NEW SCOTLAND – The town’s assessing department has overstuffed its space.

The department was given a green light by the town board to move ahead with office renovations to provide more privacy and accessibility for the two assessors.
The office, located in town hall, "was created to be a single office," said Julie Nooney, the town assessor. She shares the space with the assessing clerk, Donna McGinnis. Nooney has been the town assessor since 2002, and McGinnis has been the full-time clerk for about a year.
"We talk about sensitive issues," Nooney said of the assessing department. "It definitely makes it difficult when we are both meeting with someone or talking on the phone at the same time."

The office, once it is remodeled, will separate the assessor and clerk so that each has her own space. The main reason for the change, Nooney said, is privacy.
"Any time you share an office, there is stuff going on that’s not part of your work day," she said.

As you enter the office, McGinnis’s desk is to the right of the door, and Nooney’s desk is located in a setback area behind where the door opens.
"When Donna is out, nobody knows I’m here," Nooney told The Enterprise.
The proposal to renovate the office was came about because the carpeting is being replaced in town hall. Nooney said that she was trying to come up with a way to reconfigure the office so that both she and McGinnis were visible from the doorway. Because of the office space and dimensions, "It was impossible," she said.

The plan re-structures the office by tearing down one wall and putting up another, maintaining the same amount of overall space, and giving Nooney and McGinnis their own space to do their jobs.
The work – estimated to cost less than $2,500 – will be done by town employees, Nooney said. She expects to be working in her new office by the end of the month. "We certainly hope by Grievance Day," she laughed, referring to the state-designated day in May when citizens contest their assessments.

McGinnis’s office will be located where Nooney’s desk now sits, in a space about nine feet by 10 feet; Nooney’s office will be about 16 feet by nine-and-a-half feet.
The new arrangement will "help ease a lot of uncomfortable meetings," Nooney said. The idea is to make the space more user-friendly for everybody, she added.
"It will absolutely make my job easier," McGinnis told The Enterprise.
"People can come and talk to me without meandering down the hall, not knowing where they are going," Nooney said.

Extended moratorium"

The board at its February meeting reached no decision on updating the comprehensive land-use plan and extending the moratorium on building in the northeast quadrant of town.

The town was awarded a $22,400 grant, and has yet to decide what the money will be used for. Updating the town’s 13-year-old comprehensive land-use plan had been the objective of the grant application.

A committee was appointed last year to study the current plan and zoning regulations to see if a new plan is needed; it concluded that some updating, in some capacity, should be done on the comprehensive plan, LaGrange told The Enterprise earlier.
Councilman Richard Reilly suggested that the town use the money "in a more targeted fashion and make some zoning changes."
Reilly initially proposed the moratorium, which will expire in mid-March, to review the zoning in the area. "Our problem is not a comprehensive plan issue, it’s an implementation issue," he said at the Feb. 21 meeting.
"One of the most difficult things that a public official has to do, is look at what seems like a good idea, study it, and say no," Reilly said.

The board scheduled a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. preceding the March 14 meeting to discuss extending the moratorium for another six months.

Other business

In other business, at its February meeting, the town board:

– Appointed John Keenan to represent the town in animal-control cases;

– Adopted a 2007 Engineering Services Agreement with Vollmer Associates;

– Heard from R. Mark Dempf, town engineer, about an extension of a water district on Mason Lane. The homeowners on Mason Lane installed a water line along the road and to their residences at their own expense, drawing water from Bethlehem, but, somehow, never officially became part of a water district, Dempf explained.

They will become incorporated into the Heldervale water district, and the sewer district, Supervisor Ed Clark told The Enterprise.
"This has to be cleaned up," Dempf advised the board;

– Authorized the purchase of tables for the Wyman Osterhout Community Center; and the purchase of a BJ’s Wholesale Club card, with a $45 annual fee; and granted permission for the town to go out to bid for highway materials on March 9 at 10 a.m.;

– Approved spending not more than $400 for the purchase of a new vacuum for Town Hall; and

– Announced that a new security system has been installed in the museum portion of the community center.