Washington County Board of Supervisors

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Granville supervisor Matt Hicks

Newly elected Granville Supervisor Matt Hicks attended his first full regular meeting of the Washington County Board of Supervisors since his Jan. 1 swearing-in on Jan. 21 in Fort Edward.

Supervisors approved moving forward with the second phase of their agreement with CGR (the Center for Governmental Research) at the brief meeting. With the first phase of the study completed, the board agreed to move on to the second of what could be three studies on the Pleasant Valley Infirmary in Argyle.

The reports are intended to help the board determine the future of the county-run facility. The board agreed to proceed provided the cost of the second phase does not cost more than $25,000.

The board also passed a resolution returning obsolete lever-action voting machines back to the towns and villages that bought them. Supervisors modified the resolution to allow municipalities to get back the same number of voting machines they initially purchased. The machines can only be used for voting in school districts and then only until 2012; towns and villages must then use either scanning machines or paper ballot voting.

The county also approved the Washington County Animal Emergency Disaster Annex, a plan for dealing with domestic animals, from house pets to livestock, in the event of a disaster of some kind.

County attorney Roger Wickes confirmed the mandate came out as a result of Hurricane Katrina, when residents refused to leave New Orleans without companion animals. Fort Edward Supervisor Mitch Suprenaut said he agreed this had been a problem a number of years before during a local evacuation due to a gas leak.

Although the budget impact portion of the resolution stated the measure had no budget impact, Argyle Supervisor Bob Henke reminded supervisors county personnel took time to develop the plan and was in fact another unfunded mandate.