“Why I got into kinship care and meeting grandparents raising kids is that my home was really a broken home,” Wallace says in this week’s Enterprise podcast. “My father was an alcoholic, worked on the waterfront. He was a good person but, when he drank, it was a nightmare …. We grew up in a state of toxic stress.”

“It was actively snowing for part of the time, but the cold is always a problem,” said Molgard. “Pieces of equipment do freeze up. We were able to get water fairly quickly on the fire but the fire was just too advanced. There wasn’t any real way to save the house.”

The new town board in Berne is looking to evaluate town practices, like how to handle solid waste, and to fill gaps in contracts and policies.

“I know you’re upset,” Giebelhaus told the crowd. “I am too. I’m probably the most upset person in the room. It’s my job to take your slings and arrows … I’m the town supervisor.” But no slings and arrows were forthcoming. Rather, there was a sense of shared misery and concern with some suggestions for help.

BERNE — Berne residents were surprised this week when they got their town tax bills: the expected 38 percent hike is closer to 69 percent.

The new supervisor, Joseph Giebelhaus, said that he was surprised as well.

The Rensselaerville Town Board has scheduled a hearing on the matter for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, at the town hall.

He would still be willing to settle with the town, Crosier said.

Supervisor Joseph Geibelhaus said of the many resolutions, “There’s been a request for transparency. With transparency comes accountability.”

As farmland is decreasing dramatically across the United States, Knox has a proposal to preserve its own. As the United States faces a significant housing shortage — particularly of affordable housing — the town of Westerlo made strides this year, streamlining the permitting process for accessory-dwelling units to make it easier for elderly residents who’d otherwise be looking for dedicated senior housing in the suburbs to stay close by. Municipal water problems are frequent in the United States with rural systems prone to the most problems; Rensselaerville has been working to transition its water district away from a surface-water system into a public well system under the guidance of its Water and Sewer Advisory Committee.

“I’m fully disabled and I can’t work, so I put all my time into this,” Savino said of the holiday-meal giveaway.