SusanCampriello: My Works

Rescue squad disputes outstanding ambulance bills
The Daily Mail
Aug. 17, 2009

CAIRO—The Town of Cairo Ambulance wants the Greenville Rescue Squad to pay it roughly $16,000 owed by Greenville residents with outstanding ambulance bills that have gone into collection.

But the Greenville squad continues to refuse to pay on the basis that they do not act as an insurance company.

“If it was an obligation of ours we had agreed to in advance, we will pay it,” Rescue Squad Treasurer Jim VanAuken said. “We think it is bad policy and, from what we can tell, question the legalities of it.”

VanAuken took issue with an Aug. 5 letter from Cairo Attorney Tal Rappleyea that stated a contract Cairo had with the squad had expired.

He said the squad and Cairo had no contract that required payments to expire.

VanAuken said the squad would not have agreed to making payments without a written contract.

“It was never a contract, it was never a gentleman’s agreement, it was never discussed,” he said.

Cairo Ambulance Service and Greenville Rescue Squad, Inc. signed a Greene County Emergency Medical Service Mutual Aid agreement in 2003, which does not have an expiration date but can be terminated by either participating party.

Cairo Ambulance Chief Reay Mahler acknowledged that the 2003 agreement did not describe a payment plan, but said other emergency response services recognize the duty to pay for the services when patients do not or cannot.

“We are not asking them to do anything different than we ask other towns to do or we do ourselves,” Mahler said. “It stands to reason that if we provide a service that we get paid for it.”

VanAuken explained that the squad is funded by billing patients and through fundraising efforts and, unlike Cairo, does not bill other agencies when it responds to calls in other districts.

Squad life member Bob Lampman said the squad has no issues with services in Coxsackie, Durham and Westerlo, but only with Cairo. He said those services do not have issues with each other and again, the issues appear to surround Cairo.

The pair said the perception that they have been unresponsive to Cairo is incorrect. In a June 16, 2008 letter, they notified Cairo of their position.

“Greenville Rescue Squad does not now or expect in the future to bill other towns or EMS services for transport of patients. Since no agreement was ever discussed in regards to this situation we will not be held responsible for any bills,” the letter states.

The two services have corresponded since that time.

VanAuken suggested that perhaps towns or other services are paying Cairo for similar calls without questioning why.

According to Catskill Ambulance Chief Matthew Leibowitz, Catskill and Cairo have had a gentlemen’s agreement regarding the payments for at least five years. Representatives from services in Durham and Coxsackie did not respond to interview requests by time of press.

VanAuken and Lampman argued that by paying Cairo, responders there would essentially being paid twice for running calls in Greenville.

But Mahler said this is not the case. The money Cairo Ambulance is asking from the Rescue Squad is to offset the costs incurred they pay other ambulance services for covering calls in Cairo when Cairo’s responders are already on a call, he said.

Unless payments are received, Cairo will cancel the 2003 agreement on Sept. 1 and Greene County Emergency Control will be notified not to dispatch the Cairo Ambulance Service to Greenville except in the case of a major emergency, Mahler said.

Firefighters turn to a higher power
Catskill volunteers hope to use solar panels to heat firehouse
The Daily Mail
Aug 14, 2009

CATSKILL — Last winter, the Village of Catskill installed two wood-burning stoves in its water treatment facility. This winter, village officials hope a solar unit will help heat the Village Fire House.

Catskill Village Board President Vincent Seeley and Fire Chief Jack H. Ormerod Sr. met Thursday with Bill Fitzmaurice, of Upstate Solar, to discuss purchasing a Cansolair unit for the station.

“The Village is always looking for new ways to adopt green technologies to lower the operating costs of the Village,” Seeley said. “This is going to be part of an overall strategy of saving.”

The interior tubing in the panel is made from recycled aluminum cans, each can has inside of it two fins that spin to heat air up to produce an average of 10,000 BTUs per hour.

Fitzmaurice said the unit uses about 31 watts of electricity to run, for an electric bill of about $8 per heating.

The until retails for about $2,700 and has a life of about 20 years.

Energy-saving technologies have been factored into the Village’s budget, Seeley said, although Seeley estimated that the Catskill unit would pay for itself well within the average of two years. He said the unit could decrease the station’s heating bill by $3,000.

Fitzmaurice said for every 500 gallons of oil saved is roughly 11,000 pounds of carbon dioxide that is not emitted into the atmosphere.

“You are doing everything at once; helping the planet, saving money and recycling, too,” he said.

Seeley said the Village Board, Fitzmaurice and Ormerod still need to settle on some details concerning installation and pricing but he hopes the unit could be in Catskill by November. He said fans to circulate the warmed air throughout the station could be installed, as well.

Ormerod said installing the unit at the station was a good idea and fit with the Village’s plan for going green.

“It perfect opportunity for us to cut our costs and promote solar energy,” he said.

Upstate Solar, located in Catskill, has a residential customer in Catskill and other clients in the Capitol Region and the Hudson Valley.

Summer sunny and cloudy for Main St. businesses
Mixed blessing due to economy, rainy weather
The Daily Mail
Aug. 12, 2009

CATSKILL — Catskill business owners are reporting mixed sales figures for this summer but sales are driven by a customer’s need rather than an impulse.

“I saw a surprising increase in the month of May,” Jade Thornton, of Looking Pretty, said. “I am very satisfied.”

Thornton sells dressy women’s clothing and jewelry priced between about $30 and $260.

Although Thornton did not present sales numbers, she said sales for the months of June and July roughly equaled those of June and July of 2008.

But, she said, comparable sales for most businesses equates to losing money because rents and other expenses have increased in the last 12 months.

Thornton said shoppers this summer have not come into the store to browse her racks. They come, she said, to purchase outfits for specific events and they buy matching jewelry.

“It is a need,” she said, that brings customers in.

David Miles, who owns the kitchen and home furnishing store Hood and Company, said he has stopped ordering ornamental home items in favor of cookware, serving dishes and bath items.

“If it is functional, it will sell,” he said.

Miles said one of his best sellers is a picnic basket kit that retails for $70, although most customers spend $10 or $20 per visit.

Even so, Miles said, sales from May through July were 19 percent lower than his sales last summer. Sales were roughly 10 percent higher in June and July than they were in May, he said, adding that August is usually a very good month.

Tina Gagliardy, owner of Mahalo, said her stock of small items and jewelry have been the summer’s hot sale items.

Her keychains, suncatchers and scarves sell for less than $30, although some customers purchase multiple items at a time.

She said her May sales were “way up,” June sales were up 2 percent and July sales were up at least 3 percent from last summer’s figures.

Lillian Johnson, who owns the pottery shop-studio Imagine That, said sales this summer had almost doubled from last summer.

Ceramic animals and plates can be bought and painted there for between $5 and $60. Johnson said customers buy a creative outlet or an experience at her studio as much as they are purchasing home decor.

In January, Johnson traded a two-story studio space on Main Street for a much more open one and began hosting special events.

She also extended her hours to remain open seven days a week so customers could return to the studio finish their projects at their leisure.

“When times are rough, you have to go outside of your box and put in more hours, you need to offer more services and you have to be able to follow the trends” she said.

None of the proprietors advertise heavily but rely on e-mail blasts and word-of-mouth to draw customers.

Miles, Gagliardy and Thornton said they have noticed fewer pedestrians on Main Street, and blame the trend on a combination of the economy and wet weather.

Thornton said her 30-year tenure on the street has helped bring shoppers through her door, and suggested that newer business owners might have to work harder than she to attract their clientele.

Catskill Village Board President Vincent Seeley has decided to invite all business owners in the Village to a business summit to be held in October to brainstorm how to bring shoppers to the Village.

Seeley said he also wants to begin a “guerrilla advertisement” campaign to reconnect with adults who may have visited Catskill as children but who now live downstate.

“I will stand on a corner in New York City and hand out leaflets if I have to,” he said.

Seeley said Catskill has a number of residents who can bring their marketing ideas to the summit.

Not waiting for the meeting, Miles suggested that businesses along Main Street could keep consistent hours or more stores could open during the weekend.

“We need more things for people to do once they are here,” Gagliardy said.

Seeley proposes full-time village manager
The Daily Mail
Aug. 11, 2009

CATSKILL — The Village of Catskill took the first step toward restructuring its government Monday by deciding to research hiring a full-time business manager to help run the Village’s day-to-day operations.

Catskill Village Board President Vincent Seeley said a business manager or administrator could oversee department heads but be answerable to the Village Board. He said the board would no longer need a president.

“The Village has outgrown its structure,” Seeley said Monday. “As we are growing, we are finding we cannot keep up with our current staffing.”

Seeley said he and the other board members do not have the time to manage all aspects of the village.

“It is getting to the point that we cannot do the village justice and do the department heads justice,” he said.

An administrator could keep track of available grants and maintain financial records as well as manage human resources, Seeley said.

An administrator could also keep the Village in compliance with accounting recording requirements from the Office of the State Comptroller and work with or take a leadership role with the Heart of Catskill Association/Chamber of Commerce, Seeley suggested.

The position will not be a political appointment but would be open to any interested party with appropriate financial experience, Seeley said.

“I think it is about time,” Trustee Joseph Kozloski said of the idea.

Trustee Patrick McCulloch said the Village Charter would require modification before any managerial position could be created. And any changes, he said, would be put before Catskill residents in a referendum.

Seeley said he and the board will begin researching how such a position could work into the village by looking at how other municipalities of similar size and demographics function with an administrator.

He said the study may find that an administrator will not help the Village function.

The Board will prepare a package of job specifications, parameters of the power given to an administrator and salary to present to the public in January.

‘Doc Drop’ raises money in memory of a ‘big kid’
Friends gather in memory of David K. Berger
The Daily Mail
Aug. 10, 2009

The memory of Dr. David K. Berger was honored Sunday through a fundraiser at Thunderhart at Sunny Hill, during which 180 golf balls were dropped from a helicopter at a target painted on the course’s driving range.

The “Doc Drop” proceeds, which totaled $1,800, will be donated by the club to the Berger Memorial Fund, which is raising money toward the construction of an educational children’s play area at the Gouverneur Healthcare Services hospital, in Manhattan.

The play area will be in the hospital’s new pediatric wing to be completed in the next two years. The fund hopes to raise $50,000 through the drop and future events.

Berger served as the hospital’s Chief of Pediatrics from 1981 until 1998. He began practicing pediatric medicine in 1979, and also wrote papers about child abuse and adolescent care.

Friends and family members said Berger, who died of liver cancer last year, would have loved Sunday’s unique event.

“He was a like this big kid,” said Beth Rosenthal, Berger’s widow.

Rosenthal said her husband had loved life, loved to help others and loved children. The two met during the 1970s, when Berger worked at a free clinic for migrant workers in Long Island and married in the 1980s.

Rosenthal estimated her husband had treated hundreds of thousands of children during his career, some of whom kept in touch as they grew older and brought their own children to see him.

She said he began playing golf once he began working in New York City. Rosenthal said Berger continued to make the drive up to Thunderhart even after he began to feel sick.

Rosenthal said her husband had taught their daughter Nipu to play at a young age. She said Nipu, now 13, would probably follow her father’s footsteps and join the club in Freehold.

Rosenthal said the choice of constructing the Dr. David Berger Play Area at Gouverneur was a fitting tribute to her husband, who had been interested in the impact of waiting room space on health care.

“That was his favorite place and where he was most remembered,” she said.

Friends said Berger tried to include everybody in whatever activity was happening on a given day.

Bob Neppl, who joined Thunderhart at the same time as Berger, in 2002, said he and his wife, MaryEllen, remembered watching the “forever young” Berger rally children for an activity once at a party.

“It was almost like the Pied Piper,” Nippl said of the scene.

And, he said, Berger gave medical advice to fellow golfers in the middle of games.

Dr. Ed Mandeville, Berger’s friend and Director of Obstetrics-Gynecology at Harlem Hospital, said Berger was far too young and far too vital when he died. Mandeville helped organize the drop.

“We wanted to acknowledge his love of golf and how much we miss him,” he said.

Mandeville recalled how he and his wife, Harriet, shared Berger’s love of New Orleans music and culture. Berger attended school and completed his medical residency in that city.

Mandeville provided some golf balls from Berger’s collection to be sold for the drop. Karen Rames, Mandeville and Rosenthal, whose balls landed closest to the target, donated their cash prizes prizes back to the Berger Memorial Fund. Instead, they took home their numbered golf balls from the collection. A fourth individual, Mark Fischweicher, whose ball landed near the target, as well, won a bag of Berger’s used golf tees. Rosenthal said the prize was only appropriate because Fischweicher’s son had received a set of Berger’s golf clubs.

Thunderhart’s owner and Superintendent Erik Nicholsen dropped the balls from a helicopter flying about 150 feet above the range.

Club Manager Kevin Smith, who also helped organize the event, which was open to the public as well as to club members, said about 95 percent of the 180 balls dropped were purchased by Thunderhart’s golfers.

“Our members have really come through,” Smith said. “It is nice that Dr. Berger’s golf club can have a hand in the play area.”

Residents invited to see new fire trucks
The Daily Mail
Aug. 10, 2009

Members of the West Athens-Limestreet Fire District and Fire Company have invited residents to see two new, recently-purchased fire trucks at the district’s building Saturday, August 15.

The trucks, a 1,250-gallon engine-pumper and a utility truck, were purchased by the district earlier this year. They replaced trucks that were bought in the early 1990s.

The event will bring together residents of the district and those who protect them, the company’s Michael Ragaini said.

“People will get to meet the firemen and see the newest equipment in the county,” he said.

Ragaini said the trucks have responded to a number of emergencies already and that the new pumper’s tank can carry enough water for a critical initial attack on a fire until other companies can respond.

The celebration and inspection will take place at the district building at 921 Schoharie Tpk. between 1 and 4 p.m., with an official ceremony starting at 1:30 p.m.

Speakers at the ceremony will include members of the company, legislators including County legislator Ray Brooks, R-Athens, and state Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R,C,I-Schoharie.

Guests of the district and company can enjoy a luncheon and refreshments.

Cairo officials mull hiring grant writer
Town board decides trained consultant is needed to manage complexities
The Daily Mail
Aug. 7, 2009

CAIRO — Over the past few months, Board members have voiced their desire to hire a new grant writer or have current employees apply for grants.

Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger organized a grant-writing team of Cairo residents with various backgrounds during the spring. The group successfully applied for a received grants for items such as 10 bottle recycling bins, which it received in May.

The Town’s Bookkeeper Luann Arp has begun the preliminary application process for a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for sewer project funding.

But, Schwarzenegger said Thursday, the group learned about a number of opportunities after their submission deadlines had passed. And future grant applications may be too difficult for an untrained grant-writer to complete.

So the Cairo Town Board met with Steven Kirk, president of DBS Planning Consulting, at their Workshop meeting to discuss the possibility of him helping complete the grant and work on future grants the Town may pursue.

Kirk described some of the projects for which he procured funds in Catskill, Athens, with the Greene County Industrial Development Agency and in Columbia County, including work on community centers and a theater. Kirk said he had proposed some projects underway to municipal governments after he recognized the potential of empty buildings.

“We are fairly productive in what we do,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in how we work with municipalities to help them see what kind of opportunities are out there for State funding.”

At times, the meeting seemed more like a free consultation than a job interview, with Board members asking Kirk how they might proceed on a host of projects such as building a new library building and turning it and the municipal building into a Town campus. Other possible projects include work on a kitchen exhaust system in the Acra Community Center, various renovations to the adjacent St. Edmund’s Chapel and a sidewalk extension on Main Street. Schwarzenegger said an ice skating rink, among other things, could be built in Angelo Canna Park.

“That is what I would like to see done in two years,” Schwarzenegger said.

“The wish list is very long,” Town Supervisor John Coyne added.

Kirk described the grants for which the Town could apply to cover some expenses for each project. He explained that a multi-coordinated meeting with representatives of different funding agencies could go a long way toward knowing what grants would fit various projects.

Kirk said he would not get paid upfront for his services as might other grant-writers, a complaint some on the Board had with Cairo’s former grant-writer.

At the close of the meeting, Coyne said a decision on whether Kirk would be hired to work on the USDA grant would be made at the next Board meeting.

Bid for sewer funding edges toward completion
$2.5 million would be supplemented by money from other sources
The Daily Mail
Aug. 5, 2009

CAIRO — The preliminary application for a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for sewer expansion and upgrade work from is coming along and could be completed later this month.

Cairo Town Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the grant could go a long way toward funding the ongoing project.

“I do not think the USDA grant will cover the whole project but it will help us defray the cost,” she said.

Money could come from other grants or sources, she said.

Town Supervisor John Coyne said last week that the preliminary application would be completed in-house as opposed to by outside grant, which will save the Town money.

Coyne, Schwarzenegger and Town Bookkeeper Luann Arp met with Adrienne Hull, a rural development specialist with the USDA, in July. Schwarzenegger said Hull provided the Town numerous materials to help with the grant-writing process. She also offered to help if needed, Schwarzenegger said.

Coyne said the Town was “more than capable” of doing the preliminary application.

“It should be very easy,” Schwarzenegger said, adding that she hoped the package would be submitted to the USDA later this month.

Arp said Tuesday she was working on the application.

Adrienne Hull said that once the preliminary application was submitted, it will be reviewed and Cairo will be notified of whether it could receive any grant money. She said at that time, she would visit Cairo again to discuss the grant and any loan options interesting the Town.

Bank gains new signs, Main St. loses historic clock
First Niagara switching to blue, yellow and silver markers
The Daily Mail
Aug. 4, 2009

A new look will be coming two First Niagara Bank branches in Catskill.

The Lockport, N.Y., company has changed its corporate logo from the familiar blue and white waterfall logo to a blue, white and yellow waterfall design that will soon be appearing on its 113 bank branches.

Last month, Pat Boni, of Saxton Sign Corp., met with the Catskill Village Planning Board to discuss the signs and ask for the board’s permission to erect the signs.

So, later this year, the signage upon which people on Main Street have come to depend for the time and temperature will be replaced.

The new blue, yellow and silver signs will also replace the exiting signs at the bank branch on West Bridge Street.

Boni said the new signs will be roughly the same size as the existing ones, but in some cases lower to the ground or shorter width-wise. For example, an existing 12-foot sign will be replaced with a seven-foot sign. The sign on Main Street will be 14 square feet. Free-standing signs will not be flat but convex, he said.

The lettering of the main signs at the branches will be lit from within, Boni said. Currently, the entire main signs light up.

“Less is going to light up now than is lighting up right now,” he said.

Planning Board Chairman William Zwoboda said he did not like the colors of the new signs and Board Member Michelle Pulver said she would miss having a large clock on Main Street.

Boni said certain signs could not be manufactured in varying sizes in ordering for the lettering and logo to be the correct size. He said the Catskill signs would have to match all First Niagara signs.

“The good news is what we are putting us is a lot smaller than what is there,” he said.

Pulver said she had heard of instances whereupon corporations would work with municipalities to produce signage that fit the needs and approval of the business and of the locality.

“We have tried to maintain a Main Street with historic feel,” she said, adding that she would prefer if the company hung with with three dollar signs on it or a bronze plaque outside the entrance of the Main Street branch.

Pulver cast the lone dissenting vote on both sign resolutions.

Music offers Civil War experiences, humor
The Daily Mail
Aug. 3, 2009

WINDHAM—Visitors to the Centre Church Civic Center this weekend were transported to the world of the Civil War through music and the work of dozens of re-enactors at the Civil War Heritage Music Gathering and Encampment.

John Quinn, a gathering organizer who co-founded the 77th New York Regimental Balladeers, said the music offered at the event represents the popular culture of the antebellum and Civil War period.

Sheet music was mass produced, he said, pianos were becoming affordable and a family might gather around in a parlor to sing in the evenings.

“This is the way that people would entertain themselves,” he said.

The weekend began Friday evening with an ice cream social, an historical walk through Windham Centre, led by Joan Coster-Morales, who was aided by residents who portrayed home-owners as they were in 1865, and an organ recital.

A new CD recorded by more than a dozen Windham performers, entitled “Mountain Thyme: Songs and Melodies of the Civil War,” was officially released Friday, as well.

The event also featured discussions about weaponry, crafts and influential figures.

This year, while communities in New York celebrate Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial, the Balladeers are recognizing the bicentennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln by playing songs about Lincoln or that were once enjoyed by him.

Although some groups perform only music sung or played during the time of the Civil War, Quinn’s is one group that performs contemporary pieces that may be be written about character or event from the war.

“There is room for contemporary musicians to add to the wealth of Civil War music,” he said.

Last week, Celtic composer Jed Marum performed some original titles with the Balladeers in Oak Hill.

He explained that tunes from different regions of the Union and Confederacy had their own distinctive sounds. Opinions about policies and battles came to play in different pieces.

For example, he said, Confederates would have enjoyed a song about the death of abolitionist John Brown, but Brown was a hero to many Union soldiers in civilians in the North.

Marum’s song, “John Brown’s Dance,” a parody that describes Brown’s hanging, drew chuckles from an audience of Daughters of the Confederacy, he said.

Marum wrote the lyrics for the song to the tune of the traditional “John Brown’s March,” for the PBS film Bloody Dawn.

Marum also played during Windham’s Saturday lineup.

Music sung aboard ships during the war showed the unique subculture of Naval men, said David Dziewulski, who portrays a ship’s cook with the group Iron Jacks.

The Iron Jacks perform strictly shanties, or working songs, and ballads.

Dziewulski, and group member Bob DeLisle, explained that a ship’s crew would have been made up of veteran seamen, new recruits, or ‘landsmen,’ and freed slaves. So men would have sung songs about returning home and songs that poked fun of those lower down the ship’s chain of command.

DeLisle said officers aboard the vessels did not sing or play instruments, but some purchased instruments to have on hand.

Bob Keough, another member of the Iron Jacks, explained that some men joined the service solely to be ensured to receive rum twice a day and were upset when the rum was banned, on September 1, 1862. Songs reflected those sentiments, too, he said.

Dziequlski said seamen lived their lives in a ship’s cabin or working on the deck, and music became both part of the working routine, as a fiddler might set a pace for doing chores or hauling lines, and a morale booster.

“Music was the way of escaping,” DeLisle said.