Town Board Meeting December 18th, 2023

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on December 18, 2023 at 7:35pm with the following present: Supervisor Matthew Howell, Councilmember Keri Carey, Councilmember Jim Jennings, Councilmember Chris Furman, Councilmember Amanda Davis and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief Maresca, Attorney D. Bavoso, H’way Supt. Hassenmayer, Dep. Chief Hahne.

Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Howell called the meeting to order at 7:35pm.

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Carey that minutes of the December 4, 2023 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Tax collector county certification for approval & signature by board members
2. Deerpark Humane Society agreement for approval
3. Fully executed fuel agreement from CCE
4. Orange County mortgage tax receipts from November 2023

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilmember Carey: It was a busy weekend this weekend with Wreaths Across America at Holy Name. Trustee Davoren from the Village & CHGI had a sensory ‘pictures with Santa’ and the town tree lighting.
Councilmember Jennings: Village had Patriot Tree lighting on 12/7. Next village meeting will be 12/21 at 7pm. He thanked Howells FD and the police for escorting Santa down to the tree lighting ceremony.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer thanked Corey Williams and Chris Santos for decorating the town tree. Siding on the addition will be wrapped up this week. Interior walls will be starting to be primed this week. Minor flooding in the town with this rain. One area where a bank collapsed but not major.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Maresca reported he and Curt will be attending Chang’s graduation on Wednesday from Phase 2. Next, in the last 6 months we’ve had 7 DWI accidents which all resulted in arrests.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Mayor Carey reported the mobile DMV bus will be at village hall on January 19. Congressman Pat Ryan will have the CARES (constituents advocacy resource empowerment service) van at village hall on January 9. This handles anything federal.

MOTION TO APPROVE THE TAX COLLECTOR BOND:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to approve the tax collector bond in the amount of $1,600,000.00 – copy on file in the town clerk’s office. All in favor: Davis, Carey, Howell, Furman, Jennings; motion carried.

MOTION TO ACCEPT DOG SHELTER CONTRACT WITH PORT JERVIS/DEERPARK HUMANE SOCIETY:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Carey to approve and authorize the Supervisor to sign the contract with Port Jervis/Deerpark Humane Society. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO RENEW HIDDEN VALLEY SEWER PLANT SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH WATER SOLUTION SUPPLY LLC:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to renew the service agreement with Water Solution Supply LLC for $7,500.00 for 2024 as recommended by plant operator Mike Brock. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

COMPLETION OF PROBATIONARY PERIOD FOR EMPLOYEE #83:
Supervisor Howell asked for a motion to approve the completion of the probationary period of employee #83. Councilmember Furman asked the board members to table this until the next meeting. Councilmember Carey agreed as there’s no urgency.
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MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Jennings 2nd Councilmember Furman to audit the claims Abstracts #50 & #49:
ABSTRACT 49:
GENERAL A: #582-603 $ 54,797.89
GENERAL B: #142-144 $ 8,357.35
HIGHWAY: #205-213 $ 35,748.55
SEWER: #109 $ 2,502.46 AND
ABSTRACT 50:
GENERAL A: #604-624 $ 20,102.94
GENERAL B: #145 $ 59.92
HIGHWAY: #214-215 $ 5,153.91
SEWER: #110-111 $ 1,692.21
All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.

BUILDING INSPECTOR PART TIME/PER DIEM REQUEST:
Supervisor Howell has a request from the building inspector to approve a part time per diem additional inspector for the department, Mark Brennan. He was a trainee here last year while completing his state certification. Councilmember Jennings doesn’t want to vote on it. He didn’t have any discussion on this until just now. Everyone agreed.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
MIKE MEERE: asked about a letter he had asked the board to write. Supervisor Howell: I have a draft that I’ll share with the board members just to make sure they’re satisfied with the request you made and I’ll get that sent. Mr. Meere asked about the blueprints. Councilmember Furman has emailed the town engineer and hasn’t heard back yet. Mr. Meere asked when the last scoping was done. Supervisor Howell thinks about 6 years ago.
HELEN GROMACKI wanted to mention that with the warehouse, she would like the board to consider that the property adjacent to there is exhibiting major flooding today and there’s also 6 utility poles running adjacent to Route 211. She read into record page 29 section 2 of the town zoning. She wanted to reiterate the historical impact after completing that. Councilmember Furman: we have no clue that was an Amazon warehouse. I don’t know where people are getting that from. We decided 2 meetings ago that zoning request was not approved.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilmember Jennings: It was a pleasure working with you. I wish you the best.
Councilmember Furman: Thank you for 10 years of service to this town. Merry Christmas to everyone. The new treadmills are in. Thank you to the highway guys for that.
Councilmember Carey: Thank you to highway guys for the tree. Thank you, Matt for your service. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
Councilmember Davis: Thank you for your service to the town. Thank you to the highway department for the tree.
Supervisor Howell thanked everyone in the town – it was a pleasure to work with everyone for 10 years.

MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to enter into executive session at 7:50pm to discuss a contractual matter with the attorney. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.

MOTION TO RECONVENE THE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to reconvene the regular meeting from executive session at 8:59pm. THERE WAS NO ACTION TAKEN IN THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Supervisor Howell 2nd Councilmember Davis to adjourn the meeting at 8:59pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The re-organization meeting is scheduled for January 2, 2024 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC, Town Clerk

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