Democrats Gather Contributions for Haitian Relief

On February 12, 2010, the Dutchess County Democrats presented $1000 in gathered contributions to Willis McCree of the Dutchess County Red Cross, earmarked for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.

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NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CONFIGURATION

TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN PINE PLAINS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

By Evelyn Bartin, February, 2010

Beginning this fall, the Pine Plains Central School District (PPCSD) will implement a new configuration affecting all students in the elementary grades.

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  KEEPING PACE WITH ENERGY OPTIONS:

 
A Briefing on New Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy Initiatives
and Funding Strategies for Municipalities
 How Your Municipality Can $ave Money and Make a Real Difference for 
  Its Residents and Businesses by Choosing $ustainable Energy Options
Sat., Feb. 27, 9 AM - 1 PM
SUNY/New Paltz Lecture Center 102
(SNOW DATE:  Sat., March 13)

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MILAN TOWN BOARD FEBRUARY MEETING

and

January 2010 Financial Report

VIEW REPORT HERE

 February 2010

Call to Order:
The Meeting was called to order at 7:30pm.

Public Comment:
No public comment.

Acceptance of Minutes:
The following minutes were accepted by the Board: Regular Meeting – 1/11/10.

Correspondence:
Two letters were read – one concerning noise at the Town Garage, one regarding road count changes.

Monthly Financial Report:
Supervisor Gallagher reported there were issues with 2009 W-2 reports for salaried employees and elected officials.
Motion: To resolve the issue.
Discussion: None.
Vote: Motion passed.

Motion: To accept the January Monthly Financial Report (Review Report Here)
Discussion: None.
Vote: Motion passed.

READ MORE HERE

THE MID-HUDSON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY

By Judi Gelardi, February 2010

The growing trend toward non-animal based diets is growing everywhere, including right here in the Hudson Valley.  One organization – whose mission is to educate the community, promote the vegetarian ethic in this region, and aid anyone in the pursuit of a totally vegetarian, cruelty-free and healthy lifestyle – is the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

AMANDA’S LAW
CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM REQUIREMENTS
GO INTO EFFECT FEBRUARY 22, 2010

Amanda’s Law will go into effect on February 22, 2010.  This new legislation requires all residences to have carbon monoxide alarms installed.

The specific requirements differ depending on the type of residence (existing vs. new, single-family dwelling vs. multi-family dwelling, etc.), so check with your local building code enforcement officer or fire department for details regarding your home.

The following link provides the proposed code text and legislation:  http://www.dos.state.ny.us/code/COAlarm.htm

Safety and Security for the Home Owner

A community forum sponsored by the Rowe Methodist Church, Sunday afternoon, February 21 from 2-4pm at the Milan Town Hall on Rt. 199.  A special focus for seniors and those who live alone, featuring representatives from the State Troopers and Fire Department with a question and answer portion - coffee and snacks to follow.  All welcome.

Red Hook Public Library Board of Trustees to Meet

The Red Hook Public Library Board of Trustees will meet to discuss library business at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 18. The public is invited to attend.

For more information, call the Red Hook Public Library, 845-758-3241. The library is located at 7444 S. Broadway in Red Hook and on the Web at http://redhook.lib.ny.us/.

Durst Begins New Neighborhood Development Process

January 30, 2010

Now that the zoning law has been enacted by the Pine Plains Town Board, the Durst Organization is beginning the application process for a New Neighborhood District zoning change.  Doing so entails some very slight revisions to the project layout from the second version of the project.  You can view the “pre-application” project material (including maps) on the town website at http://pineplains-ny.gov/content/Generic/View/8.  The maximum number of units allowed on the whole property would be 624 (572 in Pine Plains and 52 in Milan). Durst has decided to take the option of paying the affordable housing fee (in lieu of building the 42 affordable units) to a dedicated affordable housing fund that will be set up by the town.  The above numbers of units on the property include the “previously approved” subdivision lots in both Milan and Pine Plains, the maximum number of bonus units allowed for in the zoning and the base net yield of units as outlined in the NND section of the zoning law.  Some of the bonus units are at the discretion of the town board for various community and commercial benefits provided by the developer; so the actual final number is not yet determined. 

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Molinaro leaning against House bid

January 28, 2010

Jenny Lee-Adrian
Poughkeepsie Journal

Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R-Red Hook, said he wants to remain focused on his work, but is not ruling out running for the 20th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls.

Molinaro said he's been asked by party leaders and elected officials across the district to run. The 20th Congressional District covers all or parts of Dutchess, Columbia, Delaware, Essex, Greene, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.

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FEBRUARY NATURE NOTES

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is February 12-15. The Count is a joint project between the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. A person can participate in the GBBC by simply counting the birds in the yard and reporting the counts on line at: www.birdsource.org/gbbc

 The website has GBBC participation instructions as well as other interesting bird information.

The submitted counts will enable scientists to collect data and interpret patterns in bird populations. It is also a good educational opportunity for a family to connect to a scientific study.

Republicans Give Themselves Free Ride

On Monday evening, the County Legislature voted to require County Legislators and the County Comptroller to pay a portion of their health insurance costs. What the Republican leadership isn’t telling the public is that unlike the Democratic bill, they have given a free ride to four countywide officials, all of whom happen to be Republicans.

Of course we support legislators and all officials paying 15% - but it has to be done legally, and it has to include everyone equally, said Democratic minority leader Sandy Goldberg. The county charter does not grant the County Executive the authority to impose such a policy, but instead he has had the Republican Legislature act illegally in order to ensure that he does not have to pay. This is a dangerous precedent to establish. 

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Hearing airs concerns over gravel mine proposal

Written by DEBORA GILBERT  The Columbia Paper 

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 14:41

TAGHKANIC--The town Zoning Board of Appeals convened a hearing Monday evening at the firehouse to receive public comments on a proposal by Berry Pond LLC of New York to conduct a gravel mining operation on Livingston Road near Route 82 in West Taghkanic. The applicant's lawyer said the mine would have little impact on the community, but residents who live near the proposed site see nothing but trouble ahead if officials grant a permit for the project.

Berry Pond has received a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and now needs only the approval of the town ZBA before commencing its surface mine operation. That prospect drew over 60 residents to attend the January 18 hearing.

Also present in the front row was the applicant, Alyson Bennett, owner of the 81-acre site under consideration for the mine as well as an adjacent 28-acre site. She brought with her a geologist, an engineer, her lawyer and a stenographer.

Ms. Bennett's attorney, Kevin Bernstein, said that the proposed “low intensity” mining operation, which would require only a loader and bulldozer, would have a minimal impact on the environment and “no detrimental effect on human health.” He described the road over which trucks would travel to and from the site as “able to handle extra traffic” and said that “no dust will leave the site.”

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REPORT ON THE REGULAR MILAN TOWN BOARD MEETING

JANUARY 11, 2010

Call to Order:
The Meeting was called to order at 7:30pm.

Public Comment:
One resident commented on the generally improved state of the Town’s official web site, but made a strong request for more current and detailed updates and information, particularly as regards the site’s Calendar of Events. The Board responded by acknowledging the request.

Acceptance of Minutes:
The following minutes were accepted by the Board: Public Hearing of 12/14/09; Regular Meeting of 12/14/09; Special Meeting of 12/18/09; Year End Meeting of 12/28/09; Re-organization Meeting of 1/1/10.

Correspondence:
No correspondence was read and/or recorded in the official minutes.

Monthly Financial Report:
Motion made: To accept the Monthly Financial Report.
Discussion: None.
Vote: Motion passed.

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SENIOR NEWSLETTER

Milan, New York

February 2010

VALENTINE’S DAY

We will have a Valentine’s Day celebration on Tuesday, February 16th.  It will be a scaled down version of our usual parties, as we had our Holiday party on January 12th, and will have a St Patrick’s Day party on Tuesday, March 16th.  We are asking members to bring a finger food or hors d’oeuvre.  We will supply a Valentine’s cake and drinks.  If you would like to bring your lunch also, that is up to you.  We still need to know how many will attend.  Please remember to call and leave a message (845-758-5133 ext 57) if you will be attending.  Thank you for your cooperation and don’t forget to think RED!!!

ST PATRICK’S DAY

We will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, March 16th.  As we did last year, the club will purchase the corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and carrots.  We will need members to cook the ingredients in crock pots.  If you have a crock pot and would be interested in helping out, please call the senior office at 845 758 5133 ext 57 and leave a message.  Or better yet, stop in on Tuesdays for lunch at 11:30 AM.  Members are welcome to bring an hors d’oeuvre or dessert to the party.  If you do, please let us know what you will bring.  It would be nice to get some new people involved in club activities, party planning and preparation.  If you can VOLUNTEER to help keep the club alive.  Again, please let us know if you will be attending or are willing to help.  Think GREEN!!!!

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Red Hook High School student Michael Hague won first prize for his painting "Physical Sound" at the Columbia Green College juried Art Show on January 27, 2010

Town of Milan: New Government Off and Running

January 9, 2010

On January 1, 2010, Justice Kenneth Kremenick swore in the newly elected officials for the Town of Milan. A small audience of supporters and attendees were present. 

Once the new Board took its seat, its members undertook the first official duty of the year, a reorganization meeting. This was begun by naming various positions and appointments and, where appropriate, setting salaries for these. Of note were the boards, committees and appointments not made by the new Board—i.e. the Board of Assessment Review and appointment of its members, the Conservation Advisory Council and appointment of its members, and appointment of a representative to the Wappingers Creek Watershed Intermunicipal Council. (We, at Milan Insider, are hopeful that these omissions were mere oversights by the new Board. Since the agenda for the January 11th meeting has just this day been posted on the Town’s web site and contains an item labeled generally as “appointments,” we further hope these boards, committees and appointments will be made then.

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SENIOR NEWSLETTER

MILAN, NEW YORK

January  2010

HOLIDAY PARTY

The holiday party that we had to postpone from Tuesday, December 15th is still on for the 12th of January.  The club will be depending on members for the main course this year along with the finger foods and desert.  So far, we have lasagna, chicken surprise, corn casserole, tossed salad, potato salad, spinach dip in bread, taco dip, cheese & crackers, candy, rice pudding, five other desserts, including sour cream coffee cake and death by chocolate.  We will have punch, mulled cider, coffee, tea and hot chocolate.  We will also celebrate our January birthdays at this party.  We will still have our grab bag for those interested.   Gifts should cost about $ 5.00, men bring a gift for a man and women for a woman.  Please advise us if you will be coming.  We really need to know how many will be attending and what you would like to bring.  Come join in the fun.  It is a great way to beat the January blahs.  Hope to see you. If you are going to attend please contact Mary Ellen at - 845-758-5133 ext 57 - Thank You.

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THE RED HOOK PTSA

By Judi Gelardi, January, 2010

The Red Hook PTSA (Parents Teachers Students Association) was formed many years ago.  Its main purpose is to bring parents, teachers and students together working toward common goals.

However, the Red Hook PTSA is more than a meeting group:  the organization spearheads several fundraising efforts that make mini-grants available to teachers who qualify.  One of the recipients is Mrs. Mary Pat Budd, the head of the Who Cares? Club.  This is a group of environmentally friendly Red Hook Middle School students whose mission is to teach others to re-use and re-cycle by showing how easy this effort can be.

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Ballot Fight as Party Lines Divide Newcomer and Native

Read More Here

Appellate Division Upholds Democratic Committee and Reaffirms Voting Rights of Second-Home Owners

Today, the Appellate Division of the NYS Court sided with the Democratic Committee in upholding second-home owners' right to choose from which residence to vote.  In issuing its decision, the Court threw out all Republican challenges based on absentee voters’ dual residency, finding that such challenges may not be made after a ballot has already been issued. The case survives only as to those challenges that were not being contested in this appeal.  This important decision validates the rigorous defense of dual residents’ voting rights made by our attorney, Kathleen O'Keefe and Commissioner Martin’s attorney, Dan Burstein.   We are pleased that this issue has now been settled and that the court yet again has recognized the voting rights of second-home owners.  This pro-voter decision makes it clear that the voter suppression tactics used by the Republican Party in this case are not permitted.

Read Decision Here

Columbia County Democratic Committee

December 18, 2009
Contact: Christopher Nolan
Chrisanolan3@gmail.com
518 755 5089

THANKS TO MILAN’S REPUBLICANS,

TAXES IN TOWN ARE GOING UP 17% IN 2010

By Evelyn Bartin, December, 2009

In a Special Meeting held on November 18, 2009, Republican Supervisor Richard Barrett and Republican Town Board members Bobbi Egan and David Byrne – over the very loud objections of minority Democratic Town Board members Diane May and Ross Williams – voted, in a blatantly obvious action, to pad the 2010 budget for Milan by including several tens of thousands of dollars of pre-payments to the NYS Employees’ Retirement System.  You can click here to see the NYS Retirement System Projection FYE 2011 that clearly states, :“THIS IS NOT A BILL” 

Though Mr. Williams and Ms. May tried repeatedly to get their Republican counterparts to re-think this action, they were met with a wall of resistance.  Please take a few minutes to watch this video clip from the meeting:

Adding insult to injury was the manner in which this move was thrust upon Milan’s tax-paying citizens:  though this NYS Retirement Projection for 2011 was dated September 25, 2009 (and was confirmed by a Retirement System representative to have been sent to Mr. Barrett on October 1, 2009), Barrett claimed to have not received it until the day before the November 18th meeting, thus blind-siding everyone at the proverbial eleventh hour.  (By law, the final budget had to be submitted by November 20th.)  Click to watch the video: 

Barrett/Egan/Byrne’s stunning ambush, combined with a continued refusal to bond a portion of the highway work, will result in the Town’s property owners having to shoulder significantly higher taxes next year:  the tax rate will increase 17% on assessed property values in 2010 (to $1.96 per $1,000, or $588.90 for a $300,000 home, the average in Town); and the tax levy (the amount raised by property taxes) will increase 16.3%.  (Owing to a math mistake presented by Barrett in the November 18th meeting, the tax levy increase was originally reported as 17.6 %.)  For comparison, here are the tax levy increases for the nearby towns:

Pine Plains     +5.0%

Red Hook

Village              +2.7%

Town                +2.3%

Rhinebeck

Village              ­+ 0%

Town                + 0%

At a time when each of the Town Councils in the immediate area held the line with reasonable or no tax increases for their towns, Milan’s Republican majority saw fit to execute the egregious exception.  Since every one of these towns faced, more or less, the same budget planning difficulties this year, the logical question is to ask why Milan’s governing Republicans chose this course of action.  One theory is that the padding incorporated in the 2010 budget will provide the Town Board – which, upon the January 1st installation of its newest members, Bill Gallagher, Jack Campisi and Marion Mathison, will become all-Republican – with an excess that can then be cast as a tax decrease for 2011.  Like the store management that marks everything up the night before a sale and then offers “50% off” the next day, this maneuver, if it comes to pass, will prove to be a decided manipulation of the Town’s finances and its citizens’ pockets and psyches – one that will be predictably spun into a campaigning plus in the 2011 election year.

You can click here to see the final Milan 2010 budget as it appears on the Town’s official web site: Budget 2010-2011  As an interesting note (and in support of the theorized intended plan to calculatedly link the 2010 and 2011 budgets as a future campaigning ploy), you might appreciate that on the home page of Town’s web site, the 2010 budget is noted as “2010 - 2011.” For the benefit of those of you who may not know, there is no such thing as a “2010 - 2011 budget!”

On the day after the meeting, Mr. Williams sent a sharply worded letter to the press in which he described the Republican majority’s actions to be “outrageous” and likely to have been orchestrated by Town Board member-elect, Jack Campisi.  You can see the letter here  Williams was subsequently interviewed by the local newspapers, and follow-up articles appeared in The Daily Freeman on November 20th (click here to read the article) and The Poughkeepsie Journal on December 4th (click here to read the article).