Washington board handles town business

WASHINGTON — The Town Board met Thursday, March 8, for its monthly board meeting and discussed a variety of topics that it’s been reviewing during the past few months, as well as regular department reports. Speeding issue Town of Washington residents Doug and Cheryl Giles approached the Town Board last month to seek help about a speeding problem on Route 343 next to Walbridge Farm, which they own. The Giles reached out because where they are located the speed limit is 55 miles per hour and a passing zone. A school bus stops by that intersection. Giles told town Supervisor Gary Ciferri that it has been dangerous for parents trying to pick up their children at the bus stop, especially with cars continuing to speed through the intersection. Giles wanted the support of the town to contact the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) in hopes that it would do a traffic study and either change the speed limit or eliminate the passing zone. The Town Board is in full support of helping Giles because it agrees it’s a dangerous situation. Ciferri said at the board meeting that the town did get a response back from the NYSDOT after it conducted a traffic study in that location. “They were there for an hour,” he said. “Basically they said there was not enough evidence seen that they need to change the speed limit or the passing lane, but they’ll add signs.” Town Clerk Mary Alex said that during the traffic study the car that was doing the radar was partly in the road, which caused drivers to slow down since they could see a car halfway in the road in the distance. Giles said therefore it was a not a fair traffic study. The board agreed that the study was not completely effective and more signs are not the answer to the problem. FEMA flood maps Town Attorney Rebecca Valk presented to the board last month a local law regarding new flood maps done by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has sent a letter to every municipality stating that FEMA has redone its flood maps, and now municipalities must adopt a local law to make them effective. Valk said this is an unfunded mandate that comes from the state level. If the municipality does not adopt the local law, residences will not be able to get any flood insurance plans. The new maps come into effect Wednesday, May 2. The board set the public hearing to introduce the local law during its next meeting in April. Highway Department Highway Department Superintendent James Brownell said that all FEMA paperwork has been turned in for Tropical Storm Irene. The town of Washington is seeking funding for seven sites to compensate for damages caused by the storm last summer. Brownell said that hopefully the town would get some reimbursement for the damage. Tax collection Alex gave her monthly report to the board on tax collection.“Tax collection was fabulous last month; we received all of the money for the town,” said Alex. “We’ve taken in about $5.3 million, so the supervisor has been paid all funds due to the town. We paid the county $3.3 million, so they are very happy as well.”Alex also said that last month a man was seeking a peddler’s license for a hot dog stand. Alex said that the man filed for a permit with Dutchess County and the permit was issued. The hot dog cart will be located on Route 44. Recreation Councilman Stephan Turletes gave his monthly report on the Recreation Commission. Turletes said the Saturday morning basketball league is finished for the season and Recreation Director Warren McMillian is happy with the way it turned out. The Recreation Commission has been discussing repairing the village tennis courts. A grant was received to repaint the courts and repair the cracks. The Recreation Commission hopes to get that taken care of this year. Turletes also said that the Millbrook Arts Group reached out to the Recreation Commission about its summer concerts.“The Millbrook Arts Group would like to use the camp building during times of inclement weather when they have their outdoor concerts at the band shell,” said Turletes. “There are six concerts during the summer. We usually get one or two rain-outs. They are coming to us early hoping to publish [the rain dates] in case of inclement weather for people to go up to the pool way area. That’s something to consider. The board itself was all in favor and it would be good for the park area to have people use it.”Turletes said that in the past when there is bad weather during a scheduled concert the Millbrook Arts Group does not reschedule the concert and the band regardless gets paid. The board agreed it was a good idea to let the Millbrook Arts Group use the camp building as an alternative location for their concerts.Turletes also informed the board that the final Friday night movie night at the Village Hall will be on Friday, March 30. The film being shown is “Hop.”

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