New Code Enforcement Officer Will Be Appointed Soon
by Alex Brooks
Hoosick Supervisor Mark Surdam said he had conducted two interviews with applicants for the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) position. He was happy with one of them and ready to hire that candidate except that some additional applications had been received and the Board felt that it should consider all the applications that have been received before making the appointment.
Surdam expressed urgency to get a new CEO in place, as the situation with hemp processor Naturae LLC remains unresolved as well as ongoing inspections and building permit applications to deal with. The Board may call a special meeting later this month to appoint the CEO once all of the applicants have been evaluated.
Surdam also said the Town will probably need to purchase code enforcement software, but he did not have a price yet. He recommended BAS, which is the software he uses in the Village Building Department. Since he is familiar with it, he could help to train the new CEO on the software.
New Season At The Rink
Surdam said the skating rink closed the first weekend in March after a very successful season. There were many skaters, many skate rentals and a full complement of skating lessons, and the crew managed to nurse the old Zamboni through yet another season.
Attention now turns to setting up the facility for spring and summer use. Surdam said they are hoping to have the ice melt by the end of the week so the electricians can come in and install the new lights. Surdam said he has a feeling the new lights will greatly enhance the quality of the facility as a sports venue. The Hoosick Falls Central School is eager to get access to the space for sports team practices, but will have to wait until the new lights have been installed. Surdam said the turf will not be put down until the installer is comfortable with the temperature, as he has told the Town that it is not a good idea to put down the turf until the ground warms up a bit.
Surdam said Tom Margiotta found some speakers for $110 and set up a temporary sound system for the rink, so the problem of a completely non-functioning sound system has a temporary solution.
The Board appointed Ashley St. Onge as Summer Camp Manager for the upcoming season and Jillian Masser as Assistant Manager. Town Clerk Holli Cross said she is already getting inquiries about the Camp program for this coming summer. Kim Brownell spoke to the Board about ideas for the upcoming pool season, so planning is underway for that as well.
Highway
The Board voted to put out an RFP for engineering services to prepare plans for replacement of the Cottrell Road Bridge. A new round of BridgeNY funding has been announced, and the Town is hopeful that it will be able to get State funding this year for replacing the bridge, which is in poor condition and remains “yellow-tagged,” according to Supervisor Surdam. A few years ago the bridge was red-tagged and had to be taken out of service for repairs. It was repaired enough to be put back in service, but remains in need of replacement.
A resident of Foxhollow Road asked about plans for renovation and improvement of Town roads. It remains an ambition of the Town administration to write a planning document laying out plans for comprehensive renovation of the Town road system, based on the work already done through the Cornell Roads Program, but not much of this has been done yet.
Woods Brook Project
Surdam said the Town has received a 500 page report detailing the scope of work for the project, focusing on measures aimed at reducing and managing storm flow in Woods Brook from Johnson Hill Road to the Village limits, so as to reduce flooding in the Village during heavy rain events. He said there will be a public hearing on this soon at which the public will learn more details about the plans.
Spectrum Renewal
The Board held a public hearing via Zoom on renewal of the Spectrum cable TV franchise in the Town of Hoosick. The franchise is for ten years, as the previous one was, and the Town gets 3% of Spectrum’s total revenue in the Town. Surdam said the Town gets about $10,000 per year from the agreement. Kevin Egan from Spectrum attended the hearing to answer questions, but the hearing was attended only by the Town Board, Egan, and this reporter, and there were no questions or comments from the public. During the regular meeting a little later in the evening, the Board voted unanimously to approve renewal of the franchise.
Comprehensive Plan
Surdam reported that the process of updating the Town’s Comprehensive Plan is underway. The kickoff meeting was held on February 1, and the next meeting is scheduled for April 6. The Town has put out a call to anyone who would like to get involved in revising the Comprehensive Plan to contact Supervisor Surdam to become part of the committee. Town Clerk Holli Cross said two people have already responded, and she will pass these letters on to the Supervisor.
Digitize Standard Press
Town Historian Phil Leonard said the Louis Miller Museum has microfilm copies of the Standard Press newspaper from 1945 to 1983 that were created decades ago through a grant program. But microfilm technology is very clumsy and outmoded, so to make that resource more generally available, Museum Director Joyce Brewer secured a grant to digitize that archive so that it can be publicly available online. Leonard said the microfilm was sent off last week to be digitized. It will take about 7 months to get the project done, and then the archive will be available on the museum’s website.
In other news:
Mark Surdam was appointed to the Capital District Transportation Committee, and has made a two year commitment to serving on that committee. He has not yet taken the orientation and training, so did not yet know a lot about the work of the Committee.
The Board renewed an agreement between the Village and Town to have the Town Assessor continue to handle assessment of real estate in the Village. The Village does not have its own Assessor – it uses the Town assessments. Surdam said the Village pays the Town about $6,000 per year to provide assessments of properties in the Village.
Surdam said no one is happy with the fees that Key Bank has been charging the Town for handling its banking, but the Town needs a commercial bank and Key Bank is the only one in Town. The closest competitor is in Brunswick, and doing business that far away from Town was judged to be worse than just paying the fees, so for now the Town will stay with Key Bank.
Surdam said he and Eric Sheffer plan to schedule a meeting soon with the non-profit board that manages the Armory to work out the remaining details of the Town’s lease of its offices in the Armory.