City Council

Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday JULY 24, 2023 8:00pm  Call to order Mayor Kalaj called to order the Village Board Meeting at 8:03pm on July 24, 2023, 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 Laura Gulfo, Esq. – Village Attorney o Isaac Ekstein – Legislative Aide to Mayor o Joel Stern – Confidential Assistant to the Mayor o Todd Maurizzio – Al Fusco’s Office o Kerry Dougherty – Village Clerk o Absent o Asher Guttman – Trustee o Al Fusco – Village Engineer  Correspondence • July 7, 2023 Fusco correspondence regarding paving and CHIPS  Mayor’s Comments o Mayor Kalaj - Discusses traffic. People are driving carefully and very smart. Today driving 2 kids occupying more than half of the street. Mothers were there UPS came. He stopped. Have to be vigilant when your driving. Parents need to watch children. o Mayor Kalaj – Discusses sewers. Do not flush unflushables it is causing problems. It’s costing us a lot of money. o Mayor Kalaj – We had a bad storm. We had a lot of floods. You blame the lake it is not the lake. Insurance or FEMA may need to be involved.  Public Comment o Sue Anne Vogelsberg – I am really disappointed of the villages handling of that horrible rain. Prospect is still a mess. Left 2 messages for the village and gotten no response. There was no place for the water to go the drains are full with debris. Kerry Dougherty stated that she filed an incident 1  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday JULY 24, 2023 8:00pm report and sent to Belleville and didn’t realize Sue Anne wanted a callback. Cioffi worked Saturday, Sunday and Monday. o Bonnie Rum – Has a question about the second resolution the Bond for 577 Route 208. What is that infrastructure bond? Isaac Ekstein – They have to provide the bond for us. o Mrs. Castellano – Stated she has driven thru other municipalities and their speed limit is 25mph on streets. Is there any consideration to lower the speed limit to 25mph? She saw device on telephone pole and wanted to know if it was recording the speed. Mayor Kalaj stated that there was a conversation regarding speed last meeting. o Peter Castellano - Thank you for fixing the fence by the culvert. Storm water – I’m 17 Merriewold Lane S. I maintain my culvert. The 17-19 Merriewold Lane South culvert is washing out and suggests making culvert bigger and dropping the lake prior to a storm. He also asked Kerry Dougherty if she called the state regarding taking care of the trees – she did and also contacted Belleville regarding it. Isaac Ekstein – 1st time around we got away good and 2nd time with storm not good. Worked last week to clean up catch basin. o Debbie – Her concerns were floods and speed. She also wanted to know if we have funding for drainage. She spoke to the neighbor that’s beside of her, she thinks he’s 43 Merriewold Lane North, and she thinks he said a long time ago he sued the village. She didn’t know if he got funding or something and engineers came and they put gravel and actually dug up and put drainage under there. The problem is some places we don’t have drainage at all. It goes into a lake that’s overflowing it just goes back right into the houses. Mayor Kalaj said he checked the lake level and it is not the lake. Isaac Ekstein states that it is definitely a concern.  Business o Resolution No. (52) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Moving the Village Board Meeting for August 14, 2023 to August 7, 2023. Motion to accept by Trustee Rosner, seconded by Mayor Kalaj. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Rosner. 1 Absent Trustee Guttman o Resolution No. (53) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Establishing a Bond for the Project 577 Route 208. Motion to accept by Trustee Feldman, seconded by Deputy Mayor Weiss. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Rosner. 1 Absent Trustee Guttman o Resolution No. (54) – Resolution of the Village Board of the Village of South Blooming Grove Setting a Time and Place (August 7, 2023) for a Public Hearing as to whether The Village of South Blooming Grove Fire Company No. 1, Inc. should be Incorporated. Motion to accept by Deputy Mayor Weiss, seconded by Trustee Feldman. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Feldman, and Trustee Rosner. 1 Absent Trustee Guttman 2  Village of South Blooming Grove Regular Meeting Monday JULY 24, 2023 8:00pm  Discussion Joel Stern – Mr. Shepstone has been in touch with the Gilroy family at Mangin and 208 and having discussions about widening Mangin Road. We are trying to require land from the Gilroy family. Mangin has become a dangerous place. It will improve traffic and safety. The Gilroy family is not cooperating with the initiative he will be writing a letter to the Board shortly possibly about going ahead with eminent domain procedures.  Abstract o Motion to accept the Abstract by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Rosner, 4 Ayes Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent Trustee Guttman.. • Adjournment o Motion to close the meeting at 8:35pm. by Mayor Kalaj, seconded by Trustee Rosner. 4 Ayes, Mayor Kalaj, Deputy Mayor Weiss, Trustee Rosner, and Trustee Feldman. 1 Absent Trustee Guttman. . Minutes respectfully submitted by Kerry Dougherty, Village Clerk 3