Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting January 6, 2026 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 Gerald Mishk Bill Taylor Cheryl Baker Ralph Garrison Liz Kyle Absent: Also Present: Marisa Kraus, Village Clerk John Revella, Village Manager John Cappello, Village Attorney Comp Plan Kristen O'Donnell: I did send it out at least to the mayor and manager yesterday so if anyone needs a hard copy I do have it here. This has been about a year and a half, the committee met several times talking about updates. Most of the updates were pretty general. Things that the village has accomplished over the last several years, demographic updates, things like basic updates like that that you the village tends to do every 5-ish years. There are several zoning changes, which I did send around, the use tables, the residential changes, no use changes just removal of the R6 zone and the R2 zone. And the business use table, some new uses in there, some changes in the manner in which various uses will be approved. If you would like to go through the changes, if you want to just jump to questions, if you want to jump to procedure. I'm happy to do anything you like. Mayor Pearson: We'll see if the board has any questions first, if they read through it and if not then you can do the overview of what the changes were. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Did we decide finally on the R5? There was a question about the R5 zone correct? Mayor Pearson: The R5 zone is set in what the dimensions are, but there are certain neighborhoods that are not in that zone. That board will have to change that. That has to be done at a later time. The board will pull that up as an agenda item. The changes in the back of that, you're going to see immediate changes, later changes, what we need to do quickly, not quickly for zone changes. That’s going to have to happen by the board. Kristen O'Donnell: Some of you have sat through these committee meetings so I don't want to bore you and I don't really want to go through things that we don't want to talk about, but John you want to start from the beginning or do you think it's best to just go to the final chapter and look at the actual recommendations? Mayor Pearson: I think the beginning…you have your streetscapes, you have your business 1 district, you have what it's about, so I think that's pretty self-explanatory. Manager Revella: Action items. Kristen O'Donnell: The action items are at the end. The history of the village hasn't changed. We haven't had a lot of updates in that regard. The updates with respect to parks, what the village has done over the last 5 years, which in this village is always significant park upgrade. So, that's upgraded. Demographic information obviously updated but otherwise there's not a lot of changes to the background information chapters, which is what you're going through now. Manager Revella: I know we were talking about trying to get the new maps. This doesn't have the annexations that were done in this area on these maps. Do we know if we got those new ones? Kristen O'Donnell: I did send that local law to the counties, because I had them update your zoning map and I believe the land use map that's in this document is updated. I did not have them update wetlands but I certainly can. It should be fairly simple for them to do that, but the county runs on a little bit of a delay. But that it shouldn't be that big of a deal. So, that would be the same for… Manager Revella: Soil, water, everything, zones. Mayor Pearson: Kristen, when was the last wetlands maps done? Kristen O'Donnell: I believe that those wetlands map were done by Orange County. They did all the mappings for this plan, but I that's probably from 2009 maybe. 2008-2009. Mayor Pearson: Wasn't the state like a few years ago doing wetland update maps? That was a whole big to do. Kristen O'Donnell: The NYS DEC changed the law with respect to wetlands, but they actually got rid of the wetland maps, so now in order to decide whether or not you have tate wetlands, you have to actually go to them directly. But the federal wetlands have largely remain the same, so I think everything that's a state is also mapped as federal so I think that the map would still be accurate. Manager Revella: The board does want to address this before you leave in Night Sky. Kristen O’Donnell: It doesn't really make sense to make a recommendation that you're going to have implemented in advance but we can certainly read through that and make sure that it's consistent. Attorney Cappello: Is there any description of any map changes proposed? Kristen O'Donnell: Any zoning map changes? I don't believe so. There was a discussion at 1 time about a couple of lots on Main Street, but I don't think the committee ever actually decided to move forward with them. The biggest zoning map change that's proposed is the removal of the R2 zone, which is essentially just Olley Park. Just to zone that as a park as opposed to having it in a residential development. Manager Revella: I just actually forwarded that to the whole board again, just in case they didn’t get last time. Kristen O'Donnell: All of the emergency services is updated with respect to the ambulance district 2 with respect to school numbers. All that's been updated as well. Land use table has been updated to reflect the annexation and the additional acreage in the village. What you're looking at now are existing conditions, so you probably don't need to go through that, but you can go down to recommendations. That land use map is updated, that's why you have the brown, you can see the Biagini site has been included. That map is updated and the land use data totals in that table are updated as well. Attorney Cappello: Eventually for the public hearing there should be a summary of what is proposed to change. Kristen O'Donnell: Chapter 10 is a list which probably makes it the easiest, but I mean if you want to go through the text of this, but the final chapter of this plan is a list. Attorney Cappello: There's going to need to be a public hearing notice so the public's aware of what it is being changed. It may just be that list. Kristen O'Donnell: We can talk about procedure when we're done with this conversation but the question from my side is, do you intend to do a local law and zoning and the comprehensive plan at 1 time? That's kind of the big question with comprehensive plans, do you want to adopt the comprehensive plan so you can kind of put a pin in it and say it's finished and now let's work on implementing the zoning or do you want to do everything at once so that there's one SEQR analysis, 1 public hearing, 1 referral to the county and all of those things. It is more efficient as long as you want to move forward. Manager Revella: That's the question, some of the items that are recommended and may have more debate than others. Kristen O'Donnell: Absolutely. That's why a lot of municipalities choose to adopt the comprehensive plan so they can say this is completed, now let's move on to step 2 in the event that some of the local laws are maybe controversial or requiring additional analysis or debate. Attorney Cappello: Just keep in mind that the local laws have to be consistent with the comprehensive plan so whatever you're recommending in the comprehensive plan, you need to do. Or your zoning won’t be in compliance. I'll bring to the board's attention, I'm just looking at the use table. Then you have rooftop solar panels as not listed as a permitted use in the business districts and a note that they're not permitted on any structure listed in the National Register. I was looking at I'm not sure that's legal. Solar panel is a pertinence to a building and it's just as if you were to prohibit oil tanks or propane in any building. I think that is something we should take a look at before you adopt it as to whether that's legal. Mayor Pearson: What if we didn’t talk about it at all? Attorney Cappello: Then it's permitted. Again, it's like me putting a propane tank in my basement. It's a utility. It’s a form of energy. Manager Revella: You can say where you can put your oil tank or you can say where you can put your solar panel. Kristen O'Donnell: SHPO has told applicants that they can't put antennas on top of a roof. Attorney Cappello: SHPO is part of the regulation, but I'm not sure. I would want to check. SHIPPO will tell you what kind of windows you can have. 3 Kristen O'Donnell: That's why that note specifically references National Register sites and not local just for that reason. Attorney Cappello: It's not listed as all as a permitted or non-permitted use in several district. Kristen O'Donnell: I thought it was an accessory use. Attorney Cappello: And maybe it is Mayor Pearson: John, does that only mean for rooftop or is that for people's property in the lawn and everything else? Attorney Cappello: No, that's different this is listed in the bulk business use table as rooftop solar panels. Kristen O'Donnell: Rooftop Solar is item 10 under Accessory Uses F. Attorney Cappello: I just see blank lines, now maybe defined somewhere else's accessories. I just wanted to raise the question. Kristen O'Donnell: You can't see the words in the table? Attorney Cappello: It says rooftop solar panels and then 3 of the, at least this is on my phone so it could be there. The first three boxes, there's no Ps no SE 's Kristen O'Donnell: Correct, because rooftop solar panels are for whatever reason not permitted in those 3 zones. I don't know why that is the case that's not a change, they're not read so that's as it is today. Attorney Cappello: In B1, B2, B3? Kristen O'Donnell: I don’t have a reason for that. This is the list, kind of the summary list of all of the input recommendations and implementation items, it's organized by chapter. Manager Revella: Chapter 4. The big ones are the zoning. Kristen O'Donnell: It's also organized by whether it's just an ongoing policy, which this village maintains on a regular basis or if it's a zoning amendment it's called out, because that's something that would actually need to be included in a local law. Manager Revella: So, immediate means this year. Kristen O'Donnell: Most of the zoning implementation items can all go in 1 local law and they could be implemented fairly quickly. I don't believe there's anything that's going to require a lot of debate. We could just put a local law together for review at the end of the comprehensive plan or John can put a local law together. Typically I would prepare SEQR based on this document including the first local law of all the immediate implementation items so that they're all considered together under SEQR. If you have any questions as to why something was done or questions about something that you believe may have been left out. Brenda Adams: *inaudible* B1, which is the Thruway Plaza, it says in the description of B1, page 4 72. On the table it says senior group residence, it's a special exception and bed and breakfast is permitted. Is that correct? Kristen O'Donnell: The table is correct. If you want to change the language in the existing conditions to clarify that those 2 uses are permitted. I think it's just a clarification. You could consider those uses commercial, you could consider them residential. But I'm happy to clarify that. Brenda Adams: It seems contradictory. B4, it says in the written part on page 73, printing is allowed. On table B4 *inaudible* Kristen O'Donnell: Printing and publishing plans. That's a proposed change, so I believe that that's as of right now, I believe that that is permitted and the proposal in this that's why it's red in your table SE, it's going to be changed to that. So, that's why the existing description would say permitted. Do we want to talk about procedure and steps or do we want to give the board additional time to review the plan? Manager Revella: I think it's important to note the procedure and steps regardless, please. Kristen O'Donnell: When this board is satisfied with the content of the comprehensive plan, the next step would be to set a public hearing and refer the document to your Planning Board and to Orange County Planning Department and the Town of Montgomery as well. You can do all of those at the same time. The county at least will have 30 days to get back to you, have a public hearing. We'll need to start SEQR, which for this plan, in advance of the public hearing, we’ll prepare parts 1, 2 and 3 of the EAF for the board to consider and that will provide the rationale behind whatever decision this board makes. Whether they believe that the impacts rise to the level of further environmental analysis or whether they believe that this board can adopt a negative declaration to complete SEQR, we can make that determination once we do the initial analysis. The last plan will say in 2019, this board adopted a negative declaration to complete that process. So, you can, totally at your discretion, you can take as long as you want to make those steps and continue to digest this and come back with comments or you can give me a deadline for SEQR and we can start the process now it's totally up to the board. Trustee Mishk: I'd like to review it more. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I don't want to drag it on and on but I think there's enough changes that we should probably take a closer look. But I think you should give a deadline, otherwise this will go on forever. So, if Jerry thinks next meeting, I’m okay with that. Mayor Pearson: Next meeting or the first meeting in February? Trustee Garrison: Let’s go with February give us an extra you know week or 2 to look at it. Mayor Pearson: So, that is to for you all to review it, we're going to discuss it, make sure everything is where you want it to be. The zone changes you're thinking about. Those are important discussions to have. You're going to be talking about what the implementation is, why you think it should be that, maybe needs to be different. Trustee Baker: The question I have is the R5, that isn't something that this board would decide on? Mayor Pearson: That is in there, but that is part of a whole big picture. It's not just 1 little section, so we can do all those zoning changes at once. Not all of them, but a lot of them at once as Kristin said and do 1 package deal. So, that's something to discuss at the next meeting what you want done, 5 at what time. Attorney Cappello: But if there are changes like that, that you intend to make, the purpose for the motivation behind those potential future changes, should be discussed and analyzed in the comprehensive plan. So, when you say you're looking at this whole you, you're looking at the particulars, because whatever you have in mind that you're going to do in the future, doesn't have to be set in stone in the comprehensive plan, but the comprehensive plan has to support what you're doing and be consistent. Mayor Pearson: Correct, yes, because if we make changes to that later, we have to have an amendment to the comprehensive plan. Which is a whole other process. So, you really want to think about what you want in each section and look at what those zones are holding, like the special uses, the non-special uses. Look at those tables and see if you want all those things in each space. You have the maps to show you the zone. You can see what's going to be. Kristen O'Donnell: A lot of the commercial changes are specifically intended to encourage economic development, fill storefronts, bring in businesses and kind of discourage uses, which may have a negative impact on that. Quarries and heavy industry, which may have a negative impact on those types of businesses. So, I think that that was kind of the objective here. I'd certainly look at them kind of in that lens. That is discussed in more detail in that zoning section. Chapter 9 of the plan talks about the types of businesses that the village is attempting to attract and the types of businesses that the village is kind of discouraging, because certainly we don't want to discourage business necessarily, but we want to make sure that certain uses are regulated and there are where they are in the village. You want to make sure that there is buffering and things, so that there aren't land use conflicts. So, that is a good idea to take a look at. Mayor Pearson: I think the comp plan committee did a good job. They've changed some of those things and put them in red. Look those over and see if you agree with them or not agree with them and we'll come back in February to have a major discussion and go from there. Kristen, while you're here, night sky. Do you have other communities that have major laws that? Kristen O'Donnell: Yes. The Town of Chester's new comprehensive plan that they're in the process of adopting, it's a major part of that plan. They actually looked at Walden 's comprehensive plan, I feel like they took language from there. But a lot of communities do have certain regulations, floodlighting regulations, for height and regulations for lighting levels at property lines and downtown business districts have regulations for types of lighting versus floodlighting or versus a more modern, what they call the cobra head that you see on the highway. They regulate the Village of Goshen, Village of Maybrook, Village of Warwick, all have regulations to use that they're standard period lighting. Town of Wallkill also has one of those. So, you can do a lot of things. This particular local law was written by your attorney, not by me, but I'm happy to answer any questions if I can. Attorney Cappello: And just for the record, I took some existing laws in cobbled something together, so I have no pride of authorship and I have no knowledge of different types of light fixtures and lumens. I would appreciate that you provide the board. Kristen O'Donnell: I didn't have a ton of comments. My initial comment, I just went through the existing zoning and subdivision regulations to make sure that there aren't any conflicts. There was the 1 mention of street lighting for subdivisions that I pointed out. Right now, your subdivision regulations say the planning board may require lighting. That's kind of a policy decision. I wouldn't say that there's a right or wrong answer. A lot of subdivision regulations across this county, plenty of them require sidewalks streetlights. A lot of the more urban or suburban subdivisions they 6 require that and allow the Planning Board to waive them if it's a situation that the Planning Board doesn't feel that it's appropriate maybe there's no other lighting in the area, maybe there's some kind of sensitive use next door, they'll get rid of them, but most subdivision regulations do require light. Mayor Pearson: We don't have a lot of subdivisions though. We are more local, neighbor to neighbor, business to business, that kind of thing that people are struggling with, that the lighting has become bold and bright and people have to live with that and do they have to live with it. Kristen O'Donnell: From a business district perspective this doesn't differentiate between existing businesses and proposed businesses. Which is fine. Again, this is a policy decision so there's not a right or wrong answer here, but I just want the board to be aware that this is going to apply universally. So, you just want to be careful or let you're Building Inspector know that there might be a lot of violations because you're going to make floodlighting across the board, no longer permitted. Maybe in the local law, you may want to give them a certain amount of time to come into compliance with that or maybe you don't. Manager Revella: The biggest thing for the board was the trespass and the glare. Kristen O'Donnell: This addresses that very thoroughly. It definitely achieves that objective. It sets limits for glare at property lines, it sets maximum height of light fixtures, which I think is an excellent idea. It talks about shielding for light fixtures, all those things. Like I said this is very thorough and it does a lot of good things. I just bring up things that the board may kind of unintended consequences, which is you don't want to make 50% of your business district illegal and you’re going to drive your Building Inspector crazy and the mayor and Village Manager and Building Department. A lot of phone calls they say what do you mean I have to change all my light fixtures out? Again, that's not a terrible thing if the village wants to clean this up to go out and just as long as you’re making your business owners aware of it and you're saying you got 60-90 days to come into compliance and this is the direction the village is going in. It's not a bad thing to reduce bright flood lights that people have installed on telephone poles at 30 feet tall, shining out into the sky. Attorney Cappello: I'll just point out the board, what Kristen said is absolutely true. Section 1 is that changes your zoning code, which as it would relate to all future applicants coming before the Planning Board to make it clear that they have to comply with our standards and the same for Section 2. I know we need to tweak it, makes it clear for anybody coming in for a subdivision. That's all new development. That's kind of the easy part. Section 3 is a new chapter 168, which is a lighting chapter, which would apply to everyone and it's just like a noise ordinance. No one could see noise whether you're an existing business or a new business. Except here, we should look at this to provide some kind of kike 3 year involved. Kristen O'Donnell: Like I'm grandfathering or giving a business owner a period of time to come into compliance before your Building Inspector’s just writing 400 violations. Attorney Cappello: And having said that, for certain lightings, provide time for certain obnoxious, 1 you might say no. I think that's where we need to look and maybe tweak this to be fair to give people who have existing lights time, but if they have existing flood lighting that was never reviewed or approved by a board and they just decided they want to install it and it's egregious that there's some way… Kristen O'Donnell: Village is certainly entitled to write violations if there's lighting that's not currently on a site plan. You can write that violation tomorrow. But I think that this is a good step in ensuring that it's not going to happen in the future and that you do have a procedure in place and 7 you have a stated policy that is always a good thing so that when you point to this and say this was the intent. Mayor Pearson: John's attorney you wanted to add a few things to that is what you were. Attorney Cappello: You need to give me guidance. We could look at providing some kind of staged buy in, but also include some kind of provision. I agree with Kristen if it wasn't on the site plan, but we have some buildings that have been here since before site plan. Mayor Pearson: Maybe Marisa can send that back out to us for the next meeting, review it again. Attorney Cappello: Maybe we could introduce it at the January 20th meeting and set the hearing for the second February meeting. Village Manager’s Report • I had taken some vacation time since last meeting • I still covered some Snowstorms and water main breaks • Checked emails, phone calls, things that always happen no matter where I am • Went through payroll and journal entries • Went over some PBA matters with special council and chief • 1 of our officers was hurt off duty and is out of service for some time • Went over more grants with the grant writer • Another meeting with the EFC, DEC and village engineer to go over sewer updates • Went over updates with the planner • Rec Dept – still has teen center going on, indoor pickleball, cornhole, fitness program, senior jeopardy. Family movie night went well, indoor soccer going well, basketball began this week • Building Department – Building Inspector resigned and took another position elsewhere. Canvassing for that position. Keith is doing double duty getting CO reports and permits done, planning and zoning with the secretary and property maintenance • Clerk – updating Facebook and website, she had some time off for the holidays, still doing FOILs and things, IT, permits, handicap requests • Finance Dept – bank recs, updates soon, retirement deductions, billings, payroll, accounts receivable, Edmunds, vouchers • Public Works – maintain vehicles, waiting on 2 new trucks to come. 1 is waiting for parts. Water Dept installed new meters, endpoints and a couple inspections. There are 137 meters to be replaced, as of today. Patching as they can, Snowstorm response, water main repairs. Assist with shutting water off because their lines were frozen • Police Depart – 311 blotters, 3 arrests, 10 traffic stops, 5 summonses, 13 mvas and 79 parking tickets. Mostly due to snow Trustee Taylor: John, what was the follow up with Green Light contractors? Was that for safety issues? Manager Revella: Yes. OSHA. Mayor Pearson: You were going to look at the site plan for the Orange County Transit lighting, did we get to do that? 8 Manager Revella: Yes, you want him to comment? Enforcement Officer Roosa: I did find the plan for Orange County Transit and there's many lights that are not installed, we're not removed according to the plan. I did write a violation for all these new lights that were put up. They did send me all the details, they just did it over the summer. I made some suggestions about it being angled down to the ground. But nothing's happened yet so. Mayor Pearson: Did they change the height? Enforcement Officer Roosa: No. Some of them are really high, they're only supposed to be 18 feet off the ground. Some are 30 feet and then they're all facing out, as everybody knows. They are dark sky shielded on the top, but it doesn't do anything when they're facing out. Mayor Pearson: So, they need to be turned down. Enforcement Officer Roosa: Right, but as per the plan a lot of lights are supposed to be removed. And the only way we're going to be able to find out which ones is to actually go through the whole lot and I haven't had time to do that. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Were they given any sort of a time frame to meet compliance or are they willing to work with you? Enforcement Officer Roosa: It didn't even sound like the there was any effort that was going to be made towards complying at all. That's the gist I got. Mayor Pearson: Are they fully connected to our services now? Manager Revella: They are. They have another water line they want to put in, but they’re connected. Mayor Pearson: That is mandatory or they want to put it in just to put it in? [correct. Just put in] Why would they want to do that? Manager Revella: So they have water on the other end of the property from what I am told. Mayor Pearson: Did they need a site plan for that? Manager Revella: Just a dig permit and then pay the fees for connection. Deputy Mayor Thompson: So, what is our plan to address the light issue because the light issue with them has been years. Manager Revella: They got violated. Enforcement Officer Roosa: I did talk to John Queenan about the plan and he says that they have to go in front of the Planning Board again. Because they didn't accomplish anything so it has to go back to the Planning Board. I can definitely take him to court over it, but I'm not sure how far it's going to get us. Manager Revella: We'll coordinate that with Maria at his office. Attorney Cappello: If you could send me the violations, I will call the attorney for the applicant 9 that was there before the Planning Board and light a fire under them. Enforcement Officer Roosa: At least it's on record. At least we did take notice with it. Approval of Minutes Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve minutes with corrections. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Taylor. All ayes. Motion carried. Public Comment None Waiver Alcohol Request – Goulash Mayor Pearson: There's no signatures, there's no finalized paperwork. Manager Revella: No signature yet. They're waiting for approval. Mayor Pearson: The other one has signatures and they're waiting for approval, so what's the difference? To me it should be signed. It’s not talking about the money, it's talking about a signature that they want to move ahead and do it. Manager Revella: They sent a letter. Mayor Pearson: But the agreement isn't signed. What's the legalities to that with no agreement signed? We're okaying it? Attorney Cappello: Proven subject to them signing the agreement. Trustee Taylor: We need to make sure when these things are submitted, that that's what we're looking for because we have processed previous ones without those signatures on there. Trustee Kyle: Almost like it was digitally signed, because it's very faint. Trustee Taylor: We still need to emphasize that, because we have sent some through in the last meeting without signatures in that box. Mayor Pearson: I would be happy with having them resign it and so it is legitimately seen on here. I can't see it. Manager Revella: Absolutely. Trustee Mishk: I’d like to point out that on both applications the address represented as village but on the insurance form it gives a different address outside the village. On both applications. It applies to the cost of the rental. Residents get one rate and non-residents get another. Trustee Kyle: How does it work for anybody that owns a property in the village? Is it just if they live there and not the property owner and pay taxes here? 10 Trustee Garrison: If you look and read the letter that they sent in, the address that is on the insurance is to Watchtower Farms and they’re Jehovah's Witnesses, so that's probably why the addresses don't line up. Manager Revella: Blanket insurance. Trustee Mishk: The second application is the same way. Trustee Garrison: That one I can't answer. Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve waiver, pending the signature. Seconded by Trustee Mishk. All ayes. Motion carried. Waiver Alcohol Request Mayor Pearson: We don't even know if they're using kitchens or not. Manager Revella: The first one says yes. Mayor Pearson: There's no payment or funds at the bottom of this at all. so there's nothing down there to say. Manager Revella: Just says wine and beer, it didn’t say anything about using the kitchen. Mayor Pearson: But it should be filled out on the form, is what I'm saying. Why do we have a form that don't get filled out properly? Trustee Mishk: These forms, do they go right to the Rec Department? Manager Revella: Rec Department. Mayor Pearson: The party’s in February, so John can you just look into this one please? Manager Revella: Yes. We will confirm if they're an outside address, they're paying outside fee. If they're a village address, they'll pay the village fee and confirm that. That's why they send the letters because the last time the note was from the board was to make sure they send a letter with the request. Trustee Mishk: shouldn’t it be filled out with the rec coordinator, sign off on these before we get them that says approval? Manager Revella: Sometimes he may not approve it until he confirms they can use the alcohol, the board had said they wanted to approve first previously. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Maybe it’s something simple having Mike or the secretary make sure that when the people turn the form in that the information is legitimate. Then it'll come to us, but I think this second one definitely needs to have in inquiry. Trustee Kyle made a motion to approve waiver pending confirmation of information on the request. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 11 19 East Ave Hearing Attorney Cappello: This is a hearing that's required before you can take the steps to carry out in order to remedy to abate conditions constituting a violation in the village code at 19 East Ave. Manager Revella: Any representatives? Daniel Schneider: I'm local council for Gross Pinoli. The attorney for PHH Mortgage and I'm here to respond to the code violation. The firms response is that the property is occupied and the violations cannot be cured because the property is occupied. They provided an affidavit of service. Service was effectuated on the property back in 2024. That's the defense. This is not an abandoned property. There's people living there because this was owned by Teresa, and she died and now the heir is responsible for the property. That's the position. It's a dead tree leaning towards another property. I don't know why it's such a big deal. Manager Revella: The hearing is held because your property was put on notice that there was a dead and dangerous tree which is a violation of the code. The property owner is getting a notice to remedy. You're telling us the property owners are refusing to remedy, because of this reason the board is going to take action based upon that position. Daniel Schneider: The position is that there's people have occupied there. Attorney Cappello: Yes, but occupying or not is not the issue. The issue is there's a violation that a tree that could affect either this property or someone's adjoining property. The property owner needs to attend. If the property owner doesn't do it, the village can do it and charge it back against the property. Daniel Schneider: I understand. That was their position. Trustee Baker: I'm just wondering why it matters whether it's occupied or not. I don’t think it makes any difference. Manager Revella: I don't think it does for our purposes. Daniel Schneider: PHH is the mortgage holder. I'm just explaining it. It's really not even an argument. PHH is the mortgage holder. They're not the occupants and there's an owner of the property. A lot of times when the property is run down and abandoned, then the state laws say the mortgage holder can be responsible. But if the property is occupied, then the owner is initially responsible. That’s the position. Manager Revella: The board can move to have the tree removed and the cost assessed to the property. Trustee Garrison made a motion to allow removal of tree and charge back to the property. Seconded by Truste Taylor. All ayes. Motion carried. Policy Record Keeping Manager Revella: The board had implemented a records retention policy just over a year ago. It really is clear that all the records must be retained regardless of what they are or where they are and the clerk is in charge of all that retention. No records should be removed, destroyed or otherwise without the clerk's consent and order. Doesn't matter if it's a Zoning Board, Planning Board or any records of the village. 12 Mayor Pearson: So, every department has to go through Marisa in order to get rid of any files. Manager Revella: Absolutely. Mayor Pearson: So, people just don't shred stuff or they shred things and then what happens? Manager Revella: If they do, they're doing it without authorization. That's a problem Mayor Pearson: They have to go through Marisa to get authorization to shred what they're shredding. Manager Revella: Absolutely. Mayor Pearson: Has that happened? Manager Revella: From time to time. The recent one that we're talking about the other day, I'm not aware of that. Mayor Pearson: But it wasn't just the other day, it's been days. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I'm confused. Our policy that was on record, was that the records are retained.[correct] Somewhere along the line that policy was violated. Manager Revella: I’m not sure it was. I don't know if any official village records were destroyed or not. Deputy Mayor Thompson: But they stopped keeping paper records, did they not? Manager Revella: You don't have paper records, zoning and planning records? Code Enforcement Roosa: Yes. *inaudible* digitizing. Manager Revella: So, you have paper copy? Code Enforcement Roosa: Yes. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Of everything? [so far, yes] and we're going to keep doing paper copies of everything. Manager Revella: Yeah, that's what both boards actually asked for as well. The Zoning and Planning Board Chairs asked for that. Mayor Pearson: If we have that policy all along, why haven't we been really doing that. Manager Revella: As far as I know, they have. They were trying to deviate from the policy, but that's no longer an issue. Budget Transfers Treasurer Degon: They're actually pretty straightforward. Look at the bottom line, might be your one and only question. Which we've been talking about, the property maintenance line. That is kind of where we submit the bills and code them, if we're going to recoup them back through either the 13 Building Department violations, invoices, whatnot. That's why we increased the revenue line at the same amount. You'll see that coming in and out, because we are billing back property owners now. Manager Revella: It'll happen again once we do this tree removal. Treasurer Degon: Pretty straightforward, doing well. The medical insurance rates went up, I don't know if you said you sent an e-mail or not, John. They went up about 8% as of January 1st, so they're going to be reflected in this paycheck coming up. The deductions were updated through payroll. I'm moving forward with NYSLRS, moving forward with meetings for payroll systems. That's really it. You could see the progress we're making with the bank recs. The ones that are highlighted in yellow are the ones that are not reconciled yet and that's from year end 23 through 26. All the others have been reconciled from 23 through 25. There'll be more, but PD is going to keep coming back around and the property maintenance is going to keep coming back around. Trustee Mishk: Is there a reason that the telephone and Internet expenses have risen? Treasurer Degon: That's partially because of the deferred payment of Ring Central, Spectrum. Had a couple of bills from 24. It’s going to show that way. Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve the budget transfers. Seconded by Trustee Misk. All ayes. Motion carried. Election Day Resolution Manager Revella: The attorney ended up doing a combined resolution that encompasses both the designation of polling place and the Election Day in one. *Mayor Pearson read resolution into the minutes* Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve resolution for Election Day. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Several village residents have asked why we are not using the Community Center for our elections because parking would be better and it would be easier for them to vote over there. I'm just asking what does the board think about that? Can it be changed? Manager Revella: It's up to you guys. But you'd have to amend the resolution if you want to. Mayor Pearson: Any other comments from the board members? I don't see why not, it makes sense. The parking compared to here. Trustee Mishk: The parking and the ease if the elevator breaks down and it happened close to election last year. Trustee Kyle: Big open room, I don't see a problem with that. Trustee Taylor: I'm an avid believer that that's exactly where we should put it. We have a lot of seniors. It's difficult here, God forbid that the elevator goes out like it did last year. More room, More parking, easy access. Trustee Garrison: I have no problem with it. I think my only concern would be the people that walk here to vote. That's a little bit further of a walk where the people that are around this area like that. That's my only concern. The people that don't drive when they go to vote and they walk it's a 14 little bit more out of the way. Deputy Mayor Thompson: What are your thoughts, John, you've been around for a lot of elections. You're here in the building, you see how people come, the traffic during the day? Manager Revella: Walkers are usually coming in after school or before, like right after dropping off kids from school. I don't know if those people have an issue with transportation or not, but if somebody did, the town bus is more than welcome to take them. Trustee Garrison: That's fine that was my only concern. Mayor Pearson: I agree with the walkers. because I know there's a lot of older citizens that walk here. Trustee Garrison: I'm fine with it if we can get the the transportation for the people that walk. Trustee Kyle: That would be big too for the people that maybe don't go online or assume that it's here and don't check and then if they come here, at least we have that bus going back and forth. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Look how many years though it was at the Firehouse and then when we brought it here, people were still going to the Firehouse. So, I'm sure it's going to be the same type of a scenario and right in the center of village residents would have had to make arrangements to get to the Firehouse and they managed to do it. Mayor Pearson: I agree. Trustee Mishk: I think that we should have it down at that place. I think the there's no stairs to climb. Most of the people can pull right up to the side and go through the side door. It seems like a no brainer to me. Trustee Kyle: Same. I think we should look into maybe the shuttle like Ralph said. Manager Revella: The Clerk will ask the town. Mayor Pearson: I agree with that and I know that the shuttle bus used to do Veterans Park for us. we just they shuttled people too and back and forth. Maybe it's just an all day thing that they're shuttling back and forth from the parking lot. Manager Revella: Lainey volunteered her service to that day. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I'm assuming that the Village of Montgomery and the Village of Maybrook, their voting locations are already set. It's just us. Trustee Mishk made a motion to amend the resolution from Village Hall to Anita Vandermark Community Center for Village Elections. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Orange County Sheriff Manager Revella: Because of the issues I was talking about earlier with staffing and how long it will take us to get the process through the county canvassing, we want to make sure we didn't lack coverage. The Sheriff's Office offered pretty much similar terms the last time that we had to use them. Total cost $120 an hour for an assigned Deputy, $130 for assigned Sergeant, which they 15 didn't do last time and I doubt they would again as opposed to paying a wage, retirement and benefits to the person here on overtime. If we can even get one to cover. Special counsel reviewed and approved as to form. Mayor Pearson: What do we pay taxes for to the county? Wouldn’t that be part of the service? Manager Revella: We don't pay for individualized sheriff's service, but overall sheriff service. They don't do this kind of service countywide. Trustee Kyle: What about also the town? Mayor Pearson: Did you reach out to the town? Manager Revella: The town does do some patrols, but they're going to cover patrol for calls here. Mayor Pearson: So, how many are you down to? Police Officers? Manager Revella: We will be down to 3 officers, 1 Sergeant again shortly. Deputy Mayor Thompson: That doesn't include any part time. Manager Revella: We have 3 part timers, but they are not available every shift. They'll be supplementing one shift really. Mayor Pearson: And what's our time frame? Manager Revella: Maximum 2 months, hopefully less. Mayor Pearson: Do you remember how much we paid out last time we had to do this? Manager Revella: It was like $54,000 a month, almost. Mayor Pearson: Do we have the money? Manager Revella: It will be in lieu of paying our own, so yes, it would be from that personnel line. Mayor Pearson: I don't know, we just transferred 40 some $1000.00 to pay overtime. We're still going to have overtime. Trustee Kyle: But less and I think you're saying it's cheaper to have this contract then paying to the benefits. Manager Revella: It's pretty close with the salary and benefits and overtime, yes. Trustee Taylor: I'm looking for, why are we down to 3 and 1 Sergeant? Manager Revella: We had another 1 recently break their arm off duty, they’ll be out for some time. Trustee Taylor: That would have made us 4 and 1 Sergeant? Manager Revella: We have another one that’s still on maternity leave. We have 3 that are in the academy. And another 1 that’s transferring to another department. 16 Deputy Mayor Thompson: We still have someone out on a sick leave still. Trustee Kyle: Are the 3 in the academy full time? Manager Revella: Yes. We anticipate the 1 coming back from maternity around that same time, also the one who hurt their arm should be back around that time. Within that 2 month period should be fine. We're looking at January 14th to March 14th max. Hopefully, less. We have another officer that wants to be reinstated so hopefully that will come back in the next few weeks as well. Transferred out, wants to transfer back. Trustee Mishk: Can we replace the officer that's retirement is approved, but is waiting. Manager Revella: They're still technically required to fit in that position with civil service. Not allowed to remove them from the position and we're also continuing to pay them for their 207C, so financially we're still stuck and civil service we're still stuck. Till the retirement is approved. Trustee Mishk: We're already down other vacancies. Manager Revella: Not many. I can show you in there, I can't talk about specifics out here. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I don't see that we have a lot of other options. Trustee Mishk: Don't have much of a choice. Trustee Baker: Need to get it done. Trustee Kyle: Same. Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve contract with sheriffs. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried Code review – 149 & 167 149 - Flood Damage Prevention Mayor Pearson: 149-6, that's why I asked Kristen, these maps were still the water maps and that's what I was talking about. The floodplain maps. Can we just double check that and make sure there's nothing new anywhere, please? From 2009 seems like an awfully long time ago. Manager Revella: That is the map that we had in the comp plan. 149-6-1 and 2. *inaudible discussion between attorney and manager* Attorney Cappello: I don't know if they updated the numbers. Can check that. Mayor Pearson: 149-7 says this chapter includes all revisions to national flood insurance program through March 20, 1997. That needs to be updated. Manager Revella: We'll check that. Attorney Cappello: Probably, if you do make the change to that, I would suggest you put the date or say as revised by other national *inaudible* 17 Manager Revella: Can they say per the current national law, flood insurance program? Attorney Cappello: Yeah, covering the Walden boundary. Mayor Pearson: Just to make minor changes or look into 2 things. Littering Mayor Pearson: I was just looking at the fines again. I don't know if you want to look at the fines and change what you want, but I know at the end we're going to be changing fines anyway whether we want to wait to do that or put it in this one now. Trustee Kyle: If we were going to look over the fine separately, maybe look over it when we do. Mayor Pearson: I don't think, I'm just saying cause everything we've looked at we've looked at the fines and we said oh we need to change fines. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Are you thinking these fines are too high? Mayor Pearson: No, I just didn't know how you guys felt about it. *overtalking* Trustee Kyle: I wouldn't touch it fine. Just don't litter. Trustee Garrison: I think the fines are good though. I don't think we need to change those. Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise: Jean just told me, are you going to get up and complain about the phones and I said yeah, I am. She says, sometimes the calls roll over and sometimes they don't, but nobody knows why they do or don't. Do they not rollover when you dial the exact extension or do they only rollover when they the dial, like 5 for clerk or 4 for finance and then if 1 person doesn't pick up somebody else will. I don't know what you guys did with this phone system and I think it was the previous board not this board, because somebody said to me just yesterday, I told them, don't go to a specific company. Then they went ahead and did it anyway and that person was complaining about the phone system here in this building. I kinda know how to get around it, but there's probably plenty of people in the general public who do not and when they call here and it just rings and rings. You just sit there and wait and wait and then all of a sudden it says it's going to go to voicemail. Used to roll over. I don't know what's going on. I made a complaint about 2023 about an issue. That issue has to this day not been dealt with. Since 2023, I've paid $7000 in village taxes. And I can't even get that issue dealt with. We pay and we pay our taxes. I'm not delinquent. Still can’t get this issue dealt with. It's winter time again and it’s a winter time issue. Mayor Pearson: I do have a question for Mr. Baxter. How are we doing with the school issue? Have you gotten anything or have you gotten anywhere with that. Not that you're telling us where it's going to be, but have you gone further with issues there? Dickie Baxter: I can't speak on that. That's why I set a meeting with you and the Village Manager discussed it. I can't speak. Mayor Pearson: Can we have another meeting to get an update? 18 Dickie Baxter: I can check with my client. Mayor Pearson: Thank you, I would appreciate it. I did send you all a job description for a Village Manager. It is not for this manager. It is for a manager in the Village of Walden. You don't necessarily have to have a contract for a manager. It talks about supervision, duties of the manager will include hiring all employees, oversight, act on behalf of carrying out instructions, reviewing, editing reports, regulating approved purchases of materials, ensuring all laws, basically day-to-day operations of the village. It just talks about that we do not have anything on record in our policies or anything for a manager. We felt it was time. It's a little different than a treasurer and a clerk, because they are regulated pretty much by the county, they have a job description through the county. There's things in here that we changed a little bit. We did vote on it once already and it was approved, but there was just a couple changes that John put through. 1 of them is that at the very beginning, supervision aside from delegate for Village of Walden and there was some spelling pieces and we added W which is assist clerk and human resources duty, cover that for department head, vacancies, assistant affairs of Josephine Public Library and make appointments to the library board, also appointment members, historian, justice, act as a head emergency. The Village Manager shall have the knowledge of principle of public administration. It talks about a plan of activities, managing and leadership, operation. It just talks about what would be happening in a day-to-day world here. Should have experience in administrative management positions, knowledge of laws. They will have a salary and benefit package to reflect the requirements set by the Board of Trustees and follow the village of policy handbook. The requirement that the Village Manager be present at village offices. We did set hours in there, whether that needs to stay or not, that's up to you people. Ensure he or she is available to meet with staff, department heads, which does happen, be on call 24/7. Board meetings, whether incidences follow the code of ethics, manager to be a member of International Management Association. Will not accept any employment opportunities. Trustee Kyle: I'm noticing that it's printing out a lot of grammatical and formatting errors, so can I maybe give you some edits for that? Mayor Pearson: Yes and Lynn told me the same thing and that's fine, but the gist of it is we voted on this once and passed it and I'm just saying there was a couple additions that I sent to you in purple. Trustee Mishk made a motion to accept the changes in Village Manager’s job description that are consistent with the general duty set forth in the local law. Seconded by Trustee Baker. Roll call: Trustee Garrison – No Trustee Taylor – No Deputy Mayor Thompson – Aye Trustee Mishk – Aye Trustee Baker – Aye Trustee Kyle - Abstain Mayor Pearson – Aye Motion carried. 19 Correspondence Deputy Mayor Thompson: I had another e-mail from the same village resident about the parking on the sidewalks during the snowstorm, I replied to her and I sent the correspondence to Mr. Revella and the Chief of Police. I believe they were out writing tickets and I don't know maybe John can answer, did we get to a place where we decided if cars would be towed or we're ticketing? Manager Revella: Yes, they are to be towed as well. Deputy Mayor Thompson: But did we have to tow anybody the last storm or the ticket? Manager Revella: From the sidewalk, I don't recall them towing from the sidewalk. But they did tow for snow removal. Trustee Baker: I just want to clarify, they're towed if they're over the line of the sidewalk. If someone's parked in their driveway and their bumper is 2 inches onto the sidewalk, do they get towed or just ticketed? Manager Revella: I don't know if there's a rule about inches or not. That's the police officer’s discretion. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Taylor: Stellar by DPW with the storm and I think I alluded to the last meeting that I've lived in a countless small towns all over the country and I can honestly say transiting through here after a storm is a treat compared to some of the places. Stellar job. Folks are out there water breaks, snow. I know people are concerned about where the measurements taken, but bottom line it's pretty well clear where that happens and if it starts snowing, start looking, because the notice gets issued. Kudos to the DPW. I think they do a fantastic job under the circumstances. Trustee Garrison: DPW did a phenomenal job with the snow and also that ice storm that we kind of got there that threw everybody into a little bit of a frenzy. Great job DPW. Good job by the Police Department. I know they're short staffed right now, but they're still trying. I see them out there at their calls and doing what they need to do. It's cold outside, it's rainy, it's slick, be careful driving around, be careful driving during the day when you know the DPW guys and everybody out there working. Enjoy your new year and it's free to be nice to people, so try to be a little nicer to everybody. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I just want everybody to know that we've been very active in reading all the literature that's coming in about grants. There are a couple of things in the pipeline right now. John has talked to Anna over in the Town of Montgomery and there's a couple things we're working on to see if we can get the wording right to get some funds and to finish the mapping project that we started about the aquifers and the wellhead protection. There is no DW SP 2 funding right now, but we're hoping we can maybe look through some other grants and get the right language to apply for something there. I did get a call from Mike Bliss and he told me he's working with Anna on a grant for improving the trails at Olley Park. Fingers crossed we can make some headway there as far as the mapping. I reached out to the CAC today, they are going to start, now that the holidays are over, moving forward with the mapping. For the committee, we'll be hearing from the CAC shortly. We got an e-mail from the CAC, there's been an ongoing project about water sampling and monitoring in the Tin Brook. It's been a couple of years and for whatever reason they would never release results. Well, they are going to release some results on February 24th at 6:30 PM and they're asking if anyone from the Village of Walden would like to attend. I think they're meeting here on the second floor in the library, 6:30 PM and I got a preliminary chart, it looks kind of interesting. I can 20 share it with everybody, but we've been waiting a long time for those results for the water quality and the classification of the Tin Brook. And I know there's 1 section, John you probably know, where the iron level is very high but the rest of it actually preliminarily didn't seem too bad, but I think we should know those results. Becky, what happened to the young man who was going to hopefully do some mural…? Mayor Pearson: I reached out to him last time and he was stressing school a little bit. I reached out again I didn't hear back from him. He thought he'd be able to put a plan together over the Christmas break. I haven't reached out again, so hopefully that's being taken care of. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I have had people complain, but if you go on social media, there are a lot of complaints about service with spectrum. Someone asked on there, is there anything the village can do to try and entice other companies to come here to provide service for us? I know Green Light is here. Manager Revella: That's it. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I remember going with our previous mayor to the Town of Montgomery hearing a big presentation from Verizon that they wanted to expand service to the Town of Montgomery. Never heard another word. Manager Revella: FIOS won't come. They didn't get permission to go on the poles and they were going to run their own lines for whatever price it was, I'm not sure what it was but it was cost prohibitive. Deputy Mayor Thompson: How far through the village is Green Light going? Manager Revella: I don't know. It's up to them. I don't know wherever, they're putting a network in. Deputy Mayor Thompson: But they don't really communicate with village government or with you about what they're doing. Manager Revella: Not at all. The only thing they talked to me about and I do have a rep that's going to be meeting with me soon, a new rep. The old rep came to talk to me about putting a piece of equipment in village hall for free Wi-Fi for us and it would end up being a network system where they have Wi-Fi centers around the village that everyone can hook to. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I don't know how closely people on the board follow, but there's been a lot of complaints about spectrum. I don't know if there's anything we can do to talk to spectrum, but I'm just saying people have had it. Our residents are not happy with that service. Not that we provide it. They're asking if there's anything we can do to intermediate it. I had asked a while ago, John, about getting a program in here for team building for the village employees. I keep hearing things that people are unhappy in their workplace, that it's hostile, that it's toxic and there's been a lot of comments that that's getting blamed on the Village Board. Which is disturbing to me because, I don't know if the Village Board goes into all the different departments and creates havoc I really think if many of our employees are unhappy, we've had those programs here in the past. If the board agrees, I would like to have John try and find something that we can set up a program for the employees again. Mayor Pearson: I would be a part of that motion to make it happen. I think that it can't hurt at all. I think it might be able to help. There are free services as the county do something for free as well. Or 21 not. Manager Revella: Our insurance carrier does some things as well. We can talk to them. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Can we maybe get an answer by the next meeting about that or the first one in February? Manager Revella: If the board authorizes me to do it, I can do it. I just want to make sure because we're going to have to shut things down. Mayor Pearson: What do you mean? Manager Revella: To have a team building activity, we have to have everybody together to do it. Mayor Pearson: Can’t you go department by department or something? Manager Revella: Some of the issues are department to department, so I think it would be important to have them together. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I agree, but we don't have to have departments shut down. Can't send a few people? Manager Revella: Then you're not building a team. Trustee Kyle: You can't run a Police Department if all of the cops are in a team building exercise. Deputy Mayor Thompson: But that's what I mean, we can't do some in 1 department with another? It can't be extended over 2 or 3 days? Manager Revella: I'll figure it out. Trustee Kyle: Then it's not the entire team. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I did this at the hospital with over 300 people and everybody couldn't go at once. Trustee Kyle: That's 300 people. It's not a very large Police Department with 300 people. Deputy Mayor Thompson: How can you have the whole Police Department come at once? You can’t. Manager Revella: We don't have 300 where you can have 100 still work and 200 do it. Deputy Mayor Thompson: I understand that but if you do 1 from the Police Department, 2 from DPW, 1 from Parks and Rec and you spread it out over several days, that won't work? Manager Revella: Maybe, depends on the activity. Deputy Mayor Thompson: Let’s let John get some information. Trustee Taylor: You need more information on that. I kind of agree with Liz. We talking in interdepartmental or we're talking team building within departments? 22 Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion authorize Village Manager to research team building exercises. Second by Trustee Kyle. All ayes. Motion carried. Trustee Kyle: I know Lynn mentioned the mural work. If I can volunteer for mural work, I'll help out with that. I would love to do that. Mayor Pearson: I'll reach out to him again and see how far along he is. I know school was challenging so he was working on that most of the time. Thought he'd be able to do something over Christmas I'll reach out to him again. It may not happen because he's trying to go through school so it may not happen till school's out in May or something. Then you'd have the summer to work on it. Trustee Kyle: What Lynn was saying about employees, mentioning that they think the board is the reason why they're disgruntled, I'm not going to disagree in all aspects. I do think the board oversteps into certain departments, if I'm being totally honest. And if we're going to expect the employees to do team building exercises to improve the quality of life for their employment, maybe the board should also be doing that, because I really do feel like there is reason for some employees to be upset with the board. That's my 2 cents. Mayor Pearson: We had talked about the flag box and I know it's winter now, but that we talked about that or thought about where it's going to go. How have we made out? Manager Revella: We're putting it out next to the door. Where Mary Ellen was talking about. I got her in touch with the chief. Mayor Pearson: 75 Maple St, do we have an update on that building? Or is that executive session? Manager Revella: I can tell you that their attorney reached out to let me know that he was actively working with the buyer to get it sold to get it rehabbed. Mayor Pearson: What about the cleaning of it? Manager Revella: I am not sure what of the violations were remedied but I think that the attorney is helping them with that. Mayor Pearson: Auction of vehicles. Did that happen? Manager Revella: That already happened. Mayor Pearson: We make any money? Manager Revella: Some. 1 of the vehicles was not operable, so we didn't get much. Mayor Pearson: I was reading some of the bills and they talked about the salt barn, where are we with that? Manager Revella: We are getting the plan together to get it built this year, 2026. Mayor Pearson: It also talked about a hazard plan update, did that get done? That was in 1 of the bills. Manager Revella: Hazard mitigation plan update? From Lanc & Tully [yes] that’s right. 23 Mayor Pearson: We update the whole plan? Does the board have to vote. Manager Revella: Sometimes the state will come and say hey you need to update your dam plan or something. Depends on what it is. Mayor Pearson: Lights at Olley. I know we talked that there was going to be something happening with that maybe soon…. Manager Revella: The company is Rotolo, they're supposed to be working on the lighting fixture and meet with the underground. Got something together. Mayor Pearson: Can we meet with the PBA soon? Manager Revella: We asked today, the PBA to meet, I'm not sure what else we can do. Mayor Pearson: Mean. Can't we just set a meeting? Manager Revella: They don't have to come. We can't force it. Mayor Pearson: Phones, I tried to call, if Marisa is not in, the phone doesn't transfer over. Nobody picks up the phone. I said I have called before, Marisa was on vacation. I would call her about agenda items or something and the phone would just keep ringing so nobody ever hears the phone. It should be rolling over. Should be a message that I'm out till - so please call another number. Those things should be happening because people are complaining that they can't get through. Manager Revella: There's a feature on the phone to do that. Executive Session – Personal History of a Particular Employee & Attorney Client Trustee Baker made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee and attorney client. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. All ayes Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Baker made a motion to reconvene regular Board of Trustees Meeting. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All Ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session – Personnel Trustee Kyle made a motion to enter into executive session to discus personnel. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Taylor made a motion to reconvene regular Board of Trustees meeting. Seconded by Trustee Mishk. All ayes. Motin carried. 24  Village of Walden Board of Trustees Regular Meeting January 6, 2026 Motions & Resolutions Minutes Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve minutes with corrections. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. All ayes. Motion carried. Payment of Audited Bills Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve payment of audited bills. Seconded by Trustee Taylor. All ayes. Motion carried. Waiver Alcohol Request – Goulash Deputy Mayor Thompson made a motion to approve waiver, pending the signature. Seconded by Trustee Mishk. All ayes. Motion carried. Waiver Alcohol Request – McGregor Trustee Kyle made a motion to approve waiver pending confirmation of information on the request. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. 19 East Ave Hearing Trustee Garrison made a motion to allow removal of tree and charge back to the property. Seconded by Truste Taylor. All ayes. Motion carried. Election Day Resolution Trustee Mishk made a motion to amend the resolution from Village Hall to Anita Vandermark Community Center for Village Elections. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Orange County Sheriff Trustee Garrison made a motion to approve contract with sheriffs. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried Village Manager Job Description Trustee Mishk made a motion to accept the changes in Village Manager’s job description that are consistent with the general duty set forth in the local law. Seconded by Trustee Baker. Roll call: Trustee Garrison – No Trustee Taylor – No Deputy Mayor Thompson – Aye Trustee Mishk – Aye Trustee Baker – Aye Trustee Kyle - Abstain Mayor Pearson – Aye Motion carried. Executive Session – Personal History of a Particular Employee & Attorney Client Trustee Baker made a motion to enter into executive session to discuss personal history of a particular employee and attorney client. Seconded by Trustee Kyle. All ayes Motion carried. 25 Reconvene Trustee Baker made a motion to reconvene regular Board of Trustees Meeting. Seconded by Deputy Mayor Thompson. All Ayes. Motion carried. Executive Session – Personnel Trustee Kyle made a motion to enter into executive session to discus personnel. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. Reconvene Trustee Taylor made a motion to reconvene regular Board of Trustees meeting. Seconded by Trustee Mishk. All ayes. Motin carried. 26