by Alex Brooks
The Grafton Town Board this week interviewed, in executive session, three applicants who had expressed interest in serving as Town Justice to fill the vacancy created when Frank Higgins was appointed Supervisor last Spring. [private]When they came back out into a public session, Councilman Rick Ungaro made a resolution to appoint Pierce Hoyt as Town Justice from March 1 to December 31 of 2014. Ungaro, Mike Crandall and Marie Claus voted in favor of Hoyt, while Supervisor Higgins and Councilwoman Barbara Messenger voted nay. So Hoyt will be the Town Justice for the remainder of this year, but he can’t take his place on the bench until he goes to school to meet the New York State requirements for Town Justices. He will attend this school at the end of March.
Pierce Hoyt, who is the Director of Youth Services for Rensselaer County, served as Grafton’s Town Justice for four years from 1982 to 1986. He said after the meeting, he believes his experience in Youth services and working with at-risk youth, will be helpful in his role as Town Justice.
The other two candidates who interviewed for the position were John Pagano, who ran for Town Justice in last fall’s election, and Pat Ivory.
Ed Bly was elected Town Justice in the November election, but he couldn’t accept the post because he had taken a job managing the Rensselaer County Correctional Facility after his name was already on the ballot, and he felt the two positions conflicted.
Condemning the Safe Act
The Board adopted a resolution by a unanimous vote supporting the Second Amendment and criticizing the NY SAFE Act. Councilman Mike Crandall presented the resolution, which he read in its entirety. It condemned the NY SAFE Act at great length, for being unconstitutional and for being rushed through without any opportunity for public input. The resolution directed the Town Clerk to send copies of the resolution to the Governor and to the State and Federal representatives from the area.
Grafton Trail Riders
The Board passed a resolution, without much discussion, granting a variance to the Grafton Trail Riders to allow camping on their property for 60 hours per year. Members of the club are also allowed to camp on the site at other times, as long as they give notice to the Code Enforcement Officer and they don’t have more than four campsites at one time. The variance is pretty much the same as the one granted last year so the Board was able to agree on it fairly quickly. Last year it took months to get the variance passed, and it became quite a bone of contention.
One of the requirements in the resolution is that the club test its water every year at the start of the season. Marie Claus said she thought the facility was used last year before the water was tested. Club President Michael Buttino said they will take a sample of the water when they first open the place in early April this year, and the results should be back before they actually hold a meeting there.
Public Comment
David Buckley asked the Board to take up the issue of revising the Town’s travel trailer ordinance again this year. A public hearing was held on the law last year, and nearly everyone seemed to agree that it needed to be revised, and many urged its repeal. Buckley suggested that a committee be set up to draft a new ordinance on travel trailers.
Buckley also asked, as he has done on many occasions, that the Grafton Town Code be put on the Town’s website where anyone can access it. In response, Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo volunteered to produce a pdf file of the Grafton Town Code, at no charge to the Town, so that they can make it available on the website.
In a similar vein, Cathy Goyer asked again that the 2014 Town Budget be put on the Town website; at present it has a financial page with nothing on it.
Goyer also called to the Town’s attention that they had used the same voucher number on different vouchers several times last year. Councilman Rick Ungaro acknowledged that there were duplicate voucher numbers used last year, but after looking into it, he found that no great harm had come from the inadvertent re-use of the numbers.
FOIL Form
Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo presented a form to be used by citizens making requests for documents from the Town under the Freedom of Information Law. The Board said they will look it over for possible adoption next month, and they also discussed ways to streamline the FOIL procedures used by the Town.
Welcome Back Herb
Supervisor Higgins said Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck returned to work on the day of the meeting, February 10, after a two week absence caused by a sudden medical episode and a stay in the hospital. Higgins thanked the Highway crew and Deputy Superintendent Jim Goyer for carrying on while Herb was away from the job.[/private]