by Bea Peterson
Hoosick Falls Trustee Matthew Monahan conducted the Village Board meeting on Tuesday, October 14, as Mayor Laura Reynolds was absent.
The meeting began with an informational public hearing on development of a nuisance property law for the Village. Board members have been looking at similar laws in Troy and Ft. Edward and choosing what they feel is best from both laws for Hoosick Falls. Once a draft is completed, it will be turned over to the Village attorney before another public hearing is held. Trustee Ann Bornt said the tenant list in the Troy law addresses quality of life concerns. There are some trouble spots in the Village where the police have made repeated visits to absentee landlord properties. They would like to place a point system on landlords so that when trouble repeatedly occurs in one of their buildings, they would gain points and enough points would gain them fines. The goal is to inform landlords and make them aware of situations occurring in their buildings. “They don’t live here and often they don’t care. We on the Board care,” she said.
Trustee Ric DiDonato said he liked the part of the Troy law that offered informational meetings and training sessions for landlords. He felt the Troy law was more proactive. “Troy has a lot of teeth in their law,” said Bornt.
DiDonato admitted it is very difficult to get good tenants. “We want good viable landlords, not nuisance properties where criminal offenses occur,” he said. Review of other laws and work on a local law will continue.
Hall Street Flooding Issue
Pam Benkoski once again asked the Board what was being done about the Wood Brook flooding problem on Hall St.
She repeatedly asked that the Board check with the County to see about receiving an engineering review of the problem at no cost to the Village. She also told the Board over and over again that residents of the area have been waiting nine years for something to be done about the situation. She was especially upset to think that at previous meetings they had been told grant money couldn’t be transferred from one project to another, yet at last month’s meeting the Board wanted grant money for the Riverwalk to be diverted to purchase a new police cruiser. DiDonato noted that Federal Riverwalk grant money could not be diverted to other projects, but the request for the cruiser was from money received from former Senator Bruno. He, in turn, was wondering if Historic funds could be diverted to restore the historic stone wall that is part of the flooding problem. He told Benkoski he was looking into that. Trustee Michael Hickey told her he had exhausted all the resources he knew about to get some assistance on the project, but no one was forthcoming with people or finances. As for an engineering report, Clough Harbour had told them it would cost over $14,000 to look into conducting a study of the problem.
Hickey assured Benkoski he would get in touch with County officials to have an engineer come look at the situation and he would get back to her soon.
In other business the Board approved
ź a motion to pay bills related to the water project.
ź sending Holli Snyder to the NYS Judicial Institute satellite broadcast on restitution, fines and surcharges at the Rensselaer County Courthouse on October 29.
ź replacing a handicap sign near 87 Elm St.
ź testing of wells every two weeks at $60 each testing
ź accepting a job shadowing person as part of the School to Employment Partnership program at HFCS.
ź awarded the SACDA system for the Wastewater Treatment Plant to CT Mail for $9,750. The other bid was from Clough Harbour for $18,300.
ź tabled a $50,000 line item for the Community Projects Appropriation contract until next month.
Leaf Pickup
DiDonato reported that leaf pickup will begin October 27 and run through December 1, weather and workload permitting. No branches should be mixed in with the leaves.
Hydrant Flushing
Hydrants will be flushed in Wards 2 and 3 on the night of October 28 and Wards 1 and 4 on October 29. The flushing will be done from 10 pm to 6 am.