Town Board Meeting March. 6th, 2023

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on March 6, 2023 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Matthew Howell, Councilmember Chris Furman, Councilmember Brian Carey, Councilmember Jim Jennings, Councilmember Amanda Davis, Deputy Town Clerk Elizabeth Kulynych and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief Maresca, Attorney D. Bavoso, Highway Supt. Hassenmayer.

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

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman that the minutes of the February 21, 2023 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Police surplus of equipment request from Chief Maresca
2. (3) different quotes for various signs from Lewis Sign Co.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
BOARD REPORTS:
COUNCILMEMBER DAVIS: Planning boards meets 3/15/2023. Daylight savings is this Saturday.
COUNCILMEMBER CAREY: Congrats to Mike on his promotion to Police Chief. He went over the quotes from Lewis Signs: replacement signs at the park, replacement sign at Hidden Valley entrance & Town Hall/municipal complex. Total for all 3 = $4,829.00. Youth center is now open from 7am to 7pm daily. He is meeting with a local company next Tuesday to maybe merge all our alarm systems, card access & fire system. St. Patrick’s Day parade is March 12, 2023 2pm in Goshen. Orange County is getting a new area code – 329. Little league pancake breakfast on 3/19 from 8-12 at Otisville FH. Summer concert series will be 8 weeks long. F.O.T.O.S. is holding a St. Pat’s virtual raffle on 3/11.
COUNCILMEMBER FURMAN: Hidden Valley project is starting tomorrow. Youth football events will be coming soon. Youth center is open 7am-7pm. He hopes this helps the residents out.
COUNCILMEMBER JENNINGS spoke re: town Easter Egg Hunt. The Lions Club is doing April 2nd. He spoke with Dean and April 8 is open. He reached out to the OFD about their plastic easter eggs. Tony from the FD thinks they may still have them. He’d like to do the egg hunt at 2pm because the village is having one that day as well. Diane Loeven stated it’s not the village hosting the egg hunt. It will be a sensory friendly easter egg hunt for children of all abilities. She added that the village newsletter will coming out this week. She will email it to the board members. Jennings: there were 13 fire calls & next village meeting is March 16.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported the motion sensors were installed in the restrooms at both centers. Lock boxes for the thermostats have not been ordered yet. The vacuum truck should be ready soon. Trash days are coming up. Bids will be opened later this month.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Maresca reported he’s done 3 interviews for officers and currently waiting on background checks. He hopes to have someone to the board soon. He noted the surplus item.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven reported that March 16th will be the last meeting for Mayor Wona. He will be in office until the 1st Monday in April.

HOWELLS FIRE BLOOD DRIVE:
Supervisor Howell reported the blood drive on 2/28 was well attended. Turn out was good even though the weather was not good that day.

MS-4 STORMWATER:
Supervisor Howell noted we have to do an updated plan everywhere. Julie has been working with John Fuller (town engineer). She has scheduled the training for the highway guys. We have to set the public hearing date.

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MOTION TO SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR MS-4 STORMWATER LAW:
MOTION offered Councilmember Carey 2nd Councilmember Davis to schedule the public hearing for MS-4 Stormwater for March 20, 2023 at 7:30pm at the Mount Hope town hall, 1706 Route 211 West, Otisville NY. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

PROPOSED VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER TAX EXEMPTION LOCAL LAW:
Supervisor Howell explained that the attorney wrote up a draft local law that the state has allowed for us to make changes/enhancements to the volunteer firefighter/ambulance worker property tax exemption. The town currently has an exemption in place that would be in effect for 2 more years. We are going to make the modifications for the new law form the state to enhance what would be a larger property tax exemption for those that would be eligible.

MOTION TO SET DATE FOR PROPOSED VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER TAX EXEMPTION LOCAL LAW:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to schedule a public hearing for the Proposed Volunteer Firefighter Tax Exemption local law on March 20, 2023 at 7:31pm at the Mount Hope town hall, 1706 Route 211 West, Otisville NY. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

ASSESSOR DENNIS KETCHAM:
Supervisor Howell spoke to Assessor Ketcham re: the tax bills. Councilmember Carey: if anyone looked at their tax bills, it states that there’s a 5.9% increase but I wanted to explain what that increase is because it’s not actually the % of what your taxes went up. Assessor: correct. On any tax bill – it’s a percent increase in the town levy so what’s it’s actually comparing in laymen’s terms is last year’s budget to this year’s budget. At least a portion of the budget that is amount to be raised by tax. In your budget, you do have additions, subtractions, carry over balances – bottom line the amount that’s extended out to be raised by tax is what that % is. There are some little things that can affect that and change it. O would have to review the tax receivers warrant for omitted tax, pro rata tax, any agricultural penalties, if you have a late year certiorari case, the county would adjust that amount to be raised by taxes by those small amounts. They can be + or -. I don’t believe there was any major adjustments – probably not even anything that changes as much as a 10th of a %. Councilmember Carey noted that this was a question someone brought up and he didn’t want anyone to think their taxes went up 5.9%. Assessor: the other number that plays into that before you even get to the rate is what I do – the assessment. If the assessment goes up by 5.9% in theory, everything else being equal, then the amount you write on your check is going to be the same.

MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Carey to approve bills: (Abstract #9 & #8):
ABSTRACT #8:
GENERAL A: #94-99 $ 5,396.71
GENERAL B: #24-25 $ 552.50
HIGHWAY: #44-45 $ 931.97
AND
ABSTRACT #9:
GENERAL A: #100-114 $ 80,413.93
GENERAL B: #26-28 $ 4,139.31
HIGHWAY: #46-51 $ 30,548.29
SEWER: #20 $ 1,178.35.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO APPOINT PER DIEM DOG CONTROL OFFICER:
MOTION offered Councilmember Carey 2nd Councilmember Furman to hire, per diem employee for the dog control officer position, Robert Bennett at a rate of $15.00 per hour effective February 13, 2023. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO GRANT LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR EMPLOYEE #73:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to approve the leave of absence request from Employee #73 from February 13 through April 17, 2023; based on a medical request. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE POLICE DEPARTMENT SURPLUS THEN DESTROY REQUEST:
MOTION offered Councilmember Carey 2nd Councilmember Davis to approve request from Police Chief to surplus & destroy an HP Printer, Serial # VNB3391175 as it is no longer useable. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.

HIDDEN VALLEY SEWER RESOLUTION DISCUSSION:
Councilmember Furman explained that the hook-up fee used to be $6,000 per home. One-time fee. They’d like to raise that to $10,000.00 per home.
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RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN BOARD OF TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK
RELATING TO WATER AND SEWER HOOKUP FEES RELATED TO THE HIDDEN VALLEY SEWER DISTRICT:
WHEREAS, the Town of Mount Hope maintains the sewage treatment system also knows as the Hidden Valley Estates Sewer District, which is located entirely within the boundaries of the Town of Mount Hope; and

WHEREAS, the maintenance of the sewage treatment system includes maintenance of the lines of the sewer lines that connect individual homes to the sewage treatment system; and

WHEREAS, the Town of Mount Hope has experienced significant growth in recent years, some of that growth causing an increase in applications to connect to the Hidden Valley Sewer District, which requires the installation of new infrastructure to reach the newly developed properties; and

WHEREAS, the cost of extending the service of the Hidden Valley Sewer District has increased in recent years as a result of the increase in cost of the necessary materials,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope hereby establishes a fee of Ten Thousand and 00/100 ($10,000.00) Dollars for any property to establish a new connection to the infrastructure included as part of the Hidden Valley Estates Sewer District. The fee established herein is based upon the anticipated cost of all necessary materials and labor to extend the infrastructure to the border of the property seeking connection.

All other permit regulations shall apply in addition to this fee.

MOTION BY: Councilmember Carey
SECONDED BY: Councilmember Davis
AYES: Davis, Carey, Howell, Furman, Jennings
NAYS: None ABSTENTIONS: None

MOTION TO AMEND 2023 APPOINTMENT LIST TO INCLUDE PER DIEM CONFIDENTIAL SECRETARY TO THE SUPERVISOR & EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Carey to amend the 2023 Appointment List to include: Katherine Schupner as per diem Confidential Secretary to the Supervisor and Michael Maresca as Emergency Management Coordinator (with Matthew Howell). All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

EASTER EGG HUNT AT TOWN PARK:
Supervisor Howell noted the Easter Egg hunt will be on April 8, 2023 at 2pm at the town park.

LIBRARY CONTRACT:
Supervisor Howell spoke re: library contract with the PJ library. We were provided with a contract when the supervisor attended their last meeting. This past Friday, late in the day, we received a revision to that contract. He would like to wait to make a decision on that. He would like to review it. We have until the 21st. Anyone with a current library card can still use the PJ library only. A couple of other towns have reached out to the Pike County Library in Milford, PA. They are working on coming to terms with an agreement possibly with the Pike County library. Port Jervis is it would be in house of their library materials. Libby is not available through PJ. Pike County would be a full service offer to the town (in person and online). It would be a similar service that we had prior to 2023. He hopes to have the Pike County option for the next meeting.

CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION FOR PAUL RICKARD:
Supervisor Howell: we’ve not had a meeting since the end of February. Former Police Chief Paul Rickard has retired. He wants to have the board recognize him. There’s a certificate printed up for him for recognition & appreciation of over 12 years of service and dedication to the residents of the Town of Mount Hope. To show appreciation for the hard work that past Chief Rickard put in while he was here as our Police Chief in Mount Hope.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Beth Febrero: (with Nicole Crawford) – they are looking for approval to hold a Color Run at the Mount Hope Park. It is a bridging girl scout event – a moving up ceremony for all the girls. There are about 130 registered scouts right now. We want to open it up to them along with their families. She spoke with Dean and he said she should come before the town board. They would want the pavilion. They don’t want to be on the road – they want to stay within the park. They have all the insurance covered. They are hoping to have vendors ie: food trucks. Date requested is 6/11 – rain date is 7/9. People must be registered with wristbands. Would like to possibly have PD and fire department involved.
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MOTION TO APPROVE COLOR RUN AT TOWN PARK:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Carey to approve the girl scout organization for the park rental on 6/11/2023 (rain date 7/9/2023); 10:00am to 6:00pm pending a written application for their event & required insurance certificates and the fee to be waived for rental. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

Alison Miller congratulated Mike Maresca on his promotion to Police Chief. Will the board be getting a replacement for the Deputy police chief position? Supervisor Howell: not at this time. Mrs. Miller asked about the status of summer rec. Supervisor Howell: we are still taking applications. He would like to have one more director to be more comfortable then move on to getting the counselors. She asked the deadline for applications. Supervisor: March 21. She asked about the ‘per diem DCO’. There is a DCO, right? Supervisor: yes. She asked why we are hiring another DCO. Supervisor: for coverage if the main employee is not available. She asked if that scenario has happened. Supervisor: yes, so we have coverage. Mrs. Miller: as mentioned, FOTOS is holding a St. Patrick’s Day raffle. It’s a virtual fundraiser. Tickets are online. Drawing is March 11, 2023. FOTOS is also hosting a dinner dance on April 14, 2023 at the High Point Country Club. Julie Musial is heading this up. They will post about this on their FB page after the raffle. She reminded everyone that back in January she had asked the board to consider looking at any money from the ARPA funds to possibly support FOTOS renovations specifically for the purpose of relocating the Little Munchkins preschool into our building. She asked if a decision has been made about that. Supervisor: the last time you had asked… Mrs. Miller: you told me 30 days and that was 30 days ago so I’m just asking for an update. Supervisor: the larger project we were waiting on in terms of invoicing, Chris has mentioned is starting to be installed tomorrow in Hidden Valley. We had pricing on that which was contingent upon shipping all the materials. There was 1 other item that was there with that – the computer piece to it. Once those are finalized and completed – that will give us a better – the final invoicing hasn’t been calculated on that. She asked when that might be. Supervisor: there’s no time frame for the completion on that. They’re starting tomorrow though. She will come back every 30 days to ask.

Diane Loeven reported the seniors will have their 1st meeting on March 14. First trip is March 18. We will be parking here. They are actively recruiting new members. She spoke re: library contract. Was there another option from RCLS? Supervisor: in order to keep the services that we had prior, RCLS wants Port Jervis to maintain their agreement between the libraries direct use plan which would charge a per capita fee. Our estimated cost on that would be $368,000.00. It’s a per person fee as opposed to a per card holder fee. Councilmember Furman thinks Dave Hoovler, DA should look into this. She next talked about the Assessor speaking about the 5.9%. She asked how much the taxes did go up. Supervisor: the total amount was 5.2 or 5.3% on the total town levy. That’s the entire town budget minus the special districts (Hidden Valley & Howells fire) but it is tax cap compliant. She welcomed Mike as the Police Chief. She would like to touch base with him at some point.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilmember Carey reminded everyone that the village election is March 21 from 12-9 at village hall.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilmember Carey 2nd Councilmember Furman to adjourn the meeting at 8:23 pm.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The next Town Board meeting is scheduled for March 20, 2023 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers
Town Clerk, RMC

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TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE
2023 APPOINTMENT LIST

ACCOUNTANT: K, K, B & N, CPA
ASSESSMENT REVIEW BOARD CLERK: Linda Franck
ASSESSOR CLERK: Angela Cangialosi
BOND ATTORNEY: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP (Doug Goodfriend)
BUDGET OFFICER: Matthew Howell
BUILDING INSPECTORS/CODE ENFORCEMENT/FIRE INSPECTORS: Julie Musial, Heidi Volpe
BUILDING DEPARTMENT CLERK: Deborah Taylor
CONFIDENTIAL SECRETARY TO THE SUPERVISOR: Angela Cangialosi; (Per Diem Katherine Schupner as of 3-6-2023)
COURT CLERKS: Francine Heppes, Myrna MacIntosh
DEPUTY HIGHWAY SUPT.: Andrew Pingotti
DEPUTY SUPERVISOR: Brian Carey
DEPUTY TOWN CLERK: Elizabeth Kulynych
DOG CONTROL OFFICER: Melanie DiRaimondo; (Per Diem Robert Bennett as of 2/13/2023)
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATORS: Matthew Howell & Michael Maresca
HIDDEN VALLEY PLANT OPERATOR: Michael Brock
ASST. PLANT OPERATOR: David Brock
HISTORIAN: Nancie Craig
HIGHWAY CLERK: Amy Hassenmayer
PLANNING BOARD CLERK: Linda Franck
PLANNING BOARD ASST. CLERK: Angela Cangialosi
PLANNING BOARD ATTORNEY: Glenn Plotsky
PLANNING BOARD MEMBER: David Cantor (term to expire 1-2030)
POLICE CLERK: Marie Bubilo
P/T ASST. POLICE CLERK:
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS: Kathleen Myers
DEPUTY REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS: Elizabeth Kulynych
SEXUAL HARASSMENT OFFICER: Anna Briceno
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR (CONFLICT CASES): John Bach (Thursday/Goldsmith)
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR (CONFLICT CASES): Leonard Kessler (Tuesday/Hosking)
TAX COLLECTOR: Kathleen Myers
DEPUTY TAX COLLECTOR: Elizabeth Kulynych
TOWN ATTORNEY: David Bavoso (Bavoso & Plotsky)
TOWN ENGINEER: Clark, Patterson, Lee Eng. P.C. (Environmental) & John Fuller P.E.
PLANNING BOARD ENGINEER: Pitingaro & Doetsch Consulting Engineers
ZONING BOARD CLERK: Linda Franck
ZONING BOARD MEMBER: Kathy Hosking (term expires 1-2028)
ZONING BOARD ATTORNEY: Glenn Plotsky
DESIGNATED BANKS: Connect One Bank, NY Class, Orange Bank & Trust & Wallkill Federal Savings & Loan
MEETING NIGHTS: 1ST & 3RD Monday nights unless otherwise approved by the Town Board & except as follows due to holidays: Meetings: for Jan. will be 3rd & 17th, Feb. will be 21st, June will be 20th, Sept. will be 5th.
POSTAGE, PAYROLL (& ASSOCIATED DEDUCTIONS) & UTILITIES PAID PRIOR TO AUDIT
DELEGATE/ASSOCIATION OF TOWNS MEETING: DELEGATE: Matthew Howell; ALTERNATE: Brian Carey
DESIGNATED NEWSPAPER: Times Herald Record
INVESTMENT POLICY: Reviewed – no changes
PROCUREMENT POLICY: Reviewed – no changes
MILEAGE: .65 ½ CENTS/MILE (Established by the IRS/examined quarterly)

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