Sunday April 28, 2024 
Town of Nassau Democratic Committee Bi-Annual Meeting
NASSAU – The Town of Nassau Democratic Committee will be holding their bi-annual reorganizational meeting on Sunday, October 4th, 2pm, at the Pavilion in the Village Green located on John Street (opposite the Little League Field). Elections will be held for two-year seats on the Executive Committee. Positions are: Chairperson, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. You must be a registered Town Democrat to participate. We will be observing strict social distancing practices including wearing masks and we request that you bring your own lawn chair. Please RSVP no later than October 1st to either Pat Piniazek, Chair, at patpen1018@nullgmail.com or to Vice-Chair, Judy Ziller, 518-522-2916.
School Tax Payments -Town of Schodack
SCHODACK – Due to Covid-19, there will be no in-person tax collections this year. All payments should be mailed to Shawn Masters/ Receiver of Taxes at PO Box 436 East Schodack, NY 12063, or can be dropped in the secure green drop box located near the entrance door to the Town Hall.
Schodack School District bills are due 9/1/20 – 9/30/20 with no penalty and 10/1/20 – 10/30/20 with a 2% penalty. No payments will be accepted for Schodack Schools after 10/30/20.
East Greenbush School District bills are due 9/15/20- 10/15/20 with no penalty and 10/16/20- 11/02/20 with a 2% penalty. No payments will be accepted for East Greenbush Schools after 11/02/20.
After the last due date all payments will be handled by Rensselaer County Bureau of Finance, 518-270-2754.
Please contact me with any concerns about payments at 518-477-7935.
Shawn Masters/ Receiver of Taxes
Legislators Visit East Greenbush Police to see Live Scan Software in Action
EAST GREENBUSH – The Rensselaer County Legislature partnered with County Executive Steve McLaughlin, Assemblyman Jake Ashby, and the Town of East Greenbush to bring the Digital Live Scan Software to the East Greenbush Police Department. This shared services agreement will allow the East Greenbush Police to conduct electronic fingerprinting, ID verification, background screening, and record checks.
Vice Chair of the Legislature Kelly Hoffman, Legislator Tom Grant, and Assemblyman Jake Ashby visited the East Greenbush Police Department and Chief Elaine Rudzinski and Detective Sgt. Mike Guadagnino to see the Live Scan system in action.
This unique partnership is another example of Rensselaer County working creatively to improve our communities, and keeping our residents safer by using state of the art crime prevention tools.
Rensselaer County Office of the Minority – September 2020 Highlights
RENSSELAER COUNTY – School Aid Funding: A resolution urging State and Federal Representatives to release emergency funding to the Rensselaer County School Districts was accepted and unanimously approved by the legislature. This resolution, initiated by the Minority legislators is a first step to helping our school districts. We urge you to continue to reach out directly to State and Federal Representatives on this important issue.
Health: The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) awarded the County an Overdose Data to Action Grant. This grant is essential in identifying and implementing interventions to address the opioid epidemic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the county has seen a dramatic increase in overdoses. Parts of the funding will be shared with the Mental Health Department to train and certify recovery peer advocates.
Census 2020: The legislature unanimously accepted an award from the New York State Development Corporation, which in turn the county will be contracting out to the Center of Economic Opportunity (CEO) to offer their expertise and assistance with the 2020 Census count. The Census is critical in receiving federal funding and congressional representation. Please if you or anyone has not filled out the census, do so now and – Be Counted! NYS cannot afford to lose valuable funding.
HVCC: The legislature approved two contracts for the renovation of the college’s Lang Technical Building. One was a modification for the general construction contract and one for asbestos abatement.
The legislature also declared October as National Bullying Month and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
NEXT MEETING – Tuesday, October 13, 2020 in the Rensselaer County Chambers located on the 3rd floor of the Ned Pattison Government Center, 1600 7th Avenue, Troy.
Residents are welcome to contact our office at 270-2890.
www.rensselaercounty.org & follow us on Facebook: “Rensselaer County Legislature – Democratic Team”
North Greenbush Report by Councilwoman Mary Frances Sabo
NORTH GREENBUSH – As summer ends, I would like to thank Mike Miner and other town staff for their hard work operating the town beach in a safe manner during this challenging period. The summer was extremely hot and residents appreciated the opportunity to cool off by the lake. Staff worked diligently to follow COVID-19 protocols, sanitizing playground equipment limiting attendance and collecting contact information from beach goers. At the very end of the summer, an employee who worked in concessions was unfortunately diagnosed with the virus and town staff offered to personally call everyone who visited the beach on the day this employee last worked. Unfortunately, County officials felt these efforts were not necessary and relied instead on news outlets and social media to get the word out. Thanks to Assemblyman John McDonald’s newsletter, I learned of an opportunity to help small businesses struggling due to the pandemic. The state legislature has passed and the governor has signed a law that authorizes local Industrial Development Agencies (IDA) to make no-interest loans to small businesses negatively impacted by COVID-19. The Rensselaer County IDA is coordinating this effort on behalf of the county and the municipalities. I would encourage you to reach out to them for more information about these loans. Finally, many of you know that I have been working with staff from Cornell Cooperative Extension and a committee of town staff, residents and business people to conduct a Climate Smart Resiliency Assessment for the town. We were awarded a grant from DEC to perform this assessment as we were certified as a Climate Smart Community late last year. Despite the tremendous challenges presented by meeting during COViD-19, the assessment is largely complete and will be presented to the town board at its October 8 meeting. I strongly encourage residents interested in climate issues to view the October 8 meeting by going to the town website and connecting through Town Hall Streams.
Sand Lake FYI
SAND LAKE – Happy Autumn to Sand Lakers! One of our resolutions tonight sets the schedule for the 2021 Town of Sand Lake Tentative Budget. We anticipate it being a difficult budget year because we have no idea how COVID is going to affect our operations in 2021. One thing is for sure: We are going to do our absolute best to keep expenses down because we are very much aware that there are many people in our town who are struggling financially. We don’t want to add to that burden.
We are happy that Route 43 and Routes 43/66 were paved by the NYS Department of Transportation this past summer. However, we are getting a lot of complaints that speeding has increased dramatically on the road. School is back in session and we all need to slow it down. Two years ago we held a Community Forum on Speeding here in the Town. The State Police reported that 70% of the speeding tickets they issue are for people who live in the town. Please obey the speed limits.
We have seen upticks in COVID throughout the Capital District, Rensselaer County and our town. I think everyone is holding their collective breaths hoping that everything will be okay with the schools reopening. Please, this is no time to be lax in wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and limiting your contact with people. It is to everyone’s benefit to help keep all of us healthy.
We are still looking for people to serve on the Town’s Planning Oversight Committee. If you are interested in helping make our town an even better place to serve, please reach out to me personally or through our town’s website. We would like to make the appointments soon. This is a great committee where you will learn a lot about our town.
Nancy Perry
Town Supervisor
Town of Nassau Update
The Nassau Town Board recently met in their continued hybrid model with some members of the Board present and others joining via conference call. All meetings continue to be recorded and are webcast live on the Town’s Facebook page.
The Board began the meeting by reviewing and ratifying August expenditures. The majority of the payments represented summer paving projects and work on the replacement of the Murdock Road Bridge.
Murdock Road Bridge is being rebuilt at a cost of $1.1 million with a 95% of the funds coming from a federal grant secured by our Highway Superintendent. The project is currently on schedule for fall completion.
The Board also set 2021 budget meeting dates. October 1 will be the budget presentation with a budget workshop on October 8.
Discussion included recent construction projects on nonconforming lots in the Burden Lake area. Numerous complaints have been received about the scale of the projects and as a result, the Town is considering a moratorium on variances for nonconforming lots so that a review of construction standards might be considered.
Complaints have also been received relating to two of the three campgrounds in the Town. The Board announced a review of the permitting requirements for these entities and will continue to discuss appropriate responses to these issues with the Code Enforcement.
The Town’s attorney also reported on pending actions against several properties where the owners had failed to cleanup junk despite nearly two years of requests from Code Enforcement. This has led to pending legal action in State Supreme Court.
The Board also concluded drafting of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the construction of a solar farm on Town-owned property on Route 20. The proposed project is a solar farm of up to twenty acres that will require screening, fencing and appropriate setbacks from remote neighboring parcels.
The recent Highway solar project resulted in a monthly bill of $0.
David Fleming
Schodack Supervisor’s Report
SCHODACK – As you are reading this, our local schools will be wrapping up their second week of the new school year. COVID-19 has presented many challenges for all of us and certainly our schools have had to overcome some serious hurdles in their efforts to reopen this fall. My appreciation goes out to all involved in putting together and implementing these reopening plans and i wish everyone a safe and productive school year.
Amazon recently began operations at their new distribution center. As some of you may have seen, a traffic light has been added in front of the site to help facilitate traffic flow. I ask that people please be mindful of this new feature and any increase in traffic when traveling through as employees and truck drivers gain familiarity with the site over these coming weeks as operations ramp up. I have been in contact with Schodack Police Chief John Hourigan and representatives from Scannell Properties along with Amazon in an effort to address any issues that may arise.
On August 7th, National Purple Heart Day, I had the opportunity to speak at a ceremony in Castleton that honored those from Schodack who were recipients of this distinction. My thanks to the Peter Andrews VFW post for their work in organizing this event recognizing these local heroes.
On August 20th I attended a music in the park concert hosted by Rensselaer County Department of Aging’s Schodack Senior Center. A large crowd turned out and was able to practice social distancing and abide by CDC guidelines as they were entertained by the music of Gone Gray. It was great to see our seniors enjoying some time together after what has been a long summer apart. My thanks and appreciation to everyone at the Schodack Senior Center for your hard work and efforts in pulling off an event like this in these challenging times.
And finally, outside of the obvious reasons to do so, keep an eye out for our Schodack Police cars around town and their updated look thanks to the generosity of Saxon Signs.
David Harris, Schodack
Town of East Greenbush Fall Cleanup
EAST GREENBUSH – Fall Cleanup will begin on Monday, October 26th, 2020 and resume for the next 4 Mondays. The leaves must be in biodegradable bags and brush must be tied up into 4 foot bundles put out alongside of the roadway but not in the road.
The dates are as follows: October 26th, 2020; November 2nd, 2020; November 9th, 2020; November 16th, 2020
Please be advised that these are the “ONLY” dates the Department of Public Works will be performing Fall Cleanup. If you miss these dates, you may bring these items to the Transfer Station located at
246 Ridge Road, Town of East Greenbush. Residents must provide proof of residency or a Transfer Station permit and are allowed to bring these items all year long at no cost.
Please do not place bags of leaves or bundles of brush on the pavement, in front of culverts or on top of catch basins. Place all items on edge of the road.
Sincerely, Daniel Fiacco
Commissioner of Public Works
Town of East Greenbush
Town of East Greenbush Appliance Amnesty Week
EAST GREENBUSH – The Town of East Greenbush DPW will be picking up Appliances the week of December 7th, 2020. Please call the office at 518-477-6103 to schedule an appointment for your appliances to be picked up. In the event of a snow storm, all appointments will be rescheduled.
The following items will be eligible for pick up: Refrigerators , Freezers, Washer/Dryers, Stoves/ovens, Hot water heaters, Dehumidifiers, Microwaves/Air conditioners
Sincerely, Daniel Fiacco
Commissioner of Public Works
Town of East Greenbush