Stephentown Town Board Action – It Doesn’t Just Rain Anymore

by David Flint
At the Stephentown Town Board meeting on Monday evening Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt reported that a massive amount of rainfall at about 4 pm on September 1 had taken out South Stephentown Road and a good bit of Andrew’s Lane and Wemple Road. “Just a bloody mess,” he said. [private]Then about eight hours later another 1½ inches of rain in about 40 minutes in just about the same location “really hammered Andrew’s Lane.” On September 12 another storm, part of the same system that devastated the Town of Nassau, caused more washouts in Stephentown. “It doesn’t just rain anymore,” he said, “it deluges. It just comes down in buckets.” Recent efforts by the Highway Department to adjust to this climate change attest to this. Where they would not long ago have used a 15 inch culvert they now install a 2 foot wide culvert and that still is often not sufficient. A lot of work has since been done on Wemple Road, Andrews Lane and Bert Hager Road and there remains a lot more to do. “Hats off to the Highway Department,” Eckhardt concluded.
A Noise Curfew?
A discussion about how to handle noisy events such as the Bella Terra Music Festival carried over from last month’s meeting. Win Means suggested that the Board consider some sort of noise curfew. He gave to the Board copies of a resolution he had proposed in 2010 that would have prohibited music from outdoor venues after 11 pm and provided additional compensation for the Town Constable to ensure compliance. Councilman Bill Jennings said that the Board realizes something needs to be done because simple verbal agreements on limiting noise after 11 pm have not worked. The Board will be looking at a number of possible mechanisms to be put into effect so that if agreed upon levels of noise are exceeded an event can be shut down. Supervisor Eckhardt said he will be looking at how New Lebanon works with the Lebanon Valley Speedway and also at special use permits used by the Town of Ghent. As he had said last month, he pledged that the Board will be working soon with Bella Terra to lay out ground rules with more teeth, not waiting until next summer to do so.
Billy Hammersmith wondered if the Town were somehow to shut down the festival in the middle of the night, how would they handle 4,000 people looking around for something to do. Eckhardt agreed that there are a lot of considerations to be examined, “But we still need to look at how that decibel level is just punching right through people’s homes.”
A Busy Special Meeting
The Board decided to extend the time for bids to provide a new one ton pickup truck for the Highway Department. Bids are now to be received by September 27. Four applications were received for the position of Transfer Station Attendant and interviews were to be held this week on Tuesday. The Board also interviewed three candidates for the position of Town Assessor at last week’s workshop meeting.
The Board set a special meeting for Monday, September 30, starting at 7 pm to wrap up all of these items. They expect at this meeting to open sealed bids for the truck purchase and award a contract, appoint a Town Assessor and a Transfer Station Attendant and also hold a budget workshop.
Take In Your Trash Barrels
Ken Newberry complained that as more people are having their trash picked up by County Waste and other haulers, he sees more and more trash containers left permanently by the side of the road. Joel Hunt agreed and noted that these containers are a major obstacle to clearing roads in the winter. They become projectile items if they get hit, he said, and are definitely a hazard to kids waiting for a school bus or to anyone else nearby. Hunt said that on one occasion he hit one with a snowplow and it went right through the windshield of a car parked nearby.
Newberry said he believes other towns have ordinances prohibiting leaving the trash barrels by the roadside. Hunt suggested that the Town Board request County Waste and other haulers to distribute flyers to their customers reminding them not to leave their containers by the roadway.
Cut The Seniors’ Allotment
Paula Dibble reminded the Board that she had sent them a letter suggesting a reduction in the amount the Town budgets for the Stephentown Seniors Club. Dibble wrote, “If the Town Board were to reduce the budgeted amount for that group, there would be additional funds available for maintenance and repairs that would benefit the entire citizenry of the Town.” Dibble provided numbers from some online research she had done. Comparing the expenditures in eight towns in Rensselaer County ranging in population from 1,135 (Nassau) to 12,500 (Schodack), her numbers indicate that the amount Stephentown budgeted for seniors in 2013 was $3,360 more than New Lebanon, $6,300 more than Berlin, $7,200 more than Grafton and $7,470 more than Petersburgh.
Dibble argued that the Town could reduce the amount contributed to seniors from $11,700 to $7,500 and still be spending more per capita than most other towns. This money, she suggested, could be put toward capital projects “benefitting everyone who lives in Stephentown.”
Councilman John Meekins defended the seniors’ allotment saying that it benefitted a lot of people. Janet Atwater spoke up to say that the children of the town deserve more support since they have their whole lives ahead of them. She urged that the youth programs in Stephentown, which took a budget cut last year, need to be more active. She also pointed out that many of those who take advantage of the senior trips do not even live in Stephentown so the Town is underwriting the recreation of non-residents. Councilman Jennings responded that the Town Board pays a fixed amount for the bus trips so it costs the Town the same whether the bus is filled or not.
The Board was non-committal but thanked Dibble for doing the research and providing some “good data.”
Deposits & Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $927.43 to the Supervisor for the month of August. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town was $791.The Transfer Station numbers for August were not yet available.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $13,275.08 from the General Account and $45,099.95 from the Highway Account.
The Board set a special meeting and budget workshop meeting for Monday, September 30, the October workshop meeting for Monday, October 14, and its next regular meeting for Monday, October 21, all meetings to start at 7 pm.[/private]