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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
22 The Altamont Enterprise - Thursday, July 20, 2006 ... Mixed reviews for merger plans (Continued from Page 1) \Mike Breslin is a real innova- tor,\ said Nickelsberg. He said Rensselaerville has been partici- pating in the forum and is fo- cusing on building a community center for the Hilltowns. Richard Rapp, supervisor of Westerlo, said \no way\ to con- solidation. He said that West- erlo was not considering it but that he'd like to find out more about it. \Our guys work 16 hours,\ said Storm. \Sometimes 24.\ Clark said that plowing in the winter makes up a large part of New Scotland's highway de- partment budget, too. \A good deal of time is spent on it,\ he said. Most of the overtime pay for the department is for plow- ing, he said. \This is a good way to keep costs down,\ said Storm of the consolidation plan. 'This is a good way to keep costs down.' Since this would be the first highway department consolida- tion of its kind in the state, it would serve as a model for other municipalities, said Breslin. \We already share services,\ said Knox supervisor, Michael Hammond, referring to the salt storage facility that Knox has been sharing with Albany since 1996. \It's a very amicable agreement we have.\ He said that the town hadn't considered consolidating with the county, though. Off the Hill A larger highway department might be taking a cue from Berne. \I asked the highway su- perintendent to look at it,\ said Ed Clark, New Scotland's super- visor. Clark said that the town will look into consolidation fur- ther but it will wait to see how things progress in Berne before making any concrete moves. New Scotland has 17 employ- ees in its highway department and a $1.5 million operating budget, according to Clark, com- pared to Berne's seven employ- ees and $950,000 operating budget, according to Crosier. Kenneth Runion, Guilder- land's supervisor, said that Guilderland was too big to bene- fit from consolidation. \For us,\ he said, \it wouldn't be as practi- cal.\ He estimated that Guild- erland has over 160 miles of roads, much of them not in con- tact with county roads. One of the major reasons for consolidation cited by supporters of the Berne plan is the benefit of having only one department plowing the web of county and town roads in Berne — a job cur- rently done by each municipal- ity's department for its own re- spective roads. \This is the biggest expense for us',\ said Crosier of keeping town roads clear in the winter. Berne hires part-time workers to help with plowing and spends a lot on overtime pay, he said. BLACK1W PAVING We Take Pride in the Homeowner RESIDENTIAL-COMMERCIAL FULLY INSURED-FREE ESTIMATES £ Levernois & Sons, Inc. $ 456-6364 / 4204 Albany Street }'< Albany, NY 12205 *^<!<f<?<f<^oo'. , *.\<^^'.\'''^'•. , o<!'^<!'. , Workers from the Berne Highway Department at Wednesday's meeting said that they didn't like the idea of con- solidation. Joe Welsh, a worker at the meeting, said, \We like having our small, rural highway department.\ Other business In other business, the board: — Heard from Crosier that he got two bids for a fire-alarm system in the town's transfer station. Loss Prevention Ex- pert's bid was $2,495, and $19 per month, for the installation and monitoring of a smoke-beam system, which would detect smoke with a laser beam. Time Warner's bid was $5,495 to put in a heat detector system. \The fire has a pretty good start by the time a heat detector is tripped,\ said Crosier. The board decided to look for more bids on a smoke beam system; — Heard from Crosier that the town still has only one quote for the well pump in the town park. He said that he is waiting for a second quote from Fred Barron; — Discussed the upcoming Heritage Day and made a final decision that parking would be free but organizers will encour- age donations, which will be given to the library; — Voted unanimously to ac- cept the engineering agreement between Lamont Engineering and the town for the sewer dis- trict and set up a tentative date, Sept. 20, for a public meeting with a representative from the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environ- mental Facilities Corporation, William Conboy, the town's at- torney, the health department, and the town; — Voted unanimously to provide a Dumpster, not to ex- ceed $350, for use by World Changers, who will be in Berne for the third week in July work- ing on a roof. The World Chanc- ers, a group of Christian volun- teers, work with Albany County Rural Housing and come up for one week every summer to do work on a person's home; and — Voted unanimously to buy materials, not to exceed $150, for a ramp needed at the church that is used as the polling place for the town. Since the county began overseeing the election process new regulations need to be met, and the ramp currently at the church is too narrow ac- cording to the new regulations. \World Changers has extra workers,\ said Crosier 1 . \They wondered if Berne has any town projects that need to be done.\ The Enterprise — Janet Hasely' Folks of all ages enjoy Community Dances in Rensselaerville at historic Conkling Hall. The next dance will be Saturday, July 29, from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.,'sponsored by the Rensselaerville Historical Society with help from Community Art$ Grants. The dance will celebrate the 100th year that Conkling Hall has been a community center. Call 797-3194 for information. Dance to celebrate Conkling's 100th By Janet Haseley RENSSELAERVILLE — In 1906, the Methodist Church of Rensselaerville, which'was built in 1839, was converted to a community center and renamed Conkling Hall. To celebrate the Hall's 100th birthday, the Town of Rensselaerville Historical Society will sponsor a commun- ity dance on Saturday, July 29, at historic Conkling Hall in the hamlet of Rensselaerville. The dance will feature square dances, waltzes, round dances, contras, and more and all ages are welcome. Singing the calls for square dances is a dying art but this type of calling was traditional at Conkling Hall for generations. Therefore, the Historical Society has engaged a caller for the Birthday Dance who can sing the calls. She is Fern Bradley. Both square dancing and contra dancing have their roots in Scottish and Irish country dancing brought to the Appa- lachians and to the northeast by early settlers. Lively reels and jigs typical of the northeastern part of the United States and Canada will be played by \Fire- Flies,\ a band consisting of Sue Mead and Jim Broden on fiddles and Jim Mead on guitar. This band has played for several community dances at Conkling Hall over the past four years. The dance will be co-spon- sored by Community Art Grants, a program funded through the state and local partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts and The Arts Center of the Capital Region. Admission to the dance will be $7.50 per person ($6.50 for Historical Society members) and $2 for children under 12. Chil- dren under five will be admitted free. The dance begins at 7:30 p.m. and ends at 10:30 p.m. Experi- ence in square or contra dan- cing is not necessary because all dances will be taught. A partner is also not required as the dance tradition is to ask a different person for each dance. Conkling Hall is located on Methodist Hill Road in the ham- let of Rensselaerville, next to the Presbyterian Church. Call 797- 3194 for further information. At Partridge Run Free workshop reveals farm history On Saturday, Aug. 5, the public is invited to join in an exploration of Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area to discover what the landscape tells about past use of the area. This program is sponsored by the New York Forest Owners Asso- ciation for landowners, family groups, or anyone interested in learning more about natural history and archeology. The program will be led by Charles Vandrei, archeologist with the Department of Environ- mental Conservation, and Ralph Miller, town of Berne historian. Participants will see the re- mains of a vibrant farming community from the early 19th Century, including the site of a sawmill, stonewalls, founda- tions, and an early cemetery. They will also look closely at the trees and forests which now cover what were farm fields 200 years ago to learn what they can tell about the history of land use. Partridge Run is a 4,600-acre tract of state land which is about a one-hour drive southwest of Albany. Most of Partridge Run is now heavily forested, although it was open land in the 19th Century. It is typical of millions of acres of woodland in New York which cover old farms. Most of the roads running through the area are unpaved and may be rough in spots. This workshop will include a trail walk through an area which may have some wet sections. left on Bradt Hollow Road (Route 9), cross Fox Creek and continue for four miles heading south on Bradt Hojlow Road to the intersection of High Point Road. Attendees should plan to meet at that intersection. The workshop is free. The remains of a vibrant farming community from the early 19th Century, including the site of a sawmill, stonewalls, foundations, and an early cemetery. Attendees are Advised to wear appropriate shoes or boots. The program starts at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Bradt Hollow and High Point roads in the town of Berne, 30 miles southwest of Albany. Directions: From/Albany, take Route 443 west to the hamlet of West Berne. From West Berne, turn This event is sponsored by the Capital District Chapter of the New York Forest Owners Asso- ciation. The Forest Owners Association is a not-for-profit organization that promotes sus- tainable woodland practices and improved stewardship of pri- vately-owned forest land. There are 475,000 private woodland owners in New York State.
