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Wallkill Valley Times , Wednesday , April 11 , 2018

Last week ’ s Village of Montgomery organizational meeting was strictly business , with the board of trustees adopting several resolutions .

They set the 2018-2019 fiscal year regular meeting schedule for all village boards , with the board of trustees meeting at 7:30 p . m . on the first and third Tuesday of every month , adopted resolutions to authorize payments in advance for audit for utilities , postage , freight , resolutions to annually audit and examine court records and designate official depository for all municipal funds .

The board also adopted a resolution to re-levy outstanding water and sewer bills of the fiscal year 2017-2018 rents . They approved a payments of $ 40,390.50 for water , $ 65,957.02 for sewer , for a total of funds in the amount of $ 106,347.52 .

The next Village of Montgomery board of trustees meeting is on April 17 , 7:30 pm .

- Jaspreet Gill

PUBLIC AGENDA

THURSDAY , APRIL 12

Montgomery Town Board Audit / Work Session , 7 p . m . Town Government Center , 110 Bracken Road , Montgomery .

WEDNESDAY , APRIL 18

Wallkill Board of Education , 7 p . m . Leptondale Elementary School .

THURSDAY , APRIL 19 Valley Central Board of Education 5:15 p . m . Administration building , 944 Route 17K , Montgomery . Special meeting – BOCES vote .

CORRECTION

Ollie Lukach was cast as the Tin Man in the Wallkill High School production of the Wizard of Oz . The wrong name , that of his understudy , was listed in last week ’ s paper .

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The Wallkill Valley Times , ( USPS 699-490 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550

Golfers at play at Tillson lake Park , on the shore of the lake . ( From an undated postcard .)

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the required renovation that would bring the dam into compliance . As a result , and in order the ensure the long-term safety of the downstream properties and improvements that could be threatened by a potential failure of the dam , the Commission is taking steps to design and seek approval for the removal of the dam and restoration of the lake back to a natural stream corridor .”

Now , local residents are taking a stand against draining the lake , which was dammed in 1929 .

“ When a letter was sent to nearby Tillson Lake residents informing them that the lake would be ‘ de-watered ’ since the [ Palisades Interstate Park Commission ] did not have funding to repair the dam , locals went into high gear organizing resistance to his unimaginable action ,” says Annie O ’ Neill , organizer of grassroots organization “ Save Tillson Lake .”

If the lake is indeed drained , it would not be the first time . That happened over the 4th of July weekend in 1983 to the alarm of many of the nearly 100 lakefront property owners . Lake owner Joseph Unanue Sr ., who had purchased the property in 1976 , said it was for safety reasons . Neighbors believed it was in retaliation against the Town of Gardiner for turning down his proposal to develop most of the shoreline on the lake with a 500-unit trailer park . The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ( DEC ) ordered Unanue to make repairs on the damn and to clean up the dead fish killed by the draining , and the silt below the dam and to construct settling basins and to place bales of hay below the spillway to filter silt .

Tillson Lake was acquired by Minnewaska State Park in 2006 as a part of the Awosting Reserve , a 2,500-acre property bought by Open Space Institute and Trust for Public Land and then turned over to the state .

“ Some of us feel that the park no longer wants to manage the area since it is miles from the main entrance to Minnewaska ,” says O ’ Neill . “ They say the dam is unsafe but have never warned downstream homeowners of any threat !”

“ Save Tillson Lake ” is holding a meeting on Saturday , April 14 at 3 p . m . at the Gardiner Town Hall for input from the community the Shawangunk Kill Watershed Alliance and other interest groups . The meeting is open to the public .