City Council

Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 8:00pm  Call to order Mayor Kalaj called to order the Village Board Meeting at 8:02 pm on September 12, 2022, via Zoom Webinar ID: 814 6915 1116 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 Abraham Weiss – Deputy 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  Correspondence o None  Public Comment o Sue Anne Vogelsberg a couple of meetings ago she believes it was Joel Stern who said that the contractor who is there Michaels that they are leasing that property from the village, so is the village getting money is there any way that you can tell us, the residents how much we are getting from that? At the August 22 meeting, attorney Ugell made a verbal resolution about surplus property on Virginia and she was looking at the map and there is a space between the houses on the original map for that development the builder was William Osmand, that space was supposed to be for an access road out to Route 208, she is wondering if that is the same property because when Attorney Ugell made that resolution we never knew where that property was, so she was wondering and if it is empty land and it was sold, somebody must have owned it, she is not sure because it was verbally done. Lastly, one of the resolutions for tonight says that the village will be using Zoning Board Attorney Barone in that lawsuit with the fire district and she is wondering if he is already employed by the village why are we contracting out and where are we going to get the money to pay for his law firm because there was a very nice article in the photo news claiming they were the best law firm in Orange County, how are we going to pay for this? Isaac Ekstein advised that Mr. Barone is retained for the ZBA and not the Village Board and in order for him to represent us in litigation for the village board we had to pass a resolution to retain him for this special matter. Unfortunately, he will have to be paid 1  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 8:00pm from our general fund. Mayor Kalaj advised that he is glad we hired one of the best firms in Orange County for this matter. Attorney Ugell advised that this is a very special area of the law so only certain lawyers do this type of work.  Business o Resolution No. (123) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove authorizing the Mayor to enter into a sewer service agreement with 577 Route 208, LLC. Motion to accept by Trustee Rosner, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. o Resolution No. (124) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove hiring the law firm of Blustein, Shapiro, Frank & Barone, LLP to defend the Village in litigation brought by the South Blooming Grove Fire District. Motion to accept by Deputy Mayor Weiss, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. o Resolution No. (125) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove scheduling the budget workshop and a public hearing on the budget for the Village’s 2023 Fiscal Year. Motion to accept by Trustee Rosner, seconded by Trustee Guttman. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. o Resolution No. (126) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove authorizing the village clerk to submit a list of all delinquent village water and sewer charges, rents, fees, assessments and the like to the County of Orange for relevying on the next fiscal year’s real property tax bill. Motion to accept by Trustee Guttman, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. o Resolution No. (127) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove authorizing the County of Orange to collect delinquent village taxes. Motion to accept Trustee Rosner, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. o Resolution No. (128) – Resolution appointing members to the DOT and Parks Commission of the Village of South Blooming Grove. o Resolution No. (129) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove authorizing issuance of notice of intent to be lead agency and to submit application. Motion to accept by Trustee Guttman, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman.  Abstract o Motion to adopt the abstract by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Rosner. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. 2  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday SEPTEMBER 12, 2022 8:00pm  Adjournment o Motion to close the meeting at 8:17pm. by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Rosner. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Guttman and Trustee Feldman. Minutes respectfully submitted by Kerry Dougherty, Village Clerk 3