(Town of Hamilton, NY – March 2013) As usual, remarks from community attendees opened our March 15 Hamilton Town Council meeting. A petition from a Hamilton village resident was presented in support of renaming Triangle Park in honor of well-loved Hamiltonians Mayfred and Judy Plesniarski.
Mayor Margaret Miller updated us on a proposed milk processing plant to be located within the town.
Our highway department has been busy with plowing and maintaining roads to keep up with the seemingly endless winter weather. Highway Superintendent Bert Glazer and Councilor Peter Darby reported on meetings with Birnie Bus.
The company is interested in building a bus garage in the town that could be shared to house vehicles from the town, village and Colgate University. This could be an opportunity to save money for all entities with a move to more efficient shared facilities.
Supervisor Eve Ann Shwartz and Darby reported on their recent meeting with Colgate representatives to discuss the shared facilities proposal, as well as a range of other opportunities to strengthen communication and collaboration between the town and the university.
Our discussion of records retention continued. Justice Donald Haight and Councilor Carolyn Todd reported on the large number of records currently being held in the town office and court building. Our records retention committee is researching best practices to better manage the town’s public documents and relieve some of the storage issues associated with keeping unneeded paperwork.
The committee has applied for an Upstate Institute fellow from Colgate University to assist with the work this summer.
Members of the town council attended the town of Lebanon board meeting where SOMAC was discussed. Along with Lebanon, we are exploring the creation of a special district to generate revenue to support SOMAC’s much-needed services.
At the same meeting, DELTA Engineering gave a presentation about their road use protection plan. This is the same plan in which the town of Hamilton has resolved to participate, along with some of our neighboring municipalities. Councilor Chris Rossi reported that the Energy Working Group urges Madison County to reopen its consideration of a countywide road protection plan and take leadership on this issue.
Nan Stolezenburg of Community Planning and Environmental Associates and Jeanie Gleisner from the CNY Regional Planning and Development Board submitted scope and cost information on revising the town’s comprehensive plan. The Town Council agreed to arrange a meeting with Stolzenberg to discuss next steps in starting work with her firm on a review, community and environmental assessments and amendment of our existing plan.
The Hamilton Town Council meets at 7 p.m. the second Thursday of the month at the Hamilton town offices in the village. Our next regular meeting is Thursday, April 11. We invite and encourage you to join us. For more info visit townofhamiltonny.org/.
Submitted by Chris Rossi, Hamilton Town Council.