WURTSBORO  — The Town Board of Mamakating unanimously approved Storywalk installation on the D&H Canal Trail at their regular Town Board meeting on March 19.

The Mamakating Library Director, Cheryl Jones, presented before the Town Board Tuesday night during the Work Session. 

Jones went on to explain the Storywalk. She said it is a children’s picture book that they cut up into pieces so that each pedestal that one looks at has two pages of the book. The next pedestal one walks to, such as 50 paces away, has the next two pages.

“It’s a way of getting kids and families out,” explained Jones. “Moving, using the trails, getting exercise and also developing literacy skills at the same time as a family.”

She said if the Town approves and they want to move forward with this and use the D&H Trail as the place to do it, they would reportedly be the first permanent Storywalk structure in the county.

She noted how there’s a lot of Storywalks nationwide, but this would be Sullivan County’s first.

Town Supervisor Michael Robbins brought up that the Board would need some verification on insurance and the like.

Among the things Jones affirmed was that she spoke with her insurance company, and they were reportedly happy to add the Town Board as insurers on their general liability. 

“We’ll work on something to get written up and we’ll send it to you,” explained Robbins. “I have a feeling it’s gonna pass anyway, but once we get it done we’ll get everything to you and we’ll go from there.”

She also highlighted the “Year in Review” in which she noted some statistics for the Library.

This past year, the Mamakating Public Library has seen over 15,000 visitors. She also noted that over 303 new library cards have been made, and “tons and tons” of Wi-Fi usages have been observed as well.

Jones also noted that there were almost 300 programs with 3,000 people in attendance. She also noted, however, that the number of programs were slightly less than 2023.

She said that there were 20 less programs and 600 more people came to these programs.

“The library’s doing great things,” said Jones, “[There are] lots of kids’ programs, lots of outreach going on. I’m really happy to service this fantastic community.”

Supervisor talks new laws

Robbins explained that the Town Board is going to start working on new laws – specifically regarding lawn maintenance and garbage.

He explained that some of the ways the law reads currently is they must have the person come to the Town Board and ask for how many times they have before the Town can mow the person’s lawn or pick up their garbage. 

Robbins then explained how the Town has to then find someone to clean it up.

“I’d like to change that to where if someone is not mowing their lawn they have seven days,” explained Robbins. “If they don’t get it done in seven days, we’ll send someone to do it and then it will be put on their taxes, just like with garbage.”

He explained that the same thing would apply to garbage, as the Town would send somebody to clean the garbage up and it would be put on the resident’s taxes.

He stated his reasoning in that a lot of towns in the area reportedly do that, giving examples that the City of Middletown has a seven-day period, as does Wallkill.

He noted that these are “real big” problems in the spring.

Board welcomes 

State Police

Councilman Jim Post formally introduced the public to their State Police partners next door. Kyle Kroger, who is Captain and Zone Commander of Zone 1, and Mary Kadat, who is a Sergeant in Wurtsboro were welcomed.

He stated Kroger is returning from his assignment in Albany.

“We’re very lucky to have Kyle back,” explained Post, “He’s a friend, he’s an ally, he’s a local.”

Mary Kadat is also a local and resides next door to the town hall.

Post and the officers affirmed that they have a great line of communication between them. Kroger also thanked the board regarding the work being done on the Police Barracks next door to the town hall. He emphasized that the board has always been “very generous.”

“If you guys need anything, I’m very fortunate to have Mary Kadat in the station barracks next door,” said Kroger. “If you don’t know her she does a phenomenal job. She makes my job so much easier.

“We try not to ask for anything. When I started as a trooper there, there was eight or ten of us and it would fluctuate between eight or ten,” recalled Kroger, “Now I think we’re up to almost 20. Mamakating has grown just like Sullivan County.”