KINDERHOOK–The Village Board discussed new municipal software, which could cost between $10,000 and $30,000 depending on the company the board chooses. And village officials want to avoid what could be an even larger expense associated with the remains of a burned building at the center of the community.
At the regular monthly meeting January 9, board members also discussed the cost of repairing the roof on the village hall, an expense they had hoped a grant would cover. But the mayor announced at the meeting that the village did not receive the grant. Instead the town will use $50,000 already put aside and may have another $50,000 from this year’s budget to do the work.
Trustee Robert Puckett, who is working with an architect to create an Request for Proposals (RFP) for the repairs on the historic building said that the board will outline a scope of work that can be done in stages, depending on how much money the village has to spend.
“We’ll bite off what we can chew,” he told the board.
Another costly challenge facing the village involves the estimated thousands of dollars it will cost to demolish and dispose of building at 6 Board Street gutted by fire late last year. Code Enforcement Officer Glen Smith said he was talking to the owner of the building once a week, and the owner now has the permits required to tear down the building. “Hopefully that will come down sooner rather than later,” he told the board at the meeting last Wednesday night.
Asbestos is one of the of the issues affecting the cost, because of the health and safety regulations that apply to the demolition of a building if asbestos is present. He said the owner is taking steps to remove what’s left of the structure, but Mr. Smith is worried the process could take up to six months. And the code enforcement officer warned the board that it could cost $40,000 to remove the building, especially if asbestos abatement is needed.
Mayor Carol Weaver said the village does not have the money take down the building, saying of the owner, “I hope he’s going to do it.”
The board also agreed on a homepage image for the new village website. Trustee Brain Murphy has been working with the company to launch the new site for the village.
Mr. Murphy is also working with the village clerk to get new software for the village office. He said that he and Clerk Nicole Heeder have met with several companies to look at the software and they have narrowed it down to two, KVS and Williamson Law Book Company. Mr. Murphy suggested asking the companies to come to the office to demonstrate their software for other board members.
Ms. Heeder said the though the more expensive system, KVS, has more features, she was worried that it did not justify spending three times as much as the Williamson Law Book Company’s software. Williamson is based in this state.
“For our small village, do we want to spend that much money? I’d be cautious,” she told the board. The village has $12,000 set aside in the budget for new software.
To contact reporter Emilia Teasdale email eteasdale@columbiapaper.com.
