VALATIE–Town of Kinderhook Supervisor Pat Grattan said the Town Board plans to hire a ballistics specialist from New Jersey to follow up on a complaint from residents of the Bell Acres neighborhood, who say a bullet from the Tri-Village Rod and Gun Club flew past their house last year.
At the regular town meeting Monday, June 10, Mr. Grattan said that before the board starts paying specialist John Zamrock $110 an hour to investigate, town Building Inspector Wayne Voss, a former State Trooper, will be asked to collect information and interview the residents of the neighborhood about the incident, which happened last summer.
Mr. Grattan that the specialist would charge for expenses in addition to his hourly fee. “It’s $600 just in travel time each day,” Mr. Grattan said at the meeting. The board plans to hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. July 8 before the regular meeting to discuss Mr. Voss’ findings. “I’d like to keep this moving,” said Mr. Grattan of the investigation.
Bell Acres lies off of Route 203 just outside the Village of Valatie, and several people who live there came to the board last September to discuss the issue. Katherine Tretheway said at that earlier meeting that a bullet went past her family’s house from the Rod and Gun Club. After calling the State Police, Ms. Tretheway said she called the rod and gun club about issue but did not hear back. “You are less than half a mile from my house, your bullets go over my house,” she said of the club at the September meeting.
At that time Mr. Grattan asked that the residents come back to meet with representatives from the rod and gun club and board members to work on the issue.
At this week’s meeting Mr. Grattan said he’d tried to find a local ballistics expert help but that experts in the field are hard to find. He said he planned to talk to Mr. Voss about doing the research right away.
During the public comment section of the meeting, Bob Cramer, a member of the rod and gun club’s board of directors, asked Mr. Grattan for a copy of the report once it is completed, saying that he would present it to the club’s board. He did not comment on the neighbors’ complaints.
The June meeting also saw a discussion of requests to use classroom space and the gym at the Martin H. Glynn Building. The Town Board and Valatie Village Board must approve the use of the space by outside groups, though the applications go to the town clerk.
“The first preference should be for community groups,” Mr. Grattan said when looking the applications. The board approved applications from the Valatie Economic Redevelopment Association’s (VERA), which will hold its monthly meetings on the third Wednesday of the month and the Boy Scouts were granted unlimited access to a classroom in the building. The board deferred decisions on applications for a private art class and a language classes through an out-of-county BOCES.
In explaining the board’s policy on the use of space at the building, Mr. Grattan said, “This is really for single events, for in-and-out.”
Board members also discussed gym programs that happen on Tuesday nights when Town Court is open or when there are town or village meetings. Board member Patsy Leader said that there couldn’t be 30 to 60 kids in and out of the building during court sessions of official meetings.
Also at the meeting the board:
•Approved donating extra file cabinets to the Town of Chatham
•Discussed plans to put the vacated Niverville town hall building for sale through an auction in July now that the town board has moved into the Martin H. Glynn Building. The building was recently assessed at $160,000. “I believe in the late ’70s the town paid $35,000 for it,” said Mr. Grattan
•Heard Ms. Leader announce that the next Neighborhood Watch meeting will be Thursday, June 20 at 7 p.m. at the Glynn Building, with representatives from the county Sheriff’s Office and the Office for the Aging.
The next town board meeting will be Monday, July 8 at 7 p.m. in the Martin H. Glynn Building.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@colmbiapaper.com.
