Amy Smith February Reports
Water & Utility Billing
In the month of January, the Village Water Department treated a total of 6,842,339 gallons with an average of 220,721 gallons per day. The average residual free chlorine level at the point of entry was 1.55 milligrams per liter of water.
As the Water Systems Operation Report form indicates, no January samples were taken for e-coli and fecal coliform testing. The report notes read as follows “Samples accidentally missed. February samples were taken 2/5/26.” The Feb 5 samples came back clear.
Project Reports
I met with the mayor for our scheduled discussion of my current projects on Friday. The mayor asked me to look at the data on home sales to see if I could expand the chronology of the data set since Consultant Franson confirmed that the chart came from Realtor.com which has no additional data. I collected data on the sales prices of homes in the Village from 2016 through 2025 using the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance’s Office of Real Property Tax Services Municipal Portal’s online database. Data from that source included transfers in deeds within families or between an individual and an LLC or trust also in that person’s name. As those transactions do not reflect properties that were on the market, they were not included in my calculations. I made a data table and later made the graph now included in the draft Zoning Area Study.
I participated in the biweekly Personnel Policy Development meeting with the mayor and Payroll Clerk Irene Holsapple. At our first meeting in January, we discussed the sample personnel policybooks I’d collected from other municipalities as well as the ones that the mayor and Irene knew about. We started a draft table of contents for the Village’s future personnel policybook and identified additional sources that would be necessary to consult. For our second meeting, we planned to continue work on the table of contents and to share sources for specific policies. I compiled a list of references to NYS and federal labor laws with requirements for municipalities and/or employers generally so that they may be linked in the future policybook. The second meeting had to be canceled due to the snowstorm still happening in the morning on Monday, January 26.
The School Speed Zone , last month I submitted the packet to request the implementation of a school speed zone to the DOT Office of Government and Community Relations which turns out to not be the most efficient pathway. On the mayor’s advice, I have since followed up that email by also sending it to Bill LaRose, the Village’s contact person for the DOT’s Area 8. Mr. LaRose responded and I have now submitted it to the recommended email address.
Grants
I attended the Public Spaces Committee meeting on Tuesday, February 2 to provide support for and advice on their search for grant funding for Abrahams Park. I advised the committee that grant requests to NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are graded based on how they fulfill the Office’s annual funding priorities as well as the priorities of the 2025-2030 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). Given the high density of outdoor recreation options available to Village residents, I believe that the Abrahams Park project will have a greater chance of success, if the Village first seeks smaller grants funding to allow for professional consultant work that would build on the terrific volunteer work done to engage community ideas and support. Smaller grants will allow the project to move forward and then submit a grant proposal with supporting documentation from qualified professionals. I agreed to research possible funding sources that would emphasize planning for a public park project. Finally, I recommended that they use the grant’s specific supporting documents as deliverables requested of the Bard student who is potentially doing a senior project on the park.
I communicated via email with Sean Ragan, Senior Landscape Architect at Tighe and Bond, who, along with engineer Brandee Nelson, developed the proposal the Village used to apply for a Greenway Compact Grant for a prioritized plan to improve the pedestrian experience in the Village center. I shared the feedback we received from the Greenway Compact grant reviewers that the Village should resubmit the project for the current round of grants; however, this time focus solely on planning.
This shift requires that the Village’s match be financial rather than in-kind implementation. So, I asked the Tighe and Bond consultants to help me identify how we might scale back the plan to fit a much tighter budget. The Greenway Compact grant’s current round is due March 15. The application will be very easy to submit as it requires only adjustment of removing the section on initial implementation and adjusting the proposed budget and timeline. I anticipate hearing from Tighe and Bond in the next week or so. Let’s hope there is a way we can make planning for pedestrian spaces work on half the initial budget.
Finally, I spoke with the County’s Community Investment Program Coordinator in order to clarify whether the Village might qualify for an extension on the Language Access Grant to allow for the production time of additional bilingual signage for outside Village Hall. The budget adjustment we requested mid-January was granted, so the reimbursement request is now being processed.
Events
The Chamber of Commerce reached out to request a meeting as they would like to be the sponsoring organization for the Parade of Lights. The mayor and I will meet with them next week.