September 12, 2019
HOWARD, NY
Last night the Howard Town Board met at 7 p.m., beginning with the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence to honor fallen 9/11 victims.
Business began with the discussion of pipe replacement on Cunningham Creek Road being denied by the county for now.
A public comment was made by Tracy, a representative from Scouts USA to be approved official permission for the Howard Community Building and park reserved the weekend of October 18th to the 20th for the troop to camp there with their tents. The motion to approve this was unanimous and notified the Scout Leader she would need to use a “reserved” sign during the time the grounds were used.
In highway matters, Highway Supervisor Lee announced piping for Mill Road begins this Monday September 16th and is projected to be finished by Wednesday the 18th but hopefully Tuesday evening, weather permitting.
The possibility of a resident putting a seasonal cabin up on the middle of the Hungry Hollow Road hill was discussed. Building the residence would result in reconstruction of the seasonal road for fire department and winter plowing access. It was estimated by Highway Supervisor Lee to cost $75,000 for the reconstruction. The board agreed to revisit the matter in the spring.
Also discussed for highway matters was improving the parking lot of the Fire Department by leveling the potholes, possibly with black top in the future. The board agreed that the estimates would take several years and fundraisers to achieve. They decided the potholes will be filled with asphalt and the parking lot layered with gravel in the mean time and revisit possible blacktop installation next year.
The Board motioned for a resolution to hold a public hearing to exceed the state’s 2% tax cap on October 9th. Mayor Don Evia says he has worked on the “2%” preliminary budget, but has not yet released it for public view.
Justice Dave Price says Budget resolutions will be assigned dates next month. A motion was made to re-appoint Laura as Town Assessor, whose current term ends late this month.
Also passed was the motion to give up collecting any revenue from the marriage licenses of active duty military service members, which the state says town’s can choose to charge $7.50 or waive the fee for the member altogether. They reasoned that marriage licenses are rarely so requested that the revenue collected from the fee would be minimal or at $0 anyway.
The motion to transfer funds for billing as part of the budget transfer resolution proposed from last month was approved.
A motion to appoint a candidate as a new Town Planning board member was met with an approval of a motion requiring an advertisement of the open position be published first, prior to the appointment of a new planning board member.
The meeting concluded with the approval of the Assessor’s Monthly report which reported spending totals as Over $3,000 under the General Fund and about $14,300 for Highway Funds.
A declaration for Howard Old Home Day was also made at Wednesday’s meeting. The town’s annual Old Home Day is this Saturday September 14th.
