Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 20, 2025 Mayor Pearson called the regular meeting of the Village of Walden Board of Trustees to order at 6:30pm. On roll call the following were: Mayor: Becky Pearson Present: Deputy Mayor Lynn Thompson Trustees Liz Kyle Gerald Mishk Ralph Garrison, Jr Cheryl Baker Absent: Bill Taylor Also Present: John Revella, Village Manager Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk Dominic Cordisco, Village Attorney Executive Session – Employment History of a Particular Person Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss employment history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Garrison made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Village Manager’s Report • Interviews for camp counselors, parks people, police candidates, DPW. A lot of summer staff coming on and replacement of some vacancies as well • Went over permits with Building Inspector. Property maintenance going up. Lawn maintenance is a big deal right now • Going over payroll and vouchers with Finance Department • Staffing, including coverage for the departments • Went over a couple issues with residents. 1 is a project on South Montgomery St. Another with a neighbor with drainage issue • Went over evaluations and concerns with Mayor Pearson, Trustee Mishk, Clerk and Treasurer • Discussed some budget items with the Finance Department, which did complete budget transfers, you have in the packets you’ve been looking over. The 23 AFR was done and 24 is waiting for state to open • Parks & Rec. Indoor pickleball is down to once a week. They have outdoor open. Programs are going on at the community center. Tennis has started. Camp is filling up. Mowing and planting is going on now 1  • Building Department. Issued 16 new permits, violated 122 properties, followed up on issues. Issued 9 stop work orders and 6 court proceedings going on. Assisted with Planning and Zoning Board • Clerk has been updating and posting to website and Facebook. Just so you know, the village website is required to switch to .gov by December. The Clerk has been getting info on that. FOILs, handicap, certificates and working on the updated phone switchover and email with the IT Consultant • Finance, payroll, billing, AFR, reconciliations, tax warrant, tax bills will be sent out shortly, vouchers • DPW, maintaining vehicles, pressing sludge. Water Department did 17 mark outs, replaced 7 meters, 1 endpoint, continue to post card. Grinding stumps as they go around. Patching pot holes. Contract and completed repairs for 144 West Main and 75 Maple St • PD, staffing transition is going well. As they get gap they are filling. Part timers as well. SRO, new contract came in. Reviewing that and will discuss at the next meeting. 409 blotters, 4 arrests, 124 traffic stops with 57 tickets issued, 7 mvas, 19 parking tickets Deputy Mayor Thompson: Under Parks & Rec, the mowing season is going well. I appreciate how much time they spend mowing. Where are we about some discussions about no mow alternatives? Manager Revella: They had discussed that with you on the riverfront as well. We had the contractor come do the punch list. I’m just concerned about putting different plantings down there until that’s done. Make sure that the seeding takes. Then we can talk about alternative for that one. Other areas, we do have that as an option. We’re working on it. I’m not sure if we’re going to do that wall first at Olley and then put that in that planting area. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I just know how much times it takes to do the mowing. We’ve talked about it for several seasons and haven’t done it. I think it’s time that we just do it. Manager Revella: We’re getting some areas with clover. It’s been helpful. Deputy Mayor: Thompson: Building Department, what are doing now with the grass? We’re putting door knockers on people’s doors? How is that working out? Manager Revella: I think it’s been helpful because then people see it instead of waiting to get it in the mail. Deputy Mayor Thompson: They see that notice and they are taking the initiative to mow their lawn? Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: How is the Building Department tracking it? Manager Revella: Parks goes and checks, because they’re on the list. They check and if it’s been done, it’s done on arrival. If it’s not, they mow and send it to the Building Department. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Is it still the same timeframe? Manager Revella: Yes. 2 Deputy Mayor Thompson: Finance Dept, worked on Edmunds programming. Could you be more specific? What does that mean, worked on programming? Manager Revella: Whenever they have issues with Edmunds, they’ll call Edmonds and see what they can do. She’s been working on mapping. Deputy Mayor Thompson: What are they offering us to try and help us get through with that? Manager Revella: For the mapping, she has to go through piece by piece and try to reset it from when it was first initiated. Deputy Mayor Thompson: How are we doing with these bank recs? We're getting there? Worked with consultant with bank reconciliation. Manager Revella: The consultant, yes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Do we have any new information, I know we discussed about what we were going to purchase for DPW Supervisor as far as the vehicle, have we made a decision? Manager Revella: We have researched vehicles on the state bid list and we're working on acquiring wherever we can that's cost effective. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Nothing 's definite yet. Manager Revella: Not until they tell us there's a vehicle available. We put out lists and request to hold vehicles for us. We'll see if we can get them. Mayor Pearson: The garbage piece from last meeting. We’re pretty much settled on? Manager Revella: Yes. Mayor Pearson: Orange County Transit, anything new? Manager Revella: Nothing new. Mayor Pearson: They said they were going to be starting it in March or April. We’re into May almost June. Can we check on that, please? It says in the report, fees for the scout cabin. We don't have fees. Should we be setting fees for the scout cabin so that we can rent it out? It's a nice little place to rent. Manager Revella: That's up to the board. It has new flooring and kitchen and everything. Mayor Pearson: Put that on the agenda for the next meeting. Approval of Minutes – May 6, 2025 Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve the May 6, 2025. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: Hard to comment on these items without the rat coming out. Park request is interesting to see they’re renting out the community center more so than we're even using it as a 3 community center. Except now we're using it in the summer and the seniors are using it twice a week in the winter. But I don't see other programs happening there. Had a program in February and oh we're going to have some adult programming, we're gonna have Tai chi, this is a demonstration project. We've had nothing since then. I don't see it on the Facebook page, on the website being offered in that location. Manager Revella: I'll check. Mary Ellen Matise: I thought that's what the intention of having this demonstration and Tai chi program to see if people are interested and they were going to have more programing there and every time you talk to the staff there they say oh yes, we're trying to use the building but the only person who is really using the building was some penny social and some of the other programs that somebody's been doing through Community Council. Trustee Kyle: Do we need volunteers to do those types of things? Mary Ellen Matise: Just think it's something that the village should look into. Trustee Kyle: Could we maybe look into trying to solicit volunteers? Manager Revella: We’ve had a few programs come in and they don't get a lot of response. Mary Ellen Matise: There's other reasons why that I was told. I’ll follow up on it. It's not just lack of participation. There's other concerns. Dress code, office hours, cell phone policy. Been through a lot of these before. The reason for any dress code policy is to instill the respect and confidence of the public. That's why banks always used to dress up. Anybody who worked as a teller then, always looked nice. Now you think they're going to run off with your money because they're wearing holey jeans. There's a reason for a dress code. There's a reason for office hours. Some of the towns have Saturday hours. I think New Windsor used to have 1 Saturday a month so commuters could come in and do business that they couldn’t get to during the week. Manager Revella: Some don’t have hours at all on Friday. Mary Ellen Matise: Because they've been making up for it in an evening. Maybe a couple of evenings or a Saturday. I don't know if we're gonna go back to winter hours. Could see early Fridays being summer hours, but it never used to be that way in the winter. Buildings open because the libraries here going until 6 o'clock and people go oh, it’s 12 o'clock, no one’s here. That’s up to you guys. I don’t know what’s going on with the cell phone policy. I know you had cell phone issues in the past, but I also think that maybe that issue that Cheryl brought up during budget session might be what you're going to talk about. Having an app on peoples phones in order to save money on actual physical second phones for village employees to be carrying around. Maybe that's a good thing. I'm so sick and tired of talking trash about IWS. Just can't stand it anymore. They still don’t know what a curb is and isn’t. They move the trash cans and then they just leave in the middle of the street. On the 40 foot wide streets you can't drive up and down the streets after they've been there. Now this is 3 days and not 2 days a week. I don't know what to say about IWS anymore, except that somebody told me that they had to hire them privately and for her, I don't know what they were paying 150 or 160 or something like that a quarter, so I said I guess I'm getting a bargain so maybe I shouldn't complain, but they still really don’t do a great job. Remote meeting attendance, if you want to be on the board *inaudible* then be here unless you’re sick in bed on death’s door. Park Use Request – Alcohol Waiver - Martines 4 Trustee Kyle made a motion to approve the park use request – alcohol waiver. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 52 Walker St *Trustee Garrison left the dais* Mayor Pearson: I did forward that e-mail from the attorney. Anyone have any discussions or thoughts on anything? Manager Revella: No updates besides what we discussed. Attorney Cordisco: I’d be comfortable explaining it to Mr. Lustig. Mr. Lustig, as you know, at the last board meeting, the board did seek advice of counsel and we reviewed the matter and my understanding of the board had reached consensus at that time is through willingness to move forward with what I'll call the release of the offer of dedication on property. However, before moving forward, they want the payment of what is currently owed to the village in connection with your prior application to the Zoning Board of Appeals. So, any monies that are owed have to be paid prior to the following steps, that I'm going to enumerate. My recommendation to the board is to enter into an agreement with you that would govern the steps that would be necessary in order to obtain the release. The board is concerned that more than 1 residence would be built between 52 Walker and property which is owned by your spouse behind it. So, they would like to see 1 of either 2 alternatives. 1 either the lots be combined so that 1 residence would be built or the lot that is owned by your spouse, would be subdivided and redistributed amongst the neighbors that is part of any private deal that you may reach with them or a portion there of be added to 52 Walker property. That would be a condition precedent for the release of the offer of dedication. Assuming that that is acceptable to you and the village would release the offer of dedication, which at that point you can file that with the county clerk’s office, as well as paying the fees associated with my costs in preparing that on behalf of the village. Manager Revella: That's the board consensus, correct? All: Yes. Attorney Cordisco: If that's the case then as I said you have conditions precedented moving forward with that agreement, would be the payment of the outstanding fees. Once those are made, we'll be happy to draft the agreement, it’s not going to be lengthy. It’s going to outline exactly what I just said tonight. If it's acceptable by you, it would provide clear path forward to have the offer of dedication removed. Ray Lustig: I kinda don’t know where to begin. I would just like some time. I will look at the agreement, in hard copy and will evaluate it. I will give you a decision either signed and a check or whatever the case may be. Mayor Pearson: What was it said was that the payment is first before any agreement is going to be drafted. Ray Lustig: That won't happen. We could call it off right now because I don't pay before we have an agreement. Mayor Pearson: You were supposed to have paid already. Ray Lustig: *presented the attorney with paperwork* you may have seen this in previous 5 documentation research. This is the village’s chapter 135. I just wanted you to review the applicable portion. I applied for an area variance. The village, not at my request, did all sorts of additional work. As an attorney, I would like to get your straight interpretation of “b”, which is the applicable chapter which is the fees associated with my thing. I'd like to get your just candid opinion and I realize they hired you. Attorney Cordisco: I provide advice to the Village Board. I don’t provide advice to you, nor is this a debate. Ray Lustig: I will say 1 thing, Sir, I pay your salary. They hired you. I paid. But that's okay. I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. And any reasonable person can read chapter 135 subdivision b and make their call on that. Attorney Cordisco: We can cut the chiller, because we provided you with an opportunity to move this forward but it's all conditioned on paying what's outstanding. Period. If you're not willing to do that then… Ray Lustig: I will need to see the agreement of what I will get. Mayor Pearson: He just spoke to you about what the agreement is going to say. Trustee Kyle: And even if there was no agreement, the money is still owed. It wasn't money that was just specifically charged to you and not every other single resident that goes in front of the Zoning Board. Every single person that goes in front of the Zoning Board is responsible for the same fees. Ray Lustig: Perhaps in a different venue proper equity can be at and the decision from an objective 3rd party, could be derived. Because I don't believe I am getting fair treatment in this forum. This is against your own code. Section 135b was approved by you, not by me. I am just asking that the Village Board abide by their own code. Apparently, that isn't the way it is going to happen here. If I had the agreement on paper, right now it's verbal. Sorry, I don't have a photographic memory. I don't remember the criteria’s that you had mentioned. Manager Revella: It’s on record. Trustee Kyle: These videos are also sitting on Facebook. You can scroll back and watch the entire video. Ray Lustig: If I knew that this is what you were going to do with that. I will not be extorted. It's. Would it be fair that you don't have to pay the same fees that every other resident has to pay when they go through the zoning report? Trustee Kyle: Would it be fair that you don't have to pay the same fees that every other resident has to pay when they go through the Zoning Board? Ray Lustig: I disagree with this. I FOIL’d the village and I asked the village the fees that were paid by other fees paid at the Zoning Board for the last 24 months. I asked her 2 years of fees that were charged to zoning board applicants. Trustee Kyle: Did you get that? Ray Lustig: No. At this stage, I assume that I am the only person that has the pleasure of being 6 billed out for work done at the Zoning Board. Trustee Kyle: Is that still in the works? Clerk Kraus: I remember that you were going to but then you didn’t bring it in. Ray Lustig: There might be a little bit of confusion on that. Trustee Kyle: If that’s the case, I would like to see that. If you were the only person that's been charged with fees from the Zoning Board, that would be awful. Ray Lustig: I will submit the form tomorrow and we'll go through that. What I would like is really to come back next week with the decision. I really do want to have some time. Trustee Kyle: Definitely submit the FOIL tomorrow. Ray Lustig: That I will do tomorrow. I have nothing to be executed by next week but as far as making my decision on whether I'm going to cut a check. You talked about an agreement with me, I’m not asking for an agreement with me. I am asking for you, this whole thing is just about you simply to relinquish your right to build a street there. Nothing more, nothing less. For you to force my hand on whether I'm going to sell the property, combine the property, build on the property, make it even for a property, is totally out of the purview of this board on real property rights. Attorney Cordisco: Mr. Lustig, I disagree. Right now you own a piece of property which you bought by a quick claim deed which was once going to be a road. There's access to a property that's behind it that's owned by your wife, that could possibly be 1 single family residence. What I’m clarifying here is that the board is willing to release the offer of dedication provided that only 1 home is built out there. Period. Ray Lustig: Yes, that I can say right now, in my mind is a yes. That's very easy. Mayor Pearson: We're just asking for what the board is looking for and the payment that we were supposed to pay, you had every right to leave that Zoning Board discussion before you did and you kept going. You hired an attorney. You wanted to move forward. Those were your choices to make. When you made those choices and hired an attorney to go before the Zoning Board, then of course our attorney is going to be representing our Zoning Board. Those fees are always paid by the applicant. You had every opportunity to leave that discussion and withdraw and finally you did withdraw. It's still payment owed. Ray Lustig: Oddly enough, the Zoning Board opined on a deed which was really a matter for this board. Now this board is telling me to combine properties and what I can or cannot do in the building world, which is really a zoning matter. To me, I am very confused. I was unable to get a zoning, I went to the Zoning Board to say I have a building lot. Not whether my deed was good. But they opine on the building lot. They attacked the deed which is outside the purviews of what the Zoning Board does. I come to this board and now you're telling me the properties and the zoning issues. As the taxpayer, who's been paying taxes on the Walden properties for the last 20 and 10 years. I am kind of baffled. The thing is, the village should be looking at 1 question. What is best for the village? Ms. Thompson, matter of fact, I went back for example and I looked at the interview for your election. Your thing was we are looking for revenues. We need to build out. Tax revenues is what I'm talking about. You had mentioned about ratables and about getting more of them. Well, I'm offering you a ratable that is a vacant lot with no rate. To a building lot which would be the most advantageous thing for the village. 7 Mayor Pearson: We understand what you're offering us and that's why the board made that agreement to do that and we are talking about paying your fees first and then we would move forward with what you want to have done so that's where we're at. That's what the board’s decision was. Ray Lustig: The thing is, I, as a reasonable person, again except in the case of area variances, fees established pursuant to this article shall be deemed to be minimum fees and any additional fees can be passed through. Except for an area variance. Secondly, Sir, and this is really a legal question, but the original application for the variance, I was not the applicant. This is Alex. He’s a construction guy. I just signed it as a proxy. I wasn’t even at this meeting. But they called me in because they had questions for me. So, I came in and obliged to the village. Trustee Mishk: Isn’t the property listed for sale? There’s a sign there. Ray Lustig: Correct. I was told, for example that my wife 's property, wasn’t worth anything. Zero. They all kind of laughed, this land is locked. A zero. The taxes are very low because I grieved them and they were reduced. Mayor Pearson: We have heard it all multiple times, so I think we've left it to where we're at right now. If you want to come back and see if you want to pay that bill or what you'd like to do our attorney would be happy to put something together, if you're ready to move forward. That’s where the board is at. Ray, you were given every opportunity to do what was right and you chose to go forward with your zoning issues. You could have rescinded that, you could have walked away. You could have done that earlier. You chose to chose to keep going forward to more and more meetings. I think the board is being very gracious and thinking about doing that for you. They don’t have to. Trustee Kyle: Once you go beyond the request for an area variance and then you dispute it and then you want an attorney. I know you're reading the code out to us, but that now becomes more than just the initial request. That’s where the fees come in. Ray Lustig: I appreciate understanding your mindset and 1 could possibly say that yes, that is within the umbrella of understanding, except for the fact that I didn't take it there. The village took it there. I applied for an area variance. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else was brought on through the village’s action in the additional meetings and the 6 or 7 that I have been through in front of you. The 6 or 7 that I was in front of the Zoning Board. All because my simple question was, are you ever going to build the street there? Everyone is always agreed, no. The property was also subdivided. Mayor Pearson: The board made the decision. We are moving forward, if you'd like to move forward. That's where we're headed. We have a new attorney here and he agrees with the last attorney. Ray Lustig: I would mention 1 thing because clearly we're not coming to a resolution here. Mayor Pearson: We’re not going to. Not unless you change your mind. The board made that decision. It’s up to you to decide what you'd like to do. Attorney Cordisco: There's a phrase that comes to mind, “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”. We did provide the path forward and it's consistent with what the board is willing to see out there. The only condition is that the outstanding bill has to be paid. Period. 8 Ray Lustig: There's other conditions that I combine the properties. Attorney Cordisco: That’s a condition in the agreement. Ray Lustig: I don't have the agreement. Manager Revella: There are not willing to make an agreement until you pay the fees. That's what the board said. Ray Lustig: I will not be extorted. That is extortion by definition. Trustee Baker: Those are the fees that are owed. You bought a property knowing that where the restriction was. Trustee Kyle: If you came in to rent the building out for a party and then you expect them to not pay. What about every other village resident that comes in and pays the exact same fees for the exact same services? Ray Lustig: We have to get an answer back from the FOILs. I agree with you but we have to get an answer before you can definitely say that, we need an answer for that. I appreciate your insight. Manager Revella: Next meeting is June 3rd. Ray Lustig: I will say another thing. It's kind of interesting, but I will also say that I have a valid ethics complaint against 3 or 4 members that are on this board. I have the personal belief that it is not illegal, it is ethical. Because ethics in itself has no sanctions and I don't waste my time when there is no sanctions associated with misbehavior. But without question, there has been very serious ethical issues that have been broken on this board with regard to my matter. Trustee Kyle: Would you be comfortable emailing? Ray Lustig: I am not going down that road because there is no sanctions associated with it. Trustee Kyle: I was going to say not to the whole board, but someone you're comfortable with, if there is a person. Ray Lustig: There are 3 or 4 members, there is collusion. This just breaches ethics. It is horrible what I have experienced on this board. Including your ultimatum, pay this and get that. Totally off the charts improper. Attorney Cordisco: These are fees that you already owe. Ray Lustig: Then sue me. Trustee Kyle: If there's anyone you'd like to reach out to individually. Ray Lustig: I want to thank you for your consideration. Apparently, if there's any justice to be had it will be not in this forum. Attorney Cordisco: You asked the board to do a discretionary action. They're actually willing to do it. They just want the fees to be paid. It's as simple as that. 9 Code Review - Discussion Mayor Pearson: We ended last time with ethics. Some people had some thoughts on it and wanted to think about it some more. Did anybody have any comments on where we ended last time? Attorney Cordisco: Mayor, jump in here and I'm not sure if you saw the e-mail that I had sent of things to you and to John, but all of the changes that have identified in Dave Donovan’s 2023 memo, have actually been made. Mayor Pearson: Is that up to what number? Attorney Cordisco: All of them that were in the memo. Mayor Pearson: Up to 66 then. Manager Revella: 63 it looks like. Attorney Cordisco: What happened is that if you recall at the last meeting, I have offered to draft local law to make these changes and I went back to an associate of my firm, Ivan Bonet, and asked him to start drafting it and he was wise enough to actually go on the ecode and confirm. And gave a memo that all the changes in Dave’s memo have been made. If there are additional changes, can certainly move forward. Mayor Pearson: But not actually put into the law, so if we want to change it again we have to redo it again. Attorney Cordisco: Correct. Mayor Pearson: I know we went through it all. Does anybody have any changes that they think are important to that? Some of you weren’t sitting on the board at the time, so maybe you had some additional comments. Trustee Mishk: The way I read this, we're not obligated to have a Deputy Village Manager. Manager Revella: Correct you're authorized. Changed the language to authorize not that you shall. That's correct. Trustee Kyle: Let’s talk about the code of ethics. Ways people being able to initiate these complaints. I feel like we didn’t come to a resolution on that. I feel as though there is enough board members that residents don't have to e-mail everybody on the board. If they feel that they have an issue of ethics with 2 board members, they can email even the Village Manager. Manager Revella: Any village employee or officer. Trustee Kyle: Yeah and you go to someone they feel most comfortable with that they don't feel is part of the issue that they're addressing. Mayor Pearson: So, you're comfortable with the way it still is. Trustee Kyle: Yeah. Trustee Mishk: I think that if that's the way it's going to stay, then it has to be a board member or an officer or any employee of the village. If a citizen is not a member of any of those and wants to 10 make a complaint, goes to the board member or any other officer of the village, I think that officer of the village has the obligation to take it forward. They should not be making judgment on whether it is a violation of the ethics law. It's the Ethics Board that should make that decision. Manager Revella: If it got brought to the 1 person and they didn't bring forward, then they could bring it to another person. Trustee Kyle: That’s what would bring it forward. When they bring their issue to somebody, that person’s responsibility is to push that forward to the Ethics Board. Manager Revella: No, it's not right now. He’s saying it should be. Mayor Pearson: But then you could get people that maybe have a beef with somebody. Trustee Kyle: I think that should be written in. It should still be forwarded and brought to the Ethics Board. The Ethics Board then decides if it’s a personal issue and not gonna follow up on this then it's on the Ethics Board. I think that any village employee or appointee that gets notified of an ethics violation should have the responsibility of forwarding that information to the Ethics Board. Trustee Baker: I'm still of the mindset of the public should be able to file an ethics, because you're gonna get some people that are not going to be comfortable approaching anybody. There are some that just because it's government, they don't trust anybody. You just had someone here that's not comfortable with 4 board members. Those individuals should still have the avenue if they wanted to place a complaint. I don't think it's a bad thing that the public be able to do that. It’s still gonna be on the Ethics Board to evaluate and deem whether it's a legitimate concern or not. I don't think it's a bad thing. I wouldn't take that away from the public. Trustee Kyle: Honestly, I could see that being perfectly fine. Do we have a dedicated e-mail address for ethics? Could you do that? Manager Revella: No. Who would monitor that? Trustee Kyle: Ethics Board can be responsible for monitoring that and then it will go straight to them. If residents wants to submit a complaint. Manager Revella: Or if somebody wants to spam the e-mail and send 3000 of them at once. I don't know how much the Ethics Board is going to be able to monitor an e-mail. They meet twice a year. Unless they get a complaint. Can ask them. It’s not what they signed up for, right now. Trustee Kyle: It's being filtered through a representative of the village, an employee, someone who can say hey you need to make sure this is forwarded. Mayor Pearson: I don’t think it should be e-mail. I think it should be something in writing. I’m sure there’s a form. Manager Revella: Complaint form, yes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: You get that from the Village Clerk. Manager Revella: Yes. Manager Revella: Usually, when I have someone bring up a complaint, we try to get the clerk 11 stamp received and give him a copy. Some people don't wait around. Some people just drop them off. So, it's hard to do that. But at least they know it’s been submitted. Trustee Kyle: I think that's probably the better option than having like emails. Then they would come in and write down. I don't know because there's a lot of forms on the website. You can submit via email on the website. Trustee Mishk: I really think that it should say it in law, that every employee that receives a complaint and the ethics is obligated to take it forward. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I understand what everybody's saying that some people don't want to approach an elected official or they may not really know the village employee’s that well or they perceive it as a friend or family. I don’t know. I think the public should have a right if there's something that disturbs them to bring it forward. But I honestly think there are enough people that work in the village in all the different departments and you have your elected officials, you have your Village Manager, I think we should leave it as it. Trustee Kyle: But I think the change in writing, that the person is responsible or obligated to forward that information. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I agree with that because I don't think anybody should take it upon themselves to decide if it's a legitimate complaint or not. I think if there is a complaint, it is our duty to send it to the appropriate party, which would be the Ethics Board. Manager Revella: And if you don't, that's an ethics violation. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Exactly. It's our duty to do that. Manager Revella: Do you want to solicit the opinion of the Ethics Board to see if there's any changes that they are requesting? Mayor Pearson: They have their first meeting on the 29th, so I was planning on just going to tell them that they have to have a president and secretary. Marisa can make a copy of the whole ethics part that they can read what they're responsible for. There's 4 new people, 1 person that is still there. 4 that have never done this before. So, it's just kind of really filling that up and getting them on board with that. They choose their president, they'll choose their secretary. And the president will decide when they’ll have their second meeting. If a violation comes in, they'll have to be contacted and the president will move that forward. Trustee Garrison: I'm good with the changes that were discussed. An obligation if somebody receives one to make sure it's forwarded properly. Other than that I think it's fine. Mayor Pearson: Is it by word or receive something in writing? Trustee Garrison: It's got to be in writing, because by word, it’s like the old telephone game. It’s got to be formal, in writing. Mayor Pearson: It used to be that way years ago and then another board changed it to employees only. So, it was that the public was involved. Attorney, have you had issues with where other communities are at with ethics and what's written? Attorney Cordisco: It's written both ways and it depends on the community. There are 12 municipalities that we represent that have Ethics Boards where effectively, the Village Board or the Town Board functions as a gatekeeper, so there isn't a slew of complaints that the Ethics Board then has to has to work their way through. 1 suggestion I have is you might want to ask your own Ethics Board. Mayor Pearson: We'll address this again. I’ll go on the 29th and maybe at the next meeting, I'll have a report for you guys. What we should finalize for next time then is code review, I was looking at 66, 67, 74 and 86. I don’t want it to go too long since we’re doing it during a meeting. Dress Code - Discussion Mayor Pearson: Dress code, this was brought up because some trustees has some concerns about how employees dress. I know some of the departments have their uniforms and what they're supposed to wear have and everything else but there's some departments that do not. I know some board members are questioning why we don’t have a dress code. John, you looked to make sure we don’t have a dress code? Manager Revella: We do not have a dress code. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Dominic, are we allowed to have a dress code? Attorney Cordisco: Sure. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I know that village residents have approached me about how they see some of our employees dressing and mostly they're talking about office employees and they feel that they're not appropriately attired. They want them to be business casual. I really couldn't argue with that. We do have some office employees who do dress business casual and then we have other people who don't. I personally think we should look polished and professional but I'm okay if Fridays are casual Fridays. I know a lot of offices do that. Mayor Pearson: Are you talking about jeans, no jeans? Is that business casual anymore? Jeans are expensive. People use them to go to work all the time. Is that what we're calling business casual? Deputy Mayor Thompson: In my experience with, I never see people in the bank wearing jeans. When I was still working, my managers had to dress appropriately. Nobody was allowed to wear jeans. You couldn't wear little tops that your belly hung out and guys weren't allowed to wear T- shirts. They had to wear golf looking attire and nice attire. You didn't have to have a suit and tie, but you couldn't wear jeans and T-shirts. Trustee Kyle: I definitely think that the style in general for the working class has changed drastically over the years. I couldn't get a job anywhere with a sleeve tattoo 20-30 years ago. But it has changed a lot of things that weren’t acceptable are acceptable now. I think that it's a matter of practicality. I feel like I'm the wrong person to ask about dress code because you want to talk about people looking polished and professional and people are in the most uncomfortable outfits, shoes, just the look professional and to work all day like that, instead of working comfortably in something that allows us to not sit there miserable for 8 hours. Mayor Pearson: What do you have to wear? Trustee Kyle: I just came from work. It’s very casual. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Do you just work in an office or do you deal with the public? 13 Trustee Kyle: I work at Verizon Corp, so we don't, I'm not like customer facing. Deputy Mayor Thompson: So, you're not dealing with people coming into your office. Trustee Baker: I'm just curious what did you get? Because I haven't heard any complaints. Was it they found tops not appropriate? Jeans not appropriate? Deputy Mayor Thompson: Just that it was that it was too casual. T-shirts, jeans, sneakers. I just listened. Trustee Baker: Sneakers, like me I'm diabetic. I have neuropathy in my feet. I'm not stuffing my feet into high heels. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I get it. I'm not saying people have to wear things like that. Trustee Baker: Unless someone doesn't come in with the paint splattered, sweatpants and coffee stained T-shirts. Personally, I've never found anyone’s outfit inappropriate in the office and I really don't have a problem unless they're jeans that are painted on you or have obscene graphics or something or with holes. That looks terrible. But other than that, as long as they're clean and presentable. As long as it’s not a safety hazard or offensive. If someone wants to wear a pair of jeans and a pair of Keds, I don’t see the dilemma in that. Deputy Mayor Thompson: We're also talking about maybe not what we see currently, but what we want our image to be going on. I'm not like attacking a person. Trustee Baker: I'm not saying that but I've never seen anyone, at least from what I've seen in the office that presents a bad image with the clothes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Apparently, people in the community are saying things. Trustee Garrison: I’m probably the worst person to ask this question because I work in a professional environment where I am in a customer service oriented position. I am in an office all day. I have a semi strict dress code at work. It is business casual Monday through Thursday. Friday you can wear a polo and jeans and sneakers. I think that anytime you're in a business environment where you are interacting with the community or customers or potential people, I think proper attire is important to set the standard. This is what I wear to work. Slacks, sweaters, polos. I have tattoos. I can still wear my polos and my tattoos can show. There's no issues with tattoos. Just want a clean and personal appearance. Not saying that they don't have a personal appearance in the office now. Fridays can be casual Fridays, you want to wear nice jeans and sneakers and you want to put on your college hoodie because it's cold or you want to wear a T-shirt or polo or something. That's fine. I just think personally, business casual in a business environment and technically the village is a business and I don't want to be that guy and I apologize to the office workers here. It's just very important to maintain a professional appearance. Not saying that you guys don't. On a personal level slacks and blouses or polos. I think that's my personal opinion. I wear dress shoes or Hey Dudes, which are very comfortable and they're not exactly sneakers. If you want my opinion, there should be a dress code. Dress business casual Monday through Thursday and then Friday kind of let it hang out and wear your jeans and a polo or nice T-shirt or hoodie. Just no holey jeans, just be presentable. I think Monday through Thursday slacks and a blouse or slacks and a polo or slacks and a nice shirt, doesn't have to be a blouse. Trustee Mishk: I believe that the office and a lot of positions that we have in the village are representatives of us. Many times the taxpayers or residents, they’re the first people that they see 14 and I think they should dress at least business casual and not in jeans, to give that appearance of professionalism and that we're not a construction company here. It's a business where you collect taxes, we take the money, we service them. The least we can do is dress for them. Quite frankly, I think it should go a little bit further. I don't think that, don’t take this wrong, I don't think the Building Department members should be wearing jeans. Unless they're going through something, but I don't think they should be wearing jeans either. There's no reason why they can't wear Dickies. Work pants look better than jeans. I think that any employee of the village should dress if they're representing us to the public. Mayor Pearson: I think that I don't have problem with sneakers because some people have bad feet, they’re up and down. Sneakers are still comfortable, they are fashionable now. I don’t have a problem with shoes. I do think professionalism is important, again it is part of the public and people that's who they see. They're not going to see us, they're not seeing anybody else. I don't have a problem with possibly doing T-shirts for them that they can wear on a Friday, with village logo on it. I still think it should be a little more business casual. What’s the board 's pleasure? Do we want to talk about more? Do you want to make decisions? Deputy Mayor Thompson: I don't want to talk about it anymore. We spent a lot of time talking about it. Trustee Garrison: I don't think we're ready to make a decision. We gotta see something. Manager Revella: Draft a dress code policy for next meeting. Office Hours - Discussion Tabled Cell Phone Policy Tabled PBA Memorandum Manager Revella: Will be discussed in executive session. Renewal of IWS Agreement Trustee Mishk made a motion to the renewal of the IWS Agreement. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. Trustee Kyle: I know Mary Ellen brought up a bunch of issues. Is that something that in the agreement that we can bring up with them? Manager Revella: Yes. Trustee Kyle: They leave the lids open, when it's pouring rain and then your garbage is half filled with water. They're in the middle of the street. Manager Revella: During a storm when it's windy or regular time? Trustee Kyle: When it's pouring rain. No wind or anything. To leave all the cans wide open so that they're like completely full of water. Manager Revella: We can address those things. It’s already in the agreement that they have to abide by those things. 15 Deputy Mayor Thompson: Everybody is constantly complaining about the cans being left in the middle of the road. They're getting that complaint every week. What do they have to do about that? Do they get a fine? Manager Revella: They go back and correct them. Deputy Mayor Thompson: They do not. Trustee Kyle: How many times have they gotten a fine? Manager Revella: I don't know. We can check. I think it’s $250 per incident. It would be deducted from their invoice, if we have any. Trustee Kyle: For everybody watching the live stream in the Village of Walden, please call in and voice your complaints for IWS to make sure that they are forwarded and thereby fined. All ayes. Motion carried. Remote Meeting Attendance Mayor Pearson: This is something that was brought up by, I think Neil. Sometimes it's still a law. I think the attorney said that a village can make a law that if somebody's going to be sick or in the hospital that they can, it has to be almost an emergency situation, it's not like when you're on vacation. But you have to have an open public meeting. It has to be posted as people will be away. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I will tell you being someone who had surgery and 3 operations in a very short amount of time. I would have been able to participate if it had been remote. There are circumstances where it is beneficial for people to be remote. Your brain is fine, your voice is fine, but physically you cannot be here, but you can certainly participate in a meeting. I think when we brought this up a couple years ago, the feeling was people would abuse it. What do you do with the people who want to abuse it? There are legitimate reasons, but we all know there are people who will take advantage. Trustee Garrison: The concern that I believe was brought up the last time we talked about this was that you have to allow it to be an open forum where you're at. In that case, anybody could come knock on your door and say I want to come into this meeting and you by law have to let them into your home to be there while you're doing this. Manager Revella: Correct. Attorney Cordisco: It's actually worse than that. Number of things to consider, so 2022 the state changed the public meetings law and put, what I would consider to be very onerous requirements on allowing remote participation. The first thing, the board still has to have a forum present here. The second thing is that if 1 of the board members is going to participate remotely it has to be put on the notice for the media. So, it can't be something that's done last minute. Wherever it is that you're attending from, let's say from your house, from Las Vegas or wherever you are, the notice itself has to have your address of where you’re attending. And where you are, let’s say it's your house, you also have to put a notice on your door. It does have to also be available to anyone from the general public to attend, wherever it is that you're attending. That's just for starters. The meeting also has to be recorded and transcribed and the transcription of the meeting actually has to be posted on the village’s website. The short answer is, it’s possible, but is it practicable as a regular course of business? The other thing is that it can't be just because you want to attend remotely. The state law requires that it is an extraordinary circumstance. 16 Trustee Baker: How are you supposed to prove that? You take photographic evidence and e-mail that in? Attorney Cordisco: Yes, that's correct, because the potential is that the board did some action, and someone challenges as whether or not it was a valid meeting. These are procedural steps where it makes it easy or easier to claim that there's been a violation of the open meetings law when you don't have full technical compliance with these steps. Possible? Yes, but I can tell you that none of the boards that Drakeloeb represents have, they’ve talked about this, but none of them have actually adopted the local law that is required for you to enable it to happen in the first place. Manager Revella: If there's a real emergency, we declare a state of emergency and then you can be remote. That’s different. *Trustee Garrison left dais* Ray Lustig: I went home and my wife who was also a party of the transaction has agreed to make the payment of $2004.25 in an effort to go forward. I would tend to this to the Clerk. That item is behind us. I would hope now that with the agreement, I have trouble because I don’t have that memory of items, but when it comes to the land. There's 2 parcels and I remember talking about subdividing my wife’s property or combining. Number 1, the subdivision situation. If 1 of the neighbors, that situation would happen only if 1 of the neighbor said okay I want to buy the property. If they don't offer me a reasonable price or say hey a dollar and you're on your own. I’m stuck because of the agreement. Attorney Cordisco: No, you have the option of combining the lots. It's entirely up to you and whatever agreement that you need to reach with the neighbors or if you don't reach any agreement with neighbors, that you consolidate the 2 lots. Ray Lustig: I will look to that if it is legally permissible and would really be the best option for the land as far as the deed and the title. I would love to combine them, if it's allowed and it should be theoretically. However, I get concerned about getting my hands tied in a situation where there's not an answer. I will say unequivocally, I plan on divesting myself of both properties. 1 way or the other, when I get rid of one property, I will most certainly get rid of the other. I have no personal issues associated with the land. I’m with you. I’m trusting you. And with any luck, at all this can work out to everybody's benefit. I appreciate it. Manager Revella: Board, just want to make sure, does that now give the attorney permission to get the agreement prepared for Mr. Lustig for next meeting? All: Yes. Attorney Cordisco: Will make sure you get a copy of the agreement before the meeting. Resolution – Budget Transfers Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve budget transfers. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. Trustee Mishk: How do we know the accuracy of these? Mayor Pearson: We had spoken to 2 people from the accounting firm, RBT. They looked at it first. All ayes 17 Public Comment Dennis Wageman: About dress code, it's more important the way you're met and the things that are said than the dress code. So, don't get too wrapped up in the dress code because it's a lot in attitude and what is said. The reason I really came here tonight was to talk about trash. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but when this ordinance or whatever you'd call it was passed, for trash pickup. I was dead against this. It was passed that single family house and a 4 family house would pay the same. Manager Revella: No, Sir. 4 family house pays 4 times a single family house. Dennis Wageman: Okay, that clears that up. Now what happens if you have a 4 family house, that 4 family house is at 21 Ulster Avenue. It has unit 5 in it and unit 6 in it. In front of the house is a string of trash cans. How is that being handled? Manager Revella: I have to check to see how many are being paid for. Dennis Wageman: There's that. Then the other question that I had was these properties are taken over like on William Street. There's a 4 family over there. Manager Revella: Just so you know, there's another resident here complaining about the issues on William Street. Like the ownership a few of those houses and what's going on there as well. It's a problem. We’re trying to help. Dennis Wageman: How's the trash being situation being handled there? They're tax exempt. Manager Revella: They're paying the trash bill separate. They don't have to pay taxes, but they do pay a trash bill. Any services or utilities and stuff they pay for. Just like a church. Dennis Wageman: What do I pay here? 300 something. Manager Revella: You should have the senior exemptions. Dennis Wageman: I thought that if you had more than 4, you had to have separate trash pickup. Manager Revella: Commercial, yes, that's correct. 21 Ulster is considered commercial, so they may be paying commercial rates. Dennis Wageman: I don't know how long ago, the village passed another ordinance about water mains and sewers and who's responsible for what. It seems like a lot of people in the village aren't aware of that. I wasn't aware of it until a month or 2 ago. Mayor Pearson: I tried to tell everybody about because that was done by a previous board and it's really important. I'm going to talk about it now so if somebody's watching, you are responsible as a homeowner to fix your laterals from your house to the main. Wherever they are. It could be thousands of dollars, but your insurance company, most insurance companies I can’t say all, my insurance company, I can get a rider. It's not a lot of money and I don't remember what it was, I got a couple of years ago. Trustee Garrison: Most insurance companies that do offer the endorsement or the rider on the policy, they will pay up to 10k with a $500 deductible. That's usually the standard. Some companies are a little more than others, but honestly I think the most on average price that you see for that is about $60 a year on your homeowners insurance. It is relatively inexpensive. 18 Dennis Wageman: I couldn't get one with State Farm. Trustee Garrison: State Farm does offer it, but they don't put it out there to the public and they have a very strict guideline on how they'll do it. The only way State Farm will do it is they will endorse it on the policy renewal only and you have to request it from them. So, whatever date is your anniversary date for your renewal, you would have to request it. I would consider asking them again. And looking on their website. There are other options also. There are companies out there that you can purchase as a stand alone policy. Some things with them, they all do the same thing, the only difference with a lot of them, it's a warranty company. You have to use whoever they send to do the work. You cannot use your own contractor. You would call the hotline and then they would send someone. Dennis Wageman: That ends up being a big problem. It’s different if you're on a village street versus a state road. It's a very big difference. Is everybody aware of what it costs to dig up? Like down by the bridge. What did it cost to dig up that? Manager Revella: I don't have the final cost yet because we still have some pavement work to do. Dennis Wageman: I heard from the Water Department and I hope somebody can verify this. Further down by the Catholic school on the left hand side, there's a big, Garrisons house I believe it was. I guess it’s in disrepair but I heard that the the bill there was so high that it almost caused the sale of that house to fall through. Manager Revella: That’s correct. Mayor Pearson: State work is more expensive. Dennis Wageman: Another issue I've got, the shut off is between curb and the sidewalk. What happens? They put a gas line through there. They tore it up. Got it replaced. The village actually replaced this, I guess it was before the law changed. Now everybody drives on top of that. It's going again. I talked to another couple down the street, they don’t even know where theirs is. People are driving over the valves. Because the no parking sign or whatever got down and when Amazon or somebody comes or the fuel oil truck comes, they drive on there. It’s all muddy, what’s your solid point? The shut off valve. Even if you get it replaced. It’s going to happen again because there’s no protection for it. You need to put posts next to the shut off valve so it doesn’t get driven on. Mary Ellen Matise: Last meeting, I talked about on Rt 52 across from the wells. I'd like to ask the village to put the town on notice about rezoning that industrial, when it had been zoned away from being industrial to residential. Put them on notice that if there's any impairment to our wells because that's right on the Tin Brook feeding into the wells, that they're responsible. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Is that something we can do? Attorney Cordisco: We can certainly send a letter to the town. Advising that there's concerns. Mayor Pearson: I think that’s wise because if something does happen, there’s a letter on record. Attorney Cordisco: Would you go as far as to suggest that it should be rezoned residential? Deputy Mayor Thompson: Do you think it's prudent to do that while we're still trying to work with them on the law? 19 Manager Revella: You can add this property to it. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Maybe we should think about the whole thing. I agree we need to preserve our wells, our aquifer. Mayor Pearson: It’s not gonna be a mean letter. It's gonna be, would you consider rethinking what you just did.... Manager Revella: It would be more like, be conscious of our wells and our water shed. Deputy Mayor Thompson: That I can go along with. I just don't want to, not that I don't want to ruffle any feathers, I think they do need to understand the significance of this because when we tried to do this the last time, they didn't do what they needed to do. Mary Ellen Matise: Fact of the matter is when they adopted their comprehensive plan, which changed that zoning, they were given every rationale for why that zoning was changed including the fact that the lots adjacent to it are residential lots. Mayor Pearson: We can just notice them that this has happened and we would like you to consider thinking about our wells and water protection. we've talked about it before and is that right. Mayor Pearson made a motion to authorize the attorney to draft a letter to the town. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Truste Mishk. All ayes. Motion carried. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Mayor Pearson: I want to put correspondence in here because I get a lot of correspondence. I do send it to you. Marisa, in there for next meeting, we'd like to put the correspondence back on the agenda. Number 1 the Mayor and the Board of Trustees are invited to the Memorial Day Parade, May 26th, Monday at 9:30. Lineup by the Veterans Park. They also were asking if we could loan them the stage and the sound system. I don't know if that's taken care of already. They asked about 2 platforms, steps for the access to the stage and the village sound system. If it's going to be raining it'll be held up here, so if we can do that for them as well. Also, for Flag Day, I did reach out to the Chief, but I didn't go through the proper chain of command. Just to remind the Chief that. He is hopefully going to talk to Related Management about the gate being opened for us for the band and things to get in. I got an invitation to the Jewish Community Center 100 year luncheon program. Anybody that would like to go, I sent you a copy of that, please let me know. It's on Sunday. It's awesome that's it's 100 years already. Sunday June 29th at 12 noon, $45 a person. I also sent you Maybrook’s 100 Centennial Parade that they're going to be having July 11th. If you’d like to join us and Marisa, John, if you would like to join us as well to walk in the parade. I think it would be great if we had a bunch of us there. It’s Friday, July 11th at 7pm. Lineup is at 6pm at he Fire Department, then the parade will start and go to Veterans Memorial Park. I thought it would be kind of fun. I'm going so if you'd like to join would be fun. Conference of Mayors sent me a letter for people going to NYCOM this year. They were asking about a vote proxy. The only person would be Liz. I don’t know what they’re going to be voting on. Manager Revella: I think you would make her the proxy just in case of a vote because you don't meet again before she's away. 20 Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve Truste Kyle to be the voting proxy at NYCOM. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Mishk: This month, May, was the designated month for flushing hydrants. I can't get over how every year, 41 years that I've lived in this village, this occurs with no real notice of time of what part of the month this occurs and what neighborhoods. The last time we saw an announcement made there was actually a suggestion by the village that you change your schedule of doing laundry so as not to spoil your laundry to the night. A couple of times, at least that I know of, it's extended past the month of May for the flushing of the hydrants. Sometimes it might go 5 or 6 weeks. I don't understand why in this day and age, that we have to inconvenience the whole village to flush the hydrants, when they could be easily done at night. Instead of the whole village changing their schedule, the 1 or 2 guys that flush the hydrants, can change their schedule and do them at night. It's less traffic on the road, it's probably safer for them to do then. Mayor Pearson: Is it contractual? Manager Revella: It’s not. It's required by the Department of Health to be on a certain notice and done a certain time, but if you're going to have to do it in certain hours, it's going to be overtime because they still have obligations during the day and they rotate. Trustee Mishk: Isn't there something in the contract that said with a certain amount of notice, you change your schedule? Manager Revella: Are you talking about like from midnight to 7am or something? Trustee Mishk: Even 6 at night. Manager Revella: A lot of people do showers at night, baths and laundry. Trustee Mishk: Yeah but I'm telling you, I've seen this like I said countless times. When I used to wear a lot of white clothes, when I wore suits everyday. 1 look got completely ruined and it was outside that time period that their supposed to be flushing the hydrants because something else came up and I understand things come up. Emergencies come up and they extended the time and no warning was given. Quite frankly, the chemical that was given that the village supplied, did not clean that issue up. I would like to see, the next time it has to be done, any more accommodations being made. Maybe we could change shift. The guys might prefer to change their shift for a month. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I want to ask John if he has any follow up on a few things. Have we heard anything more from Assemblyman Maher about the crosswalk by the post office? Manager Revella: No. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Have we filed something with the state about that sidewalk over there with the rebar that's sticking out? Manager Revella: I did notify the state. I didn't put it in a notice of defect because I'm not sure who's responsible for that sidewalk. Being cautious. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Are you following through? 21 Manager Revella: Yes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Have we gotten any more information on the municipal parking sign on that corner? Are you following up on that? Manager Revella: It's the same person you're asking about the crosswalk. Yes. I know that the person was busy with the budget and now they're back and hopefully on top of these things again. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I'll keep asking you, so hopefully you'll keep asking them. Have we heard anything more that we can provide for Ms. Sullivan? Manager Revella: Yes. I think I told the Mayor, I spoke with the regional director who told me that the resident engineer would be the one to help find those documents to try and help figure out what's going on here. I reached out to the regional engineer, they didn't respond, twice so when I meet with the regional director again and let them know that the engineer is not responding. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I have brought up something that a resident asked me at the last meeting about municipal bonding and you said you were going to look into that. Manager Revella: Whether we can issue a bond for the people. That's got to be a city question. I know cities have that. I'm not sure if the village is even allowed. Attorney Cordisco: The Town of Tuxedo did that for the Tuxedo Reserve Project, also known as Tuxedo Farms. But they had to form like a local development corporation in order to float municipal bonds, basically going to be paid back by the developer. I don’t know if that’s the situation that we’re talking about. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I'll see if this gentleman can give me anymore information that maybe I can give to you. Anything new about the railroad tracks? Manager Revella: I know that our DPW was coordinating with the railroad company to do it. We can't do it without them and the DOT. DOT is in charge of the railroad crossing even though it's a village street. We are not able to touch it. DOT regulates it and the railroad company assists. Deputy Mayor Thompson: We've been hearing that for a long time. Is it moving? Is anything happening? Manager Revella: It's been 2 years since they said they were willing to do it with us and we're willing to do it with them. This is the second year and we're just waiting for them to schedule. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I don't think we can just say we're waiting. I think we have to be really persistent. Manager Revella: Sometimes persistence blows up in your face, so we just got to be careful how persistent we are. That we're not nagging, because then they forget us and think that we're a pest and not going to help us. We're trying to work with them as wel as possible. Trustee Baker: I asked you last meeting about when that building was taken down on West Main Street, that other partial roof that is sticking out, is that on the building next door? Manager Revella: It’s on the building next door so he's not going to be able to touch it. 22 Trustee Baker: Have they been reached out to to rectify that? Manager Revella: To do what? It's part of the building. Trustee Baker: Is there a way to close it off? I'd be just concerned about it not being the most stable and exposed with nails. Trustee Mishk: It’s attached to the building. When I looked at it, it's actually flashing. *inaudible* between the building so it could be easily removed, but then they've got to repair the flashing. Trustee Baker: Lynn touched on it slightly with the municipal signs. Was that individual also aware that the board had voted to increase the amount of municipal signs and have additional ones? Manager Revella: Yes. The mayor spoke to him as well when we first brought it up, as well. Mayor Pearson: He emailed me, but he didn't give me any details on what was going to happen. Trustee Garrison: May is mental health awareness month. If you feel like somebody's off or they're not being themselves, just talk to them. Could be some underlying issues there. ever want to see anybody going through anything. It's also military appreciation month. I don't know why there's 1 designated month, I feel like it should be all 12 months. Memorial Day is coming up. Very important day. If you can make it out, make it out to the village’s event. It's always a good time. I did get approached by 1 resident on Princeton Drive. I was walking my dog on the sidewalk. There is lifted about a foot and a half up from the connection because of the tree that is growing underneath it and pushed it up. He was concerned that the issue is not going to be fixed and even if he does pay to fix the sidewalk, the tree is just going to continue to ruin it and the village owns the tree so why is he responsible to fix the sidewalk that the village’s tree ruined? I didn’t have an answer for him because I didn’t want to get into the legalities of it. I did tell him to send an e-mail out to the board and the mayor just expressing his concern. It’s a tree that is between the sidewalk and the street. Manager Revella: It says in the code that if the tree moves the sidewalk, that you're responsible to fix it. Regardless of who’s tree it is. Just because it's God's tree. Trustee Garrison: He was just concerned that if someone gets hurt, he’s liable. There's people out there in a wheelchair and there's kids that run around and they're riding their bikes and everything. Mayor Pearson: Marisa, congratulations on your Clerk Honor Roll. Thank you, congratulations. I want to ask about the smoke shop on Main Street. Is that reopened? Manager Revella: There's a store open on Main Street. Mayor Pearson: Do they sell cannabis or not? Manager Revella: I don't buy cannabis, I'm not sure. I'll ask if anybody has though. Mayor Pearson: Did the other one get closed down? On the West side. I saw a sign on the front but I don't know what it was. Manager Revella: That's the placard from last time. They were always opened. They just had a placard that required them to do certain things, that if they didn't comply they would be seized. This 23 one got seized and that was it. I'm not sure what they complied with to reopen, but they have to comply with state law to do that. Mayor Pearson: I have a letter from Mr. Elliot in email about his sidewalk on Overlook. It's a piece of sidewalk that starts at his house and ends at his neighbors house. It's not even handicapped accessible. He has to walk over the curb to get to it. He got a violation that they didn't shovel, that he's never shoveled the whole time he's lived there because the sidewalk goes nowhere. We should put them on the agenda. Manager Revella: The board would have to vote to remove and my suggestion, the next meeting discuss that and whether you have a town hall in that location for the residents up there, like hey listen this sidewalk is worthless. You guys okay with taking that out? Like we've done on Oakland and then just do the same thing. Mayor Pearson: Community Center kitchen, where are we? Manager Revella: They finished the electrical, go check it out. Mayor Pearson: Comp plan needs on the 29th. JOhn and I had a meeting with the PB Chair and ZBA Chair about some zoning issues. Turned out really great. It was just a very simple easy discussion. There'll be some amended pieces that we can do now that we’ll be bringing to the board. The wall across form Sweeney’s, is that done and the sidewalk up and top and everything? There's all that large fencing still up there. It's gross and disgusting. Manager Revella: The project that the board approved is finished. The owner still needs to remedy things on the property himself. Executive Session – Personal History of Particular Person, CBN for PBA and Attorney/Client Trustee Mishk made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss employment history of particular person, attorney/client and PBA negotiations. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Garrison made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to decline proposed MOA. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 24  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting May 7, 2024 Motions & Resolutions Executive Session – Employment History of a Particular Person Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss employment history of a particular person. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Garrison made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Approval of Minutes – May 6, 2025 Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve the May 6, 2025. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Park Use Request – Alcohol Waiver - Martines Trustee Kyle made a motion to approve the park use request – alcohol waiver. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Renewal of IWS Agreement Trustee Mishk made a motion to the renewal of the IWS Agreement. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Resolution – Budget Transfers Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve budget transfers. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. All ayes. Motion carried. Town Letter Mayor Pearson made a motion to authorize the attorney to draft a letter to the town. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Trustee Mishk made a motion to approved payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. NYCOM Proxy Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve Truste Kyle to be the voting proxy at NYCOM. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session - Employment History of Particular Person, Collective Bargaining Negotiations for PBA, Attorney-Client Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion employment history of particular person, collective bargaining negotiations for PBA and attorney-client. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Garrison made a motion to reconvene the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. 25 Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to decline proposed MOA. Seconded by Trustee Garrison. All ayes. Motion carried. 26