Maybrook eyes cellular upgrade, grant writer

- Audeen Moore
Posted 11/2/21

The cell phone “node” on the Village of Maybrook water tower on Rakov Ave. will be getting a lot of attention soon. At a villlage board meeting last week, members voted unanimously to …

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Maybrook eyes cellular upgrade, grant writer

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The cell phone “node” on the Village of Maybrook water tower on Rakov Ave. will be getting a lot of attention soon. At a villlage board meeting last week, members voted unanimously to hire Henningson, Durham & Richardson Architecture and Engineering as telecommunications consultant to review AT&T’s plans to upgrade that cell phone node. A cell phone node serves as a small cell tower that covers short distances.

“Can our water tower handle it?” Kelly Naughton, village attorney, explained of Henningson et al.’s duties.

Mayor Dennis Leahy added, “They will make sure the upgrade will be safe for our residents. They are experts.”

Another board authorization, also unanimous, enables the village to support the Town of Montgomery’s grant writer agreement. The town currently employs Millenium Strategies, a grant consulting firm, to find grants the town is eligible for and to write the grant applications. Leahy said Town Supervisor Brian Maher has proposed the three villages — Walden, Montgomery and Maybrook — also utilize the firm’s services.

The town currently pays Millenium $24,000 annually. If the three villages join the town, the fee would be $42,000 and would be paid out of the town’s “A Fund” at no cost to the village budget. The town budget is divided into A and B Funds. The “B” budget is financed only by taxpayers in the unincorporated part of the town; no village taxpayers finance the “B” part of the town budget. The “A” Fund is financed by all town taxpayers, including those in the villages.

“This is good for the village,” Leahy said. “They will see what grants are available for projects we want to do, like the water tower.”

A third agreement passed by the village board (with Deputy Mayor Robert Pritchard absent from the meeting and Trustee James Barnett abstaining) involves the Church of the Assumption. The agreement stipulates that the village will provide snow plowing of the church property for $750 annually. The agreement runs from Nov. 1, 2021 through Oct. 31, 2022.

The other two churches in the village, People’s Regular Baptist and Maybrook Methodist, were offered the same opportunity, Leahy said, but declined the offer.