NARROWSBURG, NY — Tusten’s poet laureate, Bernie Creamer, saluted outgoing Tusten Town Board members Carol Ropke Wingert and Tony Ritter with an original poem dedicated to each. “Our Beloved Carol” and “Ode to Tony Ritter” premiered at the close of the December 10 meeting. Heartfelt farewells from Wingert and Ritter followed.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to this board’s signature projects: genesis of a food waste-management program; upgrading of the community hall to better serve as a storm shelter for displaced residents; creation of a Tusten 9/11 memorial monument; and an environmental study of Narrowsburg’s public drinking water supply.

Councilperson Brandi Merolla delivered the Tusten Energy Committee’s response to disinformation recently circulating about the food-composter program to be initiated in 2020. “Rumors that it would cost $44,000 dollars per year to run the composter are completely untrue,” said Merolla. “We contacted the manufacturer to get an accurate cost prediction; it will cost $68 per year in electricity charges to compost two tons of food waste per month.”

Merolla also discredited the rumor that exorbitant charges would accrue for collection of food waste. “Food waste will be delivered to the composter by restaurateurs, grocers, farmers’ markets, and the Boy Scouts, who have long faced safety concerns from food waste attracting wildlife.”

It is anticipated that residential collection from those who cannot compost (apartment dwellers, for instance) will eventually become a component of the program, but those residents will be responsible for delivering their own food waste to the composter. Statistics show that a family of four spends $2,200 per year in uneaten food.
Per request of the board at last month’s meeting, code enforcement officer Jim Crowley reported to the board that the cost of demolishing a wall in the community hall kitchen (to make room for two restrooms and an ADA compliant stall shower) will cost $22,600. Councilman Ritter asked for a cost breakdown, to see what percentage of the total cost is attributable to the shower. After telling the board that, by law, both male and female restrooms must also contain space-consuming diaper changing stations, Crowley promised to confer with the contractor and report back to the board at its next meeting on December 13.

Merolla updated the board on plans for a 9/11 memorial monument made of material salvaged from Ground Zero. Originally to be placed in front of the town hall, the plan now is to place it at Veterans Memorial Park. Floyd “Lurch” Campfield has volunteered to donate both stone and his services to build a suitable base for the monument.
Councilperson Jane Luchsinger said that Phase I of the multi-year public drinking water study, a preliminary engineering report, should be completed by March 2020. She has been advised by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), a not-for-profit organization committed to help rural American municipalities develop sustainable infrastructure, that the town should open four designated accounts in preparation for the grant application process. Luchsinger said it is imperative that those accounts be opened before year-end 2019, the board resolved to do so within the week.