Dave Miller Appointed As Building Inspector
by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board held an executive session for an hour before its regular meeting on January 18, in which they interviewed two applicants for the position of Building Inspector. The Board appointed David Miller to the position when they began the regular Town Board meeting. The vote was not unanimous, though – it was 4-1 with Schaaphok, Smith, Church, and Webster voting in favor and Barnhill voting against.[private]
Miller has been involved in Town government for many years, most notably as the long-time Chairman of the Planning Board. He will start schooling next week to get his credential as a building inspector.
The other applicant for the position was Jerry Saari of Salem.
Constable Requests
A Vehicle
Town Constable Gerry Russell made the case for the Town to purchase a vehicle to serve as the official vehicle of the Town Constabulary. Russell pointed out that the Constable is the chief law enforcement officer of the Town and has the same authority as the the County Sheriff’s Deputies, except that jurisdiction is limited to the Town. Both in his capacity as Constable and as Dog Control Officer, it would be desirable to have a clearly marked car which identifies him as an officer of the Town.
Russell located a vehicle available from the Village of Nassau Police, fully equipped with law enforcement equipment valued in excess of $6,000. It had been used as a K-9 vehicle, so it has a cage in the rear for animals. It is a 2007 Chevy Tahoe 4WD, valued at about $12,000, and it is available for purchase for $5,000.
There was nothing in the 2016 budget for purchase of this vehicle, so it would have to come out of some other budget line that expects a surplus.
Supervisor Peter Schaaphok said he is “agnostic” about the idea, and asked the Board what they thought. Dennis Smith said the Fire Chief and Ambulance Captain in Petersburgh use their own personal vehicles, and he is inclined to suggest the Constable do the same. Others on the Board were concerned that the money was not budgeted and that it would mess up the 2016 budget to have such a large unbudgeted expenditure. The Board did not completely shoot down the idea, but tabled the matter and took no action on it.
Supervisor Schaaphok said the locks on the Town Hall need to be changed, because “too many people have keys.” He had one estimate from a locksmith and said he will seek more proposals. He said he will also look into swipe card systems, since changing the locks is not a cheap project, and for slightly more money, the Town might be able to get a better security system.
The Board also discussed having more lights installed in the parking lot, apparently also for security reasons.
Schaaphok mentioned that Hoosick has been having a lot of discussion about solar farms, and whether the Town should opt out of tax break schemes set up by State Government, and suggested that the Town Board have a discussion about how Petersburgh wants to handle that issue. The Board agreed to begin research on the issue in anticipation of future deliberations on the subject.
At public comment time, Tim Church said Governor Cuomo announced a lot of new money for infrastructure, and he suggested that Petersburgh look into whether there is grant money available for improvements to the Water District. Schaaphok agreed that would be a good idea, noting that that’s how we got the water tank that is in use now.
Josh Smith said Time Warner cable is hanging cable fifty feet from his house (he lives near the Grafton line), but they won’t run it to his house because they say they have no agreement with the Town of Petersburgh to serve its citizens. Petersburgh does have an agreement with Charter Communications, which is in the process of buying Time Warner cable. No one was sure of the status of that merger, and meanwhile, Smith can’t get decent internet service. Schaaphok said he will look into it.
In other business, the Board:
• Passed a revised Procurement Policy as part of its response to a recent audit.
• Appointed Neal Geary to the Board of Ethics. [/private]