by Alex Brooks
There was just one bid to do the Town of Hoosick Revaluation project, from GAR Associates. The proposal came with a booklet for each of the Board members to peruse.[private] Supervisor Mark Surdam said the Board could not award a contract at this meeting because the Board, the Assessor, and the town attorney would need to review the proposal and consider it before making a decision. The proposal carried a price tag of $265,000, which was close to what the Town had estimated ($280,000) when they were budgeting. Councilman David Sutton said even if the proposal seemed to be appropriately priced, he was unhappy that the Town received only one bid. He said, “I would like to see competitive bidding.” Town Assessor Tony Rice said because it had been so long since the last revaluation was done, the revaluation contractor would have to actually visit every property. He said some of the firms like to work from their desk, and the need for a large amount of field work may have discouraged some potential bidders. The bid received is good until October 1, so the Board will have to respond before its next regular meeting.
Reducing Planning Board From 7 Members To 5 The Board appointed Mike Bacon to one of the vacancies on the Planning Board. With Bacon, the Planning Board now has five members. It is supposed to have 7 members. The Board is considering reducing the Planning Board from 7 members to 5, primarily because they can’t find seven people interested in serving on the Planning Board. Currently, with a seven member Board with two vacancies, four members are needed to have a quorum, which on some meeting nights has been a problem. If the Board were reduced to 5 members, they would need only three to have a quorum. Town Attorney Jonathan Schopf said the only way it can be reduced is by attrition, so that as the terms of sitting Board members expire, they would not be filled. Therefore it will take perhaps a couple of years to reduce the size of the Board from 7 to 5. No formal action was taken, but the Board appeared to be ready to move toward reducing the Planning Board to 5 members.
Water Expansion Project There were several meetings between the engineers who are designing an expansion project for the Village water system and Town and Village officials. Some changes were made to the priorities of the project. The total projected cost of the entire project, including all of the proposed new service areas and improvements to the existing system is nearly $30 million. The engineers are proposing to break it up into six “phases,” each in the neighborhood of $5 million. These projects may take decades to fund and to build, so most of the attention is focused on Phase 1, which is pretty much the Route 22 corridor, north to Route 67 and south to the Central School. MRB submitted the engineering report and a request for funding to the Environmental Facilities Corporation on September 2, and they hope to have some response by the end of this month which will give the Town and Village some idea of what kind of funding they might expect.
Audit In Progress State auditors have been looking at the Town’s financial operations during 2015 and part of 2016. Their initial review is just about complete, and they have moved on to several areas they would like to take a closer look at. One of those is cash receipts from the pool and the skating rink. Supervisor Surdam said he welcomes the auditors, as he believes it can only lead to improvement in the Town’s financial practices.
On August 22 Supervisor Surdam called an emergency meeting to respond to a problem with a large bill from Creekside Kennel for boarding five dogs seized in a motor vehicle stop. The Rensselaer County Sheriff;s Deputy stopped a car in Hoosick on July 22 and found in it five dogs, two cats, five hens, one rooster and one rabbit. The animals were seized, and the five dogs were kept at the Creekside Kennel, and the bill for boarding the dogs began to grow. Town Attorney Schopf recused himself from this matter because Creekside Kennel was a client of his, and he recommended that the Town have its environmental attorney, Dean Sommer, handle the matter, which he agreed to do. A negotiation with Creekside Kennel was initiated, and a bill that had been in the neighborhood of $5,000 was settled for $2,140.52. The Board approved this settlement at its September 12 meeting.
Worker Safety The Town’s Workmen’s Comp insurance provider, Comp Alliance, did a safety inspection of the Town premises and made several recommendations. He urged the Town to establish a safety committee which would meet several times a year to assess safety of Town workers and plan for safety training for Town workers. Councilman Dave Sutton agreed to serve on such a committee, as did Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland. Others will probably be added to the committee.
Comp Alliance also recommended that floor grates at the Highway garage be replaced because they pose a tripping hazard, and recommended that panic buttons be installed in administrative offices, and possibly some security cameras as well. Shiland said he would take care of the floor grate situation, and the Board will consider the costs and benefits of panic buttons and security cameras.
Community Pool The Town lost two pool operators just as the season was getting started, so Supervisor Surdam was pressed into service and attended training to become a Certified Pool Operator. Although the job required a significant daily time commitment, Surdam said it was “a great experience” for him. He was very thankful to those who helped him with the job over the summer. These included Leo McGuire who helped with testing the water, cleaning the pool and cleaning out traps and filters; and pool manager Janet Deluca and her staff who helped with water testing and cleaning, and Bill Shiland, who made sure needed chemicals were kept in stock and helped with repairs. Surdam also thanked Tom Marciotta, a resident with pool management expertise who was very generous with his time.
Pool Slide The Kiwanis Club is taking the lead on fundraising to get a pool slide. They have already done a successful golf fundraiser. Wendy Larson has been shopping for commercial slides and finding that it promises to be a very expensive project. Board members were guessing it might be $22,000 to buy and install the slide, and were wondering if the cost is too much. They will continue to research pricing and discuss alternatives.
Phase two of the pool renovation project, focused on the bath house and the filter house, is moving from design phase to a cost estimating phase, and they hope to have bidding document out in time for construction to begin next spring.
Busted! Supervisor Surdam also reported the Hoosick Falls Police caught six teenagers swimming in the pool on September 1 at 10 pm when it was closed. They were taken to the police station and their parents had to come pick them up. No charges were filed. There was a hole in the fence through which they entered, and that has been repaired.
Other Matters There was some discussion about whether it would be advisable for the Town to take over Frazier Road, which loops around behind the North Hoosick Fire Department, but there were many difficulties with doing that and the Board tabled the matter pending further research and discussion.
A request was received from a non-profit based in Saratoga for an old playground slide that was removed from the Town playground area. It has been stored in the Town Highway Garage since then. The group wants to send it to Africa so kids there can play on it. The Town agreed to give the slide away as long as the group sign an indemnity agreement.
James Buono of Potentia management made a proposal to change Town Building to LED lighting which uses a lot less electricity. The electric company has subsidies to help with the cost of changing the fixtures. Buono presented projected savings if the project were done, which sounded attractive. The Board passed a motion agreeing to take the next step and have a contract prepared which would spell out the cost and the projected savings precisely, but they are not yet committed to the project.[/private]