City Council

Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday OCTOBER 24, 2022 8:00pm  Call to order Mayor Kalaj called to order the Village Board Meeting at 8:03 pm on October 24, 2022, 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 Asher Guttman- Trustee o Zalmon Rosner – 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 Tim Doyle- Accountant o Kerry Dougherty – Village Clerk  Correspondence o None  Mayor’s Comments o Halloween is next week, please keep it safe. o Work on the traffic light will begin next week. Mr. Ekstein advised that the Village is working with O & R Electric and the New York State Department of Transportation. Hopefully we will have the traffic signal installed in the next 2-3 weeks. Before that you will start seeing construction signage in the area surrounding Mountain Road and Route 208 which are requirements. There will be electric signs advising of an upcoming traffic light and construction signage. o Palamar Well has been giving us problems and we are losing water. Mr. Ekstein advised that the village is working with DEC. Al Fusco, Tom Cusack and the DEC are in communication and are working towards a remedy. We are doing everything we can to remove the water restrictions. Al Fusco advised that the survey for the new wells are completed and sent to the Orange County Department of Health and the DEC because that is a large part of it. The village has to go back three years and JCO put together reports in order to get second approvals. We did receive a 9 page response from the Department of Health that had indicated that they wanted us to go back to 2018 1  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday OCTOBER 24, 2022 8:00pm for approval, which none of us were here at that time. We are complying to get this done. Although we have declared a water emergency the DEC and Department of Health are requesting that we declare a water emergency. He will draft a resolution  Public Comment o Simon Gelb – on the issue of the new traffic signal along Route 208 he would like to advise the board that going back 5-6 or more years, he stated to the previous board on behalf of Keen Equities he offered a fair share of any improvements that are being done at that intersection and he knows that the board pleasingly appointed Transportation Commissioner. He wanted to let you know about it and that they have funds to participate and provide their share. He doesn’t know what other developments are before the board but it should be a fair share from everyone and shouldn’t cost the village anything in the end.  Business o Resolution No. (130) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Directing that there will not be a separate village voter registration day. Motion to accept by Trustee Rosner, seconded by Trustee Guttman. 5Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Feldman and Trustee Guttman. o Resolution No. (131) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an Agreement with Fort Worth Holding LLC. Motion to accept by Trustee Feldman, seconded by Trustee Weiss. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, and Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Guttman. o Resolution No. (132) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Awarding the Village wide paving bid to Consorti Bros. Paving & Sealcoating, Inc. Motion to accept by Mayor Kalaj , seconded by Deputy Mayor Weiss. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Guttman. o Grove  Abstract o Motion to adopt the abstract by Mayor Kalaj , seconded by Trustee Rosner. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Guttman.  Comments o Al Fusco discussed the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation and advised that they loan billions of dollars for water improvements. They are part of the grant program that we applied for but it is also the Department of Health – this is just a loan program that allows you to borrow money at 30% below their cost and when they go out for a loan the go for billions of dollars and 2  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday OCTOBER 24, 2022 8:00pm their rate is better than what the village would receive and the government subsidizes the rate. Additionally, there is a grants program for this and it is called a hardship grant. Hopefully we will get a three million dollar grant and with hardship the loan could be zero interest. This is a very important program. There is also a Clean Water grant which is sewer and we applied last year and were denied. We upgraded the request this year and you don’t have to take as much as what is applied for. We will apply this year as well. o We are beginning gutter and drainage work on Lakeshore next week.  Adjournment o Motion to close the meeting at 8:22pm. by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Rosner. 5 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Guttman. Minutes respectfully submitted by Kerry Dougherty, Village Clerk 3