Stephentown Town Board Action – Time For A New Grader

by David Flint
Many of us are familiar with that tipping point when you make the hard decision to stop putting money into the aging family car, bite the bullet and go look for a new one. The Stephentown Town Board appears to have reached that point regarding the Highway Department’s 1986 road grader. At Monday’s Board meeting, following a half hour executive session at which price quotes and bidding options were discussed, Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt reported that at the workshop meeting the previous week Highway Superintendent Aldy Goodermote had spoken of the probability of soon needing to replace the grader. Since that meeting the brakes went out on the grader. Goodermote received a quote of about $11,000 to fix it but was reluctant to do so because, “It’s worn out.”
The Town had spent between 24 and 25 thousand on the grader about four years ago and now Eckhardt said that it was time to “stop pouring good money after bad.”
The Board proceeded to pass unanimously a resolution to request bids for replacing the grader. One bid will be requested for a new or unused grader and another bid requested for a used grader with no more then 400 hours on it. Specifications will be available at the Town Clerk’s office starting Monday, March 22, and bids will be due back on Friday, April 2. To speed things up since the Highway Department needs a grader, the Board passed another resolution to hold a special meeting on Monday, April 5, for the purpose of opening the bids and awarding a contract if appropriate. Eckhardt said later that once the bids are in the Board will decide if it can afford the replacement and look at financing options if needed. He thought that $180,000 would be the upper limit that the Town would want to pay.
We Don’t Need Junk
Goodermote said he also wants to sell the Town’s old bulldozer since, “We don’t use it, and we don’t need junk.” The Board agreed to write up a resolution for the next meeting to put that out to bid.
An Outstanding Citizen
Eckhardt opened the meeting by requesting a moment of silence in honor of recently deceased Sylvester Close. Si, he said, had been Town Clerk and “an outstanding citizen” who had served the Town well in many ways for many years.
Wind Causes Power Outage
Eckhardt said he had checked with NYSEG Monday morning regarding the extent of the power outage from the weekend storm. NYSEG said there were still about 100 customers in the Town without power, but these were individual cases, not widespread area outages. The winter has been hard on the Town’s infrastructure, Eckhardt said, noting that the snowstorm two weeks ago also caused much power failure. He believed that a lot of it has to do with the fact that the utility companies, like everyone else, are short of cash and so have been cutting back on tree trimming.
Transfer of Funds
The Board passed a resolution noting that the Town Supervisor had been authorized to transfer funds within accounts to balance and close the books for 2009 and recognizing that he had submitted an itemized report of the transfers. The largest transfers were from Health Insurance ($13,700) and Snow Removal ($5,812) to cover the costs of road work, from the Contingency account ($19,800) to cover the costs of replacing doors and fixing the roof on the Town Garage and for some work on the Town Hall, from the Buildings account ($3,526) to pay for training for the Deputy Building Inspector and from the Contingency account ($2,700) to cover increased Unemployment Insurance costs.
Opting Out OF ERCSWMA?
Councilman PJ Roder reported that Matt Curley will be appointed Executive Director of ERCSWMA (Eastern Rensselaer County Solid Waste Management Authority) to replace the former Director who resigned. Roder said he had expressed to him the Town’s concerns regarding costs. Depending on ERCSWMA’s response, the Town will have to decide at some point whether or not to opt out of the Authority. In the meantime the Transfer Station must place minimum reorders for bags, permit stickers and permit application forms.
Stephentown School Available For Summer Youth Program
Eckhardt reported that following the Berlin School Board meeting earlier this month the administration drew up an agreement that would make the Stephentown School available to the Town for the Youth Summer Program starting July 5. The Berlin School District will provide janitorial services, clean out the auditorium and make the kitchen usable for the Program. The Town will continue to pay for snow plowing and mowing of the grounds. The agreement is subject to School Board approval and will be renegotiated next year. Eckhardt said the future of the building is uncertain but the District prefers to give the Town some priority in the matter.
DEC Postpones Meeting On Muddy Water
Eckhardt said it was not clear why, but the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has postponed a meeting that had been scheduled with the Town’s attorney to discuss a $1,700 fine levied against the Town for muddying the water in West Brook. The muddying supposedly occurred last fall when repairs were made to the Grange Hall Road bridge, repairs required by the State and carried out with a DEC permit to work in the stream.
Library To Seek Special Legislative District
Eckhardt said he had written letters to State Assemblyman Tony Jordan and State Senator Roy McDonald in support of the Stephentown Memorial Library’s request to hold a vote on setting up a Special Legislative District to fund the Library. He made it clear that the Board was not supporting the idea of a SLD but was merely encouraging the legislators to facilitate an election as they believed residents should have the opportunity to consider the idea and vote on it. Eckhardt said McDonald’s office asked whether the Town had passed a resolution stating their support for the election.  The Board determined that they had not passed such a resolution. The Library will be consulted to see if they believe it necessary.
No Burning For 60 Days
Bill Jennings reminded everyone that as of March 15 there is a complete ban on burning anything and no permits will be issued. The burn moratorium is in effect for 60 days.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk reported she had turned over to the Supervisor the sum of $399.06 for the month of February. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $1,205.
The Transfer Station deposited a total of $2,626 for the month of February.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $8,999.07 from the General Account and $12,427.35 from the Highway Account.
The Board set a special meeting for Monday, April 5, at 7 pm and their next regular Town Board meeting for Monday, March 19, at 7 pm.