Town of Red Hook Town Board
Workshop Meeting
July12, 2005

A regular monthly meeting of the Red Hook Town Board was held Tuesday July 12, 2005 with the following in attendance:

Supervisor – Marirose Blum Bump
Councilwoman – Sue Crane
Councilwoman – Jean Bordewich
Councilman – Harold Ramsey
Town Clerk – Margaret E. Doty
Also present – Deputy Supervisor William O’Neill and Town Attorney Albert Trezza
Absent – Councilman James Ross

Supervisor Blum Bump opened the meeting at 9:00 p.m. with the Pledge Allegiance to the Flag.

Motion by Councilman Ramsey, seconded by Councilwoman Crane and carried unanimously dispensing with the reading of the minutes from the June meeting.

Supervisor Blum Bump opened the floor for public comment period.

Resident Linda Keeling said she had submitted three foil requests and so far she had only heard from Ted Kudzy who answered her one request. Linda asked that her other foil requests please be submitted to her in writing.

Supervisor Blum Bump and Councilwoman Bordewich assured Linda that they would respond in writing to her requests.

Supervisor Blum Bump said that number one on the Agenda was the discussion of a criteria for the Conservation Easement Law.

Councilwoman Bordewich pointed out that at our last workshop we discussed having our Farmland Protection Committee come up with criteria but there would not be enough time if we have to have it before August 9th so it could be reviewed by the CAC committee.

Supervisor Blum Bump said she would contact Greenplan or the county to see if they had some existing criteria for a program like this.

All were in agreement that Supervisor Blum Bump should contact Greenplan and the County on this.

Supervisor Blum Bump read a copy of the legal notice that was sent to all the papers announcing the Public Hearing pursuant to Eminent Domain procedure law to be held July 27, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. in the Town Hall.

Supervisor Blum Bump said on the National Historic Register Status for St. Margaret’s Home and grant application for the acquisition and restoration of St. Margaret’s Home, she has a copy if anyone wants to review it.

Victor Cornelius who was present explained that the grant had been filed on time. Thanked the committee and the Board that came together to help get this grant done on time. The picture of what it can be for Red Hook emerged in a very positive way.

Madeline Copland was also a great help, her expertise and vision on this. She has worked for Hannaford and is working on the Red Church as well as many other projects in the area.

Councilman Ramsey asked in order to help the grants out we should be on the Historic Register?

Mr. Cornelius replied I think Hannaford is going to put us in this position. This is not on the State Registry, it does not require the owner permission to be on the State Registry it does on the Federal.

Winty Aldrich said in this case there is no owner rejection just a refusal of the owner to sign a very straight forward and simple consent, three paragraph letter.

I believe it was in the deed when subdivided to protect the building. The Supervisor has gotten a letter stating that the property will be offered as a gift without any restrictions to the Town of Red Hook and that was something we needed for the grant.

Mr. Cornelius said he would be happy to sit down with Hannaford and the Board to discuss getting on the National Historic Register.

Winty Aldrich feels we should perhaps persuade that they sign off on this.

Supervisor Blum Bump will speak with Hannaford and make this request and have the grant go through this process.

Victor Cornelius said if they don’t sign than we’ll go through Senator Saland coming to some agreement with State Parks about helping us to get National Register Status. This is time consuming, tricky and annoyance for everyone involved but not unlikely.

Winty Aldrich pointed out that his committee was working on acquiring tenants to help the Town.

Supervisor Blum Bump will set a date with Town Historian Winty Aldrich and grant writer Victor Cornelius to contact Hannaford.

Motion by Supervisor Blum Bump, seconded by Councilwoman Bordewich appointing on recommendation of Ruth Oja, Henry Christopher and Howard Callies to the Town Trail Committee.

Supervisor Blum Bump - Yes
Councilwoman Crane - Yes
Councilwoman Bordewich - Yes
Councilman Ramsey - Yes

All approved on the recommendation of TJ Hackett of volunteer Kevin Holt to the Recycling Center.

On the Planning Board fees Supervisor Blum Bump and Bookkeeper Debra Marks will work out the actual cost of the Planning Board before coming up with fees.

Councilwoman Bordewich said at our last workshop she had requested that John Watch be contacted along with the Assessor to give us a report on the reassessment project and the Grievance Board report process and asked Supervisor Blum Bump to follow up on this as she would also E-mail everyone.

Supervisor Blum Bump said she had spoken to Brenda Parks from Time Warner Cable and she is going to be drafting a letter as to they actually do for the Town, what’s available. She will be writing us a summary.

Councilman Ramsey said on July 5, 2005 bids were opened and accepted for the paving contract. These bids were reviewed by Highway Superintendent Wayne Hildenbrand and Purchasing Agent Ted Kudzy.

Letter from Wayne recommending awarding the paving contract to low bidder Callanan Industries.

Motion by Councilman Ramsey, seconded by Councilwoman Crane and carried awarding the paving bid to Callanan Industries at low bid price of $43.63 per ton to place.

Supervisor Blum Bump - Yes
Councilwoman Crane - Yes
Councilwoman Bordewich - Yes
Councilman Ramsey - Yes

Supervisor Blum Bump read a letter received from Rotary concerning Literacy Program for children beginning July 16th celebrating Harry Potter’s new book.

The following letters are available at the Town Clerk Office.
Keith Lore – Vouchers
Roger Akeley – PERX clean up
Pace University – School
Steinhaus – County Executive
Echo Valley Road – Speeding
Time Warner – Name change
Street Design – from Planner
Pat Manning – School & property taxes

Councilwoman Bordewich said she had been contacted regarding speeding on Echo Valley Road. Talked with Wayne as he has already talked with the people.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

Water District-
Councilwoman Crane gave a report on the Water District #1. The second quarter bills were mailed out on June 30, 2005 the total Water warrant is $27,501.00.

Their next meeting is July 14th.

Purchasing-
Councilwoman Crane reported on the Purchasing Activity from June 15 to July 11th. 20 purchase orders were issued in the amount of $3,661.13.

2 printers for Justice Department
Anti-virus protection installed on all work stations.
Waiting for prevailing Wage Schedule for Tennis Court repair project.

Building and Zoning-
Councilwoman Bordewich reported on Building and Zoning that they issued
22 Building Permits
73 Inspections
Working on closing out permits for pools for safety.

Highway Report-
Councilman Ramsey gave the Highway Report that the road that will be paved are Mill Road, Oriole Mills, Echo Valley and Williams Road.
Had discussions on the Highway Garage and road width with planning.

Recycling-
Councilwoman Bordewich reported things are operating very well and a lot has been cleaned up.

Economic Development-
Councilman Ramsey said the EDC committee met on June 30, 2005 and attended a Northern Dutchess Alliance meeting where they are doing an economic study of Northern Dutchess and Southern Columbia County. Review the expansion of the internet with local businesses in the Town. Working with Ann Davis on the Town’s strength and weaknesses.

Recreation-
Councilman Ramsey reported the Rec. Park was that they had some tree limbs removed and they also had the drainage ditch cleaned removing a lot of debris.

Councilwoman Bordewich said the Summer Language at Bard was starting their 10th year which is self funding and doing very well.

Planning-
Councilwoman Bordewich reported on the Planning June 20th meeting.
Public Hearing subdivision
Bard College Dorm’s they are trying to finish by September.
Public Hearing on Becht Farm –July
Also lot line alterations.
They attended a workshop by John Nolan.

Senior Services Committee-
Councilwoman Crane reported on the Senior Services Committee has a very successful seminar on the New York State EPIC program and the Medicare program to which about 130 people attended.

October 10, 2005 we are sponsoring another Expo at the High School from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will have seminars on legal issue, health care proxy and estate planning etc.

Disaster Preparedness-
Councilman Ramsey said the Disaster Preparedness had turned in their report and are due to come to our August 16th Workshop on the final recommendations.

Resident Peter Girardi said he uses the path between Hardscrabble and Hannaford. We need a sidewalk to go all the way down to Hannaford.

Resident Linda Keeling said that Bard College is spending 9 million dollar project. What is the Town getting out of this especially the Fire Company?

Councilman Ramsey said the Fire Companies do receive donations from Bard.

Supervisor Blum Bump said Bard College is going to say they are contributing to the local economy with jobs and etc and they are. You could write a letter to Bard and to us concerning this.

Motion by Supervisor Blum Bump, seconded by Councilwoman Bordewich and carried the meeting adjourned 10:30 p.m.

Town Clerk, Margaret E. Doty