SusanCampriello: My Works

Fishing and fun over ice
The Daily Mail
Feb. 15, 2009

ATHENS — A lone seagull-shaped kite took to the sky above Green Lake in Athens Saturday. Meanwhile, on the frozen surface, children from Greene and Columbia counties waited for fish to bite baited lines that had been fed through holes cut in the 11-inch-thick ice.

Around them, other children skated on razor-thin blades, pulled each other in plastic sleds and flew the seagull kite. When they got cold, the children could come ashore for hot dogs, chili and hot cocoa.

The children, their parents, siblings, and in a few cases, dogs, turned out for the Youth Ice Fishing Derby, which returned to the lake for the second year.

Greene County Legislator Ray Brooks, R-Athens, organized the event along with Walter Bennett and the Greene County Federation of Sportsmen. Brooks started the derby last year as a way to give children and their parents something to do together, he said.

Prizes and food for the derby competitors were paid for from the Greene County Youth Fund. Brooks said that each of the 14 county legislators donated money to purchase a white tent for use at this and similar events.

Just before noon, the end of the competition, Tyler Bulich, 13, hurried onto land with his last catch.

Bulich’s 18-inch pickerel was not long enough to take first prize.

The two largest pickerel fish, both measuring 22 3/4 inches in length, were caught earlier in the morning by Ben Casscles, 14, of Athens, and Lance Hoovler, 4, of West Athens.

The youngest entrants this year were two-year-olds Charlotte DuBois of Catskill and Luke Farrell of Athens.

Seth Spanhake, 5, of Jewett caught the smallest fish, an 8-incher. Ken Boehlke Jr., 11, of Coxsackie caught three fish, the most of any participant. He also caught the only perch.

Each of the 38 entrants received a prize at the end of the derby, choosing between fishing gear and toys.

Bennett and Brooks broke the tie between Casscles and Hoolver by taking into consideration which boy had caught more fish. Casscles was named the winner. He won a sled used to pull gear out onto the ice, something which his father, Steven, said he needed.

Casscles said he started ice fishing with his father at seven years old. He said his favorite fish to catch included bass and striper.

He said the best place to catch fish is by the sides of a lake, in the weeds.

That tactic was used by Diamonique Woods, 13, who has also ice fished since she was very young.

She said her father brought her fishing a lot, and that she has grown to really enjoy the sport.

“I like really big fish,” she said.

Although her 14-inch catch was not the largest of the day, it was her personal record, she said.

Grammy adds to jazz label’s legacy
The Daily Mail
Jan. 14, 2009

ATHENS — Last Sunday, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra won a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for their live recording of “Monday Night at the Village Vanguard.”

The album was produced by Athens resident Tom Bellino and his Catskill-based record label, Planet Arts.

Local artist Gary Bielskie created the design and packaging for the double CD.

Bellino did not attend the ceremony, which took place nearly a week before the televised award show. Bass trombonist Douglas Purviance accepted the award in California while the rest of the orchestra performed once again at the Village Vanguard in New York.

Although every award nomination is exciting, Bellino said, and Slide Hampton received a Grammy in 2005 for an arrangement of “Past Present and Future,” which the band played, this year’s win was particularly special.

“It is for the band and for the legacy of the Village Vanguard,” he said.

He hopes the recognition that comes with winning the award will help the company advance current projects and expand over the next year.

Federal and state funding for arts programs and companies will be dramatically lower this year than in years past, he said.

He does not expect to receive any money from the State Council on the Arts.

Nevertheless, Planet Arts will continue to showcase new and established artists who create music across a wide musical spectrum.

In the past, Bellino has brought artists to perform at the Athens Cultural Center, and he hopes to bring more groups to Greene County this year.

The region — and Athens — he said, is very attractive to musicians from New York City.

“They love doing gigs close to home,” he said.

While they are in town, performers get the added perk of tasting pasta made by Bellino’s wife at their home in the Limestreet area of Athens.

Bellino has a studio on the property, where he is able to do a lot of work. He said technological advances over the last few years have made conducting business overseas easy.

“I can e-mail my manufacturer and have them send something to Spain,” he said.

Bellino and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra have a greater presence around the globe that reaches farther than simply selling music. Planet Arts works on projects that should be backed but may be too esoteric to interest more mainstream producers, he said.

Bellino scored a digital story project designed to educate people about health and safety issues surrounding the spread of HIV in Africa. This project was actually launched by a group of friends who commute together from the region to New York City on an Amtrak train.

The group visited villages collecting stories from children. Each section of the project ended on a positive note, he said.

“It was an important thing to do,” he said.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra has participated in many cultural diplomacy excursions with the United States Department of State.

They recently held workshop with students at the Cairo Conservatory, in Egypt, where at first, students resisted joining the group.

“All the kids sat there,” Bellino said, mimicking a look of fear, “one brave soul got up to play the drums.”

Then, he said, other students joined the ensemble.

The orchestra is planning a trip to Tunisa to work with musicians there.

Closer to home, Bellino has a history of working with schools in New York City to develop music programs. Planet Arts works with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, which connects people with a shared American cultural heritage.

Planet Arts has developed a composition and songwriting workshop that integrates music and a number of other subjects taught in schools.

Bellino also worked with Sony/BMG to create a scholarship.

Bellino knows that musical education does not end when a student leaves school.

The Planet Arts Open MIC, which stands for Music Industry Connection, project helps artists understand how to navigate the changing industry.

With Internet clients that allow customers to buy one song at a time, as opposed to an entire CD, music production cannot just be about creating records. He said the biggest business in the music industry is actually in television and film. Artists who are featured in hit shows and movies automatically reach a huge potential market.

Artists must tap into multiple revenue streams, he said.

He advises artists to promote themselves and their music on networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

“You have to be there,” he said.

He said he has also seen a trend of smaller musical groups are springing up and filling any gap left by larger musical groups.

Planet Arts, too, is looking to venture into new avenues.

Although it is known for working with jazz artists, the company has begun working with a new rock band located in Albany.

“The nature of the beast now is you have to diversify, you have to be creative, you have you look a few years down the road,” he said.

Athens taxpayer advocate to challenge mayor
The Daily Mail
Feb. 11, 2009

ATHENS — Ronald A. Coons Sr. will challenge incumbent Village of Athens Mayor Andrea Smallwood for her office this spring.

Coons submitted an independent nominating petition, which he said had over 100 signatures, to the Greene County Board of Elections Tuesday, and will be running on the Concerned Citizens of Athens party ticket.

Coons is running because he would like to see an open government operating in the village.

“People should be aware of what happens in their village,” he said.

Coons serves on the Board of Directors for the Athens Cultural Center, is a member of the Village Planning Board and has organized numerous meetings of the watchdog group Concerned Citizens of Athens.

Coons said he decided to run after no Republican challenger to Smallwood emerged at the Republican caucus last month.

“I just felt that it was not right,” he said. “This is America; there should always be choice.”

He said he immediately obtained the necessary petition and supporters started collecting signatures.

He plans on holding an open meeting in Athens where citizens can speak with him about their concerns.

Smallwood said Tuesday that she had heard that Coons’ supporters had collected signatures and she was not surprised a petition had been filed.

She said she was planning on campaigning regardless of whether she faced an opponent.

County Board of Elections Deputy Commissioner Carol Engelman said that in the Village of Athens, such a petition must be signed by 57 citizens who did not vote at either the Democratic or Republican caucuses, both of which were held Jan. 27.

The deadline to submit an independent nominating petition was yesterday, she said.

Why Thomas Cole was forgotten
The Daily Mail
Feb. 9, 2009

CATSKILL - Thomas Cole, who is now a celebrated painter, has not always been so loved. For over a century after his death, Cole’s works were largely stowed away and forgotten.

Historian John Stilgoe, who has written several books and essays discussing the changing rural, suburban and urban landscapes in the United States, gave a lecture Sunday explaining why Cole’s works fell out of favor. The lecture was given at Temple Israel, which is built on a plot of land that between 1833 and 1839 was the site of the earliest documented rental of Cole’s Cedar Grove studio and seasonal residence, and hosted by Cedar Grove: The Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

The short answer Stilgoe gave to the question was that Cole died prematurely at 47, on Feb. 11, 1848. Cole also had no publisher to continue promoting his artwork.

Stilgoe supplied a longer answer that touched on visual interpretation of color and discriptors, localism and the discomfort Americans felt remembering the Ante-bellum Era after the Civil War.

“When we look at a Cole painting, it is not only a period painting, it exists now in our time. So when we think about why Cole was forgotten, it is remotely possible that there were things in those paintings that in subsequent decades after his death, began to disturb people,” he said.

Stilgoe accompanied his lecture with slides not of Cole’s body of work, but rather of images of the Federal Express logo, a Newport Red cigarette advertisement and pages from works by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Stilgoe borrowed the comments and attitudes of his students at Harvard University, where he teaches visual and environmental studies, to present counter-arguements to his own.

Stilgoe began his lecture by explaining how people are trained to see shapes and colors but not what images can be found in their absence. He asked his audience to look for the white arrow present between the “E” and “X” in the logo for Federal Express. He said that as children grow up and are encouraged to study the sciences and mathematics, they lose their ability to notice a more abstract picture. People must recognize what artists call “negative spaces,” he said, to get an understanding of a whole picture.

To understand literature written in the early and mid-19th century, he said, a reader must understand that authors during that time would not have used Webster’s dictionary - a reference book found commonly in classrooms and homes today - but a dictionary compiled by Joseph Emerson Worcester. Words and their meanings fell in and out of use, Stilgoe explained, disappearing from literature in the late 19th century and reappearing in comic books in the 20th century.

Stilgoe showed an advertisement for Newport Red cigarettes in which a woman had around her neck a horse collar, complete with two hames, which allow the collar to be loosened or tightened depending on the size of the horse, and to be attached to different types of harnesses.

“But if you wanted to write a critique of this ad,” Stilgoe said, “you would have to have some of the words. You would have to know to start with what that is.”

He equated the problem of describing the advertisement without knowing the word hame with looking at a Cole painting without knowing the colors or context in which it was painted.

“You have to understand the colors of the countryside,” Stilgoe said.

Today, students are taught that there are seven colors. During Cole’s life, Americans more widely subscribed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s portrayal of the six colors, with yellow being the one true color. He thought of colors as an interaction of light and dark, which when combined, appear as varying shades of grey. Goethe depicted his colors in a symmetric color wheel or in a triangle, with red, yellow and blue as the points.

In the painting commonly known as “The Oxbow,” which was completed in 1836, the shape of Connecticut River might resemble an oxbow, Stilgoe said. But it could also be seen as a noose. Cole saw the a noose-like danger forming around the nation’s capitol during the speculation that lead to the financial panic of 1837.

Cole died before the Civil War, which Stilgoe described as a “great cultural crisis,” began. The world that Cole painted was destroyed almost immediately after his death, Stilgoe said.

“What happened was people looked at all of Cole’s paintings, not just the landscapes, but the allegories, too, raised issues that had to be put away for a long time,” he said.

He described the pain felt by Americans after the war like the way someone might feel looking at family photographs after a divorce or the death of a child.

Southern plantations were broken apart or sold to Northern abolitionists. Stilgoe said wealthy businessmen along the Mississippi River, who were responsible for a great deal of international finance, resented the war. Those connected to prominent abolitionists were slaughtered by troops, he said.

After the war, veterans became a marginalized class of people well into the 20th century and had trouble finding steady work, Stilgoe explained. Many were hired as farm hands or were unable to work. Many got into fights and became alcoholics, he said.

Cole’s work focused on specific scenes, whereas later artists painted a general genre, Stilgoe said. As time passed, and people began to see themselves in a more globally connected world. Traveling began to mean to visit London, for example, but not exploring the parts of America that lies between the two coasts, he said.

He asked the audience how many of them knew that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. had worked to cure puerperal fever, a deadly disease of women giving birth. Few did.

Stilgoe said that Holmes’ work helped one subset of the population, women, just as Cole’s paintings spoke to people who lived around the the chosen hills and rivers in the paintings.

Stilgoe first became interested in Cole’s work after reading that the artist liked to walk around and experience the outdoors.

He discovered Catskill during graduate school when he was looking for interesting things between Santa Fe, N.M. and Boston, Mass., and came across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

Stilgoe was one of the earliest people in recent time to recognize the importance of Cole’s work, according to David Barnes, whom invited Stilgoe to present his findings and is member of the Cedar Grove board of governors. He added that Cole scholarship has grown during the last ten years.

Stilgoe ended his lecture by talking about how the popularity of cameras and photography changed how people saw the countryside. At first, wealthy photographers and publishers did not print photographs showing poverty, he said. Soon pictures were framed to exclude telephone poles and wires. Such evidence of technology were either ignored because they were unnatural or because they perverted the view.

The evolution of the postcard, he said, came about because people did not have the words to describe the landscapes, cities or sights that they could see.

“Images are still more important than words,” he said.

Local studio takes home Grammy
The Daily Mail
Feb. 9, 2009

CATSKILL - A jazz album produced by Catskill’s Planet Arts, a not-for-profit recording, education and presenting company, won big at the Grammy Awards, the company announced in a press release Sunday night.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra took home the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for their album “Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard.”

According to the release, the rest of the orchestra was performing once again at the Village Vanguard in New York City while bass trombonist Douglas Purviance received the award Monday night.

The album was recorded last February, at the Village Vanguard, and is dedicated to long-time bassist Dennis Irwin, who died of cancer this past year.

The orchestra was also nominated this year for Best Instrumental Arrangement for Bob Brookmeyer’s interpretation of “St. Louis Blues.”

The orchestra has won two previous Grammy Awards and has been nominated for a total of nine awards.

Planet Arts showcases new and established artists, balances innovation, wit and tradition across a culturally diverse palette and expands the creative borders of arts processes. Planet Arts Director and Executive Producer Tom Bellino lives in Athens.

Athens branch of credit union to close Feb. 20
The Daily Mail
Feb. 6, 2009

In a letter to its members, the Columbia-Greene Federal Credit Union announced that it will close its Athens branch office later this month.

The branch at 3 N. Warren St., which was opened in 2007, will close Feb. 20.

The letter explained that the “prohibitive cost” of keeping the underutilized branch open led to the decision.

“We are currently exploring other branch location options to include the installation of a full-service ATM facility in Greene County,” the letter said.

Members will be able to make deposits and withdrawals as well as transfers and payments at the site, according to the letter.

“We are working on some new and exciting services coming your way this year at out Hudson branch, along with the launching of out new CGFCU website,” the letter said.

Kip Summerlin, the credit union’s director of marketing, said Thursday that more information on future plans will be made available.

Making it look E-Z, one year later
The Daily Mail
Feb. 5, 2009

On the first anniversary of E-Z Cafe/Restaurant, owner and chef Daniel Mejia is thinking about his next project.

For 13 years, Bostonians could sample his work at a number of resturants, but when Mejia’s sister-in-law suggested he open his own restaurant, he took it.

“This is a big chance,” he said of the offer.

The cafe, which serves Latin food, opened A year ago at 451 Main St., in Cairo.

Mejia said wanted to bring Latin food the the community not only because of his heritage, but also because he wanted to bring something new to the area. Mejia says he and his wife arrive at their cafe at 6 a.m. seven days a week to prepare for the day’s rush. They serve breakfast and lunch daily and dinner Thursdays through Saturdays.

The cafe’s name, which does not bring to mind Latin cuisine, was inspired by Mejia’s three-year-old nephew who kept repeating the word “easy” last year.

Mejia has no line chefs or sus chefs, no waitresses or bus staff. He and his wife, Luz, run the cafe together, he said, and for a new business, a small staff has its advantages.

“It is easy to regulate food,” he said.

He says that customers enjoy seeing the same faces every time they come in to eat and that hiring a larger staff would take away the feel of seeing family that he enjoys providing, he said.

“It is bad when customers see strangers,” he said.

Mejia said that although he serves fewer people than he did in Boston, he prefers to work in Cairo.

“I am so happy with the people here,” he said.

Mejia said that although business is going well he does not mind whether his profit is $100 or $400 a week; he only wants customers to enjoy themselves.

The most popular dishes, Mejia says, are Colombian empanadas, burritos and a breakfast quesadilla. Diners can order American favorites like burgers and cheese steak sandwiches.

Ingredients for the restaurant, including beef, potatoes and tomatoes, are imported from Mejia’s native Colombia. His sauce recipes are from home, too.

Mejia says he has seen that business slows during the winter, when he may serve 100 people a week, but last summer he was kept busy by the influx of people.

“In the summer, I tell you, it is crazy,” he said.

Mejia is optimistic that he can draw in a large crowd this summer. Despite a raise of his rent, Mejia plans to open a larger dining area this summer.

CBS’ Steve Hartman tells his story of elephants, dogs, ugly babies and Andy Rooney
The Daily Mail
Feb. 4, 2009

CATSKILL — For years, Steve Hartman has engaged Americans from all corners of the country and from all walks of life, getting them to tell their stories on television. Hartman recently told his own story to members of Rotary clubs across Columbia and Greene counties at a luncheon in Catskill.

He talked about traveling the country and how his stories fit into a regular evening news broadcast. The Rotarians were also treated to a dose of Hartman’s humor.

Hartman’s “Assignment America” segments can be seen every Friday during “The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.” He was an essayist on “60 Minutes II” and wrote, reported and produced the long-time series “Everybody Has a Story,” for which he won several awards.

Not everybody had kind words for the series.

Hartman said that his subjects did not always believe he was from CBS when he came knocking on their doors.

Co-workers and viewers did not always believe that he chose his locations by throwing a dart over his shoulder toward a map.

And, although he always found interesting people to feature, Hartman said he would not recommend planning a trip by the same method.

“Darts do not make good travel agents,” he said.

Hartman was open about the disagreements he and long-time CBS anchor Dan Rather had over the segments. Hartman said Rather thought the segments were “gimmicky.” Rather, Hartman said, did not feel the biographical series had a place in the evening newscast, and even threatened to quit over one idea for running a string of “best of” segments during his show.

Hartman argued that the segments, as well as his recent stories for the “Assignment America” project, add some positive news to a show otherwise filled with stories about violence or crime.

“News, in general, is not presenting a real picture of what we are about, as Americans,” he said.

He said he likes to produce a story every week that challenges conception propagated by television news that Americans just lie, cheat and steal.

He argued that mainstream media outlets produce the most balanced newscast, saying that Americans can also get a good idea of the truth by watching nightly programs on both Fox News and MSNBC, stations known for their political biases.

“They’re both equally crazy,” he said.

However, he said, television news stories are dictated by a financial agenda, rather that a political one.

Although his “Assignment America” segments have enjoyed a second airing on the Internet and are sent by people to their friends, Hartman said they have not really done much to boost the show’s overall ratings.

“People say they want to see good news, but what gets ratings are the negative stories, he said.

Hartman said the series made him realize that every person has something to contribute and is more than just their job.

He said his pieces sometimes tell a story with a lesson that goes beyond the subject at hand.

For example, a recent story about the unlikely friendship between an elephant and a dog in an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, could encourage people to put aside their differences and live in harmony.

“It makes you wonder why Catskill and Hudson can’t get along,” he said.

Hartman lives on a farm in Catskill, which he purchased with his former wife about five years ago. He said they drove up to the farm from New York City with two sheep in the back seat of their car.

“They were full-sized sheep. It took years to clean up,” he said.

He said that technological advances over the last few years have allowed him to edit and produce his stories from a studio in his Catskill house. Usually on Monday, Hartman will fly to wherever his subject lives, where he will stay while filming. Then, Hartman will return to Catskill to start working on the footage. On Fridays, Hartman travels down to the studio to finish work and make his air time at the end of the broadcast.

“I sit down next to Katie Couric, she touches my knee, my wife gets mad,” he said, referring to Couric’s habit of touching Hartman on camera, an action that has not gone unnoticed by several Rotarians.

In reality, the two barely have time to interact during the broadcast, he said.

Hartman had kind words for Couric. He said he is happy that ratings for her show are on the rise, and that Couric does not share Rather’s view on Hartman’s work.

“Dan certainly never touched my knee,” he said.

Hartman and his second wife made the news last year when they chose to give birth to their son, whom they named George, at Columbia Memorial Hospital.

He said watching the birthing process was much different from the picture he imagined.

“There’s no white curtain,” he said, adding, “They put you there right at the 50-yard line. You can see the whole thing.”

Even George, who, at 10 months old, has already been the subject of an “Assignment America” segment, was not spared his father’s playful teasing.

“His head was like a traffic cone. I didn’t feel love as much as this irresistible urge to drive around him,” he said, over the laughter of his audience.

But joking aside, Hartman said he has fallen in love with the family’s farm and hopes to stay for a long time.

He said he has considered producing more pieces like the “Everybody Has a Story” series. He has his eye on becoming the essayist on “60 Minutes,” when current essayist Andy Rooney retires. Unfortunately, he said, two things stand in his way.

“First of all, you ask Andy when he’s going to retire, he says ‘never,’ and secondly, when you try to push him down the stairs, he puts up a hell of a fight,” Hartman said.

But in the meantime, Hartman said, he plans to continue working on his news segments, living on his farm and raising his son.

“[I am] going to try to enjoy life here in Catskill, and raise our son and have the childhood that I always fantasized about having as a kid,” he said.

Potich Park nearly ready for Travco site
The Daily Mail
Feb. 4, 2009

ATHENS — Representatives from the Greene County Industrial Development Agency reported to the Athens Town Board some of the steps that have taken place to clean and transform the former Travco Industrial Park site near the Schoharie Turnpike.

The Travco site used to be home of Grumman Aircraft and truck cargo parts manufacturer Olsen Bodies. Peckham Materials Corp. is in the process of relocating some of its operations along the Hudson River inland to the park. Travco Industries once manufactured mobile and modular homes.

Rene VanSchaack, the IDA’s director of community and environmental programs, said that work has continued through the winter and the IDA hopes that ground can be broken on the new building in early spring.

An existing building on the property will receive a facelift, Tim Albright, a contractor with the IDA, said during the presentation. The building would maintain its art-deco look but would receive new windows and entrance.

“We are just going to clean it up and keep it in the style,” Albright said.

Albright announced that the site will be named “Potich Park” because the site is located on what was once the heart of a Mohican Indian settlement called Potich Village.

New signage at the park would include artwork from a local artist, he said.

The IDA has been working to get a tenant moved into the building by the summer. One possible tenant is an injection molder manufacturing company, but little movement has been made over the last month, VanSchaack said.

Regardless of whether the company comes, more fencing will be removed from the site and the ground will be mulched and seeded this summer, VanSchaack said.

He said that asphalt on the site could be laid as early as mid-March, but due to the overall financial situation, construction of a garage may not begin until next year.

“Everybody is watching their bottom line,” he said.

The IDA has promised the Athens Town Planning Board that a tower on the property will be removed by the fall.

The site plan has been designed to keep traffic moving in one direction with vehicles entering the park from the road closest the the railroad tracks. Vehicles will exit the park via roughly the other access road currently on the site.

IDA Executive Director Sandy Mathes said Tuesday that Peckham has begun to depend on the rail line more heavily as the shipping channel on the Hudson River has filled in and gasoline prices have risen.

The railway may see some changes, too, VanSchaack told the board.

Northeast Treaters, a plant across the road that produces fire-retardant lumber, is working on a plan to construct another spur to their property in order to streamline their own material and product loading and unloading.

VanSchaack said the IDA is working with the company to help them replace buildings on their property and to bring the spur to fruition.

“We bring some benefits to them and can use those benefits to try to drive some returns back to community,” he said.

The IDA has applied for $600,000 through a State Community Renewal Block Grant, or Small Cities Grant, or Small Cities Grant, Mathes said.

A decision on the grant will be made later this month.

Television, Internet coming to Athens
The Daily Mail
Feb. 3, 2009

Cable television and Internet service lines could be extended to homes around Potic Mountain and Green Lake in the town of Athens as early as this spring.

The Town Council passed a resolution Monday night to renew the franchise agreement with Mid-Hudson Cablevision for an additional 15 years. The resolution also acknowledges that the cable company has agreed to extend the reach of its service along Potic Mountain Road, Buttermilk Falls Road and Flats Road.

Each new customer along the lines will have to pay a $99 installation fee. The town will offset an additional $2,000 of the cost. The company will pay the $2,000 if 20 or more customers sign up for the service along the new lines.

The company will conduct a service area review every five years, complete with a public hearing along with work shop sessions, Town Attorney Carl Whitbeck explained to the council. Last December, members of the council requested that the review be included in any final agreement.
“I am happy with that,” Councilman John Lubera said about the provision.

The resolution needs to be approved by the State Public Service Commission, whereupon a contract will be drafted for both the company and the town to sign, Whitbeck said. He said that the lines could be completed within three to four months once work began.

The town held public meetings on the issue last fall, and the company and the town have been negotiating an agreement for several months.