Conesville Looking Forward to 250th Celebration on Sept. 19

CONESVILLE — Everything is coming together for the Town of Conesville's Sept. 19 celebration of the country's 250th Birthday.

Town Historian Kim Young gave a brief update at the Tuesday, Aug. 11 Town Board meeting, saying she recently sent flyers detailing the day's events to residents of the town and immediate surrounding area.

Events will unfold starting at 4 p.m. and lasting till dusk along State Route 990V, the firehouse and Town Park. Highlights include touch a truck, food, living history displays, hands-on history activities, a pop-up museum and children's activities including face painting, games and more. There will be a parade starting at 6 p.m. and the celebration will culminate with a fireworks display at dusk by American Fireworks LLC.

Food options will include barbecued chicken, hamburgers and hotdogs from the Conesville Fire Department and Auxiliary; Sass Squash Food Truck; Kettle Korn Truck; Cotton Candy; homemade ice cream and pie sales by Gilboa-Conesville Central School cheerleaders.

In other actions from the Aug. 11 meeting, Town Assessor Marie Stuber during her report presented options to the board on possibly expanding the program offering property tax breaks to senior citizens 65 and older who meet certain income guidelines.

"I'm leaning toward I think it's a good idea, but I'm only one of five board members," Town Supervisor Bill Federice said. The board will give Stuber a decision sometime fairly soon.

Stuber also told the board she needs a decision soon on whether members want her to conduct a full reassessment of properties in the Town in 2027, something that's generally been done roughly every four years since 2013.

"The board also needs to look at what the townspeople want," Stuber said.

During Privilege of the Floor, resident Jim Noone— a frequent critic of the board— criticized the recent adoption of a new Local Law abolishing the Town Planning Board and giving its former powers and responsibilities to the Town Board. Noone described it as another example of the board going against the wishes of the people, though Federice and other board members have said it will end up being better for all concerned.

Resident Kennedy McDonnell again brought up his concerns with water damage being done to his property by runoff from adjacent lands.

Code Enforcement Officer Rob Giordano said McDonnell's concerns are "not under the purview of code enforcement" but McDonnell disagreed, saying "It's under code enforcement to make sure other properties aren't causing damage to others." He added his situation would be "pretty simple to fix."

During his Schoharie County report, Federice— also Chairman of the county Board of Supervisors— talked about an apparent violation of the county's ongoing moratorium on the use of Biosolids as a fertilizer.

Federice said pulp sludge from a paper plant in Glens Falls that was sold to Casella Waste Systems was spread on a farm in Cobleskill. He said the alleged action was "not in compliance with the law."