Board Rescinds Appointment Of Code Enforcement Officer
by Alex Brooks
At the end of its February 8 meeting the Hoosick Town Board held an executive session to discuss personnel matters, and when it came back into public session, it rescinded the appointment of Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer Fran Rogers which was made at the Town’s Organizational Meeting last month. The move leaves the Town temporarily without a Building Inspector or Code Enforcement Officer. The Town will presumably seek to fill this position as soon as possible, but Hoosick Supervisor Mark Surdam said he couldn’t comment on the action taken by the Board in this matter.
Skating Rink
The Board received a report on how things are going this season at the ice skating rink from Manager Ayla Senecal. The rink is having a very successful year with high numbers of skaters, good ice, and many kids learning to skate.
A company from New Jersey called Resurfix came and worked on the Town’s ancient (1976) Zamboni, and it was running pretty well for a few weeks, but it remains a temperamental machine. The company did a thorough examination of it and is working on an estimate to replace parts and rehabilitate it, but the Town has not received that estimate yet.
Surdam said the rink lighting project is underway now. Most of the outdoor lighting is done and some of the lighting inside the building has already been replaced, but the lights above the ice surface have to wait until the ice is gone from the building. He said the Hoosick Falls Central School is interested in renting the rink space for spring sports, so once the ice melts the Town will try to move as fast as possible to finish the lighting project and get the turf put down to get the building ready to host spring field sports.
Surdam said he hasn’t had any definitive word about whether the SAM Grant for improvements to the pool and ice rink is going to move forward, but he said at the moment there is absolutely nothing happening with it, and he has doubts about whether it will ever be forthcoming.
Surdam said the old sound system at the rink is not working, and he had an estimate for replacement sound equipment from a company called ProAcoustics for $5,258. But the estimate for installation from Bradley Electric seemed to the Board too expensive, so the matter was tabled pending investigation of other options.
The Board appointed Kim Brownell as the Pool Manager for 2021, and appointed Mark Surdam and Tom Margiotta as volunteer Certified pool Operators for this year.
Comprehensive Plan Update
A Comprehensive Plan kickoff meeting was held recently with members of the Zoning Board, Planning Board, Town Board and consultants from LaBerge. The Town is undertaking an update of its Comprehensive Plan, taking advantage of some partial funding from a Grant awarded to the Town by the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Program. New York State recommends that Comprehensive Plans be updated every 10 years. Hoosick’s original plan was completed in 2004 and the Board agreed to continue using the plan with no changes in 2015, so the Board felt that an update was past due. There will be opportunities for community involvement in the next few months, as the process gets moving forward.
Computer Upgrades
Surdam reported on proposals to upgrade the Town’s computer systems. There were two proposals for servers to store and access the Town’s information. One was to upgrade the Town’s local server using the same hardware the Town is using now, at a cost of $1,400. The other was to switch to a cloud based server system, which was a great deal more expensive. Surdam said this would cost $15,000 the first year, and would have an annual fee of $9,500. The Board felt the cloud based system was too expensive, and agreed to an upgrade of its local server.
Surdam also relayed a proposal for an upgrade of the Town’s e-mail system which would cost $1,050 for the setup, and $2,070 annually to maintain. The Board approved this proposal.
Naturae LLC
Supervisor Surdam and Code Enforcement Officer Fran Rogers paid a visit to the marijuana processing plant run by Naturae LLC in the former Graphitek building on Route 67 in North Hoosick, because a neighbor has been complaining about the stink coming from the plant for two years or more, and despite the owners and managers outlining plans to control the odor, they have still not been able to do so, and the Town is rapidly running out of patience. Surdam said when they arrived, the drying oven was in operation, and he said he could smell it from the neighbor’s property. He said the vent pipe, which used to run directly out the side wall of the building, has now been routed up through the attic and is vented out the gable end on the side away from the neighbors. But the holes where the vent used to go out of the building have not been closed up. He thought if those holes were closed up and the vent pipe was routed upwards after it exits the building and released at a point up above the roof line of the building, that might be enough to alleviate the odor. He said the managers at the plant were friendly and cooperative, and they said they were going to get filters to put in the vent pipe to reduce odor. The problem is that the company has up until now been slow to implement the ideas they have discussed with the Town to solve the odor problem. Councilman Sheffer said they need to understand that they are out of time and they need to fix the problem right away. He said CEO Rogers needs to increase the pressure on them and check back every few days until the problem is solved. “This problem should be resolved before our next meeting,” he said. The Board appeared to be ready to take legal action against the company if they don’t implement all available remedial measures in the next month.
Zoning Law Update
Town attorney Jonathan Schopf has been working on a rewrite of the Town’s Zoning Law. Surdam said Schopf had sent a lot of material to him about this recently but he had not read it yet, so the Board was not ready for a discussion on this topic. One of the elements of this is new regulations setting limits on dirt bike use on private property, limiting times of use, distance from property lines, numbers of users, and that sort of thing. The Board expressed concern that these regulations be put in place in time for the upcoming dirt bike season when the weather warms up. If the overall Zoning update cannot be completed in the next month or two, the Board may act separately on the dirt bike regulations. The Board hoped to hold a workshop meeting on zoning issues in March and set up a public hearing in April, so that it can put something in place by April or May.
Highway
Highway Superintendent Bill Shiland said the Town’s new bucket loader is working great. Governor Cuomo has announced that $200 million in Bridge NY funding will be available soon, and the Town hopes to get funding to replace the Cottrell Road bridge, which has deteriorated quite a bit in recent years and required emergency repairs. Shiland said he is working with Creighton Manning Engineering to submit a proposal to try and secure funding. The Board also accepted heating oil and diesel fuel bids from Doug’s Oil, and a winter sand bid from Peckham Materials of Shaftsbury, Vermont. These are the Town’s usual vendors for these materials.
PFOA Adviser Gowan hired
The Board passed a motion to retain Sam Gowan Phd,PG,CPG, President and Senior Geologist at Alpha Geoscience in Clifton Park, to consult with the Town on PFOA-related contamination issues. Funding to pay for this comes from a grant from Honeywell and Saint Gobain provided for in their consent agreements with New York State. Gowan was highly recommended by the Town’s environmental attorney Dean Sommer, who has worked with him extensively.
Other Matters
Supervisor Surdam and Planning Board Chairman Ken Lorenz met with Brian Lyda, a candidate for the Planning Board attorney position left open by the retirement of long-time Planning Board attorney Stanton King. The Board discussed this matter in executive session, and when it returned to public session, the Town Board asked the Planning Board to provide a resolution expressing its support for the attorney it would like to have appointed as Planning Board attorney.
Town Clerk Holli Cross reported that Keybank has assessed the Town exorbitant fees on its account at the bank. She mentioned a fee of $2,200. Supervisor Surdam said Keybank is the only commercial bank in town, and he did not think it was feasible to move accounts to a bank in Troy. He plans to gather more information before deciding what to do about the situation.
The Board approved renewal of a pollution insurance policy that covers the fuel tanks at the highway garage. The policy was quoted by Marshall & Sterling, Inc. and the cost is $518 for one year.
The Board approved having Supervisor Surdam send a letter of support for an application to be submitted to the American Battlefield Protection Program by David Pitlyk on behalf of NYS Parks to do additional archaeological work at the Battlefield site in Walloomsac.
Town Attorney Jon Schopf provided the Board with a Code of Ethics policy, and the Board passed a motion unanimously to adopt that policy.
The Board scheduled a Public Hearing on renewal of the Spectrum Cable TV franchise agreement for Monday March 8 at 6:30 pm. The agreement is for 10 years, granting the company a non-exclusive right to construct and operate a system to provide cable television in the Town and to pay the Town 3% of its gross revenue from the Town of Hoosick during that time.