Here’s more of what happened at Monday’s Village Board meeting:
— The board approved spending $10,500 to have it’s consultant, LA Group, write and submit a grant application for the New York Forward grant. Tailored for small towns, Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said the village fits the requirements. “I can really see something happening here,” he said. Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero voted no on paying the consultant to apply, saying the village should take advantage of some “$80 million in local development happening instead of spending money to look for other money”. Trustee Gary Phillips also voted no, also because of the expense.
— In personnel matters, the board accepted the resignation of full-time police dispatcher Edmund Rivera (effective August 14) and part-time police officer Antonio Esparra (effective August 12). They also appointed a part-time police dispatcher, Ryan Walker, effective August 18, at the starting salary of $15. (Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero voted no on this appointment, saying she believes the village should be moving to Orange County’s 911 dispatch services, as opposed to hiring local dispatchers.) Two laborers for the Department of Public Works were hired — Jeffrey Colbert in a full-time position and Bernard Scheman in a part-time position. Both will be paid $17 per hour.
— It was noted that a check for $8333 was received from the village’s insurance company to pay for repairs to a police vehicle recently damaged in an accident.
— Bills and claims in the amount of paid $238,864 were paid.
— Mayor D’Onofrio and Village Clerk Gina Taylor were authorized to sign the paperwork for the $100,000 Downtown Revitalization grant that the village recently received. The mayor said it will potentially purchase improvements including crosswalks for Main St., banners, an electronic sign to use to advertise local events, street furniture, holiday lighting, etc.
— Trustee Brian Aylward reported that the HFPD made two felony, six misdemeanor and five violation arrests in July; and that they wrote 57 meter tickets, two summonses and 11 traffic tickets.
— D’Onofrio said the board will soon be looking into how to charge people to use the electric car charging port in the municipal parking lot on Main St. “We don’t want to make money on it, but recoup what is spent as people charge their cars,” he said.
— The date of the first September meeting of the board was changed to Thursday, Sept. 8.
