Records Room Due For Renovation
by Alex Brooks
At the Petersburgh Town Board meeting on February 15, the Board heard a presentation from Town Clerk Deidra Michaels about the state of Town’s records room. Apparently the Town’s records have not received a lot of attention over a period of time and they are a bit messy and disorganized. [private]Michaels invited an Advisory Officer from the New York State Archives to visit the Town Hall and assess the situation, and she wrote a short report describing the shortcomings of the Town’s record-keeping practices.
As part of the general renovation of the downstairs of the Town Hall, the plan is to create a new records room and establish better practices for storage of records. Apparently there are state grants available to pay for the expenses of getting this done, and the Advisory Officer can help the Town to secure a grant to improve its record-keeping.
Michaels said in order to get a grant for this purpose, the Town must add a line item under the Town Clerk’s budget specifically for Records Management, and put money into it. The Board passed resolutions to create that line item, and transferred $1500 form other lines in the Town Clerk’s budget to fund it.
Michaels said the maximum grant under this program is $50,000. It will pay for renovation to the records room and training for the Town’s staff, among other things.
Michaels also submitted information about a new kind of Town Clerk software being offered to the Town by the Williamson Law Book Company. It is more comprehensive than the current software, and has modules for tax collection, dog licenses, and some other bells and whistles. The Board will review the materials.
Berlin Transfer
Station Agreement
After a lengthy negotiation, Petersburgh came to an agreement with the Town of Berlin about a reduced monthly rent for its use of the Berlin Transfer station over a year ago, but the new agreement has still not been signed because Petersburgh added some language about liability that the Berlin Town Board did not like, and the negotiation has been at an impasse since then.
Petersburgh Supervisor Peter Schaaphok suggested that Petersburgh Board drop the language that Berlin objects to, and go back to the agreement as it was offered by Berlin originally. Town Attorney Dave Gruenberg said, “Since we are a tenant, that language is unnecessary.” The Board agreed to that, and asked Gruenberg to contact Berlin Attorney Donald Tate to get the ball rolling again and try to get a signed agreement finished.
Schaaphok’s only proviso was that he would like to ask Berlin not to sell transfer station permits to Petersburgh residents. Berlin’s permit fee is currently $10 less than Petersburgh’s, which gives Petersburgh residents a reason to buy their permit from Berlin, and Schaaphok did not think that was right.
Constable Vehicle
Petersburgh Town Constable and Dog Officer Gerald Russell was present to make his case for acquisition of a vehicle for his use. The request was presented at last month’s meeting, but Russell was not present at that meeting, so it was tabled. The vehicle is a Chevy Tahoe being sold by the Village of Nassau. It is in good shape and it is offered for $5,000. It is already set up as a canine vehicle, and already has a lot of law enforcement equipment installed on it.
Russell described some of the reasons why it would be better for the Constable and the Dog Officer to use an official vehicle rather than his own private vehicle, ranging from insurance issues to safety issues to overall image.
Town Board members found his presentation convincing, and were convinced that the vehicle was offered at a bargain price, but could not overcome the problem that there is nothing in the budget for it this year. They also expressed concern about the ongoing cost of registering, insuring, and repairing the vehicle. The Board decided to pass up the offer and have Russell continue to use his personal vehicle while on Town business.[/private]