Stephentown Town Board Action – The Hazard Mitigation Plan

by David Flint
The Stephentown Town Board has asked Rensselaer County to take lead agency status in the environmental review for the County-wide Hazard Mitigation Plan. At their meeting on Monday the Town Board also resolved that the Town would accept the Plan upon the successful completion of the SEQR process.
[private]According to a County fact sheet, “Hazard Mitigation plans are developed before a disaster strikes. The plans identify community policies, actions and tools for long-term implementation to reduce risk and potential for future losses.” The Town Supervisor, Highway Superintendent, Code Enforcement Officer and others have all participated in the development of the County-wide Plan. At a public hearing the previous week, Councilman Bill Jennings explained that the Town is susceptible to all but two of the natural hazards listed for Rensselaer County and that in order to receive grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) the Town has to become part of the Plan. As a start, the Board listed hazards that need fixing on Gentile, Newton, Tom Titus, North Moore Hill and Provost Roads and the bridge over Grange Hall Road.
Shared Services
The Board also voted to join with Rensselaer County in applying for a Local Efficiency Grant from the NYS Department of State for a study of the feasibility of sharing highway services. The State will provide $200,000 to the County plus $25,000 for each municipality that signs on. So far only the towns of Grafton and North Greenbush in addition to Stephentown are involved, but others are expected to join. According to Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt, there is some sharing of services already going on in the County, but the idea is to save taxpayers’ money by developing a more formal process and a plan for sharing additional services that would include automotive and machinery parts, bidding for fuel and anything else relevant to highway work that could be shared. Eckhardt believes that shared services is something that towns will be looking at more and more, not just for highways but in other areas as well.
Where Are The Stephentown Signs?
Paula Dibble wanted to know if anything had been decided about creating and posting welcome signs for the Town. “You’ve been looking and looking and looking. Have you come up with anything?” she asked. Summertime is coming, she said, and it would be nice to have signs at each end of Town. Eckhardt said he would discuss it again with Kevin Doherty of Montauk Signs, but apparently no decision had been made as to what should be on the signs or what they should look like. Eckhardt thought the ones put up last year in New Lebanon were attractive. Jennings felt that the sign would be more distinctive if it included, “Founded by Stephen Van Rensselaer.” Brian Baker thought that the more distinctive and attractive the sign, the more susceptible it would be to theft.
Meeting Recordings And Minutes
Eckhardt said the Board had been discussing coming up with a policy on minutes and the electronic recording of meetings. The Town Board routinely records meetings, and minutes are written from them by the Town Clerk and later adopted as official by the Board. Anyone has the right, Eckhardt added, to record any open Town meetings, but only the written and adopted minutes constitute the official record. There seems to be some question about whether and how long the electronic recordings must be kept. The Association of Towns says that if they exist they are subject to the Freedom of Information Law and can be “Foiled.” Town Clerk Stephanie Wagar said she had been advised by the Association of Towns that the recordings must be kept for four months. Eckhardt said that the Board would develop a standard policy for the Town that would apply not only to the Town Board but to the Zoning and Planning Boards as well.
Policy On Use Of Town Hall
Councilman Jennings said the Board would also be reviewing and revising its policy on rental of the Town Hall. The Hall is used quite often, during the week and on almost every weekend, according to Jennings, and on a number of occasions it has been left a mess after its use. Because no one is checking to see that it is cleaned up, the groups that leave it a mess still get their deposits back. Eckhardt said that someone will have to be responsible to see that cleanup is done.
Joan MacVeigh noted that the vacuum cleaner is always locked in a closet so users may be able clean up the kitchen but have no way of adequately cleaning the carpeted area. She acknowledged the problem, however, and told the story of how some guy once tried to take a bath in the kitchen sink. “I kid you not,” she said. “Well maybe we should leave a bar of soap in there and a towel,” quipped Jennings. Eckhardt had mentioned earlier that he was just recovering from surgery last week but would be OK as long as he didn’t have to cough or laugh. This interchange and the picture of some great hairy oaf in the kitchen sink had him visibly wincing amid his guffaws.
Land Use Update
Jennings reported that the Land Use Update Committee has pretty much finished its job and he is finishing up a document that lays out the recommendations. He expected this will be ready for the Board’s review at the next Workshop meeting on April 9. Eckhardt expressed appreciation for all the time and work put in by the Committee members in updating the 1991 Land Use Regulations. In addition to Eckhardt himself and Bill Jennings from the Town Board, they included Code Enforcement Officer and Building Inspector Dean Herrick, his Deputy Owen Cassavaugh, Roland Barth representing the ZBA, Tom Morelli from the Planning Board and Kevin Carpenter and Fred Haley from the community.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk reported she had turned over the sum of $377.65 to the Supervisor for the month of February. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $1,030. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $3,992.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $14,266.65 from the General Account and $22,274.06 from the Highway Account.
The Board set their next regular meeting for Monday, April 16, at 7 pm.[/private]