ALTAMONT — Water is topping the village’s agenda now that its board has adopted a new comprehensive plan.

In a unanimous vote at Tuesday’s meeting, the board adopted the plan and voted, also unanimously, to take Trustee Dean Whalen’s advice to put together a committee that would come up with a water plan. Whalen, an architect, headed the committee that developed the comprehensive plan for Altamont’s future.
In the plan’s very first section of suggestions, entitled Infrastructure and Transportation, goal number-one reads, "High quality sewer and water services are maintained to preserve public health."

The first recommendation is for the establishment of an advisory committee that would look into the possibility for expanding utilities.
"The policy needs to be in place," said Kate Provencher of procedures regarding village water. Provencher serves on the zoning board of appeals and was a member of the comprehensive planning committee.

She spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, which came on the heels of a unanimous vote to hold a public hearing at the next meeting on implementing a $15 maintenance fee for all properties that use village water. The fee would total $30 per year for each connected unit.

Following Provencher in the public comment session was Dick Ogsbury, a Schenectady County resident whose family has a long history in Guilderland. Ogsbury had taken an interest in the gray water recycling section of the comprehensive plan. He recalled the old days, when people used to recycle their own wash water, using it to water their lawns.

The gray water project that is mentioned in the comprehensive plan involves putting all of the buildings in the village on a pipe line that would collect non-sewage water from them and recycle it rather than treating it with the sewage.
"It’s everyone’s responsibility, I feel it’s a moral responsibility, to look after your water," Ogsbury said.

Other business

In other business at Tuesday night’s meeting, the board:

— Heard from Anthony Salerno, the village’s public safety commissioner, that he and other Altamont Police officers had completed a training session with the Army National Guard on how to handle terrorists’ attacks involving the use of weapons of mass destruction; the course was held at the Altamont fairgrounds. Major Cooper and Captain Michaels of the National Guard were at the meeting to present Salerno and the department with certificates;
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— Heard from James M. Clancy, commissioner of the Albany County Board of Elections, on voting machines in New York, which is the only state in the union that has not yet complied with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.
—"I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news," Clancy told the board, "but we’re going to have problems with the new machines." The village board had planned on voting on a resolution that would urge lawmakers to purchase paper-ballot optical scan voting machines. The machines have yet to be certified, and "the certification process is not what we had hoped it would be," said Clancy. Vendors can take their machines back and change them if they do not pass the initial certification test, he said.

Trustee Harvey Vlahos mentioned that he had heard that the organization that certifies the machines is funded by the manufacturers of the machines, to which Clancy said he wasn’t sure.
"This is big business," Clancy said, "which is why it got kicked down to us in the first place." The state legislature charged the counties of New York with choosing voting machines that would comply with HAVA rather than making a state-wide decision itself. "The state legislature didn’t want to get caught up in the lobbying," he said.

The village board tabled its vote until its next meeting;

— Heard from Tim McIntyre, the village’s commissioner of public works, that his department had put grass seeds in parts of Orsini Park that had been torn up by kids playing football;

— Heard from McIntyre that the gates at Bozenkill Park have been closed because of late-night visitors there lately. He reported having found beer cans in the park and said that he had discussed more police presence in the area with Salerno;

— Heard from McIntyre that, during a gas-service installation on Maple Avenue, the gas company had interrupted water service to one resident. The village’s department of public works fixed the problem;

— Voted unanimously to approve the final stage of the courtroom renovation that will include the installation of a recording system by Robert Haines and a custom-designed judge’s bench by Charles Donnelly. The total cost is not to exceed $17,775 and the funding is from a Justice Court Assistance Program grant of $5,580 and $12,195 from shared services;

— Unanimously passed two motions concerning the new village well on Brandle Road, which will supplement the municipal water supply.

The board awarded a $1.4 million bond sale to the firm of Roosevelt & Cross, Inc. at an interest rate of 4.34482 percent; two other bids were higher.
And the board voted to hold a public hearing on Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. to consider adopting the first local law of the year, which would amend a 2006 law on water and sewer regulations. The amended law would include a $15 maintenance fee on all units connected to village water; this would "be in support of $1.4 million ground water project";
— Held a public comment period on the renewal of Time Warner Cable’s franchise on cable television in the village for 10 years. "You’re not locked into one provider," said John Mucha, a representative for Time Warner, to the board, explaining that, if another cable provider wanted to come to the village, it could. Vlahos asked some detailed questions about the new contract; none of the other board members did.

The board voted to accept the contract to extend Time Warner’s cable franchise for 10 years. Trustee William Aylward made the motion to accept and Kerry Dineen seconded the motion; all board members voted in favor except for Vlahos, who abstained;

— Held a public hearing on the comprehensive plan. Tony D’Adamo, of Capital Architecture, PC was the only person to speak, he was there on behalf of Sally Ketchum. She owns property on Prospect Terrace and she’d like to build self-storage units on the lot, he said.
There is no place to put storage units in the village and D’Adamo wants something allowing for it added to the plan. There is no better place for a storage unit, he said; her lot is "between an Agway and a gas station";

— Voted unanimously to approve recommendations from the Altamont Guilderland Referral Committee regarding a 60-by-120 foot pavilion to replace a tent at Altamont Orchards and forward a copy to the Guilderland Zoning Board;

— Voted unanimously to approve the volunteer firefighter Service Award Program list of all active volunteer firefighters for posting in the fire station for at least 30 days for review by members; and

— Voted unanimously to hold the next village election on March 20, 2007, to take place at the Village Hall from noon to 9 p.m.