Stephentown Town Board Action – Finances In Pretty Good Shape

by David Flint
At the first regular meeting of the year for the Stephentown Town Board, Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt reported that the Town’s finances appear to be in pretty good shape. Despite keeping the amount appropriated from previous years’ unexpended fund balance down to only $64,000, the Town still managed to end the year 2011 with a small surplus in both the General and the Highway Accounts. [private]The Highway Account benefitted from $21,000 from FEMA in February and also from another FEMA check received to replace one that apparently was lost in the mail back in 2007.
The Town also received some good news regarding the current year’s budget. Eckhardt said that the Board had budgeted for a 7½% increase in health insurance premiums but he had just been informed that the increase will amount to only 3%.
New Face On The Board
A new face, that of John Meekins, appears on the Board this year, replacing Mark Prescott. Eckhardt apologized that he had not informed Meekins about the Association of Towns training that was held in Albany last week. Newly elected Town Clerk Stephanie Wagar did know about it and attended the three day session. There is another training session coming up in February at the Association of Towns meeting in New York City that Meekins could attend.
Bids For Truck Too Low
The Board opened bids to buy the Town’s surplussed 1989 International plow truck. The old truck was replaced last fall with a model year 2000 truck. The three bids received were from General Services in Hagaman, NY, for $1,727, from Cameron Clough of Chatham for $1,902 and from Village Truck Sales in Lanesborough, MA, for $3,290. Asked for his opinion, Highway Superintendent Aldie Goodermote advised rejecting the bids as he figured he could sell the truck for junk or parts and get more than that. Goodermote estimated the truck’s value as somewhere between five and eight thousand dollars. The plow alone, he thought, was worth a thousand dollars. The Board accepted his recommendation and rejected all three bids. Goodermote will make some contacts, and the Board can decide what to do at the next meeting.
Beacon Power Auction Postponed
Responding to a query from Sam Sowycz, Eckhardt reported that he had been informed that the auction of the Beacon Power frequency regulation plant on Grange Hall Road, scheduled for January 16, has been postponed to the first week in February. He said that he had also heard that there were three interested potential buyers. Sowycz said he was concerned because he had heard that a future buyer may want to expand the plant. Eckhardt responded that he didn’t think the plant included any land to expand into and that in any case any plant owner wanting to expand would have to go through the Planning Board process.
Clarifying The Karate Club Agreement
The Town has had a verbal agreement, originally made via the Youth Commission, with the Stephentown Karate Club allowing them use of the Town Hall twice a week. Councilman PJ Roder requested that the Board clarify this situation and come up with a written agreement, setting out the terms of use, such as a requirement for shampooing the carpeting twice a year. Roder felt that a written agreement would put the Board on more solid ground when negotiating with other Town organizations or individuals for use of the hall.
Public Records
Eckhardt pointed to the experience of the Town of Prattsville that suffered catastrophic damage from Hurricane Irene and, among other things, lost most of their public records, as an object lesson that Stephentown needs to consider the safety of its own records. Although some of Prattsville’s records have been retrieved and frozen with the hope that they can partially recovered, that is by no means certain.
Eckhardt suggested that the Town’s records should be consolidated but also backed up in some manner off site. One option is to back up digital records on the internet or “in the Cloud” as it is termed. This method would also provide redundancy since if one server is damaged the records still exist on multiple servers. Security of computer systems is also something that needs to be considered, Eckhardt said, although most of what the Town does is supposed to be open to the public. He said he would contact a consultant, look into various options and get a cost estimate.
Seeking Planning And Zoning Board Members
The Board is seeking persons interested in serving on the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals. There is one Planning Board position vacant with a 5-year term to expire in December 2016. There are also positions vacant for Alternate members, one Alternate to serve on each of these Boards. The position of Deputy Town Clerk is also open. The Board passed a resolution authorizing the Town Clerk to advertise for these positions with February 12 set as the deadline for responses.
Town Web Site
The Town website (townofstephentown.org) will now have legal notices posted to it in addition to their posting in newspapers. Also, any bids that are awarded will be posted to the website after each Town Board meeting. The website also contains a list of Town officials and pages for the Town Clerk, Justice Court, Planning Board, Zoning Board, Assessor, Board of Assessment Review, Code Enforcement, Highway Department, Dog Control and the Transfer Station. There are also links to the Youth Commission, the Library, the Historical Society and the Stephentown Veterans.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk reported she had turned over the sum of $241.69 to the Supervisor for the month of December. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $1,345. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $5,852.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $3,377.94 from the General Account and $4,275.06 from the Highway Account.
The Board set their next regular meeting for Monday, February 13 at 7 pm.[/private]