Village Board wants to use grant to fix sidewalk in front of library

MILLERTON — The Village Board heard suggestions for its 2021 Community Development Block Grant application at a special public hearing and meeting held on Tuesday, Nov. 17. 

The meeting was held via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now on the “Village of Millerton VOM” Facebook page. With the exception of  Trustee Joshua Schulz, the full board and resident Sam Busselle were present. 

Mayor Debbie Middlebrook said the board hopes to do some sidewalk work, namely the section in front of the NorthEast-Millerton Library. She said there’s a tree that needs to come down and that the sidewalk has already been broken up and chipped due to the tree’s roots. In addition to replacing that section of sidewalk, Middlebrook said the board hopes to install a new crosswalk at that section at the same time. The village already has multi-modal crossing signs it can utilize and residents want a crosswalk in that vicinity; the mayor said getting both projects done at once would be both ideal and cost effective.

As a member of the Tri-Town Coalition, which seeks affordable housing solutions, Busselle made a request. Saying that Dutchess County encourages cooperation among the municipalities of Amenia, Pine Plains, North East and Millerton, Busselle said the coalition wants better communication to facilitate better collaboration. 

If the coalition could generate some funding and if he could draft some proposals, Busselle plans to appeal to all of the municipalities for financial assistance, adding it could lead to another “Community Conversation,” next year to get more people involved in creating local affordable housing. 

Busselle suggested that since Trustee Matthew Hartzog is familiar with housing issues, he could be of help.

“We don’t have enough publicity, we don’t have enough commitment from the communities, from the people who really need housing… but we don’t have the resources to sort of stimulate it at this point,” Busselle said, “so I just want to know if we can keep this open as a placeholder while we determine whether or not each of the towns would be interested in participating.”

Middlebrook said she thought block grants were for tangible items, such as modifying bathrooms in public buildings to make them Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaint, etc. She said she wasn’t sure if setting aside funding to publicize meetings would qualify a grant.

Busselle said he’s been involved with the CDBG process for 30 years, adding when he was more active with the North East Community Center (NECC), it made CDBG applications for social services. As he recalled, he said up to 15% of its funding can be used for social services. 

Checking the description, Trustee Alicia Sartori found that up to 15% of a CDBG’s annual allocation after the deduction of the county’s administrative expenses may be set aside for public service activities. 

Middlebrook said it sounded like the village could apply for the sidewalk work and then apply for Busselle’s idea. She asked Sartori later that evening whether there was a separate funding source for what Busselle wanted; Sartori said she’d have to look into it.

“Maybe what we can do is look into it for next year since we’re in such a time crunch now to get this application in,” Village Clerk Kelly Kilmer said. 

Hartzog, who had to leave the meeting early, said he was in favor of the sidewalk project.  Kilmer inquired if the village has any other sidewalk repairs left to do. Middlebrook said there are more sidewalks that need work in residential areas of the village.

After further discussion, the board closed the public hearing at 9:27 p.m. A resolution was passed to apply for block grant funds to replace the sidewalk in front of the library. Middlebrook noted this section will go up toward Salisbury Bank and heading both east and west through Millerton.