Board acts on tense and lengthy public comment segments

The May 2 Town Board workshop meeting saw a good number of public attendees, both in person and online. The agenda was short, but with extensive public comment, the meeting lasted well over two hours. 

In the final public comment segment, several participants noted that public comment had been relatively unregulated, wasn’t productive, and urged the board to impose more structure and time limits on this segment of the meeting.

Supervisor Donal Collins announced the upcoming Town of Chatham Cleanup Day on May 18, 2024. Information on acceptable refuse and preregistration for the event are detailed on page 4 of the Agenda.

In New Business:

The Board heard a presentation from local citizens Doug Welch and David Neuwirth, of the Chatham Dirt Road Coalition (CDRC), and Jay Thorn, of the Chatham Area Recreation Project (CARP), regarding the Chatham RECONNECTION Project. The two organizations are collaborating to explore the feasibility of restoring pedestrian, bicycle, and horse access to the historic Spengler Bridge in Chatham Center.

The Spengler Bridge, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is currently owned by Columbia County, is closed to any traffic at present. The sponsoring groups anticipate that, if feasible, restoration of the structure would be a valuable community resource to expand recreational activities and could connect other networks of existing walkways and roadways within the Town of Chatham. The CDRC and CARP are not seeking financial support from the Town, as all costs associated with the project are being financed through community contributions and grants. More information on the presentation is available in the Agenda for the 5/2/24 meeting, pages 5 – 12.

Chair David Levow and committee member Erin Hessman, of the Board’s citizens’ advisory Finance & Planning Committee, recommended a method whereby the board can prioritize identified capital projects in an organized manner.  Hessman said that the recommendation could help the town to “get things done” by identifying and agreeing on priorities. Capital projects were defined as projects that are anticipated to cost more than $50,000. 

The board agreed to try the decision process, which asks each board member to rate the priority and importance of each identified project, and then meet as a board to discuss and reach consensus on the priority order for completion of projects.

Based on a recommendation from Highway Superintendent James Fetzer, the board agreed to “abandon” a segment of Electric Park Road near Kinderhook Lake, thus ceding the abandoned segment of the road to the property owner and ending the public right of way to that segment. 

Fetzer explained that the town road ended at the property owner’s front door, and the road hadn’t been maintained for 6 years.

In Old Business:

The board designated Crellin Park as an Invasive Species Prevention Zone.

The board discussed and clarified the previously approved protocol for the Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs). Board member John Wapner read some segments of the protocol, stated his comments / interpretation of those segments of the protocol, and asked for feedback from board as to their agreement with his interpretation.

The public comment on this issue was sometimes heated, varied and ranged from some members of the public stating that they wanted more rules and uniformity about how committees are formed and are managed by the Committee Chairs, while others emphasized the executive role of the committee chair and urged more flexibility and autonomy for chairs. 

There was also discussion about the best process for appointing new committee members to any committee. One tension in the discussion about committee process was over “the way things have always been” vs. the preferences of new board members who are heading up committees.

There was consensus among board members Wapner, Werwaiss and Eaton that the protocol had been approved and that the continuing controversy over how committees are to be managed is “micromanaging” and an obstruction to the town board getting things done. Wapner suggested that, until the annual organizational meeting in 2025, the committee chairs be allowed autonomy and discretion in how they run their respective committees, with a common goal of making recommendations and giving advice to the town board.