In a message to residents in the Town of Liberty, Supervisor Frank DeMayo said that town offices are reopened to the public as of Wednesday, July 8, but by appointment only.

Glass partitions were recently installed in town offices in an effort to protect staff and reopen to the public amid continuing concerns over the Novel Coronavirus.

“Due to all your cooperation and adherence to COVID-19 health related guidelines, New York and, in particular, Sullivan County has realized a decline in health-related issues and is slowly opening up public buildings and related operations,” DeMayo said.

Contact information for all departments is available on townofliberty.org.

DeMayo said all visitors will be required to wear a mask when in a Town building and to maintain six-foot social distancing.

“Also, the public is encouraged to drop off forms, payments and other submissions in the drop box to the right of the Town Hall entry door. There is no appointment necessary for the drop off of paperwork, and the box is checked at least twice a day with documents directed to the appropriate offices,” DeMayo said.

Parks and Recreation

During the Board's monthly department head meeting on Monday night, Assistant Recreation Supervisor James Guara reported that Park Pavilions are once again open for party rentals up to 40 people.

Park bathrooms are still closed but the Town's Parks and Recreation Department has ordered a porta potty for the pavilions until they reopen the bathrooms.

Playgrounds have been opened and they've installed signage to encourage social distancing and wearing face coverings. They've also installed hand sanitizer stations at each playground.

The Town of Liberty's smaller parks - including the Skate Park on Grant Street, Lapolt Park on Main Street and Swan Lake Park on Briscoe Road - have all been reopened.

In other news, Swan Lake Renaissance has donated a small zero tum mower and a John Deere Gator with a watering system to Parks and Recreation Department to be used to maintain the Park.

Town Court

Also during the monthly department head meeting, Town Court Clerk/Manager Denise Curry gave an update on the court system.

“We're starting to get really busy again,” said Curry. She explained how they've been sending out fine notices and also did a mass mailing of all the “not guilty” pleas.

“Plea-by-mail [will] keep the traffic down in the courthouse when we do open,” Curry said. “Now we're just waiting for guidance from OTA to see what their guidelines are going to be once we open and we're able to hold court.”

The Town of Liberty Justice Court collected $33,023 in fines during the month of June.

Finance Office

Director of Finance Cheryl Gerow reported that her department is getting busy as the budget process begins.

Among other things in the month of June, the Town Finance Office submitted payment request for Stevensville Water District. The total amount of money requested and received to date is $272,126.

The Finance office also sent out letters to municipalities for a joint fuel bid as well as followed up on street light outages for Presidential Estates.