Other items on the agenda for the July 16 meeting of the Town Board included the following.
Highway projects. The board unanimously authorized an expenditure from the Highway Reserve Fund for the purchase of an excavator for use by the Highway Department. The town accepted the low bid, $94,922, submitted by A. Montano Co., of Saugerties, for the purchase of a Hyundai excavator, which will complement an aging excavator that the department puts to near-daily use, mainly on projects related to the water and sewer systems. Mike Reynolds, the highway superintendent, told the board that the current excavator, which the town bought in 2000, has had 8,300 hours of use. The new Hyundai’s basic warranty covers three years and 3,000 hours, Reynolds said. The board’s original approval of the purchase, on May 24, was subject to a permissive referendum. Since no petition requiring a vote on that resolution was received within the allotted 30-day period, the council finalized the measure this week.
In a related matter, the board approved Woodstock’s participation in an “intermunicipal agreement” with the towns of Ulster and Hurley for the purchase of a paver. Each town’s share of the purchase price amounts to about $52,700. “I think it’s a wise purchase,” said Reynolds, noting that it would cost Woodstock (or another town) approximately $3,000 a week to rent a paver.
In response to a question from councilman Bill McKenna, the highway chief reported that his department is refining recommendations for the repair of narrow town bridges on MacDaniel Road in Shady and Chestnut Hill Road in the hamlet. The two bridges, which have wooden decks that have been paved over, date to the late 1970s or early 1980s and need substantial shoring up. Reynolds observed in an interview that the Highway Department’s first step will be to reduce the weight limit, or rating, for the MacDaniel Road bridge to 5 tons, from its current limit of 15 tons. The department plans to place signs announcing the new limit next Monday, July 22, with repair work to follow. Although the Chestnut Hill bridge is in worse shape than its counterpart, the state has issued a “yellow flag” for the MacDaniel span, directing the town to close it, fix, or reduce its weight limit, Reynolds explained. Work on the Chestnut Hill bridge is unlikely to begin before next year, he added.
Burglaries. Wilber announced that two daytime burglaries were recently committed in Woodstock. In each case the thieves made off with jewelry, their apparent target, and other valuables, said the supervisor. The police chief, Clayton Keefe, could not be reached on July 17 to confirm that the burglaries occurred on Raycliffe Drive and Upper Byrdcliffe Road. Pending the outcome of the Police Department’s investigation, said Wilber, residents should consider finding secure locations for their valuables.
Ethics Board. The council unanimously appointed Neil Ratner to fill a vacancy on the five-member Ethics Board. Ratner’s term will expire at the end of 2014. The board’s current members are Teri Reynolds, the chair; Fran Breitkopf, the vice chair; Toby Heilbrunn, the acting secretary; and Allison West. Following the ethics panel’s recent finding in a case involving McKenna and councilwoman Cathy Magarelli (see Woodstock Times, July 11, 2013), McKenna suggested that two members of the Town Board —perhaps Wilber and councilman Jay Wenk — meet with two Ethics Board members to review the procedures that the panel followed in the case.
Ash trees. The board authorized the town to contract with a business operated by Vern Rist, a local plant pathologist, for the inoculation of five “specimen” ash trees on the Comeau property. The town will pay Rists’s firm up to $918 for the service, whose purpose is to save the trees from a fatal infestation by the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that will eventually destroy ash trees throughout the Northeast. Jim Hanson, an expert on the problem and the chair of the Comeau Trails Task Force, endorsed the board’s action and noted that seeds from inoculated trees may generate new growths.
Town boards need to remember the full power of their authority. Remind TWC that the renewal of their franchise agreement could be at stake if they don’t do as the town asks.
This is not trivial to do.
That should have read “this is not hard to do”