by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board meeting this month began with a speech from Tom Berry defending his role as a town gadfly, saying that the Town has saved money on gravel and fuel because of his input and will probably reduce its transfer station costs because he brought the issue up. He said he thinks there is overwhelming support for his ideas from the public. He said people tell him all the time they like what he is doing. He said that he has decided to run for the Town Board next fall.
[private]Town Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst was not pleased with this speech, and he said although Berry is correct to some extent, he could have saved the Town a lot of money if he had done all of this in a less confrontational way.
Krahforst said, “Your energy is mostly negative. Why don’t you use your time and energy in a more positive way? He continued. “I’m disgusted. I wouldn’t have accepted a second term in this office if I had known how much trouble you would give me.” Krahforst concluded, “I already said last month that I thank you for your input. But I wish you would do it in a different way.”
Sand And Gravel
Sand and Gravel bids were opened. There were two bids, one from Sean O’Donovan and one from Bill Hammersmith. Their prices were close. O’Donovan bid $5.30 per yard for bank run and $7.10 for item #2 and Hammersmith bid $5.35 and $7.15 respectively for those materials. Krahforst said he wanted to accept both bids. This drew an argument from Tom Berry and Gene Kluck who said the Town has an obligation to accept the lowest bid.
Krahforst disagreed, saying the price of the material is only one factor in deciding which pit to buy from, and since the prices are close, other factors may be more important.
He also said he had some things to say about this that he couldn’t say in public and called an executive session. The Board went into the back room, and when they returned, Board Member Neil Geary made a motion to accept both bids and establish a liaison group of three Board members who will work with Highway Superintendent Ray Harrison to determine policy about which gravel to use for best quality and lowest cost. This passed unanimously.
Mowing Bid
There was only one bid to mow the lawns around the Town buildings. Darel Manchester of Above and Beyond Landscaping bid $2,500 for the season. Several members of the Board and of the public said they thought this was very expensive. Board Member Jack Barnhill offered to mow the lawns this weekend and then re-bid the mowing. The Board agreed to do that.
One of the Board members related that Manchester had said he could not mow the cemeteries until they had been brush hogged because they had become overgrown. Gene Kluck volunteered to brush hog them with his tractor if someone would offer a brush hog attachment that he could use, and Sean O’Donovan offered his. Once the overgrowth is cut down the cemetery mowing will be bid again.
PVMCC Agreement
The agreement between the Town and the PVMCC for use of the Veterans Memorial Community Center was approved by the Board and was signed right after the meeting. The deal is that the Town pays for all the expenses of the building, and the PVMCC pays $2,000 plus 10% of the rental income. This year the PVMCC will also pay $1,100 at the end of the year to reimburse the Town for cleaning fees it paid and also $500 at the end of the year to reimburse the Town for its expenses for paper goods and supplies. Under the previous agreement, the PVMCC paid $1,000 annually and no percentage of the rental income. Krahforst explained that the PVMCC is doing well with the building rentals so it can afford to pay a little more.
Youth Program
The Summer Youth program has taken two different hits this year. First its budget was cut from $7,665 in 2013 to $3,000 in 2014, and then the Hoosick Town Pool became unavailable this summer because it’s being renovated. But a revitalized Youth and Recreation Committee and others in Town are rallying to reconstruct the program for this summer. Sherry Bowman-Kluck said she had contacted nine different alternative venues for the swim program, but none could accommodate the Petersburgh group so there will be no swim program this summer. The summer program is normally three weeks of recreation and two weeks of swimming, but this year it will be the usual three week recreation program and a week of field trips. So overall it is one week shorter than usual. The Committee is working to set up the field trips for the final week but has not yet announced where they will be going.
The Committee has been raising money to make up for the sum that was cut from the budget this year. With assistance from the PVMCC, the Petersburgh Seniors Club, Jack Barnhill, who is donating his Town Councilman salary of $1,200 to the Youth Program, and others in Town, $4,544 has been raised so far. This, along with the $3,000 budgeted by the Town, approximates the amount budgeted by the Town in 2013.
The Youth Program staff and volunteers came to the Town Board meeting to make a presentation to the Town Board about the Youth Program. Cindi Mars, who has been the Director of the Youth Program since 2004, and Ariel Gilbert, who was a camper, then a counselor in training and then a Counselor and is now a Co-Director along with Mars, spoke about the program. Theresa Berschwinger, who also came up through the program and is now a Counselor, has a Bachelors Degree in Phys. Ed. and is also a substitute teacher and a coach at the Berlin Central School, talked about her experiences as a camper and as a leader of the summer program. Josh Kluck, who has attended the program since he was in kindergarten and is now going to be a Junior Counselor, talked about what the program has meant to him. “It’s a safe and fun place to go in the summer,” said Kluck.
All of the speakers emphasized the importance of being able to grow up in the program – starting as just a camper and then growing into leadership roles.
Joan Buzerak, Co-chair of the Youth and Recreation Committee, spoke last, thanking Supervisor Krahforst for revitalizing the Committee and thanking two members of the Town Board, Alan Webster and Denise Church, for participating. She said her request to the Board is to restore the funding in 2015 and her vision for the Youth Committee is to have it do more than just the summer program by starting youth programs that run throughout the year. Krahforst thanked the whole crew for all the work they’ve done to keep the program going this year.
Building Code
Petersburgh’s Building Inspector, Martin Conboy, spoke with some urgency in his voice about the need to update the Town Building Code to match the State Building Code. He said State law requires that Town Building codes be at least as restrictive as the State code. They are allowed to be more restrictive than the State requires, but they cannot be less so. The current Town code is less restrictive than State code so it is out of compliance with State law in which case the State building code supersedes the local law. Conboy said he has to go by the State code, but it creates a lot of confusion and argument to have the current Town code in place. He said, “I might as well be going out there with a clown mask on.” He said he is required to enforce the State code, and that’s what he intends to do. “I’m not going to dance around anymore. It’s time to take this seriously,” he said. He needs the Town Board to support him by revising the Town Building Code.
The Town has scheduled a special meeting for July 7 to take up the matter, and Krahforst said Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo will be there to help them.
Briefs
• Krahforst said he received an urgent call from the Dog Control Officer, who had picked up a badly injured dog, with a bone protruding from his leg, and nobody knew who it belonged to. She asked him to authorize her to bring the dog to an animal hospital for medical attention. He agreed, and the Town had to pay $640 for the dog’s medical bill. The dog is now at the shelter in Menands, waiting to be adopted.
• The Board approved hiring Chelsea Jordan as the Planning Board Secretary.
• Krahforst said he is not yet quite ready to present the information that he has gathered about the Town’s Transfer Station options. He did say that he had sent two counter proposals to Berlin about Petersburgh’s use of the Berlin station but had received no response from Berlin yet.
• The Board accepted Brigitta Schmidt’s resignation as acting Town Clerk, because the job conflicted with her employment at the Hancock Shaker Village. She will continue as Deputy Town Clerk #2, assisting Deidra Michaels as necessary. Supervisor Krahforst thanked Schmidt for helping the Town through its period of dire need when Callie Crisp was suddenly unable to continue as Town Clerk.[/private]