During the Village of Montgomery’s June 18 meeting, the board passed a resolution that changed how it evaluates bids, learned about the Town of Montgomery’s drug prevention coalition, and listened to a member from the village’s senior center discuss a new plan for the center’s extension project.

The board kicked off the meeting by passing a local law granting the mayor and trustees more flexibility in choosing bids for projects, based on “best value pricing.” Rather than choosing a contractor because they have the lowest bid, the board would consider other factors that could be beneficial to the village, such as a contractor’s location or their track record with other projects

“Let’s say the lowest responsible bidder is in California,” said Village Attorney William Frank. “The price may be lower, but the shipping cost, other related costs, and the time to get the goods over here are not the best option. Especially when someone in New York or New Jersey can get the product here faster.

“Even if the cost is a little higher, the time factor may be something that the village wants to consider,” Frank added.

During public comment, resident James Kiernan recounted his takeaways from the Town of Montgomery’s community meeting on June 13, where residents and drug prevention committees discussed the causes of and solutions to substance abuse.

“I went to the Town of Montgomery’s meeting that was hosted by the ADAC of Orange County and the Mid Hudson Prevention Resource Center. This was a meeting to discuss drug awareness and the growing needs of the problems we’ve been experiencing in our village and elsewhere in the area.” Kiernan said. “We want to shift the environment to impact everyone in the community, not just the youth. It’s a population-level change when it comes to substance abuse.”

Kiernan urged everyone at the meeting to attend the town’s community meeting on Thursday, July 18 at 7 p.m., emphasizing the need for people from the “12 sectors” of the community.

“If you know government people, police people, lawyers, retired people, anything like that, we want to get all those sectors together,” he added.

Rita Santo, a resident and member of the Montgomery Senior Center board, proposed that her board submit a project to the village’s NY Forward committee: an extension to the senior center, a renovation that fell through after the village board rejected its bids.

“Just as the senior center board was denied the money, New York Forward entered the picture, inviting public, private, and not-for-profit organizations to apply for grants that would revitalize local communities, especially for their most vulnerable populations,” Santo said. “The senior center board plans to write a grant proposal for an addition to the center with this goal in mind. We plan to be the sponsor of this proposal and to fund an outlay required by NY Forward.”

Before the meeting, Santo and the senior center requested that the board permit them to move forward with the submission, but the board declined their request in a 4-1 vote. Mayor Mike Hembury explained that he voted against the proposal because he felt it would be biased and unfair to the other applicants.

“I’m the co-chair of the NY Forward plus the mayor. I feel by doing that, it would not be fair to the other organizations who have asked me to do that too,” Hembury said. “This is something everyone can apply for, but you’re not going to use the office of the mayor or co-chair. I feel that would be a conflict of interest.”

Santo clarified that the senior center did not ask the board to approve its proposal but rather requested permission to submit it; she and her board would go through the same application process as everyone else. With this clarification in mind, the board agreed to discuss this further at the next meeting and potentially reconsider its decision.

“We would request the grant just like everybody else would be requesting grants. It wouldn’t be favoritism on anyone’s part, we would just simply submit a grant, and we had it written up,” she said. “We weren’t asking any special favors, just the permission to change the physical buildings.”

Near the end of the meeting, Hembury announced the village’s Summer Concert Series on Thursdays at the downtown bandstand along Clinton Street. This concert series will be held over the next two months, each playing between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

The performer lineup will include the following: Hurley Mountain Band on July 11; Troubled Souls on July 18; The Jon Bates Band on July 25; The Blackdirt Bandits on August 1; Code Blue on August 8; Midnight Image of August 15; Sons of Hudson on August 22; and Oxford Station on August 29.