Town Board Meeting February 16th, 2021

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on February 16, 2021 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Chris Furman and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Deputy Police Chief Maresca, Highway Supt. Hassenmayer & Attorney D. Bavoso.

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

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell that the minutes of the February 1, 2021 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. 3 quotes for drop ceiling in senior center
2. Supervisor’s report January 2021
3. Letter from O&R re: Dig Safely virtual classes
4. Mortgage tax receipts Jan 2021
5. Palmers Ark impound report Jan 2021
6. Letter from Girls on the Run chairperson Laura Melson
7. Public hearing notice for T/O Wawayanda 2/4/2021
8. Lot A Shoddy Hollow Road offer
9. Police Reform & Reinvention Plan dated February 2021

MOTION TO AUTHORIZE GIRLS ON THE RUN PROGRAM TO USE THE PARK:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Jennings to allow GIRLS ON THE RUN to use the town park from April 5, 2021 through June 15, 2021. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell wanted to follow up with the attorney about the Howells fire district that we are purchasing the additional acreage for the Howells cemetery. He asked if there’s been any response from their attorneys. Attorney Bavoso stated that they’ve been in touch with those attorneys and been in touch with the title company for the town. We are ironing out exactly what we need to file the deeds. That should be resolved within the next week or 2. At that point he will have to ask the town for a new check because the check we have is more than a year old. Councilman Howell then spoke about the signs for the youth center for when there is a rental that the building is occupied. They are up there.
Councilman Jennings spoke about the village meeting. There were 24 fire calls for January. The village hired a new DPW employee. Their next village meeting is 2/18/2021 at 7pm. Our planning board meeting is 2/17/2021 at 7pm. He brought up about the Easter parade. They all agreed on April 3rd at 1:00pm. He will reach out to Howells fire and Otisville fire tomorrow. They noted to Deputy Chief Maresca that they will need an additional officer on that day.
Councilman Furman thanked Brian for bring their chairs down to the table for the meeting. The engineers have applied for a grant through NYS for the Hidden Valley sewer. It was put in last Thursday. He noted that he watched Steve Neuhaus’ video that there will be no vaccines this week due to the weather and some things going on in the state. Steve is doing everything in his power to get the vaccines but the state is controlling it and we are not getting the amount of vaccines that we are supposed to get. If there’s anyone that goes to the VA, 65 y/o or older, there’s a walk-in clinic. Go to VA.GOV and register from there.
Councilman Carey added that Walgreen’s and CVS are also on the list. You can get the vaccine has the vaccine. He received 3 quotes for the drop ceiling at the senior center. Quote from Ron Walker was $10,400 for labor only. Next quote from Advanced DRI was $34,485.82 – this would be a glued on the existing ceiling. Last quote is from Jeff Sniffin Construction for $3,000 for labor only. The vent in the center of the room has heat ducts in them and would need to be lowered a 3” inches. He gave out a parts list from Marjam $13,085.38. He explained the Ultima tiles with the 70% noise reduction. He spoke with Mike Romano, electrician. The lights need to be upgraded to a drop ceiling light. They need to be 2×2 low profile. He suggested if we buy them from Green Mountain in Goshen, we can get a rebate through NYSERDA. He doesn’t have the pricing for the lights yet. He suggests accepting the quote from Jeff Sniffin for $3,000. He tried Home Depot for the parts but they don’t sell the ceiling tile he is looking at. He thanked County Legislator Tom Faggione for the donation of the County flag for our youth center. He’s getting a new American flag for the senior center from the American Legion. Little League would like to put something on our digital sign that the registration is opened. Facility in use signs are on the back of the 2nd entrance maybe this could be added somehow to our forms. He asked if we were going to change the lock on the kitchen. He asked if the lock for the utility room could be changed as well. He spoke about a dedication sign for the youth center. He will have more info for next meeting. He is going to apply for a grant for the concert series. He spoke re: different dates for community day for 2021.

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He suggests Sept. 18th to coincide with the village centennial celebration. He spoke re: Assoc. of Towns virtual meeting for public officials on social media training.
Councilman Howell confirmed that the electric/lighting (for the senior center) would be done by Mike Romano.

MOTION TO ACCEPT QUOTE FROM JEFF SNIFFIN CONSTRUCTION FOR INSTALLATION/LABOR OF DROP CEILING AT SENIOR CENTER:
MOTION offered Supervisor Volpe 2nd Councilman Furman to accept quote from Jeff Sniffin Construction for $3,000.00 which includes install of drop ceiling and moving the heating vents down where you wouldn’t see that they were moved down. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported they only had minor breakdowns with the trucks but nothing expensive. They are ready for Thursday’s storm. Supervisor Volpe asked if anything has happened with the mutual aid thing yet. Supt. Hassenmayer stated no, but after the 2 big storms they helped the village with wing back of their streets.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Dep. Police Chief Maresca introduced Christopher Mazzella for the fulltime position to be filled. He’s been through the background process. If approved tonight, they will contact the county to get him set up with his medical & drug test. Once that is back and he is ok, he could start.

RESOLUTION TO APPROVE HIRING CHRISTOPHER MAZZELLA AS FULL TIME COMPETITIVE POLICE OFFICER EFFECTIVE 2/22/2021:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to hire Christopher as a fulltime competitive police officer effective 2-22-2021 pending results from the county. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

POLICE REFORM & REINVENTION PLAN:
Supervisor Volpe referred to the Police reform & reinvention plan. They did the call via ZOOM on Wednesday. It was lengthy in time. A lot of work went in to this packet. We have a public hearing on it next meeting. The purpose of this is for you guys to go over it within the next 2 weeks. If you have questions or comments, please reach out to the Chief. Everything came back from the committee and everything got approved by the reform committee. Councilman Carey asked when the cards that went out are due back. Supervisor Volpe: they were already due back. Everything is back; all the data is back. About 100 cards came back.

REPORT FROM ATTORNEY BAVOSO:
As far as the original property that you voted to sign the contract on 2 meetings ago, that time limitation for the permissive referendum actually expires this week. We’ve already gotten back communication from the buyer’s attorney that they’re ready to close. We haven’t seen the title report yet. Hoping to close in the next week or 2.
With Howells, we are working with the title company as to what we need to file. They may require from us that we file the maps along with the deeds. There’s a chance I may have to ask the town board for a check for potentially a couple more original surveys in the mylar from the Howell’s engineer that did that work. I believe the board wanted to do an executive session on the 2nd piece of property that’s for sale in the town to discuss their negotiation options. He next talked about extending the cable. We are waiting on a cost analysis for Spectrum. The request was made last week.

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

SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING CLASS:
Supervisor Volpe stated that every person that works for the town, it needs to go in their file every year, showing that this class was given. He reached out to Paul. Anna is our trainer. She came back with 2 dates. One is evening class and one is a day class. March 23, 2021 is at 1:00pm and March 24, 2021 at 6:30pm. The only thing required for this is to give him an email address. That’s how you’re gonna log in. It is going to be a ZOOM type thing. If the highway guys want to take it all together – that’s fine, he just need a list because we have to print out things to put in everyone’s file. He thinks by March 1st he will have the link sent out to everyone. He has notices going out this week with paychecks. Town Clerk Myers asked if the planning board members, ZBA members and BAR members will have to take this. Supervisor Volpe: yes, if they get any kind of compensation from the town.

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MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the bills (Abstract #5 & #6):
ABSTRACT #5:
GENERAL A: #61-77 $ 63,125.87
GENERAL B: #11 $ 3,499.24
HIGHWAY: #15-18 $ 30,720.84
SEWER: #8-12 $ 6,122.70 AND
ABSTRACT #6:
GENERAL A: #78-88 $ 7,201.44
GENERAL B: #12 $ 3,292.50
HIGHWAY: #19-24 $ 2,126.26
SEWER: #13 $ 130.00.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

YOUTH CENTER:
Councilman Carey spoke re: the checklist for the youth and senior center and adding a something to it for the alcohol waiver.
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: getting a sign up for the WIFI password.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jennings thanked the highway department for all their work with the storms.
Councilman Howell asked about a PILOT for a proposed solar company from a couple meetings ago. He asked if there’s been any movement towards coming to an agreement. Supervisor Volpe: no, we will not be coming to an agreement because they want to lowball it much lower than any other person and the town has set a precedent by charging $6,000/megawatt to all other 5. Glenn is well aware that we are not negotiating down. All PILOTs are done over a 15-year basis. We will negotiate a lower start point, under $6,000 but then at the end, say they’re at $7,500 where it’s a sliding scale, the end result is over 15 years you’re paying $6,000/megawatt.

MOTION TO ENTER IN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to enter into executive session at 8:13pm to go over a contractual item with the town attorney. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to reconvene regular meeting from executive session at 8:27pm. NO ACTION WAS TAKEN AT THIS EXECUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

SHODDY HOLLOW ROAD:
Supervisor Volpe stated that they had a discussion over the price offered to the town for our other piece of property. The town board has instructed the attorney to go back to the realtor with what the town prefers.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:27pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The next town board meeting is scheduled for March 1, 2021 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

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