Happy New Year!

 

What a year 2021 has been for our world! These pandemic years have brought no shortage of challenges. One silver lining for the village is a reminder of the importance of bringing the unique lens of everyone's ideas to help tackle challenges for which existing solutions are coming up short.  A few highlights of this year’s work include:  The conclusion of our water project.   Launching a new initiatives in our village through sharing programs with the county and state. Creating new ways to learn and engage directly with you, both through virtual and through in-person meetings. I am profoundly grateful to you, our community, for the ways that you enable, utilize, and inform our work. I am also grateful to my dedicated colleagues here at the village office, who work tirelessly to bring our village forward. I look forward to all that we will learn and do in 2022. It promises to be an exciting year. Thank you for being part of our community.

All my best to you and yours, Mark

Christmas Tree Pick Up

 Starting today the Village will begin Christmas tree pickup. 

What is most important is that Christmas trees do not end up in landfills or are incinerated. If you choose to opt-out of the pickup option, there are other alternatives:

• SHELTER FOR BACK YARD WILDLIFE: If you are able to leave your tree in your background, your Christmas tree can provide birds and other small creatures with shelter over the winter season.

• COMPOSTING: For those with compost piles, the thin branches of Christmas trees make a great base and allow for airflow at the bottom of the pile. Over time, the branches will break down. The branch sizes should match the bin size and should be stacked four (4) to six (6) inches high. 

• MULCH:  If you enjoy mulched paths in your yard, choosing to mulch your Christmas tree will provide you the perfect mulch for your path. Some say they prefer the smell of Christmas tree mulch versus the traditional mulch. Experts say that the Christmas tree mulch should be one (1) to two (2) inches in length. 

For additional tips, the Sierra Club, a leading environmental advocacy organization, has published a helpful article on how to best keep trees out of landfills.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-keep-your-christmas-tree-out-landfill

December Village Meeting Update

This month, The Village meeting will be held Virtually.  Please feel free to attend the meeting at this Google meet address.

https://meet.google.com/qpr-wztn-wch

We are holding the Village meeting Virtual due to the rise in COVID 19 cases in Otsego County.

Thank you 

Mark

Village Mayor

Household Water Assistance Program from New York State.

 If you would like more information please contact the village office.  Thank you

Mark

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

As the most quintessentially recognized American Holiday, Thanksgiving has significantly evolved from its deeply religious roots of fasting, prayers and the gathering for a memorable repast. Although one common thread remains today – sharing a meal with family and friends while enjoying their all too infrequent visits. Preparations are always a lot of work. Do not allow stress to enter into your heart. We do have much to be thankful for, that this one day should be devoted to all our achievements and reflect upon all our blessings that are rarely realized, appreciated and that life is really short. Let us enrich ourselves with the abundance and goodwill within our DNA. After all, gratitude and giving are the most significant acts that we can express to one another.

 “Be thankful for what you have. Your life is someone else’s fantasy.” – Wale Ayeni 

 Thank you and enjoy Thanksgiving.

Thank you for your Comments!

Thank you all for your comments. Rest assured that I check with our Attorney before I post comments here. As far as zoning, I have been told that we currently have no zoning laws about MRTA in Gilbertsville and none of our current laws are applicable to it. I also want to let you know we are automatically opted in unless we opt out by a resolution (and we are our own entity, and what the Town does has no effect on Gilbertsville). This notice was just given to us, so we are sorry for the late notice. Here are some of the highlights, you should be aware of. On March 31, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed into law the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA). While the MRTA legalizes the possession and use of cannabis immediately, the actual sale of adult-use cannabis will be heavily regulated by the State and is not expected to begin until late 2022 or early 2023. Therefore, we need to know how the village feels. We don’t know what the regulation is going to like look. By Opting Out, we can wait to see what the state’s regulations are. Thank you again for your feedback. Mark

OPT IN OR OPT OUT OF CANNABIS DISPENSARY PERMISSIONS

Hello fellow residents, All towns, city and villages in NY must decide to “opt out” of the New York State law allowing cannabis dispensaries in their city or town, by Dec. 31, if they are going to do it at all. The dispensaries are legal in New York State as of Jan. 1. Opting out” would give our village time to enact local laws concerning zoning, location of stores, types of buildings, or even requirements that a dispensary owner go to the planning board for approval. Not opting out would allow “wide open” establishment of cannabis dispensaries in the village as soon as January 1, 2022, in keeping with the new New York State law allowing marijuana to be sold. It’s not if we “opt out” it means there will be no dispensaries in our town forever,. It just means we will have time to study the situation further, enact laws controlling them, and their locations, just as we do with other businesses. Our local laws, the way they are now, don’t even address cannabis dispensaries since they weren’t even legal before…we just haven’t been given much information from the state on this, and we’re expected to just decide, and enact a law opting in” or “opting out” within the next month, and that’s not that easy. But if we “opt out” we have time to make a plan for them; if we “opt in” by doing nothing further, then the dispensary could open any place in our village, and it would be too late to do any kind of local regulation concerning building requirements, location, etc.” Voters interested in commenting on what action their village board should take should, either attend a public hearing or put the comments in writing to the village board before they vote. The public hearing will be in mid announced. I will post the date and it will be in the Daily Star.