ALTAMONT — The village board, last Tuesday accepted Kevin Clancy’s resignation from the planning board and appointed Wayde Bush in his place.

The board also approved the auctioning off of a fire department truck, and approved a new cable franchise agreement, among other items, in a brief meeting, before going into executive session to discuss a contract negotiation at its Oct. 3, 2017, meeting.

Bush, an alternate on the planning board for the past year, was formerly a member of the village board. He’ll finish Clancy’s term, which expires on March 31, 2020.

Bush said he took the appointment because “I was on the village board for 12 years, and I still have a big interest in the village, and I liked it. I want to make sure things are done right, and have some input in what goes on,” he told The Enterprise.

About the planning board, he says, “I’ve been involved in it for the last year, and they seem well-versed in what they do, and I think we’ll be a pretty good team.”

Bush works for the town of Guilderland, at the wastewater plant, and has been a resident of Altamont since 1984.

Kevin Clancy could not be reached for comment.

The board authorized the auctioning off of a fire truck for $70,000. This is because the village is purchasing a new truck, a combined pumper and rescue truck, that will will cost $547,000, according to Fire Chief Paul Miller.

Miller says the new truck will have a pump and hoses, and will hold 1,000 gallons of water, and is a rescue truck as well. The truck up for auction does not have water capabilities.

The new truck will have everything the department need for car accidents, but will also be able to fight fires, he says.

The purchase means the village will go from five pieces of equipment to four. Miller says this allows Altamont to save on maintenance and insurance.

The board authorized Mayor Kerry Dineen to sign a cable franchise agreement with Charter Communications.

“At this time, I’ll give you a little background. This is something we do every 10 years … and it always has to be discussed in a public forum. The percentage of revenues is all regulated by law. We are getting the maximum amount of revenues, which is 5 percent,” Dineen said at the meeting.  

“We have kept everything even with our last agreement,” she said, during the meeting. According the village’s 2017-18 budget, adopted on April 4, 2017, Altamont will receive $38,000 in cable franchise fees.

“A franchise agreement is necessary for each municipality where a cable system is operated and provides cable services. Charter is the company offering services in our area,” Dineen wrote in an email after the meeting, responding to a request from The Enterprise for an interview.

Responding to an inquiry if the village spoke with other providers to get its residents the best deal it could, Dineen wrote, “At this time, we do not have any other cable service providers in our area.”

Other business

In other business, the village board:

—  Received a report from Miller, that the volunteers had responded to eight calls in September, which added up to 42 hours of service, including: three false alarms, one mutual-aid call in Knox for an all-terrain-vehicle fire that spread to a structure, one mutual-aid call in Pine Grove for a structure fire, one carbon-monoxide detector malfunction on Grant Hill Road, one brush fire at Keenholts Park, and one elevator rescue on Park Street;

— Received a report from Jeffrey Moller, superintendent of public works, that the department had cleaned one of the water storage tanks and refilled it, and is beginning its flushing program. Moller advised meeting attendees to keep an eye out for dirty water. He said that the department will begin loose-leaf pickup on Oct. 17; and

— Approved an application from Seanna Slingerland to become junior firefighter with the Altamont Fire Department.