By JOSHUA THOMAS

C-S-E Editor

MINDEN — During Thursday’s Town Board of Minden meeting, the council withdrew from the process of applying for a grant to obtain a shared salt, sand and fuel depot, as the application process would be more complicated than initially expected.

Last month, Mayor Guy Barton attended the Minden Board meeting, informing the council that the re-submittal of an application for shared grant funding might be an easy, free possibility. At that time, Quackenbush asked Councilmember Todd McFee, who is president of the Fort Plain Central School Board, if the school district would like to join the application, as additional entities might increase the possibility of receiving the shared grant.

The day prior to Minden’s meeting, Barton, Quackenbush and McFee met with Doug Greene, senior planner at the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and Planning. Quackenbush stated of the meeting “It ends up, it was a little bit too much for Doug to do,” as the application, which has already been submitted twice, would need too much re-tooling.

The representatives of the three entities contacted The Grant Writers’ John Duchessi, who noted that in this type of grant application, the people approving it are more likely to do so when one of the entities will cease to exist in the near future. Duchessi informed the group that he doesn’t think the three entities would receive the grant funding, prompting the town board and school to back out.

Quackenbush ended the conversation with the rhetorical question, “If we’re not going to be successful, and it’s going to be that difficult, then why?”

The council, at the request of Assessor Robert Harris, decided to change the date of tax grievance day. While it’s normally held the fourth Tuesday in May, the new grievance day will take place the Thursday following the fourth Tuesday May 30, 2013.

The request was made to change the date because Harris has two other towns to hold grievance days in, at which the assessor must be present. The board noted that this actually gives property owners two more days to confer with the assessor prior to going before the Board of Assessment Review.

A public hearing will take place in regards to the new grievance day on March 21, at 6:55 p.m.

Town Clerk Janet Trumbull stated during her report, “People love the website,” at http://townofminden.org/, explaining that tax figures are uploaded there dating back six years. People are able to view and print their tax receipts from previous years 24 hours a day.

Judge Frank Alford stated during his report that the judges have increased their case loads, noting that during the last District Attorney Night, 163 cases went before the judges. He said he feels the case load increase would be permanent.