CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

APRIL 6, 2015

The Clermont Town Board held their regular meeting on Monday, April 6, 2015 at 7:00 P.M. Those in attendance were Supervisor Raymond Staats, Councilman Robert Desmond, Councilwoman Dawn Brownson, Councilman Kris Gildersleeve and Councilman Evan Hempel. There were two residents present.

The Supervisor opened the meeting with a salute to the flag. He welcomed School Superintendents Martin Handler of Pine Plains Central School District, Paul Finch of Red Hook School District and Bruce Martin Business Manager for Red Hook School District. The discussion covered the programs offered by schools, budget requests and projects in this year’s budget. Both districts are under the budget cap. The budget vote will be held on May 19^th.

MINUTES: A motion was made to accept the minutes of the March meeting by Councilman Gildersleeve, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

TOWN CLERKS REPORT: The Town Clerk presented the Supervisor with a check for the General fund in the amount of $819.26 and for Trust and Agency in the amount of $1,450.00. A motion was made to accept the March report by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

• Notice of Public Hearing from the Town of Red Hook to be held on April 14^th at 8:00 P.M. on an amendment to the Town Zoning Code.
• The Supervisor provided the budget and revenue reports for March to the Board.
• Webmaster: Councilman Hempel reported that two new businesses added their information to the website.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

• BALL FIELD/PLAYGROUND: Councilman Desmond reported that there a few tiles that will have to be adjusted after this winter.
• DEC REMEDIATION: DEC contractor has been decertified and we are working with DEC to have our Engineers work on getting our driveway entrance permit to keep things moving along.

• PLANNING BOARD AND ZBA have been very busy and there is one opening on the Planning Board. In new business, we will discuss possible appointment of Ron Miller, who has expressed an interest.

• COMMUNITY HOUSE: Councilman Hempel had a request from the Canaan Fellowship to have a lock box in the Community House for musical equipment that they use. It would be a wooden cabinet 30" x 44" x 60" and on castors. Supervisor Staats has no objections to this; Councilwoman Brownson checked the lease and has no objections, Councilman Gildersleeve agrees, as long as the castors have a protective coating to protect the floor. Councilman Desmond asked about weight of this and Councilman Hempel thinks about 150 lbs. A motion was made to approve by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman Brownson. Councilman Hempel recused himself. So carried.

• EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN: Councilwoman Brownson updated the EPP. There were no changes to the body of the plan, but to the contacts, etc. Motion to adopt by Councilman Hempel, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried. Councilwoman Brownson will get copies to the Fire Department, County Emergency Coordinator and add it to the website.

• Councilwoman Brownson also met with Susan Rabb, Historian in Germantown. They discussed working cooperatively together with Germantown and Livingston. They will meet again in two weeks. Supervisor Staats suggested inviting Mary Howell, County Historian.

OLD BUSINESS:

• DEC UPDATE: Supervisor Staats has been in contact with DEC and the contractor was decertified and is waiting to be recertified. They are thinking about putting this out to open bidding process, but it will slow the process. We have a concern about the driveway entrance being approved. We asked if Morris Associates can work on the permit process so it can be done in a timely matter. Councilwoman Brownson asked if the soil was acceptable for the remediation. The material is usable. We can’t offset our 10% but it will reduce the overall costs, so we will pay less.

• COMMUNITY HOUSE: Supervisor Staats would like to get prices on repairs on the front of the community house and painting. Councilman Gildersleeve asked about repairing the doors on the town hall in this project. Raymond would like to get a pathway also to the Community House. Highway Superintendent Potts recommended putting a blacktop path down. The Supervisor will ask Jim to get numbers for the next meeting.

NEW BUSINESS:

• CHIPS FUNDING: Supervisor Staats reported that because of the extreme winter in New York, the CHIPS funding was increased and we should receive $6,850.96 more than was expected. Councilman Desmond said our roads are probably in better shape than most other roads. Supervisors Staats said that Jim does try to keep road repair on a rotating basis. Councilman Gildersleeve asked about county roads and if there is any way to get them repaired. Supervisor Staats has been working on it and said that funding is the problem with county roads. There is an additional million dollars allocated this year in the budget.

• RESOLUTION #40-2015: Inter-Municipal Cooperation Agreement between Columbia County and the Town to further cooperation and assistance between the parties for the purpose of general maintenance, construction and repair of municipal roads, highways, bridges and property when needed. A motion was made to approve by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman Brownson. All in favor. So carried.

• TOWN HIGHWAY BUDGET: In the Snow Removal budget line there is only $1985.00 left in the budget to use through the end of the year. We do have money available to transfer if necessary.

• PLANNING BOARD APPOINTMENT: Ronald Miller is interested in the open position on the Planning Board. Mr. Miller was recommended by the Planning Chairman Larry Saulpaugh and the Supervisor has known him for years. Councilman Hempel would like to hold an interview, but it was decided not to do this at this time. In the future, it was decided to hold the interviews. A motion was made to appoint Ron Miller for the term to expire 12/31/16.by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman Brownson. Councilman Hempel abstained. So carried.

• Supervisor Staats thanked everyone for their help at the Easter Egg Hunt. The weather did not cooperate but there was a good turnout. He also thanked the Highway department and the Clermont Fire Department for their help.
• Next month we expect to have Susan Brown, Superintendent of the Germantown School District at the meeting. The referendum was very close to passing last month and there will be another vote in May.

SUPERVISORS REPORT:

• PINE HAVEN HOME: Pine Haven Nursing home will be privatized and a resolution was passed to bring on a full time administrator from Premier, the company purchasing Pine Haven. He will be a County employee and the Supervisor did abstain because there was no salary attached to the resolution. He will be starting after the full board meeting this week.

• COURTHOUSE: The final touches are being done on the Court House.

• COUNTY HIGHWAY: The budget for the County Highway is also over budget because of the extreme winter season.

ABSTRACTS:

A motion was made by Councilman Gildersleeve to pay General abstract #4, vouchers #80-109 in the amount of $9,683.45, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Desmond to approve Highway abstract #4, vouchers #26-43 in the amount of $9884.48, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilwoman Brownson to approve Trust & Agency abstract #2, voucher # 3 in the amount of $41.25, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Chris Nolan: He is impressed with the board characteristics and that they are working well together and thanked them. Thanked Highway department because roads were kept passable. Last week there was a fire on Commons Road and thanked the Clermont Fire Department, and the other departments, Tivoli, Elizaville, Livingston and Germantown who were also there. Chris has raised the issue of the speeding on Commons Road at previous meetings. The speed signs are inconsistent. This was discussed at a meeting and the County could put the signs up for $1500.00. We also thought that our highway could put up some of the signs. Supervisor Staats will check into this again. Chris also brought up about the use of solar power at the State and County level. Supervisor Staats said that the county did have net metering meetings with two solar firms. Does not know if the town could piggyback with the County.

A motion was made to adjourn at 8:30 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk