Don’t forget about the elections in November, but the Highland Falls Village Board also wants its residents to start thinking about the next village election – now officially set for Tuesday, March 16. Voting will take place from 12-9 p.m. at the Highland Falls Senior Center, and there are two trustee seats – currently held by Deputy Mayor James Ramus and Trustee Jen Gargiulo – up for grabs.

That was just one piece of business conducted at the October 5 meeting of the Village Board. In another one, while the growing season is coming to an end, the village is still dealing with several ‘detrimental growth’ property maintenance issues.

That night, there were two such due process hearings – for 6 Eagle Valley Rd. and 15 Muller Ave. No one showed from either property. So, the board voted to take the action of remedying the problems, and billing the cost back to the owner.

In some other matters of business on October 5:
- The board officially accepted and signed a contract for $73,750 to purchase two emergency generators, to be purchased with grant funds from New York State. They will be placed at the Senior Center and Department of Public Works building. In another grant matter, Mayor Jim DiSalvo said the village has submitted a request for another NYS grant – a $375,000 CREST (Community Resiliency, Economic Sustainability and Technology) grant for the Roe Park pool and playground.

- Bills and claims in the amount of $720,719 were paid, including $468,939 which was part of the water project in Cragston.

- The board adopted a resolution asking the Orange County Legislature to exempt the Bog Meadow Reservoir from property taxes in 2028. A resolution asking that was required by the legislature and due to them by December 15 of this year.

- In public comment, the board was asked to take events at West Point, and holiday weekends into consideration when scheduling hydrant flushing in the future. DiSalvo said scheduling those dates is tricky because they also need to try to work around school schedules. “We’ve found there’s no great date to do it,” he said.

- DiSalvo said at the board’s next meeting (October 19) he’ll reintroduce a local law setting some new guidelines for short-term rental units and ask for a public hearing on that topic to be scheduled. The board has previously looked at the issue, but did not act.

- Trustee Aleena Olivia said at a meeting with Town of Highlands officials recently they let them know the village would not be moving ahead with hiring its own code enforcement officer this year. She noted the town is creating a changing a part-time code enforcement position in its Building Department to a full-time position adding: “We look forward to that increased service”.

- DiSalvo said the Highland Falls Police Department had 781 calls in September, made four arrests and wrote 81 summons – 46 for parking and 34 for traffic among them.

The board then met again on October 19, and conducted the following business:
- Paid bills and claims in the amount of $138.320, and accepted Fred A. Cook as the low bidder on the annual cleaning of sewer mains at a daily rate of $2695.

There were two bids on the project.
- Approved the Saturday, Oct. 31 Halloween Parade and Trunk-or-Treat on Main St., sponsored by the Highlands Chamber of Commerce; and the Saturday, Nov. 14 E-Waste collection event in the municipal parking lot, from 9 a.m. to noon, as sponsored by the town’s Sanitation Department.

- The board also heard from M&R Energy’s Michele Ries about securing the municipalities’ electricity rates for the coming years. She recommended supplier Constellation, which has held the village’s contract for the last several years, and the board indicated they were in favor for locking in for a three-year period. The matter was to be finalized after review of the contract by Village Attorney Alyse Terhune.

- DiSalvo said the board will be having another work session on the topic of Short-Term Rentals in November, before opening a public hearing on the matter.