Stephentown Town Board Action – WWW.stephentown

by Erin Hogan
Ms. Deborah Coppola, the Stephentown Court Clerk, started off the Town Board meeting on Monday, October 19, with a proposal to have a Stephentown website that covers hours of Town offices, location of Stephentown and places in the town, directions, special events and other important information. The Board thought this was a splendid idea. Coppola said that she would create and maintain the website. It will cost $99 per year for the hosting service, the domain name is included. Town Clerk Patty Gallup offered to help her with the process. This idea was liked by all and will soon be a reality.
Burning Ban
PJ Roder reported again on the new open burning law. He said he received around 30 calls about the new law and wanted to make clear it was NY State not the Town that enacted the law. Roder plans on making copies of the law to post at the Town Hall and to give to those who want one. Since brush fires are now under stricter regulations, this brought up some plans Larry Eckhardt has for the transfer station and brush. He made the people aware that soon there will be a small fee for brush at the transfer station. He hopes to get a business to come chip the brush and take it away or have the Town sell the chips. Brush fires still are allowed but only a certain size and during a certain time of year. Also, a permit is needed. For more information check out the rules posted at the Town Hall or get a copy.
Spring And Streetlights
One outraged member of the community expressed his disgust that the spring on Route 22 was closed down completely. He believes that the State had no right to close it down and should have tried to fix the problem in a different way. The Board reminded him that it was closed because of the cases of “beaver fever” in the area and that there is nothing the Town can do because it is located on State land. One woman in the audience reported that her daughter works in the health department and that there was more than 24 cases of “beaver fever” from here to New Jersey related to the spring. Supervisor Tom Sherman said, “They just closed it and that was that.”
Larry Eckhardt wanted the community to let him or anyone on the Board know what streetlights are out around town. He has a list from NYSEG but just wants to know the specifics of where the light is located in order to fix them.
Bridges
Supervisor Sherman contacted the State about the Pease Road bridge as promised and got some results. Two engineers came and looked at the bridge and reported that they couldn’t see why it was closed. Now a State planning board is supposed to come look at the bridge and see what can be done to get it open again.
The bridge on Grange Hall Road that was red flagged is no longer flagged. Thanks to the County the bridge is no longer unsafe. It still needs some work, but it’s much better. The Jones Road bridge is also better thanks to the County. With both of these bridges Stephentown is “out of the woods for the meantime but still needs money to finish the job” according to Supervisor Sherman.
Higher Powers
New York State Governor Paterson appealed to the Federal government to declare a state of emergency in eastern NYS because of the heavy rains and flooding. This would have allowed Stephentown to get some money for flood repairs, but Paterson’s request was turned down. Also, Supervisor Sherman didn’t hear back from President Obama on the letter written to him about getting some money for the devastating blow to Stephentown caused by the flooding.
Money Matters
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $916.70 for the month of September. The transfer station deposited a total of $6,684 for the month of September ranging from fees for tires, $26, and bags, $2,675. The General Account for Stephentown is $283,734 and the Highway Account is $279,665.
The vacant position on the Board of Assessment Review was filled by Wesley Edwards for a five year term that will expire on September 30, 2014.
Meetings
There will be a Public Hearing for the 2010 Preliminary Budget on Wednesday, November 4, at 7 pm at the Town Hall. The next regular meeting will be on Monday, November 16, at 7 pm at the Town Hall.