Town Board Meeting November 15th, 2021
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Chief Rickard, Dep Chief Maresca, Attorney Bavoso.
Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm following the Pledge of Allegiance.
Supervisor Volpe opened the public hearing for UNSAFE STRUCTURE LOCATED AT 1641 ROUTE 211 WEST (SBL 10-1-46), OTISVILLE NY at 7:30pm.
Supervisor Volpe noted there was the notice of public hearing that appeared in the newspaper on the table. The owner of SBL 10-1-46 would like to have the public hearing left open so that he can attend next meeting. There’s some things we are still waiting on from the engineer. It would be my recommendation that we leave it open anyway. However, we can definitely get board comments and public comments. I did talk to the occupant Friday in detail. He had told me there had been work done on the roof area and some other areas of the house. I had advised him that he could bring me the documentation and that would support his move to remedy the problem. I also explained to him that ultimately the Town of Mount Hope is not a landlord and we are not really looking to take over property. However, the property is unsafe and our job is to make sure that nobody lives in a house that unsafe. That’s where we are with my involvement. Does anyone from the public have any comments on SBL 10-1-46 in the Town of Mount Hope.
Jaclyn Mann: I am the new owner of 1645 Rte 211 on the right side of the home. I have an almost 3 year old toddler and I have found that rats have been coming from that home – we believe. He has come to us previously stating that the red fence is on his property and he would like it removed. I would like to find out if & when this demolition does occur, will that be held his responsibility or part of the demolition being that I don’t know if it’s on our property or not.
Supervisor Volpe: Understood, so my understanding of it would be that the 1st thing we would do if the demolition happened would be obviously tear the house down. Then the man hours put in to clean up the premises would be added as a lien against the taxes but we would not knock down anything that wasn’t pertaining to the house or remove anything that didn’t pertain to the house.
J. Mann: so, it would just be the house and not the fence that’s on our side of the property?
Supervisor: no. This is just because it’s an unsafe structure. We would ultimately take care of the structure itself and obviously if there’s other violations, we would go the proper course to make sure those violations were taken care of in a timely matter. If they weren’t, again we would involve thew town employees and then put additional lien on the piece of property. Is that right David?
Attorney Bavoso: correct.
J. Mann: thank you.
Supervisor: does anyone else have any questions about this? He asked for board comments.
Councilman Howell: the only comment is I think based on the advice from the attorney, we should adjourn this as requested of the applicant until the next meeting to give him/them the opportunity to appear.
Councilman Carey asked Julie: how old are these pictures?
BI Musial: those are about 2 years old. It’s my understanding from the conversation we had, that he made some repairs however, he never notified my office of the repairs prior to Friday when we discussed it. But, as you can see from the pictures, that was an ongoing situation for quite some time. And, it would lead me and it would lead Jason at the time to believe that there would be other issues involved maybe structurally as well as mold and other issues that may have arose due to that situation.
Councilman Carey: this is the back of the house?
Musial: back of the house.
Councilman Furman: I agree with Matt to follow the attorney’s suggestion.
Councilman Jennings: I agree with adjourning it for now and waiting until next meeting.
Supervisor: the only other thing I forgot to bring up is I know that it was indicated to us and again it was indicated that a generator was running the facility and that was another unsafe thing. The owner had told me that he pays O&R and he does have regular utilities there. I also encouraged him to bring a copy of that bill with him to show that that in fact is what is happening. At the end of the day, it was a lengthy conversation, I just reiterated that the town of Mount Hope does not want to take someone’s property. Ultimately, what we want is to know that it’s a safe structure to have people occupy the house. I think that’s what we all want. In the 8 years I’ve been here, I’ve never been through anything like this. We want to make sure that it’s safe and the violations are cleared up. If that means tearing the house down or repairing it – I think ultimately that’s what we want. But we also want it done in a timely manner.
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BI Musial: I did indicate to him, if he was open to the town engineer going in – because he expressed some hesitance in being able to afford a design professional come in to do an evaluation. I said that we would discuss that as a possibility. I’ve given him David’s number so that hopefully some understanding could be…
Supervisor: at this time, with no objections, I’d like to just leave the public hearing open and we will continue with it at our next meeting on December 6th.
MOTION TO ADJOURN PUBLIC HEARING TO DECEMBER 6, 2021:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to adjourn public hearing for UNSAFE STRUCTURE LOCATED AT 1641 ROUTE 211 WEST, OTISVILLE NY until the December 6, 2021 meeting at 7:30pm. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to accept the minutes from the 11-01-2021 meeting as submitted. All in favor: Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; ABSTAINED: Howell; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Supervisor’s reports for September & October 2021
2. (3) budget modifications for the highway department
3. Public hearing notice for Mount Hope planning board re: 3 lot subdivision SBL 6-1-25 on Shoddy Hollow Road
4. Otisville fire call reports for October 2021 & September 2021
5. Orange County mortgage tax receipt for October 2021
6. Conditional offer for 2nd parcel being sold SBL 6-1-26
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell: He thanked the Supervisor for giving his report at the last meeting. The parade was successful. He thanked the Village of Otisville for their cooperation, the fire department for the use of their station and the participants. The girl scouts that were involved made a generous donation of girl scout cookies for the veterans. On 8-10-2021 we approved, with COVID funding, to replace the heating system at the police station/senior center building. We’ve not gotten anything back from the engineer – they keep saying they’re working on it. We can’t put it out to bid because we don’t have the data. It’s late in the game. We need the work done. The contractor that serviced those units. They are beyond obsolete. We are on borrowed time. I don’t know if the town wants to make a decision on getting someone else to design this so we can get it out to bid. Three months is a little excessive to make a design so we can at least advertise for bids. Village patriot tree lighting will be 12/7/2021 at 5:30pm. Town tree lighting on 12/3/2021 at 6:30pm with special appearance by Santa. T/O Wallkill is having a holiday parade on 11/20/2021 on Wallkill Winning Way. He noted there is a scam out there re: local utility company. There’s a campaign called “END THE CALL/END THE SCAM”. Three common things asked for with these calls are: prepaid debit cards, wiring payments through an app on your cell phone. They threaten with immediate shut-off while you are on the phone.
Councilman Carey: Otisville Fire is having a penny social on 11/20/2021, 5-6:30pm. He wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. He congratulated everyone who was re-elected or elected to a new position. We have a new councilwoman – Amanda Davis.
Councilman Furman: He thanked Matt for organizing the Veteran’s parade. He congratulated the MVF team – they are the Section 9 champs. The Hidden Valley had tyvec and new windows put in at the lab. He would like to go to bid for the siding for that building. It will have to be prevailing wage. He requested executive session for a contractual matter.
Councilman Jennings: Planning board will meet 11/17/2021 at 7pm. As of 11/2/2021, there are 101 library cards. Village meeting is 11/18 at 7pm. Penny Social doors open at 5pm calling starts at 6:30. There are pre-sale tickets being sold on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday from 4-7pm at the fire house. Otisville tree lighting is 12-4-2021 at 5:30 at the fire house.
Supervisor Volpe: asked the attorney re: email from Hidden Valley resident. The attorney wanted the supervisor to relay the information to Dean and have him reach out to David. Supervisor: we don’t do anything with connections. They have to pay a hook-up fee and hook-up out to the main pipe. We don’t do any of it.
MOTION TO APPROVE NEWLY ELECTED OFFICIALS TRAINING BY ASSOCIATION OF TOWNS:
MOTION offered by Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the classes for the newly elected town officials school offered by the Assoc. of Towns, January 6-7, 2022, $75/member. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
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HIGHWAY DEPT.:
Supt. Hassenmayer was not present. Supervisor Volpe informed the board re COVID funding for the parking lot. We allotted $50,000.00 for the new expansion of the parking lot. Better news is, Dean came in at $16,863.09. All vouchers have been turned in.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT:
BI Musial reported on the numbers of violations, permits issued, title searches & revenue collected so far this year. (Copies on file in town clerk’s office.) This week is continuing education in Kingston. Normally we go for all 4 days however they offer a lot of courses online this year. We took advantage of that. There are a few they are offering in person and she wants to go up. Both she and Heidi will go on Wednesday. The total will be $300-$350. They will work with them because they are not going for the full time. We only have to pay for whatever classes we take.
MOTION TO APPROVE BUILDING INSPECTORS TO ATTEND TRAINING IN KINGSTON NY:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to approve training for the building department not to exceed $350.00 for 11/16, 17 & 18th. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
POLICE DEPT.:
Chief Rickard requested brief executive session for a personnel issue. The ABLE training is ½ done. The new speed trailer came Thursday and training will be in December. He added that at the tree lighting they will have a movie (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town) and popcorn/drinks.
AT THIS TIME, Supervisor Volpe asked the town clerk to ask the deputy to take minutes for the planning board meeting as the clerk and chairman are unable to attend.
Supervisor Volpe then asked the police chief to contact/email the town engineer to get the plans for the heating system so they can move forward with going to bid for this. Please ‘CC’ the whole board on it.
LOCAL LAW #4-2021 SMALL CELL WIRELESS FACILITIES FEES:
Supervisor Volpe asked the board if they had rates in mind for permit fees for the small cell wireless facilities (law). We approved it last time. If the board wanted to do research, it can be put on agenda for next meeting. He asked Julie to call around and email the board members.
MOTION TO APPROVE THE SUPERVISOR’S REPORT:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the Supervisor’s report for October 2021 & September 2021 as presented. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven explained the penny social to everyone. She spoke about Wreaths Across America on 12/18/21 that Holy Name Church cemetery is participating in. There’ll be 128 wreaths laid in that cemetery.
MOTION TO APPROVE (3) BUDGET MODIFICATIONS FOR THE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following modifications:
Increase revenue for Sale of Equip D2665 by $5,050.00 &
Increase Machinery Equip DB5130.4 by $5,050.00 (for TENCO dump body & Winston trailer sold);
Increase Minor Sales A2652 by $500.00 &
Increase Buildings A1620.4 by $500.00 (for sale of Aqua Pex piping);
Increase Minor Sales A2652 by $9,680.00 &
Increase Police Equip A3120.2 by $9,680.00 (sale of 2015 Ford Explorer & Code 3 roof light).
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
MOTION FOR AUDIT OF CLAIMS (ABSTRACT #44 & #45):
MOTION offered by Councilman Jennings 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following:
#44: GENERAL A: #579-597 $150,047.51
GENERAL B: #97-99 $ 21,739.38
HIGHWAY: #187-192 $ 82,679.15
SEWER: #101-104 $ 5,055.31
AMERICAN RES: #8-9 $ 11,499.06
AND
#45: GENERAL A: #598-611 $ 54,008.99
GENERAL B: #100-103 $ 5,221.04
HIGHWAY: #193-203 $ 99,996.57
SEWER: #105-107 $ 1,539.35.
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.
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PUBLIC COMMENT:
Diane Loeven thanked the Police Chief for speaking at the senior meeting. She asked him to tell the officers to stop in to the village hall. Officer Balgobin stopped in one day and everyone enjoyed that.
Mary Maurizzio wanted to thank Dean for getting the flag up in town.
SHODDY HOLLOW ROAD PROPERTY:
Supervisor Volpe informed the board that he received a full asking price for the other piece of property on Shoddy Hollow Road. The offer came in today. We were looking to get $125,000 for the vacant land and that’s the price that came in today. Attorney Bavoso will work on the contracts. Once we have a response from the buyers attorney, he will bring that back to this board. Once we have something that both sides agree to, the board will make a motion to authorize the supervisor to sign the contracts. Councilman Howell asked if the conditions of the sale would be addressed in the contract.
TOWN BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Jennings wished everyone a happy thanksgiving.
Councilman Furman wished everyone a happy thanksgiving and apologized to Diane for not being able to attend the tree lighting due to a prior engagement.
Councilman Carey stated that there are still a lot of political signs up.
Councilman Howell thanked everyone that came to the parade and wished everyone a happy thanksgiving.
MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to enter into executive session at 8:07pm to go over a contractual & personnel issue for the police department and Hidden Valley. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO RECONVENE REGULAR MEETING FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to reconvene the regular meeting from executive session at 8:50pm. THERE WAS NO ACTION TAKEN IN THIS EXECIUTIVE SESSION. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO HIRE MYRNA MACINTOSH AS COURT CLERK:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to hire Myrna MacIntosh to fill the clerk’s position at the court to be effective 11-16-2021. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to adjourn the meeting at 8:50pm. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Furman, Carey; carried.
The next meeting is December 6, 2021 at 7:30pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, Town Clerk
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