Berlin Town Board Action – Petition Filed For Vote On Berlin Lumber Purchase

by Kieron Kramer
There will be another referendum in Berlin on the use of the Capital Reserve Fund to purchase the Berlin Lumber property for use as a municipal center. A petition with 106 signatures was presented to the Board at the Town Board meeting on Thursday, May 13. The Board must respond to the petition, which met all the requirements in form and substance. According to Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger, a special referendum must be held no sooner than 60 days and no later than 75 days from the date of the filing of the petition. The Board agreed that Monday is a good day on which to hold the vote. Board Member Carl Greene said, “It is critical to have as many people vote as possible, that’s what voting is all about.” The Board authorized Jaeger and Town Clerk Anne Maxon to schedule the vote for either Monday, July 12, 19 or 26.
From the wording in the resolution, which would authorize the Board to buy the Berlin property for a much as $495,500, it is clear that the letter from Berlin Lumber’s realtor, Laurie Leckonby, read at last month’s meeting, which lowered the asking price by $73,500 from $569,000 to $495,500 was the motivating factor behind the petition. Since the realtor’s letter last month stated that “the price has always been negotiable,” it remains to be seen whether authorizing a specific purchase price in a referendum is a good tactic or not.
The Town Hall was packed close to the limit of its legal occupancy at this meeting. Most people seemed to support the petition. Several Board Members looked stunned by this turn of events which gave substance to what has been an undercurrent of support for the municipal center. Board Member Richard von Schilgen would maintain that the sentiment of Berliners who do not attend the Board meetings is quite the opposite. He has said, before and during his campaign to be elected to the Board, that he was opposed to the municipal center. In response to the petition, Board Member Jim Saunders asked how many times a petition could be filed regarding the same question. He was told by Town Attorney Don Tate that the public could file a petition on a specific issue as many times as it wanted to. (A lesson in democracy.) Von Schilgen commented that special elections cost the taxpayers money. It was quickly calculated that the polls are open for eight hours and that two voting inspectors at $10 each per hour would cost $160. Add to this the cost of printing the ballots and the charges for publishing election notices. In response to von Schilgen’s concern about the cost of the election, Billy Hammersmith, of Cherry Plain and a taxpayer, offered to write a check to cover the cost of the referendum.
Things have changed since the referendum last December 14 when Berliners rejected the Berlin Lumber purchase by a 210 to 131 vote. First and foremost, since the asking price has come down considerably, the whole project, purchase and renovation, can now be financed from the money in the Capital Reserve Fund which is $587,000. Also, the need for the Town to control its own facilities was clarified during the lengthy hassle over renting garage space for the Town plow trucks at an increased rate from Hoosick River Hardwoods. And there is the proposition that the new municipal center might create a revenue stream for the Town. Jaeger said that he has been contacted by parties interested in renting garage space from the Town, and there is the conjecture that the County and the State highway departments would share in the expense of a sand and salt shed at the site.
The Town Board voted at its workshop on April 22 to rent the garage space from Hoosick River Hardwoods for one year on a month to month basis, a lease which doesn’t guarantee Berlin the use of the garage in the winter. But the irony here is that, if the referendum passes, Berlin won’t want to rent the space from HRH this winter. What luck. And the referendum may very well pass this time. The petition contained 106 signatures; only 55 were needed to require the scheduling of the vote. According to Jaeger, a petition is valid if the number of signatures on it is 5% of the registered voters in Berlin during the last gubernatorial election.
Of course the referendum may very well go down to defeat again. In which case the Space Committee’s plan to use the Watipi Building to meet the needs of the Town Clerk and the other Town departments may be the only game in town. In spite of the objections raised at last month’s meeting, the Committee, in the form of Dave Theriault, has inspected and begun measuring the Watipi in order to develop plans and to estimate the cost of the project. The Watipi will have to be made ADA compliant anyway, Board Member Sheila Hewitt said.
A Vote For Open Government
The Board has determined that legally it can do any Town business and pass resolutions at the workshop since it is a regularly scheduled meeting. Minutes of the meeting must be kept if votes are taken, and the Town Clerk must record the votes. Jaeger said he had been informed by an attorney at the Association of Towns that the requirement for public notice of the workshop meeting is met by having the workshop listed on the Town website. The workshops, however, have not been well attended by the public. At this regular meeting Jaeger said, “We will not use the workshops to try to get around this meeting, so votes will be taken at the regular meetings unless there is some emergency.”
No Youth Committee Merge This Year
Tammy Osterhout announced that the Berlin and Petersburgh Youth Programs will not merge this year. She said she was told by the County that because the Towns had already filed their budgets separately, they should stay separate. Apparently there is no friction between the leadership of the two youth programs as hypothesized by Hewitt at last month’s meeting. Osterhout suggested that the towns start planning now for merging the programs next year. However, she is not sure who the directors of the programs will be next year. She reported that preparation for this summer’s programs is underway with the arts and recreation program beginning on July 6 or 7 at the  Seventh Day Baptist Church. She said she did not want to use the Berlin Elementary School because the possibility of construction this summer at the site might make it unsafe. No dates have been set for the swim program yet since there has been no response from Hoosick Town Supervisor Keith Cipperly to Jaeger’s email regarding the use of the Hoosick pool. However, Osterhout needs to know the number of participants, so applications are available now.
Southeast Hollow Bridge
Highway Superintendent Jim Winn is worried about the level of CHIPs (Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program) money that the  Town will receive this year. Part of the CHIPs money was to be used to pay for the replacement of the Southeast Hollow Bridge with a huge culvert. “If the money from the general fund is used,” he said, “there will be no money to use anywhere else.” The bridge replacement will cost $20,000 for the culvert, and the gravel, concrete, machine rental and blacktop will also cost a significant amount. Winn is thinking of using cold patch since the price of type #7 blacktop costs more than $50 per ton now and is continuing to rise. Supervisor Jaeger wants the project to go forward regardless of the CHIPs funding because he wants the bridge off the State red flag list as soon as possible. The Highway Department cannot get into the stream until June 15, according to DEC regulations. Meanwhile, the Department will repair a spot on Bly Hollow Road that needs attention. Winn said, “It didn’t wear well over the winter.” The Department continues to do grading, gravelling and patching.
Wood Burning Boiler Regs
Code Enforcement Officer Allen Yerton reported on the new outdoor wood burning boiler regulations. They are available on the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/64459.html. Permits from the DEC for outdoor boilers must be obtained every five years. Public comment to the DEC can be made up to 5 pm on July 2. He also reiterated that carbon monoxide detectors are now required in all dwellings in NYS which have a source of CO and that swimming pools, even the garden variety surface pool, must have fencing and an alarm. He declared that the building at 16 North Main Street, across from the Baptist Church, is an unsafe structure. The County has seized the building for delinquent taxes so Yerton will serve notice on the County that the building must be repaired or demolished. Yerton announced that a permit has been issued for a fireworks display in the north end of town. “It gets noisy so anyone with a horse or other animals should be aware,” he said.
Roadside Trash
Ivan Wager reported that the transfer station will accept trash picked up from the roadside for free during organized events like the Clean Up Day on May 29 sponsored by the Seventh Day Baptist Church or the American Legion highway clean up. However, this policy will not apply to individuals who bring trash collected from the roadside. Wager also forcefully added that the open burning law is not “open to interpretation” as officials in some neighboring towns have claimed. Berlin will not be burning brush at the transfer station, he said.
The Beautification Of Berlin
Don Calman reported on the gladioli project which has beautified the Town and has been a big hit since it began two years ago. Starting modestly with one test bed, ten beds are planned for this year if there is enough money. Actually, Calman said, there will be thirteen beds overall if you include the small beds at the Transfer Station, the Highway Garage and at Mary Vincent’s. “The north end of Town will be spectacular [in mid-August],” he said, “because the beds are on both sides of the road [Route 22].” At present the project relies on volunteer labor, a one-time grant from State Senator Roy McDonald’s office and private donations, including $1,000 from one donor, he said. He added that the project is big enough now that money will have to be appropriated in the Town budget next year to keep it going, especially if the Town wants to increase the number of gladioli beds.
New Chair Of Assessors
The Board will seek a replacement for Nancy Sweener, who resigned last month, as Chair of the Assessors. At this meeting Assessor Allen Yerton thanked Sweener for her service and said, “I have learned quite a bit from her.” He also announced that he had taken over the position of Chair of the Assessors. Grievances will be heard Saturday, May 22, from 10 am to 2 pm and Monday, May 24, from 6 to 10 pm, he said.
Reports
Dog Control Officer Doug Goodermote reported that the recent rabies clinic was “a great success.” Two hundred animals were treated with 150 rabies shots being given. He thanked Jim Winn for use of the Highway Garage.
Len Clapp reported that Water District #1, which serves the Taborton area, has been up and running since May 1 and people have already moved into their summer camps there. Jim Winn reported that “all is quiet” on the Water District #2 front and that the hydrant on North Main Street near the Baptist Church, one of the few hydrants with a 6 inch feed, has been replaced.
Jaeger reported that there have been 593 first time visitors to the Town website as of the day of this meeting. Email addresses for the Town Clerk and Supervisor have been added to the site. Contact links for other Town departments and for community organizations will be added shortly. Check it out at http://berlin-ny.us/.
Carl Greene said that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been in town a couple of times planning and preparing to do the Bentley project. The project will attempt to stop the erosion by the Little Hoosic River of the field on the Bentley farm. Not only will the project conserve the field but, because the gravel and soil runs downstream, it will also serve as flood control protection, said Greene.
At the workshop, the contract for mowing the lawns at the Town Hall and the Watipi Building was awarded to Daryl Maxon.
Von Schilgen reported that he and Winn, the only members of the Water Committee who were able to find time to meet, reviewed the maps of the water lines in District #2, the size of the lines and the age of the system and discussed the cost of hydrant replacements and the location of the new shut-off valve.
The Board voted unanimously to appoint Alysha Mosher and Joseph Bogovich to the Board of Assessment Review for terms to expire on December 31, 2013.
Dave Theriault reported that the ZBA approved the variances clearing the way for Mariner to begin construction of the cell phone tower in Cherry Plain.
Tara Cinney announced that the Comprehensive Plan Committee has scheduled a public forum for June 14 at the Berlin Central School. “This is an opportunity for individuals to bring their thoughts and ideas to the attention of the Committee,” she said.
The Board voted to abolish the $1 rebilling service charge that is added to the penalties and interest on delinquent property taxes. The County has already decided to remove this charge from its bills.
Pam Gerstel reported that the Planning Board is working on windmill regulations and is reviewing the 1988 land use regulations as required by those regulations.
Jaeger announced that the Highway Department had loaded scrap metal, including the old Mack truck and some old plows, on a County flatbed, had taken the metal to the port of Albany and had sold it for $2,200 in cash.