Happy Halloween!!

9.21.16 East Greenbush Town Board Meeting – Part 2

The following were enacted unanimously except where noted.

182-2016 Authorize the Supervisor to Sign a New Contract with the Civil Service Employees Association, Inc., Local 1000, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFL-CIO, Town of East Greenbush Unit #8257 of the Rensselaer County Local #842

183-2016 Provisionally Appoint Roger Sharp to the Position of Laborer in the Department of Public Works

184-2016 Recognizing October as “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” and October 19, 2016 as “East Greenbush Goes Purple Day”

185-2016 Authorizing the Supervisor to Sign a Technical Service Change Order (TSCO) for Construction Administration and Inspection Services Tabled.

186-2016 Approving the Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination Policy for the Town of East Greenbush

187-2016 Authorizing the Supervisor to Execute a Personal Services Contract with Terence Sharp for Professional Operations Assistance at the Wastewater Treatment Plant

188-2016 Scheduling a Public Hearing to Consider Extending the General Water District to Include Certain Premises Known as 150 Ridge Road, owned by Kamal Swami and Avani Swami 6:45PM on 10/19/16

Pete Stenson

East Greenbush

 

Town Hall Notices

Public Hearings Rescheduled Posted: 17 Oct 2016 08:44 AM PDT The Public Hearings originally scheduled for Wednesday, October 19, 2016 have been rescheduled for November 16, 2016. The following Public Hearings were for: - Ratify and Affirm the Town of East Greenbush Land Subdivision Regulations and Further Amend Section 4 of the Town of East Greenbush Land Subdivision Regulations- Code of Ethics

Fall Shredder Day with City of Rensselaer Posted: 17 Oct 2016 09:29 AM PDT The Town of East Greenbush teams up with the City of Rensselaer for Fall Shredder Day. November 5th 2016 10 AM-1 PM 62 Washington Street Rensselaer, NY Do you have confidential papers and files you need to dispose of? See the link to flyer below. Fall Shredder Day with Rensselaer

9.21.16 East Greenbush Town Board Meeting – Part 1

The following were enacted unanimously except where noted.

167-2016 Recognizing September as “Childhood Cancer Awareness Month” and September 28, 2016 as “East Greenbush Goes Gold” Day in memory of Sean Jucha

168-2016 Recognizing October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Friday October 21, 2016 as East Greenbush Goes “Pink” Day

169-2016 Honoring Daniel Edward Farley on his Achievement of the Rank of Eagle Scout Congratulations!

170-2016 Honoring William David Lindemann on his Achievement of the Rank of Eagle Scout Congratulations!

171-2016 Authorizing Certification of the Base Percentages, Current Percentages, Current Base Proportions and Adjusted Base Proportions

172-2016 Authorizing a Contract with Web Instinct to Upgrade the Town Website

173-2016 Authorizing a Website Maintenance Agreement with Web Instinct

174-2016 Update and Reconsolidate the Town Code and Provide for its Posting on the Town Website

175-2016 Authorizing the Expenditure of an Amount not to Exceed $15,000.00 to Match Funding Provided by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to Study the Source of Contamination at the Pond in the Town Park Councilperson Matters opposed.

176-2016 Awarding Engagements to Perform Audit Services for 2015 Financials Audit and 2013 Single Audit

177-2016 Approving the 2017 Policy Year Changes for CDPHP

178-2016 Authorize a Public Auction of Surplus Equipment two Police cars

179-2016 Scheduling a Public Hearing to Ratify and Affirm the Town of East Greenbush Land Subdivision Regulations and Further Amend Section 4 of the Town of East Greenbush Land Subdivision Regulations 6:30PM on 10/19/16

180-2016 Authorizing Delaware Engineering to solicit Bids for the Town of East Greenbush Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall Piping and Paving Project

181-2016 Authorize Various General Construction, Electrical, HVAC, and Plumbing-related Contracts under Request for Bids #16-3

Pete Stenson

East Greenbush

East Greenbush Proposed Code of Ethics – UPDATE

Last evening’s (9/21/16) Ethics Law Public Hearing clarified one issue I had with the proposal.  Pursuant to Section 16(f), Town employees will not be prohibited from being from being Committee Members “in a political party represented on the election ballot.”  Rather, employees will be banned from being members of a committee’s Executive Committee, i.e., Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary or Treasurer.  The proposal should be more specific.

However, pursuant to Section 16(g) members of Town Board, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Board of Ethics; Commissioner of Public Works; Town Comptroller; Assessor; Director of Planning and Zoning; and Deputy Supervisor are banned from being a member of a political committee.  Pursuant to Section 16(j), such employees would have to vacate their Town position or Committee membership by 1/1/17.

Most enlightening/disturbing, was a statement read on behalf of the Ethics Board by its Chair, Kathleen Luria.  I quote.  “I want to be clear so that town residents understand that the version which is the subject of tonight’s public hearing is not the version put forward by the BOE.  It is the town board’s draft which includes the provisions that we rejected for the reasons I enumerated earlier [note: Sections 16(g) and 16(j)].”  The very Board charged with administering the proposed Ethics Code disagrees with certain of its provisions.

Ms. Luria also quoted then BOE Chair and current Town Supervisor Jack Conway’s 10/26/12 BOE resignation letter: “there is a fundamental conflict of interest in having the town board write the code of ethics that is supposed to regulate the conduct of its own members.”  This is exactly what it did, according to Ms. Luria.

Miles’ Law states “Where you stand depends on where you sit.”  So true!

Pete Stenson

East Greenbush