CLERMONT TOWN BOARD
MARCH 1, 2010
The Clermont Town Board held its regular meeting on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall. Those present were Supervisor Staats, Councilman Desmond, Councilwoman Moore, Councilwoman O’Neal and Councilman Jones. There were five residents present.
Supervisor Staats opened the meeting with a salute to the flag.
MINUTES: A motion was made by Councilwoman O’Neal, seconded by Councilman Jones to approve the minutes of the February 1, 2010 minutes. All in favor. So carried.
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the Special Information Session held on February 16, 2010 with NYS Office of Real Property Services and Columbia County Real Property by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilman Jones. All in favor. So carried.
Due to a conflict, Supervisor Staats asked if the April meeting could be changed to another date. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 30th at 7:00 P.M. The proper notification will be made.
TOWN CLERKS REPORT: A check in the amount of $432.80 was given to the Supervisor for the General fund. A motion was made by Councilwoman Moore, seconded by Councilman Jones to accept the Town Clerk’s report. All in favor. So carried.
CORRESPONDENCE:
A letter was read from Morris Associates, thanking the Town of Clermont for appointing Morris Associates as Consulting Engineers (add: on the garage project) Supervisor Staats and the Board commended Morris Associates for the work that they did on the (add: garage) project.
Web Committee: No correspondence
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
- Councilman Jones: Carbon monoxide detectors are now required in all residences by law. He suggested putting them in the Town Hall and Community House, and hard wiring these detectors rather than using battery operated. The Supervisor will talk to Jim Potts about installing these. Councilman Jones also suggested writing a letter to the school boards in the district regarding development of a strategic plan to maintain education while reducing spending by 20% to 30% over the next nine years. This was prompted by a projection by the Red Hook School Board that enrollment will be reduced by 38% over the next nine years. Supervisor Staats will put a letter together for next month.
- NYSERDA GRANT: Councilwoman O’Neal thanked Dagmar Payne for putting together the applications for the grants and Chris Nolan for doing the energy audit work last year, which helped with these applications.
There were a total of six applications for grants as follows:
- Town Hall Insulation: Attic and back wall which are accessible with bio-foam insulation, which is a soybean based insulation. There is a requirement to use American made products.
- Community House Boiler: Upgrade and make more efficient.
- Town Hall Solar: Solar panels on south facing roof.
- Garage Windows: Replacement windows for existing old windows
- Community House Insulation: This would be restricted to R38 fiberglass by NYSERDA because of the historic designation.
- Community House Storm Windows
Councilman Jones suggested propane gas heating system for the Community House when it is time to replace the heating system.
- ARCHIVE PROJECT: Louise Kalin, our Town Historian, will head up this project. Councilwoman O’Neal had requested the computer, which had been tax collector’s for Louise, but Supervisor has asked for a laptop from County, which are being cycled out of use.
- COMMUNITY HOUSE CEILING REPAIRS: Councilwoman O’Neal reported that the existing ceiling is beadboard with a triple bead. She has two estimates to make new beadboard (delete: by Pine Plains) (add: of) $8200.00 and $6000.00. She has received another from Raymond Coon to for $1680.00 to replace the damaged boards. Councilman Desmond asked what the difference is in the work, considering the difference in estimates. Mr. Coon produces boards, which are similar to what is in the building. A motion was made by Councilman Jones, seconded by Councilman Desmond to proceed with the ceiling repair at the estimated cost of $1680.00 by Mr. Coon. Councilwoman Moore asked if we could see a sample of his work. Councilwoman O’Neal will do that. This does not include painting the boards. Supervisor Staats asked for proof of insurance. All in favor. So carried.
- Councilman Jones asked if the lightening rod on the building has been checked to see if it is grounded.
- Councilwoman O’Neal would also like to have the front room painted, which is going to be used for the archival work. There was discussion about an outside signal on the building if there was smoke detected in the building.
- FEE SCHEDULE: Councilman Desmond has talked to Planning and Zoning Boards for suggestions. He has a preliminary proposal and the general consensus is to raise application fees, recreation fees, and building permit fees and add inspection fees. He will talk to Andy Howard and hopefully have a proposal for next month.
- EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN: Councilwoman Moore has updated telephone numbers for fire personnel, but is having difficulty getting information for Devereaux Homes. Charlie Larsen will see if he can get the number for her.
OLD BUSINESS:
- HIGHWAY GARAGE: The heat has been hooked up to office area. It is ready to paint and move in.
- BALLFIELD LEASE: Supervisor Staats has received a signed lease for thirty years with the Saulpaugh Family for $1.00 per year. He will be meeting with Little League president to discuss improvements that needs to be done on field. They are asking the Town for $400.00 for a fence for the backfield. Since we are not using money from the recreation fund at this time, we could donate for the fence needed. A motion was made by Councilman Jones, seconded by Councilwoman O’Neal to donate $400.00 towards the fence at the ballfield. All in favor. So carried.
- AUDIT UPDATE: The auditor is finalizing the report for the pre-exit conference.
- RE-EVALUATION: Impact statements have been mailed out and were received by most residents today. There was a public information session held on February 16th with NYS Office of Real Property and Columbia County Real Property. The assessor feels that with these assessments we will be at 100%. The Supervisor explained that the town is not doing this to increase revenues, the tax levy remains the same, and it is to equalize the assessments throughout the town. The Assessor will be available by appointment to meet with residents.
NEW BUSINESS:
- EXEMPTIONS: There are many different kinds of exemptions which can be applied to reduce taxes, such as, Agricultural, Senior Citizens, Star, Military, etc. The State Park and Carmelite Sisters are also exempt from taxes. These exemptions amount to approximately $30 million in the town. The Town has received notification from Inflight Inc., which houses the mentally disabled in group homes, and they are seeking to put in another home in Clermont. We already exempt five homes in town for a total of $1,778,000.00. The Supervisor has checked and Livingston has one home, Gallatin - one, Germantown has three homes, but the exemption is a lot less, Stuyvesant has none, Kinderhook has one. We have forty days to respond to this notice and he feels that we should challenge them on the issue of having too many homes in Clermont as we are overburdened already. He has asked the Town Attorney to look into this. Councilman Desmond made a motion to authorize the Supervisor to proceed based on better location, as well as, saturation, being that we are a small town with a small tax base and with five homes already. Councilwoman O’Neal seconded the motion. All in favor. So carried. Desmond noted that the Star exemption is paid by the state so does not affect our taxes.
- Councilman Jones would like an examination of the zoning laws on gravel mining and parking of trucks on your property. Councilman Desmond clarified that the gravel mining is controlled in the zoning regulations and a permit is required for removing gravel from your property. Councilman Jones is suggesting that the zoning law be revised to address these problems. There has been discussion in zoning review on issues of this nature and will be discussed further. Councilman Jones would like the board to look at this to address commercial work on any residential lot and he is also not comfortable with waiting for the planning board to do this.
SUPERVISORS REPORT:
- Court House: Supervisor Staats is concerned about recent newspaper articles regarding the Court House renovations. The committee has been working on the design, but the Court Administration has been changing the plans.
- Terrorist Trials in Columbia County: The initial meeting was with the Mayor of Hudson, Sheriff, Chairman and Deputy Chairman and majority leaders. It was agreed based on economy to look at the possibilities and what would be involved.
- Buildings and Facilities: Ockawamick building is being considered for some offices. There will be a partial renovation of the building.
- County Legislature: It has been discussed to change the Board of Supervisor to County Legislators. Supervisor Staats would like to see the details on this idea, but he does not believe the towns can have the representation as they do now and that it would be more costly. Councilman Desmond agrees that it would be a bad idea for Columbia County, because we have better representation with a Town Supervisor, rather than with County Legislatures. Councilwoman O’Neal agrees on this.
- Power outages: During the recent storm, there were minor outages in town and it was not necessary to open the shelters. The Supervisor thanked Superintendent Potts and the highway crew for their work removing the snow on our roads
- Easter Egg Hunt: Saturday, April 3rd from 12:00 P.M. – 1:30 P.M.
ABSTRACTS:
A motion was made by Councilwoman O’Neal, seconded by Councilwoman Moore to approve Capital Projects abstract #3, vouchers #7-9 in the amount of $1,038.51. All in favor. So carried.
A motion was made by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman O’Neal to approve General abstract #3, vouchers #53-85 in the amount of $7324.66. All in favor. So carried.
A motion was made by Councilwoman O’Neal, seconded by Councilman Desmond to approve Highway abstract #3, vouchers #13-21 in the amount of $10,654.38. All in favor. So carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
- Charles Larsen: He commended the board with doing work on ceiling in Community House. He encouraged the Board to look into a central fire alarms system for buildings. He also noted that the Agricultural Assessment Exemption is a very important exemption for agriculture. This exemption keeps the land in agriculture and not as building lots. On the subject of a County Legislative, we have our individuality with our Supervisor on the board, and he is present to voice our feelings, and we can’t afford it. Mr. Larsen said the committee is in need of volunteers for the Easter Egg Hunt.
- Judy Neary: Judy attended the Real Property Tax Committee meeting. There were new supervisors at the meeting and they asked questions about her proposal to pay the school taxes in several payments. She asked about the approval by the Town Board to pay $600.00 to ICLEI and what we will get for that money. Councilwoman O’Neal explained that the Town joined a national organization called ICLEI. It gives extra points to the town to increase our chances to get the grant. They look at how much you need the grant, how much energy will be saved by doing this.
- George Davis: Dr. Davis appreciates that the board talks to each other openly and keeps the meetings open. He would like to see more involvement by residents for activities and committees.
- Councilwoman O’Neal suggested checking the website for new additions, such as the photos of the highway garage taken by Ray Tousey from the demolition of the salt shed to the finish of the renovations.
- Supervisor Staats: The Widewaters application for Kohls Pilot was denied by ADA. He was in favor of giving this pilot because there is a need for jobs in this area and it would have boosted the revenues for towns. He is hoping that the deal is not lost.
A motion was made to adjourn at 8:25 P.M. by Councilman Desmond, seconded by Councilwoman O’Neal.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Helen Shannon, RMC
Town Clerk