Talk of using the middle school as a government center again reared its head in the summer. Ultimately — and after backlash from former school board members — the town’s discussion with the district fizzled out. However, the issue of a dilapidated Town Hall still remains. Supervisor Zimet and other board members have expressed a keen interest in getting out of the current building at 1 Veterans Drive.
By deciding to retire on Aug. 1, long-time New Paltz Police Department officer Lt. Steve Osarczuk inadvertently kicked off the start of the town’s budget negotiations. Town officials and Police Commission members grappled with how or if the lieutenant’s position needed to be filled. After talk of giving a sergeant most of Osarczuk’s old responsibilities, board members elected to keep the lieutenant position.
Also in late summer, neighbors in the Lent Farm subdivision competed with seniors at Woodland Pond for the attention of town officials. The two groups disagreed about how Lent Drive should be used: Neighbors wanted Lent Drive cordoned off, effectively making it a cul-de-sac and cutting off its connection to the retirement home; Woodland Pond employees and residents advocated keeping it open as a connector road. Town officials plan to return to the issue after New Year’s, but they struck a deal in the summer to temporarily cordon it off.
In the waning days of August, a state Comptroller’s Office audit substantiated many of the election year claims Zimet had made about her rival Hokanson. The report found that the prior administration had overspent its budget for water and sewer districts. To make the districts running in the red whole, town officials had improperly raided funds from other special districts.
The report had critical words for former Supervisor Hokanson, the former town clerk and the old Town Board. For the better part of the year, even before the report came out, the current Town Board has worked to correct problems found by the Comptroller’s Office.
In October, as the budget season kicked into gear, Zimet and the board again forced competence and controversy to walk hand-in-hand. Passed on time and with public input, the final budget dropped the tax rate to the lowest it had been since 2008 and cut spending by almost $568,000 — and cut the tax levy by about $455,000. However, the supervisor also raised eyebrows by giving herself a $20,000 raise. After some debate, her raise was knocked down to about $11,000.
Councilman Kevin Barry raised the ire of police officers in town with an off-the-cuff suggestion that the Town of New Paltz should withdraw funding for the Police Department — forcing the village to pick up the check next summer. While his proposal wasn’t endorsed by other Town Board members — or village Mayor Jason West — that didn’t stop New Paltz’s “thin blue line” waging a silent protest. During a mid-November meeting, police officers stood wordlessly in Town Hall until they knew funding for their department was secure.
Police Chief Joseph Snyder had worked closely with Supervisor Zimet, giving her a $2 million budget — down from this year’s $2.2 million spending plan.
During the same meeting where they passed the budget, town officials also approved a ban on hydrofracking. The controversial natural gas extraction technique is being fought by activists throughout the United States. New Paltz’s anti-fracking law bans drilling within town limits, keeps fracking waste out of the sewers and fracking fluid off of town roads as a de-icer.
As the year drew to a close, the attention of many people in town moved to Park Point. During their December meeting, Town Board members agreed with local landlords and taxpayers that Wilmorite probably shouldn’t receive tax exemptions for building the student rental community.
Tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, as it has nationally, also made it into the town’s political dialogue. Gun owners came out in force in December to oppose a non-binding resolution proposed by Supervisor Zimet. It called for the banning of assault rifles and extra-large ammunition clips.
There was a colossal changing of the guard in 2012 when longtime New Paltz Chamber of Commerce director Joyce Minard, who was with the organization for more than 30 years, announced her retirement. “I love this community with all my heart, and it has been my pleasure to give everything I have to make it a better place to live, work, play, worship and do business,” she told the New Paltz Times in an interview. To that end, she stayed on to help with the transition, as Michael Smith took the helm of the Chamber after an exhaustive board search.
The New Paltz community and surrounding areas were horrified and sickened by the reported homicide of a two-year-old girl this past June. Her body was found at her aunt and uncle’s house on 332 Route 32 North in New Paltz. The girl, identified as Asia Perez-Medina, was found “unresponsive” when the New Paltz Police Department (NPPD) responded to a call at that residence for a “missing child.” Instead of looking for a child, police officers found the child in her aunt’s arms, along with her uncle on the front lawn.
Later, an autopsy performed by Dr. Michael Sikirica determined the cause of death to be a homicide due to “blunt force trauma.” The investigation, led by Ulster County District attorney Holley Carnright’s office and assisted by the NPPD, the New York State Police and other enforcement and criminal forensic units, has been ongoing since the day of the death; but there have been no updates to the press or the public on the case.
The Village
The Village of New Paltz was full of celebrations this year, marking its 125th anniversary with a blockbuster block party this past August, as well as celebrating the 125th anniversary of its volunteer Fire Department, which in many ways sparked the creation of the village government.
There was also a special celebration of the annual Gay Pride March this year, with the signing of the same-sex marriage equality bill by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. There was a “Food in the Street” celebration highlighting the village’s desire to support local agriculture and businesses that utilize local agriculture and food products.
While the village is open and often agnostic regarding what’s being paraded or demonstrated, as long as it does not create any impediments to motorists or pedestrians or violate people’s civil rights, there was a controversial situation when a branch of the Occupy Wall Street group decided to “Occupy New Paltz” at Hasbrouck Park. At first, the group was welcomed by the Village Board. But as time went on and the Occupiers’ use of the village’s electricity to heat their tents and power their computers became an issue, as well as complaints that certain residents or organizations didn’t feel comfortable utilizing the park with the Occupiers there, the Village Board gave them a list of criteria that they had to meet in order to stay. The criteria were not met to the Village Board’s standards, and the Occupiers were forced to leave the park.
The new village administration also did some housecleaning, some new hiring and salary adjustments. It brought on a full-time planner, Curt Lavalla, and reduced the Building Department from two full-time inspectors to one. After a lively debate, the board voted to designate the mayoral position as full-time and provided Mayor West with a $35,000 salary, up from $22,500. That had been proposed when West was the mayor six years ago, but had been voted down.
Village Board members spent months debating amongst themselves, along with residents who had strong feelings on both sides, whether or not to allow chickens to be kept on residential properties. Some felt that it was inhuman, could attract other unwanted animals to the village, could cause odor or bring down property values. Others, who believed that such a new law would allow residents to be more self-sufficient in producing their own food and knowing where that food came from, argued that many properties already had chickens on them without a law that had tight regulations. In the end, the Village Board voted to allow three chickens per half-acre parcel.
Currently, the Village Board is in the midst of revamping its code definitions and Special Use Permit regulations and undergoing an exhaustive revamping of its outdated 1994 Master Plan, focusing on the rezoning of the B-3 District and more.
