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LGPC to Pull Lake George Boat Inspectors from Huletts in 2022, Relocate to Lake Champlain Boat Launch

If you thought you read the headline wrong, you didn’t. I received this letter from the Lake George Park Commission, addressed to all Huletts Landing residents late last week.

To make sure I wasn’t reading the letter wrong, I doubled checked with the LGPC and they will no longer site boat inspectors, who check for invasive species on boats trailered into Huletts to be launched in Lake George, in Huletts Landing. Instead they are relocating their Lake George boat inspectors to the South Bay boat launch on Lake Champlain, as you come over the bridge from Whitehall into Dresden.

Today, the LGPC responded:

“You are correct, the Commission will not have a boat inspection station in Hulett’s Landing in 2022. The equipment will be relocated to the NYS DEC South Bay Launch on NY Route 22, just south of County Route 6. The Commission will be installing signs on both the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 22 and on County Route 6, headed to Hulett’s. There will also be signs at the South Bay launch directing boaters to stop for inspection. The Commission website has already been updated with a Google Maps link for boaters to find the South Bay site. The goal is to reduce the number of boaters who make it to Hulett’s without an inspection.”

So if you have guests or renters who are trailering a boat into Huletts for launching into Lake George this summer, please let them know: a.) they will have to get their boat inspected before they come over the mountain into Huletts, or b.) if they arrive after the inspection station has closed, they will have to haul the boat over the mountain again the next day to get it inspected, for invasive species, before it can be launched into Lake George from Huletts.

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Senator Stec: End of School Mask Mandate Long Overdue

State Senator Dan Stec (R,C-Queensbury) today issued the following statement concerning Governor Kathy Hochul’s announcement that she’s finally lifting the mask mandate on schools, effective Wednesday, March 2:

“For too long, our officials have been making COVID-related decisions based on political science, instead of the actual science. Repeated studies have shown that long-term mask wearing has had a detrimental impact on our students, stunting their educational, emotional and social development and making it that much harder for them to overcome the pandemic.

“It’s for those reasons that I’ve repeatedly joined our local school districts in urging the governor and state Department of Health to provide clear guidance and an off-ramp to the end of the mask mandate. I’m glad that Governor Hochul finally listened to our voices and ended it. This is a big win for our educators and our children, who can finally get back to normal after the chaos and disruption of the past two years.

“This mandate was yet another example of the Executive overreach that has marred our state’s ability to address the pandemic and chart the best path forward. Instead of unilateral decisions that need to be rescinded after widespread public outcry, the Legislature must assert itself as an equal partner in government.”

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Governor to Lift Mask Mandate for Schools This Week

Mask mandates in public schools across New York will be lifted this Wednesday, March 2nd, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sunday.

Governor Hochul said local governments would be empowered to set their own school mask requirements in accordance with new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Friday that reclassified much of the state as “low risk” for COVID infection.

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New York State Comptroller Releases Report on Local Roads

Local governments across New York State spent $2 billion on road maintenance, repairs and upgrades in local fiscal year 2020, a decline of 7% since 2010 when adjusted for inflation, according to a report by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

Some local communities put road projects on hold during the pandemic, but an influx of federal money is expected to jump-start projects at the same time the Executive is proposing more funding for road repair and improvements.

According to the report, capital spending on local roads projects in the Capital District (which Washington County is included in) was $175 (See Figure 9), which was higher than some parts of New York but lower than others.

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DEC Statewide Forest Ranger Highlights

Village of Fort Ann
Washington County
Wilderness Recovery: On Jan. 20 at 5:36 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call for Ranger assistance from Washington County 911 after a hiker reported finding a body at the base of Shelving Rock Falls in the Lake George Wild Forest. Forest Rangers Laczko, St. Claire, Savarie, Donegan, and Kabrehl responded. At 6:44 p.m., Rangers located the subject approximately one-third of the way up the falls. Using technical rope rescue techniques, Rangers lowered the deceased subject from the ledge in a sled. From the ground, Rangers conducted a low-angle carry up the hill. Once out the woods, the subject was turned over to the county coroner. Resources were clear at 9:12 p.m. New York State Police (NYSP) identified the hiker as 55-year-old Timothy Gillen of Peekskill.

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Dresden’s 2022 Town Budget Posted

The 2022 town budget for Dresden has been finalized and posted on the town’s website. Here is a basic summary.

The amount to be raised from taxes in 2022 decreases to $824,926 from $825,476 in 2021 – a decrease of $550.

The Dresden and Huletts fire companies both receive the same amounts as 2021. Page two lists the salaries of all town officials.

Many thanks to Dresden Supervisor Paul Ferguson (who is also the budget officer for the Town) and the entire Dresden Town Board for working so hard to keep our town property taxes low. Keeping spending in check, while growing the tax base keeps property taxes stable.

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Dresden Supervisor Submits AUD’s for Numerous Years

I’m pleased to report that Dresden has submitted all AUD’s (Annual Update Documents) from 2012 to 2020 to the NY State Comptroller’s office. The 2021 AUD will not be due until March 2022.

Dresden Town Supervisor Paul Ferguson has worked diligently over a number of years to get Dresden’s books in order. The AUD’s are basically a way for the Comptroller’s office to provide oversight over municipal financial records.

The records compare actual spending against what was budgeted for and require backup information to verify that the record keeping is correct. Supervisor Ferguson deserves a lot of credit for getting eight years of AUD’s completed and submitted.

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NY State DOH Updates Quarantine Guidance

This week, there was some confusion regarding how long an employee needs to quarantine if they had COVID, and do they need to test to get back to work? Until now, the confusion centered around the NYS Department of Health’s guidance not matching up with the State’s currently active Hero Act, which referenced CDC guidance.

On Tuesday, new guidance was released by the Department of Health finally aligning its guidance with CDC so it now applies to everyone.

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Top News Story of Huletts: 2021

Many interesting things happened in Huletts in 2021. An independent film was even filmed in and around Huletts this past summer.

However for the “Top News Story of Huletts” for the year – the biggest one in my mind is clearly how the community again responded to the COVID-19 international pandemic. Life started getting back to semi-normal with vaccine shots, and small gatherings, the Huletts Casino reopened with a shortened and abbreviated schedule and school began again after Labor Day. Masks came off indoors for most of the year. Children and adults were tired of being cooped up for so long.

I received more thank-you letters and emails than I have ever received in one year – the gist of practically all of them – thanks for getting back to normal and having Huletts be a place where fear doesn’t rule. However, I can’t claim credit for that – the community gets the credit. People may have stood a little farther apart but I think Huletts Landing was ahead of the curve in realizing that we can’t shut down permanently – that we have to go ahead with living and being our “best selves.” By trying to follow “best practices” and learning as we go, we can move ahead and get through this.

The recent moves nationally to shorten the quarantine period and keep schools open in response to almost two years of the pandemic, I think reflects this changing thinking. Children have suffered greatly through the pandemic months and there is no better place for children than Huletts. While it appears we are not “out of the woods” yet, hopefully sometime in 2022, we will have the pandemic behind us.

When will things truly return to normal? We don’t know. However we look to the future with hope knowing that we made it through 2021 working together to keep Huletts safe.

May 2022 be a better year, full of glad tidings for everyone.

Happy New Year!