Board of Trustees

. Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 5, 2020 Mayor Rumbold called the regular meeting of the Village of Walden Board of Trustees to order at 6:30pm. On roll call the following were: Present: Mayor Sue Rumbold Trustees Faith Moore Brian Sebring John Ramos Larry Kraus Dan Svarczkopf Lynn E. Thompson Absent: Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Presentation - MS4 Manager Revella: We have done our duty and posted our MS4 report online, which is what's required. It's available there for comments if anybody has any. It must be submitted by the 15th of May. No super big changes from last year. Just reporting on what we've been doing and continuing to do to keep up with storm water management in the Village. Trustee Ramos: Is it a typo that is says a public hearing was on May 4th on page 5? Manager Revella: Yes. That is a typo. Correct date is today. Approval of April 21, 2020 Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve April 21, 2020 Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Ramos. All ayes. Motion carried. Action Items CDBG Set Public Hearing Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to set Public Hearing – CDBG for Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Ramos. All ayes. Motion carried. Adopt 2020-2021 Village Budget Manager Revella: You all should have had a copy of the final form preliminary budget with the numbers discussed last meeting, including the contribution of some Fund Balance to the different funds and the amounts that were described last time as well. No change to that. We're under the tax 1  . cap. The tax cap was 2.09% and we're just under that. Trustee Svarczkopf: Received a bunch of questions from the public this week and I was just hoping that John could speak to some of them. I know that a lot of us have had conversations and are comfortable with it. Can you speak as much as possible about the sales tax number? Manager Revella: Yes. We have taken some steps this final quarter and the next quarter to make sure we're not overestimating on sales tax revenue due to the shutdown. Some information that was coming back was a little bit surprising, in that our check that we just received was an actual increase of 3.2% as opposed to a decrease that we were expecting. They attributed most of that to the fact that it was a slow time and is a slow time now for most of the outlets and retailers anyway. So, to have them shut down is not as big an impact as it could have been. We had taken this step to reduce both of our expectations for this quarter and the following quarter by about 50% just to make sure we weren't going to go in the red. Our fund balance projections for this year are going to be a little bit higher, because we had budgeted and expected it to be less this past quarter and now we actually got even more than we budgeted originally. The final projection won't be out until May 8th for the next quarter. The one fortunate thing is that the state report that came out, they paid for a huge study to be done by some firm out of Boston. And their projections were on the conservative side to be between 15 and 20 % less revenue from sales tax. Since we did a 50% reduction we're ahead of the curve. We have the ability to have that room in case other revenues are slightly off. Trustee Svarczkopf: Am I correct in saying that the increase that we got from that first quarter would cover about 6 months of the 15 to 20% range? Manager Revella: Correct. 2 quarters worth. Trustee Svarczkopf: I had a question about MTA tax as well. Manager Revella: Just to let you know, as I felt always, MTA tax is unreasonable in our county, because we get limited service for only a third of the vote. It's unfortunate, but it's a product of payroll. But it's not going to change. It's just based on the payroll right now. Trustee Svarczkopf: I was under the false assumption that it was based on sales tax not on payroll. Thank you for a clarification. Now, I know that we asked all of our Department Heads to try to find as many cuts as they could. Were there any more since the last meeting? Manager Revella: We got some from each department. There was some that aren't really feasible, because it doesn't make sense. 1 was the Building Department suggested they could do without the Code Enforcement Officer a little longer, if it was required. But that really becomes a product of things becoming more dilapidated, because it's just too much work for 1 person to do to keep up with the whole Village property maintenance and otherwise. On the other side of the coin is, there's revenue generated from that by doing those inspections, doing those reports. So, it really isn't a win for us to do that. But we did do some reductions and that's how we got to where we are. Trustee Svarczkopf: I know it needs to be voted on tonight, but I'm really hoping that as the year goes on, we take a good look at overtime and see if we can try to get that down. That's a very large budget line for us. I think that a lot of it can be remedied with a little bit of planning and maybe some changes in the way we do things. I know that can't be fixed tonight before we vote. I just wanted to put on record. 2  . Trustee Sebring: Where are you talking the overtime? Trustee Svarczkopf: Police. Trustee Sebring: That's a tough one. Trustee Svarczkopf: It is. They do great work. A lot of it is when someone's out, someone has to cover for them and they may have just been coming off a shift and that's who can cover. I understand that that happens. Some of it seems like it happens a lot more often and if it is gonna happen more often, maybe we could plan better for it. I don't think anyone is necessarily abusing it, but if something's happening all the time, we can try to figure out a solution. Manager Revella: I just want to note, for the Board, there are comments that come up and they're coming up now on Facebook as well and will address those as you see fit. After you read those, just let me know how you want me to address them. Mayor Rumbold: I can't see them. Manager Revella: We can wait until after the meeting, I can address them then as well and have something on the record for next meeting. Trustee Ramos: Is the sales tax report online? Treasurer Kelly: We have to wait for all the different companies to file their sales tax. The report that I have is from the Comptroller's office. Manager Revella: We'll have it posted and send it out to everyone. Mayor Rumbold: The only thing I wanted to contribute to that is if you look at where our Fund Balance is. I think that's a credit that has to be given to the Manager and the Department Heads despite some areas where we have an issue. To the fiscal responsibility that we do have for our Village, the fact that we do have that Fund Balance, should say to the residents and to the Board of Trustees and everyone that works for the Village, that we are being fiscally responsible. We save wherever we can save. Just because we have an amount in a line item doesn't mean it's going to get spent. Our budget is flexible. It's always changing. That's why we do budget transfers from time to time. I think we have to give credit where credit is due when the fact that we have a cushion, a Fund Balance that we can utilize for the good of the Village is really a testimony to the fact that we try to run as efficiently and make the best decisions that we can to keep this Village fiscally sound. Trustee Sebring: I would like to agree with you on that. There are instances that things can happen real quickly that cost a lot of money. So, we have the Fund Balance to cover things of that nature in case there is a small little catastrophe within our Village that has to be addressed rapidly. Along with the other funds, they have a balance that will protect them on if they have incidents that happen. I agree with you, the Manager and the Department Heads have done a wonderful job. Trustee Svarczkopf: Flipside of that is if we have a Fund Balance, always and we're always increasing it. It can mean that we could possibly not increase our taxes because we're already taking in more money than we need. I agree with you that I think that we are trying to do our best and 3  . doing pretty well in a lot of areas. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't look for others to trim where we can. Mayor Rumbold: And I agree with you. I've been doing this long enough to know that that does happen. We're always looking for ways to save. But I've also been here when we've had some things come up that we just didn't anticipate. Thank God we had the wherewithal to take care of them, because that's our job. But also, there are people that can look at Fund Balance and say that we shouldn't raise taxes or we should use the Fund Balance to balance your budget. Others would say that's really folly to do it that way, because you really need to have something set aside in case something happens that you need to pay for within a budget. I can remember not too long ago, we were criticized because we didn't have a healthy Fund Balance. But at the same time, you shouldn't carry too large of a Fund Balance. I think that the Manager and the Department Heads recognized this. Our budgets have been really tight the past few years and I think the fact that we have any Fund Balance at the end of the fiscal year, is a credit to the Manager and the Department Heads and how efficiently they utilize tax dollars and they're always looking for a way to save. Trustee Svarczkopf: Just 2 years ago, we were on the fiscally stressed list, I believe, because we didn't have a high enough Fund Balance. We have worked through that over the last few years. What I would hate to see is that we spend the Fund Balance now and start thinking that this is the rainy day that we've been saving for and then things get significantly worse. Mayor Rumbold: As I said before, once you adopt the budget, you can't spend any more than what is in that budget. So, if you happen to miscalculate, that means that that savings or to make up that difference has to come within the budget that you adopted. If something happens to happen, if the sales tax revenue is less than 50%, then those savings have to come from within the budget. That's when the Manager is going to have to make some difficult decisions. He's presenting this budget to the Board of Trustees and the Mayor is saying, you're the CEO, we're going to adopt a budget that you think is fiscally responsible and if something happens, then you have to figure it out. Manager Revella: Just 1 more thing to talk about before we get off the budget topic. We presented a few options for Capital Projects in the A fund. Just want to make sure we have prioritization there. If we don't get the grant funding we're looking for, the Board still wants to go forward with the Community Center first as a priority? Mayor Rumbold: What do you have? Manager Revella: I don't want to lose our grant funding, so Community Center and Riverfront Park are probably in the top 3. Then Grove St is our other project that needs to get taken care of soon. It's in bad shape. Fred really wants to get going on the salt shed soon and it will be something that we need to look at, depending on whether we get additional grant funding for the Community Center and maybe our next project on the list. Trustee Svarczkopf: Community Center, has that money already been earmarked? Manager Revella: Partially, yes. We have $370,000. $300,000 that is definitely earmarked. Trustee Svarczkopf: If we don't start it, we lose it? Manager Revella: That's correct. If it doesn't get used within a certain time frame, it goes back to 4  . the state coffers. Trustee Thompson: If we don't get the grant funding back. How do you propose financing the rest of the Community Center? Manager Revella: On the bond. Trustee Thompson: As much as I would love to have a Community Center, with the other projects that are out there, I don't think that should be at the top of the list. Deputy Mayor Moore: You were saying the Community Center is at the top of the list, because we have half of the money in grants. If we don't start it, we're gonna lose it. Manager Revella: We could have up to $670,000 in grants depending on how the state sees it with earmarks from Larkin and earmarks from Skoufis. They're just trying to track down the earmark number from Larkin in order to confirm that. And if we do, it'll be a nominal amount to bond and we would have to have a bond in place in order to have the money ferret in and out. The other project, the Riverfront Park, is the other Sam Grant that we have to utilize to get finished. We did promise we would take care of that. Deputy Mayor Moore: We have the bond in place so that we could take in both pots of money from both Skoufis and Larkin. 1 falls through; the Board at that point decides that it's not a priority. We can still switch that around. Correct? Manager Revella: We would only be able to switch to different projects that are on that bond list. So, we have to make sure we put those on that list in order to do that. Deputy Mayor Moore: But we can switch the priority level. I think that that addresses Lynn's concern and I understand what she was saying and I think that addresses it. So, if these are the 4 items that are on our list and we have to adjust it to take care of other things prior to that, we could do so, correct? Manager Revella: We're just talking about the 9 on top of that list. Not the other ones. Those are different funds. The 9 on the top of are the ones we're talking about right now. If you look at those, we can put them into the bond as a notification so we're covered. And if it comes out, then we have additional funding from the grant, we can reprioritize if we need to. If it is okay with the Board, to get the project list and work on that with Bond Council, in order to get them on the list of potentially funded projects. And if additional grant funding comes, we can reprioritize. Trustee Ramos made a motion to adopt the 2020-2021 Village Budget. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Streetlights - LED Manager Revella: NYSEG has the LED conversion program now. Trustee Thompson has brought this up several times. We finally have this opportunity and it looks like based on our billing structure, that it would save us a good bit of money every year over the next 5 years, at least. The only thing I really need the Board to look at, there's 2 options for the lighting. 1 is more of a white light. The other is more of a yellow light. They're both going to be a better light. Right now we have 3 different kinds of light in the Village. We have the high pressure sodium. We have metal halite 5  . and we have mercury vapor. We have different types of lights and different wattages in those lights right now. The new light will be a lower lumen, but it'd be a better light. Technically, you're supposed to see better and take better pictures and video at night; of the things the police were happy with. Just not sure how the Board feels about having the whiter looking light LED or the yellower looking LED. If you want to have this happen, we can get it going right away and it looks like we'll save about $25-26,000 a year. Trustee Sebring: I have been through the Village of Maybrook at night and the LED lights that they have on their main drag. I like them. It's nice and bright. You can see a lot. Personally, I would go for the bright white. Trustee Thompson: I agree with the white light. Mayor Rumbold: Are these all the streetlights in the Village? Manager Revella: Entire Village. Mayor Rumbold: I have 1 outside this house at night. It was out and we called NYSEG and they came and replaced it. I wish I never had it replaced. It's like being out in the sun shine. The police want the white lights? Manager Revella: Yes. It's better for their video and the camera work. It's safer, more natural in the eye. Trustee Svarczkopf: With the LED, it looks like they're about half the lumen. So, it should actually be less bright, but easier to see. Is there an upfront cost for each one of these? Manager Revella: It'll work into our bill and due to the savings; it won't be any different cost wise over the years, since it won't start until June. We'll see a savings on our budget line through the year. Trustee Sebring: Who will be installing these lights? NYSEG or a contractor? Manager Revella: It'll probably the contractor. Trustee Svarczkopf: I'd like to explore it. If we have a contractor hanging them, are we going to own the lights or we're going to rent them again? Manager Revella: They're NYSEG lights and poles. Trustee Kraus: Then it's a no brainer. Deputy Mayor Moore: It would be NYSEG that would contract somebody to do that. Not us. Trustee Svarczkopf: The price per light goes down, but there has to be some increase for the actual light or was that worked into the price? Manager Revella: That's worked into the price on the sheets. 6  . Trustee Svarczkopf: Yes, that's a no brainer. Trustee Ramos: Is that actual $26,213 an actual amount or projected? Manager Revella: That's projected based on our actual usage. It's very accurate. We compared it to our bills and it's right on the money. Trustee Ramos: That's a no brainer. Trustee Ramos made a motion to allow Manager to negotiate with NYSEG and then have the Attorney to review the contract before signing based on the presumptions that were presented today. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Moore. All ayes. Motion carried. Banner Request Trustee Ramos made a motion to approve Banner Request. Seconded by Trustee Kraus. All ayes. Motion carried. Liaisonships Deputy Mayor Moore: I said at the last meeting, that I would make sure that I got the notes out from the committee meeting that had happened pretty much over a year ago. I did get them out to everybody just to kind of rehash what the committee had talked about. The idea behind it is to still keep Liaisons, but to transition them from departmental focused to community focused. That's what the committee has recommended. I did have email correspondence with the 2 people that are running in the next election to get their opinion on it. I value what their thoughts were. It does not change my opinion that I am presenting to everybody else that we transition our Liaisons from departmental focused to being community focused. Trustee Svarczkopf: I'm with Faith. I think that needs to be transitioned over into community focus. I think we can do more there. We're not the boss of the other Department Heads. With the community, we have a little bit more exposure to them to be able to make better decisions in our community. Trustee Kraus: I feel the same. John is supposed to be in charge of the Department Heads is, not us. If everyone wants to do community, let's go that route. Trustee Thompson: I brought this up with Faith and I feel very strongly that John is the Village Manager and interacting on a daily basis directly with the Department Heads is his job. I think we have enough different organizations in our community that we can serve the community better by being more tuned in to the needs and the opinions of all the different groups in our community. I almost feel like from talking to some of the different people in the different organizations, they feel a disconnect that we aren't aware of a lot of the great things going on in our community and they're the people who we represent. I really feel that we should redefine the role of the Liaison and allow our Village Manager to have the daily interchange with the Department Heads. That doesn't mean we can't visit the various departments, speak to the Department Heads on occasion, see how they're doing, if there's anything we can do as a board to help them. I don't think that kind of dialog needs to stop at all. Deputy Mayor Moore: I would like to add to Lynn's comment, that it's also very important that the biweekly reports would still be coming to us prior to a meeting as part of our packets. So we would 7  . still have in-depth information as to what's going on in the each individual department. And the Village Manager would then incorporate pieces of those reports in his Manager's Report. Not only are we getting the in-depth information, but then those key pieces are also getting to the community. Trustee Ramos: I know my place when it comes to the Liaison position. I think it's a critical aspect of our job and knowing the community and knowing some of the workers. I'm not going to take away what John's responsibility is. Each Department Head should have a person that they can go to and speak to some of the issues. Obviously, John can't be 28 hours in a day dealing with each department. I feel pretty much 1 of the reasons why I was happy to come on the board a couple of years ago, was the fact that we would have that direct input or the camaraderie of the individual sections. Brian knows what the DPW is. Dan knows the Treasurer and the inner workings upstairs. I think it's an invaluable tool that we communicate to each other. I think it's a common bond that makes us a board. I'm not taking away from John's responsibility. I'm not the disciplinarian. I'm not the person that fires or hires. I think we need some continuity of the different departments. I'm looking at the list that Faith provided us and I saw 31 different organizations. I currently go to 7 of them at least and provide the people access to a Village official. If I have seven, we can divvy up the rest throughout the members. We'll still have a hand in everything that goes on around the Village and inside the Village. I'm not too keen on not allowing John to do his job, but we help him. We're a conduit to the Village Clerk, to the Treasurer. I'm pretty content with our Liaison positions right now. I think it's going to get worse as this time goes by with this Corona Virus. Each section needs help and verbalizing some of their needs and responsibilities. Trustee Sebring: With the list that Faith had put out, there are a lot of different organizations within the Town and the County, that would keep the Village Board and the residents, the ones that do come, informed. Just going over to the Town between Lynn and me, it's been eye opening with the things that are going on and it can drag you in, because there's so much going on within our Town that a lot of residents don't know and a lot of the Board members don't know. Sometimes other members that would go to other things, they bring back information that would be helpful to us. I don't want to take away John's job and I'm not even going to try, because it's not in my purview. I do enjoy going down and talking to Fred. I believe some of the other people do with their Liaison spot. As far as the list that was put together, I would maybe venture out and maybe 1 or 2 more spots. Mayor Rumbold: 1 of the issues, when this was when these liaison positions were first formed, was that Department Heads were complaining because they had 7 people, Mayor and 6 Trustees, who stop down, who wants to talk. Saying that those conversations are going to continue, we may be back in the same boat again. That's 1 reason why Mayor Maher came up with the Liaison positions. If we limited it to 1 Trustee that was supposed to solve that problem. Which I think for the most part it has. Looking at the list and I've been on the board long enough that you try to go to as many things as you possibly can. That's quite a list. I've never had a problem talking to people in certain organizations who call me, email me questions, and let me know what's going on. But I have to tell you, there is a disconnect because the Clerk sometimes has to search for things to put on the calendar because she's not being contacted by people from certain organizations. I'm not sure that the organizations in the Village are utilizing the Clerk or our calendar to the best. I think for the most part, Trustees don't interfere with the daily workings of the department. I thought it was nice for Department Heads to have someone on the board who could advocate for them. Certainly during budget or other times. Obviously, I have to go with the entire membership of the board. I think that list is a dream list. As I said, I've been on the board for a long period of time and sometimes it's an effort to get Trustees to show up to certain things that it really is their job. There are a lot of things 8  . that go on that can be attended, that aren't. You see the same Trustees at the same things all of the time. If you think that this is the answer, then that's what we're going to have to do. But I don't see anything wrong with the Liaisons the way they are. I think they've been informative. I think that the board is much more apt to understand the workings of every department. I know for myself, I've been able to explain procedures and projects and things to people in the community that I would never have been able to do. Had I not been involved in a Liaison position. Trustee Thompson: Faith, correct me if I'm wrong, but that list does not have to be exactly as it's written. That was a guideline. That was some organizations, some areas where we thought perhaps the Trustees could do the most good. It certainly can be condensed. It can be expanded. It can be whatever people would like it to be. As far as learning the inner workings of the various departments, that's a great concept. If people constantly get moved around and get to explore the various departments in the Village. That hasn't been happening for everyone. If we're all going to stay with how it is, I think people have to move and they have to build a rapport and camaraderie within the various departments. I know I've been in several different departments and I have to say each one, I've learned a tremendous amount that I didn't know going in and there are still other departments that I would love to explore. But that opportunity hasn't been afforded because everyone doesn't get moved around. I agree with what Brian said. There is so much going on in our community, not just in our Village, but in our surrounding community that we had no idea. Some of this liaison stuff, you don't even have to be always present. You can make the connections. Now so many people are doing live streams and there are minutes and agendas. You can get a real good idea of what's going on and talk to people in different organizations to make that connect. You don't necessarily have to be running ragged going to every single activity that's on that list. Deputy Mayor Moore: That is correct. I think I even said that when I recirculated the list was that the items that are identified in each one of the sections were not a “this is what it must be”, but the 7 sections were Economic Growth and Development, Community Services, Financial Oversight, Emergency Services, Board Relations, Environmental and a Housing Task Force. The idea behind all of those things that were listed after them were ideas that could fit into those groups. Obviously, there is no way that a Liaison would be expected to do every single one that is listed in all of those ideas. The idea really is to move it from being departmental focused into being more community focused. The Liaison for each of those different positions could morph that into however they best felt it would work. Housing Task Force. Some of the items that we put on to there were Abandoned Properties, Landlord Registry, Fire and Safety Comprehension, Comprehensive Planning. Then 1 of the people that are running in the next election had a suggestion to add in the safety of the buildings as well. There's a different ways that each person, depending on what they're assigned to, could incorporate that into there. It is not taking this entire list and doing every single one. It's just doing those 7 lists and move it from being departmental focused into being community focused. All of the different departments are still outlined in this area. Mayor Rumbold: What I just heard about the buildings. Explain to me how a Liaison could be involved with that. Deputy Mayor Moore: A Liaison could create a Housing Task Force that would be just almost the same as what a Liaison does to the Building Department, currently, that reviews the abandoned property registry, that reports back to the status of that to the board. Same with the landlord registry, assist in the Building Department, as far as what goes with that. Fire and Safety Inspections represents the Housing Task Force on the Comprehensive Planning Committee. Those were just suggestions of a Housing Task Force. Housing Task Force has been brought up to us in the past by 9  . community members. There's a lot of different ways that a Housing Task Force can be created and a Liaison can take the lead to make that happen, as opposed to there being a Liaison assigned to the Building Department that only meets with the Building Inspector and reports back on the Building Inspector type of stuff. Mayor Rumbold: That sounds so invasive. Those are jobs that a Building Inspector is supposed to do. When we talked about a Housing Task Force, it was almost like a tattletale group that was going to roam the Village and turn neighbors in for whatever was in their yard and if they noticed a violation. Seems so invasive to me and you're going to have people on that committee that may not know part 1 about safety inspections. I can understand having someone on a comprehensive plan to talk about what they see as safety and fire and safety inspections. It also sounds like you're going to have people going into restaurants and checking for smoke alarms and checking their door. Deputy Mayor Moore: I respect your opinion. I'm not saying a committee or a task force. What I'm just explaining is the idea of transitioning a Liaison from being departmental focused into being community focused. Instead of Lynn, for example, she's the Building Department Liaison and focusing only on the Building Department, to focus more on the community surrounding housing, not creating a force of a commune. I understand exactly what you're saying. That's not what I'm talking about. Trustee Svarczkopf: I think there are a few Board Members on this board already that are exemplifying what they're trying to say here. John Ramos with his work with the School Board. I would not know as much about what's happening with the School Board unless he brought that back to us. And if we ever have an issue with the School Board or need them to do something, John Ramos is the guy to then go in because he has those relationships. Lynn and Brian go to those Town of Montgomery meetings. They are our voice there. I think that the goal here is to put our reach farther into the community and have kind of almost forced relationships so that when we do need a favor or the community wants us to do something, there's already opened communication to do that. When right now, what I think happens is, John Revella could give us the information that I give you at every single board meeting. He knows it better than me. So for me to be able to come back and say what's going on in Orange County right now. I've talked to so and so and we really want this bridge done and they said that there might be funding here and there and we're back-channel into it to try to figure that out. Those relationships, I think what Faith is trying to point out is that right now we're reiterating information that John Revella has. If we do this, we're trying to get our reach a little bit farther into the community and maybe a little bit farther up government as well. Trustee Thompson: I think maybe you don’t understand what Faith's trying to say. Perfect example is with the Building Department, I started doing those place-making sessions. 1 of the big things that they talk about in that is abandoned properties and zombie housings. Larry Curasi is on that. He knows a lot about the needs of our community and by doing some outreach in the housing sector and building inspections and abandoned properties, this is something that enables us to be more in tune with what's going on in our community. Then having the ability to reach even a little bit further and maybe hook up with a group that is also focused on the same issues in the community. We can possibly get some really good work done. I don't think it's invasive at all. I think it's part of strategic planning, community outreach, and there's a lot of other municipalities that are having the same pains that we are. There's a lot more power and a lot more opportunity when you can network and connect to get good work done in your own Village. Mayor Rumbold: When you say abandoned properties. Give me a scenario, what you're gonna do 10  . about abandoned properties. Trustee Thompson: 1 of the things that came up was, we can make a listing of all the abandoned properties. There are people in this working group that have the ability, not me, other people have the ability to talk to property owners, present options, negotiate with them. John is our Village Manager. He's very much aware of some of the problem properties in our community. It would just be a way for more resources to be pooled. More people to try and come up with some creative positive solutions to some of the problems we have with housing in our community. Mayor Rumbold: The Building Inspector does not have a list of abandoned properties in the Village? Trustee Thompson: Of course he does, but that's about all that my relationship is with him as a Liaison. I have to tell you, when I go in to meet with Dean, I'm taking him away from his work, for him to explain things to me. It's information that John already has. Sometimes I feel like I'm just saying the same information that our Village Manager already knows and that he could give anyone on our board any day of the week. Yes, I have had some other things in the Building Department that have been very positive with working with Dean and Darlene. But I think we can do more. I agree with Faith. We need more community service. We need our board to be more engaged with what's going on in our community, with our residents, with our business owners, with our community groups. Mayor Rumbold: I don't think that there is an issue with taking a subject such as abandoned properties and looking to see where information can be gotten. If there's a talk somewhere, if there's a presentation somewhere. But if you're talking about taking a Liaison position, making a list of abandoned properties and then approaching owners or the entity that owns an abandoned property and trying to negotiate and trying to talk, which is what I heard, that's not your job. That is invasive. If I was a property owner or someone that owned a piece of property and I got a phone call from some Liaison from some Village or some community member. I'd hang the phone up. If you're going to use that as a general thing, that I understand. But for a group of people to make a list and contact property owners that's invasive. Trustee Thompson: I did not say that that would be my role as an elected official. I would not be doing that. Maybe I'm not really explaining this properly to you. I would invite you to come to the next session with me so you could actually see the working group and what the goals are and how they try to make the goals happen. Deputy Mayor Moore: I just want to add, I really appreciate everybody's comments and their perspective on this. The idea behind it, as I keep saying, is just move it from being departmental focused into being community focused. The Liaisons that get assigned to the different areas will help morph it into making it community focused. Sue, I agree 100%. I'm not about knocking on a door or calling somebody up. I don't want it to be intrusive, but the Liaison can then figure out focusing on that area ways that we can better assist the community that we serve. Not looking to get intrusive. Not looking at getting into all of these different areas. They were just suggestions on the different areas. Trustee Svarczkopf: I would make a motion to get rid of the Liaison positions in the form that they are. I think that we need to spend a little bit of time after this to try to figure out where each Board Member wants to be on this list. John Ramus already has the School Board connections. He would 11  . probably want that. Here's a list of things that we want to reach out to. What would you like to do? Pick 1 or 2 off the list. With that said, I think that John's report needs to include a report on each department from now on. Mayor Rumbold: Faith, are you willing to share the thoughts of the 2 people that are actually probably going to be sitting on the board? Deputy Mayor Moore: I don't want to publicly call them out. I don't think that that's appropriate, because I didn't say that I would share their comments individually. I can say that 1 person was completely in favor of transitioning from departmental focused to being community focused and made 2 additional suggestions into the areas. The other person was in favor of keeping it very departmental focused with the caveat of having people switch on a regular basis of the departments. I just don't feel comfortable saying which one was which. Mayor Rumbold: I don't need to know that because when they were on the board, they could make that known. Unfortunately, we're not in a situation that's normal, because those 2 people would probably be sitting on the board now and be able to voice their opinions and would be able to vote on the final outcome. I understand the desire to change this. Personally, I hate to do something and have 2 people that should be sitting here being able to make that decision and they can't because of the circumstances. Deputy Mayor Moore: Unfortunately, that election is not going to happen now for another 4 months. I don't necessarily think that it's appropriate for us to not entertain a motion because of an election that's going to happen in 4 months. Mayor Rumbold: Anybody can make a motion Faith. You know that. I'm just saying, my consideration as the Mayor has to be for the board that's going be here, hopefully in September. If you want to go ahead and do whatever you want to do with the board that's sitting here now, that's fine. That's certainly the prerogative that's there. Trustee Svarczkopf: A previous board made that decision for the board members that are sitting on here now. That's how boards work. Yes, every decision we make, we lock in the next board into a decision. Mayor Rumbold: You have to have their input. Deputy Mayor Moore: And we just adopted a budget that didn't have their input that they're going to have to sit with. I completely respect and understand what you're saying, Mayor. I get it. It's unprecedented times that we're in. Which is exactly 100% why I reached out to them and asked their opinion. I personally asked their opinion as opposed to having it come to the board because they're not elected. It's a weird and gray area. I get what you're saying, but just the same as we had a budget to put together and vote on with people that are sitting here now that are potentially not going to be sitting here in September. A lot of things can happen between now and September. Trustee Ramos: Forgive me in concluding, is this a Mayoral appointment? Mayor Rumbold: It always has been. Trustee Ramos: It's basically your decision, boss. I understand everybody has their points of 12  . record. It's up to the boss's decision. Mayor Rumbold: I'll go with whatever the Board wants to do. I'm 1 of 7 members on the Board. Having been there from the beginning of this whole Liaison. I understand what the purpose was. Technically, every Trustee has to decide what they're gonna do with their position. Hopefully in the future, maybe this will stimulate Trustees to be more active, not just be 2 meeting a month people. But you don't know that. If this is the direction that the Board wants to go in. I'll go with it. I hope it works. Don't think that it will work, because what a Trustee is supposed to do is represent the community. Shouldn't have to form committees to do that. But as we all know, some Trustees are very involved in the community. Others are not. I don't know that making these kinds of committees, forming this kind of task force, whatever it wants to be called, is going to help that matter. They're going to put into the job what they want to put into the job, regardless of what the Board decides. I know that it was my appointment. It'll be the next Mayor's appointment or it would have been the next Mayors appointment. But if this is what the Board wants to do, hope it works and maybe this kind of format will instill Trustees to get involved in the community where they live. Trustee Svarczkopf made a motion to end Liaisonships. Seconded by Trustee Kraus. Roll call: Trustee Svarczkopf: Yes. Trustee Kraus: Yes. Trustee Thompson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Moore: Yes. Trustee Ramos: No. Trustee Sebring: Yes. Mayor Rumbold: No. Motion carried. Payment of the Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to pay the Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Correspondence Trustee Svarczkopf: I received a lot of texts and emails about the budget process and questions about sales tax and a bunch of other questions. Trustee Thompson: Had some texts with questions about the budget. Deputy Mayor Moore: I received e-mails regarding the budget, as well as I received 2 emails from a resident wanting to have conversations surrounding having hens permitted within Village limits again. Trustee Ramos: Received 2 e-mails. 1 Faith had sent out to us and the other from the Association of Towns and Villages, about the fiscal survey. If that was received and completed. Gary Swinger from the Foxhill has invited some of us to the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 7th from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Can go on the Foxhill's website and you'll be able to log on to their system. 13  . Mayor Rumbold: Received a couple e-mails about the budget and a question about policing. I answered those. Manager Revella: Madam Mayor, you got 1 at the office. Since you haven't been able to come up here due to the Pandemic, do you want me to read it? It's from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. *Read letter into minutes* Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Thompson: I would just like to say that I am absolutely thrilled that we are going to do the streetlights. I've been like bugging and getting information and talking to John for months and months. I think it's really exciting that we're gonna finally, finally move ahead with the streetlights. Trustee Svarczkopf: With that in mind is that does not help our Climate Smart? Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Moore: I just want to let everybody know that the new police car has arrived and it's getting things added on that needs to be added on and waiting to find out when the lettering could be done. Sometime this summer, it will be functional. I also just wanted to ask the Manager if there were any consideration about what we were doing surrounding the Memorial Day celebration. Is that going to be canceled? Do you need the Board to do that? I'm just kind of curious where we're at with that. Manager Revella: It was approved by the Board pending the reopening of those types of events, as of right now, we don't have any word. Right now, the Governor strict and stern on the May 15th date for anything reopening. We have to wait until then. We have the 19th meeting just in case if we have to revisit. Trustee Sebring: I'd just like to let everybody know that I'm going to be even here on the 21st of May and I will be back in Walden for the rest of the year. Mayor Rumbold: I want to let everyone know that after May 16th, I will be known as Mayor Taylor. Everybody can change my correspondence. I know it'll take some time for everybody to get used to, but anything for the Village should say Mayor Taylor on it. Executive Session - Personal history of a particular employee Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to enter executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Reconvene Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Manager Revella: I just want to make sure the Board is aware that my contract expires in June of this year, I believe. We have to put that on the agenda for the next meeting, Dave, so you can talk to the board about that. Deputy Mayor Moore: Do we need to decide any questions that were asked on the livestream are 14  . going to be answered? Is the Manager going to go through and answer them or compile a list of questions and we'll just respond to them at the next meeting? How are we going to respond to any questions? I'm talking questions, not comments. Normally there's just public comment, not public questions. Attorney Donovan: The notice for the meeting indicates written comments will be accepted for a period 10 days followed meeting. It's not written questions. The idea is if this was a typical Board Meeting, not typical because we're all remote, but otherwise the procedures in the process will be the same. Trustee Svarczkopf: Can those be sent out via e-mail? Manager Revella: If you guys take a look at the Facebook live, if you consider any of those questions or comments that need to be addressed, just let me know how you want to address them. I don't have anything via email or in written form that came in as per the notice. Trustee Svarczkopf: If anything comes in after tonight, can they just be compiled and email after 10 days? Manager Revella: Absolutely. Trustee Ramos: The COVID-19 Fiscal Impact Survey, the Town is supposed to do. Did we have any input with that? Manager Revella: No. Trustee Ramos: It's due the 8th. Manager Revella: I haven't received anything from them, yet. Deputy Mayor Moore: Last thing, since I did get an email from that resident talking about chickens. I don't know very much about it at all, but if there's anybody else that would like to have that conversation and have it put on the agenda, please reach out to me. I don't really know what to do with it other than I received the email, so I will investigate it. Manager Revella: We had one other person contact the Village regarding that as well. Besides, the 1 that contacted you. We had this conversation in the Board a few years ago. Deputy Mayor Moore: I know it had happened in the past. I have to go and read that conversation. I just don't know if it's a conversation we want to have again. Mayor Rumbold: We've had the conversation, you're right. This is probably the 3rd time we've had it since I've sat on the Board. You could poll your fellow Board Members and see if anyone's interested in having that discussion again. I don't think the arguments for it or against it have changed. In view of the fact that there's there was just another recent sighting of a bear in the Village. It's known that the chickens attract predators. We can have the discussion. Deputy Mayor Moore: I don't know if we want to have the discussion. But that's a good point, I never thought about that. 15  . Mayor Rumbold: You can poll the Board Members and see how they feel about it, but I'm not in favor of putting it on the agenda again. That situation hasn't changed. Deputy Mayor Moore: I'll pull up past conversations and read both sides of it. Trustee Thompson: It's interesting because this is a topic that's springing up in a lot of different communities right now. This is apparently a big deal about having these hens Manager Revella: When they had egg shortages for a certain amount of time. People were grasping to try and find eggs. That's 1 of the reasons why it came up again. Deputy Mayor Moore: I'll pull up all of the past conversations and read through them and determine how I feel about having the conversation. Then I'll reach out to the rest of you and see if anybody else wants to. ADJOURNED. 16  . Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 5, 2020 Motions & Resolutions Approval of April 21, 2020 Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to approve April 21, 2020 Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Ramos. All ayes. Motion carried. CDBG Set Public Hearing Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to set Public Hearing – CDBG for Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Ramos. All ayes. Motion carried. Adopt 2020-2021 Village Budget Trustee Ramos made a motion to adopt the 2020-2021 Village Budget. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Street Lights – LED Trustee Ramos made a motion to allow Manager to negotiate with NYSEG and then have the attorney to review the contract before signing based on the presumptions that were presented today. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Moore. All ayes. Motion carried. Banner Request Trustee Ramos made a motion to approve Banner Request. Seconded by Trustee Kraus. All ayes. Motion carried. Liaisonships Trustee Svarczkopf made a motion to end Liaisonships. Seconded by Trustee Kraus. Roll call: Trustee Svarczkopf: Yes. Trustee Kraus: Yes. Trustee Thompson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Moore: Yes. Trustee Ramos: No. Trustee Sebring: Yes. Mayor Rumbold: No. Motion carried. Payment of the Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to pay the Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session - Personal history of a particular employee Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to enter executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. 17  . Reconvene Deputy Mayor Moore made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 18