Highland Falls received a $43,500 NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Infrastructure grant recently to install a second electric vehicle charger in the municipal parking lot across from Sacred Heart Church. At the Village Board’s November 2 meeting, a contract to install that charger was awarded to Fort Montgomery’s Paruolo Electric. It will be a level 2 charger, like is there now.

Also at the board meeting, the board denied a request from the managers of the Community Garden to allow goats to be used for a short period of time to help rid a narrow patch of overgrown land next to the garden on Main St. that has proven difficult for landscapers to get to. From the garden Olga Anderson said it would just be very temporary – the goats would be rented – and they would be closely managed.

While the board did not disagree it was a good idea, they said no because of the possible ‘Pandora’s Box’ that might be opened.

“We’ve spent the better part of a year dealing with goats and chickens in the village,” Mayor Jim DiSalvo said. “While we appreciate the ‘greenness’ of your idea, my fear is the floodgates that might be opened if we allow it.”

Trustees Aleena Olivia and Jen Gargiulo expressed similar sentiments, with Olivia offering her husband’s property maintenance expertise to try to help tackle the overgrown area.

In another matter, DiSalvo and Gargiulo announced that the village is expecting to receive a $200,000 grant secured by Assemblyman Chris Eachus to purchase water meters. The village is on a campaign to replace its aged in-home meters; so far, $131,000 was spent on 300 meters. Of those 300, 191 have been installed.

In several other matters of business from the meeting:
- $256,473 in bills and claims were paid. In another financial matter, the board tabled awarding a bid for work to be done on the FEMA-approved water storage tank access road at the top of Mountain Ave. until bids were clarified.

- Gargiulo reported that the village’s water capacity is good, with Bog Meadow at 95 percent, Jim’s Pond at 100 percent and the lower Bog spillway flowing. She added that the water department continues to inspect possible lead service lines.

- DiSalvo reported the Highland Falls Police Department responded to 768 calls in October, and made four arrests. Seventy-six tickets (52 parking and 24 traffic) were written, and the department had $2177 in revenues. It was noted that the village’s mobile radar screens are currently being used on side streets to help reduce speeding there.

- The board approved the use of the Highland Falls Senior Center for a Wintermarket on Sundays through June. It will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. each week, weather permitting.

- DiSalvo took several minutes at the start of the meeting to address several matters which have been raised on social media sites, reminding residents that Freedom of Information requests are processed “as quickly as we can”, following rules set by the state; that a damaged wall on Center St. has been repaired using a $10,000 insurance settlement; and that the village’s most recent audit proves “we’re in good shape” and that the village continues to receive grants (“almost $2 million in the last 18 months”).