Village Board of Trustees Meeting

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Village of Nyack Board of Trustees held at 7:30pm on Thursday May 28, 2020 at Nyack Village Hall, 9 N. Broadway, Nyack, New York Hon. Dr. Don Hammond Presiding: PRESENT Dr. Don Hammond Mayor Louise Parker Trustee Donna Lightfoot-Cooper Trustee Elijah Reichlin-Melnick Trustee Marie Lorenzini Trustee ALSO PRESENT Walter Sevastian Village Attorney James Politi Village Administrator Jennifer Hetling Village Clerk/Treasurer Meeting called to order at 7:30pm Pledge of Allegiance As we continue to address our respective challenges associated with COVID-19, Village government continues to operate. And as there are matters the Village must continue to address as part of keeping the Village operational, our May 28, 2020 Village Board meeting remains as scheduled. As Village Hall is closed, the meeting will have to be held remotely (see below). We will be keeping the Agenda (see posting on website) to essential items. On March 7, 2020, in Executive Order No. 202.1, Governor Cuomo suspended certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law to permit a Village Board to meet and take actions authorized by law without permitting in public in-person access and authorizing such meeting to be held remotely by conference call or similar service, provided that the public has the ability to view or listen to such proceeding and that such meetings are recorded and later transcribed. The Village will be activating a remote meeting platform for the May 28th Village Board meeting, which will enable residents to phone in and listen to the meeting in compliance with the Executive Order. In the interests of the public's health and safety, the Village Board strongly encourages residents to utilize this platform. The Village Board appreciates your patience and understanding during this difficult and evolving situation. Please be sure to check in on the Village website for updates which will be posted on an ongoing basis. The Mayor stated during his opening comments that in order to keep the Village and community safe we all must wear masks, practice social distancing and wash hands frequently. Adoption of Minutes May 14, 2020 - Motion by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, seconded by Louise Parker to accept the motion as presented. Motion passed by vote of 4-1 (Trustee Lorenzini abstained) Public Comment - Action Items Resolution No. 2020 – 35 Resolution of the Nyack Village Board to accept the Audited Voucher Summary #8-2020 Motion by Marie Lorenzini, seconded by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick to accept the motion as presented. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Resolution No. 2020 – 36 Resolution of the Nyack Village Board to award the Construction Inspection/Support Agreement for the PSAP project to GPI Engineering Village Administrator Politi explained that this project is funded 100% by a grant and there is no Village match. This is the next step in the PSAP project. The maximum expense will be $32,000. Motion by Louise Parker, seconded by Marie Lorenzini to accept the motion as presented. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Resolution No. 2020 – 13 Resolution of the Nyack Village Board to approve the Nyack Housing Authority 2020-2021 budget – previously tabled Motion by Donna Lightfoot-Cooper, seconded by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick to take the motion off the table. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Motion by Donna Lightfoot-Cooper, seconded by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick to open the resolution up to discussion. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Trustee Lightfoot-Cooper stated that the Board had met with the Housing Authority Board once and thought there would be a follow-up meeting. Mayor Hammond stated that the Housing Authority Board discussed it amongst themselves but due to COVID-19 the discussions had stopped. The trustees all agreed that the motion should be tabled again because they would like more information. Motion by Donald Hammond, seconded by Marie Lorenzini to table to resolution. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Motion by Donna Lightfoot-Cooper, seconded by Marie Lorenzini to hold an executive session related to personnel matters. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Public Comment John Gromada – Thanks the board for instituting the temporary ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. Stated that the zoom format is interesting and people are being civil and engaging more. Jules Quinn – There is a power plant called Danskammer looking to go into Newburgh and other communities are passing resolutions against it. The board asked for more information on this project which she will forward along. Carol Sumkin – Wants to know the status of Memorial Park re-opening Dave Reiss – Asked if there were any plans for allowing restaurants to spread out for outdoor dining. The Mayor responded that it is being discussed. Laurie Pakaln – Expressed her gratitude to the board regarding the temporary leaf blower ordinance Mike Solicito – Concerned about restaurants and outdoor dining options Department Reports to the Board of Trustees Orangetown Police Department – There was a homicide in the Village last Friday and all local law enforcement was involved and they apprehended the suspect in 12 hours. Mayor Hammond said they did a great job both with enforcing the law and informing the public. Village Attorney – He has been assisting the building department in getting back online with phase 1 activities which has been pretty active. He received a call from a land use attorney regarding the Time Hotel which may not open back up as a hotel and instead change to veteran’s housing. He has been talking about re-opening and what that means to businesses and their diminished occupancy. There are possibilities of businesses using parking lots near them to add occupancy. The board may want to consider allowing businesses to go into the public right-of-way to serve on an event by event basis. The Village could assign a day to do it and could waive the permit needed from the building department. Restaurants would need a special permit but retail would not. Mayor Hammond stated that this proposal would be for this year only and would have a sunset date but the Village would need to review and see if it’s financially feasible. Trustee Lightfoot-Cooper asked if this would mean more outdoor dining during the week. Attorney Sevastian said that it would be most beneficial on a weekend. This could be done by closing a few blocks at a time. Trustee Lorenzini agreed that this proposal needs to get done. Stated that the Village shuts down streets for other events and asked if the costs to shut down the streets would be similar to which Mayor Hammond stated that the costs would probably be somewhere between what it costs to hold a car show as opposed to a street fair. Trustee Reichlin-Melnick asked about costs stated that it should be done on a predictable basis and it can be publicized to create business but not too much business that social distancing cannot be maintained. He also stated that residents understand that there would be additional traffic in the surrounding areas because traffic would be effected. Attorney Sevastian stated that he thinks restaurants would understand if it is cost prohibitive but the Board may want to try it once and see how it goes. The Village restaurants and Chamber need to get together and make sure that it is a success and rules are followed. Trustee Parker stated that it’s a good idea but the costs need to be considered and maybe we could move the businesses into parking lots so that streets don’t need to be closed. If it’s done in small increments there aren’t as many stores that will participate but in the lots there is more space for more businesses but agrees that we need to help local businesses. Village Administrator – The safe routes to school grant has a Village match which would need bonding. The first phase would take 2 years and would be bonded this summer but would not effect this years budget. The second phase would be a few years away. We would have to bond for it but a current bond would be being paid off when this new bond came on so there would be no effect to our debt payments from a budget side. We have lost a census track for CDBG so sidewalk funding is going away. The Village is working on re-opening the Hall and court will be re-opening soon. We have to increase cleaning, getting gloves and masks ready and determining how to direct people coming in. Public meetings will remain on video conferencing format. Mayor Hammond stated that there are other municipalities that are doing face-to-face meetings but the Village is not ready for that as the meeting room is not setup for social distancing yet. Mayor Hammond asked about opening up the Hall to the public to which Administrator Politi stated that all offices now have barriers, the bathrooms would be closed to the public and all public would be directed to the elevator in order to keep contact to a minimum. The public has access to the staff even without the building being open. Village Clerk – Treasurer – None Old Business Board discussion of opening Memorial Park The Parks Commission did a report on what they think should be done. Trustee Lorenzini stated that the report was very good. Trustee Reichlin-Melnick agreed that the report was good and a phased re-opening was a good idea. He thought that we should keep the playground and splashpad closed. Trustee Parker stated that all the play areas should remain closed including the skatepark, tennis court etc. Trustee Lightfoot-Cooper stated that she agreed with the report in that it should close earlier that before. Mayor Hammond stated that the gate should remain closed so no cars can go in, the barriers would remain to monitor the people going in and out, masks and social distancing would be required, all amenities would be closed as would the footbridge and the park would close at dusk. This will be monitored and if the rules are not followed the park would be closed again. We will need to get signs ready and staffing so we probably can’t open until at least next Friday. Trustee Lorenzini stated that the leash law should be looked at to and enforced. Trustee Parker asked if there would be a capacity limit to which the Mayor said he didn’t know how we could accomplish this. Communications Comments from Victor Gagliardi regarding the re-opening of Memorial Park Public Comment Carol Sumkin – Stated that communication to the public is very important and changes should be prominently displayed on the website. Mayor Hammond state that we do e-blasts, posts on social media etc. Andy Galob – Very happy that the park is opening and suggested requiring social distancing and making masks optional. Comments from the Village Board of Trustees Elijah Reichlin-Melnick – None Louise Parker – There will be another round of food distribution on Tuesday at 4pm at the Senior Center. Donald Hammond – All the metrics to re-opening on are the website forward.ny.gov. Originally it was said that each phase was 2 weeks but now it may change. Things are changing very rapidly. AnnMarie Tlsty has gotten flower baskets up and they look beautiful. The Parks Conservancy is providing the funding for these. Marie Lorenzini – Stated that there was a small ceremony at Memorial Park on the steps and it was a brief but lovely ceremony thanking the veterans. The veteran’s banners hanging in the Village are great. Donna Lightfoot-Cooper – None Executive Session Motion by Marie Lorenzini, seconded by Elijah Reichlin-Melnick to move to executive session at 9:07pm. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Motion by Louise Parker, seconded by Donna Lightfoot-Cooper to exit executive session at 9:37pm. Motion passed by unanimous vote. Adjournment Motion by Louise Parker, seconded by Donna Lightfoot-Cooper to adjourn the Village Board meeting at 9:38pm. Motion passed by unanimous vote.