Town Board Meeting May 15, 2023
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Attorney Bill Bavoso.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Howell called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman that the minutes of the May 1, 2023 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE TOWN CLERK:
1. Resolution for National Police Week 2023
2. Supervisor’s report April 2023
3. Resignation from Police Sgt. Anna Briceno effective May 16, 2023
4. Building Inspector report April 2023
5. OC Mortgage tax receipts for April 2023
6. Letter from NYS AG & Mkts re: 5/4/2023 shelter inspection report
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilmember Davis: Planning board meets May 17 at 7pm. Summer camp counselor interviews are going well.
Councilmember Furman: Summer camp counselor interviews are going well. He reminded everyone about the school vote tomorrow. He will be putting the concert series schedule on the website/facebook. It runs from 7/4 through 8/22. May 20 is a Prostate Cancer walk at the village park 9:30-3:00. Mount Hope Chinese Association is having a Dragon Boat festival at the town park on June 18, 2023 – 11Am – 6:30pm. The OC Mobile DMV will be at Village Hall on May 26 from 10AM to 3:30PM. It will be on a rotating schedule with the town hall – every other month. He had to take some chairs from the youth center to the senior center and will look into buying more. He spoke his discontent re: illegal migrants coming to Orange County. Supervisor: Chief Maresca is working with other police agencies on this issue.
Councilmember Jennings: There were 15 fire calls for April. Audit NY will be at the next village board meeting. The Highland Avenue bridge replacement work will be starting soon. Village board will hold a public hearing for the volunteer firefighter tax reduction on May 18.He added that and resident from Orange County can use the mobile DMV sites.
Supervisor Howell: He reminded everyone about the school vote tomorrow. There is a FUN RUN on May 20th at the town park. Armed Forces Day is May 20 – he thanked anyone in the armed forces for their service. He spoke re: Memorial Day services in the area. If we get any notices on this, we will post them online. He reminded everyone that our next board meeting will be held at the Mount Hope Senior Center for the police awards. He spoke re: Highland Avenue bridge replacement schedule. The goal is to keep the village open as much as possible through this construction phase. We can help out with parking space for the big machinery.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Supervisor noted that Chief Maresca reported that the speed trailers will be going out. If anyone has a request for placement, please contact the PD.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Mayor Carey reported that there is a Food & Vendor Event at the Otisville fire house, June 3 10am – 6pm. He met with the new contractor at the firehouse. They are looking to stage 2- 40’ trailers. They also need to stage a couple pieces of the bridge. June 1-15 is the plan to work on the access road. By July 1st – they will close the bridge. Bridge replacement should take 10 months.
SUMMER CAMP:
Supervisor Howell needs approval for the 3 directors for the summer camp: Melissa Benjamin, Kayla Miller & Antoinette Coppola. We will finish the counselor interviews this week. Councilmember Davis asked about their background checks. Supervisor: it’s been submitted and in the process by the county.
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MOTION TO HIRE DIRECTORS FOR THE 2023 SUMMER CAMP:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the hiring of Melissa Benjamin, Kayla Miller & Antoinette Coppola as the directors for the 2023 summer camp.
All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
RESOLUTION FOR NATIONAL POLICE WEEK 2022:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman: (read by Town Clerk Kathleen Myers)
To recognize National Police Week 2023 and to honor the service and sacrifice of those law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty while protecting our communities and safeguarding our democracy.
WHEREAS, there are more than 800,000 law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of the Town of Mount Hope Police Department;
WHEREAS, since the first recorded death in 1786, more than 23,000 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice and been killed in the line of duty:
WHEREAS, the names of these dedicated public servants are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC;
WHEREAS, 556 new names of fallen heroes are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial this spring, including 246 officers killed in 2022 and 147 officers killed in previous years;
WHEREAS, the service and sacrifice of all officers killed in the line of duty will be honored during the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s 35th Candlelight Vigil, on the evening of May 13, 2023;
WHEREAS, the Candlelight Vigil is part of National Police Week, which will be observed this year May 14-20;
WHEREAS, May 15 is designated as Peace Officers Memorial Day, in honor of all fallen officers and their families and U.S. flags should be flown at half-staff;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town Board Town of Mount Hope will observe May 14-20, 2023, as National Police Week in the Town of Mount Hope, and publicly salutes the service of law enforcement officers in our community and in communities across the nation.
All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT THE SUPERVISOR’S MONTHLY REPORT:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to accept the Supervisor’s report for April 2023 as presented. All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY:
Supervisor Howell noted that there is a policy or local law example for the social media policy. He asked the attorney if the local law wording could be used as the policy for the handbook. Attorney: yes. Supervisor: other than titling and some of the specifics that would need to be modified, we could adopt it as a policy. Councilmember Jennings wanted to see the law again before approving. Supervisor asked the attorney does the board need to designate a person to be the authorized agent to put ads online – social media or the town website? Attorney Bavoso asked what the procedure is now. Supervisor: Police chief posts for his police page and for the rest of the town stuff, Chris and myself do it. Attorney: it’s up to the town board how you want to do it. If things are satisfactory now, you can continue with that. Councilmember Davis has access also. Councilmember Jennings finished reading over the information and stated it’s fine. He asked if this would be sent to town employees with their next paycheck. Supervisor: yes.
MOTION TO ACCEPT THE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY AS PRESENTED:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Davis to approve the social media policy as presented with modifications from the local law example.
All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT RESIGNATION FROM ANNA BRICENO, POLICE SERGEANT:
MOTION offered Councilmember Furman 2nd Councilmember Jennings to accept the resignation from Police Sergeant Anna Briceno effective May 16, 2023.
All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
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MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman Carey to approve the following bills (Abstract #18 & #19):
ABSTRACT 18:
GENERAL A: #205-217 $ 51,423.57
GENERAL B: #48-51 $ 29,993.12
HIGHWAY: #91-92 $ 119.30
SEWER: #45-47 $ 6,117.74
AND
ABSTRACT 19:
GENERAL A: #218-234 $ 71,093.92
GENERAL B: #52-55 $ 7,461.05
HIGHWAY: #93-97 $ 56,699.42
SEWER: #48 $ 1,178.35
ARPA: #5 $ 5,682.15.
All in favor: Howell, Jennings, Davis; Furman abstained from Abstract 18 voucher # 207; motion carried.
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AMENDMENT:
Supervisor received correspondence over the weekend from the highway department union. He read the following into the record:
“This memorandum of understanding entered into between the Town of Mount Hope and Local Teamsters #445 sets forth the parties understanding of the respective duties and obligations concerning the compensation of the members of the bargaining unit to supplement the current contract. The parties to this memorandum of understanding hereby agrees to as follows: under no circumstance shall any employee with over 20 years of service in the highway department have a rate of pay less than any other employee with fewer years of service. In the vent the terms of the current contract require an employee with fewer years of service to be paid at a rate greater than the employee with over 20 years of service, the rate of pay for the employee with over 20 years of service shall automatically be adjusted to the match the highest rate of pay for any other employee. The parties agree that this MOU shall be in effect throughout the term of the existing contract between the parties. Upon the expiration of the contract, this memorandum shall expire also.”
MOTION TO APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE SIGNATURE TO THE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AMENDMENT:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Furman to approve the amendment as stated above and to authorize the Deputy Town Supervisor, Christopher Furman to sign said memorandum of understanding. All in favor: Furman, Jennings, Davis; Howell abstained (his brother works in the department); motion carried.
SUMMER RECREATION REGISTRATION:
Supervisor Howell: summer recreation registration will open as soon as we get the documents online. There will be 2 evening registration dates – TBA.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Diane Loeven: CAB meeting has been cancelled for June. They’re hoping to schedule for July. May 27 is the next senior trip. Parking here in parking lot.
Marybeth Horzepa: The Mount Hope Pocatello fire dept. ladies auxiliary will be selling lotto calendars starting June. May 20, 12-3:30pm is a tricky tray at the Mount Hope Pocatello fire house.
Doug Tripken: (Hidden Valley resident 40 years) He is disappointed. He’s numerous problems with water going over the road. He’s cleaned the drains all these years. When holes would appear by the drains, he would call the town. The town would come and take care of it. He never had a problem with water in his back yard. He tried talking with Dean about making a big cement opening for the sewer instead of having just the 2 drains. Dean said he would look into it with grants and that never happened. However, he said he would come and they would try to clear out some of the brush. People further up the line throw their grass cuttings or they throw their branches in. The town came about December and cleaned out the entire area behind my fence. I lost all my privacy but if that helped the problem, I didn’t mind it. The problem was, they brought in either a backhoe or some other heavy machinery that had tire marks almost a foot deep and made it really soft in that area. They took trees out as well as the brush. Never had that problem before. In March I went to help my parents and on March 10 or 11 we had a snowstorm here. There was one pine tree left that fell and broke his fence due to the ground being so soft. He was told to use his homeowners insurance. But he will have a deductible to pay. They created the problem – it was caused by the town cleaning that out. If it’s only a few hundred dollars, I don’t see why the town won’t take care of it. I’m expressing my frustration.
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BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilmember Jennings: We’re working on the networking still to have it all hardwired. Chris met with a company last week. Hope to have more in by next week to have all the bids in for that.
Councilmember Furman: The pancake breakfast put on by Otisville fire house was a great job. Historic Society is having an open house on June 4 and he will post it on FB.
Councilmember Davis: We had an issue with a rental that the heat was still on. Is this something we can do ourselves instead of having someone come and do it? Supervisor: I would have to check with Dean on this if maybe one of his guys could do it.
Supervisor Howell spoke re: conflicts of interest. Chris and Amanda attended an Assoc. of Towns meeting and shared information from the meeting. To be in compliance with the potential: I work for a business, AC HOWELL, and they’ve been contracted since 2010 – I believe under Supervisor Novak to supply propane to the town. Since I’ve been the supervisor, we’ve had the vouchers when they’re submitted have been dual signed or signed by the deputy supervisor at the time. An additional measure to protect the town, the checks would be also signed by the deputy supervisor. In addition, my brother works in the highway department. He was hired before I was on the town board. He was hired as an employee prior to my election to the town board. My father serves on the planning board – over 20 years of that. Those items should be disclosed so I’m disclosing that publicly.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilmember Davis 2nd Councilmember Jennings to adjourn the meeting at 8:17pm. All in favor: Howell, Furman, Jennings, Davis; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 5, 2023 at 7:30pm at the Mount Hope Town Hall, 1706 Route 211 West, Otisville, NY.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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