Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 16, 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: I went to another meeting with OC Transportation Counsel to go over policy drafts. I have a voting meeting next week on the projects. I'll get updates from DOT on various projects going on in the county. Met with CSEA, Mayor Ramos and the Village Treasurer to try and finalize CSEA, which we have a memorandum of agreement for today. Also had different meetings with the Comptroller and the Treasurer to go over audit. Went over some bids with the Village Engineer, pushing some capital projects so we can get a start date. Met with Interstate Waste, also had a conference with Interstate Waste and the Treasurer to make sure we finalized contract numbers and had letters to customers, especially commercial customers, with the new pricing. Went over the civil service list for the police full time officers and canvas letters have already been sent out. They're due back soon. Did have to attend another virtual conference with CDBG to maintain our eligibility. Had to go to DMV to get a bunch of plates renewed, titles. One new car got put in service. I did have a meeting over at 24 Ulster Ave with a potential developer. They walked me through the building to show me what's there. It used to be a group home. They were seniors for a while. It's been abandoned for a long time. It lost its use, right now, it's a single family house, so they're trying to figure out what they can do with it. I recommended they talk to the Building Department and the Zoning Board, but we'll see what they can do. I also had a Zoom meeting with EFC. That's the State Environmental Funding Corporation and the DEC and our engineer to go over our sewer projects and look for funding. I had a meeting with the softball league and the Rec Coordinator to talk about field use at Bradley Park and some improvements, including field improvements. Had a conference here with Orange County Bank along with the Finance Department, everybody in the office really, to go over the lockbox process for billing of residents. There'll be new billing coming out next billing which will be by September. We'll send out a new look, it'll be on the website and everything well ahead of time. Had to go over some drainage questions at Lustig Ct and had to have a couple of meetings on the issues going on at Clinton St with the sewer matter that is finally repaired as of yesterday. Covered for DPW Super when he gets time off. Rec Department has the indoor pickleball set up at Wooster Gym. They've got the program now so they can get scheduling for that. Afterschool and teen center, tennis is going well. Parks and 1 DPW have been working on some tree replacements throughout the village, especially along the Boulevard and 52, replacing the cherry trees with new ones. Online registrations open for summer camp and flag football. Code Enforcement Officer issued building permits, certificates of compliance and violations for property maintenance, fire and safety inspections, and had a new complaint in the office, landlord registry violations and sent out letters for expired permits and to do final inspections. The Building Inspector issued permits, certificates of compliance, CO reports and grass violations. Clerk has continued to update Facebook, website, 207c matters. We still have 2 police officers out on comp. Went over that stuff with special counsel, when we can, FOILs come in on those, went over those with the attorney and myself. Helps with water sewer, minutes and resident requests. Finance office still working on audit with the comptroller. Starting to do the 2022 internal audit now as well. That's going to be keeping them pretty busy. Treasurer worked on some issues with Edmunds, bank reqs, also obviously at the meeting with Orange Banking and Trust. Updated retirement reporting for the state. Came to CSEA negotiations. Did the relevies for the tax warrant which is on the agenda later. Public Works maintaining equipment, doing as much as they can with the year end of the budget. It's not a lot they can do cost wise, but they're doing what they can for maintenance. The new manager car is now in service. They've been replacing parts of sewer plant in the stations. One of the pumps got repaired, replaced. Water Department installed 6 new meters, 4 endpoints, 18 mark outs, 3 inspections and 3 closings. Hydrant flushing is completed now. They've been reviewing digs for street opening permits. Did the meter readings for the new billing period, repairing basins, flushing, jetting, street permits. Police Department, like I said earlier, we got the new list for police officers, just waiting for the canvas letters come back from our residency list. There was five on that list. They been doing the special details and tickets. The 24 traffic tickets were issued, 8 parking summonses, had 3 MVAs, 6 arrests and 39 vehicle traffic stops. And there were 288 blotters. The renovations to the library's second floor are ongoing, but they're making great progress. Trustee Pearson: Meeting with Chief Herlihy and civil service. How'd that go? Manager Revella: We got the list, got everything we canvassed. Trustee Pearson: Possibilities? How many people took the test? Manager Revella: I don't know. We have a residency list with five candidates on it. Trustee Pearson: They have to live in the village to be a police officer? Manager Revella: To be on the residency list. Yes. Trustee Pearson: They have to live in the village to be a police officer within the Village of Walden. What's a residency list? Manager Revella: It means that they live in the Village of Walden. So, we asked for a list of those officers that passed the test that live in the Village of Walden. Trustee Pearson: But that's the only people we can hire? Manager Revella: No. It's a preferred list. You wouldn't prefer they live in the village? Trustee Pearson: I do. I would but I didn't know if that was the only possibility. 2 Manager Revella: Not required. There's another list with who knows how many people on it. I didn't ask for it yet because I have to exhaust this one first. I want to exhaust one first. Let's put it that way. Trustee Pearson: Conference with Building Department review codes and office. What codes are you thinking? Manager Revella: Edmunds codes in the software system. Trustee Pearson: Meeting with the softball rec for field use. Can you go into that a little bit? Manager Revella: Infields. Some improvements needed in the infields. Trustee Pearson: What are we doing? Manager Revella: Fixing the infield. They're not graded properly. Trustee Pearson: Do we have a lot of teams coming? How many teams playing there? Manager Revella: I don't know how many teams, but yes, there's some teams coming. Trustee Pearson: And they're being charged. Manager Revella: For field use. Yes. Trustee Pearson: 24 Ulster Ave, can you get into that a little bit? Manager Revella: There's been a lot of people asking about the building because it's on the market. They know it's a single family house. If they want to do something with it, they have to get zoning approval. I don't know how many on the board remember what it used to be. It was a house with, I think, 13 bedrooms. Trustee Pearson: It's two houses put together. Manager Revella: For assisted living. Trustee Pearson: So they could subdivide that and go back to 2 single family homes? Manager Revella: They could. That's an option. I'm not sure what else they can do with it. It's very unique what they did with the property. So to convert it, I don't know what it would take, but whoever buys it, needs to know it's a single family house. If they want to do something else, whether they're having issues with parking, and there's still a lot of improvements to be done inside. Trustee Pearson: What did this developer want to do? Manager Revella: The one that walked me through it wants to make apartments. I told them it's not currently possible. Told him to talk to the Building Department and Zoning Board. It's not my choice. Trustee Pearson: You're getting prices for painting this building? 3 Manager Revella: Yes. We have one, which is good. It's just pretty much the same price we had from last year. We're just trying to get two other quotes because it's over $30,000. Trustee Pearson: Orange County Transit, did that letter go out that we supported? Manager Revella: No, you guys would have to see it. They gave a draft letter to our attorney. He had some comments on it. They haven't given us a final version yet that I'm aware of. Attorney Donovan: It's on its third iteration, so it's not in a format that I would recommend the board approve. Manager Revella: Nothing would go out until the board approves. Trustee Pearson: Anything going on that we should know about? Manager Revella: Nothing. Attorney Donovan: There have been half a dozen or more conversations that I've had with that office. Nothing which I think would be appropriate to share public at this point. Trustee Pearson: Clinton St is finished, you said. Manager Revella: I didn't say finished. The sewer is repaired. It has to settle and then we have to pave it still. Trustee Pearson: Any word from the owner? Manager Revella: I wouldn't be able to talk about it. Trustee Pearson: Anything about the charging station that we were talking about? Manager Revella: We're just waiting for the electrician to get the stuff prepared. We told them to go forward with it. They ordered whatever post they need to get done. Trustee Pearson: Is the electrician local? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Pearson: We had a packet months ago about health care for retirees that we were going to go over. Whatever happened to that with the attorney that was doing that work? Manager Revella: We were trying to arrange a time for them to come in to meet with you guys, but they couldn't come on Tuesdays during our meetings. So, until there's another time that you guys want to meet. I don't know. Otherwise, it would be a phone conference. But that wasn't preferred. So, whenever you can make arrangements to meet with her in person. Trustee Pearson: So, we have an attorney that can't meet with us? Manager Revella: On Tuesday night during our board meeting. No, they cannot. They have a conflict at that time. They represent another board at that time. Trustee Pearson: What's next with Climate Smart? 4 Manager Revella: There are some submissions like I told you in the email. That's it. There's not much. Trustee Pearson: Submissions meaning what? Manager Revella: You'd have to go on the website for me to show you. There's a thing where you go you submit things on it for approval from the state and they approve it and you get points for it. Once you get certain points, you have a status. So first status is bronze, then silver, then gold. The only statuses I know of in Orange County are Maybrook and Warwick and that's bronze. I don't know of any other ones in Orange County. Trustee Hall: Teen Center. I see that it's going well. Does that stay open throughout the summer for the kids? Are they going to utilize the building? Manager Revella: It does. When they have enough kids, they do. If they have interest, they do. During the summer, it's open all week, not just the weekend. Trustee Hall: When does that start? Manager Revella: A week after school, I think. Not the week school closes. It's the following week. Right after the 4th of July. We had a resident of the town donate a ping pong table to the teen center as well. So, we have another one in there, so that's good. Trustee Hall: I did reach out to Mike and let him know that I'd be more than willing to help with anything they need done in there. If they want to paint, if they want maybe coverings for those couches, anything to get it going for the kids. Manager Revella: Appreciate it. Trustee Garrison: Programming at the Vandermark Community Center, is that the same program that's been going on for the seniors and things like that? Manager Revella: There's a calendar. Trustee Garrison: Is there anything new being incorporated or is it just what we've already been doing? Manager Revella: It's what's on the calendar for this month. Every month will be a new calendar that comes out that says the activities for the month. Trustee Batson: It says we moved 10 properties or written up by the Building Department. Are we able to collect on all of those when we mow them? Manager Revella: So, if they don't pay, they get relevied on to the tax bills. Trustee Batson: It says they replaced one of the tennis nets. Was it damaged or just old? Manager Revella: Just old. I think they have to do them every 6 years or so. They get stretched, so they have to be replaced. Otherwise they have a sag, even though they tighten them up. 5 Trustee Batson: The lockbox option that appears in almost everybody's report. That is just simply so people can drop off checks after hours? Manager Revella: No. So, we have a lock box downstairs and outside. This is called a lock box. It's where you send your payments to a destination. The bank actually has a company that accepts the payments. They process them and put them in our account for us. Trustee Batson: In the Treasurer's report, it says we received annual franchise fees of $107,000 from Charter Communications. I don't remember a budget, was that anticipated in there? Manager Revella: Yes, it's around there. It's anywhere between 100 and 110. Depending on how many users there are. Trustee Batson: And then submit with the library to review lines that are over library budget. Is it significant? Is it going to require change in the budget? Manager Revella: It doesn't affect us. It's for their board. Trustee Batson: Department of Public Works report. It says Sherman Ave sinkhole. Then it says, we did not know this water main existed. Do we have other potential water? It's challenging to know what we don't know. Manager Revella: Correct. We do have other ones that we're not aware of location. Trustee Batson: Are they at risk for sinkholes? I mean, sinkholes seem to be a significant safety issue. Manager Revella: This was a sinkhole because there is a, I would call it a vault drainage channel that goes under there from an old swamp all the way to the brook. And they were investigating because they've been doing all the catch basin work and found the vault. And when they camera'd the vault, they noticed the water main going through it. That's how they found it. Trustee Batson: In their professional opinion, we have other areas that could be a risk for a sinkhole. Manager Revella: Absolutely. Wait St right now has a couple. That's why the board approved the lining up there for the drainage lines. Whenever they get separated and the water goes down, it starts to eat the dirt, starts to pull it in and pull it in. We're not like a limestone area like Florida, where they have real sinkholes, we're talking about maybe a foot maximum for sinkholes in our area because we have good stone here. Trustee Batson: I just worry that in the retail world, the parking lot has a foot sinkhole somebody's ankle gets in it. Manager Revella: We're not losing a person, but you may lose a foot. Hopefully we're safe. Trustee Batson: Can you just clarify for the Clinton St issue that it was fixed, not resolved, but did we end up intervening? Manager Revella: Yes, we had a contractor perform the work. Deputy Mayor Carley: Do we know the costs for that? 6 Manager Revella: No. Deputy Mayor Carley: The Building Department, was the application for someone for hire out? Manager Revella: It's off of the civil service list. We have to hire off the list if it's a tested position through civil service. Deputy Mayor Carley: Do we ever get to that point where we can talk about that? Manager Revella: Yes, what do want to know? Deputy Mayor Carley: Where we are? Manager Revella: We did make an offer and the person accepted. They start June 1st. Deputy Mayor Carley: Great. Any names or just we leave that alone? Manager Revella: He did put his notice in, Robert Wallner is his name. He is currently the Building Inspector at the Town of Shawangunk. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's good. We have somebody who has experience, not somebody brand new. Thank you. The CSEA negotiations, the MOA, I didn't get to read through it all. Did you send out the old one so we can compare? Manager Revella: The changes are on these. I have the pages here from the notes. They are in bold. Bold is added in. Struck through is obviously redacted. Mayor Ramos: Thank you, facilitating Clinton St. I know it's not resolved but it's there. Second thing is I was wondering if the board would be inclined to send a letter to the town. I don't know if anybody realizes that there are 2 RVs sitting at the foot of Osiris Rd and 208. I do not know how they are getting rid of their black water and without trespassing on somebody else's property. I'm wondering if those pipes are going into the Tin Brook downstream. If we can write a letter to the town to have them look into that. There was 1. Now there's 2. Manager Revella: It's the old Wedgewood property on the left, as you go out of the village towards Wallkill. I know that the town has had some contact with the owners. I'm not sure what their status was on that. Trustee Pearson: The property is for sale as well. Manager Revella: It is on the market. Mayor Ramos: I'm just curious on where, I can't tell from the piping from the side of the road where 52 is, but if they don't have anyone coming to do that then obviously there's an issue there. If that's okay with the board. Trustee Pearson: I'm fine with it. I actually don't mind it being there unless they are putting it into the Tin Brook. I don't know if we can tell that or not, or the town might know that and be able to tell us, but fine. Trustee Maher: I'm okay with sending a letter. 7 Trustee Hall: Yes. Trustee Garrison: That's fine. Trustee Batson: Yes. Deputy Mayor Carley: Yes. Mayor Ramos: It's just an inquiry. It's not an accusation or anything else. But if we can just find out if there are pipes going into the Tin Brook. Deputy Mayor Carley: You're sending it or is it the Village Manager? Mayor Ramos: Village Manager from the Village Board. Just keep us posted on that. I'm curious because there is blackwater. Where's it going? Don't know. I don't mind the RVs being there, but where's the blackwater going? That's all I have. Approval of May 2, 2023 Minutes Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve the May 2, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Brenda Adams: The MS4 is on the agenda tonight. The copy is not in the packet. I just want to remind you that there is a question on there about if the public has made any comments about it. The answer is yes. On the March 28th minutes on page 20 and 21, I know I made the comment and of course, Mary Ellen's been making comments every month, every meeting. So that's it. Manager Revella: So the public is aware, MS4 is on the agenda to just note that it's available on the website for comment. Mary Ellen Matise: That's against the town code, you can't have a campsite on your property. So, Jim Farr has been asked to look into it, and he said he will. But your letter would be a little help out. I'm reading this park use request form, and I'm wondering if you're going to discuss because I don't see it written in there about where it's discussing alcohol use, underage drinking. And I think that should be in your rules because even at family affairs, all different families have different cultural norms. Some families don't drink at all and some families offer a 16 year old a glass of wine. So, I think that should be in there. The hold harmless. Are you going to have people sign a form? I know that we have to do that for the community gardens at Benedict Park. This just says to the extent permitted by law. But wouldn't you have people sign? Something to think about. I talked to the Town of Montgomery about how they rent out the pavilion at Benedict Park, because I was often in the office when people were making arrangements. They do not take homeowner's insurance. They encourage or they request that people buy a separate policy just for the event and organizations are a million and they also encourage homeowners to be a million also. And maybe it's better to be in line with what they do. Then there's no discrepancies. We have a lot more to lose because it's a building with indoor facilities and other things. I think for the village's protection, we should be a little tougher than this policy is saying. I just wanted to ask a question. Is the state revising the sexual harassment policy at this time? Is that what this is all about? Manager Revella: Yes. 8 Mary Ellen Matise: Then I should be anticipating receiving this also from the town. But this is for employers in New York State. I know the last time that it was 2018, it was updated and I was just getting on the Historic Preservation Commission and we had to acknowledge receipt of the policy. I'm wondering if the boards here are also going to be given this policy, Planning Board, Zoning Board, I think Board of Ethics, anybody who's doing anything for the village. Also, New York State has a whole law about anti-bullying, although it seems to reference schools more than anything else. But I'm wondering if anti-bullying is part of this revamped harassment law. Maybe as you discuss it, you can let me know if those are part of it and also what to anticipate as a board member in the village here. Tina Quinlan: We just wanted to request to do our second annual 6K fun run with St Baldrick's. We did the first one last year. This year we were hoping to incorporate it with the Harvest Fest and get more involvement. We had about 30 participants last year. We would use the same path that we used last year, which I can go over if you need me to. We also had help from the Police Department last year, which I'm sure they would be on board with again this year. St Baldrick's raises money for childhood cancer research. We've been doing fundraisers in the Village of Walden for 16 years now. We've raised over $650,000, so we would like to keep that going. We'd like permission to do that the morning of Harvest Fest. Tax Warrant Trustee Hall made a motion to approve the tax warrant seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Garrison made a motion to adopt Resolution 36-22-23 Levying Village Taxes. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. MS4 Manager Revella: Just so the public and the board are aware and as full report is available for review at Village Hall and on the website for comment. That's our obligation right now. Make note of the inquiry from the resident regarding the comment. Will make sure that's updated on the report as well. Trustee Maher: And it's on the website under the Department of Public Works. Mayor Ramos: Does anybody want a copy? Trustee Pearson: I would like a physical copy. Deputy Mayor Carley: I think just for the public, who may not know, MS4, real brief. Manager Revella: MS4 is the controlling factor, we're supposed to maintain and control all drainage within the Village of Walden, including private projects, to make sure that there's not runoff issues. Trustee Pearson: It goes to the website and then we have to approve it after how long? Manager Revella: We don't. Trustee Pearson: We don't approve it at all. Manager Revella: Not that I'm aware of. It has to be posted. 9 Attorney Donovan: I'm not sure if there's a requirement that it be signed at some point in time. But John Queenan would know the answer to that. But you're required to have this public posting. It's a DEC requirement. The idea is that all the stormwater in the village and every municipality, it's discharge and where it goes is controlled. So there's not any pollution caused to any properties and also that your sanitary disposal system remains to the maximum extent possible with all the infrastructure, which is always going to have flow and filtration, but it remains protected to the maximum extent. Deputy Mayor Carley: Is this every year? Manager Revella: Yes. Every May you should see one. Deputy Mayor Carley: We should see a different one or see the one that was done in 2018. Manager Revella: Different one every year. Deputy Mayor Carley: Maybe I missed it. Trustee Maher: If you go to the Department of Public Works site, it's on there. Deputy Mayor Carley: I was looking at the Village of Walden website and I guess I missed it. Trustee Maher: From the Village of Walden site, under the DPW sub site and that's where it is. Deputy Mayor Carley: Okay, I'll look. I just want to make sure. CSEA MOA Manager Revella: We believe we've come to terms with the CSEA. They have a voting meeting as well. We just want to make sure that the board is okay with the final format. The only things I can really discuss publicly are the tentatively agreed upon wage scale that was in the offer of 3% per year for 7 years, including an upfront 5% one-time payment. There's some language changes in a couple of different paragraphs regarding longevity, holidays. How personal time's calculated and paid out upon departure and full time dispatchers were brought to the same scale as a full time laborer. That was a big difference. I can't really talk about strategy or anything that happened in the negotiation itself. Attorney Donovan: That's correct. Trustee Batson: On the one time payout. For how long? I get it says one time. But is it just relevant to the length of the contract? Manager Revella: It's the date that's in there. Trustee Batson: I know. But it can't be a one-time forever. The Village of Walden will pay this out one time. Manager Revella: That's it. One time. Ever. Trustee Batson: Ever. So, if this contract gets renegotiated, when it times out, there cannot be any more negotiations for a one time stipend. Manager Revella: Absolutely they could. Every negotiation is different. 10 Trustee Batson: Okay, so it's one time per negotiation of the contract. Manager Revella: Or it could be no times. Trustee Batson: So, it could be any amount of times or it could be no times. But it is a one time. Manager Revella: Yes. This time. Trustee Batson: And even if that one time is paid out, it could be paid out again, because it could be any number of times. Manager Revella: No, we're only talking about this contract. Other contracts, we don't have any control over. Trustee Pearson: What happens with minimum wage goes up next year or the year after, and it's a seven year contract? Manager Revella: Well, there's nobody in here that makes anywhere near minimum wage. Trustee Pearson: Part time people. Manager Revella: Even the part time people. Trustee Pearson: Am I reading something wrong, then? I'm seeing $14. I'm seeing $14.68. $13.40. Manager Revella: It wouldn't be renegotiated. That's a matter of law. So, if the law says the minimum wage is X, it has to be that no matter what the contract says. If the minimum wage changed, their minimum wage would be the minimum wage if this is less. Trustee Pearson: So, they would go to minimum wage? Manager Revella: Correct. No matter what this says. Supersedes. Trustee Pearson: And the 5% again, is for what? Manager Revella: Upfront. One-time payment. That's the negotiated item, which I couldn't discuss the reasoning for it, but that's what it is. Trustee Pearson: What does that dollar amount look like? That 5%. Manager Revella: Total almost is just under $50,000. Split amongst 3 funds. Water fund, sewer fund and general fund. Trustee Pearson: And we budgeted for that? Manager Revella: No we did not. Trustee Pearson: Where is it coming from? 11 Manager Revella: That depends on the board. If it gets approved, we would discuss where it would come from. It's not until July 20th, so we have some time. If it gets approved. Likely from the fund balance, but I'm just not sure yet. Trustee Batson: When are we going to hear? Manager Revella: They have a ratification vote scheduled. Once we hear from that, then I'll let you know. If they do ratify, do I have permission to sign? Trustee Pearson: Why can't we meet again? Manager Revella: I don't want retro to be an issue again. That's one reason. Trustee Pearson: They're not going to sign until June 1st. Manager Revella: No, you wouldn't let me sign June 1st if you wait till the next meeting. But it's up to you. Trustee Batson: Can we just see the balance or understand the balance of the general fund? If the one-time payment is going to have to come out of that. Manager Revella: I think we're at 1.8 million. So, we're talking about 30 something thousand from that. Trustee Batson: Seems pretty reasonable. Trustee Garrison: I'm okay with you signing. Trustee Hall: I'm okay with it. Trustee Maher: Yes, that's fine. Trustee Pearson: I'm a little confused. Well, not confused because I know some of the board members sat here and had an issue with giving somebody a one-time stipend just recently, and they didn't want to do it. And now all of a sudden, it's okay. So I'm just a little distraught about that. And why it's different now than it was before. I just had some questions for people who said no before. Trustee Garrison: The reason why I'm okay with this is because this was negotiated and discussed before the additional stipend was brought into discussion. So when we discussed this, this was already agreed and everybody talked about it and that was it. And then the next time we met, another one time stipend was reintroduced, which is when I said, I don't think we should be continuously handing out one time stipends. That's where I sat on that. For the record. Trustee Pearson: I just heard about the one-time stipend at the last meeting, so I didn't hear it before that on this. Trustee Batson: Did you say we can or cannot discuss strategy? Manager Revella: Cannot in here. We can in exec. Trustee Batson: Then I'll withhold my answer until we can discuss strategy. 12 Trustee Pearson: I don't know. It seems like there's missing information and you don't have it to look at. So, I'm not comfortable. Here, we're going to get it, here we're not going to have it. Where is it coming from? What money? I don't know. I'm not comfortable having that information not in front of me at this moment. So, I guess I'd be a no for not having the information that I was looking for. I'm hearing what he's saying, but sometimes putting it on paper and hearing and listening and it's different where it's coming from. As Trustee Batson said, how much money is in there, how much is to be left over or where is it coming from. Nobody was concerned where it was coming from except for me. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm fine with it. Mayor Ramos: I'm also fine with the Village Manager entering his signature on the prior to June 1st pending ratification of CSEA. Park Use Request Forms Manager Revella: There were a couple of board members who wanted to discuss this as well. There was a question about insurance coverage, which is always good to review and the form itself, if there is anything else that you want to be added, changed, modified; happy to discuss and review that. Just so the board members that are here are aware, the format and the insurance language on these forms was done after discussions with our insurance agent and our attorney. One form is the regular facility use for all facilities. The other one is just for the community center. Trustee Pearson: I spoke to Ralph about it because I had some concerns for the last few meetings about people coming before the board and not paying their money upfront. Insurances were not, I didn't think, high enough for an alcohol waiver. I think that there's a lot of liability that can happen. It's a new building. It's not just for the one building, but it's for all of our parks. It's everywhere. I did some research also that most of the places have a million dollar policy that is not a homeowner's insurance policy. It is a rider for and Ralph could probably get into that a little bit better than I can because that's what he does, but more of a rider. Maybrook, has a million dollar policy, also Town of Montgomery has one, Village of Montgomery has one. There's mostly in the area they do have that and most everybody has their forms filled out and paid for. I don't know how that process works here. I asked Kelly and she said she doesn't see the money coming in until later on. It goes to the Parks Department and that comes up to later. Manager Revella: But before the event. Trustee Pearson: Before the event. I think that it's not like you have to cash the check. The check comes to you so that this paperwork is filled out and it's properly filled out in the beginning. I had some concerns about the insurance and how much it was to pay for people. Town of Montgomery has the insurance for $500,000 for small events and then a million for large events. Manager Revella: The town got their forms from us. Trustee Pearson: I understand that. But I'm just saying ours is only $500,000. I had a concern about that and I wanted to bring it up and see what the board had to say. Trustee Maher: For large events, businesses or corporations, it is a million. Trustee Pearson: Yes, I understand. But even just single people are, especially with the alcohol waiver. I had an issue with that. I think that there's a lot that can happen, as Mary Ellen had stated something with underage drinking. If that happens, we don't know if it does. We're not down there 13 patrolling things like that. It's really just changing the insurance that people have to pay and making sure things are paid upfront. Trustee Batson: You think it should be a million dollar blanket for just all of it. Just one line, one million, small, large. Trustee Pearson: Why not? I don't know, maybe Ralph can talk about that. I don't know the differences between how much it costs for somebody to get that type of rider that you can maybe talk about that. Attorney Donovan: Just so it's clear you're answering. Everyone has their expertise, right? But you are not the village's insurance representative to answer that question. You're just a member of the board who has a basis of knowledge in that field. Trustee Pearson: Do all insurance agencies, do they have to be licensed to do municipal insurance? Manager Revella: They have to have a license to have to insure anything. Trustee Pearson: Aren't there certain municipal insurance companies that just do municipalities? Manager Revella: That's for us to get our insurance, not people to get insurance to give us additional insurance. Trustee Pearson: That's what I mean. They have to be licensed or registered for a municipality for us to get our insurance? Manager Revella: No. There's only certain ones that'll actually write them, though. Deputy Mayor Carley: What constitutes a large event? For example, I think somewhere it says capacity is 320. So, inside we get 320 people. Is that considered large? To me it's large. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I think that's for the community center. So, what constitutes a large event? Because I can see a business or a corporation. You put down the name, XYZ business. Manager Revella: What do you think a large event is? Deputy Mayor Carley: It's really subjective. That's why I'm asking. Maybe that we put something in here. If we put down rules or something like that, just something what constitutes a large event. Manager Revella: Or if the board was going to change the insurance to make it the same for all events then we don't have to worry about it. Deputy Mayor Carley: When it gets to Ralph, we can discuss because I'm not sure if there's a major difference between home insurance and a rider. It could be all the same, could be different. Maybe someone has renters insurance and home insurance. They said they don't want to pay the extra for a rider. That's my question, maybe we should clarify what's a large event. Trustee Maher: I don't think I'm understanding what you were saying. Right now we have the same policy. So, if anyone is having a party that's not a large event, a business or a corporation, they have to have insurance of a $500,000 policy. Large events, businesses and corporations would have a million dollar liability. So, you're saying you want everyone no matter what? 14 Trustee Pearson: I'll just give you an example. *read Village of Montgomery and Maybrook's insurance requirements* They all have something different. I don't think we have enough. Trustee Maher: I could see for when we're serving alcohol at parties to raise it to a million but I think to raise it to a million dollar coverage for all parties. I can tell you there's a lot of individuals living here who use the park who don't have million dollar policies. Trustee Pearson: Ralph can tell us how much that costs. Trustee Maher: I'd be interested to see what Ralph says, but I know for myself, we've had many parties there. Sometimes birthday parties with my family can be quite extensive. So, I don't know if I would call it a large event, but we've had at least 75 people there comfortably, and I don't know that we would rent it there if we had to pay an additional rider on top of the current fee. Just being honest. But I do think it is a good idea to raise it for anyone that's using alcohol. And I also don't see, other than what's listed here, like a standard code of conduct. Do we have one for park use? Manager Revella: Just the rules. Trustee Maher: I think we could expand upon the rules. Manager Revella: They're your board's rules. If you want to change them, we can change them. Trustee Pearson: We are really a little different than a lot of communities because we have water in some of our parks. Wooster Grove has water. Olley Park has water. Little kids in water. They travel off and they go and they do. And if somebody may not be watching, I get it. But it's not just a regular park. It's a little different than most parks that we have because we have water in some of them. Just a thought. Trustee Batson: Do we think that most of the people who rent this naturally have a 500,000 liability insurance? We only have one example from a previous member that presented it and they did not have 500,000. I'm just wondering if they have to get a rider to cover the 500,000. It does make sense if it's financially feasible for them to just get the 1 million, if they have to go through the time and effort to get the 500,000 to cover it, because the majority of people that would rent this don't have a 500,000. Then I do think it is worth exploring asking for the million, if there's no substantial difference. We have to go through the effort of getting a rider to cover the 500K. It's probably the same amount of effort, a slightly different dollar amount just to get the 1 million. Trustee Hall: My regular homeowner's is 500, but to get the 1 million is really not that big of a deal and it doesn't really cost very much at all. I kind of agree with it. Maybe it's just easier to have the 1 million all around. You can go on Event Helper, I do it all the time. I don't know what a large event goes with, but my family parties, I guess, is considered a large event. There's not 25 people. There's probably 100 people. So, when we rent the firehouse or we've done Montgomery and stuff and we've gotten them and 120 bucks. And that's what a 1 million policy will cost. Trustee Maher: For one time? Trustee Hall: Not necessarily, because you can change it to where you can have it for, I think I've done it up to 25 days at one point because I use it several times. Then it made it like 140 bucks. But it covered that whole time. Also in that rider, it asked you, are you serving alcohol? So then, yes, you put that on so it covers that. I do think that the 1 million is not a bad idea just across the board. My other question is, I see in here if there is alcohol, they have to go on to New York State Liquor Authority to get the permit, which I've done several times. It's not a huge deal. My only question is, 15 is when they get the packet to do the application, is the landlord agreement within those packets? Because when you go on to get the temporary beer wine permit, you have to submit a layout of the event hall, you have to get a landlord authorization form and then a form that you sign. So, is that landlord form included or does the person have to ask? Manager Revella: They have to ask for it. Trustee Hall: Then all persons must remain in the hall for events. How is that going to be? Is there going to be somebody like stopping in and checking? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Hall: As far as the insurance, I don't really see a big deal of doing 1 million. It'll cover them. It'll cover us. It's a hundred dollars or so. Trustee Garrison: A million dollars is not expensive if you do an event policy. I do believe anytime we do an alcohol waiver, we should require an event policy for a million dollars, because when you do the event policies, you specifically choose that you are going to have alcohol there and you are also able to get that additional insured requirement for the village. I think everybody here pretty much said that. I do agree with that. The problem with the homeowners and liability and event policy liability is there's only a select amount of homeowner's policies and companies in New York State that will actually offer a million in liability on your homeowners. Most people carry 300,000. 500,000 is not that expensive. But as a resident of this village, if I'm having a birthday party at Olley Park and I'm paying the village $100 to use the pavilion and the bathrooms, I personally don't want to go spend another $130 or $120 for a million dollar event policy. When I have a half a million dollars on my home that I pay taxes on in the village. So, the cost between 300,000 on your liability for your homeowners and 500,000 could literally be $25-40 a year to up it from 300 to 500 compared to $140 for one day event. That being said, the village should also cover itself because of these liability issues with alcohol. I think a million dollars for alcohol without a doubt is necessary. I also am a little unsure of the vetting process before the applications get to us. Becky and I spoke about this a little bit. But to have a waiver put in front of us to approve and the insurance isn't even up to par. The application wasn't filled out completely. I'm not going to point fingers on anything, but I think this is the last step before they get it. Everything should have already been completed. Also, it says all fees due at time of application. I just went through this process. You submit your application to the Parks Department, they go through their channels, you get approved, then you come up and see Ms Kelly, give your deposit checks, and then you're good to go. I think the language all fees due at time of application will either need to be adjusted or actually make people pay before we accept the application. Other than that, to get back to what you're saying with the liability, yes, a standard homeowner's policy would cover somebody if they were hurt at an event because you are holding the event and you've rented that facility. I don't agree with forcing people that already have a home in the village or have a home somewhere and they have the coverage for it to purchase another coverage on top of it. I don't think it's fair. Trustee Pearson: But you would be doing that if it was for alcohol. Trustee Garrison: 100%. Alcohol is different. I'm talking if you're renting a pavilion at Olley Park for 4 hours for a 5 year old's birthday party. There's no alcohol there. And if there is, you have to get approval for it anyway. So, I think a standard homeowner's with 500,000 liability to show proof of coverage is more than enough, in my opinion. Trustee Pearson: And what would the proof of coverage be? What do you have to show them? 16 Trustee Garrison: Provide a dec page with your effective dates, your name, your address, and your coverages. Trustee Pearson: So, you'd have to make a copy of your insurance policy, basically. We don't have that written anywhere. Do we do that? Trustee Garrison: Yes. You must provide proof of the homeowners or renters liability insurance in a limit no less than 500,000. It's on there. I don't see an issue with that. Specifically for a pavilion where 4 hours of use at a park for a birthday party. Now the Anita Vandermark Center is different. If you're using the Anita Vandermark Center, you're having a large event. And if you're having alcohol, you should have a million dollars and you should have a separate policy to cover that. But as far as a million across the board, I don't agree with that. Trustee Pearson: So, you're taking it between two completely different things. You're taking it from the community center versus the parks. You're making two separate things happen is what you're thinking. Trustee Garrison: It's exactly what I'm thinking. I think if you're using the community center, you're having a larger event. It holds 320 people at the capacity. I think a million dollars is sufficient for that. Specifically being a new building. If there's damages and somebody gets hurt, things along that nature. I know you do a deposit, but it may not cover all of the things that are involved if there is damages there or if somebody gets hurt. To rent a pavilion, I just don't see I don't see the need to force a resident to pay to rent it and then to pay more money on top of what they're already paying to have a party there. Trustee Pearson: I don't know if you can answer this, but there is not just a rider, like a one-time payment you can get on your insurance to do that. Trustee Garrison: Specific companies do that. There is one or two that will allow you to purchase an event rider for your homeowner's insurance. Off the top of my head, I can't tell you. But there are a few. Most will not. Trustee Hall: I can tell you, I did that one time because I didn't know about Event Helper and it was a lot more money. Almost four times as much. I learned my lesson there. Deputy Mayor Carley: I like it the way it is, personally. I do agree with alcohol use. I'm comfortable with the way it is now. Mayor Ramos: I am, too. Obviously, the alcohol poses an added risk to not only the patrons that are at the park, but the village at whole. I agree with the 500,000 for the park use other than alcohol. I've done it before, so it's really easy to put the Village of Walden on a rider. I feel that the families who are renting our facilities do police their areas and haven't had any issues since I lived here. But I think the families here in the Village of Walden use our facilities and they use them the right way and they have a great time. I still like the 500,000 and for alcohol use, but I also like to maybe define large events. I understand the Anita Vandermark Community Center. We got to define what large events are. Especially for outdoor areas. We don't have to limit, but we should at least define that. And whoever is renting our facilities give us an estimate on what the amount of people are going to be at the event. Trustee Pearson: You're fine with the 500 for both alcohol and nonalcoholic? That's what I heard. 17 Mayor Ramos: No, you didn't hear that. I said, I'm fine with the 500,000 and I am fine with the 1 million for alcohol use. Trustee Pearson: Okay. Manager Revella: I'll do updated drafts for next meeting. Trustee Maher: I think I read this wrong because now that I'm rereading it, we do require a million dollar policy for any alcohol use. It's just worded very strangely on the application. So, clarification around that I think would be good. Trustee Batson: Can we also add the code of conduct be attached with the applications and just one minor source of contention if we're going to debate on the 500,000 to the million dollars over large events, the word business there or corporations doesn't sit well with me. If you're a small business, eight or nine people, why would you have to carry the additional rider of a million? Why the blanket statement of business or corporations? Why would a small business have to carry more? Manager Revella: That came from our insurance company recommendation. Because most businesses would have at least a million dollar coverage. That's what I was told. I hear you. Attorney Donovan: Is this the time I should tell you not to confuse having coverage with being covered? Because when you get dec sheet from Ralph, everything's great. Then it was an accident. Ralph says, I can't help you, here is the number for Travelers in Hartford and some guy on the 46th floor sends you a 72 page letter that says, by the way, you're not covered. Trustee Maher: Are we going to clarify what a large event is? Manager Revella: I'm not going to do that for Anita Vandermark community center, because all events are large events if they're there. Trustee Batson: Will the large events be taking off or will the entire clause of 500,000? Manager Revella: The whole clause will be rewritten. The entire section. The other section is going to say all events, it's not going to disseminate between anything else. Trustee Pearson: Because I know, John, before you had said most things in the village you want a million dollar policy. You wanted across the board for everything. Now you're kind of changing your tune. Manager Revella: It's up to them. I didn't comment. I didn't change any terms. I'd take 10 million if you'll give it to me. Trustee Pearson: I know, but I'm just saying, that was your kind of recommendation, a million dollars for policy throughout. Keep it standard and keep it the same. No matter what they do, you're talking about Building Departments or all of that was the same. We talked about it during a short term rental. Manager Revella: I'll do the draft and then we'll talk about it at the next meeting. Trustee Batson: Does it oddly encourage people to have alcohol if you have a million dollar waiver. If you have a million dollar policy at that point, that just guarantees you can just, why not have alcohol too? 18 Manager Revella: You still have to come for the waiver though. Sexual Harassment Policy Update Manager Revella: The state updated the sexual harassment policy for all New York State employers. We have to adopt this. The main change was having a form, the complaint form was added for our village. Trustee Batson: Should it extend to people who do volunteer work on behalf of the village? The other boards. Trustee Garrison: I'm just going to agree with Trustee Batson. I think per the public comment, I think we should extend this to volunteers as well just to cover the village. Trustee Hall: I agree. Trustee Maher: I'm good with the form. Do we know yet how people go about getting a copy of this and what it looks like when you go to hand it in? Who does it go to? Manager Revella: To Village Hall. Either myself or the Clerk. This will be included in the employee packets, for the policy packet. All employees will have a copy. Plus it'll be on the website and in the office. Trustee Maher: Is there a way to hand it in confidentially? Manager Revella: You can email it. There's an email address on the form. Trustee Pearson: I'm fine. Deputy Mayor Carley: I agree with the volunteer side of the house, but also, any contractors or anybody else. I don't know if we should go that deep because I assume their business should cover something like that. But it does extend to if we have contractors or whatever working for the village outside the term of the employee. Attorney Donovan: Fortunately, you have labor counsel, but I do know a little bit about this. So, if you have a contractor, you're going to want to just get a certification, but a representation of that contractor that they have a sexual harassment policy that's in conformance in New York State requirements. Not that they have to be trained by you, not that they have to adopt this policy, the village policy, but they have their own policy that conforms with New York State requirements. Deputy Mayor Carley: Do we have anything like that that can, not take place of this but in addition to it for the village? Attorney Donovan: When you go out to bid or something, someone's going to do a public works project. There's certain representations they need to make in that bid package. And so you would ask for the same thing before they went to work in the village. Deputy Mayor Carley: Do we currently do that? Attorney Donovan: I don't know. 19 Manager Revella: I'm going to let you know that there's a company that reviews our contracts before we sign them, so that company would review that contract to make sure it conforms with all laws and rules, including sex harassment. Mayor Ramos: I'd like to also make sure that the contractors do provide the village if they're doing work, that they do have their current sexual harassment policy and all employers in New York State. And secondly, how come we don't put dates on these things? Does it does it start now? Does it rescind the past policy that we've had? Manager Revella: It doesn't start until you adopt it. I wouldn't have a date until you do adopt it and then we have an adoption date. Trustee Hall made a motion to approve sexual harassment policy. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. 6K Fun Run Trustee Maher made a motion to approve the 6K Fun Run for September 30, 2023. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. 6 ayes. 1 abstention (Trustee Hall). Motion carried. Public Comment Brenda Adams: Is the painting of the building going to include these very pretty columns that are all around the building that are all brown and rusty at the bottom? Manager Revella: Those we've had to use DPW to do those columns, the ones that are on the first floor. We do those internally. The painting job that's being done is the white that's all around the promenade and there's something else, I'd have to show you the bid. I don't think the columns were included in that. We usually do those in-house. Brenda Adams: Okay, because they're looking really shabby. Second thing is, last Wednesday night, we had a Community Council meeting at the library and they had just planted out in front by the trees and put nice new mulch. And there's stuff all over the sidewalk there. I know you must have seen it because you walk past there all the time. It's just nasty. There's all this stuff underneath the benches along the side of the library, right on up to the front and in front of the village office door coming into the police department. When I come out the other night, I was figuring, well, they had just finished planting, maybe they ran out of time. They'll come back tomorrow and sweep it up and clean it up. But guess what? It's all still out there tonight, all along the edge of the building. I mean, it just looks shabby. The flowers look nice, but it's like we work overtime to look nasty. I know I'm a little fussy, but I just think we could be a lot cleaner. I think when our village building that is so beautiful was on the tour last week for all the kids to come and see. I mean, when we keep this building nice, then we encourage people in the village to keep their properties nice. Last thing I have is, I do not have to make a written comment. Is my public comment fine for the MS4? Manager Revella: Correct. Brenda Adams: Thank you. Mary Ellen Matise: Park use, because it's not just park use too. It's these buildings. Walden Woman's Club gives you a million dollar liability certificate just to use this room. So, why wouldn't you just have million dollars across the board? What's the big? It's really not an inconvenience to people and it protects the village and the village taxpayers. Also you're talking about events, they're not just family parties. I remember going back when that woman was collecting stuff for some charity and she was in Wooster’s Grove and people who had nothing to do with her organization 20 were showing up and bringing donations and doing stuff. So, if you're having something like that where the general public is showing up to an event, you want to be covered and 500,000 is not enough. It really isn't. Not in this day and age, and especially if you're asking for a million dollars just to use this room. Every nonprofit that uses village property has to show you a million dollar certificate and name the village additionally insured and you can ask the Clerk. So, that's that. Tomorrow night is the presentation here about the trolley. I hope you show up, Mayor, where are your blades, I'm cutting them. 7:00 tomorrow night in this room. And they were asked for their insurance, so they'll be here. Thursday night, the 18th, we're going to have the first organizational meeting for the Revolutionary War planning. So please, I'd like to invite anybody who's interested to come so that we try to get some event started. And that's the Town of Montgomery, so I'm sure they have a million dollar liability. But those things, we do those under the town's umbrella. Thank you. Now, my neighborhood smells like wisteria, not listeria. Cheryl Baker: 110-116 West Main Street. Some of you might be aware of it. It's a yellow garment factory and has a blue building that was once Emily's World on Main Street there. That blue building, especially since it's gotten its permits, is in far worse condition than it ever was prior. The back part of the building's falling down. Have the owners been cited? There are parts of that building that are going into other people's properties because of the roofing falling apart there. It's also quite an attractive nuisance for the kids then the Oak Street parking lots, because some of the cork boards are now missing when they removed the stairs. They're completely open now. So, if a kid wants to go in there and right out the door, out they're going. I can't imagine, especially with having the stairs taken, that if there is a fire, God forbid, there is a child is in there. That's quite a significant problem. I thought the village had cited them before. What's the next step if they're not responding? Manager Revella: They are brought to court or before this board for a hearing. Cheryl Baker: The stairs on West Main Street, great, they tore them out after the railing was redone and they're still not correct. So, what happens then? Do they tear it out a third time? Manager Revella: We don't own them. It's owned by the New York State DOT. We told them before, they tore it out, we told them again, they poured it again anyway, I don't know what's going on. Cheryl Baker: Did they give a reason why they changed the footprints of the stairs to begin with? Because the original layout was 12, maybe, stairs, then a landing and then another set of stairs, then a landing. You can't technically ever open it up for use, even if you put in new railing because it's not up to code for handicapped. Manager Revella: Correct. Cheryl Baker: Who do we harass to get to answer for them not getting this. Manager Revella: New York State DOT. That's who we've been harassing. They made the contractor tear it out and redo it, but they did it the same exact way anyway. Cheryl Baker: The stairs were fine once we had the railing replaced after that tree came down during that storm. I don't know why they had to tear down the stairs to begin with. The stairs themselves were fine. But now that it's been over a year and we have residents that live up there, they can't utilize the stairs ever. Payment of Audited Bills 21 Deputy Mayor Carley 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 Batson: The last meeting you talked about that there was a flag ceremony that was supposed to happen soon and there were some maybe some costs affiliated with it that had to do with us providing some food. Mayor Ramos: There's no update. We are going to have a flag ceremony, the Legion will have one on June 10th. During my comments, I was going to ask the board about possibly providing hamburgers and hotdogs at Olley Park. But I'll get to it when I get to my comments. Trustee Batson: I just can't speak highly enough about the thing that registers your speed. How long do we have that for? Manager Revella: It's on loan from the Village of Montgomery, so they'll get it back to us every so often. Trustee Batson: It does wonders. I don't know. Clearly we've done the budget for next year, but at some point, any of those things are feasible for us to own. I would heavily support that. Trustee Garrison: I was speaking with some residents on Valley Avenue the past couple of days, and they're concerned about there is no stop sign at the end of Lincoln and Valley Ave. Cars come off of Richardson. They take the right and they just speed all the way down till the first stop sign on James Street. I was wondering if there was any way we can look into that or something we can do in regards to getting a stop sign down there. Manager Revella: Stop signs are not used for speed enforcement. They're for traffic purposes, turning issues with intersections. Trustee Garrison: Every side street to Valley Avenue has a stop sign at that intersection except Lincoln. Manager Revella: How fast do you think they're going? Trustee Garrison: Fast enough that parents are concerned about their children being out there. Manager Revella: I've had them make those complaints to me, too. Most of the people speeding are the people that live on Valley Avenue. And they're going like 25 in a 25. Just so you know. Trustee Garrison: I understand. They also don't stop. Ever. Manager Revella: I hear you. But we're not allowed to do it for that purpose. Other things that are helpful in those scenarios are the speed humps, which we've talked about over various aspects. Trustee Garrison: The other thing I wanted to discuss is some of you may be aware of the tragic event that took place with the Valley Central student. It hit close to home with me as well, and I just want to put it out there. If anybody has any issues or anything, my email is on the Village website and you can email me and I will reach out to you directly if you are having any issues in regards to just feeling down or depressed or not feeling yourself. Just send me an email. 22 Trustee Hall: I agree with Mary Ellen and thank you for the better smelling area up on that end of the village. The one thing that I do want to mention that I forgot last meeting. Most of you know, St Baldrick's was held up at the firehouse. We raised the most that we've ever raised in 16 years. We're over $65,255 or something. It was the most we've ever done. Thank you for participating and donating. Trustee Maher: Awesome job, Kristie. 30th Honor Flight this Saturday coming out of Westchester. I know it's not a local one, but if anyone wants to get up really early or stay up late, come join us down in Westchester. And we would love to have your support. We also have opportunities for committees to do some local volunteering with Honor Flight. If anyone's interested, please reach out to me, hoping to fill some permanent positions on a volunteer basis. If anyone wants to help. Saw on the calendar for the Anita Vandermark Building on Thursday, May 25th, we have every month the community center is hosting and ask the expert. Where anyone from the community can come in and speak to some of the people who are in our community who just have a wealth of knowledge. And this Thursday on the 25th, it is Keith Hunter who is not only our local insurance agent, but he's also a member of Rotary and just a local good guy. So, come and ask your questions. That's 6pm on the 25th. Trustee Pearson: To come off of Ralph's, May is Mental Health Month and there is a new number for mental health like a 911 number. It is 988. If anybody needs that please keep that in your memory file. It is also police appreciation week. Thank a police officer. The Historian has talked to me about possibly doing a presentation for the Village Board about local history, like from way back. If you would all be wanting to do that, maybe come a half an hour earlier or something and she'd go over the whole history of the village, which is kind of an interesting thing from Walden Bradley and it would be just kind of like a little snippet of the history of Walden for maybe some new board members. I don't know if everybody knows it all, but it might be fun to have that. I'd be interested. I know a lot of the history, but there's probably little things that I don't know which kind of are fun to hear. If you have questions, it's kind of neat to be able to answer your questions for you too. But that's just something if you want to plan that. Any more on crosswalks? Manager Revella: One got painted. Elm Street. Trustee Pearson: Not the one. Again, somebody else is walking the street today almost got hit by a car today. Just another issue, I had somebody come up to me today actually about an issue that was happening at New York State Gas and Electric across the river. Kids are partying in the parking lot there till 1:30, 2:00 in the morning, police were called. Manager Revella: You mean over by the dam? Trustee Pearson: Yes. And somebody is partying in that parking lot and it's been happening like four times within the last few months. The police get called and they don't really get out of the car. They just kind of do a drive by and that's it. So they peel out at night at 2:00 in the morning and rubber marks on the road. The homeowners over there are pretty disturbed about what's happening. That came from a homeowner over in that direction today. If we can maybe be a little more diligent on what's going on over there would be great. Thank you. Trustee Maher: That makes me think of one more thing. I'm sure we have a schedule of patrolling the curfew passed on for the parks, but if we could just follow up to make sure that's reinforced. Just going to make sure that there's no activity. 23 Manager Revella: They do, unless they're on a call for something else. Regularly go through. It's in the blotter that they've been through the park. We were hoping to have a quote for cameras by tonight, but the guy's not done with it yet. Deputy Mayor Carley: Former Trustee Baker talked about 110 West Main Street. This is another example of a hazard or an issue that maybe down the road cause a problem. And we should go ahead and look at it from a village perspective again to mitigate the problem. Meaning that, yeah, if something does happen or if there's a fire or the kids acting crazy or whatever, if it's open and it's dilapidated and we've already addressed it with the landlord, don't know if he or she is absent or whatever the case is. The point is, if it has those openings and stuff where people can just easily get into, once again, go ahead and board it up, charge the person and move on. Because if something does happen, we don't want to say that it was brought up to the village and we didn't do our part, even though we will say, hey, it's the landlord, but I guess we can lean forward a little bit more. Manager Revella: No, if there's an attractive nuisance like that where it's an issue, we do have the ability to have it boarded up immediately. I don't see the back of that building that often, I see the front. But if there's issues with it being not secure, especially in the back. We can board it up and charge the owner. Trustee Pearson: Why not have another hearing? How long does it have to go on? Manager Revella: You don't have to have a hearing for that. It's immediate. Trustee Pearson: Yes, but it's still an eyesore no matter whether you board it up or not. Deputy Mayor Carley: So, if possible, can we go ahead and have that looked at tomorrow? Then if it's deemed that type of nuisance, where there is easy access, start making those moves to have it boarded up. Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Carley: Speed humps. We went over this a while ago when placing speed humps versus bumps and signs and things of that nature. But at what point do we say, okay, I've heard this before, I'm not 100% accurate that this has come up several times. And we said, yeah, we understand they're speeding, but because it's a neighborhood and it's, I don't think it should be that much of a cost or can we go ahead and put in a hump? Manager Revella: It is. It's about that, $6,000. So, what's it tell you, you're going to put it on the street. Why don't you put it on my street or that street? Are we going to put it on 100 streets? We have to kind of weigh the balance there as proof that there's an issue there. And this will actually help alleviate the issue. Otherwise, it's going to be a concern for other residents. Deputy Mayor Carley: And I agree with that. We have to demonstrate. How do we demonstrate that? Manager Revella: We do the traffic/speed counts. Deputy Mayor Carley: Have we done that somewhere before? Manager Revella: On which street? On Valley? No. We've done it on other streets. I don't think we've done it on Valley in a long time because of all the stop signs there. 24 Deputy Mayor Carley: Can we do one in that area? Just to make sure that it was addressed. Manager Revella: Absolutely. If there's anyone over 35, I'll be severely surprised. It's hard to go fast on that road, just appears fast because it's a narrow road. Trustee Garrison: It's not just about the speed. They don't stop. Nobody stops at the stop sign. Manager Revella: The traffic counter is not going to say if they stopped at the stop sign. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's a different issue. Stopping at the stop sign versus the speed of traffic or number of cars going through. Manager Revella: Correct. Deputy Mayor Carley: I've been bringing this up for years. The review of the local laws and codes. I think we should go ahead and put that on our agenda. We want to make sure that we address everything in it's time. Also, create some type of work session. Like what we did with the police. I'm fully aware it will take longer than a week. I think it'll be a good way to demonstrate that we are trying to address all the issues and make sure everything is up to par. It's going to take the full board. I don't think it should be a committee. I would like to suggest someone from the Building Department, reviewed by Mr. Donovan. Trustee Maher: How do you want to go about? Deputy Mayor Carley: I think we should go by chapter or pick a couple out at a time. I believe somewhere we're going to get bogged down because it says you have to cross reference with the law says with the code says, make sure everything lines up. And the subject matter expert should be in the room also or have the time to review. It may take 2 weeks or more. Then you don't move on to the next one until that one is fully vetted. That's my suggestion. Mayor Ramos: We've been talking about this for some time. We'd come in a little earlier, tackle 1 or 2 chapters at a time. Just to review the relevancy of the code. If it's in the 2023 year realm. Or 2025. It's like our comp plan that we're going to be doing soon. Just like we dissected the rules and regulations with the Accreditation with the police department. We need to dive in and look at the codes. Let's bring it up next meeting and set up an agreement. It will take the whole board. It will take the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer. Then we can forward everything to our attorney for review. Attorney Donovan: Very applaudable thing to do. I just took a quick look at your code. There are over 58 chapters in the village code. I have sat on committees in the past to review zoning ordinance that have gone on for years. As opposed to doing chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, you may want to, when my kid was young he was trying to learn his phonics, we had a tutor that would tell him to chunk the words. You may want to chunk the code and look at certain areas. Which chapters kind of relate to each other and just have some sort of format. Make no mistake, this is a big task. If you went and hired a planning firm, you would spend several hundred thousand dollars to do this. I'm not suggesting that you do that. I think it's great that you want to do this, just be prepared what you're jumping into. Mayor Ramos: Keep that in mind for the next meeting. *read events into minutes* 25 Mayor Ramos: I wanted to thank the County Clerk for allowing us to have the mobile DMV at Wooster Grove. 61 customers were extremely happy. May 29th, we're going to have a Memorial Day Parade here in the Village of Walden. June 10th, we will have a Flag Burning Ceremony at Olley Park. The Legion will be performing the ceremony, retiring the old colors. They were looking for some help from the village, possibly having some hamburgers and hot dogs. I don't know the amount of people. This is to be determined. But we will get that in the next meeting and will have some numbers. Executive Session – Personal History of Particular Employee, CSEA Trustee Hall made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee and CSEA. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Carley made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 26  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 16, 2023 Motions & Resolutions Approval of May 2, 2023 Minutes Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve the May 2, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Tax Warrant Trustee Hall made a motion to approve the tax warrant seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Garrison made a motion to adopt Resolution 36-22-23 Levying Village Taxes. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Sexual Harassment Policy Update Trustee Hall made a motion to approve sexual harassment policy. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. 6K Fun Run Trustee Maher made a motion to approve the 6K Fun Run for September 30, 2023. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. 6 ayes. 1 abstention (Trustee Hall). Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session – Personal History of Particular Employee, CSEA Trustee Hall made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee and CSEA. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Carley made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 27