November meeting
By Chris Rossi for Hamilton Town Council
(Town of Hamilton, NY – Dec. 2013) The November Hamilton Town Council meeting started with news about holiday events in the villages of Earlville and Hamilton. Hamilton kicked off the holiday season with its annual tree lighting and caroling on the green the evening of Dec. 6. Look for new seasonal banners around the village as well. Earlville hosted its holiday festivities on Dec. 7 with the Earlville Opera House Holiday sale in full–swing.
Brookfield and Lebanon are joining Hamilton in moving forward to put in place a Road Use protection plan to help safeguard roads against future damage. Our highway department has already wrangled some winter weather, with snow earlier in November. According to Highway Superintendent Glazier, the salt is in and the plows are on trucks and ready for winter driving.
The meeting continued, with resolutions approved for adopting the 2014 budget, overriding the tax levy limit, and adopting an agreement between the Town of Hamilton and Madison County for joint Tax Collection. Hamilton will be the first town in Madison County to use a computerized system that allows taxes to be collected by the County Treasurer as well as the Town Office. Supervisor Shwartz reported that the change will streamline the collection process, saving time and expense at no cost to our town. A public hearing on Local Law #4, which would authorize a supplemental mailing in the tax bills to explain the new options available to town tax-payers will be held at the December Town Council meeting.
The Comprehensive Plan Committee reported on the Visioning Workshop held on Nov. 7. Participants ranged from all parts of our town, and worked together to frame their vision for the future of Hamilton. Surveys were collected through Dec. 2 to be collected with more than 500 submitted. Responses from the survey and Visioning Workshop are being analyzed by planner Nan Stolzenburg and will be posted to the Town website.
The records retention committee continues to educate itself on best practices for handling and archiving town records. Town Clerk Cathy Hotaling reported on work she and Assistant Clerk Carol Dewey accomplished in sorting out office documents. If you enjoy history or archival work – the records retention committee is looking for volunteers!
The Hamilton Town Council meets on the second Thursday of the month at the Town of Hamilton office in the Village of Hamilton at 7pm.
For more info visit http://www.townofhamiltonny.org/