Village Board deflects AT&T request, reviews Mill Street bridge project

MILLERTON — Starting at 6 p.m., the Village Board got to work — reviewing the AT&T rent reduction proposal, assessing updates from its Highway Department, and more — at its regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 19.

The meeting was live streamed to the “Village of Millerton VOM” Facebook page due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire board was present, plus Village Clerk Kelly Kilmer, Millerton Police Officer in Charge Michael Veeder, Highway Supervisor Coleman Lawrence and Village Attorney Ian MacDonald.

Following the board’s adoption of a negative declaration  under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process for the Eddie Collins Memorial Field revitalization project, MacDonald brought up a proposal from AT&T. He reminded the board it had previously talked about a rent reduction and an increase in the lease term. The proposed reduction was about $100 a month less than the current lease.

MacDonald said he spoke with a representative from Black Dot, a consultant that negotiates leases, about how there isn’t much incentive for the village to agree to the reduction. In the past, he said AT&T has proposed rent guarantee periods as incentives for the village to agree to rent reductions. While there would be a lower monthly rent, he said AT&T would agree to pay the amount for a certain period of time, whereas under the current lease, the company has the ability to terminate its lease agreement with a one-year notice.

What Black Dot came back with, MacDonald explained, was a proposal to reduce the rent with the same amounts and terms so that AT&T would agree to a four-year guaranteed period. However, MacDonald said it was up to the board and that there was nothing that would require the board to agree to it.

MacDonald pointed out that the village gets a slight increase percentage-wise each year, which will be taken off the table if the board decides to go ahead with the proposal. The rent will remain the same for the next four years, and he said it looks like AT&T wants to keep the rent the same for the next 10 years. In response to village Trustee Matthew Hartzog’s question about the previous lease term, MacDonald said that lease term was five years and was last renewed in 2016. He added that AT&T has the one-way option to renew for additional five-year periods, and while there are at least five renewal terms, the village is already in the first renewal term with the second renewal term set to begin in February 2021. Additionally, AT&T can terminate at any time with one year’s notice and can decide not to renew for an additional five-year term with 60 days’ notice prior to the end of the term.

Until that time, the company is obligated to pay the village those rent amounts until the end of the four-year period. If the village accepts this proposal, MacDonald said, it would be getting less the amount of rent each month but it would be guaranteed to receive that for the next four years starting from February 2021. Otherwise, if the village doesn’t accept the proposal, he said AT&T is required to pay the higher rental amount, which increases 2.5% per year under the terms of the current lease, though the company can terminate that with one year’s notice at any time.

After mulling over the information, the board ultimately decided not to act on the request at this time, though Mayor Debbie Middlebrook said AT&T can revisit the issue in six months.

Among the items featured his report, Lawrence talked about information he received from the engineering, environmental consulting and landscape architecture company Tighe & Bond, which sent him a report on the Mill Street Bridge improvement project. Totaling $16,000, he said the report contained the bridge assessment, the bridge design services, the alternative analysis and the analysis for finding available grants to get the work completed. 

Taking in the project’s overall cost, Middlebrook said the board will have to get written bids. Hartzog asked if the village has a “drop dead date” for when it needs to fix the bridge, to which Lawrence replied no, and that the village has been in contact with the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) with regard to this project. He added the biggest concern is that the bridge can go to “red flag” at any moment, resulting in it needing to be shut down immediately with no alternatives.

“I’d certainly hate to see the Mill Street Bridge shut down,” said Trustee Jenn Najdek. “However, there’s an easy enough access point if you go up the other way… Nobody would be stuck.”

“I think if we continue to do our due diligence and keep going with it, the DOT will be fine,” Lawrence said. “As long as we keep going along and do what we need to do, eventually we’ll be able to remedy these situations, but it’s not something that has to be done tomorrow.”

Middlebrook and the Village Board talked about whether they should look to for grants to do the bridge work. While Tighe & Bond has said it will do the engineering work and help the village search for grants for the project work at a price of $16,000, Middlebrook said the village will have to look at other engineering companies to compare prices, while Lawrence said he will also have to look into alternative processes since “there are multiple ways of addressing this situation. There are a lot factors to consider — it’s a big process,” he said.

Middlebrook asked Hartzog and Village Trustee Joshua Schultz to meet with Lawrence to figure out what information is needed to solicit bids from other engineering firms. She said the board also needs to first find out what’s wrong with the bridge to put out those bids. 

Lawrence was then asked to send the board the Tighe & Bond report as well as the information he received from the NYSDOT with details of what’s actually wrong with the bridge for the board to review.