by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board met December 30 for its end of the year meeting. There was about $49,000 of overspending in various accounts, and transfers were made from various underspent accounts so that none of the accounts would be overspent at the close of the year.
Supervisor Siegfried Krahforst said the Town had received its CHIPS money for the year, which was about $66,000, and a reimbursement check for expenses on the Broken Wheel bridge. He said over $100,000 had come in recently and he was expecting to have an unexpended balance at the close of 2014 of twenty to thirty thousand dollars.
Monolith Pulls Out
Krahforst also said he had a meeting with a representative from Monolith Solar, who told him that the solar electricity project planned for the hill next to the water tower was too small and they will not be able to do it. Krahforst told him he wished they had said that before the Town had all the trees on that hillside cut down in preparation for the installation of the solar panels.
He then discussed with Monolith the possibility of participating in a “community metering” project in which Monolith puts up a large solar project somewhere else and the Town agrees to buy electricity from it at a discounted rate.
Krahforst also told the Town Board that he is working with a free-lance grant writer named Julie Smith. He said the arrangement with her is that her services do not cost the Town anything. She gets a percentage of the grant if it is awarded. He said the Town is trying to get a grant for the Water District to replace all the meters.
Plowing Private Roads
There was a discussion about the Town trucks plowing private roads and driveways. Highway Superintendent Rob Cottrell said the Town has been plowing some private roads and driveways for many years, but he is concerned about it because the County Engineer told him he should never do private roads or driveways. The Board agreed that in general the Town should not do private roads unless it was necessary for the trucks to turn around. They suggested he talk with members of the Highway Liaison Committee about specific cases where it has been the practice to plow private roads.