Philmont soon will watch what you do

PHILMONT–“You’re either going to have snow on your sidewalk or snow on your road,” said Mayor Clarence “Skip” Speed at Monday’s Village Board meeting, even as another major storm loomed. “It’s got to go somewhere.”

He spoke in response to resident Brian Wheeler’s complaint that the village clears snow from Main Street sidewalks, but not those along side streets.

Trustee Brian Johnson explained that village workers clear four-foot-wide sidewalks with a snow blower (borrowed from the Town of Claverack) that cannot handle the three-foot-wide sidewalks on side streets.

Using a front-loader to pick up snow and deposit it in a dump truck is not a practical alternative; side-street residents must clear their own sidewalks.

“I don’t believe we ever have given a ticket for unshoveled sidewalks,” Mayor Speed said.

Also at the meeting, Trustee Laurence Ostrander presented two estimates from S&F Technologies of Greenport for security surveillance systems.

The pricier option, at just under $11,000, provides two video cameras, one atop the village office building and the other pole-mounted elsewhere, each controllable from a central location and providing video recordings of everything it “sees.” Less costly, just under $3,000, is a vehicle-mounted video recorder with interchangeable lenses and memory card storage of images.

The board has been mulling installation of surveillance cameras in response to recent incidents of vandalism, including smashed windows at the Village Hall. Trustee Ostrander and other officials saw an S&F system in operation in Catskill and came home impressed.

In other business, the board:

*Appointed Renee Maxwell assistant director of the Philmont Public Library

*Agreed to pay Morris Associates $1,193 for design work on the new Department of Public Works building, which engineer Ray Jurkowski said is now ready to go to bid as soon as financing is determined

*Heard from Dick Howard that the next meeting of the Community Day Planning Committee is February 7 at 7 p.m. in the Village Hall, and that volunteers are warmly welcomed

*Heard from Clerk/Treasurer Eilene Morris that the village office will be closed Monday, January 17 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The meeting was adjourned in memory of lifelong village resident Clifford Brandow, who died recently.

Winners of the 2010 village holiday lighting contest are:

*First Place ($50 worth of garbage stickers donated by Village Board members): Philip Brown, Union Court

*Second Place ($50 gift certificate from Montague Oil): Darlene Abrial, Upper Main Street

*Third Place (oil change from Speed’s Garage): Anita Bridgham, Highland Avenue

*Fourth Place ($25 gift card from Vanderbilt Inn): Erin D’Alessio, Prospect Street.

Water rates to rise

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

May 2, 2023

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Water rates will rise for the first time in nearly 16 years in Greenville, effective in the next water bill, which will go out in May. Courtesy of Pexels

GREENVILLE — Water rates will be rising for the first time in nearly 16 years effective this billing period.

The increase, which was approved unanimously by the board, will raise water rates for the first 10,000 gallons of water per quarter from $56.20 to $70. For users who go over the basic 10,000 gallons, the rate will increase to $7 for every additional 1,000 gallons.

The Greenville Town Council approved the rate increase at the April meeting following several months of discussions and public hearings, and talks with the town’s engineering company, Delaware Engineering.

“We had a public hearing on Jan. 16, we had one in February, and we had the continuation at the March meeting about an increase in the water rates for people within the Greenville water district,” Town Supervisor Paul Macko said at the board’s April 17 meeting.

Water rates have remained flat for more than a dozen years and rising costs to operate the water plant have put pressure on the budget.

“We haven’t had a water rate increase in the town of Greenville in almost 16 years,” Macko said. “With the increased costs in electric, chlorine and chemicals, it’s getting increasingly hard. We have burned through some of our reserves.”

In addition to rising expenses for utilities and materials to operate the facility, the plant has also been plagued with power surges and other technical problems that have added to the cost to supply town residents with water.

“A water increase is very much needed in Greenville,” Macko said.

He suggested the board consider making a nominal increase each year to keep up with expenses.

“My recommendation to the board is instead of going 15 or 16 years without a water increase, we should be increasing it by 1% or 1.5% each year to cover the added costs,” Macko said.

The cost of chlorine alone has tripled in recent years, Water Superintendent Renee Hamilton confirmed.

In addition to rising costs of chemicals for the water plant, the continued supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have added to the difficulty of acquiring these materials, Macko said.

Town water users currently pay $56.20 per quarter for the first 10,000 gallons of water used. Under the adopted resolution, the new rate will be $70.

“It’s $56.20 right now, so we are looking at a $13.80 increase over almost a 16-year period,” Macko said.

There were extended talks over whether commercial users should pay a higher rate for additional water over and above the basic 10,000-gallon plan. The decision was made to charge both commercial and residential users $7 for every additional 1,000 gallons used.

“We had a discussion about this. I don’t want to hinder the commercial users,” Macko said. “We talked about $10 or $11 for each thousand gallons over the initial 10,000 gallons. After talking it over with Delaware Engineering, the bigger water users — the car wash, the schools, the laundromat, Tops Plaza — I don’t want to make it seem like we are taking it out on the businesspeople. I think keeping them both at the same rate shows the board’s ability to support our businesses.”

The new rates will go into effect this billing period, with the next water bills expected to go out in May.

Philmont soon will watch what you do

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