In his all too brief tenure with our town, Rob worked tirelessly to improve the operation of the Highway Department, upgrading systems and equipment. He was determined to restore every road in Taghkanic and continued to pursue improvement plans up until the last few days of his life. We will always be grateful for his hard work and dedication to our community.

In addition to looking after Taghkanic's roads, Rob was a dedicated member of the Hillsdale Fire Department, with whom he served for over 25 years, rising to rank of 2nd Assistant Chief. Over the years Rob had a positive impact on the lives of many kids through his involvement in 4H, baseball, football and wrestling. Rob was also the proud father of Robert “Bo” Burns Jr. and committed partner of Maggie McBroom. He leaves behind a brother and a sister, Ethan and Shawna. We offer our condolences to all of them, as well as to his brothers and sisters in the Hillsdale Fire Department and the many people who called Rob their friend, like we did.

Rob will be sorely missed by all of us who had the honor and pleasure of working with him.

Community Solar Campaign II

in November 2021, the Taghkanic Climate Smart Communities task force partnered with Ampion to mount a community solar campaign. We succeeded in signing up 44 residents and, as a result, received a $5000 grant from NYSERDA. Because of the popularity of community solar across the state, as well as red tape that delayed new solar farms connecting to the electrical grid, many residents who signed up are still waiting to be assigned to an active solar farm. This led us to seek a different provider who could help us get residents connected sooner.

We have now partnered with Solstice in a new campaign to help our community members lower their electricity bills. Solstice helps individuals sign up for the New York Community Solar Program, which allows households and businesses to reduce their electricity costs and support green energy without installing solar panels on their home. The program is voluntary and free to join. Even those currently wait-listed with Ampion can sign up with Solstice, and whichever provider has an opening first will assign you to a farm.

Doug Craig, Chair of the Taghkanic Climate Smart Committee, is encouraging everyone to sign up for this new program: "If Taghkanic helps 50 households to sign up for community solar, we will qualify for a $10,000 New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) grant to fund sustainability projects. You’ll notice no difference in electrical service, just a savings of up to 10%. It’s a win for the climate, Taghkanic, and you.”

Thanks to Taghkanic’s partnership with Solstice, everyone who signs up will receive a $50 VISA gift card, and the town will also receive $50 per sign up, fueling more green projects for our community.

Those who sign up for community solar with Solstice will be assigned a portion of a shared solar farm in NY. As your portion of the solar farm produces clean energy for the utility grid, you will receive reductions on your electricity bills.

Key Details:

• Low commitment: Free to sign up and no cost to cancel
• Monthly electricity bill reductions up to 10%
• No installation: you don’t need to install solar panels on your roof
• Who’s eligible: Renters and homeowners in Central Hudson, NYSEG, and National Grid
• Who’s not eligible: households that have rooftop solar
• No change to your utility provider

To learn more and sign up, please visit solstice.us/tagh.

Taghkanic Community Fridge

A community-sponsored program

The fridge is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can't miss it - the cheery yellow building sits alongside the back door of Town Hall. The fridge and pantry are stocked with all manner of foods, including meals prepared by West Taghkanic Diner and Columbia County Recovery Kitchen.

There are many ways for folks to get involved. We welcome food donations - click on image to download full-size PDF of Guidelines. If you'd like to join our brigade of fridge volunteers and help manage, clean and stock the fridge, please contact Betsy (betsyalbertfortaghkanic@gmail.com).

Here are three ways to donate directly to the Fridge:

• Venmo (@taghkanicfridge),
• PayPal (@TaghkanicFridge),
• or drop a donation in the box at Town Hall

Donations are NOT tax deductible. However, if you'd like your donation to be tax deductible, OR if you have a matching donation program through your employer and would like to double your impact, you can make a donation to the Purpose Cooperative. The Purpose Cooperative is a 501c3 through which we receive our Shared Plate stipend. You can send a check to Purpose Cooperative, 95 Main Street #546, Philmont, NY 12565 and ask that it be earmarked for the Taghkanic Fridge.

Town Hall gets Heat Pumps

In June 2022 the Town Board voted to install heat pumps in the Taghkanic Town Hall, which at the time was served by oil-based heating and window air conditioning units. The work involved the installation of a total of 4 Mitsubishi air-source heat pumps, two upstairs and two downstairs. See full article.