Bruce Moseley as chair of the Town and Village democratic committee, and Carolyn Todd as a former board member, presented letters of thanks to Dave Holcomb and Chris Rossi, who are completing terms of office. David has served on the board 20 years and among his accomplishments is his work on revitalizing SOMAC. Chris has served for 8 years and will continue serving on the Zoning Update Committee and Hamilton Climate Preparedness Working group.
The Road Crew is still working on the damage from the Halloween storm, including a plugged culvert on Borden Road. Fixes include techniques that can handle the increasingly frequent flooding. Costs for storm damage should exceed $38,000 and will be submitted to FEMA for reimbursement should the event be declared an emergency by FEMA.
The Geothermal installation at the Town Garage is completed and the system is currently heating the entire sturcture. Once the temperature really dips the doors will be closed separating the front and back of the building, with geothermal heating 1/2 of the garage. The Department of Transportation completed its speed study on Preston Hill Road and made recommendations for traffic calming, including a decrease in speed to 45 mph on the portion of the road between State Route 12B and Horton Rd. New speed signs will be posted as soon as possible depending on the weather.
Thanks to Michael Marcellus for 25 years of service on the Highway Crew. The Town Council recognized this milestone by resolution expressing gratitude for Mr. Marcellus’ dedication.
Town Councilmember Mary Dinski will be the new liaison to SOMAC and is working with them on developing a capital plan for purchasing vehicles and major equipment. The Town renewed its contract with SOMAC for 2020. Deruyter Supervisor Dan DeGear has been selected as the new Director of Madison County Emergency Management, replacing Ted Halpin who is retiring from the position. Superisor Shwartz will work closely with DeGear to explore a regional approach which may help relieve the tax burden on Hamiltonians in the future.
The Partnership for Community Development (PCD) is making progress with the business incubator. Seminars on business topics and co-working space are available. The PCD’s new Dairy Farmer project involves 13 local dairy farmers and discussion with other professionals about creating locally branded dairy products.
The Zoning Update Committee met with members of the Town Council to review work on the draft zoning. It was decided that updated zoning documents will be presented for public review in phases to keep the process moving forward while allowing time for diligent work. Target date for the first public meeting is spring of 2020.
In January of 2020, and as part of the Hamilton Climate Preparedness Working Group (HCPWG), both the Town and the Village will submit completed applications to achieve bronze status as Climate Smart Communities. Both municipalities needed to complete 200 points worth of energy saving and climate resiliency building actions to apply. Once approved the Town and Village of Hamilton will join 28 other municipalities across the State who have reached bronze status.
The Town Office Building Committee has received bids on HVAC and awarded the job to the local company Larcher Mechanical, LLC As a cost-saving effort, Larcher will get assistance from the Town Highway crew for installing the HVAC system.
The County Broadband survey information appeared in the December 12 edition of the Mid-York weekly. Paper copies of the survey are available at the Hamilton Public Library and the Town office. It can also be found on the county website – www.madisonbroadband.com. Supervisor Shwartz urged Hamilton residents to complete the survey so the County can push for the much-needed improvements to our broadband service.
The Hamilton Town Council meets on the second Thursday of the month at the Village Courthouse in the Village of Hamilton at 6:30 pm. Our next regular meeting is January 9. We invite and encourage you to join us. For more info visit www.townofhamiltonny.org
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Submitted by Chris Rossi, Hamilton Town Council