Petersburgh Town Board Meeting – Town Hall Renovations

by Alex Brooks
Supervisor Krahforst said the renovations to the Town Hall which he has undertaken have exceeded the sums budgeted and there is no more money in this fiscal year for work on the Town Hall.
Councilman David Alderman said the digging to install the new light had caused one part of the walkway to sag by a couple of inches, which made it difficult to get a wheelchair up the walkway. He urged that the whole sidewalk be rebuilt, but, as there was no money available for such a project, Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison said he would come the next day and lift the sunken section back where it belongs.
[private]Town Clerk Callie Crisp reported that her workload has increased significantly this year and, as a result, she has called in the Deputy Town Clerk more frequently, and the budget for the Deputy Town Clerk is overdrawn. Supervisor Krahforst said he has been working on a number of new ideas for the Town and some of these projects have involved additional work for Callie.  After discussing the issue, the Board transferred $2,000 from the Supervisor’s contractual budget to the account which pays the Deputy Town Clerk to cover the excess cost.
Supervisor Krahforst said he is looking into a program which would provide workers for the Town at no cost. It is run by social service agencies for people receiving public assistance who agree to work 20 hours a week. He had in mind such tasks as library assistant and doing cleaning, painting and gardening around the Town Hall. The Board agreed to participate in the program, and Krahforst said he will sign up to have one person working 20 hours a week for the Town under this program.
Clues In The Garbage
Supervisor Krahforst, on his own initiative, looked through the garbage that was thrown over the bank behind the Jones Garage. He found there some prescription medicine with a name on the bottle. He called the State Police and the Department of Environmental Conservation, who came out and found more pills and a business card. The State Police are investigating the situation.
The Town Board passed a credit card policy which authorizes the Town Clerk and the Town Supervisor to use a Town credit card, within specified monetary limits.
Reports
Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison said he is getting Armsby Road and Hewitt Road ready for chip sealing. He said they have already been “shimmed.” He also said he is working on getting the highway trucks inspected.
The Water District Committee said they had a good meeting and they are trying to establish better communications with Water District Superintendent Todd Stradinger. Their highest priority issues were to get all non-working meters repaired or replaced in time for the July billing and to get the fire hydrant next to the Jones Garage repaired.
Supervisor Krahforst said he had a short meeting with Stradinger and found that Stradinger has made a permanent repair to the hole in the water tank.
Town Law Changes
The Town Law Committee said that it had met and made recommendations for minor changes to four laws – the 1980 law about administration and enforcement of the building code, the Right to Farm Law, the law concerning mobile homes and mobile home parks and the 2011 law concerning administration of the Water District.  Supervisor Krahforst said Building Inspector Doug Hull wants to take two sentences out of the building code law which conflict with State law, and these should be incorporated into the revisions as well.
Planning Board Chairman David Miller said he would like to see the recommended changes, as these are laws that his Board works with all the time.
Other Business
There were five applicants for positions as counselors for the Summer Youth Program. These will be reviewed by the Youth Program Director.
Supervisor Krahforst said the Alternative Energy Committee held a meeting with Robert Hassman of CNR Energy Solutions. Hassman suggested that the Town do an energy audit of the Town buildings. Krahforst said this would cost, roughly, $5,000, but the Town does not have such a sum in the budget so it will have to wait.
He said the Town is also interested in the possibility of photovoltaic energy or geothermal heating to cut down on the rising cost of heating oil for the Town buildings.
The Town received bids for its two surplus lawn mowing tractors. The John Deere was sold for $450, and the TroyBilt was sold for $95.[/private]