Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 20, 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 Becky Pearson Brian Sebring John Elliott Absent: Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Dave Donovan, Village Attorney Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer Tri-Montgomery Randi Picarillio: I did send over earlier this week the Google Maps overlay of the course. Today I did send over to the Tri-Montgomery Committee, which the Police Chief and Fire Departments and Mayors are CC'd in, it's a turn-by-turn directions. It's also available right on the website. It's threevillages.org and they're both downloadable. What I wanted to get to today was, is there anything that you think needs to be changed or added, anything that's not being paid enough attention to and to go over what the cost will be as far as the Police Department goes, because there's been a couple back and forths about that. I just need to know how we're moving forward there. Trustee Pearson: Can you tell me the route through Walden again? Randi Picarillio: It'll start on Benedict, go down 17K, make the left on River Road, the right onto 52, come down Main Street so we can see the business district, make a left on Bank and then a right Bergen, left on Pleasant, right on Albany, left into Bradley Park and that's where the bike transition will be. Then they'll go up Bradley Lane, make the left onto 208 and then go Lake Osiris. Trustee Pearson: How are you marking the streets? We'll have new pavement, hopefully. Randi Picarillio: For the bike route, generally the bike routes are only the stake signs in the grass. The running route we do have mile markers for and directional arrows so we do not need to use them if you prefer not to use paint, but we can also use lime instead of paint. But I think for this race they'll still be pretty tight. So, we should be able to get away with just using the state road signs, if you prefer that. Manager Revella: You mean the chalk, right? Randi Picarillio: Yes. 1 Trustee Pearson: Before it's been permanent paint that's been used. So, I'm really not keen on that. But if you want to use a chalk or something that's going to wash away, I'm fine with that. There's going to be a new road coming through Walden, so it'll be nice not to have arrows all over it. Just my thought. Randi Picarillio: I can accommodate that. Trustee Thompson: I agree with Trustee Pearson. No paint on the brand-new paved roads. We've been waiting a long time for those. I just have some questions about the police budget. Randi Picarillio: I don't really know. I'm in the dark. I was under the impression that we were doing a donation to the Police Departments and the First Responders as a whole and emergency workers. Once we collected all of the purchase fees and registration fees and then there was some talk about there being a budget. So, the town is covering the town police portion and that's the heavy lift, to be honest. They've done everything that's not on a main street in a village. They've taken care of everything. Then we also have additional radio patrolmen that will be helping us with that as well. And where all the non-emergent kind of off-road intersections are, they'll be helping with that as well and spotting all of the participants. We're going to close River Road for the run. And once the last runner comes down River Road will open the road back up. That's the only road closing portion. So, the direction that we'll need is just from 52 into Bradley Park and that's it. I can't see it taking more than an hour. We are a first-year event that hopefully this will be a building block going forward for a whole weekend full of events. We do have a fundraiser in Montgomery for the senior center on Friday night. I did contact the Walden Fire Department first. Just so you know, they were already booked and had something to do. Then we have the community event afterwards on Saturday and then we have Orange County Battalion 2 Fire Department Pancake Breakfast on Sunday morning to benefit all of the Fire Departments. We're trying to really fill out the entire weekend as like an Eat, Play, Stay weekend. But this is the first year, so there's not a huge budget. Whatever we can work on together would be great. Trustee Thompson: Randi, what is your estimated number of participants? Randi Picarillio: You can do it in teams of 1 or 3 for the Tri portion. There's also a Bi option, which would be 1 or 2 person teams. Right now, we have 50 teams signed up and about half of them are 1 person and half of them are 2 and 3 people. We're at about 110 right now. We're hoping to be at about 225 by the day of. Trustee Sebring: Do you have enough volunteer help? Randi Picarillio: We desperately need more volunteers. I'd rather have people come in, cut them loose early and have them stay to enjoy the community events than not have enough. So, the more the merrier. If you have any groups that you'd like to put me in contact with, that would be appreciated. Or if any of you want to volunteer time, I'll love that. Trustee Sebring: Yes, I'll volunteer. Randi Picarillio: I will steal your email address from somewhere. You'll have a post and a time frame and be good to go and we'll get you a shirt and you'll be on your merry way. Hopefully it's a good weather day. Mayor Ramos: I think it's going to be a great event, kind of looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll have sunny skies. We're still in discussion about budgets and what we can do to help out. Seeing 2 this as the inaugural race to many more in the future. Randi Picarillio: Do we have a timeline on when we might have an idea? My issue is that I can't in good conscience pay the Village of Walden. The Village of Maybrook has waived their fees, and the Village of Montgomery has asked for a specific dollar amount as a donation, but not required as payment. I'm waiting to hear where Walden is at. Manager Revella: You're donating to who? Randi Picarillio: The Village of Montgomery Police Department. Manager Revella: Village of Montgomery Police Department or the PBA? Randi Picarillio: Police department. Manager Revella: Okay. Randi Picarillio: We intend to donate a matching amount to each Police Department. I'm kind of trying to make sure I have a budget. Deputy Mayor Carley: What are we in discussion about? Mayor Ramos: Budget, how much is going to cost. Manager Revella: Our Chief had given us a number. I'm not sure if you guys are willing to waive that or compromise on that or what you wanted to do. Deputy Mayor Carley: We're waiting to see what Chief Herlihy says for the cost of coverage. Manager Revella: He gave us a number what it'll cost him to cover. Whether you say that's part of our annual programing or not, that's up to you. Deputy Mayor Carley: I haven't seen it. Manager Revella: I'd given that number at a prior meeting. I'll give it to you again after the meeting. I think was $1800 dollars and some change. Trustee Pearson: Are you using all police officers for intersections or are you doing volunteers as well? Randi Picarillio: We're using volunteers for not main intersections? There's an organized group of volunteer radio patrolmen that do these types of events for fun as a hobby. They do not do main intersections and they are not here to be police, even though a lot of them are EMS workers and police and fire department workers. Per Chief Herlihy would like to have a Police Officer at every main intersection and then crossing guards at the smaller intersection. We did discuss that at length because I wanted to know where like what played into the number and how can we be conservative but not unsafe and all that good stuff. And we don't know what we don't know. Next year we could be like we definitely don't need all those Police Officers or we may need double. Who knows? I know he's playing it very safe for everybody so that there's no issues. Deputy Mayor Carley: I guess I'm trying to figure out why are we deliberating about it? And not to give you an answer tonight. 3 Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to waive the cost of police coverage. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Pearson: The funding would come from where? Manager Revella: Our A fund already. Our current police budget. Trustee Pearson: We have it? Where we at? Manager Revella: We do budget for special events. We didn't budget for this event in particular, but we may have room in other events to flex some. I'm just not sure how much exactly. If you say to make it work, we'll make it work. Trustee Pearson: Randi, you're also talking a possible donation back to the Village into the Police Department? So, it would not be the possibly the whole amount. Randi Picarillio: Correct. Just to be 100% transparent, I'm hoping to donate $500 to all 3 villages. The town has agreed to cover all of their costs and doesn't need the donation. The whole point is to really give each village their time to shine and bring everyone through each village and what they have to offer and get it equal amounts of participation and give back equally as well. Trustee Thompson: The Chief will be very mindful of overtime costs, I hope. Manager Revella: In scheduling for this event, yes. Trustee Thompson: Because that seems to be a concern with us, with our Police Department. Manager Revella: I'm making a hire today. Orange County Transit Anthony Mirando: I submitted a letter on Friday providing you with another update. Continue follow up with the DOT and pursuit of getting the highway work permit issued, which was filed a few months ago. I do have an up to the minute status change. I have somewhat excitement, but that excitement is tempered by another request that they had. What I've been advised is that they're literally in the process of issuing and approving the highway work permit, but then have now asked based on something that they didn't see before, that they asked for another form permit that we have to get into them. We've already immediately contacted them. Our engineers got this yesterday. I don't really handle DOT permitting, so I get this kind of second hand, to be honest. It made its way to me today. They reached out to us yesterday afternoon, and we've already followed up with three different people at the DOT. Just to confirm what exactly they're asking for. It wasn't clear it's actually needed. It's a permit essentially associated with a private line, because they had reached out to Dean, who also called me today. Very grateful Dean reached out to me as well. We're getting the form together and following up the DOT and making sure it's the right thing, because it's a little unclear at this point, but it's all happening in real time. My hope is we'll definitely turn around. Our response to them is this week, I would imagine, if not sooner, but that permit is not in our hands. As far as the rest of the site, you might have seen it, but the fencing has been up in the back. They're putting a sound dampening, the acoustic fence in the back as well as part of the site plan approval. The berm is up there. I think they're waiting for some materials on the fencing, but it's all in process of being installed. I think that was it as far as the most recent changes. Trustee Thompson: This is exciting. Honestly, that's the news everybody's been waiting to hear 4 finally. Anthony Mirando: I feel like I'm sinking as I stand here. It's like quicksand and I keep climbing out. Trustee Pearson: I reached out to the homeowners because they had some concerns with the berm. The Winums. I stopped there tonight on my way in. They sent me some pictures. They're really concerned, they have a swell that runs behind their home. There's a pipe at the end that goes through the berm into the drain that takes it to the Tin Brook. Underneath the blacktop and pavement of the bus station is this pipe that runs all the way to the telephone pole and goes out across the road into the Tin Brook. The top of that, they sent me a picture, there's another pipe on top of that that is draining the water from the bus station back into their property. They have a big concern about extra flood, like they have some major flooding if it gets big now. Now all the water from the bus station is going to come back into their property through that second hole on top of the other pipe. They're worried about more flooding coming back onto their property. Because the one is at the level of the parking lot and the one is below that. That goes in it's going to come out of the parking lot and go into their swale, which is going to flood their property. The other thing they're concerned about is the lighting. She sent me some pictures. I know in the beginning it was major as well. The whole back of their house is lit up at night and also they have their bathroom, light shines in there all day onto the floor. Major concerns about the light pollution that they're still having. I think that needs to be addressed as well. They have some major concerns. Maybe you can talk to Dean. Anthony Mirando: I'll pass it along for sure. Manager Revella: The directional lighting was part of the process. So, it should be directional lighting. Anthony Mirando: I can answer the first one with the with the pipe. That all sounds exactly what was approved actually with the pipe and then another pipe on top. I know, certainly don't want to speak for your Building Department, but I do know from them and our clients and the contractors that Dean has been out there and the Building Department has been involved in this. And I believe everything's been done to plan. Trustee Pearson: But they're really concerned. I'll send the picture to the Manager and to the Mayor. Anthony Mirando: They're still working on it. Trustee Pearson: Before they finalize it maybe they can find another way to make it not back up into somebody else's property. Maybe put in a different drain somewhere else on their property. If that pipe is specifically to take water off of the bus station back to the Winums, that's specifically what that pipe is for. Anthony Mirando: This was all developed during the planning process and reviewed by the Planning Board Engineer, the planning and everything. So, what you're saying sounds consistent with what was approved. Trustee Pearson: But it looks terrible. It looks like I would be scared if I lived there. Anthony Mirando: They had a flooding problem that was raised during the process and as you mentioned, and there was sort of, I'm an advocate, but Orange County Transit was pretty open to 5 not making a big issue of their flooding coming on our property in the first place. So, they were trying to work together on that issue and that there was a resolution developed between the engineers. But either way, let's get to the bottom of it. I'll follow up and pass along the message. I know since the since the facility is not finished, that the Building Department's going to be out there again anyway. I'm sure Jim, who works for Orange County Transit, is out there every day that they can get together and take a look at it with the engineer. Because if there's an issue, let's get to it now before it's all finished. Deputy Mayor Carley: That was one of the things I remember from before, preexisting flooding in that area over there. Is that the same? Trustee Pearson: Preexisting flooding on whose property? On the Winum property? Anthony Mirando: Yes. The reason the pipes were put in was because when the screening mechanism that was designed, they wanted to make sure that if there was water, because water from the Winums floods off, so if that water came through, they would have a place to go. And that's why there's a second pipe, is my recollection, from the Planning Board process. But I'm not the engineer that designed it, so I don't want to speak out of turn. Trustee Pearson: I might think that if I didn't see that the pipe is at ground level of the bus company. For me, that would be flooding coming back through that pipe. If it was maybe four inches above ground level on the bus station side, I would say, maybe that's great. Then that's going to take the overflow from the Winums and push it into that area. I think it's coming the other way. I'll send the pictures to the Manager and whoever else wants to see them. Anthony Mirando: Definitely. We'll take them and pass them on to Orange County Transit. Again, since the Building Department is still coming out, we'll make sure the conversation is had now. Trustee Pearson: Right now, they're parking the employee cars at that berm instead of the busses and they like that because they don't hear the busses starting. Are the cars always going to be parked in that area? Anthony Mirando: That's what one of our suggestions to alleviate their concern. That's what our approval is for. And the fencing that was approved to put in is good fencing for blocking sound. That was the point of it. So, when that's up and done, that'll be helpful as well. Trustee Thompson: I seem to remember, though, and I'll go back through the notes and the minutes. I thought people from the Planning Board did go out to that property and speak to the Winums. I thought at that time everybody was okay with whatever was going on with that drainage. Is this something new? Anthony Mirando: It was a significant focus. And the Winums came to the hearing, they spoke and then the engineers worked, the village engineer worked with us to make sure that what we were doing, we actually were they were working together to find the best option and that was all put before the Planning Board at that public meeting. It was all part of the approval. Again, not an engineer. But I do specifically recall that is what was approved and that was what was they asked for. Not the Winums necessarily, but the group of technical professionals working on it. Speculating here from my memory, but the water fills up and then it would dump over because it collects and that I guess that whole back area of the property collects water. And that was the relief. That second pipe is for when it reaches a certain level, it's a relief. You're right, though. Let's take a look at it. Trustee Pearson: That's what I would have thought if it wasn't ground level. I think it can work the 6 other way as well, so I'd be concerned about that. Anthony Mirando: I'll pass along the comment. Village Manager’s Report Manager Revella: Conference with the Rec Coordinator regarding the tables and chairs for the Olley Park Community Center. We picked out some things that we showed some of the board members who seemed to be okay with that. Hope to get those ordered tomorrow. Went over drainage issues that the community center. The Public Works is working on that in the back of the building now. We need to get our sidewalks in and get our CO. There was also a waterline issue at AMPAC that the Superintendent had discussed with me to resolve with that company. It’s a private matter. Went over staffing at the Teen Center, including, after school with the Rec Department went whenever capital projects and funding with the Village Engineer, including CHIPs reimbursements. Which we did again today. Met with Building Inspector to go over his upcoming court appearances and property maintenance. Met with the Chief to go over the new hire, which will happen now. Went over the road work progress with the DPW Super and discussed that with the contractor from DOT. Discussed some follow up with the Village Attorney regarding the town and the Hill Street Bridge Matter. Attended the NYCOM Conference, so did the Village Treasurer and Village Clerk. We discussed some audit updates, election updates, retirement health care costs for the coming year. The Rec Department has been reviewing park requests as it comes in. Outdoor soccer is going on now. The Teen Center and after school program is going well. They do have the movie coming up this Friday and Harvest Fest on Saturday. Building Department, the Inspector issued 5 permits, 3 certificates of compliance, 5 COs, 3 properties are still pending the court appearance and 7 properties got cited for not providing landlord registry. If you didn't notice the rear stairs at Village Hall are repainted, there's a couple of little repair holes that have to be fixed by the welder. The Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer kept doing fire safety. Code Enforcement Officer issued 12 building permits, 9 certificates compliance, 10 fire and safety inspections, 11 landlord registry violations, and 2 lawn violations, as well as working on the Falcons Rest Project, which they have a site meeting tomorrow. Clerk's been updating everything as much as she can, FOILs, 207c. Did confirm the Village-wide Yard Sale and Bulk Pick-up. Also attended NYCOM. The Finance Department still training the new staff member, working on bank recs. Audits have been postponed until recs are done. Went over the payment processes with the Rec Coordinator and myself for programs. Reviewed some school tax bills with myself, our attorney, and the school district that the town sent over that we need to work on. Went over health care for retirees discussed that with special counsel. Public Works, they're still pressing sludge, working on vehicles and patching. 1 meter replaced, 12-mark outs, 2 inspections and 2 end point swapped from the Water Department. Earlier went over the AMPAC issue with the water line. Repairing curb boxes and valves and finishing those in the state roads. Put reclaim down on the Tin Brook Road and working on capital projects along with the Community Center. Police Department. We did interview and are able to make one new hire now. They also worked on tickets and saturation patrols, 21 tickets issued, 1 parking summons, they went to 1 MVA, had 4 arrests, 20 additional vehicle traffic stops, and they responded to 308 blotter since last meeting. Trustee Pearson: Thank you for these reports. I was very pleased. This is kind of what I was looking for all along, so thank you. Thank the Department Heads as well. I think it's nicely done. The AMPAC issue is all finished. Manager Revella: No. They had a second water line that was still active that they didn't realize. They thought it was a deadline. It's not. They have to fix it and get it repaired. We had to help them find the box. Trustee Pearson: The police new hire is full time? 7 Manager Revella: Yes. It's subject to the new rules. They have to do a psych exam. As long as that qualifies him with the county, we're good. Trustee Pearson: How many kids for outdoor soccer? Manager Revella: I'm not sure how many registered now, but it's still open registration. Practice starting this week. I can get numbers for next meeting. Trustee Pearson: What's going on with Falcons Rest? Manager Revella: They're having a site meeting tomorrow. I'm not sure what they're discussing over there. Trustee Pearson: Can you talk about the tax bill? Manager Revella: The town assessor said he doesn't have any record of the school exempting two of our well properties from school taxes. So, he's sending us a bill. We got a bill. I sent it to the school district saying, why aren't we exempt? Our other properties are exempt. And the Superintendent was going to look into it for us and try and help us out. The same thing happened to the Village of Montgomery as well. Trustee Pearson: You talked about the retiree health care. We have a packet on that. Are we going to be discussing that sometime? Manager Revella: I'm waiting for the special counsel to give us a write up. She has a proposal for us. Labor counsel were writing it up. I haven't received it. When I get it, I'm going to give it to you guys to review. I was going to ask her to come to the meeting to discuss it with you and our options. Trustee Pearson: It's going to be different information that we already have? Manager Revella: She's going to have a policy written up. Trustee Pearson: Have we hired a new parking enforcement person? Manager Revella: No. Trustee Pearson: Are we planning on it or not planning on it? Manager Revella: We put the advertisement out. We didn't get responses, so we'll try again. Trustee Pearson: There are still issues, but the Treasurer is working through. So, we couldn't do the audit yet because of the issues still pending from last year. Manager Revella: It's a lot to catch up. Trustee Pearson: Park payment process related to security deposit. Is that something new that you're working with? Manager Revella: Yes. Right now, they're just handing money in sometimes. We don't really have a process for it because it's usually really small, like $2 or $4. But we're trying to get something in line that's easy for the resident and not costly, and also helps track it for us for auditing. 8 Trustee Maher: The detail in the reports was awesome. Definitely helped create a clearer picture and was great insight into what's going on. Trustee Thompson: I worked with the Parks Department to try and improve the esthetic of our village with plantings. It was a horrible summer to do this. No water. I think for the most part, they did a really, really good job. Once we got over a few bumps in the beginning, things went really well. I would like to meet with Mr. Bliss and with you to see where we're going to go next stage for next year. I would like to thank them for that. Is there anything you can tell us about the fiscal award that was in the packet for parks? Manager Revella: That's our annual grant from the county, Youth Bureau. Trustee Thompson: Building Department. Can you please ask them to take a look at the property on the top of Scofield Street? Manager Revella: They've been cited. Think it's number 87, right on the corner of Ridge. Trustee Thompson: You and I have had the discussion before that all properties should be paid attention to, but especially the ones on our main thoroughfares coming in and out of the village. Thank you for that. I would like to thank the Treasurer for working so hard. I feel like every single report it's catch-up, catch-up, catch-up. Thank you for being so diligent about getting everything caught up and getting us back on track. Can we put something online about reminding people to contact the village about the new water meters? That's sort of stagnated and it fell by the wayside with COVID. People didn't want to let others have access to their homes. I recall at the last meeting, or I spoke to Fred and we were at 50%. Maybe we can encourage people to start making those calls again so we can move that project forward. Any news on your vehicle and any other vehicles? How are we doing with that? Manager Revella: So, both vehicles, they're ordered, there's no update. And both lawn mowers, we ordered and no update. Trustee Thompson: Do we have any update on our charging station project? Manager Revella: We have the award. It's through a grant portal, and I'm working with their tech department on access to the grant portal. They say I have access, but we've tried to get in and haven't been able to get in. They're trying to walk us through it without them coming here. I'm not sure how to do it. I try to get them to do a screen share, but they wouldn't do it. Trustee Thompson: I know we had discussion about hoping to get that started or maybe completed before the end of the year. Is that still a realistic timeframe? Manager Revella: It's up to them on when they will release funds. If they release it on time. Yes. Trustee Thompson: I would like to thank the Village Manager for all of his hard work that he's been doing on the Climate Smart Initiative. There's a piece to that I absolutely could not do. And to the Treasurer and the girls on 3, because I know it's been an inordinate amount of work pulling up all those bills and gathering all that data. Thank you, everybody. Deputy Mayor Carley: How's the new hire with the Finance Department and everything in the office? 9 Manager Revella: They're still going through training. We're evaluating. I don't really want to talk about positives and negatives in open meeting. Approval of September 6, 2022, Minutes Tabled Public Comment None 3rd Floor Audio and Visual Proposals Manager Revella: The board had asked for the potential to put in some new A/V equipment into this room. We had 2 companies give us kind of a rough proposal. This really depends on what you want in here. Monitors, kind of system. But those are 2 options. If you want certain screens, where you want the screens, do you want TVs or how you want it done? That's really up to you. Trustee Thompson: I was under the impression that each company that gave us the proposal was going to come in and give us a little talk and show us what they had in mind. I spoke with one of them personally who said he had no problem doing that. I'm just having trouble envisioning what we would be doing and where it would be placed in the room. Manager Revella: It's really up to you guys. That's the thing, they won't dictate. When I walked through it with both of them, the idea would be probably to put the screens over here, angled one towards us and one towards the audience. That could be seen simultaneously. I'm just not sure if that's the best option or if that's what you want to do or not. Trustee Thompson: 1 of the proposals talked about 1 TV and then the other 1 talked about 2. Manager Revella: Correct. Trustee Thompson: I can't envision. I have no clue. Manager Revella: The 1 would have been in the same location. Just us all looking at 1 flat spot or us looking at the 2 angled TVs is the difference, really. 1 could do it. It's not like 1 can and 1 can't. It's just a matter of preference. That's why the numbers are different because of that. They're pretty similar. Trustee Thompson: I'm having trouble visualizing it. 1 of the screens was bigger than the other. I don't know what the advantage to a bigger 1 is or the disadvantage to a smaller 1. I have no clue. That's why I was hoping you could come and talk to us. Manager Revella: It's really a matter of the size of the tv, it makes a difference on how far away you can see certain fonts. That's the only real difference for them. Right now, we have a screen which you can roll down as far as you want. The TV's fixed. That's where it is. We would have it on mounting brackets so you can tilt. Either option, either a single or double. Both would be able to tilt. That would be my preference. I don't know what's going to be best. If you want them to come, I'd have to have both be able to be hear. They weren't both able to come tonight. I don't know if you want them both to come and explain it. I don't want them to compete with each other in person. Kind of weird. Trustee Thompson: I feel like all 3 boards that would utilize this system each have different needs. I'm thinking the board with the most needs from going to the meetings would be the Planning Board. Would their need be the same as our need? To be the most cost effective, but to serve the 10 purpose for why we would do this. I need input from you. Manager Revella: I think that this is hard to do in 2D. You'd want something 3D. Like, how in the room would it look? Would they want it here, here, floor mounted, something that rolls on wheels? I don't know. You can ask them for those options and see what they can bring us. These 2 are local companies. I don't think anybody is going to do better in price, but you never know. Trustee Thompson: I just think it's long overdue because it's very frustrating to go to some of these meetings and the presenter is obviously facing the board and he has all the schematics, and the public has absolutely no idea. You can see nothing. If people are going to come out and go to the meeting, I feel like they should be able to see and understand whatever is being presented. I know over at the Town of Montgomery; it made a huge difference when they got that all upgraded. Manager Revella: If that's the premise of the board, I can have them see if they're available for the next meeting to come and try and do that if they can get it done in time. Trustee Maher: I just think we need more information. Trustee Pearson: I don't know enough about it. I know 1 screen, 2 screen. Do we own the equipment? Is it rented? Manager Revella: No, we own it. Both proposals, we own the equipment. Trustee Pearson: Anyone who comes into present can use it? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Thompson: Would this be something that the library would also utilize for presentations they would have? Manager Revella: In this room? Yes, absolutely. And they do have programs here weekly. Trustee Thompson: It would be beneficial for them as. Manager Revella: I'll ask her input too. She's happy with anything we give, is what she said, but I'd rather get her to come to the meeting, the presentation. Public Comment Ralph Garrison: I lived in this village for 33 years, minus a couple of years with the army, some deployments, things like that. Something happened about a week ago that really irritated me. I had a whole bunch of stuff written down, but I don't want to waste too much of your time. It was brought to my attention that we only do a 9/11 ceremony every 5 years, and I just don't think that's even reasonably acceptable. We had local members of this community go down there to Ground Zero and work and dedicate their time, and they did a lot for this community. To represent them every 5 years is just it's an atrocity. I would like the board to at least reevaluate the decision on every 5 years and do something every year. This is New York. This happened in our backyard. This is not something that happened in Iowa or Idaho or any other state. This is New York. We should do something every year, not every 5. We promised those people we'd never forget, and we already did. I would really like the board to maybe reevaluate and put an open vote out again for every year instead of every 5. Let's with the Walden Fire Department and see if maybe they can help out, too. I know they want to do something every year. Let's make it a community event again. Not every 5 years we'll decide to do something here or there or whatever. Every year. That's not unreasonable. 11 There was 30 people packed into that church on 9/11 for that small event and it was amazing. I think we need to do more in regard to that. I think 5 years is just not enough. It would be very nice if the board would reevaluate, maybe open that situation back up and have another discussion on that. If it's a monetary issue, there's hundreds of community members that would donate and help and put something together. There's Police Officers and Fire Police and people that could do any kind of traffic situations that we might have. To shut the circle down for an hour or 2 on the weekend, before the weekend, after the day of. We have car shows every year. We do other events for the public every year. Why is 9/11 every 5? It's not acceptable for anybody, let alone New York. Orange County. Walden. People from this town that were at the towers, which were at the rubble after cleaning up, doing what they needed to do. We can't forget that. And we have and it's a problem. That's all I have. I'm not going to waste any more of your time, but we should really rethink this and really do something going forward. Dave Sperry: John brought up with new paving they were going to switch to parking from the John the Taylors and all those stores make it more accessible to park your cars. They were+ going to shift the lanes over to where they used to be. I would like to complain about North Montgomery Street. When you come down Wait Street, if you look to the left, there's a dip in the road and if there's cars parked there, it's very hard to see the cars until you're on it. Lately, there's been a car park right under the no parking sign for the past month, month and a half. When those spots are filled, it's very difficult to get out on the street. From all those streets. There are 6 streets off of North Montgomery Street to come on to North Montgomery Street. From Liberty Street to Walker Street. There's only 1 on the other side, the steep hill coming from the Thruway, which you're only supposed to make a right-hand turn. I'm asking the village to look in the feasibility of switching the parking to the east side instead of the west side. The west side has 3 homes. The ambulance building, the firehouse, and the Walden house that has no parking because they don't need a parking lot. But what if you shift the parking to the east side of the North Montgomery Street, all those cars could look up and down the roads because getting out on both of those side roads is getting tough on Montgomery Street with traffic coming in the Village of Walden. Also, with the addition of the new apartment houses just past Liberty Street, I don't know how many units there are. I'm assuming people are going to be walking back and forth and you won't even see those people when they have to cut across the streets. If you move the parking like you did, just switch it from the east side from the west side is what I'm asking and the feasibility of that. Mayor Ramos: 52 goes east and west, right? Manager Revella: It's east-west parking on North Montgomery Street. Dave Sperry: If you come down Wait Street, there's a dip in the road by the Walden house. When that's full of cars, you can't see anybody coming down that section. But if you had to parking on the other side where the homes would park across the street, that's where they live. It's a win win for everybody on that situation. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. All ayes Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Sebring: I can't wait for the blacktopping to happen in Walden. It's going to be a madhouse. People are not going to know which way to go. Which always occurs. But when it's done, then it's done. You're working at night, or you work during the day. Either way, you're going to disturb somebody. Unfortunately, they only got 2 choices. I believe the nighttime is the better time because you have less traffic. I rode by the Senior Center today and they're working on the 12 drainage and that wall that's behind there. Pretty soon that ought to be open. We're making progress. It just takes time. The DPW, they only got so many workers, so it's tough to do everything that you want to do with only so many people, but they're doing it and I give them a lot of credit for it. Trustee Thompson: I would like to make a comment about the September 11th issue. Never forget. I don't think anyone on the board has ever forgotten. Speaking for myself, very dear friends of mine lost their daughter that day. I have a lot of police and firefighters that I'm friends with that were there that day. Some didn't come home. Some have long lasting health issues. They suffer from PTSD now. It was a horrible, horrible event. I don't see how anyone could forget. Not having a ceremony every year does not diminish what happened on that day. In 2017, I was on this board, and I recall we had discussion about celebrating 9/11 in our village on the big anniversary years, every 5 years. There was no celebration that I'm aware of in 2018. No one came forward and complained. Somewhere in there we missed again. I'm assuming looking back that it had to do with COVID. So, 2021 was the 20th anniversary. We had a really lovely ceremony. It was planned out well in advance. There were a lot of working parts to that, and it was really very nice. It was very, very heartfelt. This year because we thought we were doing every 5 years, there was no discussion with the village board and just a few days before the event, we were told that the event was happening, but there was no board discussion. Things were being set in motion before that weekend. People didn't even know. My whole thing is following the rules. The board can certainly reevaluate that. We can have another discussion about it if we want to change it to every year. I think about other organizations in the village being more involved with holding that event. Off the top of my head, we have Memorial Day, we have Flag Day, we have Veterans Day. There's a lot of pre-planning that goes into that. These organizations send in a letter requesting that the village participate in these things. Sometimes the people from the groups come and speak to us. For example, I believe Mr. Kiernan send the letter 2 weeks ago for Veterans Day, which is in November, and it was approved by the board. I would honestly like to see the Fire Department have an event for 9/11. The village certainly can participate in that, as can the police, the ambulance, any other group that was involved. There were a lot of communities that don't have a 9/11 ceremony every single year. We are not the only one who has made other decisions to not do the event every year. I've been to the event at the Orange County Arboretum and it's wonderful. It incorporates families from all over Orange County. This is our home. I get it. But there were a lot of people that had tremendous losses in other areas of the county, and it's kind of nice for everybody to share that day together. I understand that some people feel like they would like to have it in Walden for Walden. I'm not opposed to revisiting that. But that decision was made several years ago. Trustee Maher: I still am in favor of doing the ceremony every year. I think it's something we should look into further. Like Mr. Garrison said, it doesn't have to be anything super big. 30 people in a church. Whatever we make it is what it will be. If the people that want to come will come. I think being able to give them an opportunity to be together in their community and remember, I think that's important, and we should do that. Trustee Pearson: The blacktop on the main street, are they tearing up the tracks or are they leaving the tracks? Manager Revella: We won't know until the dig tomorrow. They're testing to see the depth of the tracks and if they have to remove or not. If they do remove some, I've been promised that they will give a section for the Historical Society. Trustee Pearson: The sewer letter, the attorney has anything for us yet? Manager Revella: It was drafted and he reviewed it. But I didn't hear the board say they wanted that sent out. 13 Trustee Pearson: We were going to read what he wrote; I think he was writing for us to see what was going to be sent out. Attorney Donovan: I think the Manager wrote it. I reviewed it. Manager Revella: I have it. I can give it to you guys. Trustee Pearson: If we send out, what's the next bill that goes out, December. We could send something out in December. We can put it in with another bill instead of sending a letter separately that would save some money as well. Treasurer Kelly: It depends on how large the verbiage is. We only have a limited space that actually goes on to the water bills. If you wanted to do an insert, we would have to figure out how much that would cost. Trustee Pearson: I could fold letters and stick them in envelopes if you need that. I would volunteer. Treasurer Kelly: If in-house, we would get preferred rate from the company to print. Trustee Pearson: Then it might be just easier to send it out on its own than what you're saying. I don't know. Treasurer Kelly: We'll ask about the post card and cost difference. Trustee Pearson: I just didn't know where we were about, and I didn't want to let it go too long. Is there an issue with one of the village trucks that needs a new transmission or something that that's going up and down the street? I had a resident ask me about it. Manager Revella: We have an older truck that sounds old because it's old. There's one that still has the old clutch, so it's probably loud. If that's what it is, I hope. Trustee Pearson: I did speak to the ambulance corps and I told you I'd come back with something. I spoke generally. I didn't meet with them. I spoke on the phone and they were talking about the RFP. They want to really wait to decide anything on other avenues that they may have to go after the RFPs are in at the town so that they would want to be there first. Not saying they wouldn't service us in a different way, but they want to see what's happening at the town first. Which is coming up in the end of October. They were kind of open to it, but they didn't want to commit to anything at this moment. Are we anywhere further on our end, Mayor? Any information for us from your packet of a thousand things? Mayor Ramos: No. Trustee Pearson: So, we're still kind of flying by the seat of our pants. Deputy Mayor Carley: Just to address Mr. Garrison's comments about the 9/11. I'm open to discussion either way. It was an emotional event for everybody. In the aftermath of not just 9/11, the things that carried on, concerning the wars and everything, there's a lot of things linked to it that it's important to a lot of different levels. If the board decided 5 years, no one's going to be happy with 5. No one's going to be happy with 1. Some may care. Some may not. It's one of those things that if we come together as a board, we make a decision. The reason I voted, and I'll speak for me 14 with the 5 years versus the 1 year because the board voted 5 years before. I had my own little reasons for the things I do. But sometimes the board makes a decision, and we have to roll with the decision as a group. If we decide to discuss it in detail a little bit further, that's great. If not, that's great. That's me with that. I have a question about the parking that was brought up that on North Montgomery. Just for my clarity, is that ours or is that the state? Manager Revella: The state would have to approve that. We'd have to ask them. That's what he's asking us to ask. Deputy Mayor Carley: Just to ask, we can't just arbitrarily say the board switch sides and things of that nature. Manager Revella: No. They have to justify the shoulders not wide enough on the other side. They'd have to change the whole lane structure. Deputy Mayor Carley: I just want to be clear on that, because that's where I was leaning towards. But I didn't know officially that the state had to make the full decision. Manager Revella: He wants to see if that's feasible or not. It may not be feasible for them. We just have to ask them to see if it's possible. Deputy Mayor Carley: That was the other side. Our feasibility study or is the state has to do one? Manager Revella: Theirs. Trustee Pearson: I want to address Mr. Garrison as well. I think part of the issue this year and I'm going to agree with Lynn that there's many community groups here that volunteer and do things and do programs with the OK of the Village Board. I don't think the Village Board really said no to not having a program every year. If someone would like to put together a program every year and come before the board, I'm sure the board would support that in any way that they can. That's what most of the groups do. As Lynn mentioned, it's the Veterans Park, the Veterans Day, all of those other groups that come before us, just like Tri-Montgomery, they came before the board, asked if they could use the streets. So, it is just the procedure part. This year I'm just going to speak for myself. I ended up seeing a flier that there was a program happening and it was almost ready to go. So, somebody had to plan that before the last meeting. I'm not so sure where that happened or when it happened, but I'm happy it did happen. It was nice that it did get planned and there was a group planning it. I don't know who did it. Ralph Garrison: When you saw the flyer you had no idea? Trustee Pearson: No. We got the flyer at the last meeting. That must have been planned before the last meeting. The only reason I knew I had it is it said, please join the Mayor at a 9/11 ceremony. There was no board discussion before that. There was nothing happening before that at all that we knew about. I don't know if anybody else who knew. I knew nothing before the last meeting. That planning must have taken place already, which I'm happy for. It's wonderful that there's a group of people that want to do that and we're very supportive of that. I think the Village made the decision to do 5 years because it's the bigger anniversary. If any other group wants to do that every year, that's fine. We're happy with what anybody wants to do. We're not shutting anybody down. That would be my opinion. I'm not, but I'm not speaking for the board. I feel that there was miscommunication of how the board was feeling. I don't think the board even knew it was happening. There was no discussion. There was no board input. There was nothing until the last meeting when we had a little flyer in our booklet that said, please join the Mayor for this event 15 happening. Last year's event was actually I'm going to tribute to a resident who had spoken to the Mayor that said it's a big year. We should really be doing something. I wasn't sitting on the board last year. I know that she was adamant that it was a 20-year anniversary that something should happen and pushed for that to happen last year. That did happen, which we're happy for as well. I just want to let you know that we knew nothing about that event, and it was already pretty much planned, it sounds like, because it sounded like everything was almost ready to go. We asked who was involved and we were told that it was anonymous, and it was just ready to go. That's basically what that meeting was about last meeting. We apologize if you feel like we don't want that to happen. It's not that at all. If there's a group that wants to put it on every year, we're happy for that. Deputy Mayor Carley: Thank you Lynn, for bringing it up. If you an organization that wants to hold something and as our standard protocol, they bring it in, we say approve it, and then they do it. Is that 5 years was supposed to be for the board or the village to put on the anniversary? Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Carley: When they made the decision, that's where the village is financially, saying we will host. Manager Revella: That's correct. Deputy Mayor Carley: Okay. I think we have a win win here. The reason I say a win win, if we can commit and stick with the 5 year and then have organizations as willing to step up to every year, that would be a win win. If somebody wants to do it. But we can still have a discussion, I thought we're going to do it later. And then if the village decides when we have our discussion, they do it year where we're hosting. We've got to look at that financially. But if people are willing to contribute and work together, I think is advantageous for organizations to bring it up and then pull the community together. We're looking at different options. I think that's out there that I think would go a long way. Mayor Ramos: I'm going to still continue with my stance on every year. If there's any drawbacks to that, that's fine. I don't recall in 2017 that we voted for every 5 years. There might have been discussion. I don't recall that. There's nothing in the minutes unless somebody finds it in the minutes. I'd be happy to cow tail to the minutes. As for Mr. Garrison, there had to have been at least 100 people in the room. 30 people was not enough. Some of us who worked there, Father Tom, did a phenomenal job. The reason why the timing was specific to 7:00 is that Father Tom has commitments down in Manhattan and other sources. *Read Community Events into minutes* Executive Session – Personal History of a Particular Employee Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Maher made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Elliot. All ayes. Motion carried. 16  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting September 20, 2022 Motions & Resolutions Tri-Montgomery Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to waive the cost of police coverage. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Sebring made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. All ayes Executive Session – Personal History of a Particular Employee Trustee Sebring made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Maher made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Elliot. All ayes. Motion carried. 17