Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 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: Trustees: Brian Sebring Cheryl Baker (late) Lynn E. Thompson Patricia Maher Absent: Willie Carley John Elliott Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Elizabeth Skinner, Village Treasurer Public Hearing – Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt-Out Trustee Sebring made a motion to open public hearing for Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt- Out. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Mary Ellen Matise: At the risk of being misrepresented, I'm going to agree with what Lynn said at the last meeting, that obviously, if you opt out at this time, you can opt in later. Which is good, because we might find that it is something that we want to do from a health perspective. Which is what you brought up, Lynn, about the quality of the product is regulated and inspected, probably once they get their act together, probably will have health department inspection. It becomes a safer option for people who are going to indulge. I guess the tactic is to do the opt out now. But I think that probably we should seriously consider the opt in later instead of all the drive by curbside pickup that goes on in the Village of Walden. Thank you. Trustee Sebring made a motion to close public hearing for Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt- Out. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Manager’s Report Manager Revella: We did have some minor flooding here and there. Thankfully, Public Works was on top of all of it to keep everybody safe and dry. The Fire Department also did a great job. The Rec Department helped clean out after we had some issues down at Wooster. That's one of our worst spots, building-wise, besides the sewer issues that DPW had to deal with. I have been going over some 207c and worker's comp issues with the Clerk and special counsel. I was able to finalize a memo to the IDA to oppose the pilot for Falcons Rest, attended that meeting as well. I had correspondence with special counsel regarding labor management for CSEA. There were a couple of issues brought up, including handling Covid related family issues. Went over the projects with DPW Super, including the Community Center project. If you go to Olley Park, you'll see there is earth moving around and we're waiting for the elevation mark outs to finish the foundation part of the digging. Went over some Climate Smart updates with Trustee Thompson and some updates with beautification. Went over staffing and a potential hire with Chief Herlihy. Was able to get some new office furniture up here at the office. I don't believe we've gotten new furniture there since 1 1994. Rec Department still waiting for the DEC approval for our waterfront park at the end of Pine and Maple. Outdoor soccer registration is open and going well. Music in the Grove again tomorrow. They are planning the Trunk or Treat again. We're considering October 30th. We're working on that detail now and it's something to talk about. Trick or Treat this year falls on a Sunday, so we'll likely do the Trunk or Treat on that Saturday. Building Department is still going through COs, permits, lawn violations. Parks is assisting with those. Clerk has been updating social media, about to start the next calendar and working on some issues with some water bills with myself and the attorney. Finance Department been working on the AUD, bank recs, vouchers, finalizing the 2020 audit and some additional training going on there. Public Works did get their new chipper, everyone got trained on that. They obviously went through a lot of work responding to flooding and trees down. They've been maintaining all their facilities, vehicles, equipment, jetting, responding to complaints and doing as much as they can. Police are still doing some special details for speed and traffic enforcement. Responding to some citizen complaints about traffic issues in certain areas. Hopefully we get some positions filled so we can help with overtime issues going on there. Court is on a regular schedule. The Library is on a regular schedule. Masks are still required in the library for all people, regardless of vaccination. The Attorney has been assisting with some local laws, code revisions and a couple of contract reviews for me. Trustee Thompson: The DEC approval on the park. Is this typical for this delay to be this long waiting for approval? Manager Revella: Yes. For example, our consent order from 2009 was completed and within that time frame allowed. The report from DEC is still not finalized. It's been 5 years. Trustee Thompson: That's crazy. I was not able to tune in to the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance meeting. Is there anyone through our affiliations and work with the different water groups that perhaps we could ask to reach out and talk to the DEC about that? The water groups are working on having different organizations within different communities adopt boat launches to help promote the projects and maybe do some funding. Manager Revella: The County is pushing as well. I know that the Planning Department helped to push as well. We have 2 engineering groups pushing. Actually reached our Senator's office to see if they'll help push. But those groups can help too. Trustee Thompson: What are we doing with the old desks? Manager Revella: They get repurposed if they're still usable or surplus. Trustee Thompson: I had spoken to you, John, after I spoke with Mr. Ibberson about the continued complaints from the residents about the quality of the live feeds. I asked him if there's any way he could put on our Website some tips and tricks, so our residents can try some different things at home because he keeps telling me that he's finding the quality on their side is fine. He's beginning to wonder if it's the capabilities in some of our resident’s homes that they're having difficulty. I know at my own house, my husband tries to watch it and it keeps going in and out. Were you able to talk to him about either him speaking with Marisa or Marisa speaking with our I.T. person to put some tips for our Village residents of things they might try to improve the quality of the feed? Manager Revella: I didn't get in touch with him yet. Trustee Thompson: Can we maybe try to work on that before the next meeting? Manager Revella: Yes. 2 Mayor Ramos: John, I don't know if it would be the pleasure of the Board, but I think we should send the DEC a letter on our behalf to ask where their position is right now and do we have a time frame? Just a short letter if everybody is agreeable on that. Just to let them know that the elected officials in the Village are anticipating their correspondence on this matter. All agreed. Approval of August 17, 2021 Minutes Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve the August 17, 2021 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment on Business of the Board Mary Ellen Matise: 54 Gladstone. I'm not trying to be a smarty pants, but I can't believe there are only 2 items on the agenda and that that's all there is for the Business of the Board. Becky Pearson: 167 Walnut. I was reading through the law coming up, the Local Law 4 - Boundaries. When you talk about that, I see the table is in here, it's not highlighted anywhere where what you're changing. Can you just go over that table and fill in what you're changing on the table? Manager Revella: I don't know if I have the old one to compare it to here with me. It was in the Comp Plan Committee. Becky Pearson: Also this is just for North Montgomery Street? Manager Revella: Those are all different. Becky Pearson: Can you tell us where they all are? Because it talks about the circus, it talks about things. Can you go over that in this law before you guys talk about it? Is that something you can do, what you're changing and why you're changing it? Manager Revella: It's just to comport with the comp plan that was passed by the board. Those things were all recommendations of the comp plan. Becky Pearson: You were going to remove the temporary circus quarters, but then you just talked about having the circus come back into town. Hopefully, you talk about that. I don't know if that's in one of these 306, 306-18. I don't know if those are the classifications that you're going to. Removal of flex space office, truck station. I'd like to hear what you all have to say. Maybe you can add antique somewhere in there. It would be nice to have some antique stores and some antique businesses and something like that. Action Items Marijuana Dispensary Trustee Maher made a motion for a Negative Declaration, unlisted type action. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Baker made a motion to Adopt Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt-Out. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Intro to Local Law 4 of 2021 – Districts and Boundaries Manager Revella: These are the recommendations that were given and reviewed by the board at a board meeting in May of this year. We were waiting for a response from planning from the county. We didn't get anything back. So, you are allowed to have a public hearing now to set one if you would like to. Any questions, comments or concerns about the draft, bring those up now before you 3 do that. Trustee Thompson: It says Montgomery Street, starting from NYS Rte. 52 to across from George Street. I'm not quite clear on exactly where we're talking about. Manager Revella: There's a map that was attached to the comp plan that shows the different section. Most of its row housing and small lot houses. Really the zone change makes it conforming from non-conforming to what they currently have there for housing on that side of the street. It goes pretty much from where West Main Street ends all the way to across from George Street on North Montgomery Street. Trustee Thompson: Okay. When I read through this, I also had the same question that the public had. If we're hoping to reestablish some sort of a relationship with the circus, is it prudent to change both of the mentions on here, the removal of the temporary circus quarters and the removal of the circus training facility. How will that be impacted if we make this change? Manager Revella: That's something that we discussed as well, because that wasn't in contemplation when this draft was made. I'm not sure which use they could be put under. I know that the Planning Board was contemplating them now. Because currently it's allowed. So, if they're given permission and allowed under the Planning Board and put in, they'd be a preexisting nonconforming use if you change this after they're in. I'm not sure how the board wants to handle it. Attorney Donovan: The other alternative is to add them back in. There will be a substantive change in the law, you just need to all circulate it back to the Department of Planning. Trustee Thompson: Is that something you want to do? Is that the most sensible thing to do? Attorney Donovan: I can give you what the process is, so if you want to add it back in, then you should refer back to where they need to go. Manager Revella: That minor change will be enough to have a new reference? Attorney Donovan: I think where we were taking out of use. So, when someone seen that before, they see the law, I don't think is going to change anyone's opinion. But you get into the you know, when you have to send it back for review again, was it a substantial change? I think it's a substantial change, I think it would fit that definition because the present iteration would take that use out. Now, the board is thinking about putting it back in. Trustee Thompson: How do we handle that? Manager Revella: I don't know if they need both, we will have to ask if they need one or both of those and it would just be for the OL-I zone. Trustee Thompson: I think we should consider that. Attorney Donovan: The way you would that, if it's the pleasure of the board, you would add back in temporary circus quarters, circus training facility where it is now. Because this table of use regulations was taken out of the comp plan. You would plug them back in as permitted uses where they are now. Mayor Ramos: I agree. 4 Trustee Thompson: I think we should, because, as he said, this wasn't an issue when this was drafted. I think that's something we should do. John, could you explain, I don't recall what the "commercial public recreation use is not otherwise permitted" has been revised to "indoor, outdoor commercial recreation use is not otherwise permitted". What exactly are we talking about there? I honestly have no recollection of what that means. Manager Revella: It's just the definition change. It says the same exact thing, just worded differently. This is the nuance of the word now. That's just the way they want it to be done planning wise. Trustee Thompson: What type of a thing would that apply to? Attorney Donovan: I think the objective here was, you did the comp plan. The comp plan made recommendations and they've been kind of, for lack of a better phrase, kind of sitting on the shelf. I think there was a little impetus to move them off the shelf and into the code. If you want to reexamine anything, you're obviously free to do that. But I think that the whole impetus for this is because this was what the Comprehensive Plan Committee recommended. This was in the comprehensive plan update that the Village Board adopted. That's not to say, obviously, that you can't reexamine. I think why maybe the manager doesn't have an answer tonight is this is what was recommended. This is what was adopted. So, now the Village needs to make it into the force of law by cooperating to the zoning regulations. Just to be clear, that's not to say if it's not clear to you that you should try to make it clear. Trustee Thompson: I just found that definition, the way that's written, very confusing and I wasn't sure what it's going to pertain to. The line about the "solar panels as an accessory use has been added". Are we leaving it that it can be roof only, not standing in a yard or on public property? Because that's a little vague there and I don't remember what the original language says. I just don't want that to come up as a question later on. Manager Revella: I'm pretty sure the board had banned ground mounted solar. Trustee Thompson: Okay. After the issues we've had with the one property, with the question about zoning down on East Main Street, maybe it would be something we should consider to add some things to the zones, like an antique store. We would know if another one wanted to come, that we do have the appropriate location for that within the zone. Attorney Donovan: That's fine if you want to do that. I would just point out that retail is permitted in a lot of zones. Manager Revella: So, if you want to get "personal service shop less than four thousand square feet in business zones". You're talking about adding something to a residential zone. We're not touching that on this law. This does not touch any residential zone in that manner except for the first page, where we talk about the zone for those parcels on North Montgomery and South Montgomery Street. The table of uses doesn't touching the residential. But we could address that at any time. Mayor Ramos: We do have one pending issue with the circus training facility. I didn't poll the rest of the board. Are we good with keeping that in there? All: Yes. Mayor Ramos: John, you indicated that the Planning Board has not responded? 5 Manager Revella: Correct. We were supposed to give them 30 days. If after 30 days they don't respond, we're allowed to continue. It would have been in May. But if we're making changes, we're going have to resend anyway to both Planning Boards, the County and Village. Trustee Sebring: My only question is whether the circus property is with the hook ups that they had for the campers, to me that would only follow the circus. Not to be used at any other time. Mayor Ramos: I have to agree with Trustee Sebring. The initial request was for training facility for certain months and nothing thereafter. So, when they come back for their training, the year afterwards, they can pick up where we left off. Nothing hooking up to nothing. Nobody is there for 365 days out of the year. Manager Revella: I think it's important that the goal of this is to make what we want in the Village conforming so it makes sense to make the change. So, we are going to make the adjustments then we have to resend it out for the Planning Boards to review. Attorney Donovan: The only thing is if the Village Board wanted to see it again before we sent it out. Mayor Ramos: I'd like to see it again. Attorney Donovan: If you have any other things that come to mind, perhaps you could email the manager and he can email me so we can try to be as comprehensive as soon as possible so your questions are addressed. Manager Revella: I think we'll have to address the antique store use in residential zones separately because it hasn't really been even discussed at the board level much. Trustee Thompson: But if you think there's language in the comp plan where it could easily be incorporated into the zone, then do we have to get so specific? Manager Revella: That's what we're trying to work on, not having to do that. Mayor Ramos: Do we have a timeline on when you want your input to you? Manager Revella: We have to have the draft back to you for next meeting. Any time before the Friday before the meeting, by the 17th. Mayor Ramos: Okay, email the manager if either you do or you don't so at least we have a hierarchy on what needs to be done. Public Comment Becky Pearson: I'm going to hopefully talk about it until I get an answer that, not one that I'm looking for, but an answer that maybe the Mayor can find out the answer to. I'm going to talk about Article 15A vs. 4-400 again. Looking at the law again and we did not have a Village vote to change our law to a new village law, which is 4-400. We should still be working under Article 15A, as far as I know. That's why I'm hoping you'll be able to maybe get those answers for us. Article 15A 370, "the Mayor shall preside at all meetings of the Board of Trustees who shall be the official head of the Village for civil service process. He shall have no power of veto, but shall have the same power as a Trustee to vote upon all matters coming before the board'. It goes on to talk about the Manager form of government. It talks about also that you are just like a board member, that you can't even appoint people. Then there's new law. I can send you this copy if you'd like to read what I'm talking 6 about. This is 23.2202, talks about "this chapter shall not be deemed to repeal or otherwise affect the provisions of any special or local law or ordinance of any County, City or Village charter or the special form of government" Which we have a special form of government, which is the Manager form of government, "beginning and the intention of legislation that the same shall continue in full force and in effect until unless otherwise duly amended or repealed or affected'. We have not had any vote to change that law since forever. As far as I know, we're still working on an Article 15A. Hopefully you'll be able to get an answer for me someday soon. Which leads me to my next question, which I had asked a couple of meetings ago about when you hire people, you also cannot set people's salaries. You're spending taxpayer’s dollars on hiring somebody and that has to be a board vote on how much money you're going to be spending on that person or position come in to do that. There was not a board vote on how much money was being spent for a position. So, I'm concerned about power and who has that power to do that. I know that when the last Clerk left here, which is a board decision, the board met and talked in public about the position, not the person in the position, but in the position and asked, what the salary should be? Are we going to keep it the same? Are we going to change it? All of that for this new position was not done in public. I have a problem with that. You are here for a reason and it's to let the public know what's happening. I hope that someday soon somebody will be able to give me an answer what law we're working under. I still believe its Article 15A and how you were able to just pick a salary out of thin air and say this is what we're going to give someone without a public vote in front of the public. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Mary Ellen Matise: Carl Aiello put my letter in the paper, which was the letter that I gave to the Town of Montgomery IDA at the meeting. I did have some feedback on it, people saying thank you very much for speaking up. I want to know if the Village sent the IDA the dollar amounts they asked for. Manager Revella: In my memo, yes. You can get a copy if you'd like, I'll send one to you. Mary Ellen Matise: I'd appreciate that. The next meeting is September 14th. Manager Revella: The mayor submitted a statement as well and so did a woman named Michelle. The meeting will be at 1:00 p.m. They're not voting on our topic, but they likely will have a public hearing set that day. Mary Ellen Matise: On Facebook, it's good that there is a lot of stuff gets put on Facebook because after all, our local media, our press is so limited, but there's discussion about the waterfalls on Facebook. That's something that should be discussed here. You should be picking up the ball on any of these ideas and discussing them as a board. The stuff down at Pine Street, I don't know what the hold up is now. DEC still? What was it, the natural gas hookup down there? Pump station? Manager Revella: No. And the pump station is done. It's for the waterfront project. Mary Ellen Matise: Some of the discussion on Facebook gets a little out of hand and I just think we should be talking about it more here, more ideas and we shouldn't be dictated to by other municipal entities. The other thing I want to bring up is, I was appointed to the Orange County Revolutionary War 250 commission with a 3 year term. We're going to be doing it from 2024 to 2033. From the beginning to the end, 1783 was when they finally were at the New Windsor Cantonment and the troops were sent home. They dispersed at that time. Each year we're going to have a different theme and I am trying to encourage people in the Village, people in the Town to get in touch with me and let's work on some projects that we do locally during that time frame. Now, so far, we don't have a Town Committee. They're having a hard time filling the committees and commissions that they have. If people would like to be on a local Ad Hoc Committee, if the Village 7 wants to set it up, that'd be fine. Then we can work to get our ideas put forward to the county and have little projects happening here. We had a lot of significant people in the Town of Montgomery who were at the battle of Fort Montgomery, which was a big militia battle that a lot of local people fought in. I would hope that we make a big deal out of that. David Sperry: Overlook Terrace. I'd like to thank Mr. Ramos, Mr. Revella, for opposing the tax breaks for the farmer house. It's good to see that somebody is finally speaking up for the taxpayers. Not our problem, it's a state problem, I guess you have to call the state, Highland Avenue when it comes down to 52, that brush on that bank is hard to look up the highway again. Also not our problem, the state's problem, where they repaired the road, it's kind of bad. Winter is coming. Manager Revella: They apologized. They were supposed to be here this week, but they're responding to flood damage. They said they'll be here next week to fix that. David Sperry: When is bull pickup? Manager Revella: October 17th. David Sperry: There's a fence where you come down Wait Street by the old firehouse, the fence is falling down. Manager Revella: The person was cited and being brought to court for not repairing. David Sperry: Okay, I was also going to say that that's also a bus pick up. Manager Revella: I'm pretty sure a drunk driver hit it. That's why it was damaged and then the guy was told to fix it several times and hasn't so he's being brought to court. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Baker made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. All ayes Correspondence Trustee Maher: The only correspondence I've had has been with Mr. and Mrs. Negron regarding the Ride for Kids. Mayor Ramos: I've been hearing a lot of good things from that. Next year we're going to try to pathway here in the Village of Walden. Trustee Maher: We have Orange County Bagels, Empanada Nirvana and Frankie T's. I know they're not in the Village, but they also are helping out with food donations. Trustee Sebring: I saw on Facebook that Dennis Leahy is asking his residents in Maybrook if they wanted to volunteer. Trustee Maher: We still have 5 spots to fill on the volunteer side. So, if anyone can assist, there are a few time slots we need help. You can just message me. Handing out t-shirts, registrations, things like that. Trustee Thompson: I received a message from a Village resident who was very unhappy about the traffic speeding on Oak Street. He says he's spoken to a Trustee, the Mayor, the Town Supervisor, and 2 Police Officers. 8 Manager Revella: I heard it today. Trustee Thompson: I told him I would bring it up at the meeting tonight and make sure everyone was aware of it. Mayor Ramos: I received that email from the Village resident. Today at 10:22am, a motorcycle passed me right up by Mr. Kraus's station, while I was traveling in the same direction, passed me. And he passed 2 other vehicles going out of the Village. It happens here in the Village and I like to see more, more presence on Oak Street. I'd like to see more presence on Wait Street and I'd like to see more presence on Orange Avenue and both Main Streets. To have a motorcycle pass me, my ears just rang up. I couldn't see his face. I got the first 3 digits of his license plate because it was so fast and I'm a little out of practice with my observations. We hear you and we'd like to get some visual appearances there in those particular areas. Trustee Thompson: I know we're talking about correspondence, but we're on the topic. I recall asking about having that portable speed thing where the Police Officers are monitoring how fast people are going. I asked to have it on Walnut Street as well. The cars that are flying. Whatever it is that Chief Herlihy was setting up in various locations. Nothing has come over on my side of the Village. Manager Revella: We have a lot of data on Walnut. Trustee Thompson: Well, whatever data you have, the speeders are continuing. It really is scary because we have a lot of new families on the street with very small children that play on the sidewalks. Manager Revella: Just so the public’s aware, the worst culprits, the ones with the highest speeds, are the ones that live in the neighborhood. Trustee Thompson: It sounds like obviously we're having issues throughout the Village. I agree with the Mayor. Perhaps we need a little more police presence in the neighborhoods, Manager Revella: As we've got the staff, we have been doing the traffic enforcement details in different areas. We keep rotating as much as we can. Just hired a full timer today who's has to come take his oath and then he'll be introduced to the board. Hopefully we start filling some gaps. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Thompson: I would like to remind everyone on our board that when we sign up for events, whether they are learning experiences, political functions, the taxpayers fund those. We did pass a policy about a year or a year and a half ago, that if you sign up for something and for whatever reason, you cannot go and you cannot find another person to take your place, that it's your responsibility to reimburse the Village. I would just like to remind people of that. Are we making any progress, Mr. Revella, on fixing the light on the front of the building? Manager Revella: I will ask Fred if he has any info on that. He was looking into getting the glass replaced. Trustee Thompson: Okay, I would appreciate that. Do we have any new information about what's going to be happening in the 3rd floor office? You said the secretaries got their new desks today. Do we have any information about some of the other things that might be happening in the office? 9 Manager Revella: We're working on flooring options. They're concerned about the level of the floor. The flooring that we were going to use may not work because it's an on such an unleveled floor. We talked about doing some self-leveler and other options to see what will work. Trustee Thompson: Climate Smart, I just would like to report to all of you, it is still a work in progress. It's a lot of work. I'm meeting with Supervisor Maher on the 10th to talk about how we can incorporate some more things in our task force with the Town of Montgomery. The Climate Smart Regional Coordinator is advising me that this is really going to be a big project and I'm probably going to need someone from the town to be assigned to help me. I would like to thank our Clerk, who has been phenomenal helping me. I would like her to start putting that in her report because it's going to be taking up some of her work time during the day. But it's a project that the Village agreed to work on. We're to a place now where the Clerk is participating as well as is Mr. Revella and our planner. Thank you very much. We talked about this beautification, Beautification Committee was from the Community Council. I had nothing to do with the Village per say. It was a separate entity. I have spoken with the ladies who were part of that original Beautification Committee. They're very happy to have, like a redefinition or a repurposing of the committee, so we're going to work on some language with that of how they would like to incorporate their piece with something new. We'll have the Community Council present something to the board about that. I was hopeful that we could start some of the plantings this fall. But because we've had some of these logistical bumps, we're probably going to have to wait till the spring. But it is moving forward. There is work being done on that. Mary Ellen's comments about this new project she's working on. I hope that's something that will support her with and maybe the Library would also be a good organization to lean on for help with that. Maybe the board can work in conjunction with something from the Library. Manager Revella: I'll be helping the County Committee as well. Trustee Thompson: I think that sounds like a very exciting, worthwhile project. Sounds like it's going to be a big project. Then I would like to comment and maybe ask a question of John and Dave. The topic keeps coming up about our form of government and our law. I read the email that you sent us, Mr. Donovan, and I'm really not quite sure I understood that email and I asked Mr. Revella to explain it to me and he told me I should probably ask you again to explain it to me. I did read through my NYCOM book and I took the liberty of calling NYCOM because I think it's very confusing. Obviously our form of government is not the norm. What I understood out of it and I just want to be perfectly clear on roles and responsibilities. So, my question, since people in the audience keep asking, I read through some old minutes, I too have questions about setting salary. I'm not arguing with the salary, our new person hired, the salary is the salary. I just wanted some clarification about having a board vote. Attorney Donovan: I think I've answered that question a couple of times. I'm not going to say anything new on the topic of who appoints. Manager Revella: No. Her question to me was who's authorized to set the salary for an appointed official? Trustee Thompson: My question is about setting salaries. Is that something that really should be a public discussion? Because we are talking about taxpayer dollars. That's where my confusion is. Attorney Donovan: That question, I don't know that we have had some attorney client sessions on that and maybe that's appropriate to have to get legal advice from me on that issue. Trustee Thompson: That's fine. If this is not the correct forum, I understand. 10 Attorney Donovan: Ultimately, you're spending taxpayer’s dollars, so ultimately you may want to. But there is a legal advice component of, I think what I've said in the past and what I can say again. And then that can go public after that. Trustee Maher: I'm still reaching out to local businesses to help with funding, but once I have a final list of businesses that have helped, if we could just put it up on our Village website just to make sure that everyone knows that these local businesses, I know they're all still suffering probably from the past almost 2 years of business deficit, so if we could just help use them and highlight them in any way. Then it also came up, have we ever done in the past, highlighted a small business of the month or celebrated a small business of the month? Manager Revella: We talked about doing that on our calendars. The reason that the board didn't do it then, was once you highlight one, you can't say no to any business. So, whatever business you have to rotate through and highlight and I guess, go through all of them, no matter what kind of business they are. Attorney Donovan: I've had the same conversation with the Village of Goshen. I would say it's a great idea for the Chamber of Commerce to do and for members of the board to show and smile. I get a little concerned when the Village appears to favor one business over another. Or maybe there is some business you don't want to give an award to. Even though you're trying to do the right thing for the community, sometimes you have to be careful about doing that. Trustee Thompson: I think the web page is a good idea, though. Manager Revella: We can thank those that donated to certain things at any time. That's allowed. Without trying to highlight a business, just to highlight a business. Just recognizing those who donated to x. Mary Ellen Matise: I just want to add, because I brought up the minutes from 2005 when we discussed the manager form of government, when we didn't even know how to manage a form of government operated. It was a lengthy discussion. I beg to differ with you, Dave. I don't think it's a matter of attorney client privilege or legal advice to the board. I think that they are looking to understand how this manager form of government, which operates under the old village law, not the new village law, how it works. They're not asking for anything special. They just want to know procedurally how this manager form of government. Which is not like the manager form government at Monticello, that changed in '72. It's not like a lot of the forms in Westchester, which changed in '72. They want to understand and they need to understand procedurally how this works. Attorney Donovan: With all due respect, some pretty smart folks are on this board and they can ask their own questions. Mary Ellen Matise: She did ask that question and you keep saying its attorney client privilege. We discussed it in public to Kevin Dowd's credit. We discussed it in public. I think that the public deserves that answer, too. Mayor Ramos: Just to keep you abreast, we're almost completed with the mural down at Pump Station. Thank you, Mrs. Phelps and her team. We did have some rainy days. Hopefully we get some nice days where they can continue the work on it. To remind everybody, the 9/11 Remembrance on Saturday at 7:00 pm, please pass the word and see if we get a good turnout. Read community events into minutes 11 Executive Session – Attorney Client and Personal History of a Particular Employee Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter into executive session for attorney client & personal history of particular employee. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Sebring made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 12  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 7, 2021 Motions & Resolutions Public Hearing – Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt-Out Trustee Sebring made a motion to open public hearing for Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt- Out. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Sebring made a motion to close public hearing for Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt- Out. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Maher made a motion for a Negative Declaration. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Baker made a motion to Adopt Local Law 3 of 2021 – Dispensary Opt-Out. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Approval of August 17, 2021 Minutes Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve the August 17, 2021 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Baker made a motion to approve Payment of Audited Bills. Seconded by Trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. All ayes Executive Session – Attorney Client and Personal History of a Particular Employee Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter into executive session for attorney client & personal history of particular employee. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Sebring made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 13