RENSSELAERVILLE — At the close of a meeting in which the Rensselaerville Town Board approved two major expenditures, Councilman Brian Wood suggested the board come up with a capital-improvement plan, looking five, 10, or 20 years ahead.

“Maybe you guys think we should just nickel and dime it …,” he said to the other board members. “I feel like we need a plan to look at what the town building is going to need.”

Wood concluded of developing a plan, “If we don’t —

“We’re never going to do it,” said Supervisor John Dolce, completing Wood’s sentence.

The town received just one bid each for two projects, which the board approved on Feb. 26.

The first is for six new doors for the highway garage, which C&R Overhead Garage Doors, of Catskill, will supply for $34,317.16.

The second is for a new waste-oil heater and 1,000-gallon tank for $30,789.92. Dolce said the warranty is good for one year on parts and labor, and two years on parts.

“We’re going to use the existing chimney,” said Dolce but the piping will be new. He went on, “The tank is 10 feet tall. So, with the evacuation package, you’ll be able to suck the oil from floor level up 10 feet and into the containers, as opposed to somebody going up … and pouring it in.”

Both votes were unanimous.

Other business

In other business at its Feb. 26 meeting, the Rensselaerville Town Board:

— Heard thanks from Margaret Kelly, president of The Good Cause Theater Company. The company, made up of mostly volunteers, works with children to put on plays in Conkling Hall. The not-for-profit group received a grant from the Kuhar Endowment Fund, from money left to the town by the late Jeffrey Bogue.

“It’s not just about theater,” said Kelly. “It’s about confidence. And, if you could get on the stage and sing and dance, you can do anything.”

Kelly’s two daughters, now grown, were in the company’s original 2001 production.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” said Kelly, “and we appreciate being part of the town”;

— Heard, from the gallery, a question about several town highway workers claiming they didn’t get days off they were entitled to eight years ago. The board agreed to a contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 158 in December.

Woods responded that documentation would be needed. “We can only go back to 2020,” Woods said of records, adding, “If I can show that you’re missing the day, then I’m pretty sure nobody out here is going to say: We are not going to give them a day because it was eight years ago.”

Dolce said, “My problem is: What happens six months from now?”

Dolce went on, “We’re a team. You have to review the contract … We can’t keep going back. That’s not what a contract is.”

He said it was up to the union representative to review the contract. “It’s not on me,” said Dolce, “and it’s not fair to the town board … I want to take care of you guys but you’re paying this union to look out for you”;

— Agreed to town budget modifications and transfers as proposed by Brian Fitzgerald, the town’s accountant.

“Different than other towns, we do our budget modifications and transfers at the end of the year so we know exactly where we stand,” said Dolce, adding later, “I see it in all these other towns — they’ll overspend and they put some more money there. When they come back the next month, they overspend again. And they keep on doing that”;

— Agreed to a contract with the engineering firm Tighe & Bond, which the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee had recommended for the goal of replacing the hamlet’s water source with wells rather than Lake Myosotis.

Dolce said he had checked with the town’s lawyer. “He has no issues with the contract,” Dolce said. “He recommends we sign it.”

On a related matter, Dolce said he had finally received the paperwork to extend the $80,000 bond anticipation note for the water district project, so it can be covered by a grant; and

— Went into executive session to discuss a union contract.