The town of Rotterdam pushed back the June 29 vote to create a ambulance taxing district for the town of Rotterdam to November with a 3-2 vote and heated debate between board members.
During the Wednesday, June 9 meeting of the town board of Rotterdam, town board member Nicola DiLeva proposed resolution to push back the vote for the creation of a ambulance district in the town to help inform residents of the reasoning behind the vote. Town Board Deputy Supervisor Robert Godlewski was critical of the former administration under Republican Steve Tommasone and the changing of the vote on multiple occasions.
According to Godlewski, the current board has worked to create the vote for the ambulance district- setting an original date for April, which was pushed back to the June 29 date because of the need for a 60-day advanced notice for the vote. He said that the further delay of the vote would delay the creation of the district further.
Put it to a vote and get done with it once and for all, said Godlewski.
DiLeva said that the June 29 date was not picked by the members of the board but by Godlewski and that the vote co-insides with one of the busiest weeks in the summer, with the Fourth of July weekend.
`There is no ‘we,’ there is an ‘I,’` said DiLeva.
Godlewski responded that it was not he who picked the date but the four members of the board who were in attendance for the vote. DiLeva was not at the vote at the April 28 meeting because she was recovering from a surgery she has recently had.
The councilwoman asked to have the vote moved back because of a lack of information alongside the absence of absentee ballots and the timing during the summer. She was also critical of misinformation about the vote, especially the belief that a vote for the ambulance district would be a vote for Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services, of REMS. According to information from the town, if the ambulance district were to be accepted, the district would go out to bid among local ambulance companies.
`No one has the right to put REMS out of business,` said DiLeva.
The resolution to move the vote back to a date to be determined in November was voted in favor by DiLeva, Matthew Martin, and Gerard Parisi with Supervisor Frank Del Gallo and Godlewski voting no.
In other news:
The town of Rotterdam passed resolution to enter into agreements with Schenectady County over the creation of a unified dispatch. The universal call center would help to increase safety and help to effectively dispatch throughout the county, according to County Legislator Anthony Jansenski, D-Rotterdam. `Its one more step in the process,` he said.
The town of Rotterdam voted to table a zone change for 2.735 acres of property at 1066 Curry Road and 1113 Floral Avenue in Rotterdam from Single Family Residential and Two Family Residential to Multi-Family Residential for the construction of a four unit apartment building and bring a 42 unit apartment building into current zoning codes. The property is owned by Tom DeLorenzo.
The town board voted for a public hearing for Wednesday, July 14 at 7 p.m. to discuss a change in zoning proposed by Timothy Larned and Maria Esposito on 71.8 acres from heavy industrial and general business to planned residential development and general business for a proposed construction of a 248 multi-family garden apartment complex and 20,000 square feet of commercial space, a relocation of current baseball fields and the creation of a recreation and conservation area.
The town of Rotterdam will meet again on Wednesday, July, 14 at 7 p.m.“
