ELDRED, NY — As he introduced a proposed videoconferencing law at the 6:45 p.m. April 11 public hearing, Town of Highland Supervisor Jeff Haas explained that the new local law would give certain Town of Highland board members an opportunity to participate in meetings via videoconferencing when they are out of the area due to non-emergency reasons. Specifically, he said that even with alternates, the zoning board of appeals can find it hard to get a quorum, as several members are out of the area for the winter. The local law, he said, would allow them to participate without having to claim that there are extraordinary circumstances for their remote attendance.

Not so, said the town’s attorney Michael Davidoff. He read from the proposed policy guidelines, which indicated that members of certain Highland boards—the zoning board of appeals, the planning board and the town board—could participate if they met the state stipulation that they were unable to attend due to “disability, illness, health concerns, caregiving responsibilities or other significant or unexpected factor or event which precludes the member’s physical attendance at such meeting.” 

The policy guidelines also stipulate that there must be an in-person quorum.

There has to be a good reason that a member cannot be physically present, Davidoff said. One of those reasons is not that they spend their winters out of the area.

Haas had a different understanding. “The state law allows the town to pass a local law allowing them to videoconference by non-emergency. So that’s the purpose of this law,” he said.

“But there has to be extraordinary circumstances,” Davidoff reiterated.

The policy guidelines stipulate that the meeting must be run in-house, which would not pose a difficulty, as all boards have a deputy or vice chair, Haas said. The policy would not pertain to other boards such as the Board of Assessment Review or anything other like that, board member Chris Tambini said.

“The law is for extraordinary circumstances, defined by the participant. The participant would have to claim one of circumstances,” Davidoff said. 

“So it’s up to what the participant indicates,” Haas said. 

“Yes, and the board would need to indicate whether they accepted the reasoning,” Davidoff responded.

Member Fred Bosch said that if someone would be a caretaker of their wife while in Florida that they would qualify. Davidoff agreed that the caretaking reasoning would qualify.

Alternate newspaper

Another resolution, discussed at length according to deputy supervisor Kaitlin Haas at the April 4 workshop meeting in preparation for the April 11 month Highland Town Board meeting, involved changing the designation of one of the official newspapers. In discussion about the resolution, Kaitlin Haas said that the town had designated two legal newspapers at their reorganization meeting in January. She said that with the two designations—the Sullivan County Democrat and the River Reporter, that “every legal notice that we print has to be printed in both official newspapers.” She said that because of the River Reporter’s “long” deadline that “we’re paying for that publication to print the notice but the notice isn’t being printed until after the business has occured.”

“What I was hoping we could do is maintain that second paper as an alternate official newspaper, where if we can print it, according to deadline in time for the business to run, we will utilize it, but if we can’t, we’re not obligated to do so. So that’s the driving force behind the resolution,” she said.

Michael Davidoff clarified the motion, saying that “anything that is needed to be published will be published in both newspapers, so long as the publication will occur prior to the event happening. Because there is no sense of having the publication after the event which is being publicized has already occurred.”

In researching legal notice placement following the meeting, River Reporter records indicate that the town board ran seven legal notices since January 2022, and no town board legal notice has been printed beyond the designated deadline of the business being advertised. Additionally, the Town of Highland Planning Board has published five legal notices, including the October 20, 2022 notice of an October 26, 2022 public hearing for Camp FIMFO, and four legal notices on March 16 for short-term rental public hearings set for March 23. The legal notice deadline is on Thursdays at 3 p.m, one week prior to publication.

The motion to reassign the River Reporter as the alternate official newspaper was moved by Kaitlin Haas and seconded by Chris Tambini. The vote was unanimous.

Other business

In other business, the board voted to enter into a lease with the Yulan Fire Department, as it now shares a space with the Highland Ambulance Service in the emergency services building adjacent to the town hall. For insurance reasons, an official lease is required. Additionally, the ambulance has asked that a key be provided to officers to use the town hall if the corps is on extended standby.

You cannot put a value on our volunteers and their ability to train and work together.

The board also approved the purchase of a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD 4WD Crew Cab to be purchased from Joe Basil Chevrolet for a cost of $66,985. Jeff Haas indicated that this was the second vehicle this year to be purchased and did not include the sander and plow unit, which would add an approximate $18,000 to the cost of the vehicle. He also indicated that a tandem axle dump truck has been ordered that will potentially be delivered in the spring of 2024. “The fleet is in pretty good shape and the board is actively making sure it stays in that way,” he said.

The board also recognized the coordinated effort of area fire departments in the early Easter Monday house fire that claimed the life of David Bertsch (See obituary on page 8). “You cannot put a value on our volunteers and their ability to train and work together,” Kaitlin Haas said as part of the public safety report.

In public comment, Susan Kozykowski asked about the posting of meeting minutes, and town clerk Sue Hoffman said that the draft minutes of the March 14 minutes would be posted the following morning. According to New York State Open Meetings Law, town officials have two weeks from the time of the meeting to post draft minutes. As of April 17, the March meeting minutes were not posted, nor was the April meeting agenda. 

Highway superintendent hopeful Jim Akt asked, as he has done for the last three months, whether any progress had been made in filling either the highway superintendent’s position, or the vacancy on the town board. Kaitlin Haas, who is on the personnel committee, responded that the interviews had been completed. The board closed the application period on November 22, 2022, and has reported no outcome in filling the vacancies.

The board approved the scheduling of the Town Clean Up Day for May 20 from 8 a.m. to noon at the town highway garage, and announced that applications for the Hometown Heros banner initiative are on the town’s website. Town clerk Sue Hoffman said that the price of the banner had gone from $150 to $185 and that she is coordinating with Doreen Hansen on the project.

The board meets on the second Tuesday of the month, with a workshop scheduled for the first Tuesday. The next meeting will take place May 9, beginning at 7 p.m. at the town hall in Eldred.