Town addresses data security, tax payments

WASHINGTON — Town Supervisor Gary Ciferri took the Town Board through the first regular board meeting of the month on Thursday, Jan. 20, at which time he opened a public hearing for the fire contract the town has with the village of Millbrook for a total of $409,964. Ciferri reappointed Paul Guardiola to the Recreation Department and Liz Baldwin to the Agricultural Advisory Commission. Tim Marshall was appointed as a Conservation Advisory Committee (CAC) liaison to the Planning Board.County Legislator Michael Kelsey wasn’t present that evening to give his monthly county report. Town Bookkeeper Laura Hurley gave her monthly report. “There are two capital projects that we are going to keep open for the upcoming fiscal year; one is the comprehensive plan, currently $31,000 and change, and the other is the park land development project, for $23,000,” Hurley said.Hurley said work on the comprehensive plan will continue, and the village hopes to get a draft approved by the summer. Hurley said that the state wants municipalities to focus on data security. She said the town has been working on ways to improve its data security. The town’s wireless connection was dismantled because it could potentially offer easy access for hackers to get into its system. Hurley said that they never use wireless in the Town Hall so there was no need to have it. “Off-site backup for the server is something the state has really been pushing,” said Hurley. “Our information technology person [has] found an outfit called Crash Plan Pro, where for $8 a month we can backup all of our information on our server off-site, and that will satisfy the state as far as disaster recovery.”Hurley said they also have to have a disaster recovery plan, which will be similar to the emergency plan the town and village have. The board approved the use of Crash Plan Pro as an off-site server, and Hurley said the town is open to further input on how to improve its system’s security.Hurley also informed the board that on Tuesday, Feb. 26, during the village’s second board meeting of the month that Russell Urban-Mead would be giving a presentation on the Water Committee’s work as it relates to the watershed survey occurring in Mabbetsville. Hurley invited the Town Board along with members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, Planning Board and CAC to attend.“I think this is going to be a very unique opportunity for us because we will actually be able to work towards an intermunicipal agreement and get something for the comprehensive plan accomplished on paper,” Hurley said. “Here is something very concrete that we can work on now that is very important for both the town and the village. I think it’s very interesting; Urban-Mead has been with Chazen Companies a long time and is one of the most renowned water resource scientists in this area. He is very highly respected.” Town Clerk Mary Alex gave her monthly clerk’s report. Alex said that taxes are in and have been picked up from the county. The town has 2,360 bills this year with a total estimated tax collection of $7.2 million. Alex had a request for the board to establish credit card payments for tax collection. The town uses a savings account from the Bank of Millbrook for tax collection, however in order to pay taxes with a credit card the town must have a checking account. Alex talked to the Bank of Millbrook and asked for the board’s permission to establish a checking account specifically for using credit card payments for taxes. It will come at no cost to the town from the Bank of Millbrook. The board granted the request. Before adjourning the board closed the public hearing and adopted the fire contract with the village.