Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting December 5, 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 Kristie Hall Patricia Maher Absent: Ralph Garrison Jr Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk David Donovan, Village Attorney Treasurer Kelly introduced Christine Sciurca as the new Deputy Clerk/Treasurer. Sgt Werner introduced Shawn McPhilips, FT PO Nick Dillies, PT Jordan Mauro, PT Dispatcher Gennine Forese, Brock Morrison, Joseph Turner, Taylor Allen Manager Revella: So since the last meeting, obviously we had a few new hires. We'll have a few more new hires next meeting as well. Went over project updates with the DPW Superintendent and with the engineer. Went over a few different court proceedings with the Building Department for updates. He also reached out to the attorney to make sure we're on the right path for court. Went over audit and bank reqs for the Village Treasurer. I had to meet with a resident from Second Street. They're going through a Zoning Board matter. They're on the next agenda, hopefully going to be taken care of there. Went over the Waterfront project with the engineer. He's getting bids for the next part. But this current part is finished and we have about $120,000 left to spend. We have a good amount of funds there to get the rest of this done, hopefully sooner than later on that as well. Went over the Rec programs and facilities. They've had an uptick in interest for the indoor pickleball. They actually added another session. Which is full. It's been going well. Went over some health care questions with special counsel and the Treasurer. Payroll. The tree got set up out in the square, so we're all set for that. Decorations are going up on Thursday. Had a conference with the DEC and the village engineer regarding additional funding. Our grant from the state went from 1.25 million to 3 million now. We still have the 2.085 million loan as well for 30 years at 0% interest, to get a lot of the sewer work done. That's going to go a long way. I did talk about the utilization report for the cameras with the Chief. That should be in your packet. Parks Department got a lot of use at the community center. I did add that in the packet as well. Indoor soccer and basketball registrations ongoing. They had the senior trip on Saturday to the Paramount to see Jimmy Sturr. Christmas in the Squares is this Thursday. Hope everyone can attend. Starting at 6:30. Tree lighting should be around 7:40. Building Department. The inspector issued 31 new permits, 5 CO reports, 21 abandoned properties were reviewed. We did get the Code Enforcement Officer list and did send out canvas letters. We're just waiting for those to come back under the time frame required under the civil service so we can do interviews. The Part Time Inspector issued 4 compliance letters, 2 1 CO's, a sign permit and residential fire inspections for 23 apartments, 6 commercial fire inspections and a few follow up letters. Clerk's been updating Facebook and website, workers comp matters, handicaps, water/sewer bills went in and actually went out. The new calendar is out, transition payroll to the Treasurer's office, preparing for upcoming election, Leadership Day, minutes and responding to resident requests. Treasurer's meeting with me on different on all new office staff, water/sewer billing, conducting Edmunds support calls, Building Department reviewing escrows, bank reqs, accruals, vouchers and moving office and personnel matters with the Police Chief as well for the new hires. Public Works, they've been working on vehicles as they have to all year, getting ready for winter. The plant's been pumping sludge and pressing still. Still working on that as the weather allows. Working on the stations. Water Department did 19 mark outs, replace 7 meters, 26 endpoints, 10 inspections and 3 closings. They did replace a fire hydrant on Orange Avenue that was leaking and a water main break on Westwood Drive. Maintain facilities, reviewing opening permits and flushing and jetting sewers. Police Department, obviously, they're getting restaffed. We keep working on that. The Sheriff's Office was a big help for November and they're now done. The patrols issued 7 traffic tickets, 1 parking ticket, went to 8 MVAs and had 14 arrests and there's 280 blotters. Trustee Batson: You said the issue with the citizen and the zoning board is going to be resolved with the Zoning Board? Manager Revella: It's a Zoning Board matter. They're on the agenda again at the end of December, we'll see how that plays out. Trustee Batson: Should we anticipate no more costs from the Sheriff's Office? Manager Revella: No, they're done. We got our final bill. They were a big help. Trustee Maher: I know the DEC can be extremely challenging, so I just really wanted to celebrate that additional funding. That's incredible and much needed. Great job. Trustee Pearson: Building report, what constitutes an abandoned property? Manager Revella: There's a whole criteria in the code. Trustee Pearson: Vacant. For how long? Building Inspector Wallner: 6 months. Trustee Pearson: Thank you for the report on Olley Park house. What is game time? Manager Revella: For the seniors. It's an activity. They'll play games. Trustee Pearson: Most of these are for seniors? Manager Revella: The things in the evening where the most of the programs, that Lisa Ruiz is putting on through her grant program. Trustee Pearson: Thank you. Back in July, when Orange County Transit was granted his year extension. He was supposed to come back every month or give us a report every month, I haven't seen one in a while. I know the mayor asked for that to happen. I haven't seen one. I don't know where we stand. What's happening? Does anybody know anything that's going on? 2 Trustee Hall: I thought it was either this month or next month. Trustee Pearson: I read back in the minutes, it was a monthly report. We haven't heard anything. I just wondered where we stood with that. Sheriff's Department was here every day? Manager Revella: Yes. Approval of November 14, 2023 Minutes Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the November 14, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Batson. 5 ayes. 1 abstention (Trustee Hall) Motion carried. Public Comment Andrew Millspaugh: My comments are about the Waterfront Park. Happy to see it's on the agenda. Couple of items I have that can be part of the discussion hopefully. First, with the permit renewal. Probably should be some discussion over the meeting minutes from the last meeting just for clarity and transparency. I know it was confirmed at that meeting that had been submitted when in fact it wasn't submitted for another two weeks and a day. It was submitted on November 29th. It has been received. It's logged in at the DEC with a decision due on December 14th. But there may have been a breakdown in communication somewhere there where it was thought that it was submitted, but it wasn't submitted. Just want to make sure going forward that that's not the case that holds things up, that people think someone's doing something, but it's not. Second, it was said in the report that the current contractor is done with the scope that they were doing. I went down there earlier today and saw there was no equipment. I guess that's true. There's still some trash left behind. The cardboard rolls from the Geotextile fabric is still up there. There was a metal pipe, so there's a couple of odds and ends they should probably cleanup. Also just the state of it being left as bare soil. It's susceptible to erosion. It's important to keep the project moving. I don't know who is overseeing it. If it's the town designated engineer or the Building Department who is keeping track of the contractor or the status of the project as it moves along. But that's something that should have eyes on it, especially with the winter season. We're going to have ice and the river levels and the work that could get done now could be in jeopardy over the winter if there's not any temporary stabilization that's done. Third, the comment was that the engineer is getting bids for the remainder of the work, but also that the comment was that there's a $120,000 left. I assume that's related to the grant. I know the bids that came in in 2022 were 3 times, they're $300,000 range. Is the scope being reduced or is the village making up the difference? Or what's the plan for the remainder of the work to have a functional park? Lastly, this was brought up briefly at the last meeting about the dock and why we didn't mention anything about it, mostly because I wanted to focus on the permit at that meeting, make sure that renewal got submitted. Also because I thought it was pretty clear the position that that dock was donated by the family for the use at the Waterfront Park. We'd like to see it return there. In our opinion, it's the actions with the board now. Someone directed someone to move it from the river to Olley Park. The board could adopt a motion today to direct the DPW, Parks Department to move back. I'd be happy to hear that motion passed tonight. I'll be interested in the discussion. Mary Ellen Matise: Scout Cabin. Are they expanding the bathroom? Because the bathroom is like the size of a closet and it wouldn't be handicap accessible the way it is. Is that part of the construction? Mayor Ramos: We'll talk about that when we go through the agenda. Manager Revella: You have other questions? Mary Ellen Matise: Mostly that and the kitchen. Are they redoing the kitchen or it's just the 3 appliances? There's a mention of a dishwasher. Because we used the cabin a long time ago and of course, it has its nostalgic elements. You're not touching the fireplace, I hope. Village Code Review of 135-144 Mayor Ramos: We stopped at 144.9 Manager Revella: We finished 8 and starting 9 next time and going on through 149. Mayor Ramos: Very productive dialog and with help of our Building Inspector. We've gotten up to 144-8. Short Term Rentals Tabled Zombie Poles Manager Revella: NYSEG has a company going around replacing a lot of utility poles throughout the entire village and they're not allowed to remove them until the other utility companies remove their wires and they don't really control the other companies. They're removing their electric wires to the new poles, leaving the pole with the other wires still there. It's just kind of an eyesore, a nuisance. I asked Dave if he knew anything about it. He may have just a point or two, but I'm not sure what else we can do. Attorney Donovan: We actually discussed this topic back in 2019. I spoke to some of my other colleagues in different municipalities. Some, for example, Village of Maybrook has a code on the books prohibiting what they call double poles. I've reached out to that village attorney to see if they've had any success in enforcing that. Because another village attorney that I spoke to advised that they got pushback from the utility saying you don't have the authority to regulate because we're a utility company, we can only be regulated by the State of New York, the Public Service Commission. One utility company in particular set forth a pretty lengthy legal position, which I am reviewing. I know Senator Skoufis came out with, he's looking for local municipalities to take action. I want to make sure we take the correct action. Because it's a problem, it's an eyesore, and it's something that needs to be addressed. Frankly, be preferable for all local municipalities addressed on the state level. I think probably he wants to do that as well. That's why it's an issue for him. Manager Revella: I just want to make sure we mention that in public, because I know constituents are going to be asking about it because it's going to look terrible on the village, to make sure we're addressing it. Trustee Pearson: I looked up a law. Town of Wallkill has a law as well. It's pretty thorough. It looks pretty good. I don't know if you got to see that one as well. Attorney Donovan: I've seen Cornwall on Hudson, I've seen Maybrook and I've seen one other. Trustee Pearson: It says, under New York State law, the Public Service Commission utility service must complete triple transfers within 30 days. That is a law of New York State public service law. Attorney Donovan: I read that, I think that's that sounds like Town of Wallkill. Trustee Pearson: That's from Skoufis. That is under the New York State Public Service Commission pole attachment policy, utility and service providers must complete a pole transfer within 30 days. So, that is the law that they should be doing that transfer within 30 days. But then 4 this one goes into great detail of when it's moving into, because the last person on the line is the one who takes the pole down. This one also talks about before they can put up new poles, they have to come before the village so that we know what's happening. I think that's important, too. This is really a nice law of Town of Wallkill. I didn't read Maybrook's, I didn't know they had one. I will read that one. There's a lot in here. I don't know if you guys all want to get a copy of it and read it, but I think we should have a law. Why not? It's not going to hurt to have a law. Also, this is another one to from, because a lot of them are from the companies, the last wire that comes off is the person who's supposed to take it down. Somewhere in the law talks about that as well. Hopefully, everybody's done the research and we can. Frontier has 771 poles that are across the New York State that are still up there that need to come down. Probably 50 of them are going to be in Walden now for what they're doing. Are they going all the way up Walnut Street? Manager Revella: There will be more. There are a lot of poles. It's going to be a couple hundred in the Village. Trustee Pearson: Maybe we should really get this law going. I'm for a law. It's going to be an eyesore. Manager Revella: Like Dave said, I'm not sure how enforceable it will be. Attorney Donovan: Certainly to put a law together is not that difficult? If that's what the board wants to do. I don't know how any of the municipalities have done with enforcement. I will continue to look into that. But I'm certainly more than happy to have a draft local law to you at the next meeting. It's easy enough to do. It's been done at other places, but yet you do see zombie polls in other places. I think we've all have the conversation about its good to have a law. The question is enforceability. I don't have any objections. If that's what the board wants, that's fine by me. Trustee Batson: If we create a code now, does it retroactively work? Attorney Donovan: Yes. My favorite answer is it depends. If there is an abandoned poll, then it will be subject to our regulation. Trustee Pearson: It talks about that in here. There's a dangerous pole, there's a double pole, there's an abandoned pole. They have three different criteria for three different poles in this law. Town of Wallkill law of 2016. Trustee Maher: Definitely in favor of drafting a local law and just finding out more details how restrictive we can be if we're leaving it up to the utilities. It's not going to be good. Trustee Hall: I agree. I'm with them. I think we should draw something up. Is it possible if it's after so long that somehow, our DPW can take the poles down? Manager Revella: We can contract someone to do that. That's a big endeavor. Trustee Pearson: Could we put that in the law, if we have to contract out to get them down that we can bill the last one? Attorney Donovan: I can't answer that question right now. We just brought this up tonight. We talked about in 2019. I'll do the best that I can. Board once we move forward with the law, there's certainly ones out there. I will emphasize that, I'm not clear on the enforceability. I know that has been an issue with other utility companies. They have claimed that local laws are not enforceable against them. I'm not aware of any court cases, but I can certainly have a law for you for discussion 5 at the next meeting. Trustee Hall: I think that's a good idea. Trustee Batson: I agree. Deputy Mayor Carley: I agree. Mayor Ramos: I also agree. Village-Wide Cameras Manager Revella: Last time, the board had asked for a utilization plan. I made sure you guys have that for discussion. Trustee Pearson: Thank you for this, but I think. I'm not sure this is what Trustee Batson was looking for. Were you kind of looking maybe for what the procedures are going to be and who is going to use it and how to get used? Is that what you were looking for or was this what you were looking for? Trustee Batson: Yes, but I probably didn't do as well of a job of articulating. I think this will work. Thank you for putting this together. I think what I was attempting to ensure was that we just weren't purchasing an asset without a commitment to use it. I will happily take this document. Good learning lesson for me to articulate a little more correctly, but I will take this as what I ask for. Trustee Hall: I looked over it and no, I don't have any questions. Trustee Maher: I thought it was extremely thorough, so. Thank you, Chief. If you're watching or listening or reading. It was definitely very helpful and very good to see the insight that's already been taken as to how we're going to use these cameras going forward. Trustee Pearson: I think this is discussion on cameras, I believe. Are we going to discuss whether we're doing them, not doing them? Are we discussing which one you like or what's happening there? I'm not sure. Mayor Ramos: We're discussing. Trustee Hall: We're discussing the whole thing now? Trustee Pearson: That's what we're here for. Trustee Hall: I thought we were discussing what was in this email. Trustee Batson: I asked for certain things. Those certain things were delivered. We've got two bids here. I think I'm ready to make a decision if everyone else is. Ready to move forward. Trustee Hall: I don't know much on the camera systems and stuff. I guess my one thing that I was trying to find my notes on, but on the one bit it shows 20 megapixels and the other one shows 8. That's a big difference, no? Did Chief Herlihy give us a suggestion on which one he prefers? Mayor Ramos: He remained neutral. Trustee Hall: They're the ones that are going to be utilizing it and paying attention to it more. 6 Mayor Ramos: He mentioned that both bids are going to suffice the needs of the Village of Walden. I don't think he committed himself to which one. Trustee Hall: Okay. I guess, wondering why there's such a difference in the cameras. But that's it. Manager Revella: This is for the parks, I believe it has the 8 megapixels. Trustee Hall: Yes, there were 2 separate. Trustee Pearson: And then the other one has one total. There was an email written that it could change if you want to change. Trustee Hall: I see that there were the two separate ones, but it's still the cameras are still that big of a difference. Unless I read it wrong, which is possible. Trustee Pearson: No, but we have those cameras at the DPW. Have they had any issues with them? Can they see okay? They can track things. It works at night? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Hall: And they have the 8 megapixel ones there now. Trustee Pearson: They have that one, yes. And then what does the other house have? Just on the house? Manager Revella: I don't recall which one it is. Trustee Pearson: I'm surprised we didn't use the same person to put that one that we did for the DPW Department. Keep it consistent. Trustee Maher: I'm just noticing now this is different than what I had before with the Stratagem. Trustee Pearson: They have two different bids in there. Trustee Maher: I've seen this one and I didn't see the other one previously. I'm in favor of using Seamless Tech. I thought the knowledge. Mayor Ramos: We weren't at that point yet. But you can continue discussion. Trustee Maher: I thought we were discussing it. Mayor Ramos: We're discussing it. Trustee Pearson: You can tell why. Trustee Maher: It's more cost effective, but it's also very incredible, like scope. I like the presentation of how we got to see how it would all be connected and interchangeable and really a lot of ability for future growth to build upon it if we need to. It seems like for right now, for this being our first go at, a village wide surveillance system, this seems to be the best option in my opinion. Both were very thorough and are backed by great experience. 7 Trustee Pearson: I feel for the amount of money being spent and what we may use them for. I find the one with the whole thing compiled together for one price to me. I think if we're going to use it to what the Chief had written, I think it would still suffice for that. Monies you said were coming from fund balance. And how soon if we did something like this, would it be implemented? Manager Revella: I haven't asked the contractors yet. I wasn't sure when you were gonna make a decision on it. I'm sure they'll order the materials and give us a time frame. Deputy Mayor Carley: I went through and I wasn't here during the presentation, but I did go back and review the video. I see what is going to be used for which I agree with all that. I have some trepidation about, I believe in local. Do local first and then you move out. But, it's a pretty big project. My thing is looking at the manpower, the number of people that each company has. Can they sustain it? And if we have to get people involved, how many employees does Seamless have versus the other company. When I was looking at that, it just seemed like there's a big project and maybe it is short and sweet. I don't know. I wasn't here to ask that question, but I find that the other company does have more employees in order to have a better response to whatever may occur. I still sit back and I wonder, just because and this is my argument with any bid, just because it's lower doesn't make it better. When I look at that, I still see that in my opinion, even though I think both presentations were adequate, Stratagem did put forth a lot more input on what they can do. Having one system and having a proven system across several municipalities, I thought was pretty good. I lean on that part about how responsive you are and the history behind the company itself and making sure that everything can be done. But I do agree that it is a significant amount higher and which I personally wonder why there was such a difference. I'm not an IT person. I don't know too much about everything, but when I see such a wide spread, I question both ends of the spectrum. Like either somebody is under bidding or somebody is over bidding. When I look at the scope of work or how they broke out the projects, I like the detail of it because what I see was, Stratagem, they gave more of a detail about what's going to happen. I can hold their feet to a fire just a little bit more. But that's where I'm leaning. And even though I do agree budget wise, if that's something that the village doesn't want to do, I totally understand it. I really wonder why it's such, it's $148,000 versus what $316,932. That's a big spread. I sit back and my flags go up when I see 148 versus 316, someone's either overdoing it, someone's under doing it. Trustee Hall: They are different systems. The cameras are different. Everything is different. I think this is geared more towards a city and not a village. This is more towards a village. The cameras are different. They're not apples to apples. Deputy Mayor Carley: I know the cameras are different. That's why I'm saying that I see more quality in the Stratagem side. If we're going to do it, you do it on the high end side versus the low inside, then we have some pushback or have some problems later on. Once again, that's why I say when you see somebody do a low side, it always send up a red flag to me. I'm not saying that's 100%. It's just those are my parameters. Why are you being so low when this is a big project? $148,000 is not that much. I'm just putting it out there and to find the equipment and everything it has to go along with it. I know it's spec'd out somewhat, not 100% like I would have liked it, but its okay. I think it's just a little low. Can it do? Maybe. But we may be coming back to this again. Trustee Pearson: Did you read also for the other company, Stratagem. Everything else is extra. You have to pay for the electrician. You have to pay for the permit. You pay for related delays. Any overtime. If they have to come on a weekend. There's overtime. All of that even goes above and beyond what the number is. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's part of the workforce that's there. You're saying that the other party is not going to charge us? They're just going to come for free? 8 Trustee Pearson: I don't know. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's my point. We're leaving a lot of little things out. Trustee Pearson: In his meeting he did say he would be here to help. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm sure he'll be here with a price. He's not going to be here just because he's a village resident. That's what I'm saying. When somebody writes something all the way out, I can read it more and I can get a better understanding and I can say, okay, this is what I see. But when you're limited in the amount of stuff you put in your project and then we're going to get hit over the head, in my opinion, I'm not saying that this is his intent. There going to be some hidden costs that's not identified now. It's going to add up later on. They spelled theirs out. The other one didn't. Trustee Pearson: He did at the meeting that you weren't here. Deputy Mayor Carley: I heard the meeting. I listen to the whole thing and I saw it and I thought it was a very good presentation. I think he answered what Trustee Batson questions were because everything he had here was on the presentation. When I went through the presentation and I have this at the same time, I said he covered everything there. It's just, I don't want to see hidden fees, but it's just those things that are not spelled out that I think we're going to see later on and it's going to come to a significant amount. Trustee Maher: I think one thing, just to give some insight into the meeting where the presentation happened, obviously the big cost difference is what Kristie mentioned earlier with the 8 megapixel cameras versus 20 megapixel. It's a huge point of difference in what you're spending, especially because there are so many cameras. What seamless tech did during the presentation was able to show us how closely you can zoom in with that. Actually at that was with the 2 or 4 megapixel camera that we currently have. He showed what it would be with the 8 megapixel. You could see the entire license plate. Deputy Mayor Carley: As previously stated, I saw the presentation as well, the zooming in and I heard what they both said and the distance that Stratagem was either 4 times or double what they could do. I get it. I'm just saying that they spelled all theirs out. This one didn't have everything there. I think we're going to see some hidden stuff later on. To how much? I mean, I can't say that. Trustee Hall: We deal with Seamless now, right? How do they work? Manager Revella: Fred's been really happy with them so far. Trustee Hall: It's not like you're taking somebody that you don't know. Deputy Mayor Carley: It's only one building in one area. I'm not saying that he can't do it. Trustee Hall: I think everybody understands what you're saying. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm basing it on what I see here. I look at it and I said, they spelled theirs out. He didn't in all the other areas. We're going to see some hidden stuff later on. To how much? I don't know. Trustee Pearson: I can't its going to be hidden. I think that if there's an issue, there might be an 9 issue with this one and there would be an issue with this on down the road. Trustee Maher: I think it'd be smart no matter which one we choose to know what that follow up looks like. For when we need follow up care and have that be maybe even on the contract part of the bid. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's where I stand. Trustee Batson: I would also go with Seamless. When I look at the strategic plan and I compare these cameras, do I get more for the cost? I'm just not sure. Crime deterrence and prevention. I think the general public, the difference between 4 and 8 pixels or any of the other technical specs just simply aren't relevant to deterrence and prevention. I think if there's a camera system that's doing its job, same with enhanced public safety. Maybe you could argue that a higher megapixel allows more efficient resource allocation. But again, when we talked with the Chief, the intent is not to use this as a surveillance, as an active surveillance device. It is retroactive. The zooming in, the things like that. It's not going to come into play as much as I think we do. Community trust and transparency. Again, either one of them satisfy that. Crime investigation and prosecution point. It probably goes to better. Adaptability and future proofing, definitely goes to the better. The other system and far more, far more expansive capabilities. The question is, would we ever be in a financial position to take advantage of all of those? Probably not. I don't know that we're talking about remote alarming this building and all of the other security features that add. I think the both camera systems satisfy the economic and property values. It's not an easy decision. I think both have their absolute merits, but for the difference in cost and the commitment to the strategic plan I would have to go with Seamless. Trustee Pearson: I think Trish had a good comment about seeing what the follow up would be for this company. Manager Revella: Whoever you guys approve. They'd have to have a contract that would detail those matters before we sign off. If they can't get it, you can always revoke. You'd see that contract before we signed. Trustee Pearson: What the repairs would be like, is it by the hour, is it by the piece? Manager Revella: Service calls, things like that. Trustee Pearson: I think I'd like to hear that before we vote. For me personally. Manager Revella: Either one I think would do a service contract outside of the scope of the installation. Deputy Mayor Carley: What I'm saying is that, I'm not saying that it can't be done. I understand the economic side of it. It's just, what I have in front of me. Trustee Hall made a motion to accept the proposal as submitted by Seamless Tech subject to the execution of the contract that is satisfactory to the Village Board. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Alcohol Waiver Request Trustee Batson made a motion to approve the request for alcohol waiver for January 6, 2024. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. 10 Discussion - Cannabis Manager Revella: He's opposed to any change. Absolutely. Believes it's a gateway to other things and causes issues. Trustee Batson: To be honest, I think I was looking for the discussion. I don't have the same opinions, but I haven't had the same experiences. I'm well aware that my experiences aren't collectable with the village. Certainly would love to hear any sort of discussion. It's not my hill to die on. Trustee Hall: I don't know. It's a touchy situation everywhere you go. I haven't had a chance to read this letter, which looks like it's a little long to read on the spot like that. It came in as I was driving home from work to come here. Trustee Maher: I'm in favor of still opting out as a village. I think it is the best thing to do. Being that this is so new and it's early years of being in law. I just feel like we have such a small village. I know there are towns around us that have opted in. The regulation is still questionable even from a state perspective. They're having hearings about issues that are popping up left and right and even just as soon as three weeks ago, they were discussing possibly going another way. My knowledge of the situation and everything we did previously, I am still 100% in favor of opting out. Trustee Pearson: Me as well. Opting out is fine with me. I think you guys did the right thing a few years ago to opt out. My concern with the cannabis is what's happening in some of our buildings in our community that shouldn't be happening. And it is illegal cannabis and marijuana being sold. There is a New York State law which was updated as of 11/30/2003. General prohibitions and restrictions, no purchase of cultivate per process, distribute or sell or sale at wholesale or retail or deliver to consumers any cannabis, cannabis product, medical cannabis or cannabis. Why I was wanting this back on the agenda was for that purpose because I think enforcement here, we need to deal with it because I have people calling me, texting me, saying what's going on with some of the shops. You just sit outside, young kids are going in, coming back out. You can't buy cigarettes because they're underage. An issue is happening here with some of our local businesses that we really need to address. I'm fine with opting out that my issue is not even opting back into that, but it is the enforcement of something happening. I don't know, I was reading today lots of information and I have some copies of stuff that, it sounds like the enforcement has to come from the committee of the state, there's a whole process. But if it's against the law, your Officers can go into somewhere and say you can't sell cigarettes to a minor. It's no different than selling cannabis. Why can't our Officers be in charge of that? There is this woman who is in charge of unlicensed sale cannabis retail reporting, and anybody can report it that they'll come and look at that business. I think we really need to be proactive in that way. I think we really need to be worried about what's going on. What's going to be in that cannabis, could be terrible for people. Fentanyl is out there all over the place. If it's not being regulated, what are they getting? It's happening here. It's happening in more than one shop here. I think either we have our police do something or we take action and do something else. That's why I want to back on the agenda. Trustee Maher: If I can add one more thing. I think the argument for the other side of why do we want to opt in is for the safety of knowing that if someone does want to purchase marijuana or anything of that substance, that it will be legal, it'll have to go through certain criteria for testing. That is what's kind of up in question as far as like at a state level, how is that being overseen and who's following up with that. What I will say is it's extremely expensive from just my research that I've done and the local towns that do have dispensaries. I think that if we're trying to keep our youth from getting marijuana laced with fentanyl and we think that this is an option, they're never going to be able to afford that. They're going to still buy from the street and that's just the reality. 11 Deputy Mayor Carley: I still stand on opting out. I just believe that it is a gateway and I believe that other things do arise from it. I stand on that. I don't believe there's a financial gain that is going to put the village at such a high tax bracket where we're going to like bring in millions and millions of dollars. It's not really worth it. If you look at it from exposing our children and exposing people to something versus how much money we bring in. That's my view. That's where I stand on where we currently are. Mayor Ramos: Just a month ago, both sides of the aisle are having issues with the legal cannabis rollout in New York State. Obviously, their number one top concern is your legal cannabis shops. I have a tendency of agreeing that if Albany can't get it straight, the commission, the OCM can't get it straight. The Village of Walden should not be a victim to that. I will stay steadfast on opting out here and in the Village of Walden. I think that was a unanimous. Trustee Batson: I support opting out. I was interested in the discussion. Trustee Pearson: John, what about the other part? What about the enforcement of illegal selling in the Village of Walden? Are we going to do anything about it? Are we just going to let it happen? Mayor Ramos: We have laws for that. Trustee Pearson: I know we do. Are we doing anything? Maybe we should look in and see what's happening. Mayor Ramos: Ask the police, right? Trustee Maher: Someone could file a police report? Manager Revella: They would charge them with? Under what law? That's the problem. OCM is not doing the proper regulation. Where is the enforcement provision and how do they do it and what's the charge? It's not easy. Trustee Pearson: I'm 15 and I go buy a pack of cigarettes. That's against the law. How do I get caught? Manager Revella: There's a penalty for possession for that. Trustee Pearson: A Police Officer can say, you can't buy this. Manager Revella: Yes. It's very clear in that law what to do. It's not clear in the other law, that's the problem. Trustee Pearson: I don't know. I read this law today, yesterday, the day before. It was pretty clear. Manager Revella: If there's some other way to enforce that, that'd be great. I'm sure the Police will try and do that. But it's under that provision. They've been having a lot of difficulty with doing anything to enforce it. Mayor Ramos: Can't can even enforce stopping cars who notably smoking and arrest them for AI unless you do a chemical test that takes, what, three months. Trustee Pearson: So, we're okay with just letting it happen here? 12 Manager Revella: Not at all. I don't think anybody's saying that. I don't think anybody agrees with that. Everyone wants to do something and enforce it. It's just been difficult. The police are aware and they'll keep pushing as much as they can. Trustee Maher: And as far as a marketing perspective, if we see a storefront that is advertising anything that's not within our code, can that be the Building Department enforcing for a marketing perspective? Manager Revella: If the store is doing something they're not permitted to do. Correct. Trustee Pearson: You can't have an undercover officer go into one of those stores and try to buy something, buy it, and then be charged with something? Manager Revella: With what? That's what I'm saying. Trustee Pearson: You're selling cannabis. You're not allowed to. Manager Revella: What are you doing with that though? What's the penalty? Trustee Pearson: The penalties are in here. Manager Revella: What is it? Trustee Pearson: I'll read it to you. Manager Revella: Who is able to prosecute that? Trustee Pearson: It's going to be the same thing as cigarettes. The same thing as speeding. It's going to be the same thing. Manager Revella: It's not been treated the same way, unfortunately. It's not right now. I don't know why, but it hasn't. Deputy Mayor Carley: I just had a question, because you see the CBD versus cannabis and then I think there's a certain amount of THC supposed to have or not have. So, they can have a sign saying CBD or something like that. But they're selling, I don't know either one. I don't know how it works. I'm just putting it out there. My point is we talk about marketing. I saw a CBD sign and I'm like, is that considered cannabis? But when I started talking with others and doing just basic research on it, there's different levels cannabis, marijuana or something else. I think that's kind of what we're looking at because it's so unclear. That's why I say until we figured it all the way out, like the mayor said, John said, you really can't touch it. Or I my recommendation, don't touch it until everything is figured out. Trustee Hall: I think the only thing I may have questions about, obviously I don't want to make it easier for kids to get it. I mean, it's easy enough, but what about the medical aspect of it? What about those residents who need it for PTSD or for cancer? Manager Revella: They have a separate medical card. Trustee Hall: If something like this was to come here. Manager Revella: I don't think we regulate the medical ones at all. I don't think we're allowed to 13 regulate the medical ones. These are for the open ones. Trustee Hall: This is recreational. Manager Revella: That's my understanding of it. It's recreational. Trustee Hall: So, we keep the recreational shops out, not medical. Manager Revella: I think that pharmacy could have it right now and you can't touch it. Just like any pharmaceutical, they could have opiates there. Regulated through the FDA, but we don't really touch that. That's through the pharmacy. This is a separate situation where somebody's selling something illegally with no rights to sell it. Sometimes to the minors. There's got to be a way to do something about it, maybe endangering the welfare, they can get charged with or something, even if they can't get them for the sale itself. But to a minor, they could do endangering the welfare of a minor. Trustee Pearson: Why couldn't they get them for the sale of it? I don't understand. I don't get it. Mayor Ramos: It's not a crime. Manager Revella: I can have the Police Chief come in and the ADA maybe come in and talk about, but I'm not sure otherwise how to discuss it without them. It's a problem. Trustee Batson: What's printed out, which may not be in its entirety. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems pretty explicit here that no person shall cultivate process, distribute or sell, retail or deliver to consumers any cannabis, cannabis product, medical cannabis. I mean, there is no enforcement under this. It just repeats the same thing more eloquently 12 times. Manager Revella: If they're violating that, what are you supposed to do with it? Trustee Pearson: Can't we create a law in the village from that says that? Manager Revella: I don't know if we're superseded by state on that. Trustee Pearson: Why can't we do that? Why can't we say anybody selling marijuana in an unlicensed place in the Village of Walden will be will be shut down or fined? Why can't we do that? Attorney Donovan: I don't have the answer to these questions. This is for board discussion tonight, so I'm pretty good, but I'm also pretty good at telling you I don't have the answer to that. Trustee Batson: Is there any harm in us following up with this OCM listed in this email for concerns about the Walden shops? Are we in power to do that? Trustee Pearson: What I'm saying is we make laws for everything here. We make laws which you can't put furniture on your front porch or make laws that you can't have skateboards on the street. We make laws for everything here. Manager Revella: Those aren't superseded by state law. That's different. Trustee Pearson: They don't have a state law. So we make our own. Manager Revella: He's going to check. 14 Trustee Pearson: I don't understand why everything has to be a no. Why can't we just make a law for it? If we make other laws, we can make that law. Manager Revella: Nobody said no. Mayor Ramos: We'll see if we can invite the D.A. or an Assistant District Attorney to come talk. Trustee Pearson: No, we'd be having our own police force enforce what needs to get enforced. Deputy Mayor Carley: Right. I think that's why we have council, so they can check it out first. Attorney Donovan: I'm not even sure what the question is. Trustee Pearson: Can the Village of Walden make a law that there's illegal selling of marijuana in the Village of Walden, they can be shut down or fined. It's against the state law to have it and do that already. Attorney Donovan: Right now, you've opted out of cannabis. The sale of cannabis, a facility selling cannabis for recreational use in the Village of Walden is not permitted. Trustee Pearson: Exactly. Attorney Donovan: So, what am I drafting a law for? Trustee Pearson: Because they keep telling me they can't enforce it. Attorney Donovan: I have no idea. I don't enforce. Trustee Pearson: I don't believe we can't enforce it. I believe we can enforce it. If it's against the New York State law, we didn't opt in that we should be able to enforce it. Just like any other law. I don't understand. Somebody has got to fill me in. Deputy Mayor Carley: I think it's just worth asking the question, can we make our own law to enforce it? Because we opted out. And if the answer is no, based on whatever criteria that can be reported back and the answer is yes based on whatever criteria that can be reported back. Attorney Donovan: I don't know what we're making a law to prohibit. You're asking me to draft a law to prohibit something that's already prohibited. Deputy Mayor Carley: No, investigate, research or inquire. Trustee Pearson: That we can have our police force enforce it. That's what I'm saying. Look at it that way. John keeps saying we can't enforce it. Attorney Donovan: I don't think he's saying that. I think he's saying that there's no enforcement mechanism provided in the law. Trustee Pearson: Why can't we make our own enforcement? Attorney Donovan: I don't have an answer to that. I'm not a law enforcement officer. Perhaps I want to ask your Chief of Police. I don't know. It's not permitted. You opted out. The sale is not 15 permitted. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you if somebody is not arresting somebody for something. It's above my pay grade. I have no idea. Trustee Pearson: Thank you. Are we going to do anything with that or we're just going to do nothing? Trustee Batson: If this prohibits it in our code section here, shouldn't there be a penalty for it? Isn't that what's missing on here? There's no penalty section. Maybe this isn't the entirety of it. Manager Revella: That is the entirety of it. Trustee Batson: Shouldn't that be what is added to this? Manager Revella: It's just for the opt out. Attorney Donovan: No. It's not allowed. It's not allowed unless you have a license. Whatever the penalties are going to come from the state legislature. It's like any other violation of state law. Trustee Pearson: So, we can enforce it. There you go. Manager Revella: Make a citizen's arrest? Trustee Pearson: We have police officers for that. Deputy Mayor Carley: But they have to have something to enforce. Trustee Pearson: How do they do drug busts in houses? Mayor Ramos: Called probable cause, surveillance. Trustee Pearson: Same thing. They would do the same thing again. Trustee Maher: This article was only a month ago. It says of the 300 cases that have reached Albany, 6% of those cases, they were able to do anything about. Trustee Pearson: I read that too, but I think we should do something on a local level. I think if the village writes something and says this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to enforce it, then and have a penalty, then I think we should be able to do it. If the state's not going to do anything, then let the village do it. We have other laws that we enforce that are not at the state level. Trustee Batson: We can put in the effort. The article that you have there has the resources. I'm more than happy to email this website or fill out the required form that's in here in your documents. Deputy Mayor Carley: We just had this conversation when we were doing the review of the code, state law versus local law. It can't hurt to inquire in and just to see. Trustee Pearson: We're home rule, so we're able to make your own laws. Deputy Mayor Carley: But we can't exceed the state. Trustee Hall: At this point, it sounds like we're talking in circles. 16 Discussion Millspaugh Park Update Manager Revella: The fabric and soil has been done. It's not top grade yet, but that guy did remove the stumps and everything was done there. The engineer is trying to get the contractor in that'll do the sidewalks and the boardwalk with one of the berm walls. That'll need a lot of rip wrap by the river to hold and then we'll do finished grade after that with soil and seed. The weather is going to be determinative of when that can happen. But as of the last meeting, we had gotten the extension approved for the grant. I said during the meeting that I emailed the engineers during the meeting to make sure we got the permit extended for the DEC, which they did request subsequently to that meeting. We got both of those done so far. As of now. The grant extension and the DEC permit extension are both done. We're just waiting for bids from contractors on the sidewalks and boardwalk part of the project. As I mentioned last time, we are doing it in pieces because we did originally bid it, it was way over budget. Now we're doing it in pieces, it's been more cost effective to get it done. Trustee Hall: Is there a date on the bids when they're due? Manager Revella: No, not yet. I'm not sure if he has it out yet, because it'll be over the threshold for public bidding. We'll have to put it out to bid in the newspaper. Trustee Pearson: Can we get a timeframe. Manager Revella: As soon as he has the bid drawn up. I don't know if he did that separately yet and put it out yet. I didn't talk about it today, but once it's out, it's usually two weeks. Trustee Pearson: Is the stability of the land, as Mr. Millspaugh said. Is that going to be stable before winter comes or what are we doing about that? Manager Revella: I didn't ask that question. Came up today so I'll ask when I see him tomorrow. Trustee Pearson: What about the dock? Manager Revella: Potential silt fencing and just make sure those rolls in the pipe are removed. Trustee Pearson: I've talked about the dock for two years now. Bringing it back and nothing's been done, so I know probably doesn't need to come back for winter because the ice cakes are going to come down the river soon. But in the spring I would like to see it come back. I've talked about it for a couple of years. If the family wants that to happen. I think it should happen. That's where it belongs. That's where they wanted it, especially if something is not going to be done for another year. Manager Revella: We moved it with permission of a family member. I don't know if it was Pete or Keith. I'll ask and see why it was moved in the beginning. But it was moved for a reason, I believe to allow for construction. Trustee Pearson: I'll make a motion to bring it back to Pine Street in the spring. Manager Revella: What if it's not possible to move it over there? Trustee Pearson: Why isn't it? Manager Revella: I don't know. Well, let's make sure before we make a motion to force something 17 to happen that may not be able to happen. If the sidewalk and berm is put in already when that happens. Trustee Pearson: Well make a motion, if nothing is done, then the dock comes back in the spring time for the river. Trustee Maher: Right now the dock is in an enclosed gate. My only concern is if the dock is at the waterfront park, would it be a safety concern? Would kids try to be out there? Right now, you'd have to jump the fence or get in there illegally to try to use it. Manager Revella: It just depends on the timing of whether we can put it back in the spring or not. That's all. Deputy Mayor Carley: John, it was moved for a reason and you had permission. Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Carley: It wasn't just arbitrarily moved. And now you're saying that you don't have a problem bringing it back to whenever the time frame. You just want to make sure that there's no prohibition to it for whatever reason. Manager Revella: That's it. Trustee Pearson: No problem. I put that in the motion. Trustee Hall: I'll second the motion. Trustee Pearson made a motion to have the dock moved back to Pine St in the spring time if nothing has happened. Seconded by Trustee Hall. Deputy Mayor Carley: If the Village Manager says that he has no problems of doing anything, there is no reason for a motion. Anybody can do a motion. I get it. But the point is that he has no objection to doing anything to make sure it's there. It's just a matter of him doing his due diligence to make sure. He's not saying that he's not or oppose. He just saying, let me just look and see. Make sure before we say yes, it will be and then you find out that you can't. Then we have to go back and backtrack again. Just let him look at it. My discussion is we're putting pressure and putting force on something that allow him to just to do it because the issue was brought up. Trustee Pearson: It was brought up way before Mr. Millspaugh came here. I brought it up 2 years. Since I've been on the board, I have been talking about bringing that back. Deputy Mayor Carley: But because Mr. Millspaugh came here most recently that we want to make sure that we accommodated like we supposed to. I get it that it wasn't, some things may have been dropped but it's in everybody's attention now to make sure it's done. That's all. A motion is a motion. And it is what it is. My point is we don't have to escalate this to more than it is just to allow him to do his part. It's an open forum. No one is going to say, I didn't say that or you didn't do this. It's like, this is what was done. Let them follow up and keep it there. That's my discussion on it. Then we can do a vote and then we'll move on. Trustee Batson: Is there any other mechanism for accountability other than a motion? Trustee Pearson: A motion doesn't do anything except that it's going to happen, most likely. If he 18 has a good reason why it's not going to happen, then it wouldn't happen. He's going to come back to us for a reason why it can't be moved or the work has started and we're not going to move it because it doesn't make sense. Deputy Mayor Carley: We're using the motion as a tool of enforcement. When he said, let me check into it. But he said that before the motion is made and I'm just bringing voice to that, we didn't have to go there and be confrontational in motion and let's vote against him now. You have to do something. He said he's going to do it. So by him being the Village Manager, he said he's going to do it. From my experience, he does what he says. Trustee Pearson: We've been going to do a lot of things for a long time on that park and haven't gotten done yet. I can understand the frustration of the family. I'm for moving it over in the spring, if there's nothing's been started and nothing is happening because who knows when the bids are going to come in. We don't even know that in the spring to put it on the river where it belongs, where they wanted it to be. That's where it was supposed to be originally. 4 ayes. 2 abstain (Deputy Mayor Carly & Mayor Ramos) Motion carried. Trustee Pearson: They were also asking about whether the scope of the project is going to change or are we still keeping the scope of the project the same? Manager Revella: Scope of the project is the same. We're just doing it in pieces in stages as we can to get contractors involved. Trustee Pearson: We have $120,000 left. Manager Revella: Correct, from the grant. Trustee Pearson: That will cover how much of it do you think? What part? Manager Revella: We don't know exactly. The engineer estimates it'll cover the sidewalks, boardwalk and rip wrap and likely the handicapped parking as well that's involved in it. He does not think it'll cover concreting the boat launch. That's the big costs. Or the gazebo. Those two things he doesn't think it'll be covered under this grant. We may get funding for that another source? Trustee Pearson: The original grant ended up not being done right? Manager Revella: What do you mean? The grant was fine. We weren't sure what it was going to cost, we had no bids. The bids were too high. Trustee Pearson: Bid came through, the guy never signed. It never happened. Manager Revella: That was the second time. First time they were too high. The second time it came back, we accepted a bid. The guy never signed the contract. He came and said he can't do the scope of work after he reviewed it. I'm not sure what happened. He was out. Then we tried to scale down the project, to do it in pieces and try to find people that could do the work. We did some work ourselves to try and get it going and finally got this guy to do the next stage. Trustee Pearson: You're thinking that the boardwalk and the dirt and the leveling and all that, the 120 will cover that? Manager Revella: Correct. That's what he said. 19 Trustee Pearson: Do you have people who are going to bid for this? Do you have an idea of people? Manager Revella: I don't. He's sending it out to see who responds. Trustee Pearson: And we have to have three bids? Manager Revella: It's publicly bid. Depends. Whoever responds, responds. It could be one person. It could be 100. The more the better for us. Trustee Hall: Is it possible that when he does go to put it out, you can let us know? Manager Revella: He'll let us know. Trustee Pearson: You open the bids publicly in here? Manager Revella: Always. Sometimes at the front desk. Trustee Pearson: Anybody can be there. Manager Revella: It's public. We usually do them at 10:00 in the morning on whatever day they're due. They have to be opened in the public. Trustee Maher: Is anything being done to winterize the project and the work that's already been done? Manager Revella: I'm going to ask them about the rolls, the pipe and the silt fencing. I'm just not sure. Trustee Maher: Is there anyone that can go around and maybe add it to the routine check list. Manager Revella: The parks check it daily. Scout Cabin Bid Results Manager Revella: We did get two bids, one for $65,004, one $85,000 is to renovate. If anyone's been to the Scout Cabin, the big front room, when you enter the building, the bathroom immediately after it, the kitchen and area to the left of the kitchen, which is technically the mechanical area, I guess it's called. Just so the board is aware, we did allocate $50,000 in parkland funds for this. The bids are both over that. The request would be to allocate additional parkland funds to that which we would need to do by resolution. Trustee Pearson: What is the parkland fund? Manager Revella: The money that's given to us for parkland use. The majority of this money that we have in our account now is from the project on North Montgomery Street. They paid $138,000 in parkland fees. Trustee Hall: Both of these companies have been used within the village before? Manager Revella: Absolutely. LP's done a few different jobs here. They're doing the doors now. M&P has done a lot of work in this building. They did the DAIS. They built this whole stage. And 20 the library, they did a lot of work. They're both reputable. Trustee Pearson: I think this is what you were talking about, the dishwasher. On the second one, dishwasher. Is that in the bid for the one guy and not in the bid for the other guy? Trustee Hall: It shows his base is $85,900 and then if you add the dishwasher, the door, the other door, then it brings it up to $88,000. Manager Revella: The alternatives. Trustee Pearson: Are you wanting those alternates or are we not wanting? Manager Revella: I don't think so. Not on those. Trustee Pearson: John, are you not wanting those things in there or what's happening? Manager Revella: If you wanted to fund for potential alternates going forward. Sure. But it's not necessary at this time. Trustee Pearson: What would the doors be for? Manager Revella: I don't know what the second bidder, which doors he's referring to in that one. Trustee Hall: Is there a dishwasher there now? Manager Revella: No. Sink and stove. Trustee Hall: That's all I remember. But that was a long time ago. Manager Revella: The engineer has recommended that you award the project LP Builders in the amount of $65,000. Trustee Maher made a motion to approve award the bid as proposed by LP Builders for the Scout Cabin. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Review of HVAC Bid for PD Tabled December 19, 2023 Meeting Mayor Ramos: If anyone is opposed to not holding the meeting on December 19th and waiting to January 2, 2024, I wouldn't be opposed. Can I have a motion to change December 19th meeting to the next January 2nd? I'm sorry. Trustee Hall: Why are we changing? Mayor Ramos: 2 people aren't going to be here. Trustee Hall: I'd rather have it the 19th and not the 2nd. Manager Revella: The 2nd, we already have a meeting scheduled. Trustee Pearson: We're scheduling meetings around people who cannot be here. Seriously? 21 Mayor Ramos: Seriously. Trustee Hall: Will we still have a quorum? Trustee Pearson: Yes. Mayor Ramos: How do you know we're going to have a quorum on December 19th? Trustee Pearson: You don't know you're going to have a quorum on any night? Mayor Ramos: Correct. I'm asking for a motion to forego December 19th, doesn't pass. It doesn't pass. December 19th, it is. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: Aside from the story about the municipal building where they paved the sidewalk, everything was ready. Then Bradley said, you forgot to hook it up to the water and sewer, and they had to tear up the sidewalk, which is my favorite Walden story. This is like my second favorite Walden story. This is how the Village of Walden got property back. Didn't even get it back. They never didn't own it. But in 1885, the Fowlers, who were building the building that's now the new Jade Restaurant, they thought they owned it where McKinley Monument is now. They said, we'll give it to you. First we want to fill it in. The Village Board said, no, you can't fill it. They came back to the Village Board a number of years later and said, wait a minute, I've got this deed. Where did the deed come from? Guess it fell out from behind Cyrus Fowler's filing cabinet, which is a thing that happens here in Walden every now and then. We got this deed and the village said, oh, okay. Then you could give us the triangle. But the fact of the matter is that it was never a triangle. It was always part of the street. There was never anything there. It was just level. If you came out of Maple Street, you would just scoot right across down 52, East Main Street. 1885, 1894, 1913. It was still part of the street. That was how the village got from Cyrus Fowler land that they already owned. I'm bringing it up because the public issue out of it. But there's an issue we know going on right now. And right now also, this was research that I did when we were doing the monuments. I'm going through each section of the village right now. Looking for all the other potential problem areas that really are village property that can become an issue. There's property behind me. Kristie, your street was supposed to come up over the hill and go all the way down Orange Avenue. It was a subdivision map. It's not even considered a paper street at this time. That land has all been absorbed into other people's lots. There's a lot of things that because the village is old and things were laid out at a certain time, and then we had all the cold alleys, like behind Walnut Street or the coal trucks would go behind the houses because the chutes would have to go down into the basement. A lot of that's village property. It was never ceded to the property owners. If it was designated on a map, if it was a right of way. I just want to bring these up because whatever is going to happen with the current issue can set a precedent that is going to come back to bite you in a lot of sections of the village. I've only gone through three sections so far and found all kinds of locations. I just wanted you to know it's nothing new in the Village of Walden. Raymond Ortiz: I would like to say thank you to everybody with the Thanksgiving meals that we prepare for the school. Mercedes has collected $1300 from my coworkers, my friends and other members of the board. Mayor Ramos, Trustee Pearson, Mary Ellen Matise. I don't have all the names because Mercedes has it. But anyway, out of the $1300 that was collected, we provided, I believe, 16 bags that went up to the school. 16 pies went up to two to the school with the food as well. 3 church members there wasn't able to do a meal. We prepared that for them. On top of that, Nelson. I donated 3 turkeys to Nirvana. Mayor Ramos donated 5 turkeys. Nelson had 50 turkeys donated for him to prepare these meals out of the 50 as well. Of the 50 turkeys who donated, Nelson 22 was able to prepare. 250 meals were provided to families. Also, I told him if he had extras to make sure the policemen that were on duty to make sure they got fed a meal as well. That went very well. On top of that, Mercedes also donated 20 bags of food to Nirvana. They got 20 pies as well from Nirvana. Everything went well. She saved $200 of the $1300 dollars to prepare for the school book bag drive. Nelson is tired. He did a big job. He also had the people from the Buddhist temple. I'm not familiar with the name. He had a couple of volunteers to help him give out the meals that day. That was the first Thanksgiving dinner that Nelson was involved with and it went off good. The whole project went off good. I can't say thank you enough to everybody on this board and the community. As I said, we got to do it together. This is our people. It came out good. I can't say thank you enough. So let's hope in the future we can come together and do these same projects. That's all I'm asking for. Thank you. If I forgot someone's name, I apologize. Mercedes got everybody on the account who donated so I couldn't tell you who. I can only tell you the amount of money that was collected. The food went very well to families that really needed it. We got the high school and the ladies were there. They couldn't believe it. It's good to see that. I'm retired now to see my daughter involved with it. We're just going to help her out. This is her project and that's what she wants to do. Thank you all. Andrew Millspaugh: First, thanks for the motion on the dock. On the dock, it's not to say that Olley Parks shouldn't or can't have a dock. If there's a benefit and a value to having a dock there, I think the board should move forward if that ever is necessary, to procure and install dock at both locations. Given the option of the 2 Riverfront Waterfront Park, Waterfront Park that's meant to launch boats, canoes, kayaks. It seems like it needs a dock. On the dock. It's not in a fenced area. I went down there today also to that park and went and walked on the dock. You can walk right up to it. It's not in a fenced area. It is skewed quite a bit. Parks or whoever maintains that wants to go maintain it, if it's going to be there and people are going to walk on it, it is skewed quite a bit. Clarification on the DEC permit. It was submitted ahead of the required deadline, but it's not reissued yet. It's logged in, it's been received. The decision due dates December 14th. I'd keep it on the agenda to make sure that it does get reissued. Then on the RFP for remaining work, the world that I work in, I write procurements for municipalities, as part of what I do. I'm a professional engineer. The world works on deadlines. I would encourage, tell the designated engineer that the village wants to review the RFP before it goes out. People work on deadlines. We're in the down period now. This is the time to get the RFP written and get it out. If the standard procurements two weeks, triple it. Send it out for a month. Keep it out there so that people have time to review it. Contractors, if they see a two week procurement, they might just move on and not even look at it. Consider a month of having it out there before you issue it back. Consider having a non-mandatory site meeting as part of the procurement after it's issued, before it's received. I'll give you an idea of who's interested. Then also just a question of is the RFP going to be sent directly to contractors or is it going to be posted on a bidnet, at one of those procurement sites? I will get a handful of contractors that I know, send it to the manager, and send it to the town designated engineer. Send it to as many as possible. But it can be sent to as many as possible and held out there as long as possible. You'll get more responses. Like I said, we're coming into the winter, no one is going to be doing the work in January, February, March, probably April, and depending on how wet the spring is. There's time to do that. Have it out there for a long time. Get the bids in. I'm still fuzzy on the $120,000 remaining and what's going on with the remaining scope of work. I understand that's the grant. Is the village budgeting to have it out of the park or is it just are you just relying on grant funding for this part? Just an entirely grant funded project. Thanks. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees 23 Trustee Maher: December 3rd, we had our 11th annual Launch of Honor with Hudson Valley Honor Flight at Resorts World in Monticello. There was over 600 people in attendance, over 350 veterans, and it was quite a day. Thank you to Mayor Ramos for making the trip. I saw many of our village residents there. Ginny from the library was there and a few others. Thank you. I know it was a little bit of a ways away to travel, but it was an incredible day. I wanted to mention on December 12th, there's going to be a toy drive. The location is I can send it to John. He can post it on the website. It's the License to Sell office in the Town of Newburgh. But we also have a local drop off point right here in the Village of Walden, and that is the Hudson Valley Conservatory. And they were officially a drop off center for anyone that wants to donate toys. This toy drive is not like a few others that are out there. This one directly impacts 100 local families in our community. Starting on December 9th through December 16th, the New Rose Theater Group, which is the house of the Hudson Valley Conservatory, they're hosting a silent auction. Please stop in and check them out. The final bid for that will be December 16th at 7 pm. You can go in at any time between the 9th and the 16th. They also have a few shows going on if you want to take part in supporting the school. There's Christmas and Whoville and The Nutcracker. Some exciting music and arts for our community and all funds that are raised during the silent auction go towards maintaining the school scholarships for our local students to go to the school and just continuing to further the growth. Trustee Hall: I wanted to shout out to Empanada Nirvana. I went down that way Thanksgiving Day and they looked like they were pretty busy. There was quite a few people down there. They also had a coat drive going on. I believe Hunter Insurance had one since we were here last. I wanted to thank John and John for coming up to the department dinner. Operation Dalmatian. They will be at the tree lighting Thursday. They'll have a little booth set up. If any families are interested. They have an application you can fill out. They are on Facebook. If somebody needs to reach out or you can always reach out to me if you have questions and I can get you to the right person. Manager Revella: Will they take donations there too, at the table. Trustee Hall: I believe so. I'm not fully involved with it. But I do believe they will take donations or if somebody doesn't want to approach them there, I do understand sometimes they could be reached on Facebook or shoot me an email and I can get in the right direction for that. Trustee Batson: Great job on getting the Police Department moving forward with new hires. I know that was a significant stressor for many of us. Great to see that those folks are coming on and just encourage everyone to come out and join us on Thursday. Trustee Pearson: Planning Board and appointments have you gotten anybody for alternates and that kind of stuff? Manager Revella: I got one new person on the Planning Board. Trustee Pearson: I know you had to because there was not enough people. Can we do something with the people that are not showing up? There are a lot of people that do not come to meetings. Manager Revella: We do not have the ability to remove somebody from office during their term. They have to resign. Last time I did that, I asked people, listen, you haven't been there a while. We need you to resign. They did. I'll work on that again. Trustee Pearson: It's kind of frustrating when people show up to a meeting and there's not enough people to even have a meeting. Parking lot at Olley Park, were we talking about that tonight? Manager Revella: I don't have bids on that yet. 24 Trustee Pearson: I did have a question on the bills. I'm sorry, I didn't say that before. Waste wood to Taylor. We took those trees down. We sent wood to Taylor to get rid of wood? Manager Revella: The big stuff. Stuff you can't cut up. Trustee Pearson: Wouldn't the Bruderhof need it or something? Manager Revella: We always ask them if they can take stuff and the last couple times they couldn't take what we had. Trustee Pearson: We actually paid to get rid of wood. Manager Revella: Correct. Tragically. Trustee Pearson: Wells four and five. Are they up and running when we had to get them fixed? Manager Revella: No. They're supposed to be here Thursday. Trustee Pearson: What's the issue again? Manager Revella: The motor. One of them, the motor is removed from five to get repaired. Trustee Pearson: We approved to move forward to fixing that. Manager Revella: Of course. You guys approved everything for both. Trustee Pearson: Package Lighting Grant that we talked about that we were supporting. Whatever happened, did they get the grant? Manager Revella: They find out this month, I believe. Trustee Hall: Before I forgot, Christmas in a square, Santa will be escorted down by the Fire Department just about 7:50 Mayor Ramos: John, great job on the DEC grant. We had the VFW Christmas with Santa. It was very nicely attended by everyone. I did have the honor of attending the Honor Flight luncheon for Missions 29, 30 and 31 at the Resorts in Monticello. Nicely done by the committee and everyone. It was really a nice time. Wooster Grove had their crafts fair. That was well attended. The senior trip, Jimmy Sturr, along with the Drifters, was a wonderful time. The seniors had a great time and I look forward to our next adventure. Manager and I attended the Fire Department recognition dinner. Proclamations were read for a total of 325 years of service. These firemen that take care of our village. *read event into minutes*. Mayor Ramos: Empanada Nirvana did a phenomenal job on Thanksgiving. All of our hearts go out to those who participated and did a wonderful job on that night. Adjourn Trustee Hall made a motion to adjourn meeting. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. 25  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting December 5, 2023 Motions & Resolutions Approval of November 14, 2023 Minutes Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the November 14, 2023 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Batson. 5 ayes. 1 abstention (Trustee Hall) Motion carried. Alcohol Waiver Request Trustee Batson made a motion to approve the request for alcohol waiver for January 6, 2024. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Village-Wide Cameras Trustee Hall made a motion to accept the proposal as submitted by Seamless Tech subject to the execution of the contract that is satisfactory to the Village Board. Seconded by Trustee Maher. All ayes. Motion carried. Discussion Millspaugh Park Update Trustee Pearson made a motion to have the dock moved back to Pine St in the spring time if nothing has happened. Seconded by Trustee Hall. 4 ayes. 2 abstain (Deputy Mayor Carly & Mayor Ramos) Motion carried. Scout Cabin Bid Results Trustee Maher made a motion to approve award the bid as proposed by LP Builders for the Scout Cabin. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Pearson made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Adjourn Trustee Hall made a motion to adjourn meeting. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. 26