The Highlands Town Board okayed a proposal from Orange & Rockland Utilities to swap out two percent of the town’s old mercury vapor streetlights for LED lights, at no charge to the town. So, how many lights make up two percent? Exactly three, Supervisor Bob Livsey said at Monday’s Town Board meeting.

So, the three lights that the town will tell the utility company to replace are the three in the ‘center’ of Fort Montgomery: at the intersection of Rt. 9W and Firefighters Memorial Drive, and then in two more locations on Firefighters, in front of the parking lot and at the corner of Canterbury Rd.

“After these three, it costs $600 per light if we want to do more,” the supervisor said. He said he suggested the three that he did because they aren’t in a residential area and “more brightness couldn’t hurt” in that area.

It was pointed out that there are a few homes right there, and the supervisor asked Councilman Joe DeWitt to coordinate with O&R to make sure the brightness isn’t too high for those residents. But he said that if it ends up too high, he is confident O&R will work with the town to tweak it, saying he knows that was done in Highland Falls by the utility.

Deputy Supervisor Rich Sullivan noted that those three lights won’t be the only LED lights in Fort Montgomery – “they’ve been replacing burned out mercury vapor lights with LED lights for some time.”

In another matter at the meeting, the board approved a motion to spend $66,000 to professionally evaluate the town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. It’s been noted at several meetings recently that the plant is nearing capacity, and the various options must be looked at. Those include diverting some sewage to the Highland Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant or a plant expansion. Livsey noted that the town could have waited until next Spring to apply for a state grant to do the study, but board members agreed it needs to be done now.

In other business from the meeting:

- The board directed the town’s Highway Department to make repairs to the split rail fence at Highland Union Cemetery (along Old State Rd.) when they have time. Bids had been solicited for the work ($1800, $2150 and $3200), but Livsey called the fence “basically decorative” and said he was not in favor of spending the money on it. Sullivan said the work “is well within the purview of the Highway Department” and suggested they do it on a time-available basis.

- The board acknowledged $312,817 in spending, including $143,198 for the Corbin Hill Water Tank, $82,202 for a garage roof at Town Hall, $29,753 to Rockland County Solid Waste for garbage disposal, $5200 to L&L Contracting for cemetery maintenance, and $5083 for sanitation truck fuel.

- A part-time mechanic, RJ Torino, was hired for $43.93 per hour, not to exceed 20 hours per week. It was noted the position is temporary until a full-time mechanic is hired.

- The meeting started with a moment of silence for long-time Town Justice Charles Quaintance, who died recently. He is the husband of former Town Supervisor Inga Quaintance.

-Councilwoman Nancy Sporbert said the Town of Highlands Ambulance Corps answered 63 or 64 calls in July – the only one which was missed was a “third call” for mutual aid in Woodbury (both the town’s ambulances were already out on calls when that request for help came in).

- It was reported that a window replacement project at Town Hall had begun. The new windows on the front of the building were paid for by a state grant, facilitated by the town’s Environmental Advisory Committee, chaired by Olga Anderson.

- Councilman Joe DeWitt reported that Channel 23 (the town’s longtime public access channel, where meetings are shown live) has been repaired by Spectrum. “It’s working rock solid,” he said, and reminded residents that they can submit community items for the daily ‘scroll’ of events on the channel.

- Sullivan took a minute to thank Fort Montgomery’s Bill Edsall for fixing the flagpole at the Patriot Garden.