally, through Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther’s office she was able to get for us, Wallkill, Port Jervis & Middletown a $545,000.00 grant to assist in responding to crisis calls. The county is going to manage that grant. Still working on some of the details. Spoke to Darcy Miller – they are looking to dedicate a mobile response team in the C/O Middletown which would be able to respond to here. They’re also looking to train up to another 60 officers between the 4 agencies. It’s a sizable grant. He thanked her for that.
The contract is for the school resource officer is needing authorization for Chad to sign it. The only change is the dates and the $ amount.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reported the next village board meeting is Thursday with 2 public hearings. We start at 6:30. She thanked the police department for their help with the yard sale. She thanked the Chief for putting the speed trailer on Seybolt Avenue. Centennial weekend is coming up in September. Overview: Friday evening will be picnic at Veteran’s Park with music from 5-9, Saturday is the parade; after parade at town park there will be 2 bands and fireworks; Sunday is a formal ceremony at Veteran’s park: art show on Highland Ave at the old Methodist church. Centennial clock has been uncovered. Formal dedication will take place -TBD.

OPEN (CONTINUATION) OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2-2021 “To Opt Out of Allowing Cannabis Retail Dispensaries & On-Site Consumption as Authorized under Cannabis Law, Article 4”:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to open the public hearing at 7:50pm for PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #2-2021 “To Opt Out of Allowing Cannabis Retail Dispensaries & On-Site Consumption as Authorized under Cannabis Law, Article 4”. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

Town Clerk received the executive summary re: cannabis from Chief Rickard, email from Lisa Dysard & email from Ken Pinkela. There were no public comments.

71
Councilman Furman asked the attorney – if a year from now we want to opt-in, how long would it take? Attorney: it would be the same process. You would do it by local law – draft the law, set public hearing, hold public hearing then pass the law. Supervisor Volpe asked the attorney: considering the town and village are different governments, we could opt-out and they could opt-in? Attorney: yes. Supervisor: personally, I don’t think we should allow any dispensaries at this time. We don’t know a lot of what’s gonna come about. We waited 30 years to re-do the master plan that has zoning in certain areas. It was very expensive to re-do the master plan. From the planning board end of it, if someone puts in a 4-lot subdivision, we would have people up in arms – because they weren’t gonna have a neighbor and then they do. I don’t know that people would welcome this with open arms in a residential area. Councilman Furman agrees with the supervisor.

MOTION TO APPROVE LOCAL LAW #2-2021 “To Opt Out of Allowing Cannabis Retail Dispensaries & On-Site Consumption as Authorized under Cannabis Law, Article 4”:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve LOCAL LAW #2-2021 “To Opt Out of Allowing Cannabis Retail Dispensaries & On-Site Consumption as Authorized under Cannabis Law, Article 4” as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried. (copy in town clerk’s office)

MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to close public hearing at 7:55pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

OPEN (CONTINUATION) OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #3-2021 “Prohibiting Smoking in Town Parks and Recreation Areas”:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Furman to open the public hearing at 7:55pm for PROPOSED LOCAL LAW #3-2021 “Prohibiting Smoking in Town Parks and Recreation Areas”. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

Supervisor Volpe asked for any board comments. Councilman Carey: I think this is gonna be hard to overcome by smokers. Supervisor asked if there were any public comments. Those of you that weren’t here, the reason that we are doing this is because you can’t say the difference between smoking cigarettes and smoking marijuana. You can’t ban one without the other therefore it had to be grouped in together.
Diane Loeven: the way the village drafted theirs – it says no smoking in any form including vaping. I don’t know if your intention was to have that but we recently got something from the conference of mayors saying that just banning smoking doesn’t necessarily ban vaping. It has to have that language in it. Attorney Bavoso added that vaping is included in the law. Kelly Dolson: how will the law be enforced? Chief: it will be similar to like now what we have with the alcohol. You’re not allowed to drink alcohol in the park. We would first ask you to stop. Then we could follow up with a ticket which the town court procedure and you get a ticket and have to go to court. Rich Rebman asked if signs would be put in all the parks. Supervisor: there’s a few up already. We will put the signs up that enforce the local law. No board comments.

MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to close public hearing at 8:00 pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE LOCAL LAW #3-2021 “Prohibiting Smoking in Town Parks and Recreation Areas”:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to APPROVE LOCAL LAW #3-2021 “Prohibiting Smoking in Town Parks and Recreation Areas” as presented; subject to permissive referendum. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried. (copy in town clerk’s office)

AT THIS TIME – Attorney Bavoso added: just so the board is aware, for the cannabis law that was passed, that is by state law, subject to a permissive referendum. That law doesn’t take effect for another 45 days unless the requisite # of people petition the town.

LETTER FROM OMHPC:
Read into record by Town Clerk:
“Dear Town of Mount Hope board members,
Otisville Presbyterian Church would like to rent the Youth Center on Saturday, October 16th for a church picnic. We will be using the indoor area as well as the lawn outside the building. We will have mostly simple lawn games like cornhole and volleyball and frisbee, but also hopefully a dunk tank if it is allowed. We were considering a petting zoo but the people bringing the animals would have no professional liability insurance as they do not have petting zoo businesses, but are farmers. Would you accept a rider from our insurance company for the petting zoo/animals, which would include goats, alpacas and a donkey? These are the same animals we use each year for our live nativity in the church parking lot and they are well acclimated to people petting them.
Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to hearing back from you. Any continued discount you can consider for our church is also appreciated.
Jen D’Esposito, Director of Children and Family Ministries, Otisville Presbyterian Church”.

72
Attorney Bavoso explains they are going to have to provide – with any approval you give – insurance information that’s satisfactory to the board.

MOTION TO APPROVE REQUEST FROM OMHPC:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the request from OMHPC to use the Youth Center on October 16, 2021 subject to insurance approval from the town insurance company. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT FOR JULY 2021:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the supervisor’s report for July 2021 as presented. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE CONTRACT WITH MV SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR THE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER FOR SCHOOL YEAR 2021-2022 & AUTHORIZE THE TOWN SUPERVISOR TO SIGN CONTRACT:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the contract with the MV school district for the School Resource Officer for school year 2021-2022 and authorize the town supervisor to sign the contract. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE THE 2021-2022 SNOW & ICE AGREEMENT WITH COUNTY OF ORANGE:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to authorize the town supervisor to sign the 2021-2022 Snow & Ice Agreement with the County of Orange for certain county roads for $4,950.00/mile for a total of 9.18 miles. (Copy on file in town clerk’s office) All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

SEATBELT SECTION #908 TO BE ADDED TO EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to add Section #908 SEATBELTS to Town of Mount Hope employee handbook. (see attached to these minutes) All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to audit the claims for Abstracts #31 & #32:
ABSTRACT #31:
GENERAL A: #399-409 $ 65,285.95
GENERAL B: #69-71 $ 6,217.72
HIGHWAY: #128-129 $ 18,517.02
SEWER: #70 $ 1,935.60
AND
ABSTRACT #32:
GENERAL A: #410-422 $ 9,375.19
GENERAL B: #72 $ 142.16
HIGHWAY: #130-137 $ 23,659.15
SEWER: #71-74 $ 402.62.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Alison Miller: F.O.T.O.S. tricky tray was a tremendous success. F.O.T.O.S. was a recipient of a grant from LOWES for $100,000.00 to renovate the gym floor, the stage and two adjacent hallways. She spoke re: ‘Red Vest Tuesdays’ where local residents can come and volunteer and work with Lowes on the renovations. There will be more posted on this on their facebook page.

MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to enter into executive session at 8:10pm to discuss a contractual issue. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to reconvene regular meeting from executive session at 8:25pm. NO ACTION WAS TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO CANCEL CONTRACT WITH COOPER ARIAS:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to cancel the contract with Cooper Arias for their accounting services. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

73

MOTION TO EMPLOY K,K,B & N CPA’s PC:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to hire K, K, B & N CPA’s PC, per diem, based upon the bid they submitted. All in favor: Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; ABSTAIN: Howell; motion carried.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Howell commented that the Night Out Against Crime was great and thanked the PD.
Councilman Carey agreed with Councilman Howell and hopes to see everyone out at the concert tomorrow night.
Councilman Furman agreed with Councilman Howell.
Councilman Jennings agreed with the other councilmen and thinks the helicopter was a big hit.

Chief Rickard gave a lot of credit to Marie Bubilo for all her hard work put int to the planning of NOAC.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:28pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for September 7, 2021 at 7:30pm. Budget meeting at 6:00pm Sept. 7, 2021.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Myers, Town Clerk

74

908

Seatbelts:

(a) The use of seatbelts has a significant effect in reducing injuries resulting from traffic crashes and in assisting employees to maintain proper control of their vehicles therefore, seatbelts must be worn when driving or riding as a passenger in a Town vehicle.
(b) Seatbelts shall also be used as an additional restraint.
(c) The driver of the vehicle is responsible for ensuring compliance by all occupants of the vehicle while in operation.
(d) No employee shall operate a department vehicle in which any seatbelt in the driver’s seating position is inoperable.
(e) No person shall modify, remove, deactivate or otherwise tamper with the vehicle seatbelts except for maintenance and repair and not without the prior authorization of the Town Supervisor.

75