Town of Mount Hope Town Board Meeting December 2, 2019
TOWN BOARD MEETING, TOWN OF MOUNT HOPE, DECEMBER 2, 2019
The town board meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on December 2, 2019 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey, Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Chris Furman. NOT PRESENT (due to snow storm): Kathleen Myers, Town Clerk
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Chief Rickard.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Supervisor Volpe called the meeting to order at 7:30pm & asked audience to silence cell phones.
MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey that the minutes of the November 19, 2019 be approved pending a correction to the last meeting minutes. He did not vote in favor of appointing MaryBeth Horzepa to the planning board position. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Volpe, Furman; carried.
CORRESPONDENCE: (Per Supervisor Volpe):
- Howells Solar Farm has 2 issues. One is our zoning only allows for a 6’ fence. They put a 7’ fence up. Julie went there and put a stop work order. We involved Glen. They had to fix the fence issue. He spoke re: follow through with planning board ie: if they’re told 10’ trees and they only do 6’ trees; who monitors that? If you drive by there, I don’t think it is what the planning board envisioned. I don’t know how to police it. He’s asking for advice from the board. Councilman Furman: if they were supposed to put up 10’ trees and only did the 6’ trees, couldn’t we put a stop work order on it. Then they would have to get a C/O – correct? Supervisor: we could withhold the C/O. Councilman Howell suggested that maybe the engineer does a report that goes with the plans pre-building permit so they know these criteria have to be met. Once they’re met, they can get the C/O. The engineer could sign off that Julie has gone through these steps. Supervisor: especially with the bigger projects, to see that everything is being done. That’s a lot to remember. The planning board gets a whole big layout of what it’s got to be. I know that everything is being, once they rubber stamp it, as long as you put that 8’ tree, everything is great. Maybe we’ll talk to the engineer and make sure they give a detailed any kind of pertinent information so that it is a check list for them. Chief Rickard: it wasn’t the trees, it was the berm. The planning board, as part of their motion to give approval, the berm had to be so high. I remember at the time, because I was the one asking for the berm, the company was saying they were gonna have to truck in dirt to do this. Garry Boyce was the one who said they didn’t truck in no dirt and there’s no way that berm is 6’ high in some spots. Councilman Jennings: what they did was mulch the wood to put it on the berm. That’s gonna sink. Chief Rickard: That berm does not meet the specs the planning board voted on. Councilman Carey: is there stipulations – if you say you have to plant a certain amount of trees, what’s the follow up if all those trees die in 6 months? Councilman Howell: it would come at the planning board, if your project is a 20 year project, your trees have to last the life of it. Now it’s open ended. Councilman Carey: could there be a stipulation of where you supply a receipt to show not where you got them but that that they’re 10’ trees and “x” amount of them? Supervisor Volpe thinks there should be a check list. Chief Rickard: thinks they piled up dirt then put the mulch on top. Maybe the approval wasn’t that specific as to what the material should be. Councilman Jennings: Garry Boyce was adamant that they could put 6’ of dirt. Chief Rickard: right, and Julie didn’t like that because who knows where the dirt is gonna come from. And you can see the chain link fence over the berm. It looks like…Supervisor: I’m gonna reach out to (inaudible). Councilman Jennings: why don’t we have all these meetings videotaped? All the boards? Councilman Carey: we asked. Councilman Jennings: we are the governing agency here. Councilman Howell: I think that was something the planning board – that only 2 out of the 7 wanted it done. Chief Rickard asked if those boards take notes/make motions? Councilman Howell: Linda Franck takes minutes. Councilman Jennings: I think we need to get a better understanding of the trees. Chief: what if it was a building and you had to do “X” to the building? Councilman Jennings thought they were supposed to do a green coating on that fence also. Discussion on trees. Councilman Furman likes the idea of a checklist.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Howell reminded everyone about the tree lighting on the 14th at 7pm. Santa will be here.
Councilman Jennings reported the village meeting will be this Thursday at 7pm. Patriot tree lighting will be Friday at 5:30pm. Their tree lighting is Saturday at 5:30. The village board will be having a public hearing on that bridge on the 17th at the fire house or senior center. Councilman Carey thinks they settled on the fire house. Councilman Howell: this is for the public to ask questions about the new bridge.
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Supervisor Volpe spoke re: youth center. The youth center is really coming along. The siding and maybe Spectrum were supposed to be there today but..Chief Rickard: he didn’t show up. They are still debating on the floor where the exercise equipment will be. Someone recommended a rubber floor. He will look and see how much that is. The only room we decided on is the little library. That will be carpeting. That will be $305 and just waiting on the scheduling.
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: town owned properties. Everyone had copies of the detailed listing. He wants everyone to review it.
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: Snow/Ice agreement from the T/O Wallkill. Dean is ok with it.
MOTION TO APPROVE SNOW/ICE AGREEMENT WITH T/O WALLKILL FOR 2019/2020:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve the Snow/Ice Agreement with T/O Wallkill for 2019/2020 for .92 miles for $4,416. (Copy on file in town clerk’s office) All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.
POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Chief Rickard reported on another police department in Orange County being hacked. They tried to extort from them. Just a good reminder that we should policies in effect. A word of caution – their whole system was knocked out. It cost them a bundle to get their stuff back. Another thing is, we are just about a month from the new laws. He gave a few examples. Manslaughter is a ticket, robbery is a ticket. Home invasion is a ticket. People that voted for this are now protesting it. He anticipated that revenue will go down in the new year.
BOARD VACANCIES:
Supervisor Volpe stated that we’ve received some applicants/residents that would like to be on the planning board and zoning board. It’s his recommendation that the liaison to that board and the chairperson to that board meet with the applicant to set up a time and do a quick interview. Then the chair person and liaison could report back to the board with their recommendation. Each board needs one person. He asked Councilman Carey to start advertising for the board of assessment review. He asked that as they meet with the applicants, they also let them know there is a vacancy on the BAR.
MOTION TO APPROVE COOPER ARIAS LLP AS NEW ACCOUNTING & AUDIT PARTNER:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Furman to approve hiring of Cooper Arias LLP as the new accounting & audit partner effective immediately. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.
MOTION TO AUDIT THE CLAIMS:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the following bills (Abstract #37 & #38):
Abstract #37
GENERAL A: #736-749 $159,587.22
GENERAL B: #98-99 $14,459.40
HIGHWAY: #169 $55,243.24
Abstract#38
GENERAL A: #750-761 $50,544.04
GENERAL B: #100-104 $13,609.45
HIGHWAY: #170-176 $24,426.37
SEWER: #100 $1,048.76
All in favor: Howell, Carey, Jennings, Volpe, Furman; carried.
BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Carey spoke re: youth center. It’s painted, there’s a lot of equipment in there, the cameras are up & will be turned on by the weekend.
Supervisor Volpe added that next Monday the scan system will be hooked up there. He has a hypothetical date of February 1st; he would like to invite John Bonacic and Aileen Gunther there.
MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to adjourn the meeting at 7:52pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, December 16, 2019 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen A. Myers, RMC, Town Clerk
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