Petersburgh Town Board – No Action On Energy Efficiency

by Alex Brooks
After the Board was less than enthusiastic last month about having an energy audit done on the Petersburgh Town Hall, Petersburgh Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst invited two guest speakers to address the Board about grants for improving energy efficiency in public buildings. One was Linda von der Heide, the Principal Planner for Rensselaer County, and the other was Don Fletcher of the engineering firm Barton & Loguidice. Both were very knowledgeable about what was available generally from government or private grants, but neither was able to point to specific programs that would be available to the Town for specific projects.
[private]Supervisor Krahforst is recommending that the Town do an energy audit on the Town Hall because  most grant programs require that an energy audit be done before they make grants for energy efficiency projects. The energy audit would cost $4,500, and NYSERDA will pay half of that, so it will cost the Town $2,250 to have the audit done.
Board Member Duane Goodermote said he wanted to know what grant programs are available that the Town would be likely to apply for, to get an idea of whether the Town would get back from grants more than it would be laying out for the audit.
Mr. Fletcher said the most obvious thing for the Town to do to save energy is to improve the attic insulation, but he didn’t know of grant programs that would pay for that. There are grant programs to pay for more efficient heating and air conditioning units, and possibly even more energy efficient windows, but he didn’t have any specifics.
Goodermote said unless he could see a pretty clear path to grant money coming the Town’s way he thought it would be wiser to spend the $2,250 on insulation than on a study of the building.
No action was taken on the energy audit.
Cemeteries
Town Historian Peter Schaaphok said he had begun plotting the rural cemeteries in Town. He is trying to locate them all and get some idea of what condition they are in. He hopes to finish this and get a report to the Town Board soon. But he wanted to know what the laws are concerning access and maintenance of cemeteries on private property. If the Town wants to care for small cemeteries on private land, does it need permission from the landowner to do so or does the Town have a right of access? He said some cemeteries have been destroyed, and he wondered what the law is about that and how it would be enforced. Town Attorney Kevin Engel said he would look into it and report back next month.
Board of Ethics
Ethics Committee Chairman Deidra Michaels said her committee has finished a draft of a new code of ethics for the Town and would like to have the Town Board review it so as to move toward adoption of a new code of ethics. She also said the committee reviewed the four complaints that it has received and found no violations of the existing code of ethics.
The Board had on its agenda two proposed appointments to the Board of Ethics – Peter Schaaphok and Charlotte Neaton, but it turned out that neither could be appointed because they both work for the Town in some capacity. Schaaphok is Town Historian and Neaton works for the Library.
Broken Wheel Bridge
Krahforst said two engineering firms are interested in doing the engineering work for the new Broken Wheel bridge. They have been in Town gathering information and will at some point submit their proposals, and the Town Board will choose one of them to do the engineering for the new bridge.
Subdivision Regulations Revision
The new draft of the Subdivision Regulations has been completed. Town Board Member Duane Goodermote attended the Planning Board’s meeting at the end of October and went over it with them. He said they look good to him. Planning Board Chairman Dave Miller said the biggest issue is that once the new Regulations are adopted, the Planning Board is “completely out of enforcement.” That task is to be handled by the Code Enforcement Officer. Miller suggested that a meeting be held with Code Enforcement Officer Doug Hull to go over his responsibilities under the new regs and make sure he is ready to take them on.
Water District Loan Refinance
Supervisor Krahforst said there was a mistake in the paperwork submitted to the banks, so it had to be re-submitted. He also noted that one of the two banks the Town was talking to, First Niagara, has declined to make the loan so there is just one bank involved now – Pioneer Bank.
Garbage Dumping At The Jones Garage
Supervisor Krahforst said the State Police came to his house to report on their investigation of the Jones property and the garbage dumping that has been going on there. They said they can’t do anything about it because the incident is too old. The garbage was dumped there some time ago. The police said they did investigate whether anything on the premises might be radioactive, as some thought there might be medical waste on the property. They found no detectable level of radioactivity anywhere on the property. Everyone seemed to agree that something should be done about the derelict property, but no one knew what to do next. Many attempts have been made to contact the owner but with no success.
Town Hall Basement
Supervisor Krahforst said there is no longer any standing water in the basement of the Town Hall but it is still damp down there. He said he thinks this is because the ground on the west side of the building slopes towards the building. To correct this, he proposed bringing in some fill to arrange it so the ground near the building slopes away from it. Krahforst said this would require construction of window wells around the two windows. He estimated this would cost about $750 for galvanized or $1,160 for concrete. After discussing this for a while the Board tabled it and will probably not take it up again until spring.[/private]