A Potpourri Of Year-End Items
By Thaddeus Flint
As another year winds down in New Lebanon, it was mostly end-of-year type discussions at the December 11 Town Board meeting, but also involved tourism and morons.
If it seems that there are more tourists in the area–that area being the Hudson Valley–it’s probably because there are more of these creatures wandering about than in previous years. According to Town Supervisor Colleen Teal, vacation booking site Airbnb has listed the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Valley as being #11 of 19 “top destinations” for 2019. Airbnb says that searches for vacation spots in this area were up 130% for October and November 2018 over last year’s figures. The company also says that number is expected to grow even further with the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival in Sullivan County this coming summer. “This is very good news for County residents,” said the Supervisor, as those tourist spent dollars can help boost local economies. There are, of course, a contingent of residents who would prefer those tourists went elsewhere, like Uzbekistan, which is also on the list, instead of driving up property values with empty Potemkin farms and country houses that look great but nobody really lives in. You can’t please everyone.
The Supervisor added that she is talking with Columbia County Tourism to help promote New Lebanon as a destination. This, apparently, must be done correctly or the State of New York, which itself doesn’t always do it correctly, gets grumpy. Case in point is the Town’s newsletter. This became somewhat duller lately and it’s not because the people that put together the newsletter have lost that magic touch for making a newsletter that people actually want to read. The reason—which won’t probably come as any surprise—is that New York State dictates how towns can promote themselves, leading to a sort of Harrison Bergeronesque result of lackluster mediocrity. And it’s “do as we say, not as we do”, because the Empire State itself put up over 500 “New York State Experience” signs on its highways to promote tourism never mind that the Federal DOT said they couldn’t. Now they are coming down because the Feds said they would incur a $14 million penalty if they didn’t. State taxpayers will still be out $1.8 million for the signs though. Thus the prudent reason to do it right from the get-go. Could you do it wrong and get away with it? Resident Cynthia Creech pointed out at a previous Town Board meeting that the Town of Hillsdale still has all sorts of links to various businesses and events and the newsletter goes even further. Rebels? Agitators? Or just plain oblivious?
Meanwhile on the moron front, morons are out and about doing things in moronic ways seemingly oblivious to winter’s reality, according to the Town’s Highway Superintendent. Some government agency—probably NYSDOT, but nobody came right out and said it—has been setting up car counting strips on area highways just in time for snow plows to come along and rip them up at pointless cost to taxpayers, reported Jeff Winestock. “We’ve got a lot of morons in this world,” he said, adding that the cost of ripping the box and wires up with a snowplow might even surpass just a dollar value. “It could smash through a window and kill somebody.”
Maybe it could kill somebody, but New York State’s Public Employees Federation would rather worry about an indoor fuel storage tank the Highway Department has, that hasn’t killed anyone in the years it has been there. Nevertheless, out it must come, and the Town has been working for months to get that done. That still isn’t done, and with the weather not exactly construction friendly the Board discussed asking for yet another extension to finish the construction up. “When this project is done,” said the Supervisor, “we are having a major party.”
Not exactly a party, but at the upcoming January meeting Planning Board Chairman Ray Herrmann will be honored with a Certificate of Appreciation for somehow sitting on that Board for over 30 years. Hermann has announced he will be stepping down at the end of the year and finding someone with such dedication and experience to Chair that Board could be difficult. The idea was floated of perhaps dropping the number of members on the Planning Board from seven to five. This could also help in achieving a quorum if people are absent. However, Planning Board member Robert Smith noted that in his time there he has only once seen a meeting without a quorum. “I would be uncomfortable at five,” added Smith. It was decided to query what the other members would feel comfortable with as well before making any immediate decisions. The Supervisor will also look into attendance and experience records of the remaining members to see if a new Chair can be found from within.
Residents who relish the idea of such unpaid, unappreciated work might be happy to know that four such positions will be open next year on the Recreation Commission (two) and the Conservation Advisory Council (two). Interested candidates should contact the Town Clerk for application details and dates.
New Lebanon might also have yet another committee in 2019 for residents to donate their time and experience to. The Town’s Comprehensive Plan should soon be reviewed to see if anyone is actually following that Plan and to make such updates as time has warranted since its adoption in 2005. The possibility of a two-year State grant exists, but the application would need to be completed by February 2019. Supervisor Teal was of the belief that there was not enough time to put together the application. However David Farren, of the Conservation Advisory Council, who has applied for similar grants, felt that it could happen if work was started now. With the possibility that the grant might no longer exist in 2020, it was decided to study the application to see if it were overly complex for such a deadline, or if the granters were looking more for “a one page essay on what you did on your summer vacation,” said Board member Norman Rasmussen.
And finally, at the suggestion of Resident Johanna Johnson-Smith, residents are being reminded that the Town’s Tax Assessor, Kim Cammer, is out and about visiting properties as part of the latest reassessment. Taxpayers with twitchy trigger fingers would find just saying hello instead of planning a base of fire a more prudent and enjoyable decision for everyone. “Please, don’t shoot my Assessor,” asked the Supervisor.