Members of the village and town boards gathered at the Ellenville Government Center at 3:30 on Monday, January 28 to have their first joint meeting of the year.

Mayor Jeff Kaplan started the meeting off by welcoming the new members of each board, and got right to business, telling the town board members about his plans to investigate dissolving the village, and his hope for a meaningful consolidation of services should the village remain.

The assembled group discussed the previous abortive attempts that were made to try and consolidate, and the impact dissolving the village would have for residents of the entire township. Essentially, most village expenses would fall to the town, raising taxes for all residents, but lowering them for residents who live in Ellenville.

The discussion then turned to the proposed YMCA budget for 2008. Kaplan reiterated his opinion that the town ought to pay for the entirety of the town-wide youth services budget, and Councilman John Gavaris likewise reminded the assembled board members that he thinks Ellenville's greater number of kids using youth services requires the village to finance a larger portion of the bill than residents outside the village.

As discussion progressed, however, councilmen Terry Houck and Tom Geelan expressed interest in the proposed YMCA program, while Sam Bugna, Program Director of the Ellenville/Wawarsing Youth Commission, provided information regarding the program and its benefits.

Among those benefits are the change from half-day to full-day programs over the course of six-weeks, free meals, low or no-cost admission for town residents, and an available mental health counselor on duty.

The assembled group tried to assess the amount of money the town has budgeted toward youth services for the 2008 budget cycle, and it was concluded that the required increase needed from the town to match the village's contribution for the proposed YMCA's $238,913 proposal would not be so drastic as to discourage town council members from approving it.

The town currently has around $83,000 budgeted for youth services this year, and paying for half of the proposal would mean raising that budget by $37,000, a proposition the town board members seemed not unhappy about.

While they didn't make any decisions, the two governing boards seemed agreeable regarding the equal splitting of the proposal's cost, with Councilman Geelan at one point saying that he agreed with Mayor Kaplan about the town's obligation to shoulder the entire program's cost.

After the youth program's discussion, the group turned to other matters, such as the expected appearance at the next town board meeting by the group seeking a skate park in the village. Mayor Kaplan told the town board members that there were, in fact, ways for the government to contribute money to the project, despite notions to the contrary.

While there was discussion about another joint meeting next month, details and dates were not finalized at the time.

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