Woodstock Town Board Meeting, August 19 2008

This article appeared in the Townsman, August 21 edition

Woodstock, August 19 2008

The Woodstock town board's monthly meeting saw all of its routine business taken care of, but had to have been a disappointment to councilman Jay Wenk who saw several of his proposals shot down. The public portion of the meeting also put Wenk on the defensive when taken to task by councilwoman Terrie Rosenblum for running up attorney fees, reminding Wenk "the board agreed that calls to the attorney would go through the supervisor." Wenk was not clear about his reasons, mentioning a memo from the attorney for the town and then misrepresenting its date. Councilwoman Liz Simonson advised the board not "belabor this," and asked that the meeting move on to other topics.

Announcements from the board included Simonson's caution about the spiraling cost of providing health insurance to Town employees, this year costing the taxpayer $620,000.

Wenk was unhappy to see one of the departments had purchased incandescent light bulbs instead of florescent.

Supervisor Jeff Moran read from communication between he and the New York State and Ulster County departments of health, including sections of NYS law, advising the Town that because the municipal water system served only 2400 people a public hearing on the water emergency plan was not required. Wenk had been trying to get such a hearing on the agenda for months. George ("Jerry") Washington, speaking from the floor, disputed the supervisor's information and after extracting Moran's commitment to "follow the law" he promised to return with the correct information. Wenk, unable to remember what state agency he contacted (upon Simonson's prompting it appeared to have been the Committee on Open Government) also thought Moran had wrong information, and anyway could see no problem with holding a public hearing on the matter. The matter died with Simonson's pronouncement, "It would be a waste of time to have a hearing on this."

Minutes for previous meetings were accepted, as was the town clerk's report and payment on audited vouchers in the amount of $274,905.22 was approved. Simonson joined the rest of the board in approving budget transfers she had not personally inspected. A transfer of $23,915.51 from the Town Board Equipment line to the Town Hall Renovation/Rehabilitation capital project meant that the appropriation made last year for a fuel efficient car for use by Town departments would not be used for the intended purpose, this after both Wenk and councilman Chris Collins groused that in the year since the town board adopted its so-called 'carbon neutral' policy no substantive action had occurred.

$2308 was appropriated for a backup software system and components to replace the current failed system. The justice court was authorized to amend a $3000 grant application to purchase a computer information server. The Performing Arts of Woodstock were given the break in rental fees for the Town Hall as they had requested at last week's meeting.

Twenty-five minutes were spent discussing Wenks "no idling" resolution calling upon Town employees to not idle their vehicles for more than one minute, and going on to say that "all the citizens of, and visitors to the Town…asked and invited" to do the like. Moran found the language of the resolution "sloppy," Rosenblum not only found it lacking in detail but also noted, "I see nothing in here that will help the problem." Kiki Randolph, speaking from the floor, noted that in the winter she probably idled her car for more than a minute to let it warm up. Simonson felt the resolution could easily be amended for the purpose of passage, and thought the issue "has become very political," but with Collins also dubious about the enterprise Wenk withdrew his resolution.

Wenk also saw his idea of milling several white pines recently felled on the Comeau property into eight by eight timbers to be used to delineate parking spots was shot down when it was pointed out the material was susceptible to rot and that the committee engaged in improving the upper Comeau parking lot was less than enthusiastic about installing what it considered to be potential hazards and certainly obstructions to plowing in the winter.

Committee reports led off with Collins updating the board on the County's soon-to-be released brochure on tips for residents facing the coming winter where steep hikes in home heating fuel costs are expected. Rosenblum praised Collins for his involvement and hoped the Town will find effective ways of disseminating the information he has gathered. One land use issues, Collins offered to arrange for presentations on the subject of comprehensive plans by the director of the Ulster County planning board, Dennis Doyle and Peter Fairweather, a planning consultant who had worked with Saratoga Associates when they formulated the Town's 2000 comprehensive plan that has not been adopted. The board agreed with Collins' proposal and it was guessed that the presentation might occur sometime in September.

Rosenblum, reporting on recreation, praised Howie Lipson and his daughter Heather for the exceptional Sunmmer Recreation Program that just concluded it 2008 season. As liaison to the Woodstock Library she reported the proposed library budget will increase from 2008's $466,000 to $537,000 (a 17.8% increase) if approved by the voters at the annual library vote to be held on September 4 from the hours of 12:00 noon to 10:00 PM.

The committee reports, which with the exception of those mentioned were of little consequence, ended with Moran's update on the information gathering with regard to the possible purchase of the Elna Ferrite building to house Town departments. His report instigated a somewhat lengthy rehash of discussions already heard on the matter. Finally it was decided that a productive discussion could be had with the public once more information was ascertained.

The meeting began at 6:30 PM with an executive session to discuss collective bargaining with the CWA union, whose members have worked without a contract since the last one expired at the end of 2007. No action was taken. The public portion of the meeting began at 7:30 at the Community Center with a pledge to the flag, Wenk sitting down as usual. The meeting adjourned at approximately 10:10.