Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 3, 2022 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 Lynn Thompson Patricia Maher John Elliott Becky Pearson Brian Sebring Absent: John Elliott Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Manager’s Report Manager Revella: Had a few meetings at Olley Park to review the Community Center updates. The insulation and sheetrock are all done. They ordered the flooring that should be in soon and really be wrapping up the next couple of weeks. Looks like it's progressing pretty well and then we'll have, as the weather allows, outdoor work getting finalized as well. Went through the canvass lists for Police Officers with the Chief and the Clerk. We have a couple of interviews set up for that. Arbor Day ceremony was a wonderful event at Olley Park. The DPW Supervisor and I had to cut it a little short because we had a surprise visit from DEC for an inspection. Had a conference with Lovell Safety, along with the Village Clerk and the Police Chief stepped in to go over his part of it, to go over worker's comp matters and our policy. Went over some PBA correspondence with Special Counsel. There's still some ongoing issues going on there and some litigation as well. Attended the clock dedication at Walden Savings Bank. It was a wonderful event for the 150th anniversary. Went over a lot of resident requests and unpaid invoices for the re-levy payment plans for a lot of people. Attended a meeting at the Town of Montgomery with Mayor Ramos and Trustee Pearson. They went over well head protection and a few other matters. Most items were just briefly discussed and were tabled to the next meeting. Went over matters with FEMA on a conference call with the Department Heads that were involved in that. Still updating numbers for that one. They're going to come look at the sewer plant for one of the projects. Attended some special meetings for the Village board as well. Rec and Park have been continuing maintenance. They put out the garbage cans downtown. They prepped Olley Park for the Eagle Scout project with help from Public Works, as well. Tennis program begins this week. They had some rain issues yesterday, but it's scheduled to go again on Thursday. The steps at the Wooster Stage had to get redone again. The Walden Rotary paid to have that redone by Trafton's Landscaping company. Came out really well. DPW has improved an area behind the former minor league field at Bradley. It's been progressing pretty well. Clerk has been updating 207c and workers comp, helping out in the office, working on minutes, setting up the zooms, assisting with the re-levy and responding to residents and assisting with the issues from the bulk pickup. The Water Department replaced 7 meters, 20 mark outs, 3 closings and 2 inspections. Public Work has been doing maintenance as well. A lot of catch basins, flushing hydrants finished in April. Jetting the sewer lines, checking on sewer complaints, patching holes 1 from winter digs and potholes. Assisting the parks on a couple of projects. Assisting the contractor on Oak Street with the capital project going on there. Sweeping the roads as time and weather allows. Had a couple responses to high flows from rain events at those pump stations and trying to work on the back hoe to get other work on. It's been having some issues lately. Police have been working hard on staffing. As you know, there's still several people out. They did work on some saturation patrols again, as they can. They issued 10 traffic tickets, 13 parking summonses, responded 6 MVAs, had 7 arrests and responded to 307 blotters since the last meeting. Building Department. They were in class a few days. Code Enforcement issued 4 building permits, 5 certificates of compliance. Building Inspector issued 7 permits, 9 certificates of compliance, 8 CO reports, and had sent a violation notice to a property on Main Street as well. They were at school at the Poughkeepsie Grand for 3 days for continuing education. Trustee Pearson: Do we have any more information on the police car? Manager Revella: The one that was at Healey is back in service. Trustee Pearson: Stairs out back. Any new news on that? Manager Revella: Dean thinks he has a contractor that will be able to do the work. We're trying to get it lined up as soon as possible. Trustee Pearson: Did you sign for the grant writer? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Pearson: DEC, the water grants, did you take time to look at that? I know we have the discussion last time about the grants. Manager Revella: The WIAA? We actually got awarded one through that program, one we were denied, one we were granted. We got 1.25 million last year for it. We'll obviously apply again. Trustee Maher: Do you have an update on the Oak Street project? I know that's a private contractor, but is on track as far as time frame? Manager Revella: Yes. It's going pretty quickly. They're pouring some today, curbs and sidewalks. Once they're done with all that, they'll start the road milling process. Trustee Thompson: Have we heard anything about a start date from the state on Route 52, Route 208? Manager Revella: No. I asked Siby Zachariah, she's our regional coordinator, for an update on that today. A timeline, lane closures, that kind of information as well. She didn't respond to that. I have a meeting next Monday with the regional director. Trustee Thompson: On the report from the Police Department, what were the dates? What was the window for the traffic violations? How big of a window was that? Manager Revella: Two weeks. Trustee Thompson: It seems like a little low. Manager Revella: Depends on what's going on. 2 Deputy Mayor Carley: FEMA and the sewer? Manager Revella: FEMA's covering the damage of the sewer plant from the storm in September. Deputy Mayor Carley: Not for the projects coming up. Manager Revella: No, but everything helps. Mayor Ramos: Just for clarification, when we talked to the Department of Transportation regarding the 52 and Oak Street, we are going to set up a plan on where, how and where they're going to stage their equipment, timeframe so that we can try to limit our exposure to their work. Preferred night work, but that's not going to be possible. Just when you meet with them, make sure that's addressed. Approval of April 19, 2022 Minutes Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the April 19, 2022 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Elizabeth Skinner: 35 Alfred Place. *Read letter into minutes* Cheryl Baker: 126 West Main St. I don't know what research the board has done in regards to the landlord registry or if you've reached out to the local landlords in regards to the proposal for the additional $25. I just ask and when doing your research, reach out to them because it's not them that it ends up paying. It's going to be the tenants which are already struggling. But another consideration is if we want to get the Walden Business Council back up and running and get businesses and landlords to work with us, to work with tenants. The Village has to be willing to work with them and that needs to be a consideration when adding fees. If we're asking landlords and businesses to consider business incubator model or reduce graduated rent to bring a new businesses on to our Main Street so we can revitalize Walden, which I think is what everybody would love to see. We have a very beautiful Village. I want to make it a destination, not just a drive through for people. We have the highways, major roads that are now finally being redone, potholes fix, thankfully, and the curbs addressed. It's imperative that we work with these businesses so they can work with us and that we maintain tenants. So there isn't a constant flip flopping back and forth of tenants that aren't staying because they can't afford the rents that are already incredibly high. And now that you're going to add fees to it on top of it. Most especially when ask the question, is it necessary, when there is an alternative to doing that fee? Don't spend the money on the paper in the postage. Move to electronic. Is it really necessary to have someone fill out the same form every year if there's no changes? If there's a change, have them fill it out. But if not, why are you wasting the time in the paper? Especially if people have a tendency not to respond to it, do it electronically or do it via a phone call. I just ask that when you do your research that you consider those options before really adding yet another fee to already the fees that they add, which is quite extensive. If you go through the list that whether it's the fire inspection fee or the sprinkler fee, add up what they do. A lot of our landlords have multiple buildings within the Village. It adds up to a great deal. Ask yourself, is it really that unreasonable not to charge a fee? Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. You should look at the long shot of what the ramifications could be down the road, especially if we're asking for these businesses to work with us. Thank you. Mary Ellen Matise: I do want to just support some of what Cheryl said, especially about passing hidden fees. They're really not hidden, but it becomes sort of like DMV, with all the miserable amount of fees that they charges for different things and they will get passed down to tenants. That's 3 probably not such a great idea. I did query one other nearby municipality, and that Clerk in that Building Department had the same issues that we had about not getting people to respond, especially the first letter go around the round of letters, and somehow that municipality has shrunk that number way, way down. So either we are not doing something right, maybe putting the fear of God in some of these people to respond. Maybe we need to contact this person or Clerk contact this person and see what we could do to improve. So that it cuts down on the amount of time that they're spending on this. That's really what you're responding to. I think you should go through the whole procedure, what they're doing and maybe streamline it somehow so that we're not spending all this money on staffing and personnel doing all this work. Be aware, too, that there's many, many, many municipalities have landlord registries, but there is nothing in state law that tells you how to go about implementing it. Nothing. Not like the Zoning Board where you have to send a letter within 300 feet and all that, there's nothing. Whatever we do on our end to get this to work, it should be as economical as possible. Trustee Thompson made a motion to schedule Local Law 3 of 2022 Landlord Registry for May 17, 2022 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Edmunds Lane Project Manager Revella: You should see the picture in your packet. It's really for purposes of discussion. There's a potential use as a to build a building, warehouse or whatever is allowed. There was a question about the usable space, the floor plan of the building being 30% of the usable space or 40%. There was a discussion in the comp plan in 2012 which mentioned it, and then we passed some zoning, but I'm not sure if it was supposed to be 30% or 40% or what the board wants or recommends. I just want to make sure it's okay for Dave to look into that issue to see what most places are doing with an OL-I zone, it should be 30 or 40 and what our comp plan recommended from then and if we the zone that we adopted complies with that. Anybody have any comments on that? Attorney Donovan: I think the big picture, I thought I saw some communications about doing some, is that all we are talking about is the 30 or 40%? Manager Revella: Yes. What Dave is referring to is there's a lot to the left that's approved for subdivision for residential housing and it's zoned R3, which is going to stay R3. The section to the right is the OL-I and that's what they're concerned about that setbacks and percentage of use there. Mayor Ramos: John, what is being asked? They're asking for the reduction to 30% or raised 40%? Manager Revella: They want to raise to 40%. I'm not sure if that is in congruence with what our comp plans saying and what we have to do to make that happen and what impact that has on us. Attorney Donovan: The procedure, if the board is inclined to change it, would be an amendment to your zoning ordinance, which is the process we've been through a couple of times. You have to prepare a local law, goes to the Planning Board, goes the OC Department of Planning. There's a public hearing and there's some sort of analysis. If you're behind that and remember, there's 2 ways to modify your zoning code. I say 2 ways. There can be a petition from an applicant requesting the zone change or the board can do it at its own initiative. I think this is what the manager is suggesting is a relatively low level analysis that would just kind of give you some background on whether or not if the increase is common. Is it 40% development coverage? Manager Revella: Development coverage, it looks like. Attorney Donovan: Including improving services, parking and the like? 4 Manager Revella: I think so. Attorney Donovan: I may pinch your planner. Just very briefly, one email. And I'll report back to the board at the next meeting. Manager Revella: She'd given us feedback on this for this on the comp plan and the zone change. Trustee Thompson: I'm just a little confused. It's not clear in the comp plan, is that what you're saying? Manager Revella: There was recommendations in 2012, which I thought we passed, which made this recommendation. But I don't remember for sure that zone change matched that plan. Then our next comp plan update didn't really mention it. Deputy Mayor Carley: We evaluated to 40% last time? Trustee Maher: 30. Manager Revella: I don't know if that was the intention or not, that's what we're going to check to make sure that was right. Deputy Mayor Carley: We said 30, and they want 40. Manager Revella: They're asking for 40 and if that's even possible, I don't know. Attorney Donovan: Understand this kind of 2 components. Your comp plan is your goals, your zoning ordinance are your rules. If the plan says X, if it's not in the rulebook, it doesn't matter. I guess the question is, do we even want to consider it? And what are the consequences if you do? Trustee Pearson: On page 74 of the comp plan. It talks about 40%. I don't know if that was recommended or whether that's what you had approved. Manager Revella: That's what we're checking out. Attorney Donovan: What version of the comp plan? Trustee Pearson: 2019. Page 74. It just says land use regulations. When you go into the recommendations at the end on page 85, it talks about updating the use regulations for mixed use industrial zoning expanding list permitted. There's a part in there too on page 85 you might want to look at as well. Park Use Forms Manager Revella: Just want to make sure we approved or okay with approving those changes from the forms. I got some feedback from board members that these were okay and happy with the changes, but just want to make sure there's a vote to approve those officially, if that's okay. Trustee Pearson: I'm happy to see that the sports leagues and the tournament is on the park use for the Bradley Park. The pavilion doesn't talk about cleaning. Will the people who are renting those spaces is there somewhere that it says they have to clean them and make sure cleaning the dugouts, respect to other people, no foul language, cleaning the pavilions and dugouts. There's nothing listed there that that has to get done. I didn't know if we wanted to add something like that, that they're 5 responsible to clean up after themselves for sports events. I think it's understandable, but I just think maybe like the list you have for the building. For the Community Center. I had mentioned something about putting the supervisor in charge on that day so that you know who was in charge of that event that day? If something happened, they could go back and talk to that person that was in charge. That's not on the top of the list. Manager Revella: You mean like the representative of the applicant? Trustee Pearson: Like who is in charge that day to like make sure it's locked up, make sure everything's done. I don't know if it's part of the Parks Department that goes back in and make sure the buildings are locked up and heat's off. Manager Revella: There's an employee on duty. Even now, if someone goes to rent Wooster Gym, for example, there's an employee on duty that goes and locks and checks it. In the beginning and the end. Trustee Pearson: Right. I'd like to see that in this form somewhere, the supervisor or the person who's in charge of that, just so that there's a reference. Manager Revella: A sign off that they checked it? Trustee Pearson: Yes. Knowing that it's done. I also think that I would make the fees a little higher. It's a brand new building. I know that many of the other places around are higher than we are. If you rent for 4 hours, you're at $300 instead of $400. Many places, even the firehouse in Montgomery, I think is like over $400 for an older building. That's just my comment of adding like $50 each for each piece of that. It can always be readjusted later on or you can adjust it and the manager might be able to have an adjustment for people who are in need. I don't know how we can put that in there as well. I know there's going to be a kitchen there. I had asked this question before, are you allowing cooking in there or are you just allowing warming up and heating? Manager Revella: Both. Trustee Thompson: I can go along with the fees. I do think we could be a little more competitive with other rental facilities in the area. But I think this is a place to start. Under the rules on number 4, I don't know how you are going to be able to enforce that all persons must remain in the hall for the event. I think that just seems a little silly because I don't know how that's enforceable. There won't be someone from the Village there watching. Manager Revella: If they break the rule. Trustee Thompson: How will we know if they break the rule? Manager Revella: If they're not breaking the rules, then incidents wouldn't happen outside with people at the event. Mayor Ramos: We do have personnel that go to the sites if they're being rented and check on the facility. Trustee Thompson: They do a drive thru periodically. No one's assigned to stay there. I think these are a good starting place for the fees. I think depending on how the facilities are utilized, we may be able to be a little more competitive with some of our neighboring communities that have halls and things to rent. Our fees are definitely on the lower side. 6 Trustee Sebring: I've been looking at the fee schedule too, and I believe that they are low and we should raise them up a little bit to stay competitive with the rest of them. I agree that it's for our benefit and I think if they want to rent it, they'll rent it. They want to go someplace else, it's purely their option. But I feel as though we should raise the rates a little bit. Deputy Mayor Carley: I guess I'm just a little slow like I always say to the public, I'm a little slow, but I'm not that slow. Everyone's talking about to compete with neighboring Villages, Rec Centers. Raise the fee to get to their level so we can compete with them. If I'm going to compete, I shouldn't raise the rate. I should lower the rate. So, they have the people come to us, so we can get volume over what they want. My point is, we shouldn't try to be competitive with the neighboring Villages. If they want to do whatever they want, they do it. We should maintain for what we have for our Village and our residents. I think the fees are fine if we feel later on that we want to raise them and there's a reason to raise them, not to raise them because everybody else's Village resident is 80, so we should be 80, too. I don't think that's a good reason to raise rates. Secondly, in regards to what Trustee Pearson just spoke to, put the name of the employee who's going to be working that day there. I think we start micromanaging our departments it becomes a problem. I believe the department head there knows who's working, knows the responsibilities and everything that is in place should be in place. We don't have to have a name on here to say who's responsible because responsibility falls upon the Rec Department and whoever he assigns that day. That's my point in that. Regard to the check list I believe is generic for a reason. You shouldn't get too prescriptive because then you would probably cross into trouble. I did read the part about people outside and I thought that was a little borderline also. I do understand the reason for because trouble happens outside. You're not supposed to be there. People are breaking rules and things happen. Then you have enforcement. I think the language is fine overall personally, but those are the main ones I hear tonight about being competitive. To me that's not being competitive. The name of a person who's overseeing the event that night should be on the application and on the check list and all that I think is micromanaging a little bit too much. Thank you. Mayor Ramos: I'm pretty comfortable with the amount, the fees at this point in time. We're here to serve the community. We're not here to increase prices. We do pay a substantial amount of taxes within the County, the Town and the Village. And we need to give something to the Village residents. We always said and I remember saying this in the first board meeting when we proposed to Village Community Center, that if we build it, people will come. And I still firmly believe that and we will have renters for the Community Center and they will pay their fees. We haven't had any serious issues. We do have employees that are on duty from both places, Wooster and Olley. They are very diligent in performing their task and their job. The only time where we ran into a problem where there is criminal mischief or vandalism and damage is after hours. That's not because of the parties or the engagement of any type of events that are there. I believe the fees are solid. Like the Deputy Mayor said, when are we going to stop micromanaging? People do their jobs for a reason. They love their job and they will continue to protect the property of the Village. I'm good with the fees and the rules and regulations. It's not vague. As for the people staying outside, that's up to the person who's engaged in the renting of the place. They are ultimately responsible. They give us our liability insurance policy. If something goes wrong, their liability pays for it. I'm good with that. Trustee Sebring: The only thing I didn't see on here was that depending on the particular event that goes on there. If there's kids that don't want to be inside and they see that pond over there that maybe the parents will say, bring a fishing pole. I think we should at least look at that because that's one item that when kids don't want to be inside, they're going to do everything and can go outside. If people know that there's a pond there, okay, if you don't want to be inside with festivities, bring your pole and go fishing. At least look into that. 7 Mayor Ramos: It's still a public park. Trustee Sebring: But you got your rules. And that would fall in under number 4. Deputy Mayor Carley: You want it to say no fishing? Manager Revella: He's saying, if the rule says you must remain in the hall for all the event and there's a couple of kids at a party that just want to go play by the pond. Is that a violation? Are we going to allow them? Trustee Maher made a motion to approve the park use forms. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Manager Revella: I just want to let the board know that if the Town ends up contributing to the center, as they do to other municipalities, they do contribute to the Village of Montgomery. I may ask the board to revisit the fee schedule to include one for Town residents if that comes to pass. Just so you're aware. Village Treasurer Mayor Ramos: After the conclusion of the interviews, there's been a selection by the Board of Trustees and the candidate who's going to be offered the job is Ms. Kelly Kelly. Mayor Ramos called for a motion on the matter. Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to appoint Kelly A. Kelly. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. Roll Call: Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Thompson: Yes Trustee Sebring: Yes Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: No Motion carried. Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve starting salary for Treasurer's salary at $92,500. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Roll call: Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Thompson: Yes Trustee Sebring: Yes Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: No Motion carried. Village Hall Updates Manager Revella: Just so the public's aware, the board had looked at 3 flooring samples from the back of the room. The sample that's a darker wood, longer looking tiles. The one that was selected is for the hallways, the common areas, and first, second and third floor and the offices on the third floor. Just so the public's aware, we're working with the contractor, the only one that bid on revising the bid, because the bid was set on a different floor type than this sample. This one's a little bit cheaper, so we're just conferring with them that they'll adjust the price accordingly. Then I'll present that to the board for authorization if the board chooses. We're also looking at a couple other 8 updates. Furnace. There's some issues in this room if you can see the wall behind you. There's a couple of spots here and there with these falling of plaster as well as in the offices. We're trying to get someone to look at that to see if we get a price on that and paint on the exterior. If you see it on the top of the building exterior. Getting a price on that as well. We had one a few years ago, but we couldn't get confirmation on lead paint abatement. We're getting another person back in there now to see and get some pricing on the expertise in that area. Trustee Thompson: The flooring is going in the third floor office, the corridors up here, first floor, second floor? Is the library contributing to any of that on the second floor? Manager Revella: No. They have a different floor that's going to be in the community room that they're going to pay for even though it's could be our responsibility. Trustee Thompson: This will go into the judge's office as well? Manager Revella: Yes. Just not the bathrooms. Trustee Thompson: We had discussed painting your office and the Clerk/Treasurer office. Is that still included in this? Manager Revella: We are getting that painted. Correct. My office will be painted just before they do the floors. This is absolutely separate because these ares different kind of walls. We have to be cautious. Trustee Sebring: What about the furnace? Manager Revella: We're looking at pricing for the furnace right now. We've been told that the furnace is fine and it could last 10 years. It's just there's parts that keep going here and they're. Not the furnace itself. It's exterior parts like steam fittings. Some kind of regulators that keep going that they pop once in a while. It's just hard to get the parts because it's old. But the furnace is a good furnace, is what I'm told. Trustee Sebring: What's going to be if you're going to replace the furnace, put in 2. Split one floor and a half a floor and then the other is only from half the floor and it's a second and up to the third. Deputy Mayor Carley: First of all. Thank you. I think this will go well. So my question was, I know we started with the pictures or something on the hallway on the first floor. Are we going to do anything else with the Police Department in that area where people come to the window? Manager Revella: That floor is getting done. Entrance floor. Deputy Mayor Carley: What about the painting or anything in that area? Just a sprucing. Manager Revella: The paint was done not long ago, but paintings like pictures and things we're talking about trying to get some more historical pictures to put out throughout the building, not just on the first floor. Try to blow up some of the postcards from Walden to put around. That's the idea. We'll see. Trustee Sebring: What about if we put in the paper with residents that have lived here a long time and maybe they have articles from back then, the Citizen Herald that they would like to have put in there. What was going on in the Village, the events. I got some from Wooster's Grove back in the 70s when it was always snowing and you always had a lot of kids down there ice skating. Things of 9 that nature. Outdoor Café Request – Empanada Nirvana Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the outdoor cafe request for Empanada Nirvana. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: I did send you a comment about the fencing and I did receive a comment from a co-committee member saying, you brought that up at our meeting and we were going to talk about it, but we haven't had a meeting and we might not have another meeting. I'm just getting impatient because like I'm on the 20 year plan and I don't know how much longer I'll be around. I'm trying to get as much done as quickly as possible. In fact, what we've asked for and haven't had in a long, long time is a tri board meeting and something like that would come up at a tri board meeting and would be a good discussion for a tri board meeting because what happens is because we kind of get at the zoning board, the anomalies. The things that you wouldn't even think of are a problem in the code, are a problem in the code, because they come before us either for a variance or something else. So we pinpoint it and it has to come to you. This whole thing about fencing, I think, is one of these anomalies. To me, it just it makes no sense if the rear yard fence can be 6 feet, but the side yard fences can only be 4 feet and these people are showing up, paying $200 for an application, paying for a mailing. Sometimes they get an approval, sometimes they don't, and then they still have to pay. If they get an approval, they still have to go pay for the permit for the fence based on the cost of the fence. Could cost them another $200 or more. So you're talking about a $500 bill for somebody just to put up a lousy side yard fence. And you're only talking about 2 feet difference. To me, it's kind of a no brainer. This person said to me, you brought up the person on Oakland. But that's a separate issue. And really, I am going to refer that issue to the Village Manager because the person was never given all the information about his particular situation. That's your job, not the zoning board's job, to deal with that type of situation. We could go on to this other thing now that I got fixated on. I try to be as pleasant, as appropriate as possible in public comment. I think that's important. And we all know each other. So that's all part of it too. I did the other email I sent you. When you tell me I can't do something, I got to have an answer. I sent you all links to many, many other emergency management plans in nearby communities. New Windsor, Newburgh. Orange County doesn't have theirs online, but Ulster County does. City of Newburgh, Town of Highland is is reworking theirs. Cornwall, Town of Poughkeepsie. Orange County just has the hazard mitigation plan which says all the municipalities that have plans and of course the New York Senate law which puts the plans, makes it possible for us to have our own plan. The Manager says not putting it online. Of course, to me, that means find out why. When you talk about the plan, when you design the plan, you're talking about it in public. When you vote on it, you're voting on it in public. We we have an issue in this Village. People don't even know who to come to get a pothole fixed. If you don't give them information about what to do in an emergency, what are they going to do? A discussion that I had with someone also said it can become an issue about the whole issue about when you declare a state of emergency, how you declare it, what's covered, blah, blah, blah. It can become an issue for homeowners because then your homeowner's insurance is going to say, we're not paying. That's a disservice to the community for them. People not to know, property owners not to know. If there are procedural issues or things in there that people shouldn't know, you can redact them. There's absolutely no restriction. There is a recommendation for certain sections. Some of the communities you'll see have Facebook pages. There's a reason to have it out there. I'd like to see you talk about it. The Town of Newburgh, they have an advisory committee, emergency preparedness advisory board, and all the first responders are on their board. I really would like you to look into it and look into some way to give the public the information they need to know where to come, honestly, because really, we know. Who do you call for a pothole? Do I call you? Do I call her? Do I call him? Who do I talk to? I know who to talk to, but a lot of people in the Village don't. 10 Cheryl Baker: I was really struck by the last meeting when you guys were going over the Village employees’ salaries and the make a motion, withdraw motion, make a motion, withdraw a motion and putting employees for that. I'm curious, with all that constantly dickering back and forth, back and forth with that that total amount add up to with the reductions that DPW, the Department Secretaries, the Village Clerk went through? Mayor Ramos: About 67%. Manager Revella: The total amount would have been, I think it was 65,000 total combined. And then it ended up being about a 9,000 difference at the end. I think it was around 9,000 in the A fund. Cheryl Baker: All of that for $9,000? Was that kind of consideration given when giving the new Treasurer a $92,500 salary? An increase of some $18,000 approximately? Was that same kind of decision gone back through? We had department secretaries that had their salaries, going back and forth, back and forth. What kind of discussion was done with the Treasurer? Did she walk in saying I want 92,500? Okay, you got it, you're good. We have a DPW Supervisor who hauls his rear end doing 3 jobs and it was a constant back and forth, back and forth. We're not going to give you that kind of increase. I'm just curious what kind of debate your discussion was given for the Treasurer's salary? Now is it set in stone that these employees’ salaries are going to stay at their reduction? Manager Revella: The budget was passed with the numbers that were given to me, so that's the numbers I have to work with. Cheryl Baker: So, it's set. They can't go back and revisit then? Manager Revella: They can revisit the budget any time, the boards makes amendments all year. Cheryl Baker: That might be a serious consideration you want to make. Imagine how that feels to those employees. Especially the Department Secretaries who work day in and day out, have been loyal, stay through all through COVID and their money was taken from them. That is wrong on multiple levels. Imagine how insulting and degrading that is to a hardworking employee for this Village. Walden has a reputation with its employees, and it is not a good one. And these actions by this board, with this budget on their salaries, just furthers that. I seriously hope you reconsider that. Thank you. Dave Sperry: Oak Street. Any plans to put trees and new drainage going down? Manager Revella: They're updating the basins, but the drain pipe itself no. There are trees that are being donated from the owner of the Thruway Plaza, but they're not going to be on the street. They'll be in the yards. Dave Sperry: If the owners wanted to request the tree, they would talk to whom? Manager Revella: They can talk to me. I can help, but it's coming through the owner of the Thruway. Dave Sperry: I understand that. But I know a couple of people are going to have the trees cut down and I'd like to see trees go back up going down the road. Put some shade back on the road. Manager Revella: There's one tree left, but it's not going to be there. Dave Sperry: That person would contact you. 11 Manager Revella: They can contact me and I'll help coordinate with them. Dave Sperry: And drainage is going to stay. Manager Revella: They're not doing any piping that I'm aware of. They're updating a lot of the basins, but I'm not aware of them updating any pipes. The lower sections have pretty good pipe. I don't remember what the upper has. I didn't ask that question. I know that the DPW Super checked. Dave Sperry: They're blacktopping 52 and 208 or just 52? Manager Revella: Both. Dave Sperry: Doing sidewalks or just the road? Manager Revella: They only did some ADA compliance. That's all I'm aware of. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Maher made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. Correspondence Trustee Pearson: I had some emails, 3 of them from Mary Ellen Matise, 1 on housing on Main Street, side yard fence and emergency management plan. An email from Mr. Jacobowitz on Edmunds Lane. I had response from Supervisor Maher on the wellhead protection project. Mr. Ramos being away and a thank you from an applicant. Also another one from Mary Ellen on a sign on the sidewalk. Trustee Maher: I also have 3 emails from Mary Ellen, same topics. I also received a correspondence from a resident on Oak Street, which is why I brought that up earlier, just stating that they weren't informed of anything that was going on. Does that correspondence go to the landlord and not the tenants? Manager Revella: It goes to the owner of the property. Trustee Pearson: I also received same emails from Mrs. Matise, the same as the others. Plus, she always sends me anything she happens to receive regarding climate smart activity. I also received an email from Brenda Adams, the Chairwoman of the Zoning Board, and an email from Rebecca Pearson. The Mayor. I got the DEC alerts as I did the last time, which I forwarded to you. If you think they're worth consideration, we can share them with the rest of the board. I don't break them out because there's so many of them. I just give them all to John. I know, Willie, that you had asked about that. I'm happy to forward anything to anyone, but I generally give it to John first and then if he thinks it's something that we should consider. I'm assuming you'll give it to everyone. Manager Revella: Some of them are like $10,000, but you have to be on the Hudson River. Some are 50/50 match, but you have to have a certain kind of department that we don't have. Some are hard, but there's one that came recently that I think we got to look into that was had something that we could use. Trustee Pearson: One was a June 1st deadline. I just send them on because a lot of them the window is so small. By the time you get the notification, you might have 3 weeks to get the entire grant written and sent in. 12 Trustee Sebring: I received the same ones from Mary Ellen and then the ones from Becky. Deputy Mayor Carley: I receive the same correspondence. Mayor Ramos: Thank you. I had a slew of them. I don't know why they only got 3. Because I think I got 7 from you. Village Manager and I have been corresponding with the business on 35 East Main Street. I'm hoping to come up with an equitable resolution for them to stay in our Village. I also received correspondence from the DEC about a grant that I forwarded to the Village Manager to consult with our grant writing person so we can move on with some of that. Also got correspondence from the Tri-Montgomery. They want to call it a Triathlon, which it's a weekend full of town wide events and special surroundings of our area's first Triathlon. October 15, 2022. Rain or Shine. Starting and ending at Benedict Park. It's running, biking and kayak and on the Wallkill River. This will be posted on our website and it's hosted by the Business Council of the Greater Montgomery. Should be a well attended the event. The route will be posted on our website. It's a total of 21.6 miles. It should be a an enjoyable event. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Pearson: I would just like to remind everyone that May 7th is the River Sweep event. This year it will be held in the Town of Montgomery over on Canning Road by Route 416 under the I-84 overpass. It's from 10 to 12. Anybody is welcome to go. There is a pre-registration, but you can sign up at the event. The only rules are to wear gloves. I would wear boots. They supply the trash bags. You can bring a rake or anything you'd like. It actually is a lot of fun. I did one here on the Walk Hill River and they pick a different location every time. May 19th, the Village of Walden can benefit from an initiative, is called a CEA, a Critical Environment Assessment. It's very important for our Village because it affects our wells. Part of the area has to do with our water supply. It's before the Town of Montgomery, right now. It's their project, but they need support from everyone in the community and the Village of Walden has a stake in the game. If you understand that everyone deserves clean water to drink, that's what you need to know. And they really need the support from the community. They had a meeting recently and it was tabled. So if there's anyone that would like to show support for their Village and the importance of clean drinking water, it would be really nice if anybody and everybody went to that presentation on May 19th over at the Town. It will be on the website, but we can double check on that. But it wasn't a great turnout from Walden at the last public hearing and then it was kept open. If we could get more support, it would be really great for our community. Trustee Maher: I was unable to attend Arbor Day, but I've heard from so many people how wonderful it was and they really appreciate that we have that in our Village. Thank you to Becky and Jim and everyone that was involved with organizing that and the Rec Department. When we were talking about the Rec Department earlier, it reminded me that I've always wanted to bring up the fact that we don't have diaper changing stations at any of our bathrooms in the Village of Walden. I'd like to see this change. I think it's a pretty quick fix. I could probably even try and get them donated. I don't know if you need me to, but I think that it's a necessity. I've seen mothers changing their babies on the floor in our bathrooms and it's kind of gross. Manager Revella: We always accept donations. Just want to throw it out there. Trustee Maher: I think that's something we should definitely consider, especially in our new buildings and in our public park areas. Lastly wanted to request that all candidates for the Treasurer position be called and just notified. I know that wasn't done last time. If that can be done, if you need assistance with that, I can help. Just to let them know that thank them for applying and we appreciate their time, but we did pick another candidate. 13 Trustee Pearson: I spoke to the family of the waterfront park again, have we rebuild that part again? Are you rebidding for the walkway? Manager Revella: Yes, we did. It's out for bid now. Trustee Pearson: Because they were fine with extending the parking lot and doing a really nice big floating dock that can come off the property out of the water in the winter time. I know you already rebid, but I just thought maybe you'd contact them. Manager Revella: We have to do that to utilize the grant funds. Trustee Pearson: Mayor, did you happen to send the information to the Supervisor from the last meeting for wellhead protection? Mayor Ramos: I was going to send him to the bore drilling. 2 companies right now, they don't have anything formalized. They just bring a truck and they bore. I'm going to have to do a little bit more research. Trustee Pearson: I can send it to all the board members as well. I want to thank everyone from the board for Arbor Day. I know the Village is a is a big part in it. You support us. Thank you, Mrs. Phelps, for bringing, organizing this elementary school kids, the Mayor and the board and the Manager for your part in it, and also the Village staff. They do a great job. They dig the hole. They do all of that for us. So I really appreciate that. The kids do love it. I understand you can't come on Thursdays. It's hard. It's a school day and that's when we have to go, when there's school. Also about Oak Street trees. I didn't get an email. I got a phone call from John Joseph about trees on on Oak Street. He wants to really be able to put some in. I spoke to the manager and he said there's no room between the sidewalk and the street for them. But if people wanted in the Village to put them in their property or on their property on Oak Street, Mr. Joseph would be happy to supply those trees. I didn't get a number from him today. I did speak to the builder who has three apartments on Oak Street as well, and he's excited that he would be happy to put trees in his property. I spoke to Mr. Hunter this morning. He also said he would like to put a tree at the corner where he did that beautiful landscaping. There's some trees at the bottom level. I know Dave Sperry just talked about probably the people's house across the street, I believe, who might be interested as well. We would not be involved in that because it's not a Village issue. It would be between Mr. Joseph and the homeowners. Is that correct? Manager Revella: Yes, we can assist, but that's about it. Trustee Pearson: Can I send him your way then to assist with that? Would he need a letter from the homeowners? What would he need? Manager Revella: Help coordinate with homeowners. Trustee Pearson: I don't know how many he wants to donate. I'll talk to him again and see how far he can go with them. I don't know who's going to pick what type of tree, so I don't know if we want to be involved in that. But it's on the homeowners property, so maybe the homeowner wants a maple or somebody wants an oak or somebody want something else. I will talk to you this week. I will call him again just because I did leave him a message today. I'm excited about that because I really think having those trees, even on the homeowners property would be awesome. He's so gracious in stating he wanted to put in trees. I appreciate it. 14 Deputy Mayor Carley: I have a question about the trees. Are they going to be small trees? Eventually the roots crack open sidewalks. Trustee Pearson: They're not going to be in the sidewalk area. They're going to be on the homeowner's property. There are ways to make the roots go down. They get put in root barriers. There's buckets that go in the ground that make the roots go down lower. Which should be done, I believe, next to a sidewalk. If we can also talk to him about that and do that would be great. I'm sure he'd be willing to do that. I did it in my house, up on the street. It makes the roots go much lower into the ground. Deputy Mayor Carley: That was the only thing I was thinking about. Forgive me if I missed this or not, but do we have a list of the what the landlords, the fees other than our proposals? Is there a laundry list? Manager Revella: It depends on what type of property they have. If they have what's called commercial grade property or sprinkler system, there's a sprinkler fee. Most normal residential landlords don't have sprinklers in the building, They don't pay that fee. They would just pay a fire and safety fee, which is every other year. Then the landlord registry, which isn't annually yet. Deputy Mayor Carley: It's not like a numerous amount. To address Ms. Skinner's comments, I just want to personally say, I appreciate everything that you did for the Village and your attempt to do the best you can. I feel you did the best you can and everything. I just want to say, I appreciate you personally and everything that you did and I believe you did your best. Trustee Maher: I want to echo that also. Thank you for your service and we wish you all the best. Deputy Mayor Carley: Just to let the public know that she came in a difficult time. There was a lot of things that wasn't together and we had to get it together and she had a short suspense. I think as a Village, we could have done better, personally. But I just want to put that out there. Mayor Ramos: Thank you, for bringing this up. Ms. Skinner, I feel that I failed you. Deputy Mayor Carley: One of the things I like to bring up about the emergency management. There's no requirement to a certain level of what goes in there. There's copious amounts of information for individuals, homeowners that the county puts out, which I think they put out great information. One of the problems I see personally that becomes a problem in emergency management in that field is when we have too much information, then a lot of people get confused. Maybe there's something that we can just kind of drill down to point people in a direction that kind of gives some overview. But as a Village, there's nothing in specific, we have our Code Red, that we make very known in order what to do. I just want to put that out not to debate over it. There's a lot of information. It sometimes too much information becomes more of a problem than no information. I just want to kind of address that. I think we should still review our codes in our policies and maybe that can be addressed within the codes in the policies that we have concerning what Ms Matise was talking about that we can make sure that in the environment. What you're referring to is dealing with the governmental side of emergency management versus individuals. If you talk about what's that supposed to do in a hurricane or a disaster emergency, then information does go out through a Code Red. And secondly, there is copious amounts of information from Orange County, the state and everything. Maybe we can drill down a little bit more just to have it on our website. But then there's so much out there that within our local area. There is copious amounts that out there and maybe we can look at it as we look at our policies and everything to kind of address a little bit more. 15 Mayor Ramos: Wonderful day for Arbor Day. It was a beautiful day. A little chilly, a little windy. Kids had a phenomenal time. And I want to thank the Walden Elementary School for walking those poor kids all the way out there. Thank you again, Trustee Pearson, for facilitating that. The Walden Savings Bank clock. This is history 101. What a phenomenal job. I have asked them to increase its volume. It's a little low and they're going to be working on that. I attended the Town of Montgomery meeting with the wellhead protection. Obviously, it was a short meeting and I hope to continue dialog with that at the next meeting. Walden Savings Bank Scotts Corner's building was renovated. If you haven't been in there yet, they have beautiful, picturesque murals on the walls, the arboretum, local areas, points of history. I attended today's Driver and Attention Safety Day at the Valley Central High School, where over 320 kids attended a real eye opener for the seniors especially when it comes to driver and attention. This has been going on for over 25 years. The local responders, fire department and ambulance police department all did a phenomenal job and they had a beautiful day to do it. I'm hoping that this was taken in and hope and pray that it will help out the students. Thursday, 2:45 p.m. we have a zoom meeting with the ambulance consultant. He's going to give us our monthly update. Hopefully he's got something. He's due June 1 for his is meeting to the Town. We'll continue to strive and fix this. Adjourned 16  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 3, 2022 Motions & Resolutions Approval of April 19, 2022 Minutes Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the April 19, 2022 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Set Public Hearing Local Law 3 of 2022 – Landlord Registry Trustee Thompson made a motion to schedule Local Law 3 of 2022 Landlord Registry for May 17, 2022 at 6:30pm or soon thereafter. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Park Use Forms Trustee Maher made a motion to approve the park use forms. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Village Treasurer Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to appoint Kelly A. Kelly. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. Roll Call: Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Thompson: Yes Trustee Sebring: Yes Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: No Motion carried. Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve starting salary for Treasurer's salary at $92,500. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Roll call: Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Thompson: Yes Trustee Sebring: Yes Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes Mayor Ramos: No Motion carried. Outdoor Café Request – Empanada Nirvana Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the outdoor cafe request for Empanada Nirvana. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Maher made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by trustee Sebring. All ayes. Motion carried. 17