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Sewer Vote Set On May 8

The vote will represent the next step in a progression toward the establishment of a wastewater treatment plant in Boiceville. Or it will represent a step away from that commitment. Prior stages have included the passage of an 80-plus page “Sewer Use Law” and the creation of a “sewer district” in the Boiceville hamlet which identifies each of the land parcels within the district.
Leifeld said attorney Kevin Young has advised him that there will be a financial separation, by law, between that district and the rest of Olive.
On May 8, a special vote will be taken to determine whether or not the treatment plant will be constructed on the Boiceville parcel on Route 28 formerly occupied by Trail Nursery and now belonging to the Town of Olive. The vote will be open only to residents of the sewer district whose name appears on the tax assessment roll. If a corporation owns several properties within the district, it would still be entitled to only one vote- not one per parcel- unless the properties are listed under different corporate names. In such cases, a vote will be allowed for each corporate title on the deeds. Individual residents will be granted a vote for each name listed as an owner. If three names appear on the parcel listings, each would have one vote regardless of how many parcels were involved.
Corporations will be required to present a board resolution designating an authorized voter for the organization. As owner of the proposed plant site parcel, Olive has the option of casting one referendum vote for or against the project as per the resolution passed at the town board meeting on March 5th to hold a binding vote on the matter. The school district also has one vote as do partnerships, not-for-profits and limited liability companies- which must each designate one voter.
Funding for the water treatment project has been arranged to be applied through the Community Wastewater Management Program which receives its financing from New York City and the Catskill Watershed Corporation. Once in operation, an agreement has been reached for continued “primary” funding from New York City with the remaining funds drawn from households and businesses within the sewer district. Cost estimates are set at an annual $100 per household with inflation adjustments after three years and a minimum $250 plus undefined additional amounts per business based upon usage flow. A provision adds that the sewer district itself will own and be responsible for the system.
There are 115 land parcels included in the defined district and the town clerk’s office is busy tabulating the number of potential voters involved. Estimates run between 200 and 250 votes to be cast at the Boiceville Firehouse on Route 28 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Paper ballots will be resurrected for the occasion and one of the wooden ballot boxes from the old Samsonville Church Hall will be borrowed for the day from the museum artifacts at the Olive Library. With so few qualified votes to count, firm results are anticipated before 9 p.m.
The “carrot and the stick” element inherent in the project, as bemoaned by Supervisor Leifeld, is the implied threat that should the plant proposal be rejected, New York State can come in and demand that Boiceville construct a treatment plant at the town’s own expense rather than through the monies offered from CWC and NYC in the current referendum.

OCS Budget Set To Be Cut

Out of the $47,003,340 recommended budget, $35,057,945 or 74.59 percent was singled out as being tied to staff salaries and benefits, which Ford noted is a cost the district cannot control. Most school board members requested further reductions in the budget and said they would look for more cuts in line items.
Ford and Assistant Superintendent for Business Victoria McLaren said they are currently seeing staff cuts as necessary.
“As administrators, as musicians, as people who love children we would never want to support cutting anything anytime, but as mature administrators we are also bound by the fiscal realities of our world…” said Ford. “We have an obligation to the public to look at the budget in a very responsible way.”
Current cuts totaling to $920,824 include two full time music teachers, seven full time special education teacher assistants, elimination of elementary summer school, elimination of the 5:15pm late bus run, one full time behavior intervention specialist and reductions in general office supplies.
Ford said the music reduction was made because of declining enrollment in the elementary schools. The seven special education assistant cuts are based on IEP (individual education plan) need and could be reinstated if recommendations in special education are made. Ford said the elimination of the elementary summer school is temporary and will be restored next year, but there will be no alternative for students in need of help this summer.
Elementary enrollment as of February 2007 in grades Kindergarten through six totaled to 774 students. This does not include special education students. According to Ford, based on the district’s elementary population and class size policy there should be 30.23 full time elementary teachers. Onteora currently has 42 full time elementary teachers.
Eight staff retirements, with six new hires are expected this year, which in short term will save the district around $240,000 the first year. But health insurance between the retired and new employees will rise and over the years the district will carry a larger burden of costs.
Additions incorporated into the proposed budget include a technology teaching assistant, a full time speech therapist and the creation of a capital project line. Ford warned that if voters rejected the budget, an additional $710,440 would get eliminated. Programs suggested for elimination would include the Indie program, field trips, non-athletic stipends including clubs, and sports.
The March 29 district wide vote is to approve $1,862,711 for two major repair projects. Although projects that concern the health and safety of students do not require voter approval, a promise refund in State aid does. As a one time perk, the district will be getting $662,711 in EXCEL aid (Expanding our children’s Education and Learning) and the state will cover 30 percent of the other $1,200,00. The money is needed for a new boiler at Woodstock Elementary School and renovations to the high school auditorium. There are two votes that need to be approved in order to qualify for the state aid. One will levy the money and the other will release the money already available from the capital reserve fund. Polls are open from 2pm to 9pm at local elementary schools, which will close early that day..
The two-session forum titled “Discussing Dreams, Options and Realities,” held at Onteora Middle/High school on March 3, raised many questions, offered new information and allowed the public to share ideas on three proposals addressing the reconfiguration of the evolving (and demographically shrinking) district. New Superintendent Dr. Leslie Ford was on hand meeting people and keeping time so everyone could be heard.
Informational booths with representatives from the field were set up, allowing the public to learn about the different plans, costs, environmental factors, financing, education and transportation. The attendant crowd of forty or more people at each session broke into small groups and were drilled with questions by school board members who gathered data, searching for common themes.
Tables were set up representing the five topics of the day: student needs, instruction, facilities, transportation and community needs.
At the end of each session Armand Quadrini of KSQ Architects summed up each topic based on the groups point of view and concerns.
Discussions throughout the day voiced the need to use more energy efficient ways of heating, light and fuel alternatives such as bio-diesel for buses. Investment in energy efficient technology that would lead to long term cost savings was voiced as a need throughout the district. As part of curriculum based initiative, people favored educating students in green technology and conservation.
Uncertainty about local population growth or loss was a concern regarding proposals for additional elementary school closings. Quadrini said, “Right now we are faced with enrollment decline. What happens if enrollment starts to tip in the other direction?”
The latest adjusted enrollment projections and actual number of enrolled students between 2002 and 2007 were available and will soon be listed on the district website. But it appears, actual student enrollment is lower than projections that do not take into account the population of home school and private school students, which came to 210 last year.
Most agreed that the central campus plan would not allow room for expansion. Operating costs versus the reduction of schools and how it impacts future costs to the district was a requested facility study. In addition, questions were raised on what to do with additional closed buildings — could be rented? — and what to do with West Hurley elementary school, closed in 2004. In the end, demographics and community needs tended to clash on issues of declining enrollment and the desire to have community-based elementary schools.
Quadrini said, “The group seemed to gravitate to plan A in terms of its dialogue -in that it maintains a community school in each neighborhood.”
Plan A is the only proposal that would not close any additional elementary schools. Concerns were voiced over loss of community, lack of flexibility and population shifts.
Quadrini said questions were raised regarding the consolidation of schools, time spent on the bus and what the pollution impact would be to transport kids further distances. New data collected by interim transportation supervisor Peter Montalvo showed an expansion of costs if elementary schools were to close.
Comments were made that the school board should specify what additional school would close in Plan C. Many wanted to reopen the West Hurley school, noting it as superior because of land size (over 30 acres).
Off campus programs such as Indy and Universal Pre-K were suggested as a way to save school buildings and overhead costs.
At the end of the sessions, Ford gathered the data and asked participants as they were leaving to write down which plan they would prefer. Although she said it would not be the deciding factor, it will help the district come up with solutions that would ultimately lead to a plan that the community can agree on.
A report on their findings will be given at a future school board meeting.

GOP Tries Regrouping

Ms. Minew was visibly pleased to have even that many people appear. “Meetings in the last year have been me and Chet,” she told the group, which was gathered around an open rectangle of tables in a large chamber of the Olive Legionnaire’s hall. “It was getting lonely.”
In an interview a few days before the meeting, Chairman Scofield had said that the meeting was called with the hope of spurring Olive Republicans to greater activity, especially in terms of finding suitable candidates to run for the three official positions that will be opening in the fall: two seats on the board, and the office of the supervisor itself.
“I’d like to see things turn around,” he had said. “There aren’t any watchdogs. We need a little more say, and they [the Democrats] need more of a watchful eye [over their actions.]”
Chairman Scofield and Ms. Minew did their utmost to keep the discussions of those gathered focused on the goal of determining candidates, and raising public awareness about what many Republicans are calling a “one-party government” in the Town of Olive. A few of those in attendance, however, seemed just as eager to voice their grievances about the perceived abuses of the Democrats in power – and the ways in which it was supposed that they were contriving to perpetuate their dominance over local government.
When harangues began to be aired against the likes of Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, Scofield and Minew urged their fellow Republicans to keep their focus, for the moment, on Olive.
“Olive at this point is in desperate straits,” Ms. Minew reminded them. She added her view that the Democrats had been “running ragged” over the Republicans in the town. “We’ve been too nice.” She said.
This last statement brought an immediate rumble of agreement from everyone present. Several held forth the opinion that, because of the public weariness with the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, Republicans had become easy scapegoats at every level of government, right down to small town governments like that of Olive. They bitterly averred that, for whatever reason, Republicans (in Olive at least) had become overly docile, and effectively allowed their platform to be stolen out from under them.
For all their zeal and fervor, Chairman Scofield and the other persons present made certain to emphasize that their hope was not to reestablish the Republican-dominated Olive that existed 40 years ago, but merely to bring back what they see as a lack of balance in town government. This means reminding the citizens of Olive that there is a Republican party, and that its views are as worthy of as much consideration as those of the ruling Democrats.
Looking ahead to when they might find a Republican candidate to begin campaigning for, Ms. Minew advised her fellows to speak to their neighbors not of Republicanism per se, but simply of the need for fairness and equal representation in government.
“’Our town is being run according to a one-party political agenda,’” she told them to say. “’Do you really think that’s the way things ought to be in America?’”
Still, this appeal will only work if the Republicans can manage to find a candidate who will run on the Republican ballot for any of the upcoming posts, much less candidates for all three of them – one of which being that of the Town Supervisor.
Burndt (or “Bert”) Leifeld, the Democrat who has been Olive’s Supervisor for 20 years, and was on the town board for 11 years before that, does not seem to consider Republican opposition a serious threat.
“There was always a Republican majority before [I started serving],” he recalled, citing an influx of Democrats from New York City as a large factor in changing the town’s political makeup.
He said that when it comes to the next election, “The deciding factor is that I’m doing a hell of a job.”
“Thirty-one years [in public office] speaks for itself,” he said.
Information provided by the Ulster County Board of Elections indicates that there is, in fact, a higher number of Democrats registered in Olive than Republicans, with the difference being about 195 voters, out of a total of 2,045.
Councilwoman Linda Burkhardt, who has served on the Town Board for seven years, is convinced that the party with which a candidate is aligned in Olive has little (if any) bearing upon whether he or she is elected.
“It’s just a matter of the people willing to run,” the Democrat said with a laugh in her voice. “There’s no way I would have gotten elected without a lot of Republicans voting for me.”
At the Republican Party meeting, Paula Minew criticized the apparent smugness of the Democrats in power. “They’re so cushy in their jobs, they think they’re unbeatable,” she said.
This echoed a prior statement by Party Chairman Scofield, in which he said, “Once you’re in power for long enough, you feel like you can walk on water.”
It’s this sense of invincibility, and the possible lack of accountability that some think has formed along with it, that concerns the members of the Olive GOP. During the meeting, repeated calls went out from Mr. Scofield and Ms. Minew both for the people present to be always on the lookout for possible candidates – or even to consider running themselves.
“We had nobody to put on the ballot during the last election,” Mr. Scofield said, confirming Ms. Burkhardt’s statement that there were, in fact, Republicans voting for Democrats. “We need to be grabbing people off the street.” He said.
He went on to enumerate the characteristics of the ideal GOP candidates. “They need to work for the interest of all citizens – not just Republicans,” he said. “They need to be really interested – willing to go out and work – willing to knock on doors.”
“And they need to be fighters,” Ms. Minew added. “They’re going to need to fight tooth and nail to get anything done [in the current town government.]”
Numerous means of further publicizing and organizing town Republicans (and non-Democrats in general) were discussed, including the possibility of a MySpace page, which was suggested by one of the youngest people present, who said that “there are a lot of conservatives on the Internet.”
As for immediate goals, party members were entreated to each bring one new person to the next meeting with them, and thereby double their numbers. Many of them gave their solemn word that they would at least make the effort; but the results of such efforts won’t be evident, of course, until the next meeting.
Town of Olive GOP meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month, at the American Legion Hall, on Mountain Rd., in Shokan. The next meeting will be on April 17th.

  A Jar Of Olives

Healing Haircuts

One wintry afternoon I brought my fifteen-year-old daughter, Sylvia Mae Gorelick, to Zuccala for a healing haircut. Beyond the house is a barn that has been renovated and divided into separate studios for Travaglia and Zuccala. We entered a light, airy room with colorful carpets and a massage table. A long-legged chair sits facing a mirror. Clay busts sculpted by Zuccala populate a row of shelves, while an antique saw blade adorns a wall. Light comes through a number of old-fashioned windows of four or six small panes each.
Zuccala offers us tea made of star anise, cardamom, and Japanese kukicha twigs, then drapes Sylvia with a thin maroon robe and seats her in the tall chair. “Tell me what you love about your hair,” she begins.
“I don’t think about it that much. It just hangs there,” Sylvia replies. “Lately I’m feeling weighed down by it.”
“So what wouldn’t you like to have?”
“Not bangs.”
“Do you want it all one length, or do you want movement in your hair?”
“Movement.”
“You’re an actress, aren’t you ? And probably you dance? So you need to be able to keep your hair away from your face. Do you like having long hair?”
“No, I’m not attached to it. I think of my hair as very boring.”
“So you want hair that can dance a little. Maybe some layering?”
Zuccala explains that she is going to touch Sylvia’s head, face, shoulders, back, and hips as she shifts and releases energy blocks. “Stresses in our lives create blockages internally, what we call ‘the issues in your tissues’. In a short session, we might not be able to release the issues, but we can get things to flow more freely. This gives you the opportunity to create a new intention and let go of old things. You might feel vibrations or sensations of cold or warmth—that’s just the energy moving.”
Sylvia closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths, and Zuccala works in silence for ten or fifteen minutes. At the end, Sylvia says she felt “a lot of clogged-up things” releasing.
As Zuccala proceeds to the haircut, she explains that she studied at the Queens Beauty Institute and worked at a salon on 57th Street in Manhattan, where she met her husband. “A client there was describing a man who loved classical music, eating organic food, exercising—I said he sounded just like me. She said, ‘And he’s my father.’ I said, ‘He must treat you well, and if she does, he must treat other women well.’ He’s very loving and caring,” she discovered.
Zuccala studied sculpture with a teacher from Tuscany at the New School and became so connected to the work and the class that she became his assistant. “I was always good at sculpting hair,” she notes.
A certified Reiki master, she bartered with her teacher for classes, doing hair and makeup for the wedding of the teacher’s daughter. She studied Integrated Energy Therapy both in Jersey City and upstate. When she first moved north, yoga classes in Stone Ridge brought her into the local community. “I come from a big family, and that’s what it started to feel like here. People were connected and caring—such powerful women.”
She gives Sylvia’s hair a few final snips and asks what she thinks.
“I feel so relieved,” says Sylvia, swinging her now chin-length hair to watch the top layers slide across the bottom ones.
Zuccala nods. “I believe hair should have movement to it, no matter what the length. Just like the energy work, it should have energy. One of my clients was a painter who was painting beautiful pieces with a lot of movement, but her hair was stiff. I worked to release the energy in it.”
For more information on healing haircuts or Integrated Energy Therapy, call Sandra Zuccala at 657-8673.

Trouble With DEP Police...

From the perspective of the city DEP’s administrative levels, the stated dissatisfaction does not reflect what they characterize as a tripling of investment in DEP policing activities and infrastructure, reflective of their concerns over the reservoir system’s safety.
In between, a number of long-time DEP watchers — including county Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum and Bert Leifeld, supervisor of the town of Olive, where much of the DEP force is based – have wondered whether all the noise may simply be the byproduct of ongoing contract negotiations between the city and its DEP police force.
It all started, at least in its present public form, when LEEBA President Kenneth Wynder Jr. sent out a press release on March 14 in which he reported that, “Recently New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Police Officers, members of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA), canvassed the membership for a vote on the performance of Chief Edward Welch and Assistant Chief Mark Benedetto. 95% of the officers voted and of 91% voted against Chief Welch while 85% voted against Asst. Chief Benedetto. These officers expressed their opinion that mismanagement within DEP Police must end.”
Continuing, Wynder’s release complained about how the DEP “has no apparent definable future goals or long term plans” for its Police Division, resulting in low morale.
“The present administration utilizes intimidation, retaliation, and unauthorized disciplinary actions instead of leadership to control the members of the command,” LEEBA charged. “The turnover rate in the ranks of DEP Police remains the highest of any City Department and it directly affects the safety of New York City’s Water Supply and the citizens of the surrounding watershed. Relations with the public and other neighboring police agencies are strained.”
Wynder noted cases where promotions were refused longstanding officers, inadequate infrastructure and equipment, poor personnel policies, and bad communications of both a literal and metaphorical basis.
“DEP Police Officers are extremely dissatisfied with the current management,” Wynder concluded. “Through retaliation, discrimination and unauthorized disciplinary actions, the Chiefs have degraded morale to its lowest ebb.”
Asked to reply to the union release, New York City DEP spokesperson Ian Michaels confirmed that contract negotiations were underway, then countered a number of the charges made against the department and its management without going t=into any personnel details regarding Welch and Benedetto, or any matters currently part of the contract talks.
“The security of the water supply is of the highest priority to the DEP. That is why we have made a huge investment in the DEP Police,” Michaels wrote in his own release of March 20. “In the last five years, DEP has tripled the size of the force and added new units such as Emergency Services. DEP has invested over $120 million in facilities and equipment to improve the effectiveness of the DEP Police, including the construction of five new precincts and two new training centers. The DEP will continue to work to make the DEP Police an even more effective force for the people who rely on and live near the water system.”
Van Blarcum said that his department has a good working relationship with the DEP Police. Leifeld, whose town is host to much of the Ashokan Reservoir, as well as the DEP Police headquarters, added that his town’s police department also works well with DEP police and that Olive residents have no issues with the department.
Wynder could not be reached for further comment beyond his statement despite several calls to all his listed numbers, as well as e-mails, in the week since his initial press release.