CLERMONT TOWN BOARD November 1, 2004
The regular meeting and public hearing on the 2005 budget of the Clermont Town Board was held on November 1 2004 at 7:00 P.M. Those board members present were Councilman Staats, Councilwoman Lent and Councilman Tousey. Others present were William Banks, Amandus Fuchs, Jr., William Munro, Melissa Head, Derek Conte, Germantown Technology Teacher, Bram Moreinis, Webmaster for Clermont, Robert Desmond, Diane O’Neal, George Davis and Richard Roth of the Independent.
Deputy Supervisor Harned opened the regular meeting. A motion was made by Councilman Staats and seconded by Councilman Tousey to waive the reading of the minutes, as copies were provided.
COMMUNICATIONS:
- Letter from Veterans of Foreign Wars – Ceremony and Flag Presentation on Sunday, November 7 th at 2:00 P.M. in front of Community House. Mary Shannon will attend and accept flag.
- Letter of resignation from Julie Ann Horrocks from Zoning Board of Appeals effective December 31, 2004.
- Town Clerks report for October - $2,68l.82 - A motion to accept the Clerks report was made by Councilman Staats, seconded by Councilman Tousey. All in favor. So carried.
- NYS Office of Real Property Tax Service – Star Administrative Aide Allocation check in the amount of $608.70 was received.
- Received from the Columbia County Treasurer, check in the amount of $10918.l0 for local municipal support of ambulance service.
- Received from NYS Thruway Authority – CHIPS Capital Program $48436.77
- Received from Columbia County Treasurer – 3 rd Qtr. Sales Tax Distribution in the amount of $66853.51.
- Received from NYS Dormitory Authority – check in the amount of $11,l00 for multimodal program (Highway Department)
A motion was made to accept the resignation of Julie Ann Horrocks from the ZBA by Councilman Staats and seconded by Councilman Tousey. A letter of thanks and appreciation will be sent to Julie Ann for her service as a member of the ZBA.
The terms of one member each on the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Board of Assessment Review will be up on December 31 st. The Clerk will advertise in the newspaper for anyone interested in serving on these boards to contact her before the next meeting.
OLD BUSINESS:
A letter will be sent by the Town Board, thanking Michael Pelletier for his term as Town Supervisor from February until his resignation on September 22 nd.
Councilwoman Lent reported that Gary DeLaurentis did submit a bid for the walkway to St. Luke’s Church. The bid proposed a four foot x one hundred foot walkway set in blue stone and sand and graded at $4,759.00 which is lowest of the three bids received .A motion was made by Councilman Staats, seconded by Councilwoman Lent to accept the bid of Gary DeLaurentis.
Ms. Marilyn Kaplan is reviewing the bids for the restoration of the Clermont Academy. We expect that she will give a report at the December meeting.
The Clerk reported that there are nine interested in volunteering for positions on the steering committee to work on the Hamlet overlay plan.
There is a meeting at the Rhinebeck Town Hall on November 8 th at 6:30 P.M. on open space planning if anyone is interested in attending.
The Unified Court System has awarded the Town a grant in the amount of $3,550 for the purchase of a photocopier for the court.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Bram Moreinis submitted a proposal for the Clermont Community Computing Lab to be held at the Clermont Academy by Bram and senior students from Germantown Central School. The proposal explains the purpose of providing computer tutoring to local farmers, board members and others interested in started a website for their business or creating spreadsheets, databases and schedules for their business. Bram introduced Derek Conte, Technology teacher at Germantown Central who will assist in training students to provide these services. Michael Therio, Guidance Counselor for Germantown will also assist. Valstar will contribute the installation of a wireless access point from the Academy to the Town Hall and Robert Moore will do the electrical work necessary at a charge of $300. Taconic Hills School is donating 5 PC’s to be used in the lab. There are costs for wireless cards for the 5 PC’s and a scanner. The monthly charge for DSL will be $50.00. A motion was made to approve the electrical work and installation of the DSL by Councilman Tousey, seconded by Councilman Staats. All in favor. So carried.
- Councilwoman Lent thanked Bram for working on the sign project design.
- Resolution #16 to amend the Highway Budget with monies received for the Multimodal program was approved on a motion made by Councilman Staats, seconded by Councilman Tousey. All in favor. So carried.
- A motion was made by Councilman Staats, seconded by Councilwoman Lent to adopt the 2005 Preliminary budget as amended at the previously held public hearing. A roll call vote was as follows:
Staats – aye Lent – aye Tousey – aye Harned – aye
All in favor. So carried.
- There have been ATV and dirt bike riders on the Town’s Route 6 property and the twenty-acre parcel from Kathy Hettling. There is a concern about insurance coverage on these properties and whether or not posting the properties would protect the town from liability. Will check with Al Trezza regarding regulations for protecting the town’s interests.
- The Christmas Carol party will be held on Sunday, December 19, 2004 at 7:00 P.M. at St. Luke’s Church. Refreshments will be served. Committee chair is Councilman Staats.
A motion was made by Councilman Staats to approve the General abstract #11, vouchers #311-341 in the amount of $5408.80, seconded by Councilwoman Lent. All in favor. So carried.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Lent to approve the Highway Abstract #11, vouchers #124-134 in the amount of $2773.00, seconded by Councilman Tousey.
Deputy Supervisor Harned motioned to continue this board meeting until Thursday, November 4, 2004 at 7:00 P.M. to appoint the newly elected Supervisor to fulfill the balance of this year. Seconded by Councilman Staats. All in favor. So carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Helen Shannon
Town Clerk