K’hook ponders plan to pick electric power providers

by EMILIA TEASDALE

KINDERHOOK–The Village of Kinderhook hosted an information meeting about the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) agreement the village board has signed. Katy Vescio, a representative from the not-for-profit local development corporation Municipal Electric and Gas Alliance (MEGA), explained what a CCA is and what it would do for village residents’ electricity bills at the November 14 meeting.

The Village Board signed an agreement to join the CCA which, as of now, includes the cities of Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs and Watervliet, the towns of Bethlehem, Guilderland, Knox, New Scotland and Niskayuna, and the Village of Voorheesville. According to a press release from MEGA, “through bulk purchasing and competition, CCA can offer better electric rates, price stability and budget certainty. Additionally, it provides access to 100% renewable electricity and helps combat predatory practices of energy telemarketers and door-to-door sales.” MEGA is the administrator of the CCA agreement.

About a dozen people attended the meeting. Read more…

Village of Chatham declares snow emergency

by STAFF

CHATHAM—Village Mayor John Howe has declared a snow emergency affecting parking in the village. The emergency started as of noon Sunday, December 1 and calls for no parking on Kinderhook Street, Woodbridge Avenue, Cemetery Hill Road, Library Place and Locust Street. It continues “until further notice.”

Village of Chatham Emergency Coordinator Eric Barnes said in the email announcing the emergency declaration that the village will reassess the situation on Monday morning, December 2.

The declaration encourages motorists to park in the Depot Square lot and includes a reminder that the village does not permit overnight parking on village streets between 3 and 6 a.m.

Two-hour parking limit laws will not be enforced during the snow emergency.

The notice cites Section 99-29 Snow Emergency Streets in the Codes of the Village of Chatham.

Emergency Coordinator Barnes said that information will be posted on the Village of Chatham website, https://villageofchatham.com/ and the village Facebook page.

K’hook willing to consider plunge into Y with pool

by EMILIA TEASDALE

VALATIE–The Kinderhook Town Board heard a proposal last week from residents Tom Barber and Peter Bujanow about offering the YMCA land for a facility at Volunteer Park. At the November 18 meeting Mr. Barber said he had approached the executive director of the East Greenbush YMCA and was told she and her board were very interested in the site.

Mr. Barber said, “The East Greenbush Y is busting at its seams” and the organization either had to expand at its current location or build at a new site. Mr. Bujanow said that he and Mr. Barber were told that almost 25% of the East Greenbush YMCA’s members come from the Kinderhook area.

Mr. Bujanow, who was a town board member and ran for town supervisor this year, said that at forums he held recently he heard from residents interested in having a pool or aquatic center in the area. From his time on the board, he said he knew that using land at the town’s Volunteer Park needs to get approval from the state. Read more…

Deputy’s ‘Squad’ helps Hudson boys do better in school

by JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON–A performance-improvement group for junior high boys and the complete absence of physics courses in Hudson High School highlighted the Hudson City School District (HCSD) Board of Education meeting November 19.

The meeting began with a junior high curriculum workshop, which included a presentation by School Resource Officer Zach Sohotra, who mentors a group of junior high boys for the purpose of improving their grades, attendance and behavior.

Deputy Sohotra graduated from Hudson High School, became a deputy at the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and has been stationed at the Hudson Junior/Senior High campus since last spring. There, he started hanging out at the basketball court with students, and soon talked with Junior High Principal Derek Reardon, and his then Associate Principal Alyssa Sabbatino, about how to decrease suspensions and truancy. After consultation with teachers, they identified 12 boys whose “behavior impacted their academics” and wrote to their parents asking permission to include their sons in a group that Deputy Sohotra “would mentor and work with during the school day,” according to Assistant Superintendent of School Improvement April Prestipino. The group calls itself the Sohotra Squad. Read more…

No vote yet on how to prove who gets to vote

by DIANE VALDEN

CRARYVILLE—The public, and the school board for that matter, still don’t know what will be required as acceptable proof of residency for someone to vote in a Taconic Hills Central School District election.

After a long discussion at its November 20 meeting, the nine-member Taconic Hills Board of Education remained divided on what to require as proof and no vote was taken.

Back in June, the board voted to switch to a system of poll registration for voters instead of its prior method of personal registration. The move was prompted, according to the accounts of some board members and School District Superintendent Neil Howard, by the discovery that people who were told they were not eligible to vote in the past May election illegally voted anyway. Read more…