City Council

Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday AUGUST 8, 2022 8:00pm  Call to order Mayor Kalaj called to order the Village Board Meeting at 8:17 pm on August 8, 2022, via Zoom Webinar ID: 893 2550 5249 for the Village of South Blooming Grove located at 811 State Route 208, within the Village of South Blooming Grove, and having a mailing address of Monroe, New York.  Roll call The following persons were present: o George Kalaj – Mayor o Yitzchok Feldman- Trustee o Zalmon Rosner – Trustee o Asher Guttman- Trustee o Joel Stern – Confidential Assistant to the Mayor o Isaac Ekstein- Legislative Aide to Mayor o Al Fusco, Village Engineer o Scott Ugell Esq.- Village Attorney o Kerry Dougherty – Village Clerk Absent: o Abraham Weiss – Deputy Mayor  Correspondence o 15 Baillee Lane – Village Planning Board’s intent to be lead agency. o 585 Clove Road - Village Planning Board’s intent to be lead agency. o 8.5.2022 (received 8.8.2022) Orange County Planning Department Comments regarding proposed amendments to Chapter 235 and Chapter 110 of the Village Code.  Discussion o The Mayor advised that hopefully soon you will have enough water to relieve this drought that we have had for years. He is asking all to save as much water as possible until we get through this and hopefully it will be soon. Thank you.  Public Comment 1  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday AUGUST 8, 2022 8:00pm o Sue Anne Vogelsberg she wanted to clarify something from a prior meeting, when she suggested to have the DMV come in and maybe do a pedestrian safety kind of thing, Isaac you kinda gave a snipy answer back saying like it wasn’t done in the past, so just because it wasn’t done in the past doesn’t mean it is not something that can’t be done in the future and it is possible, perhaps the lady who didn’t know the difference, maybe she is color blind and that is why she didn’t realize when she should cross or not, again if you are not somebody who drives, you are also not going to be aware of different safety rules so that is just why she was suggesting it, it had nothing to do with anything else, she just wanted to clarify. Also tonight, she doesn’t think anybody on the board is behind the wheel but again that is disruptive driving, if you guys, if we are going to be doing virtual meetings, you can’t have your papers in front of you and see what’s going on, so from a safety standpoint she thinks it is important that you sit in a stationary place and not be driving during our meetings and also at the July 29, 2022 at that special meeting at the end of it, some of you guys were speaking in a language that wasn’t English and she wasn’t sure what you were saying, she didn’t understand, so perhaps somebody could translate because she didn’t know what was, it happened at the end of the meeting. That was the meeting about Clovewood. Isaac Ekstein said it was either L’Chaim or Mazel Tov and that it means Congratulations. Sue Anne Vogelsberg in America, in a municipality, we speak English and so she would appreciate that in the future. Thank you. Mr. Ekstein we speak English all the time and it wasn’t pertaining to municipal work, so he believe they are entitled to practice whatever language they would like to speak. The Mayor said lets speak English, you are entitled sometime to make you own comment because it is a free country and your express is always welcome. Mr. Ekstein if the fire chief is entitled to say the “F” word here then someone is entitled to say Mazel Tov. He also clarified that it was not part of the municipal workshop, the resolutions, nobody voted in that language. Basically why she clinched about the DMV comment is because it is strange that not that it was never brought up so it can’t be brought up now, but the chain of events that happened to trigger a DMV class which in any other municipality it never happened and somehow in this municipality, after a certain community moved in this needs to happen, so it is what is, and a DMV class is not needed in anyplace and it is not needed hear, we are dealing with adults and everybody is entitled to walk on the street and pedestrians should watch for cars, pedestrians have rights, cars have rights, everybody should obey the law that they have to obey and a DMV class when it will be done in another municipality, in an African American municipality or a Spanish Latino municipality and any other municipality then you come to this municipality and recommend it here, until then, please don’t, it is disrespectful. Trustee Guttman responding to the comment regarding Trustee’s being in their cars, he is glad that she used to complain that she can’t see the board and she is glad to see that was fixed and she can see everybody where everybody sits. Joel Stern usually if Isaac is at the wheel, they switch roles. o Bonnie Rum wanted to comment about Mayor Kalaj every meeting is saying that there is a water problem in the village and she doesn’t know to what extent this message is getting out because he was concerned about it himself, not everybody turns in to hear these meetings and watch these meetings, so if that is the only way you are putting it out or putting out a poster, you need to do something else to help, as you kept saying that you are having to buy trucks of water to come in and supplement the water so she is not sure but do you have water meters, you may want to identify, she 2  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday AUGUST 8, 2022 8:00pm doesn’t know if there is a set amount of water that people should be using, if there is too much water being used, maybe the people who are using too much water should be paying for it so that it will help pay for the water tanks, also perhaps you can have somebody going around, she heard that there are a number of people that are watering their lawns, if somebody has a green lawn they are wasting water. So you might comment or create a fee that people would have to pay that would help pay for the tanks of water that are being shipped in because some people are being responsible and some people, she guesses aren’t and this way at least the people that are overusing would be paying for those things. She asked her nephew who happens to live in Israel, and he says that’s how they do it. Everybody has a water meter and when you go above your allotment, you pay the extra money, so that is how they take care of things over there. Trustee Feldman asked where in the Town of Monroe. Ms. Rum replied in Israel. They have a water issue over there, it is a dessert. Mayor Kalaj advised that the village does have code enforcement going around the village and looking for violators. We are working on smart meters, he has Mr. Ekstein and Mr. Stern working on that so we can install smart meters on each and every house that is in the water district, therefore we are not ignoring, we are working hard to solve this issue and as you know we are already working on some new wells, hopefully that will be sooner than later, So yes we are going to solve the problem, maybe not 100 percent but he will say over 90 percent. With the people’s cooperation, that is not hard to do. If people don’t cooperate, it will cost them money, that is why we have code enforcement going around and issuing violations and they will be paid for it. Otherwise if code enforcement doesn’t do his job, we are not in need of any code enforcement. Ms. Rum stated that where she is if anybody has a green lawn, you know they are watering their law, with all the heat and sunlight that we have gotten so that would make things a lot easier for the code enforcer. Mr. Ekstein advised that we have meters now and we were just checking the meters, a green lawn is not a violation if you are not seeing them watering the lawn then you cannot fine them. Ms. Rum advised that it is not rocket science and if their grass is green, they are watering it. Mr. Ekstein advised thank God we have laws, we have a constitution, so we follow those laws. Ms. Rum Isaac, you are a pip, you have a good night. Trustee Guttman advised that the pricing in the water bill and the prices are being increased based on usage. Mr. Ekstein it sounds like the commentor is not living in a water district, so she doesn’t have a meter, where someone is measuring how much water she is using, any water district ever, has meters and that is the only way to charge your user, you are not charging a flat fee across the board, you are charging people based on their usage. Obviously we have a long way to go to get accurate readings from everybody, and to know exactly how much everybody is using that is exactly why we are working on the smart meters which is going to increase that and we will know if there is a leak somewhere, if we are loosing water more than someone is using, but we are not just giving water out, if someone has high usage and its on the meter, they are paying for it. Mayor Kalaj clarified that if somebody who has a green lawn is violated, that may not always be the truth because I do have the well on my 3  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday AUGUST 8, 2022 8:00pm property that I used to own and I can use all the water I want because I am not restricted to any draught, so keep that in mind Madam Bonnie, therefore we are working hard to solve this issue. Trustee Feldman saw some of his neighbors where a landscaping company came with a tank of water and that is the way they water their grass. Mr. Ekstein that is the point, you cannot assume based on a green lawn, if you don’t see someone doing something, you didn’t’ see them violating anything. There are law. Joel Stern advised that there is a new commercial product out there in the landscaping business especially this year when it is super dry, where they spray a uv resistant paint on the lawn, not even tanking in water but just spray painted with color and it doesn’t fade with the sun, so driving across the street and seeing a green lawn is kind of Ukraine, Russia, he doesn’t know.  Business o Resolution No. (104) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove setting the date and hours of the Village’s September 11 Ceremony for September 11, 2022 at 1:00 PM. Motion to accept by Trustee Feldman, seconded by Trustee Rosner. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent - Deputy Mayor Weiss. o Resolution No. (105) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove declaring an emergency at intersection of County Route 44 and NYS Route 208 authorizing the procurement of the project on an emergency basis. Motion to accept by Trustee Guttman, seconded by Trustee Feldman. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent - Deputy Mayor Weiss.  Comments o Isaac Ekstein the public hearing for Chapter 235 and 110 is closed but the professionals are still working on the county’s comments. o Mayor Kalaj announced that we do have a special meeting tomorrow, so if we missed anything we can always bring it up. Mr. Ekstein announced that it is tomorrow at 12PM on Zoom, you can get the invite on the website, it is a special joint meeting, planning and village board to potentially adopt the findings statements pertaining to Clovewood Development. o Trustee Guttman regarding the water wells, what is the process to get the wells on Clovewood up and running. Al Fusco advised that once the findings statement is finalized, at that point the village has to finalize SEQRA paperwork which is sent to the DEC and then hopefully the village will be able to get a SPDES Permit to disturb the area that we are going to be putting the water pipes in. We had done it as a separate project under the proposed subdivision when we were doing the wells and subdividing them out, however they said that the overall project had to be accepted, so now that it is, it will speed up the process very much. Trustee Rosner asked how long will this take. Mr. Fusco advised that the village is still in the process and still have to go through the Orange County Department of Health and the New York State Department of Health for the water quality, but we also need a taking permit from the DEC, but in the meanwhile, the village is going to finalize the water 4  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday AUGUST 8, 2022 8:00pm treatment and finalize the piping; we are months away but we are getting closer every day now that we accomplished this and we can get our SPDES Permit. Mr. Ekstein added that both agencies, the DEC and the Department of Health know that importance of this matter and they know in what situation we are with he water restriction and they are coming forward to work with us to get this done as soon as possible. Al Fusco sent an email earlier today about declaring the situation by Mountain Road and Route 208 as an emergency and has given the permission to go out and, once he gets permission from the Department of Transportation to install the red light on an emergency basis without having to be compliant with the procurement policy. Al Fusco read the resolution proposed to the Board.  Abstract o Motion to adopt the abstract by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Feldman. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent - Deputy Mayor Weiss.  Adjournment o Motion to close the meeting at 8:42pm. by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Guttman. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent - Deputy Mayor Weiss Minutes respectfully submitted by Kerry Dougherty, Village Clerk 5