Wawarsing may televise meetings
By Dianne Wiebe , Correspondent
Daily Freeman March 6, 2005

ELLENVILLE - The Wawarsing Town Board is looking into televising its meetings.
Councilwoman Ruth Ann Gunter said Ellenville school board member Iris Friedman has told her the high school is willing to broadcast the meetings from its studio, but the school board is not in favor of sending students and equipment to the Town Hall. Gunter said a volunteer would be needed to tape the meetings for later broadcast.
Gunter proposed a partnership with the village of Ellenville to share the cost of filming.
In a related matter, Councilman Terry Houck, the board's liaison to cable television company Time Warner, said there is a balance of perhaps as much as $80,000 in franchise fees paid by the company to the town. Two percent of cable revenues are set aside for line extensions, and 3 percent goes into the town's general fund.
Houck said he is negotiating with the company, which wants at least 30 households for every mile extension, to reduce that number to 20. He said he would discuss using the accumulated funds to buy equipment.
IN OTHER business:
* The Town Board approved a contract with the new Wawarsing Ambulance District for four paramedics who will provide advanced life support services.
* Gunter reported progress on an agreement between the Ezrath Israel Synagogue and the village and town to use the synagogue's Slutsky Center as a home for the Youth Commission.
* Town Attorney William Collier said the sale of the former medical arts building will result in full repayment of $88,000 owed to the town's revolving loan fund.
* Former Councilman Leonard Distel expressed concern that the Ulster County Administrator's Office was considering reinstating a sales tax on home heating fuel to make up for a shortfall in sales tax revenue.
* The town's annual Easter egg hunt is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 19 in the parking lot behind Ellenville Elementary School.

©Daily Freeman 2005

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