The 20-acre project, which would be sited on a roughly 46-acre property at 57 Canaday Hill Road, would be Berne’s first commercial solar facility.

The former Highlands Restaurant property in Knox is in “rough shape,” according to a former employee. She expects that any buyer will have to invest a lot to make it habitable again. 

The Westerlo Town Board voted unanimously to establish a $1.2 million capital reserve fund, which will be spent on various improvements in the town over the next four years according to a spending plan that has yet to be adopted.

The liaison system will allow the Rensselaerville Town Board to be more aware of what the town’s various boards and committees are working on and what their needs are, taking some of the burden off of the town supervisor.

Berne’s former deputy supervisor, Anita Clayton, alleged at a town board meeting in December shortly before she left office that the town cannot sell the property for less than it’s worth. The spokeswoman for Albany County said this is not the case, and that the town has been ignoring county correspondence for weeks. 

Town hall will be closed for a week, from Jan. 10 through 17.

The Shultes-Malcolm Dutch Barn, in Knox, is being dismantled and relocated, as many Dutch barns in the area have been before it. Developers often buy these rare historic structures and turn them into housing, despite efforts by New York state and some municipalities to encourage local owners to preserve them in place.   

Erin Nevins, of EP Nevins Insurance Agency, told the Rensselaerville Town Board last week that it may have an opportunity in 2025 to lower costs associated with reimbursing retirees, thanks to impending changes to the Medicare program that limit out-of-pocket drug expenses to $2,000 per enrollee. 

A fundamental progressivism has been in the undercurrent in most of the Hilltowns this year, as Westerlo, Rensselaerville, and Knox all began or continued to work on difficult, long-term projects that nevertheless promise to benefit residents for decades to come. Berne, however, has been stuck wrestling with its past. 

As the town of Rensselaerville has begun redoubling its broadband expansion efforts, the Albany County Legislature this week approved the creation of a broadband special project coordinator to help manage broadband-related funding and partner with local municipalities, guiding their own efforts in the difficult work of connecting residents to the internet.