Summit Addresses Stolen Check Issue

SUMMIT — Supervisor Vroman thanked all for everything they do for the town during the year and had a table of snacks available as a thank you.

Vroman clarified the stolen checks issue. A few months ago some checks that were sent as payment for town expenses were stolen from a post office. They were not stolen from the town hall office. After finding out that some checks did not get to their proper destination he contacted the bank utilized their fraud department, and called the town attorney. The checks were made good at no cost to the town. Now the proper authorities will continue to investigate. Evidently, the person/people who stole the checks wipe the checks clean and rewrite them for whatever they want and in this case they were cashed in Texas.

Highway superintendent Jim Dibble explained some larger-than-usual expenses that were incurred over the last month. One of the town trucks had to have a turbo replaced and another needed a transfer case. Dibble also mentioned that the county has raised the amount paid to the town highway departments for plowing county roads, starting in 2024. Dibble asked the board if they would pass a resolution to officially add High Pond Road to our list of town roads so that he can properly add it to the NYS highway inventory; done.

Board members reviewed the Dog Control Officers report. They will be discussing whether or not to send loose unattended dogs to the Schoharie County animal shelter. Town attorney Mike West mentioned that the County shelter is adding another building to house a full-time veterinarian, which will be a cost savings to the county.

Public hearing was opened for the Tax Exemption for Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Workers law at 7:15pm. Assessor Dave Jones made a few comments about it and offered to answer any questions. There were no questions of comments so the public hearing was closed and the law was adopted. Jones will send a review of the law to Summit and Charlotteville fire departments.

Clerk Barbara VanValkenburg mentioned that she could not find one of Summit's town laws on the NYS website, so she contacted the state and found out how to make sure the law gets entered on their website.

Code Enforcement Officer Jessie Wilcox reported that he sent out some building permit renewals, did some fire inspections, sent out four new building permits and has completed his training courses.

Clerk VanValkenburg mentioned that the January Planning Board meeting will be held on January 8th at 7pm instead of the usual first Monday of the month which falls on New Years Day.

John Foote mentioned that some of the Zoning Board of Appeals members attended an informative training webinar.

Chairperson John Foote, of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, stated that he gave a rough draft of the plan to the Clerk. He thanked Assessor Jones for help with some of the sections of the plan. Foote mentioned that they still need to do some work on reviewing/updating the land use law. The next meeting of the committee will be January 4th at 2 pm in the town hall then drafts of the plan will be available on the town website and at the office. Soon after there will be a public hearing. If you have any questions contact John at 518-287-1929.

The meeting opened to the floor. Jen Stinson, of Summit Neighbors, asked to be on the agenda for the January 18, 2024 meeting as they would like to discuss some ideas they have pertaining to blighted buildings.

The Board approved the reappointment of Ernie Sears to the Board of Assessment and Review.

Clerk VanValkenburg mentioned that the Board will need to decide which Williamson Lawbook for town clerks computer program they want to purchase. One program costs about $4,000 and the other about $6,000.

The end-of-the year town board meeting will be December 28th 7pm and the Organizational meeting will be on January 4th at 7pm. Both at the town hall.