Town Board Meeting July 5th, 2022
OFFICIALS PRESENT: D. Bavoso- Attorney, Deputy Police Chief M. Maresca, D. Hassenmayer- Highway Supt..
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Howell called the public hearing on the proposed local law amending the fireworks regulations of the Town of Mount Hope to order at 7:30pm.
MOTION TO OPEN PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to open the public hearing for the proposed local law amending the fireworks regulations of the Town of Mount Hope at 7:30pm. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
Supervisor Howell opened the meeting to public comment. Legal notice is available and copies of the amendment to the current law are on the desk.
Alison Miller: It’s well documented that fireworks have a traumatizing effect on animals. Each July 4, animal shelters, vets & animal rights organizations put out statements cautioning pet owners about ways to minimize these effects. Common reactions in dogs include a freezing/paralysis, tachycardia, gastrointestinal disorders & uncontrolled attempts to escape/hide. Pet shelters have claimed that the busiest days for taking in runaway animals is July 5th. Fireworks have similar negative effects on farm animals: cows & horses and wildlife. Birds and small mammals often abandon their nests in fear & often become disoriented and never return to their homes. Deer, coyotes & other animals flee into roadways to escape the perceived danger & end up causing car accidents. Fireworks can also cause extreme distress in veterans & others with PTSD as well as noise sensitive children such as those on the autistic spectrum or with sensory processing challenges. For some people, fireworks can lead to hearing loss. The world health organization lists 120 decibels as the pain threshold for sound. Fireworks are louder than that – sometimes at 150-170 decibels. We live in a rural/agricultural area with plenty of people who own cats/dogs as well as farmers with livestock. In addition, this town board has long championed its local veterans – with Supervisor Howell before he became town supervisor for many years organizing an annual veterans day parade to honor those who have served. The town law already allows for 2 fireworks shows per year absent a groundswell of support for more – I’m not sure why the board sees a need to amend the law. I have not seen public outcry for additional shows. At the last board meeting I heard mention of 2 people who wanted more shows but this does not seem to warrant amendment of the law. Knowing what we do about the negative effects of traditional fireworks, on both people and animals, and considering where we live, if this town board feels the need to change the current law, I recommend quiet or silent fireworks shows which are gaining popularity around the country & seems like they would be a good alternative.
Rick Vreeland: What does the town pay for fireworks display? Supervisor: $2,500.00. RV: who does it? Supervisor: the company that we issue a check to is Fireworks Extravaganza. RV: where are they out of? Supervisor: I would have to look – I don’t know. RV: how come other towns around don’t have fireworks displays? Supervisor: their municipal board’s choice. Councilman Carey: what town didn’t have firework displays? RV: Greenville, Wawayanda, Minisink. I got nothing against fireworks. I’ll start out saying that. I don’t mind them. I don’t enjoy them. I wouldn’t drive to a show. I’ve got no choice. I live under the fireworks. Every time there’s a fireworks display – I’ll tell you who hates fireworks, my cows. My cows are near and dear to me. There’s nobody that takes better care of cows than me. To traumatize them & like this lady said – I want to thank you because you got me going again. I’m gonna pursue this until we either outlaw fireworks or do like other municipalities have done and go to laser light shows. They’re probably beautiful. We don’t have to have the pictures fall off our windows when they have a fireworks display. I printed up 5 of the 1st articles on the internet – you have fireworks display and doesn’t mean 100 birds die of a heart attack. I didn’t know that. Every animal is affected. You got the veterans flag here – the POWS. I will never forget when my father who was Omaha beach day 2 came out of the house crying the morning after the fireworks. It’s totally unnecessary. I say we lobby for laser light shows or do away with them because everybody who lives on Grange Road – they’re forced. They are at the fireworks. They didn’t get lighter over the years – they got louder. (At this time, he left the printouts from the internet on the desk.) You can’t move dairy cows to a different spot. 4th of July, have fireworks, I’ll have a dead cow, I’ll have an abortion or 2. It’ll break my heart. I care about the veterans. I’m a patriot. I care about this country and I want to honor. You better ask the veterans who have been in active war if they enjoy them.
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Jim Kowalczik: We have wildlife animals. They’re our life. Everything we do revolves around them. If you watched the little ones that went off last night that weren’t so little and you watch the bears go in circles. They’re screwed up for a couple of days. We’ve got some that will sleep through anything. You have fox, rabbits & squirrels up there and it affects them. That’s just the ones we have not the ones all around. Then you have the fallout from this and this is on the internet too. All reds, copper zinc – this is where your kids play. This is where all this crap comes down and everybody’s kids are out there playing and having a good time and this is where all this stuff goes in the water. Animals have no choice – we do. Hopefully we can control it.
Mike Romano: I’ve lived in this town about 33 years. For the last 25 years I donate fireworks show to this town. It’s my way of giving back something to the community. My typical show I donate to this town is around $15,000.00. I know there’s people that don’t like fireworks and that’s fine. I try to do something good for the people. It also tied in to the Otisville fire company as a fundraiser so they can generate money. I understand, when I talked to Matt about getting a permit for my show, I can’t get it because they already got 2. One for the fair and one for the police night out. I will be donating product to both shows because I’m from this town. As for my show, it’s not going to happen this year. I’m at the point of if that’s the opinion of people, you’re going to save me money and time setting up. I try to do something right for this town helping people out and there’s a lot of people that come to my show every year I do it. It’s my opinion. If you guys don’t want my show, it’s not a problem for me. I’m trying to do something good for the community but obviously we have a few people that don’t like it.
John Doty: I’ve been doing the fireworks shows for 30 years with Mike. I’ve done shows all over the country – all over the world. In the clubs that we belong to – 90% of our members are veterans. They enjoy the fireworks. They’re active guys still in the military today. I understand some people have issues with it and we try to curb down the size of our shells that we shot & we moved our shows from where we used to shoot them to keep them away from the cows. I work in the village. I get people asking me every day – is the town doing their community day, are we gonna have a show? I tell them unfortunately this year, no because you only allow the 2 shows. We’re not asking for a whole lot of shows. Municipalities should be able to have unlimited shows. One of our village board members wants to do a show. Being the village is in the Town of Mount Hope, we have to follow underneath your guidelines. I think there should be a little lead way. I watched a few shows right from my yard last night. For Mike, who has donated shows over the years to the fire company, the boy scouts make money off of it for parking. Little league’s made money. The community benefits. For community day the community should have the opportunity to have a show. The police want to have their show. At the fair, we raise a lot of money for Sunday night for the fair.
Ed Lawson: I live on Finchville Turnpike. I don’t understand the need to have more firework shows. Is it bringing in that much money that it’s going to turn the village and town into the fireworks capital of Orange County? We’re gonna have 5 shows or 3; we have 2. I’ve never complained before. I’m affected every time the road is closed for something at the park. Are we just gonna start having shows for other people that want to have shows that they can’t get permits so they’ll do us a favor? It doesn’t seem right to me. I understand if you’re doing good things for the community by donating stuff. I understand it’s a good thing that you’re bringing people here and you’re making money for the community but why are we making amendments to add more shows? When does it end? Are we gonna make more amendments after that because we made a decent amount of money? And then fireworks shows aren’t illegal anymore so let’s have shows in the middle of winter. Mount Hope is a small community. How many fireworks shows does Middletown have? How many residents are in Middletown? How many residents are in Otisville? I understand the good thing we’re trying to do out of this but I just see this going in a direction I don’t want to see. I don’t want to be the fireworks capital of Orange County. How much is the insurance for each show? Mr. Romano: I pay for mine. Supervisor: the operator has to provide the insurance. I don’t know what their cost is. EL: is it minimal? Supervisor: the current limit is a minimum of $3,000,000 coverage. EL: I think money would be better spent putting up a fence for the dog park that has no fence that would also draw people to the community.
Joan Rollin: I certainly remember raising my kids here and the fireworks were just the epitome of wonderful and it’s one of the cherished memories of their childhoods. I quite enjoy them. I believe 2 is enough. I think extending it to 5 or 7 is quite unreasonable. I understand the impact that it has on wildlife. We raise chickens and it affects them. Eventually it will be enjoyment over community need of having livestock and not impacting wildlife.
Mary Maurizzio: How did we come to the conclusion of having 2 fireworks displays per year? If I remember correctly in the past, we didn’t have 5 or 6 but if a group/organization wanted a show, they went through the proper channels and they had it. How did it come down to 2? Supervisor: before the current local law was passed in February 2016, the town board at the time had been approached in 2016 with regard to the number of shows that were going on by people, businesses and residents of Grange Road and the surrounding area of the extent of the number that was going on looking to having it limited or have a cap put on it. At that time, we went through the process of drafting the local law, there was a public hearing & based on the feedback from the public we made the decision to enact the proposed local law to 2 firework shows cap. Councilman Carey: there was also an incident over at the 4H is what sparked it to my recollection. Before there was a local law on the books. You could go to the county and the county would issue you a permit. We always had 2 shows for the fair. And one for around the 4th of July is what I recall. Three shows per year is what I recall.
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Mary Maurizzio cont.: The purpose of tonight’s hearing is why – somebody’s asking for more? Supervisor: correct. She asked how the board feels about it. Councilman Carey: that’s why we’re having the public hearing. She asked who decides who is allowed to have the fireworks shows. She understands the fair having a show. She agrees with having a show on July 4th. But not sure how community day got involved. Supervisor: anyone interested in having firework show has to fill out an application per the local law. If all the parameters of that are met and there’s availability then that permit is granted to that person/organization. MM: I don’t want the fireworks eliminated from the town of Mount Hope.
Supervisor Howell asked if the board had any comments.
Councilman Furman: I’ve been doing investigating/reading on this. If you don’t know, my brother is a vet. I love fireworks. Mike, I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for this town. We’re not T/O Wallkill that has the miracle mile strip. It affects people, small dogs. They have areas that don’t have wildlife that we do have here. With Jim having bears and other animals there and Mr. Vreeland having his cows – those are businesses in our community. We have other farms that have animals. We don’t have a Walmart here or anything else that brings people into our community to help our tax base and enjoy our community. When we do have nice things, we have people that come in and support them (Farmer’s Daughter or Mr. Vreeland’s store). I have a 3-year-old pup that freaked out Saturday over fireworks somewhere in Wallkill. Fireworks for the fair is good. Night out is a good night. Paul and the guys do a phenomenal job of building this event. There are tons of people that come to it. 4th of July – there’s enough going on all weekend. You can probably see nice ones all over. I don’t want to take it away from Mike but there’s got to be a happy medium. I would like to see it left at 2 and expand to a laser light show.
Councilman Carey: Mike, I thank you for donating your fireworks over the years. I think ½ the reason we have fireworks and so many shows are because of your donations. I don’t know how many laser light shows going to talk about – sitting on this board and sitting through different trying to save taxpayer’s money and not raising taxes I think we are talking something that could be here as compared to here. I don’t think the idea was to solicit 5 or 7 shows. I take care of the facebook page and I get a lot of questions about where did the 4th of July fireworks go. The last 4 nights in the Town of Mount Hope & the Village of Otisville all I heard was fireworks. We live right near the Pennsylvania border. All you gotta do as a NY resident is go in and show your license and you can buy whatever fireworks you want – that are not legal in NY. I have no idea how busy the police department was but if we have a law on the books for fireworks and we’re trying to stop shows – what are we doing to stop people from blowing off fireworks? Friday, Saturday, Sunday & last night were phenomenal. I could hear the Middletown fireworks from Davidge Park. They were very loud. I don’t know it needs to have a number. I would like to see 4th of July fireworks or somewhere around then and get rid of Night Against Crime. The draw for people to come watch fireworks is the fair which is the end of August. So, we now moved our fireworks law into 2 shows in August and we have nothing to do with 4th of July fireworks. I got a lot of feedback online. I thank the people that came out for the public hearing because the hardest thing about being on this board is you get from one person then you get from another person but you don’t know what the general public would like. When we made this law in 2016 and we set up the parameters to have fireworks, the average Joe doesn’t have money to have fireworks. I don’t think a number belongs on it. The fair used to be a great draw. We always had 2 at the fair going back. If you talk to anyone in Orange County, Otisville is known for the Otisville fair. That’s the draw for our community. I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot doing fireworks there on Sunday but that was the fairest choice to do. I don’t think the law should have a number on it.
Councilman Jennings: Before I joined the board, there was always 3 fireworks shows; two at the fair and one around the 4th of July that Mike held for the community. I would like to see it go up to one more to give Mike the opportunity to let his show happen. He donates the entire show to the community. It also benefits the local organizations that can raise money at the event & parking. In the law, we have it set with guidelines and what can be done & where it can be done and other prerequisites.
Councilwoman Davis: I don’t see the need to prolong this.
Supervisor Howell: We heard a lot from both sides of the equation here. The domesticated animals are obviously a concern as well as our industry in town is in animal agriculture or agriculture in general which is a big part of the businesses we have. My opinion is to preserve the animals, wildlife, domesticated pets & animal agriculture and things of that nature. I think 2 is the compromise between having shows and having protection for those that have the effect of it. I’ve got 4 children that are getting old enough now that they can stay up and watch them which they do enjoy. Before this law was passed, my 2 younger ones were infants at the time and to have them booming at 9:30-10:00 at night and waking babies up isn’t the ideal situation. He would like to see the 2-show cap remain.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to close the public hearing at 8:02pm. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman that the minutes of the June 20, 2022 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
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CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Town employee handbook amendment re: seatbelts
2. Snow & Ice agreement from the county for 2022-2023 season for approval
3. Estimate from Buddy’s Glass re: to remove & replace entrance doors at the rental hall
4. Food truck festival in T/O Wawayanda on July 16 11am-7pm flier
5. Mortgage tax receipts from June 2022
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings: Village meeting is this Thursday at 6:30pm. They have a public hearing on the prohibition of livestock in the village.
Councilman Furman: Tonight, is the last night to sign up online for the MVYFL. Medical & birth certificate will need to be provided by the end of the month. I’ve been trying to arrange a meeting between me, Matt, Dean and other board members to figure out where we can put the bathrooms up there at the field. The DCO is officially retired. The vehicle is here. Matt & myself have done 2 interviews so far. There’s a couple more that picked up applications. We’re hoping to get more interviews for the 11th deadline. In Hidden Valley, about a week and a half ago, the system went down due to a backup battery in the system and it made the computer go down. It was very short term. The residents probably didn’t notice. All is ok now. At the end of Thistle Lane, there’s a predictive dialer there so if the pump goes down or if there’s a power outage, it kicks on the light and dials the sewer plant operator. On further investigation, it happened on a Thursday night and Friday afternoon – the plant operator was in there and got it figured out that a mouse had eaten through the line which destroyed the predictive valve. There’s been a new one ordered. He reminded the HV residents that there’s a special meeting for just them on August 4 at the senior center at 7PM.
Councilman Carey: Summer concert is going on right now as we speak. Soul City is playing. The 1st 4 concerts listed on the flier are new this year. Little league is selling food there tonight. MV public library update: from what I read; they’re saying 1% of your annual school tax would go towards this library. There will be a vote for this on Oct. 18th – not sure where yet. There’s a lot of people for this library and there’s a lot of people that aren’t for the library. Still working with Lewis Signs to get estimates to re-do our signage to include the Hidden Valley sign. Public hearing notices: Matt had put something out to all departments. A little tid-bit, we advertise in the Times Herald Record. I know there’s only a handful of people that get the Times Herald Record. We have 2049 facebook followers.
Councilwoman Davis: no report.
Supervisor Howell: There was an interoffice memo for the department heads with regard to a couple of hiccups with the Record taking the notices for publication. That notice is to streamline everything through the clerk’s office which Kathleen’s been very successful getting notices into the paper at the desired time we want. We are looking to eliminate the issues with getting them to print on time.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported there’s no changes with the 2022-2023 county snow & ice agreement. I had Buddy’s Glass come look at the doors on the rec center to replace them with what we have on the senior center. His estimate is a little expensive but it should solve all our problems. Every Monday morning, we go up there and the doors aren’t closed. Councilman Carey: and there’s mag locks on them. Councilman Jennings: one of the vendors couldn’t close the door and stay locked – that was the issue we are having up there. Supt. Hassenmayer: they’re not commercial doors. Councilman Jennings: is there anything we can do to fix that now? Supt. Hassenmayer: the right-side door closest to the kitchen – the hinges are bent on it now. In March, I asked Pioneer Pole Buildings to give me an estimate for building down at the park – we put money away for it. At 1st they gave a good, reasonable estimate but then I had to remind them it had to be prevailing wage. They sent an updated estimate. It’s still within the money we put away. I’ve contacted 4 other local builders and nobody wants to give me a price. He asked David: if I advertise in the paper for estimates and I only get Pioneer that responds, can we then deal with them? Atty. Bavoso: how long was it advertised? Supt.: we didn’t advertise. I’ve just been soliciting. Atty.: frankly, if you advertised it for 2-3 weeks and you still only have Pioneer quote, then I’m satisfied with that. As long as we are giving the others the opportunity with the advertising and we show that the town made that effort, I’m fine with just receiving. Supt.: I would then ask permission to advertise for bids for a building for down at the park.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Deputy Chief Maresca reported that there were 3 total calls regarding complaints of fireworks. The junior academy is all set to start in 6 days. There are 16 participants. Marie is doing a great job with that. Officer Decker and Officer Johnson are also doing a great job with the set up. He will fine tune the flier and get it to Brian.
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MOTION TO APPROVE THE ADDITION TO THE TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK -TO SECTION 5.06, UNDER THE 5TH BULLET POINT RE: SEATBELTS/CELL PHONES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the addition to the Town of Mount Hope employee handbook in paragraph 5.06 under the 5th bullet point to read:
All employees must wear a seatbelt at all times while operating a town vehicle. No employee is permitted to use any cellular phone, or similar device at any time while operating a town vehicle.
All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE THE 2022-2023 SNOW & ICE AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY OF ORANGE:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to authorize the town supervisor to sign the 2022-2023 SNOW & ICE AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY OF ORANGE for certain county roads for $5,050.00/mile for 9.18 total miles. (Copy on file in town clerk’s office) All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT REQUEST:
Supervisor Howell had a request from the building inspector, Julie. She is working with the Village of Wurtsboro in training a new code enforcement official. That official has requested to come along for on-site inspections and office work to learn the ins/outs of the trade. The attorney will do a hold harmless agreement. This is a non-compensated position. He would essentially be just riding along to learn the process of code enforcement.
MOTION TO APPROVE REQUEST FROM BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve training (non-paid) for Mark Brennan from the Village of Wurtsboro & pending the hold harmless agreement. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO AUTHORIZE HIGHWAY SUPT. TO GO TO BID FOR THE BUILDING AT THE PARK:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to authorize the highway supt. to advertise for bids for a building at the park. All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the bills (Abstracts 25 & 26):
ABSTRACT 25:
GENERAL A: #321-329 $ 51,487.33
GENERAL B: #56-61 $ 9,264.05
HIGHWAY: #106-112 $ 43,195.78
SEWER: #55 $ 1,155.26
ARF: #3 $ 1,520.00
ABSTRACT 26:
GENERAL A: #330-338 $ 5,154.15
SEWER: #56-58 $ 2,171.88.
All in favor: Howell, Davis, Jennings, Furman; Councilman Carey abstains from Abstract 26 voucher #331; carried.
ESTIMATE FROM BUDDY’S GLASS:
Supervisor Howell explained this is a custom-made door for the youth/rec center building. Supt. Hassenmayer explained there’s quite a lead time on the doors. These are like the doors at the senior center.
Councilman Carey asked about the levers v mag locks for the doors. Supt. Hassenmayer: The Knight Watch and Buddy’s Glass guys will have to be in touch with each other for the installation.
MOTION TO APPROVE ESTIMATE FROM BUDDY’S GLASS FOR NEW DOORS FOR THE YOUTH CENTER:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the estimate from Buddy’s Glass in the amount of $9,350.00 for the youth center rental hall exterior entrance doors. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Davis, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE THE AMENDMENT TO THE FIREWORKS LAW:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Jennings to amend the fireworks law to reflect 3 shows per year: ROLL CALL:
Councilman Jennings – Aye
Councilman Furman – Nay
Supervisor Howell – Nay
Councilman Carey – Aye
Councilwoman Davis – Nay.
This motion was NOT CARRIED.
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CCP SEMINAR:
Supervisor Howell asked if the board had questions. Seminar will be on the 20th of July at the youth center. We received the not-for-profit certificate. They are looking to have the rental fee waived.
MOTION TO WAIVE THE RENTAL FEE FOR THE YOUTH CENTER FOR THE CCP SEMINAR:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to waive the rental fee for the CCP seminar as they are a not-for-profit. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Davis, Furman; carried.
YOUTH CENTER:
The board discussed amending the application for the youth center to say that the renters cannot move the pool table. Anytime a renter moves the table it weakens the leg structure. Councilman Jennings suggested that it be moved over to the side more.
MOTION TO AMEND YOUTH CENTER APPLICATION TO ADD “DO NOT MOVE POOL TABLE”:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilwoman Davis to amend the youth center rental agreement to add #13: DO NOT MOVE POOL TABLE”. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Davis, Furman; carried.
CORNELL COOPERATIVE/4H:
Lucy Joyce spoke. Ag family festival will be July 29, 30 & 31st. Fliers will get dropped off tomorrow. We are installing a rainwater roof collection system. We are excited to use this water run-off. Bountiful Harvest is 9/16. She spoke re: barn on the property. The property was purchased around Jan 2011. Cornell leased the property from 2013 through to the purchase in Sept 2016. That (barn) wasn’t part of our lease agreement when we purchased the property. The town has an irrevocable license for use of the barn and the easement with the walking path because our proposed septic system on the site plan is actually in the middle of that. The irrevocable lease is very important because it also obligates the town to maintain the building to the condition it was in 2016. The roof is leaking a lot. It’s a beautiful barn. People would be very upset if it deteriorates to the point of tearing it down. We own it but don’t actually responsibility for it. We need to keep the barn. How do we do that? Money is tight. There’s a program called “RESTORE NY”. It’s part of the Empire State development corporation. She was on the webinar. A barn has qualified in the past and was turned in to a museum. It’s already off the tax rolls and will continue to be off the tax rolls. This is an option. It would be very expensive for the town to put on a new roof. Dean has had a hard time getting quotes for it. A municipality the size of Mount Hope could qualify for up to $2,000,000 for any projects that would be available. The project is really for blighted structures very much targeted to urban areas and either have the money to demolish them, build up new or restore/renovate the current building and use it for another purpose. We would need to repurpose it – what would that purpose be and how would we work this out. One of our issues coming to the top of our ideas on how to use it and – this would mean – we would have ownership of the barn. The municipality has to be the applicant. We would help the town apply. It’s used minimally now for storage. We have an extensive gleaning program where we collect produce that’s not saleable but edible. We have refrigerated trucks when we deliver it. The pandemic has increased food insecurity. We’ve worked with Hannaford Foundation and they’ve donated some monies for a walk-in cooler and a loading dock and that could work out for us and expanding it to re-packing food and ideally if our application works out to turn it into food processing at the lower level. Access Supports for Living is very interested. We’re installing a garden that they would operate for a program for their clientele. They’re very interested in workforce development. If this interests you, we will be thrilled to work with you. It would be a real asset to the community. Part of the grant is you get more points for 2 things. One is that you’re in a really depressed areas which Mount Hope isn’t. To put it back on the tax rolls we would lose points in that category. The RFP’s are not available yet. She gave some paperwork for the board to review.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Mary Maurizzio verified that the fireworks will remain at 2/year. Supervisor: correct. Both permits this year have been issued – Night Out and the fair. She thinks looking into a laser light show is a good idea. She verified that the Supervisor said the town would advertise for the CCP seminar. Supervisor: yes. We will advertise on facebook and website. He read off the bullet point checklist what the seminar will be about. Mela explained the co-sponsorship with the Asian community.
Jacqueline Mann: (1645 Route 211 West) It’s to the right of the Mydosh house that was demolished. As a result of the demolition, there have been rats. Bought the home June 2021. After they moved in, she called the town asking about the condemned building. Because of the pandemic, nothing could be done at that time. They again inquired in Dec 2021 of what was going on with that house. It was postponed due to health issues and not being able to contact Frank. AS of 4/28/2022, she has Rings (security system) to protect her family. She saw a rodent on the camera. They thought it was a mouse because they had a couple in there as well. Traps were set. Caught some little mice. A video was sent to Brian where you can see the tail is 3-4” long. They carry diseases. 4/28 found out Mr. Mydosh had passed away. May 6th, spoke with daughter, Angela who said the house was getting knocked down and they were trying to sell whatever they could. They were unable to enter due to safety reasons. People stopping to buy stuff and Mrs. Mann’s family members all saw rats. She had pictures with her.
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Her father-in-law backed over one in the driveway. DCO told her the rats would come to her property. She reached out to Mela and the other neighbor to let them know the building would be demolished. No one received any written notice or verbal notice this would happen. Dollar General employees and the demo company told them about the demo. She reached out to Julie 3 times since April. She was told the rats would disperse. That property has over 6’ of high grass. I was told to buy rat poison or BB guns for protection. She has a small dog as well. Her son called her at work telling her the rats ruined his day because he could not go outside. Bought the property to raise her family here. There was another incident on Father’s Day. She killed one on June 30. Contacted Julie who’s on vacation until the end of this week. Is there something that can be done so they can enjoy their property. Supervisor Howell: we will contact the contractor that did the demolition.
Mela: added that she hired an exterminator for more than $600. They killed dozens of rats.
Alison Miller: thanked Brian for the library vote date (10/18). She believes the group is deliberately vague and not transparent about the information. It’s still said the location of the library. Informally she heard that it will be in Greenville. It will affect the whole school district. If it passes, your taxes will go up and you will no longer have a contract with Port Jervis library.
Diane Loeven is leaving fliers for the village yard sale with Kathleen and one for the bulletin board. Seniors trip on July 12th. She noted the toggles for the senior center doors by the disabled ramp do not work. Hometown Helpers flowers for friends had a successful event. Hometown Helpers new volunteer orientation on July 8 at 10am at village hall. She spoke re: Mike Romano & the fireworks. She thinks he may have left with the wind out of his sails.
Supervisor Howell spoke re: fireworks and alternating with night against crime and another organization for fireworks.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Carey noted that he saw online that Orange County 9-1-1 received 50 calls in a 24-hour period on July 4th. He thanked all volunteer companies involved.
Supervisor Howell spoke re: Senator Skoufis. He came here for an informational meeting about 2 weeks ago. One of the items he mentioned within the districts he covers has a double taxation within library districts. Ms. Loeven became aware of that yesterday reached out online about it and has not had her question answered.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilwoman Davis to adjourn the meeting at 9:01pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Davis, Furman; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 18, 2022 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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