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Record Breaking Five Hour PV Town Board Meeting Peppered With Political Overtones
by Edward Paul Greiff
The record-breaking five hour Putnam Valley Town Board meeting held on August 15, 2007 began at 6:30pm with Department Reports and ended at 11:30pm after politically charged Public Comments were made.
The Department reports, coordinated and monitored by Councilwoman Wendy Whetsel, are videotaped in a meeting room devoid of people and are played back at a later date later on channel 20. As a result of this procedure Department reports are brief, to the point, and void of audience reaction or participation, and have no effect upon shortening the length of a Town Board meeting where just the opposite is allowed; lengthy audience reactions and participation.
Wearing several hats, Ann Spoonhour reported on the upcoming September 15 Town Day preparations and how she is still looking for Art and Photography submissions for display and for people who would like to enter into the Town Day "Pie and Cookie Bake Off" in either the 14 years of age and under category or the 15 and older category. She reported that there is still time to enter a float into parade contest. If you would like to help out at Town Day just stop by at the Information Booth and let them know. The Town Day Committee is energetically preparing for the event and can always use an extra hand.
If you are going to protect the environment you must first learn to appreciate the environment and Taro Taka, Conservation Committee Chairman is doing that in many ways. His latest is working with Parks & Recreation Director Frank DiMarco on rebuilding the "Nature Trail" in Town Park.
Frank DiMarco spoke about their very successful camp season and they are now ready for Fall Baseball for the kids and a Men's Softball League. They are still trying to acquire the Marinelli property adjacent to the Ambulance Corps property for building two Little League fields. There are some 200 to 300 kids who participate in the program and they can use the space.
Kathleen McLaughlin announced the library is having an Essay and Photo Contest that depicts the best interpretation of the topic "My favorite place in Putnam Valley." The essay needs to be 300 words long and photos can be either 4 X 6 or 9 x 6 in size. On August 9, 2007 the Library's Board of Trustees elected a new President, Elaine Sanders. The big news in the library's busy schedule is that on September 30, 2007 they will be celebrating their 70th Anniversary. There will be more news about this celebration forthcoming.
The Town Board meeting started at 7pm with Supervisor Sam Davis announcing that next month he will be attending a "Property Tax" summit meeting in Albany where they will continue to push for revised legislation to change the way schools are funded.
The independent auditors from "O'Connor Davis Munns & Dobbins LLP" presented their report on the Town's financial condition as of the year ending December 31, 2006. On the positive side "The Town's assets exceeded its liabilities by $8,588,896. Of this amount $1,022,035 may be used to meet the Town's ongoing obligations to citizens and creditors."
At the end of the fiscal year the unreserved fund balance for the General Fund was $1,086,975 or 23% of the total General Fund expenditures. However, $700,000 was allocated to reduce taxes in 2007 thereby reducing the fund balance to an unacceptable $386,975. All agreed this has to be increased during the 2007 fiscal year.
PV Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Space introduced himself and displayed his humorous side when he said he would keep the community informed by sending "Notes from Space."
Town Attorney David Gordon explained the Town Board's legal obligation regarding the Comprehensive Master Plan when he informed them that they must legally first approve the SEQRA review before they can approve the Comprehensive Master Plan. And both of these must be approved before they adopt the Zoning Laws. However, this does not preclude them from having public review meetings as the various documents become ready for public scrutiny. A Public Hearing has been set for September 20 at 6pm to review the Comprehensive Master Plan. The meeting place location is yet to be announced.
The Ethics Board submitted a comprehensive plan of its own regarding "Disclosure Statements" and general employee conduct. The Town Board will be discussing this manual for mass distribution.
It was the Board's feelings that the time has come for possibly expanding the Lake Peekskill Transfer Station to other areas in town. This would reduce private pick-up expenses, expand municipal pick -ups, and spread the cost of such an operation over a greater number of households. The Board is looking into this possibility.
The Board broke for Executive Session to conduct interviews for the Town Assessor's position. When they returned they announced Sheryl Keating was the new Town Sole Assessor replacing Ed Vreeland.
Alex Kaspar announced that the first Grange meeting will take place at the grange Building on Wednesday September 5, 2007 starting at 7pm, everyone is welcome.
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