MAMAKATING — The public was urged to stay vigilant last Tuesday night after the Bloomingburg Restoration Foundation (BRF) reported artifacts stolen from its museum, in what Mamakating resident and Foundation President Adrienne Jensen described as a deliberate theft, during the public comment portion of a brief town board meeting.

The incident was discovered prior to the BRF’s monthly meeting the week before. Some of the missing items include a box containing 13 Native American arrowheads, an 1864 $10 bill, two $100 bills, a sword cane dating to 1832, a Civil War hat bearing a trumpet insignia and four Civil War buttons.

“There was no sign of forced entry,” Jensen recounted to the board, adding that the missing artifacts appeared to have been specifically selected.

While she stressed that she wasn’t blaming the town, she asked the board to keep the incident in mind in case any new information surfaced regarding the missing artifacts.

Councilman Michael Robbins explained that the town has just two keys to the museum building, one of which is in his possession and the other in the Supervisor’s Office for use by the maintenance department, (with three seperate keys owned by the BRF membership).

“We’re the only two,” Robbins said, noting that neither he nor the maintenance department had entered the building since a water issue was remedied last year.

He also indicated that surveillance cameras mounted on the nearby Catholic church overlooking the museum’s parking lot could provide investigators with potential leads, noting that the footage had proven useful during a previous break-in.

“I’m very distressed to hear that,” Town Supervisor Peter Goodman said.

Robbins also told Jensen to “let us know” if the BRF needed any assistance from the town board.

Trooper Barracks HVAC replacement halted for now

The heating and cooling system at the New York State Police Troop F Zone 1 barracks is taking a different path forward as the Town of Mamakating explores a more energy-efficient option that could reduce overall project costs.

During his Supervisor’s Report, Goodman updated the public on the project, which had been discussed at the town’s July 21 meeting and has since been temporarily postponed while officials research a system capable of providing both heating and air conditioning.

“The troopers air conditioning that we talked about at the last meeting, we’ve postponed it a little bit,” Goodman detailed.

The town owns the Troop F Zone 1 building and is responsible for maintaining the facility.

At its July meeting, the town board authorized the project to move toward bidding after officials determined the aging system was no longer practical to repair. Goodman said at the time that the unit had developed leaks, relied on an obsolete refrigerant that is no longer available, and had become too costly to continue fixing.

Instead of replacing only the air conditioning system, the town is now weighing a heat pump or mini-split system after discussions with Orange and Rockland revealed the possibility of significant rebates through NYSERDA.

“...we can get a hefty discount if we do heat pumps or mini-splits,” Goodman explained.

He added that Orange and Rockland recently completed an energy audit of the barracks, with recommendations expected by the end of the week.

“Hopefully we’re going to put a bid package together after that and put it out and we’ll set a bid date for that,” Goodman said.