Amenia Town Board finishes year with busy final meeting

AMENIA — The Town Board considered and approved 14 resolutions during its final meeting of the year, held on Thursday, Dec. 19. All votes were unanimous. Councilperson Nicole Ahearn was absent from the meeting.

After lengthy negotiation among officials of the towns of Amenia, North East and Dover, an agreement with Northern Dutchess Paramedics was reached to continue providing ambulance service to the three towns. Under the agreement, the town of Amenia will pay $480,762 for service through 2025, that annual amount to increase to $639,900 for 2026 and to $689,900 for service in 2027.

The town of North East will pay $511,558 for ambulance service in 2025, and the town of Dover will pay $401,563 for the coming year, according to the agreement.

Taking a step ahead in a project that will bring improvement to the town Water District, the Town Board approved a resolution to authorize Delaware Engineering of Albany to prepare a map, plan and report — known as an MPR — for the project. The MPR is needed to complete applications for significant grant funding to support the project. The cost for the MPR and the subsequent funding applications, approved by the town board, is $15,000. Grant applications must be submitted by May 30, 2025.

Recommended improvements within the Water District include a replacement of the existing Lavelle Road pump house with a pre-packaged new pump house, rehabilitation of the existing water storage tank, upgrades to the well fields and water main replacement in sections where necessary.

If construction occurs in 2026, the estimated cost for the capital project would be $3.9 million. The anticipated grant funding applications are steps toward funding the water district improvement project.

In other actions the Town Board supported a resolution to prepare bid specifications for a new LED public announcement sign at the Town Hall. Once the bid specifications are determined, vendors will be invited to submit bids on the project.

Agreeing that the town itself could be aided attention to its “brand,” and having reviewed bid proposals, the town board agreed to hire the graphic design services of Giorgio Baravalle of de.MO of Millbrook. To be included will be design work on a new town logo and branding system at a cost of $3,850.

Feeling that the old town seal should be reimagined, the town board voted to open the redesign to residents, inviting submission of ideas to help create a new seal design.

Submission guidelines are posted on the town website. Welcome are rough drawings or just ideas. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, Jan. 29, at noon.

The website for the Town of Amenia will be redesigned by the successful bidder, TownWeb at a cost of $10,770. TownWeb software is designed to support the needs of local governments.

The town’s Water District operator, VRI of LaGrangeville, received town board approval to conduct a survey to locate all of the district’s water valves and provide assessment of their condition and need for repair. The estimated cost for this survey will be $10,000.

The water valve testing is scheduled to occur between Monday, Jan. 6, and Friday, Jan. 10. Water discoloration and air pockets in the line may occur as a result of the testing process. Residents should run cold tap water for a few minutes until the flow clears up and refrain from doing laundry for 24 hours after the discoloration appears. For more information, call VRI at 845-677-3839.

Cannabis dispensary

After a year of discussion and drafting of a local law to govern the location and operation of a retail cannabis dispensary, the town board moved forward on the issue, clearing the way to schedule a public hearing to gather residents’ comments on whether to adopt the new local law.

The public hearing was formally scheduled by the town board for Thursday, Jan. 16, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall.
Because the Planning Board will need to meet and comment on adoption of the local law, Town Clerk Dawn Klingner pointed out that the public hearing will open on Jan. 16 and hear comments. It will, however, need to be continued until the following town board meeting giving opportunity for more comment. The reason for the continuation is that the Planning Board has no meeting scheduled before Jan. 16. The continuation allows time for the Planning Board to meet and provide its comments.

Economic Development Committee

The town board voted to create an Economic Development Committee as an advisory group and named its first five members, each to serve a two-year term. Appointed to the new committee are Ken Topolsky, James Ohliger, Tom Buttacavoli, Richard Fields, and Damian Gutierrez.

Large documents scanner

Filling a long-standing need, the town board agreed to purchase a Canon large format scanner and printer for the Town Hall. Both the Building and Planning Departments will benefit from the new equipment, expected to cost around $9,380. In addition to scanning and copying, the new machine will print large signage.