Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting April 6, 2021 Mayor Ramos called the regular meeting of the Village of Walden Board of Trustees to order at 6:30pm. On roll call the following were: Mayor: John Ramos Present: Deputy Mayor Willie Carley Trustees Brian Sebring Cheryl Baker Lynn E. Thompson Patricia Maher Absent: John Elliott Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Manager Revella: Since last meeting, I was out for one week. The other week we kept tweaking on some issues with the budget, budget transfers and adjustments for this year. Combing through lines for each department to make sure we're on task for the final part of the year. Went through some revenue lines as well. Continued meeting with the Engineer and Department Heads on capital projects and the Treasurer. I went through some of requests for appeal for different violations, water bills. Will be getting some news from the state on their budget and different legislation that might affect us positively and negatively. Once that is signed off by the governor, we will update everyone. We did find out our fiscal stress score is down to 7.9. We were 50 something percent some years ago and the last 3 years, we've gone down. We still have some issues going on with staffing at the Police Department due to 207c. Clerk has been following up with worker's comp on that as well and with Rod, who is helping us build a page for Climate Smart, so we can get extra points on our links on that page. Been updating the website and Facebook as we get alerts from the state on different things. The Water, Sewer and Highway have been busy, different routine testing, switching over things, regular maintenance. They did have one sewer break on Ivy Hill. They were quick to repair. They all did their mark outs for the railroad crossing that's going to be upgraded at Coldenham Road. The crossing at Coldenham Rd will be updated to a gate crossing with actual arms and lights when the train approaches. It is a high traffic road, there is a visual issue there with the buildings and trees, so hopefully it will be safer. The guys have been out cleaning for MS4, street sweeper is out, had some personnel issues due to Covid coverage, but otherwise they've keeping up on everything pretty well as usual. The tennis, flag football and summer camp registrations are all open and online for SI Play. The online series concluded. Harvest Fest planning is going on now and Music in the Grove schedule is finalized and the concerts will up in the beginning of June. Rec Coordinator also put it in the youth program applications to the County. Hopefully, we get a response. The Building Dept. has been going through COs, Building Permits, Compliant Certs. Did go back to court for several properties that were not compliant. Code Enforcement Officer is still is in class. They were able to do some progress on some code compliance issues and hopefully get some more of that going forward. Deputy Mayor Carley: Coldenham crossing, when does that start? 1 Manager Revella: We don't know. We had a meeting and it's really up to all the different utility companies. We did all the mark outs. The railroad company is ready. The DOT is ready. It's just a matter of getting the wires moved on the poles from NYSEG, Frontier and Spectrum. As soon as that's been coordinated, they'll be able to get the project done very quickly. They think it will take about a week with some lane closures. As soon as they have the date, they'll let us know and we'll let the public know. The plan is to have it done before summer. Mayor Ramos: Is there any update with the crosswalk at 208 and Main St? Manager Revella: Yes. The representative from DOT did say that they are slated to be upgraded to alternating crosswalks. That should be happening soon. Deputy Mayor Carley: 7.9, that's good. I'm looking at 2018 with a 36.3. What changed? Manager Revella: There are a lot of factors involved, but we've been fiscally and economically prudent. It's been helpful. My first five years here, we were dealing with a lot of lagging issues that we had to get through with fund balance. That cost us a lot financially. Once we got though that we were able to start planning ahead better and once we got planning ahead better we were financially better. Our Treasurer has played a role doing that as well and making sure that we're on task. Deputy Mayor Carley: I believe Kelly has been with us for 5 years? Treasurer Kelly: 5 years. Deputy Mayor Carley: 5 years and that's the time frame. I see the common denominator. Mayor Ramos: Thank you, Kelly. Approval of March 23, 2021 Minutes Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve the March 23, 2021 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment on Business of the Board John Cappello: February of 2020, I was here speaking about annexation. And if you recall at that time we were talking about the agreement. The agreement had an extension, had a year to actually install water and sewer improvements. There's a concern that you obtained your fees for the water and sewer. The agreement had a year, possible extension if it was impractical to install it in that year’s time. And at that time, I had asked the board and we did get included in the contract, an additional year in case of due diligence. I explained to the board, it's in the minutes that, 2 years might seem like a lot of time in real life, but in the world of Planning Board and in the world of land use approval, it's a blink of an eye. The example I may have given was that I live on Ulster Ave and about 10 years ago, I was digging up in my front yard. I uncovered some stairs. I went to John and told him I'd like to fix them up. He said don't bother. Next year we're going to be putting in sidewalks. Little did I know in February 2020 that the next month I would be sitting in my upstairs bedroom, which was now my office and the work finally started and I got to hear the machines going up and down the street while I was trying to work. What I'm here to say is, it may seem to you like there's been a delay here, but we experienced in the last year a worldwide pandemic. It delayed things. You have an applicant before you and before the board and the Amthor family owned and operated this facility is about to sell it. I'm just here to ask the board to be reasonable in your consideration, understanding your desire to see the fees, but within that agreement, which we would believe was accepted to move forward, given the 2 years potential extension with a fine of 2 $5,000 a day. Which makes it impossible for us to say don't worry about the extension. What I would hope and I've have some discussions and try to talk with your attorney that the board would consider granting a 6 month extension with a possible one more 6 month extension. That would bring us to February of 2022. In February 2022, I can tell you those lines probably still aren't going to be installed. At that point, if the board would say we want to see whatever the fees were paid for water paid to the Village, I think that would be a reasonable compromise and it would be still an incentive for whoever owns the property at that point. I think it's in everybody's interest to move forward because it's a valuable piece of land and having a big piece of it reserved for a septic system doesn't benefit anybody. Makes it much less usable. I'm here to respond to any questions that board may have. I know the attorney for the bus company is here as well, but we just ask for consideration. I think that is a reasonable compromise, which will make the Village whole and will allow us to proceed to close and develop and improve that property. Action Items Discussion – Walden East Attorney Donovan: Going back to the February meeting where there was a request for the extension. The board granted the 6 month extension. I made some suggestions by some modifications to the agreement. Went back to the council for Orange County Transit. We did not come to an agreement on those amendments. So, we're back here tonight. You've heard Mr. Cappello, Mr. Mirando is in the back representing Orange County Transit. Where you are now, I don't know if you're inclined to do anything under the existing agreement, which is still in effect. You have a 6 month extension, you could just leave it at that. And have the applicant or whoever it would be Walden East if they own the property, Orange County Transit, has the ability under the existing one for another extension. There have been some discussions about some different ways to accomplish the objective. I don't know if the board is inclined to entertain any of those. I don't know if it's appropriate to have this discussion in an open forum. I haven't had the opportunity, given the passage of time, how we're conducting the business and the fact that the Manager and the Mayor were away last week. It came off the agenda for the last meeting in March. What you have now is a 6 month extension based upon the existing agreement. Trustee Thompson: I don't have a problem with a 6 month extension as long as we see progress in the right direction. I have to tell you, the thing that annoys me the most about this whole thing, I feel like the process of submitting the permits was delayed. I think that's part of the reason why this is where we are. I agree that the project probably would not have been finished within the original timeframe, but I feel like there was a little bit of a lapse in good faith, because the permit process certainly could have been initiated and it was not. And some of the pieces of the original agreement were not carried out properly. Employees were moved here without the Village being informed. The bus company had been told about the issues with the water and sewer and what their capacity would be. How many people should be on the site, which was never discussed with the Village. The trailer facilities, the bathroom that was done without any discussion with the Village, as far as I remember. So, while I don't have a major problem with considering an extension, I do have a problem with my feeling that the bus company did not practice in good faith. That's where I'm hung up about how we should have a discussion as a board, how we should proceed. Trustee Maher: I agree with Lynn. I think there definitely needs to be more discussion, a 6 month extension sounds good, but we should discuss the details more. Trustee Baker: The same sentiment as well as Trustee Maher and Trustee Thompson. Trustee Sebring: I agree with Lynn. They weren't acting in good faith. Things that they were doing, getting back to the Village they added more buses from another place. I'm in favor of the 6 month extension. 3 Deputy Mayor Carley: I just got to be clear, Mr. Cappello, was the argument about the fees or the extension? Because it seemed like you're in agreement with the extension. John Cappello: Our position is the 6 month extension plus the possibility of another one and then we would like you to discuss the issue and that could be the future of the fine. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm in agreement with an extension and because what we discussed as a Board previously, we said that the extension for 6 months be granted, because we want to make sure progression is being carried out as appropriate. Like Trustee Thompson said, previously things weren't being done. Issues that departments were bringing up and we just want to make sure that is moving forward. With documentation and time, the 6 months and then you come back in, another 6 months we're looking at to make sure there's progression. We don't want to hold up things either. If we have to stay here and continue to fight over the minutia of business and we feel that the client should just make sure that things are done in a timely mater. I'm with the extension, but I was hearing 2 different things about the fees. John Cappello: That is a big issue going forward, the amount of the fine. There may have been clarifications. We represent the owner of the property. We became aware of any issues, we addressed. Anthony can speak for the operator. There is a process moving forward. If we proceed and give you all reports in 6 months or they give you all the reports, if they close and then you still say we have $5,000 dollars a day that we can charge. That's a big hammer holding over us. If the Board acknowledges we have a 6 month extension and if you want to discuss the fee further, we'd might potentially reserve that ability with the Board. Make sure everyone knows what's going on. I agree it's in everybody's interest and the resident get hooked up to water and sewer and that site approved as quickly as possible. Mayor Ramos: Thank you for coming in tonight. I remember sitting in the committee for the Land Use Agreement. It was amicable, it was professional and the other side of the table was totally in agreement with the structure that the Land Use Agreement was in. Granted, $5,000 was the number that was agreed on from both sides of the table. Is it a hammer? Yes, but the Village right now is looking for progress. Somebody was supposed to come today to give us an update. Every board meeting, somebody is supposed to come and give us an update on what's going to happen. If you want us to grant an extension, we need to see progress. We need to see something in writing that we can present to the people that they are doing something. Everybody has been working. DOT, DOH has been working. The SEQR process is still alive and kicking. We need to see progress. If you're going to come here and request another extension, we need to see progress. Is there a timeline if we grant them a 6 month extension? Attorney Donovan: That was going to be my question as we talked about this in February. So everyone knows exactly what it is and 2 months isn't a lot of time. It's either 6 months from some time. You can say from February, you can say from tonight. I just think you need to be clear what that 6 months is from. Manager Revella: It was the February meeting when the first agreement expired. Mayor Ramos: The extension is going to go to August. John Cappello: It's not going to be completed by August. I just want to clarify one thing, the applicant did submit a timeline in writing that listed all the progress that was made for the last meeting. We were told it was tabled. It wasn't intentional that it wasn't reported. 4 Mayor Ramos: That document is stale. It's April 6th right now. I would love to see something telling us DOT was notified April 1st. What's the status of their permits? And the rest of the agencies. I want to see this progress. You can't sit and tell us that we're not being due diligent. We need progress. Everybody is in perfect agreement that we should give you an extension, but we need to see something happened. Dig a hole, do something, get the proper permits. We need to see DOT communicate to the applicant. The DOH, even our water and sewer, we need to see that. Trustee Thompson: Not only the permitting process, but compliance with things within our code. Our Building Inspector has been down there countless times. I think we also should ask for documentation that there's continued code compliance. Or if something that's still not being corrected, I would like the board to know that. John Cappello: We did an inspection with the Building Inspector and submitted a letter in March from the applicant that showed progress of everything. There's an application to the ZBA. There was a list on March 19th. Going forward, it's great that we all get on the same page. I think that's in everybody's interest. If you want a report every month, I don't think the applicant would have a problem doing that. I don't think anybody would raise an issue with that at all. Manager Revella: Dave, are you saying that we need the applicant sign off on this extension agreement as well? John Cappello: Our position is, Brian owns the land. Brian signs off on it, they're either going to buy the land subject to that or Brian will be approaching this board with a different plan. Manager Revella: We have to specify it so I just wanted to make sure we're good with that. Anthony Mirando: I hope you would agree that I try to speak in a collaborative, positive manner, not an adversarial one. I just want to follow up on a couple of things. With respect to the 6 months, Orange County Transit is happy to come here every month and tell you exactly what's going on. The materials that we submitted over the course of the last couple of months and we really didn't intend on doing that. We had hoped to have a dialog about it, but that was the best way to do it given the circumstances. We try to document in detail, all the work that has been done. Orange County Transit has been appearing before the Planning Board and working to get to that place for the better part of the year. Starting back in July. You don't just go file in July, it takes time before that to get there, which was also during Covid. Once the process got going and some detail started to get ironed out on how it would be processed by the Village. The point I'm getting at is that we've been communicating with the DOT, DOH, the DEC, Planning Board and Village staff for months. I've been personally involved since November and we've been aggressive since then. I have reviewed the record and it's been pretty aggressive prior to that. To John's point earlier, it is a long, painful process to get through it. But we have tried to work through that process and be as up front with it. I'm happy to come here and give you updates on what we're doing. We've continually following up with those agencies and while, yes, everybody's working and this isn't blame on anybody, but there is practical realities to reduce staff at the state. So, there are delays in the time that's acknowledged by people in the Village as well. I'm only saying these things to sort of say that we have tried. We will continue to try to be collaborative and open about what we're doing. The only thing about the 6 months is the devil's in the details. Yes, 6 months and we'll come here every month and tell you. 6 months from February, that's 4 months from now. We're going to be nowhere. There's so much that has to get done to get there. Manager Revella: Like the Mayor was saying, you can have progress notes from DOT, DEC, anybody to come back to the board. Have something to show progress. I'm not sure if the Board wants to see it in writing or in person. That's a different story for the Board to tell you, but 5 otherwise, your progress reports are requested. Anthony Mirando: That's fine, I'll have to do that. The question just becomes, in August we're back here at the same place and as we talk about it, it's really an unconscionable fine for whatever reason it is. It's significant. Even if we're trying our best, the agreement, for example, doesn't talk about 6 months. It talks about 12 months. We just get concerned and John's right, they're the property owner. But if we proceed, we get concerned with where are we 4 months from now and we're back in the same argument. And what is the standard upon which the Board is reviewing the extension request? Manager Revella: That's correct. You're not wrong and the Board will have that discussion again at the time. Anthony Mirando: It's a significant concern. Deputy Mayor Carley: Is it the issue with the funds or an issue with the extension? We said we would give an extension, but you need to show progression. I think that's pretty clear what the Board says. Anthony Mirando: I appreciate that so much. If we wrote up every potential objective benchmark that could be met, they would have been met months ago. So, what's progress? There really isn't a benchmark to say that we haven't done already. That would be our only concern is what is the standard upon which the next extension would be granted? Deputy Mayor Carley: Progression is, we cleared up all our fines, all our things with the departments within the Village. So, we're moving forward to show good faith. Then progression is we went through this process, we're here. Our documentation is at this point, we're waiting on their reply. Their reply tells us we should we have something back in August 5th. Guess what? Then we can say we hold you to the fire August 5th. The Board, DOH, whoever, they may not give you what you want by August 5th, but at least we know that you did your due diligence. Anthony Mirando: And I hope that's what the papers I submitted tried to show. We're probably driving the Planning Board crazy and driving their consultants a little crazy trying to get information out of them so we can respond. They're working hard. It's just a process. I'm pestering our engineers to continue to follow up as recently as last week with any outside agency that we can. At some point that becomes counterproductive, also. I'm just trying to be transparent about it. Most of the things that were raised over the course of the last several months were addressed several months ago. It's an ongoing process of trying to be transparent, continuing to work together. I just want to be upfront about this issue that there is just a lot of time needed to get through this overall process and actually connect. Mayor Ramos: We're going to continue discussing this. We're going to relay that to our attorney and inform the other 2 party’s attorneys and we'll discuss that further. Those key items need to be taken care of. We'd like to see next board meeting that we can at least see a document saying, you've done this, and you’ve done this, who you talked to, how it's going. We're going to continue discussing that and get back to you. Attorney Donovan: I don't want to jam up the Board's agenda, but I do think that perhaps it would be helpful to have someone here at each meeting. If the Board has a question, that you submitted the document that said you did x, y and z, what happened and how come we haven't gotten the answer? I think the physical presence is one thing. To get an email that everyone's busy, you may or may not have had the time to take a look at, but if someone's here in front of you, it's an important issue. 6 Just to address 1 of the comments you made. I go to almost all of the Village Planning Board sessions. You were not on the agenda for many sessions. The excuse and I'm sorry, was Covid, Covid, Covid. Yes, but the Planning Board met all during Covid. Your company was not on that agenda every single meeting. The other thing that bothers me, I was on the committee originally, when the monetary amount was brought up for the fines, which was accepted immediately. So, I'm a little curious as to why that wasn't even negotiable on the side of you or the property owner. Now all of a sudden, it's a big number. That was never even questioned. John Cappello: The first year said the standard was impractical. Then we negotiated a second year that we demonstrate the due diligence, we will be entitled to the second year. So, that's why that fine was not discussed as much. We had 2 years that if we were proceeding, the first year was just once again, impractical to get a whole year, not just 6 months. And the second year was if we were doing due diligence, we'd be entitled to a second year, which would bring us to February 2023. That's when the possibility of fines would be. So, the issue became when in February we were advised that despite Covid and despite the efforts, there was either no extensions granted or every 6 months. That's when the fine was raised. It wasn't raised before that, because frankly, when the February meeting came, I was floored that there wasn't a year extension given. And there was also a legitimate argument that the date when the annexation was valid was September. The first year wouldn't even expire till September of this year and then we'd be entitled to 2 years. We are trying to work with 2 sides of the story. But when you talk about the amount of time, the amount of time by February or September of 2023, they're not hooked up, then maybe $5,000 is reasonable. Trustee Thompson: I understand that. But what I'm hearing this evening is that it was pretty much expected right from the start that this was never going to be done on time. John Cappello: I said it at the meeting that it's not going to be done in time that's why we negotiated the second year for the possible extension. It's in the minutes of the meeting that I said there's no way in the world we will begin within a year. Attorney Donovan: If I may make a suggestion, it would be a motion granted extension until August 18th, 2021. I do notice from the resolution, there's a meeting the 17th, August 18th is 6 months so there's no misunderstanding as to when the extension is. Anthony Mirando: What are we being judged on in August? Attorney Donovan: Progress. Anthony Mirando: I don't want to just kick the can down the road and have another problem. Manager Revella: You will kick a can down the road, there won't be a problem if you show the progress they expect. They're looking for some progress. They gave some examples of what you could show them. Anthony Mirando: I think we've done that. Manager Revella: Continue to do that. Updates. Like from the last time you gave a report to the Board, there's been 2 weeks. What happened in those 2 weeks? Anthony Mirando: We appeared before the Planning Board in March. Working hard to get back in April. Usually the Planning Board process is you go to a meeting, you get comments, you probably have a bi-monthly process because you have to respond and if you get comments or if you don't get 7 comments. So, the work is being done. It's just I have concerns about where we are in August. Trustee Thompson made a motion to grant the extension until August 18, 2021. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 21-20-21 – Budget Transfers Manager Revella: We're still going through some additional budget adjustments through year end. There's going to be more. Trying to make sure we're clearing up on whatever we can so we don't have to overburden next year's budget and also so we can make sure we're supplied in case there was another issue with the supply chain that we had last year. Trustee Baker made a motion to adopt Resolution 21-20-21 - Budget Transfers. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Set Public Hearing for Budget – April 20, 2021 at 6:30pm Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to set Public Hearing for Village Budget for April 20, 2021 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: 54 Gladstone Ave. Can you tell us yet what's going on with the 2020 and 2021 taxes from Walden East? Manager Revella: They were paid in full for 2020-2021 Village taxes. Mary Ellen Matise: How much did they pay? Manager Revella: I don't know the exact number, but it's public. We can tell you that number, it's over $19,000. Dennis Wageman: 27 Ulster Ave. My family and I have owned the house there for more than 80 years. I've been associated with it for more than about 73 years. This year was a little bit different. I received a snow removal notice from the Village and I really didn't know what it was for. I had to make a lot of assumptions. I made my assumptions and it turned out they were all wrong. I thought it was for a crosswalk violation. I went to talk to Dean Stickles and he said, no, it probably wasn't crosswalk. You have to see the Village Manager. I put my contact information in with the Village Manager. A week went by, I didn't hear anything. I was told to talk to the Manager, so I wrote a letter over a page long and I didn't hear anything back. I figured, I'm going to have to do a little bit of digging as to what is really going on here. I still haven't really come to that conclusion. But what was obvious was there wasn't anybody to talk to about my situation. The reason for that is going to be, again, because I'm making all these assumptions, I don't know. It was mentioned the Code Enforcement Officer was the training. But 1 of the things I should have gotten was a certified letter, which should include a concise statement of the reasons for its issuance. If I received that, I wouldn't have to worry about talking to anyone. But that is also an administration enforcement. It's not in a snow removal section. Right now, I still don't know what my removal issue was. It's looking more and more like it was not even a snowstorm. I've got to wait to really find out the facts before I go further forward. I don't have anyone to talk to. Where does that leave me? It leaves me with putting in a slew of FOIL requests. I went to the window and 1 of the clerks said, you want 1 or 2? I'm thinking 1 or 2 dozens. Because even when I put some of these in, it says we don't really have a separate document for that. Then you have to put in another one. When I go to another section of the code, I use the term "going rogue". You have to follow the code. Well, I never even got my certified letter, let alone a detailed certified letter. You don't follow the code. The other thing is on my notice of violation, on the bottom, it said if I didn't comply and right now it looks 8 like I didn't comply, because I didn't even know this snow storm existed and maybe the reason for that is that if I look at the date, I now assume this happened. It was supposed to be for scattered snow showers. I wasn't around that weekend. I came back Monday night, I found snow on the sidewalk and I cleared it Tuesday morning. That's an assumption on my part, is what snowstorm we're talking about. But on the bottom, it says by failing to comply, which I admit I failed to comply, I would be, not could, should, I would be summoned to appear before the Housing Court. I thought that this is great. I'm looking forward to this. I get somebody to talk to. Well, that was waived by somebody. How do you waive that? Isn't that my right? That's my tale of woe and somehow eventually this will get resolved. I don't know how, but I wish would happen the Village Attorney can put himself in my shoes and see exactly what happened here. So, when this whole slew of FOIL requests comes, don't say it's my fault. It's the way it was handled. I see a couple of problems with the Village Code itself. Becky Pearson: 167 Walnut St. Thank you for Arbor Day, I hope you all can attend. Its Thursday the 29th 9:30 am with the dedication of a tree for Dominick Winum. After that, we're going to do a presentation for the school. Thank you for having it taped. We appreciate that, too. The bus company, does anybody know if it was sold yet? It was supposed maybe a year ago. Does real estate take that long? Manager Revella: Sometimes. Becky Pearson: That's kind of odd for me and I have those concerns with that. The attorney had said that he found that pushing an agency doesn't get anything done. I'm going to disagree with that because I pushed and pushed for that property by the bridge. Every month I called the state to get that property for the park. And every month I got the same person and we finally got it. I think that that's wrong. I think if you really do want something done. You really have to push and get what you need. The agreement, I believe says that you don't have to even grant a year. Also, Mr. Cappello was saying that it was September was the valid date of the annexation. It is not September. Just wanted to see if anybody else caught that, because I heard that. I know you made the motion for 6 months, but there were no conditions on it in that motion. Manager Revella: Same conditions that are in the Land Use Agreement. Becky Pearson: You were talking about different things, like Lynn was talking about things that she wanted to see and I thought that would have been more productive to have that in that motion so that they knew exactly what we were trying to achieve. My other comment is Hill Street Bridge. Where are we with that? Did you get back to the Town telling them that you aren't going to pay for that bridge? Manager Revella: They're aware that we're not paying for it. They're trying to apply for a grant. We told them we prefer them to put Tappan Zee Panels in them. Becky Pearson: Sales tax numbers, are we down for the year? Manager Revella: We got some. More than what we budgeted, but less than normal. Becky Pearson: Millspaugh Park, where are we at? Manager Revella: We have submitted all of our forms and permits to the appropriate approving authorities. We have to wait for them to approve the project. Becky Pearson: There's a light out on the upper bridge. And the Historian position, I see you have 9 someone new. I'm happy that there's someone in that position because it's been a couple of years and nothing's been really done. I hope we can get more markers. They look great in the Village, so hopefully we'll move forward with that. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Correspondence Deputy Mayor Carley: I sent the email to the Town Supervisor and I sent an email to the Ambulance Corps representative that I spoke to regarding the Ambulance Committee. I haven't received anything back. I spoke to Trustee Baker and she's been doing some footwork with some things. We've been putting in some effort regarding the Ambulance Committee, but we haven't received any information back. People here walked through their facilities and see what they're saying, but it's not that bad. I guess depending on whose perspective. We are pushing forward. Trustee Thompson: Just the letter from Mary Ellen Matise. Mayor Ramos: I received correspondence from Mrs. Hernandez. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Thompson: I'm very happy to hear that we're going to put Climate Smart on our web page. I was hoping you could give us some information on the Community Center. Is there anything new? Manager Revella: Tomorrow we'll have plans. That's what we were told today. Trustee Thompson: I think most everyone on the Board agrees that we need to be a little more aggressive with trying to see what grant opportunities are out there. I have spoken a little bit to a grant writer whose name was given to me with a lot of positives. I'd like to know if I can have another conversation with her, if the Board would be agreeable to her coming and giving us some sort of a presentation about her services. Its spring time and every year we talk about doing something to beautify our Village. Nothing ever seems to happen. I volunteered to help the Parks Department last year. Nobody called me. So, John, I'd like to think we can try again this year, do something wonderful to make the Village a little more enjoyable for people who walk, people who visit. It makes you feel better when you see signs of life everywhere around the Village. It has come to my attention that the Building Department has not had an operational fax line for about a month. I was told we switched our service company. I don't know how everyone else feels. That's a long time for business, which we are to be without a fax line. Manager Revella: We can scan and email now. They're working on putting the line back in. Trustee Thompson: They're working on it, but I feel like it's an unreasonable amount of time. Manager Revella: I don't disagree with you. The utility companies are ridiculous in how long they take. Trustee Thompson: How hard are we pushing them? I just feel like it seems like an inordinate amount of time. Just my opinion. I just want to be sure that that's actively being pursued. That's a busy department, especially this time of year. I don't want to see them get held up with the work that they like to get done. On May 15th in conjunction with the CAC, with the Town, we are trying to set up a container planting workshop. There was talk about putting gardens in all over the Village, but the Town didn't realize that we have a code here about what we can grow and where it 10 can be. The consensus was that perhaps we could do a container planting workshop for everyone in the Town. There was a question where the location would be, whether it would be at Benedict Farm Park or here in the Village. The last meeting we had, people were kind of thinking in the Village, because we could get a little bit more participation and attendance. Benedict is a lovely park, but it's kind of far out for some of our residents. If you mark on your calendar May 15th, I will verify the location. We're going to see if the library will help us publicize that. I would like to ask with all the different things that are going on in the Village. I know we've had within the past Tri-Board meetings. After what was said here tonight, the Walden East Project, I'm wondering if maybe we should consider doing that again. The 3 Boards get together and we each know where we're at with different projects and we can have some dialog about how we'd like to see things move forward. We had 1 maybe a year ago. I'm thinking this might be a good time to resurrect that. Trustee Baker: I just wanted to give a shout out to Mike Bliss for doing a really awesome job with the Easter Bag handout at James Olley Park. Trustee Sebring and I were out there. Probably handed out more than 200 bags and the residual was given to Most Precious Blood and they gave it out to the kids for an Easter Sunday service. Mayor Ramos: Thank you for sending out that beautification from Lowe's, the grants that we possibly will put in for. We're on that and looking for some arrangements for upper bridge or Main Street itself. We're working on that. Thank you again for representing us at the Easter Bunny bag drop off. I have to personally thank Deputy Mayor for stepping up and giving us his tutelage and communication skills with us. Trustee Maher, we expect a lot from this team. I greatly appreciate the support that we have together. I saw a little bit of this with Walden East. We've got dialog. We're moving things forward. 2021, this is a horrible year and I am glad that we are face to face now and livestream for those who cannot not appear and thank you Village Manager for facilitating that and Mr. Ibberson for spending most of the day here. I greatly appreciate hopefully the next 2 years will be productive and we will have a great Village. Executive Session – PBA Negotiations Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to enter into executive session for personal history of particular person & PBA negotiations. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Mayor Ramos made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 11  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting April 6, 2021 Motions & Resolutions Approval of March 23, 2021 Minutes Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve the March 23, 2021 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Walden East Trustee Thompson made a motion to grant the extension until August 18, 2021. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 21-20-21 – Budget Transfers Trustee Baker made a motion to adopt Resolution 21-20-21 - Budget Transfers. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Set Public Hearing for Budget – April 20, 2021 at 6:30pm Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to set Public Hearing for Village Budget for April 20, 2021 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session – PBA Negotiations Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to enter into executive session for personal history of particular person & PBA negotiations. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Mayor Ramos made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 12