WURTSBORO  — Town Supervisor of Mamakating, Michael Robbins, spoke on a Cell Tower Agreement with Crown Castle during the Town Board’s November 5 meeting.

Crown Castle, the cell tower company, was stated to want to “do a different license for Verizon.”

“In the paperwork it kind of looked like they wanted to install three new antennas on the tower,” Robbins initially observed.

Further discussion with the representative led to an elaboration that it was a license change for Verizon.

Robbins assured that the Town will be paid for this installation.

Goodman had done research on other cell towers in Sullivan County and what they get [in terms of money].

“Our cell tower is probably one of the most expensive cell towers that there is,” admitted Robbins. “We actually make pretty good money on it.”

On the current cell tower, the town makes $89,000 a year. As of December 1st, $5,100 would be added to that by Crown Castle, bumping the total to $94,100.

“Talking with Peter and some of the County, we think [an extra $425 a month is] a good number,” stated Robbins. “I don’t think we should try and squeeze a little bit more out of them, they’ve been pretty good to us.”

“In the conversations that I’ve had is that we’ve done pretty well on the lease. To push them at all might put a bad taste in their mouth. We don’t want to mess with the goose that’s laying the golden egg.”

Dog Control Contract

Dog Control Officer Vicki Darnobid was stated by Robbins to have had “a lot of dogs this year over the summer”.

Darnobid is reportedly scrambling to try and get the dogs in the shelter for a little while until the owners take them back.

She came across the Humane Society of Middletown that was willing to give the Town a contract to make sure all the dogs are taken care of.

The motion to approve the agreement was made by Councilman Gary Forthoffer and seconded by Goodman.

 On the subject, Councilman Tyler Wood gave a Committee Report that he drew rough drawings for the time being of a building for temporary sheltering of the dogs obtained by Darnobid.

“The idea of this is that people don’t drop their dogs off, this is solely for the dogs that Vicki picked up,” elaborated Wood. “Basically for her to put them in, keep them for the five-to-seven days and then if no one picks them up they’ll go to the Humane Societies for adoption.”

Robbins affirmed that these kennels will have heat, water and air conditioning as per the guidelines required by New York State.

Buckle down on burn ban

Councilman Jim Post unequivocally re-affirmed to the community the importance of adhering to the current ongoing Burn Ban, emphasizing that it remains a critical measure for safety.

He urged the public to refrain from engaging in any outdoor burning activities whatsoever, highlighting the potential dangers associated with such actions during this period.

“I spent the weekend in Greenwood Lake and it’s so dry out there now. There’s some exceptions to it, but don’t burn anything outside please,” Post reminded.