FORESTBURGH – The Town of Forestburgh Town Board held its annual reorganizational meeting on Thursday, January 8, in which they established official policies and appointed members and designations for the year.

Present at the meeting were Town Supervisor Dan Hogue, Councilmembers Steven Budofsky, Vincent Galligan and Susan Parks-Landis, and newly-elected member Robert Sipos.

During the meeting, the town board confirmed that the regular town board meetings will be held at the town hall, located on 332 Kings Road, on the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m.

The board then approved a series of standard resolutions. The board adopted the town’s parliamentary rules, procurement policy, investment policy and a code of ethics.

The board also authorized the supervisor to pay fixed bills, such as utilities, insurance premiums, fuel costs, and debt services prior to audit. Highway funding resolutions were also approved, including authorization to expend the $240,000 from the town highway budget for the repair, maintenance and improvement of approximately 33.63 miles of town roads.

Numerous town officer appointments were made including Theresa Collins as registrar of vital statistics, building inspector code enforcement officer Kaitlen Castillo and county fire advisory board representative Mike Rommell, though a few positions such as county youth representative and cultural series coordinator remain vacant.

Additional resolutions included retaining legal counsel, setting mileage reimbursement at the IRS rate, and appointing delegates to the association of town meetings.

Looking ahead, Supervisor Dan Hogue emphasized the importance of cooperation and planning, “with the challenges of the Millennium Pipeline coming up” he said, “we’re working together with the surrounding towns in Sullivan County, and we look forward to collaborating with them on that and building a sense of community while maintaining what we have.”

The Forestburgh Town Board held its regular town meeting after the conclusion of the reorganizational meeting in which they discussed several ongoing and upcoming issues affecting the town.

The board addressed the upcoming retirement of longtime planning board engineer, Tim Gottlieb, who had served on the board for decades. Members agreed that they needed to solicit proposals from qualified engineering firms to provide future planning board representation, noting the complexity of projects currently under review and the importance of a transitional period.

Additional vacancies were also discussed including two positions on the board of assessment review and one on the planning board. Residents interested in serving were encouraged to submit a letter of interest for consideration. The board also authorized town officials to seek pricing for upgrades to the town’s computer server system to improve data security and compliance.

Additional discussion focused on the need to establish application fees for home-based businesses and signage, which was prompted by a pending inquiry related to a proposed cannabis related business. The board agreed to review all town fees at a future meeting.

The meeting concluded with reminders about volunteer opportunities with the local fire department as well as the board members wishing everyone a happy new year and thanking the public for their participation.