Town of Red Hook Town Board
Workshop Meeting
July 5, 2005

A workshop of the Red Hook Town Board was held Tuesday
July 5, 2005 with the following in attendance:

Deputy Supervisor – William O’Neill
Councilman – James Ross
Councilwoman – Sue Crane
Councilwoman – Jean Bordewich
Councilman – Harold Ramsey
Town Clerk – Margaret E. Doty

Absent – Supervisor Marirose Blum Bump

Deputy Supervisor O’Neill opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. with the opening of the bids for the highway road paving.

Five bids were received and read from:
Delsignore Blacktop Paving, Inc.
Blacktop Maintenance
Callanan Industries
A.Colarusso & Son Inc.
Jay Shaffer Construction

Motion by Councilwoman Bordewich, seconded by Councilman Ramsey that we accept all the bids and have Highway Superintendent Hildenbrand and Purchasing Agent Kudzy review them and make a decision.

Councilman Ross - Yes
Councilwoman Crane - Yes
Councilwoman Bordewich - Yes
Councilman Ramsey - Yes

Deputy Supervisor said the next thing on the agenda was the proposed term of the conservation easement law.

Councilman Ross said the five year term for the easement law is just too short it should be at least 8 to 10 years for this to be fair to other people.

Councilwoman Bordewich questioned what about the penalty, should it be a minimum of 5 year penalty.

Councilman Ross agreed it shouldn’t be more than a 5 year penalty regardless of how many years.

Councilwoman Crane…penalty should be length of time they have had the tax break, 10 years than it should be 10 years of penalty. At what rate he enjoyed he should pay that back. Can’t see how they would only have to pay a 5 year penalty.

Councilwoman Bordewich… we are providing an incentive to preserve the land, however many years we decide. We should also have criteria before we go and vote on it.

Councilman Ross and Councilman Ramsey both agreed we should have criteria.

Councilman Ramsey suggested we contact our Farmland Protection Committee and have them come up with criteria along with a list of the parcel and map of those eligible.

Councilwoman Bordewich said that she would like to have Keane & Beane review the final criteria and perhaps it could be ready for our 1st workshop in August.

Everyone was reminded that July 12, 2005 at 7:15 p.m. the continuation of the Conservation Easement Law.

Councilwoman Bordewich said we have received notice from Shingebiss Associates of record management grant funding –EPO map but we won’t do that this year.

There was some discussion on trails, they would use the shoulder along Linden Avenue and we should have road signs.

Councilwoman Bordewich said she would like to get a grievance report from the Assessor concerning how many filed, how many turned down, and how many received a reduction.

Councilwoman Crane would like to have John Watch attend a workshop.

Councilman Ramsey reported he had been working with Deputy O’Neill and Highway Superintendent Hildenbrand on the Highway Garage.

Councilman Ramsey said he would like to see the Town use the Red Hook Village Police Department rather than the Sheriff’s Department. He will talk to Attorney Trezza to draw up a contract to use the Village Police.

Councilwoman Bordewich said with the Sheriff’s Department we never get any reports of traffic accidents etc. that take place in our town and think we should get some data.

Councilman Ramsey said now that everyone has a copy of the Disaster Preparedness Plan, he would like all to review it so we could invite the Chairman to come in and answer any questions we had.

August 16th was the date established for Chairman John Douglas to be present and answer questions on Disaster Preparedness.

August 2nd workshop we can have Planner Ted Fink and Planning Board Chairperson Christine Kane.

August 2nd workshop – Robert McKeon will also be present to answer the question on the Conservation Easement.

Motion by Councilman Ross, seconded by Councilwoman Bordewich and carried the meeting adjourned 9:25 p.m.

Town Clerk, Margaret E. Doty