Anna Brewer Presents Her Fitness Trail Project To Improve the Greenway
by Alex Brooks
Anna Brewer offered a presentation to the Town Board about her project to make a fitness trail on the Hoosick River Greenway in Hoosick Falls. This is her “Gold Award” project as a Hoosick Falls Ambassador Girl Scout.[private] There will be a dozen or so exercise stations, each one describing and picturing a different exercise for participants to do at that location. She said the full workout, if you do all of the stations will be the workout you make it – it can be vigorous or relaxed. “It will help the people of Hoosick Falls to get out and get active, without having to drive far in a car or spend money.” It is of course open to anyone and can be done at any time of day.
There will be a total of 28 signs that Anna will be putting up. Some of them commemorate certain historical points along the trail such as the old brewery, and some will be signposts pointing directions and showing mileage. Anna is seeking $30 sponsorships for each sign. She said she already has 17 signs covered, and she asked the Town to sponsor one of them.
Anna said she will start going out and preparing the sites for signs as soon as the weather warms up a bit. She expects to do a lot of the installation on the Village-Wide Cleanup day, and she expects to have the project completed by May 6.
Pool House Project
Supervisor Surdam said they have received some cost projections for the pool house project, and it is looking like the current funding will only cover the pool house, and will not allow much work to be done on the filter house. The project will have grant funding of $123,625 and a match from the Town of the same amount, so the project total is about $247,000. LaBerge fees for design and construction management will be about $60,000, so there is about $187,000 available for actual construction. Surdam said they are developing a budget and scope of work that will lead to seeking bids and getting the project going this season.
Meeting With Kiwanis About The Pool
Eric Sheffer said he and Supervisor Surdam met with members of the Kiwanis Club who are interested in raising money for pool amenities. The goal originally was to put in a pool slide, but after learning how much money and regulations are involved in having a pool slide these days, the Board has been looking into alternatives. Sheffer said they are leaning toward some kind of sprinkler for the little kids. If the water from the sprinkler goes into the drain rather than being recycled, it’s not too expensive to set up. Sheffer said the Kiwanis people were very positive and enthusiastic, and once the Board settles on what kind of equipment to put in, Kiwanis will help to raise the money to put it in.
Town Historian
Town Historian Phil Leonard told the Board about Hans Ehmler, a native of Germany who came to Hoosick Falls in 1917 and bought all of Babcock Lake and the Walter Wood farm and mansion. Four years later he sold both of these properties and soon thereafter bought the Warren Estate, which was in the area between where the Tops Market now is and the closed McDonalds building, and at that time had a beautiful mansion on it. Ehmler brought many exotic kinds of livestock to live on the property including elk, wild boar, musk oxen and buffalo. The buffalo came from Yellowstone Park, and when they arrived, three of them escaped, and it took several weeks to recapture them. Many in Town tried to learn cowboy skills to lasso the buffalo and bring them back in to Ehmler for the reward money he offered. Ehmler also brought Indians to his estate in the summer, and through his connection with William Carey brought boxers to the estate to train.
Leonard’s stories were very entertaining, and the Board thanked him for the presentation.
Actions
The Board approved making a payment of $90,000 plus interest on a bond from the original pool renovation project. After this payment the remaining debt from that project will be $330,000. Supervisor Surdam said the town has some discretion about how quickly to pay off this debt, but he thinks it will probably be paid off over about four years.
Lakes to Locks
Service Agreement
The Board passed a motion authorizing Supervisor Surdam to sign a Services Agreement (and pay the annual $250 fee) with the non-profit entity Lakes To Locks Passage, Inc, which promotes tourism and awareness of regional history. They recently put up a kiosk at the North Hoosick Stewarts Shop with information about the Battle of Bennington which took place in that neighborhood. Town Historian Phil Leonard said Lakes to Locks has created a narrative that you can download to take in your car that tells stories of history of the Lake Champlain corridor as you travel the old routes from Canada to New England. Leonard said, “It’s a good outfit.”
Dog Control Agreement
The Town Board approved a Dog Control Agreement with Animal Safe-Home and Rehabilitation LLC. Although this is a newly-formed company, it is run by Nancy Quell, the dog control officer for Hoosick, who runs a shelter formerly known as Safe Haven, now newly incorporated under a new name. The shelter is in Cossayuna NY, in Washington County, northeast of Greenwich, west of Salem. Quell serves as dog control officer for a dozen or so towns in Washington County.
Combined Meeting
A joint meeting of the Hoosick Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board is scheduled for Wednesday January 25 at 6 pm. The purpose of this meeting, which has been an annual event in recent years, is to air concerns about processes, laws and procedures that may have come up during the year, and to improve communication between the Boards.
Assessor exemption forms have gone out. The deadline for filing those forms is March 1. The revaluation will get started in April.
Surdam said the Rensselaer Land Trust is working on a County-wide conservation plan and will hold a community workshop to seek citizen input into the plan. The meeting will be held on Thursday February 16 from 6 to 7:30 pm in the Perry Room at the HAYC3 Armory. [/private]