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Food Pantry Move May Be Cooking...
Fire Dept. Concerns & School Speed Discussed

ACCORD – The Rochester Food Pantry needs to move, and if town supervisor Carl Chipman has his way, the service will get new digs in Rochester's community center.

At the October 1 meeting of the town board, Chipman said that he is trying to get an expansion of the center to accommodate the food pantry included as part of the improvements being paid for through the state's NY Rising program. The food pantry is presently in a small corner of the Accord Fire District headquarters, but its board has been notified that the space must be vacated in six months.

"The food pantry served over 36,000 meals last year," Chipman said, "and it's estimated that 25 percent of town residents utilized it at one point or another during the year."

The NY Rising project for the community center calls for upgrading it to an emergency shelter complete with showers, and the supervisor feels that it would be a suitable location for the food pantry. The preliminary plans call for adding 1,000 square feet of space for that purpose and Chipman added that he would not be able to guess what that would cost until an architect provided an estimate. While he was confident that the idea would come to fruition, it will take more time than the food pantry has been given; the supervisor said he'd ask the fire commissioners for more time to make the arrangements.

Meanwhile, there's talk of moving the Alligerville fire department out of its existing building, which includes the old school house for the hamlet. That building is a cornerstone of the hamlet's historic district, but it is in poor repair. Board members discussed an offer to purchase it from the fire district for one dollar, but there were unanswered questions about the cost to rehabilitate the building, and where that money might come from. For the fire district to build a new fire house would require a permissive referendum, which would allow for the necessary bonding unless interested citizens gathered enough signatures to force an actual vote on the issue.

The board also spoke about reports of excessive speeding on Old Kings Highway. Chipman speculated that this was a consequence of the Rondout Valley Central School District adding an entrance on Kyserike Road nearby, resulting in some drivers using Old Kings Highway as a shortcut to the district's central campus. Ideas that were batted around included petitioning for a lower limit on the road, posting a "local traffic only" sign to apply during school hours, and working with the RVSD school resource officer on the assumption that members of the school community are part of the problem. At Tony Spano's urging, the supervisor will pen a letter to state police and the county sheriff, requesting more enforcement of the existing speed limit.

Also, board member Sherry Chachkin took on the job of researching a drug-free policy for town employees, something which the town's insurance agents have been urging. It was agreed that any such policy should include components that focus on supporting recovery for any town employee with a problem.



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