ALTAMONT — The mayor’s dream of making Altamont into a living museum will be a reality come June.

Last week, the village received a $10,000 state grant through Hudson River Valley Greenway that will be used for its $38,632 Museum in the Streets project.

“This will keep us to our promise of not using taxpayer money,” Mayor James Gaughan said at Tuesday’s village board meeting, noting private business and individual donations are supporting the project as well.

The museum will open in June on the day of the annual strawberry social hosted by Altamont Community Tradition, the mayor said.

Gaughan received the grant award at Hyde Park last Wednesday, Oct. 26, an event he described as a “grand celebration” with “a plethora of awards for the Hudson Valley.”

He noted that the town of Guilderland received $7,500 for planning a biking and hiking trail.

The 1991 Greenway Act created a means for voluntary cooperation among the communities in the 13 counties, including Albany County, that border the Hudson River. The state agency provides matching grants to Greenway communities.

The mayor broke down the project funding this way: Five businesses or individuals are donating $2,000 each; the Greenway grant is $10,000; $4,000 will come from the Roger Keenholts Fund, named for the late village historian, and made up of private donations for museum projects, which will have $4,000 left; $8,000 in state funds were secured by Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, which was first spend on the village’s 125th anniversary celebration and publication of a book on church windows in Altamont and has since been reimbursed, the mayor said; and the rest, between $6,000 and $7,000, will be from “in-kind services,” work that village staff provides.

“It’s a moving target,” Gaughan said of the project’s $38,632 cost.

The seed for making the Victorian village of Altamont into a sort of living museum was planted four years ago, the mayor told The Enterprise. Referring to the man who is now his spouse, Keith Lee, he said, “Keith and I were visiting friends in Ridgefield, Connecticut…I was so entranced by it.”

The Museum in the Streets concept has been applied to just three other New York State venues, Gaughan said, putting Altamont “on the frontier.”

He is keen on having Altamont on the cutting edge. He recalled a friend visiting years ago and asking why Altamont didn’t have WiFi for its village green; it does now — coming from the bank and library adjacent to the park, Gaughan said.

“I felt like Governor Rockefeller when the queen of the Netherlands came to visit Albany,” said Gaughan, alluding to an often repeated story about Beatrix’s 1959 visit; Nelson Rockefeller reputedly was embarrassed by the state of the city and had a chunk of it torn down to make way for the modern Empire State Plaza.

Gaughan has worked on improving the look of Altamont with the volunteer help of his spouse. He is proud of the appearance of the village, highlighted with gardens that Lee, a Master Gardener, has helped to create.

“I’m very much into the look of our village,” said Gaughan. “It looks better than most little places.”

Besides gardening, Lee put together a pictorial history of the village called “Altamont,” one of a series published by Arcadia Press.

“We saw the fruitfulness of documenting our history from our archives,” said Gaughan. “That was our start. Now we’ll move it forward to the streets of Altamont.”

A committee headed by the village’s archivist, Marijo Dougherty, has selected 26 historic sites, all within the village proper, that will be part of the living museum.

The owners of the 26 sites have not yet been informed of their designation, said Gaughan; he does not want to reveal the list until he has checked with them.

“An elegant lectern,” Gaughan said, will be constructed on the right-of-way before each site. It will include both text, written by Keith Lee, and pictures, many of them taken by Ron Ginsburg, who also volunteered his talents for the book “Altamont” and for various displays at Village Hall.

“I love the look and feel of it,” Gaughan said of the village and its history, which will be highlighted in the permanent exhibit. “It’s so in tune with our comprehensive plan, honoring our culture and history.”

Each site will also have a QR (Quick Response) code, which visitors can scan with their devices to learn more, possibly with translations into other languages or with spoken words for blind visitors.

The Museum in the Streets, Gaughan said, will also “be a benefit to business, bringing more people into the village.”

A large “master map” of all 26 sites will be posted in Orsini Park, the green at the center of Altamont, where its two central thoroughfares, Main Street and Maple Avenue, meet.

The village trail will link with other Greenway trails, Gaughan said, like the trails at the Bozen Kill Preserve on the outskirts of Altamont, or the new visitors’ center at Thacher Park, on the Helderberg escarpment above Altamont.

“This will draw people into the village proper,” said Gaughan.

Besides commerce and recreation, education is another important facet of the project, the mayor said. He consulted with the superintendent of the Guilderland public schools, Marie Wiles, Gaughan said. “I envision buses for civics classes, with children on field trips, coming here to learn as part of the regular curriculum,” he said. Gaughan is retired from a career with the State Education Department.

The text on the lecterns at the 26 sites will all be written in both English and Spanish, the mayor said. “The research I did showed the largest population in the area is Spanish-speaking,” he said, second to English. He also said that more Guilderland students study Spanish as a second language than any other.

The mayor has a philosophical view of wanting to reach beyond the village, to be inclusive of the world. “I don’t like Altamont to be insulated from the rest of the world,” he said. “Anything we can do, even symbolically, to reach the world is a good thing.”

He concluded, “My next secret wish is to adopt a sister city.”

Other business

In other business at its Nov. 1 meeting, the village board:

— Received a report from Altamont Fire Chief Paul Miller listing, for the past month, seven fire calls: a house fire on Gardner Road, a carbon-monoxide alarm on Schoharie Plank Road, an outdoor fire on Settles Hill Road, and four false alarms;

— Heard praise from Gaughan for Trustee Madeline LaMountain who organized the village’s first Fall Festival, which was held inside Village Hall because of rain. Gaughan called it “a grand success” and said there were “non-stop people.” He concluded, “Everyone was happy, especially the vendors”;

— Approved a workplace violence prevention policy required by the state’s Department of Labor “to help maintain an environment in or on village property and at village-sponsored events that is free of workplace violence, threats and intimidation,” the policy says.

The policy states that a village employee who is violent as well as any member of the public who is violent to an employee may face criminal prosecution; the village will investigate all filed complaints.

Prohibited behaviors include assault, confinement, threatening horseplay, direct threats, stalking, suggestions of violence, possession of a weapon at village events or on village property unless a requirement of the job, loud or angry behavior or language, blatant disregard for the safety of others, and commission of a violent felony or misdemeanor.

The designated contact person is the village clerk, Patty Blackwood.

The mayor complimented Blackwood for taking the lead with the policy, for which staff must be trained with “short but telling reminders every year,” Gaughan said;

— Hired Nancy Lustenhouwer of Schoharie as a part-time driver of the senior van, at a salary of $12 per hour;

— Approved the Library Lights holiday fundraiser to support the Altamont Free Library, to be held on Dec. 4, at 4 p.m. in Orsini Park;

— Heard from Gaughan that the annual Victorian Holiday will be held on Dec. 11;

— Authorized Gaughan to sign a renewal contract with the Capital District Physicians Health Plan for health insurance for retired village employees. The individual monthly premium will go from $243.10 this year to $255 in 2017 “with essentially the same benefits,” said Gaughan. He termed this “phenomenal” and said, “It’s almost a non-increase”; and

— Agreed to dispose of records as recommended by Blackwood, “This is a process we go through periodically to purge files as allowed by law,” said Gaughan.