by Kieron Kramer
Before the Berlin Town Board regular meeting began on Thursday, October 9, and after it ended, Berlin Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger showed his smart phone pictures of the car accident in which he hit a black bear on Route 22 near South East Hollow Road. The collision occurred on Monday while Jaeger was driving to the Town Hall, he said. According to Jaeger, the bear was a female weighing about 200 pounds. [private]The pictures showed the dead bear and the damage the impact caused to Jaeger’s red SUV. There were the dented fender, the side of the vehicle that was soiled by the contents of the bear’s intestines when it released its bowels in death and a tuft of hair stuck between the front tire and the rim that was lodged so tight that it couldn’t be removed.
The incident was an unhappy one for Jaeger, who characterizes himself as a “sportsman,” some people would say a hunter, since taking an animal life by automobile is not part of the hunters’ ethos. Whether the bear had cubs and what was to become of them if she did was also a concern for Jaeger. He was asked what he did with the bear. True to the ideal hunting ethos in which no animal is wasted, Jaeger took it home. “My daughter is butchering it right now, making hamburger,” he said.
Coincidentally, South East Hollow Road was the site of another unfortunate animal death when one of Annette Lake’s dogs was killed by a pack of coyotes. Dog Control Officer Doug Goodermote reported the incident at the meeting and advised people not to leave their pets outside. Single coyotes killing domestic animals and chickens is not unusual in the area, but a pack of coyotes roaming around is a different kettle of fish. While on the topic – in a kind of stream of consciousness moment – Goodermote gave another reason for not leaving pets outside – parvovirus. “People don’t understand parvo,” he said, “Parvo is fatal, and the pet can die overnight. The parvo comes from wild animals, coyotes and foxes, and the pets can get it from contact in the yard.” Other than these morbid tales, Goodermote reported only one dog problem “up on Dyken Pond,” caused, as usual in Goodermote’s mind, by someone from “the city” who came up and locked his dog in the garage where it barked. No official complaint was filed.
Empty Buildings On Elm Street
The litany of bad news didn’t end there. Years of a poor economy has taken a bite out of the center of Town. Elm Street west of Rt. 22 is an example of the slow disintegration of property values in many area towns. The blue building on the north side of Elm, formerly owned by Rathbun and owned now by the County in lieu of taxes, has been a topic of Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton’s report for several meetings. At this meeting Yerton commented on the two buildings across from it, on the south side of Elm, both of which are uninhabited. The one closest to Karen & Charlie’s Gun Shop is secure; the one closer to Main Street is not secure, he said. The door is unlocked and open and kids, or whoever, can get in. The possibility of the building being used by unauthorized people has been obvious for months to anyone driving by and, probably, to anyone looking for a “party site.” Yerton believes the bank has foreclosed on the building, and he is researching which bank might own the property so he can ask them to secure the building. Jaeger said, “Let’s put a padlock on the door; we don’t want to take a chance on a fire.” Everyone agreed that this was a very good idea however no one explicitly took the responsibility to padlock the building.
Cash Market Sold?
Yerton did have some good news. The former Millias Cash Market is under contract to be purchased, he said. “They are waiting for the title search,” he added. The Millias Cash Market, located at the corner of Elm Street and Main Street, was a business mainstay in Berlin for decades. Although the name of the purchaser was not made public, Jaeger said that the new business would be a can and bottle redemption center. “We will have a new business in town,” he said happily.
Slow Road
Highway Superintendent Jim Winn said he learned at a meeting of the Town Highway Superintendents Association two weeks ago that no municipality, not even the County, has received its CHIPS (Consolidated Highway Improvement Program) money for this year. The implication is that NYS is holding the money for as long as possible. What may be worse for small towns like Berlin is that the State has changed the filing procedures for reimbursement. In the past, Winn said, the Town could submit bills marked paid in order to be reimbursed. Now cancelled checks must be submitted, he said. As everybody knows, not only are cancelled checks as rare as hen’s teeth these days, but banks may charge extra to provide them. Of immediate concern to Winn is that the filing deadline is November 7 and there are outstanding bills for work recently completed that have not yet been paid because Winn had just submitted them for approval to be paid by the Board at the next meeting. Board Member Steve Riccardi asked if the Board should hold a special meeting so the bills could be paid sooner. Winn said, “The checks still won’t clear on time to be filed.”
Meanwhile, Winn reported that the Highway Department has finished chipping and paving and has “started back around touching up the roads.” He wants to do the dirt roads again before winter. The Department has also helped Stephentown do some paving which Winn described as, “Putting bear sh*t down.”
Workshop
Jaeger said that among other things the Board began working on the 2015 Town Budget at the Board workshop on September 25. The tax cap increase for Berlin for this coming year is 1.57% and in order for the State to provide a 1% property tax rebate to individuals the town must reduce its property tax rate by 1%, Jaeger said. The motive for this arrangement by the State is not clear, but if Jaeger is right it means that the Board would have only a .57% increase in revenues to cover the 2015 expenditures. Even without the further 1% cut, the Town would have only a 1.57% increase in revenues to cover cost increases unless the Board votes to override the tax cap. Board Member Tara Fisher said, “The work on the budget will be tough.” She said that the cost of electricity and road salt is rising. The Town signed a contract for the purchase of salt in April at last year’s price, but if the Town needs more salt than the contract allows the extra salt would be purchased at a higher price. And, luckily, the Association of Towns is establishing a consortium to purchase electricity. It will work like the insurance consortium; all the Towns will purchase electricity together at a better price than when purchased separately. Jaeger said that this was definitely worth looking into. The real blow to the 2015 budget tax cap may be the increase in health care costs which, according to Jaeger, will be 14%. He said there is very little leeway because of the union contract which locks in health care benefits.
Berlin had been very frugal over the years and had held the tax levy near to 2% for six years, starting even before there was a tax cap. Last year the Board voted to override the tax cap. Projected costs increased the amount to be raised by taxes, resulting in a 4.9% tax levy increase for 2014.
Transfer Station
Reporting on the transfer station, Head Attendant Ivan Wager said that some small repairs have been done to two containers and the crew has begun winterizing the station, although there is still lots to do. The vendor who picks up the tires that are dropped at the station will no longer take skidder tires so the Berlin Transfer Station will no longer take them. Wager said after the meeting that only a couple of skidder tires are dropped off per year, but now the logger and heavy machinery operator will have to find another spot to discard them. Wager is also in the midst of negotiating the waste hauling contract. Rather than putting the contract out to bid, he gets the lowest price from a number of companies, narrows it down to two or three and then gets then to compete for the contract. Waste Management has been the hauler for a number of years. Since Wager has a pretty good idea about the final cost he said that the Transfer Station budget he has already turned in to the Board will hold.
Wager is also looking for an employee, perhaps two depending on availability and other factors, to work at the Station. Interested parties should contact Wager. Jaeger commented later in the meeting that Town Attorney Don Tate is working on the transfer station contract with Petersburgh.
Odds And Ends
Len Clapp, Supervisor of Water District #1, the seasonal water system serving the camps in the Taborton area, reported that the system would be shutting down on Columbus Day.
Jim Winn, Supervisor of Water District #2, in downtown Berlin, said that the new water main carried across the Little Hoosic River by the newly rebuilt Elm Street Bridge has been chlorinated, tested and opened up. He also said he would meet the following week with the resident on South Main Street who wants to attach to the water system.
Nicholas Adams reported that all is quiet with the Zoning Board of Appeals and that that Board still needs another member.
Director of the Youth Program, Tammy Osterhout, said that the doors will open at 6:30 pm at the Fire House on Community Avenue for the Halloween party on Friday, October 31. The costume parade will start with “the youngest ones” at 7 pm. Cupcakes are needed, Osterhout said. Those wishing to donate cupcakes can call her or just show up at the Fire House on the 31st, she said.
Town Supervisor Jaeger said that the Town Historian is still looking for display cases for the Historical Center on Main Street and that he needs a ladder, and perhaps some help, to measure for the sign for the Historical Center.
Everything is “normal” Assessor David McNally reported.
Chairperson of the Planning Board, Pam Gerstel, reported that there had been informal discussions for four possible subdivisions.
The Berlin Central School will be hosting an all-County music festival on a Friday and Saturday and asked the Town Board for permission to have overflow parking use the Town Hall lots as happened for the high school graduation. The Board is agreeable but will need the date of the event and a certificate of insurance.
The Beginning And The End
At the beginning of the meeting Jaeger acknowledged the loss of Kipper Maxon and Ken Jewett, Berliners who died in the last two weeks. Everyone knew these men; Kipper worked for the Town, Jaeger said.
Jaeger also commented that Town Clerk Anne Maxon is “the only issuing agent in the valley,” presumably referring to hunting and fishing licenses. Maxon issued $6,000 worth of licenses in the last month. Maxon was also the only person who noticed that the meeting should have started at 7:30 and, since she sits at the Justices’ Bench, used the gavel to get Jaeger’s attention.
At the end of the meeting, during the public comment time, a woman who lives on Taborton Road said that her elderly mother had fallen ill recently and, she asserts, it took Berlin Ambulance 45 minutes to respond, partially she said, because they couldn’t find the house. She asked the Board to reinstate the agreement with the Taborton Fire District whose emergency services used to respond to calls from Taborton Road and environs.
The contract between the Berlin Fire District and the Taborton District had been initiated in 1963 and was ended by the Berlin District at the beginning of 2011 when negotiations about the money to be paid to Taborton broke down. At the time, the Berlin Commissioners said there were only about ten calls per year in the Taborton Road area and the fee Taborton wanted was too high.
Jaeger told the woman, whose name no one at the meeting knew, that it was not a Town issue because the Fire District is the controlling municipality on this matter. He told her to talk to the Fire Commissioners, who were to meet at 7 pm on the Wednesday following this meeting.
The woman then announced that there is a property on Dingman Road which is an “environmental hazard.” Dingman Road runs off of Taborton Road. There are a number of tractor trailers parked on site and one of them even caught fire, she said. Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton said he had been up to Dingman Road in the last year on another issue but did not go farther along the road to where this property is. He said he would check it out.
Finally, she said, “Mr. Winn, is there any way to get these roads paved?” This was met with long, loud gales of laughter after which Winn replied, “Mr. Winn is my father.”
Public Hearing On The 2015 Budget
The Board scheduled a public hearing on the 2015 proposed budget for 6:30 pm on November 13 before the regular meeting which will begin at 7:30. This will give Berliners plenty of time to comment on the budget and on the likely tax cap override that will also be considered in the regular meeting when the budget is voted on.[/private]