by Kieron Kramer
When Dog Control Officer Doug Goodermote gave his report at the Berlin Town Board meeting on Thursday, May 8, he said that “a few dogs went missing but everything has been quiet, exceptionally quiet.” If Goodermote has so little to say you can guess that the whole, 30 minute meeting was exceptionally quiet. And the Town is quiet. [private]In fact it was so quiet in Berlin on Thursday that when NYS Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin arrived at the Town Hall at 11 am to be available to his constituents until 2 pm no one showed up, at least they hadn’t by 12:30 pm when Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger left. Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton said the last month was quiet. Tammy Osterhout was not present to give the Youth Commission report, which might have included an update on the summer swim program location now that the Hoosick Town Pool will not be available this summer. Ivan Wager was not present to give the transfer station report, and there was no update on the transfer station contract with Petersburgh since there has been no activity in that area as far as Jaeger is concerned. Head of the Assessors Patty Baretsky reported only that the Tentative Assessment Roll is in the office and available for inspection. Jaeger said that he would post the tentative roll on the Town website (http://berlin-ny.us/).
Water Is Transparent
Water is transparent, but the report by the Supervisor of Water District #2, Jim Winn, was not. The District was “mostly quiet,” he said, but he did not elaborate. And he avoided responding to ambiguous questions by Board Member Tara Fisher implying that there had been a problem with the water system. Winn can be quite enigmatic at times. “My phone hasn’t been ringing,” he replied. After the meeting Winn said only, “Water is mysterious.”
Because an $1,815 bill for water testing was among the bills to be paid this month, Board Member Steve Riccardi asked about water testing. Winn said that the system is tested for bacteria every three months and that every three years a very comprehensive test is required. The $1,815 was the bill for the three year test of Water District #2.
Len Clapp, Supervisor of Water District #1, reported that the seasonal water district is now open for the season. The water system will serve the Taborton Mountain area of Berlin until Columbus Day. Clapp said that the system had just been inspected and passed by the County Health Department.
Drying Out
In his highway report Highway Superintendent Jim Winn said that the Department has been waiting “for things to dry out, some roads are soft in spots.” Once the roads are dry the road grading will begin in earnest. “I hate to loosen them up if they don’t need it,” Winn said. In the meantime, the Department has been trying to fix a few potholes, and “We have been whacking quite a lot of brush,” Winn said, “mostly on Cherry Plain Hill [Road] and Bly Hollow [Road].”
Winn is looking around to trade in the Town screener “for a roller or something that we can utilize.” Since the Town has bought screened highway materials for years there is no use for the screen, which the Town has been hoping to get rid of for a while. Jaeger said that at the workshop it was reported that the Brimmer Bridge has been inspected and only minor repairs are needed. Tara Fisher complimented Winn on the grounds work at the Municipal Center, which the Highway Department manages. “The grounds here look nice,” she said.
Workshop
More and more business is discussed and more decisions are being made at the Board workshop held the third Thursday of the month at the Town Hall, so interested residents might consider attending that meeting as well as the regular Board meeting on the second Thursday. The next workshop will be held on May 22 at 7 pm, and the next Board meeting will be held on June 12 at 7:30 pm, both in the Town Hall.
At the April workshop the bid from the Legenbauer Gas & Oil Company of Averill Park to supply fuel oil for the Watipi Building, the former Town garage and the old Town Hall, now called the Historical Center, was accepted. The cost of a gallon of fuel oil from Legenbauer will be 30 cents over the rack price in Albany, which Jaeger considers a good price.
At Rebekah Hartman’s suggestion the Board decided that gladioli will no longer be planted in the flower beds along Route 22. They will be replaced by daffodils. Hartman, who took over the leadership of the Beautification Committee from Don Calman and who had done a huge amount of the work needed to establish the gladioli beds, said that the glads are just too labor intensive. The flower bed owners have been notified by Hartman.
Gladioli are part of Berlin’s history. According to Berlin Historian Sharon Klein, at one time in the early years of the 20th century, visitors flocked to Berlin from all over to see the 50 varieties of gladiolus in full bloom. These blooms covered about 100 acres at the Meadowvale Farms in Berlin, owned by Arthur Cowee. From Cowee’s bulb storehouse, near the Berlin railroad station, car loads of cut flowers and prize-winning bulbs were shipped all over the United States. Between 1892 and 1928, Arthur Cowee of Berlin was known as “The Gladiola King.” This is why Calman chose gladioli to beautify Berlin. The transition to daffodils means that there will be no blooming flower beds this summer.
The water has been turned on in the Watipi Building, but there was some “residual water,” as Jaeger put it, in one of the pipes that froze over the winter and the pipe needed to be repaired. The former Town Hall has been cleaned up and is ready to be used as the Historical Center. At this meeting Jaeger said that the Town Hall sign needs to be removed from the building. “It’s a two man, ladder job,” Jaeger said.
The Fourth of July Parade route was approved at the workshop. According to Jaeger the Parade will go up Park Avenue to Route 22, up to Main Street, down Main Street to South Main Street and back into South East Hollow Road. Jaeger also said that there will be a page on the July Fourth Parade added to the Berlin website.
Reports
Planning Board Chairperson Pam Gerstel reported that a public hearing on a subdivision located on Cold Springs Road and Green Hollow Road was held April 24 and that she was pleased that all the Planning Board members, including the alternates, had attended. Many will attend a conference at HVCC on May 21.
Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA), Nicholas Adams, said that a variance for the Vincent mine on Plank Road had been issued by the ZBA at its meeting in April. The Vincents had received the DEC permit and the reclamation bond of $16,959 that DEC is requiring the Vincents to post was accepted. The bond covers the cost of reclamation if the mine is abandoned. The gravel mine will utilize about 5 acres of the property of Nancy and Roger Vincent.
The Old Town Garage
The rental of the former Town garage to Northline Utilities for $1,000 per month plus utilities has ended, but a dumpster is still present on the property. Northline Utilities was hired by NYSEG to improve that company’s transmission infrastructure so that a power source can come from Stephentown if the northern supply is cut. Board Member John Winn said he was concerned that “kids might get in there [the dumpster] and get hurt” and asked when it would be removed. Jaeger said he had contacted a person at Northline to get it out of there, but it turns out that the dumpster is NYSEG’s. He has contacted someone from NYSEG to ask that it be removed. Jaeger also said that the Wm. J. Keller & Sons Construction Corp. of Castleton, the company that will be replacing the Elm Street Bridge, has asked to use the old Town Garage as a staging area for the project. They want to put a trailer behind the building for the engineer’s use during the construction. Jaeger said they would pay $350 per month for three months to place the trailer there and would not use the building.
Use It Or Lose It
The Board received notification from Town Justice Joe Rechen that the $3,000 that remains from the $30,000 grant from the Office of Court Administration would have to be used soon or it will have to be returned. Town Clerk Anne Maxon suggested that the money be used to buy a new copier for the Clerk’s office. The copier the Clerk uses now is seven years old, and, being slightly out of date, is hard to service. The Board agreed to buy a new copier for the Clerk’s office. Maxon has picked out a Ricoh copier that also scans and faxes and will be easy to service. The Ricoh would cost $3,500, $500 more than the remains of the Justice Fund. Board Member Dean Maxon made a motion to use the $3,000 from the Justice Fund and to subsidize the purchase of the copier with $500 from the Town’s General Fund. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Odds And Ends
Town Attorney Don Tate, who arrived just after the meeting adjourned, has donated six lateral filing cabinets to the Town. These cabinets are high quality and very heavy. “They are hanging out in the Berlin storage and moving company,” Jim Winn said, referring to the Highway Department which trucked them to the Municipal Center.
In the public discussion period Pam Gerstel asked for information about AT&T’s cell coverage in the valley. Rob Jaeger and Tara Fisher both said that the Town has nothing to do with it. Fisher said that AT&T customers need to call AT&T. The Town’s cell tower ordinance requires that tower owners allocate four stations in each tower for other providers to rent. This prevents the flowering of towers in Town. So AT&T has the right to rent space on the Verizon towers that provide much better coverage in the valley, but that is between those companies. Doug Goodermote said that the assumption is that AT&T will upgrade the equipment on their tower on Goodermote Road which runs into Bly Hollow Road near the top rather than rent from Verizon. Allan Yerton said it would be complicated to increase coverage from the tower on Bly Hollow Road without increasing the height of the tower. This would require a new permit.[/private]