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Cold Spring Board's Monthly Meeting Sparsely Attended
Fire Company and parking issues discussed
by Kevin Foley
Before a public audience that did not exceed two people the Cold Spring Village Board of Trustees covered a variety of issues brought up by members and reporting departments during their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, December 11, 2007.
Village Treasurer Barbara Rudolph, after proposing some funds be transferred from one budget line to another to account for actual as opposed to projected expenses then reported that a consultant had asked for $62,000 to upgrade the Village's computer software. This number far exceeded the Trustees expectations so they advised her to look for some off the shelf solutions.
The Water and Sewer Department reported that letters would soon be sent to residents who have illegal storm water connections to the sanitary sewer collection system instructing them to take corrective action in order for the Village to comply with a state Department of Environmental Conversation directive.
The Board approved a request from Cold Spring Landing, the condominium project by the waterfront, to lower the amount of their site improvement bond, which the Village required to guarantee enhancements to the immediate area around the building, from $380,000 to $38,000 indicating most of the work was complete.
Trustee Karen Dunn reported that while the Comprehensive Special Board wasn't meeting in December the various working groups were continuing to gather data. She said the Infrastructure Committee was planning to meet with Ralph Faloon, president of the Cold Spring Fire Company, to work more closely on planning for a new firehouse.
Trustee Ed Mancari introduced the issue of the Fire Company having contracts for fire coverage with Nelsonville and other parts of Philipstown. He said this was fine except for the fact that Cold Spring was paying for all of the fire service awards the volunteers had the opportunity to earn during the course of a year, which amounted to $50,000. According to Mancari as much as 40% of the work done responding to calls to earn awards is in the areas outside Cold Spring. He asked Village Attorney, Stephen Gaba to review the situation to determine if there was any remedy under which Cold Spring might collect additional revenue from the other areas.
Trustee John Teagle pointed out that there wouldn't be any involvement by other villages in the building a new firehouse. "Maybe there will be," said Mancari.
Trustee Seth Gallagher reported that he, the Mayor and Infrastructure Working Group member, Pete Henderson toured the Margaret's Brook area with a representative from the DEC attempting to understand how the Village can go about correcting the perennial problem of flooding by this brook particularly at the bottom of the hillside it runs down toward the river and the Springbrook Condominiums.
Gallagher asked attorney Gaba to assist the Board in assessing what could be done to work with private homeowners to prevent problems such as damming the stream either deliberately or just with the falling of leaves. Gaba said it might be possible to create a corrective plan with the State and then create new Village code provisions.
Mayor Phillips reminded the Board that Haldane School construction over the years was responsible for a large increase in storm water into the brook and that its status as a separate municipal entity complicated cooperation on solutions.
Trustee Gallagher asked about the possibility of having a meeting soon with the Board and the developer of the Butterfield Hospital site, Paul Guillaro. Mayor Phillips said in an informal conversation Guillaro indicated he wasn't ready to do so at this time. This exasperated Karen Dunn who said, "he doesn't want us to speak about it or meet with him but he's out meeting with the seniors and others. We need some honest dialogue about this."
Seth Gallagher said the Village had a lot to say about the creation of a community center at the site, according to his reading of the Village code, and that this should be another reason to have discussions early in the process.
Karen Dunn asked the Mayor to formally extend an invitation to meet with the Board of Trustees and the Mayor said he would. Attorney Gaba cautioned that such a meeting should not include public comment because it would impose another layer over the planning board process.
The Trustees ended the meeting with a discussion of applications for parking permits for spaces on Village streets in the area near the river. Seth Gallagher expressed concern about residents who rent having equal access to parking. But the Mayor and Karen Dunn felt strongly that the recent surge in requests for permits was from people who did not want to bother pulling around the rear of their buildings.
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