CLERMONT TOWN BOARD

JANUARY 4, 2016

The Clermont Town Board held its regular meeting on Monday, January 4, 2016 following the Organizational Meeting. Those present were Supervisor Raymond Staats, Councilman Robert Desmond, Councilwoman Dawn Brownson, Councilman Evan Hempel and Councilman Kris Gildersleeve. Terrance Duvall of Columbia Land Conservancy was present, as well as, six residents.

Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with the salute to the flag.

A motion was made to move into executive session at 7:15 P.M. to discuss contract and negotiations by Councilman Hempel, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Desmond to come out of executive session at 7:45 P. M., seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

MINUTES: A motion was made by Councilman Gildersleeve to accept the minutes of the December 1, 2015 meeting, seconded by Councilman Desmond. All in favor. So carried.

A motion was made by Councilman Desmond to accept the minutes of the December 28, 2015 year-end meeting, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

TOWN CLERK’S REPORT: The Town Clerk presented the Supervisor with a check for the General fund in the amount of $672.50 and for Trust and Agency in the amount of $427.16. A motion was made to accept the Clerk’s report for December by Councilman Hempel, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

CORRESPONDENCE:

• Pine Plains Veterinary Associates will be increasing their boarding charges for dogs apprehended by the Dog Control Officer from $18.00 per dog, per day to $22.00 per dog, per day. The holding period remains at up to 15 days.
• The Municipal Shelter inspection report was completed by the Department of Agriculture and Markets on Pine Plains Veterinary Associates with a satisfactory rating.
• Suggestions for the website should be sent to the webmaster via the ‘Contact Email’ on the website.
• A review of the books of the Supervisor, Town Clerk, Tax Collector and Justices will be held on Saturday, January 16^th at 10:00 A.M.
• The Supervisor provided the budget and revenue reports through December 31, 2015 for the Board.

Supervisor Staats introduced Terrance Duvall of Columbia Land Conservancy to speak about a proposal to enter the Rainbow Hill Farm, 48 Hog Trough Road (formerly the Heisenbuttle Farm) into an agricultural conservancy. The property is 153 acres raising beef cattle and crops. The former owner wanted it to remain a farm after his death, according to the current owner, Edward Hull.

The farm is located in both Clermont and Germantown; the house and equipment buildings are in Clermont. A grant application must be submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Markets by January 29^th. The Land Conservancy would like a letter of support from the Town to protect this farm from development.

The Town’s Comprehensive Plan supports protecting farmland. Supervisor Staats does not see why we shouldn’t support this request but would like to have the Planning Board review this at their next meeting and get back to us.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

• HIGHWAY SHED: Councilman Desmond reported that the highway storage shed is complete; the equipment is in it and it came in under budget.

• PINE PLAINS SCHOOL: Councilman Hempel received communications from Pine Plains School that they will have only one location for voting.

• WEBSITE: Councilman Hempel has been working on consolidating forms for the Planning and Zoning Boards on the website. He has also found software for fillable PDF forms. Tests were sent out to board members to see the results. Councilman Gildersleeve said that we had talked about getting software from the County, but if these tests work, we will not have to purchase the software. Councilwoman Brownson would like to have Mary Howard test these, as she had requested them.

• Councilwoman Brownson thanked everyone for helping and attending the Holiday event. The people involved are a great group to work with and are very dedicated to putting on these events.

• GRANTS: Councilwoman Brownson reported that the Bank of Greene County is offering a grant with a maximum of $2500.00, due January 15^th and she is looking for suggestions. There are several other grants that can be applied for from the Berkshire-Taconic Community Foundation and the Hudson River Bank & Trust. Also, Iroquois Community Fund awarded the Town a grant for $10,000.00 several years ago and we could start looking at this also. Councilman Gildersleeve suggested possibly a banner or advertising for the Village Green Committee from the Bank of Greene County.

OLD BUSINESS:

• DEC UPDATE: Supervisor Staats and Councilman Desmond met with DEC officials to review the bids that were received for the Brownfield remediation. Although, they cannot discuss exact figures because bids have not been accepted, the preliminary figures are higher than what was discussed originally. Those estimates were $600,000 to $650,000. The lowest bid received is $965,000 based on two feet of fill on the affected area, and the driveway entrance paved to a parking area, less some deductions that are included in the general bid specs but will not be done here. The project comes down to about $885,000.00. The town’s share would be roughly $90,000. If we decided to back out of this project and not do anything, we are still responsible for the minimal cleanup providing $60,000 based on the $600,000 cost for the one foot of fill and the property could never be used for active recreation. He feels that if we have to come up with $60 or $65 thousand, we need only an additional $15,000.00 over what we budgeted to do the entire project. It may be possible to negotiate these costs down once the contractor has been notified. Supervisor Staats reminded everyone that previous boards started this process. Councilman Desmond stated that we did try to look at various options but by spending the additional we would be able to use the property and have an entrance. Councilman Gildersleeve agrees that it makes more sense to do this now.

Jennifer Phillips asked if we don’t spend the money now, the property cannot be used and no way to get in. One foot of fill does allow for passive recreation and there is a driveway and a parking lot from Route 6. If we just do the one foot fill, no entrance from Route 9, and no parking lot that satisfies the DEC and allows for the public to have more input. More fill and a parking lot could be added later and the public could look at what they want to do. It is not clear to her that the community would want a parking lot and additional things that are being discussed. This presents an opportunity to get the remediation done and look at what more to do there.

Councilman Desmond stated that there has been public input for years. He thinks it would be fiscally irresponsible to do half the job. Supervisor Staats said that the cost involved adding another foot of fill would cost $100,000.00 or more in the future. It is unfortunate that we even have to put anything in because there was supposed to be in kind services with the use of our materials, but DEC no longer supports that. Councilwoman Brownson commented that it is a lot of money but this will give us the maximum use of the entire property and there is still opportunity to involve the community in how we use the rest of it.

Sarah Takacs asked how much cost is involved in maintaining the Little League field. Supervisor Staats would have to check with the Highway Superintendent but mowing is the only service that we provide. The Little League maintains the rest of the field. She asked about gates, fencing and how much this would cost, as the millennials want to bike, hike and fish, so lets do this fiscally responsibly.

Councilwoman Brownson asked that based upon what we know when do they expect to start. Supervisor Staats said it would be in the spring, taking about 60 days and complete in the summer.

Jennifer Phillips asked if the original bid included seeding, etc. The original bid covered topsoil, seeding, mulching and grading. She asked if we could only put in the two-foot fill and the entrance, as this might be a compromise. Councilman Desmond explained that we did move the parking lot further back and has asked for less parking spaces then what was designed. If we do this later, we would have to dig, add gravel and pave.

Supervisor Staats explained that the only breakout that was provided was for the entrance and parking area, which was roughly $80,000.00, and if we did that later we couldn’t do it for $8,000.00. It is more valuable to have the entrance from Route 9. Supervisor Staats feel that the best value for the taxpayers is to proceed as planned.

Sarah Takacs asked where she sends her requests for fencing, trees, etc. She is fiscally concerned because this has not been budgeted. Councilman Brownson said that there is money in the park’s budget and there is money in grants.

Supervisor Staats does have to let DEC know what our intentions are.

Councilman Desmond made a motion to go ahead and proceed with the project. Councilman Gildersleeve stated that based on the conversations, work with the lowest bidder and if we choose to make changes, we can. He also said to move forward with two feet of fill and seconded the motion to move ahead with the project the way it is laid out. All in favor. So carried.

• RECAP FINANCES: Supervisor Staats said that the last sales tax check has not come in. It will likely be received in early February. We budgeted to take $64,000 from our fund balance for 2015 but it looks like we may only take $1,000 or less from the fund balance. He reported that over the last several years we have taken care of the infrastructure, painting, roofing, oil burners and the new storage facility. We have accomplished a lot and not raised taxes.

SUPERVISOR REPORT:

• There were not many County meetings in December to report on this month.

• Supervisor Staats thanked Daniel and Mary Howard for a donation of $1000.00 for the Little League Park.

• The Supervisor thanked the Village Green Committee volunteers for their work on the Holiday Event which had a good attendance.

• Thanked the Highway Department for all they have done through the year.

• There is a new chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, Matt Murell of Stockport. He has been the Deputy for the last few years.

ABSTRACTS:

• A motion was made by Councilman Gildersleeve to approve Highway Abstract #1, voucher #1, in the amount of $3,290.00, seconded by Councilman Hempel. All in favor. So carried.

• A motion was made by Councilman Hempel to approve Trust and Agency abstract #1, voucher #1 in the amount of $1,250.00, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

• A motion was made by Councilwoman Brownson to approve General abstract #1, vouchers #1 – 13, in the amount of $16,911.52, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve. All in favor. So carried.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

Ed Hull: Mr. Hull is the welding instructor at Questar III BOCES and one of his colleagues built the picnic table for our Little League Park. Last year, his students fabricated storage brackets for truck sanders for State DOT. If the Town needed something like that done for the new storage shed, his students would be interested in doing this, costing only for materials. They also do onsite work through a program of Workbased learning.

A motion was made to adjourn by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Gildersleeve at 8:50 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Helen Shannon, RMC

Town Clerk