Village Rules No Junior Fire Dept. Access

By Joshua Walther

COBLESKILL - On Tuesday evening, the Cobleskill Village Board met to oversee the recent policy about junior members of the fire department being given their own access codes for the firehouse.

Having held their discussion before the meeting began, member Howard Burt gave his thoughts on the matter, saying “I don’t see any real need to have minors be in here alone.”

He explained that he was fine with a junior member being left in the firehouse if everyone else goes on call, but to give them access to the doors at any point “is a sizable liability.”

Mayor Rebecca Stanton-Terk and the rest of the Board agreed with his assessment, and Ruth Van Deusen followed by saying “To be clear, it’s for insurance purposes only,” noting that they encourage and welcome the junior members to be a part of the firehouse at large.

Fire Chief Todd Whittaker quickly asked for information, as he said that there are numerous occasions when a junior member shows up when the trucks are out, and asked “Are they supposed to stay in the parking lot?”

Mr. Burt responded with a resounding yes, and said that a senior member of the firehouse should “be along” to let them in, while Mayor Stanton-Terk said that there were workarounds they could figure out.

“It’s not us being hard,” Mayor Stanton-Terk concluded. “But the insurance company says it’s a liability.”

With discussion finished, the Board officially moved to not allow any minors their own access code to the firehouse, thereby amending the policy.

In other news, member Larry VanHeertum asked the Department of Public Works about the water flowing from Golding’s hill and spilling over Elm Street’s sidewalks.

In response, the Board was told that the water wasn’t a busted pipe or leak, but rather groundwater from the school’s property that naturally flows down the hill.

There were also talks of installing a catch basin on either side of the sidewalk to clean up that area, but no timeframe was given.

Finally, the Board was excited to announce that they will receive their brand-new ambulance in two weeks’ time, and made a motion to begin funding the vehicle.