by Kieron Kramer
In January the headline in this paper said, “Berlin Municipal Center Is Reborn With Purchase Of Berlin Lumber – A New Era Begins For Berlin.” Eleven months later this is true. At the Berlin Town Board meeting on Thursday, December 13, Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger announced that the Town would take possession of the Berlin Lumber property in Cherry Plain the next day, Friday, December 14. The property will serve as a municipal center with 7 buildings which will house the Town offices and justice court facilities, a large meeting and community room, a Highway Department office and proper garage space for the Town trucks as well as rental space. [private]The long awaited closing took about ten minutes around noon in the office of Town Attorney Donald Tate of Holbrook, Johnston and Tate in Hoosick Falls. The Town Board – Jaeger, Tara Cinney, Richard deLeon, Dean Maxon and John Winn, voted unanimously on Thursday to authorize Jaeger to sign the necessary documents at the closing to complete the transaction. He had visited the property earlier in the week and found it ready for the transferral of ownership. “All the furniture has been moved out,” he said.
The Board, newly elected in November 2011, took office in January of this year and voted to purchase the property for $499,500 pursuant to a permissive referendum that passed on July 19, 2010, 186 to 137. Even after an engineer’s feasibility study rated the buildings in good condition, the previous Board had chosen not to honor the will of the people as expressed in that referendum. At least the closing took place in the same fiscal year as the vote to purchase.
According to Jaeger the holdup was a boundary line dispute between the owners of Berlin Lumber, Gary and Earl Phillips, and the heirs of an abutter, Ann O’Brien. The abutter’s deed described the boundary line in measurements while the Berlin Lumber deed described the boundary as “the middle of the stream,” he said. Rather than claim the area of uncertainty under adverse possession, the Berlin Lumber owners chose a different path, he said. The negotiation was between private parties, and the terms of any settlement between them is also private. Because it took about 11 months to settle, it is not unreasonable to assume that there was some hard bargaining involved. In any event, the Town could not have accepted a title with this kind of a cloud on it.
Jaeger expected to have the keys to the property by Friday mid-day, and the first thing that will happen is that by the end of the day Highway
Superintendent Jim Winn will move the Town’s plow trucks into the heated garage space where the lumber trucks used to park. The highway crew can now finish preparing the trucks for winter, mounting the plows and sanders, and can leave the plows and sanders mounted without worrying about how to get the trucks under cover. It’s a good thing, too, since snowfall is predicted any day now. For the past few winters the Town has been renting space from Green Renewable, formerly Cowee’s, for this purpose at a rate last year of $500 a month.
Long And Winding Road
The dream of a new municipal center is becoming a reality after almost 3½ years. It is a monument to the perseverance of Supervisor Jaeger and those who supported him. It was a tough road ever since it was first proposed by Jaeger in July of 2009, with two referendums and numerous, very contentious meetings that threatened to tear the fabric of the community apart.
The Town had been saving money in a Capital Fund to invest in a new Town Hall or a new Town Garage since the early 1990s when Stanton Goodermote was Supervisor. Over the years $587,000 was amassed in the Capital Fund for this purpose. In December of 2009 a referendum was held to give the Board permission to use the Capital Fund to purchase the Berlin Lumber property. At that time the price of the property was $569,000, and it was successfully argued that the needed renovations would not be covered by the Capital Fund and that the upkeep of the large facility would break the Town’s budget. So Berlin citizens voted 210 to 131 against the purchase. When the price dropped to $499,500, another referendum was held. This time the citizens saw it as a good deal since there would be money left over in the Capital Fund for renovations and since a plan was suggested to rent space at the facility to the County Highway Department, to rent out the current Town Garage and to save the rental on garaging the Town trucks at Cowee’s.
During these years Jaeger listed the reasons why the purchase should be made. Some had to do with quality of life issues like providing a soccer facility for the Taconic Valley Soccer Club, developing a public park and recreation area on the property and holding events like a gladioli festival that would draw people to Berlin. But to the skeptics of the project and, more importantly, to all taxpayers, the most persuasive points he made related to the financing of the project. “We will stay within the boundaries promised to the taxpayers,” he said. The promise was not to spend more than what is in the Capital Fund for the purchase and renovations so that there will be no cost to the taxpayers. Since Laberge was paid $9,525 out of it for a feasibility study, and the closing costs were $9,940, which includes a property tax reimbursement of $4,900, a title search fee of $2,717, a transfer fee of $2,313 and a filing fee of $10 (there were no attorney’s fees), there will be approximately $68,000 left in the Capital Fund to renovate the new facility. Jaeger expects that the current Highway Garage can be rented for about $4,800 per year; Morse Heating may still be interested in renting it. The County is still committed to rent garage space at the Cherry Plain facility to house its equipment at $6,000 per year.
Jaeger said the renovations on the buildings in Cherry Plain would be planned as soon as the decision is made by the Justice Court on the $30,000 grant applied for by Town Justice Joe Rechen. This grant money would determine the extent and the timing of the upgrades at the Municipal Center. There will be renovations for the Town Court area with a separate space for arraignments and Court records. A handicapped accessible bathroom will soon be installed.
Budget Correction
Town Supervisor Jaeger announced corrections to the 2013 Budget that was presented and adopted at last month’s meeting. The budget adopted last month had a 2.3% tax levy increase to cover the Town and Highway expenditures. That adopted budget included a Fire District budgeted tax levy increase of 3%. The bottom line was that Berliners would see a 2.6% tax increase overall. These figures were announced last month and, in the report on these pages, were taken from the official budget document on the Town website. However, on Thursday, Jaeger corrected the Fire District budget figure to a tax levy increase of only 1.3%. Whether this mistake was a transcription error or a failure to communicate is a matter of conjecture. It is clear, however, that the Fire District Commissioners worked successfully to stay well within the tax cap.
The true figures mean that Berliners will see a 2% tax increase overall. This amounts to an increase of about 29 cents per $1,000 of property value or about a $14.50 increase in annual property taxes for a property worth $50,000. The corrected budget is now on the Town website (http://berlin-ny.us/), Jaeger said.
Pack Of Dogs
Dog Control Officer Doug Goodermote reported that there is a pack of about ten dogs roaming around at the top of Hilltop Road. They are led by a large grey/black female dog that actually charged Jaeger while he was hunting turkey on his own land. The grey/black dog had no collar, according to Jaeger, and probably has no vaccinations, he said. “I’ll probably be the first to know,” Goodermote said, “I’ll be dead.” He has to go up there and sort out who the owners are. There is no leash law in Berlin, but dogs are required to be licensed and required to have rabies shots.
Some people who missed the rabies clinic in October have had their animals vaccinated at Goodermote’s with the vaccines that were left over from the clinic. “There will be no more vaccinations because the vet is having a baby,” Goodermote announced. He also reported a “dog problem” at Spring Lake. Two dogs got into a fight, but the owners sorted it out. The winner paid the vet bills.
An Appointment
Planning Board Chair Pam Gerstel recommended that Deborah Sweeney be appointed as an alternate member of the Planning Board to replace Jaime McMartin, who has moved to New Lebanon. Later in the meeting the Town Board voted unanimously to appoint Deborah Sweeney. Gerstel also said that there had been an informal discussion at the last Planning Board meeting when a property owner on Southeast Hollow Road had asked about the process of transferring acreage to Landvest, which Gerstel characterized as an organization involved in rural land preservation. A quick search on the internet shows Landvest to be a real estate transaction and advisory service for timberland investment. Gerstel said that if the inquiry entails a subdivision it must follow the process.
New Hydrant Needed
Water District #2 Supervisor Jim Winn said that he had taken apart the broken hydrant across from the Fire House. He discovered that the stem was not twisted off at the top as he expected but at the bottom. “It is useless,” he said. A new hydrant there is in the near future. Since there was no Town Board workshop in November and none scheduled for December, Jaeger said he would invite the Fire Department to the January workshop to discuss the water pressure problems caused by opening the hydrant across from the Fire House.
Transfer Station Hours
Ivan Wager asked permission from the Board to shorten the transfer station hours on the day before Christmas, Monday, December 24, from 5 pm to 3 pm. They agreed, and Wager said he would put up signs about the short day. He also said that the transfer station is “cleaned up pretty much for winter.” The tires and refrigerators are ready to be shipped out. Wager recommended that Marcel “Kipper” Maxon be designated as the on call attendant at the transfer station. The Board voted unanimously to do so.
Permitless
Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton said, “It was an interesting month.” He had discovered two building projects without permits. One was in the center of town where a fire place was being taken out of the center of a house. “The problem is that the fireplace holds the house up,” he said. He said he worked this out with the homeowner. The other project was “in the back woods,” he said. The violator asked Yerton how he found out about it, and Yerton told him that he could see his truck on Google Earth. Yerton also reported that there were a few more solar projects in the works.
As Chairman of Assessors, Yerton said that the Star property tax exemption applications would be sent out by the end of December and will be accepted until March 1.
NY Alert
Ivan Wager reported that New York Alert, a telephone messaging system for emergency alerts, successfully notified 1,250 contacts in 24 minutes when a vehicle knocked down a power pole on Bly Hollow Road in early December. The registered contacts in the affected towns were the chain of commands, highway superintendents, fire chiefs, ambulance squads and other town officials listed in the towns’ disaster plans. Those notified included the Berlin Town Board and even the Town Supervisor of Petersburgh, Siegfried Krahforst, when the power company determined that Petersburgh might be affected by the downed pole. Wager said that eventually private citizens will be able to register for alerts, but he cautioned to be careful what you register for or you might be notified of incidents in Buffalo. “Whatever you register for, your phone will ring,” he said.
Forest Management
Jaeger reported that he had received the information and recommendations from David Keel of Wagner Forest Management from West Rupert, VT, on the maintenance of the 90 acre Town forest in Comstock Hollow. Keel’s plan will give the Town income of $14,407 up front, after the fees are netted out, and give further steady income in 10 or 15 years. Wildlife and forest health will be protected, Jaeger said. The Board voted 5-0 to use Wagner Forestry Management to manage the Town’s timberland.
Appreciation
At the end of the meeting, Pam Gerstel said to Jaeger, “Thank you for all your efforts at Berlin Lumber, and I thank this Board for working so well together this year.” To which Jaeger replied, “It’s all going to fall into place hopefully. I thank everyone for their support. It’s going to be good for the Town in the long run and, like the forest management, will provide for the Town in the future.” At this point Jaeger and the Board wished everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Meetings
Settlement night was scheduled for 7 pm on December 27 in the current Town Hall. There will be no workshop in December. The next regular Board meeting is on January 10 at 7:30 pm in the current Town Hall.[/private]