January
• Bethlehem Town Board member Jeffrey Kuhn was nominated as the new chairman of the Bethlehem Democratic Committee in October.
• A grant from the state will help Albany County open the largest portion of the Rail Trail yet and make needed repairs to that section. As part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council Awards, $500,000 was given to Albany County in order to open the trail between the City of Albany and the Town of Bethlehem.
• The proposed sale of Bethlehem Central’s former administration building to School’s Out, Inc. was met with opposition by some neighbors of the building at a public meeting held on Thursday, Jan. 3. Concerns ranged from children being too noisy to increased traffic and a lack of parking.
• The Bethlehem Central School District Board of Education n Jan. 2 elected to split the proposal for facilities upgrades and a new athletic turf into two bond resolutions to go before the public. The facilities bond would include all priority one and half of the district’s priority two projects, and the field portion would include a new track with two additional lanes.
• The Town of Bethlehem and its telecommunicators union agreed on a three-year contract after going a full year without a contract in place. The contract includes a 2 percent salary increase beginning in January for 2014, but the town’s emergency dispatchers will not receive a cost of living increase for the two years prior. In return, the town agreed to increase tuition reimbursement from a maximum of $2,000 a year to a maximum of $4,000 a year and supply four uniforms per year instead of two.
• The driver who ran down three people outside of Voorheesville church in 2011 was sentenced in an Albany County court on Jan. 11. LuAnn Burgess, 55, was given five years of probation with 600 hours of community service. As per a plea deal reached in November, she will not serve any jail time. As a condition of the plea, she cannot operate a motor vehicle for the rest of her life.
• After a group of Bethlehem commuters aired their concerns last month about changes to a bus route, officials from the Capital District Transportation Authority opted to increase bus frequency during evening hours. The change has been made to Bus Route 18, which travels along Delaware Avenue.
• The Town of Bethlehem received a federal grant of $500,000 to fund the installation of sidewalks throughout portions of the town where students lacked a safe place to walk to and from school.
• As of the beginning of the year, Bethlehem’s two volunteer ambulance agencies have become one. Delmar EMS and Bethlehem EMS have combined into Delmar-Bethlehem EMS.
• At his State of the Town address given at Town Hall on Jan. 24, Bethlehem Supervisor John Clarkson laid out his plans for 2013 while outlining accomplishments made over the past year. The first-term supervisor cited as victories a budget below the property tax cap, a new capital spending plan, the use of citizen advisory committees and ethics reform. Clarkson also touted consolidation of services and a knowledgeable work force.
• Bethlehem Central school board members unanimously voted Jan. 23 to allow two propositions to go before the public in March on bonding for facilities upgrades and a new turf athletic field.
• The Bethlehem Town Board is seeking candidates for an open position on the bench following the death of Town Justice Mark Jordan to serve as town justice for the remainder of the year. Jordan, 50, died Jan. 25 at Albany Medical Center after suffering a sudden brain aneurysm several days earlier.
• The first meeting in what is to be a series of community forums with Supervisor John Clarkson was held Jan. 29 at Selkirk Fire Station No. 1 on Maple Avenue. Topics ranged from the installation and repair of sidewalks, creation of the Clapper Road/Thruway Interchange Concept Plan or “the Selkirk Bypass project” and what could be done about abandoned buildings in the area.
February
• Lifetime television announced the movie called “Romeo Killer: The Christopher Porco Story,” will premier in March. The movie focuses on the Delmar native and University of Rochester student who was convicted of killing his father and attempting to kill his mother with an ax in 2004.
• Several Glenmont residents who went before the Bethlehem Planning Board on Feb. 5 disapproved of a plan to build a new housing subdivision off of Jolley Road known as Legends Preserve, airing concerns such as privacy, trespassing, establishing barriers between property lines and an increase in traffic.
• The Bethlehem Town Board set a public hearing on a proposal to abolish the position of highway superintendent. The change, proposed by Supervisor John Clarkson, would place the duties of the office with the commissioner of public works. Highway Superintendent Gregg Sagendorph announced plans to retire after holding the position for 22 years.
• The Bethlehem Town Board appointed a new town justice Feb. 13 to replace justice Mark Jordan, who died suddenly in January. Michael Katzer will serve the remainder of the year.
• The Bethlehem Central School District and School’s Out, Inc. are facing an uphill battle when it comes to finalizing the sale of 90 Adams Place. On Feb. 20, school district officials went before the Bethlehem Zoning Board of Appeals to argue the need for a variance on which the transaction hinges. The area in question is zoned residential, but the building was built in the neighborhood before the town had a zoning statute.
• After hearing comments from the public, the Bethlehem Town Board unanimously passed a law abolishing the elected position of highway superintendent on Feb. 27. The law will be subject to a public permissive referendum. Residents will go to the polls April 30.
• The debate over New York’s new gun law ended up being fought on the local level at a Feb. 27 meeting of the Bethlehem Town Board, after Councilman Jeffrey Kuhn suggested the board pass a resolution to support the SAFE Act. It was discussed at length, with three board members in favor, but was not passed.
March
• Bethlehem’s Vista Technology Campus may soon have its first technology tenant. The town’s Industrial Development Agency is in discussions with Breonics Inc., an Albany company specializing in organ regeneration research, that is interested in leasing space within a new building proposed for a now undeveloped portion of the campus.
• Bethlehem taxpayers decided in favor of funding districtwide facilities upgrades at a March 12, bond vote, but opted against borrowing for an artificial turf athletic field. The $20.2 million facilities proposition passed 2,676 to 2,098. The second proposition, which would have funded the installation of a $3.8 million turf athletic field, failed 3,103 to 1,671.
• Gun rights advocates came to a meeting of the Albany County Legislature in support of a Hilltowns legislator’s push to repeal the SAFE Act. The chamber overflowed on March 11 with the crowd voicing opposition to new gun control laws.
• The Coeymans Town Board voted to rename the town to “Reubenville” for the month of March, as part of the Arby’s “Reubenville Challenge.” The contest promised 5,000 coupons for free Reuben sandwiches to the municipality that first altered its name for the month and changed its city limit sign.
• After less than three months of searching, the Town of Bethlehem may soon have a deal in place to lease operation of the Colonial Acres Golf Course to a PGA golf professional. Dale Ezyk, a golf pro with 22 years of experience, is expressing interest in operating the course, and said he has hammered out a three-year operating agreement with the town.
• The Lifetime movie about the Christopher Porco murder case aired as planned, but not before some last-minute legal wrangling. Just days before the scheduled airing, the 29-year-old killer obtained an emergency court order to halt its premier. State Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Muller granted Porco’s motion and a temporary restraining order in a Clinton County Court on March 19.
• Guilderland parents and middle school students are petitioning the school board to keep some programs off the chopping block this year. The Guilderland Central School District Board of Education held an informal budget hearing March 20 on potential 2013-14 budget reductions. The two cuts that caused the most concern focused on eliminating the middle school enrichment program for and eliminating assistant coaching positions.
• The Town of Bethlehem began a property reassessment project that could very well impact every homeowner in town. The assessments will be used for town and school tax bills in 2015.
• The Voorheesville Board of Trustees approved on March 26 increases in the sewer rate, summer recreation fees and vendor permit fees, which will bring a modest increase in revenues.
April
• A group of property owners neighboring the Albany County Rail Trail are suing the federal government over the recreational corridor. A lawsuit filed by several homeowners in 2009 was recently upgraded to a class action lawsuit. Some 300 neighbors of the more than 9-mile Rail Trail corridor were mailed notices offering them the opportunity to join the lawsuit, and about 100 of them are signed up as of this month.
• On April 2, the Village of Altamont passed a $2.1 million budget for 2013-14 that increases spending by $140,000.
• In a split vote, the Bethlehem Town Board has named Commissioner of Public Works Erik Deyoe interim highway superintendent through the end of the year. Councilwoman Joann Dawson cast the dissenting vote on Wednesday, April 10, saying she felt the decision should be made after an April 30 special public referendum on eliminating the top highway job.
• Two fire departments in the Town of Bethlehem have struck a shared services agreement that allows their members to respond to calls on one another’s equipment depending on proximity. The agreement was signed between Elsmere and Selkirk fire officials at the beginning of the year.
• The New Scotland Town Board held a public hearing April 9 on the proposal to demolish three buildings targeted under the town’s Unsafe Building Law adopted in September of 2010. These buildings are the first the town has fully pursued under the law. Several other buildings have been targeted, but the property owners are in the process of making repairs or have made good faith efforts.
• On April 10, the Bethlehem Town Board approved a contract to allow the Kansas-based company Civic Plus to redesign the town’s website. The site was last updated seven years ago.
• The Guilderland Central School District Board of Education unanimously adopted a $91 million 2013-14 budget on April 9 that holds a property tax levy increase of 3.39 percent, which is within the district’s state tax cap limit. The budget increases spending by just under 2 percent, or more than $1.76 million, and reduces staffing by 28.25 full-time equivalent positions.
• On April 17, the Bethlehem Zoning Board of Appeals denied a use variance that would allow the school district to sell its property at 90 Adams to daycare provider School’s Out, Inc. Neighbors argued increased traffic due to buses and parents dropping off students would lead to an unsafe environment and diminished quality of life.
• The decision to approve tax breaks for the first technology company lined up for the Vista Technology Campus was once again delayed by the Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency after the developer pulled the project from the agenda for a second time.
• Republican Mark Grimm, who served one term on the Guilderland Town Board, announced his intention to run for Guilderland supervisor April 24.
• On April 30, residents voted down a local law that would have placed the superintendent of highways’ duties with the commissioner of public works. The final unofficial vote count on the public referendum was 3,086 vote against to 1,969 votes for the abolishment of the superintendent as an elected position.
May
• The 100th anniversary of the Bethlehem Public Library was commemorated on May 11 with a Founder’s Day celebration at the library on Delaware Avenue. The event was the first of three celebrations planned to mark the establishment’s centennial, which included a reenactment in period-style clothing by members of the Delmar Progress Club.
• The Town of Bethlehem and its Industrial Development Agency may soon be partnering to hire a new, part-time employee to work on economic development. Supervisor John Clarkson discussed the idea with the Town Board at a Wednesday, May 8, meeting after previously getting the preliminary approval of IDA members. The individual would act as a “single point of contact” for developers looking to bring new projects to the town.
• The Guilderland Town Board backpedaled on a plan to establish a special taxing district in McKownville in a favor of a townwide fund aimed at fixing drainage issues across the board. Residents of the hamlet notorious for its drainage issues had petitioned for the establishment of a taxing district. Supervisor Ken Runion decided levying the new tax would be unfair because the town must tackle drainage issues throughout Guilderland.
• After weeks of waiting, the Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency has approved an Enhanced Tax Abatement for the first tech-use building to be constructed within the Slingerlands Vista Technology Campus. On May 24, the IDA approved the application for the nearly $5.5 million project to be constructed at 65 Vista Blvd., just behind the ShopRite grocery store. A portion of the 27,386-square-foot building would house Breonics, an Albany company specializing in organ regeneration research.
• The Bethlehem Central School District is suing the town Zoning Board of Appeals over a decision that halted the sale of its 90 Adams Place property to daycare provider School’s Out, Inc.
June
• On June 6, the Bethlehem Soccer Club’s’s new President Jeremy Martelle told parents and club members about plans for Afrim’s Sports to build its indoor soccer venue within the Town of Bethlehem. The information was presented at the club’s annual member celebration at Elm Avenue Park.
• The Bethlehem Central School District Board of Education has opted to appoint a new member to the school board after Laura Ladd Bierman announced she was submitting her letter of resignation at the end of May. On June 5, Superintendent Tom Douglas told the board after researching state education law, it was determined the district has the “duty and power to fill the vacancy” as the board sees fit.
• After Bethlehem residents voted down a referendum that would have abolished the office of highway superintendent, four candidates have come forward with hopes of filling the position next year. Both the Bethlehem Democratic Committee and the Albany County Independence Party have endorsed Democrat and City of Albany Director of Recycling Frank Zeoli. Resident Brent Meredith, an engineer, intends to primary Zeoli on the Democratic line. Meanwhile, Bethlehem Republicans and county Conservatives have endorsed the town’s Coordinator of the Development Planning Committee Terry Ritz. Howard Hyer, a manager within the town’s Highway Department, said he plans to primary Ritz on the Republican line.
• New Scotland neighbors argued over what rules or regulations should govern canines in town parks. The Town Board heard from residents concerned about what rules do or don’t apply to dogs in the town’s Stephen P. Wallace Park off Swift Road at a June 12, meeting.
• The Town of Bethlehem received $776,107 through the state’s Local Government Performance and Efficiency Program. The grant was officially received for “departmental restructuring of the town’s payment system and maintenance staff,” but Supervisor John Clarkson said it was specifically for consolidation efforts between the Parks and Recreation and Highway Departments.
• The Town of Bethlehem is looking for a new director of economic development and planning, as Mike Morelli approaches his retirement date at the end of this week. Morelli has worked for the town for eight years and has spent his entire 33-year career in the public sector. He is set to retire on June 28.