Call to Santa?

The Saratoga Town Council met Tuesday for its first regularly scheduled town council meeting of the month, working quickly through the agenda while addressing several matters of interest to the town.

Besides routine matters, members of the town council discussed a public hearing to discuss liquor licenses for restaurants, bars and breweries in town, and a lease agreement between the town and New Jersey-based Verizon wireless, who will soon be building a cell tower in town on land owned by the town. The council also moved to approve a special use permit for the town’s annual Christmas parade to be held in early December.

The council also was updated on the town’s new 911 system and an initiative by the Saratoga Police department and a Michigan-based nonprofit group to provide free child safety information to area children. The council also took action to hire a new part-time 911 dispatcher.

The council scheduled a public hearing for 5:30 pm Nov.21, a half-hour before the council’s regularly scheduled second council meeting of November.

The hearing will be to discuss the liquor license renewals for restaurants and bars in town, as well as the Snowy Range Brewery.

Under state law, liquor licenses are renewed once per year. A public hearing is scheduled for members of the public or stakeholders in the licensed businesses to address their concerns to the council. The hearing will be open to all comers.

The council also voted to give Saratoga Mayor Ed Glode authority to enter into a lease contract with Verizon Wireless, who is planning installation of a cellular tower in town.

The tower will be built on the west side of town on a plot of town-owned land adjacent to Saratoga Middle/High School, and according to a Verizon spokesperson, will provide cell phone and LTE wireless data to subscribers in Saratoga.

Verizon has been working for the last several months to obtain the lease. Previously, the company had to get a signoff from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to build the tower since it was planned to be so close to Shively Field. The company was also required to get signatures from a majority of adjacent landowners.

One adjacent landowner was Carbon County School District No. 2, which voted in September to give its go-ahead.

Under the terms of the lease agreement, the town is to receive $900 per month.

The town also voted to approve a special use permit for this year’s Christmas parade, scheduled to be held 5:30-6:00 p.m. Dec. 2. The Parade’s route this year is set to begin on River Street, Glode said, eventually turning onto Bridge Street before crossing First street.

Robert Bifano, Saratoga chief of police, told council members the town’s new 9-1-1 system was operational, and the system had been fixed to provide address information for people calling for emergency services.

Previously, those data did not always come through because of a difference in the way addresses are stored between service providers. Once the providers worked together and agreed to a standard, the changes were made and the data was normalized so the 9-1-1 system could receive it.

The next step for the 9-1-1 system will be to configure it to receive information about callers on mobile phones, Bifano said.

Bifano also told the town that after receiving three applications for part-time dispatcher, the department settled on a candidate for the job. Bifano requested permission from the council to hire the dispatcher, which was granted.

The new dispatcher will fill in during holidays, sick days and other times when the full-time dispatchers are not available. The new part time dispatcher will have to go through the police academy within the next two years, Bifano said.

Bifano also filled in the council on an initiative to provide free books about safety to area children, in concert with the National Child Safety Council, a Michigan-based nonprofit.

After raising funds from local businesses, the money was used to purchase items that will be distributed free to local children in schools. The materials have to do with child safety, Bifano said, and run the gamut from general safety up to safe use of smartphones and staying safe on the internet.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Saratoga Town Council is scheduled for 6 p.m. November 21. Prior to that meeting, there will be a public hearing regarding liquor license renewals that will also be open to the public for comments or sharing of concerns. The public hearing is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.