MICHAEL COZZOLINO APPOINTED CLAVERACK TOWN JUSTICE Former Columbia County Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael Cozzolino has been appointed Claverack Town Justice. Cozzolino fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Charles Hoag, who has served in the position since 2005. The appointment was made by unanimous vote at the May meeting of the Claverack Town Board. Cozzolino, a life-long resident of Claverack, is a graduate of Columbia-Greene Community College, Marist College in Poughkeepie, and Albany Law School. He began his career in 1987 as a Columbia County Deputy Sheriff. After graduating from law school in 1996 Cum Laude, Cozzolino worked for 15 years as an Assistant District Attorney, including eight years as Chief Assistant District Attorney, at the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office. In 2011, Cozzolino left the District Attorney’s Office to pursue a career in private practice, specializing in criminal defense and Family Court matters. Cozzolino resides in Claverack with his wife Robin and two children Gabriella and Anthony. He joins Claverack Town Justice Michael Brandon, serving in the busiest town court in Columbia County. SHAW BRIDGE HISTORICAL MARKER DEDICATION Residents are invited to join the Claverack Historical Society, the Claverack Historical Preservation Advisory Committee, and the Claverack Town Board for a dedication ceremony of the newly installed historical marker for the Shaw Bridge on Van Wyck Lane. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 28, 3:30 PM (rain date Sunday, May 29) at the north-end of the bridge (where Van Wyck Ln meets Shaw Bridge Rd). A narration of the history of the bridge, classical guitar/flute ensemble (period music, c1870), and light refreshments are planned. The historical marker was obtained through a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation “Historical Roadside Marker Program.” For additional information, contact claverackhistoricalsociety@gmail.com. OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND TOWN The new bridge on Millbrook Road is nearly complete. Crews will begin paving operations very soon and then reopen the bridge when that is complete. The closure of the Route 9H/23 bridge at the Claverack/Greenport town line was pushed back a week to May 25th. That bridge is expected to remain closed until November. Work continues to bring a shuttle bus service to Philmont. Formal requests have been made to the county and state and we are awaiting the State’s approval. At the April meeting of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, I was honored to present the family of former Claverack Town Supervisor and long-time Civil Service Commissioner Stan Card with a proclamation on behalf of the Board, honoring Stan’s life and service to our residents. See video here. The Board of Supervisors recently received an update from ECC Technologies, the firm contracted to draft a plan for the County to expand broadband telecommunication services, on their preliminary findings and recommendations. View the presentation to the Board here. There update may be downloaded here.
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PROGRESS ON MILLBROOK RD BRIDGE Work continues on the Millbrook Road bridge replacement project. You may recall that this bridge was closed in 2010 due to extreme deterioration and has remained closed since. Emergency services have been forced to use alternate routes as they respond to calls for service in the area. We made resolving the Millbrook Road bridge issue a top priority and are happy to report that we’ve made significant progress. The replacement project is well underway and significantly under original estimates thanks to strict oversight and effective use of town resources to keep costs low. The new bridge will be completed in the fall of 2016. SUMMER YOUTH PLAYGROUND PROGRAM Once again this year, the Town of Claverack will sponsor a “Summer Youth Playground Program” at the Town Park on Church Street. The program runs for six weeks, beginning July 5, 2016 and ending August 12, 2016, and is offered free-of-charge to school-aged children (up to age 16) that live in the Town of Claverack. Transportation is also available for a small fee. For more information and sign-up instructions, check out the Town Website. ROUTE 9H BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT As a reminder, the bridge carrying Route 9H/23 over the Taghkanic Creek at the Claverack/Greenport town line will be under construction from May 18th through November 14, 2016. A signed detour will be in place. Please plan your travel accordingly and use alternate routes. For additional information, visit www.dot.ny.gov/projects (search Contract No. D900030) or call 866-553-3090. PHILMONT MEMORIAL DAY PARADE The Philmont Memorial Day Parade steps off at 9:00 AM on Monday, May 30th. Marchers will parade down Main Street to the Memorial Park at the corner of Main Street and Elm Street where ceremonies will be held. The Philmont Library will offer light breakfast items (egg sandwiches, etc) at the Library from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. The Memorial Day parade is a time-honored tradition in Philmont. Please plan to join us! OTHER NEWS A committee was recently established to begin looking at the space needs of the Town Hall and Town Court, and to investigate whether it is feasible and prudent to keep the existing building or if it would make more sense to relocate the Town Hall and Town Court to a new space. The committee, comprised of town officials and volunteers from the community, has held its first meeting and conducted one site visit to another nearby municipal building. Their work and analysis continues. Stay tuned! Responding to concerns from area residents, we have begun preliminary work to review the town lighting districts to ensure those paying for public lighting are actually receiving it, and to consider where additional lighting may be desired and warranted. Town Board member Maryanne Lee is taking the lead on this project for us. A public information meeting has been scheduled for April 28th at 6:30 pm, at the Columbia-Greene Community College (Lecture Hall 206 - Main Bldg), to update residents, local officials, businesses, and agencies about the Route 9H/23 bridge replacement project at the Claverack/Greenport town line. A presentation will be followed by a question and answer session where attendees will have the opportunity to speak with representatives from NYSDOT and its contractor and ask questions about the project. Download the meeting announcement here (pdf). ROUTE 66 "BUNKER'S BRIDGE" TO BE CLOSED TO NORTHBOUND TRAFFIC
The project to replace Bunker’s Bridge carrying Route 66 over the Claverack Creek at the Claverack/Greenport town line will begin Monday March 14th. This will result in a detour for all northbound traffic that will continue through November 30, 2016. You may have noticed that temporary traffic signals have been placed at the bridge. These lights will be used for the sole purpose of stopping traffic for northbound emergency response vehicles. All other northbound traffic will be required to use the posted detour (Route 23B east to the Route 9H intersection in the hamlet, then northbound on Route 9H to the Route 66 intersection). If your commute is affected by this closure, please allow extra time to arrive at your destination and remember that the speed limit through the hamlet is 40 mph. If speeding or other erratic driving becomes an issue, we will request increased attention from law enforcement. ROUTE 9H/23 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT / STONE MILL RD EXT DETOUR As you probably know, we have been engaged with representatives of New York State Department of Transportation regarding the bridge replacement project on Route 9H/23 at the Claverack/Greenport town line (just south of Hildebrant's Trucking). We have strongly expressed our concerns about limiting the impacts to local property owners in this historically rich area and improving communication with landowners and town government. In response to our push back, contractors and State DOT representatives are looking at the possibility of utilizing a narrower, single lane temporary bridge on Stone Mill Rd Ext. Doing so would ensure safe passage for the motoring public, while mitigating any potential negative impact on the surrounding properties. A second public information meeting will be scheduled in the coming weeks to update local residents and government officials. In the meantime, crews will be working to relocate a utility pole near the bridge and other poles on Yates Rd in Greenport. We appreciate everyone's engagement, input, and cooperation on this issue. IN OTHER NEWS... We are presently working on a Local Law to make our “Dog Control Officer” an “Animal Control Officer” to broaden the scope and jurisdiction beyond that of canines. Our present Dog Control Officer, Reggie Conklin, will be working on the classes and training required to make this possible. The Town will take part in a document shredding program to assist residents with proper destruction and disposition of sensitive documents. This program, sponsored by the County Clerk's Office, will be opened to the public daily during regular business hours. Bins will be at the Town Office Building (91 Church Street, Mellenville) for two weeks beginning on March 14th. This program is currently expected to be offered quarterly. Additional information will be available at the Town Office and also on the town's website I want to take a moment to say thank you to our Town Board, Town Clerk, Highway Superintendent, other town officials and staff, and most importantly you - the residents - for helping to move Claverack forward! Together, we've accomplished much:
★ Property tax control ★ Smart budgets with reduced dependency on reserve funds ★ Staying within the State tax cap, resulting in tax rebate checks for Claverack property owners ★ Consolidation of town services, resulting in increased efficiency and cost savings ★ Replacement of the Millbrook Road bridge ★ Improvements to our Town Park facilities ★ Shared service with other municipalities We've had a successful couple of years, but there's more to do. I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead as we continue to move Claverack forward. God bless, and have a very happy, safe, and prosperous New Year! -Kippy Millbrook Road Bridge Replacement Project We are proceeding with replacement of the bridge on Millbrook Road. The bridge has been closed since being declared unsafe by the State Bridge Authority back in 2010. The closure has resulted in disruption of traffic flow in the area and has caused increased traffic on nearby town roads (such as Orchard Rd). If the increased traffic were to continue long-term, affected roadways would need to be re-engineered to handle the increased traffic – resulting in a significant cost to town taxpayers. To help keep costs as low as possible, our talented town highway department will be doing a lot of work on the replacement project. The project will be funded through municipal bond. We will continue to aggressively pursue grant opportunities to pay down the bond. Work will begin on the new bridge as soon as bids are awarded. The work is expected to be completed by September 15, 2015 – when the DEC stream disturbance permit expires. Grant Writer The Town Board is actively seeking a grant writer to assist with identifying and applying for grant opportunities that may be used by town departments to defray operational costs and projects. We have narrowed the applications down to three and will soon interview the applicants before making a recommendation to hire. The grant writer will be paid with funding allocated in the 2015 budget and will be asked to immediately investigate funds made available by the State of New York. Town Assessors In our continuing effort to make town government as efficient as possible, we are proceeding with plans to reduce the number of Town Assessors by two – replacing the current three elected Assessors structure with a single, appointed Assessor. The sole Assessor will be appointed by the Town Board on an annual basis. This will streamline operations and result in a cost savings to town taxpayers. Town Park Improvements In the 2015 budget, we were able to set aside funds for some much-needed improvements to the Town Park on Church Street. Upgrades have been made to the pavilion and the pavilion kitchen area. Additional work has been completed on the ball fields, including the installation of new sod. Many thanks to our town highway crew for their work on these projects. Use of the town park is at an all-time high. The pavilion is booked almost every weekend this summer and registrations for the summer youth program have been very strong. The Claverack Republican Club will once again this year offer free concerts on Thursday evenings during the months of July and August as part of their Summer Concert Series. The concerts are free of charge and some tasty eats are always available for purchase. Bring a chair some (or every) Thursday night and enjoy the entertainment. Public Safety / Emergency Services Last year, we transitioned responsibility of town court security from the County Sheriff’s Office over to the Philmont Police Department. This change resulted in a savings of over $30 per hour for court security – nearly half of our town court budget. The new shared-service arrangement has worked out very well to date. Town Justices are pleased with the service being provided by Philmont PD. We recently met with the fire departments that provide fire protection to the town in an effort to hear and assess their immediate and future needs. It is our objective to support the volunteers to ensure their needs are met, while also ensuring the best and most cost effective service possible is delivered to town residents. The departments have begun working together toward mutual goals (such as enhanced mutual aid coverage utilizing a town task force response), with the goal of sharing services where possible. We will continue to work with the departments on this. Shared Services As was mentioned above, we continue to encourage the fire departments to develop shared-service arrangements to improve response and reduce costs. The same is true of our highway department who has assisted in shared-services projects with the towns of Greenport, Taghkanic, Ghent, Stockport, the Village of Philmont, and the County Highway Department. These arrangements are a win-win for the departments involved, and also help us to meet the requirements of new state standards for tax-relief. Meeting the Governor’s shared-service standards affords town taxpayers tax rebates that wouldn’t otherwise be available. So it’s important that we continue to work on this. Water District We continue to investigate all available options to minimize rate increases to users of our town water district in the hamlet. This might include expanding to new users, investing in our own wells, and/or consolidating the district under the auspices of one large county water district. All options are on the table as we continue to explore this issue. It’s Memorial Day in America. All across the country, communities are gathering at their public squares, VFW Halls, war monuments, and cemeteries to memorialize and honor those members of the American military who have died in service to our country. The flags fly at half staff, the gravestones have been decorated, and the residents of a grateful country gather to remember. Parades, ceremonies, and speeches are the order of the day. But it doesn’t seem like enough. How do we adequately honor and celebrate these heroes that have given their lives for their fellow countrymen? Words alone certainly cannot repay the debt we owe them. No parade or memorial service will do. We have an obligation as American citizens to support and defend the principles these soldiers died fighting for. We have an obligation to preserve the liberty and freedom they willingly gave their lives to obtain and defend. As we gather today in our backyards for our barbecues and family picnics, let’s remember why this day – that we call Memorial Day – exists. Let’s take some time to remember our war dead – their sacrifice – and their valor. But most importantly, let’s pledge today – in their honor – to always support and defend this country and the liberty and freedom that makes it so great. On behalf of a grateful town and nation, my heartfelt thanks to all of our veterans here in Claverack. To those from Claverack that have given their lives we say thank you and let us commit to carry on the cause they died for. Let us always remember them and their sacrifice. The blood of heroes never dies. It's been a long time coming, and now it's here. Staff at the Columbia-Greene Humane Society moved into their new building yesterday on Humane Society Rd in Claverack. The new building sits on the same property as the old building, but is much larger and offers expanded services to Columbia and Greene counties. This is an exciting achievement for the staff, the CGHS Board, the Town of Claverack, and the greater Columbia-Greene community. The new facility cost nearly $2 Million and is being paid for in large part by donations. To learn more about the new facility and services being offered, or to make a much needed donation, please visit the Columbia-Greene Humane Society's website. Photos from RegisterStar.com - David Lee/Columbia-Greene Media
We're working to update the town website. Meeting minutes for the Town Board and Town Planning Board are now current. Other updates have been made as well. Work continues. Stop by www.townofclaverack.com and have a look. Let us know what features/information you'd like to see added. As you can probably tell by simply looking out your window, we're in the midst of a snowstorm. Nothing unusual about that here in the great northeast. However, this storm is forecast to pack an extra punch of snow, cold, and wind. We expect 8" to 10" of snow here in Claverack before the storm pulls away tomorrow morning. More concerning, is the bitter cold and wind. The National Weather Service expects winds 10-15 mph overnight into the day tomorrow. Temperatures are expected to remain bitterly cold through Saturday, with wind chills below zero.
PLEASE, should a power outage occur, check on your elderly family, friends, and neighbors. If an emergency develops, dial "911" for emergency assistance. We will be monitoring conditions throughout the storm. Our town Highway Superintendent and his fantastic crew will be working around the clock to keep roads open. We will update you again as needed. |
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