Glens Falls set date for public discussion of police reform plan
The Glens Falls City Council set a public hearing date, 7:20 p.m., March 9, for the community to chime in on the Police Department Reform and Reinvention Plan. Earlier this month a public, online discussion was halted after some people used profanities and racial epithets. All police and sheriff departments statewide were required to form these plans which look at police use of force policies, transparency in their interactions and other elements of policing. Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated them last year during the Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota last year. The plan must be approved and sent to the state by April 1. [Read more here.]
West Moutain’s plan OKed
The Queensbury Planning Board OKed the plans for the West Mountain Ski Area, Tuesday evening, Feb. 23. The owners can create a parking lot on two parcels of land just south of the current parking lot. The new lot will have an earthen four- or five-foot-tall berm built around it with trees and shrubs atop to keep headlights from the front porches of nearby homes.
"It's going to be some pretty dense vegetation,” said Matthew Harrington, an engineer working with the mountain.
The LED light poles will be set back far enough from the property line to keep the lights' spillover out of the neighbors’ yards and faces, planners and designers said. As well, the mountain agreed to turn them off 30 minutes after the mountain closes in the evening.
Earlier in the month, the Queensbury Town Board approved a zoning change on the two parcels which allowed this plan to move forward. [Read more here.]
Warren County potential COVID exposures at businesses
Beyond the Sea Restaurant on Lake Shore Drive in Bolton Landing, Feb. 18, 19, 20, and 21, noon to close each day. The individual wore a mask.
Della Buick on Quaker Road in Queensbury, Feb. 18, 19, 22, and 23, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. The individual wore a mask.
Peter’s Pub on Maple Street in Glens Falls, Feb. 20, 21, 22, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The individual wore a mask.
Friendly’s on Aviation Rd in Queensbury, Feb. 19, 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Feb. 20, noon to 2 p.m. The individual wore a mask.
Guess Factory Outlet Store on Route 9 in Queensbury, Feb. 18, 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The individual wore a mask.
Lowe’s Home Improvement Center on Quaker Road in Queensbury, Feb. 10, noon to 9 p.m. The individual wore a mask.
Van Heusen Izod Company Store on Route 9 in Queensbury, Feb. 12, 4:50 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The individual wore a mask.
An exposure to COVID is not an instant mandate to close or even to announce the problem at a business. Contact tracers “look at the circumstances of these visits to businesses, and then decide whether a public advisory is warranted,” Don Lehman, the county’s director of public affairs, wrote in an email last month.
The county asks, if you were at these businesses during these time periods, please self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough, chills and loss of sense of taste and smell, over the 14-day period from the date of the potential exposure.
If experiencing these symptoms, contact your medical provider, an urgent care center or your local public health agency. Warren County Health Services can be reached at 518-761-6580. New York State's COVID testing hotline can be reached at 1-888-364-3065.
People who were at the businesses at the times specified are asked to self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days from the time they were at the business. Those symptoms include cough, fever, chills, or loss of the sense of taste or smell.
Saratoga Springs: defer your property tax, if needed
Saratoga Springs' 2021 Tax Deferment Law allows for the extension of tax payment deadlines during the COVID19 Emergency. People who pay in four quarterly installments can add 60 days to the first three. May 1, Aug. 1, and Nov. 1 are the three extended dates to pay without penalty or interest.
“In effort to keep tax payments within the calendar year, there is no extension for the fourth installment,” Commissioner of Revenue Michele Madigan wrote in a press release. “The final tax installment payment is due on Dec. 1, 2021.” [Read more here.]
Also in the commissioner of finance’s release:
- Late payments will still incur a penalty of 9% and every month thereafter, an additional penalty of 1.5% until it caps at 15%.
- Property taxes paid in full by March 1, 2021 will continue to receive a 2.25% discount.
- For health and safety reasons, City Hall’s Finance Department remains closed. However, a new contact-free, locked, drop box has been installed in the foyer of the City Court’s City Hall entrance at 474 Broadway. The dropbox is accessible to the public Monday-Friday, from 8:30a.m. to 4:00p.m.
- Tax payments may also be made online at the City’s website, www.saratoga-springs.org or by mail, Attention: Finance Department, 474 Broadway, Suite 15, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.
- For an additional convenience, while the Finance Dept. is closed to the public, branches of the Adirondack Trust Bank will accept tax payments as well.