Board of Trustees

Village of Walden Village Board of Trustees Meeting June 2, 2026 Role Name Attendance Mayor Becky Pearson Present Trustee Lynn Thompson Present Trustee Gerald Mishk Present Trustee Cheryl Baker Present Trustee Kristie Hall Present Trustee Jerred Sanusi Present Trustee (New) Jose De Jesus Present Village Attorney Maria Donovan Present Village Clerk Anisetta Valdez Present Mayor Pearson - Called the Village Board of Trustees meeting to order at 6:30pm with the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. Call to Order / Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Pearson: Thank you for coming tonight. Please silence your phones. Pardon. Oh, yes, everyone, use your mics too, please, so that [the Clerk] can hear. She's taking minutes. Everyone is here this evening, and we do have a new trustee, Jose De Jesus. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate you taking the time to come and be a part of the board, he sat on the planning board before, he was also a past board member years ago, so we're happy to have you. Thank you for joining us. Trustee De Jesus: Thank you. 2. Roll Call Mayor Pearson: Roll call, we are all here. 3. Public Hearings A. Local Law — Residency (Employee Residency Requirement) Mayor Pearson: Public hearing, we're going to local residency public hearing, we're going to reopen the public hearing for the local residency of an employee. Anyone from the public who'd like to stand up and have a comment, please do state your name and your address. Please, anyone from the public? John Revella (16 Church Street): Good evening, John Revella, 16 Church Street. Just wanted to voice my opposition to the local law changing residency for the village manager. It's been very beneficial to have a manager that lives in the village, even if it takes time for the person to move into the village. It's still been important for access, reliability, and appearances for the public, for emergencies, etc. So I'm opposed to changing the law. June 2, 2026 Page 1 Mayor Pearson: Thank you. Anyone else from the public? All right, motion to close the public hearing? [Trustee Hall], [Trustee Thompson] second. Any more discussion? Trustee Thompson: She made a motion. I didn't even hear her. Mayor Pearson: She did. Okay. All in favor? All in favor. Thank you. Motion to close made by Trustee Hall. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. B. Local Law — Village Manager Succession Mayor Pearson: All right, so we have the local law succession public hearing. So we put this on. We did talk about it in discussion last meeting, just to discuss it a little bit. So we put it on for the public hearing this evening. Anyone from the public would like to talk about the succession that we do not have a plan for so please come up and state your name and have a comment if you'd like. John Revella (16 Church Street): So, for the succession local law, I'm not sure if there's any changes from what was originally presented, or if there's a different version of a local law being presented for succession, but for powers and duties of a manager in a management form of government, those changes should be done by public referendum. So, I don't think a local law is the appropriate method, if the village wants to change those powers and duties, it should be a ballot measure. I think that Trustee Mishk mentioned that last meeting, and I think that's the appropriate forum for that. That's it. Mayor Pearson: Thank you. Any from anybody else from the public? No one. Anybody from the board have a comment. Well, we'll talk about it in the middle, so we'll close the public here. Oh, go ahead, [Trustee De Jesus], do it. Trustee De Jesus: So I'm looking on the… it talks in terms of… Mayor Pearson: Can you use the microphone, please? So, thank you. Trustee De Jesus: So I'm looking at section one, is this in the event the manager is unable to perform blah blah blah, being incapacitated, being placed on medical or administrative leave, or for any other reason. Why? Just that. What happens if the person resigns, or the person is terminated? That doesn't include that in there. And also, I don't know, the has the order starting with the mayor, the deputy mayor, and any other trustees. I would think that you would look internally first, you know, with the department heads and the board members would be like really last resort if you don't have a person that is qualified enough within near any of the department heads. I cannot assume those responsibilities. I don't think you know when it comes to the mayor, deputy mayor, that would be like last resort. Mayor Pearson: what this law was doing was leaving it up to the board to make that decision, so it's actually coming before the board to make that decision, so the board would have that right to say this is the person it should be, maybe we look at this person, it's not the succession of that's that's the way it goes, Jose, it's just the board is making the decision, those people are, would be, could be assuming those duties. It's not in that, not in that order at all. June 2, 2026 Page 2 Trustee De Jesus: Why? What happens with the other two components if the person leaves, resigns, or is terminated? That's not included. Mayor Pearson: It is. If you read down the bottom, it says a little chapter until such time the village manager is able to perform his duties or responsibilities, or another person is appointed village manager by the board of trustees, so if he's gone, then the board still has to appoint somebody, so it's all there, just doesn't say that he's resigned or left. Trustee De Jesus: Yeah, no, I understand, but maybe should be strengthened up here, so that it would say that it also includes leaving, resigning, or termination. Attorney Donovan: It is within the board of trustees’ purview to enunciate further specifics if they choose, but it does have any other reason. Trustee De Jesus: Okay, just wanted to comment on that. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Pearson: You're welcome. Thank you. All right, so we'll close the public hearing. Trustee Mishk: Make a motion to close the public hearing? Mayor Pearson: Is there a second? Trustee Baker: I'll second. Mayor Pearson: All in favor, aye. Trustee Sanusi: Can't hear you, [Trustee Baker]. Mayor Pearson: Everybody needs to use these mics because she cannot. It was [Trustee Mishk] and [Trustee Baker]. Trustee Baker: Yes. Motion to close made by Trustee Mishk. Seconded by Trustee Baker. All ayes. Motion carried. 4. Minutes — May 19, 2026 Mayor Pearson: All right, moving on to the minutes from 5/19/2026. Does anyone want to make a motion to accept the minutes? Trustee Hall: I did not get them until I walked in here, so I can't hear you. I did not get them until I walked in here, so I'm not gonna make a motion. I'm gonna abstain if it goes that way. Mayor Pearson: Okay, that's fine. I didn't get it either. June 2, 2026 Page 3 Trustee Hall: I didn't get the minutes until I got here tonight, so I never got a chance to look at them. I don't know if everybody else did. Mayor Pearson: Table. Would you like to table the minutes till the next meeting? Yes. Okay. Very good. Tabled till the next meeting. Minutes tabled to the next meeting. 5. Payment of Audited Bills Mayor Pearson: On to payment of audited bills. Anyone make a motion to pay the audited bills? Trustee Hall: I'll make a motion to pay the bills. Mayor Pearson: Is there a second? [Trustee De Jesus], second. I know there was a couple bills in there that had.. did you get your answer to them? There was two bills that you looked at, Trustee [Thompson], that had… Trustee Thompson: I got an answer to the one. Yes. Okay. Actually, to both of them. Mayor Pearson: Okay. Very good. All right. Any more discussion? All right. All in favor? Trustee Sanusi: Aye. Motion to pay the audited bills made by Trustee Hall. Seconded by Trustee De Jesus. All ayes. Motion carried. 6. Public Comment on the Business of the Board Mayor Pearson: Thank you. All right. Public comment of the business of the board. My little helper over there, is there only one person on, Mary Ellen? Okay. Thank you very much. Yes, George. Chief George Brown — Fire Hydrant Local Law Chief George Brown (Walden Fire Department): George Brown, Chief of the Walden Fire Department, got a copy of your updated local law for the fire hydrants. First, thank you for everyone that was able to meet with me to go over this. This law that I picked up is quite different from what we discussed under section one, subsection one. All wording about plowing was removed, sub Subsection six, plowing. Yes, subsection six. The way it got changed, it makes it illegal for the fire department to check hydrants when they respond to calls. Subsection seven makes it illegal for the fire department to use hydrants unless something's on fire, so if we were to go to a hazmat scenario and needed to use the hydrant to help decant decontaminate the scene, or our members can't even do. That we would also need to have you supervise us to even open a hydrant. You also remove the section requiring flow testing for municipally owned hydrants. It's only applicable to privately owned fire hydrant systems. I don't know of any privately owned fire hydrant systems. I know that there's privately owned hydrants within the village. Now you remove the reporting mechanism to the building department, and also remove sections two, three, and four, which included the color coding of the hydrants, and one other thing, the way that I had the law June 2, 2026 Page 4 written, especially pertaining to the flow testing for all the hydrants, was to possibly help reduce people's insurance rates. I reviewed the last two Insurance Services Office (ISO) reports, and we were so close to being the next insurance rate down for the residents of this area that if we just did flow testing alone, it would most likely qualify us for that reduced insurance rate. I know I forgot to mention it to everyone. I did mention it to [Trustee Sanusi] when I met with him. Trustee De Jesus: Sorry, insurance rates for who? Chief Brown: ISO, would only be, mainly benefit businesses, is my understanding, but it would be homeowners as well, potentially. Village Clerk: George, what does ISO stand for? Chief Brown: I forget off the top of my head. Mayor Pearson: Can you let her know? Chief Brown: Yeah, I'll get that information for you. Trustee De Jesus: One thing also, in terms of the clearing of the hydrants, like for example, I know I clean mine, and most people do. So, are you proposing? Were you guys proposing it fine if people don't? Chief Brown: There's nothing in the code. This is how it all started. There's nothing in the code that makes it the resident's responsibility, unless the hydrant is on their physical property, so if the hydrant is, say, between the sidewalk and the curbing, it's the village's responsibility legally to make sure that the hydrant's shoveled that follows New York State Fire Code section 508.5.4 and section 508.5.5. So I originally approached the village to pass that burden on to the resident if the hydrant wasn't on their physical property to if it was between the sidewalk and the curb to pass that along to the adjacent property in order to make it their responsibility, just like the village already has in the law that it's the resident's responsibility to shovel the village's sidewalk. I just wanted to include hydrants. Trustee De Jesus: So the issue is, some, you know, some of those hydrants, I know, for example, I do clean mine, and, and there's some people who are also elderly that could potentially be subject to a fine, because they can clean that, sometimes you clean up, and then the plow comes and cleans, so you'll be doing this all day long in a big snowstorm, so I'm kind of opposed to that part, to be honest with you, because we have a tax, we have a fire district, and we get tax on that. So, somehow, maybe it should just be the village responsibility to clean them, to you know, we cannot continue to put burdens on the people of the village, whether they're for $50 fines or $75 things do add up. Chief Brown: The fire district does have a tax, you are correct, but the members that respond to the incidents, every single one of us are completely volunteer. For the 25 years that I've been a member of the Walden Fire District, we have had these big storms come by, and instead of drilling and training on Tuesday nights, or whenever the drill night was throughout my time, we will then take time away from fine tuning our skills and go out and shovel hydrants. It's not fair to my members who sleep at the firehouse away from their families at night when there's a big storm, and then expect them to go out and shovel. Other people's properties for the next week and a half. June 2, 2026 Page 5 Trustee De Jesus: But they're not other people's property, really, especially, you know, they are the village and the fire district's property. Chief Brown: It's not the fire district's property. Trustee De Jesus: So, it’s the village’s property. I honestly don't see setting up a system to institute a fine for somebody who couldn't clean the fire hydrant. I think it's, you know, $50- $100 it may not be a lot to some of us, but it could make a big difference to another person. Chief Brown: [The village] fines people if they don't shovel their sidewalk. Trustee De Jesus: No, I understand that, and have you know there's an issue with that too. And also, but anyway, I just wanted to get clarification. It's nothing against anything. Chief Brown: You are new, so I haven't had the opportunity to meet with you. I can meet with you if you'd like. So we can set up a time, go, and I can go point, point, point over this, like I offered to everyone else on this board. So if that's something that you want to do, I’m more than willing to. Trustee Baker: Now, people have an option, just like a lot of times when we have pull it in. That's right, put it right. We have a lot of residents that, you know, when it's snowing, aren't able to shovel, and they put out a plea, and usually somebody, either a neighbor or somebody, they can always contact somebody at the village saying they're not capable of shoveling to get help with the hydrant. Trustee De Jesus: No. Okay, I understand, but it's just, you know, in those terms. Thank you. Thank you, George. Appreciate it. Chief Brown: Just one last,. My biggest point of contention right now is that we're now making it illegal for the fire department to use fire hydrants. Mayor Pearson: I'm sorry, say that again. Chief Brown: This law is now proposing to make it illegal for the fire department to use fire hydrants. Trustee De Jesus: I'm sorry, I missed that. Where is that? Mayor Pearson: What number was that? Chief Brown: Section one, subsection six and seven. Mayor Pearson: I didn't read that. I didn't read it that way. Trustee De Jesus: It says any person other than a village employee or contractor, so you just... so you have to… Mayor Pearson: Can’t hear you. June 2, 2026 Page 6 Trustee Sanusi: You’d have to have supervision. Sorry, I don't think my microphone works. You’d have to have supervision from a Walden official, I think that's the part because you have to do your training at the end of the day. Chief Brown: Yeah. Well, it's not even just training, it's just our every call we if we get a call, it's common practice for a long time in the fire service to you pull up to a building for the emergency, we check the hydrant. This law is saying if that building doesn't, if there's not a fire, we can't check that hydrant to see that it operates. Trustee Baker: As far as, like, water testing, now that's through the [Department of Public Works] (DPW). Chief Brown: It's to test this hydrant's operation. Trustee Baker: Right – that's for DPW. Chief Brown: That’s not what this law states, it says test the hydrant. It doesn't say flow test the hydrant. It doesn't say it's just test the hydrant. We can't check the hydrant to see if it even works, God forbid. Trustee Baker: But that’s what DPW does, they check the hydrants. Chief Brown: They flush the hydrants twice a year, correct? And they do a good job. I have no issues with DPW. We've worked well over the years. They even have a dummy hydrant that we, they loan us. We go over the nomenclature. Fred, [the former superintendent of DPW] has been great with that. We even have a member that made up a PowerPoint to go over the different parts of the hydrant, how to operate hydrant that I have no issue with DPW at all. It's not being able to check a hydrant when we respond to a scene, unless something's on fire. So, if we go to a gas leak, we got to wait till something explodes to make sure the hydrant's good. Trustee Sanusi: Do you currently do that when you get to the scene? Chief Brown: yeah, yeah, that's long-standing common practice throughout the fire service. You can go to any department across the USA, and that's pretty common. Trustee Thompson: So, do you want the wording to just talk about an emergency? Is that what you want to get rid of? Well, the original paperwork that I had received, which I'm trying to find on my phone, and I cannot. It very clearly talked about flushing and maintenance. It talked about the fire department doing that, which is when I reached out. I think I had a conversation with you, but I also talked to a fire commissioner who said the fire department should not be doing routine maintenance on the fire hydrants, should not be flushing the fire hydrants, that they should be using the fire hydrants when there's an emergency. So that was the question that I had. Why, if DPW is responsible for all things water, the water department in this village is responsible. For everything in our water, mains, hydrants, contamination, everything. Chief Brown: I don't dispute that one bit. June 2, 2026 Page 7 Trustee Thompson: Well, the original paperwork that I had been given talked about the fire department being able to flush the hydrants, maintain the hydrants. Chief Brown: That's incorrect. If you look at that paperwork you were just handed and go to section one, subsection five. It shall be unlawful for any person other than a village employee authorized contractor to alter or maintain a fire hydrant. That's referencing that's this. Trustee Thompson: This is not the original paperwork that I was given. Chief Brown: That is the original paperwork Trustee Thompson: I'll find it. This is not the original, because it clearly talked about other people could test and operate the fire hydrants, which was my concern. Chief Brown: If I can finish subsection six, it shall be unlawful for any person other than a village employee, authorized contractor, or fire department personnel to test or operate a hydrant, test the hydrant by pulling up to the scene, check it to make sure it's functioning. Trustee Thompson: But that's that's a little generic test. What a test, you could go out Monday through Friday and test a fire hydrant. It should say that the fire department is allowed to utilize the fire hydrants in an emergency situation. That is what you guys would do, whether it's a chemical spill, a fire, an emergency. I personally don't think the fire department should be doing any type of flushing or maintenance work on hydrants that are owned by the village. Chief Brown: We need to be able to test the hydrant which is flushing it. It takes ten seconds to make sure that we're going to get water out of it when we respond to the scene of an emergency. Trustee Thompson: But isn't that what the village does to maintain and test the hydrant? Chief Brown: Twice a year, the village does go and flush the hydrants. We also do that, when we receive a call, go to the scene, check it to make sure that nothing is wrong at that time, at the time of the emergency, in case anything is wrong, we can plan to use a different hydrant. Trustee Thompson: I get it, but you're talking about for an emergency. Trustee Baker: No, I think he means that, and we also – Chief Brown: We also train, drill, teach our new members how to operate a hydrant, and this new law says we can't do it without supervision. Trustee Thompson: Well, maybe it should say without coordination? Maybe the water department should just be aware of what's going on? Chief Brown: We have always — I can speak for myself — I have always been good at making sure the water department knows when we utilize a hydrant, send the email, say, 'Hey, we used 100 gallons of water tonight, we used 1000 gallons of water tonight,' and tell them what hydrant it is. June 2, 2026 Page 8 Chief Brown: Okay, so, but this law is saying that we need supervision, we need someone there to watch us open a hydrant. Trustee Thompson: Okay, so I guess that's for more discussion. I just think we need to make sure that we all understand the water system belongs to the village, and we have been very cognizant of the fact that we have to protect our water source, we can't mess around with potentially breaking a water main, a lateral line, you know, it's not just the hydrant, there's all the infrastructure underneath and around the hydrant. I know you know that. Chief Brown: I even expressly said that in all my meetings with you, it is your water system, they're your hydrants. We found an issue, wanted to work on trying to make it work better for the fire department. Trustee Thompson: Well, it started out with the snow removal, and it's just going on, so obviously it's an issue that we have to get right. We have to address and get it right. Chief Brown: I don't disagree. Trustee De Jesus: So, when you go to an emergency situation, you're going to have access to the hydrant, right? I mean, you should not need anybody's supervision to do that, because that's part of the emergency situation. Chief Brown: The way the law is written, unless something's on fire, it doesn't matter if it's an emergency situation, it needs to be on fire. We can only use the hydrant to extinguish a fire. Trustee De Jesus: I didn't… Mayor Pearson: I didn’t see fire in there. Trustee De Jesus: … fire in there. I think that you want to be able to use it – Chief Brown: On the proposal under subsection seven, – Trustee Baker: Or to conduct an authorized periodic drill. It's not just for extinguishing a fire, it also – Chief Brown: But if you continue on after that sentence, that's where it says we need supervision. A representative of a legally constituted fire company or fire district may operate a fire hydrant for the purpose of extinguishing a fire or to conduct a drill. And the next sentence is where it says village of Walden shall be notified in advance of all drills. And drills shall be conducted under the supervision of a Village of Walden official. Trustee Baker: I would say coordination, it shouldn't be supervision. Mayor Pearson: When you've done your drills before, have there been Walden officials there, or DPW? June 2, 2026 Page 9 Chief Brown: I want to be correct on this. Before the new telemetry system, we would, if we were going to use a lot of water, we would — there would be instant notification to the DPW Water Department to make sure that they manually turn the wells on. But I believe that issue has been resolved with the new telemetry system, but that was like 10 years ago now. Trustee De Jesus: I think there's legitimate issues here, but I think maybe, maybe some board members and somebody new and people from the fire department to really sit down again and work on that language. Mayor Pearson: What if we form a committee? Trustee De Jesus: George? You agree with that, or? Chief Brown: Yeah, I've been authorized. I'm the only one authorized right now by the Board of Fire Commissioners to negotiate this, so I'm more than willing to sit with you. Trustee De Jesus: This is a matter of language and a matter of coordination and supervision, and to be honest with you, I don't want village employees to be going out, you know. I will also, in terms of overtime, let's say, just because I need to watch you open up a hydrant. Trustee Hall: If somebody wants to come out at 2 o'clock in the morning because there's a gas leak and they want to watch us open up a fire hydrant because the building might blow up, I'm more than happy to have somebody come and sit with me. Trustee De Jesus: So we should maybe have a way to work out the details. Mayor Pearson: Yes, is the board open to a committee to discuss and finalize what we think should be in that. Trustee Thompson: I think we're very close. I think it's just a matter of some lengthy words. I don't think this is going to be weeks and months and meeting after meeting. I think we're almost there. Chief Brown: I definitely think we're moving forward, but we need to make sure we're not putting stuff in there that will hinder us as well. Mayor Pearson: I know you also talked about the color coding of certain things, so you showed me a map with every fire hydrant in the village on it. Does all your fire department have that same map? Chief Brown: Every — most all fire departments in Orange County use that app. There are some departments that don't, but every department in the county that uses that app can see our hydrant locations. Mayor Pearson: So, if we do anything, I'm not so sure it should be in the law. I think it should be more of a policy that this would be happening. Chief Brown: I'm open to that being a policy, so just… June 2, 2026 Page 10 Mayor Pearson: And that's just for discussion. It's where… Chief Brown: How you administer it is. Mayor Pearson: Instead of putting it in the law, we'd be able to possibly do something with color coding the different hydrants… Trustee Baker: Because we have three different types, correct? Or four, four different types, and I thought a different color flag for each different type to signify, would that be of assistance in identifying the different types of fire hydrants. Chief Brown: Right now, I don't know any distinct distinguishment between flags, other than just as a snow marker. Trustee Sanusi: When we talked, we talked about the city of Newburgh – Chief Brown: Town, town of Newburgh. Trustee Sanusi: So I looked it up. They do have a law specifically for the coloring of their hydrants – Chief Brown: Which they put in charge of their town official, I think the building department, if I remember correctly. Trustee Sanusi: Yes, it says that the fire chief shall make the column the ratings, but we can figure that out. It's supposed to split based off of the gallons per minute, like we talked about. Trustee Hall: Yes. Trustee Sanusi: It's class A, class, sorry, class double A, class A, class B, and class C. The way that Newburgh does it is that a yellow barrel with the base is for anything that is public – Chief Brown: That's the NFPA standard. Trustee Sanusi: Red barrel is like a private, Chief Brown: Private, yeah. Trustee Sanusi: And then the tops would be colored for class double A would be blue, class A would be green, class B will be orange, and class C would be red, but that's – Mayor Pearson: Basically, for the flow testing, that's not for that's for the pressure flow testing you were telling me about. It's not really about the different hydrants … June 2, 2026 Page 11 Chief Brown: That color coding means… Mayor Pearson: Different hydrants open differently, correct? Is that what I'm hearing? Chief Brown: No, there years ago there used to be some hydrants that opened [clockwise] instead of counterclockwise, but the village has replaced all of those hydrants at this time. For, like, I think three years ago was the last one I was told… Mayor Pearson: So I would be happy to have a committee of three meet with George and kind of settle with what you think is best. Anyone who want to be on that committee, Jared, Cheryl, Lynn, – So just set a time that you get with [Chief Brown] and go over some of this and try to finalize it so we can move forward. [Committee formed: Trustees Sanusi, Baker, and Thompson to work with Chief Brown on fire hydrant law language.] Fred Perna — Public Comment Fred Perna (Wallkill): ISO locations and as far at lowering that that's not going to help but flow testing is going to be thousands of dollars. Your system is not equipped to handle – We had a fire not that long ago the next day you had a water main break. To color code a hydrant to say it’s a different style is wrong. You can look at any hydrant and if you’re in the fire service you should know that. As far as going to call and saying you’re going to test it just to test it, that's wrong the next day that hydrant may not work, someone could back into it. Here’s what happens the FD goes to a call they are going to test this hydrant they’re going to turn it on real quick and turn it off. So what that does a block away it causes brown water so the water department gets a call about a possible water main break so the water department is driving around looking and you’re paying all this money. It's just iron and minerals but they should not be opening a hydrant to test they aren’t qualified. That's wrong. Mary Ellen Matise — Public Comment Mary Ellen Matise (Gladstone): To get on this thing about privately owned hydrants systems and George said he didn’t know of any, but there are a couple of areas around village water like High meadows and I don’t know if those are our hydrants or not but that is our water system so maybe you want to look at that and see how it plays into all of this and can I just make a pitch – if you’re looking at fire hydrants, better enforcement of the law about parking next to fire hydrants because in this village it’s abominable. 7. Business of the Board of Trustees A. Park Use Request None. B. Local Law — Residency (Vote) Mayor Pearson: Consideration of adopting — motion to adopt, further discussion? Motion to adopt the Local Law for Residency made by Trustee Baker. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. June 2, 2026 Page 12 Mayor Pearson: Any discussion? Trustee De Jesus: We did have a village manager who did not live in the village. When you have civil service positions, you can live here and work in Westchester so it’s not uncommon. So I don’t see anything wrong with that. Mayor Pearson: Let’s do a roll call vote. Vote: • Trustee Sanusi — Aye • Trustee Thompson — Aye • Trustee Mishk — Aye • Trustee Baker — Aye • Trustee De Jesus — Aye • Trustee Hall — Nay • Mayor Pearson — Aye Motion carried. Local Law (Residency) adopted. C. Local Law — Village Manager Succession (Vote) Motion to adopt the Local Law of Succession made by Trustee Mishk. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. Trustee Hall: I thought you wanted to do a referendum? Trustee Mishk: No. Mayor Pearson: The referendum is for the management of government. That was what [Trustee Mishk] was referring to at the end of the last meeting, changing the form of government. Vote: • Trustee Hall — Aye • Trustee De Jesus — Nay (items left out of the law) • Trustee Baker — Aye • Trustee Mishk — Aye • Trustee Thompson — Aye • Trustee Sanusi — Aye • Mayor Pearson — Aye Motion carried. Local Law (Succession) adopted. D. Local Law — Fire Hydrants (Discussion) Mayor Pearson: We will have a discussion on this. June 2, 2026 Page 13 Attorney Donovan: We have to be careful about the law, the law is separate versus policy. [No vote taken. Matter referred to the committee of Trustees Sanusi, Baker, and Thompson.] Motion to enter executive session to discuss a matter leading to the appointing or hire of an employee or particular person made by Trustee Baker. Seconded by Trustee De Jesus. All ayes. Motion carried. 8. Additional Public Comment Brenda Adams: I want to remind everyone about Flag Day celebration. We are foregoing a guest speaker for trivia and live music. It starts on Sunday June 14th at 1pm. Mary Ellen Matise: June 17th at 7pm we have a history of the knife industry in Walden and I hope you come out to learn about their village and there's a new exhibit at the Shafer house. Time to start rebuilding some pride in what goes on here in Walden. 9. Correspondence Trustee Thompson: I just got another email from the same resident and I responded. Trustee Baker: I had a couple of veteran banners, I spoke with. Mayor Pearson: I did have a voicemail from Mr. Davis about the fence and emails on the website. 10. Miscellaneous Comments from the Board of Trustees Trustee Hall: I saw [the Clerk] posted the minutes from the 19th just a few minutes ago and I see that from 1/20 I know they weren’t approved but [the minutes] should be [posted] whether they say draft or whatnot. And then March 17th through May 5. Do you have an idea when that could be done? Village Clerk: So I just got those minutes myself, I got them moved to the correct file so I started on that task this afternoon. I have access so I want to have this completed by Friday. Trustee Hall: I know the last meeting I asked for a manager’s report, I know [the former manager] always had sent one so the residents would know what he did with his time, when I asked it was said that the deputy mayor is not the village manager she was just assuming roles so she didn’t do that, it would just be highlights. However, that’s not what we received from [the former manager] he always submitted a summary of his activities for the two weeks. We should be getting something. Like, it’s been a month and half and I want to know who’s doing what. Who’s meeting with the Clerk to review the board agenda and packets, who's reviewing payroll entries, who's meeting with the Treasurer and the deputy treasurer to review vouchers? Who’s meeting with department heads to discuss needs or do they call when it’s an issue? Clerk’s report, what she did for the weeks, what FOILS are going out, I know [the Clerk] has a lot on her plate – Village Clerk: I can answer some of those questions off the cuff, we were able to close two FOILS and we had a request into the applicant to answer some questions so we are waiting to hear from them. I June 2, 2026 Page 14 think transparency is important and it’s easy enough to say applicant and I received questions about roadkill and we were able to offer guidance, a lot of residents coming in to pay taxes and they have been very nice. We had a resident bring us coffee and donuts but he’s not here to call out but I’m sure he’s watching. Trustee Hall: The Building Inspector’s report we used to get an itemized one. Do we not get that anymore? We used to know who was getting permits and addresses, and what violations all that. PD sends us a whole big packet so I want that from everyone. Check-ins we used to do monthly check-ins; clerk/treasurer, two trustees at a time. Is that still a thing? They are our employees so we should be doing some kind of, monthly, quarterly check-ins. Ethics board–where are we on that? Mayor Pearson: I was waiting for a full board and I got one recommendation. Trustee Hall: We need a separate attorney for that because I know there are things going on. People mentioned events and again we used to have that list. It’d be nice do that again. I attended the memorial day ceremony and the Logan Hickey veteran’s dedication with the fire department. He did a really great job. I don’t know if you’ve been down there, you should stop and take a look. And always Mr. Kernan did a great job doing the ceremony here, it was packed and welcome Mr. Cardone. Mayor Pearson: [Trustee De Jesus]? Trustee De Jesus: On the highway report — we have all those cones there, why? Mayor Pearson: It's a sidewalk issue. Hopefully we'll be able to address that. Trustee Thompson: Memorial day was well attended and the Eagle Scout project at Bradley Park is really nice. I agree it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. And there was the drug awareness memorial that’s ran by Jodi Nicoli and that is always really nicely done, she’s to be commended for her dedication to the drug awareness program for everyone in our community and neighboring communities. You want some sort of report and I have no problem sharing what I've been doing, but I'm not the village manager, so it’s not the same. You can ask me – Trustee Hall: It’s the duties you’re doing, so like who’s doing the emails, who’s talking to department heads? It isn't for the world to know but it would be nice to have a little something. Trustee Thompson: DPW, I have been down there several times to gather information and talk to the employees about fire hydrants and get that squared away with the fire department. I have learned more about trucks than I ever thought I could. It's a lot even when you're out of our element. I'm learning a lot about dig permits. The water, and sewer department are fantastic. The former supervisor did a great job and they are really lovely. We need a DPW supervisor. I have now learned about canvassing and the civil service process, it’s a lot but we are doing it. We now have an interim manager who know what we need and he’s willing to help with that. Posting for jobs, helping the building department get up to staffing, the [Building Inspector] is building the staff back up, she has a secretary for the Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals. She had a person she wanted for code, I sat in on that interview. She met with some of us about ongoing issues in the building department, so I think right now, the role is about supporting our department heads. Parks, beautification is going on, I don't know if anyone saw all the beautiful flowers on Main street that was with community council but [Recreation Supervisor]’s staff helped to place everything. Again, he’s very busy with civil service paperwork getting his summer staff up and running. [Recreation Supervisor] got the grant for the invasive species, I asked today about the lights at Olley Park the grass at waterfront park, that’s all been deferred to [Village Engineer] so we’ll follow up on that. We June 2, 2026 Page 15 signed off on funding from the Town of Montgomery for our summer program. I've been talking to [the Treasurer and deputy treasurer] everyday about water and sewer billing. [The deputy clerk/treasurer] is doing payroll, I have to look at that. I’ve been helping take money to the bank. The clerk whatever she needs, she’s settling into her role very nicely, but it’s a lot, there’s a learning curve for her, I’ve been trying to be supportive and I’m setting her up with NYCOM, I encourage her to call other clerks to get information, she’s really busy and she’s doing a good job for someone who’s brand new. Lots of phone calls to [the attorneys] and I had to call a labor lawyer. [Trustee Mishk] brought in a contractor about the air conditioning system so we can still be a cooling center through the county. We need someone on the transportation committee and [Trustee Baker] volunteered for that, so there was contact with the county to get that in place. [Trustee Baker] took it upon herself to get the ad posted for a permanent village manager. I had a telephone conference with Town of Montgomery and Orange County Planning about the Hill Street bridge there’s going to be funding released soon, hopefully with the help of a grant writer and town supervisor and our county legislator, Mr. Revella, we can try and move forward with the bridge. A grant just became available for land acquisition and water source protection, I had a preliminary discussion with Mark Pulchaski the CAC chairperson, he’s already helping us with that. Trustee Hall: Sounds like a full time. I was just being nosy. It’s not a dig. Trustee Thompson: It’s not that I don’t want to share, it’s just a gray zone, like who am I? What am I supposed to be doing? What are we doing? So as per the succession, board members are stepping up and we have great department heads stepping up and we couldn’t run it without them. We are really lucky with the people we have at work in the village of Walden. Mayor Pearson: I want to say thank you for all your support. I was away so I didn't get to see the memorial and thank you [Trustee Thompson] for stepping in for me. Motion to enter executive session to discuss proposed pending or current litigation and matters that will imperil public safety if disclosed made by Trustee Baker. Seconded by Trustee Mishk. All ayes. Motion carried. [Board entered Executive Session. No action was taken.] 11. Executive Session [Board entered Executive Session. Action was taken. The meeting reconvened at 7:24 PM.] Mayor Pearson: We went into executive session to hire an interim village manager. [Mayor Pearson reads the resolution.] Motion to hire the interim village manager made by Trustee Baker. Seconded by Trustee Thompson. All ayes. Motion carried. Anthony Cardone (Interim Village Manager): Thank you for the vote of confidence, I will serve this village as though I lived here. If anyone has any questions, I have an open-door policy. 12. Adjournment June 2, 2026 Page 16 Motion to adjourn made by ______________. Seconded by _________________. All ayes. Meeting adjourned. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED by Anisetta Valdez, Village Clerk June 2, 2026 Page 17