Town Council Halted by Faulty List, Rule-Breaking

Tuesday night's meeting stretched on to nearly three hours when it came time to discuss construction to create a classroom at .

The council's attorney, John Gesmonde, explained in layman's terms that the local Board of Education (BOE) answers to the state BOE on issues that are strictly educational. For issues that are not strictly educational, the local BOE acts as an agent to the town, therefore, issues of non-educational nature need to be presented to the council and are then subject to approval.

Scott Schoonmaker, superintendent of schools, announced that he had a meeting with an architect Wednesday morning. The issue then was the BOE paying an architect when the project itself had not yet been approved by the council or been established as a budgeted item. Schoonmaker said that he did not know if the architect had been paid and also told the council that the BOE did not hold an official vote on the construction project. 

"It is important that you get on the same page with the rules of the state," said council member Alfred Rose to Schoonmaker to the BOE. "I get permits all the time, it's not hard if you do it right. You need to learn how to do it properly. There are rules and everyone needs to follow them," said Rose. 

Schoonmaker said that he and the BOE are more than willing to be cooperative with the council as well as the protocol for construction and that the BOE would hold a vote on the project.

Farmers Petition

A group of farmers in attendance at Tuesday night's meeting were halted in their efforts to convince the council to vote to give farmers a tax break when a faulty list was provided. The town's assessor, Christine Barta, provided a list of farms with buildings on the lots that were classified as farming constructions. These farms were categorized as being eligible for the tax abatement program, which entails a property tax exemption for farm buildings.

The list, however, did not include several large farms and their farmers present at the meeting, including Bill DeFrancesco of .

"There is something wrong with that list. The list is wrong," said DeFrancesco.

"Perhaps," said council member Rose Angeloni, "the language in the propose ordinance needs to be reviewed by the assessor to include all farms with structures that are eligible to apply for exemption."

To this, Dudley Harrison of Harrison Farms responded, "I don't know where you people have been, this is nothing new. I'm disgusted with this board and these town people."

The council will vote on the tax abatement program when it has been determined that an accurate list is being reviewed.

Roof Repairs

The council voted and approved a sum of $369,380 to be transfered from town bonds for roof repairs on the high school. The focus is over the gymnasium as well as any areas that are leaking. Schoonmaker said the repairs should take 8 to 10 days and a 20-year warranty is expected. The tentative date of completion is Aug. 28. Construction has not yet started, but the project is currently out to bid to find a contractor for the job.