Village Board OKs police car buy, assesses park project

MILLERTON — Starting at 6 p.m., the Village Board kept its trustees occupied with the latest village business at its recent workshop meeting on Monday, July 6.

With the exception of Trustee Joshua Schultz, all trustees were present at the meeting as were Village Clerk Kelly Kilmer and Millerton Police Officer-in-Charge Mike Veeder. The meeting was held via video conference and streamed to the “Village of Millerton VOM” Facebook page due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing regulations.

Mayor Debbie Middlebrook initiated the meeting by suggesting the board decide on whether to purchase a new police vehicle. Kilmer reported that Village Treasurer Stephany Eisermann emailed the two banks the village usually works with, Salisbury Bank & Trust and Bank of Millbrook, to find out about rates. She said Salisbury Bank & Trust offered a rate of 1.80% and Bank of Millbrook offered a rate of 1.95%, adding that these interest rates were based off a $52,000 bond anticipation note (BAN). Because these rates are only good until Wednesday, July 29, Kilmer said that if the board didn’t have a decision that evening, the board wouldn’t be able to get the BANs in before its next meeting on Monday, July 20. The time was needed to give the village attorney enough time to draw up the paperwork, according to Kilmer.

Throughout the board’s discussion of the police vehicle purchase, trustees talked with Veeder about the color options with Veeder leaning toward black and white. Before the board came to a decision, Kilmer informed the trustees that she needed information about the vehicle’s cost, year and make to include the resolution for the police vehicle purchase.

The board put forth a unanimous vote of approval to allow Veeder to purchase a 2020 Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicle with the color to be determined at a later date at a cost of $52,000. The board then approved a motion to pursue a BAN through Salisbury Bank & Trust at a rate of 1.80% to cover the cost of the vehicle.

As a side note, Veeder reported that he’s been working on seeing what’s involved to get the Millerton Police Department accredited through the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Service. He said he recently started reading the 170-page manual and that he anticipates it will take around one-and-a-half to two years to get the force accredited.

Following an update on a recent Eddie Collins Memorial Field grant by Deputy Mayor Jennifer Najdek, the board approved a motion to accept the Eddie Collins Memorial Park Revitalization Committee’s recommendation to hire The Chazen Companies as its engineer to move forward with the project. 

Later that evening, Middlebrook asked for a motion to sign a letter of support for another grant on behalf of the renovations planned for the park. Najdek confirmed that this grant would be up  to $100,000, and the board voted unanimously to authorize Middlebrook to sign the letter.

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