By Heather Skinner
ESPERANCE- July 17th’s Town Board meeting included a Public Hearing. Among those in attendance were Village Mayor Royce Gage and Director of Planning & Community Development Services in Schoharie County, Shane Nickle.
In a continued snow removal billing discussion from last month’s meeting, Town Supervisor Earl Van Wormer III expanded on the budget adjustment, “When this was all set up for snow removal, the County would not deal with the Town and the Village independently… So, the way they handled it was to have the Town cover both the Town and Village and they would bill the Town. The Town would pay for it through our Highway Townwide Fund, which means the Village taxpayers also pay in for the snow removal.”
A new county clerk employee mistakenly billed the Village instead of the Town. Van Wormer and Gage agreed that the Village will create a voucher showing months and amounts so the Town can approve bill reimbursement next month.
Highway Superintendent Michelle Brust confirmed the Town now has the snow removal bill for February, which included a big storm. Brust also updated all approved road repairs from the June 7th storm are complete, and because of those repairs they will be cutting back on roads that were due to be chipsealed for this year, except for Tater Barn and Lape Road (cold mix paving is scheduled for August 7th). Roads like Regan, Brust found during inspections to have trees and shrubbery growing that will need to be addressed within the next couple years.
Brust wanted to publicly thank Fred’s Sanitation saying, “They went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the Transfer Site wasn’t damaged as they were bringing garbage in and out. They did a really good job.”
Brust recently attended a Zoning Board seminar that provided information about comprehensive planning and was interested in being added to the volunteer list for the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Van Wormer explained that every town is supposed to have a comprehensive plan to base zoning regulations on, and he will choose 5-7 diverse volunteers. They’re still hoping to see someone volunteer to represent the Village of Esperance. To be added to the Committee volunteer list, no prior Town meeting involvement is required; call the Town Hall at 518-875-6109, or message Van Wormer at supervisor@esperancetown-ny.gov.
Brust and Van Wormer have identified a spot at the Transfer Site where Midtel can put a small building of equipment for their County-wide fiber optic network and the motion to do so through an Easement was carried. In exchange for housing equipment, the Town Hall, Transfer Site, Water District & Sewer District buildings will get free online services.
Another Easement discussed was part of a follow-up on Bray Road. Van Wormer recapped that recent flooding wiped out a deteriorating culvert that isn’t on Town property but needs replacing to prevent road damage. Van Wormer said the Easement will work like a reverse mortgage that allows the work to be done. It was signed by the resident, notarized, and filed with the County.
While the Assessor Report field work data collection shows as completed, many have been reporting instances of photos still being taken of sheds, houses, etc. by a representative. Van Wormer revealed they stopped at his house as well and said they were verifying the information they had. If anyone has questions about ongoing assessor data collection at your residence, Town Clerk, Jessica Castle, said to contact the Assessor’s Office at 300 Main Street in Schoharie (518-295-657).
The CDBG grant application Public Hearing officially opened during the meeting with the invitation for citizen participation comments. There were none, and Van Wormer explained, “The purpose of this is to do additional work to the Water District in Central Bridge.” Adding, “The total application is for $800,000. It is a pure grant. The engineers did the work on this at no cost to the District to allow us to get this application in and if we get it, we get $800,000 in grant money to benefit the residents in the Water District of Central Bridge.”
Van Wormer detailed that $400,000 would be for the DEC required status report study of the dam at the reservoir, and some repairs they anticipate it will need, and the other $400,000 they are hoping would cover adding about 12-13 people’s homes on Pleasantview Drive and River Street in Central Bridge to Water District Service.
Van Wormer reminded there is no guarantee they will get this grant saying, “We’re taking the best shot we can at it because, again, I’d like to help as many people in Central Bridge.” Nickles agreed and said it’s low-moderate income dependent (which census data shows the District falls under) and very competitive.
Van Wormer said, “Before we take a vote on this, I just wanna say that we were having difficulties finishing the project in Central Bridge and I didn’t have another solution for helping the people in Central Bridge getting funding, so I went to Shane.” Van Wormer stated that Shane replied he would be glad to look at it and came up with 4 potential funding sources.
Esperance Town Board meetings include a chance to view the Correspondence Folder (this month it included announcements from the SCCA Newsletter, The Gathering Place, MEVDD, and Charter Communications), and both Village & Town meetings offer the opportunity to share thoughts, concerns, and questions during Privilege of the Floor.
Esperance Town Board Meetings are every 3rd Thursday of the month; 7:00 PM at the Town Hall, located at 104 Charleston Street. On the agenda next meeting (August 21st) the Assessor Report continuation will include raising the maximum income amount for the Senior Citizens exemption from $25,650 to $26,500 for the 2026 tax roll. RV and Camping Regulations will be discussed during the September meeting and Assessor Erin Smith is up for reappointment in September.
Esperance Village Meetings are every 2nd Monday at the Village Hall at 7:00 PM.
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