Town of Mount Hope Town Board Meeting June 1, 2020

The town board meeting of the Town of Mount Hope was held at the Mount Hope Town Hall on June 1, 2020 at 7:30pm with the following present: Supervisor Chad Volpe, Councilman Matt Howell, Councilman Brian Carey Councilman Jim Jennings, Councilman Chris Furman and Town Clerk Kathleen Myers.
OFFICIALS PRESENT: Police Chief Paul Rickard, Attorney David Bavoso.

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

MOTION TO ACCEPT PRIOR MEETING MINUTES:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Howell that the minutes of the May 18, 2020 meeting are accepted as submitted. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:
1. Supervisor’s budget modifications
2. Epoxy quote for youth center
3. Floor in police locker rooms quote

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Councilman Jennings thanked the essential workers, the local school district (administrators, IT dept.), Minisink teachers (going from classroom to online). The village meeting is June 7 at 7pm. Village has bulk pick up scheduled for week of June 15th.Our planning board meets June 17, 2020 7PM. There was discussion on whether the public would be able to attend and with social distancing parameters.
Councilman Furman piggy backed from Jim. The bus drivers have delivered lunches/meals to kids who have not gotten them. He received his voting ballots in the mail today. He reminded everyone to keep an eye out for them. ZBA – right now there’s no meeting but if anything changes, he will let everyone know. In Hidden Valley there was maintenance done to the generators.
Councilman Carey added that the ballots are due back by 5PM on June 9. You can mail them or drop them off to the school.
Councilman Howell reported that the summer camp was cancelled due to COVID-19. He noted the info for the youth center flooring. This is the final step to the building renovations.
Supervisor Volpe updated the board: as of today, the playground equipment is open and is sanitized daily. Parents should use caution to sanitize the kids hands. The restrooms are open as of today. Tennis courts were opened last week. We are still waiting on the basketball courts. Town meetings – can be open to the public however there has to be 10’ between people. Hopefully by next meeting, we’ll have it all in writing. They can be continued online.

HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT:
Supervisor Volpe reported that he and Dean met with flooring guy at the youth center. He gave everyone a copy of the proposal. The issue we are having is that there’s not that many companies that do the flooring. Dean has tried for 2 ½ months for people to come give an estimate. Either they don’t show or the job is too big or they make an appointment and they don’t show. This quote is from someone who lives in our town. Met with him. There’s some cracks in the foundation and there are spots where it’s lifted up. He went over the proposal with the board members. He asked the attorney what his guidance would be because he is having issues getting other prices. Atty. Bavoso asked how many people he solicited for a bid. Supervisor thinks 6. For some it was outside of their scope. Bavoso: you gave 6 companies the opportunity to bid. 2 did, correct? Supervisor: One did for – for two separate jobs – the youth center and Paul is getting the floor done at the locker rooms. Even the price for the locker rooms, where he did receive an additional quote, if you break it down per square feet, is how the jobs are priced out – this guy is significantly cheaper. Bavoso: as long as you gave the opportunity to bid on all work to all 6 of those companies and only a certain number replied, then I am content you fulfilled the procurement. Councilman Carey asked if we did anything with the gutters. Supervisor noted the sidewalk there. He would like to have everything done before the grand opening.

POLICE DEPARTMENT:
Police Chief Rickard reported on the flooring quotes. He located 3 companies. The cheapest one was the company on Mount Hope Road $4800. The other company was $7600. The 3rd company cancelled. He would like to award project to Finishing Touch Painting for $4800. National Night Out Against Crime was moved to October 6th. He thinks it’s too soon to nail down too much. We spoke about Mike Romano doing fireworks.
49

He reported the locker room project is going well. The sheetrock, spackle & sanding is done. Tomorrow the HVAC person will be coming back to finish. He noted the copy of the current use of force policy that he gave board members prior to the meeting. He also gave a proposed use of force policy. The state has passed laws in the last legislative session relating to use of force. We have to post it on the website. If someone FOIL’s it, we have to give it to them for free. There’s training requirements now. The last time it was updated was about 10 years ago. We subscribe to a service so this is mainly the services and our input that built this policy. It’s been reviewed by their lawyer and he gave it to David for local review. He asked the board members to look at it and if there are questions to email him so that at the next board meeting so he can have the answers for them. He would like to have this approved at the next meeting to make it effective July 1st. Supervisor asked board to email Paul with questions by the 12th then the question can be answered before the next meeting. Chief reported on the car. He spoke to Ford. We don’t have the car. As soon as we get it, we’ll be looking to get rid of 152. He will keep the board updated as he hears from the dealer.

MOTION TO APPROVE FINISHING TOUCH PAINTING TO DO THE LOCKER ROOM FLOORS AT THE POLICE STATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve Finishing Touch Painting to be awarded to do the flooring at the new locker room at the police station for a total of $4800. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman – motion carried.

VILLAGE OF OTISVILLE:
Supervisor Volpe noted their clean-up will be the week of June 15th.

CONCERT SERIES:
Supervisor Volpe stated we are still hoping. He’s looking for a Tuesday to start them. Once we sign the contracts – we’re paying. By the next meeting we will be a week in to the 2nd phase. We can see how things are moving along. He would like to do it. Councilman Jennings asked what the other towns are doing about their concert series. Supervisor: same thing we are doing – just talking about it.

YOUTH CENTER GRAND OPENING:
Supervisor Volpe would like to do the grand opening on July 24 at 5:00pm. The board agreed.

TRACERS:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: tracers. He received a call on Friday. We got a lot of pressures from the county executive up to the Governor on tracers. They were looking for each municipality to cover the residents. Part of the tracing situation is – you need 1 tracer per thousand as a tracer. We have 300,000 people in Orange County so we need 300 tracers. In Mount Hope we have 7,000 residents. He immediately sent out an email. Paul was on the call. In Mount Hope, people that he knew he got to sign up and then there were 4 more Mount Hope employees that signed up. Mount Hope has 7 tracers now.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the following modifications:
Increase revenue A4089 Other Gov’t. Aid by $402.26 AND
increase expense A1620.4 buildings contr. by $402.26 AND
Increase revenue A4089 Other Gov’t. Aid by $37.37 AND
increase expense A1620.4 buildings contr. By $37.37.
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman – motion carried.

MOTION TO APPROVE SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE BUDGET MODIFICATION:
MOTION offered Councilman Furman 2nd Councilman Carey to approve the following modification:
Increase revenue B1560 Safety inspection fees by $309.00 AND
increase expense B3620.4 Safety inspection contr. by $309.00.
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman – motion carried.

BRIAN WAUGH 5k:
Supervisor Volpe stated that Brian Waugh contacted us regarding the Small Steps 5k. Last year he had to give us an insurance certificate. There wasn’t that many people last year. It was under 30 minutes for any road to be closed for this. He would like permission to do this this year on September 26, 2020.

MOTION TO APPROVE SMALL STEPS 5K 9-26-2020:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Howell to approve the Small Steps 5K on September 26, 2020 & allowing him to coordinate with the Police Chief for traffic control providing the town receives a certificate of liability insurance. All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman – motion carried.

50

YOUTH CENTER FLOOR QUOTE:
Supervisor Volpe spoke re: floor quote. He notes the difference in square footage pricing between the two companies. Councilman Carey wanted to comment. He wants to see this happen. He wants to discuss after the meeting about the track. Councilman Jennings added he knows we have issues in the senior center with the echo. Will we have the same issue in the youth center? Supervisor: I don’t think so. Councilman Carey doesn’t disagree – there’s an echo in there now but we don’t have all the tables/chairs in there. Jennings: I’m just worried we’re spending all this money and we could find a solution to keep the echo down in there. Supervisor Volpe thinks the wood floor vs the concrete floor may make a difference.

MOTION TO APPROVE YOUTH CENTER FLOOR QUOTE:
MOTION offered Councilman Carey 2nd Councilman Jennings to approve Finishing Touch Painting to do the interior floor of the youth center: total cost $24,050.00. 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 21 & Abstract 22):
ABSTRACT 21:
GENERAL A: #313-324 $ 7,168.13
GENERAL B: #49 $ 129.83
HIGHWAY: #78 $ 5,258.00
SEWER: #43 $ 169.95
ABSTRACT 22:
GENERAL A: #325-335 $50,022.89
GENERAL B: #50 $ 4,994.84
HIGHWAY: #79-81 $31,138.72
SEWER: #47 $ 1,048.76
All in favor: Howell, Volpe, Jennings, Carey, Furman; carried. (Councilman Carey abstained from General A, voucher #314 A&B)

BOARD COMMENTS:
Councilman Howell reminded everyone to shop local.
Councilman Carey reminded everyone of the school vote by June 9. He noted the Chinese food restaurant is open in the village.
Councilman Furman shopped local at the hardware store. He noted the slight uptick in auto accidents since things are opening up a bit.
Councilman Jennings noted that June 12 is the last day of school. He congratulated all the seniors that will be graduating. He wished the kindergarten class a happy graduation and the 5th graders on their moving up ceremony.
Supervisor Volpe noted the census number he got last week was 61%. He reminded everyone you can do it by mail or online.

MOTION TO ADJOURN MEETING:
MOTION offered Councilman Howell 2nd Councilman Furman to adjourn the meeting at 8:12pm. All in favor: Howell, Carey, Volpe, Jennings, Furman; carried.

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 15, 2020 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen A. Myers, RMC
Town Clerk

51