ROUND UP OF JANUARY 24 STONY POINT BOARD MEETING

Movies to be filmed in Stony Point, West Point Tours chosen for senior bussing, low bid rejected for Zachary Taylor Drainage project, two zoning and planning board members appointed, and much more

BY LAUREN KATE ROSENBLUM

At the most recent Stony Point board meeting, Councilwoman Luanne Konopko announced as part of an initiative to bring business to the area, the board is looking into making Stony Point an ideal place for filming locations for the entertainment industry. This brings in business to the area as well as increases the town’s notability.

Both the residents and the town have an opportunity to benefit from this, Konopko continued. The film crews will utilize the services of local businesses as well as pay the property owner for the use of it as a set, she said, noting there are already projects coming up that may interest a local Stony Point resident. One project involves a NYC producer looking for a few locations to film a new project known as “Crossing the River.” They are looking for a small rural house built somewhere between the 1920s and the 1960s, a trailer, a rural school, and an 1880s home or Bed and Breakfast. It would need to accommodate two actors and five crewmembers.

If anyone knows a place, or thinks their property would be suitable, they should contact Councilwoman Luanne Konopko.

Also, there were two bids discussed at the meeting that have been fairly popular subjects over the past few months. The first was the Senior Bus Transportation bid. Many seniors were concerned after the board came back with low bids from transportation companies known to have poor safety ratings. The board, in response, rejected all of these bids and decided to redo the bid criteria to include insurance history and safety records in addition to financial records.

The town attorney announced the three lowest bids were J & R Tours, who had a defective calculation in their bid, Enchanted Tours, who did not include insurance history or financial statements, and the second lowest, by less than $100, West Point Tours for $17,480. The board voted to approve West Point Tours for Senior Bus Transportation, which was met by applause.

The other was the Zachary Taylor Drainage bid. When the board goes out to bid, they are required to take the lowest bidder, and on the last bid, the lowest bidder was tens of thousands of dollars lower than the rest. It turned out that they had miscalculated labor costs and the board allowed them to withdraw their bid. This time around, a bid came in even lower than the last low bid at $12,500. The town attorney announced that if the board felt that this bid was defective, they could reject it and take the next highest bid, and then deferred to the town engineer. The town engineer, Kevin Maher said “in order to put the pipe in the ground it will cost at least $18,000, just for the pipe. I think this bid is defective.” The board then accepted Calmore Enterprises’ bid at $29,292.

The board made two appointments at this meeting. The first was Mike Puccio to the planning board and the second Steve Porath to the zoning board. The board also updated the town on the status of its lawsuit against the state regarding school taxes, which attorney Dennis Lynch and the board claim favors Haverstraw over Stony Point.

Stony Point filed last month, challenging New York State’s 10 percent rule, which says a municipality can only ask for an adjustment in taxes in relation to another municipality, if the alleged error is at 10 percent or higher. Stony Point stated that this rule was arbitrary and unconstitutional. That challenge is pending in the courts with a return in front of a judge pending February 17.

Susan Filgueras announced that Pyngyp School House, which is part of the state registry of historic places, recently gained entrance to a new registry. The national keeper of the historic places registry notified Stony Point that as of this week, the Pyngyp School House is now listed on the national registry as well as state.

As many in the area know, the roof for the Pyngyp School building is in dire need of repair. The Stony Point Historical Society now has roughly $7,000 in the bank as well as a grant from Nancy Calhoun. However, the repair process is complicated because they need to use different material types to abide by the national registry’s guidelines.

With the repairs likely to still be ongoing, on April 15, at the Chapel of St John the Divine in Tomkins Cove, the society will hold a Pyngyp One Room School House reunion. They will record people’s stories on video as part of a “living year book” project. The next Stony Point Historical Society Meeting will be March 25, from 2-4 p.m. in RHO Building. All are invited to attend.

The next board meeting will be Tuesday, February 14, at 7:00 p.m. in the RHO building.

  board meeting, rockland county, Stony Point