Dear Guilderland Residents:
I am very pleased to announce that the Town’s new website was successfully launched yesterday. The website has several innovative applications and new options for receiving email or text notices of happenings in the Town. The Town’s 2024 organizational meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, January 4 at 7pm. The next meeting of the Comprehensive Plan Update Committee is the following week on Tuesday, January 9 at 7pm. More details are shared below.
Town News & Announcements
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Town Board recognized the retirement of Town Board Member Rosemary Centi, Highway Superintendent Greg Wier, and Town Justice John W. Bailey. Families, friends, and Town staff were present for the awarding of proclamations and kind words shared by Federal, State, and County leaders. I would add that these three retirements represent decades of excellent public service, and each honoree has been an exemplary leader and will be greatly missed. Upon behalf of a grateful Town and residents, I wish each of them an enjoyable and well-deserved retirement.
At the meeting, the Town Board also adopted several important resolutions including the creation of an Environmental Protection Reserve Fund for responding to climate change, purchasing land for preservation, creating and expanding Town parks and open space, restoring habitats and planting native trees, controlling invasive species, and protecting watercourses and sensitive areas. The other approved new reserves funds were for long-term improvements at the Western Turnpike Golf Course and Transfer Station. The funding of these reserves will be considered when preparing future Town budgets.
Early yesterday, the Town launched its new website with innovative applications, modules, and other features for receiving information. Website Personalization allows you to select applications, like calendars, agendas, news items and emergency alerts, that make information much easier to find on subsequent visits to the website. Request Tracker allows you to contact Town staff about code compliance, nuisance animals, and other concerns. To enjoy these new applications, you must first register for an account where you can customize your viewing experience, sign up for notifications, and much more. You can sign-up by clicking the link on the upper right corner of the website’s pages. Please be patient as we address inevitable issues with the new website’s applications and features, and learn more about how they are functioning in the real world.
Parks & Recreation’s popular annual Evergreen Holiday Centerpiece workshop takes place on Tuesday, December 19 between 1pm and 5pm at the Parks & Rec’s Office, opposite the entrance to Tawasentha Park. You can create your own holiday centerpiece with mixed greens, pinecones, candles, and berries which will be provided. You can add your own ornaments and decorations. You can drop in between 1pm and 4-30pm, with the workshop ending at 5pm. Please register for this workshop online by Thursday, December 14. Please bring gloves and heavy-duty clippers.
Parks & Recreation has open spots available for its popular Winter Break Fun-N-Games program, which includes warm-up tag games followed by games such as Jailbreak, Pins Down, Survivor, Basketball, Seven-Base Kickball, Indoor Soccer and many more. The program takes place in the gym at Guilderland Elementary School from 9am to 11am on Tuesday, December 26 through Friday, December 29.
Parks & Rec’s "Get Out and Walk This Winter" is already popular. For this winter season, the Town will again keep Tawasentha, DiCaprio, Keenholts, and Nott Road Parks open during daytime hours. Western Turnpike Golf Course also remains open for walkers but only on cart paths. When measurable snow arrives, Vosburgh Trails Open Space, WTRC, and Town parks offer snowshoeing and cross- country skiing, with groomed trails at the golf course. Sledding is available at the Winter Recreation Area just past Tawasentha Park. Nordic ski and snowshoe rentals are available at the Parks & Rec Office.
The Highway Department has only one week left of leaf vacuuming in its posted schedule. The schedule ends on Tuesday, December 12, with most trucks fitted for winter weather with snow plows. Highway crews will collect bagged leaves and tied brush year-round. Please remember that overnight parking on Town roads, except where permitted by posted signs on certain streets, is not allowed from November 1 to April 1. Please also take the time to remove basketball hoops and other obstructions from the street to prevent damage to the hoops and plows.
Upcoming Meetings at Town Hall
The following is a list of dates and times for currently scheduled meetings of boards and committees at Town Hall over the next 30 days. Please check the Town’s calendars for the latest news about public meetings and community events, possible changes in agendas and cancellations, and the latest contents of agenda packets. Each of the listed meetings start at 7pm, and are livestreamed on the Town website, Verizon channel 34, and Spectrum channel 1303. Within days of the meeting, an indexed recording, with links to each listed agenda item, is also posted online.
Conservation Advisory Council
Monday, December 18
Planning Board
Wednesday, December 20
Industrial Development Agency
Tuesday, December 26 (may be cancelled)
Town Board (2024 Organizational Meeting)
Thursday, January 5, 2024
Comprehensive Plan Update Committee
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
COVID-19 Update
The CDC reported this week that hospitalizations nationwide increased over the past week by 10% and the death rate was unchanged. The CDC’s map continues to show that Albany County continues with a “low” hospitalization rate for COVID-19, but there are large parts of the State in the Buffalo area and Long Island with “medium” hospitalization rates. No county has a “high” rate.
State DOH’s most recent COVID-19 summary indicated that COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are again increasing. County DOH’s most recent wastewater COVID-19 surveillance report shows that the presence of the COVID-19 virus in the Town’s wastewater is “increasing” and is “detectable,” with 10 to 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, and is now at a “higher” rate when compared to the State’s numbers.
A reminder that the Federal government has expanded its program under which you can receive by mail free at-home COVID-19 tests. The program now allows for eight home tests per household which means that if you recently placed an order for four tests, you can now order four additional tests at no cost.
Community Events & Resources
I thank the residents who last weekend visited the Guilderland Garden Club’s annual Holiday Greens and Craft Show at the historic Mynderse-Frederick House in Guilderland Center. The historic house was beautifully decorated by garden club members, with help by the Helderview Garden Club. I also appreciate the generous food donations for local pantries.
On Sunday, December 17 from 2pm to 4:30pm, the Guilderland Public Library is hosting Suburban Sounds Community Chorus for an afternoon of seasonal music. Please take the time to enjoy this well-recognized local choral group’s performance of holiday classics.
The Guilderland Public Library’s calendar includes virtual conversations with well-known authors, including an afternoon chat on Tuesday, December 12 at 2pm, with New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Land about her new memoir, Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education. On Wednesday, January 10 at 8pm, the Library is offering a virtual conversation with best-selling author Rebecca Serle about her novel, One Italian Summer, In Five Years, The Dinner List, and many more. The Library offers a wide-variety of seminars by authors and prominent persons, and taped recordings of prior events.
A reminder that the Library offers several free weekly gatherings for the community’s benefit including Let’s Talk: Coffee & Conservation for Seniors on every Wednesday from 11am to 12:30pm, with coffee, tea, snacks, and lunch available at the Café’ con Mel, the Library’s new café. The Library’s events calendar also has LEGO Free Play, Teen Drop-In DIY, and other interesting group activities.
The NYS State Library’s calendar has several upcoming seminars, including on this Friday, December 8, from 2pm to 3pm, a seminar on Historical Newspapers Online at the New York State Library when senior librarians will discuss online databases available at the State Library that contain full-text historical newspapers and will demonstrate the effective use of America's Historical Newspapers and the New York Times online databases.
You can help the less fortunate this holiday season by donating food, money, or volunteering your time at the Guilderland Food Pantry, Community Caregivers, and other groups who work year-round to address food insecurity in our community. Thank you for any assistance.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.
Peter G. Barber
Town Supervisor
