Shakespeare & Company production Emma

Chatham assembles panel to rethink policing

In News, News - Columbia, The Columbia Paper
August 23, 2020
0
Share
At least the village puts safety first. The Village of Chatham has posted signs alerting the public that wearing masks on Main Street is required, using money from a grant for Covid-19 related safety equipment. But the village installed the signs on state Department of Transportation poles. So state workers removed the signs and posted a photo of them on their Facebook page with a warning about posting “advertising, decorative or civic banners and signs on DOT property” without a permit. The one thing the state didn’t do was notify village officials that the signs had been removed. The signs are now attached to village streetlamp poles. Photo by R. E. Lindmark

CHATHAM—Mayor John Howe said the board was going to think about the future of the village court at the Village Board meeting on August 10.

The board held the meeting online for what Mayor Howe pointed out was the fifth month in a row. The board meets on the Webex meeting platform due to the pandemic. The board had planned to meet at the Tracy Memorial/Village Hall but changed the forum to online when the governor extended the executive order that open meetings could be held online until September 4.

The board also discussed the committee that would review police policy in the village in response to another order from the governor. Mayor Howe said that there has been a lot of interest from a diverse group residents in joining the committee.

“I’m really excited about that,” he said.

After the meeting, mayor finalized the committee. He asked board members Peter Minahan and Jaimee Boehme to sit on the committee with Village Police Chief Peter Volkmann and an officer from his department.

The governor issued an executive order in June telling municipalities to “develop a plan that reinvents and modernizes police strategies and programs in their community based on community input. Each police agency’s reform plan must address policies, procedures, practices and deployment, including, but not limited to use of force. Police forces must adopt a plan by April 1, 2021 to be eligible for future state funding.”

Mayor Howe said the process will be transparent and open to the public.

As for the court, Mayor Howe said before the pandemic the Village Court took in enough funding to support itself but now he said the court is “going to start costing us money.” Mayor Howe said the Village Board would have to take a look at the expenses. The village can dissolve the court and use the town courts of Chatham and Ghent. In 2010, the Village of Valatie dissolved its court and all cases now go to the Town of Kinderhook court.

The Chatham Town court meets at the Tracy Memorial/Village Hall on the second floor, and both the village and the town currently have the same judge.

Mayor Howe said that that judge, James Borgia-Forster, is very passionate about having a lift put in the Tracy Memorial to improve access to the second floor courtroom. There is currently only a long staircase. If there is an issue with access, the court proceedings move to the smaller meeting room on the first floor. Judge Borgia-Forster has told the village there would be grant money for a lift.

At the meeting on August 10, Mayor Howe said that the board had previously told the judge a few times that there would be no lift. But the board is moving forward with plans to upgrade the Tracy building, and the village has already been awarded grant money for the upgrade. A later phase of that plan would add an elevator. They discussed but did not act on adding the elevator to an earlier phase.

‘I’m really excited about that.’

Mayor John Howe

Village of Chatham

Also at the meeting:

• After an executive session, the board approved the early retirement in February from the Department of Public Works of John Bartholomew

• The board discussed water rates. Village Clerk Debra Meyers said she was discouraged from looking at a flat rate by the village engineer since there is one water source for residents. “He said do not go the route of a flat rate,” said Ms Meyers. The mayor said the board was continuing to look at other avenues to relieve residents of the “financial stress” and that the board would continue to have a conversation about water rates

• The board agreed to not ask for any increase in funding for the fire company in the contracts with the towns of Chatham, Ghent and Kinderhook. Mayor Howe pointed out the towns’ budgets are struggling. “I think it’s the fair thing to do,” said Trustee Melony Spock of the keeping the fire contract flat this year

• Mayor Howe also said the signs that were removed by the state Department of Transportation will be posted again on Main Street. The village received a grant and had signs made about mandatory mask wearing and put them on posts with DOT signs. The DOT posted a picture of the signs on their Facebook page saying, “Reminder—in order to post advertising, decorative or civic banners and signs on DOT property, you must have a highway work permit to ensure the signs adhere to DOT policy as well as federal policies for advertising on highways. Otherwise, the signs/banners will be removed.”

The DOT removed the village’s signs and did not tell anyone, according to the mayor. “We were doing what we felt was proper,” he said of the signs. He said the signs will be posted again, this time on village light polls.

The signs say that masks must be worn in the area where the signs are posted along Main Street.

The next Village Board meeting will be Monday, September 14.

To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com

Related Posts

The Third Act: Climate group finds supporters upstate

In News - Columbia, State, The Columbia Paper
November 18, 2023
0

Part 2

By DEBORAH E. LANS

CHATHAM – Three years ago, author-activist Bill McKibben established The Third Act as an organization to leverage the time, skills and financial wherewithal of older Americans to address climate change. Since then, the group’s mission has expanded to encompass threats to democracy. In October, an upstate chapter, or “working group,” of the Third Act was launched with Chatham’s Michael Richardson as its convenor and facilitator.

Climate change is an issue of international, national and local concern and one that engages people of all ages. A Pew Research Center poll released in October showed that 69% of Americans believe that the country should develop alternative energy sources in order to lessen greenhouse gas emissions, 66% believe that large corporations are doing too little to address climate change, and 58% think that elected officials are not doing enough. “Climate grief” and “eco-anxiety” affect a majority of the younger generation.

The local effects of climate change are palpable. The Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Cornell CALS) has found that New York State is experiencing climate changes faster than the national and global averages. The upstate area that includes Columbia County will see a 2-7% rise in annual precipitation in the 2020s over the baseline period of 1971-2000; that increase will double by the 2050s. In the baseline period, there were 10 days/year with temperatures over 90 degrees. In the 2020s, that number will rise to 26-31 and, by the 2050s, to 39-52 days (basically, one to two months annually of over 90 degree temperatures).

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says that the Northeastern U.S. “experienced a more than 70% increase in heavy precipitation from 1958 to 2010, greater than any other region of the country.” Such storms have only increased in the decade since, making weather that was once freakish into something commonplace.

After a summer of extreme weather, including violent rainstorms and hotter-than-ever heat, and with winters warming and often thin on snow, many of the dry statistics about climate change have now been lived, and they seem undeniable.

With the U.S. Department of Defense citing the effects of climate change as contributing to “political, economic and social instability around the world,” and with political volatility matching the extremes of the weather, the three focus areas of the Third Act seem well-attuned to the times.

According to Mr. Richardson, those areas are: to democratize energy, to develop “fossil free finance,” and to support democracy and voting rights, all by supporting the work of other organizations using the expertise, energy and wealth of older (over 60) people.

As to the first area, the Third Act will lobby and educate about the goals and ways to implement New York’s highly progressive climate legislation, including the many incentives available to homeowners to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. (Currently, according to the Nature Conservancy, New Yorkers alone emit more heat-trapping gasses than all of Central America and Mexico combined.)

The focus of the “fossil free finance” goal is to encourage “big banks” to stop supporting the fossil fuel industry and shift their lending to community projects that use or produce renewable energy, like solar and wind farms.

The third goal is to secure registration and voting rights, in support of a continued vibrant democracy.

Mr. Richardson, one of the organizers of the upstate working group, has a long history in activism, having been arrested “the first time” at age 18. A retired consultant in workforce planning and labor relations, he previously founded Rivers and Mountains GreenFaith Circle, a multi-faith climate and environmental action group, and served on the Chatham Town Board.

He is drawn to climate activism by the belief that “our generation, with its consumerism, brought us to this place, and it is our responsibility to the younger generation to effect a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.”

David and Joan Grubin of Hillsdale are among the volunteers who have been drawn to the Third Act. Mr. Grubin is a retired director, writer and cinematographer who has produced more than 100 films on topics that include history, poetry, art and the sciences. Among his long list of awards are 10 Emmys. Ms. Grubin is a visual artist who has won a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship and was a fellow of the MacDowell Colony.

They were attracted to the Third Act because, “Bill McKibben has been a hero for a long time, a great thinker,” according to Ms. Grubin, and because the group offers an opportunity to act concretely at a local level. The effort “felt real, like planting a tree for future generations to enjoy.”

The Grubins would not say they are “activists by background” but “the world is frightening in terms of what’s happening with the climate and democracy, and it feels better to act, together with others, rather than just get caught up in despair.”

Neither of the Grubins lists The Third Act as their only activity. Ms. Grubin says that as a visual artist she never will “retire,” and she is immersed in the arts community of the Hudson Valley as well as serving as a trustee for the Vermont College of Visual Arts. She says its “low residency” model, which requires minimal time on-campus and hence is tailored for adults, allows older students to have an experience that for her, when she attended to gain a master’s degree, was “intense and life-altering.” Mr. Grubin has also become a student again, studying for a master’s in Fine Art (Poetry). He writes poetry and sits on the board of Poets House.

Another Third Act volunteer is Marjorie McCoy, who says she has actually had many third acts. A comparative religion major in college, she later attained a master’s in social work, spending a number of years at the Berkshire Farm Center. Then she transitioned to the law, obtaining a law degree and working for 23 years at the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, rising to deputy clerk of the court.

She retired due to the long-term effects of Lyme Disease, began working in hospice care, and ended up in a 15-month chaplaincy program at Albany Medical College. She has since worked as a volunteer chaplain at the Albany Medical Center and local correctional institutions. Her chaplaincy work led her to an emerging field — climate change chaplaincy — helping others deal with the shame and guilt they feel about their own behaviors that have contributed to climate change and with their anxieties about how the world will be altered.

Ms. McCoy now lives in Ghent, but her own experience of changes in her Greene County woods — hemlocks dying, butterflies and fireflies disappearing, smoke blotting out the sun — and the fears articulated by the younger generations of her family lead her to climate activism. She is also worried about the future of democracy, even in New York which prides itself on a progressive history that now seems threatened.

As actress and activist Jane Fonda put it in her Ted Talk about her own third act, how people address their aging is within their control, and they can make it a highly productive time. She quoted the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who lived in a concentration camp for five years: “Everything you have in life can be taken from you except one thing: your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”

GOP nominates full slate in town elections

In News, News - Ravena, The Ravena News Herald
March 31, 2022
0

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Republicans nominated a full slate of candidates for the November town elections. Pictured, left to right, are Highway Superintendent Daniel Baker, Town Councilman Stephen Schmitt, Town Councilwoman Marisa Tutay, town justice candidate Linda Tammy Eissing and Town Clerk Candace McHugh. Contributed photo

COEYMANS — Republicans nominated a full slate of candidates for the November town elections at their caucus at the Ravena Grange last week.

Two seats on the town council, highway superintendent, town clerk and town justice will be on the ballot.

The two council candidates, Marisa Tutay and Stephen Schmitt, are appointees who were named to the board this year after two council members stepped down.

Running for highway superintendent will be Daniel Baker, and Candace McHugh will be on the ballot for town clerk. Both have also been appointed to the positions to replace their predecessors — former Highway Superintendent Scott Searles, who retired, and Laura Jane Barry, who stepped down as town clerk in January for health reasons after a few days on the job.

Town justice candidate Linda Tammy Eissing is running for a full four-year term.

All candidates were also endorsed by the town’s Conservative Party.

TOWN COUNCIL

Town Councilwoman Marisa Tutay was appointed to the town board in January to replace former Councilman Zachary Collins, who was elected to the Albany County Legislature.

Tutay, whose maiden name was Nunziato, was born and raised in Ravena and lives on property in Coeymans that has been in her husband’s family for 100 years. She graduated from RCS High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at The College of Saint Rose.

She taught elementary school in Guilderland for 12 years before securing a teaching position at A.W. Becker Elementary School in Selkirk, where she now serves as curriculum content specialist for math and science and math interventionist for grades K-5. She has been teaching for 31 years.

Before her appointment to the town council, Tutay was on the town’s planning board. She was a member of the Coeymans Hollow Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary for about six years, where she served as president and vice president. She also taught religious instruction at St. Patrick’s Church.

“If I am elected my primary goal is to create and foster a sense of community between all facets of the town,” Tutay said. “I think that is vital to us being a successful community and to have environmentally sound economic development — I think that is very important. I grew up in a town that is very different than the town is today, and I would love for people to experience the closeness of the community and growth that is positive for our children, and that includes being environmentally conscious, not just putting in industry that will make us economically successful, but to make it environmentally successful and to create a sense of community — those are my three biggest goals.”

Tutay would also like to see additional programming for youth and older residents, she added, as well as encourage the town and village to work together.

“I really would like to see greater cooperation between the town and the village,” Tutay said. “I think there has been, in the past — and I don’t know if that is true of this particular administration — but sometimes they get in the way of each other and I think if we worked together more efficiently, we could really make Coeymans a star on the stage of the county.”

Tutay has been appointed by the council to work with Town Councilman Brandon Lefevre on organizing the town’s 350th anniversary celebration, she said.

Town council candidate Stephen Schmitt was appointed to the town board in March to replace Baker after he stepped down to take a position in the highway department. Schmitt is a lifelong resident of Coeymans and graduated from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district.

Prior to being appointed to the board, Schmitt served on the town’s zoning board of appeals — and later the joint planning/zoning board of appeals after the two boards were consolidated — for 11 years, including eight years as chairman.

He has worked as a paralegal for the past 20 years and has an associate degree from Maria College and a bachelor’s degree from Russell Sage College.

“I consider myself a good listener and I am not afraid to stand up for what is right for our residents,” Schmitt said. “I think being on the zoning board of appeals and then the joint planning/zoning board of appeals has given me a lot of insight. When I was asked to take Councilman Baker’s position, I thought this was a good way for me to expand and use my experience on the planning/zoning board of appeals and now I feel like I can help the community, help the businesses, help my fellow government representatives to continue to move the town of Coeymans in the onward and upward direction that it has been going.”

If elected in November, among Schmitt’s top priorities will be expanding broadband access.

“We live off Starr Road and for a very long time, up until last year, we didn’t have any broadband here,” Schmitt said. “I really would like to continue the trend with broadband expansion for everyone in the town of Coeymans because it is absolutely necessary. A lot of our residents are in rural areas and there are only a small number of houses, so these (broadband) corporations don’t want to spend because it costs a lot of money to create the infrastructure. I really want to focus on that and utilize grants and other non-taxpayer dollars to ensure that the town of Coeymans has access to broadband for everyone.”

HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT

Former Town Councilman Daniel Baker was named special assistant to the highway superintendent in early March upon the announcement of former superintendent Scott Searles’ retirement, and last week was appointed superintendent by the board. He is running in November to complete Searles’ three-year term.

“I worked for Lafarge for 20 years in the heavy construction industry,” Baker said. “I was also in the quarry for a while where there was heavy equipment operations, maintenance operations, ground operations, and half of those years I was manager of the Maintenance Department. I was heavy equipment operator at Flach Industries doing infrastructure repairs, truck driving, equipment operations, and so on. I have been in this business my whole life in some form or another.”

Baker is a lifelong resident of Coeymans and Ravena and graduated from RCS High School. And though he resigned from his position as town councilman, he continues to serve as deputy town supervisor, though he no longer has a vote on the board. If elected, he is looking to continue making improvements, he said.

“Some of my goals are to try to make some efficiencies within the Highway Department, continue to improve the current roads in the town of Coeymans and continue to deliver service to the taxpayers in many different ways, whether cleaning the roads, clearing brush and leaves, putting in culverts — there are many different facets of the roads that I would like to see continue to improve in the town of Coeymans.”

If elected, Baker said he would be available to residents to assist with any road-related issues.

TOWN JUSTICE

Linda Tammy Eissing will be on the ballot for a full four-year term for town justice. She is a lifelong resident of Ravena and graduated from RCS High School, going on to earn an associate degree from Eastern Gateway Community College. She has been clerk to the town justices for the past 30 years.

“I have always had a respect for the law and I spent 30 years in the court system,” Eissing said. “I gained so much knowledge and experience from my court clerk position and at my age, it’s the next step that I would like to take. I have always wanted to be a judge and it’s my passion. I would like to take that step into that honorable position.”

Eissing said that if elected, she would “promote fair and equal justice.”

“I just want to do the best that I can as a town justice,” she said. “I have the time and the experience and the knowledge, and I would like to fulfill all the obligations for our local justice court.”

TOWN CLERK

Candace McHugh was appointed to the town clerk’s position in January when former clerk Laura Jane Barry resigned for health reasons after a few days on the job. McHugh is the sister-in-law of Town Supervisor George McHugh. She is running for a three-year term.

“I was born and raised in the hamlet of Coeymans and went to RCS,” she said. “I have always lived here — I have never lived anywhere else. I like my town.”

After completing some coursework at Hudson Valley Community College, Candace McHugh was an assistant manager for a car rental company and after having children spent years as a stay-at-home mother. She served as a parish councilor for St. Thomas the Apostle and as a member of the school’s board, working on many of their charitable auctions.

When George McHugh was elected town supervisor in 2020, Candace McHugh became his confidential secretary, a position she held for two years before being appointed town clerk.

If elected, she is looking to continue digitizing some of the town’s historical records.

“Cindy [Rowzee], the previous clerk, has done an excellent job as far as records management by putting everything in a digital format and I would like to continue that, but also I noticed over the past month or so there are some historical records that need some repair,” McHugh said. “There are some birth and death books, and things of that sort, that really need to be preserved a little bit better so I would like to be able to incorporate the electronic aspect of the history, but also have that paper historical record as well.”

Election Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Ravena News-Herald

The Ravena News-Herald is a weekly newspaper reporting on the news in the Ravena, Coeymans and New Baltimore communities of beautiful upstate New York.

Greenville Pioneer

Greene County’s independent newspaper. Featuring local news, letters to the editor, upcoming events, police blotter, columns from local writers and more.

The Columbia Paper

The Columbia Paper is a weekly newspaper reporting news and events from the communities of Columbia County in beautiful upstate New York.

Copyright © 2024
Capital Region Independent Media.

Powered by CityMediaInc.com