Happy Thanksgiving!  This coming week, my office and the Community Center will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the holiday.  The students from Au Sable Forks Elementary School stopped by this week to drop off canned goods and non-perishables for the food pantry as part of their 5^th Annual Turkey Trot.  Each student received a Thank You and a Candy Cane for participating.

This week the Town of Jay was awarded $298,320 from the Community Development Block Grant program as part of the 2022 Regional Economic Development Council which we applied for earlier this year.  The intended use for these funds will be to continue upgrades to the Community Center.  This grant focused on repair to the entrance ramp, the doors, a propane backup generator with automatic transfer switch and a lift to the second floor.  I will be meeting with Essex County Community Resources in the coming weeks to discuss next steps.

This the season for giving and there are several ways to participate in the Town of Jay to help others who are less fortunate.  The Au Sable Forks Ambulance Service is accepting donations to fill food baskets to deliver to families within the district the weekend before Christmas.  Please bring your donations to the ambulance garage before December 12^th.  If you would like more information, you can contact them by calling 518-647-8860 or email AFVASBOARD2019@gmail.com.  The Town of Jay Food Pantry is constantly accepting donations of canned goods, nonperishable items and water.  We are also doing our Annual Toy Drive.  You can drop off your donation in our collection boxes at Dee’s, Soul Shine, Community Bank, the Adirondack Café, and a cash donation jar at Devin’s.  Thank you for help and Happy Holidays!

Have a great week,
Matt.

This past week was an extremely busy week.  On Monday, November 7th, we held our last budget work session, which was primarily devoted to talking about the town’s contract with the Au Sable Forks Volunteer Ambulance.  After much discussion, it was decided to approve approximately a 20% increase to the prior year contract, which was less than the approximate 33% they were requesting.  This will require, a lot of discussion, collaboration and awareness for the need for volunteers to help keep our current level of response.  This is an issue that is seen and felt locally, but is a state and national problem.

On Wednesday, the Planning Board held their monthly meeting.  Along with the monthly agenda, we invited the six individuals who are interested in being alternates on the planning board.  The recommendation of this board was to make all six active alternates, but due to local town law, only two could be approved by the Town Board.  We will be working to update and amend this local town law to allow the alternates to be able to stand-in for any meeting a regular member is unavailable and to increase the number of alternates allowed.

Thursday was our monthly Regular Board Meeting, prior to that meeting we held a public hearing about the 2023 Budget.  We voted on and approved the budget for 2023 which is an increase of 4.1% which is under this year’s allowable tax cap.  We will be using $257,900 of fund balance on one time purchases for equipment.  Hard copies of the 2023 adopted budget are available from the Town Clerk.  We also voted to purchase Voyent Alert, a communication system that will alert residents to emergencies, notices and/or events in the Town of Jay via text, email, robocalls and alerts through the app.  We will be rolling this system out over the next month.

Lastly, we held our Community Dinner on Sunday.  It was well attended and around $1200 was donated in memory of Max Thwaits III to be donated to the three fire departments and ambulance service in the Town of Jay.  Thank you to Carol and a host of volunteers who helped decorate the Gym, cooked and served this amazing meal.

Have a great week,
Matt.

This is a very busy week ahead.  Today is Election Day. Please get out and exercise your right to vote.  Wednesday is our monthly Planning Board Meeting at 6:00pm at the Community Center, the link to watch from home is: https://meet.goto.com/160692861.  Thursday we have our Regular Board Meeting at 7:00pm at the Community Center, you can join from home at: https://meet.goto.com/455178293.  We have a Public Hearing for our 2023 Proposed Budget at 6:30pm on Thursday before the Regular Board Meeting.

We have gotten complaints about vehicles parking on the sidewalk around our town.  I would like to take this opportunity to remind individuals it is not legal to park on the sidewalk.  This creates a hazard to pedestrians and damages our sidewalks.  This damage leads to sidewalks needing to be replaced more often, creating an increased cost to taxpayers.  We will be updating signage and contacting towing companies to remove vehicles not in compliance. 

Lastly, I would like to congratulate the AVCS Girls Swim Team on their 2022 sectional Championship.  As a parent of athletes and a coach, I know the hard work and dedication that goes into this accomplishment.  Also happening this week at AVCS,  the AuSable Valley Players will be performing songs from the last 30 shows in a 30^th Year Gala in the Auditorium on Friday, November 11^th at 7:00pm.  I am not only the Director of the annual musical, but I was a cast member that will be performing in this show.  Tickets are available at https://avcs.seatyourself.biz, I hope to see you there!

Have a great week,
Matt.