Town Board Meeting, Thursday, August 4

The Town Board split votes on two subjects at last night’s workshop meeting:

**A recurrent point of contention among board members relates to whether an approval for alcohol consumption on town property presents an unacceptable liability for the Town.  

By a 3–2 vote, the board approved a special event use permit for a wedding at Crellin Park where alcohol could be served under the current town policy.  

At the last board meeting, the vote on this permit was 2–2 due to the absence of one board member. This time, the final vote was 3–2 in favor of approving the permit. Councilman Pitkin recommended that the alcohol use policy be reviewed and possibly revised to address the liability concern .

**Board members will be allowed virtual attendance at Town Board meetings under certain “extraordinary” circumstances according to a new town law. The law, which will allow for the continuance of hybrid meetings and virtual attendance by board members was passed by a vote of 3-2. 

The vote followed a sparsely attended public hearing, and discussion of a suggested amendment to the law by Councilman Werwaiss. His recommendations for a cap on the number of times any board member can attend virtually and for a process to ensure more board oversight for attendance patterns were rejected by the vote to pass the law as it was written.

In other business:

The newly formed Housing Committee for the Town of Chatham is seeking volunteers.

According to the town website, the committee was formed ”to address the challenges of finding housing within our community that meets the needs of people across all economic strata and age groups.” The committee is charged with studying current housing options in the town, and offering recommendations to the town board as to where new living opportunities can be created or incorporated within our community.

Housing Committee meetings will be held once a month (virtual or in-person, depending on the presence of Covid and the consensus of the Committee).

Interested? Apply or request more information by August 19, 2022 at chatham@chathamnewyork.us with “Housing Committee” in the subject line.