Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 2, 2023 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 Becky Pearson Chris Batson Patricia Maher Ralph Garrison Jr. Kristie Hall Absent: Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Kelly A. Kelly, Village Treasurer David Donovan, Village Attorney Village Manager’s Report Manager Revella: Since last meeting, we did have CSEA negotiations, had some back and forth. Went over the insurance renewal. Went through code enforcement issues with Building Department. Went over Capital Projects with the Village Engineer. Met with the Chief on staffing. The new test results should be out next week so we can start filling some holes in our staffing. Went over payroll with the Clerk. Did the walk through with DOT and engineer of Ulster Avenue to close out the project. Did attend the Orange County Associations, Towns, Village and Cities in Greenville. They talked about the firefighter tax exemption and the District Attorney gave a presentation. Went over some Code Enforcement and the hearings with the Village Attorney. Went over the garbage contract with the Village Treasurer so we can make sure the rates are right. Went over projects at the Orange County Transportation Council. Responded to some water/sewer relief requests, reviewed numerous senior garbage exemptions. Attended the Arbor Day celebration at Walden Elementary School. Trustee Pearson and the Arborist did a great presentation. DPW Super, the Rec Coordinator and the Mayor came as well to support. We were able to get a temp in the office. You may see them in there now when you go in. They're only able to come at night for a little while, but we're still trying to get a more permanent solution to the staffing. The Rec Department continues to do maintenance. They do have some lawns they're already starting for code enforcement issues. Have several park use requests, getting those pretty much daily now. Teen Center and after school are going well. The indoor pickle ball is set up at Wooster. Started getting a program ready for that. We have all the equipment. The programing at the community center is going well. They're still trying to add more. Registration is open online for summer camp, tennis and flag football. Building Department, Code Enforcement officer issued 20 building permits, 13 certificate of compliance, 4 violations for property maintenance, 5 fire and safety inspections, 2 new complaints to the office, 3 landlord registry violations and 14 other inspections. The part time inspector issued 2 building permits, 2 certificates of compliance, 1 CO and reviewing sewer waivers and obviously still assisting, planning and zoning. They also went to some training for two days. Clerk's been updating Facebook, website, 207c, workers comp, going over issues with special counsel and the Village Attorney on FOILs, helping with the year end water/sewer questions, processing handicapped requests, certificates and doing reviews and entering for the garbage 1 reduction for seniors discounts as well. Working on minutes. Along with the finance department as well as obviously doing a lot of that. Finance, working on audit, going over issues on Edmunds, doing budget transfers, bank reconciliations, CSEA negotiations and assisting with that and the computations. Reviewed the final report for 2021 for the audit. Starting the 2022 internal audit at the end of the month. Went through the electrical usage and evaluated that. Just so you know, our electrical costs have gone up 150%. The price, not the usage, in the last two years. DPW maintained vehicles and equipment. Working on issues at the sewer plant and stations, including sump pumps. Water installed 7 new meters, 10 end points, 11 mark outs, 3 inspections and 4 closings. Went over some complaints with me as well to make sure we're following up. Hydrant flushing should be finished this week, repairing catch basins after they did that nice survey. GPS'd all the catch basin locations. Fixing and replacing bulbs our streetlights, flushing and jetting sewers. We're working on and closing out permits for street openings. Police Department still obviously having the staffing issue until we get that list next week. Did do some special details and tickets. They had 59 vehicle traffic stops, issued 50 tickets on that, 2 parking summonses and 3 MVAs and 4 arrests and was 345 blotters. If you do go to the second floor, there are renovations going on and the meeting room down there now and hopefully won't take too long. Trustee Batson: Police Department, I don't have a huge amount of history here, but that seems like an astronomical amount of traffic stops issued for tickets issued, 50 out of 59? Manager Revella: That's correct. Trustee Batson: That is normal? That's high from what I experienced from previous meetings. Manager Revella: Correct. It's nice. Let's just say that on any occasion they can go out in a six hour period just on one crosswalk and can issue 60 tickets in that amount of time. That's how many violations are happening at any one time. Trustee Batson: Parks Department. I noticed that some of the other summer camps that we may compete with locally have already started to fill up and we've got our online registration open. Any indication how ours is this going with others filling up? Manager Revella: Well so far. Trustee Batson: I know that in the budget sessions there was a substantial discussion about that, do you think we'll be able to meet the projected 400 that we anticipate going into? Manager Revella: I don't think that's going to be an issue. I think if anything, we may have to talk about a cut off at some point. Trustee Batson: Another bullet point says that they needed another piece of equipment. Is that something that we can accommodate? The Highway Department, second page, fourth bullet point. Manager Revella: Skid loader attachment. $3,000? Trustee Batson: They've got some sort of budget in there to be able to handle. Manager Revella: They hope so. They have to price it out. We think so. Trustee Batson: On the top of your report, the sewer issues with flushable wipes. Is there a way that we can effectively mass communicate that to the community? 2 Manager Revella: We've put out reminders. We've done little notes on the bills in the past. We've done it on the calendars. Just keep spreading the word. Some people just don't care. Some people see "flushable wipe" and flush it. Yes, you can flush it, but that doesn't mean it can actually go through our system. You flush a lot of things, but it's not good for the system. Trustee Garrison: It's nice to see the traffic stops and traffic tickets up. That's good to know that the police are back out on patrol. Maybe cut down on a lot of the speeding and everything we're seeing through the town. Trustee Maher: I also went to the Orange County Association meeting and there was a big call to action for municipalities and for anyone involved to make sure that they're aware of the 10% tax credit to our EMS and volunteer fire personnel. Just wanted to kind of accentuate that. If anyone has any questions, call the office. We'd be happy to help you. It's definitely something that is great for the community to be aware of, especially for how hard they work and how dedicated their services. Definitely a great benefit. With the programing for Vandermark, are there any additional meetings set up to continue the discussion on how we can continue to grow that? Manager Revella: Not after the last one. There hasn't been one scheduled after the last meeting. We have a calendar of events out now with programing. We're updating that as we get more personnel to help with the soft aerobics, that kind of thing. Trustee Maher: Okay. But yeah, I would love to be looped in and if it's the pleasure of the board, if I could attend those meetings, I want to help grow that program as much as possible. Trustee Pearson: I'm in favor. Trustee Batson: Yeah. Manager Revella: Thank you. Trustee Maher: I noticed that it was posted on the Walden Rec website. But not everyone subscribes to that. Can we also post it on the Village of Walden Page? Just so everyone's aware of it. Manager Revella: You mean Facebook? Trustee Maher: Yes. Trustee Pearson: Also at that meeting, I just had a question for John on the fire tax rebate, not rebate, but it said up to 10%. Years ago, we did do that through the village. Is that something that stays in effect? Does that have to be done every year? When I was mayor, we did that. Attorney Donovan: I'd be interested, actually, in what the county said, because, yes, the Village of Walden has something. Yes, there's been something out there for a number of years that benefit firefighters. The new legislation that came out because the, I forget the gentleman's name that took over for John MacQuarrie? Manager Revella: That's who came to the presentation. Attorney Donovan: He was actually had been preaching a little slow down because the new legislation did a couple of things that the old legislation didn't do. The old legislation said if you're a volunteer firefighter, for example, you qualify for the exemption. The new one seems to say you 3 need to be a volunteer firefighter in your community. For example, many communities have different districts. So, you could be a fireman in a different district than where you live and it was a question whether or not you would qualify for the exemption. There was also an issue of what the cap was. And the cap actually may cause some people to have a lower exemption. Taxes would go down. The last communication that I got from Mr. Wiley was taking it slow. I was copied on something that went out to all the Town of Village Assessors. Yes, the village has something. Yes, there is new legislation. You have three years, I should add, to opt in. And there was a little bit of a lack of clarity on the benefit for those first responder volunteers in the community. Trustee Pearson: Can the first responders for the old law that we had from when I was mayor, we put that in there. Can they still abide by that and use that? Attorney Donovan: No, because if you adopt the new one, you adopt a new one. Trustee Pearson: So, they can go with the old one. Attorney Donovan: There's something out there you have to opt into. Until you opt into it. It doesn't exist in Walden. Trustee Pearson: 15 years ago, we opted into something, is that still current or not current? Manager Revella: Still in effect. Attorney Donovan: Yes, it's still in effect. Trustee Pearson: So those people can take advantage of that now, still without us doing something other than that right now. Attorney Donovan: Correct. Trustee Pearson: That's all I want to know. Thank you. Bradley Park, rake ball fields. Are we having more teams coming? What is our schedule for ball fields? Are they being utilized this year more than last year? Do we have a lot of things signed up for that or how many teams? Manager Revella: Yes, they are being utilized. I don't know how many teams. Trustee Pearson: Last meeting, Mr. Thompson showed us some pictures of some violations throughout the village, and I drove by one today to see how it was being remedied. It's been remedied by a stick holding up the fence. Is that something that we allow or just because the fence is up? I don't know if those people were sent a violation. Maybe I should check with the Building Department. Manager Revella: Most of the items that were discussed, the property addresses were given to the enforcement officer to follow up. Some had already been given letters, including 46 Grant Street had already been given notations. Supposed to be going to court. Trustee Pearson: You had a meeting with the mayor and the treasurer with the comptroller, how are things going? Manager Revella: It was to do the intro for audit and they said we're not allowed to talk about it in open public at all, just to say that we met with them on the audit. 4 Trustee Pearson: Millspaugh Park, I know you said that the drain has been put in. Where are we now? Manager Revella: They can't do anything until the water's down. It's super high. Trustee Pearson: You were going to have a meeting with OCT and some board members. Did that happen? Manager Revella: Today. Trustee Pearson: We'll get filled in on that? Manager Revella: I don't know if the Trustees want to do that in their report. There were two trustees present that the board are told to go. Trustee Maher and Trustee Garrison. I'm not sure if they want to talk about that in the report or I want to talk about it now. It's up to them. Trustee Pearson: I guess it's up to the mayor. Mayor Ramos: Report. Trustee Pearson: Hill Street Bridge, anything. Has it started? Have we moved forward? Manager Revella: We're in litigation. That's all I can say. Trustee Pearson: Will we talk about it later? Manager Revella: If you have a question later, we can in attorney client. Trustee Pearson: I know you talked about the electric rates being high. Have we thought about using solar in this village somewhere to maybe cut some costs? Manager Revella: We had solar companies actually come out here to do an evaluation, and they found no place to put solar panels to be effective in our village. Unless they want to put them on our lawn in our parks. Trustee Pearson: Top of the DPW building? Manager Revella: Nope. They did not say it would be conducive. They wanted to use the fields at Bradley Park. I said, the one field's not ours. It belongs to the church. The other fields used for baseball and other activities like lacrosse and soccer and things. Unless we want to mow down a lot of trees and put a new field for solar. They didn't think that it made sense. They didn't want to do it. Trustee Pearson: The Parks Department has moved out of the train station. What is the plan for that now? Manager Revella: Talked about that last meeting, there's been no change. It's cleaned out. Trustee Pearson: Is there is there going to be events happening in there. You cleaning it out, you're cleaning it up or repainting. Is there going to be an office in there? I heard. Manager Revella: No. It's emptied out of that side. 5 Deputy Mayor Carley: The police. I went down there the other day. I saw the guy putting in the vents and into the other office. There was some question about the other side of the building of the police station having some air. Are we going to pipe some air over there or is at the end of the project? Where are we with that? Manager Revella: That's the end of the project for now. Deputy Mayor Carley: Did you talk to them or are you familiar with what they were saying about the need? Manager Revella: Yes. Approval of April 18, 2023 Minutes Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve the April 18, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment William Lopez: I voted for most of you guys and so did my wife. We live on Gladstone. Our concerns are one, Gladstone has a lot of potholes. I don't know if you guys been on there lately. Clinton has the sewage leak. And we have tree stumps everywhere that haven't been addressed in, I don't know, five years, six years. I have put on Facebook a few times. I've done public service. I was in the Army. I work for Rockland County. I'm actually retiring right now, hopefully. I know what you guys are dealing with at the same time as a public, as a homeowner here. I try to address on Facebook, I basically said, we should be applying for the $5 million grant from the state to redo the town. We should be doing the infrastructure projects. Why aren't we applying for federal grants under the sewer district? Why are we not, doing a lot more things grant writing? I believe I went to his office. I just went up and I wanted to address the Clinton issue, put a note at the front desk and he'll call you back, don't worry, we're good. This is two weeks. I understand you're busy. Don't get me wrong. You're busy. It is what it is. But at the end of the day, I'm a resident here. Manager Revella: I don't have a message from you. William Lopez: I understand that. Listen, like I said, it is what it is. I know you're busy. Manager Revella: I live down the street from you. William Lopez: My issues and my concerns are, my family, my community. Not only that, but the other residents that are here. We got raw sewage coming out on Clinton. I don't care about litigation. That's not my problem. Okay? I got raw sewage. I got kids. They're playing in that street. There are dogs. You know what? At this rate, get it fixed. You deal with litigation. That's not a problem. Put in for grants? There's a federal grant, there's an infrastructure program right now replacing sewer lines. I understand liability. I understand all that cost. I understand all that. At the end of the day, there are federal grants out there. Why are we not training the grant writers? The Police Department. The cost are with the Police. You know what? Homeland Security grants. They're all over the place. We got them for best. In my department, we got tasers, we got license plate readers. Not only that, our intel division got a license plate readers and cameras. What are we doing here? At the end of the day, if you're doing the business here for our community, we should be part of it. You said something about solar. Well, we can't put solar panels up. She had the right discussion. You know what? Rockland County and some of the lower end towns combined together to buy in bulk. The Village of Haverstraw, they got a code and they bought in bulk with other towns, Spring Valley, all the poorer neighborhoods combined together with Rockland County and they bought in bulk. It was cheaper. I sit back and I listen to what you're saying. At the end of the 6 day, we should be sending where the grant writer is for the $5 million. You should be sending someone for training to go up and see exactly what they did. So we can do the same thing and compete because we're not. Manager Revella: We are. We do have those grants. We were awarded those grants just so you know for millions of dollars of infrastructure improvements. William Lopez: What you said to me was email me. So, I showed up to your office. If there's an open door policy. Well, then I was turned away. It is what it is. At the end of the day, I just want what's right for the community. I hear what you're saying, but me as an officer, I took the bull by the horns. I went start a veterans court for us. I went back to my boss and said, listen, veterans court, it's going to save us X amount of dollars, $400 per inmate, per this. And this is what we do. At the same rate. I didn't just wait. I just did what I had to do. Send somebody for training. Send that person out to that community that got the grant and do exactly what they did. Mirror the same thing. The water we have over here, we should be approving something, getting something done, because that's where you're going to attract the business. These businesses are shut down here. There's nothing here. I spend my money in Newburgh. I go once in a while to the Spanish restaurant over here. Utilize what we have here. The community wants to spend money. There's nothing here. At the same time, we don't want excuses. We want results. That's what we voted you guys in for. She's right, the power use, you can combine with different districts and do the same thing. Send somebody to North Rockland. I came from North Rockland six years ago. Send somebody that actually did something and not excuses. Go down there, meet with the mayor. It's pretty simple. They're pretty accommodative. Rockland County will give you a mirror plan. Communicate with Orange County and say, listen, if they're doing it, why can't we do it? When you're buying your power, whatever it is combined. I'm sure Newburgh, the City of Newburgh, would love to partner with us in bulk and help some of the residents here. It's simple. Some of the stuff that you guys are complaining about and arguing about, she's right. I don't want excuses. I voted for you. So did my wife. I'm not saying just you in general. We want results. You ran on this. Go for grants. If you know what you're doing, then you go to a community and say, what did you do right? What can we do right to get the grant right? It's pretty simple. That's what I did. I went to Buffalo. I drove the Buffalo. I got what they did right. The legislators agree. Get Skoufis, get everybody involved. We'll get this together. I'm sure that they want to help us. They want to help us lower taxes. They want to help us get these grants. It's a no brainer because at the end of the day, it's putting people to work here. I'm retiring. So for me, it is what it is. Let's just make it happen for you guys. You got so many guys that aren't going to be here long term. Who's going to be here short term? Try to fix our street. Gladstone is terrible. At least put curbs in. Sidewalks that haven't been done. There are pipes that there are sewage pipelines that are exposed. There are kids running around. This should never be like this. In North Rockland where I was from. They don't do that because they know the liability. Look at the sidewalks. They're all broken and stuff like that. Walk the walk. If you see and you walk in that neighborhood, you'll be the same way. We got kids running up and down there. Somebody falls. Who's it on? It's on us. It's our insurance for the town. Helen Sullivan: The sewer on Clinton. It's been going over three years. A year ago, they put the dye in. They found out where it was coming from. Nothing was done. They should have condemned that house a year ago. Raw sewage is flowing down for three years. It turns into ice. Krzysztof Anigacz: It's dangerous, actually. When you when you drive in the wintertime, when you go down that little hill. If you go on a patch of ice, you can literally start sliding down. Helen Sullivan: They don't come and salt it. It's pathetic. Has any of you been up there to look at it? I went to your house last year. Nothing was done. 7 Krzysztof Anigacz: It does stink also. Helen Sullivan: I can't sit on my porch. People that walk their kids to school, walk through that not knowing what it is. It doesn't always stink if it's cold. That house should be condemned. Krzysztof Anigacz: What's going on with that, anyway? Manager Revella: The matter is with our attorney and the Building Department to make sure that there's proper due process for the property. We can't just say you're condemned or just do something. We have to give them due process. A proceeding has to happen, with proper notice. Then they respond. Then we have to respond again before we can actually take action. Krzysztof Anigacz: When they responded, what was in the response? Attorney Donovan: It's a little difficult to go into a matter. Property owner has an attorney and village has an attorney. Certain things are privilege by litigation, I can say on the part of the village from my end is being pursued. Krzysztof Anigacz: Okay. So, if it's going on for three years, how long is it going to be pursued for? At what point do we sort of see something happening instead of just talking about it? Manager Revella: We just got this last year after Mrs. Sullivan came to my house and reported on it. Then we had the owner here at the board meeting and he pled with the board to get something done in the spring. Spring came and he didn't start, so that's why he was sent the new notice. Krzysztof Anigacz: He got the notice and then he responded. Manager Revella: Last I think was September-October. Krzysztof Anigacz: Now you have to respond to his response? Manager Revella: I can't say what other legal strategies are going on after that. Helen Sullivan: Over the winter, it's been going on three years. The road is all buckled. So, now when the plow went by, it plowed the whole black top up and the raw sewage sits right there. When it rains, it rolls down the road. It's third world country stuff what's going on there. Krzysztof Anigacz: How come it can't just be fixed and then litigate later? Helen Sullivan: Just like you mow people's lawns and send in the bill. Why don't you do that? Or condemn that house? It's a year that everybody knew where it was coming from. Mayor Ramos: We're working it. Helen Sullivan: if you live there, would you let it go on that long? Manager Revella: I don't think any of them treat it any different than if they would live there. That's the point. Helen Sullivan: You shut the water off to the house. Trustee Hall: I live next door. I live pretty close to you. I'm aware. I see it. I smell it. 8 Helen Sullivan: Three years. It's a shame. Mayor Ramos: We'll work the problem. Helen Sullivan: I approach the tenants. I am so fed up with it, I approached again and told him, do you know that your sewage is going down the road? I felt bad for him because he's the tenant. I said I think it's your landlord's responsibility. It shouldn't be like this. Mary Ellen Matise: I'm kind of surprised that you tabled all the hearings. I know you're well aware of the issue. What John is saying, too, is, of course, critically important because we're all property owners. And what goes for one goes for all. So it's important that due process and the law is followed and that nobody is really treated in a way that they shouldn't be treated. It's very important and my most hated expression. That being said, governments are really slow process and you do what you can within that framework. Unfortunately, it takes a long time and this has been going on a while and you're well aware of it. I don't know if board members are aware. Some of it I wasn't aware of, but I'm sure you're aware, John. I called the Orange County Board of Health because you figure it's a health issue. And they said they only oversee private septic systems. That goes out the window. They so they have no oversight over what happens in the village, even if it's a health issue like sewage in the street. They said call the DEC. Called the DEC and have a file number for a report. Then I emailed the person in Westchester who's in the water department who deals with our Orange County, and she sends me back an email and she says, we don't oversee private laterals, we only oversee village infrastructure like the mains. Then it comes back and falls into our lap. Of course, I know that part of the issue here is whose line is it anyway? Nelson Pantoja: I really just came here to see if I had to do a rebuttal for anybody who still keeps having a problem with my fridge. What we do for the community. I figure I just sit here because everybody wants to talk when I'm not here, doesn't want to come and say what they want to say to me, like Mr. Thompson likes to stalk my place and take pictures of everything. You're not my type. We'll go that route if you want to go that route. For the other woman who says that we have undesirables coming to the village. Nonsense. Because the majority of the people who come to eat at my fridge, let's just say, I'm going to go that route too. They happen to be white, which would be 70% that happen to live in the village. I figure I have to come and defend myself tonight. But I'm not going to stop. I just spent $500 for a big Rubbermaid thing to attach to my building. The fridge is inside, it's locked at night because whoever came there one night took all the food out and emptied it and left the doors open. So, we got some mosquitoes and the little gnats that are attracted to the lights. That's the picture that he took. So, it's locked. The Department of Health came. The temperature is written down every day. There's a thermostat in it. It is dated. I lock it at night. I still haven't gotten approved for my outdoor cafe. Still haven't had the fire department come and look. And we've called, because you're talking about a fire lane. You're talking about a fire lane, there's like three feet. Then you have a whole length, so they can't be talking about what's up on the building because I've got friends in the fire department from another village and they're coming in like, no, what they're talking about is this. So, you're not blocking the fire lane and you're not blocking the doors. I actually just wanted to put that out there. I'm still waiting for approval for an outdoor cafe, which I was approved for last year without a problem. There was no problem whatsoever. Everybody knows who I am. They know what I do for every school. They know what I do for the mental health. We just gave money to mental health for the Pine Bush. We're now part of the YAP program in Newburgh, where we've got kids, young kids who have gotten in trouble. They're going to be doing some volunteer work and they're being paid by the YAP program, which is the Youth Advocacy Project. Which, Willie, I'm sure you're aware of that. Which is run by guys who have been in prison and other people and police officers. So we've got a couple of kids that are going to come work for us, 15 hours a week, 20 hours a week. This is what we do. If I anybody got 9 a problem with that, you know where I'm at. Knock on my door, come talk to me. Sit down like gentlemen. I'm tired of all the pictures and this, this and that. You know who I am. I ain't hiding from nobody. And I ain't going to stop feeding people. I'm just letting you know that right now. It ain't going to happen. No matter what you say. You could throw all the stuff you want in front of my restaurant, you could put up all the racist notes that you want to put. By the way, this is my country. My father, Sergeant Alonzo Ponto, had served two tours in Vietnam. This is my country. I have the right. I just want to say that. Thank you, guys. Congratulations to the new board and everybody that got voted in. Resolution 35-22-23 – Budget Transfers Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve Resolution 35-22-23 Budget Transfers. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. 5 Clinton St Hearing Tabled Hearing Request – Pond Rd Vacant Lot Tabled Hearing Request – Empanada Nirvana Tabled Retainer Agreement Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve the retainer agreement with Naughton and Torre effective May 1, 2022. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. The second motion by Trustee Garrison, seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Community Center Use – Alcohol Waiver Request Trustee Hall made a motion to approve park use for June 25, 2023 from 11m to 6pm and conditioned upon receipt of proper insurance, naming of the Village of Walden additional insured, the limit of 500k minimum liability. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Flag Retirement Ceremony – American Legion Trustee Maher made a motion to approve Flag Retirement Ceremony request on June 10, 2023 at Olley Park. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Mayor Ramos: Just to let the board know that the Orange County Mobile DMV will be coming to Wooster Memorial Grove Park, 89 East Main Street in New York, Thursday, May 11th, from 10am to 12pm. They're going to take a one hour lunch break and then return 1pm to 3:30pm. All DMV services will be there to include eyesight exam. Some of us seniors will need a new eye exam. This is all a self-contained unit, so there's no power. They have their own generator. This is coming from our Orange County Clerk, Kelley Eskew, who is going through the whole county and situating this van for services for DMV. We have the 15th Annual Flag Day ceremony at Walden's Veterans Memorial Park. Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 1pm. 150 West Main Street, Route 52, located in the west side of Walden Veterans Memorial Bridge, hosted by the Walden Community Council and Walden Veterans Memorial Park Committee. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: I have a question about the recreation programs, the new programs. I know when we had programs before you were mentioning maybe aerobics and stuff, the woman she was, I don't know if she was certified or she did have credentials. I'm kind of questioning a couple of the programs. There's been some nutrition programs going on, and I'm wondering if those people have 10 credentials. I'm just throwing it out there. Manager Revella: World renowned? Mary Ellen Matise: You might want to check on that because after all, it's our responsibility whatever information you give out or if we're doing exercises and the person's not really qualified. It could be an issue. Wednesday, 5/17 the Historical Society is having the program on the trolleys here. Ray Kelly, and they're going to be selling the pieces of track Mr. Mayor, did you get them cut up for them? Mayor Ramos: Yes, I've gone through two blades already. Christine Sciurca; Some of you don't know me. I'm Christine Sciurca, 45 Sunset Drive. First of all, I just want to tell you that I love my village. I moved here in 2007. My son grew up here. He's graduating Valley Central this year. Some of you know where I am at 4:30 in the morning. Some of you know where I am from 8 to 4 during the day. Others of you know where I am from 4:30 to 7 at night. My mom always told me, sit on your hands and sit down and shut up when it comes to public service. But it's been about 20 years. And going back to the Gladstone issue. I just want to offer my help. If I can research grant writing, doing it for the village, I'd be more than happy to donate my time. See some progress. Most of you know how to get in touch with me. My degree is not in writing. It's in business and in international business. I worked on a little bit with Grant writing for a not for profit down in Newburgh. Like I said about 20 years ago, so I can dust off the brain and hopefully get the juices flowing again. I love my village and I intend to stay here. Love my house. Probably one day you're going to carry me out on a stretcher from that. Not for at least another 40 years. I'm just saying. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Hall made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Pearson: I have a question on time clocks that we have in the village. I'm in the understanding that they can be worked remotely so you don't even have to be in the village to punch a time clock. Is that right or wrong? Manager Revella: What time clock are you talking about? The ones that we currently have? No. Trustee Pearson: You can't punch them remote. You have to be here to punch in? Manager Revella: Correct. Trustee Pearson: You can't be done by cell phone or remotely. Manager Revella: No, not the ones we have now. Those exist, but we don't have one that does it. Trustee Pearson: Per the paper, did we go over the cap? Manager Revella: No. So, I wrote to the person that wrote the article and advised them of the errors in the article. Numerous errors. I don't understand where the information came from. Trustee Pearson: Will they do a correction on that? 11 Manager Revella: No. I asked, why didn't you reach out to me? They said they did. I asked, when? She's said, earlier. And then that was it. Trustee Pearson: Okay, because I didn't think we went over the cap and the mayor said we went over the cap. Manager Revella: We're at the cap. Technically under, but we're at the cap for the taxes that we're doing. Mayor Ramos: That was my words, "at the cap". Manager Revella: We did not pierce the cap. We did not file the resolution to pierce the cap. That is not even possible. Trustee Pearson: Let me see what you said. Manager Revella: I did not get a $7,000 raise. I got 3%. There are a lot of things in there that don't make any sense. Trustee Maher: This isn't the first time, though. They do this all the time. I don't know why we continue to support this publication. Manager Revella: I discussed with a couple of the writers, if they want to vet any information with me, they can email me any time. I got two emails today where I corrected information that's going to go in the paper on Wednesday. So it should be good. Trustee Pearson: It says Mayor Ramos mentioned that they are piercing the cap. Mayor Ramos: I did not. Trustee Pearson: Okay. I just wanted a clarification of that. Thank you. Cameras, I know we talked about it. Did you doing any research? Manager Revella: We've had somebody come out, a company came to do an evaluation for us to give us a price. We should have that soon. We did break it up, like we talked about. The park's a priority and the rest as another separate quote. I told them I want them both. He thought he was going to do just the parks for now. I said, no, give me the price for both just in case I want to show the board so that you have an idea. We're going to get that soon. Trustee Pearson: A certain kind of camera or different types of cameras? Manager Revella: A certain kind of camera. It's under state bid. Trustee Pearson: Tow rates, did you ever have a meeting? Manager Revella: I did. I gave you guys a report on it. Trustee Pearson: We're not doing anything with it? Manager Revella: That's up to you. If you wanna do something on it, you can bring it up on another agenda. I'm sure the tow truck drivers would be happy if you did. 12 Trustee Pearson: I want to thank, I know it's hard for people to go to work for Arbor Day. I want to thank the village for allowing me to do that. It's just a wonderful program every year. It's special to me. 18 years it is this year, and the kids really get a kick out of it. The arborist does a wonderful job. He's really, really, really good. I thank you for letting me do that. Patricia had mentioned, I had somebody call me about rehab loans in the village. I looked up are rehab ones that we have. We have one for commercial and we have one for residential. I thought at one time, I don't think I'm wrong that to do the residential ones, there was an income level that you had to be at in order to get it. Manager Revella: That's correct. Trustee Pearson: It doesn't say that. Manager Revella: Because there's not a rule on that anymore. Trustee Pearson: There are no rules. So anybody who wants to get a rehab loan for residential can get it? Manager Revella: Yes. They have to qualify for a loan. Has nothing to do with income level. The income level only regulates what your interest rate will be, not that you get one or don't. When it was a HUD program regulated by HUD, it was income qualifying. We had accountants look it over, we had auditors look it over and we reached out to HUD and they said, no, that's not a rule. There is no rule anymore and we don't even regulate it. And that's when we changed. Trustee Pearson: Wasn't that the money that we loaned out? Let's just use that an example down to the Thruway Market. We loaned them money from the village and that money had to come back and you could only use that money for certain things. Manager Revella: That's not true. The money was given from the federal government to the Walden View apartments and paid back to us and to be reused again. Trustee Pearson: But for certain income levels. Manager Revella: Correct. Trustee Pearson: Is that still something we do? Manager Revella: That's not true anymore. Trustee Pearson: Totally changed. So, when it talks in here about up to a certain amount that you can approve. And then the rest over that amount, they have to come before the board to get that approval up to $100,000? Manager Revella: Whatever it is in the code. I don't remember. There's a unit and a total. I don't remember which ones which. Trustee Pearson: Just wanted clarification because I was reading it. Because when I was mayor, it used to have to be you had to have an income. Manager Revella: That's correct. And just so the board's aware, also there's a loan application process. The loan application goes through. We have a credit company that goes and evaluates it, does a background check and gets a hold of their credit worthiness. We’re going to make sure that 13 there's equity in the property so that the money's secure because we can't give a loan on someone that's underwater. The attorney goes and does a title search on the property to confirm whatever liens are on there to make sure there's room for that loan. So, say, for example, the house is worth $240,000. Dave does his search the title company and there's a loan on it for $230,000. They want $50,000 from the village. Not possible. It has to have equity. Trustee Pearson: And at one time we were like second in line, is that's still something like the bank gets the first, the village gets the second. How does that work? Manager Revella: If they have a current loan, we would be the second loan then we're second in line. If we're the only loan and they go get another loan, we're first in line. The only way to not be first in line is this board would have to vote to subordinate and they've not done that and I don't recommend it and neither does the attorney. Trustee Pearson: Timeframe to pay back. There's nothing really in here that tells you how long you have to pay it back. Manager Revella: That's correct. Trustee Pearson: So do we need to do something with that? Manager Revella: We set those terms when we set the note and we go over that with the attorney. Usually 20 years is about the average. They can be shorter. Trustee Pearson: It doesn't need to be something finalized for that. We don't think you need to have it in here. Attorney Donovan: I suppose that you could. Going back historically and an enormous amount of time was spent on this number years ago because the program was pretty much in disarray with unrecorded mortgages. Properties had been sold, not paid. It was not a good situation. The situation with HUD. I mean, my point I want to make is a lot of time was spent by Kelly and John making sure that that issue was squared away. There were loans in the past that had just the due on sale provision. Pretty much now, depending upon the interest rate, it's 20 years or less. If the board wants to say, listen, we want to establish parameters, you can do that. Manager Revella: Our interest rates are 0 to 3% and that's based on income. Commercial is always 3%. Trustee Maher: I know it came up during public comment, but John, I just wanted it to be also a part of our minutes because even though I know it is a huge concern, the sewer issue, we are actively pursuing and receiving grants at the max level for our sewer. Can you just explain? Manager Revella: Some of the grants that the gentleman was speaking of are population dependent. So, you have to be above a certain population or below certain population to receive certain grants. We apply for the grants that we're allowed to apply for. Some grants are only for counties or cities. Obviously, we can't apply for those either. We can only apply for the grants that we qualify for. And we have been and we've gotten millions of dollars in grants over the years. Right now we have a little over $2 million in grants outstanding that we're working on the projects. We've gotten the award, we're doing the projects for right now. We are always applying for them. We just got awarded another $500,000 for the salt barn. We have a few million dollars, almost $2 million in sewer infrastructure grants that we've received already. We may get a low interest loan from EFC on top of that to do a lot of the other sewer work. We get CHIPs about $100,000 a year to 14 do road improvements, which we do. And this board has approved half a million dollars in projects every year just on roads, highways, things like that. Sidewalks, curbs, let alone another half a million dollars every year on water and sewer infrastructure improvements. So, you're doing at least $1,000,000 of work every year. We just completed over $2 million in sidewalks, curbs, drainage on Ulster Avenue. We'll continue to do that. I tried to tell Mr. Lopez to come see me so I could show him. I didn't know when he was showing up. I had to leave early on Monday. I don't remember seeing when he came or when his note was, but I didn't see it. I apologize for that. I'll be happy to meet with him to go through all the grants that we've gotten and where they are. I do go to these conferences he's talking about. I do meet with the other managers. Westchester and Rockland are at the meetings that I'm at. The issues with bulk energy, that's not really a problem for us because we don't have an option. There's only NYSEG here. It's a franchise. We really can't shop for electric here. I don't know what they're doing in Rockland to shop. They have other options. We can't join on with Newburgh. Newburgh has a different company. Montgomery has Central Hudson. Just outside the village is Central Hudson. We're the last on NYSEG's route going towards Pine Bush. I don't know what else we can do on it, but I have been talking with our assemblyman and our state senator about electric issues. Congressman Ryan also has been helping with the electric issues with Central Hudson, NYSEG and Orange and Rockland. Those are the three in our general area. They've been a problem and will continue to be a problem. They're seeking additional hikes, even though they've already gotten huge hikes over the last couple of years. The fluctuation in the grid is an issue. That's all the green energy initiatives, are causing these huge spikes in energy costs because these companies are now going to have to go out and spend billions of dollars in infrastructure to try and get these green initiatives that they're required to make them by law from New York State and the federal government. So they're going to pass that cost on to us. That's how it's going to happen. It's nice to have the green initiatives, but it's going to cost a lot of money. It's going to be years. The issue with solar is another problem for us. As I explained when Trustee Pearson asked about it, we had the solar companies come here. They don't see the output that they would want to put solar here. We could put a couple of panels here and there, but it's not going to make a huge impact on us. They want the ground mounted, that's not allowed in the village, so it's gonna be a problem for us. They would only allow roof mounted. I wouldn't want to put roof mounted on this building, it's a historical building. It wouldn't look right and I'm not sure if the structure can take the load. The DPW building is another problem where it's not a south facing building, it's an east west. They want the south facing roofs. We really don't have a lot of those. It's a problem for us. It'd be nice. Obviously nobody here is against it. We'd love it to happen. We did go through and the board approved changing all of our lights to LED to lower costs, which it did, but the rates changed. That's our problem. We're trying to work on that. Trustee Maher: Thank you. Very thorough recap, but I just wanted to put it out there that we are making some changes happen. It's just like Mary Ellen said, it doesn't happen overnight. It's a very slow process, but it is very unfortunate. We do care, but we are actively doing as much as possible. I think I will continue to research and put out there and see what other grants we can find because any help we can get would be much appreciated. I just got this email this morning, so this is kind of last minute, but the Orange County Planning Department in partnership with Orange County Land Trust. They're updating the county's open space plan and they're seeking public input over the next couple of months. The first meeting is going to be Thursday, May 4th. At the rally, a center building at SUNY Orange from 7:00 to 8:00. That's just one of the first meetings of many. So if anyone's interested and going, I unfortunately will not be in town Thursday, but that's definitely something that I think someone from the village should go to, just so we have a voice at the table. I did get an email from a concerned resident. Just didn't get the greatest customer service. Trustee Hall: First, I want to say that I do sympathize with Mr. Lopez, with the whole Gladstone between the potholes and the sewage. If you ever had to pull out of one of those side hills there, the parking. You have to kind of inch and inch and hope that you don't get hit every morning. 15 Manager Revella: If you go in my office on the dry board, you'll see Gladstone's on that. We're trying to work on it. It's a huge number. It's about $1,000,000 for that one. Trustee Hall: The other one actually was the sidewalks up there. And I did see that on the board. I grew up on that street. I've been there most of my life. I've seen the changes over the years, and to try to jog up the sidewalk with the dog is, I don't have dental, so I have to be careful. I did get a complaint from a resident about the garbage the other day. They did pick up the bulk from them, but they did not pick up their garbage. He put it back out and when they came around for the recyclables, I believe they got it then. They did question why did they take the bulk and not take the regular garbage. Manager Revella: 2 different trucks. But any time anyone has a garbage issue, tell them to call the office so we can follow up. They're pretty good about following up with us. Trustee Hall: It was up in the same area. Mine was picked up that day when I got home that day. I double checked, but so it was up in the same area. Trustee Garrison: I will give a brief recap of the Orange County Transit meeting today. And if Trustee Maher has anything to add, please feel free to fill in my gaps. We went over the change that they did to remove the 275 feet in the sewage line to try to make it more efficient for DOT. The Village of Walden again told them we are not taking responsibility for the sewage pipe, we are not going to take ownership of it. That was discussed as it was here in the board meeting. They asked us if we can draft a letter just to try and help them push along DOT. Mr. Revella did say that he didn't see an issue with that. It's not going to show we're giving any ownership to it. It's just trying to help push the process along so it gets completed. DOT responded to their second request. They have in writing that they've received it. There's no point of contact or anything else to follow up on that part. The letter that Mr. Revella said would be okay was to send a letter just showing that we legally cannot put the sewer line in. It's just not something the Village of Walden can take responsibility for and do. We talked about the berm issue. They can't do anything with planting the trees or finishing that project until they can get DOT approval for the water line that they need to put in back there to be able to water all of that. There was discussion regarding the sewer waiver fee. What came away from that was they were going to look into it and go that route until everything can get approved. I don't know if that's actually going to happen. We talked a lot about the windows for Mrs. Winum's home regarding the lights. He once again did say he would look to put a timer on it to make sure it was off from a certain time at night until a certain time in the morning. He also agreed that he's going to continue some more phases of the project out there in the back portion of the parking lot where he needed to put more lights in as per their agreement with the Planning Board and the plans that they had going forward. Other than that, it was just a recap of everything that was discussed at the board meeting. Did I miss anything? Trustee Maher: No, that's a good recap. I think the big aha moment today was their understanding of why we can't control it. I don't think they really fully grasp that before with all the legalities around it and how the DEC really controls that. Our hands are tied with that aspect. I could definitely see the light bulbs go off. Like we're not trying to be difficult. This is what we're dealing with. Trustee Garrison: As soon as we explained the DEC issue in us not being able to put in the sewer line, they realized that we're not just kind of trying to bully them or push them over. Trustee Pearson: Who talked about the sewer line? Was it you or somebody like Fred? 16 Trustee Garrison: Dean was in the meeting as well. Trustee Pearson: He explained why we couldn't do the sewer line? Manager Revella: I explained why we couldn't. And Dave explained to him previously why we couldn't. But the letter that Trustee Garrison has mentioned, I told him to get a draft to Dave to review to bring to the board to approve or not, to go forward. They wanted the letter of support to DOT, that we support them putting the line in and owning the line. I don't think that's an issue. We do. Trustee Garrison: Nothing's been sent until it goes to the board. We have to agree on this before anything. It's just being drafted by the legal sides of this. Trustee Pearson: They had been told before and now they finally realized what was being said. They didn't understand it the last time. We feel that that was something that was true? Was their attorney there? Trustee Garrison: There were two attorneys there. I do want to touch on the train station. I know they cleaned out their side, so we're going to get in there, they're going to paint. Is that something we're going to be opening back up to teen center activities and things like that? Manager Revella: Absolutely. That's the goal. Trustee Garrison: I do sympathize with the people living up on Gladstone and Clinton Street and everything that's going on up there. I don't live in that direct area, but I can tell you if it was happening by me, I would feel the same way. So again, we are trying our best to push forward to make this happen. At this point, it's a legal thing that that we have no control over. Trustee Batson: Orange County Transit, is the ownership of this line going to be a sticking issue that draws this out forever? Are these governing bodies that issue these permits, do they care that we say we can't own it? Hold us in perpetuity for this? Manager Revella: We don't know yet what the response will be. I don't know what's been sent to them to that effect. So once we have this letter that the board approves, if they do. That should lay out those issues and hopefully DOT understands that. Trustee Batson: In the past couple of meetings, there's been some comment around our need to review policy and update. Do we have a standard operating procedure or something in which we constantly review policies? Manager Revella: No. Trustee Batson: Is there a big block of policies for us to start? Manager Revella: They're not talking about policies. They're really talking about the code, the village code book. To review those really from front to back. I think the last time was 2009. Trustee Batson: Then I will start reading. Manager Revella: Took about two years, so maybe it was 8 to 10 or something. You were still on the board when they started, right? 17 Trustee Pearson: Started not ended. Deputy Mayor Carley: Orange County Transit. Was anything said about their fine? If we're going to fine them or not? The extension. Manager Revella: They got their extension for three months without a fine. That's what the board approved. Did not bring that up. Deputy Mayor Carley: Nothing came up about after the three months? Manager Revella: No. We were trying to get them to commit to progress, whatever we could, and they did commit to some progress. As Trustee Garrison mentioned, they said they would get the sewer waivers done and septic inspections done for our engineer to review. They would close out a couple of permits they had open and would work on lighting next for the site plan. Trustee Pearson: Why is it just this year that they're doing the sewer waiver? Were they're not giving anything last year? Manager Revella: I don't know. Trustee Pearson: Or they just didn't do it last year. We don't know that answer? Manager Revella: I know that their attorney didn't believe that they fell under that because of the grandfathering clause in the agreement. But I told them that, no, it doesn't apply. Trustee Pearson: This year, not last year. Or did you tell them that last year? Manager Revella: I don't remember our correspondence last year. We can ask Dean to check the file. He might have sent it last year. They may have sent something last year. I don't know. I don't remember. They said they did. They said at the meeting, but I don't know if that's true. Trustee Pearson: They said they paid it and I did talked to Darlene and she said there's been no payment, no action nothing. Because I emailed you as well. Manager Revella: I asked her as well and she said she couldn't find anything. Deputy Mayor Carley: We went through that. What's the next step? Just wait for the letter and then move after that? Manager Revella: They need to get that to Dave ASAP to review for you guys to review. They're hoping that you can have that discussion at the May 16th meeting. They also asked, if the board needed them to be here every two weeks to present to them or how you wanted them to do that. Attorney Donovan: The next step in the process really is for them to get a response from DOT. Because if DOT says, we agree. This can be a private ownership. Then the issue is finished. The problem is, if they say no, what happens then? Frankly, they don't have a basis to say no. What they've communicated to us in the past is they don't like it being on private property for that length of pipe. That's what they're waiting to hear back from. If the correct answer is given. We can move off of this topic. Trustee Pearson: Did they say anything about an alternate plan that they talk about? 18 Trustee Maher: Well, they hadn't previously put in there why we couldn't support. I think now that they are going to send that communication through, along with a support letter showing that there is truly nothing, like we can't go the other way. I think without having that in the initial application. It looked like we should own it to the DOT. Even though we shouldn't. Trustee Batson: Is the removal of their length of pipe, I don't know if they're move toward 275 feet or move to down to 275 feet. Is that material in the DOTs eyes changed their recommendations? Manager Revella: They took 275 feet out of the right of way into private property. Instead of being 683 in the right of way, it's 400 and change. It's pretty material. Trustee Batson: Would it be material enough to make DOT change their decision? Attorney Donovan: Seriously the problem we've had, DOT have not said to us or to Orange County Transit this proposal violates subdivision one of chapter two. I still, I know I'm repeating myself. It just astounds me that they could say that the home office just doesn't like this. That's not an acceptable answer. Deputy Mayor Carley: Thank you, sir. The next question was, can they come every two weeks? The reports with the different items that they're missing or they working on, can the Building Department give that or we just want them to do it every two weeks? Manager Revella: I don't know if you want them just to submit a written report or do we want them to actually come here. That's really the question. They can submit that written report of the progress. They just feel like it's silly to come here when he really has nothing to say besides what's in the report. Just regurgitating what's on the paper. Deputy Mayor Carley: But I think the issue with physically being here, if we had a question, you can't answer from the paper. Trustee Maher: I think if there are no updates in the email and correspondence they send us then. Trustee Hall: There's no point of them being here. Trustee Garrison: What was asked of me was to discuss with the board instead of them having to come in here at our next board meeting to give a full presentation again, to go through the exact same thing. If there was no update or anything that needed to be discussed in person, would it be sufficient for them to send in a correspondence instead? Essentially, what they don't want to do is they don't want to keep coming here and spending hours arguing and regurgitating the exact same thing that we went over already. Is what I believe the idea was. Manager Revella: That's right. Mayor Ramos: I have a tendency of agreeing. Now, we have a committee that is spearheading this dialog between OCT and the Village of Walden. I think that should suffice. We will be waiting for the letter to be reviewed by the attorney and the Village Manager and brought forth to the board for our concurrences. I don't foresee them needing to be here until we get to the point where DOT scratches plan B. Then we have to get into plan C, which goes against DOT not providing OCT or anyone that they've asked any industrial guidance or standards what Mr. Donovan had stated. It's all in DOTs game plan. Trustee Pearson: You mentioned that there's a committee. I know that we had talked about a 19 committee to go to a meeting. Is this going to continue as a committee and they need further meetings or is this just a meeting for the meeting that happened this time? Trustee Maher: Just a committee for the meeting that just happened. Mayor Ramos: So, you two are sufficed with the dialog? Trustee Garrison: Yeah, unless they request another meeting to which we would again bring it to the board's attention on who would go. I don't think it's a continuation committee. Trustee Maher: I think if certain things that they committed to doing tonight weren't followed up on, then we would bring that to the board's attention and ask for another meeting. Trustee Pearson: Will you know that they're happening? Are you going to be talking to the Building Inspector? Trustee Maher: We'll follow up. Trustee Garrison: My plan is to correspond with Dean regularly in regards to what is and isn't coming through the Building Inspector's office. I'm also going to keep correspondence with Mr. Revella and you know him with Mr. Donovan. If anything has gone through his desk as well and then obviously send it out to you guys via email. Trustee Pearson: Do we have a timeframe for the sewer waiver? Did we put a timeframe on that? If they sent it out, it should have been already back by now. Is there a timeframe? Manager Revella: April 17th. Trustee Pearson: So we're over that time frame. What's the next process? Manager Revella: Dean told them to get the paperwork to him tomorrow. We are hopeful that they can. I'm not sure what they're going to work out, but I know that the Building Department and their office are working to get that figured out now. Mayor Ramos: John in nauseum, I reviewed the MUTCD, all 1200 pages of it. I have not gotten any diagrams or distances between crosswalks on Main Street, East Main Street there at the gas station to Orchard. Again, I was walking today and people were almost getting run over. We need to send a hard letter or a phone call to DOT specifying we had a crosswalk there and we don't have one. How many years have we had that crosswalk there? Manager Revella: I'm not sure. They were given something in writing that we did have it and they took it away and the response was, "we're not putting it back". I don't know when it was first put there, but I know it's been there for 20 years. Trustee Pearson: It's been there. Probably in the 80s, when they redid, they were going to do a turning lane and it never went through. People were all upset, but they took the parking away from in front of Sohn's. They took that away and they were going to a turning lane and people got mad that they were putting the turning lane and taking the parking away. But they didn't do the turn lane. They took the parking away. So it was probably done in the 80s sometime. I agree with you, mayor. Mayor Ramos: It's like an 80-90 degree turn to the left and the warning signs were really prevalent and they decide that the warning signs aren't supposed to be there anymore and they take it out. 20 That's just a euphemism or something to that effect. They need to be called and told or we can have a night operation. But they need a crosswalk there. You need to call DOT. I couldn't find it in the MUTCD at all. This has to be rectified sooner than later. Manager Revella: Are there any others that are missing? Elm St and Orchard. Trustee Pearson: Mayor, would it be worthwhile to write a letter from the board as well and the mayor, too? Mayor Ramos: We can send them the letter. Mayor Ramos: Everybody in agreement? All: Yes. Mayor Ramos: We need to get this done asap. Clinton Street. I hate to keep brushing this off. We keep having to deal with this. Department of Health has deemed it a health hazard. Mr. Lopez is right. Litigation should be second to this issue. Either abandon the house and we fix it. Manager Revella: That's what the only issue with Mr. Lopez's comment. We can't expend public funds for private purpose. That's a private line. That's why we can't just go do it without due process. The attorney is going to talk about that in attorney client. You're correct. We agree on the terrible situation. Mayor Ramos: I'd like to see, I don't know if this was done historically, but I'd like to see some yellow lines next to this monument so that the cars don't wrong way in the one way. Manager Revella: Can the board approve me to put some more permanent dividers out there around the monument to make it bigger so that people don't fly around it too fast? We had some designs through the years. I just need a majority of the board to say yes. I have one saying no. Trustee Pearson: I'm just saying that he wanted to put a park in and make it a one way street up the one way, down the other way. Mayor Ramos: I stand there and at least 3 to 5 cars daily and in a short period of time. I have a heart attack. The police officer in me will be drooling, but the person and me, there's going to be a head on accident there and we need to do something. What can we do besides putting the barriers up? Manager Revella: We had a plan designed where you would make it almost like a stamp pavement area, delineated so that they could still plow when they need to. You still have your ceremonies when you need to. So, that it's more of a permanent area that needs to go around. Mayor Ramos: And the edging? Manager Revella: There was a debate about making actually curb to the area blocked out like it used to be. It was originally designed as a triangle. There were some cannons. There was a fence around it. It was beautiful. They took it away when the fire trucks got too big so they couldn't make it around the monument that easily coming in and out of the firehouse. It wasn't conducive. '94, the trucks left. You don't really have that issue anymore. You just have the busses to go around. We've done it temporarily to show that the busses make it around even at that distance, when we mapped it out on the ground with cones. There wasn't an issue with that size delineated. Just need the board to 21 say, go. Mayor Ramos: We need to stop the one way cars going through. That's what we need to stop. Trustee Pearson: I don't think that will stop it. Manager Revella: If you approve me to do that, I will have it painted when we do the street painting. So you can see that delineated at least in paint for now. Mayor Ramos: That's not that's not the cure all. Manager Revella: No, it's not. We can try the paint for now and then go from there. Mayor Ramos: Wide, yellow paint. Hazard paint. Hazard markings. Manager Revella: Yes. The board is good with that? Trustee Maher: Yes. Trustee Batson: Just the paint. Mayor Ramos: Thank you Trustee Pearson for a great Arbor Day. It was great seeing kids and the staff there at Walden Elementary School. I attended the Eagle Scout ceremony for Lucas Quill for his project at Olley Park. It was really touching to see all the people that he touched. Trustee Pearson: PBF one year anniversary is on Thursday, May 4th. I don't know if everyone got an email from Mrs. O'Connell about bulk pick up and she said you were going to mention something, mayor. I don't know if you are talking about that tonight. Mayor Ramos: I did talk about with the Village Manager and it was taken care of. Trustee Pearson: She asked me whether she should move the things off the street and I told her you might want to move them back up closer to your house because of violations. I emailed her today and she said they moved it back up to the house. I don't know what your plan is for her to be remedied. I just told her we would mention it tonight. Manager Revella: Thank you. *read events into minutes* Executive Session – Personal History of Particular Employee, Attorney Client, CSEA Trustee Garrison made a motion to enter executive session to discuss the personal history of particular employee, collective bargaining negotiation CSEA, attorney client. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Maher made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Hall made a motion to approve a one-time stipend of $2,000 for Darlene Ciardullo. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. 22 Roll call: Trustee Hall: Yes Trustee Batson: Yes Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Garrison: No Deputy Mayor Carley: No ($1,000) Mayor Ramos: No ($1,000) 23  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 2, 2023 Motions & Resolutions Approval of April 18, 2023 Minutes Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve the April 18, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Resolution 35-22-23 – Budget Transfers Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve Resolution 35-22-23 Budget Transfers. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Retainer Agreement Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve the retainer agreement with Naughton and Torre effective May 1, 2022. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. The second motion by Trustee Garrison, seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. Community Center Use – Alcohol Waiver Request Trustee Hall made a motion to approve park use for June 25, 2023 from 11m to 6pm and conditioned upon receipt of proper insurance, naming of the Village of Walden additional insured, the limit of 500k minimum liability. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Flag Retirement Ceremony – American Legion Trustee Maher made a motion to approve Flag Retirement Ceremony request on June 10, 2023 at Olley Park. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Hall made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session – Personal History of Particular Employee, Attorney Client, CSEA Trustee Garrison made a motion to enter executive session to discuss the personal history of particular employee, collective bargaining negotiation CSEA, attorney client. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Maher made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Hall made a motion to approve a one-time stipend of $2,000 for Darlene Ciardullo. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. Roll call: Trustee Hall: Yes Trustee Batson: Yes Trustee Pearson: Yes Trustee Maher: Yes Trustee Garrison: No Deputy Mayor Carley: No ($1,000) Mayor Ramos: No ($1,000) 24