Millbrook Board holds re-org, seeks trustee

MILLBROOK — The annual reorganization meeting of the Village Board took place on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, the meeting was held via Zoom, it was the first meeting led by newly elected Mayor Tim Collopy, with recently re-elected Trustees Vickie Contino and Michael Herzog present.  Trustee Kevin McGrane participated through Zoom. Also present were Village Clerk and Treasurer/Tax Collector Sarah Witt.

Collopy, Herzog and Contino were sworn in by Witt; Witt was sworn in by Collopy. Collopy thanked Herzog and said he had done an admirable job; Herzog took over the duties of mayor from July through December of last year after former Mayor Rodney Brown resigned before the end of his term. Herzog said it was a “joint effort” with the rest of the board; he was appointed to serve as deputy mayor for 2021, after that the position will be rotated among the trustees annually according to seniority.

Board seeks new trustee

The board is seeking a replacement for Collopy’s trustee position, left vacant when he was elected mayor. The attributes the board would like to see in the next trustee include: someone who understands the position is not merely ceremonial; someone who has time to dedicate to the position; preferably someone with accounting experience; someone who is responsible; someone who would represent the entire village and not just special interests; someone to act as a liaison for other groups; someone with a wide range of interests; someone who is a village resident. The trustee appointment is for one year; the candidate will have the option to run for the office in November if they wish to remain a trustee in 2022. If interested, send a letter of interest to Village Hall. 

Reorg details

Andy Doro will remain chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals; Matt Forte will be chair of the Planning Board; and Kay Vanderlyn will remain a Planning Board member.

The shared service agreement with the Town of Washington was approved. 

The official daily newspaper for the village will be The Poughkeepsie Journal and The Millerton News will remain its official weekly newspaper. The village’s official depository is the Bank of Millbrook. 

Designated meetings for 2021 will be held on the second Wednesday of each month. If a second meeting is needed it will take place on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Meetings will start at 6 p.m. At this time the Village Hall is closed to the public due to COVID-19, but if a member of the public wishes they can notify the village clerk by noon on the preceding Monday and she will e-mail them the necessary information to access a meeting on Zoom. Special meetings may be held, and meetings may be canceled, for which notices will be posted at Village Hall, the post office, the firehouse and at Town Hall. Meetings are also available for viewing via the village website, Channel 22 and after noon on the day following the meeting.

Sexual harassment training must be completed yearly by all staff and board members. The Employee Handbook will reflect that there are 13 paid holidays; Juneteenth is being added; an employee may choose to give up their voting day in order to take the day of Christmas Eve off; no swapping is allowed for other days.

The deputy mayor will update contact and equipment lists annually in the Emergency Plan. All invoices are to be submitted and paid by July 2021 for the fiscal year 2020-21 in order to close the year with sufficient time. The handbook and the website depictions are being coordinated to reduce redundancies; a hard copy will be given to the Planning Board, the Zoning Board, Fire and Rescue, Trustees, Heads of Departments with three fill-in sheets to be signed and added to personnel files.

Jan. 13 meeting a biggie 

Collopy urged attendance at the next regular meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 13, to be held via Zoom; Dutchess County Legislator Deirdre Houston (R-25) is scheduled to discuss the status of COVID-19 vaccinations in Dutchess County. There is also supposed to be an update given on the status of the village’s water project and sewer project. Grant applications for those projects are due by Feb. 13.