Who gets the water? Spook Hill Park Update and other town business

The September 14th Town Board Meeting, moved to a Thursday evening because Monday was September 11th and out of respect for the memorial services held to remember the 9/11 tragedy and bravery of all involved, had a brief discussion about an agenda addition - discussing the properties that have been flagged as structurally dangerous. With that bit of business being done - the Public Portion of the meeting opened.

First up was Craig O'Donnell, explaining that it in his view it would be better for all concerned, if instead of his drilling wells for two vacant lots that he currently owns on Wheeler Hill Road, the town should provide him with a tenancy agreement, allowing him to connect to the water line that runs along Wheeler Hill Road, installed to provide NYC with water to aid in the building of their water tunnel under the Hudson River.

(Please note that two resolutions were on the agenda addressing this - it has never been on the agenda as a discussion point in the past). There was also a resolution on the agenda, permitting Regency Homeowners Association to be billed at a lower rate for water, if their usage is under a pre-defined level.

Please also remember that in June -- the Town Board held a workshop where none of these items came up for discussion.

Marcy Wagman also took this opportunity -- to suggest that the Town Board, rather than handling requests for water connections on an ad-hoc basis - develop policies and approaches that explain to residents the criteria for eligibility for connection to the water lines, what the costs are .. including buy-in fees, usage, water taxes etc. - So that there is a fair and open approach - and that by using the ad-hoc approach, unfortunate precedents could be set. She also suggested that an understanding of the water resources available to the town be modeled and projected with expected growth etc. so that a good understanding of what are reasonable levels of growth in use of the water resources be established. Also discussed was that the past two year tax levies far exceed the state's 2% cap - at 5.8% and 8% respectively - is acceptable ONLY because the tax levy cap applies to the AGGREGATE taxes levied by the town. In 2022, because the water district tax levy was reduced by 36% - this enabled the "town outside tax levy" to be increased by 8%. That is nice for the 1/3 of the town residents who are in water districts, but for 2/3 of the the residents who are not, their tax levy increased by 8%. So those residents who are outside of water districts will have an important interest in how water districts are funded and managed. This kicked off an energetic response from the Ward 1 Council Member who stated that Ms. Wagman is incorrect and wrong-- that the Town of Wappinger takes great pride in the low tax rates. Unfortunately, Mr. Beale is incorrect, as corroborated by the NY State Comptroller's office, and anyone who has a Town of Wappinger Tax Bill can look at their bill and see that the year to year increase for the Town Outside Tax Levy is 8%. It is printed on the tax bill.

The conversation then took a turn to a discussion that prior tenancy agreements have involved residents with failing wells (and the Gasland Petroleum company) and that individuals with vacant lots have not been considered, so this would be a new type of agreement. The Ward 1 Council Member then commented that he has been asked for years by people who live adjacent to the Old Hopewell Road/New Hamburg Road/Wheeler Hill Road water line, when they will be able to connect to the water line. The Ward 2 Council Member commented that the people of Chelsea have born the brunt of the disturbance - because of the construction traffic -- and not all of them who were affected have had the benefit of a water connection.

The Town Attorney chimed in with a long rendition of the history of the NY City Water Project and where the connections were included (Wheeler Hill) in the construction...and where they were not included (The south side of New Hamburg Road and Old Hopewell Road) -- and that with the expected conclusion of the NYC construction project in about a year that an approach to making the water connections more widely available should be considered -- perhaps a new water district to be formed etc. etc. All of this pointed to having a broader more thorough discussion, which elevated the frustration level among some of those in the room (and of course there was more discussion when the Resolution came up for discussion on the agenda - so more later).

With no other public comments.... the Agenda then moved on to discuss the 4 properties that are structurally unsound. A member of the Town's building department gave a brief summary on the status of all four, the owners/representatives for all four properties were in the room and the decision was made that given the level of cooperation and compliance (of course, letting them know that there were concerns in writing was very helpful), the decision was made to let the building department to continue to work with the property owners to get to appropriate resolutions and to disengage from the Town Board as part of the process.

Next up was a discussion the Employee Handbook, where the newly hired Human Resource partner explained that the handbook needs to be updated, and since she has not been in her job for the full year, $$ in the budget that weren't spent on her salary ($83,000) - could be applied to hire a consultant ($6500) - to update the handbook. A motion to approve was passed - but the question on why the HR person on staff couldn't update the handbook was never asked.

Randy Ross - who is heading the group working to improve Spook Hill Park, introduced the mural artist Franc Paliaia who described the mural that will be painted on the building at Spook Hill park by Mr. Paliaia and students from WCS. The mural will be funded by the friends foundation supporting the park. The Board approved a motion to proceed with the project.

A representative from CPL then gave a brief overview of the proposed changes to the Senior Center Renovation at town hall- which will increase the capacity from 56 to 90 -- at a cost of $1.3 million. Additional ADA features will be added. The board enquired about the availability of grants to help with the costs, the CPL engineer said he would look into it. Another question was the possibility of phasing in the updates. Further discussions will be held during the 2024 budget process.

The discussion then moved to the repairs needed at the Rockingham Park because of vandalism. The costs will be $6,300 - -and while an insurance claim has been filed, the ward 4 council member strongly urged that the families of those involved in the vandalism (cameras caught their image) be held responsible for the costs -- not the town tax payers. The board approved the costs needed for the repairs.

We were then treated the history of School Resource Officers (SRO) in the WCS by the Ward 1 Council Member, who used the first day of school for his son as an opportunity to repeat the details of an arrangement, made several months ago, accompanied by a press conference, of the joint agreement between the Town and WCS to provide the funding enabling SRO at the two elementary schools in the Town (SRO at the Junior High and High Schools are funded by the district).

Then the Resolutions:

A Resolution naming a Climate Smart Communities Coordinator was amended to name Council Member Chris Phillips as the Coordinator. It was approved.

A Resolution authorizing a Payment in Lieu of Taxes Agreement with Old Myers NY, LLC (the firm installing solar panels on Myers Corner Road) - was tabled without discussion (the town attorney requested)

Two Resolutions authorizing Water Tenancy Agreements for Wheeler Hill Road -- had a bit of discussion whether tabling was appropriate - because there would be no decision by the next Town Board Meeting - an option of Withdrawing was mentioned, but the person who put the resolutions on the agenda would have to agree -- and Dr. Thurston hotly stated that he would not withdraw the resolutions... so the board approved tabling until December 2023.

The Resolution authorizing the new water rate with the Regency Homeowners Association passed with no discussion.

The a series of Human Resource based resolutions were discussed - all passed with the exception of an appointment of a Senior Account Clerk.

Then a Resolution for a Revocable License Agreement to maintain structure within Utility Easement for a property on Miracle Circle was discussed. The homeowners have installed structures (fences/play equipment) in a drainage and access easements - preventing the developer from putting in new water lines to an adjacent property. The homeowners have known since 2021 that they are out of compliance - while all the other homeowners in the development have complied with the restrictions. This resolution was tabled.

A resolution, cut & paste from last year's similar resolution, passed by the board proclaiming Hispanic Heritage Month in the town.

The HR person then discussed a resolution to adopt a Town of Wappinger Covid policy for employees and those using Town facilities. It was approved.

An amended resolution passed scheduling the dates/public hearings for the 2024 Town Budget.

Then a vociferous speech by the Ward 1 Council Member on the unfairness of the proposed Central Hudson Rate Hikes preceded the Board's vote to write a letter to the Public Service Commission objecting to the proposed hikes.

First Responders Recognition is scheduled for September 17 at 6:00 PM (town hall).

Executive Session - began at 9:15 - financial discussion re: collective bargaining agreement and a discussion on acquisition of property - with the board returning at 11:30 pm - The Town Attorney announcing that no decisions had been made during executive session.