Orangetown Board Discusses Committees, Capital Plans

Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart called a special town board meeting Tuesday, primarily focusing on town committees.

The council interviewed two candidates for town boards and committees -- Robert Tompkins of Pearl River and former Councilwoman Eileen Larkin of Palisades.

The board did not vote to name any new members, though the committees and boards are expected to be part of the agenda for the council's workshop April 19. They did discuss dissolving The Downtown Revitalization Committee, Cable Committee and the Shade Tree Commission, which has no budget for 2012.

"My guess is it might (still have a purpose)," Stewart said. "We love trees in Orangetown. We want to take care of them."

Each committee and board has a member of the town council who acts as liaison. The council discussed who would act as liaison for which group as follows:

• Architecture & Community Appearance Board of Review - Councilman Denis Troy
• Blue Hill Golf Course Advisory Committee - Councilman Paul Valentine
• Board of Assessment Review - Councilman Tom Diviny
• Board of Ethics - Deputy Supervisor Alan Ryff
• Bureau of Fire Prevention Committee - Diviny and Councilman Tom Morr
• Citizens Advisory Committee (Community Development Block Grant Committee) - Troy
• Commuter Task Force - Morr
• Environmental Committee - Stewart
• Historic Areas Board of Review - Morr
• Housing Authority - Troy
• Parks & Recreation Development Advisory Committee - TBD
• Planning Board - Morr
• Project Review - Valentine
• Sanitation Commission - Stewart
• Senior Citizen Advisory Committee - Troy
• Substance Abuse Committee - Troy
• Traffic Advisory Board - Valentine
• Volunteer Health Advisory Services Committee - Diviny
• Youth Recreation Assessment Advisory Committee -  TBD
• Zoning Board of Appeals - Diviny
• Orangetown Emergency Management - Diviny

The town council has also discussed the creation of a capital planning committee. That will be among the subjects of a meeting later this week, which will include department heads, board members, Ryff and Tompkins among others. The focus will be creating a plan for capital projects in the town.

"(The department heads) should know what they need a year from now," Troy said. "(They should say) 'I can exist with what I have for now, but three years from now this is coming up' It is incumbent upon the department heads to know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done."

"Some things are must-haves and some are wanna-haves," Diviny said.

Orangetown Director of Finance Charlie Richardson has a list of capital projects that have been brought up. Among those mentioned Tuesday were a new garage for the Parks and Recreation department and a salt dome suggested by Highway Superintendent Jim Dean. 

The town council may also create a task force to look into ways to improve Broadacres Golf Course, which has been a major topic of conversation since Stewart suggested looking into closing it last month. Among the topics that group would look into is improving visibility for Broadacres. 

"There is no signage," Troy said. 

"That goes for Blue Hill (Golf Course), too," Diviny said. 

Among other items raised at Tuesday's meeting were:

• Stewart is looking into improving the quality of the televised broadcasts of town board meetings.
• Stewart would like to find a way to reduce the $450,000 the town spends each year on streetlights. 
• Discuss finding ways to cut into money paid to United Water, much of which is used by the sewer department to fill tanker trucks.