Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting March 5, 2024 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 Ralph Garrison Jr Absent: Patricia Maher Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk David Donovan, Village Attorney Introduced Jean Degon as Village Treasurer Presentation – RBT 2022 Audit Donna Crowley presented the 2022 audit. Manager Revella: Procurement policy update, you have a sample that you can send to us? Donna Crowley: I think I did send something. Do you want me send it again? Manager Revella: If you can send it to Jean and I that would be great. Donna Crowley: Sure. For 5/31/23 audit, the portal is open. Whenever things can get started, get loading. Whenever the trial balances are final, we'll start looking at that and we could schedule time to do that. Mayor Ramos: Thank you. Public Hearing – Local Law 5 of 2024 Double Utility Poles Trustee Garrison made a motion to open public hearing Local Law 5 of 2024 Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Mary Ellen Matise: What if it's 3 poles? There are on Walnut Street, 3 poles in 3 spots. I don't know what that means. Maybe you need to change the title from double poles to multiple poles. I know you made a lot of changes last time, but, I think that once you pass this law, the thing to do is sit down and the board write a letter or adopt a resolution and send it to Spectrum and send it to Frontier and just be a thorn in their side until they deal with it. It's just passing the law and then not giving them the business about it, it's not going to change it. Probably has to say double or more, Mr. Donovan. Trustee Hall made a motion to close public hearing Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. 1 Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Village Manager’s Report Manager Revella: Since last meeting, had a few meetings with the Rec Coordinator and DPW Super on projects. Met with the engineer and the flooring company for the floors at Village Hall. I have some information on that. I did talk about it last meeting with the board as well, but there's going to be some time that we're not able to actually enter certain floors at all. We're working on remote access, which we have. Setting up portals. We received the equipment to do that for that week. It'll probably be the last week in March. If we do have a board meeting scheduled that week on March 26th, we may have to do it on the second floor. I'm not sure, depending on what floor they're working on Tuesday. We may have to adjust that. Should be able to do the second floor on that day. The bids for Riverfront for the next section of that project are due on the 21st, so they'll be before the 26th meeting. Should be able to vote at that meeting to move forward on the bidders. Whichever one you pick. Had some interviews with the Chief on different candidates for different jobs. We're still looking for part time police officers as well, obviously. I had a good meeting with the Music in the Grove Committee, Rec Coordinator to finalize the schedule for the coming season. The flyer's ready, should be posted today or tomorrow. Did cover for the DPW Super for some time off. I had some time off myself. Did speak with the Treasurer and the other staff in the office about training and things going on for that and last week and for the coming week. Did a bond closing. I met with the insurance agent and our attorney to talk about a couple of different potential claims we have. Met with the camera contractor to make sure everything's going well and prepare for installation. The Rec Department, indoor pickle ball still full program. Basketball is almost done. 152 kids participating in that. Easter Egg hunt is still on schedule for March 23rd. The Scout Cabin work is going well. If you want to see progress, just reach out to me and I can take you over there to check it out. The Building Inspector issued 12 new permits, 7 COs, 4 violation notices. The new Code Enforcement Officer is working well. They should be introduced next meeting as well. Part Time Inspector moving forward on things including Planning and Zoning, inspections and training. The new officer did want to note that there was no progress at 35-37 North Montgomery Street. Just so the board's aware. I know they took action last time. Clerk's been updating Facebook and website, working on personnel with myself and the attorney, helping staff with training, preparing for the upcoming election. The ballots are in and working on minutes. Finance Department continue to work on invoices, Edmunds, getting trained up, accruals, vouchers. Public Works doing as much as they can. Sewer Plant moving well. They have the clarifier work being done. It started today, should be finished tomorrow. They're cleaning stations. Checking stations. They're still having an issue with rags blocking the impellers. Make sure people are only flushing toilet paper down the toilet. Not even flushable wipes are actually flushable or good for the system. Throw those in the garbage. Water Department did 2 mark outs, replaced 5 meters, replaced 27 end points and did 1 inspection. They did repair water main break at the entrance to Wooster’s Grove and working on MS4 compliance and jetting and flushing. Police Department still looking for part time applicants. We have the full time officers in the academy now. There are 3 in there. The patrols issued 31 traffic tickets, 6 parking tickets and 5 MVAs and 4 arrests since last meeting and 244 blotters. Trustee Garrison: The bids are due on the 21st for the Riverside Park. Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Garrison: Have we gotten any in at all yet? Manager Revella: No, I'm not aware of any, yet. They'll come in here probably that week. Trustee Garrison: You met with the insurance regarding potential claims? Do you have an idea of what those items are yet? 2 Manager Revella: Yes. I talked to the board in exec about them. Trustee Garrison: 35 North Montgomery, no contact from them? Manager Revella: They did contact. He wanted to know if he was on the agenda tonight. I said no, you were served with a notice of the board's decision from last meeting and had to take action. And that was it. Trustee Hall: The Waterfront, where do you have it posted? Is it on Facebook? I know there was questioned about where the bid was posted for people to receive it. Manager Revella: There are a lot of places it's posted. The engineer wrote a response. I don't know if everybody got it, but he talked about where it is. It's not just the newspapers, it's at bid formats, like for companies that actually solicit bids. They have it, wherever they can go. Trustee Pearson: Piggyback on that. Can I get a copy of the RFP with the scope of the work? Manager Revella: It's over 100 pages. If he has an electronic link, I'm sure he can get it to you. You can see the binder in my office to look through it. Trustee Pearson: I stopped in to pay bills on Sunday evening and the Police Department door was open again and the heat was hot in there. Did we fix that? Manager Revella: No. The unit is on warranty and they're waiting for the part to come in. Trustee Pearson: Do we have any updates on the accreditation? Can we get something from the Chief? Manager Revella: He doesn't have an update from last time. I asked him for one. Trustee Pearson: When do we get the budget? Manager Revella: The 20th. Trustee Pearson: Cameras? Manager Revella: They're in. They just had to run a wire in today for the electric. The electric guys were here today. That's moving forward quickly. Hopefully they're all installed by the end of the month. Trustee Pearson: The last meeting you talked about the tunnel from the pump station. Do we have any more information on that? Is that just somewhat that could happen? We don't know if it's going to happen? What the plan really is. Is there something we need? Manager Revella: The DEC has to approve it. Trustee Pearson: That's what we're planning on doing to go down to the sewer plant. Manager Revella: Yes. It'll alleviate the need for Tin Brook Pump Station whatsoever. It'll be gone. It'll be great. It's expensive, but it's probably the same cost it would be to do with the work they ask for. 3 Trustee Pearson: I think at the last meeting I talked about the Parking Enforcement Officer. Did we hire someone? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Pearson: When did they start? What’s going to happen? Manager Revella: They're starting this month. We're trying to work on a schedule with them. It's like I told you, it's a rotating schedule. It's not going to be the same day every week. They understand that. They're okay with that as well. Trustee Pearson: Is it just 1 person? Manager Revella: Yes. 1 person. They should be at the next meeting as well for introduction. Trustee Pearson: Hill Street Bridge, I know we were awarded that, but I want to know what we do next. Do we send something to the Town? Do we ask them when the work will start? What will be the process of this? Do we just let it go and say, okay, we won, big deal? Do we push forward and see what's going to happen next? Attorney Donovan: In what fashion? Trustee Pearson: Maybe write the Town of Montgomery, a letter to say when will the when the work start? What is your process? Attorney Donovan: That issue, that's up to the Village Board. What process you want to take. I can give you a legal advice on what your next legal steps are. But in terms of from a policy point of view, how you want to approach that with the Town of Montgomery, I'm more than happy to write any letters that you wish me to write. I've done that in the past. We've talked about some legal options, I don't know if you to discuss those, I don't want to discuss those in public. But if you want to resume an all court press, certainly I can be a part of that. If that's what you want to do. I think it would also require board action in advancing that press. Trustee Pearson: Just didn't know what our next step should be or could be or. That's up to the board. Trustee Batson: Piggyback on what Becky said can we get that on the agenda ASAP. There's no point in letting that sit. Mayor Ramos: We can discuss that in executive session for legal. Trustee Pearson: Did we need the legal part or do we just want to send a letter to see what their thought process is before we do anything further? Trustee Batson: Whatever we need to make it actionable. We've got the approval to move forward. I just don't want to let it sit without us actually moving forward. What are the next steps on 35 Montgomery Street? There's been no action taken by them. Manager Revella: You took the action already. He has until 5 pm on March 7th to do whatever's necessary that was in the letter. Then we can take action. 4 Trustee Batson: There was some graffiti on one of the parks that also was taken care of. Was there any damage any other than just basic vandalism? Manager Revella: No, it wasn't even spray paint. It was like one of those kind of markers that was on stuff. We were able to get it off with solution. Trustee Batson: I think these police statistics are fantastic. A couple months ago, this was 6 or 8 traffic stops, 34 traffic stops with 31 summons. Not only incredible increase for what most constituence say is one of our bigger problems, people speeding through here. But the fact that it resulted in 31 summons, I think shows that work is also incredibly meaningful. On Building Department, says the part time issued zero of everything. Is that a typo? Manager Revella: No. He was off for a few days. It was Dean. Trustee Batson: Fair enough. Said conference with special counsel to review upcoming hearing for PD matter. This is the secret case? Manager Revella: No, that's nothing to do with that. It's personnel. I can tell you in exec about it. Deputy Mayor Carley: I brought up about the tunnel before, one of the things I was thinking about, do we have like a diagram, anything that the engineers can show us just what it looks like? Manager Revella: Not yet. I can show you on the dry erase board. It's like 70 feet down. Deputy Mayor Carley: All the way from the Tin Brook. And they're going to drill a hole all the way through the ground. Not through the streets or anything like that. It's just straight tunnel ground. Manager Revella: It'll daylight before the sewer plant around DPW. It'll go to the regular sewer line again. They don't have to go all the way. Deputy Mayor Carley: I kept picturing breaking up the street. Manager Revella: No, not at all. It's a tunnel. It's like a 3 foot wide boring. Go straight through, about 24ft underground starting. Just going straight through and they'll come to like 6 feet down. When they get to the DPW entrance, it'll meet a regular manhole and continue on. Deputy Mayor Carley: How long does that take? Manager Revella: I don't know. Deputy Mayor Carley: I know you don't know exactly. Like a month, a week? Manager Revella: I'll ask the contractor. There's a guy that does it. We'll see what he thinks. They think it's the most cost effective long term option for us to be in compliance. Deputy Mayor Carley: My other one was RBT's audit. Which I like and I didn't personally didn't go through it and I'll look at it. The findings and the deficiencies in the things that we need to work on, I'm sure you just go over with the Treasurer. I guess that's the thing I'm looking at. I don't know, was that really significant? Said you didn't find much because you have these deficiencies. Manager Revella: I would not categorize them as significant. No. There were things that needed to 5 be fixed, which every year are. I don't know if it was more or less than other years. Journal entries come up every year. Our fund balances are healthy. I can say that. The only thing that caught my interest is what I talked about with her, the procurement policy and making sure that's updated. That's important. Deputy Mayor Carley: Like everyone else, the Hill Street is all that's on our plate now. We talk about next steps, I guess we do have to hear some type of, all right, these are your options and to kind of move forward so that we can make an educated decision. I think that needs to be talked about in public also, so that people can get that. What needs to be done. I'm not saying the legal side, but showing what’s our option. Manager Revella: Talking about in public about our options also tells the Town what their options are and I don't know if you want to educate them that much on that. I'm not sure they're not educated on already. I don't know if that's the best way to say it. Attorney Donovan: I guess I just want to make sure that I understand what the board's question is, because certainly you have the ability to say to the Town, we now have a judicial determination that you are responsible to repair the bridge and pay for it. We demand that you take action immediately. Now, you recall, we're going to have this discussion in public, there were 2 aspects to the lawsuit. The first was a judicial declaration that the Town was responsible for the bridge and to pay for the bridge. We have that. The second was injunctive relief to compel them to begin action on the bridge immediately. The court declined to award that. You have the ability to appeal that. The attorneys that were utilized have filed a notice of appeal as directed and as they should, which preserves the Village's right within 6 months to perfect the appeal by filing a legal brief setting forth our arguments about why the Town should be compelled to begin the repairs immediately. I don't want to go into any other advice as far as what I think our chances of success on that are. But that's your legal option to pursue an appeal and you have time to do that and your ability to seek that recourse has been preserved. Your other option is to kind of repeat what's been done. We have, I have, at your behest, has written the Town I think 3 times over the past 6 years citing the law and saying they're clearly responsible. We now have a judicial declaration to that. And if you want to, push that, I used the sports metaphor, the full court press. You are certainly free to do that. You can do it by a board resolution. You can do it by a board letter. I can certainly reach out to them. I would suggest it would be more powerful coming from the board than from me. There are public relations things, there are certain other pressure points that you may be able to develop better than I can. But those are your next steps. Deputy Mayor Carley: The determinant step 1, 2 and 3, I guess we need to make sure we have that right, because I like the appeal process. But I'm not going to tell you the ins and outs or the benefits about that. We can try to get it in our favor. I'm assuming that to me is like the most powerful verses our letters that have had no teeth before. Attorney Donovan: We can certainly talk about that. I can give you my evaluation, which is no different than the evaluation I've been providing the last couple of years. I can also give you the time and the cost. You wouldn't expect a determination from the Appellate Division for probably about 3 years. I just had a case, from beginning of Supreme Court. New York is a little weird. The Supreme Court is the lowest court. The Appellate Division is the intermediate court and the Court of Appeals is the highest court. From the date that sent from Newburgh ZBA, they issued a decision. We were successful. Got a legal challenge. The Supreme Court has appealed the Appellate Division. From the date of our decision, it was another from Supreme Court, 2 and a half years before we got a decision from the Appellate Division. Deputy Mayor Carley: I didn't think it was going to be that long, since you're already in the 6 middle of the process. Attorney Donovan: I just need you to be prepared for that. Deputy Mayor Carley: I don't know the judicial process. Attorney Donovan: Inefficient. If I have a word for the judicial process is inefficient. Deputy Mayor Carley: So, our next step would be the letter kind of saying hey, this is what we've done and this is what's been done. Something we can kind of start the ball back rolling. Attorney Donovan: Sure. That's just one way. Any pressure point that you could bring to bear. Deputy Mayor Carley: 35-37 North Montgomery has 2 days, but 2 days to get us a review back saying what's going to be done? Attorney Donovan: No, the resolution that you adopted, actually gave them until 5:00 on March 7th to demolish and remove. If they don't do it by then, the Village is then authorized to demolish and remove. Bear in mind that our code requires that we get competitive bidding for that, though. You're going to have to solicit bids. Demolish, remove and our code does also authorize as does your resolution to place the cost that you incur for that on the tax bill for the property. Deputy Mayor Carley: We don't have to wait for the next 2 or 3 days or our next meeting. Attorney Donovan: This is self-effectuated. You don't need to take any further action. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm referring to the bids. The bids are not done. We can start that. Get those out there before, instead of waiting to another 2 weeks after the second day in two days. Attorney Donovan: You be allowed to solicit. You wouldn't be allowed to reward. Deputy Mayor Carley: Can't award them. We can at least start them moving, so when we get there, we're ready. Attorney Donovan: You don't have to do anything. Unlike the recent Supreme Court decision which said there actually needs to be congressional legislation effectuating the 14th amendment process to keep someone out of office who was an insurrectionist. Unlike that, your code is self- effectuating. You don't need to do anything else. You've done it already. You've already decided, if it's not gone by Thursday at 5, you can go out to bid now and have it demolished. When I say now, someone could always run the court and try to get the stay. We'd have to just react to that if that ever happened. Right now there's nothing further for the board to do. Deputy Mayor Carley: My point is, I don't want to wait another 2 weeks or another month. If he hasn't done it on the second day, which is in 2 days, then we already have that bid process and let's start the ball rolling. If a stay comes, we'll address it. We move forward. Attorney Donovan: I'm good on the legal end. I'm not so good on RFPs. Trustee Batson: Does the audit that they talked about result in a score? Is there some sort of comparable number? Manager Revella: No. Like pass/fail? We passed. 7 Trustee Batson: Anything that lets us know that we're moving in the in the right direction. Manager Revella: We've had audits since I've been here that have had 7 or 8 suggestions. This only has a couple, so it's better than some years. Some years you only have what's called minor recommendations or something like that. Some years you'll have significant recommendations. None of the ones this year were significant. It's been several years since we had a significant recommendation. Trustee Batson: The bridge, we have the right to appeal and 6 months for a decision that may take 3 years for work to begin immediately. Manager Revella: Correct. And your chances of success are very low on winning. Mayor Ramos: Charging station. How's that coming along? Manager Revella: We just need American Electric to come and set it up. Everything's there ready to go. We reached out to him, I'm just waiting for them to give us an appointment. Approval of February 20, 2024 Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve the February 20, 2024 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: Can I just comment on the bridge? Did the judge receive the petitions that Lynn and Brian did? Manager Revella: Yes. I do want to make a note for the public as well. We did add G to the agenda, which is a waiver for Sweeney's for St Patrick's Day and to add H for the Village Hall Floors. Mary Ellen Matise: Liaisons. Maybe it is a good idea to bring them back and the other thing that I'd like to maybe see extended from that is, maybe we should have some community advisory bodies. We're supposed to have 1 I thought for the E203, the police. I know that Rita Santo was just up at a recent Town Board meeting trying to get people to join the committee that they have. Maybe I'm getting a little green with envy, every time I see the Montgomery Senior Center calendar and all the events, they keep posting. I'm wondering, well, what is going on with us, but they have an advisory committee there and so why don't we? We have a community center and maybe the community needs to be more involved. Mayor Ramos: They're looking for a president. Mary Ellen Matise: You're the president of the senior club. Not the club per se. The advisory board at the Montgomery Senior Center is not for the club. It's not the club that's the advisory board. It's for the programing and the building and they work with their part time director, which we don't have, but maybe we could. Maybe we have staff that could be devoting part of their time just to adult programing. Manager Revella: They do. But we don't charge people like the Montgomery place does because we're not allowed. Mary Ellen Matise: They're not charging for everything. 8 Manager Revella: I know. Some of the programs they have, they are charging that they shouldn't. We can't do that. Mary Ellen Matise: But we don't have to and an advisory board wouldn't be doing that. Would just be developing program ideas. Manager Revella: That'd be great. Mary Ellen Matise: I'm going to leave that with you with your liaisonship ideas. Park Use Alcohol Request Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the park use alcohol waiver at the Anita L. Vandermark Community Center for April 20, 2024. Seconded Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Local Law 5 of 2024 – Double Utility Poles Trustee Hall made a motion to adopt negative declaration for Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Pearson made a motion to adopt Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Schedule Budget Sessions Manager Revella: It's that time of the year and I want to know what you guys want to do. I was proposing some dates, I'm not sure when everyone's available. Looking at the second week in April, maybe do the 3rd, 8, 9, 10th, 11th. We'd want to have the public hearing on the 16th. Want to make sure we're done by then. 6:00, we could start. I'm not sure what everybody's schedule is, but if you want look at those dates as proposed. You don't have to make all of them, but a majority would be great, especially the first 3 are the most important. If we don't need the last one, we don't have to have. It depends on how many you guys approve, but you should approve them all now so that we have it. Trustee Hall: I won't be here the 11th. Other than that, I should be okay. Manager Revella: Hopefully we don't need it by then. Mayor Ramos: I won't be here on 10th or 11th. Manager Revella: The other day would be the 15th. We have to have it done by. If you want to just put those dates as options and then we can see which ones we actually make. Mayor Ramos: We can't do 3, 4 and then 8, 9? Manager Revella: I don't know if anybody can do on a Friday. Deputy Mayor Carley: The fourth is a Thursday. Manager Revella: Oh, yeah. I don't know. Trustee Pearson: 3, 4, 8, 9 9 Manager Revella: I don't know why I couldn't do the 4th. I have to check and see what's available. We have to have one of the rooms here. The 3rd or 2nd. Mine is a backup. We're supposed to have it in public in case there are more people here. Usually there's not and we're in my room, but in case we can't it has to be in the 2nd or 3rd floor, so I'll check. If you want to say 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15 as dates and then we'll confirm them. Mayor Ramos: Who's not going to be 10, 11. Trustee Hall: I won't be here the 11th. Deputy Mayor Carley: I don't know. Manager Revella: We'll cancel those that aren't needed. Manager Ramos: I prefer 3, 4, 8, 9. I don't know about everybody else. Trustee Garrison: I'll make it happen. Manager Revella: What about 15? Mayor Ramos: We have to vote on it on the 16th. Manager Revella: Yes. Have to have a public hearing on the 16th. Has to be adopted by May 1st. I would suggest you add the other dates just in case. If we don't need them, we cancel them. Because we don't have another board meeting to approve them with enough time to give notice. Mayor Ramos: 10, 11 is the add on dates. Manager Revella: 6 pm. Trustee Hall made a motion to set budget session on April 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th at 6pm. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Batson: This year was a very odd year from a budgeting standpoint, continue to 53 year fiscal week as well as a 29th day in February. Just we've got a new Treasurer. Is the software sophisticated enough for those planning and budget numbers to keep that in mind, that you can't just look at it from a year to year perspective, because this fiscal year contained, again, an entire extra week and a day? Manager Revella: Yes. Orange County Transit Manager Revella: *Read email into minutes*. Mayor Ramos: No response from DOT, I assume. Manager Revella: I haven't seen anything. Trustee Garrison: I want to apologize to the board and the village residents because I fought really hard to get them an extension. I'm starting to feel like they are dragging their feet excessively on this matter. I do apologize to everybody in regards to that. I'm going to say it. They followed up today because we sent an email, but they didn't try any other correspondence since February 12th 10 till today is not acceptable. I don't know if I speak for anybody else on the board, but that's insane. I did just want to openly apologize for fighting so hard to give them the extension that I did, and that I fought for them for, because obviously they don't care enough to do their diligence on their end. Village Code Updates Attorney Donovan: Let me know if this is acceptable format. We talked about a written memo responding to this response to the discussion you had back in June. What I tried to do is address all the chapters that that you covered in that meeting, address the questions that were posed for me and to try to provide a suggested response. Just for clarity, what I tried to make sure that every chapter was included. I had chapter 1, general provisions, no changes, chapters 2, 3 and 4 where it says we reserve for future use. It's reserved in the code. There are no code provisions relative to chapters 2, 3 and 4, wherever else I've cited that in my memo. First, I just want to ask if this is acceptable format. Is this what you wanted to see from me? All: Yes. Attorney Donovan: I guess the next question is do you want to have dialog on this? The changes that were talked about here to be effectuated, would need a local law. I don't know if you want me to prepare a local law or you want to kind of sit on this and then have me address what you discussed at your next meeting in another memo. I'll take my lead from the board on how you want me to proceed. Trustee Batson: I say we talk through it now and get it resolved. Trustee Garrison: I'll be honest, I'm a little under the weather. The longer we stay here, the more agitated I'm going to get. If we could push this off a little longer, that'd be great. Not that I don't want to discuss it. I'm just battling a little bit of a head cold, and I really don't want to sit here for another 3 hours. Respectfully. Trustee Hall: I'm sorry, Ralph. I say go for it. Don't sneeze on me. Trustee Pearson: I don't have a lt. It's not too bad. I'm fine, I'm ready to go. I'm sorry Ralph. Deputy Mayor Carley: We can do it now. Attorney Donovan: The first changes that I noticed were in, chapter 5 administrative procedures. The question was, did we need to define written notice? I made a suggestion that you modify it to define when a special meeting is set forth a procedure for calling for a special meeting. How notice is given to the Village Board and how notice is given to the public. Those were my suggested changes to chapter 5. Trustee Pearson: My answer is yes. Deputy Mayor Carley: Once we go through each 1, then you're going to red line it here. Attorney Donovan: It would become a local law. If you're ready to proceed, let's say for that modification of chapter 5, I would prepare a local law. A draft local law would come back to the board. If you're happy with it, it would get set a public hearing because this is not a change to the zoning ordinance. So you don't need to send this to the Planning Board or Orange County Dept of Planning. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm good. I needed this clarity, because what you wrote here, which I agree 11 with and then I go back and I look at the local law. You're just going to red line so we can see. Attorney Donovan: I can do like what I did with the zombie poles. They give you a red line. The final version that's files with the Secretary of State can't be red lined. But I can provide it to the board so there's some ease of understanding what stayed, what went, what got changed. Trustee Pearson: Willie, are you saying that maybe you'd like to see, if we say yes or change that? You want to see it in writing before we go to public hearing? Deputy Mayor Carley: Correct, see the red lined. Attorney Donovan: And that's what would have to happen. You'd have to get it in a draft local law form, but you'd have to be satisfied with it before you schedule public hearing. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm just saying, long as it's red lined like we did with the zombie poles, so that we can look at everything together versus two different spots. Attorney Donovan: The next issue was on chapter 9 appearance tickets. It was a couple of things in there. Whether we need to amend as it relates to service. It provided definition which I've given you a proposed definition. There's also the issue, your code breaks down who serves appearance tickets. The Building Inspector for building code violations, the DPW Super for water sewer violations. That's absolutely fine. You could authorize, for example, the Building Inspector to issue for everything if you wanted or you could keep it broken out the way it is now. I would just need to verify that all the bases were covered. In other words, that everything that DPW Super is supposed to issue tickets for is covered in the code. I didn't cross-check that, but that would need to be cross- checked to proceed here. Deputy Mayor Carley: 1 of the things that we were talking about before regarding the code itself and this relates to also the special meeting. You have the notes here. Attorney Donovan: When I made a reference to the state law, I just attached the statute so you could refer to that. Deputy Mayor Carley: I like it. That's all I was going to say. Maybe not the whole thing, but is there some kind of way or maybe I'm just being overly, have it reference some kind of way so that somebody could say, I'm looking at this law and I want to go look further. Attorney Donovan: The reason why I didn't do that and I developed kind of my own definition of appearance ticket, is the CPL says that appearance ticket is a written notice issued and subscribed by a Police Officer. So we may have someone else, the Building Inspector, for example. I took that reference out in my proposed definition of an appearance ticket. I used what's in the state law as most of the meat. But I just changed a few things to make it compatible to our code. What I thought was compatible. Deputy Mayor Carley: Should we have it in the code so people can see the reference? Attorney Donovan: Because it's going to be inconsistent with the state law because I've taken out the reference to Police Officer because we have other people besides Police Officers issuing appearance tickets. Attorney Donovan: Chapter 56. There was a question whether or not we can attach a copy of former New York State Village law article 15A appendix. Of course we can. Then up chapter 63, 12 there was a discussion as to whether or not the village was obligated to have a Deputy Village Manager because the code says it shall have. I just recommended a language change to say that the village is authorized. So you don't run into the shall and so it's in a budget if you decide to fund it for any reason, you can do that. That's what I covered here. If you're okay with that, they actually have to be in separate local laws because each local law supposed to cover one subject matter. I can have a draft local law at the next meeting for all these things and you can decide if you like it or you hate it and you want to make changes to it. I can't imagine that would happen but maybe it will. Mayor Ramos: Everybody in agreement. Trustee Hall: I'm okay with it. Trustee Pearson: Chapter 38, Code of Ethics. At one time we had discussed and I don't know where the board left that. It said there were no changes. Attorney Donovan: I think that may have been discussed at the next meeting, I peeked ahead a little bit to the next one. I think you did talk about it at the following meeting, but not at this meeting. If I said no changes, I meant no changes were discussed at that meeting. Because I think you did at the next meeting. Trustee Pearson: Did you say something about officers and employees, chapter 63. We talked about a 1 time also residency requirements. I don't think this board has discussed that since then. I know a few boards ago there was residency requirements for manager, clerk, treasurer, chief, that need to live somewhere. I don't know if the board wants to discuss that or they don't care if they want to leave it the way it is, because I know that was one of my questions when we went through it originally. That was chapter 63. Attorney Donovan: For the Deputy Village Manager. Trustee Pearson: For any residency for employees. I don't know if that's under this chapter or not under this chapter. But I went through my notes and it was under that chapter. Manager Revella: No, it's only the section that was discussed as per change. The other ones were discussed but no change was voted on. Trustee Pearson: The board was fine with leaving the residency. Attorney Donovan: It doesn't mean you can't change your mind. Manager Revella: When they went through that meeting they didn't say that. Trustee Pearson: I went through my notes on my papers for each chapter and that was on my notes. Manager Revella: It was brought up. Trustee Pearson: I don't know that wants to be discussed again or not discussed. Just throwing it out there. Have a discussion that didn't really come to fruition. I don't know if authorized is too stern. Do we have to have anything for Deputy Manager? Can't the village then put it in later anyway? The Village Board can make a decision at any time to. Attorney Donovan: If you want to delete that provision, you could do it. It's up to the board. 13 Trustee Pearson: We don't have one. We haven't had one in years. Manager Revella: If you keep it in there as authorized, then the law is there. If you take out the law you're repealing, then you're setting up a new law. You have to do more work. If you ever do it in the future. If it's there, you don't ever have to do it. Just because it's authorized doesn’t mean it's required. It's not shall. Trustee Pearson: By whom? Manager Revella: By this law. Trustee Pearson: By the board will authorize and put it in the budget? Who is it authorized by? Attorney Donovan: If you have it in the code, it's authorized by the village. Because it's part of your code. But you would only fill the position if you hire somebody on the line item of the budget. Manager Revella: There's no budget for it right now. Attorney Donovan: You certainly can eliminate it. It's up to you guys. Deputy Mayor Carley: Seeing it as authorized doesn't mean that you're going to have one. 20 years from now it's authorized and then somebody says, let's have one. Then they can go ahead and hire, appoint, whatever the process is versus go through. Manager Revella: It's been in there the last 20 years as shall and it hasn't been filled. So, we're okay. Trustee Hall: Are we discussing the residency? Mayor Ramos: It's not in the codebook. It's in the village law. We can discuss village law. Manager Revella: It's in both right now. Mayor Ramos: The law is what sets code precedence. Am I right? Attorney Donovan: For certain positions. I don't know what positions you were talking about. Mayor Ramos: Manager, Chief of Police, Treasurer. Attorney Donovan: I don't know if you were talking about the other. I had said was it just about Deputy Manager? Trustee Pearson: No, it's in my old notes that were under this under this chapter. I don't know if I just wrote it for reference or whether it's going to be under chapter. Trustee Hall: I know recently it just limited our options like for Treasurer and it just limited us from this to this. No? Trustee Batson: I think we should discuss it. I don't know where it sits in relation to all of those positions but I do think it's a discussion worth having. We don't have to have it today. I think that you're changes here we're specific to, oh, no, I guess it would be. Probably the bigger discussion 14 would fall under that. Your changes your word to shall, but I assume that that is the right chapter for all of them to discuss residency requirements. Manager Revella: We can put on the agenda for next meeting. Trustee Garrison: Let's do that. Liaisonships Deputy Mayor Carley: I just think that having points of contact just for communication purposes is a great thing. Previously, when I was on the board and I was a liaison. We have the liaisons to the different areas. I was with Rec and I thought it worked very well. However, one of the things I did realize, during that time frame, everyone is different. During that time frame, there were some issues that came up with the liaisons that one was overbearing versus somebody else that wasn't. It became more problematic as like someone's trying to be a supervisor. However, the point of contact that person was able to bring back information to the board in reference to issues, concerns, next steps, events, things that it's good for the public to hear because the Village Manager report may cover, but he may not cover all that. But there may be something specific that that liaison will see. In regards to what I think that I think would be a good idea is to reinstate that, however, with some definitely some guidelines, to make sure that, we all agree on the rules of a liaison. If the liaison is overstepping that, what to do with that and so forth, so on. Also, just to throw it out there, I would love to propose, rotating. The reason for that, we get to learn all the different areas. I'm not saying every month, but figure out a timeline so that everyone can learn the different departments and really understand what's going on in the village. I just think it's a good idea. I put it out there like that so that we can have more face time with everyone. I can't run around to every place, but I run around to some places because I put it in a schedule, but it would work for me. Manager Revella: I just want to make sure the board is aware that when liaisonships were started, they're not authorized under our law. NYCOM and the state also advised that they wouldn't recommend having liaisonships to certain departments. The board should and could have liaisonships to the Town Board, Library Board, School Board, and to the Manager, Clerk and Treasurer and those areas, but to regular departments, it actually isn't permitted under our law. Deputy Mayor Carley: Where is that? Manager Revella: New York State law. Deputy Mayor Carley: As we have this discussion, if you can just point to that print it out, give it to us so we can all read it and understand what that means. Manager Revella: That's why they went away the last time for that purpose. I thought that the board was going to change that to like having a business liaison, a library liaison, a Town Board liaison, those things are great and I don't know why it stopped, but that's where it got left off last time. The board was going to go that route and get a Town Board liaison and those kinds of things, but I'm not sure why it didn't start in a liaison to the office, like to the 3 of us that are in there that are employees of the board. Deputy Mayor Carley: I think that's a good start. We can get that law so that via email so we can read it and then understand that. So when we have that discussion it won't be, let's do it or not do it based on New York State, we can or cannot do whatever and then follow those guidelines, whatever that is. Manager Revella: Yes. 15 Trustee Pearson: I remember the whole conversation when the board stopped having it. I wasn't on the board, but it was happening for reasons, like Willie said. People kind of overstepping what their role they thought was. Do I find it to be educational, I think not that you're in departments businesses, but I think having a how is it going? Do you need anything from the board? Because I know we have a manager, but sometimes I don't know if he has department meetings together. Do you have a department head meeting every week so everybody knows each department what they're doing? Do you do that? Manager Revella: We have meetings with department heads, not all at once because of scheduling, but at different times with different ones together. Trustee Pearson: They don't all just sit down together and say, this is where I have an issue. What do you think about that? Because some of the DPW and the Parks kind of work together. Manager Revella: They do. We have meetings a lot. Trustee Pearson: I don't know how you work that, but not that you're stepping on the manager's toes. But I think sometimes having another person that they can just say, hey, you know, we're looking at this, what do you think about that? And not always going to the manager. Trustee Hall: I think that can be done at any time. Trustee Pearson: It's not supposed to be. I don't know. People have overstepped and really gone in and done things they shouldn't be doing and saying this is what you need to do and blah, blah. I think they feel like they're helping and sometimes they're not. There are 4 positions that, like John said, you have the Treasurer, Clerk and himself. The library, the town and all of that. Parks and Rec and DPW are basically under him, that's what we pay him to do. You have to think about what liaisonship you really want. That's a good start, Willie, I think. Trustee Batson: I don't think I would support liaisonships that create layers of management under John. I think that if we have issue with the levels of communication there, it's our responsibility to hold him accountable for that. If we want change, then we're empowered to make that change through him directly, not by inserting ourselves into his day to day business like that. Deputy Mayor Carley: See and that's part of the mindset. Not saying that positive or negative, but the goal is not to be management. Trustee Batson: I get that's the goal. I understand, I love the concept of it. However, my only experience in the corporate world is when I've seen things like that. The problems tend to arise where it just adds a layer of complexity that sort of just circumvents John. In a perfect world, I get that it can be executed. It can be a beautiful thing. I just think that it's challenging to do. Deputy Mayor Carley: Just like Trustee Pearson said that was the issue before. It did get into John's Lane, the Village Manager's lane, which it shouldn't have. I agree 100%, so I'm not arguing against it. Trustee Batson: To your point though, I do love the idea that if there's a vehicle and there probably is and I've not taken advantage of it for me to learn more, I did spend a day with Mike. I've spent some time with some of the others and it was helpful. I should probably do that more often outside of maybe a formalized program. 16 Manager Revella: I recommend each one of you to at least take a ride along with the Police Department. It's a good opportunity to see a shift, what it's like. Trustee Garrison: It was awesome. I did it. Trustee Hall: We can contact the department, any department and go and speak with them at any time. If there was an issue before, what makes them think that there's not gonna be an issue again? Trustee Batson: I get real nervous about of just showing up and speaking out. You're right. We can. I just want to make sure that our intentions of that are for development, for learning, for our purposes, not any sort of investigative. Deputy Mayor Carley: I agree with, both the Deputy Mayor and Trustee Batson. I, too, was part of the liaisonship program. I believe we need to be more visible with the Town Board, library, any other one of the other boards. Manager Revella: We have the Library Board, School Board, the executive and administrative office, the Business Council and the Ambulance and Fire District. Would be nice. Mayor Ramos: To talk to department personnel or department heads. When you talk to personnel, you have the danger of talking to unionized personnel, which could lead to issues where union would file certain labor issues. We can continue to talk about this. We have good base, foundation of other issues that we can become liaisons to. I don't see us trying to circumvent the Village Manager's managerial capabilities to the village. Deputy Mayor Carley: The departments that we have, DPW, Rec, office, Building, PD. There are 5 departments. Manager Revella: Court. Deputy Mayor Carley: Did we have court before? Manager Revella: No. Not really. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's what I thought okay. Manager Revella: You had library before. Which you still should because it's a separate entity. Deputy Mayor Carley: Library falls under what I consider an outside agency? Manager Revella: It is. Deputy Mayor Carley: I'm just looking at this and based off the 6 type things and we got 7. Those are good areas outside agencies like you said. Then with structure and I'll be honest with you, I am pushing for it but I'm open to whenever we say as a village. I'm a team player. I just see that from the education side and kind of just understanding and just have an extra ear. It could work in my opinion. If there's too much pushback, too much other views, it doesn't want to work. I don't want to go into something but a negative view and then it won't work because everyone's not trying to make it work. I'll just leave it there. Sweeney’s Waiver Manager Revella: Normally they wouldn't need our assistance here, but because there's a 30 day 17 deadline for the adjustment and because St Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday, they need special permission to open earlier than 10 am and waive the 30 day waiting period from the board, if that's okay, so they can have St Patrick's Day at Sweeney's. Trustee Hall made a motion to approve to waive the 30 day waiting period for Sweeney’s to open an hour earlier for St Patrick’s Day. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Flooring for Village Hall Manager Revella: It's going to be precarious because we have to do the hallway floors, the office floors. It's going to be difficult to traverse through the village and conduct business as usual. We're trying to get it scheduled for the last week in March when the school has spring break so we kind of have less traffic in the area in general. We've worked with our IT department to try and get remote access so we can try and conduct as much as we can without being physically in our offices. We think we've got it worked out to a way where we can have the server set up in here and we'll remote in other areas of the village. We can have some people in the library while that floor is not being done or PD while that's not being done or Building Department or DPW or Parks. We can make it work. While that's being done. That being said, we have the state bid proposal. Looks like it's $147,000 to do all 3 floors. That's every floor on the third floor except the assembly room itself, including all the offices, court offices, closets, and not the bathrooms that are tiled. The second floor, it's all the hallways, including to the stairwell. The first floor, it's all the hallways except for PD. Includes the slip proof on the ramp on the second floor and the first floor to the exits. Not the stairs themselves. Deputy Mayor Carley: Taking the rug up and put it slip proof? Manager Revella: Taking everything up through the whole place and putting down, I have the tile samples in my office to look at. They're making sure you're okay with the color. There's a couple of samples in there and sample books. They thought that because the floor is so uneven, they're going to use a leveler, but it's still going to be bad and they don't want to take a risk of tile pops. They have a 9 inch by 59 inch long tile that looks like wood with different colors that you can choose from that they think will be more durable, for that kind of floor because of the issues there. I would need your approval to go ahead and approve this through state bid for that amount to be come from our surplus fund. Deputy Mayor Carley: We're not talking about scheduling. Manager Revella: We're trying to schedule for the last week in March after the election. I want to make sure it's after elections. I have to get it done before budget. Trying to get it in that small window there. Trustee Pearson: Did you not have grant money for that at one time? Manager Revella: Not for flooring. No. The money that we had that we're using for this building was from ARPA, which we used for HVAC and other things. Mayor Ramos: The samples are in the office, so we shouldn't, approve or motion for approval until you get to look at the material. Can we get the approval after executive session? Manager Revella: If that's the pleasure of the board, that's fine. If you want to look at the samples first. Mayor Ramos: Look at these samples. 18 Manager Revella: He wants to pick the tile type to put in the motion, which is fine. We can do that after you go and look at the samples. We'd have to come out of executive do that. Public Comment Elizabeth Doherty: With regards to the budget sessions, live feed this year? Mayor Ramos: No. You're more than willing to come and attend, but no live feed. Sorry. Mary Ellen Matise: If you're going to do liaisonship with the Ambulance Corps, quarterly, they go to the Town Board and give a report. I kind of nudge Sylvie because I said, why don't you report to the villages also? All the village residents, we're all part of the district now and it would be nice for each Village Board to at least have a condensed report. It doesn't have to be the full blown report that they give the town. Because I sat there and I said, wow, I didn't really realize that as of June 1st, they were ALS. Did anybody else know that. Mayor Ramos: They announced on Facebook. Mary Ellen Matise: Well, that's June, that's a long time ago already. But when she gave it the report, I thought that was really good. I was just impressed and I thought that we should have to report too. Trustee Garrison: I agree. Deputy Mayor Carley: A liaison would have noticed that. Payment of Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Pearson: Arbor Day, we need to do a resolution. If we are going to do that, it needs to be on maybe the next agenda. Manager Revella: I have it on for next agenda. Trustee Pearson: For May 9th at Walden Elementary School at 12:15. Hopefully we'll still be able to plant some trees in our groves, but the school is going to be doing some trees on their property. We try to do with the elementary school as well. They sometimes come to the park, but sometimes we go to the school depending on what their schedule is. They'd like to do school this year. It is Nancy Phelps's last year of doing it and I'd like to get her something for the 15-16 years she's been involved in it. Planted thousands of trees. I just think that, we'd like to have that for on the agenda for May 9th, if that's okay with the board. I did a little research, I know Mary Ellen was talking about the senior center in Montgomery that actually I called the Town of Montgomery about the budget. Their budget, they allow the Village of Montgomery $15,000 for their senior center. I called the Village of Montgomery and they didn't know what line it went into or where it went. I'm not so sure where things were going, but we don't get that money from the town. Maybe we need to really look at that for the next town budget, to be able to say why this one village gets something and the other doesn't. They do give us money for parks program in the summer. Maybe we'll think about that if I'm still here. If I'm not, whatever happens. Maybe think about that next year for the budget in the town would be good. Just a thought. Why wouldn't we want to look for that as well? 19 Manager Revella: We do. Trustee Hall: I just wanted to say thank you to the board for the volunteer tax that you guys did. I was not present that day, not that that would make a difference, I couldn't vote anyway. I did want to say thank you on behalf of all the volunteers, the Firefighters and Ambulance. Trustee Garrison: Again, I'm sorry, I'm a little under the weather, so I'm a little out of character today. Kind of quiet. Trustee Batson: After the special meeting, Dave and I talked about that there has been some changes to local laws that would allow board members to participate remotely. I do notice there's a public notice snuck in our packet that kind of alludes to that. I would love to put that back on the docket for some time for us to discuss. I don't see why it's not reasonable for us to vote by proxy or remotely on issues. Especially when there's a special meeting, a sense of urgency. Attorney Donovan: I did print that because we did talk about it at the last meeting. Some information from the New York State Committee on Open Government and I do, I say from time to time, it's a phenomenal website. Actually, it used to be better since the state homogenized all their websites. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's still a good website. New York State Committee and Open Government have advisory opinions on Freedom Of Information Law, Open Meetings Law. They have the text of the law. They have case summaries. It's a great resource. I use it all the time. I did also print out basically some frequently asked questions about the modifications to being able to appear remotely. Of course, I can give that to you tonight. If you want them by hardcopy, you can get them. Trustee Batson: I'll look it up on their website. Attorney Donovan: The thing I did want to say is voting by proxy, though. That's not allowed. Under certain circumstances, actually more difficult post-Covid than pre-COVID to appear remotely. The board would have to authorize that generally by resolution or local law before you could do that and there's rules that apply to it. Generally speaking, you have to have a quorum physically present and for us for the Village Hall and then where the other person is located, the non-person who's not here needs his or her location needs to be disclosed and it has to be accessible to the public. Deputy Mayor Carley: You're going to answer the codes like you did here for each one we going through and then we're going to restart? Attorney Donovan: What I was going to do if it's okay with the board and I think the direction was I was going to prepare to draft local laws just based on I was going to try to get that was in my memo done first and then move on to the next one. Deputy Mayor Carley: Same thing with the policies? We didn't finish the policies. Mayor Ramos: 1, 2 and 3 we finished. Deputy Mayor Carley: Just doing the red lines. Manager Revella: The June 20th meeting, the board held, you made some suggestions for changes in the code. Dave is going to get red line versions of those local law changes for that meeting. So you can adopt or not, first and then go to the next meeting. Do the same thing. He is going to go through that for each meeting until you're done getting the local laws updated up to that point. And 20 then going forward, I want to recommend that Dave comes to the meeting for the code revisions, to make it easier on him. Attorney Donovan: Actually, it would be easier if I was here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you try to go easy on me, but talking to John and going through the minutes, it's actually easier if I was here. Trustee Pearson: What you're trying to say, you're looking at policy versus code review. There are 2 separate things. Deputy Mayor Carley: It is and that's what I was bringing up. If you're saying that we're done with the policy, I made some suggestions before. But we have the red line, some things in a red line like based off the mayor just said that that was already agreed upon. Trustee Pearson: I think that John brought those policies up because there was a change in the law that we had to do something, not necessarily that we were going to go through the whole policy. That's how I understood it. Deputy Mayor Carley: I heard it has to go through to review the policies. But then it came back only that part that was addressed. I brought up that we should go through the whole policy. That's why I read it, because I still see some things that was questionable. And that's what I brought up about if somebody refuses to sign their counseling, they shouldn't get reprimanded. That was only one part. There's more than just that. I don't see us going back through that. Trustee Pearson: I don't have a problem with that. But I was only prepared for the two that we were supposed to do. Then you threw 2 more in there and I'm going, I'm not voting for that because I didn't read it. If you want to go through it, I would want it to be something that's in an order or however you're going to do it. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's what I'm bringing up, are we going to go back through it? But if we're not, I'm okay with not because we got a lot with the code already. Trustee Pearson: I think we should finish that first. Deputy Mayor Carley: That's all I was going to say. I think we should finish it the code. I don't just want to leave it out there. The other one was, John, you sent us a couple of grant things. Manager Revella: For the comp plan committee. Mayor Ramos: Thank you for getting the elevator taken care of. *Read Community Events into Minutes* Executive Session - Discuss the Employment History of a Particular Person, Attorney/Client Privilege Regarding Hill St Bridge Trustee Hall made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person, attorney client privilege regarding Hill St Bridge. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Hall made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. 21 March 26th Meeting Trustee Batson made a motion to move the Board of Trustees Meeting from March 26th to March 21st at 6pm. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. Village Hall Flooring Trustee Batson made a motion to approve Village Hall Flooring Bid. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 22  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting March 5, 2024 Motions & Resolutions Public Hearing – Local Law 5 of 2024 Double Utility Poles Trustee Garrison made a motion to open public hearing Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Hall made a motion to close public hearing Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Hall made a motion to adopt negative declaration for Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Pearson made a motion to adopt Local Law 5 of 2024 - Double Utility Poles. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Approval of February 20, 2024 Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve the February 20, 2024 minutes. Seconded by Trustee Pearson. All ayes. Motion carried. Park Use Alcohol Request Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve the park use alcohol waiver at the Anita L. Vandermark Community Center for April 20, 2024. Seconded Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Schedule Budget Sessions Trustee Hall made a motion to set budget session on April 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th at 6pm. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Sweeney’s Waiver Trustee Hall made a motion to approve to waive the 30 day waiting period for Sweeney’s to open an hour earlier for St Patrick’s Day. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Carley made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session - Discuss the Employment History of a Particular Person, Attorney/Client Privilege Regarding Hill St Bridge Trustee Hall made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person, attorney client privilege regarding Hill St Bridge. Seconded by Trustee Batson. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Hall made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Carley. All ayes. Motion carried. March 26th Meeting Trustee Batson made a motion to move the Board of Trustees Meeting from March 26th to March 21st at 6pm. Seconded by Trustee Hall. All ayes. Motion carried. 23 Village Hall Flooring Trustee Batson made a motion to approve Village Hall Flooring Bid. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 24