The Town of Marbletown public meeting on Saturday, June 8, had an audience eager to view the presentation by Jeff Domanski on the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, which will allow the town to pool local electricity with other Hudson Valley communities and leverage their collective buying power and reduce the cost of energy.

The CCA, with a simple anytime opt-out plan, was organized by Domanski’s Hudson Valley Community Power (HVCP).

Marbletown Central Hudson customers should have already received notification and information by mail and, if they haven’t opted-out, changes should start appearing on their July Central Hudson bills. Users are automatically enrolled but can opt-out of the CCA program at any time via mail, telephone, or the HVCP website.

According to Domanski, CCA will provide a five- to ten-percent savings, clean energy, and consumer protection. "It’s a shift in authority," said Domanski, "from the state to municipalities."

The HVCP sells it energy from clean and cheaper sources. One provider is Nexamp, which will soon be providing energy to Central Hudson from the solar farms being built on Town of Rochester property. Any energy sourced through HVCP will be renewable and come from New York State. Municipalities gain nothing financially by participating in CCA.

Short Term Rentals

Tracy Kellog, the town attorney, made a presentation of the proposed amendments to the Marbletown zoning code for short term rentals, such as those that appear on the site Airbnb.

Under the proposed amendments, "short term" is defined as any period shorter than a month; the property can have only two buildings — one of which must be owner occupied. Occupancy will be limited to ten occupants and two guests per bedroom. Annual registration, fees and inspections will be required. If a property owner violates the short-term rental code more than three times in one year, the permit will be terminated. There will be a requirement to post safety notices that renters can view — including safety concerns, fire warnings, garbage disposal, property maps, noise, and evacuation routes. Exterior signage and advertising will not be permitted. Temporary structures, such as tents, trailers, and RVs will not be permitted as rentals.

A public hearing on short term rentals will take place after the planning board has made its suggestions.

Resolutions

The board passed resolutions approving the fireworks permit application from Mohonk and an application for the Citizens Reorganization Empowerment Grant program to study the consolidation of fire district and rescue squad services.

It also approved an intermunicipal agreement for the sharing of short-term rental information between Marbletown and the County of Ulster, and the purchase by the Highway Department of two 2019 Ram 3500 standard cab pickup trucks for a total of $62,055 from Robert Green, Truck Division.

An agreement was made to give the title of Working Supervisor to Scott Hikade, who has been working in that civil service position at a rate of $25.47 per hour for years.

A public hearing date for the amendment of the Marbletown Solar Generation law was set for the next town meeting, on July 16.