Ballston's new supervisor has been busy during his first two months as an elected official
A
very warm welcome to the Town of Ballston’s new Supervisor Eric Connolly.
Supervisor Connolly has been in office for two months now, and since the
swearing in ceremony on January 1, 2020, he has been incredibly busy to say the
least. Along with meeting committee
chairs, town departments and employees, he has also spoke with dozens of local
town, city and state officials. There are at least 15 projects that he and the
board are actively working on. Here are a just few projects and recent
improvements.
 |
| Eric and Chely Connolly - 01/01/2020 |
The
Supervisor’s goal is improving personnel policy, establishing protocol and accountability
as he brings Town Hall to a professional, efficiently run government center. The new town employee punch clock is up and
running. A ride along with the building
department is planned for April so he can learn more about their daily operations.
The
Planning Board positions have been filled.
Supervisor Connolly as well as planning board members attended the
Planning and Zoning Conference in February.
Supervisor Connolly, Councilman Curtiss, and Town Attorney Kaelin
attended the Association of Towns Annual Meeting and Training in New York City
February 17th thru the 19th. One
of the two open Ethics Committee positions has been filled and interviews are
in progress for the second. There will be a full five panel Ethics Committee in
place soon.
At
the first Agenda Meeting of the Town Board in January, Supervisor Connolly stated
that the town needs to hire a Town Planner. Interviewing is in progress and the Town Board
will be making a hiring decision soon. There
are regular planning duties before the Planning Board now, and a possible
liaison for TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) may be needed. The town has 27 hours per week currently in
the budget for planning and drainage.
The Comprehensive Plan needs to be revisited again as well as zoning. Stormwater reports need to be reviewed and
filed, enforcement action is needed at times and eventually New York State will
mandate stormwater oversite. The amount
of questions that come into the Building Department alone regarding planning is substantial
and a Town Planner is crucial.
The pending Ballston Lake Sewer Project is the most expensive and largest project in the history of The Town of Ballston. Eric Connolly has addressed the homeowner’s call for more transparency from the Sewer Committee. The committee recently held an informational meeting on January 28th resulting in an update to the ballstonsewers.org website. The next meeting will be March 4th at 4:15pm in the town meeting room. All meetings are open to the public for observation. Any questions can be emailed to Supervisor Connolly at econnolly@townofballstonny.org and will be forwarded to the Sewer Committee Chair. The project was voted on and approved by the residents within the district in 2015. Since that time, the cost has increased from $10,203,729 to $17,754,661.00.
On
the town calendar, there were two zoning workshops and one TDR (transfer of
development rights) workshop open to the public in January. In February, they held
another public zoning workshop outlining a possible moratorium on large
building projects while excluding smaller commercial and residential project permits
to keep Ballston moving forward. Residents
are encouraged to watch the calendar for any future workshops. The town board
has scheduled a Whole Town Public Hearing on March 10, 2020 at 5:45pm on a
proposed moratorium. Written comments will
be accepted and can be submitted to the Ballston Town Board Attention Carol
Gumienny, Town Clerk 323 Charlton Road, Ballston Spa, New York 12020.
A
new town committee has been created called the Ballston Clean Energy Committee.
It
is the Town of Ballston’s coordinating group to lead implementation of the
DEC/NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program.
The committee will be working on four high-priority items on the
program’s High Impact Action Item List.
They are working on energy use of town buildings, converting street lights
to money saving energy efficient LED technology, following up on the approved
charging station in the town hall parking lot and will help create a unified solar permit
which streamlines the approvals process for solar. The committee will also seek
out additional information about the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program
that other cities and towns are implementing to save residents money on energy. There will be a CCA presentation at the March
10th Board Meeting.
Ballston
Neighbors United is extremely impressed with this fast pace of progress. Keep up the fantastic work Supervisor
Connolly! All town meetings are open to
the public. We encourage residents to
attend town meetings. Meetings are
posted on the Town of Ballston calendar.
You can subscribe to the calendar through Google Calendars. There is privilege of the floor on any town
subject at the end of the monthly regular Town Board Meetings. There are scheduled public hearings on
projects proposed before the Planning Board.
BNU’s mission is to build a community of informed residents
dedicated to preserving the nature and character of our town.
Recent video messages from Supervisor Connolly:
Recent video messages from Supervisor Connolly:
Links to other posts:
