Councilwoman Chris Rossi
Chris Rossi

The meeting opened with an update from Hamilton Village Mayor Bob McVaugh, on the discussion about immigration enforcement issues at the last Village Trustee meeting. Local residents shared their views with the Hamilton Village Police Chief, the Mayor, and Trustees.

Village attorney Jim Stokes is drafting guidelines for the Village Police department for consideration at the next Village meeting. The Town and Village are also looking to the County Sheriff’s Office for their policy and guidance on this issue.

It’s been a busy winter for the highway garage. Jason Florenz, highway superintendent, has purchased radios for communication in all trucks.

The County is working on making radio communication between our highway staff and other emergency response entities possible—fire departments, troopers, sheriff.

The Town is buying a new loader and is considering selling our wheeled excavator to the towns of Smithfield and Lincoln, with the right to borrow it back as needed.

Now that the Comprehensive Plan has been adopted, the Town is turning its attention to an action plan. A committee will review the proposed updates and additions to the Town Zoning. In conjunction with the

Comprehensive Plan, the Town is working with Colgate and other local entities on the Climate Smart

Communities and Clean Energy Communities initiatives. Madison County was recently recognized for their

status as a Climate Smart Community.

The Partnership for Community Development has completed its airpark marketing study and will use the data to attract new business. Grant applications are currently available for new and existing businesses in Brookfield, DeRuyter, Eaton, Georgetown, Hamilton, Madison, Nelson, and Lebanon. For more information, visit, http://www.thisishamiltonny.com/work/pcd

Work on the new Town Office at 38 Milford Street continues, with plans to have the existing structure removed by a builder, and decorative elements saved for the Town’s use on the new building. Construction for the new building is planned to go out to bid by the end of April with occupancy by the end of the year.

The Wetland Trust has alerted the town of Hamilton of a mitigation plan they are proposing for property located in the Nine-Mile Swamp. The plan allows builders who develop properties on wetlands to offset building impacts by preserving other wetlands from building pressure. The Wetland Trust will preserve from development lands bought from private property owners bordering the Swamp who wish to participate in this program. Working with the Wetland Trust and other local entities, the Town would like to ensure recreational access to the Sangerfield River as it flows through the Nine-Mile Swamp.

The Town resolved to support the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law bill expansion at the request of the Hubbardsville Fire Department. If passed, this bill would extend the already existing VFBL to cover all instances of melanoma, as well as cancers of the digestive, hematological, lymphatic, urinary, prostrate, neurological, breast and reproductive systems.

The Hamilton Town Council meets on the second Thursday of the month at the village courthouse in the Village of Hamilton at 6:30 p.m. Our next meeting is Thursday, April 15. We invite and encourage you to join us. For more info visit www.townofhamiltonny.

Editor’s note: Submitted by Chris Rossi, Hamilton Town Council

By martha

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