Town Board Meeting May 2nd, 2022

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope Town Board was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on May 2, 2022 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilwoman Amanda Davis, Councilman Chris Furman and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief P. Rickard, H’way Supt. Hassenmayer, Deputy Police Chief M. Maresca, Attorney B. Bavoso.

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

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman that the minutes of the April 18, 2022 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Office of State Comptroller budget line creation
2. NYS DEC town mined land inspection report
3. Demolition schedule for SBL 10-1-46 from Ground Control Excavating
4. Letter of interest for planning board vacancy from William Morrision
5. Highway budget modification
6. Supervisor’s budget modification
7. Spring 2022 trash report
8. March 2022 building inspector report

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilwoman Davis reported that interviews for the planning board vacancies will start tomorrow night.
Councilman Carey attended the swearing in for Brian Lattimer as the new village trustee on April 22nd. Little league parade was April 23rd. All the town board was there. Our next town board meeting is at the senior center on May 16 to accommodate the police awards. Someone contacted him about the Hidden Valley sign. The town doesn’t own the sign. He’d like to know how to find out who owns the sign. He was hoping to have more information for the summer concert series for tonight’s meeting. He was able to get 2 local bands. There’s a blood drive on May 4 from 1:30-7pm at the Otisville Fire house. Farmer’s Daughter farm market open May 7. There’s a cancer walk on May 14 at the village park. Registration at 9:30am; walk starts at 10am. Minisink school vote on May 17. OC Volunteer fire police are having a car show in Florida, NY. There are 2 spots left on the AED/CPR class. Moniysha Maldonado is here tonight. There are 2 things on the Juneteenth flier the board has concerns about.
Councilman Furman congratulated Brian Lattimer on being sworn in as the new village trustee. Football league has a meeting Wednesday night.
Councilman Jennings stated the little league parade was a great time for everybody. The village meeting is Thursday at 7pm. At the last village meeting, they adopted the agreement to not charge the town to pick up the new dumpster at the youth center.
Supervisor Howell noted the 2 open seats for the CPR/AED classes. Once those are filled, they will run a waiting list for the next classes. At our last meeting we discussed and adopted the standard workday reporting resolution for the office of the state comptroller for the NYS retirement system. We had questions on that. Doing research from the comptroller’s website, all questions were answered. Employees that we have a time clock or other means of recording of their work day/week, don’t need to be included in that report. So, the report that Kathleen had prepared was sent to the comptroller’s office.

HIGHWAY:
Supt. Hassenmayer reported was busy but not as much as last spring. We haven’t been invoiced on the C&D yet. Tires were picked up. Electronics was light and ready to be picked up this week. If we use this company for the fall clean-up, they will also be charging a $150 pick-up fee. The fuel prices are going to affect everything. The dumpster has been on order but it will not be shipped until they get a full truck load. The guys started to ditch the roads. They’ll be fixing some random potholes along the way. He’d like permission to store a 2022 Side By Side for the OCHSA for their golf outing prize. He has it insured through Doug Hutchings. Supervisor Howell asked the attorney aside from the insurance that Dean mentioned would we need anything additional for the storage of that equipment if it fits within the garage and doesn’t impede his work? Atty. Bavoso: I don’t think so. Supervisor: should the carrier name the town additional insured? Atty Bavoso asked Dean to check with his carrier. It would be a good idea if that’s possible.

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MOTION TO ALLOW STORAGE OF 2022 SIDE BY SIDE FOR OCHSA GOLF OUTING:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to grant the storage request for the 2022 Side by Side through July 12, 2022 at the town highway garage pending the insurance naming the town as additional insured. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported there are 12 kids enrolled in the summer youth academy. Councilman Carey: the speed trailer on Route 211, even though it’s not flashing your speed it’s tracking how fast people are going, correct? Chief: yes.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Lattimer thanked the board for the kind words about the little league. He reported that the village adopted the dumpster proposal. At their re-org meeting he was told he will be the liaison with our town board.

PLANNING BOARD VACANCIES:
Supervisor Howell noted the letter of interest for the planning board vacancy. Interviews are scheduled with the perspective applicants which will be handled with the planning board and Amanda will be part of that this upcoming week.

BUDGET MODIFICATION EXPLANATION:
Supervisor Howell explained that last week he met with our accounting firm & going over some of the adjustments from the state comptroller’s office with our AUD in terms of how the information is reported to them. Part of what our accountant, Lorelei, was explaining is the budget modifications from last meeting and Dean’s tonight – that brought up questions in terms of why we’re doing the budget modifications. Budget modifications have been done in this manner even with prior administration. With this new accounting firm, we’re trying to streamline things internally to make things a little easier on our bookkeeping end. For example, for budget mod for revenue in the garbage pick-up – the revenue Dean has in his budget mod has not exceeded what we’ve budgeted to take in so at this time we don’t have a need for the budget modification. Once we hit the revenue mark that we predicted in the budget for that line ($2,000.00) & go over that amount – it would trigger a budget modification. He will send explanation letters to department heads. This is all on our fund balance side of the books not on our cash side.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve the following:
Capital reserve General A was funded $12,800.00 from the NYCLASS to cover the expense of Westar Tech Services for repairs to fuel oil tanks that were damaged on 2/4/2022. These services were an emergency repair. The funds were transferred and bill was paid on 4/11/2022 to cover the cost of the bill which was $12,887.00. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

BUDGET LINE CHANGE PER OFFICE OF STATE COMPTROLLER:
Supervisor Howell explained per OSC, there has been a change in title for budget line currently titled ‘Administration’ to be named ‘Personnel’ effective the 2023 budget.

MOTION TO AUTHORIZE BUDGET LINE TITLE/NAME CHANGE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to adopt the changes in the budget line before the 2023 budget as follows: B8686.1/.2/.4 Administration to be replaced with B1430.1/.2/.4 Personnel. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

PROPOSED LIBRARY DISTRICT:
Supervisor Howell explained the proposed library district. The current contract we hold id with the Port Jervis library. They were notified by the proposed public library that if the referendum, which is set for the fall, is to pass, any library contract within the PJ library system would be null/void immediately following the vote.

DUMPSTER AGREEMENT WITH VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Supervisor Howell advised Trustee Lattimer that he will be calling the Mayor about the dumpster contract as there are a couple of typos in tit.

YOUTH CENTER COOKING CLASS REQUEST:
Supervisor Howell advised the board members that they received a request through Kathleen’s office for use of the kitchen in the youth center. A lady would like to hold a cooking class for community youth to teach them how to cook for 1 day/month for approx. 1 ½ hours. The supervisor will reach out to her since she was not at the meeting.

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MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the following bills (Abstract #16 & #17):
ABSTRACT 16:
GENERAL A: #208-216 $ 4,061.35
GENERAL B: #29 $ 16.93
AMERICAN RESCUE: #1 $ 17,810.00
AND
ABSTRACT 17:
GENERAL A: #217-227 $ 52,956.34
GENERAL B: #30-33 $ 30,246.56
HIGHWAY: #72-75 $ 3,639.14
SEWER: #40 $ 1,155.26.
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

DEMOLITION SCHEDULE OF SBL 10-1-46:
Supervisor Howell noted that we have received a demolition schedule for SBL 10-1-46 from Ground Control Excavating. They are working with O&R and ‘811’ for the mark-outs and the dig safe initiative. O&R requested some documentation from the town which he will take care of tomorrow morning.

JUNETEENTH FESTIVAL:
Supervisor Howell requested from Moniysha Maldonado that on the flier for the Juneteenth festival is ‘at the Town Park’ or ‘come and celebrate the Juneteenth Festival’. She clarified that the board did not want any mention of Mount Hope. Supervisor: it’s in the town park. The way it is now kind of titles it ‘Town of Mount Hope’s Juneteenth Festival’. You are holding the event at our location; we have provided the facility use and the volunteers if you execute the event. We granted you the park rental at no fee being as it’s a historical/cultural celebration for the community to partake in. Councilman Carey spoke to Moniysha. He gave her feedback from 4 of the 5 board members. He explained to her that if this works out, she should come to our budget meetings when it’s time to see if there is more the town could do financially for this event. He believes where the breakdown is the wording of the flier. If someone looked at this right now, it looks as if we are running the event. She asked what the board wanted her to amend in the flier. She thought the town would be hosting this event and she would organize it. She will change the wording as requested. Councilman Carey will post the new flier on facebook.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Alison Miller (asked the attorney) how does the library referendum vote immediately nullify a contract that the town has with the Port Jervis library. He does not know how they think that can happen. Councilman Furman added that they are stating that it is forming a district at that point. She thinks that the library group went to the Port Jervis library and said if we pass – your contract is immediately nullified. She knows the contract runs through the end of the year. How can their result as of October, nullify a contract that this town has with a library? She has not heard anything about a vote. Atty. Bavoso: you’re creating a new taxing district. It’s going to be interesting to see how they get that done immediately. She wanted to clarify what Councilman Carey stated that if Moniysha came to the board at budget there could be some funds set aside for Juneteenth next year. Councilman Carey: yes – it’s not a promise. She clarified that IF the town did do that, the board would feel comfortable taking ownership of it. He agreed. She asked if Diane Loeven was also sworn in as a village trustee or was she not sworn in because she was already a village trustee? Councilman Carey: I am the only board member on this board that went to Brian’s swearing in. No one from the village board was at his swearing in except for the village clerk who swore him in. Councilman Jennings added that Diane was sworn in at the last village meeting.
Brian Lattimer thanked the board members for coming to the little league opening day. It was a tremendous turnout with 230 kids. He is hoping to have a new field built before next season. End of season picnic on June 18th at the baseball field. All Stars go through July. There’s a little league fundraiser on August 4. On August 2 we are helping the police department with the Night Out event. August 6 is the yard sale. They will do the fair in August. Councilman Carey reminded Brian Lattimer to book the park for little league events. Highway Supt. has not seen a schedule from the little league. He asked the town clerk if their insurance policy is up to date. She will check tomorrow. Councilman Furman will get a football schedule as it gets closer as well insurance.

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Carey noted that the pickle ball lines were pulled up at the youth center. He spoke to Jeanne Zill about the lines and apologized that he did not call her. The ovens at the youth and senior center need to be cleaned. He reached out to our cleaning company about doing this.

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Supervisor Howell spoke re: Board of Elections. The polling place postcards should be going out soon. There will be a primary on June 28 from 6am to 9pm. Early voting is June 18-26. County website will have the polling sites for the early voting. November 8th, 6am to 9pm is General Election. BOE is in need of election day poll workers. He noted the change in meeting place for our next town board meeting on May 16. This is in conjunction with our police awards. He noted that at the last meeting we received a resignation from Paula, Kathleen’s deputy. He has a certificate for her from the town that he will present to her during the week when he sees her.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilwoman Davis to adjourn the meeting at 8:21pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 16, 2022 at 7:30pm at the Mount Hope Senior Center on Baker Street, Otisville.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

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