The repairs to the playground equipment at Berme Road Park are completed and the new wood has been painted to match the old. Village Manager Michael Warren had several updates on the park’s status to report at Monday’s village board meeting.

The basketball and tennis courts have received attention. The cracks in their surfaces have been filled in and they are, Warren said, “usable.” Meanwhile the drainage project, to take water away from the courts and direct it to a culvert beneath Berme Road, is also ongoing.

Once the “engineered fiber” currently piled beside the playground has been certified safe, it will be distributed into the playground to resurface it. Efforts are underway to discuss new equipment; Mayor Jeff Kaplan said he’d been on a Zoom call with the manufacturers of the current set.

And the joint grant application from village and town to the county for $200,000, which would be matched by the village and town with another $200,000 has been sent in.

Final note: Warren said that work is to be done to improve the entrance to the O&W Rail Trail by the sewer plant. The village will work with OSI on this. And with that will come work on the connection between the O&W trail and the trailhead on the eastern edge of Berme Road Park that leads to the Smiley Carriage Road, which climbs the side of the Shawangunk Ridge and eventually connects to Minnewaska State Park.

Stoeckeler Memorial Park & Golf Course

Mayor Kaplan dove into the possible future developments for Stoeckeler Memorial Park, beyond its use as a golf course. “We have been fortunate,” he noted, “that the golf course has paid its way and that we have a beautiful course, and it is one of the few remaining in the area.”

He also observed that the Stone Dock course in High Falls may be losing players and leagues to the Stoeckeler course, since the course in Ellenville is more challenging. However, he said, “We will leave the golf course in an ‘independent’ status, until such time as we are ready to add more ‘park’ aspects to it. A discussion will be held with the club regarding whether discounted fees should be made available to village residents.

Grease Trap Inspections

Things are moving at the sewer plant. Delaware Engineering, along with Mark Blauer, grant writer extraordinaire, are looking over the sewer plant and listing the things that need to be corrected, repaired, or replaced. Mike Ryman, who manages the plant, is concerned (as ever) by the problem presented by grease balls. The village has a law concerning grease traps in restaurants, but the issue is enforcement. There will be a renewed effort from the Ellenville Building Department to inspect grease traps.

Outdoor Display

Village attorney Ian Morse reported on research into ways to control the messy front concourse of Liberty Tools at the northern end of the village. Morse explained that outdoor displays, even when allowed, must be ADA-compliant and have wide enough aisles and spaces for wheelchairs to negotiate.

Mayor Kaplan thanked Morse for his work and noted that Brian Schug had reviewed Liberty Tools and given them two weeks to clean it up.