Town Board Meeting September 6th, 2022
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief Rickard, Deputy Police Chief Maresca, H’way Supt. Hassenmayer, Attorney Bavoso.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Howell called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.
MOTION TO ACCEPT THE PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to accept meeting minutes as presented from August 15, 2022. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; motion carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
1 Police Policy #349: Extreme Risk Protection Orders for approval
2 Request from Assessor to attend seminar in Lake George 9-18-2022 thru 9-21-2022
3 Building dept. monthly report – July 2022
4 Letter from NYS DEC re: C/O Middletown Notice of Incomplete Application re: Mill Pond
5 Letter from NYS DEC re: Middletown water system/Kinch Pond
6 2020 planning board minutes: Feb, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct, Nov; remaining months no meetings were held
7 Letter from Assessor re: money in lieu of parklands for 10 lot subdivision/55 Forest House
8 Letter from PERMA re: effectively managing workers’ comp program
9 Pole barn bid opening minutes from 9/2/2022
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
BOARD REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings: Arbor Day 9/24 10am at Veteran’s park. 15 fire calls for August. They received quotes on repairing the firehouse bathroom – one at a time. Village has a special ZBA meeting going on now at the firehouse. He was asked about the bathrooms getting locked at the village park. He was told there was an agreement with the police department for them to get locked at 9pm. Chief Rickard thinks it has to do with COVID. He will speak with Diane after the meeting. The wiring for the town hall was discussed. Councilman Jennings received a quote from Knight Watch. 1st page was wiring quote & 2nd page was hardware quote. The switch is not included in this quote. That’s about $500-$600. Further, he received some quotes for the basketball hoops at the park to be paid for by ARPA money.
Councilman Furman: MVYFL had opening day Sunday. It was very successful. They will be sending the schedule. HV smoke testing was done on the 24th. There were no leaks in anyone’s house that we know of. There are a couple manholes that are deteriorating. He thanked the highway guys for all their help. The computer at the sewer plant crashed. It was replaced with a re-conditioned computer. He would like money put aside for a new one. There was maintenance done on one of the generators there. One had a bad water pump which was replaced. There’s no DCO report. There are no ZBA meetings scheduled. He and Councilman Carey got rid of a lot of stuff in the senior center basement. There’s more to get rid of.
Councilman Carey: He would like for letters to go out to the groups that store stuff in that basement. FOTOS tricky tray on 9/24/rain date is 25th. MV youth football: heard many complaints about the parking. He congratulated Sophia Macaluso on winning the silver medal for 2022 women’s united world wrestling championship. Orange county is holding an economic summit at OCCC on 9/30. The moon festival will be 9/17 and 9/18 in Deerpark. The Mount Hope historical society is holding a tricky tray at the youth center on 9/17. Otisville fire is holding a blood drive on 9/21 1:30-7:30. Discussion on youth center pickle ball lines/courts. Per Chief Rickard, someone will be coming to give a quote for doing the pickle ball lines at the youth center on/about Sept. 18. Two people from LL are here for damage to LL field from the fair. The town buys the clay for the LL fields. We own one field there and the village owns the other 3. Homeplate and two other bases were damaged as well. Village does some repairs. He would like to see in the future where heavy equipment is not parked on the baseball fields. He would like to work together with the village and the LL to figure out a plan to fix the damage done.
Councilwoman Davis: The fair looked like it went well. She thanked the Otisville Lions club. The 4H center on Finchville Tpk is having a harvest festival on 9/16 – you have to pre-register online. All proceeds will benefit the 4H.
Supervisor Howell: Today was the 1st day of school. Keep your eyes out for the buses and kids on/off the buses.
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HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supt. Hassenmayer noted the pole barn bid opening. We received 2 bids. The lowest by far was Pioneer pole buildings @ $107,864.00. The other bidders were $227,000 and $390,000 +/-. He recommends accepting Pioneer bid. He recalls putting $60,000 away from the ARPA money towards this. He’d like to get the building structure done this year. Let everything settle then do the floor later. Trash days are coming up. The bid opening for that is 9/15. We’ve received 1 bid so far.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard spoke re: SRO contract. He gave it to Kathleen. She will get a copy to the supervisor. The HVAC system is up/running. There’s a small punch list of a couple items to be done. If there are no questions on the Policy #349: Extreme Risk Protection Orders, we’d like to get that approved tonight. We sent a bill to the fair and will probably get that check pretty soon.
VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Trustee Loeven noted that Arbor Day will be celebrated on 9/24 at 10AM at the Veteran’s park.
MOTION TO APPROVE POLICE POLICY #349: EXTREME RICK PROTECTION ORDERS:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve Policy #349: Extreme Risk Protection Orders. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; motion carried.
MOTION TO APPROVE ASSESSOR’S REQUEST TO ATTEND SEMINAR IN LAKE GEORGE, NY:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve Assessor Dennis Ketcham to attend seminar in Lake George NY 9/18/2022 through 9/21/2022 with meals included for $1,082.60. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; motion carried.
MOTION TO ACCEPT BID FROM PIONEER POLE BUILDINGS FOR POLE BARN AT PARK:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to accept the bid from Pioneer Pole Buildings in the amount of $107,864.00 for the pole barn at the town park. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Furman, Jennings; motion carried.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS – ABSTRACTS 33-35:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to pay the following bills:
ABSTRACT 33:
GENERAL A: #419-430 $51,120.17
GENERAL B: #75-77 $ 6,040.48
HIGHWAY: #136-139 $22,648.63
SEWER: #71-74 $ 1,657.09
ABSTRACT #34:
GENERAL A: #431-434 $ 1,520.05
AND
ABSTRACT #35:
GENERAL A: #435-443 $ 6,951.22
GENERAL B: #140-143 $ 1,026.64
HIGHWAY: #145-148 $ 35,168.51
SEWER: #75-76 $ 4,484.17
AM RESCUE: #5 $ 2,025.00.
All in favor: Howell, Davis, Furman, Jennings, Carey; carried.
MOTION TO SET PUBLIC HEARING FOR RESTORE NY GRANT:
MOTION offered Councilwoman Davis 2nd Councilman Furman to set a date for the RESTORE NY GRANT on October 3, 2022 at 7:30PM at the town hall meeting room. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO MODIFY PRIOR RESOLUTION (from august 15, 2022) FOR 2023 BUDGET MEETING DATES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to set the dates for the 2023 Town Budget meetings for 9/20/2022 and 9/28/2022 at town hall at 6:00pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
ARPA FUNDS EMPLOYEE HAZARD PAY:
Supervisor Howell had an amendment to a prior discussion about the employee hazard pay from ARPA funds. Current town employees working between 4-1-2020 through 12-31-2020 working more than 200 hours excluding town board members, to receive payments as follows: 29 PT employees $100/employee & 10 FT employees for $400/employee = $6,900.00.
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MOTION TO APPROVE THE PAYMENT OF ARPA FUNDS FOR CURRENT TOWN EMPLOYEES:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to pay current town employees working between 4-1-2020 through 12-31-2020 working more than 200 hours excluding town board members, to receive payments as follows: 29 PT employees $100/employee & 10 FT employees for $400/employee = $6,900.00. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Jeanne Zoll asked Councilman Furman about the computer crashing at the HV plant. When it crashed, what happened to the sewerage? Councilman Furman: it runs manually. The re-conditioned computer came in a week. Supt. Hassenmayer asked if there was a maintenance plan for the computer system. Furman: good question. He will find out. Mrs. Zoll verified that there was no raw sewerage that escaped the plant. Furman: no.
Diane Loeven: There are a couple trips planned: 9/15 and 10/3. She verified that the supervisor received the seniors budget request. He did. She asked if the HVAC could be updated on the senior center side of that building with some of the ARPA money. Supervisor Howell: we still have funding available. The company that did the police side of the building is going to give a quote for the senior center side.
Deanna: spoke re: damage to LL fields from the fair. Brian Lattimer asked her to attend this meeting. Councilman Jennings spoke to Mayor Wona about this. The lions club will reimburse for the damage. Deanna noted that the base receivers were damaged as well for Homeplate, 1st & 3rd. She then asked if the new little league field being built/underway. Supt. Hassenmayer asked if the LL had an engineer. Is Al Fusco going to draw out some locations. He was waiting for Dean for a map of the property. He has a survey map that Mr. Fusco will be picking up. We are still in the planning part of this. LL would prefer that the new field be on the same side of the road as the other fields – behind field C, or across the road. Across the road would be cheaper. She asked how this will be paid for. Councilwoman Davis thought it was volunteers. Deanna: all of us volunteer our time. Davis: correct but the ones doing the work….Supervisor Howell: he said he had contractors lined up to volunteer to do the bulk of the work. Audience member: we have landscapers and Fusco Engineering that will do it as a donation to the LL. Supervisor: that’s the understanding we had when Brian (Lattimer) was here a number of months ago. Hassenmayer: spoke to Al Fusco who will do a field layout over a map that we already have in a couple different positions. It sounds like he can do it on the computer. Deanna: if the fair causes so much damage on the field year, we have to change the layout of the fair. Jennings: that’s more of a village issue because that’s village property. Councilman Carey: the village gives the lions permission to use the fields and when they put stuff on the fields, the village is basically telling them they can do whatever they want to do. I agree with you. When you walked around the fair this year, there was some pretty heavy equipment on the dirt/clay part of the fields. I don’t understand why it has to be like that. I’ve said for years why can’t it be on the grass. Jim had a conversation with Brian which I guess Jim is in disagreement with that because we’ve always followed suit on how things go. I agree with LL that if the fair is having their fair there and LL is having fall ball then something needs to interact there and hopefully the village will get involved in that conversation. Audience member: can we move the fair a week or 2 earlier? We lost a week of fall ball practice because of the fair. We are all volunteers; we don’t get paid. After working a 40 hour week come to the fields We have to come to the fields to fix all the damage done by the fair. Supervisor Howell: we don’t set the dates for the fair. Deanna: who are the lions and how do I talk to them? Jennings: we have a lion’s meeting the 2nd Wednesday of the month at the senior center.
Alison Miller asked for a follow up on the ARPA funds. Have decisions been made? She is asking everyone but especially for FOTOS because they had requested money. Supervisor Howell: certain items have been allocated: police camera, signs, basketball equipment, historic property materials, updated sewer system computer, AV system; no set date for a final decision.
Mary Maurizzio: the fair is taking a beating here tonight. The fair is a huge fundraiser for a lot of local organizations. The little league is not the only game in town.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Carey received a quote on the digital sign out front for $20,000-$25,000. Dean found a file on the original purchase. Brian called the company. It was a custom sign. Brian will take some pictures and send to the company. He hopes to have it fixed really cheap. We should be able to get another 3-4 years out of it.
Councilwoman Davis (speaking to LL rep): you need a new ballfield. Deanna: yes, we are requesting. Davis: the old school community has a current ball field that you’re using as a practice field. They (FOTOS) had asked for ARPA funds to repair their field. They mainly need for fencing and damages done by vehicles that are trespassing. Do you plan on using this field as a playing field or just a practice field? If you’re using it as a practice field right now, I don’t understand why it can’t be utilized as a playing field eventually and why we need to build an entirely new field. Audience member: I don’t know if you’ve been to that field but last time I was there, the dugouts were full of weeds. Davis: but there’s volunteers is what I’m saying. I’m trying to understand why we….
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Deanna: we don’t have enough volunteers to do the manpower you are requesting to do that field. Davis: you don’t have enough manpower to build a field as well? Deanna: we have companies that do that. The people that maintain the field now are regular – us. Also, parents are going to have multiple kids – one in t-ball, one in minors and then you’re gonna have to go to a 3rd field? Davis: are you not planning to utilize that field at all? Deanna: it will be a practice field. Davis: there’s multiple practices with multiple kids in different areas as well too. It’s not just games. Deanna: the idea is to have all the fields in the same location. Davis: so eventually, down the road, you plan on discontinuing the use of the old school field. Deanna: what else would you use it for? Audience member: I don’t see us not using it. Further discussion on practices and games. Deanna: in the future we are looking at Otisville and Minisink merging because we’re gonna need more fields because we’re gonna have bigger & more teams. Davis: LL does fluctuate though. Many years ago they asked for a field. Then attendance went down. Audience member: attendance has gone up the last 2 years. Davis: it does go up and it does go down. Currently, we are seeing an influx of families moving up here but things do fluctuate with families – people move in/people move out. I’m just trying to see if it’s really worth….Audience member: the current board, which I’ve been on for over a year, we are committed. We wanna build this field. This league – we want more kids. The previous board – their kids outgrew it and they kind of kept it together. Carey: did Minisink LL redo the lines for LL? Discussion. Deanna: we’re all Minisink Valley. What’s happening is that Minisink doesn’t have as many fields. They’re losing their fields. We have more people, we have the concession stand – we have a lot more to offer LL. In the next couple years the plan is to merge Minisink & Otisville together. We need all of these fields within Minisink Valley so these kids in different districts/sports can share the fields. Audience member: rumor has it the VFW is selling the fields to a solar company. Those fields there will be gone. Carey: how many fields at the VFW? Audience member: 2. Alison Miller: Amanda makes a good point. I understand the need for volunteers in many local organizations. No one has enough of us/them. The field and the dugouts at the old school are in desperate need of work. We don’t have enough people to do that. But if you don’t have enough people to do that, how are you also going to maintain a new field? If you want to use it as a practice field – there’s been one person who’s come to do any work there. He’s Art – he’s fantastic. One person is not going to be able to maintain that field. You can use that field as a practice field and that fantastic but you don’t even have enough volunteers to maintain this field.
Highway Supt. Hassenmayer informed the board members that the doors are in for the rec center and gym area. They will be installed this week. Councilman Carey: we have to frost the windows for the gym side of the building.
Justine Dooley: because no one else brought it up tonight I was hoping to touch upon the subject of this library vote. Councilman Carey: the vote is October 18th. Tell all your neighbors. They had a booth at the Otisville fair. A lot of people including myself got some questions answered. I am not for it. I/we all got our school tax bill. They all went up. I am fearful of hoe that vote is gonna go because if you watch elections – a lot of people don’t go vote. Dooley: I spoke to 21 residents of the T/O Mount Hope since 7am this morning who had no idea about it. I would like to ask you all if something could be sent from the town – little postcards. I realize it has nothing to do with the town, it has nothing to do with the school. There’s no 1 person to go to, there’s no 1 entity to go to – to say ‘could you just spread the word. There are people that have no idea. They’re not on facebook & they have no knowledge of this. It will have an impact on people. Supervisor Howell: the town newsletter is almost ready to print. We’re going over the final revision. There’s a section in there with information pertaining to the vote. The town residents that will receive the newsletter can read in there the detail of the vote. Dooley: that will go out in the mail to all the houses? Supervisor: any residents in the town. Dooley: can I ask nicely for that to be on the front page? Supervisor: it’s in the center page.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to adjourn the meeting at 8:32pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Davis, Jennings, Furman; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for September 19, 2022 at 7:30pm; town budget meetings on September 20, 2022 & September 28, 2022 at 6:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk
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