by David Flint
Bids for constructing a new bridge on Bert Hager Road were opened prior to the start of the regular Stephentown Town Board meeting on Monday. Six bids were received ranging from $248,589 from Stephen Miller General Contractors Inc. out of Mayfield, NY, up to $317,700 from New Century Construction based in Watervliet. [private]The Board decided to tentatively accept the low bid from Stephen Miller. That bid was submitted to the Town’s engineering consultant on this project, Lance Yerdon of Hudson River Valley Engineers for his review. If he finds everything in order the contract will be awarded to Stephen Miller. If not the Board will have Yerdon examine the next lowest bid which was in the amount of $256,480 from David Goodermote of North Stephentown.
Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt said that the Town expects reimbursement from FEMA on this project to be in the neighborhood of $225,000. The engineering consultant had proposed replacing the bridge, which crosses just a small tributary of the Kinderhook Creek, with a box culvert. The culvert would have been much less expensive, but FEMA insisted on a regular bridge if the Town expected to get any reimbursement.
Transfer Station
Councilman Bill Jennings provided for the benefit of both the Board and the public a number of spreadsheets detailing the income and expenditures at the Transfer Station. He noted that most of the income comes from the sale of the pink garbage bags at $2 each. That amounted to $42,554 in 2013. The cost of hauling the garbage in the bags was $24,289 so there was some net income there. The big discrepancy appears to be in Construction & Demolition trash (C&D). People paid about $15,000 to dispose of their C&D at the Transfer Station, but it cost the Town close to $26,000 to haul it away. The Town takes a loss on disposing of tires, too, though not as much. The Transfer Station collected $471 for tires, but the hauling cost was $775. Jennings believes the Board must consider raising fees in these categories.
The Board might also consider investing in a scale so that C&D charges could be made by the ton. Currently the Transfer Station charges $20 for a small pickup truck load. Jennings estimated that that amounts to something less than $50 per ton on average. The Town of Berlin, he noted, has a scale and they charge $85 per ton.
Jennings concluded that the Transfer Station did pretty well last year in keeping close to the budget. Revenue was $66,551, only about $1,500 over the budget estimate. Operating costs were also very close to the amount budgeted. The Town budgeted to lose $45,000 in operating the Transfer Station and actually lost $47,800, and $3,800 of that was investment in a new walkway to accommodate single stream recycling. But it still remains a high cost to the Town, and he believes the Board must continue to consider ways to reduce it. This will be the last year that the Town pays $14,700 for membership in the Eastern Rensselaer County Solid Waste Management Authority (ERCSWMA), but Eckhardt cautioned that all of that money will not be savings as the Town will have to pay something to replace the services of ERCSWMA.
Solar
Kevin Carpenter asked where the Board was on reducing energy costs with solar energy. Eckhardt said that a company called Jordan Energy that acts as a broker for solar installers had seemed very interested when he spoke with them earlier this year but there has been no contact recently. He said the Board is not interested in owning any solar panels but would be interested in an arrangement called a Power Purchase Agreement whereby the installer would own and maintain the panels on Town property and the Town would in turn get a reduced rate for electricity. He thinks, however, that the big companies are looking for a bigger payback with government entities that have much larger electricity bills than the Town of Stephentown has. “We’re not giving up yet though,” he added.
The Corkscrew Rail Trail
Eckhardt asked Carpenter to give a rundown on the recent public meeting on the proposed Corkscrew Rail Trail. Carpenter said that about 60 people attended and he had received a lot of positive feedback, though “Not everybody was for it – as you would expect.” All of the comments received at the meeting, good and bad, have now been posted on the website Corkscrewtrail.org, he said, and the committee will meet next week to determine the next steps.
Billy Hammersmith spoke up to object that these trails get started with the expressed intent of opening the trail to everyone, snowmobilers and 4-wheelers included. Then to finance it they accept federal money, and the trail ends up being closed to all motorized vehicles. This happened with the Taconic Crest Trail and the Ashuwilticook Trail, too.
Paula Dibble, whose land abuts the proposed trail, said, “I lived in the city. If I wanted people walking on my land I would have stayed in the city. I don’t want people walking on my land…and if they trip over their shoestrings, there goes my land that I worked so hard for. If they want to walk let them go to Grafton Lakes, Cherry Plain State Park, the Corning Preserve or the Saratoga Battlefield. We don’t need that here… I don’t want people in my backyard.”
Eckhardt said he agreed with their concerns but thought that, “If there’s someone that has a section that they are willing to do this on, then start with that little section, and that may be all we ever get…It won’t be on Paula’s ground.” Eckhardt mentioned the stretch between Wyomanock Road and the Post Road in New Lebanon as being a possibility.
Master Plan
Responding to another query from Carpenter, Eckhardt said that County Economic Development Planner Linda von der Heide would be at the Board’s next workshop meeting to get the Town started on developing a Master Plan. The first three sessions on defining the process will be held at the Board’s workshop meetings. After which the intention is to establish a citizens committee to proceed with actually developing the plan. One of the first steps, Eckhardt said, would be to send out a survey to all in the community.
The Board had earlier looked into the possibility of hiring a professional planner but decided the cost was too high. They concluded that the County is paid to help the towns and von der Heide had done a good job in guiding the Town of Berlin through the process of developing their Comprehensive Plan.
Association Of Towns
Councilman John Meekins reported on his attendance at the Association of Towns conference in New York City. He said it was very informative with ten or twelve sessions going on every hour and well worth the cost of attending. Eckhardt thanked Meekins for providing the Board members with reports on all of the sessions he attended along with handouts. Eckhardt wondered why they insist on holding the conference every year in costly New York City. He also marveled that the Town of Brunswick budgets 11 or 12 thousand dollars each year for Town Board members to attend. The Town of Stephentown this year spent $900.
Deposits And Spending
The Town Clerk turned over the sum of $335 to the Supervisor for the month of February. The distribution from the Office of the State Comptroller, Justice Court Fund to the Town for the month of January was $933.89 and $632 for the month of February. The Transfer Station deposited a total of $2,934.
The Board audited and approved claims in the amount of $14,992.90 from the General Fund and $20,446.95 from the Highway Account.
The Board set its next workshop meeting for Monday, April 14, and its next regular meeting for Monday, April 21, both to start at 7 pm.[/private]