Highlights from Town Meeting 4.19.18

We had a long, productive meeting on April 19^th, 2018. Highlights include the hiring of Kerri Yamashita as a Special Prosecutor for our court, the passing of a decision to provide Disability benefits to employees contingent on further study as regards the category of employee for this (years of service, for instance, or full versus part-time), the hiring of Kyle Gillis as Beach Director, and the Highway Departments plans for fixing roads this summer. We passed an Arbor Day Resolution and welcomed Mark Wilson to town as new head of our Triathlon (June 30^th! AND to include a children’s race and later start times!) Mark runs Triathlons for a living and feels confident he can bring more and more people to ours as he builds our reputation as a beautiful place to race. Bob Couse suggested a Town Cleanup Day. We will be looking into how to do this. The Town Board is currently interviewing Planners for help in going forward on the Carvel Development Project. We hope to meet with Durst representative, Yale professor Alex Felson, this coming Monday in a series of meetings all day.

We are also selling the Old Library. If you are interested in this lovely-but-in-need-of-renovation old building on prime Pine Plains real estate, please send an email of interest to supervisor@pineplains-ny.gov as we are preparing an RFP for the sale. I neglected to mention at the meeting that Sandy Towers is starting to work on the Community Garden once again out here at Town Hall. She really would love to have some help this year, and can be reached at 845-514-5550. The food harvested here is taken to our own Food Pantry once a month, but Sandy is open to new ideas for the distribution, since once things begin to grow there is A LOT of food available to families. Students are welcome to come help and bring food home. April Stark, a teacher at Seymour Smith, has brought her students to help plant, and Town Justice Dave Humeston is a regular volunteer. Join them! Call Sandy to give her your ideas! Many of you may not know that the Town has a vibrant Seniors Program, with trips and events provided free and for a nominal fee. This past Friday, we all went down to the Westchester Musical Theatre, had lunch and saw a fabulous production of Sister Act. Kathy Rigano, Town Secretary, and Ray Christiansen are to be commended for booking these excellent adventures and taking care of everyone who goes. Even the bus ride was wonderful—it was a chance for friends to catch up with each other, to meet new people, and to see the countryside from higher up than a carwindow. As per usual, I sighed with relief as we crossed into Dutchess County, grateful to be living in such a beautiful place.