Supervisor Meyers announces cancellations due to ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic

PRESS RELEASE

In light of recent developments with the coronavirus pandemic and the public health emergency in New York State, Supervisor George Meyers is taking the following actions to limit exposure to town employees and the public. These protective measures are being taken to assure the operation of local government in the safest manner possible for the public and our employees during this public health crisis.

All Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings, public hearings and workshops are canceled until further notice.
 

Justice Court appearances and hearings before Justice Meyers (Tuesdays) and Justice Calderin (Thursdays) are canceled until further notice. The Court will notify you of a new appearance date once the coronavirus pandemic passes.
 

All Recreation programs and activities are canceled until further notice, including the town’s annual Easter Egg hunt.

Supervisor Meyers is requesting anyone having business with the Town of New Windsor use the telephone, email, online services, or US Mail to conduct business and avoid coming into Town Hall or the Recreation Offices. New Windsor offers online utility bill payments, court fines and fees payments, online FOIL requests, online mapping, and more on our website at newwindsor-ny.gov.

New Windsor Police and New Windsor Ambulance have instituted health safety protocols to protect their members and provide uninterrupted service to our residents and the general public.

Please check the Town website, Facebook page, and register for text notifications on our website at newwindsor-ny.gov for updated information.

New Windsor cancelling outside group meetings in New Windsor owned buildings

Supervisor Meyers and New Windsor staff attended a conference call with Orange County Officials today regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. There are currently three confirmed cases in Orange County. Orange County is recommending all school districts close for two weeks, starting on Monday. For Orange County residents wanting to report cases of price gauging on supplies related to this situation, please contact the Orange County Consumer Affairs Office at (845) 360-6700.

Effective immediately, all meetings for outside groups in New Windsor owned buildings are cancelled, including but not limited to senior citizen meetings, boy scouts, girl scouts, etc.

Warning: Residents being targeted by mail scam in regards to water tests

*** WARNING – PUBLIC NOTICE ***

The Town is advised of a direct mailing being sent to residents by a company called Hudson Valley Environmental Solutions.  They are offering a “free water test” in an effort to sell homeowners a water treatment system for up to $6000 or more.  They may also use the name “Rain Soft”. 

Please note, this company has not sought a solicitor’s permit to sell these products or provide these services to Town residents, and the Town has not sanctioned their doing so.  In fact, the same company improperly solicited Town residents by leaving similar solicitations on people’s front doors and in their mailboxes a few months ago, prompting the Town to contact the New York State Department of Environmental Police who advised them to stop.  Clearly, they didn’t heed this warning.  Please don’t be fooled!

If residents have any questions over this issue, please contact Supervisor George Meyers at (845) 563-4610.

Lake Road Bridge Project Update

Lake Road Bridge Project:
Contractor anticipates spring start up to commence March 23, 2020.

The projected completion date is: June 30, 2020.

These dates are subject to change due to supply or weather delays.

Update on questions regarding latest utility billing

There is an over abundance of questions regarding high utility bills for this quarter.  As we transition with this new billing system AND into the new meters, some factors come in to play that may have caused a resident to have a high bill.  

One thing to note before reviewing the factors is that the “Service to and from” dates are a generic billing period and do not represent the true reading cycle for most.  Once all the meters in town have been changed to the new technology, there will be a town wide reading/billing period of 3 months then the billing system will be able to import all meter reads at once at the time of applying charges.    For a number of years, each quarter the town has had unbilled water in the amount of 35%-40% of the treated water because of failing and inaccurate meters.

Those with high bills are mainly due to the meter change outs that were done between 11/10/19 and 2/7/20:

•    A longer reading cycle.  The old meter read was combined with the new meter read which was obtained on 2/27/20 to move into the consistent 3 month reading schedule.  This caused some reading period to be longer than 3 months, some up to 5 months which would have the potential to double your average bill.
•    Many of the readings obtained from the “old” meters were done so after many years of customer estimates.  If it turned out the billing was UNDER estimating, charges for unbilled water will cause higher bills.  If the account was OVER estimated, it resulted in a credit applied.
•    The new meters are extremely accurate as opposed to the meters that are being replaced.  Many of the old meters have not been accounting for all the water going through them.

Please feel free to contact the water billing department with questions regarding your bill at 845-563-4625.
 

Issues with some water bills from current billing cycle

Supervisor Meyers is aware of some issues with the water bills that just went out related to the new VEPO meters. We are looking into this and will post more information as we investigate.

2/21 Boil Water Lifted on St Anne Dr (#s16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, & 27 ONLY )

2/21: Boil Water Advisory lifted.

Due to a leak repair, water service will be interrupted on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 from approximately 9 AM to 4 PM in the following locations:

St Anne Dr (#'s 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, & 27 ONLY)

The repair is followed by a boil water advisory for this location.

Town Offices Closed 2/14 & 2/17 in Observance of Presidents Day

Town Offices will be closed on Friday, 2/14 & Monday, 2/17 in observance of Presidents Day Weekend. Refuse normally picked up on Friday will be picked up on Thursday, 2/13. Refuse normally picked up on Monday will be picked up on Tuesday, 2/18. 

Water from Catskill Aqueduct Reintroduced

As of today the Town has started to introduce water from the Catskill Aqueduct back into our water distribution system.

LIFTED: Boil Water Advisory for February 6 Emergency Water Outage

Update February 8, 10:40am: The boil water advisory for all affected streets listed below has been lifted.

There is a boil water advisory in affect for: 925-899 Little Britain Road (Route 207), and Silver Stream Road.

In addition to the above streets previously listed, also now included are:

Mt Airy Rd (from Briarwood Ln to Bethlehem Rd)
Briarwood Ln
Windemere Estates
Cooper Ct
Swan Hollow Rd
Shady Dell Dr
Coach House Ct

Bring your tap water to a rolling boil, boil for one minute and cool before using, or use bottled water. Boiled or bottled water should be used for: drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth, and preparing food until further notice.