Village Holds Light Agenda, Repairs Underway on Tower Drive

STAMFORD – Village officials were invited to the Stamford Library kickoff party for the new library at 139 West Main St., heard  requests to use the pool and tennis courts in Indian Trail Park for Camp HERE activities and tabled approval of an equipment purchase to get more details during a short meeting last Tuesday.

Janet Kirch was present from the Stamford Library Association to invite the public and village officials to the kickoff party for the building campaign, set for 1-4 p.m. on May 30 at the site of the new library. All of the library board members and staff will be present and she said attendees will be able to get a concept of the new building's footprint. There will be an actual layout of the various areas with the library staff present, answer questions and  give details about each area. Attendees will be able to visualize where the new community room, garden, children's library, adult library, reading garden, teen room and history room will be located. "We are hoping for wonderful weather, with local officials expected to attend," said Kirch. Mayor Robert Schneider confirmed he will speak at the event.

Resident Michelle Decker asked if the PDF documents listed in the meeting agenda could be included for review prior to the village board meetings . Newly seated Trustee Clifford Curley said it is an area he is interested in and said he is working with Village Clerk Jamison Hanway to get those items included with the agenda. However, he noted that many of the items left off the agenda, the clerk had only received that day without time to add them to the website. Those items were on the agenda the next morning. "Hopefully in the future, when you look at the website, those items will be there," he said. He has been looking at other municipal websites to see what their process is.

Mayor Schneider reported the village had received a $4.5 million NYForward grant. All the details are now on the village website, outlining the grant and the procedures. He said it will likely be two years before any money is received for any projects. They will be reimbursement grants with the property owners paying 25 percent. They must provide 100 percent up front with the state to reimburse them. He said to type grant in the search on the village website, to find more details.. He said they will be creating a separate website specific to the grants. Community residents have been asking to be named to the committee, according to Sandy Collins, village treasurer. The mayor indicated they were not  yet at that phase of the process.

Archibald Memorial Field was temporarily shut down when a light fell from a pole. The village is getting a lift to be able to remove the damaged light and then will hopefully be able to reopen the field. He said that was likely to take place by the end of the week.

A letter from Caleb Lococo, director of Camp HERE, said the camp will operate out of the Churchill building this summer. The camp runs July 6-31 from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. each day. He stated they would again like to have swimming lessons available to campers and in the afternoon free swim for the campers K-2 from 1:30 to 2 p.m. and grades 3-6 from 2-2:45 p.m..In addition to the pool, his letter is requesting access/integration into the Tennis Court schedule, pending completion, with a tennis director hired for this year 's camp to hopefully provide tennis lessons. "We are vey grateful to the village of Stamford for their continued support and assistance in this program."

A contract for IT services was tabled to get further information.

Department of Public Works Superintendent Jesse Calia said in his written report that the seasonal section of Utsayantha Drive is underway with the help of the town of Harpersfield highway crew. Last week the village crew did all of the ditch work and jackhammering and this week Harpersfield was hauling material in and grading. He indicated they had used up a huge stockpile of road millings and will now purchase material with the $19,500 economic development grant received from Delaware County. He said one crew member is posted at the bottom of the roadway to turn people away, with an average of 30 people per day.  The village will roll and compact the material. 

Trees have also been removed around the grave of Princess Utsayantha to allow scouts to rebuild the fence and build an information board.

He also reported scouts had planted trees and are adding a stone walkway in Indian Trail Park.

There is also a problem with beavers, he said the crews have to clear the culvert on Buntline Drive almost daily.

Board members tabled his request for a blacktop box attachment, estimated to cost $11,000 to have him get quotes and figures to support savings to justify the purchase. In his report, he said it would provide a better quality outcome and would save on material. It would allow crews to complete more projects, such as the small parking lot next to CORE, larger road patch jobs, and more.

The next village board meeting will be held June 16.