Stephentown Town Board Action – Town Won’t Take Elementary School Property

by David Flint
Stephentown will pass on buying the former elementary school property for $1. Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt said at the Town Board meeting Monday that the President of the Berlin School Board has advised him that the School District will proceed to mothball the building that was formerly the Stephentown Elementary School and the property will be put back on the market for sale. Eckhardt and Board Members had met with representatives of the School Board but could not reach agreement on transferring the property to the Town. There were too many things in the contract, Eckhardt said, that the Town could not accept. [private]The District wanted to hand the property over with a quit claim deed that would absolve them of any liabilities. Also, according to State law, if the Town took over ownership, the building could only be used for public use. The Town could not sell it or rent it to a business. The Town would have to renovate or tear down the building and, according to Eckhardt, “We can’t afford that.” He held out the hope, however, that if the property is sold, the Town might be able to negotiate with the new owner for continued use by the Town of the playground, soccer field and basketball court. “We will see what happens,” he said.
Moment of Silence
The incomprehensible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was on the mind of the Town Supervisor as he opened the meeting. Trying to look on the bright side, Eckhardt quoted television host Mr. Rogers as saying, “Seeing scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers – You always find people who are helping.’…There are still so many helpers, so many caring people in this world.” As he asked for a moment of silence prior to starting the meeting, Eckhardt advised that as we think about the families, friends and teachers of those who were killed, we should also think optimistically of the helpers and realize that in any disaster, even in our own community, there are those who would do the same.
Bids For Town Hall
Cleaning, Snowplowing And Road Materials
Only one bid was received to provide cleaning services for the Town Hall for the upcoming year. The bid was awarded to Katie Sykes of Stephentown at the amount of $17 per hour.
Two Bids were received to provide snowplowing at the Transfer Station and plowing to include shoveling and salting of sidewalks at the Town Hall. Brian Hespelein of Stephentown asked for $125 for each plowing at the Transfer Station and $60 for the Town Hall. Nathan Cowen, also of Stephentown, wanted $120 for the Transfer Station and $50 for the Town Hall. Commenting that Hespelein has been doing the job well for the past three years and has not raised his price, Board Members voted unanimously to award both jobs to him.
Two bids were received to provide materials for road work and maintenance of Town roads, one from Richard G. Senter Testamentary Trust and one from William Hammersmith’s Quality Construction in Cherry Plain. The Board voted to buy materials from both companies as well as from any other organization that has a State contract. The purchase and location of the product used will be at the discretion of the Highway Superintendent.
Organizational Meeting Date Change
The Board voted to reschedule the beginning of the year Organizational Meeting that had been set earlier for January 3. Since that date would conflict with the regular meeting time of the Zoning Board, the date for the Organizational Meeting was changed to Wednesday, January 2, at 7 pm.
County Hazard Mitigation Plan Accepted
The Board passed a resolution back in March to accept the County Hazard Mitigation Plan upon successful completion of the State Environmental Quality Review process by the Lead Agency, Rensselaer County. With the SEQR process now concluded, the Board now passed another resolution formally accepting the Plan.
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.”  Acceptance of the Plan makes the Town eligible to receive grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Annual Audit Of Town Court Financials Accepted
The State of New York Unified Court System requires that the Town Court financials be audited annually. The Town Board completed this audit for the Fiscal Year 2012 on May 21 but it was never formally accepted by resolution. The Board now passed a resolution to accept the audit as complete.
Setting A Fee For Zoning Appeals
The Town Land Use Regulations specify that all appeals and applications made to the Zoning Board of Appeals shall be accompanied by the applicable fee in accordance with the fee schedule established by the Town Board. Apparently no fee was ever established. Eckhardt believed that there had never been an appeal to the Zoning Board until earlier this day when attorney Lewis Oliver filed an appeal regarding the Howard Commander Motocross application. Eckhardt moved that the fee be set at $50. At this point ZBA Chairman Roland Barth spoke up to say that appeals involve a lot more cost to the Town than that. The Board decided to table the motion pending some investigation as to what level of fees are being charged by other towns in the area. They will take it up again at the Organizational Meeting.
The Board held a public hearing on revisions to the Land Use Regulations on December 3. Eckhardt said that at the Workshop meeting on January 14 Linda von der Heide from County Planning would be present to advise the Board on moving forward with the Land Use Review plan including the completion of the SEQR long form.
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $582 to the Supervisor for the month of November. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town for October was $1,793 and $1,204 for November. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $5,837.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $14,083.73 from the General Account and $14,226.39 from the Highway Account.
The Board set the 2012 Reconciliation Meeting for Thursday, December 27, the Organizational Meeting for Wednesday, January 2, their next Workshop meeting for Monday, January 14 and their next regular meeting for Monday, January 21, all meetings to start at 7 pm.[/private]