Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting April 20, 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 John Elliott Absent: Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Executive Session – PBA Negotiations Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter Executive Session - personal history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Baker. 6 ayes. 1 absence (Trustee Elliot). Motion carried. Reconvene Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Presentation Kristen O'Donnell: I think the first grant, Environmental Facilities Corp, that has been re-funded. This is the main grant that John Queenan is pursuing and that's going to be for sewer work. I think it's lining replacement that he's working on currently. There's also some other sewer related grants that we can look into, depending on how Environmental Facilities works out. There are EPA grants and there's also FDA funding for sewer improvements that this Village can qualify for. CDBG money that is pursued through the Orange County Office of Community Development. This Village obviously has a good history with obtaining CDBG grants. This Village just closed out on 3 in the last year. Now that those grants are closed out and the work is completed, I think this Village is in a good position to pursue additional CDBG funding this round. Those are usually due at the end of June. All the grants outside of utility work, a lot of that stuff is still slowly coming back and being funded again by the federal government. FEMA is another grant that this Village has got in the past and also is through Orange County Emergency Services Center. We're also reviewing the Lowe's grant. I think we're going to be pursuing that as well. That's for generally for like downtown community revitalization, downtown beautification project of some kind. The Climate Smart Communities Program that we've been working on, that is not funded currently by a grant, but it does work. It helps once you complete the program you are eligible for additional grants for other funding through this program. This village has created a joint task force with the Town of Montgomery. Lynn is taking the lead on that. The Village's website has been updated with the Climate Smart page, in case you want to read any of the documents that have been prepared. That's up and running, additional points were received for that. It's a point based system. The Village 1 currently has 103 points out of 120 points needed. We're making really good progress towards that as we're getting things accomplished. We prepared a Community Greenhouse Grant Emissions inventory as part of that. Some of the other things that the Village has completed in recent years that we were able to get points for that you had already done. The generators have been lifted out of the flood plan, that is also eligible for points. Things that the Village can start thinking about to continue to pursue this program. We talked about the Village wide, not for residential, but for Village Hall, Village staff, Village buildings, some type of recycling policy program. That's something that they will be looking for, like a policy for the Village Board to adopt. Similarly a policy for all Village vehicles. An inventory of all the vehicles to try to work towards identifying those vehicles that may be older and less fuel efficient and maybe purchasing some newer vehicles. All of those things are eligible for additional points. Those are all of the programs that we're currently working on. Trustee Thompson: Can I call you at your office? I just have some questions about coordinating with the Town as part of our task force. I've been trying to find the appropriate contact person, but no one's returning phone calls or emails at the county level. I tried to go even further for our representative for the Hudson Valley. I know there were some issues with Covid and not being in the office every day. My understanding is that they should be returned emails. Just from my experience with county planning. You can call me directly and I can walk you through any of the steps and kind of try to put our heads together and figure out how to get those points. Trustee Maher: What are some of the examples of the CDBG grants that you would be seeking for Walden? Kristen O'Donnell: The Village recently did the Sidewalk Restoration project that was on Walnut and Maple. We've done other sidewalk replacement programs, sewer lining. John Queenan, Village Engineer, has continued to believe that you should pursue sewer improvements. Those are certainly a better use of the funds. It's a lot more expensive than doing a sidewalk improvement program. Pine Street Pump Station, we raised the generators that were destroyed in Hurricane Irene. That was completely refurbished, adding a new generator, added pumps raised up above the floodplain. We got money for that as well. But it is typically infrastructure projects like that. Sometimes it's a little bit limited in what we can do. Especially because they can jump around sometimes based on census numbers. So we have a look at that area and figure out which type of infrastructure is most important. Deputy Mayor Carley: Orange County Emergency Services, what granted would come from that? Kristen O'Donnell: They administered the FEMA grant. Deputy Mayor Carley: Environmental, CDBG, Orange County Emergency Services, Downtown Community Revitalization? Kristen O'Donnell: That's a Lowe's Grant. It's a great program. There's not a ton of information about it on the website, but we're trying to put a project together to that meets the demands of that particular grant. Deputy Mayor Carley: You said a recycling program is proposed? Kristen O'Donnell: That's one of the initiatives that we're looking at as part of the Climate Smart Communities Program. What they would be looking for is a little bit more of a Village wide policy 2 to encourage it rather than just having bins. Trustee Thompson: When you talk about recycling, didn't I read that something that could fall under that is if you also can make arrangements with a commercial entity that does recycling? Is there something that we can do with Hannaford? Kristen O'Donnell: I think that there is certainly an organic food waste. A couple of items related to that. I don't remember the exact coordinating with the business aspect of it, but it certainly was organic food waste collection and composting. I think it either making composting bins available. Information about composting available to the public, which obviously would be very easy now that Orange County has a composting program. I just don't know how to get the bins. But that's something that we could pursue with the county and see if it works in coordination with Hannaford. Manager Revella: Just to clarify, what we're looking at right now for CDBG would likely be the I&I work that we've been doing. Smoke testing and sewer lining. That's seems to be where we've been successful in obtaining those. Facilities is what we're pursuing for the headworks and the Tin Brook Pump Station is what we discussed in the capital projects. As they come up, Kristen has been very good about seeing if we are eligible. Kristen O'Donnell: As part of the Comprehensive Plan, there was a recommendation for the rezoning along North Montgomery Street from R3 to R5. It's really consistent with what's there existing. It's going to bring a lot of those properties in to conformance with the zoning. But the actual map itself was never adopted as part of a Comprehensive Plan. It's really just implementing the recommendation of that Comprehensive Plan. I sent maps to the Village Attorney. Do you want me to do anything further with respect to SEQR or with respect to local law? I am here to help. Attorney Donovan: We'll talk about that. But certainly I always appreciate Kristen's assistance with SEQR. Kristen O'Donnell: Obviously, SEQR was done before the Comprehensive Plan and this recommendation was in there. But I would recommend a separate local law. It would have to go out to the county, too. I wasn't sure what the time frame is for this board, but if it's like a big rush for some reason and we need to get something out and get it circulated to the county before you can take any action on it. Attorney Donovan: The typical process is that there's a board discussion, they authorize me to prepare a local law, I come back with the local law that would satisfy, we do the circulation and have a public hearing. Kristen O'Donnell: Okay and I will work on the SEQR and get that to you. Public Hearing – Proposed Village Budget Trustee Elliott made a motion to open the public hearing. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Becky Pearson: Could there be a review of what you changed or not changed? I couldn't make the last meeting before I speak? Are you changing salaries, changing certain things? Did you make any decisions tonight in executive session? Attorney Donovan: The way the process works under the law, is you have a public hearing on the tentative budget. The board if they so choose to modify the budget after a public hearing. 3 Becky Pearson: I'm usually the one standing here. This board should be responsible for this budget. Manager's budget, you're the one to vote. I have lots of questions and probably won't get answers, but these are my concerns. I spoke with the Mayor-Elect, before he was Mayor, and he wanted a zero percent budget. Not realistic, because you still have to deal with people who have raises and things you have to do. So, I'm not sure where we are with that budget. I don't know what percent you're up at. Are you below 2, over 2? I don't know, because that discussion, I have not heard. Manager Revella: We did discuss, under the tax cap. Becky Pearson: Did we decide on capital projects, which ones you decided on doing? We don't get answers to that, either? Manager Revella: I'm sure the board will discuss that when we deliberate, it's your turn to comment. Becky Pearson: Capital projects, I don't see the Municipal Building on there. That's a problem for me. The roof is leaking, things need painted, the back of the building is falling apart. I'm not sure why that's not on here. I understand sewer and water issues and we know that it's been like that for years. I do agree with the sewer issues that you're dealing with. But this building, you are the stewards of this building, left to you by Bradley. And it needs to be taken care of. Every year I say the same thing over and over again, "When are you going to take care of this building?", "When are you going to make it happen?" "When are you going to do the things that need to get done?" Yes, it all cost money. Somewhere you need to take something out of the budget to make something else happen. We do that all the time. You're taking money out of one part of the Police Department and putting it into another part of the Police Department. Which that annoys me as well. I cannot believe that it's not budgeted correctly in the beginning for overtime and other things that we talk about every year again. Building, I think he would be upset with how this building looks right now. I understand the water and sewer issues. I'm happy you're doing that. I don't know what you decided on with your general fund. When you are here fighting for your capital projects. When you're over here with another police car and you're over here with stairs. You're over here with Walnut Street. Great. I'm happy you're doing Walnut Street, but that should never have happened. You paid an engineering firm to make sure that that road was being done properly and it's not even 10 years old and that is breaking up and everything. Who do those engineers work for? Us or do they work for someone else? I don't understand why we have to redo the work that was just done over and over and over again? Those are issues that bother me. They should be bothering everyone here. All your education lines that you have. I understand that education, people are not going to classes, so your money is in there. Do you really have to spend a lot of money on education to do web pages and web zooms and everything else that people are going to? Do you actually spend money on those? I don't think so. All that education, I know you need to have it and it is mandatory by your Police Department, DPW and have it in their contracts, but I don't understand why we keep all that money in there when it's not necessary. I don't know if you can look at that again. Your police program, did you make any decisions on what the Chief was talking about and the communication part of Lexipol, you're going to get all of this information from other communities. We have a lot of information on our own. Having spent that money, I'm not sure it's necessary. You only have one Sergeant and you only have one Chief. I'm not sure whatever happened to the other Sergeants, but when are they coming back? Are you going to get new ones? What's happening? Are you still paying a Sergeant salary to someone who is no longer a Sergeant? Is that an issue? There's so many things that I saw in this budget. Police dress uniforms. Seriously? I get why they want them. Because they want to look professional. But in this day and age when people are suffering and we're going to raise taxes for that. What line is that? There are 2 lines. There's dress uniform line that they put in there, but there's also another uniform line. Why can't it go in 1 line? Do you need to buy dress uniforms for part timers? Do you need to do all of that? Maybe it's part this year and part next 4 year. Can't they be professional with what they have already? We spent a lot of money on uniforms. I don't know. I'm not against the Police Department. I'm happy they're here. Whatever I say is not a negative toward that department. It is what you are needed to look at to be fiscally responsible for this Village and us taxpayers. Crossing guards, do we still need them? How many people are crossing guards? Has anybody even looked at that? Have we even really studied how many kids are walking to school or parents walking with them? Why is it any different than younger days? I don't know if that's even been studied. We pay a lot of money for crossing guards and I think the school should actually be helping pay for it. I tried that once before, I think that should be an issue that we shouldn't take the brunt of all of that for crossing guards for students, for elementary schools. D.A.R.E. Education, did it happen this year? Is it zoom? It's another line item in there. I think it's a great thing, but is it happening? Does it still happen? How much do we spend? Do we need to spend that much money on it? DPW snow removal. We pay for trucks to come here and take snow away. I get it. You want it to go away. But is there a bid process that we do or do we just call up somebody and have then come here. Where is your bid process in that? Do you need to bid it out? It was a lot of money for that snow removal for the trucks. Seniors, they don't meet in the firehouse anymore. I'm just saying maybe they can use the Scout Cabin. Does anybody use our Bradley Park anymore? Do they use it for baseball anymore? Do we get paid for that? Do we not get paid for that? I didn't see that in here. I've been talking about for 20 years as well. We have a service and we have a park that we can utilize and let people pay for it. I get people need their children to go to these things that they pay to go to those sports. Are we even using the ball fields anymore? Is there a better use for that park anymore? If we're not using those ball fields, what can we do with it? Raises. Don’t even get me started. I don't know what you've done with the raises. Number 1, anyone who asked for a large raise, I'm not sure where their head is at. Number 2, it's the Manager's Budget. The Manager is responsible to tell that person, no, we can't afford it. Come back with another number. Why are you putting that in there? As far as I'm concerned, it's Manager's responsibility to be fiscally responsible for this Village. If that's not happening and he has friends that work here and he doesn't want to tell him "No, don't give me that number." "I'm going to try to get you everything I can get." Then that's not being responsible. So, what happens is he put all this on you guys. Now it's all your responsibility for these raises. A 20% raise. Is that even logical? And if I was an employee that was a non-union employee, why wouldn't I want the same raise that somebody else is going to get? How do you justify that raise for someone? I'm just frustrated. I'm happy I'm not sitting there because I know how hard this job is. You have to be the bad guys. You have to be the people that say "We can't afford that." "We need to put money somewhere else. We need to fix the building. We need our infrastructure fixed." I get it that you want good people to work here, but a 20% raise is ludicrous. If you put that through, you guys are all crazy and I'm just going to blow you out of the water, I'm going to write about it and you're not going to like it. Because it's not what should be happening. Number 1, it's your Manager's fault for allowing it to happen and to put it in your laps. And that shouldn't happen. Anybody who wants to get a raise like that is wrong in my book. But they are allowed to ask for anything they want, whether you give it to or not. It's in your ballpark and it's your problem now. The Manager couldn't deal with it, so he put it in your lap and that's what's going to happen. Manager Revella: If I say no to something, what's the proper procedure according to you? Becky Pearson: You are the Manager. You tell them that the Mayor wants a zero budget. So, come in with the best number you can come in with. Manager Revella: That's what I always do. Becky Pearson: Then you say, that's not good enough. Come back again. Give me another number. That's your job. That's what you get paid to do. 5 Manager Revella: And if someone disagrees with me? Becky Pearson: Then it's going to go above your head. I get that, but that's why it's in your lap. I don't know how you're going to do it. Hopefully, you don't, but I don't understand. I get it and I understand it's frustrating. I understand how hard it is. I've sat there before. I get it. You don't want to be the bad guy. You don't want to be the guy that says "No, we can't give this raise." But you still have to be responsible to the rest of this Village. Everyone in this Village. And if that means not giving somebody what they want to get more to people that they need, then that's what has to happen. I mean, you have people going out of business. You have stores that can't survive and people moving out because they can't live here. They can't stay in New York. But you have a community that still wants to be here and people to be here. Businesses are struggling. Homeowners are struggling. Everyone is struggling. It's your job to make that easier on them. I hope there's justification for what you decided to do with that raise. We're not privy to that. We can't ask questions. Live streaming. I'm not sure why I saw that in here, who's not here this evening. How do you do that? I'm not sure where that is. Didn't hear a lot of talk about it. I'm sorry, I couldn't come to every meeting. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing when people can hear what's going on. I think a lot of it was with the Rec Department as well during the winter. I don't know how well it was attended online, but I thought it was a good thing to get those programs out to the kids that were not able to come to park programs and stuff. I don't know what the cost is. I don't know what you're spending. But I think meetings should be videotaped because I think the public needs to be more aware of what's happening. In the line of dog control. I know it's in the Town of Montgomery now. We no longer do it, but I don't know. I didn't see it in here whether we pay anything to the Town for dog control or is that under the A fund? Was there a line for shade trees? I saw it in there real quick and I didn't see it. Manager Revella: There is. Becky Pearson: What I'd love to see happen in this Village, there used to be a list for people who wanted the tree in front of their home. The streets are getting bare. I came down on the street the other day, there was like 2 big trees on Walnut Street. There's not a lot of life in this Village. Main Street, trees were taken down. I get it, because the wires. But we're losing life, we're losing trees. I think they're really necessary for the beautification of this Village and we talk about beautification all the time. It's not just plants and it is about trees. There used to be a list. I was on that list for 10 years. I finally got a tree after 10 years. They used to go down the list and they put a tree in front of this house. They do maybe 6 or 7 trees a year. They weren't big trees. But the people were stewards of those trees in the front yard to help them grow. I know there's wire, but you don't put it on the side with the wires. Maybe you can work something out. That's just an idea maybe to get back to if you have a line item for trees. I do thank you all for supporting Arbor Day with trees. It is important with teaching the children about trees and the community. It's been pretty successful. It's a 15 year program that's been going on. Last year, we still planted, but we didn't see the kids. This year we'll see the kids again. How many Rec programs will be put back into the program this year from June to June? I didn't see it in there. You're not going to answer the question anyway, but maybe you will somewhere down the road. If you're not going to be putting all those programs back in there. What do we need all that money for in the Rec Department budget? I'm sorry I'm passionate about what goes on here. It's been like that for 50 years. I've been going to meetings for at least 50. I appreciate you listening. I hope that you do what's right for all of us. Especially with that raise. I don't think it's necessary. I think it's sad that it's put on your shoulders. Good luck with it all. I appreciate your time. Mary Ellen Matise: Kristen's presentation was interesting. Wondering if there was a written copy. The 1 that she mentioned, the Environmental Facilities, so the next deadline for that is July. We were not on the list of announcements that came out last week. So, how are we going to fund the 6 sewer and water until we get some kind of funding? That's a big concern. They're talking about 2.9 million dollars. It's not anything new. Becky gets up talk about projects and stuff like that, she asks the wrong question. She asks if we have the capacity. We have the capacity, but the sewer's broken. It's not that we don't have the capacity. The sewer just can't do what the capacity is going to allow. How do we how are we going to deal with that until we get some kind of funding for it. Trustee Sebring made a motion to close the public hearing. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Manager’s Report Manager Revella: Since last meeting, there were several meetings on the draft budget, including budget sessions, meetings with the Treasurer and some Department Heads as well. We had a meeting with our Special Counsel, Mayor Ramos, Trustee Thomson and PBA on what our status was. Went over invoices with the Treasurer, with the Rec Coordinator working on some Edmunds issues. Went over some audit items with the Treasurer to make sure we're on track and followed up with our Village Engineer. Which we're still working on. Went over the capital projects list again and made sure we're on track for the last year and upcoming years. Went over the grants with the grant writer from Lanc and Tully. Went over our surplus items and the salt order with the DPW Superintendent. Went over the status of the Walden East project with the Village Attorney. Rec Department has been working on coding expenses, summer camp and flag football registrations which are still open online. Prepping parks for spring and summer. The Building Department has been working on CO's, municipal reports, fire and safety inspections. They did go to court for some problem properties. There's still some that are going to be subpoenaed by the court. The Code Enforcement Officer is still training and going to the classes. Went over some 207c matters and updates with the Clerk. She also assisted with the audit. Updating Facebook and website and responding to FOILs. The Treasurer is obviously very busy working on audit requests for the auditors; the budget revisions, bank reqs. We talked about the utilities with the Village Attorney. Went over some employment matters and rehab loan applications as well. DPW has been maintaining vehicles and equipment. Doing their regular maintenance every day. Year end work orders. Making road repairs, sweeping the streets. The sweeper is down this week, but should be back up next week. Have done a couple tours of the sewer plant with different contractors and engineers. Trying to work on upgrades. They're still flushing hydrants this month. Police Department has been reviewing overtime, staffing, working on accreditation and some year-end purchases and requisitions. The courts are open and having hearings now. They're playing catch up, but they are moving through the process. It's just a lot slower because they can only have so many people in the room at a time. The Library wants to be in front of the board on May 4th to talk about their capital project. They still have Covid restrictions for use of the library. Approval of April 6, 2021 Reorg & Regular Minutes Trustee Thompson made a motion to approve the April 6, 2021 Reorganization minutes. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Elliott made a motion to approve the April 6, 2021 Regular Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment on Business of the Board Anthony Mirando: I'm here tonight for Orange County Transit. At your last meeting, the Board voted to grant an extension for the sewer and water extension. At that meeting, the Board had asked that we come back to give progress reports. What I've done so far, I have given a written report to the board on April 15th and also came here in person because that was the request. I can give you a little bit of an update beyond what I wrote in my letter. There's been progress even since then. Starting with the Department of Health. We got a subsidiary response from the County. So, that's 7 great. The good thing as well is that if you may recall, we filed with County months back, they've been reviewing that and in the meantime, we didn't stop. We kept working. So, we've actually gotten out in front of a lot of comments that they had. Our engineers are currently working on a response to them. The comments were mainly technical in nature. We're in a good place there. With respect to the DOH, with water, I should also mention that on August 7th, we were following up with the Village. April 8th, we were able to go out the next day and were able to a flow testing for the water. That test was completed. Our engineers worked really hard and they turned around their engineering reports on water and sewer within a couple of days and filed those with the Planning Board. We made a submission to the Planning Board on April 12th, which was a very meaningful submission. We appeared before the Planning Board last night. I can say that it was a relatively productive meeting. We've closed some issues in terms of the site plan layout, which was great. We're still moving forward. As you may know, we have to complete SEQR. From my understanding from the comments last night, we've really bottlenecked the issues down. The 1 thing that the Board is waiting to hear back from is their consultant on the sound. We submitted a report a few months back and we have gotten comments back on that. We're kind of at a pause on that. The other agencies, including the Planning Board, they can't take action on any of that until SEQR is done. We're pushing and I think we're in a pretty solid place. In addition, we'll be giving updates to the Zoning Board next week. We're continuing to push forward. The DOT, we've continued to follow up with them as well. We've filed several months back we don't have a response just yet. But that was consistent with what we had identified in the table that was submitted back in March to this Board. So, no real surprise there. I would ask the board, is this something you'd like me to do twice a month, once a month as needed? I just want to make sure I'm meeting expectations. Trustee Thompson: I thought we agreed to once a month. Mayor Ramos: Everybody in agreement, once a month? All: Yes. Trustee Thompson: I think once a month is sufficient. You might not always make such quick progress. I think 2 weeks is a little much. Anthony Mirando: Great. We'll do that. Mayor Ramos: Thank you for your compliance. Thank you for coming out tonight. Attorney Donovan: I did have my partner, Rob, who sits on the Planning Board, review Mr. Mirando's letter and verified all the information. Indicated its true and accurate and no reason to doubt from the outside agencies. Action Items 2021-2022 Village Budget Manager Revella: As the attorney had discussed, we are to say what has changed from the yellow version of the budget. Treasurer Kelly: I don't have that ready yet because I wasn't asked for it. Manager Revella: I have those numbers from what you sent me. I have the lines. It's the pages that you sent me. Treasurer Kelly: It depends on how you wanted it. Because some of it is salaries, so it's salary plus fringe. 8 Manager Revella: It'll change a little bit. Treasurer Kelly: So, you need those lines plus fringe. That's the way they are presented. Attorney Donovan: Right now, I mean, there's obviously going to be some discussion on modifications. As was discussed, the budget doesn't have to be adopted until May 1st. So, if you want to wait and see what those look like in the final budget, you can do that. Manager Revella: I just want to make sure before we go to a final, I have everything that was discussed in exec down. Anything else in the budget the Board wants to discuss in public, that would be now. Trustee Thompson: I think the budget is very fair. We worked within the constraints of everything that the state asked for and that our budget will allow for. I do have some issue with the dress uniforms for the Police Department. What was presented to us was that they looked sharp in uniform, looked professional that everyone conforms. I think they can do that with their regular uniforms as long as everyone is instructed to present the same way at public events. I do have some reservations about some of the salary increases. I can't agree with those. I think the majority of the budget is fine. I will say, as far as what Becky Pearson spoke about, we do have issues with this building and I would like to see if we can, I know there's not a lot of grant opportunities. Manager Revella: We have bonds already open for the roof to be repaired and the back stairs. Trustee Thompson: But we have other issues in the building. I think she is correct that we have waited and waited and waited. I know some of it is financial, but I think we definitely need to start making this a priority. There's a lot of traffic here. This is the representation of our Village. It's historic. It was put in our care and there are things that are really becoming eyesores. I do wish we could find some additional funding to focus on our building. But my biggest concerns are some of the salaries. Trustee Elliott: I think that the budget is fair. Salaries, I don't have a problem with them. As far as the building, I don't really know anything about the building. Manager Revella: Just to clarify, Trustee Thompson, are you requesting modification to that line regarding Class A Uniforms? Trustee Thompson: I am. Mayor Ramos: Elimination of the line? Trustee Thompson: Yes. Mayor Ramos: Specifically the uniforms, right? Trustee Thompson: The dress uniform. Attorney Donovan: I think the Treasurer was speaking before about how you got to have the exact percentage. My advice to you on that issue, so long as you're not exceeding the tax cap, you can vote. Not knowing the exact dollar figure, so long as you're not over the tax cap. That's what you can legally do. If you choose not to do that because you want to see a final budget in front of you, you're not required to vote tonight. Relative to the different line items, you have the ability to vote 9 on each line item separately. And then you have to vote on the entire budget. Or alternatively, some member of the Board could make a motion to adopt the budget subject to a number of line item modifications. Again, as long as they don't result in an increase over the tax cap. You legally can adopt the budget. Manager Revella: For our purposes, should we have the instruction from the Board from a majority as to what to put in that final budget. We have instruction on everything so far except for that one line. I don't know if the Board wanted to vote on that 1 line item here. Mayor Ramos: We can vote on that particular line. Trustee Thompson made a motion to decrease line item A.3120.200 Class A Uniforms in the amount of $7,000. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Maher: I don't have any other modifications to the budget other than what was discussed earlier. Trustee Baker: No modifications other than what was done earlier. Trustee Sebring: No modifications to the budget that I see, but we discuss 1 thing in executive session that we'll discuss more. Deputy Mayor Carley: No further modifications. Mayor Ramos: I have no further modifications to the budget with exception of what was discussed. Attorney Donovan: If it's the pleasure of the Board, vote together and the line items and the amounts being amended should be recited. Then someone could make a motion to adopt the budget as amended with those items. Manager Revella: When we have those numbers, we can do that. Not today. Resolution 22-20-21 – Budget Transfers Trustee Thompson made a motion to approve Resolution 22-20-21 Budget Transfers. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Ethics Board Reappointment Trustee Sebring made a motion to extend William Sweed's appointment to Ethics Board until April 2026. Seconded by Trustee Elliott. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: Climate Smart Points. 103 points, that's good. Good job, Lynn and John. I'd like to see this discussed by the Board and get it on as an agenda item, annexation. When you go to our code, it doesn't say that people who are coming in for annexation should show up with a document that tells you what they're going to annex. Meaning their survey. I think that may be some problem that we have with the most recent annexation, the Amthor annexation. Stemmed from the fact that they didn't show up at the County until September with their survey. That they have to produce a survey and the agreement to the County Clerk before it gets on the assessment roll. The deadline for the assessment roll is March 1st every year. Biagini did it. They registered with the County by March 1st. So, next year, they will be on the Village tax roll and we'll get our Village taxes from them. This whole fiasco with the Amthor could have been avoided if when he came in and asked for annexation, he brought a survey with him. Because how do you know what those 5 10 lots were? The current survey might show to be slightly different than they were 20 years ago. I think that you should look at the code and that language should be put in code and then the language that they register by March 1st of the following year should be there, too. That would eliminate a lot of problems going forward. Becky Pearson: The fire hydrant on Walnut St, do you know if that's been repaired yet? The hydrant in front of John Conklin's house that they put a big thing over in the winter time. I called you because I was concerned about fire happening. It's been since probably Christmas. Manager Revella: Did you notice if the bag was still on? Becky Pearson: They took the bag off after I spoke to you. You kept telling me it's going to be okay and that it works. If it works, why is there a bag on it? Manager Revella: They had tested it and it was leaking. They put a bag on it. Becky Pearson: Hopefully, it's working. Maybe somebody can re-check that please. Mayor Ramos, you had voted against, you were the only one who voted no, for the homeowner being able to not have to pay for the sewer. I think you should put that back on the agenda. I don't think the homeowner should have to pay for a service that we already paid taxes for. Number 2, very frustrating sitting out here listening to what you're talking about, changing the budget. There's been no talk about what you're changing. What the percentage of salaries will be. I think that's one issue. I think Lynn had an issue. She wasn't going to do something with salaries because she wasn't happy and other people were happy. Can you say what? I mean, it's a public document that you are voting on. How can the public know what's happening without you saying something about it? You're going to just be nilly willy going into executive session and do these things behind closed doors and some of these things shouldn't be done on closed doors. They should be done in the public and let the people know what percentage you're raising salaries. What is going to be changing. What your capital programs are going to be. None of that have been discussed. Manager Revella: It was. Everything except for one part. Capital projects were discussed in public budget sessions. Becky Pearson: I'm sorry. I asked the question. I couldn't be at that last meeting. Someday maybe I'll learn and see what they are. I'm very frustrated because I don't think that the discussion happens in the open public, open forum, where it should happen. It should be in public what the raises are going to be. Who is going to get what. It's all public knowledge anyway, once you vote for it. So, why is that not discussed in public? I get it that you can't discuss work performance and people's job performance. But you still should be talking about what percentage raise. If you're going to vote on a budget and nobody knows what percentage you're going to vote on, how do we know what's going on. We don't. You've already made those decisions. You haven't voted on the budget but you've already made those decisions behind closed doors. So, why is that not being talked about in public now? I don't understand. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Baker made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Correspondence Trustee Thompson: Nothing that I can recall. Trustee Elliott: The only thing was the attorney's notice. 11 Mayor Ramos: Just received the attorney's correspondence for Walden East. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Deputy Mayor Carley: What happened with the Village Budget? Manager Revella: Tabled. The attorney says we have to have all those numbers to vote and won't have them ready until we have done the calculations. Attorney Donovan: I said if it was under the tax cap. You didn't know the exact numbers, if you were comfortable, so long as you called out what each line was changing. Manager Revella: We don't know the amount that it was changing. So, we can't call it out. Attorney Donovan: So, to be clear, what I said, if you knew the amounts. I think the change that I'm getting from the interplay is the fringe benefit aspect, is not in the numbers. I think the Board discussed positions, you discussed potential raises for those positions and you knew what the dollar figures were for those raises. But you don't know what the fringe benefits are, so you wouldn't know the total impact. Deputy Mayor Carley: I thought we can still vote on it without having the exact numbers. Manager Revella: Well, you would call out the exact number for the raise. I didn't factor in and I heard Kelly mention fringe benefits. My job is to tell you what you can or can't do, not what you should or shouldn't do. You could still vote, but you wouldn't know what those fringe benefits were. They still would be under the tax cap. You would know based upon the percentage that you would call out specifically the raise for position X is Y percentage or Y dollars. But you wouldn't know what the fringe benefit outcome is. Trustee Thompson: So, we're not going to talk about the salaries? Mayor Ramos: We don't have the exact numbers. Trustee Thompson: The attorney said we can, but you're saying we can't? Mayor Ramos: At this point and time, no. Manager Revella: I only have the base numbers, not the fringe numbers. We have to calculate those based on changes. Attorney Donovan: I don't know which one you want to talk about. If you want to talk about someone's performance, I don't want to do that. If you want to talk about salaries in general, I don't have an objection to that but it's the Mayor's meeting. If you want to get the numbers in front of you, talk about it before you vote, that's up to you. Mayor Ramos: Let's take a poll. You want the numbers in front of you before you vote? Trustee Thompson: I want to go with the recommendation of the attorney who is saying we can discuss the salaries. We don't need to wait for the final fringe benefits. Attorney Donovan: I was talking about discussion. Do you want to vote or just discuss. I'm telling you that it's not illegal to vote, but before you do that, you have to make a motion to amend the 12 budget to change the following line items to the increase or decrease whatever number it is. So long as you're not exceeding the tax cap. It's legal. The Village Treasurer is pointing out something that I didn't consider when I gave you that advise before, is that's not the final number because there will be some fringe benefits applicable to that. It won't bring you over the tax cap, as I understand it. But you're not going to know the final. Trustee Maher: I prefer to see the final numbers before making the vote. Trustee Baker: I agree with Trish. I would rather see the numbers. Trustee Sebring: I'd like to wait and see the final numbers. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'd like to discuss it now. Mayor Ramos: Let's discuss it now. Manager Revella: I can list the numbers that I know. We're not going to have final numbers on some of those issues. Attorney Donovan: Are you going to have a discussion or is someone going to make a motion. If someone is going to make a motion, then you have to call out specifically. Manager Revella: I'll go through the lines:  A.1010.100 - increase by $750 Board of Trustees Personal Services 2% change  A.1010.434 increased by $6,000 to include the Livestream Trustee Function  A.1210.100 increased by $155 Mayor Personal Services 2%  A.1234.84 increased $500 for Dues  A.1325.100 increased by $25,847 plus fringe. There is a modification of part time/full time, which will be split between the Treasurer's Department and the Rec Department  A.1990.400 decreased by $15,000 Contingency line  A.3120.100 decreased by $8,930 - full time police personnel  A.3120.200 decreased by $7,000 - police equipment for the Class A Uniforms  A.3620.100 increased $2182.41 Building Department Personal 3%  A.7020.100 increase $19,131 Rec Admin and that the other part of that salary line for that person from part time to full time  A.1120 Sales Tax Revenue increased by $50,000  G.8120.413 increased to $45,222  G.8130.413 will be $40,000 flat. It's just sewer equipment, one is the system and one is the plant  A.9730.600 decreased $51,000  A.9730.700 decreased $4,957 Those are the changes that we have. Obviously, there will be changes on the fringe lines based on a change in the salary lines that we just went over. We will have to calculate those and there'll be a final form of the budget presented to everyone in the public as well. Trustee Elliot made a motion to adopt the budget with the changes as outlined by the Village Manager. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Roll Call: Trustee Elliott: Yes Trustee Thompson: No 13 Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Baker: Yes Trustee Sebring: No Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: Yes 5 ayes. 2 no. Motion Carried. Trustee Thompson made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Trustee Elliott. All ayes. Motion carried. 14  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting April 20, 2021 Motions & Resolutions Executive Session – PBA Negotiations Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter Executive Session - personal history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Baker. 6 ayes. 1 absence (Trustee Elliot). Motion carried. Reconvene Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Hearing – Proposed Village Budget Trustee Elliott made a motion to open the public hearing. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Sebring made a motion to close the public hearing. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Thompson made a motion to eliminate line item A.3120.200 Class A Uniforms in the amount of $7,000. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Elliot made a motion to adopt the budget with the changes as outlined by the Village Manager. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Roll Call: Trustee Elliott: Yes Trustee Thompson: No Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Baker: Yes Trustee Sebring: No Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: Yes 5 ayes. 2 no. Motion Carried. Approval of April 6, 2021 Reorg & Regular Minutes Trustee Thompson made a motion to approve the April 6, 2021 Reorganization minutes. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Elliott made a motion to approve the April 6, 2021 Regular Minutes. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 22-20-21 – Budget Transfers Trustee Thompson made a motion to approve Resolution 22-20-21 Budget Transfers. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Ethics Board Reappointment Trustee Sebring made a motion to extend William Sweed's appointment to Ethics Board until April 2026. Seconded by Trustee Elliott. All ayes. Motion carried. 15 Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Baker made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. 16