by Thaddeus Flint
The February meeting of the New Lebanon Town Board started off by remembering New Lebanon’s Assistant Fire Chief, Mark Sheline, who passed away on December 31.
A special resolution was passed, with all Board members in favor, recognizing Sheline for his years of public service, and his “selfless dedication to the people of the Town of New Lebanon.”
[private]“Sheline made a very signicant contribution in many areas of the Town,” said Town Supervisor Mike Benson. Sheline also “possessed a great sense of humor,” added Benson, “which if you are going to be involved in the Town, you need.”
Sheline, who was a lifelong resident of New Lebanon as well as a graduate of New Lebanon Central High School, served with the Lebanon Valley Protective Association for 45 years and was also a member of the Town’s Planning Board for five and a half years.
Sheline’s now empty seat on the Planning Board was filled later in the night, with Benson and Council members Chuck Geraldi and Bruce Baldwin voting in favor of appointing Chris Steadman to the position. Council Member Dan Evan abstained from voting and Council member Matt Larabee was absent from the meeting after the Sheline resolution.
The Board also passed, this time with all in attendance voting in favor, a resolution confirming to the US Department of Agriculture, that the Town would act as the administrator for a grant the Behold! New Lebanon Museum was applying for. Behold! hopes to get some or all of a $99,000 Rural Business Enterprise grant so that it might improve upon their living museum which debuted last summer to the surprise of many. The Town’s Attorney, Andy Howard, said that he would look into the actual responsibilities that the Town might be taking on. Howard also noted that a portion of the grant could likely be used to cover any expenses accrued by the Town in the administration of those duties.
Not everyone in New Lebanon feels all that beholden to Behold! for trying to put New Lebanon on the map. “New Lebanon is a small, rural town, and most of the residents would prefer it to stay that way and not become a tourist trap,” pointed out one of those residents, Johanna Johnson-Smith, during public comment. Johnson-Smith emphasized that these residents as a whole “are not in opposition to the program itself, but to the manner in which it was implemented last year with no opportunity for full time residents to be fully informed or have a voice in the matter.” Johnson-Smith asked that a public hearing be scheduled, and that Ruth Abrams, Behold’s founder, be on hand to discuss the project with residents who might have their own concerns about being on a map they don’t necessarily want to be on. “This is not a privately-owned estate,” said Johnson-Smith, “it is a Town.”
While residents wait to see if the Behold! meeting will ever take place, those who love a good public hearing are in luck. The Board set one up for 6:45 on March 10, just before the start of the March Board meeting, to authorize the renewal of Charter Communication’s contract for another five years.
Councilman Geraldi noted that some residents are not exactly happy with the service Charter provides. “I know there are a lot of people who would like to talk to them,” he said.
Benson said that he would ask that a representative of Charter attend the hearing, although there is no requirement that they do so. “I won’t tell them about the angry mobs,” he laughed.
The night’s agenda, as it often does, listed “HR Matters” under Old Business. This would be the Human Resources manual that Board has been working on for close to four years now. Four years isn’t really all that long considering that Town has been without one for 197 years, so putting it off for another month, which was what happened once again, probably won’t slow things down in the meantime. However, had the manual been completed, and had it addressed what is a “snow emergency,” a lot of discussion that took place that night might have been avoided.
Apparently the Governor, during one of the snow storms, called a “snow emergency” and said everyone who wasn’t needed should stay home. He might have then cancelled that emergency before it started, but nobody was certain about that. At any rate, Building and Planning Clerk Cissy Hernandez, doing what she thought was correct, stayed home and the day was subsequently marked as a vacation day.
“There is no policy” for what to do during a snow emergency, admitted Benson, who has been pushing for the completion of the HR manual since he took on the job of Supervisor.
“Finish the HR Manual,” advised Geraldi, “and spell out the policy.”
The lack of written policies seems now and then to cause a lot of trouble. “Every month it seems that an employee gets the shaft around here,” said Baldwin, who, in the absence of anything written stating otherwise, feels that the correct criteria in the absence of policy “is to be a human being.” Nobody argued with that and it was decided, with all present in favor, to allow Hernandez to make up the day on a Saturday and have her vacation day back.
The winter is also giving the Highway Superintendent a headache. According to Jeff Weinstock, the Highway Department is having problems getting the salt it contracts to get and not much is being done about that. Meanwhile, the Board keeps talking about testing his gravel to make sure it’s the gravel the Town is paying for. “I find it amazing you just want to test, test, test,” he said when the matter of materials testing came up again. At the same time, Weinstock says his trucks are “being beat to death,” and the Board should be looking at replacing them sooner rather than later when the Town might find itself needing to replace several expensive machines all at once.
The night ended with thoughts of spring. Will the tennis court be ready? Resident Bud Godfroy wondered what the news was on the possibility that the courts might be renovated.
Benson said that the new Town Engineer, Thomas Field of Clark Engineering who was appointed earlier in the night at the recommendation of Baldwin, would be tasked with taking a look at what needs to be done with the courts. Field will also be arranging for testing of Weinstock’s gravel, but it is expected he will have some time to eventually put together a Request for Proposal should the Board decide to repair the courts.
Geraldi wanted to know how many people actually use the courts before deciding how much money should be spent on repairing them. He advocated entrusting the Recreation Commission with finding out how popular the courts really are.
Baldwin noted that $20,000 had been budgeted towards renovation but nothing had happened yet. If the delays continue he will recommend it be bulldozed. “It’s a liability we can’t have in a Town park,” he said.[/private]