by Alex Brooks
At its January meeting, the Petersburgh Town Board took up the question of appointing someone to the vacant Town Board seat that was created when Katie Murray resigned it in order to take the Supervisor position. The position was advertised in The Eastwick Press on December 24, and the Town received two letters of interest from citizens interested in serving on the Town Board. These were Tom Berry and Deidra Michaels. Both have a great deal of experience in Town government, as Berry served two years on the Town Board and Michaels was the Town Clerk for many years.
Heinz Noeding said the last time the Board had to appoint someone to a vacancy, three criteria were used: whether the person had run for Town Board and had some votes cast for them, whether they had been to recent Town Board meetings and were up to speed on issues facing the Town and whether they had professional knowledge that could be useful to the Town. Noeding said he believes those were good criteria for choosing a Board member, and since Tom Berry is strong in all three categories, he favored appointing Berry. Jack Barnhill and Katie Murray agreed, and Nathan Michaels recused himself because one of the candidates is his sister. Berry was appointed by a vote of 3-0. He was sworn in immediately and took his seat.
The Board then completed its list of appointments to Town offices: Jack Barnhill as Deputy Supervisor, Ann Crisp as Supervisor’s Secretary, Beth Dare as Deputy Registrar, Fran Rogers as Building Inspector/CEO, Craig Surprise as Deputy Building Inspector, Kayla Stetson as Dog Control Officer, Michelle Todd as Water District Operator, Beth Dare as Water District Tax Collector, Helen Hemendinger as Assessor’s Clerk, Allison Oswald as Court Clerk, Joshua Pratt as Court Officer, Beth Dare as Planning Board Secretary and Deputy Town Clerk, Peter Schaaphok as Town Historian and David Crisp as Town Hall Custodian. The positions of Veterans Service Officer, Deputy Water District Operator, and Snow Shoveler remain vacant.
WIIA Update
Heinz Noeding reported that the Request for Proposals which covers most of the remaining work to be done under the Water Infrastructure (WIIA) grant is finished and ready to be sent out for contractor bidding. He said it can probably be advertised within a month or so, and have bids in and choose a contractor by early spring.
Noeding said the engineer has recommended adding some additional controls rather than a second SCADA system (this is a comprehensive electronic control system), which eliminates one of the primary sticking points in discussions with Taconic, so he is hopeful that the remaining issues with Taconic can be resolved in the next month or two so that a signed agreement will be in place specifying Taconic’s participation in the WIIA grant work.
PVMCC Heating System
A report was received from MH Engineering about the heating system in the Veterans Hall. It recommended keeping the existing heating system with minor modifications, and adding a heat pump in the kitchen. The heat pump provides both heating and cooling and would keep the kitchen at design temperature independent of the main heating system.
The furnace normally has a design life of 25 to 30 years, and this one is about 15 years old. To fix the problem of the 2nd floor office space being too hot, the report recommended reducing airflow from the furnace to that area by 80%, and adding a window fan in the window between the office and the community room, to be manually operated as needed.
ARPA Funding
The American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress in the spring of 2021, included $300 billion of assistance to states and localities, and Petersburgh is slated to receive about $160,000 from that allocation. The Town will have to formulate a plan for use of the money and have it approved by the administrators of the program. The program allows for a broad array of uses, from covering COVID-19 expenses and lost revenue, to infrastructure projects like water systems, road and drainage improvements and many other things, but it also forbids certain uses. It can’t just be returned to the taxpayers, saved in rainy day funds or used to pay down debt. The details about what it can and can’t be used for are specified in a 45 page document which is now on the home page of the Town web site.
Supervisor Katie Murray said she plans to hold public meetings in February or March to seek public input about how the Town should allocate this funding.
The Board also approved seeking bids for a Town audit, lawn mowing and snow shoveling services.