Town Board Regular Meeting 10/13/2020 06:30 PM Zoom Meeting ID 8901678 4280 Community Hall 210 Bridget Street

OPENING ITEMS

• .Approve NWS to Auction Truck

Call Meeting to Order

Pledge of allegiance

Announcements

Presentation

Correspondence

Payment of Bills

DIVISION REPORTS

Some reports have been sent to the board in advance of the meeting, therefore they are not read out loud at the meeting; copies of all reports may be obtained at the Town Clerks Office.

Highway

• .Used 951.8 gal of diesel fuel; 928.8 gal was for highway and 23 gal was non-highway use.

  Used 216.2 gal of gas; 6.1 was highway and 210.1 was non-highway use.

  Patched holes on dirt and paved roads.

  Stockpiled sand for winter.

  Mowed right of ways along roads.

  Paved parts of Cochecton Turnpike and Irish Town road.

  Replaced pipes on Blindpond Rd, Hankins Rd, and Irishtown Rd.

  Ditched Irishtown Rd, Perry Pond Rd, and Grassy Swamp Rd.

  Cut trees on flats.

Water & Sewer

Building Department/ Code Enforcement

• .Construction Inspections – 26

  Fire & Safety Inspections – 2

  Complaint/Violation Inspections - 0

  Certificate of Occupancy – 6

  Certificate of Compliance – 6

  Building Permits – 13

  New Homes – 0

  Accessory Building/Garage – 2

  Renovation/Alteration/Addition – 0

  Camping - 1

  Chimney/Fuel – 0

  Accessory Building Commercial - 0

  New Commercial Construction – 0

  Renovation/Alteration – Commercial Construction - 2

  Deck - 2

  Demolition Permit - 0

  Driveway Permit – 1

  Electrical – 1

  Logging Permits – 1

  Mechanical - 0

  Permit Renewals – 0

  Pool – 0

  Roof Replacement – 2

  Roof Structure - 0

  Septic Permits – 0

  Sidewalk - 0

  Sign Permit – 0

  Solar Permit – 1

  Well - 0

  Flood Plain Permit - 0 

  C/O and violation search – 16

   Dangerous and Unsafe Building – 0

  Complaints Received – 0

  Complaints Closed – 0

  Violations Issued – 0

  Violations Corrected – 0

  Previous Violations Closed/Corrected - 0

  Stop Work – 0

   

  Building Inspector and Clerk attended webinar training on 9/8/20 on NEC Code Changes; 9/10/20 on Top 10 Things You Really Need to Know – Energy Code 2020 and Prescriptive Building Envelope; 9/11/2020 2020 Advanced In-Service Part 1 and 2020 Advanced In-Service Part 2 and on 9/15/20 Building Inspector Took Mandated Test and passed and on 9/17/20 Clerk Took Stated Mandated Test and Passed.

   

  Monies collected by this office from September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 are $4,165.20.

   

  Respectfully,

  Jim P Crowley, Building Inspector

  JPC/js

  Attached is a copy of the Building Monthly Report

Assessor

• .During the month of September, calls picked up from the mailing of the school tax bills.   Most were for bills not received and questions on how to pay them.  Many were able to use taxlookup.net and print off their own copy.  Doreen Hanson seems to be extremely good at returning calls and solving the problem when taxpayers leave her a message.   She also directly contacted me on some of her questions.  Additionally, several calls were received for newly constructed properties and the status of the assessment on them so taxes could be estimated for the new owner and escrow accounts.

  I attended the Sullivan County Assessor’s Association meeting held at an outdoor pavilion to permit social distancing.  No particularly hot topics were discussed, but many technical tidbits were mentioned and it was good to get perspectives from Chris Knapp who has become the new director of Real Property Tax Services for Sullivan County.  Small Claims hearings were mentioned and most towns have a few from Adventine Properties and the problems we all face of dealing with James Burns the proprietor of Adventine and the poor quality of the evidence presented with them.  So far no town has received a court date for any claim (thanks to COVID 19).  Normally the hearings were scheduled to be completed in August. 

  We received four small claims tax cases for this year.  One is invalid as it is for vacant land and was tagged onto the one for the residence filed by an owner.   The other two were filed by Adventine Properties.  These claims will require much time and effort to refute.   In past years it has been possible to support the assessment and win the cases.  I can only hope and work diligently to be successful this year too.

  Ken Baim

  Sole Assessor

Upper Delaware Council

Energy Committee

Zoning Re-Write Committee

October Grants Report – Activity for September 2020

UDC 2019-20 grants- We have received $900 for the 2019 zoning re-write project and we received $10,000 for the 2019 Part 1 Comprehensive Plan project.

UDC 2020-21 grant- We have been awarded $9,000 for Part 2 of the Comprehensive Plan project.

Bridge NY grant – culvert work continues.  Much of the recent time has been spent on the ROW (right of way) work to establish ownership of properties needed for temporary bridge.

Homeland Security and Emergency Service grant – We submitted a detailed Letter of Intent for a $950,000 project to upgrade the three wells in the water district.  We are thankful to Freda Eisenberg, Director of Sullivan County Planning for reviewing the letter prior to submission.  However, in the end our request was determined ineligible because “generators are not an eligible activity” and the wells are not insured with FEMA.

Future possible grants- the town is working with theFlats Neighborhood Watch group.  To this end we are seeking funding for cameras to be located at specific strategic locations on the Flats.

Submitted by:  Jane Luchsinger, Deputy Supervisor

PUBLIC COMMENT

10 minutes will be given for public comment. Please keep your comments directed to the board, comments should pertain to agenda items only. All other comments or questions may be taken up with individual board members after the meeting or at another time.

OLD BUSINESS

• .Set Budget Workshop

• 2.Set Dog License Fees

NEW BUSINESS

• .Appoint Court Officers

• 2.Appoint Councilmember

PUBLIC COMMENT

10 minutes will be given for public comment. Please keep your comments directed to the board, comments should pertain to agenda items only. All other comments or questions may be taken up with individual board members after the meeting or at another time.

CLOSING ITEMS

Board Comment

Meeting reminder

Adjournment