GUILDERLAND — Supervisor Peter Barber described Guilderland as a “welcoming community” in his annual State of the Town address on Wednesday morning.

“We’re committed to affordable workforce housing,” he said, noting Guilderland has been designated as a Pro-Housing Community, making it eligible for state grants.

He also said, “We want to make sure that our community is welcoming to all regardless of their orientation.”

Barber, in his 10th year as supervisor, spoke for about three-quarters of an hour at the town hall to a crowd made up primarily of town employees, whose work he praised along with the work of the town board.

“Each of these people are the town’s ambassadors. They’re out there, interacting with the public” Barber said, lauding in particular six retiring leaders with a combined 144 years of service: Parks Director CJ Gallup, water treatment operator Dean Sim, police Captain Eric Batchelder, Chief Inspector Ted Raymond, EMS Director Jay Tyler, and Clerk to the Justices Sharon Groves.

His address was illustrated with about 30 slides, available on the town’s website, as he highlighted accomplishments for the town’s police, parks, courts, emergency medical services, senior services, and comprehensive-plan update.

Barber described “healthy growth” in Guilderland, with the town’s assessed value at $4.4 billion, up by $221 million in one year.

The median household income is $107,000 and the median age of residents is 39.4 years.

Barber itemized some of the recent executive orders from President Donald Trump that have had or may have an impact on the town. He noted panicked calls had been received from residents in federally subsidized housing and that a “snarky” letter from the Department of Energy said a $74,000 grant to replace a town hall boiler was paused.

The grants were paused nationwide on Jan. 27, pending review of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, at which point Barber stressed that Guilderland is a “welcoming community.”

Other federal funding that may be affected, Barber said, is from the Federal Highway Safety Program, affecting the Carman Road roundabout and sidewalks.

The town is not only welcoming but “very appreciative” of its “military heroes,” said Barber, noting Guilderland’s status as a Purple Heart Town and its Hometown Heroes program.

A town committee is working on ways to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the nation, said Barber, noting, “We’re the only town in the county … that actually had a battle during the American Revolution.”

Barber thanked the nine-member committee that worked with a consultant for two years to draft an update to the town’s comprehensive plan and noted a second town board hearing will be held on March 18.

“It’s really important for you to be heard,” said Barber. “This is the blueprint … for our future.”

Barber noted the town budget had stayed under the state-set levy limit for the 13 years it has been in place while continuing “to reward our employees by providing the 3-percent increases” in salaries.

“I don’t know of any town that is more transparent,” said Barber, noting digitized versions of meetings are posted to the town’s website.

Over 800 residents participate in the town’s senior programs, Barber said, and over 3,000 transports were made to medical appointments or shopping venues.

The town board granted the maximum tax break to seniors allowed by the state, increasing the number of exemptions from 275 last year to 456. “We want to keep them in their homes,” said Barber of the town’s elders.

The town’s budget this year includes further investment in Guilderland Emergency Medical Services. “We’re adding a new paramedic and EMT,” he said. “That’s going to add fourth and fifth ambulances during various peak times.”

Barber described the Advanced Life Support ambulances, which each cost $350,000 or more, as “an ER on wheels.”

GEMS made 4,227 hospital transports this past year.

Opening a third station in October, near the town’s golf course, has maintained low response times, Barber said. Before the town had its own EMS service, Barber said response time could be 15 or 20 minutes. Now, he said, “We’ve been able to keep it at 6 to 8 minutes.”

In addition to the million-dollar new EMS station, the town last fall also cut the ribbon on a million-dollar fire training facility, half of which was funded by the county. The town board also granted the maximum allowable tax break for volunteer firefighters, which 114 firefighters have used, Barber said.

On police, Barber said the force is the largest in the town’s history with 44 officers.

The town court, he said, “is seeing a lot more traffic violations … indicative of a concerted police effort to deal with traffic safety.” The number of traffic tickets issued last year increased by almost 1,100, to 5,807.

“We’re not looking for revenue; we’re looking for safety,” said Barber.

At least one of the Guilderland Police officers is assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency, Barber said, adding, “You know, drugs are present in our community.”

The town will also have five new police vehicles in 2025, Barber said, and has new body and car cameras, an initiative it started nine years ago.

“Last year, we committed to keeping dispatch local,” Barber said, rather than regionalizing. “We  have people who know our roads and know our people.”

He praised the police department for once again going through the voluntary New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation to become certified in 2024.

A speed hump, as opposed to a speed bump, installed on Elmwood Street in 2023 has been popular, Barber said — “They’re not getting the rattle and the noise you get when you have a speed bump” — and may be installed on Willow Street, where residents have complained about speeders.

Roundabouts in town have cut down on accidents, Barber said. The "disastrous intersection” at Carman Road and Lydius Street has had “just 16 accidents in 20 months” since the roundabout was built, Barber said.

Similarly, the accidents near Crossgates Mall have been reduced to nine in 12 months, Barber said.

New tools have been bought for the highway department to keep workers safe, Barber said.

The town’s largest investment has been in water resources, he said. “Whether it’s the connection we made with Rotterdam, our plan hopefully to restore our wells, any improvement in the filtration plant, they’re all millions of dollars," Barber said.

The town board recently approved spending $4.4 million to replace the roughly 13,000 water meters in town.

“It’s going to save water because the water department is going to know that there’s a leak in your house before you even know it,” Barber said.

In the winter, water use in town is manageable but it peaks in the summer with “people watering the lawns, washing their cars, filling their pools,” said Barber, causing the town to have to buy outside water.

Barber called the growth in town “somewhat modest” and noted that the Costco warehouse, to be built near Crossgates Mall, is to open in late 2025, “last I heard.” Barber said, “It takes four months to build because it’s just a box — no basement, nothing really specialized about it.” The timing, he said, is dependent on the company having a “building slot.”

On parks, Barber said that new security cameras have been installed at Tawasentha. Albany’s Park Playhouse is planning to put on the musical “Oklahoma!” this summer at the park’s Guilderland Performing Arts Center, known as GPAC.

Barber summarized park improvements as "playgrounds and pickleball” and said, “I think by the time we are all done in 2025, that we will have a playground at all of our parks.”

At Keenholts Park, Barber said, “We’re trying to put girls’ softball on parity with boys’ baseball … We’re going to try to create a signature field for girls’ softball,” which will include lights for night games.

“I think Arbor Day will be a significant event,” said Barber, explaining that the town’s tree preservation committee will provide native plants, distributed on a first come, first served basis.

“We want to basically encourage the growth of trees around our community,” he said.

Barber also encouraged participation in Care for Your Cemetery Day, noting that the town owns the graveyard in Guilderland Center.

Responding to climate change is one of the key recommendations of the updated comprehensive plan, Baber noted and was “also one of the most popular” goals when the public was surveyed.

He noted that, lately due to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy’s Bozen Kill corridor, that the town is “already at 30 percent of our land preserved.”

President Joe Biden, in 2021, issued an executive order establishing a national goal to conserve at least 30 percent of United States lands and freshwater and 30 percent of U.S. ocean areas by 2030, in an initiative commonly referred to as 30x30. 

Barber went on, “We started a conservation easement program several years ago … We’re hoping to get more interest in it.”

Further, he said, “We also have a native tree preservation law and we have a committee that’s actively pursuing now the drafting of a forestry plan.” He stressed that the plan will be educational, not punitive.

Also, Barber noted that the town board recently approved the formation of a conservation overlay-district committee “to protect our resources …. Making certain that the views of the Helerbergs, also that the entrance to the village of Altamont for the Green Belt are respected."

Barber spoke, too, of the importance of preserving the town’s history with the recent upgrades to the Frederick-Mynderse House, the painting of the Schoolcraft Mansion,and plans for the Cobblestone Schoolhouse.

Barber called the schoolhouse, which the town acquired from the school district last May after a landslide public vote, his “favorite building in town.”

“I think it’s amazing that a building that was built just before the Civil War started is still standing and has been maintained and used for most of that time period,” said Barber. “I think it’s incredible that a community got together in Guilderland Center to basically decide that they wanted public education for their children.”