Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper
by Alex Brooks
The Grafton Town Board meeting on November 10 went through the usual routine until Town Supervisor Frank Higgins made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Barbara Messenger, to adopt the preliminary budget as the final budget.
[Read more…] about Grafton Town Board Action – Budget Vote Delayed
by Alex Brooks
After all the ballots were counted last Friday, November 7, Ingrid Gundrum had a total of 437 votes, and Eric Buckley had 426. [Read more…] about Gundrum Elected In Grafton By An 11 Vote Margin
by Thaddeus Flint
Reporters covering meetings in small towns often come to realize most of the way through a meeting that there will be nothing to report.
And then there is New Lebanon.
[Read more…] about New Lebanon Town Board Action – Supervisor Takes A Flyer
by Deb Alter
At the Hoosick Falls Village Board meeting on Monday, November 10, the Board discussed the closing of the Oak Mitsui plant, the resignation of Trustee Jeremy Driscoll, who has moved out of the village, the possible closing of the Center Street railroad crossing, a Monolith Solar project, a pilot project by MicrOrganic waste water treatment and the purchase of a piece of property by HooRWA for the Village, among other things.
by Kieron Kramer
The Rensselaer County Legislature held its November regular meeting on Wednesday evening instead of the usual Tuesday because of the Veterans Day Holiday. Three resolutions commending Eastwick residents for their achievements were presented as was a resolution in memory of Berlin’s Maurice L. “Kipper” Maxon.
Most town supervisors, who are in the throes of developing the 2015 town budgets while paring down the property tax levy increases, will be interested in the resolution providing for the distribution of mortgage tax to the towns.
[Read more…] about Rensselaer County Legislature – Eastwick Residents Commended And Memorialized
by David Flint
Stephentown Veterans Day ceremonies, held on Saturday, November 8, at the Veterans Park, focused this year on those members of the Stephentown Veterans from the post-Korea and Vietnam War eras.
[Read more…] about Stephentown Honors Post-Korea And Vietnam Era Veterans
by Bea Peterson
The temperature was 60 degrees as the Immaculate Conception Church bells rang 33 times to honor those soldiers from Hoosick killed during World War II. The Village fire siren blew, and the American Legion Post 40 ceremony began in Wood Park at 11 am on Tuesday, November 11. [Read more…] about Large Crowd Honors Hoosick Veterans
by Bea Peterson
At 3 pm on Veterans Day the Patriot Riders returned the Voice of a Vet’s Tribute Flag, Liberty, to Hoosick Falls where it was flown in Wood Park. [Read more…] about Liberty Returns To Hoosick
The November meeting of the Taconic Valley Historical Society will be a presentation by Sharon Klein, Berlin Town Historian, on the farms of Berlin. Over the years Klein has collected a series of pictures of the old farms in Berlin and Center Berlin. If you have an interest in the history of the Berlin area or worked on any of the farms, please join us for a trip down memory lane.
The meeting will be held at 7:30 pm on Monday night, November 17, at the Methodist Church, South Main Street, Berlin. The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Rensselaer County residents and community officials are invited to attend an informational meeting on Tuesday, November 18, on the new flood maps being developed for portions of the County. New maps have been developed for communities along the Hoosic River, including the Towns of Hoosick, Pittstown and Schaghticoke and the Villages of Hoosick Falls, Valley Falls and Schaghticoke.
The meeting will be hosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), which are developing the new maps. State and federal representatives will be on hand at this public meeting from 4 to 8 pm at the HAYC3 Armory, Perry Room, 80 Church Street, Hoosick Falls.
Although there will not be any formal presentations at the meeting, State and federal representatives will be available to help residents identify flood risks and discuss risk reduction and flood insurance options with property owners. Residents may stop in at any time during the open house to meet individually with FEMA or State officials.
“We encourage people to attend the open house to learn more about the process of developing new flood maps and how this may affect them,” FEMA’s Regional Mitigation Director Michael Moriarty said.
The new maps are the result of Map Modernization, a five year, $1 billion Congressionally directed program to provide updated, digitized flood maps for 92 percent of the nation’s population. The mapping project is part of a long term FEMA floodplain mapping process.
Residents of the remapped communities can check their flood plain status on the new, preliminary flood map at their municipal offices or online. The FEMA website for the new maps and mapping information is http://www.msc.fema.gov.
If a property is located in the high risk flood zone, there is a Congressionally mandated flood insurance requirement for all structures that have a mortgage with a federally regulated lender or have a federally backed mortgage. In addition, all County and local public buildings located in that flood zone must carry flood insurance to fully qualify for Federal Disaster Assistance.
If you are outside of the high-risk flood zone on your community’s current flood map but are inside the zone on the preliminary map, you may purchase initial flood insurance coverage through a low-cost Preferred Risk Policy (PRP). Any resident or business within a municipality that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program may purchase a flood insurance policy even if the property is outside of the highest risk flood zone.
