Two transportation updates were given at the Town of Highlands board meeting on August 24.

First, it was noted that as of that week, the town’s Dial-a-Bus was to be back in service. The service did resume on August 26. The bus, which costs $1 per rider per trip (50 cents for seniors 60 and over, disabled persons and Medicare recipients), runs Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

While it runs in just Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery, Bear Mountain and West Point, Town Board members said they were willing to again consider running an out-of-town loop on Saturdays – to Vails Gate and Newburgh, including ShopRite, Walmart and the Newburgh Mall.

For more information on that, or to reserve a trip on the bus for the daily schedule (rides must be scheduled 24 hours in advance) call 845-446-RIDE (7433).

The town now owns two Dial-A-Bus vehicles. The one back in service is about two years old but has recently been out of service. The second was just obtained from Orange County as a back-up; it is a 2017 bus, in good condition. It is in the process of being re-lettered, inspected, etc. before it can be put into service. At the moment, the town has two part-time drivers for the vehicle.

The second bit of news the board made was approving the purchase of a 2026 Dodge Durango for the Town of Highlands Police Department. It will cost a total of $87,569, and will be paid for with $42,500 from the department’s current equipment budget line, and $45,000 from reserve funds. The total price includes the vehicle’s lettering and computers.

Chief Joseph Burns said the vehicle will replace the THPD’s current oldest or highest mileage vehicle. Typically, those older vehicles are then sold at auction.

In other business from the meeting:

- Supervisor Bob Livsey said the town had paid $49,873 in bills that week. Among the larger amounts: $9424 to Orange & Rockland for electricity; $9385 to Rider, Weiner & Frankel for legal services; $6875 to West Point Tours for the summer recreation trips; $4030 to Goosetown Communications for ambulance radio parts; and $3900 to VRI Environmental Services for July’s water testing.

- The board hired Debbie MacLeod as a court clerk, and accepted the resignation of part-time police officer Nicholas Vaseos.

- Deputy Supervisor Rich Sullivan reported that Fort Montgomery’s water usage for the past six weeks has been high, adding that they know there is a private property that has a 15-20,000 per day leak on it. “That’s about $7000 in lost revenue so far,” he said. “It needs to be fixed.”

- Sullivan also said the Town Board also needs to get a commitment from the Village Board about whether or not it will be hiring its own code enforcement officer. As the town’s budget process begins, he said, they need to know whether or not to add another full-time building inspector/code enforcement officer to the town’s Building Department.

- The board approved the using of up to $11,000 to hire a per diam part-time “highly experienced” clerk for the town’s court. That person was hired to work three to four hours a week with the town’s court employees. Livsey also said the state’s 9th Judicial District will be sending a judge to work with the local judges, at no expense to the town.