From The Desk of the Mayor September 2013

I can not believe that we are actually entering the last quarter of the year already, but we are. Things have been happening since I last wrote so I will cut to the chase. Planning Board Appointments Last month two members of the planning board stepped down and we had a third term expire at the same time. Don Kearney was reappointed by the Village board to fill the vacancy of the chair for 2 years and Jason Wadler stepped up to be appointed to a vacant term of 5 years. There is still one vacancy to fill. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who volunteer, who have volunteered, and who will volunteer their time to serve on the planning and zoning board of appeals. After getting the planning board back up above the necessary three members to have a quorum and hold a meeting, the board met and approved an application with conditions by local mechanic Tom Shamro to open a garage and do auto repairs at the building formerly known as the bus garage on Wagner Avenue. This application was delayed because of the vacancies opening up on the planning board. I am glad to see this situation worked out and to see we will have another new business opening in Fleischmanns. Governor Comes to Town On September 18th Governor Cuomo made a visit to Margaretville Central School to hold a meeting related to a recent announcement that Margaretville among several other municipalities would be receiving 3 million dollars from the state for flood recovery projects. Although Fleischmanns was conspicuously absent from the award list and therefore is not a part of this program known as Community Rising Zones I was able to personally express to the governor when I met him afterwards that Fleischmanns still has many needs that are unmet two years postIrene. I was also able to speak with Assemblyman Lopez and Senator Seward and show our new Senator around Fleischmanns for the first time afterwards so that he could see first hand the issues we are still dealing with. In particular we looked at the fire house and Village garage where we met with Chief Wickham and the fire dept. to discuss the flood vulnerability of the property. The goal is to find funding to move both buildings out of the flood plain so that they are fully functional during future flood events. Stream Work The Village-wide stream projects being funded through the Federal Emergency Watershed Protection program are progressing very well. The work will

continue in the stream up until the end of this month and then site work will wind down in October. We also received approval from FEMA to construct the improved design of the retaining wall along the stream in the park. The new design will widen the area available for water to pass by the park and prevent the erosion of the bank, at the same time allowing easy and safe access for park-goers to the space adjacent to the water. As I write this however we are still waiting to hear if we will be able to get a permit for the work this fall or if the fact that the wall will touch the water in one small location will keep the DEC from issuing the permit until next spring. We will see. Biomass Heating Project There will be a bus tour to a similar facility as the one envisioned for Fleischmanns that I described in the previous newsletter. It serves a school campus 2 hours away and the tour is for property owners, residents, and other interested people to see first hand what biomass heat looks like and how the different parts of the system work. The tour will be on Saturday October 19th so if you are able to attend and interested please let me know! We have not finalized the departure time but it will be in the morning and lunch will be served. The tour will be well worth it. Water Department Audit By State Comptroller Several months ago we were contacted by the comptrollers office because they wanted to let us know that our general fund and water department account balances were low in the time period following the Hurricane Irene Flood. No kidding I said. The Village had to spend tens of thousands on unforeseen emergency repairs and many of our water users and their taxable property were wiped off of our books which reduced our revenue significantly. After conveying to the auditors all of the information they needed to understand the reasons for our financial ups and downs and showing them that things are stabilized, they seemed satisfied. However when their final report was issued it cited lack of adequate oversight as the reason for the account fluctuations. It seems like a slap in the face but I guess they need to justify their paychecks somehow. With all seriousness though, we are always looking for new ways to save money in the Village budget. A recent shopping around by our insurance advisor Mang Insurance will save us $5000 for the coming year. We are also looking at a few ways to economize in our water department for the future. Bridges The Delaware County Board of Supervisors formally voted to accept and fund a proposal by a bridge consulting company that will design and oversee the construction of both the Bridge Street and Lake Switzerland pedestrian bridges. Preliminary work has already begun including surveying and test boring which will lead to draft designs being created for the two bridges. We are hopeful that construction will take place during the 2014 season. Wishing a Healthy Autumn to All, Todd Pascarella, Mayor Village Office 1017 Main Street (PO Box 339) Fleischmanns, NY 12430 phone 845-254-5514 email: village39@catskill.net website: www.fleischmannsny.com