Plattekill approves town-wide yard sale

By Susanna Granieri
Posted 3/24/21

A sign that points to an emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic is the scheduling of events. The Plattekill Town Board began that process last week when it approved a town-wide yard sale for September.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Plattekill approves town-wide yard sale

Posted

A sign that points to an emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic is the scheduling of events. The Plattekill Town Board began that process last week when it approved a town-wide yard sale for September.

Plattekill Rising, a community organization that promotes resources to the town, as well as works to assist in resident collaborations, other organizations, and “businesses to inspire practical and innovative ideas for a better, thriving Plattekill,” according to their Facebook page.

Last Wednesday, a representative from their organization brought the board a proposed town-wide yard sale, allowing residents of Plattekill to sell yard sale-like items to other community members. The addresses will be advertised for multiple locations in the town that would allow local shoppers to visit. The organization plans to recruit residents to join the event, produce fliers to distribute, and publicize to local social media sites.

The proposal to the board is necessary in their planning as they’d like to hold a central yard sale in the Town Hall parking lot on Sept. 11 with a rain date of Sept. 12 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“With the continuing issues of COVID-19 waves, there may be a need for safety guidelines in place and, or the cancellation of the event itself. However, we would like to begin the planning stages with the hope that the vaccinations will reduce the number of cases as well as the necessary safety precautions,” they said. We are creating the event for the community and hope the town will join us in any effort to make the event accessible to all the residents of the town.”

If residents are willing to hold a yard sale outside of their personal home, they are then to give permission to have their address shared with the community through the monitoring of Plattekill Rising.

Town Supervisor Joseph Croce did mention that the front of the Town Hall cannot be blocked because people are brought in for arraignments, even on Saturday’s. “I would want to make sure that whatever police agency and whatever justice is going to have to come in here to possibly arraign somebody that they have easy access to the front of the building,” he said.

The Board granted the motion, and will allow Plattekill Rising to begin planning for this event. If COVID-19 cases begin to rise again, the Board will reevaluate the plan.

Parks and Recreation Stephanie Doland is still in the midst of summer camp planning, as the normal transportation costs would be significantly increased due to social distancing guidelines. For now, she has sent out a parent survey to receive their thoughts regarding less field trips during camp. However, residents can look forward to the Easter spring event drive through on April 10 at 2 p.m. in Felton Park, with a rain date set for April 12 at 2 p.m.

“Each child in the car gets a goodie bag filled with Easter and spring themed candy and toys, and the Easter Bunny will be on hand,” Croce said. “There are several high school students volunteering for community service and [Doland] has spoken to the highway department about traffic cones and barriers, and will have volunteers on hand directing vehicles around the parking lot.”

The Police Reform & Re-Invention Committee also presented to the board their plans of training for Plattekill police officers. Chair Kelly Nelson says the committee believes training classes are required or needed for the future of the police department.

We’d like to see everybody trained by the end of the year, and I wouldn’t doubt that probably in the next year or two [there would be] mandatory classes at some point anyway,” Nelson said.

New hires would be trained during their probationary period. Nelson advised the board that for the protection of police officers, body cameras may be a necessity. However, many municipalities across New York State are having difficulty funding this type of equipment.

“When I talked to Chief Ryan about grants, budgeting and a way to get it down, we have interest in the committee about doing fundraisers if that is required,” Nelson said. “That is something we would like the board to look into.”

The main goals of the committee is to provide transparency to residents, biographical information of their police officers, and an explanation of their jobs that many people may not even realize they do. This can either be on the town’s website, a Facebook page, or other means of mass communication.

“There’s so many things that the police officers do that the public is not even aware of,” Nelson said. “They could do 10 good things, but everybody’s going to remember the one bad thing, and that goes for all of us.”

Councilman Dean DePew is apprehensive about doing a breakdown on any one of the town employees, but has no problem sharing background, training and pictures for comfortability from residents. “We have a good police department, and I think, for the most part, they do a lot of community policing, but there’s always room for improvement,” he added.

“This is the same idea as to why they’re at the schools, which I believe is definitely a good thing,” Councilman Darryl Matthews said regarding education and transparency with the police department. “Especially being able to get [kids] at a young age to not be afraid of police officers and not have a stigma towards them … It’s a good platform to educate the community on certain things.”

The Board believes that this proposal is beneficial to Plattekill residents, and the committee would like to follow up in six months to go over specific details.

Anna Marie Milano Adkins, a Plattekill resident, contacted the board for permission to plant a tree in the memory of Miguel Lugo, a high school football player who tragically passed away after their first practice. Adkins said that they hoped to plant a Northern Red Oak tree in Thomas Felton Memorial Park with a plaque in remembrance of Miguel. The Board has decided to move forward with the motion.

The Town Board also confirmed that the Memorial Day parade will be taking place on May 29 with a rain date of May 30.
The next Town Board meeting will be held on April 2 at 7 p.m. at Plattekill Town Hall.